Yet Another Indication The McBush Path Is A Dead End

President Bush’s name gets no applause at South Carolina GOP convention.

"At the South Carolina state GOP convention today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) “used his remarks to embrace President Bush, just hours before he was to meet Bush at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.” But when Graham first mentioned Bush’s name, the GOP crowd stayed silent, refusing to applaud the President:
At his first mention of Bush’s visit, Graham paused, waiting for applause. When it didn’t come, it took a slight nod from Graham to prompt a round of applause."

Download A Book, Get Arrested, Call For Terror Attacks - No Problem

Life in our nouveau totalitarianism

University employee jailed for researching Al-Qaeda, while Gingrich and others left alone for encouraging dead Americans

"A University employee downloads a document from the Internet about Al-Qaeda for a colleague in the politics department as part of the University's required reading list, meanwhile, a former Speaker of the House publicly laments the fact that more Americans have not been killed in terrorist attacks. Who gets arrested under terrorism legislation? The University employee of course!
Welcome to the up is down, down is up twilight zone of the post-9/11 world!
Newt Gingrich can publicly encourage the government to allow terrorists to attack America to prove "we're in danger" and people barely batter an eyelid yet woe betide someone read something about terrorists, otherwise they'll be shackled and locked up quicker than you can say "police state".
"This is ... one of the great tragedies of the Bush administration," Gingrich said during a Long Island bookstore appearance. "The more successful they've been at intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we're in danger. And therefore, the better they've done at making sure there isn't an attack, the easier it is to say, 'Well, there never was going to be an attack anyway.' And it's almost like they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us."
Just to remind us of what, Gingrich? The Bush administration's blood-soaked eight years in office, the near 3,000 dead on 9/11, the imperial looting and obliteration of Iraq, to remind us that these things really were worthwhile for the greater good? To remind us that "we're in danger"? And you're saying we wouldn't be in danger under a government that willingly allows terrorists to kill us?
Imagine if anti-war demonstrators or 9/11 truthers were calling for violence and killing people to ram through their political agenda? Do you think Homeland Security would turn the other cheek? Do you think Fox News might have something to say about it?
Yet they don't even need to go near advocating violence in order to draw the attention of the authorities - the dastardly crime of downloading a book off the Internet is enough to be labeled a terrorist and have your life ransacked these days, unless you're a frothing-at-the-mouth Neo-Con of course, in that case you can openly call for terror no questions asked.
Nottingham University employees Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza's deadly conspiracy to obtain a document about terrorism that was on their University's reading list resulted in their arrest, their homes being torn apart, their laptops searched and their friends and family members interrogated.
That's right - reading about Al-Qaeda is now tantamount to being a member of Al-Qaeda according to British cops."

You see, a small amount of research will prove to you that the myth of "Al Qaeda" is complete horseshit, a total propaganda lie to fool you into enabling fascist criminality. It's no wonder they want to put a damper on anything but the nightly fairy tale news.

Expert Swears ET Video Not Doctored

Viewing E.T. film, expert is a believer

"The Colorado Film School instructor who analyzed a video that purportedly shows a space alien swears the footage is real. (...)

However, Hofmann said there's no way for him to know whether or not the little gray alien, which was videotaped peeping through a window, is the real thing."

What's not widely known though, is that the aliens tried to communicate with us.

Gaza Students Lose Fulbright Scholarships

Why?

Our best little buddy in the middle east refuses to let them leave the concentration camp

"The US state department has withdrawn its Fulbright scholarships from seven Palestinian students from Gaza because they are unable to obtain Israeli permission to leave the small strip of land.
The students were told in a letter from the US consulate general in Jerusalem, dated Thursday and seen by the Guardian, that the state department "will not be able to finalise your Fulbright Student Scholarship for 2008". No explanation was given, but the students were told to apply again next year, when they would be given "priority consideration" but with no guarantee that the scholarships would be awarded again."

added - several hours after this hit media and blog scrutiny, Israel reversed it's policy.

"On Saturday night Israeli officials said the students would be allowed to leave for their studies."

They hate like hell for the world to see their treatment of the palestinians.

Coalition Of The Billing

Your tax money to lie to you.

Empire Bribes It's Cohorts To Make It Look Like Iraq Subjugation Is A Team Effort

"NEW DELHI: The tale of massive fraud and embezzlement of millions of dollars by the US military in its operations in Iraq continues. Testifying before the US Congress Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 22 May, Mary Ugone, deputy inspector general of accounts in the Pentagon said that an audit of $8.2 billion spending related to the Iraq war showed that $7.8 billion had been improperly spent.
Over 180,000 payments, mostly since the war started in 2003, were made by the defense department to contractors for everything from bottled water to vehicles to transportation services.
In her testimony, Ugone also revealed that $135 million were given to forces from three countries UK, South Korea and Poland to facilitate their participation in the war. This is the first time that the US has officially admitted paying its allies in the so-called Coalition of the Willing that invaded Iraq in March 2003."

Things Will Begin To Fray

“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.” B. Franklin

There goes the neighbourhood: bloodsuckers thrive on credit slump

"Of all the crises triggered by America's property crash, the economists never predicted a plague of blood-sucking mosquitoes — spawned in the stagnant swimming pools of unsold or abandoned luxury homes.
The phenomenon is threatening to turn into a disaster for cities such as Las Vegas, where land values in some areas tripled every year during the boom, prompting developers to build thousands of million-dollar mansions, complete with lavishly proportioned swimming pools and outdoor Jacuzzis.
Unsurprisingly, no one gave much thought to what would happen if most of the sparkling desert oases were left to stagnate in the desert heat — a result of owners either defaulting on their superjumbo mortgages, or developers being unable to get rid of their inventory amid the global credit crunch that has brought America's lending industry almost to a halt.
Now, the very developments where upwardly-mobile homeowners once splashed around under clear blue skies are quickly turning into the world's unlikeliest swampland — and an ideal place for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
In the comfort of a solar-heated swimming pool, mosquito eggs can hatch into larvae (known as wrigglers) in about 48 hours, and become adults — able to travel as far as 20 miles from their breeding site."

Gas Prices Outstrip Card Limits

Credit limit at pumps sometimes won't cover a fill up

"LOS ANGELES — As if sky-high gasoline prices weren't frustrating enough, many owners of thirsty SUVs, pickups and motor homes who use a credit card at the pump are being blocked from getting a full tank.
That's because many station operators have a $75 limit on Visa or MasterCard transactions at the pump.
If motorists hit the limit, they must do a second transaction at the pump to finish filling. Another solution, though inconvenient: Go see the attendant to have the card swiped inside. But this information often is not on the pump, and it can be aggravating even if it is, so customers are venting their ire."

I have a double tank in one of my pickups and this would indeed suck. But I think the card companies secretly like this annoyance. Say you're $50 from your credit limit and the card doesn't have a reject function at your credit limit. They'll get to penalize multiple transactions instead of one big one.
Regular is over $4 in my area now.

Drunken Frat Boy Promises To Work

Bush says he'll work to forgive ex-aide

"DEER VALLEY - President Bush told an intimate audience that he hasn't read his former spokesman Scott McClellan's book, and doesn't plan to, but he is disappointed with the criticisms made by the former White House confidant."

"Intimate audience" = elite fund raisers.

Has Been Blowhard Shows How Vile Neocon Thought Processes Are

Gingrich quips Bush should have allowed some 'reminder' attacks

"During an appearance at a Long Island bookstore last month, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was asked by a member of the audience why the United States has not been hit again since 9/11.
"I honestly don't know," Gingrich replied. "I would have expected another attack. I was very, very worried ... when we had the sniper attacks, because the sniper attacks were psychologically so frightening. ... I was amazed that the bad guys didn't figure out how to send ten or twelve sniper teams."
"This is ... one of the great tragedies of the Bush administration," Gingrich continued. "The more successful they've been at intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we're in danger. And therefore, the better they've done at making sure there isn't an attack, the easier it is to say, 'Well, there never was going to be an attack anyway.' And it's almost like they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us."

In other words people should have died so the rest of us would stay fearful.

Translated, this means the highest priority of the neocons is the acquiescence of the american public to the fascist agenda, not the public's safety.

This is the rotten face of politics at it's worst. The repugs don't have a patent on it but they all subscribe to it and are completely unabashed in broadcasting it. This isn't the first time brownshirts have let it slip that another 9/11 moment would be a great thing for them. Rick Santorum was all smiles about how good it would be for republican presidential aspirants. Arkansas GOP chairman Dennis Milligan actually called for murderous events last year:

“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001 ], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.”

Good jeebus, we would appreciate Dim Son for more death on his watch. But the fascists were very pleased with public reaction to their staged lollapalooza on 9/11, as the horror was slammed into exposed psyches again and again. People don't recall how reviled the new Bush administration was becoming and how ugly the economy was looking. Suddenly their fortunes reversed and as they rode the outraged wave of righteous indignation they could implement their step by step police state plutocracy. Those were heady times when people seemed to be too frightened to object. I would suggest to these shits that mounting opposition to the fascist agenda these days isn't because we aren't frightened enough, it's because of revulsion and disgust at who they are and all the crimes they've committed since 9/11.

The reasons why there haven't been any "terror" attacks since Black Tuesday are because there aren't any "terrorists" as the fascists like to portray, though it's not for lack of trying. Every time they bellow about capturing would be terrorists and preventing attacks the threat winds up having been masterminded by the government itself, just like the beltway sniper spree Gingrich wistfully reminisces about above.

"The Daily Show's John Stewart classified the Miami terror cell that were about to "wage a ground war against America," according to Gonzales as "seven dipshits in a warehouse," following a farcical press conference in which Gonzeles was cornered into admitting that they had no links to any Al-Qaeda members and had no weapons or explosives to carry out any acts of terrorism."

But Gingrich and his ilk may get their wish. With renewed chatter about Sockpuppet being instructed by his zionist masters to lay waste to Iran within two months, the manipulators will have to replay their phony 9/11 style terror attacks to be able to pin the blame on the appropriate patsies and get their war on. When they do, the neocon slimebuckets might not get the big boost they hope for if enough people see through their filthy machinations this time around.

Funny, Isn't It, How Everywhere The US Goes, Drug Smuggling Miraculously Proliferates

"JALALABAD, Afghanistan February 15, 2001
U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer.
A 12-member team from the U.N. Drug Control Program spent two weeks searching most of the nation's largest opium-producing areas and found so few poppies that they do not expect any opium to come out of Afghanistan this year." Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban

December 2, 2006
"Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday." Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record

"The Vesti report said drugs from Afghanistan are flown by US transport aircraft to bases Ganci in Kyrgyzstan and Incirlik in Turkey. Russian journalist Arkadi Dubnov quotes Afghan sources as saying that "85 per cent of all drugs produced in southern and southeastern provinces are shipped abroad by US aviation." Opium for the Masses


monitoring the harvest

May 23, 2007
"Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan."
Opium: Iraq's deadly new export

October 23, 2007
"Presidents Felipe Calderon and George W. Bush are preparing to launched a billion dollar drug interdiction project that the Mexican press has named "Plan Mexico". The controversial plan is being compared to the failed "Plan Columbia" that actually increased the amount of cocaine, heroin and marijuana entering the United States from the nation of Columbia. "Plan Mexico" is being launched shortly after a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) connected jet plane crashed outside Cancun, Mexico with 4 tons of cocaine.
"Plan Mexico" and the CIA

Ah yes, that CIA rendition jet:

One Wonders Who These Marines Are Defending

Patently obvious, I'd say. In recent years we've seen the blurring of distinction between police and the military and the dismantling of Habeus Corpus, and I can assure you that it ain't because the Russkies are about to invade. This is just another in a long line of exercises violating Posse Comitatus to desensitize the military, police and citizens to accept what just a short time ago was considered completely unacceptable.
In case it isn't obvious, "Civil disobedience will not be tolerated".

Marines bringing combat training to Indy

"U.S. Marine helicopters will land at the old Eastgate Consumer Mall, Brookside Park and other Indianapolis locations when the city becomes a mock battlefield next week.
About 2,300 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will conduct urban warfare training from Wednesday through June 19 in and around Indianapolis. (...)
The Marines will practice firing weapons, conducting patrols, running vehicle checkpoints, reacting to ambushes and employing nonlethal weapons, according to a statement."

Rachel Ray Terror Network Based In Salem, Oregon

Osama's Girlfriend




Salem Capitol Building!

Hillary Gets Her Rushmore Shot, Anyway

Of course it wasn't as precisely staged as whatshisname.

Endless Sucking Sound Heard In Iraq

Pentagon Pleads Poverty

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to shift $9.7 billion of its overall budget to pay for war operations but warned on Wednesday it will run out of money if the U.S. Congress does not approve more funding by mid-July. (...)

The Senate last week approved an extra $165 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Lardball Vendor Pulls Ad Featuring Cutlery Wielding Terrorist

Malkin saves us from the jihadist scarves of doom

added - Too Late!

The salamifascists have infiltrated the McCains, and Meghan is now a jihadist.

courtesy of skippy

Prime Example Of How Pitiful, And Vulnerable, MSM Is Today

What was it, a full week ago that a story about a lame kindergarten class teaching method got a little boy voted out of class? All over the bogs immediately.
Here's FAUX, with this totally breaking story, a little tardy with the requisite righteous indignation, trying desperately to make it seem like a followup.

Florida Teacher Allegedly Lets Kindergarteners Kick Autistic Boy Out of Class in 'Survivor'-Like Vote
"Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - "Each student was also allowed to say what he or she did not like about Alex. By a 14-to-2 margin, the students voted Alex out of class, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel."

Gosh, CBS news caught wind at some point.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008- Kindergartner Voted Out By Students

Fox again
Kindergartner voted out of class by peers
"It's a story that's getting attention around the nation."
Um, yawn.

It Seems The Empire's Hell Hole Is Being Avoided

Diplomats eyed for possible forced service in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department has begun to identify diplomats who could be forced to serve in Iraq next year unless enough volunteers come forward to fill about 300 positions, The Associated Press has learned.
A department-wide notice issued Tuesday says officials have looked through the files of all foreign service officers who will be applying or "bidding" for new jobs in 2009 and compiled a roster of candidates who are "particularly well-qualified" to work at the American Embassy in Baghdad and in outlying provinces. (...)

The notices did not say how many diplomats were on the "particularly well qualified" list or exactly when the department would decide if it has to move to directed assignments, which means ordering diplomats to work in certain locations under threat of dismissal unless they have a compelling reason, such as a health condition, not to go."

added - They know something we don't.

Late in the Term, an Exodus of Senior Officials

"With eight months left in President Bush's term, scores of senior officials already are heading for the exits, leaving nearly half the administration's top political positions vacant or filled by temporary appointees, federal statistics show."

Continually Cranky Commode Concerns Crew

Space station struggles with balky toilet

"This is no laughing matter. The outpost's long-term hygiene and routine comfort are now threatened, unless critical spare parts can be identified, found and loaded aboard the space shuttle Discovery as it sits on the launch pad in Florida.
Long a subject of bathroom humor, these high-tech commodes must use fan-driven air flow instead of gravity to transport human waste away from a crew member’s body and into a sanitary receptacle. Early spaceflights didn’t even have this method, but relied on bags with sticky openings — and an emergency supply of such bags is indeed aboard the space station."

This has been a problem since Alan Shepard simply wet his pants when he had to go. However there is a serendipitous moment during waste removal in orbit:

"The liquid in the waste water tank is dumped overboard from time to time. And out in space, this can be a splendid sight indeed. One of the astronauts has said "there is nothing as beautiful as a urine dump at sunset".

McBush 100% On Board

The man-who-graduated-885th-out-of-the-class-of-889 voted 100% of the time with Bush, up from 95% of the time in 2007.

"Military Sexual Trauma"

That's the term used to describe what women in the US military have to bear for the rest of their lives.
It was inevitable. The sexualization of violence spiked enormously with the rise of american fascism and both Iraqis and female soldiers are being victimized. It's a sickening reality that doesn't fit the propagandized image you're supposed to believe about the armed forces, with policies in place that cover up for the violence, victimizing the women yet again. Add to this the fact that increasing numbers of scumbags are recruited to fit right into the empire's criminal expectations and this nightmare is only going to get worse.

The private war of women soldiers
"Many female soldiers say they are sexually assaulted by their male comrades and can't trust the military to protect them. "The knife wasn't for the Iraqis," says one woman. "It was for the guys on my own side."

Women have died in their sleep from dehydration in Iraq because in 120 degree heat they didn't drink any water. Why? They feared they would get raped by fellow soldiers if they went to the latrine. The military really wants to keep this shit quiet.

"MARJORIE COHN: Was there a commander who saw dehydration listed as a cause of death of a woman, a woman female US soldier, and after that he said “Do not list dehydration as a cause of death anymore”?
COL. JANIS KARPINSKI: Yes."




"I asked the briefer, a VA psychiatrist, whether the VA also considered Military Sexual Trauma an experience that can lead to PTSD. He replied "no."
I looked at the physician with amazement. Many peer-reviewed journal articles assert that Military Sexual Trauma, or MST, is especially associated with PTSD. That the Veterans Administration continues to disassociate MST with PTSD is remarkable.
But it may be understandable, considering the military is a culture that ostracizes and ridicules women who "rock the boat" by reporting incidents of sexual assault and violence."

North American Corporate Wet Dream

Ever wonder why Columbia is reviled in South America?

Plan Colombia Heads For Mexico

"Plan Colombia turned (that) country into a dependable, profitable narco-state. Business is better than ever. Violence is out of control and human rights abuses are appalling.

It gets worse. Two-thirds of Columbians are impoverished. Over 2.5 million peasant and urban slum dwellers have been displaced. Thousands of trade unionists have been murdered (more than anywhere else in the world), and many more thousands of peasants, rural teachers, and peasant and indigenous leaders have as well. Paramilitary land seizures are commonplace. Colombian latifundistas profit hugely. Wealth concentration is extreme and growing. Corruption infests the government. Many thousands in desperation are leaving. Colombia's "democracy" is a sham. So is Mexico's. Plan Mexico will make it worse. That's the whole idea, and it's part of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership - aka the North American Union. (SPP)

It's planned behind closed doors - to militarize and annex the continent. Corporate giants are in charge, mostly US ones. The idea is for an unregulated open field for profit. The Bush administration, Canada and Mexico support it. Things are moving toward implementation. Three nations will become one. National sovereignty eliminated. Worker rights as well. Opposition is building, but moves are planned to quash it. That's the militarization part.

Business intends to win this one. People are to be exploited, not helped. That's why it's kept secret. The idea is to agree on plans, inform legislatures minimally about them, get SPP passed, then implement it with as few of its disturbing details known in hopes once they are they'll be too late to reverse."

Project Censored Top Ten

"Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, Project Censored is a media research program working in cooperation with numerous independent media groups in the US."
Basically they sift through hundreds of the most important stories that are ignored by media and annually publish the top 25. These are the current top ten.
Of course the year is only half over and the vile shits are capable of much worse.

#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
"With the approval of Congress and no outcry from corporate media, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) signed by Bush on October 17, 2006, ushered in military commission law for US citizens and non-citizens alike. While media, including a lead editorial in the New York Times October 19, have given false comfort that we, as American citizens, will not be the victims of the draconian measures legalized by this Act—such as military roundups and life-long detention with no rights or constitutional protections—Robert Parry points to text in the MCA that allows for the institution of a military alternative to the constitutional justice system for “any person” regardless of American citizenship."

If the dictator defines you as an “enemy combatant" for opposing the fascist takeover, your rights don't exist.

#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
"The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which was quietly signed by Bush on October 17, 2006, the very same day that he signed the Military Commissions Act, allows the president to station military troops anywhere in the United States and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to “suppress public disorder.”

# 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
"This military penetration of Africa is being presented as a humanitarian guard in the Global War on Terror. The real objective is, however, the procurement and control of Africa’s oil and its global delivery systems."

# 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
"The Oxfam report, “Signing Away the Future,” reveals that the US and European Union (EU) are vigorously pursuing increasingly destructive regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements outside the auspices of the WTO. These agreements are requiring enormous irreversible concessions from developing countries, while offering almost nothing in return."

#5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
"The enduring monument to US liberation and democracy in Iraq will be the most expensive and heavily fortified embassy in the world—and is being built by a Kuwait contractor repeatedly accused of using forced labor trafficked from South Asia under US contracts."

#6 Operation FALCON Raids

#7 Behind Blackwater Inc.

#8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India

#9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure

# 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief

BS Apology At Faux, Let's Move On To The Next Outrage

Yes, I'm sure "we all" say these things about offing candidates in this "colorful" campaign season. Headlines today to make a point, retraction on page 27 tomorrow, point successfully made anyway.



Well now, anyone remember how a guy in a bar mentioning a "burning bush" got a prison sentence?

We Perpetuate War By Exulting In It's Sacrifice

Happy Revisionist History Day

Tornados This Season

Happyfeet McWidestance Honored

The St. Paul Saints gave away 2,500 "bobblefoots" yesterday. This is how the team's website stated it:

"ST. PAUL, MN (May 21, 2008) – Some of the most famous dance halls in the country include Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Fox Theater in Detroit and now the list includes a restroom at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. With so much fanfare around dancing, the St. Paul Saints will honor “tappers” during National Tap Dance Day.

During the Sunday, May 25 game the first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a bobblefoot. The design is a bathroom stall, with a foot that peaks out of the bottom and “taps” up and down. The day coincides with National Tap Dance Day."

Good News For McBush

"This Thorazine ad from 1957 sure tells it like it is: "With 'Thorazine', senile patients become calm, agreeable and sociable. They begin to eat and sleep better, often gain weight and improve physically. for prompt control of the agitated, belligerent senile... THORAZINE*" Link

h*tip to boingboing

Is There Anything The Military Isn't Involved With?

Titanic Search Was Cover To Locate U.S. Subs

"The man who located the wreck of the Titanic has revealed that the discovery was a cover story to camouflage the real mission of inspecting the wrecks of two Cold War nuclear submarines.
When Bob Ballard led a team that pinpointed the wreckage of the liner in 1985 he had already completed his main task of finding out what happened to USS Thresher and USS Scorpion.
Both of the United States Navy vessels sank during the 1960s, killing more than 200 men and giving rise to fears that at least one of them, Scorpion, had been sunk by the USSR.
Dr Ballard, an oceanographer, has admitted that he located and inspected the wrecks for the US Navy in top secret missions before he was allowed to search for the Titanic.
Only once he had used his new underwater robot craft to map the submarine wreck sites was he able to use it to crisscross the North Atlantic seabed to pinpoint the last resting place of the luxury liner. It meant he had only 12 days to find the Titanic.
“I couldn’t tell anybody,” he said. “There was a lot of pressure on me. It was a secret mission. I felt it was a fair exchange for getting a chance to look for the Titanic.
“We handed the data to the experts. They never told us what they concluded – our job was to collect the data. I can only talk about it now because it has been declassified.”

Is The Secret Service Going To Pay Fox A Little Visit?

Probably not.

"While commenting on Hillary's RFK gaffe, Liz Trotta on Fox News Channel first referred to Barack Obama as "Osama" and then laughed that they should both be killed."

NASA Claims Success, Phoenix Landed

I wonder if life will ever be found on Mars?



That wouldn't be a puddle in the rover's track now, would it?



Surely those can't be trees now, could they?

Think The Oil Companies Aren't Rifling Your Wallet?

Awash In Profits, Exxon Extracting Every Penny From Its Franchisees

"Every time Sohaila Rezazadeh rings up a sale at her Exxon station on Chain Bridge Road in Oakton, her cash register sends the information to Exxon Mobil's central computers. If she raises the price of gasoline a couple of pennies, chances are that Exxon will raise the wholesale price she pays by the same amount.
Through a password-protected Web portal, Exxon notifies Rezazadeh of wholesale price changes daily. That way the oil giant, which is earning about $3.3 billion a month, fine-tunes the pump prices at the franchise Rezazadeh has owned for 12 years.
Now, however, Rezazadeh says she cannot stay in business. Credit-card fees are eating her profit margins. Exxon, which owns the station land, last week handed Rezazadeh a new lease raising her rent about 30 percent over the next three years. She stuck a copy on the window of her station to show customers who are angry about soaring pump prices. Rezazadeh has told Exxon that she cannot make money with the rent that high. Her territory manager's reply, she said, was simple: When you go, leave us the keys."

Uh Oh, say the corporate toadies - drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will solve all our problems.

Aside from no shortage of oil - Here're the savings from Arctic drilling — 75 cents a barrel

Bush's War On The Children

The agenda was to fracture and destroy the country of Iraq, to erase all hope for the future and crush the Arabs so completely that they would cease to be any threat to Israel for the decades. Nothing symbolizes the future more than your children, and in Iraq there are no words for the crimes that the vile scum are committing against them.



The Worst Crime Of All

"Surely nothing that President Bush has done in his two wretched terms of office—not the invasion and destruction of Iraq, not the overturning of the five-centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, not his authorization and encouragement of torture, not his campaign of domestic spying—nothing, can compare in its ugliness as his approval, as commander in chief, of the imprisoning of over 2500 children.
According to the US government’s own figures, that is how many kids 17 years and younger have been held since 2001 as "enemy combatants"—often for over a year, and sometimes for over five years. At least eight of those children, some reportedly as young as 10, were held at Guantanamo. They even had a special camp for them there: Camp Iguana. One of those kids committed suicide at the age of 21, after spending five years in confinement at Guantanamo. (Ironically and tragically, that particular victim of the president’s criminal policy, had been determined by the Pentagon to have been innocent only two weeks before he took his own life, but nobody bothered to tell him he was slated for release and a return home to Afghanistan.)"

Traumatised Iraqi children suffer psychological damage

"Some 60-70 percent of Iraqi children in Iraq are suffering from psychological problems and their future is not bright," Muhssin said."

Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

"John Yoo (PATRIOT act contributor and Bush advisor) publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles."

EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES - IRAQ - Go ahead, take a look at the result of what "depleted" uranium is doing. This was after the first Gulf Slaughter. Now multiply it by many times. For thousands of generations to come.

Not A Very Optimistic Headline

Well, 2/3 of all the missions to Mars have failed, or so they say.

Phoenix spacecraft to land, or crash, on Mars

"By this evening, a few seconds after 4:53 p.m. PDT, scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will know from a single radio signal from one of three orbiting spacecraft high above the planet whether Phoenix has landed precisely on its target site after enduring seven minutes of split-second descent events."

I'd like a peek at some of the hi res pictures we all know they have and haven't released to the public.

Pentagon Loses Another $15,000,000,000

That we know about.
They're losing their touch. It used to be in trillion dollar chunks.

Spending On Iraq Poorly Tracked

"The inspector general for the Defense Department said yesterday that the Pentagon cannot account for almost $15 billion worth of goods and services ranging from trucks, bottled water and mattresses to rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns that were bought from contractors in the Iraq reconstruction effort."

"Hey, We Took A Few Down, Didn't We?"

3/31/08 - Israel Promises To Dimantle 50 Roadblocks

5/24/08 - Israel Installed 41 Additional Roadblocks

"The UN report indicated that Israel erected 144 new checkpoints and removed 103."


Death Toll At Roadblock Rises To 162



"The People's Committee to face up the siege announced the death of Lolo Habbush 59 year-old suffering from the kidney failure for several months, and only two days after the death of her husband Nabhan Haboush who suffered from cancer.
Rami Abdu, the spokesperson of the Popular Committee said that, had a permit to receive medical treatment outside Gaza, but was prevented from leaving after attempting to cross through the Erez crossing point three times.
Habbush then tried the southern Rafah but again failed."

Second Public McBush Fundraiser Cancelled

Bush scales back McCain events

"On Tuesday, the president was to appear with McCain at the Phoenix Convention Center at a McCain for President and Republican National Committee Victory Reception. And on Wednesday, Bush was to appear at Salt Lake City’s Grand America Hotel with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a McCain for President and Republican National Committee Victory Reception (followed by a more exclusive dinner at the Romneys’ Park City home).
Now, both of the public events will be at private residences."

What this tells me is that there is essentially zero support for the likes of McCain aside from mega rich power brokers and the usual super elite trash. They'll hold their fundraisers behind closed doors protected by hordes of private security, keeping the media at bay except for tightly orchestrated press releases.
We're being massively lied to yet again - support for continuation of what the criminal mafia has done to this country is non existent. The MSM is propping up McCain to make it look like it's a horserace. The whole theatrical farce is an idiotic lie.

McBush Fundraiser Cancelled At Phoenix Convention Center

No tickets sold, organizers afraid the media would take notice

"A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.
Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.
Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event."

Take a second and grasp the significance of that last sentence. The campaign doesn't want the media to see the unpopularity of those vile creatures. This is in McBush's home state of Arizona.

Way Past Time To Remove The Entire Maladministration

FBI files indict Bush, Cheney and Co. as war criminals

"The most stunning revelation in a 370-page Justice US Department Inspector General’s report released this week was that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had formally opened a “War Crimes” file, documenting torture they had witnessed at the Guantánamo Bay US prison camp, before being ordered by the administration to stop writing their reports. (...)

The report makes it absolutely clear that torture was ordered and planned in detail at the highest levels of the government—including the White House, the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the Justice Department. Attempts to stop it on legal or pragmatic grounds by individuals within the government were systematically suppressed, and evidence of this criminal activity covered up."

Nation's Poorest 1% Now Controls Two-Thirds Of U.S. Soda Can Wealth

"WASHINGTON—A report on growing disparities in the concentration of U.S. aluminum-can wealth, released Tuesday by the Department of Commerce, revealed that 66 percent of the nation's recyclable assets are now held by the poorest 1 percent of the population.
According to the sobering report, the disproportionate distribution of soda-can wealth is greater than ever before, and has become one of the worst instances of economic inequality in the nation's history. Data showed that over-salvaging of cans by a small and elite group of can-horders has created a steadily growing and possibly unbridgeable gap between the rich and the mega-poor."

Go Away. Where Would Memorial Day Be Without The Damn Wars

Veterans peace group blocked from parade

"WASHINGTON - A veterans group that opposes the war in Iraq has been blocked from marching in a Memorial Day parade in Washington after being told its plans, which once included a casket representing war dead, would be too political for the event.
Veterans for Peace was initially granted a spot in the May 26 parade that is scheduled to travel down Constitution Avenue, past landmarks that include the Washington Monument and the White House.
But the American Veterans Center, a nonprofit that organizes the parade, has pulled that approval, saying it does not allow the expression of political viewpoints.
Anthony Teolis, treasurer of the Washington-area chapter of Veterans for Peace, said that as veterans, the group should be able to take part in the parade. He said it was being singled out because of its anti-war views.
"We are a veterans groups like any other except we have the word peace in our name," Teolis said."

Pulling a little casket to symbolize fallen troops is outlawed. Even after the group said it wouldn't do that it was still banned. But celebrating past wars and flat out militarism is just fine with the parade organizers.

"The parade, now in its fifth year, includes marchers that span the military history of America, from Revolutionary War re-enactors to active duty military units. Other groups scheduled for this year include 20 high school bands, a military high school, and actor Gary Sinise. Last year roughly 250,000 people attended."

Yet More Proof "Al Qaeda" = CIA

How much more evidence is needed? Pakistan is about to extradite some known terrorists to Iran, several members of an 'Al Qaeda' group which the US has supported and funded. If they get sent to Iran their trial may blow the insane "war on terror" farce out of the water.
Expect some event which will be blamed on the Pakistanis and it's bombs away to keep the lies from being exposed.

Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. 'Spies' to Iran

"In another sign of growing tensions with the United States, Pakistan is threatening to turn over to Iran six members of a tribal militant group Iran claims are "spies" for the CIA.
The group, Jundullah, operates in Baluchistan on both sides of the border between Iran and Pakistan and has carried out a number of violent attacks on Iranian army facilities and officers inside the country.
The CIA has denied any direct ties with the group, but U.S. officials tell ABC News U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran."

Prison Planet tells us:

"As the London Telegraph reported last year, "The CIA is giving arms-length support, supplying money and weapons, to an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, which has conducted raids into Iran from bases in Pakistan."
Jundullah is a Sunni Al-Qaeda offshoot terrorist group formerly headed by the alleged mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, reported the Asia Times in 2004."

added - Terrorists already in Iranian custody have begun to sing

Iran mosque blast plotters admit Israeli, US links: report

Mr "Rex 84" Gets Shoved Down Our Throats Again

20 years later it's that puke Oliver North.
To recap — talking to Iran = Nazi appeasement. Defying Congress to sell arms to Iran = “neat” idea. And for that, North was aptly named May 19th's Worst Person in the World.

So, Are You An Enemy Of The State?

You say you don't like the thuggish policies of the criminals in this administration? Do you complain that peoples' needs are ignored while your tax dollars disappear into corporate coffers? Do collapsing bridges, levees and basic infrastructure make you mad? Are you aghast at the endless carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq and all the other bloody wars our warmongering psychopaths seem to revel in? Sick of the lies? Afraid for your kids, the future?
Ask questions, do you?

Govt Core Database Tracks 'Enemies Of The State'

"Harper's magazine investigative reporter Christopher Ketcham says that the federal government's secret "Continuity in Governance" program is much more than a contingency plan to provide safe havens for high government officials during a national crisis. After interviewing half a dozen former government officials with direct knowledge of the program, he was left with the impression that it was also about using a national emergency to justify rounding up potential dissidents who oppose government power. "According to a senior government official there exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously."

Scott Horton, Ketcham's colleague at Harpers comments that "He and other sources tell Radar (the publication where Ketcham originally published his research) that the database is sometimes referred to by the code nameMain Core [aka the "RED" list]. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. [I believe there are sub lists within this database that focus directly upon "patriots" who hold strong views about constitutional limits upon government power and their own civil rights. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.]

Govt. May Have Massive Surveillance Program For Use In ‘National Emergency,’ 8 Million ‘Potential Suspects’

"“We are at the edge of a cliff and we’re about to fall off,” said constitutional lawyer and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein. “To a national emergency planner, everybody looks like a danger to stability.”

Ah, but don't worry Binky. Just don't ask questions. Be like the gentleman at the end of this classic video.

"All in all I'd say we've been very lucky around here. Nothing to do now but wait for orders from the authorities and relax."

"Only Democracy In The Middle East"

US political author Norman Finkelstein denied entry to Israel

"Jerusalem - The US political author and critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to the Jewish state on Friday, his lawyer said.
Finkelstein landed at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv in the early morning and was told by a representative of the ministry of interior that he would not be allowed into the country on 'security' grounds, attorney Michael Sfard told dpa.
'This usually means a 10-year ban on entry,' Sfard added.
Finkelstein, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, has written critical books on Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories and on what he called 'exploitation' of the Jewish tragedy during World War II."

So, what are "our best little buddies" afraid of?

This.

A Good Reason Why Bush Bought His Getaway In Paraguay

Nazis fled to South America too.

US Military Officers Challenge Official Account of September 11

"Twenty-five former U.S. military officers have severely criticized the official account of 9/11 and called for a new investigation. They include former commander of U.S. Army Intelligence, Major General Albert Stubblebine, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Col. Ronald D. Ray, two former staff members of the Director of the National Security Agency; Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, PhD, and Major John M. Newman, PhD, and many others. They are among the rapidly growing number of military and intelligence service veterans, scientists, engineers, and architects challenging the government’s story."

Little Known Scenic Area

Jeebus Freaks Too Much For Public Relations

McBush Desperately Ditches Dipshit Deacons

McCain rejects Parsley’s endorsement

McCain rejects Hagee's endorsement

Santa Barbara Has 15 Parking Lots For People To Sleep In Their Cars

New Grapes Of Wrath Even Has 'Women Only' Lots

"New Beginnings Coordinator Nancy Kapp said the demand for the program was growing due to the economic recession. "The way the economy is going, it's just amazing the people that are becoming homeless. It's hit the middle class," she said. Meanwhile, New Beginnings Executive Director Gary Linker also said that one third of the people who use the program have part-time jobs."




U.S. Senate passes US$165 billion Iraq war funding bill


US strike kills Iraqi civilians

"Eight civilians have been killed in an air strike by US military helicopters north of Baghdad, Iraqi police say.
Two children were among those who died in the attack on Wednesday evening near the town of Baiji, the police said.
Baiji's police chief said the attack targeted a group of shepherds in a farming area."

Raytheon Profit Gains 23% as Defense Sales Rise

See how it works?

$12 Gas Is "Inevitable"

Business & Media Institute

"It may be the mother of all doom and gloom gas price predictions: $12 for a gallon of gas is “inevitable.”
Robert Hirsch, Management Information Services Senior Energy Advisor, gave a dire warning about the potential future of gas prices on CNBC’s May 20 “Squawk Box”. He told host Becky Quick there was no single thing that would solve the problem, due to the enormity of the problem.
“[T]he prices that we’re paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be ‘the good old days,’ because others who watch this very closely forecast that we’re going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon,” Hirsch said. “And then, after that, when oil – world oil production goes into decline, we’re going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, but in addition to that, we’re not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.”

If the local gas stations are any indication with their daily climb then we're well on our way.

Ever Wonder Why They Restrict You To $300 Withdrawals?

Non-Borrowed Reserves of Depository Institutions

(A depository institution is a financial institution in United States, such as a savings bank, that is legally allowed to accept monetary deposits from consumers. - wikipedia)




Top bankers 'leaving US for Asia'

Self Parody At It's Finest

Rep Sam Graves apparently has an empty shell of a campaign going, so he gives us the
Liberal Values Dancers! Coming to steal your children



Graves knows his target audience and won't beat around the bush with any niceties here.
This thuddingly obtuse message is meant for the double wide, pale skinned mouthbreathers in fly over country, them drooling snake handlers whose family trees don't branch much. The point is of course race and resentment, as in a ~how dare them big city race traitors enjoy life while my fat ass is stuck in this here sweltering shithole~ kind of way.
For the benefit of you jesus camp commandos who think the video went by too fast, I'll help y'all out.

Yup, thems all blacks clinkin' glasses back there, and that aint Thunderbird they're swillin'



Next party Kay Barnes throws and this dude will be eyeballin' your 15 year old



That exclamation point music's to help you know these people are not like you!
Y'all know them brown hordes are comin' up to eyeball your 15 year old, don't you?



Yup, we're pointing out Sam who's lookin' nice 'n friendly like at your little blond 15 year old

On Notice

Buried Story Of The Week

What if there was a news story that combined a federal raid on a meat processing plant after a long period of surveillance with agents actually employed to gather evidence, culminating in hundreds of arrests, a shocking history of gross violations concerning sanitary conditions, a massive cover up of hiring illegal immigrants, sexual abuse, child labor, gun running, a clash of racial and religious communities of epic proportions and even a methamphetamine lab.
Wouldn't you think this story would have legs? Apparently it doesn't.

There's a town called Postville, Iowa, that was briefly in the news a week ago because a meat processing plant nearby was raided in an operation of unprecedented size. The place is called Agriprocessors and hundreds of people were arrested, a haul so big the cops rented a stadium to handle the crowds Agriprocessors is owned by the Rubashkins, Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn, N.Y.
The story of them opening a meat processing plant in the heartland and their tense relationship with whitebread locals is told by Stephen G. Bloom in his book "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America"





This saga is beyond immense because apparently the plant was violating any number of laws with impunity for years, operating with a wink and a nod from anyone and everyone who was tasked with oversight. It's disgusting practices were well known - the place was dinged for health and safety violations over the years. "At the end of March, the Iowa Division of Labor Services cited the company for 39 workplace safety and health standards and fined the company $182,000."

PETA went undercover several times to document and videotape the horrors:


"AgriProcessors, the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse, has been ignoring the Jewish commitment to compassion and federal law by mutilating fully conscious animals, shocking them in the face, and slaughtering them in a way that has allowed many to stand and attempt to flee, even minutes after their throats had been slit."


The main reason why the place was busted on May 12 was because they hired illegals, about 80% of it's work force. According to the author of the book cited above the plant had a hard time getting the help it needed because the locals refused to be employed at low pay and to do what's largely understood as the most dangerous job in the country. That's when they started bringing in the foreigners. The town of Postville was tremendously impacted and changed forever, but that's another huge story. This was the largest immigration raid in US history and almost 400 illegals were busted. 85 of them were convicted and sentenced earlier today.


But there's something about this that's keeping it out of the MSM, and some politicians refused to talk about it. Like I mentioned, Rubashkin apparently ignored the law and got away with it for years. Authorities had to know about the sudden influx of foreigners into a small midwestern community. Not only were health and safety laws violated, even the claim of kosher practices was bogus as visiting rabbis were horrified at what they saw. So why is this story buried? I went to CNN, ABC and CBS and there was exactly nothing on their sites apart from a blurb about the bust during an archive search. Maybe one part of the affidavit for the raid gives a hint, one of the undercover agents happened across a little side operation that was a tad interesting:





I've got to say that a closed Hasidic community would be a perfect cover for something like this. The managers repeatedly showed little regard for any number of laws and less regard for the very religious strictures it pretended to observe, so a meth lab isn't that far fetched. This is a 60 acre facility surrounded be security and a chain link fence, a pretty damn private place except when getting raided by the feds. Methamphetamine use has exploded in exactly this area of the country in the past few years. Must be a pretty lucrative business.


But I guess we'll never know the real story. The only people busted were the illegals, mostly from Guatemala, and there's apparently no heat on the Hasidics and they're not being charged with anything. Even though their operation was dirty and unethical, they get to keep their kosher certification. It is a large operation after all, people have jobs to do and people have to eat, donchaknow. A few inconvenient things can be overlooked.


Except that it's strange that a week after the Agriprocessors bust there's this - The Biggest Beef Recall Ever In American History

My God Has A Bigger Penis

Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda

"Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land."

US soldier shoots Koran during target practice in Iraq

"BAGHDAD (AFP) — A US soldier has been expelled from Iraq for shooting a Koran during target practice, the American military said on Sunday as a top general apologised for the desecration that triggered protests."

Nigeria: Rescue of Girls Ignites Islamic Rampage

"NINGI, Nigeria, May 19 (Compass Direct News) – Islamists under the auspices of a paramilitary force last week destroyed six churches to protest a police rescue of two teenage Christian girls kidnapped by Muslims in this Bauchi state town."

Branded a Witch, Your Life is Over

"Sixty-three year old Gladys Kasito, in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, only has one wish – to die peacefully, preferably in her sleep. Kasito says she feels trapped and threatened in her own country. Her community, including her own family, has disowned her. She says everyone is baying for her blood. Kasito has been labeled a witch."

Animals Ran Before The 2004 Indian Ocean Quake Too

Frogs Swarmed in China Before the Quake--Now It's California

"In the days prior to the gigantic earthquake that devastated Sichuan province in China, odd swarms of frogs were seen in the streets of cities in the area, and have subsequently been identified as unusual animal behavior of the type that is thought by some geologists to precede earthquakes. Now it has developed that similar frog appearances have been taking place in Bakersfield, California for about two weeks, and nobody is sure why. Strange swarms of frogs also appeared before the 6.9 Loma Prieta Earthquake in October of 1989."



Frogs again on the move in China, frightening residents

Iraq Slaughter Fails To Make TV Top Ten Stories

May 12 - 18, 2008

In fact it failed to make radio, newspapers or online top ten either.


cable


network

Plus, Iraq is whitewashed from the 2008 Primary too

Urinal Video Game Launched

"TWO Belgian beer fans have launched a video game named Place to Pee, which allows players to fly down ski slopes or kill aliens while relieving themselves at urinals.
Werner Dupont, a software developer and Bart Geraets, an electrical engineer, got the idea while drinking beers.
The Place to Pee' booth is designed for two users at a time and offers two games - blowing up aliens in outer space or skiing down a virtual slope.
Gamers hit their target by aiming at sensors positioned on either side of the urinal.
A specially designed paper cone allows women to play too, the inventors say.
Their Place to Pee logo resembles Manneken Pis, the little urinating boy fountain that is among Brussels' top sightseeing attractions."

Turning Us Into A Nation Of Snoops And Snitches

"To gas prices, foreclosure rates and the cost of rice, add this rising economic indicator: the number of tips to the police from people hoping to collect reward money.

Calls to the Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers hot line in the first quarter of this year were up 30 percent over last year. San Antonio had a 44 percent increase. Cities and towns from Detroit to Omaha to Beaufort County, N.C., all report increases of 25 percent or more in the first quarter, with tipsters telling operators they need the money for rent, light bills or baby formula.
“For this year, everyone that’s called has pretty much been just looking for money,” said Sgt. Lawrence Beller, who answers Crime Stoppers calls at the Sussex County, N.J., sheriff’s office. “That’s as opposed to the last couple of years, where some people were just sick of the crime and wanting to do something about it.”
As a result, many programs report a substantial increase in Crime Stopper-related arrests and recovered property, as callers turn in neighbors, grandchildren or former boyfriends in exchange for a little cash."

Stalin's Poster Boy for Snitching

"For half a century the story of Pavlik Morozov was taught to tens of millions of schoolchildren throughout the Soviet Union.
According to Socialist legend Pavlik was a 13-year old boy who discovered that his father, Trofim Morozov, was ‘an enemy of the revolution’. What did young Pavlik do? He informed on his father to the NKVD, the Soviet secret police.
In some versions of the story, young Pavlik walked 60 miles to the nearest NKVD station to denounce his father. In others, it was Trofim's wife, Tatyana, who suspected that her husband was ‘politically incorrect’, and encouraged young Pavlik to rat on his father to his female schoolteacher.

Trofim Morozov was duly arrested, tried, and sent to a labour camp for ten years. The year was 1932. His fate is unknown, and it is likely that Trofim did not long survive.

There are many slang names for an informer: squealer, squeaker, snoop, grass, fink, nark, snitch .... But Pavlik Morozov was elevated to the status of Communist martyr.
Hero-Pioneer of the Soviet Union Number 001 was the official title given to him by Stalin's propagandists in Moscow. His life exemplified the duty of all good children of the revolution to become informers, even at the expense of family ties."

"Crime Stoppers programs strictly protect the anonymity of callers. Each tip is assigned a number, and if the tip results in an arrest, the caller can collect a cash reward, usually by going to a designated bank. Some programs pay tipsters within hours of an arrest; others have monthly meetings to approve reward amounts."

Prodding, Goading, Provoking...

US violated Venezuela airspace

"Venezuela has demanded an explanation from Washington after a US military aircraft violated its airspace.
The US ambassador in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, has been summoned to explain Saturday's event.
US officials admitted a naval plane on a counter-narcotics mission had "navigational problems" that led it to briefly enter Venezuelan airspace."

Yes, yes, navigational problems that led to the plane overflying the small island of La Orchila, where Venezuela has a military base and is the location of a presidential retreat. Since the US can read the headlines on a newspaper being read by someone lounging on the beach there, this seems to be stupid provocation and nothing else.

"The US violation of Venezuelan airspace comes two days after a similar claim was made against Colombia."

Letter To My Daughter

(Court Upholds Law That Prohibits Promotion of Child Pornography
"The court voted 7 to 2 that the law criminalizing "pandering" of real or purported child pornography over the Internet or through the mail met constitutional standards. The majority dismissed arguments Justice Antonin Scalia called "fanciful hypotheticals" that the law might make documentarians, movie reviewers and even unsuspecting grandparents subject to its pandering standards.")

Dear Sweety,
It was so nice to visit you yesterday, but who would have guessed that it would have gotten so hot this early in the year! I don't know how you did it but I'm sure glad you were able to find John's little kiddie pool in time and get it filled so he could splash around when it got up near 100 degrees. Isn't it cute how 3 and 4 year olds can have so much unabashed fun without clothes in the wading pool and with the sprinkler? What could be more fun for little ones than to be so free on a hot summer's day?
Just a sec, there's some loud pounding on the door.

Minneapolis Citizens Calling For Bush Arrest At GOP Convention

Arrest George W. Bush when he steps off the plane for the Republican Convention in September.

"He has violated and undermined the Constitution by illegally spying on citizens, by refusing to enforce laws passed by Congress, by invading a country without a Declaration of a State of War by Congress and by entering into agreements with foreign countries and not submitting those agreements to the United States Senate for their advice and consent."

Bush's Rolling Disaster Of A Trip

Since his last pathetic attempt to secure some sort of legacy by traveling to the middle east, which was a smashing failure, a lot of people questioned why Bush and his gargantuan entourage would bother doing it again for the second time in five months. As one journalist put it about the last time:

"Bush is heading back to Washington mostly empty-handed, said several analysts and politicians throughout the region. Arab critics deemed Bush's peace efforts unrealistic, his anti-Iran tirades dangerous, his praise of authoritarian governments disappointing and his defense of civil liberties ironic."

Ironic? I'd say arrogantly hypocritical.
Anything changed this time around? If anything it was a worse display of smarmy exceptionalism from the miserable punk, who gets his frat boy jollies throwing his weight around the bar only because he knows his friends will back up his sorry ass.

The most telling hypocrisy came with his love fest in front of the Israeli Knesset. That pathetic dig at Obama can be expected from a small man like Bush - it's been pointed out too often that shallow accusations about "appeasement" have been tossed around all the time by the likes of this wretch to have any meaning left. No, the biggest pretensions about his Israeli suckup was the fact that here was a man whose family got rich by consorting with the nazis during WW2, standing in front of jews and warning the world about dealing with enemies by using nazis as an analogy. All the while deliberately omitting any references to the vicious treatment the Israelis are currently dishing out to the palestinians. Can it get any more hallucinogenic than that?
Maybe, when several right wing knesset members walked out on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert because he wasn't a real zionist like Bush.

By any standard this walking failure is a pathetic joke and the vile MSM spent the entire trip in trying to cover up that fact, leaving middle east political observers stunned over why the hell the whole thing occurred in the first place. As Robert Fisk puts it, the clueless Bubble Boy is positively deranged when it comes to the reality on the ground. In Lebanon:

"The roads were open again; the hooded gunmen had disappeared; the government had abandoned its confrontation with Hizbollah – the suspension of the Shia Muslim security chief at the airport (who bought me a bottle of champagne a year ago, I seem to remember – some Hizbollah "agent" he!) and the abandonment of the government's demand to dismantle Hizbollah's secret telecommunication system was a final seal of its failure – and I opened my newspaper and what did I read?
That George Bush declared in Jerusalem that "al-Qa'ida, Hizbollah and Hamas will be defeated, as Muslims across the region recognise the emptiness of the terrorists' vision and the injustice of their cause".
Where does the madness end? Where do words lose their meaning? Al-Qa'ida is not being defeated. Hizbollah has just won a domestic war in Lebanon, as total as Hamas's war in Gaza. Afghanistan and Iraq and Lebanon and Gaza are hell disasters – I need no apology to quote Churchill's description of 1948 Palestine yet again – and this foolish, stupid, vicious man is lying to the world yet again."

It's been said that a statesman never publicly asks for something without knowing in advance what the answer will be. And since our empty suit of a president is the farthest thing fom a statesman his visit to his autocratic buddies in Saudi Arabia was yet another failure. When he showed up with his begging bowl asking them to increase their oil production, King Abdullah gently told our pretend leader to fuck off and fix the american dollar, which is dropping like a brick and the real cause for soaring oil prices.

No doubt the middle east is breathing a fresh sigh of relief as this fool heads back home. As a parting shot in Egypt, where one headline exclaims "Bush Gets Cold Shoulder", he showed up at the world economic forum to lecture a gaggle of political and business leaders about business tactics and freedom. This was where he summed up the whole purpose of this asinine display of intemperate posturing. The trip wasn't anything about peace and after the abject failure of his first disastrous trip it wasn't anything about his murderous "legacy" in his final year in office. It was about warmongering though, in trying to stir up enmity between neighbors. It was also about freedom too - american and Israeli freedom to dictate to everyone else.

Police Taser Rain Man

Next up, My Left Foot and The Miracle Worker

Police use Taser in arresting autistic man

"JAMES CITY - James City County police officers used a Taser gun on a 24-year-old autistic Williamsburg man Thursday after police said he became unruly with employees at Wilson's Leather at the Prime Outlets-Williamsburg shopping mall.Police responded to the store on Richmond Road around 2 p.m. after employees reported that the man had become argumentative during a dispute over a returned item, according to police spokesman Mike Spearman. The man, whom Spearman called "large in stature," became combative with police and refused to leave the store. Officers incapacitated him with a single shot from the Taser, placed him under arrest and charged him with trespassing and resisting arrest, both Class 1 misdemeanors.
Police only learned the man suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, after he had been placed under arrest, Spearman said."

Added - Damn! I guessed wrong!

Cops Taser Boy Having Epileptic Seizure - 12 Times

Boys At Langley Have Too Much Time On Their Hands

More from the corpse

Someone asked a very good question - can't Al Qaeda afford decent audio and visual equipment?
Of course they can because it's our tax dollars going to pay for this nonsense. But the spook agencies don't want to release stuff that can be scrutinized too closely, donchaknow.

It's becoming clearer what the propagandists are attempting to do with these Terrorist Mastermind ruses. First of all they've been thoroughly discredited as staged jokes too many times to take seriously, although you won't get that from any of the headlines which state unequivocally that Bin Laden says this or that. The disclaimer that "authenticity of the tape could not be independently verified" is always hidden in the text, knowing that the headline is where most people stop reading.

It seems the propagandists have switched tactics somewhat, jettisoning the fear factor from a tired old terror icon who everybody has sort of forgotten. Instead it seems their efforts are to set up the good guy - bad guy scorecard for when Israel goes to war against all the muslim nations in the region. Seeing as BL in his bat cave is supposed to be a figurehead, though faded, of evil in the world, whatever regimes they claim his cadaver denounces are our friends. And who are they? All good buddies of the Bushistas.

Mr "Hundred Year War" Needs A Nap

Professional Tourist Rick Steves Will Soon Be On The 'No Fly List'

Mission: Understand Iran

"5/15 - A friend from the Washington State chapter of the United Nations Association called me six months ago and asked what I could do to help them build understanding between Iran and the US, and to defuse the tension that could be leading to war. I answered, “The only powerful thing would be to produce a TV show on Iran. (...)
I know almost nothing about Iran — and that’s still a lot more than the average American knows. With something as tricky as US-Iran relations, the foundation of wisdom is to be aware that we can’t know the truth from news coverage. Just like I had to actually visit the USSR in 1978 and Nicaragua in 1988, I need to visit Iran in 2008. If war is at stake, I want to know the truth. Because, as I’ve said before, as an American taxpayer, I believe that every bullet that flies and every bomb that drops has my name on it."

I wish his venture all the best, anything that will help to cut through the cloud of bullshit the fascists and their flunkies in the MSM have created is all for the good. But the last thing the warmongers want is for intended targets to have a human face and if Steves actually pulls this off I'll be quite surprised.