Its One of Them Man Thangs...

C'Mon generals, the worst he can really do when you tell him no, is kick, scream and cuss. Also tell him having a big gun isn't an automatic win.

Thanks to blogger Chimp Coulter, perhaps we have a handle on "the problem..."

Chimp Coulter

Hot Links

From Prissy's Inbox: Military Families Speak Out will be welcoming back congress January 3 and 4th in Washington DC. Prissy will be blogging the event live. Might try filming some reactions...

WaPoOne War, No Answers

Does anybody have a good plan for Iraq?

Not President Bush. He arrived in Jordan yesterday for a crucial meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, only for the White House to discover that the Iraqi was a no-show. "It was going to be more of a social meeting anyways," Bush aide Dan Bartlett told reporters at the Raghadan Palace in Amman.

Neither does the Pentagon appear to have a solution. Gen. Pete Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called a news conference yesterday to advise the American public not to expect big conclusions from a major Iraq study he ordered. "There's not an end product," he announced.

So Peter, what you are telling Prissy is that you are unaware the military has had at least four disengagement plans from Iraq on the books for nearly a year? Not a very good General, no wonder Dubya likes you. He surrounds himself with those as incompent as himself or at least those willing to feign incompetence.

Which catagory do you suppose the general falls under, Dearest Readers?

USA Today Ahmadinejad letter calls on Americans to reject Bush policy title changed overnight to: Iran's president appeals to U.S. public via letter

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, which aims to resolve conflicts, said Ahmadinejad was "trying to take a page out of George Bush's playbook" by appealing to Americans and bypassing the U.S. government.

Are they sure he wasn't just trying to bypass the media?

Media Channel 'Watchdog Journalism' is not enough--trends in UK and US investigative journalism

For example several scandals at the New York Times newspaper in the last few years became national talking points for months. The main scandal surrounded veteran Judith Miller. On July 6th 2003 Joseph Wilson--the US ambassador who was sent by the CIA to Niger to establish whether nuclear material was sold to Iraq - wrote a NYT column accusing the Bush government of manipulating the evidence to suggest an Iraqi threat. Following this Valerie Plame (Wilson's wife) was exposed in a newspaper article as being a CIA agent. This led to the official investigation to find out who had leaked Plame's identity to journalists. Miller refused to name a confidential source which led to her spending 85 days in jail.

Miller's source turned out to be I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and also an assistant to the president. In other words, her source was a high-ranking pro-Bush supporter allegedly connected to a story undermining a Bush critic (although this hasn't been proved and Libby's case is due to be heard next year). Nevertheless this added fuel to the fire already being stoked by other NYT journalists against Miller. Her 2002 and 2003 reporting on Iraq had already been shown to be flawed. These pre-war articles suggested that Saddam Hussein already had or was acquiring an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction contrary to subsequent findings that none were found. Last year, the NYT published an article by their columnist Maureen Dowd about Miller headlined the "woman of mass destruction."

The maelstrom of accusations and criticisms focused on Miller's thinking and not just her writing, ended up confusing the debate about media standards. For instance, according to Bryon Calame, the NYT's Public Editor, 'Ms. Miller didn't let an editor know what she knew [and] Times readers were deprived of a potentially exclusive look into an apparent administration effort to undercut Mr. Wilson and other critics of the Iraq war.” But this confuses the need for journalists to protect their source with the need for readers to know about stories. Yes, Miller could have decided to betray her source for an alleged story about the Bush administration but would other confidential sources trust Miller in the future if she had leaked the name? Rather than an issue of journalistic ethics about confidentiality, critics interpreted her quest for source protection as a refusal to write an anti-Bush story motivated by pro-government political ends. As it happens there is more evidence to show that the CIA agent's name was leaked by somebody who was not even pro-Bush.

Canadian Broadcasting Tories shutting Status of Women offices

The Conservative government is closing down most of its Status of Women Canada offices, saying they are not doing enough to serve women directly.

Twelve of the agency's 16 offices will close by April 1, Heritage Minister Bev Oda said Wednesday.

"What these offices don't necessarily provide is the help directly to women. There was a lot of lobbying groups, there was a lot of advocacy," Oda said.

Well Randy, Prissy's canadian friend- looks like Prissy won't be needing to bunk up with you and the Mrs. after all.

For now it seems women can now be just as oppressed in Canada as here in the U.S. Why leave the states with Harper around...

Who's next? France? And no, don't give Prissy that "it's better here than in Africa for women" stuff.

TimeBush and Maliki Put on a Show of Unity

The idea of detaching Maliki from his own political base already seemed more than a little implausible. And as he left Baghdad for the meeting, Maliki's key coalition partner, the parliamentary bloc headed by the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr, announced that it would suspend participation in the government, potentially leaving the Prime Minister's parliamentary majority in doubt. Last weekend, Sadr had warned that he would withdraw support for Maliki if the Prime Minister took the meeting with Bush in Jordan. But while Sadr appears to have told Maliki to choose him or choose the U.S., the Hadley document appeared to make the same case in reverse — Maliki would have to ditch Moqtada and, potentially, much of the Shi'ite political leadership, or lose the support of the U.S.

How Maliki plans to navigate the mutually-exclusive demands of the Sadrist political bloc that keeps him in power and the U.S. whose military keeps him alive remains to be seen. But the odds are stacked against the Iraqi Prime Minister following the script outlined in the Hadley memo, and there are already indications that he isn't about to cave into Washington's demands. Indeed, it was reported Wednesday that Maliki would make his own demands of President Bush at the meeting, most notably pressing for the U.S. to transfer command of the Iraqi security forces into the hands of the Iraqi government, and also for discussions with Iran and Syria over the situation in Iraq to be handled by the Iraqi government. And President Bush said after the talks that Maliki had expressed frustration over the lack of authority his government has over its security forces.

Common Dreams Message To West Point by Bill Moyers

Fourth, be more prepared to accept the credibility and integrity of those who disagree about the war even if you do not agree with their positions. I say this as a journalist, knowing it is tempting in the field to denounce or despise reporters who ask nosy questions or file critical reports. But their first duty as reporters is to get as close as possible to the verifiable truth and report it to the American people—for your sake. If there is mismanagement and incompetence, exposing it is more helpful to you than paeans to candy given to the locals. I trust you are familiar with the study done for the Army in 1989 by the historian, William Hammond. He examined press coverage in Korea and Vietnam and found that it was not the cause of disaffection at home; what disturbed people at home was the death toll; when casualties jumped, public support dropped. Over time, he said, the reporting was vindicated. In fact, “the press reports were often more accurate than the public statements of the administration in portraying the situation in Vietnam.” Take note: The American people want the truth about how their sons and daughters are doing in Iraq and what they’re up against, and that is a good thing.

Finally, and this above all—a lesson I wish I had learned earlier. If you rise in the ranks to important positions—or even if you don’t—speak the truth as you see it, even if the questioner is a higher authority with a clear preference for one and only one answer. It may not be the way to promote your career; it can in fact harm it. Among my military heroes of this war are the generals who frankly told the President and his advisers that their information and their plans were both incomplete and misleading—and who paid the price of being ignored and bypassed and possibly frozen forever in their existing ranks: men like General Eric K. Shinseki, another son of West Point. It is not easy to be honest—and fair—in a bureaucratic system. But it is what free men and women have to do. Be true to your principles, General Kosciuszko reminded Thomas Jefferson. If doing so exposes the ignorance and arrogance of power, you may be doing more to save the nation than exploits in combat can achieve.

I know the final rule of the military Code of Conduct is already written in your hearts: “I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free...” The meaning of freedom begins with the still, small voice of conscience, when each of us decides what we will live, or die, for.

Mirror flashback WAR, WHATEVER Bush aide: Inspections or not, we'll attack Iraq

Dr Richard Perle stunned MPs by insisting a "clean bill of health" from UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would not halt America's war machine.

Evidence from ONE witness on Saddam Hussein's weapons programme will be enough to trigger a fresh military onslaught, he told an all- party meeting on global security.

Former defence minister and Labour backbencher Peter Kilfoyle said: "America is duping the world into believing it supports these inspections. President Bush intends to go to war even if inspectors find nothing.

Dr Perle told MPs: "I cannot see how Hans Blix can state more than he can know. All he can know is the results of his own investigations. And that does not prove Saddam does not have weapons of mass destruction."

Star-Telegram FEMA ordered to resume Katrina housing payments

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to adequately explain why it ended the 18-month housing assistance program for people who lost their homes in the 2005 storm.

Leon's ruling was issued as a temporary injunction requested by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which filed suit in August saying FEMA had violated the rights of Katrina victims by abruptly stopping housing payments.

The judge ordered the federal agency to explain its reasoning and allow the displaced hurricane victims to appeal its decision. While that process goes forward, the judge said, FEMA must keep making payments and must pay storm victims for two months of housing since the decision to stop the program.

"It is unfortunate, if not incredible, that FEMA and its counsel could not devise a sufficient notice system to spare these beleaguered evacuees the added burden of federal litigation to vindicate their constitutional rights," Leon wrote.

OpEd News Tell Our Congress To Rescind Bush's War Starting Powers

A simple majority of Congress is all that is required to restore the appropriate and just balance of powers, to at least require the executive to have the express consent of Congress before any ill-advised new military misadventure. Only withdrawing the AUMF can send a message that foreign policy run amok will no longer be the order of the day.

The one click form below will send your personal message to all your government representatives selected below, with the subject "Terminate the Authorization for Use of Military Force." At the same time you can send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper if you like, and be added to the Voters For Peace Pledge.

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Pressures Mount on Bush to Bomb Iran

Hard-liners in Israel and the United States believe that only military action, or the credible threat of it, will now prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, with all that this would mean in terms of Israel’s security and the balance of power in the strategically vital Middle East.

Fears that Bush might succumb to this Israeli and neoconservative pressure is beginning to cause serious alarm in Moscow, Beijing, Berlin, Paris, Rome and other world capitals where, as if to urge caution on Washington, political leaders are increasingly speaking out in favor of dialogue with Tehran and against the use of military force.

The quickening international debate over Iran’s nuclear activities comes at a difficult time for Israel, where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is fighting for his political life and for that of his ruling Kadima-Labor coalition.

The Iran problem is causing particular concern because it raises fundamental questions about the continued validity of the security doctrine Israel has forged over the past half-century. A central plank of this doctrine is that, to be safe, Israel must dominate the region militarily and be stronger than any possible Arab or Muslim coalition.

Al-Jazeera UN: Israel breaks border agreement

A UN report has accused Israel of breaking all provisions in a year-old US-brokered agreement on Gaza's border crossings, as Condoleezza Rice visits the region.

The Agreement on Movement and Access, signed last November after the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, was meant to facilitate the movement of Palestinians and goods in and out of Gaza.

It also promised Palestinian control over the Rafah crossing into Egypt by November 2006, after a transitional year of EU monitoring and Israeli video surveillance.

At the time, the border agreement was hailed by Rice, the US secretary of state, as a breakthrough.

Prissy thinks this Newt is much cuter

Gerald Plessner THE NEWT GINGRICH SEX STORY

1993 - Newt takes up with a young Congressional aide half his age In 1994, several newspapers had reported that Newt Gingrich was dating and living with Callista Bisek, a "willowy blond Congressional aide 23 years his junior. Biske, then 33, had been spending nights at Gingrich's apartment near the Capitol and had her own key.

Reporters and other Washington insiders had known about "Newtie and his Cutie" since 1994, even before Gingrich became Speaker of the House, but they did not have solid proof. In 1995, Vanity Fair magazine described Bisek as Gingrich's "frequent breakfast companion." Gingrich was married to Marianne during all of that time.

According to MSNBC, Bisek sang in the National Shrine Choir and Newt would often wait for her at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, listening to her sing while he read the Bible.

Go Away Newt, it was good riddance the first time

Herald Tribune, hat tip to Fitz Congress to look at voting problems

Sarasota's voting controversy has given new life to election reform advocates in Congress, prompting the incoming leader of the House to make the issue a top priority for the new year and triggering hearings in the U.S. Senate.

More than being just a battle over who won the 13th Congressional District, officials on Capitol Hill say what happened in Sarasota has wider implications for the nation, giving a more substantive edge to what previously was mostly a theoretical debate over the reliability of touchscreen voting machines.

"What happened in Sarasota really does highlight the issue," said Howard Gantman, communications director for U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, a Democrat from California who is already vowing to hold hearings on the voting issues early in 2007.

Paper Ballots are the only way to go, less expensive, less poll worker training and they will not erase themselves...

NYT Bush Dismisses Calls for Iraq Withdrawal

“The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want, and that any partition in Iraq would only lead to an increase of sectarian violence,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “I agree.”

The two leaders set no timetable for speeding up the training of Iraqi forces, which Mr. Bush described as evolving “from ground zero,” and a senior administration official, who attended the breakfast and was granted anonymity to discuss it, said hurdles remain.

“This is not a simple process of passing the baton,” the official said, adding, “This is not the United States and Iraq struggling for control of the steering wheel. This is the United States wanting Iraq to be firmly with the steering wheel in its hand, and the issue is, how do we get there as quickly as possible.”

The Economist Currencies and economies

THE dollar's tumble this week was attended by predictable shrieks from the markets; but as it fell to a 20-month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only real surprise was that it had not slipped sooner. Indeed, there are good reasons to expect its slide to continue, dragging it below the record low of $1.36 against the euro that it hit in December 2004.

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Media Filter.org The Family That Preys Together

In fact, Junior's track record as an oilman is pretty dismal. He began his career in Midland, Texas, in the mid-1970s when he founded Arbusto Energy, Inc. When oil prices dropped in the early 1980s, Arbusto fell upon hard times. Junior was only rescued from business failure when his company was purchased by Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation, a small oil firm owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. As part of the September 1984 deal, Bush became Spectrum 7's president and was given a 13.6 percent share in the company's stock. Oil prices stayed low and within two years, Spectrum 7 was in trouble.

In the six months before Spectrum 7 was acquired by Harken in 1986, it had lost $400,000. In the buyout deal, George "Jr." and his partners were given more than $2 million worth of Harken stock for the 180-well operation. Made a director and hired as a "consultant" to Harken, Junior received another $600,000 of Harken stock, and has been paid between $42,000 and $120,000 a year since 1986.

Junior's value to Harken soon became apparent when the company needed an infusion of cash in the spring of 1987. Junior and other Harken officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., a large investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas (Stephens made a $100,000 contribution to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 and gave another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990.)

CNN Americans: 60's are the new middle age

On a global scale, three out of five consumers believed the 40's are the new 30's.

"Our 40's are being celebrated as the decade where we can be comfortable and confident in both personal and financial terms. The majority of global consumers really believe life starts at 40," AC Nielsen Europe President and CEO Frank Martell said.

Quotes of the Day

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.--D. H. Lawrence (1885 - 1930)

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.--Denis Diderot (1713 - 1784)

When the habitually even-tempered suddenly fly into a passion, that explosion is apt to be more impressive than the outburst of the most violent amongst us.--Margery Allingham, Death of a Ghost, 1934

Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place.--Ice T, The Ice Opinion

Cheney Continues to Sell the U.S. Down the River

Dick Cheney's America. Could he be "the most insidious kind of traitor?"

Hot Links Update

Boston Herald Court turns down New York Times in leak investigation

The Justice Department says the reporters’ calls tipped off the charities of upcoming government raids. A federal judge who ruled in the Times’ favor said there is no evidence in the case even suggesting that the reporters tipped off the charities about the raids or that the reporters even knew the government would raid either charity.

In August, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that federal prosecutors could see the two reporters’ phone records.

The government says the fact that the reporters relayed disclosures from a government source to “targets of an imminent law enforcement action substantially weakens any claim of freedom of the press.”

At issue are 11 days of phone records the government plans to review from 2001 - for the dates Sept. 27-30, Dec. 1-3 and Dec. 10-13. In a declaration this month, Fitzgerald said the statute of limitations “on certain substantive offenses that the grand jury is investigating” will expire on Dec. 3 and Dec. 13 of this year.

Want to Know Major Government, Military Corruption Trillions Missing at Defense Department

" 'According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,' Rumsfeld admitted. $2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America."-- CBS News, 1/29/02, U.S. Secretary of Defense raises evidence of government, military corruption

"A GAO report found Defense inventory systems so lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. When military leaders were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect U.S. troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet 'for pennies on the dollar.' " -- San Francisco Chronicle, 5/18/03

"The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable." -- New York Times, 6/9/04

ABC U.S. Embassy Asks Bush Twins to Leave Country

Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues, U.S. diplomatic and security sources tell ABC News.

But the girls have stayed on, celebrating their 25th birthday over the weekend and producing even more headlines about their activities.

Prissy has the feeling Daddy and Mom lost control of these two a long time ago...

Newsone Aussie oil-for-food probe sees crimes

Howard also said the government would review the system granting AWB a monopoly over Australia‘s wheat exports. The system has been criticized as unfairly protective by Australia‘s competitors on world grain markets.

Critics say the government was negligent for failing to respond to a string of diplomatic cables sent by Australian officials at the U.N. and in the Middle East warning that AWB may have been violating the sanctions imposed on Baghdad after its 1990 Kuwait invasion.

"What people expect of their political leadership is competence when they are handling national security matters and foreign policy matters," Beazley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "And what they‘ve had from this government is gross incompetence."

Among the executives facing possible charges was AWB‘s former chairman, Trevor Flugge, who became widely known after a photograph became public of him, shirtless, brandishing a revolver during a trip to Iraq in 2003.

Sydney Morning Herald flashback Defence redefined means securing cheap energy December 26 2002

As troops and equipment pour into the Gulf for a looming war with Iraq, United States military thinkers admit that "defence" means protecting the circumstances of "daily life" - and in the US daily life runs on cheap oil.

As far back as 1975, Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, said America was prepared to wage war over oil. Separate plans advocating US conquest of Saudi oilfields were published in the '70s. So it should come as little surprise that in May last year - four months before the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York - a battle plan for Afghanistan was already being reviewed by the US Command that would carry it out after September 11. Military strategists were highlighting the energy wealth of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia and its importance to America's "security".

The Indian media and Jane's Intelligence Review reported that the US was fighting covert battles against the Taliban, months before the "war on terrorism" was declared.

And...Also early last year, the security expert Michael Klare warned that US military action to secure oil "could emerge as the favoured response to future [oil] crises". In the months preceding September 11, US governmental and military policymakers increasingly built military frameworks around energy questions.

Mortars set fire to U.S. base in Iraq

Earlier on Sunday, Iraq ‘s leaders promised to track down those responsible for the war‘s deadliest attack by insurgents, and urged the country‘s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians to stop fanning sectarian violence by arguing with one another.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh read the statement on national television as Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunni Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Kurdish President Jalal Talabani stood around him.

"The crisis is political, and it is the politicians who must try to prevent more violence and bloodletting. The terrorist acts are a reflection of the lack of political accord," he said, after meeting with al-Mashhadani, Talabani and other members of Iraq‘s Political Council for National Security for a third day to discuss Iraq‘s crisis.

Al-Maliki is facing strong criticism from top Shiite and Sunni Arab leaders alike as he prepares for a summit meeting in neighboring Jordan with President Bush next week.

Finance My WayAP Analysis: Firms Crimping Oil Supplies

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — You'd think it was Texas. Dusty roads course the scrubland toward oil tanks and warehouses. Beefy men talk oil over burritos at lunch. Like grazing herds, oil wells dip nonstop amid the tumbleweed — or even into the asphalt of a parking lot.

That's why the rumor sounded so wrong here in California's lower San Joaquin Valley, where petroleum has gushed up more riches than the whole gold rush. Why would Shell Oil Co. simply close its Bakersfield refinery? Why scrap a profit maker?

The rumor seemed to make no sense. Yet it was true.

The company says it could make more money on other projects. It denies it intended to squeeze the market, as its critics would claim, to drive up gasoline profits at its other refineries in the region.

Reuters UK-more trouble for Dubya. Prissy doesn't think this week is getting off to a good start for the cabal.UK to cut Iraq troops by "thousands" by end-2007

Britain's Defense Minister Des Browne refused to give specific numbers, but said: "By the end of next year I expect numbers for British forces in Iraq to be significantly lower by a matter of thousands."

Military planners have been working on a possible troop reduction for some months, Browne said a speech in London.

He also called on neighbors Iran and Syria to give Iraq their "full and undivided support".

Alert Net Basra airport, port to close Friday

Basra's airport and port will close on Friday in protest after car bombs in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad killed 160 people, an official in the southern Iraqi city said.

It was not clear how long the closure would last.

Authorities imposed a curfew in Baghdad after the bombings, the largest single attack of the war, fearing sectarian reprisals.

Iraq's transport ministry is controlled by the political faction of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Baghdad stronghold was hit by the car bombs on Thursday.

Prissy read that anti-american forces were digging a trench around the Baghdad. Not a good sign at all. And now the airport is shut down. Watch for U.S. forces to end up pulling out from sheer neccesity. Watch Bush order the people ducking in their homes to be punished for not accepting Bush democracy with humility. The darkness of this cabal and their equally ugly global band of brothers, makes Prissy shudder though sunshine is on her back...

ABC Wire Woman Faces Fines for Wreath Peace Sign Colorado Subdivision Bans Christmas Wreath With Peace Sign, Says It Could Be 'Divisive'

Must live near a bunch of extremist right-wingers...This wreath is seen as santanic too, a kook claims

ABC wire story Ex-KBR Employee Pleads Guilty to Kickbacks

Heaton said Seamans, whose job at KBR involved negotiating with subcontractors, agreed to cooperate in "rooting out corruption in the military procurement supply chain." Seamans' plea agreement also said he agreed to take a kickback from another company in Kuwait, which was not identified.

Seamans, 44, is to be sentenced Aug. 4 and faces up to 20 years in prison on each of two counts, and fines of $750,000. If convicted, Khan, 49, a naturalized U.S. citizen, faces up to five years and a $250,000 fine.

"We do not tolerate this kind of behavior by anyone at any level," Norcross said in a statement.

Last month, federal prosecutors said an executive for a subcontractor hired by KBR to fly cargo into Iraq pleaded guilty to inflating invoices by $1.14 million. Halliburton was formerly headed by Vice President Cheney.

What KBR meant to say is they don't tolerate employees being caught stealing money from the government...

Boston Globe Court urged to stay out of Times source case

The Justice Department yesterday asked the Supreme Court to refrain from stepping into another First Amendment battle involving federal prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald and The New York Times.

The case involves Fitzgerald's attempt to track down the confidential sources of Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon for stories in 2001. Miller, who spent 85 days in jail in 2005 in connection with Fitzgerald's separate CIA leak inquiry in the Valerie Plame case, retired from the newspaper a year ago.

And...In its filing, the government cites a Nov. 13 declaration by Fitzgerald that says the time for filing criminal charges would expire in three weeks. Temporarily blocking the government from reviewing the phone records would cause "irreparable harm to a significant criminal investigation," the Justice Department told the court.

Three weeks? So you can see it's definately not over, even if Prissy got the expiration date wrong. Never was very good remembering exact dates;-)A helpful reminder would have been lovely, Professor Fitzgerald...More Plamegate see belowComing soon

Shining Light, sept 2006 flashback Plamegate Is Not Over

The WaPo led the charge on Friday with an editorial calling the conspiracy proven wrong and blaming Wilson himself for Plame's outing. Hours later Media Matters refutes WaPo's assertion using very pages of the Post! More at Next Hurrah.

Saturday, the Weekly Standard released it's broadside against Plame and Wilson. But as emptywheel at the Next Hurrah points out, the Weekly Standard has been a mouthpiece for the Administration by repackaging Feith lies about the now debunched connection between Al Qaeda and Sadaam.

The fact is that all this is window dressing in preparation for the election. While Armitage may have leaked it first, the White House's Rove and Libby picked it up from there useing the information to destroy the career of an undercover agent working on weapons of Iraqi mass destruction whom they thought failed in her mission. Her unit could find no WMDs in Iraq. Worse yet, they destroyed one of our only sources of intelligence on Iranian nuclear ambitions by outing the entire cover company she was working for, Brewster Jennings & Associates. Iran has emerged as the second most dangerous threats to world peace. To date there has been no formal criminal investigation for what surely appears to be traitous behavior for political gain.

Fitzgerald had plenty to investigate from FBI reports of suspicious behavior by Rove and Libby. Hopefully, more will come of this. Spin doctor Rove's silence suggests he's still worried.

Great new book: Attorney Elizabeth del la Vega, United States v. Bush. She lays out her case to charge Bushco with committing fraud against the U.S.

In United States v. George W. Bush et. al.,former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and her passion for justice to the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Ms. de la Vega has reviewed the evidence, researched the law, drafted an indictment, and in this lively, accessible book, presented it to a grand jury. If the indictment and grand jury are both hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Over half of all Americans believe the President misled the country into a war that has left 2,500 hundred American soldiers and countless Iraqis dead. The cost is $350 billion -- and counting.

The legal question is: Did the president and his team use the same techniques as those used by Enron’s Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and fraudsters everywhere -- false pretenses, half-truths, deliberate omissions -- in order to deceive Congress and the American public?

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News Day Woes for Baker group

A source who spoke recently to a leader of the Iraq Study Group said he complained bitterly about internal dissension and partisanship among members of the supposedly bipartisan group, and was worried about reaching consensus on the key issues.

Former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, study group co-chairmen, have said they want their recommendations, due next month, to come from a consensus of the prominent Republicans and Democrats in the group.

Baker and Hamilton have made it clear they favor a U.S. dialogue with Iraq's neighbors, particularly Iran and Syria, as one way out of the Iraq crisis. This thinking reflects hopes that Iran could use its strong influence on Iraqi Shia and Syria its control over Iraq's most porous border to alleviate insurrection against the U.S. occupation and the fighting between Shia and Sunnis.

Some of the president's advisers, including incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, are said to be supportive of the idea of negotiations with the two countries, though a spokesman for Negroponte said recently the intelligence chief had raised, but not endorsed, the idea in recent meetings overseas. Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to oppose any such move.

San Francisco Chronicle ASSAULT ON PRESS FREEDOM

But U.S. press freedom has been slipping away since Sept. 11, 2001. Now that we are in a seemingly permanent "war" on terrorism, the government claims wartime powers that result in restricting press freedom.

The Bush administration has multiplied exponentially the number of documents it classifies as secret, shielding them from public view. It has classified literally millions of documents "top secret," according to reports filed with the National Archives; and the office of Vice President Dick Cheney claims to be exempt from reporting even the numbers of records it brands with the "classified" stamp. (The administration has also tried to retrieve antique classified documents from columnist Jack Anderson's estate, contending that only the government may possess such documents, however old.) Within weeks after 9/11, President Bush issued Executive Order 13233, allowing him to veto public release not only of his own presidential papers but those of former President Ronald Reagan, Bush's father and former President Bill Clinton.

The administration also is aggressively pursuing leaks, not with a Nixonian Plumbers unit but by threatening criminal prosecution. Some Republicans in Congress have called for Espionage Act prosecution of the New York Times for publishing revelations about the National Security Agency's monitoring of communications by U.S. citizens and tracking international financial transactions. Bush himself said it was "disgraceful" for the Times to reveal these government activities and publishing the security agency's leak was "helping the enemy."

Pursuing leaks inevitably means pursuing the reporters who received and published the leaks, forcing them to give up confidential sources or telephone records or go to jail. Whatever Judith Miller's motivation and however questionable her arrangement with "Scooter" Libby, she went to jail solely because she refused to reveal communications with her source to the federal grand jury.

Huffington Post King Of Jordan: "Strong Potential" Of Three Civil Wars In Middle East Next Year

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it a civil war in Iraq right now?

KING ABDULLAH: Well, George, the difficulty that we're tackling with here is, we're juggling with the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon or of Iraq...

... And we could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands. And therefore, it is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear, and I see could possibly happen in 2007

Reuters gives us one more reason to can Dubya...Calls for calm as crowd stones Iraqi PM

Angry fellow Shi'ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's motorcade in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through their area.

Maliki was visiting the Sadr City slum to pay respects to some of the 202 victims of last week's devastating bombing.

"It's all your fault!" one man shouted as, in unprecedented scenes, a hostile crowd began to surge around the premier and then jeered as his armored convoy edged through the throng away from a mourning ceremony.

Divided Iraq threat to regional stability: UK

"A divided Iraq would also threaten regional stability. Even without that division Iraq is vulnerable to becoming a crucible for wider regional tensions."

"It is vital now that Iraq's neighbours give it full support and undivided support," he said.

"Even Syria, whose motives the international community has often had cause to question, has shown signs of constructive engagement."

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said last week that Britain might be able to hand over security responsibility in Basra in southern Iraq by the spring.

Here's a novel idea...how about we just get out and let them rebuild their country to their own liking?

We might have won more hearts and minds if we had done it their way.

Bob Herbert NYT Select: Herbert's Heroes -The Empty Chair at the Table

The gatherings are more subdued now. Ms. Zappala can still remember almost every detail of the April evening in 2004 when the man in the dress uniform with the medals on his chest showed up on her porch with the bad news.

“He had a notebook in his hand,” she said. “I could see him very clearly even though it was dark and kind of raining. So I came out on the porch and I looked at him. And I knew, but I didn’t want to know.”

Sgt. Sherwood Baker of the Pennsylvania National Guard had been in Baghdad only six weeks when he was killed. The bitter irony that will always surround his death was the fact that he was helping to provide security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was hunting for the weapons of mass destruction. He died on April 26, 2004, in an explosion at a factory that was being inspected.

Grief is magnified during the holidays, and with the toll in Iraq steadily mounting, there are now thousands of families across the U.S. who are faced, like Sergeant Baker’s relatives, with an awful empty space at their Thanksgiving tables.

Bob is a press hero to military families nationwide.

Switching gears...the Journal 'Dominatrix' alleges bizarre sexcapade with cop

In X-rated testimony as graphic as a porno flick, a former dominatrix yesterday described a bizarre sexual encounter in the woods she claims to have had with a town police officer.

Only mentioned because a police officer was involved...very weird deviants. Cannot help but wonder if they vote republican.

BBC Iraq president begins Iran trip

Some analysts say he may use the visit to urge Iran not to use Iraq as a tool in its conflict with the US while Iran may try to exert its diplomatic muscle ahead of any future negotiations with the US on Iraq,

The US has accused Iran of funding Shia militants in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

Mr Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Jordan this week while Vice-President Dick Cheney has just been in Saudi Arabia.

Our correspondent says the Bush administration clearly remains dubious about engaging Iran but adds that US influence on events in Iraq may be becoming more limited just when the need for a clearer exit strategy is becoming politically more acute.

Debka Murdered Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko passed documents to former Yukos CEO in Israel months before his death - report

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources add that the Russian ex-spy is believed to have been a double agent, who sold trade secrets to different parties in and outside Russia, among them some of the Russian oligarchs living in exile in the West. Livinenko served as a colonel in a Russian Federal Security Services unit which investigated and carried out special operations against businessmen.

British police found traces of the radioactive Polonium 210 in Litvinenko’s urine

Dearest Readers, the suspicion of who killed the spy is rampant. The evidence strongly supports that this was a state-sponsored "hit". The question is ordered by whom?

Putin steadfastly denies it, in fact eludes to had he been responsible, it would have involved violence. Yikes Putie...Ice, ice Putie?

Scotsman Minister attacks Putin over 'murky murders'

"His success in binding what is a disintegrating nation together with an economy which was collapsing into Mafioso-style chaos ... must be balanced against the fact there have been huge attacks on individual liberty and on democracy, and it's important he retakes the democratic road."

But Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy who is a member of the Russian parliament, said the Putin government played no part in the 43-year-old's death.

"I completely rule out the possibility of that being done on official orders from anyone in the authorities," he told Sky News yesterday.

Tony Blair and Mr Putin famously came to verbal blows over the Iraq war, when the Prime Minister's stance on Iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction was ridiculed by the president.

Rummy goes wild with time on his hands

Quotes of the Day

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.--Anais Nin (1903 - 1977), The Diary of Anais Nin, volume 3, 1939-1944

When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword.-- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816)

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

Fortune favors the brave.--Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC), Aeneid

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.--Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

A Prissy Patriot After Turkey Day Special Update

Are your bellies stuffed, Dearest fellow American readers?

Happy Thanksgiving from Prissy who likes to cook as much she likes to blog.

Prissy supports the troops and she fed some today! Fortunately, they were not in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Some of the young at Prissy's Thanksgiving this year that are not soldiers, don't plan to be drafted into Dubya's service. They've heard what it's like in Iraq and believe college is much better option than getting shot at.

By the way, Prissy didn't just call the troops on the phone, Dubya...and the turkey for them wasn't part of a fake photo op.

Hot Links

MSNBC Bush calls 10 troops on Thanksgiving Day

The president spoke with two members each from the Army, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy, said White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo. He asked them to send greetings to their parents.

Overlooking National Guard duty again, Mr. Bush?

IHT November 14, 2006 Document shows Bush guided CIA on detention

The contents of the documents were not revealed, but one document, as described by the ACLU, is "a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees."

The second document, according to the group is a Justice Department legal analysis "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top Al Qaeda members."

National Public Radio Listening in on Detainee Hearings

At his tribunal, Nechla heard the accusations against him: that he is a suspected terrorist with ties to an Algerian armed Islamic group, and that he is suspected of having links to al-Qaida. Other allegations against Nechla include having an alias.

Nechla asks for four witnesses to appear at his hearing. Three are other Guantanamo detainees with whom he was arrested. The fourth is his supervisor at the Red Crescent Society in Bosnia. The tribunal president says there's been a problem locating the supervisor in Sarajevo.

The military panel questions Nechla about his schooling, his friends, work and the organizations he belonged to. The panel asks him if he was associated with al-Qaida or had ever traveled to Afghanistan. Nechla professes his innocence regularly to the military officers, and he challenges them on the tribunal process. Only a small fraction of the detainees who went before the tribunal have been found not to be enemy combatants.

"So I just want to ask, have you found anyone innocent yet?'" Nechla asks through a translator. "And if you haven't, there's no need for these tribunals. Just say everyone is an enemy combatant."

AZ Star Terror trial policy challenged Eight former attorneys general file court papers against Bush decision

Some of the eight attorneys named in the document are now in private practice and represent detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most served under President Clinton, though the list includes former U.S. Attorneys W. Thomas Dillard and Anton R. Valukas, who served under President Ronald Reagan.

"The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States — without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years," the attorneys wrote.

Oakland Tribune-here comes the first big hit! Burlingame attorney prepares for Plame case Arguing lawsuit for Valerie Plane and Joseph Wilson could be his highest-profile action yet

At his office last week, Cotchett picked up a 5-inch- thick binder that he had just received from the defendants in the case. It contained motions to dismiss the lawsuit based on executive privilege.

Leaning forward in his chair, Cotchett assessed the magnitude of the case.

"It's going to be the case of the next year," Cotchett said. "It's going to be the case that everybody watches, because it involves fundamental constitutional issues. It goes right to the heart of our national security."

In the suit, the Wilsons charge that their rights under the First and Fifth amendments of the Constitution were violated, because they were allegedly punished for exercising their right to free speech and treated unequally under the law.

According to the complaint, Libby and his codefendants destroyed Plame's career by "intentionally or at least with deliberate indifference ... eliminating the secrecy of her status that was essential to her continuing to perform in her job."

And wham for the second big hit...ReutersRumsfeld okayed abuses says former U.S. general

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

"The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished"," she told Saturday's El Pais.

"The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably ... Rumsfeld authorized these specific techniques."

The Geneva Convention says prisoners of war should suffer "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion" to secure information.

News.com AU Spy poison drama sparks contamination alert

"He fought this regime and this regime got him. If we let this go, if we go about our business as usual, this regime will get to all of us," said Walter Litvinenko, who still lives in Russia.

- In Moscow, Mr Putin stunned British diplomats when he said Mr Litvinenko did not die a violent death.

The brits are not the only ones stunned by such a callous statement.

The Nation The Odd Attack on Dean

Amid Democratic postelection celebrating, there was a bizarre outburst: a malicious attack launched by James Carville against Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, demanding his ouster. Carville's freakish initiative was bogus in every way. He has the same influence in party affairs as any other talking head on CNN--that is, none. In a year when the Democrats achieved their first real Congressional victory since 1992, Carville accused Dean of losing seats by not devoting more money to close House races.

The Ragin' Cajun was promptly stuffed. Don Fowler, former state party chair of South Carolina, observed: "Asking Dean to step down now, after last week, is equivalent to asking Eisenhower to resign after the Normandy invasion." Senator Harry Reid, the new majority leader, rallied to Dean too. "I didn't support his running for the chair of the DNC," Reid said. "I was wrong. He was right: I support his grassroots Democratic Party-building."

Carville's reckless foray, joined by pollster Stanley Greenberg, is worthy of comment only because the two are picking a fight that reflects the deep, potentially explosive fault-line in the party: the battle for control between old and new. Carville speaks for yesterday's failed politics--the Clinton years. Dean represents a more promising future with his aggressive efforts to rebuild a fifty-state party that grows from the grassroots up.

Admit DLC wing, you don't like Dr. Dean because the only interests he represents are for We the People...and that certainly isn't who the DLC represents. Just ask Paul Hackett how the DLC treats those who won't play for pay...

The real problem in Iraq-flashback Jan 2005 UK TimesEl Salvador-style 'death squads' to be deployed by US against Iraq militants

Hit squads would be controversial and would probably be kept secret.

The experience of the so-called “death squads” in Central America remains raw for many even now and helped to sully the image of the United States in the region.

Then, the Reagan Administration funded and trained teams of nationalist forces to neutralise Salvadorean rebel leaders and sympathisers. Supporters credit the policy with calming the insurgency, although it left a bitter legacy and stirred anti-American sentiment.

John Negroponte, the US Ambassador in Baghdad, had a front-row seat at the time as Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-85.

Oh, so that's why there is a "civil war" in Iraq...

TruthOut via MyWay News White House Hopefuls Vary on Iraq Policy

"I believe victory is still attainable," the Arizona Republican says. "But without additional combat forces we will not win this war."

In carefully scripted language, McCain then adds: "If the country does not have the will to do what it takes to win in Iraq - send in more forces - then US troops should not be made to serve more tours of duty."

"As troubling as it is, I can ask a young Marine to go back to Iraq," he said last week. "What I cannot do is ask him to return to Iraq, to risk life and limb, so that we might delay our defeat for a few months or a year. That is more to ask than patriotism requires."

"It would be immoral, and I could not do it," the former Vietnam prisoner of war added.

Yeah, John and we "won" Vietnam too. John still will not face the fact that superior fire power and resources will not beat down the truth; which is that we shouldn't be there.

DW World, Germany "There Is Good and Evil in Every Nation"

You worked for the German Foreign Service in Shanghai during the war, and then you were posted as a radio attaché to Tokyo, where you stayed until shortly after the Japanese surrender. Having witnessed Japanese aggression in China, how did that make you feel about Japan?

The Japanese are difficult to understand. Many could not admit that their own countrymen committed such atrocities, but they wanted to know about it. The Rabe diaries were published in Japan, and the book was enormously successful. Probably because it was a day-to-day account of what happened, and it did not condemn the Japanese as a people.

There was one chapter of the Rabe diaries that appeared in German, but was dropped by the American publisher and never translated into English. I describe the bestialities that were committed in the name of Imperial Japan as part of the human condition. Perhaps Rabe summed it up best, "There is good and evil in every nation. The brave and the criminal. In war unfortunately, criminality always rises to the surface."

Ireland Online 160 die in Baghdad bomb attacks

Leaders from all main communities, including Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Sunni Vice President, made a televised appeal for calm, a step last taken in February when the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine, blamed on al Qaeda, launched a wave of sectarian bloodshed that has not abated. Two men scream in anguish as they wait to collect the remains of their brother who was killed in today's attack

"We call for people to act responsibly and to stand together to calm the situation," a joint statement read.

A further 257 people were wounded in the series of blasts in the capital's Sadr City slum, police said.

The blasts came at the same time as gunmen surrounded and fired on the Shia-run Health Ministry in one of the boldest daylight assaults by militants in Baghdad. Mortars later crashed down on a nearby Sunni enclave in an apparent reprisal attack.

The french papers did not once refer to the attacks in Baghdad as being perpetrated by al-Qaeda...

International Herald Tribune Oil prices fall in response to U.S. supply increase

LONDON: Oil prices fell for a second day Thursday in response to rising U.S. supplies of crude.

Light sweet crude for January delivery fell 38 cents to US$58.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1515GMT.

Trading was expected to be thin as the Nymex was closed for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Toronto Sun Spy leaves egg on U.S. faces

Mohamed worked his triple-cross as U.S. authorities were -- Lance argues -- distracted with inner-politics, their own lives, the mob and even a horiffic murder. But more than he does with anyone else, Lance points an accusing finger at celebrated U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who directed the FBI's elite bin Laden squad, which, Lance argues, allowed Mohamed to remain an active al-Qaida agent.

Lance writes Fitzgerald and other top officials ignored important al-Qaida-related evidence, including proof in 1996 of a liquid-based airliner bomb -- a precursor to last August's plot revealed by British intelligence.

Lance pinpoints how, in 1991, the FBI, knowing of a New Jersey mail box store with direct links to al-Qaida, failed to keep it under watch. Just six years later, two of the 9/11 hijackers got their fake IDs at the same location.

Mohamed himself had come to the FBI's attention in 1989, when the agency's Special Operations Group photographed a cell of his trainees firing AK-47s at a Long Island shooting range. The bureau would drop that investigation -- as it would in many other cases involving the terror spy.

Does Peter Lance believe Patrick Fitzgerald is just another pretty face?

Apparently, Peter Lance thinks Fitz should have been willing to use illegal methods of evidence collection. Maybe Lance is helping boost Scooter's defense fund, since they are chums...perhaps Lance has a problem with Fitzgerald's "sexiest man" status. Now we all know how often the "antler issue" comes into these sorts of things...

Prissy could have held that against Fitz too-she was looking for substance, not style in the special prosecutor handling the CIA leak case. Who was this Patrick Fitzgerald?

Well, the sexiest man status does not impress when one is looking for intelligence, credibility and performance. However, a reading of Fitzgerald's previous cases more than prove his substance and dedication to justice. His long history of solving difficult cases is very impressive-as are his writing/argumentative skills. So knock off the "did I insult her Fitzie" stuff, Peter...

To be fair, Lance has uncovered more information about Able Danger. Let's hope some good can come out of the tedious research he claims to have done for his book.

Prissy thinks he just put Fitz on the cover of his book to garner some free attention, bound to have the opposite effect when Fitz convicts Peter's friends...

Just because Lance claims to have used copious documentation, doesn't mean he didn't use the Cheney cherry-pick method. What does that mean? Well, just ask dead-eye Dick about his "pre-war intelligence" reports...

And timing is everything-here comes Peter's book to question special prosecutor Fitzgerald's remarkable abilities- just at the time when Scooter's trial is about to begin? Hmm...

Prissy believes she has figured out what Fitz' strategy is on this case, but it is in part based on the element of surprise and won't give anything away. He may be maddenly slow to us-but his method is intentionally and agonizingly slow to those criminals in his sights. And when Fitz is done with Scooter- Prissy has a feeling that a pardon will not be a question-or an answer.

Booman Tribune Peter Lance, Crisscrossed by Larry Johnson

Here’s the truth—there is not one document, piece of court evidence, or retired FBI agent that supports the claim that in the year prior to the bombing of the US Embassies in East Africa Ali Mohamed was recorded stating his intent to attack those embassies. Not one. You see, clever Peter uses the benefit of hindsight to insist that law enforcement officers and prosecutors only had to look and listen to see the threat. If they had listened to wiretaps they might have heard something. If they had kept tighter rein on Ali Mohamed he might have spilled the beans. Yes, and if Peter was not such a cheap shot artist he might have written a book worth reading.

Peter’s venom spewed at Patrick Fitzgerald is particularly crazy. Consider the following claim by Lance: How was it that Fitzgerald, the man Vanity Fair described as the bin Laden "brain," possessing "scary smart" intelligence, had not connected the dots and ordered the same kind of "perch" or "plant" to watch Sphinx that the Bureau had used against Gotti? >

Well, for starters, prosecutors in the United States are not like prosecutors in France. Fitzgerald and other junior prosecutors do not have the luxury of waking up each morning and deciding on their own to follow a hunch. Moreover, they normally don’t direct Federal investigations. The investigative part is handled by FBI agents who run field offices. They collect evidence until they have a case put together that enables them to secure an indictment or an arrest warrant and then the prosecutor gets involved. Once again, Peter misses a basic fact that anyone who has watched Law and Order already knows.

What we do know about Patrick Fitzgerald is that he succeeded in putting terrorists behind jail without violating the Constitution or torturing a soul. He deserves better than to be attacked by a lightweight like Lance. If you are planning to buy Peter’s new book I suggest you get a big box of Kosher or Sea Salt. You’ll need to take more than a grain of salt to get thru Peter’s mess.

Peter, stop holding Fitz' good looks, superior intellect and talent against him...it doesn't become you. Prissy thinks you're pretty too, Peter-just not as credible

CBC PM accused of 'secretiveness' and 'manipulating media'

Speaking in the House of Commons during Question period, Graham said Harper and his staff "refused to tell the press about meetings and actions" during the Asian trip.

"Canadians have the right to know what's going on," the Opposition leader said, "and to be informed by a free press."

Reporters travelling with Harper in Vietnam had said they only learned about a meeting between the prime minister and President Hu Jintao of China in an e-mail sent 12 hours later. The usual practice on foreign trips of briefing a "pool reporter" who shares information with all media outlets was not followed.

Dubya and Putin rubbing off on the conservative Harper? Prissy hears they too, don't care much for media they cannot control.

Der Spiegel Firemen Turn on Police in Paris Demonstration

Firefighters moon the cops in Paris, perhaps NY cops and firefighters should consider this method for their own 911 protest. Let Prissy know, this is one protest she would not want to miss!

Firemen and police usually stand united as fellow civil servants. Not in Paris, where a stand-off between thousands of fire fighters and their police counterparts resulted in injury, property damage and chaos in the French capital.

A demonstration of firefighters in Paris turned violent on Tuesday. And vulgar. Police say fifteen officers were wounded and two are in serious condition after protesters hurled flares, street signs and other heavy objects at them. A police vehicle, another car and several trash cans were also set ablaze. Thirty-five firemen have been taken into custody.

Interesting case NEWS & VIEWS

On July 27, 2006, we filed suit in federal court in Wichita, Kansas against the Department of Defense for war crimes and the wrongful death of Major Jack G. Farr in Viet Nam 41 years ago. We attached evidence to show that he and 45 other pilots were sent on an intentional suicide mission by LBJ for the sole purpose of escalating the war in Viet Nam. The suit also brings claims that we have been illegally spied on without good cause and without a warrant. For the past two years, we tried numerous times to resolve these matters through our government leaders, including Congressman Todd Tiahrt, Senator Pat Roberts, Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, and President Bush when he came to Kansas last year, all to no avail. A copy of this lawsuit is posted at www.assocforhonestattys.com, click on "Supporting Documents - Case # 3."

Reuters UK Poisoned ex-spy accuses Putin from beyond grave

British authorities said large quantities of polonium 210, a radioactive isotope, had been discovered in Alexander Litvinenko's body. Police were studying how it got there and experts searched for traces of it at several locations.

"You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life," the ex-spy said in a statement read out by friends in front of the London hospital where he died overnight of organ failure.

"May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people."

The dead man's allegation that Moscow sent agents to murder him, in what would be the first such killing in the West since the Cold War, overshadowed Putin at an EU summit in Helsinki. Putin said there was no evidence his government had killed him.

Independent Berlusconi faces inquiry into claims he tried to rig election

Prosecutors in Rome have launched an investigation into claims that Silvio Berlusconi tried to electronically rig Italy's April general election. The claims are contained in an investigative report released today in video form with a weekly political review, Il Diario.

The election marked the first time that electronic voting machines were used in Italy, not to do the initial counting but to collate results arrived at by manual counting at the different polling stations.

Italian prosecutors, Prissy has some friends you may want to talk to about those voting machines...

Foreign Policy in Focus The List: Who Will Replace John Bolton? The list of potentials, see the site for complete bio's

The Front-Runner-Jim Leach, Republican congressman from Iowa,Paula Dobriansky, U.S. under secretary of state for global affairs and democracy,Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq,Lincoln Chafee, Republican U.S. senator from Rhode Island,Dennis Hastert, Republican congressman from Illinois, and John Bolton, of course...

Why he won’t: Bolton is wildly unpopular, not just among U.N. bureaucrats and U.S. Democrats, but among some Republicans, too. Confrontational, abrasive, and not afraid of using intimidating tactics, he hasn’t made many friends during his tenure in New York. The incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Delaware Democrat Joe Biden, says he sees no point in considering Bolton’s nomination again.

Well now Joe, dumping Bolton is something we can both agree on. Bolton is such a kook, no surprise Dubya likes him...

The forgotten war-Afgahnistan Children of War

Must see, pictures taken by an American soldier in Afgahnistan last week. Another country laid to waste, the only progress being demonstrated is damaged infrastructure...Thank you to the Coastie mom who sent these from Ohio Military Families Speak Out

Joanna Francis blog Israeli Snipers Killing U.S. Troops in Iraq?

Israelis freely move among US and UK troops in Iraq, and have access to top-level US intelligence. Until July 2003, the head of all US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan was General Tommy Franks, a Zionist Jew. (He is now on the board of directors for Bank of America.) On November 7, 2006 another Zionist Jew became a principle liaison between Mossad and US forces in Iraq: Major General Richard F. Natonski of the Marine Corps. His title is Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies and Operations.

Because of this access, the “insurgents” (i.e., Mossad agents) know exactly where US vehicles will be and who will be inside them. This allows them to target for maximum false flag effect.

For example, on July 23, 2005, a detachment of 19 female US Marines was sent to Fallujah to check Iraqi women for bombs. An IED blew up their truck. Two of the young American women were killed, five were critically wounded, and four were captured. The bodies of the four captured women turned up later in a garbage dump with their throats cut. Americans were outraged. Islamic clerics insisted that only Israelis could be so cold-blooded. And who was in charge of US forces in Fallujah at the time? None other than Major General Natonski, the Mossad liaison.

Americans are supposed to believe that rag-tag “insurgents” use IEDs powerful enough to kill three US troops per day, on average. An American soldier even set up a blog on how “Intel” is betraying and targeting US troops. But sometimes Mossad bomb-makers accidentally blow themselves up in Iraq.

While Prissy doesn't care for the term "Zionist Jew", we can and should read this article with a grain of salt. File it for later. Israeli government should be aware most Americans are suspecious of the false flag MO, by now. We've heard it so many times; is it prejudicial rumor or gut-wrenching truth? Should it be true, it is only a matter of time until perpetrators are caught in the act...

NYT Military Documents Hold Tips on Antiwar Activities

The Defense Department tightened its procedures earlier this year to ensure that only material related to actual terrorist threats — and not peaceable First Amendment activity — was included in the database.

The head of the office that runs the military database, which is known as Talon, said Monday that material on antiwar protests should not have been collected in the first place.

“I don’t want it, we shouldn’t have had it, not interested in it,” said Daniel J. Baur, the acting director of the counterintelligence field activity unit, which runs the Talon program at the Defense Department. “I don’t want to deal with it.”

Mr. Baur said that those operating the database had misinterpreted their mandate and that what was intended as an antiterrorist database became, in some respects, a catch-all for leads on possible disruptions and threats against military installations in the United States, including protests against the military presence in Iraq.

Remember soldiers, your mother has no chain-of-command. Want her to ground you?

Military personnel spying on own their parents anti-war activities...Hey kids, why not just call home and ask why your parents wish to save your lives? We didn't raise you to be law breakers, you know.

NYT Palestinians Make Offer to Renew Cease-fire

In Gaza, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas confirmed the offer of Palestinian factions to halt their rocket fire into Israel in return for Israel ending its military operations in both the West Bank and Gaza. “The ball is now in the Israeli court,” Mr. Haniya told reporters after Friday prayers.

The factions making the overture included Islamic Jihad, which has previously rejected any cease-fire with Israel.

Israel called the offer a media presentation, but said the government was open to a more serious, formal proposal. “Israel would respond favorably to a full cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on both sides,” said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “We want to see quiet in the Gaza Strip. If there is a formal proposal, we’ll respond.”

Dubya likes Olmert for the same reason he liked Sharon...all bullies.

How Dubya handles his business

NY Daily News First Twin's purse pinch in Argentina

The Secret Service declined to comment on the purse snatching, and the First Lady's office refused to talk about what the girls were doing in South America at a time when families tend to get together for Thanksgiving.

The White House generally clams up on matters involving the twins, but recent reports said Jenna has been living and working in Panama as an intern for UNICEF, sparking speculation Barbara may have joined her younger-by-minutes twin for a little vacation a little farther south.

Shopping for the new place in Paraguay? Just speculation, of course. See below

Upside Down World Paraguay Revokes U.S. Military Immunity (sort of)

On October 2, the Paraguayan government announced its decision to revoke U.S. immunity as soon as their current contract expires in December 2006. The US military has carried out military exercises in Paraguay since July 2005. Since then the troops have enjoyed technical and administrative immunity, exempting them from trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that the US will not continue to provide military support without immunity for its soldiers. However, on October 3, 2006 President Bush signed a waiver allowing for military aid in countries that have refused to sign immunity agreements with the US military. The waiver affects 21 countries, including Paraguay.

Historically, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and President George W. Bush have enjoyed what Brazilian President Lula calls a "political matrimony." (quote from Ultimahora) Paraguay´s decision represents a political alliance with the countries in the MercoSur trade block, which includes Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela.

Orlando Castillo, director of SERPAJ, a human rights organization based in Paraguay, stated that Frutos´decision does not necessarily represent an ideological shift of Paraguay´s center-right government. Castillo explained that regional solidarity would require major reforms in all sectors of the Paraguayan government. Furthermore, military representatives from the CIA, DEA, and FBI will continue to hold immunity in Paraguay.

Perfect for the whole family? Also from Upside Down:

The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor. Acosta said that some stories credited the land to the Fundación Patria, which Bush would be a member of. The spokespeople of the organization were not available to comment. Supposedly, Timothy Towell , the U.S. Ambassador in Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) is the present administrator of the land. First accounts signaled that Bush had acquired 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) in the Chaco zone of Fuerte Olimpo, near the Bolivian Border. A spark of the interest in this property may have been Jenna Bush's private visit to Paraguay with Unicef, which started Saturday, October 7, 2006. Supposedly Jenna will travel to the ranch to ''observe'' several indigenous villages are located on the property.

The gangs all here

Quotes of the Day

For Prissy's british friends..."Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."--Alexai Sayle

"Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy."--Peter Ustinov

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.--Ronald Reagan

"I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law."--David Dinkins, former New York City Mayor

"I'm glad I'm not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone's tape recording what you say."--Richard Nixon

Lessons of Viet Nam...Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the Lessons of Viet Nam. Hat tip to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on the clip. Very timely for Thanksgiving...

Hot Links

Former Ohio republican fundraiser Tom Noe is sentenced to 18 years, plus numerous fines...see, a perfect example of how our criminal justice system can work. Is there anyone who can say Noe did not receive a fair trial? Give us your arguments, and we'll try not to laugh.

Dearest Readers, have you noticed the level of sarcasm in our global neighbors regarding Dubya? They are beyond angry, thankfully. But the comments regarding intelligence, impaired judgement etc. Oh my, it could be a comedy show if the results of suffering him were not so tragic...

ABC Key Daley aide sentenced to 46 months

"If you think he deserves 46 months then you and I come from a different planet," Durkin said. He also noted that the government did not launch such an investigation until Patrick J. Fitzgerald, a transplanted New Yorker, became U.S. attorney in Chicago.

"I am taken aback by the suggestion that Chicago is so corrupt that we have to bring in somebody from New York," Durkin said.

Prissy is sure Scooter will say something to the same effect when he is sentenced. Too stubborn to save himself and cop a plea...

AP News Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law

Some of the eight attorneys named in the document are now in private practice and represent detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most served under President Clinton, though the list includes former U.S. Attorneys W. Thomas Dillard and Anton R. Valukas, who served under President Reagan.

"The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States - without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years," the attorneys wrote.

And..."These are complex and difficult legal issues, and while we respect the right of other legal minds to be heard on these issues, we believe we are on firm legal footing in this case as both the magistrate judge and district court concluded," Blomquist said.

Last weekend, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the nation's handling of the detainees. He said they are afforded more rights than required.

"Gonzo Government", not to be confused with the true American system of justice-is not on firm legal footing...

International Herald Tribune, hat tip to The Next Hurrah Document shows Bush guided CIA on detention

The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged for the first time the existence of two classified documents, including one signed by President George W. Bush, that have guided the agency's interrogation and detention of terror suspects.

The CIA disclosed the existence of the documents in a letter Friday sent from the agency's associate general counsel, John McPherson, to lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The contents of the documents were not revealed, but one document, as described by the ACLU, is "a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees."

The second document, according to the group is a Justice Department legal analysis "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top Al Qaeda members.

CBC Canadian army needs reservists to fill gaps in Afghan mission: commander

Canada's mission in Afghanistan has put the Canadian army under so much strain that it is relying increasingly on reservists to sign on as full-time soldiers, the head of the army told a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, commander of the Canadian army, told the House of Commons defence committee that to complete the mission in Kandahar, which is slated to run until February 2009, the army will have to draw on reservists.

Reuters Rwanda's Kagame should face court: French judge

A top French judge has called for Rwandan President Paul Kagame to be brought before a U.N. court over a 1994 plane crash that killed the country's president and sparked a genocide, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

Anti-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere is also seeking international arrest warrants against nine Kagame associates, including the military's chief of staff, according to an official document seen by Reuters.

Rwanda's foreign minister dismissed the arrest warrants as an attempt to cover up what Rwanda says was France's role in training soldiers who carried out the genocide.

News 24 Iraq and Syria restore ties

Baghdad - Iraq and Syria have announced the restoration of diplomatic ties severed 25 years ago and said they had agreed to co-operate on security matters.

"We have signed a little while ago an agreement to restore complete diplomatic relations with Syria," Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters at a joint news conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.

CNN World Ex-Russian spy 'may have radioactive poisoning'

Litvinenko's supporters claim he was targeted after years of stinging criticism of abuses by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, and most recently his inquiries into the slaying of another government critic, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down October 7 inside her Moscow apartment building.

"Somebody has asked me directly, who is guilty of Anna's death? And I can directly answer you: It is Mr. Putin, president of the Russian Federation," he told a videotaped meeting discussing Politkovskaya's death at the Frontline media club in London in October.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed suggestions that Russian intelligence services were involved as "nothing but sheer nonsense."

Litvinenko joined the KGB counterintelligence forces in 1988, and rose to the rank of colonel in the FSB. He began specializing in terrorism and organized crime in 1991, and was transferred to the FSB's most secretive department on criminal organizations in 1997.

Does Putin really eat babies?

WaPo Top-Secret Torture The Bush administration claims detainees can't disclose how they were treated.

The trouble is that at least some of the secrets the government is trying to protect are the very techniques used against people such as Mr. Khan -- and its means of protecting them is to muzzle him about what the CIA did to him. CIA official Marilyn A. Dorn said in an affidavit that Mr. Khan might reveal "the conditions of detention and specific alternative interrogation procedures." In other words, grossly mistreating a detainee now justifies keeping him quiet.

The problem with this argument is not just its Kafkaesque sheen. If the courts accept it, it would have vast practical implications. The integrity of any military trials of the high-value detainees will depend on their excluding evidence obtained by unduly coercive means. By the logic of the government's argument, however, all of that litigation will have to take place in secret. Detainees are also supposed to be able to appeal their status as enemy combatants to the federal appeals court here in Washington. The government's logic would all but assure that the bulk of any such appeal would be secret as well. So accepting this theory would mean that no claim of torture could be resolved in a transparent and accountable fashion. Given the importance of open trials for the high-value detainees, it's hard to imagine a principle that would more thwart the effort to bring them credibly to justice.

How is it the inventors of this method continue to call themselves Americans? Please tell Prissy this wasn't taught in any college receiving federal funds...

David Letterman: "Tomorrow at the White House, President Bush will pardon the turkey. It's that time of year for him to pardon the turkey. Today, Dick Cheney spent all day torturing it."

Reuters Briton tortured into confessing bomb plot: lawyer

A British Muslim falsely confessed to planning to bomb several high-profile English landmarks after being tortured and subjected to degrading conditions in Pakistan, his defense lawyer said on Tuesday.

Salahuddin Amin, 31, was subjected to "inhumane" treatment by the Pakistani Intelligence Service (ISI) during 10 months of incarceration, Patrick O'Connor told a London court.

The torture took place with the knowledge of British intelligence agencies although no British agents were actually involved or witnessed it, he said.

Monsters and Critics California court expands immunity for bloggers

The ruling supports federal law that clears individuals of liability if they transmit, but are not the source of, defamatory information. It expands protections the law gives to Internet service providers to include bloggers and activist Web sites.

'We acknowledge that recognizing broad immunity for defamatory republication on the Internet has some troubling consequences,' California's high court justices said in their opinion.

'Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area, however, plaintiffs who contend they were defamed in an Internet posting may only seek recovery from the original source of the statement,' the decision stated.

At Center Network 11/20/2006 - Interview - Linda Englund, MFSO

A must see interview with an articulate military mother, who won't be fooled by BushCo. Linda Englund is a member of

Military Families Speak Out

Her son is an exemplary soldier and you can see he comes from tough stock. No one should be surprised why military families who are geniunely aware of what is really happening in the war, continue to fight to put an end it to the madness...How long would it last if these people were told to personally fight it, rather than negotiate or be forced to rely on diplomatic skills?

India Times Angry welcome awaits Bush in Indonesia

HO CHI MINH CITY: Warmly greeted by world leaders in Vietnam, US president Bush drew a different reaction Sunday at his upcoming stop in Indonesia, where thousands angrily protested America's policy in the Middle East and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House said it was confident about security precautions for Bush's visit despite police warnings of an increased threat of attack by Al Qaida-linked groups.

The president was to spend just six hours in Indonesia, most of it at Bogor Palace, a presidential retreat outside the capital of Jakarta and far from the scene of protests on Sunday where Bush was denounced as a "war criminal" and "terrorist".

Has there ever been a president more protested while abroad, than Dubya?

Heartland See Cheney's Oil Map

CBS Republican Named Winner In Fla. House Race

Several other House races nationwide remain unresolved: In Ohio's 2nd District, a few counties began counting provisional and absentee ballots in the disputed race between GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican who called decorated Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha a coward, and Democrat Victoria Wulsin. Schmidt led by about 2,800 votes, though nearly 9,000 votes could remain to be counted in the district.

In Ohio's 15th District, Republican incumbent Deborah Pryce was ahead of Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by more than 3,500 votes. Some 19,000 ballots remain to be counted, with results expected next week.

Al Jazeera.net Nepal peace agreement signed

Maoist fighters in Nepal have signed a peace agreement with the country's government.

The agreement signed by Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal's prime minister and Prachanda, the Maoist leader, is the formal end to a civil conflict which has killed more than 13,000 people.

The deal has been reached seven months after King Gyanendra surrendered power to political parties following weeks of street protests.

Check back for updates over the holiday.

Wishing all Dearest Readers a happy holiday season.

Quotes of the Day

Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.--Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.--Eugene S. Wilson

We need men who can dream of things that never were.--John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.--William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Hamlet", Act 1 scene 5