The bush/repub Years

As the old saying goes, "Read it and Weep!"



ZERO Net Jobs Created Since 1999

For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different.

The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation's growth.

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There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.

Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 -- and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade of falling median incomes since figures were first compiled in the 1960s.

And the net worth of American households -- the value of their houses, retirement funds and other assets minus debts -- has also declined when adjusted for inflation, compared with sharp gains in every previous decade since data were initially collected in the 1950s. ..>>>>>

There wasn't a month in those eight years that went into positive job creation numbers, for a very short time that was being reported, then it quickly stopped and never mentioned again!

With two occupations started they even kept changing the numbers of recruiting monthly goals to show them as continuing reaching the military numbers needed for National Security and Two Occupations. They also raised the recruitment age and lowered the criminal backrounds!

Will add:

Though many will say the Democrats took over Congress in '08 so maybe they should share any blame for the last couple of years all one would need do is visit the Congressional Records to see that they've been trying to clean up the total mess, in a number of area's, that preceeded them from the No working repubs. Just take the Veterans and Military, i.e. Walter Reed and Base living etc.. They were finally doing oversite and investigative hearings into what wasn't done or didn't concern the previous congresses as they waged two long running occupations with their rubber stamping of that administrations wants!!

Oh ya, they were also telling us that with the new, after 9/11, Homeland Security Agency that intelligence sharing was working better then ever before!! We saw how good on Christmas Day!!

On The NewsHour Last Night: Analysis

Pakistan Blast Sharpens Concerns on Taliban

Following a week in which militant attacks killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan and at least 75 people at a volleyball match in Pakistan, Ray Suarez speaks with a pair of experts about rising instability in the region...Transcript and Video/Audio

The growth of not only the Taliban but also al Qaeda factions in the border region, Afghanistan and Pakistan can be brought right back at the previous administration and walking out to Iraq while causing Afghanistan to stagnate, but also in the dealings of our government with Pakistan at that time.

That growth as well as the last eight years, also the Israeli actions on the Palestinians, have caused what's seemingly a huge growth in al Qaeda factions, in Somalia and Yemen at the very least, whether directly affiliated or just flying under that banner to be recognized as being a part of the larger enemy of the west. Someone mentioned the other day they really enjoy being called 'terrorist', i.e. warriors, rather then criminals which is what the label 'terrorist' and directed at one name, al Qaeda, gives them.

The cheney/bush regime, with their own extremist rubber stamping congress, gave bin Laden and company just what they wanted, an enhanced radical movement of criminal terror, without borders, that will continue into the coming decades, and we keep feeding it not diminishing it!

I'm still trying to figure out why these News outlets keep using Michael Scheuer as the ex-cia spokesperson, plenty of much better ones to choose from, but he only makes a couple of really short statement points in this report prior to discussion and does no damage.

U.S. Principles??

In the new year, U.S. must live up to its principles

The start of a new year is typically a time for reflection as well as celebration. Most of the resolutions that result from this annual attempt at self-improvement don't survive their first encounter with an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Here is one resolution that should be made, but won't be for two reasons. First, it has to be taken as a nation and not just individually. And second, it requires a greater degree of introspection than we appear collectively capable of.

The resolution itself is simple — that we live up to the principles for which we say we stand....>>>>>

They've become unrecognizable to this old man, who grew up and watched them disappear, the hard fought for by our granparents, parents and many of us as we tried to continue the thought of leaving a better world for those who follow!!

U.S.: 'arranged secret prisoner exchange' {UpDated}

Minimizing the Blowback one step at a time?

According to U.S. sources what's being said by the father is not what happened.

Peter Moore: US 'arranged secret prisoner exchange'

Peter Moore's father claims US agents negotiated a secret prisoner exchange deal Photo: PA

US hostage negotiators secretly arranged a prisoner exchange deal with Peter Moore's captors behind the back of the British Government, Mr Moore's father has claimed.

As Mr Moore flew back to Britain to be reunited with his family, Graeme Moore said he received a text message from a source who said the Americans were arranging a deal with the kidnappers involving the release of the Shia cleric Qais al-Khazali.

He was told the Foreign Office was being kept in the dark about the negotiations to stop them "messing it up".

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The leader of Asaib al-Haq, or the League of Righteousness, was transferred from US to Iraqi custody shortly before the release of 36-year-old Mr Moore, who had been held since May 2007....>>>>>

According to the father, as stated in this report, he was informed about movement in trying to get the release of his son some four weeks ago about secret meetings with the kidnappers and the U.S. as to a swap.

And what the U.S. spokesperson is saying in denying and such secret talks and swap took place:

"Separately, the government of Iraq is carrying out a process of reconciliation with groups willing to renounce violence and enter the political mainstream.

"Since holding hostages is incompatible with reconciliation, we judge that progress on the wider reconciliation effort will benefit hostages held in Iraq...>>>>>

As the Brits are holding the Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry, to resume once again shortly after the New Year, that will help slightly in minimizing blowback from the previous decades extremely failed policies especially as to the invasion, occupation, death, destruction and creation of millions of Iraqi refugee's inside the country as well as fleeing to other countries, but Accountability for the orders givin under fabricated or known lies must take place for all involved, especially the leaders of here in the United States.

If there were negotiations, even if only perceived to be as to the closeness of the transfer of the Shia cleric Qais al-Khazali and the release of Peter Moore, that only can be seen as a positive by many in Iraq and the region.

Trouble is, as in any occupation anywhere, positive steps forward in trying to correct the wrongs and do good deeds or win hearts and minds of those who live in these occupations are quickly erased and more steps are lost when the extreme negatives occur wiping out not only the small steps forward at the time but those that preceded.

And only a few days after the release of Moore and transfer of the Cleric to Iraqi authorities we get this result from a U.S. judges ruling regarding perceived extreme crimes against innocent Iraqi's, i.e. war atrocities:

Iraq 'to appeal Blackwater verdict'

The Iraqi government will push to appeal a US court ruling dismissing charges of murder against five security guards of the private Blackwater firm, an official has told Al Jazeera.

Saad al-Muttalibi, an adviser to the Iraqi council of ministers, said that if the guards did not receive a just sentence for the killing of 14 Iraqis in 2007, the issue would complicate relations between Iraq and the United States.

"This matter will be appealed in the American court and if not resolved correctly, this will definitely add another strain on the relationship between Iraq and the United States," he said on Friday.

"The legality or the procedures of the court case should not stop the criminals from facing justice and receiving a just sentence.

"This is very bad ... for the overall look of the United States outside its borders. It's very important for the Americans to realize that this will work against their interests in Iraq and other places."...>>>>>

There has already been blowback on American Soldiers because of the perception of this war crime, if they couldn't get to any mercs behind military guards on the bases they lived the blowback came at the soldiers on patrols, will the judges ruling, showing no accountability or even respect for human rights laws by a trial to show whether guilty or innocent of the charges, bring more blowback.

Here's hoping the Iraqi's request for appeal will be honored, according to these blackwater merc statements, all ex-military, they still don't grasp the possibility of what their actions caused and even no apologies have come forth!

General Ray Odierno

commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, echoed the Iraqi government's displeasure.

"Of course we're upset when we believe that people might have caused a crime and they are not held accountable," he told reporters in Baghdad, adding the dismissal might create a backlash against other security firms operating in Iraq.

The shooting happened as a heavily armed Blackwater convoy escorted U.S. officials in downtown Baghdad on September 16 2007....>>>>>

In a spoken statement just on NPR the General not only stated about backlash on other security firms but U.S. Soldiers as well!

Added: Despite What U.S. Sources Say........

Freed hostage says he wasn't in Iran

The British hostage released this week by his Iraqi captors said Iran was not involved in his kidnapping.

Peter Moore, named two locations where he was held during his 2 1/2 years of captivity during a debriefing, The Times of London reported Friday. He also told investigators he last saw the four other men snatched with him about 18 months ago.

Moore's comments bolsters the British Foreign Ministry's stance that it has no evidence indicating Iran was directly involved in the kidnappings or that the hostages were held in Iran, The Times said...>>>>>

UpDate

Iraq to sue ex-Blackwater guards

A woman peeks inside a blood-stained car in Baghdad, Iraq, after the shootout in 2007.

Iraq said Friday that it will file a lawsuit against five Blackwater security guards cleared of manslaughter charges in the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians, an act a government official called murder.

The Iraqi government also will ask the U.S. Justice Department to appeal a federal judge's "unfair and unacceptable" dismissal of the charges Thursday, spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said...>>>>>

Anything I can do to Help Them, just call, the Iraqi's That Is!!!!
These ex-military Mercs still haven't a clue as to the damage they've done to active brother and sister soldiers nor to this country!!

Blackwater trial:

15 minutes of gunfire which left 17 dead

"It was about noon," he recalled. ''I heard a bursts of fire enter the car in front of me. It caught fire and a lady and her son were killed. I tried to drive away down the wrong side of the road but they shot at me and hit me in the arm."

There was screaming and blood all around as Iraqi police and soldiers tried to return fire on the Blackwater guards who had started the shooting.

"The shooting may have continued for 15 minutes," Abdul-Kahad said. "It's hard to be sure. I was crouched and bleeding in my car for an hour until Iraqi guards came to rescue me. I still haven't recovered from what I went through."...>>>>>

Preview: VA Benefits, 60min this Sunday 1.03.2010

From Veterans for Common Sense:

Confirmed: CBS News "60 Minutes" will broadcast the first-ever investigation into the endless delays and red tape veterans face obtaining disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 2002, before former President George W. Bush started his ill-fated Iraq War, Veterans for Common Sense warned that VA was unprepared to meet the needs of additional veterans when VA was already overloaded with patients and claims.

What happened at the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) - the VA agency that processes disability claims - was beyond our worst nightmare. And "60 Minutes" has the story.

Two wars and a recession have significantly increased the claims handled by the U.S. Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, slowing the large bureaucracy and frustrating many veterans. Byron Pitts reports.

"it's not my country it's the VA!"

Sorry to disagree but most of the problems the VA and even Military Care have, and most of our agencies, are caused directly by this country and it's unwillingness to properly fund the needs while having no problem questioning the ever growing Defense Budgets nor over charges by Defense Contractors! Not properly funded it ends up costing more to correct what should already be. Just like us returning from 'Nam after Korea the same problems and more are showing up with these two occupations and the quickly expanded needs of the Veterans of. Nobody back when and especially now mentioned anything about the Country Sacrificing and Funding what was to come. The Walter Reed, military care, fiasco was one of many that showed the lack of concern. When asked why it was happening response was "Well it's closing soon so we didn't want to waste the money upgrading the needs!" Even though they knew that's where the returning soldiers were going to!!

It's more then Care, the returning Veterans now are seeing many problems with funding as to the New GI Bill, if the VA agency was up to this centuries technology, which Shinseki seems to not only recognize but is trying to upgrade to, these types of record keeping problems wouldn't exist, but the People and their Reps refuse to properly fund which if they did would cost less to operate, i.e. Tax Savings then Less need to constantly fix what's missing, quickly!

Also this Sunday:

Preview: Offshore Banking

Switzerland's largest bank has given authorities formerly sacrosanct info on its U.S. customers because of tips provided by a whistleblower, who tells Steve Kroft the secrets Swiss bankers never tell.

The More That Comes Out

The more it's showing what the cheney and his puppet bush were telling us, after They established the Homeland Security Agency and Swore that the Intelligence Agencies would share information and work together for Homeland Security etc. etc. etc., that They Didn't Do Much Of Anything As To Security Against Any Criminal Terrorist Attacks!!



We all know the reports since 9/11 on lax security at nuke plants, oil cities, chemical plants etc., they've popped up every now and then over the last part of the decade, well if they were paying attention they weren't doing much towards any type of security enhancements.



Now they're attacking the Present Administration on yet another of their own total lack of competency and Any Concern for the Country and it's citizens, only having concern for their own personal gains of wealth and power while they had control of the Government and Treasury!

They not only enhanced the hatreds and raised the probability of coming blowback because of their failed policies and destruction of innocent people and countries, they were doing absolutely nothing to minimize any blowback, and it seems their minions are now wishing and hoping for a successful attack on the country or us citizens of, including the soldiers in Afghanistan and still in Iraq, so they can play revisionist history and leave out the past decade and incompetent cabal and political party that ran this country into the ground!!

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Investigate Possibilities of Broad Terror Plot

Man Carrying Explosives Similar to Underwear Bomber Was Arrested in Somalia Last Month

Today, there are more indicators that the United States' counterterrorism system may not be functioning properly. Sources told ABC News the intelligence community only informed the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration about the incident involving Abdi this morning.

Tom Kean, chairman of the commission that investigated the 9/11 terror attacks, said the recent lack of communication has a familiar ring.

"This feels like after 9/11," Kean told ABC News. "This is, as Yogi Berra would say, deja vu -- the same thing happening over and over again. We have got to find out why. We have got to fix this problem."...>>>>>

All of this, Intelligence and Security, should have been working like a well oiled machine by the time the previous administration left office, Sept 11 2001 happened early on in an eight year admin., we had the shoe bomber as well as incidents overseas and supposedly expected here. It then handed over these agencies, the Homeland Security Agency and Intelligence, to the present administration, most of those working in these agencies stay put it's just the top and those they bring into their agency administrations who are changed if changed at all.

As to Homeland Security, once the bomb didn't go off the passengers, crew of that airplane, and all the agencies quickly contacted worked as they should, in short order and even after the fact that the agency wasn't warned about the possibility of any danger.

When Are We Going To Call For and Have Our Own Inquiry of The Previous Administration and Congresses, When??

A Most Disastrous Decade Ending {to be continued}

Americans Are Hell-Bent on Tyranny

In the US, of course, there is no such attempt to hold to account Bush, Cheney, Condi Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and the large number of war criminals that comprised the Bush Regime, notes Paul Craig Roberts....>>>>>

Review of the Decade: Our World Torn Apart

When the Noughties began, it seemed like the West had won.

On that magical night when December 31, 1999 became January 1, 2000, the fireworks exploded above the brand new Millennium Dome and it felt like far more than the start of a new decade, and the start of anew century.

This was surely the start of a new age, where the entire world would believe in capitalism and democracy and march together towards a golden age of peace and prosperity.

Communism was washed up. Religion was largely marginalized.Ideology was old hat. To get rich is glorious, Deng Xiaoping told 1.3billion Chinese at the end of the 20th Century, and the world would never be the same again.

This was, we were told, nothing less than the end of history. Everyone wanted to be like us. Or so it seemed.

But as the Noughties began, it turned out modern history was just getting started.

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And it was the first time that the West realized just how deeply it was hated....>>>>>

And we went on to create even more Hatreds while waging our own Extreme and long lasting Terror in answer to that waged on us.

“Somebody in our government said to me in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, Iraq was yesterday’s war. Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war” Joe Lieberman 12.27.09

And the 'chickenhawk' has spoken while the 'kombat keyboarders' rise as well!!

Seems he needs to rework that timeline of spin of his 'rambo' needs. Afghanistan was walked away from and the dye was cast to raise more hatreds of us with Iraq, and joe you forgot all the innocents in Pakistan who's survivors are now fighting our soldiers in Afghanistan, guess what all you brother and sisters serving there now, Iraq is sooooo yesterday! He also needs to check what has been happening in Yemen, i.e. raising the funding in helping that Government fight the radical fringe, we should do that here, from Zero into the Millions along with Intelligence and U.S. military support, i.e. Drones!

Pick a small country, anywhere, Yemen, Iraq,Afghanistan,Sudan, Pakistan, if Israel or the US hit Iran add them to the fold.............................and the list just keeps growing as the West wages it's terror but actually believes it won't cause any Blowback and Retaliation 'cuss we're good they bad!!

Thank God the Christmas Day fool only blew his balls off!!

War on Gaza:

Operation Cast Lead One Year Later

Simply stated, without U.S. support, none of this could go

One year ago today, Israel launched 'Operation Cast Lead', a murderous full-scale military assault on the small, densely populated, and defenseless Gaza Strip. The operation resulted in the massacre of over 1,300 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians, including hundreds of children.

This includes only those killed directly by military attacks. The actual casualty figure from Israel’s policies towards Gaza, including the number of deaths attributable to its ongoing siege of the territory, is unknown....>>>>>

My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story





Gaza's children retell first strike

The first Israeli airstrikes of "Operation Cast Lead" took the people of Gaza by surprise.

School children were among those going about their ordinary lives on the day of the attack. Their world was flung quickly into chaos.

Some of them told Al Jazeera their recollections of the horror.

Gaza: One Year On

Watching and Documenting from Afar

Learning how, why of Iraq war from afar

After four weeks of public testimony on how and why the 2003 invasion of Iraq began, a five-member British inquiry commission is taking a holiday break, doing the work that American truth-seekers should be doing but aren't.

Snip

President Obama pointedly ruled as he took office that his administration should and would look past how Bush brought the United States to war in Iraq and Britain with it, focusing instead on its challenges ahead. The decision roiled liberal Democrats who argued not only that a similar inquiry was imperative, but also that it would underscore Republican culpability in the mess Obama encountered when he entered the White House.

The new president's stated commitment to govern in a spirit of bipartisanship with the Republican minority in Congress was in keeping with that forward look, but he immediately encountered the opposition party's determined strategy of stonewalling him at every turn.

Snip

Five more weeks are planned for the new year. Chilcot in closing the first phase observed: "We have not been trying to ambush witnesses or score points. ... We are not here to provide public sport or entertainment." What American committee chairman would likely risk such a statement with a straight face, even if such an inquiry were held on Capitol Hill?...>>>>>

Dec 27th: 30yrs ago Kabul Afghanistan

How Soviet troops stormed Kabul palace

It was all brand new - the palace had just been refurbished. And Najiba's parents had been invited there for a party, to show off the new design.

It was 27 December, 1979. And as the guests warmed themselves with lavish food, outside the palace walls other - uninvited - guests waited in the winter cold.

Snip

"We killed the Afghans who put up any opposition to us," said Rustam. "The building was on fire and by the light of the flames we could see silhouettes. We recognised our own people because they were swearing in Russian."

"The things I saw," said Najiba. "My God - people on the floor. I saw a person… like a scene from a nightmare movie. Dead bodies. Lots."

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"Amin's son was hit by shrapnel and bled to death. All the bodies were wrapped in carpet and buried near the palace. There was no ceremony for them."

Snip

It was 43 minutes that turned into a nine-year war, took the Cold War to a new level, and left more than a million people dead.

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You can hear more from both Najiba and Rustam in a special two-part series of 'Witness' on the BBC World Service, on Monday 28 December and Tuesday 29 December...>>>>>