McBush/Moosalini Has Lost The Media

When McCain started to keep his normally fawning press gaggles at arm's length a couple of months ago, the media whores grumbled about access. And around convention time when the repugs began their incredible daily cavalcade of lies that the MSM was supposed to dutifully report on, the media whores decided not to play along. Whether it was just the hubris of idiots or repug confidence the whole campaign exercise is a joke and that the election fix is already in, they lost the media, and now the idiotic McCain/ Palin duo is being openly laughed at.
Here CNN gets their jollies. They rightfully point out that Saturday Night Live didn't have to think up funny Palin dialog - they used Palin's own words for laughs.
Of course McSame could go back to being the media's darling who can do no wrong, especially if there's that October surprise, but for now his campaign is treated as slapstick.

So What Will The October Surprise Be?

Well, shit, everybody knows it's coming. From the Arlington Institute to spook agencies to the web bot project at Half Past Human to the Israelis to the american military and others, some profound event is coming up next month. October seems to be a time for unpleasant things to happen, from the Cuban missile crisis to stock market crashes.

Even Twain took a shot at October, sort of - "October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February."

It's traditionally been when markets collapse, and considering the grim financial landscape we're in, whatever happens is going to affect us economically and it won't be pretty.

The repug circus is tanking at the moment as people slowly realize just how filthy an insult their two candidates for high office is. McBush is the poster child for all that's been rotten in this country for the past eight years, and his running mate Moosalini is a clueless, laughable twit who should have stayed a sports anchor. Speaking of which, apparently the repugs are tearing their hair out terrified about the Barbie - Biden debate and will no doubt do all they can to prevent it from happening. That probably won't have anything to do with what's coming a little later in October. But I'll bet they'll drum up some excuse to keep Palin from opening her yap with more Miss South Carolina absurdities.

People are speculating that the fascists have another lollapalooza along the lines of 9/11 in the works, only far worse and something that will involve the entire country. Any new false flag terror would most probably involve radiological/bio weaponry because it would need to trump 9/11, anything less at this point wouldn't raise the level of fear high enough, and the warmongers need the nuclear genie out of the bottle to be able to use their own toys. New "terror" would usher McSame into the white house while giving a jump start to the economy, even if it's all just military contracting. So the "fallout" must be very tempting to the fascist murderers to get their war on.

But who would they finger? Even though Iran is still surrounded by fleets bristling with military power it seems as though Pakistan is being set up as the next muslim country to receive american cruise missile largesse. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been routinely ignored by the US as if the incursions were meant to be provocations, and Pakistan now regularly warns the US to stay the hell out. Fighting between americans and the Pakistani forces has broken out several times. Furious spook activity in the country is evident from that Marriott attack, and it's no secret the US wants to get it's hands on Pak nuclear weapons. It's pretty straitforward that we're being set up to expect some sort of phony "Al Qaeda" fun and games - US steps up Pakistan raids to thwart al-Qaeda 'October surprise' plot

There's one thing about Pakistan too - over the years we've been told repeatedly that Bin Laden is hiding out there. It wouldn't be inconceivable that the Bushistas would pretend to have found or killed the already dead Osama in Pakistan after a false flag event in this country, thereby neatly bookending the Bush/Cheney murder and rape spree, pretending to validate their filthy rampage and installing McSame as chief executive. No matter that Bin Laden has been buried for years, they'd find a way to reanimate his corpse to fool gullible american mouthbreathers. just in time for November 4. But in the meantime there will be ever more carnage and fear and war, because that's what the fascists do best. And if this time around a few too many people wake up and show their disgust for all these disgusting machinations, well, “Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations”

"14,000 Strong, and Armed With Non-Lethal Weapons - America, Meet Your New Local Military"

--------------

I don't usually feel like writing about personal business, but this concludes a chapter in my life and the start of something new. I'm moving out by Oct 1 and truly heading for the hills and yes, trepidation about what the fascists have in store for us is in the mix. This isn't a panic attack by any means though; we've been planning to do this for a long time and we can't be more prepared. Well OK, a little more prepared, but the fact is it probably won't be a good idea to be around populated areas soon, and we're going where people ain't.
It always was a raging question for me about how best to weather a shitstorm. Do you bunker down or do you get mobile? Personal situations coincided for us to have great mobility and independence, and I suspect that will be precious because of the type of shit I think is about to hit the fan. Too bad about those awful gas prices though...

McSame's Newest Circus Stunt

The kid who supposedly knocked up Moosalini's kid, he who looks like a deer in the headlights about ready to bolt, is going to be forced to perform for the media in a shotgun wedding just prior to the Diebold Premier selection process.
Truly vomit inducing tripe.

The marriage of the vice-presidential candidate’s pregnant teenage daughter could lift a flagging campaign

"In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.
Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

Return Of The Cable Cutters

Damage to fibre optic cable affects Internet

"LAHORE: Internet services throughout Pakistan were affected on Saturday after an undersea fibre optic cable, connecting Pakistan to the rest of the world, was cut near Egypt, Geo News reported. The channel quoted sources as saying Internet traffic was temporarily moved to a SMW 3 cable. Internet users faced hours of disruption. Ali Qadir Gilani, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, told the channel later that the submarine cable had been restored and the system was fully operational now. daily times monitor."

Cables off the Egyptian coast seem to be targets of opportunity for someone.
Jeez, I wonder who that could be?
Remember last winter?

Another undersea Internet cable damaged in Mideast: Indian firm

"NEW DELHI (AFP) — Another Middle East undersea Internet cable has been damaged, adding to disruption in Indian online services caused when several lines were cut earlier this week, a cable operating firm said Saturday."

Gaza's Smuggling Tunnels

People will survive by any means necessary.

"Imposed last year after Gaza fell under the control of the militant Palestinian faction Hamas, the blockade was designed to make Hamas unpopular with Gaza's 1.4 million residents by banning virtually all trade with the outside world.
But deep beneath the watchtowers and fences of Gaza's 10-mile long border with Egypt, a sprawling warren of hand-dug burrows now supplies everything from food, petrol and designer jeans through to guns, drugs and black market Marlboro cigarettes.
Tunnel gangs charge premiums of up to 150 per cent on their cargos, raking in tens of thousands of dollars a week and making the excavation business one of Gaza's few growth industries.
"We bring through laptops, clothes, computers, medicines, mobile phones and even people," said Hisham al Loukh, 23, another tunneller. "There was even a bride from Egypt who came through one recently to get married to a man in Gaza."
The first tunnels underneath Gaza's perimeters were dug years ago, when they were they were primarily to smuggle weapons and explosives for use against Israel.
But it is during the blockade of the past year that the tunnellers' hazardous craft has really come to the fore. On some estimates there are now up to 500 passageways across to Egypt, mostly clustered around the town of Rafah, which straddles the border.
The tunnels usually surface in the gardens of villas on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where many residents are either sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or willing to lend their properties in return for a share of the lucrative profits.
Each member of a tunnelling gang, usually working in day and night shifts of 10 men each, earns around $15 per metre of passageway dug, which counts as a decent wage in an area which currently has 80 per cent unemployment. But as even the briefest of sojourns down into one of the tunnels makes clear, it is a risky living.
Entering one requires perching precariously on a makeshift wooden chairlift, which is then lowered down the 30 foot deep shaft by a winch powered by a sputtering petrol generator.
As in the Second World War film classic The Great Escape, the tunnel's walls are propped up with makeshift wooden planks, and equipped with ventilation pumps to freshen the musty, damp air at the bottom.
Diggers then use small electric drills to carve a path through the thick clay soil, steering their way by hand-held compass.
But otherwise, the engineering expertise has advanced little since the days of Tom, Dick and Harry. Tunnel collapses have led to dozens of fatalaties - so many that some local shops honour tunnellers in the same fashion as "martyred" local militants, displaying pictures of them clutching spades and drills rather than assault rifles."

Hopefully A Trend

Banker leaps to death in front of train

"The City was in shock last night after the apparent suicide of a millionaire financier haunted by the pressures of dealing with the credit crunch. (...)

Mr Stephenson is believed to have taken his own life after succumbing to mounting personal pressures as the world’s financial markets went into meltdown."

That Miss South Carolina Moment

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska"
Moosalini

This Campaign Is Going To The Dogs

Obama and McSame are featured on the cover of Nature Magazine, with an unfortunate ad on the back.

They Need Bail, Not A Bailout

Trouble in Banktopia

"The financial system is blowing up. Don’t listen to the experts; just look at the numbers.

Last week, according to Reuters, “U.S. banks borrowed a record amount from the Federal Reserve nearly $188 billion a day on average, showing the central bank went to extremes to keep the banking system afloat amid the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.” The Fed opened the various “auction facilities” to create the appearance that insolvent banks were thriving businesses, but they are not. They’re dead; their liabilities exceed their assets. Now the Fed is desperate because the hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in the banks vaults have bankrupt the entire system and the Fed’s balance sheet is ballooning by the day. The market for MBS will not bounce back in the foreseeable future and the banks are unable to roll-over their short term debt. Game over. The Federal Reserve itself is in danger. So, it’s on to Plan B; which is to dump all the toxic sludge on the taxpayer before he realizes that the whole system is cratering and his life is about to change forever. It’s called the Paulson Plan, a $700 billion boondoggle which has already been disparaged by every economist of merit in the country."

Wealthy Teen Nearly Experiences Consequence

"SOMERSET, NJ—In what local authorities are calling a "near tragedy," Charles Wentworth, a 17-year-old Rutgers Preparatory senior and member of the affluent Wentworth family, came perilously close to suffering a consequence resulting from his own wrongdoing Saturday.



Wentworth, reportedly ignoring the protests of his classmates, got behind the wheel of his turbocharged Supra 2000GT after consuming half the contents of a bottle of Goldschläger at a friend's party. While driving westbound on Route 27, a disoriented Wentworth drifted across two lanes of traffic and collided with a minivan carrying a family of four, bringing the teen face-to-face with a potentially life-altering lesson.
Wentworth escaped unscathed and unpunished, however, when his airbags deployed and a team of high-powered attorneys rushed to the scene and rescued him from the brink of personal responsibility.
"Amazingly, Mr. Wentworth did not experience a single repercussion for consuming alcohol under age or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and is furthermore completely unaware that he did anything wrong," local police chief Marvin Taylor said. "He is a very lucky boy."
"If he had been driving just 5 mph faster, or if his parents hadn't had the influence to keep the matter out of court and the endless financial resources to lease a car of the exact same make and model to prevent him from having to face even the relatively trivial humiliation of being taunted by his peers for driving a slightly less expensive vehicle—my God, who knows what could have happened?" Taylor added. "He could have died or, worse, been held accountable for his actions."

Denver Police Union Shirt Celebrates The Democratic Convention

Wonder how T shirts saying "We get up early to off the pigs" would be perceived.

Officers Given T-Shirt To Commemorate Event

McCain Campaign Runs Ad In The WSJ Claiming To Win Debate Before Debate Occurs

Yet another aspect of neocon insanity. They live in their own psycho universe, oblivious to reality, droning on to themselves as they drive off the cliff of madness.

Here's the screenshot

Russia? Oh Ya, Fer Sure

pathetic performance here

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--

COURIC: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

Palin talks to Couric -- and if she's lucky, few are listening

"A global financial crisis and a not-quite-suspended presidential campaign dominated newspaper front pages and television reports over the last couple of days.Bad news for America. But good news for Sarah Palin.

The economic crisis and John McCain's surprising response have drawn attention away from the Republican vice presidential nominee just as she has started to answer more pointed questions from the media.Her third nationally televised interview, with CBS anchor Katie Couric, found Palin rambling, marginally responsive and even more adrift than during her network debut with ABC’s Charles Gibson. In a 40-minute session with Couric that aired Wednesday and Thursday nights.

, the Alaska governor defended her puzzling claim that geographic proximity makes her some sort of expert on Russia; went nearly blank when queried about McCain's achievements as a big-business regulator; agreed America "may find itself" on the road to another Great Depression; and, promoting a troop surge in Afghanistan, casually suggested that it "will lead us to victory there, as it has proven to have done in Iraq."

The last statement couldn't help but conjure an image from 2003 -- President Bush beaming in that green flight suit before the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner. Palin's unblinking certitude gave way at other times in the interview to a striking imprecision, as when she struggled to respond to Couric's suggestion that the $700-billion bailout might be better funneled through middle-class families instead of Wall Street firms."That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in . . ." Palin began, before meandering off in fruitless pursuit of coherence."

Jack Cafferty doesn't mince words:

Behold My Beehive But Withhold The Queries

Palin courts cameras, but dodges questions

"Palin, who has not held a single press conference since McCain announced her as the Republican vice presidential candidate, in the past week has held only one rally on her own, and has ditched her print press contingent to make an ice cream run with her family and to pose for staged photos with foreign leaders."



Ain't got nothin' on Amy

President Awol

One could actually make the case that we're in for a world of shit because Dim Son has left the building. That would mean that the same perps who pulled off 9/11 while he was out of the way and sat reading "My Pet Goat" are about to do it again, writ large.

With only a few months left in his presidency and an economy in freefall, George Bush has decided to check out early

"People joke, or say quite seriously, that we're all better off the less involved Bush is — to which there is certainly some truth, but it masks a reality that really shouldn't go unremarked upon: The people who are filling the void of leadership he's left are people he appointed. Our nation is being run by people we haven't elected because the guy we did choose doesn't seem to be interested in the job anymore.
This fact has been patently obvious for at least a year. He's all but put an "I'd Rather Be Brushclearin'!" bumper sticker on Air Force One. It's no surprise he didn't have the decency to step down and let someone else do the job he can't be bothered doing (and for which he was always manifestly unqualified, anyway). It's no surprise that his own party didn't have the integrity to prioritise the good of the country over the good of their party and force out the idiot king. And it's no surprise that the Democrats didn't have the collective spine to put impeachment back on the table. No, none of these things are surprising.
But they are infuriating nonetheless.
And they are remorselessly galling, these various derelictions of duty, having happened as they have under the red, white and blue shadow of an enormous star-spangled banner, to rousing shouts of "My patriotism is better than yours!" and spontaneous renditions of "God Bless America" — a bunch of self-proclaimed patriots with their Team Patriot lapel pins and their futile fists clamped around the staffs of the Made-in-China mini-flags they wave.
Everyone in Washington is a patriot these days, but no one cared enough about America to effectively address that its leader long ago abandoned the scene."

Cattle Prod News

He was naked with a light bulb, so the cops killed him

"Secret Service Representatives" Lean On 61 Year Old Librarian

Because of a sign.

Dancing With The Lightweights

Couric actually asks some pointed questions, Barbie tries to fluff her way out of it.

video

Palin Hides, McSame Avoids

The peekaboo wannabes simply don't want you to get to know how laughably pathetic they are, and are using every excuse to shield themselves from scrutiny. It's remarkable - just look at their track record and decide for yourself.

McSame doesn't want the debate to happen this Friday

"In a roll of the dice that jolted the presidential race, McCain said he is suspending his campaign - and his fundraising and campaign advertising - as of Thursday and will return to Washington. He also scrapped a planned appearance on David Letterman."
(Bad move dude, Letterman replaced you with Keith Olbermann)

Has there ever been a candidate who doesn't give a press conference for a month?

Until he emerged from his bunker, his last news conference was on August 13 in Birmingham, MI.

No press allowed as fascist puppets meet Barbie

"While GOP presidential nominee John McCain announced this morning he would hold his first press conference since Aug. 13, his campaign decided today they would not let a representative of the print media observe GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin greet foreign leaders."
You're supposed to think photos of face time with Bushista stooges make foreign policy experience, but forget about any potentially embarrassing questions.

Press must show "deference", obey "conditions" or no Palin

"Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

McCain Camp: No Palin Medical Records Till After The Election

Bizarre "fifth pregnancy" anyone?

What governor?

"*Since her election 20 months ago, she has spent a total of 86 days at the governor's office. Republicans and democrats in the legislature call her "No-show Sarah."

What candidate?

"She has been a candidate for the second highest office in the land for nearly a month, but Sarah Palin has yet to hold a single press conference."

McCain Avoids Issues

Obama Responds to Immigration Policy Questions, McCain Avoids Them

McCain Avoids Gay Adoption Question

McCain Avoids Straight Talk on Taxes

McCain avoids weekend campaign events

McCain avoids answer on birth control question

McCain avoids question on Viagra

Swindle's Numbers Just Made Up

Bad News For The Bailout

"The secretary and the administration need to know that what they have sent to us is not acceptable," says Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn. The committee's top Republican, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, says he's concerned about its cost and whether it will even work.
In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Time To Bug Out

Party's over, that's all she wrote. For decades we saw the scumbags in the wings, those scurrying criminals with their Rex 84 and Phoenix program and MKULTRA and a thousand other schemes to make human existance hell on earth. The came the coup in 2000. All the nightmarish filth they readied for so long could finally flower, and they put the pedal to the metal when they pulled off their 9/11 shock and awe.

It's been one insult nonstop, since then, hasn't it? But don't believe for a New York second that the mass murderers are bumbling incompetents. They exist in a different universe than you or I. Their seemingly bizarro attitude and black-is-white-and-white-is-black is only our naive interpretation of their intent and agenda. Despite some setbacks the psychopathic fucks have accomplished quite a bit of what they set out to do, and they ain't over yet.

Or as Sherri B at Unknown news puts it:

"The big runs on banks and stores hasn't started. Yet. The rampant looting and hate crimes have not escalated to government assigned curfews. Yet. Commonly perpetuated stress or drug related acts of violence haven't happened. Yet. Your money, homes, credit cards, and access to gas hasn't been completely destroyed. Yet. Bush hasn't launched America's next war. Yet."

We can't know for sure what they'll do next, but it seems the manipulating shits have begun the process of extinguishing the economy. That, in tandem with massive war will be the end of everything you can take for granted about your present existence. It will all change and very much for the worse. If you haven't yet thought about massive disruption, worthless money, displacement and where you'll get the things you need to survive, well, it's probably too late and the best you can do is cop an attitude adjustment that will allow you to endure.

As for Mrs Lipstick and I, we're outa here in a few days. I will not submit to a police state crackdown of roadblocks, snarling dogs and bangs on the door at midnight. I refuse to be disarmed and frightened. We've seen the writing on the wall and have prepared for this for some time. We're literally heading for the hills for a nice long vacation instead of maybe being trapped in a quarantine. We're becoming mobile while we can before the possibility of being ushered into one of those festive Halliburton camps. We've opted to be free and intend to stay that way. If you haven't thought about it yet, the only way to assure your safety and enhance your possibility of survival is to get as far away from people as possible when the shit flies. I'll still be blogging while I monitor the collapse from afar.

Of course it could be alarmism here, nothing bad will happen between now and January, gas prices will go down, the economy will flourish, people will smile and the Cheney administration will be shipped to the Hague in crates to stand trial. Right.

Do I know where hell is
Hell is in hello
Heaven is goodbye forever
It's time for me to go.

Picture You Won't See In Corporate Media

Veterans For Peace occupy the National Archives Building

"Washington -- Eight hours into their occupation of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., Veterans For Peace members report they have called all 40 members of the House Committee on the Judiciary, urging them to actively support impeachment hearings.
Elliott Adams, president of VFP and one of the four veterans perched on a 35-foot ledge in front of the Archives Building, said, "We called the pro-impeachment members of the Committee to give them a shot in the arm and let them know people are still very interested in impeachment hearings, and we called the rest of them to say, 'Look, the Democratic and Republican conventions are over. Let's cut the bullshit and get back on track doing your job.'" The veterans plan on maintaining their fast and occupation for 24 hours, until 8:00 am tomorrow. Update courtesy of Mike Ferner (VFP)

Regarding exchanges with authorities Elliott reports, "We’ve had a few more proposals of the ‘great deal’ we could get if we’d just get off the damn ledge. We respectfully declined."

Palin's A Symbol Of Everything That's Wrong With The US

Matt Taibbi in the Rolling Stone

"Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV – and this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."

What A Shocker

Paulson's former firm to be among largest beneficiaries of bailout

"It certainly pays to be Treasury Secretary if your former firm is a brokerage house."

Imagine My Surprise

Pelosi, Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress Have Direct Financial Stake in the Bailout.

"Pelosi, in her most recent financial disclosure form, reported that her husband owned between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in AIG, which ceded majority control to the U.S. government this week in exchange for $85 billion of loans.
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, disclosed that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had more than $2 million of AIG stock at the end of 2007, when shares were worth $58.30. AIG has fallen 85 percent this week to close yesterday at $2.69. The lawmakers' aides didn't respond to calls seeking comment.
Altogether, 56 senators and representatives had stakes in AIG, Lehman, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns Cos. or IndyMac Bancorp Inc. -- some of the biggest casualties of the market bloodbath -- according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Because You'll Believe Anything: Unknown Terrorist Group Claims Responsibility For Marriot Bombing

Winter Patriot

"In a phone call to an Islamabad TV station, "a group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam" has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
Fedayeen-i-Islam is "a little-known group" according to Bloomberg. But just how little-known?Dawn's report quotes "a senior [Pakistani] government official" as saying:
"We have not heard the name of the organisation but we are trying to locate its network."
Amazing.
Ever since Saturday night's bombing the media have been wrestling with the big question: "Why did al Qaeda do this?"But now they have to deal with a different question: "How is Fedayeen-i-Islam related to al Qaeda?"
It goes without saying that Fedayeen-i-Islam must be a violent radical Islamofascist group and that they must have bombed the hotel. And they must have been assisted, if not directed, by al Qaeda, and probably the Taliban as well. After all, who else but the world's most violent Islamic terrorists could make an anonymous phone call to a TV station?


big crater left by fertilizer bomb. or something

It's nice to know the big questions are looked after. That gives us leeway -- here in the frozen corners of the blogosphere -- to ask meaningless little insignificant questions, like:What were US Marines doing in the Marriot Hotel just before the attack?
According to Pakistan Daily, after the blast, a fire broke out on the fourth and fifth floors of the hotel.
Why these floors and not the others? The official explanation didn't make much sense. On the other hand, according to an eyewitness report from a member of Pakistan's Parliament, a group of US Marines had recently visited the hotel, while Admiral Mike Mullen was there.
According to the eyewitness, all access to the hotel was closed off while the Marines unloaded steel boxes from a white US Embassy truck, bypassed both Pakistani and hotel security, and took these boxes directly to the fourth and fifth floors of the hotel -- just where the fires mysteriously broke out.
Were the Marines loading the building with incendiaries? It certainly wouldn't be the first time a building was primed by insiders for a subsequent "terrorist attack".
I wasn't kidding in my prior post when I called the Marriot bombing "Pakistan's 9/11". But I didn't explain myself particularly well, either.
There's a long list of similarities between the two attacks, including the rush by both politicians and the media to cast the event as "an attack on democracy", when in both cases the attacks came at critical times for governments which falsely claimed to have been legitimately elected.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari can now claim to be in an all-out war against radical Islamic terrorists, and he may even be able to build up enough "political capital" to drag his nation in a direction in which it doesn't wish to go.
As usual, the attack has been followed by a barrage of media nonsense, such as a report from the Financial Times which says men with ties to al Qaeda have been arrested in Pakistan in connection with the Marriot bombing.
Pakistani investigators yesterday said they had found new evidence of al-Qaeda's involvement in the suicide truck bombing of Islamabad's Marriott hotel. Intelligence officials also reported the arrest of up to five militants in connection with planning attacks [...]According to an intelligence official, two of the five arrested men "came with conclusive evidence of close links to al-Qaeda. Their connection to the militant group is beyond any doubt."
Let's see now: The police are arresting members of one group while another group claims responsibility. Does this not undermine the claims of the police?
If you were tripped up by this little bit of logic, you must be a Democrat, since according to the Republicans, the Democrats have failed to learn the lessons of September 11th, 2001.
And the primary lesson from September 11th, of course, is that logic, evidence, and science are all past their prime.
Therefore, we don't use forensic evidence to solve crimes anymore; we label the crimes acts of war, destroy the forensic evidence, and attack defenseless countries instead. For revenge. Or something."

From King David Hotel in Palestine to Marriott Hotel in Pakistan

"This is clearly part of a plan to force President Zardardi to turn his guns on his own people and give the US military a foothold inside Pakistan , which Pakistanis reject."

The Reason Why Managers Never Showed At The HP Company Picnic This Year

May 7, 2008 - HP could lay off 400 in Oregon

August 16, 2008 - HP company picnic, Corvallis, OR

August 20, 2008 - Layoffs start at HP Corvallis


Noida CEO beaten to death by sacked employees

"Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Sept 22 (ANI): The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a Noida company was beaten to death today by some dismissed employees following the failure of a meeting, that was called to resolve a dispute between them and the management.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Noida) R K Chaturvedi said that L K Chaudhury, the CEO of Gradiano in Udyog Vihar of Greater Noida, was killed when the agitating workers turned violent and beat him up.
During the clash, a security guard opened fire in air, said Chaturvedi. He added that about 20 people were injured.
Chaudhury was rushed to the Kailash Hospital where he was declared brought dead.
About 200 former employees were present inside the office premises when the incident occured.
The assailants had been dismissed two months back for some reasons. They were protesting against their dismissal since then. (ANI)"

State Department's Fearsome Secret Weapon

State's Trolls 'Push Back' Against Anti-U.S. Bloggers

"The U.S. State Department is using a wide range of tactics to win over the populations of hostile countries such as Iran, according to James K. Glassman, Under Secretary For Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. "We want to bring people together," Glassman said during a teleconference on Wednesday. He listed programs ranging from pro-democracy videos to inviting the Iranian national basketball team to play in Salt Lake City.
But one initiative he cited really stood out. State employs eight professional Internet "trolls" whose job it is to log onto blogs in unfriendly countries and "push back" against what Glassman says is misinformation about the U.S.

[T]hey enter into digital conversations online either on other people’s blogs or other websites. And they identify themselves as working for the United States Government ... [A]t times they will ... say, you know, that’s not accurate, here’s the truth about U.S. policy and here’s a link, you can go to America.gov, you can go somewhere else. They do this in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and by the way, we hope soon, in Russian."

Financial Collapse To Be Tackled By Overhauling The System From The Ground Up

Design changes unveiled for Lincoln penny

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Next year, the penny will be getting not just one new look but four of them, the first changes to the 1-cent coin in 50 years.
The U.S. Mint unveiled the new designs during a ceremony Monday at the Lincoln Memorial. The coin changes are part of the government's commemoration next year of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.
Lincoln's profile will reman on one side of the coin but the Lincoln Memorial will be replaced on the other side by the new images, with a different one being introduced every three months."


Lincoln shmaltz to ease financial worries

Palin Agrees To Help With Palin Administration Investigation Of Palin Administration

Her 15 minutes of fame over, the albatross's troubles begin

"Attorneys for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin met with a special investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board earlier today to broker her cooperation with the panel's own probe of the scandal now known as "Troopergate," according to sources close to the matter."

Meanwhile, her running mate has sage advice for troubled times.




Also Palin by the numbers

Reporter Warns Staged Financial Crisis Part Of Fascist Coup

Huffington Post writer threatened by neo-con bloggers after urging readers to remember Prescott Bush's Fascist "Business Plot"

"Alexandrovna compares the current manufactured crisis to the now infamous "Business Plot" of 1933, a previous attempt at an outright coup in order to install fascism in America. This treasonous plot was so called because the high-level plotters, including Prescott Bush, the current president's grandfather, were Wall Street men who openly supported fascism.
The coup attempt came to light one year later in 1934, when General Smedley Butler informed the Congress that a group of wealthy industrialists had attempted to get on side high ranking military figures in order to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"It seems this time around, the Bush family is trying the more subtle approach to open bloodshed: first create a crisis, then under the guise of addressing that crisis, overthrow democracy. Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained just this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently, and steal public funds?" Alexandrovna writes.
In a passionate conclusion the writer demands that Impeachment be brought against those members of the government involved in the "New Business Plot". She then voices fears that failing this, people will have to take to the streets to prevent the usurpation of their freedoms and the total dissolution of America."

BAILOUT AND THE NEW "LOST GENERATION"

"Americans are worse than broke, they are discouraged. The bailout sent a clear message that no matter how hard you work, the government can plunge you into deeper debt with the stroke of the pen or the vote of a congress inextricably linked with Wall Street itself. Black Tuesday may have plunged the United States into the Great Depression but it was a sense of hopelessness; the feeling that nothing one could personally do would improve things that kept us in that depression until WW2. The American Dream is a nightmare. Worse, for most Americans it turned out to be a cruel lie."

When Atheists Attack

Refusing to hesitate isn't a primordial truth of wise governance

"The point to be lamented is not that Sarah Palin comes from outside Washington, or that she has glimpsed so little of the earth's surface (she didn't have a passport until last year), or that she's never met a foreign head of state. The point is that she comes to us, seeking the second most important job in the world, without any intellectual training relevant to the challenges and responsibilities that await her. There is nothing to suggest that she even sees a role for careful analysis or a deep understanding of world events when it comes to deciding the fate of a nation. In her interview with Gibson, Palin managed to turn a joke about seeing Russia from her window into a straight-faced claim that Alaska's geographical proximity to Russia gave her some essential foreign-policy experience. Palin may be a perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American success story—but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling into, or upon, world history.

The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country."

McBush - No Regrets About Deregulation That Led To Our Collapse

"But it was good for my the economy, I own 13 cars."

Oprah Better Watch Out

I just watched a few minutes of the Emmys.
As she's getting on in years she's starting to resemble Divine.

An Example Of Our Future

Panic Grips Area During Gas Shortage

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Many communities gripped by a gas shortage were in panic mode over the weekend, and bad news from AAA did not help to calm them.
AAA said Saturday that supplies may not return to normal until late next week, but until then, they said everyone needs to deal with the crisis in a reasonable manner.
The latest updated comes the day after Gov. Phil Bredesen stated that the colonial pipeline that provides much of the area's supply was at 100 percent capacity.
AAA stated that the pipeline is still experiencing interruptions due to power problems caused by Hurricane Ike.
They said they do not expect normal service to be restored until next Friday. (...)
Officials said they wanted to stress to the communities that no one should be hording gasoline, cars should only be refilled when they are close to empty and drivers should not top off tanks when they are half full or more."

Enough of that noise. Always keep your vehicles topped off and if you don't have a five gallon jug or two of spare gas sitting in your garage, get your butt up and go purchase it. Be sure to recycle the gasoline every few weeks or put stabilizer in it so it won't degrade.
Don't rely on "officials" to alert you to anything - their purpose is to keep you lulled into a false sense of security until it's too late for you to do what's necessary for your survival.

Palin's Fabulous Road To Nowhere Opens

$25,000,000 for 3.2 miles of gravel

"Alaska may not have a Bridge to Nowhere, but it now has a Road to Nowhere. The state this week completed a $25 million gravel road that was intended to lead up to the bridge linking the city of Ketchikan to its airport on a neighboring island. The bridge project became the symbol of federal largess, and Congress eventually dropped the earmark for the bridge. The state still received the money, but Gov. Sarah Palin - who once supported the bridge - last fall killed the project, valued at nearly $400 million.
Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein said the 3.2-mile road now is ideal for road races and hunting, and possibly some commercial development. But with no bridge to serve it, that's probably about it."

Mossad/CIA Busy In Islamabad

Bomb Explodes at Hotel in Pakistan’s Capital, Killing at Least 40

"A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 250, the police said.
The blast, one of the worst acts of terrorism in Pakistan’s history, went off just a few hundred yards from the prime minister’s house, where all the leaders of government were dining after the president’s address to Parliament.
The toll was expected to grow because of reports that people had been trapped inside the six-story hotel, which has been a favorite meeting spot of both foreigners and well-connected Pakistanis in the heart of the capital. The building was quickly engulfed in flames and continued to burn for hours Saturday night.
The bomb left a vast crater, 40 feet wide and 25 feet deep, at the security barrier to the hotel. Witnesses said security guards were buried under a mound of rubble. Cars across the street from the hotel were mangled, and trees on the street were charred and stripped of their branches. The blast shattered windows in buildings hundreds of yards away."



Of course it just happened and more information/disinformation is forthcoming, but this event has all the trappings of a classic Mossad false flag attack.
For one thing look at the photo above. No conventional explosive as in a car bomb will dig a crater that deep. Elementary physics dictate that dynamite, ammonium nitrate, C4 or any number of other explosives take the path of least resistance and will explode upward and outward. It's more reminiscent of the mini nuke that was set off in front of the Sari nightclub in Bali. It's probably a safe bet that no muslim terrorist group possesses such weapons, which don't just shatter or pulverize but vaporizes.

It's also a safe bet that this convenient quote by an unnamed individual will get big play in MSM:

"An American intelligence official said the attack “bears all the hallmarks of a terrorist operation carried out by Al Qaeda or its associates.”

Well, no, it doesn't. It bears all the hallmarks of a fascist false flag attack which is conveniently timed to jump start fear and anger to enable the perpetrators to accomplish their agenda, which is to suck a nation of 175 million deeply into the war on terror scam.

“The Marriott is an icon,” said Abdullah Riar, a former aide to Mrs. Bhutto. “It’s like the twin towers of Pakistan.

Recall that prior to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, Australians were overwhelmingly opposed to supporting and being part of fascist conquest and slaughter in the middle east. The only people on board with an american strike were the toadies in government. The Bali blast was in front of a nightclub that was popular with Aussies and they made up most of the dead, while if it were muslim fanatics who set off the explosion, they would have picked the american hangout down the road. Afterwards all opposition to the Iraqi invasion was nullified by calls of righteous indignation and anger and from that point on the australians were dragged into the quagmire.

From the initial reports the same exact thing has just occured in Islamabad. In the past several weeks there's been a huge outcry from Pakistanis about american forays and strikes inside their border from Afghanistan, subsequently killing Pakistani citizens. The Pak military was even given orders to repel american cross border attacks with deadly force. Obviously the monsters playing out their phony WOT can't have the uppity wogs asserting themselves when there's a conquering agenda to follow, so this should teach them a lesson to follow orders and allow the ziofascists have their way with impunity.

By all reports this was a massive explosion that follows the false flag modus operandi exactly. It was so powerful it was heard almost 20 miles away. It happened at dusk, ensuring that operatives would have all night to fix the evidence to point to the designated patsies. American agents were quick to offer their "assistance" immediately, just as in Bali:

"The F.B.I. offered to send special agents to help investigate, said a senior American official, who declined to be identified because of the nature of the matter."

In any nuke explosion the incredibly hot thermal wave sets fire to everything around. The entire Marriott hotel was engulfed in flames and was burning fiercely after the blast in Islamabad. Just as in Bali, where no trace of around 100 people were found, the fireball seems to have done more than just smash people up into small parts. "Witnesses said that security staff at the front of the hotel, where the blast was strongest, had 'simply been vaporised." And just like in Bali there apparently were one or two smaller preliminary explosions that would scatter traces of common explosives to contaminate the murder scene. 'First there was a blast and then all the electricity went out ... then it came back on and there was a second much bigger blast or a series of deafening blasts.' And of course, the "vast crater".

My guess is that that's the last we see of the crater because it's just too incriminating, and an hour surfing around now brings up only images of burning buildings. Also we'll hear from the Pak government all the usual strong condemnations about terrorism. But there was great danger doing this. The entire world has had years since 9/11 to understand how the real terrorists do things and blame it on the designated patsies. It just may be that instead of being bludgeoned by this false flag catastrophe into going along with a slow motion western invasion of their country, Pakistanis will now fiercely resist the ziofascists, and they do have nukes.

added - What Was Mysterious Activity Going on in the Marriott Hotel Islamabad by United States Marines?

"Though it would never get confirmed but the fire on the fifth and fourth floor of the hotel broke out because those flours were housing the mysterious steel boxes under the heavy guard of United States marines and no one including the Pakistani security forces and the security men of the hotel were allowed to go near with the them. These boxes were shifted inside the hotel when the Admiral Mike Mullen met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others in Islamabad.
It is said that one member of parliament Mumtaz Alam who belongs to the PPP, the ruling party was there eye witnessed the whole scene when the white truck of US embassy came to the gate of Marriot Hotel and US marines themselves unloaded the steel boxes from the trucks and shifted them to the fourth and fifth floors without passing through them the scanners at the entrance of the hotels. When the truck was there, all the entrance and the exit passage way to the hotels were closed."

added - Some say they know what those steel boxes held. And since "Al Qaeda" is a CIA front, who knows?

US Hands Over Suitcase Nukes To Al Qaida In Pakistan

The Biggest Financial Swindle In Human History

China Blames Wall Street Meltdown On Fed Overissuance Of Currency

"China’s state media today reports on the real reason behind the Wall Street meltdown and a subject that the mainstream US media dare not mention - the Federal Reserve’s overissuance of currency - which the Chinese say is part of a wider agenda to justify increased control over the global economy.
The Bush administration today announced a plan to use hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to buy up up bad mortgages and other debts. The process of injecting more fiat money into an already over-inflated system had the desired effect - the Dow Jones shot up 450 points - but the dollar, following a brief jump, began to plummet.
According to numerous Chinese state media news sources today, the Federal Reserve’s continued zeal for propping up the market by injecting illusory liquidity is part of an agenda to gain trust and grease the skids for increased government intervention in financial markets."

Must be great fun to control the ability to pull gobs of money out of thin air, considering that it will be taxpayer wealth that our grandchildren will be forking over for generations. It's just hilarious that the communist Chinese sound like fiscal conservatives when our criminal mafia declare that in this country there's welfare and socialism for the rich and vicious social Darwinism for everyone else. I can hear them laugh as they privatize profits and socialize losses.

McBush In His Own Words

Why do independent videos pack more punch than the ones endorsed by candidates?

CBS Did Their Best To Shill For War With Iran

There are two ways to lie - by commission and by omission.

Dude!

The consummate Faux interview.

I'm Pathetic. Elect Me

McCain's Passion Play

"Am I the only one to think that John McCain trivializes both his sacrifice as a POW and the determination of a wide range of specially challenged Americans to lead productive lives? I’m referring to McCain’s repetition of his POW status as a wild card to trump any failing that is otherwise difficult to explain.
Was there any more pathetic display of his willingness to cheapen his sacrifice than McCain’s recent performances with Jay Leno and Katie Couric? He couldn't remember how many houses he owns because he once had “no house, no kitchen table, no chair.” One might think not having a house as a prisoner might make one more acutely aware of exactly how many houses one owned—but not John McCain.
Now we’re told McCain is computer illiterate because – you guessed it — he was a POW and his tortured arms can’t work a keyboard. Tell that to the millions of profoundly disabled Americans who master cyberspace with their teeth, who navigate in wheelchairs with their chins or a single functioning finger, or who communicate with synthesizers. They struggle every day to prove how normal they are. Their lives are campaigns against prejudice and stereotypes and fear. They fight through their disabilities. They adapt to a world that too often turns its eyes away from them.They strive not for privilege or for pampering or for priority. Instead, they seek only opportunity. Their impediments are challenges, not excuses. Their obstacles are surmounted every day. Their opportunities are seized with grit and determination.
People overcome blindness, deafness and physical limitation every day. Army and VA hospitals are replete with traumatic amputees – veterans McCain didn’t think deserved increased benefits — whose heroism didn’t end with their injuries. They continue to achieve, to overcome and to succeed in the face of obstacles that would overwhelm most people and apparently including John McCain.
More than one in five handicapped Americans earn college degrees. They do so by adapting to the learning environment not by whining about its difficulties. They set a goal. They work toward achieving that goal. And they can take full credit when they overcome their disability and earn their triumph. They don’t demand accommodation, nor do they use their disability as an excuse. It’s a reality they live with on the road to earning and achieving “normalcy” in their lives. In the early days of John McCain’s career, there was little mention of his disability, even though we all knew about his torture. McCain’s ability to overcome that disability was a notable achievement. That achievement is diminished now that he uses it as an excuse."

Something Funny About That Fragging Story

The photos released by the US army of the two soldiers apparently fragged by another soldier are doctored. Same body, different face and name.

You can easily see this by going here and flipping back and forth between #s 18 and 19.

Now why would they do that and think it's acceptable, and that they could get away without anyone knowing?

Alaskan Poseur

Sarah Palin's dead lake - By promoting runaway development in her hometown, say locals, Palin has "fouled her own nest" -- and that goes for the lake where she lives.

"WASILLA, Alaska -- Every morning she's at home here, Sarah Palin wakes up to a postcard view from her lakeside home. Out the windows of her two-story wood-framed house stretch the serene, birch-lined waters of Lake Lucille. Ducks go gliding by the red-and-white Piper Cub floatplane docked outside. With the snow-frosted Chugach and Talkeetna mountains looming in the distance, the scene seems to define the Alaska that Palin celebrates: rugged, majestic, unspoiled.
And, yet, the lake Sarah Palin lives on is dead.
"Lake Lucille is basically a dead lake -- it can't support a fish population," said Michelle Church, a Mat-Su Valley borough assembly member and environmentalist. "It's a runway for floatplanes."

"Sarah," a recent biography of Palin by Kaylene Johnson, features a photo of a beaming Palin, sitting in a rowboat on Lake Lucille clutching a fishing rod. But, according to local fishermen, the Republican vice-presidential candidate would have to be very lucky to reel in something edible.
The Alaska Fish and Game Department dutifully stocks the lake with coho salmon and rainbow trout each year -- but the fish don't last long."

Just google "Pebble Mine and Fish" to see Palin' phony stewardship.

Take A Good Look At Your Police State

Arrested for enjoying their day.



A mass arrest of hundreds of people just sitting and standing around seems like a bizarre and useless endeavor. But repeated over and over again, it serves the hidden agenda of instilling fear of and acquiescence to the overwhelming brutal nature of our thug regime. As in, we can have our way with you any time and place of our choosing and you have to submit or else.
Notice the indescriminate use of tear gas and pepper spray, for no discernable reason whatsoever. These "cops" are truly hateful beings, who have been taught that you and I are are the enemy who must be immediately forced to submit by any violent means necessary.
This is fascism by every definition.

"Everyone Tells Us To Blame Someone Else"

Reporter finds that the governor of Texas Rick Perry is just a helpless and inneffectual bystander with no authority when questioned about Ike's fatality count.
According to Perry local authorities push him around on the ground while the feds control the airspace.
There is a concerted effort to keep the true nature of what happened away from the public's eyes, most probably as CYA damage control.

Obama Promises To Stop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas

McPalin Is Out To Lunch

It's more pitiful and sad than anything else, in a lot of ways. McCain just isn't up to this and it's more obvious by the day. Whether he's simply too tired and sick or he's had some strokes, this man shouldn't be exerting himself by trying to maintain the facade of a viable and robust potential president.
This is the audio of a Spanish reporter asking repeatedly if he'd meet with the president of Spain and McCain blabs on with some talking point about Latin America. CNN desperately tries to cover up the fact that the republican candidate for president is a few sandwiches short of a picnic.



Repug panic - Preemptive lying

"This may be my single favorite press release of the entire presidential campaign. McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers issued this statement:
In his rush to score political points on economic disaster, we've heard that at his next event in New Mexico, Senator Obama is about to distort the facts and attack John McCain's call for removing the Chairman of the SEC.
Rogers' concern, obviously, is that Obama would point out that McCain told voters today he would "fire" the chairman of the SEC, when in reality, that's outside the president's authority -- a fact McCain should have realized before tackling the subject.
Regardless, it's more entertaining to realize that the McCain campaign is criticizing Obama for something he might say, before he says it, accusing Obama of "distorting" the facts, before he's even spoken. In other words, the McCain campaign line is, "Obama might point out how McCain screwed up earlier, and if he does, he's being totally unfair -- because we say so."

More panic - Woman claims woman making fun of woman is sexist

"Former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Republican, and moody bitch Carly Fiorina attacked Tina Fey's impersonation of VP candidate Sarah Palin as sexist because "it portrayed the Alaska governor as lacking in substance." The skit aired on Saturday Night Live this past weekend to much acclaim."

Fresh Breath Of Novelty Act Quickly Becomes A Stench

Moosalini's 15 minutes of fame are up

"America was very, very excited when Sarah Palin burst onto the national stage at the end of August. She's a woman, she's from a strange land with extreme bouts of darkness and light, she kills moose, she has an exciting family life, and her convention speech showed she wasn't afraid to throw some sass at her opponents. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was this kind of old, boring white guy who knew a lot about foreign policy. Some called McCain's pick a stroke of strategic genius, and wondered if Barack Obama played it too safe. But as many also suspected, the stratospheric enthusiasm surrounding Palin couldn't last."

The more I get to know of this person the more I despise what she stands for. She's a tawdry trailer trash phony and grasping simpleton who should have been rejected from politics a long time ago. Here's how I view another four years of Bushista sewage:

"I Could Never Endorse Somebody Who Thinks It's Funny To Say Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran"

The Way It Works For Them

Top 3 Merrill Lynch officials may get $200m Golden Parachutes

"NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch & Co. chief executive John Thain and two former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. colleagues he recruited may reap almost $200 million for their year running Merrill if they leave or are given lesser roles after Bank of America Corp. buys the brokerage.

Thain, who got a $15 million bonus when hired in December, stands to get an additional $11 million in accelerated stock payouts if he doesn't stay after the deal, compensation consultant Graef Crystal said.
Trading chief Thomas Montag, 51, who joined in August, may get $76 million, including bonus and accelerated awards. Strategy head Peter Kraus, 56, was given $95 million, including bonus and stock awards, to replace a Goldman package he had to forfeit, people familiar with the matter said."

The way it works for us

Breadlines

"With the line of people waiting at the door every Monday morning at the Salvation Army, one would think a big giveaway is happening.

But, it's not cash or even a holiday ham that's bringing crowds to the Farmington Hills facility, it's free bread.
"When we see a need for something as simple as bread - 250 loaves in one day - it's unbelievable," said Capt. Chris DiMaso, of the Salvation Army.
DiMaso said it's a true sign of the tough economic times. He said the demographic of those who need assistance has changed, just in the four years he's been at the Farmington Hills branch of the Salvation Army.
"Things used to be very clear cut - people on one side of town needed help and people on the other side didn't," he said. "Now, we're seeing people from all over, many who don't know how they'll be able to pay their mortgage."

Blaming The Victims, Lying About The Death Count

This is a photo of Gilchrist, Texas from Boston.com's The Big Picture. Gilchrist is/was on a peninsula that's now an island. In Galveston 20,000 people out of a population of 57,000 stayed and weathered the blow. One would imagine some tried the same thing here. Just like Andrew and Katrina the official death count is seriously underplayed, for what reason I haven't got a clue. For Ike it's now only fifty five.

And as for the ones who made it - Victims blamed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike

"It has been an especially vile element of the Ike story that state officials and the news media have continually blamed and insulted such victims of the storm, many of them poor and working class or suffering from physical disabilities, while themselves escaping criticism for their own inefficient evacuation of residents in many areas and the inadequate supplies and distribution of aid. Further exposing the longstanding incompetence and neglect of authorities, some Texans who did not leave in advance of Hurricane Ike’s landfall described not wanting to be caught up in another poorly executed evacuation such as had occurred in earlier storms and remained behind believing they would be safer in their homes than stranded on highways in the impossible-to-navigate traffic. In other cases, those living in areas that were not under either mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders told reporters that they should have been ordered to leave and would have done so if properly warned.
One searches in vain for those who have faith in authorities, and no wonder. Hurricane Ike is just the latest in a series of natural disasters that have revealed the inability of the capitalist system to provide for the people who fall in their path. Adequate warning before such natural disasters or the necessary infrastructure to survive and cope with a disaster and its aftermath are simply not in place.
In the face of tornadoes such as those that killed 59 in the southern US in February, wildfires such as those that burned in southern California in October 2007, or Hurricanes like Ike and, most horribly, Katrina, capitalism has failed every challenge. By and large, it has been working people that have most suffered as a result."

The Constitution Is 221 Years Old Today

And urine soaked.

But Subjugation Is Such Hard Work

The Wondrous Death Squads of the American Elite

"Another way station on our plunge into darkness was passed last week with the publication of Bob Woodward's new book, The War Within. Along with the usual backstairs gossip dished out by self-serving insiders eager to plant their spin on events, Woodward revealed -- or, rather, confirmed -- the existence of what he called the key element to the "success" of Bush's escalation of the war crime in Iraq: a "secret killing program" aimed at assassinating anyone arbitrarily deemed a "terrorist" by the leaders of the foreign forces occupying the conquered land. In a TV appearance to puff the book, Woodward celebrated the arbitrary murder, by methods unknown, of people designated "terrorists," by criteria unknown, as "a wonderful example of American ingenuity solving a problem in war, as we often have." The White House acknowledged the existence of the assassination program, but insisted that it was the "surge" of troops that was mainly responsible for the drop in violence from the howling hell of 2006 to today's level, which, as Juan Cole has pointed out, is still greater than some of the most horrific civic conflicts of the last century. (It is a strange country indeed that can celebrate the creation of a blood-gushing sinkhole of violence and destruction as a "success beyond our wildest dreams," to use Barack Obama's new take on the surge.) (...)

The United States admits that it is operating secret death squads in Iraq, and this barely rates a passing mention in the press, and certainly no comment whatsoever on the campaign trail, no debate among the national leadership. And this despite the fact that, as Woodward makes clear, the targets of the American death squads are not merely "terrorists," as the general public broadly understands the term -- i.e., religious extremists in the al Qaeda mold -- but anyone arbitrarily designated an "insurgent" or a leader in "the resistance."

That is, anyone who resists the invasion and occupation of his native land is deemed a legitimate target for a secret death squad. For execution without charges, without trial, without evidence."

All They're Selling Are Fear And Smear And Lies

Campaign sign in Florida, note the burning towers. Don't tell anyone, but creating a disaster and then exploiting it through fearmongering is one of the hallmarks of fascism.
And they want to have it all. Not just some, or most, but everything. McSame is tied at the hip with what he's supposedly running against while you're required to support the very people who brought you 9/11 out of fear of another 9/11. Such a deal.

Psychopaths Slaughter With Impunity

Drones should become synonymous with target practice.

So, the President May Kill Anybody He Pleases, Right?

"What an awesome power the president and, with his authorization, his subordinate officers possess: they can kill people at will, including those persons’ wives and children, with no risk whatever of receiving return fire or other retribution. Surely this is the long-sought culmination of the Republican’s quest to establish "law and order."
What leads me to remark on this matter, however, is not its technological nuts and bolts or its connection with master-puppet relations in southwest Asia, but rather the complete insouciance with which the American public greets reports of deaths by drone. I do not exaggerate if I say that the general reaction is "ho-hum." Well, the average American says, that disposes nicely of another "bad guy." The gratuitous murder of the bad guy’s family members, neighbors, and other innocent persons in the vicinity appears to create no blip on the average American’s moral radar screen. Perhaps Americans do not consider Yemenis, Afghanis, and Pakistanis to be real human beings whose right to life we are obliged to respect?
Is death by drone simply another occasion when the president, having labeled a set of actions as a "war," believes and acts as though he has carte blanche to dish out death and destruction willy nilly?
Of course, reports of drone attacks usually refer to militants, Taliban forces, or al Qaeda members. To this information, we might well respond: yeah, who says? If we are content to assume that U.S. intelligence agents, who nearly always get their information from collaborators in the target territories, really know whom they are targeting, then we are certainly easily satisfied. One does not have to make an extensive survey of U.S. government claims about Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other places in southwest Asia over the past seven years to see that for the most part the U.S. commanders, from the Commander in Chief on down to the sweatiest noncom on patrol, are either more or less clueless or the biggest liars on the planet. I do not rule out that they are both."

Interesting Google News

Pop A Raghead For Jeebus

Muslim massacre" game stirs debate



"A new computer game promoting “modern religious genocide” against followers of the Islamic faith is causing an uproar among Muslims in the Arab world and elsewhere.
According to media reports, the game, "Muslim Massacre" (available on a website that appeared to be down Monday morning), allows players to be in control of an “American hero” on a mission to kill bearded Muslims and suicide bombers using a machine gun and a rocket launcher.
On the game’s website, the creator, identified only as Sigvatr, encourages Internet users to “take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons.”
The game is said to be inspired by the "war on Islam" declared by the United States.
“Don’t be a liberal...! Download the game now,” reads the promotional ad on the game’s frontpage."