A BETTER JOB FOR BUSH
We're just trying to find a sensible place for the little wanna-be!!
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Petrodollar Warfare
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances,
there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in
such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air -- however
slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." : William O Douglas
=====
Billions Stolen From Iraq?:
By CBS Some $8.8 billion dispersed for reconstruction efforts in Iraq is unaccounted for, says the U.S. official in charge of tracing it.
=====
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is
hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people
against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to
govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they
mean to be masters." : Daniel Webster
=====
In case you missed it:
Petrodollar Warfare:
Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse: It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam's long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining strategic control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market.
=====
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2267
The War in Iraq Costs $240,024,565,224 See the cost in your community
=====
Intel pros say Bush is lying about foiling 2002 terror attack:
Outraged intelligence professionals say President George W. Bush is "cheapening" and "politicizing" their work with claims the United States foiled a planned terrorist attack against Los Angeles in 2002.
=====
"Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.": George
Washington , Farewell Address
=====
New Nuclear Weapons on the Way?
By Bradford Plumer
How a plan to renovate nuclear stockpiles could go far beyond its original mission.
February 7, 2006
=====
"Law is often the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an
individual.": Thomas Jefferson to I. Tiffany, 1819
=====
Wartime Socialism
By Bradford Plumer
How important is the military to the U.S. economy? Perhaps too important.
February 7, 2006
=====
"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." : Winston Churchill
=====
=====
RadioNation with Laura Flanders
Saturday, Feb.11
Their reality, our reality. Bush knew New Orleans was drowning. Scooter Libby knew Cheney told him to out Valerie Plame. Corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff knew Bush and W. knew him. The CIA's top Mideast guy says Iraq wasn't a threat, but W. didn't want facts. Does any of this matter if our votes can't be trusted? An update on how states are changing voting with PENNY VENETIS, who brought the first-in-the-nation suit to successfully challenge the constitutionality of paperless voting machines. Plus JOHN GIDEON, news editor for VoteTrustUSA - the source for citizen activists. And an update on the GOP's backlash against voting rights activists in Ohio from BOB FITRAKIS, editor-publisher of FreePress.org. Then RODNEY CROWELL, whose "The Outsider" might have been Nashville's most political CD in 2005.
Stream It, 7pm to 10pm, if not on local: HERE
there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in
such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air -- however
slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." : William O Douglas
=====
Billions Stolen From Iraq?:
By CBS Some $8.8 billion dispersed for reconstruction efforts in Iraq is unaccounted for, says the U.S. official in charge of tracing it.
=====
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is
hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people
against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to
govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they
mean to be masters." : Daniel Webster
=====
In case you missed it:
Petrodollar Warfare:
Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse: It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam's long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining strategic control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market.
=====
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2267
The War in Iraq Costs $240,024,565,224 See the cost in your community
=====
Intel pros say Bush is lying about foiling 2002 terror attack:
Outraged intelligence professionals say President George W. Bush is "cheapening" and "politicizing" their work with claims the United States foiled a planned terrorist attack against Los Angeles in 2002.
=====
"Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.": George
Washington , Farewell Address
=====
New Nuclear Weapons on the Way?
By Bradford Plumer
How a plan to renovate nuclear stockpiles could go far beyond its original mission.
February 7, 2006
=====
"Law is often the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an
individual.": Thomas Jefferson to I. Tiffany, 1819
=====
Wartime Socialism
By Bradford Plumer
How important is the military to the U.S. economy? Perhaps too important.
February 7, 2006
=====
"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." : Winston Churchill
=====
=====
RadioNation with Laura Flanders
Saturday, Feb.11
Their reality, our reality. Bush knew New Orleans was drowning. Scooter Libby knew Cheney told him to out Valerie Plame. Corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff knew Bush and W. knew him. The CIA's top Mideast guy says Iraq wasn't a threat, but W. didn't want facts. Does any of this matter if our votes can't be trusted? An update on how states are changing voting with PENNY VENETIS, who brought the first-in-the-nation suit to successfully challenge the constitutionality of paperless voting machines. Plus JOHN GIDEON, news editor for VoteTrustUSA - the source for citizen activists. And an update on the GOP's backlash against voting rights activists in Ohio from BOB FITRAKIS, editor-publisher of FreePress.org. Then RODNEY CROWELL, whose "The Outsider" might have been Nashville's most political CD in 2005.
Stream It, 7pm to 10pm, if not on local: HERE
Domestic Spying & Impeachment
VETERANS FOR PEACE
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!
Dear Supporters of the Veterans For Peace Impeachment Initiative,
In the past you have helped us by signing VFP's online petition calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Since we've started this drive the list of crimes committed by this administration has grown longer. The latest offense, the authorization of illegal wiretaps, fits into the category of "high crimes and misdemeanors" and are a clear violation of the law reminiscent of the crimes listed in the articles of impeachment written against President Nixon.
Over the next few weeks the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will continue to hold hearings on President Bush's domestic spying program. On Monday committee members from both parties asked Attorney General Gonzales tough questions about the program (click here for a review of Monday's hearing, and here for a perspective on the legal ramifications of domestic spying). To keep the momentum of the inquiry going, we're going to need your help.
We need you to keep pressure on our politicians. Further your support of the {VFP 'Declaration Of Impeachment'} VFP Impeachment Initiative by taking the time to demand that this administration's criminal violations be held to account. Let them know that you will not stand for a whitewashing of this administration's crimes.
The phone numbers and internet contacts for all 100 senators are listed at the bottom of this message. Please contact them about the domestic spying program. If you are short on time feel free to cut, paste, and edit the sample letter below into the e-mail form for your senators. It is especially important for our VFP members and supporters in PA, UT, VT, IA, MA, AZ, DE, OH, WI, AL, CA, SC, TX, NY, KS, IL, and OK to take this action, because at least one of your senators is a standing member of the Judiciary Committee.
Remember that this is just one step in the process of turning the heat up in Washington, DC. Articles of Impeachment must be initiated in the House of Representatives. We look forward to continuing partnership with you and will keep you informed of our progress. It will not be easy, but if we stick together and remain vigilant, justice will prevail.
Thank You,
Michael McPhearson
Executive Director, Veterans For Peace
Sample Letter:
Dear Senator,
As a constituent of your state, I demand that you pay full attention to the hearings on domestic spying that are taking place in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. It is readily apparent to me, and millions of other voters, that the President has overstepped his authority and committed a crime in relation to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. This law requires that anyone--including the President of the United States--must obtain a warrant from the FISA Court when putting a citizen of the United States under surveillance.
President Bush contends that he is using the "authority vested in me by Congress, including the Joint Authorization for Use of Military Force...I'm also using constitutional authority vested in me as Commander-in-Chief." Those statements indicate that President Bush believes that ordinary laws do not apply to him.
Fortunately, that is not the way our democracy works. There is no place in the Constitution or legal statue that allows the President to circumvent the FISA Act. In fact, the FISA Law was written specifically to control just the type of abuse President Bush has admitted committing.
As a citizen of the United States, and a constituent of your state, I demand that you uphold your responsibility as Senator by providing oversight of, and correction to, any and all violations of the law committed by the executive branch of the federal government--including those committed by the President of the United States.
President Bush's admitted violation of the FISA law most certainly qualifies as a "high crime" and therefore warrants impeachment.
All Americans understand that the government must take certain measures to protect the citizens of the United States. But this cannot be done by breaking the law in order to uphold the law. In a true democracy no one is above the law. All violations of the law must be held to account, especially those violations committed by the very persons who are trusted with upholding the law.
Even though President Bush calls himself a "strict-constructionist", he has somehow forgotten that the laws apply to him in the same manner that they do to all citizens of the United States. I trust that you will be there to remind him of the error--and illegality--of his ways.
Sincerely,
"Your Name"
Murkowski, Lisa- (R - AK) Class III
709 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6665
Web Form: http://murkowski.senate.gov/contact.cfm#form
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK) Class II
522 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3004
Web Form: http://stevens.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL) Class II
335 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4124
Web Form: http://sessions.senate.gov/email/contact.cfm
Shelby, Richard C.- (R - AL) Class III
110 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5744
E-mail: senator@shelby.senate.gov
Lincoln, Blanche L.- (D - AR) Class III
355 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4843
Web Form: http://lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
Pryor, Mark L.- (D - AR) Class II
257 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2353
Web Form: http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
Kyl, Jon- (R - AZ) Class I
730 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4521
Web Form: http://kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
McCain, John- (R - AZ) Class III
241 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2235
Web Form: http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Home
Boxer, Barbara- (D - CA) Class III
112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Web Form: http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/
Feinstein, Dianne- (D - CA) Class I
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Web Form: http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO) Class II
521 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5941
Web Form: http://allard.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Salazar, Ken- (D - CO) Class III
702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5852
Web Form: http://salazar.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Dodd, Christopher J.- (D - CT) Class III
448 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2823
Web Form: http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130
Lieberman, Joseph I.- (D - CT) Class I
706 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4041
Web Form: http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm?regarding=issue
Biden, Joseph R., Jr.- (D - DE) Class II
201 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
E-mail: senator@biden.senate.gov
Carper, Thomas R.- (D - DE) Class I
513 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2441
Web Form: http://carper.senate.gov/aemail.htm
Martinez, Mel- (R - FL) Class III
317 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3041
Web Form: http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm
Nelson, Bill- (D - FL) Class I
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
Web Form: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm#email
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA) Class II
416 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3521
Web Form: http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm
Isakson, Johnny- (R - GA) Class III
120 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3643
Web Form: http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Akaka, Daniel K.- (D - HI) Class I
141 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6361
E-mail: senator@akaka.senate.gov
Inouye, Daniel K.- (D - HI) Class III
722 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3934
Web Form: http://inouye.senate.gov/webform.html
Grassley, Chuck- (R - IA) Class III
135 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3744
Web Form: http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Harkin, Tom- (D - IA) Class II
731 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3254
Web Form: http://harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID) Class II
520 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2752
Web Form: http://craig.senate.gov/email/
Crapo, Mike- (R - ID) Class III
239 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6142
Web Form: http://crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Durbin, Richard- (D - IL) Class II
332 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2152
Web Form: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Obama, Barack- (D - IL) Class III
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Web Form: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/
Bayh, Evan- (D - IN) Class III
463 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5623
Web Form: http://bayh.senate.gov/WebMail1.htm
Lugar, Richard G.- (R - IN) Class I
306 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4814
E-mail: senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov
Brownback, Sam- (R - KS) Class III
303 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6521
Web Form: http://brownback.senate.gov/CMEmailMe.cfm
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS) Class II
109 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4774
Web Form: http://roberts.senate.gov/e-mail_pat.html
Bunning, Jim- (R - KY) Class III
316 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4343
Web Form: http://bunning.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Email
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY) Class II
361-A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2541
Web Form: http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm
Landrieu, Mary L.- (D - LA) Class II
724 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5824
Web Form: http://landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Vitter, David- (R - LA) Class III
516 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4623
Web Form: http://vitter.senate.gov/?module=webformIQV1
Kennedy, Edward M.- (D - MA) Class I
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
Web Form: http://kennedy.senate.gov/contact.html
Kerry, John F.- (D - MA) Class II
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2742
Web Form: http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.html
Mikulski, Barbara A.- (D - MD) Class III
503 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4654
Web Form: http://mikulski.senate.gov/mailform.html
Sarbanes, Paul S.- (D - MD) Class I
309 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4524
Web Form: http://sarbanes.senate.gov/pages/email.html
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME) Class II
461 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2523
Web Form: http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.Email&CFID=39113496&CFTOKEN=99427497
Snowe, Olympia J.- (R - ME) Class I
154 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5344
Web Form: http://snowe.senate.gov/contact.htm
Levin, Carl- (D - MI) Class II
269 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6221
Web Form: http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Stabenow, Debbie- (D - MI) Class I
133 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4822
Web Form: http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.htm
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN) Class II
320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5641
Web Form: http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Dayton, Mark- (D - MN) Class I
123 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3244
Web Form: http://dayton.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Bond, Christopher S.- (R - MO) Class III
274 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5721
Web Form: http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm
Talent, James M.- (R - MO) Class I
493 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6154
Web Form: http://talent.senate.gov/Contact/default.cfm?pagemode=1
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS) Class II
113 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5054
Web Form: http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm
Lott, Trent- (R - MS) Class I
487 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6253
Web Form: http://lott.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Email
Baucus, Max- (D - MT) Class II
511 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2651
Web Form: http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue
Burns, Conrad- (R - MT) Class I
187 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2644
Web Form: http://burns.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Contact
Burr, Richard- (R - NC) Class III
217 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3154
Web Form: http://burr.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC) Class II
555 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6342
Web Form: http://dole.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm
Conrad, Kent- (D - ND) Class I
530 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2043
Web Form: http://conrad.senate.gov/webform.html
Dorgan, Byron L.- (D - ND) Class III
322 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2551
E-mail: senator@dorgan.senate.gov
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE) Class II
248 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4224
Web Form: http://hagel.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Nelson, E. Benjamin- (D - NE) Class I
720 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6551
Web Form: http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Gregg, Judd- (R - NH) Class III
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3324
Web Form: http://gregg.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.cfm
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH) Class II
111 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2841
Web Form: http://www.sununu.senate.gov/webform.html
Lautenberg, Frank R.- (D - NJ) Class II
324 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3224
Web Form: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/webform.html
Menendez, Robert- (D - NJ) Class I
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
Bingaman, Jeff- (D - NM) Class I
703 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5521
E-mail: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
Domenici, Pete V.- (R - NM) Class II
328 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6621
Web Form: http://domenici.senate.gov/contact/contactform.cfm
Ensign, John- (R - NV) Class I
356 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6244
Web Form: http://ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm
Reid, Harry- (D - NV) Class III
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3542
Web Form: http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm
Clinton, Hillary Rodham- (D - NY) Class I
476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/
Schumer, Charles E.- (D - NY) Class III
313 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6542
Web Form: http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
DeWine, Mike- (R - OH) Class I
140 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2315
Web Form: http://dewine.senate.gov/
Voinovich, George V.- (R - OH) Class III
524 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3353
Web Form: http://voinovich.senate.gov/contact/index.htm
Coburn, Tom- (R - OK) Class III
172 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5754
Web Form: http://coburn.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK) Class II
453 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4721
Web Form: http://inhofe.senate.gov/contactus.htm
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR) Class II
404 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3753
Web Form: http://gsmith.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Wyden, Ron- (D - OR) Class III
230 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5244
Web Form: http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/
Santorum, Rick- (R - PA) Class I
511 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6324
Web Form: http://santorum.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm
Specter, Arlen- (R - PA) Class III
711 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Web Form: http://specter.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInfo.Home
Chafee, Lincoln- (R - RI) Class I
141A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2921
Web Form: http://chafee.senate.gov/webform.htm
Reed, Jack- (D - RI) Class II
728 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4642
Web Form: http://reed.senate.gov/contact/thoughts.cfm
DeMint, Jim- (R - SC) Class III
340 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6121
Web Form: http://demint.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC) Class II
290 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5972
Web Form: http://lgraham.senate.gov/index.cfm?mode=contact
Johnson, Tim- (D - SD) Class II
136 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5842
Web Form: http://johnson.senate.gov/emailform.cfm
Thune, John- (R - SD) Class III
383 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2321
Web Form: http://thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Email
Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN) Class II
302 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4944
Web Form: http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Frist, William H.- (R - TN) Class I
509 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3344
Web Form: http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.ContactForm
Cornyn, John- (R - TX) Class II
517 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2934
Web Form: http://cornyn.senate.gov/contact/index.html
Hutchison, Kay Bailey- (R - TX) Class I
284 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5922
Web Form: http://hutchison.senate.gov/e-mail.htm
Bennett, Robert F.- (R - UT) Class III
431 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5444
Web Form: http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/emailmain.html
Hatch, Orrin G.- (R - UT) Class I
104 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5251
Web Form: http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Offices.Contact
Allen, George- (R - VA) Class I
204 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4024
Web Form: http://allen.senate.gov/index.cfm?c=email
Warner, John- (R - VA) Class II
225 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2023
Web Form: http://warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm
Jeffords, James M.- (I - VT) Class I
413 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5141
Web Form: http://jeffords.senate.gov/contact.html
Leahy, Patrick J.- (D - VT) Class III
433 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
E-mail: senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Cantwell, Maria- (D - WA) Class I
717 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/
Murray, Patty- (D - WA) Class III
173 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2621
Web Form: http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm
Feingold, Russell D.- (D - WI) Class III
506 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
E-mail: russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
Kohl, Herb- (D - WI) Class I
330 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
Web Form: http://kohl.senate.gov/gen_contact.html
Byrd, Robert C.- (D - WV) Class I
311 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3954
Web Form: http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html
Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D - WV) Class II
531 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6472
Web Form: http://rockefeller.senate.gov/services/email.cfm
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY) Class II
379A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3424
Web Form: http://enzi.senate.gov/email.htm
Thomas, Craig- (R - WY) Class I
307 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6441
Web Form: http://thomas.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Friday, February 10, 2006
The Little Dictator: "I did not have relations with that man."
"The trouble with most folks isn't so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain't so." : Josh Billings - [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818-1885) American humorist and lecturer
=====
Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq
Paul R. Pillar
From Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006
Summary: During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case.
PAUL R. PILLAR is on the faculty of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. Concluding a long career in the Central Intelligence Agency, he served as National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005.
=====
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.": General Douglas MacArthur - (1880-1964) WWII Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific, Supreme United Nations Commander 1957
=====
Changing The Winds Of Surveillance
by E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post
Bush, Cheney and Rove put national security below their goals of increasing presidential power and winning elections.
=====
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it: Milton Mayer - Excerpt from pages 166-73 of "They Thought They Were Free" First published in 1955
Read Article Here
=====
Jack And Dubya
"I did not have relations with that man." Track the e-mails contradicting President Bush's claim he doesn't know Jack Abramoff.
=====
"A radical is one who speaks the truth." : Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. - Congressman, father of famous aviator - June 15, 1957
=====
'New populists' vs. the West
Some might call it the axle of anti-American populism.
With linchpins in Tehran on one end and Caracas on the other, a new brand of international populism is rising by fanning flames of division between Western powers and the "powerless" of the developing world.
=====
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2264
The War in Iraq Costs $239,472,694,470 See the cost in your community
=====
Thursday, 9 February 2006
Senate Republicans Screw Veterans Again
Caught this post on BobGeiger.com:
What in the world is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist going to do with those wacky Democrats? Don’t they understand that war is supposed to make America’s richest people more wealthy and not actually make them sacrifice for the war effort?
Despite Senate Democrats spending much of 2005 getting shot down by the GOP majority as they attempted to secure funding for active military, Veterans and first responders, Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Jack Reed (D-RI) decided to take another kick at the can last week.
=====
Government without Representation:
A Call to Action :
By Charles Sullivan
Regimes such as the Bush cabal have always plagued America They are a recurring cancer that pervades every cell of society. They recur because we are treating symptoms, not underlying causes.
=====
Army Effort to Enlist Hispanics Draws Recruits, and Criticism
As Sgt. First Class Gavino Barron, dressed in a crisp Army uniform, trawls the Wal-Mart here for recruits, past stacks of pillows and towers of detergent, he is zeroing-in on one of the Army's "special missions": to increase the number of Hispanic enlisted soldiers. Not all Latinos, though, are in step with the military's recruitment goals. In some cities with large Hispanic populations, the focus on recruitment has polarized Latinos, prompting some to organize against recruiters and to help immigrants learn their rights.
=====
=====
Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq
Paul R. Pillar
From Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006
Summary: During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case.
PAUL R. PILLAR is on the faculty of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. Concluding a long career in the Central Intelligence Agency, he served as National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005.
=====
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.": General Douglas MacArthur - (1880-1964) WWII Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific, Supreme United Nations Commander 1957
=====
Changing The Winds Of Surveillance
by E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post
Bush, Cheney and Rove put national security below their goals of increasing presidential power and winning elections.
=====
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it: Milton Mayer - Excerpt from pages 166-73 of "They Thought They Were Free" First published in 1955
Read Article Here
=====
Jack And Dubya
"I did not have relations with that man." Track the e-mails contradicting President Bush's claim he doesn't know Jack Abramoff.
=====
"A radical is one who speaks the truth." : Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. - Congressman, father of famous aviator - June 15, 1957
=====
'New populists' vs. the West
Some might call it the axle of anti-American populism.
With linchpins in Tehran on one end and Caracas on the other, a new brand of international populism is rising by fanning flames of division between Western powers and the "powerless" of the developing world.
=====
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2264
The War in Iraq Costs $239,472,694,470 See the cost in your community
=====
Thursday, 9 February 2006
Senate Republicans Screw Veterans Again
Caught this post on BobGeiger.com:
What in the world is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist going to do with those wacky Democrats? Don’t they understand that war is supposed to make America’s richest people more wealthy and not actually make them sacrifice for the war effort?
Despite Senate Democrats spending much of 2005 getting shot down by the GOP majority as they attempted to secure funding for active military, Veterans and first responders, Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Jack Reed (D-RI) decided to take another kick at the can last week.
=====
Government without Representation:
A Call to Action :
By Charles Sullivan
Regimes such as the Bush cabal have always plagued America They are a recurring cancer that pervades every cell of society. They recur because we are treating symptoms, not underlying causes.
=====
Army Effort to Enlist Hispanics Draws Recruits, and Criticism
As Sgt. First Class Gavino Barron, dressed in a crisp Army uniform, trawls the Wal-Mart here for recruits, past stacks of pillows and towers of detergent, he is zeroing-in on one of the Army's "special missions": to increase the number of Hispanic enlisted soldiers. Not all Latinos, though, are in step with the military's recruitment goals. In some cities with large Hispanic populations, the focus on recruitment has polarized Latinos, prompting some to organize against recruiters and to help immigrants learn their rights.
=====
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Blaming the Veteran: The Politics of PTSD -- Part 1
by ePluribus Media
Thu Feb 9th, 2006 at 09:18:15 AM EST
by D.E. Ford, M.S.W., Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired), and I.L. Meagher for ePluribus Media
War is hell. Unlike the Hollywood soldiers whose stoicism and stiff upper lip signal heroism, real men and women are not uniformed machines that can perform under great stress with little consequence. Trained to be part of the superior fighting machinery of the military, they are still human, mortal and unique. The gruesome terrors of war not only damage the body but can also shatter self-image, ability to trust, and belief systems, leaving the individual disillusioned and bitter. The returning combat veteran’s nervous system overloads from the assault by the stealth enemy: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Read The Rest: HERE
Or At: ePluribus Media
Thu Feb 9th, 2006 at 09:18:15 AM EST
by D.E. Ford, M.S.W., Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired), and I.L. Meagher for ePluribus Media
PART ONE - STACKING THE DECK
War is hell. Unlike the Hollywood soldiers whose stoicism and stiff upper lip signal heroism, real men and women are not uniformed machines that can perform under great stress with little consequence. Trained to be part of the superior fighting machinery of the military, they are still human, mortal and unique. The gruesome terrors of war not only damage the body but can also shatter self-image, ability to trust, and belief systems, leaving the individual disillusioned and bitter. The returning combat veteran’s nervous system overloads from the assault by the stealth enemy: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Read The Rest: HERE
Or At: ePluribus Media
The War on Veterans
Below is an E-Mail sent out by Veterans For Common Sense relating to recent reports, I just sent it out to my E-List.
The War on Veterans
February 9, 2006
This is what I added to the beginning:
Not Waiting Till They Become Us Older Vets, Getting Them Fresh Out Of Theater As Their Buddies Are Being Killed!!
And the 'Majority' in this Country 'Could Care Less', Nothing New There Though, That's How It's Always Been!! Send them off to Invade a Small Country, who's people didn't deserve the Death and Destruction, for those on these shores their Military is Out Of Site-Out Of Mind, In Theater and At Home!!!!
This is the VCS E-Mail Body:
The War on Veterans
February 9, 2006
This is what I added to the beginning:
Not Waiting Till They Become Us Older Vets, Getting Them Fresh Out Of Theater As Their Buddies Are Being Killed!!
And the 'Majority' in this Country 'Could Care Less', Nothing New There Though, That's How It's Always Been!! Send them off to Invade a Small Country, who's people didn't deserve the Death and Destruction, for those on these shores their Military is Out Of Site-Out Of Mind, In Theater and At Home!!!!
This is the VCS E-Mail Body:
"I last saw my armor when it was pulled off my bleeding body," says First Lieutenant William "Eddie" Redbrook, a 25 year-old West Point graduate injured when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb last year. The West Virginia resident was shocked when, on his medical discharge from the Army last week, he was stuck with a bill: $700 to replace body armor which was damaged and bloodied, then torn off his body following the injury.
For Rest of Above
This is not the first time this has occurred. Early last year, Mark Benjamin of Salon reported on the move made by Walter Reed Army Hospital to charge injured soldiers for meals eaten at the hospital, at a potential cost of hundreds of dollars per month. "I think it sucks," said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. "I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go."
For Rest of Above
Iraq War veteran Jason Thelan wrote of the Dallas VA hospital almost a year ago: "unclean and had foul odors, walls had buildups of grime, and stretchers had dried residue of bodily fluids. The administration did not collect or analyze mortality data, and patient injuries such as falls were not recorded. Waiting times for an appointment can stretch up to a year. There was no evidence of a plan for better management, and the director of the North Texas VA system quit several weeks ago."
For Rest of Above
In another article by Mark Benjamin, a young soldier is quoted: "I'll sign anything as soon as I can get my hands on it," he told me several days before being released from the hospital. "I loved the Army. I was obsessed with it. The Army was my life. Fuck them now."
For Rest of Above
Most of us would expect that news of this nature would make waves in Washington. Heads would roll, budget priorities would change, and we would do everything in our power as a nation to provide the best for the young men and women whose lives and bodies have been shattered by this war.
Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.
Despite repeated defeats by Congress, the administration has once again gone back to Congress with a budget that will "cut costs" at the VA by increasing fees and payments -- doubling co-pays and introducing enrollment fees. The American Legion has hailed the budget for increasing the VA healthcare budget by $3 billion, but criticized it for raising the fees. Additionally, VA's current budget includes saving $1.1 billion in "management" efficiencies, which the General Accountability Office said were baseless in a report issued only a week ago.
HERE
and HERE
Congress and the administration repeatedly say they "support the troops." But actions speak louder than words. For a review of just how they support the troops, see our brief survey of articles to the right.
It's time to get in front of this train attacking returning war veterans and put it a stop. Veterans for Common Sense will continue to fight to ensure returning veterans get the help they need. We'd like you to join us in the fight.
Visit: Veterans For CommonSense
CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict) is a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded by Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on April 16, 2005 by a suicide bomb in Baghdad while advocating for the families of Iraqi civilians killed and injured in the conflict. CIVIC believes that civilian casualties should be counted and their families assisted by the governments responsible, and is working to identify victims and help their families.
^^^^^^^^^^
"All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for thir future security." :
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Eroding U.S. Industrial Base Comes With Price
Executive Power: War on the Constitution
There are prior and current members of the Bush administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who openly argue that if the country is at war, the president should be able to ignore domestic and international law outlawing torture, prohibiting illegal detention, providing due process and jurisdictional restraints on military commissions and limiting domestic spying under alleged commander in chief powers. Such claims are unacceptable. Under Article II, Section 3 of our Constitution, the president has an express and unavoidable duty to faithfully execute the "Laws" and has no power to violate them. As Richard Nixon learned, presidential authorizations to violate the law are, in the words of the House Judiciary Committee, "subversive of constitutional government."
*****
There are prior and current members of the Bush administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who openly argue that if the country is at war, the president should be able to ignore domestic and international law outlawing torture, prohibiting illegal detention, providing due process and jurisdictional restraints on military commissions and limiting domestic spying under alleged commander in chief powers. Such claims are unacceptable. Under Article II, Section 3 of our Constitution, the president has an express and unavoidable duty to faithfully execute the "Laws" and has no power to violate them. As Richard Nixon learned, presidential authorizations to violate the law are, in the words of the House Judiciary Committee, "subversive of constitutional government."
*****
"...There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." : Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837
*****
U.S. Initiates Legal Processes Against Christian Group that Marched to Guantánamo
Seven individuals from Witness Against Torture, a group protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were served papers by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) last week. The group of twenty-four U.S. Christians marched over 60 miles to the Naval Base in an attempt to practice the Christian act of prisoner visitation. The group camped and fasted for four days at the gate of the militarized zone while awaiting access to the base.
*****
Soldier pays for armor
Army demanded $700 from city man who was wounded
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
The last time 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV saw his body armor, he was lying on a stretcher in Iraq, his arm shattered and covered in blood.
A field medic tied a tourniquet around Rebrook’s right arm to stanch the bleeding from shrapnel wounds. Soldiers yanked off his blood-soaked body armor. He never saw it again.
*****
"If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions." : Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787
*****
The Neocons' Long War
by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com
Never in history has any nation decided to spend so much for so long to battle so few.
*****
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2258
The War in Iraq Costs $239,222,614,656 See the cost in your community
*****
THE REPUBLICAN-LOBBYIST-MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
"While Abramoff, DeLay and Randy 'Duke' Cunningham dominate the headlines," the Alexander Strategy Group (ASG) "deserves to be heavily scrutinized for its role in each of those scandals and others not yet on the mainstream radar," reports Jeremy Scahill. "Recently, ASG was on the cutting edge of one of the fastest-growing industries ... private security," working for Blackwater USA and an image-boosting industry coalition, the International Peace Operations Association. ASG's clients also included Republican fundraiser and "Bush Pioneer" Brent Wilkes, whose companies have collected "some $90 million in military contracts" over the past decade. Previous to hiring ASG, Wilkes retained Patrick McSwain, Duke Cunningham's former chief of staff, as a lobbyist. McSwain went on to found another "high-powered GOP lobbying firm," Northpoint Strategies, whose clients included the Carlyle Group and Titan Corporation ("of Abu Ghraib fame"). Scahill concludes that such connections speak "volumes to how far and wide these investigations should extend." SOURCE: The Nation, February 2, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: HERE
*****
"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." : Frederick Douglass
*****
MIS-STATEMENTS OF THE UNION
Middle East expert and author Stephen Zunes dissected some of George W. Bush's "simplistic formulations" made during the State of the Union (SOTU) address. Bush stated, "there is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success, and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure. Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy." Zunes countered, "Recognizing that the [Iraq] war is probably unwinnable is not defeatism. It is realism. Aiming for an unachievable military 'success' is not responsible. It is a folly of tragic proportions. And insisting the Bush administration be held accountable for the lies, the negligence, and the tragic blunders which have resulted from this ongoing tragedy is a patriotic duty." SOURCE: Foreign Policy in Focus, February 1, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: HERE
*****
Eroding U.S. industrial base comes with price
VCS commentator Dianne M. Grassi asks how the founders of our country would have dealt with a declining industrial base, requiring dependence on foreign countries for a whole range of defense related materials and parts.
"Endless conflicts of interest abound when it comes to foreign dependence in order for the U.S. to maintain its infrastructure, electrical grid, military weaponry and supplies, air travel and homeland security, to name a few. When smaller U.S. specialty industries vital to the industrial base become extinct on our shores, they now appear huge in a world where alliances are tenuous at best. A global economy at the expense of U.S. sovereignty, security and standard of living is something that the Colonists would not have stood for. They would have found another way. Maybe America still has time to do the same."
*****
A Real Way to Honor America's Troops
For America's veterans, 2005 was like the movie "Groundhog Day." Day after day in Congress we have had to fight for the health care and benefits that our veterans have earned, but after every minor victory we seemingly have to fight the battle again the next day against the forces of resistance.
*****
Beware The Ides Of March
Soothsayer's warning before Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC.
By Mathew Maavak
If Julius - regarded as one of the greatest Caesars - couldn’t take note, the leader of the current superpower should. This March, his actions may spark off a conflict from which the world might never recover.
*****
CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict)
is a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded by Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on April 16, 2005 by a suicide bomb in Baghdad while advocating for the families of Iraqi civilians killed and injured in the conflict. CIVIC believes that civilian casualties should be counted and their families assisted by the governments responsible, and is working to identify victims and help their families.
Constitutional Crisis-And They Know It
War on the Constitution
Jordan Paust
Special to The National Law Journal
01-30-2006
There are prior and current members of the Bush administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who openly argue that if the country is at war, the president should be able to ignore domestic and international law outlawing torture, prohibiting illegal detention, providing due process and jurisdictional restraints on military commissions and limiting domestic spying under alleged commander in chief powers. Such claims are unacceptable. Under Article II, Section 3 of our Constitution, the president has an express and unavoidable duty to faithfully execute the "Laws" and has no power to violate them. As Richard Nixon learned, presidential authorizations to violate the law are, in the words of the House Judiciary Committee, "subversive of constitutional government."
The radical jurisprudence of adherents to the commander-can-violate-laws theory is not "conservative," since it necessarily ignores views of the founders and framers and overwhelming recognitions in judicial opinions to the contrary. In particular, it ignores unanimous recognitions by the judiciary that all within the executive branch are bound by the laws of war, and numerous affirmations of a constitutionally based judicial power to apply law in cases before the courts and ultimately to review executive decisions taken in time of war.
Since 1800, Supreme Court opinions have also recognized the power of Congress to limit certain commander in chief powers during actual war. More generally, this power does not apply outside of an actual war, and the United States cannot be at "war" with al-Queda or terrorism as such. Even during actual war, Justice David H. Souter recognized, "the President is not Commander in Chief of the country, only of the military."
Domestic spying: no authority
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush claim that domestic spying in manifest violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is permissible under the commander in chief power and is authorized by Congress in broad language in the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) regarding individuals responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Similar claims were made in a letter to four members of Congress on Dec. 22 by Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella. The claims are patently false.
With respect to presidential power, Moschella seriously misread the Prize Cases by ignoring the fact that, immediately before the language he quoted, the Supreme Court expressly referred to two early federal statutes that "authorized . . . [and] bound" the president to use armed force, demonstrating another instance of congressional power to regulate portions of the commander in chief power during actual war. Moreover, any "inherent presidential authority" to spy on Americans at home is not an exclusive power and has been clearly limited in the FISA.
Additionally, there is no congressional authorization in the AUMF to engage in domestic spying. First, there is no persuasive evidence that Congress intended to override any provisions of the FISA. Second, the AUMF contains no express or implied authorization concerning surveillance. With respect to executive action, the purpose of the AUMF is clearly contained in the authorization to use merely "necessary and appropriate force" against those "nations, organizations, or persons" that "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the 9/11 terrorist attacks or that "harbored such . . . persons." The authorization of appropriate "force" is not an authorization to torture or to use cruel, inhuman, degrading or humiliating treatment against any person; it is not an authorization to create military commissions that are otherwise without jurisdiction and fail to provide due process required by constitutional and international law; and it is certainly not an authorization to spy on individuals in the United States. The word "appropriate" also impliedly requires compliance with law.
Third, whatever authorizations exist in the AUMF to use force, it is evident that they are restricted in two important respects. The first restriction is recognizable in language reflecting past events. The words "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" refer to the past and more specifically to the events of 9/11. The second restriction is more significant. With respect to the people against whom appropriate force can be directed, the authorization is expressly tied to those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the 9/11 attacks as such or who "harbored such . . . persons." Not covered are those who merely have, in the president's words, "known links" with al-Queda or, in Moschella's words, links with "an affiliated terrorist organization." Also not covered are misguided people who merely sympathize with the 9/11 terrorists, people who pose "a threat of future terrorist attacks" or people who simply communicate with them.
The FISA provides an appropriate national security tool for spying on transnational communications with the 9/11 and other terrorists. The AUMF does not do so and offers no aid for presidents and others who violate laws concerning inhumane treatment of detainees, military commissions and domestic spying.
Jordan Paust is the Mike & Teresa Baker Law Center Professor at the University of Houston and a former captain, U.S. Army judge advocate general's corps and member of the faculty at the Judge Advocate General's School (1969-1973).
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The End
{Rapidly Running, After Starting In The Late 80's Early 90's, After 'Democracy' Stopped With The Supremes, Since Than We Are Witness!}
The End
VCS Board of Directors member and Iraq War veteran David DeBatto writes "what we are witnessing here with this blatant shredding of one the most important of our constitutional guarantees, is the beginning of the end of the republic. Make no mistake about it. When a sitting administration, through it’s highest officials, willfully, knowingly and arrogantly violates the laws of the land as well as the sacred trust it has with the American public, then the end of the government as we know it is right around the corner."
"Formerly no one was allowed to think freely; now it is permitted, but no one is capable of it any more. Now people want to think only what they are supposed to think, and this they consider freedom.": Oswald Spengler - (1880-1936) Source: The Decline of the West, 1926
Cowardly Lions
by Emily Bazelon, Slate
Yesterday's NSA hearings showed Congress standing up to the White House and then running away from the fight.
"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty: and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it." -- John Stuart Mill, Representative Government, 1861
A War Too Far
by Tom Porteous, TomPaine.com
Bush's escalation of his war against terrorists into a war against the "evil ideology" of radical Islam may trigger a clash of civilizations.
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams, 1772
Iraq war vets enter U.S. political fray
"Having military experience is a great resume item, but it does not automatically make someone a good candidate," said Carl Forti, spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee. "It takes a lot more to be a credible candidate than one strong resume point."
{56 Iraq Veterans are Now Running for Various Fed/State Political Offices Around the Country for 2006 Elections, All 56 are Democrats!!}
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America's War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2252
The War in Iraq Costs $239,040,972,605 See the cost in your community
There is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with 'a money touch,' but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers:
Theodore Roosevelt
Dog of war builds £62m business on Iraq
Modern mercenary company financially doing well thanks to the Iraq war.
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!": Alexander Hamilton
OP-ED Customs `camps' cause for concern
Considering what took place in Nazi Germany, as well as the shameful incarceration of Japanese-Americans in 1942, no detention camp should be built without the widest possible public scrutiny.
"The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.": Charles-Louis De Secondat - (1689-1755) Baron de Montesquieu - Source: The Spirit of the Laws, 1748
Prof. Strauss and the neocon takeover
By Jim Silva
Have you seen the latest blockbuster? Like Star Wars, it's classic good verses evil - a power hungry dictator plotting to seize control of a goodly Republic. The twist is it's for adults. Ones who know reality is stranger than fiction. You guessed it! This epic thriller is actually your life, and it's called "The Fall of the Republic - Sleeping Through the Revolution." Here's a behind the scenes look:
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"If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different"
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Vietnam War History 101:
"The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There"
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Every Bomb dropped in Iraq Explodes over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast!!
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CIVIC {Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict} is a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded by Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on April 16, 2005 by a suicide bomb in Baghdad while advocating for the families of Iraqi civilians killed and injured in the conflict. CIVIC believes that civilian casualties should be counted and their families assisted by the governments responsible, and is working to identify victims and help their families.
Monday, February 06, 2006
31 Days In Iraq.....
31 Days In Iraq... See The Map Of Suicide, Mortar, And Car Bomb Attacks...
Click on Map Graphic or Title to see Larger Version!
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GlobalFreePress has Expanded the 'No Bravery' Flash Video first produced by Peace Takes Courage!
More photo's that Should be Seen {prepare, some very Graphic} by the Masses, as well as the Lyrics!
Watch It Here: GlobalFreePress - 'NO BRAVERY'
And Pass it On
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Plame Was Covert When Outed!!
You get a 'Warrant' on Probable Cause, WireTap Away! You 'WireTap' without a 'Warrant' It's A Felony!
You Attempt For A 'Warrant' and Court finds 'No Probable Cause' and Refuses but you Proceed anyway It's A Felony of Extreme and Calls for Extreme Measures of Investigation and Possible Conviction with Severe Sentencing To The Max!!!!!
Rumsfeld, Cheney Wanted Warrantless Wiretaps in 70's
An intense debate erupted during former US President Gerald Ford's administration over the president's powers to eavesdrop without warrants to gather foreign intelligence.
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Top Republican: Bush's Domestic Spying Program Illegal
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Americans Spied On In "Terrorist Surveillance" Program, Nearly All Cleared As Suspects
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CIA "Was Making Specific Efforts To Conceal" Plame's Covert Status When Outed
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IRAQ:
From Those Who Swear by Freedom
Brian Conley and Isam Rashid
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John K. White: The Death of a Presidency
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William O. Beeman: United States Instigated Iran's Nuclear Program 30
Years Ago
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A Nation Addicted to Oil -- and Debt
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"Every Bomb dropped in Iraq Explodes over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast!!"
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"If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different"
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Vietnam War History 101:
"The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There"
Society Budgets:
Bloated Defense Budgets=Corruption, Social Program Cuts-Well You'll Miss Them When Needed, Veteran Program Shortfalls Speak For Themselves and This Nation!!
Budget Favors Defense: 141 Programs to Be Cut or Halted
President Bush plans to propose a $2.7 trillion budget tomorrow that would shrink most parts of the government unrelated to the nation's security while slowing spending on Medicare by $36 billion during the next five years, according to White House documents.
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President to send Congress
$439.3 billion defense budget
February 3, 2006
WASHINGTON – President Bush's 2007 budget seeks a nearly 5 percent increase in Defense Department spending, to $439.3 billion, with significantly more money for weapons programs, according to senior Pentagon officials and documents obtained by The Associated Press.
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Some Key Facts Concerning The President’s Budget Priorities For 2007
WASHINGTON - February 3 - In this week’s State of the Union, President Bush outlined the priorities of the Administration’s forthcoming budget. Several key facts necessary to understanding the impact of the President’s proposals, however, were not mentioned in the speech.
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Saturday, 4 February 2006
Let's Fund VA Health Care
I went to the VA Hospital a few weeks ago to see the cardiologist. A few days later, I was sitting in surgical intensive care with a triple coronary bypass. I wasn't even feeling sick before the hospital appointment.
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Vet issue-Sorry, Charlie: Your Time Is Up
New rules on how much time veterans groups have to present budget testimony to Congress seem designed to limit vets' influence on funding decisions.
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"We had no notions of being heroes … we missed normalcy":
Sergeant and sophomore Fonda Fan describes her year in Iraq
Fonda Fan, a sophomore English major at UC Berkeley, returned in November from a year in Iraq. Now 20, Sergeant Fan joined the Army Reserves at 17, just after finishing high school in Los Angeles. In October 2004, after her freshman year at Berkeley, she was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her unit was stationed in Tikrit, in central northern Iraq. She began her "in country" tour with three other women in the unit, but before long, two were transferred elsewhere. Since her service contract does not end until 2008, she expects to be called up again.
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The new Afghanistan is a myth. It's time to go and get a job abroad
As British troops prepare to tackle the Taliban's remnants, hundreds of thousands of jobless Afghan refugees who returned home to start a new life are queueing up to leave again
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Combat soldiers face many struggles
HIBBING — When Sgt. First Class Keith Huff of the Army National Guard arrived home in Minnesota in January of 2005 after serving a year in Iraq, he didn’t realize his homecoming would be so difficult.
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Editorial
Minutes before the U.S. president would tell Congress how much he appreciates "responsible criticism and counsel," the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was dragged from a gallery overlooking the House chamber, handcuffed and arrested for the "crime" of wearing a T-shirt that read: "2,245 dead. How many more?"
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2/02/2006
'Peace Takes Courage' New AnimationWhy?
2/01/2006
Help PTC Win the Huffington Post Contagious Festival
View The 'Peace Takes Courage' Entry's
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"Every Bomb dropped in Iraq Explodes over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast!!"
“If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different”
Vietnam War History 101:
“The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There”
Is the World Safer Today?
“I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”
Schurz, “The Policy of Imperialism,” Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913).
Schurz, “The Policy of Imperialism,” Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913).
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Rep. John Murtha
Is the World Safer Today?
The President continues to use labels and rhetoric to define his national defense policy, but it simply isn't working. In his State of the Union Address, the President defended his position to both the American public and the world by saying "we will continue to lead" but this does little to repair the damage done by the President's failed policies.
We must insist that this Administration provide the facts behind its labels.
I am sharing with you this letter that I sent to the President this morning articulating exactly this:
Wednesday February 1, 2006
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
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"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. " : Ayn Rand in "The Nature of Government"
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Granny D's Speech in DC Today {2-04-06} at World Can't Wait Rally
Good morning, dear fellow Americans!
Soon, we will all march to the White House, to give physical witness to our concern that America's values lay in tatters as a result of Mr. Bush's sociopathic behavior. I am here this morning to tell the Members of Congress that, although we march to the White House now, our hopes and hearts and expectations look backward down this street to Congress.
Every Member of Congress has taken an oath of office to uphold the Constitution.
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"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." -- Thomas Jefferson
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Veterans and Survivors of Katrina
From Mobile to New Orleans March 14-19, 2006
March 19, 2006 is the 3rd anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Veterans for Peace is organizing this five-day march along Gulf Coast Highway 90 to demand the immediate return of our troops from Iraq, and to call for U.S. tax dollars to be spent on human priorities and rebuilding of the devastated Gulf Coast, instead of the illegal occupation of Iraq.
Support Americans in Iraq and the Gulf Coast—bring them home NOW!
{By the way, if you can't make this Visit the Link and Send a Couple of Duckets if you got them as we All progress backwards in Finances, it would be Greatly Appreciated!!}
Every Bomb dropped in Iraq Explodes over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast!!
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There is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with 'a money touch,' but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers: Theodore Roosevelt
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On democracy, Arabs mistrust the American messenger:
A very large majorities of Arabs - three out of every four persons - believed that the main motives of American policies in the Middle East were "oil, protecting Israel, dominating the region, and weakening the Muslim world."
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For the first time since intercontinental ballistic missiles were "captured" in arms control treaties 40 years ago as unique and potentially destabilizing weapons, the United States will muddy the waters by modifying an existing nuclear weapon for use in day-to-day warfare. ******
Iran threatens to close Hormuz in retaliation:
Iran also threatened retaliation against any country providing the US with bases or other means to launch its military campaign.
India-Defence
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“If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different”
Vietnam War History 101:
“The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There”
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