60 minutes reported last night that Don Siegleman, who was convicted of bribery and who was once the Alabama governor, was actually convicted in very unusual circumstances. Initially, the case brought by prosecutors was very weak and thrown out by the judge after the opening statements for lack of evidence. The prosecution was headed by the wife of the person who replaced Siegleman, and was influenced by Karl Rove, who asked the federal prosecutors to look at Siegleman. The Justice Department, which refused to release its notes to Congress, then interviewed many more available and potential witnesses a la a special prosecutor or IRS, investigating a "person" rather than a crime. Siegleman was retried on the strength of the testimony of a convicted felon who plea bargained that he saw Siegleman receive a check from Richard Scrushy, but who needed to spend a whole day with a prosecutor to "get his story straight." The notes of his attempts to "remember" were discoverable but never released to the defense team. The Alabama Republican judge sent the jury back after they deadlocked twice, and the third time they convicted. After conviction, the judge had Siegleman manacled and remanded immediately instead of giving him his customary 45 days. In essence, Siegleman was tried because he was a Democrat running for governor. The whole 60 minutes segment is available here: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/todays_must_read_283.php
If the elements of this story are true, and I don't doubt they are, then the federal prosecutors have now joined independent counsels, and the IRS, and other rogue government agencies in looking for crimes where none exist. This is a political prosecution, and Siegleman is a political prisoner of the federal court.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Contrary to the NIE report, Iran is building nuclear weapons
Reported by debkafile:
The Iranian exile group exposed this week Iran’s secret B1 Nori-8500 nuclear facility .
This classified data, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources report, was released on the initiative of France and Israel to finally rebut the NIE’s conclusions.
It was also timed to pre-empt the report Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei, director of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is due to present Friday, Feb. 22, to the UN Security Council on the state of Iran’s nuclear program.
Washington sticks to the NIE’s clearance of Iran
A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington, said the US intelligence community’s view has not changed since the NIE’s release. Convinced that the US intelligence estimate of last December tied President George W. Bush’s hands for a military option against Iran’s nuclear sites, the French and Israeli leaders , Srakozy and Olmert decided to go forward without America towards an Israeli military operation. France intends to take America’s place in providing intelligence and diplomatic backing in the European and international arenas.
The chronology of events leading up to this ultimate prospect, as listed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly, is instructive:
September 6, 2007: Israeli air and ground forces raided two presumed nuclear sites in Syria. North Koreans were involved in their development.
The information broadcast by these attacks was that Israel is capable of striking nuclear sites similar to Iran’s B1 Nori 8500 facility. This capability demonstratively extends to demolition and removing the equipment housed at the facility, lock, stock and barrel, to home base.
The operation also demonstrated that the Russian air defense systems guarding Iran’s most sensitive military sites were electronically permeable and therefore not proof against Israel air attack.
January 17, 2008: Israel tested a ballistic missile over the Mediterranean fitted with a powerful new propulsion engine. This told Tehran that the Israel Defense Forces has missiles capable of reaching any point on earth. Before this test, the Iranians had judged large areas of their north and east outside Israeli missile range.
February 4, 2008: Tehran quickly responded by launching its Kavoshgar-1 long-range missile “to test its launching systems.”
February 12, 2008: Imad Mughniyeh, master of Tehran’s overseas military-terrorist branch, was killed in the heart of Damascus. Iran thus lost the key strategist assigned with charting and commanding its overseas reprisals for a possible Israeli attack.
That day, too, Israel took the precaution of placing its military forces and intelligence services on the ready in case of a comeback from Iran, Syria, or Hizballah.
February 20, 2008: Iran’s secret plants for producing nuclear weapons and warheads were identified and exposed at the Brussels news conference.
Sarkozy’s game
Sarkozy’s believes an unambiguous and strong French line on Iran’s ambition to attain a nuclear bomb could be the vehicle that carries him to European if not world leadership.
Secondly, he is bound by a commitment to Saudi and other Gulf rulers.
During his mid-January tour of their region, Sarkozy informed his hosts that French intelligence had obtained incontrovertible evidence that Iran had begun building nuclear bombs and warheads. The decision to establish a French base in Abu Dhabi was presented as necessary for tracking Iran’s nuclear and military activities. He promised to keep Gulf rulers abreast of events with full updates.
At home, the French public had been told repeatedly by officials in the president’s bureau and government from the end of last year that Iran is heading for a nuclear bomb. Sarkozy needs to show he is not all talk, but also capable of action.
BLOGGER COMMENT
These events prove that the CIA is still bound by political considerations rather than the need to provide accurate information to the government. Still smarting over the Iraq war, the CIA is determined not to give the president the opportunity to justify a strike on another country. That the NIE report is political, not factual, gives the debka report credibility.
The US (Bush) has publicly stated his understanding of Israel's need to do what it has to do to Iran. However, the US will be on the sideline when/if that transpires. In the cyclic Franco-Teutonic-Russian poltical machinations, France is now on the side of Israel against Iran and presumably Russia.
However, Israel has a number of limitations in its ability to carry out a strike against Iranian nuclear weapons. Iran is a much larger country, and has the capacity to hurt Israel not only from Iran but also from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, and to hurt Jewish communities around the world, such as they did in the past in Argentina. Israel specialized in surgical strokes against small but vital targets such as Osiraq in 1981 and Syria earlier this year (twice; once against their nuclear station if it was that, and once against Mughniyeh if they indeed were involved). A counter strike against Israel could be potentially devastating and even potentially destroy the country.
Moreover, the United States would not automatically support Israel in a future administration. President Obama and President McCain might have different views than President Bush about an Israeli strike. If Israel is planning to strike Iran it most likely would do so before Bush leaves office.
The Iranian exile group exposed this week Iran’s secret B1 Nori-8500 nuclear facility .
This classified data, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources report, was released on the initiative of France and Israel to finally rebut the NIE’s conclusions.
It was also timed to pre-empt the report Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei, director of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is due to present Friday, Feb. 22, to the UN Security Council on the state of Iran’s nuclear program.
Washington sticks to the NIE’s clearance of Iran
A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington, said the US intelligence community’s view has not changed since the NIE’s release. Convinced that the US intelligence estimate of last December tied President George W. Bush’s hands for a military option against Iran’s nuclear sites, the French and Israeli leaders , Srakozy and Olmert decided to go forward without America towards an Israeli military operation. France intends to take America’s place in providing intelligence and diplomatic backing in the European and international arenas.
The chronology of events leading up to this ultimate prospect, as listed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly, is instructive:
September 6, 2007: Israeli air and ground forces raided two presumed nuclear sites in Syria. North Koreans were involved in their development.
The information broadcast by these attacks was that Israel is capable of striking nuclear sites similar to Iran’s B1 Nori 8500 facility. This capability demonstratively extends to demolition and removing the equipment housed at the facility, lock, stock and barrel, to home base.
The operation also demonstrated that the Russian air defense systems guarding Iran’s most sensitive military sites were electronically permeable and therefore not proof against Israel air attack.
January 17, 2008: Israel tested a ballistic missile over the Mediterranean fitted with a powerful new propulsion engine. This told Tehran that the Israel Defense Forces has missiles capable of reaching any point on earth. Before this test, the Iranians had judged large areas of their north and east outside Israeli missile range.
February 4, 2008: Tehran quickly responded by launching its Kavoshgar-1 long-range missile “to test its launching systems.”
February 12, 2008: Imad Mughniyeh, master of Tehran’s overseas military-terrorist branch, was killed in the heart of Damascus. Iran thus lost the key strategist assigned with charting and commanding its overseas reprisals for a possible Israeli attack.
That day, too, Israel took the precaution of placing its military forces and intelligence services on the ready in case of a comeback from Iran, Syria, or Hizballah.
February 20, 2008: Iran’s secret plants for producing nuclear weapons and warheads were identified and exposed at the Brussels news conference.
Sarkozy’s game
Sarkozy’s believes an unambiguous and strong French line on Iran’s ambition to attain a nuclear bomb could be the vehicle that carries him to European if not world leadership.
Secondly, he is bound by a commitment to Saudi and other Gulf rulers.
During his mid-January tour of their region, Sarkozy informed his hosts that French intelligence had obtained incontrovertible evidence that Iran had begun building nuclear bombs and warheads. The decision to establish a French base in Abu Dhabi was presented as necessary for tracking Iran’s nuclear and military activities. He promised to keep Gulf rulers abreast of events with full updates.
At home, the French public had been told repeatedly by officials in the president’s bureau and government from the end of last year that Iran is heading for a nuclear bomb. Sarkozy needs to show he is not all talk, but also capable of action.
BLOGGER COMMENT
These events prove that the CIA is still bound by political considerations rather than the need to provide accurate information to the government. Still smarting over the Iraq war, the CIA is determined not to give the president the opportunity to justify a strike on another country. That the NIE report is political, not factual, gives the debka report credibility.
The US (Bush) has publicly stated his understanding of Israel's need to do what it has to do to Iran. However, the US will be on the sideline when/if that transpires. In the cyclic Franco-Teutonic-Russian poltical machinations, France is now on the side of Israel against Iran and presumably Russia.
However, Israel has a number of limitations in its ability to carry out a strike against Iranian nuclear weapons. Iran is a much larger country, and has the capacity to hurt Israel not only from Iran but also from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, and to hurt Jewish communities around the world, such as they did in the past in Argentina. Israel specialized in surgical strokes against small but vital targets such as Osiraq in 1981 and Syria earlier this year (twice; once against their nuclear station if it was that, and once against Mughniyeh if they indeed were involved). A counter strike against Israel could be potentially devastating and even potentially destroy the country.
Moreover, the United States would not automatically support Israel in a future administration. President Obama and President McCain might have different views than President Bush about an Israeli strike. If Israel is planning to strike Iran it most likely would do so before Bush leaves office.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Imad Mughniyeh-- may he rot in hell for eternity
The master terrorist is dead. Ding dong, the witch is dead, which witch, the wicked witch, the wicked witch is dead. Make no mistake, Imad Mughniyeh is a bigger catch than Osama Bin Laden. Perhaps as big a hit as any. 46 countries owed Mughniyeh justice, and one delivered. Whoever did it, delivered a blow to the networks of terror of which he was the epicenter, that include Hizbollah, Iran, Hamas and al Qaida. The one time mentee of Yasir Arafat, plotter of hijackings, Beirut marine barracks bombing, Khobar bombing, Iraqi resistance, and Hizbollah military shenanigans, Mughniyeh's exploits can be read thoughout the internet.
So why did we not know about him? Why did George Bush, who declared "Mission Accomplished" in 2003, ignore Valdimir Putin's warnings about Mughniyeh? Why did Syria become the conduit for Iranian-Iraqi-Lebanese terror networks yet escape the designation "Axis of Evil." All good questions.
In 2003, the only outfit to report on Mughniyeh was debkafile, an intelligence site run out of Jerusalem. The established his biography, credentials, his ties to multiple countries' terror outfits and the Iraqi resistance. For this reporting, debkafile deserves our gratitude and placement as an investigative reporting link that serves our right to know.
So why did we not know about him? Why did George Bush, who declared "Mission Accomplished" in 2003, ignore Valdimir Putin's warnings about Mughniyeh? Why did Syria become the conduit for Iranian-Iraqi-Lebanese terror networks yet escape the designation "Axis of Evil." All good questions.
In 2003, the only outfit to report on Mughniyeh was debkafile, an intelligence site run out of Jerusalem. The established his biography, credentials, his ties to multiple countries' terror outfits and the Iraqi resistance. For this reporting, debkafile deserves our gratitude and placement as an investigative reporting link that serves our right to know.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
JFK Whodunnit? And who is Abraham Bolden?
We are fascinated because there were more people that stood to benefit from JFK's death than could fill Madison Square Garden. Equal numbers of fair minded people are convinced alternatively that Lee Oswald acted alone or that he did not. Yet nearly all people have a sure sense that not all has been explained.
Who stood to benefit from JFK's demise? Within the US, the Mafia did. RFK's hearings on the Mafia embarrassed many. One (Carlos Marcello) was briefly deported. J Edgar Hoover denied the Mafia existed for 50 years and shared the Mafia's distaste for RFK; he felt the hearings signified that he would not get reappointed as director. Lyndon Johnson felt the Kennedys blocked his ascension to be President. The right wing Dallas millionaires all disliked the civil rights legislation. Cuba/Castro had endured the Bay of Pigs and feared another invasion. The USSR, knowing that Cuban nuclear weapons were under local control, knew better than anyone how close the world had come to nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis and thought JFK was a loose cannon and unpredictable. Israel deceived JFK about its nuclear ambitions which JFK wanted to quash, but which Israel was determined to pursue.
Once JFK was killed, Carlos Marcello returned to the US, Hoover served several more terms, and LBJ became President. LBJ turned the nation's focus from Cuba to Vietnam. Israel built over 200 nuclear devices between 1963-1973 under the benign neglect of Presidents Johnson and Nixon.
In Ultimate Sacrifice, Lamar Waldron makes a compelling case that the Mafia dunnit. He argues that Jack Ruby's finishing off Oswald both proves mob involvement and that therewas a conspiracy of at least 2 . After the murder, the FBI prematurely announced that Oswald "acted alone" and thereby limited investigation.
Forget all the red herrings: the grassy knoll, the magic bullet, etc. Concentrate on what is known. The proof of a conspiracy is that there were two failed attempts at assassinating JFK in the weeks leading up to Dallas. Each was planned for a car procession with a tall building and multiple gunmen. The first attempt happened in Chicago, the second in Tampa. Dallas was the third chance, and probably last chance for the mob to get JFK. The Secret Service knew all about the first two attempts. Had the public known at the time, they would never have accepted Hoover's statement, immediately after the shooting, that one did it and he did it alone. However, they never knew.
Abraham Bolden knew. Bolden happened to be the first black Secret Service agent, and he had been briefed on the Chicago attempt, and was prepared to testify before the Warren Commission. The day he went to testify before Warren, he was arrested and charged with counterfeiting. Two Mafioso, including one he had previously arrested, testified against him, and he spent decades seeking a pardon. Remember that name-- Bolden will be famous by the end of the year.
The crux of the book is that the government was not all in on the conspiracy to kill JFK as presented by Oliver Stone and others. However, the government did participate en masse in a conspiracy after the murder to prevent the truth from coming to light. The FBI stopped investigating-- on Hoover's orders-- once the announcement was made that Oswald acted alone.
Waldrop contends that JFK had a secret plot to invade Cuba by December 1, but that plot was infiltrated and known to the Mafia. RFK (who personally directed his brother's botched autopsy by a telephone connection at Walter Reed Hospital) and other confidantes wanted to protect that plot and did not allow JFK's murder investigation to go in directions that might expose the plot. Because different forces all wanted to cover up different aspects of the plot in different ways for unique reasons, the truth died. The plot to invade Cuba was not known to the Warren investigators nor to the Sprague investigators in the 1970's. However, Abe Bolden, the first African American Secret Service agent who took the fall as the patsy of the Mafia, still is alive and is going to tell his tale.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307407375
Who stood to benefit from JFK's demise? Within the US, the Mafia did. RFK's hearings on the Mafia embarrassed many. One (Carlos Marcello) was briefly deported. J Edgar Hoover denied the Mafia existed for 50 years and shared the Mafia's distaste for RFK; he felt the hearings signified that he would not get reappointed as director. Lyndon Johnson felt the Kennedys blocked his ascension to be President. The right wing Dallas millionaires all disliked the civil rights legislation. Cuba/Castro had endured the Bay of Pigs and feared another invasion. The USSR, knowing that Cuban nuclear weapons were under local control, knew better than anyone how close the world had come to nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis and thought JFK was a loose cannon and unpredictable. Israel deceived JFK about its nuclear ambitions which JFK wanted to quash, but which Israel was determined to pursue.
Once JFK was killed, Carlos Marcello returned to the US, Hoover served several more terms, and LBJ became President. LBJ turned the nation's focus from Cuba to Vietnam. Israel built over 200 nuclear devices between 1963-1973 under the benign neglect of Presidents Johnson and Nixon.
In Ultimate Sacrifice, Lamar Waldron makes a compelling case that the Mafia dunnit. He argues that Jack Ruby's finishing off Oswald both proves mob involvement and that therewas a conspiracy of at least 2 . After the murder, the FBI prematurely announced that Oswald "acted alone" and thereby limited investigation.
Forget all the red herrings: the grassy knoll, the magic bullet, etc. Concentrate on what is known. The proof of a conspiracy is that there were two failed attempts at assassinating JFK in the weeks leading up to Dallas. Each was planned for a car procession with a tall building and multiple gunmen. The first attempt happened in Chicago, the second in Tampa. Dallas was the third chance, and probably last chance for the mob to get JFK. The Secret Service knew all about the first two attempts. Had the public known at the time, they would never have accepted Hoover's statement, immediately after the shooting, that one did it and he did it alone. However, they never knew.
Abraham Bolden knew. Bolden happened to be the first black Secret Service agent, and he had been briefed on the Chicago attempt, and was prepared to testify before the Warren Commission. The day he went to testify before Warren, he was arrested and charged with counterfeiting. Two Mafioso, including one he had previously arrested, testified against him, and he spent decades seeking a pardon. Remember that name-- Bolden will be famous by the end of the year.
The crux of the book is that the government was not all in on the conspiracy to kill JFK as presented by Oliver Stone and others. However, the government did participate en masse in a conspiracy after the murder to prevent the truth from coming to light. The FBI stopped investigating-- on Hoover's orders-- once the announcement was made that Oswald acted alone.
Waldrop contends that JFK had a secret plot to invade Cuba by December 1, but that plot was infiltrated and known to the Mafia. RFK (who personally directed his brother's botched autopsy by a telephone connection at Walter Reed Hospital) and other confidantes wanted to protect that plot and did not allow JFK's murder investigation to go in directions that might expose the plot. Because different forces all wanted to cover up different aspects of the plot in different ways for unique reasons, the truth died. The plot to invade Cuba was not known to the Warren investigators nor to the Sprague investigators in the 1970's. However, Abe Bolden, the first African American Secret Service agent who took the fall as the patsy of the Mafia, still is alive and is going to tell his tale.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307407375
Project Censored 2008 review
The book covers the most important news stories not covered by the MSM last year. Here are a few of them:
1. October 17, 2006 President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act that does away with habeas corpus for any person(s) that are deemed by the President of the United States to be enemy combatants.
2. The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 allows the president to station troops anywhere in the US without the consent of the governors or local law enforcement. This law effectively negates the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that prevented military operations against the US people, and according to the report, paves the way for martial law.
3. The US is moving its defense activities in Africa from the longstanding jurisdiction of Centcom (Europe) to its own jurisdiction, Africom. This is linked to the massive natural resources contained by the continent. Attacks on pipelines, etc. are characterized as "terror" without evidence of involvement by international terror groups, but in a way to justify American military involvement in the continent. Human rights issues , eg. Sudan, are also used in this regard.
4. Destructive free trade agreements with developing countries close our markets but open theirs; intellectual property laws allow Western interests to patent indigenous seeds and make them unavailable to farmers who always have used them. Foreign investors can even sue for "lost profits." See oxfam report.
5. The new US embassy in Iraq is being built by Asian slaves, smuggled through Kuwait. The State Department whitewashed the evidence and exonerated the contractors. See corpwatch.
6. Operation Falcon (federal and local cops organized nationally) mass arrests of fugitives and so called sex offenders occurred throughout the US in 2005 and 2006. However, contrary to the publicity, less then ten percent were actually sex offenders and less than 2000 had firearms. The names and crimes of the others are not known. The authors speculate the real person is to have a dry run with a chain of command stemming from the federal government. This is the first time in history that all local police were under the control of the federal government. See sourcewatch and artificial intelligence.
7. Blackwater has 20,000 soldiers and is led by Erik Prince, a right wing Christian supremacist and former SEAL. There are currently 48,000 private soldiers in Iraq and Blackwater protects US diplomats with almost no oversight. Their lawyer is Ken Starr the Whitewater idependent counsel.
8. KIA (Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture) opens India to Archer Daniel Midland, Cargill and Walmart. Monsanto gets access to seed banks and favorable intellectual property laws, and India gets favorable US treatment for its nuclear program. The seed patents will in effect deliver India's seed banks into US hands. See gmwatch.org and mindully.org
9. We are in the process of secretly privatizing our interstates and other infrastructure to foreign private concerns. Part of this will involve building a NAFTA ten lane superhighway next to Interstate 35.
10. Vulture funds such as Donegan International (based in England) aka as distressed debt funds, are going beyond buying up distressed companies and going after distressed countries such as Zambia with the full support of Gordon Brown and George W Bush.
11. The reconstruction of Afghanistan includes much "phantom aid" that lines the pockets of US corporations (5 in particular). These corporations build lousy roads, charge tolls that give them recurring revenue and do a "worse job than the Taliban."
12. UN "peacekeeper" backed masacres of 8,000 have occurred since elected President Aristide was ousted in 2004. Indiscriminate shootings in city de soleil and other places were wholly political. See IJDH, BAI, haitiinformationproject.net, haitianalysis.com for starters.
13. Immigrant roundups of undocumented are really an effort to prevent them from unionizing and allowing their employers who have structural need for poor workers to survive. se nnirrr.org.
14. The Military Commission Act 2006 exempts torturers and their bosses from being prosecuted in accordance with the Geneva Convention. It was agreed to by John Warner, Lindsey Graham and JOHN MCCAIN. The law evolved in response to a Supreme Court Declaration that US war tribunals are unconstitutional.
15. Epigenetics is a field that is partly about how toxins can change the genetic expression in offspring of the exposed. The REACH act is a European initiative designed to force chemical companies to test products before not after they come to market, and is opposed by the United States.
16. The FBI does not list Osama Bin Laden as most wanted because of a "lack of evidence." The FBI has not provided evidence authenticating OBL's "confession tape" of 2001 that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
17. Ethanol production leads to atrazine in our streams at higher concentrations than are known to be safe. The Defense department has sought waivers for limitations on its right to dump toxins such as trichloroethylene into public aquifers. TCE is a known carcinogen. In 2001 the Supreme Court ruled that non-navigable isolated intrastate waters do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 which has not passed replaced the term "navigable waters" with "waters of the United States" to fill the loophole. See USPIRG.org
18. In contravention of the law, US political firms including Dick Morris and others, and in contravention of Mexican law, the outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, intervened on bhelaf of the campaign of Felipe Calderon to be the next president of Mexico. Calderon supported opening the Mexican oil company property, PEMEX to US exploitation. The election was beset by massive fraud.
19. Leaders of Venezuala (Hugo Chaves), Cuba (Fidel Castro), Ecuador (Rafel Correa), Nicaragua (Daniel Ortega), Bolivia (Evo Morales), and Argentina (Nestor Kirchner) are setting up economic growth engines apart from US/IMF demands for privatization.
20. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) of 2006 describes as "terror" acts that interfere with or promote interference with "animal enterprises." Teh ACLU pointed out that lawful and peaceful protests or calls for boycotts of inhumane companies would "disrupt" animal businesses and "chill and deter Americans" from exercising their First Amendment rights. The Shac 7 were animal rights activists that organized to expose illegal and inhumane activities of Huntingdon Life Sciences. Three were charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to comit interstate stalking and for running a website publishing the names of vivisectionists. They were fined 1,000,001 dollars adn sentenced collectively to 21 years in prison-- and that was BEFORE AETA! It was passed by voice vote with 6 comgressmen present, and only one (Dennis Kucinich) voting against. See noaeta.org. The FBI has declared the Animal Liberation Front as the number one domestic terrorism organization.
21. US seeks wto immunity for illegal farm subsidies that drive foreign farmers into the ground.
22. From 2001-2005, Dianne Feinstein voted for billions in subsidies for her husband's firms, Perrini and URS Corp. Perrini went from 7 million in US contracts to 2000 to 1.7 billion in 2005. Feinstein's husband Richard Blum also got former Cal governor Gray Davis to appoint him a regent at University of California, where he steered millions in construction contracts to his 2 firms. It was rejected by a series of national magazines but published the North Bay Bohemian and probably killed Feinstein's hopes of being on a national ticket.
23. Native American land holds lots of natural resources. The 2005 Energy Policy Acts gives the US the right of way through Indian lands without permission of the tribes if in the strategic interests of an energy related project. It exempted the US government complying with regulations, or oversight.
1. October 17, 2006 President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act that does away with habeas corpus for any person(s) that are deemed by the President of the United States to be enemy combatants.
2. The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 allows the president to station troops anywhere in the US without the consent of the governors or local law enforcement. This law effectively negates the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that prevented military operations against the US people, and according to the report, paves the way for martial law.
3. The US is moving its defense activities in Africa from the longstanding jurisdiction of Centcom (Europe) to its own jurisdiction, Africom. This is linked to the massive natural resources contained by the continent. Attacks on pipelines, etc. are characterized as "terror" without evidence of involvement by international terror groups, but in a way to justify American military involvement in the continent. Human rights issues , eg. Sudan, are also used in this regard.
4. Destructive free trade agreements with developing countries close our markets but open theirs; intellectual property laws allow Western interests to patent indigenous seeds and make them unavailable to farmers who always have used them. Foreign investors can even sue for "lost profits." See oxfam report.
5. The new US embassy in Iraq is being built by Asian slaves, smuggled through Kuwait. The State Department whitewashed the evidence and exonerated the contractors. See corpwatch.
6. Operation Falcon (federal and local cops organized nationally) mass arrests of fugitives and so called sex offenders occurred throughout the US in 2005 and 2006. However, contrary to the publicity, less then ten percent were actually sex offenders and less than 2000 had firearms. The names and crimes of the others are not known. The authors speculate the real person is to have a dry run with a chain of command stemming from the federal government. This is the first time in history that all local police were under the control of the federal government. See sourcewatch and artificial intelligence.
7. Blackwater has 20,000 soldiers and is led by Erik Prince, a right wing Christian supremacist and former SEAL. There are currently 48,000 private soldiers in Iraq and Blackwater protects US diplomats with almost no oversight. Their lawyer is Ken Starr the Whitewater idependent counsel.
8. KIA (Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture) opens India to Archer Daniel Midland, Cargill and Walmart. Monsanto gets access to seed banks and favorable intellectual property laws, and India gets favorable US treatment for its nuclear program. The seed patents will in effect deliver India's seed banks into US hands. See gmwatch.org and mindully.org
9. We are in the process of secretly privatizing our interstates and other infrastructure to foreign private concerns. Part of this will involve building a NAFTA ten lane superhighway next to Interstate 35.
10. Vulture funds such as Donegan International (based in England) aka as distressed debt funds, are going beyond buying up distressed companies and going after distressed countries such as Zambia with the full support of Gordon Brown and George W Bush.
11. The reconstruction of Afghanistan includes much "phantom aid" that lines the pockets of US corporations (5 in particular). These corporations build lousy roads, charge tolls that give them recurring revenue and do a "worse job than the Taliban."
12. UN "peacekeeper" backed masacres of 8,000 have occurred since elected President Aristide was ousted in 2004. Indiscriminate shootings in city de soleil and other places were wholly political. See IJDH, BAI, haitiinformationproject.net, haitianalysis.com for starters.
13. Immigrant roundups of undocumented are really an effort to prevent them from unionizing and allowing their employers who have structural need for poor workers to survive. se nnirrr.org.
14. The Military Commission Act 2006 exempts torturers and their bosses from being prosecuted in accordance with the Geneva Convention. It was agreed to by John Warner, Lindsey Graham and JOHN MCCAIN. The law evolved in response to a Supreme Court Declaration that US war tribunals are unconstitutional.
15. Epigenetics is a field that is partly about how toxins can change the genetic expression in offspring of the exposed. The REACH act is a European initiative designed to force chemical companies to test products before not after they come to market, and is opposed by the United States.
16. The FBI does not list Osama Bin Laden as most wanted because of a "lack of evidence." The FBI has not provided evidence authenticating OBL's "confession tape" of 2001 that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
17. Ethanol production leads to atrazine in our streams at higher concentrations than are known to be safe. The Defense department has sought waivers for limitations on its right to dump toxins such as trichloroethylene into public aquifers. TCE is a known carcinogen. In 2001 the Supreme Court ruled that non-navigable isolated intrastate waters do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 which has not passed replaced the term "navigable waters" with "waters of the United States" to fill the loophole. See USPIRG.org
18. In contravention of the law, US political firms including Dick Morris and others, and in contravention of Mexican law, the outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, intervened on bhelaf of the campaign of Felipe Calderon to be the next president of Mexico. Calderon supported opening the Mexican oil company property, PEMEX to US exploitation. The election was beset by massive fraud.
19. Leaders of Venezuala (Hugo Chaves), Cuba (Fidel Castro), Ecuador (Rafel Correa), Nicaragua (Daniel Ortega), Bolivia (Evo Morales), and Argentina (Nestor Kirchner) are setting up economic growth engines apart from US/IMF demands for privatization.
20. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) of 2006 describes as "terror" acts that interfere with or promote interference with "animal enterprises." Teh ACLU pointed out that lawful and peaceful protests or calls for boycotts of inhumane companies would "disrupt" animal businesses and "chill and deter Americans" from exercising their First Amendment rights. The Shac 7 were animal rights activists that organized to expose illegal and inhumane activities of Huntingdon Life Sciences. Three were charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to comit interstate stalking and for running a website publishing the names of vivisectionists. They were fined 1,000,001 dollars adn sentenced collectively to 21 years in prison-- and that was BEFORE AETA! It was passed by voice vote with 6 comgressmen present, and only one (Dennis Kucinich) voting against. See noaeta.org. The FBI has declared the Animal Liberation Front as the number one domestic terrorism organization.
21. US seeks wto immunity for illegal farm subsidies that drive foreign farmers into the ground.
22. From 2001-2005, Dianne Feinstein voted for billions in subsidies for her husband's firms, Perrini and URS Corp. Perrini went from 7 million in US contracts to 2000 to 1.7 billion in 2005. Feinstein's husband Richard Blum also got former Cal governor Gray Davis to appoint him a regent at University of California, where he steered millions in construction contracts to his 2 firms. It was rejected by a series of national magazines but published the North Bay Bohemian and probably killed Feinstein's hopes of being on a national ticket.
23. Native American land holds lots of natural resources. The 2005 Energy Policy Acts gives the US the right of way through Indian lands without permission of the tribes if in the strategic interests of an energy related project. It exempted the US government complying with regulations, or oversight.
Israel Behind the News
The agenda to "get" Israel is not necessarily run by anti-Semites, Arabs, or John Birchers. Sometimes, the agenda drivers live in Tel Aviv. Some of you may have seen a recent exhortation by the liberal Ha'aretz editor that he had a "wet dream" that the United States would "rape" Israel in the aftermath of the Annapolis conference. The statement is offensive on so many levels that is beyond the mission of this blog to address or analyze.
The key point of this coverage is that the liberal agenda, in this case, of the MSM, in this case in Israel, prevents Israelis from getting accurate information about their government. The United States and Israel have decided that a peace process must exist, so they have a puppet government, with no real power, in the form of Abu Mazen, or Mohammed Abbas. The real power, Hamas, still is sworn to destroy Israel. As a result, coverage is tilted to prevent accurate information about Abu Mazen's role, his two-facedness,and his support for terror from coming to light.
The issue is not who owns the land, or what the contours of a peace settlement ought to be, but the lack of truth of the reporting that is driven to support a narrow agenda. Of the many sites devoted to the Middle East, one stands out: David Bedein's Israel Behind the News. Bedein is a reporter who writes what is said, not what is supposed to be the party line. Please click on his link to find more about issues in Israeli politics.
The key point of this coverage is that the liberal agenda, in this case, of the MSM, in this case in Israel, prevents Israelis from getting accurate information about their government. The United States and Israel have decided that a peace process must exist, so they have a puppet government, with no real power, in the form of Abu Mazen, or Mohammed Abbas. The real power, Hamas, still is sworn to destroy Israel. As a result, coverage is tilted to prevent accurate information about Abu Mazen's role, his two-facedness,and his support for terror from coming to light.
The issue is not who owns the land, or what the contours of a peace settlement ought to be, but the lack of truth of the reporting that is driven to support a narrow agenda. Of the many sites devoted to the Middle East, one stands out: David Bedein's Israel Behind the News. Bedein is a reporter who writes what is said, not what is supposed to be the party line. Please click on his link to find more about issues in Israeli politics.
Little green footballs
Littlegreenfootballs.com is included in the links to this site. We need to be true to our mission, which is not to provide a left or right agenda, but a platform for investigative journalism. LGF.com is in the forefront of the blogger agenda of debunking garbage that is presented as news by the MSM. If you wish to vote for the left, as many of us do, God bless you. However, do so with open eyes and the best information available. The MSM lied to us a number of times to present not the story, but their chosen narrative. Whether the issue is Dan Rather trying to expose Bush' service record in the guard, or Reuters photoshopping pictures of the most recent Lebanon war to exaggerate Israeli "destruction" of Lebanon, LGF has been there to expose lies and to promote truth in media. Thank you little green footballs.
Book Review Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast
Palast is a controversial and iconic figure for 2008 investigative journalists. He claims that not only Al Gore but John Kerrey beat George Bush in national elections (think OHIO) but that shenanigans (some supported by Democrats) kept GWB in power. He believes a "fix" is in for 2008 based on various sophisticated techniques for challenging black and Hispanic voters.
In international affairs, Palast argues that US policy in Iraq is based on undercutting the ability of Iraqis from digging out of their economic hole, and enables corporations such as Cargill to dump crops and destroy local agriculture and other industries, systematically.
Americans may not be ready to believe that political considerations entered into Bush efforts post-Katrina to provide relief (New Orleans is Democratic).
One irony of Palast publishing outside of the MSM is that his views do not get scrutinized the way they should, by others. Palast inspires those investigative journalists who, since a brief respite in the 1970's, have not had an outlet for their reports.
Palast's book is a must read for anyone interested in politics. It deserves to see the light of day, and rise above the mythical iconic status it presently holds. Investigative journalism should not be bound by artificially set fences, but by the quality of their reporting.
In international affairs, Palast argues that US policy in Iraq is based on undercutting the ability of Iraqis from digging out of their economic hole, and enables corporations such as Cargill to dump crops and destroy local agriculture and other industries, systematically.
Americans may not be ready to believe that political considerations entered into Bush efforts post-Katrina to provide relief (New Orleans is Democratic).
One irony of Palast publishing outside of the MSM is that his views do not get scrutinized the way they should, by others. Palast inspires those investigative journalists who, since a brief respite in the 1970's, have not had an outlet for their reports.
Palast's book is a must read for anyone interested in politics. It deserves to see the light of day, and rise above the mythical iconic status it presently holds. Investigative journalism should not be bound by artificially set fences, but by the quality of their reporting.
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