Gonzo, Make a Run For the Border!

Will Mexico take him back as an illegal immigrant?

Dearest Readers, Prissy has been pounding the pavement and calling on representatives to be accountable for the war they support.

Oh my how they don't have anything to say when Prissy trots out the truth...some believe they are still entitled to their own set of facts. Nothing like a 40 something year old repub with alleged face lift* attempt to tell Prissy Patriot that our Ohio National Guard is ready for overseas missions when she knows they are not!

Prissy thinks he really should check with the Major General before making himself appear so uninformed. He bragged about "the good he did" during his own time spent in Iraq. Prissy would put money down that he kept his sweet self tucked away deep inside the Green Zone.

And he is Congresswoman Debra Pryce's boy soldier-so he must spew the rhetoric to keep his job...he didn't seem to understand the National Guard isn't the INTERNational Guard...he tells Prissy not to fret about the Guard gone problem-when we ship all the troops out of the country like that, its all OK-they have done a "threat assessment" first...Prissy said, "Oh, do you mean like the one they did before 911?"

*Is this a perk the military should provide with your tax dollars when soldiers at Walter Reed need REAL care? Artist Stephen Pitt

UPI 88 percent of National Guard 'not ready'

The chairman of the U.S. Commission on the National Guard and Reserves said Friday reserve readiness was worse than realized.

The commission reported three weeks ago that 88 percent of the Army National Guard units in the United States were not ready for their missions, lacking equipment, personnel, training or some combination.

"And I can tell you today the Guard is less ready than the 88 percent. It's gotten worse in the three weeks since we issued our report, not better," said commission chairman retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

"We don't see the trend going up. We see the trend going down," he said

Whom would you trust? Prissy and the Major Generals- or Dubya and Gates?

P.S. Still working on the show...

The Ultimate Con 911 Documentary Trailer 1

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Flashback WaPo Brand Bush Justice Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake

The CIA inspector general is investigating a growing number of what it calls "erroneous renditions," according to several former and current intelligence officials.

One official said about three dozen names fall in that category; others believe it is fewer. The list includes several people whose identities were offered by al Qaeda figures during CIA interrogations, officials said. One turned out to be an innocent college professor who had given the al Qaeda member a bad grade, one official said.

And...Members of the Rendition Group follow a simple but standard procedure: Dressed head to toe in black, including masks, they blindfold and cut the clothes off their new captives, then administer an enema and sleeping drugs. They outfit detainees in a diaper and jumpsuit for what can be a day-long trip. Their destinations: either a detention facility operated by cooperative countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, including Afghanistan, or one of the CIA's own covert prisons -- referred to in classified documents as "black sites," which at various times have been operated in eight countries, including several in Eastern Europe.

Masri can find few words to explain his ordeal. "I have very bad feelings" about the United States, he said. "I think it's just like in the Arab countries: arresting people, treating them inhumanly and less than that, and with no rights and no laws."

Are neocons brain injured? From the NYT Study Finds Brain Injury Changes Moral Judgment

Damage to an area near the center of the brain, several inches behind the eyes, transforms the way people make moral judgments in life-or-death situations, scientists are reporting. In a new study, people with this rare injury expressed increased willingness to kill or harm another person if doing so would save others’ lives.

The findings are the most direct evidence to date that humans’ native revulsion for hurting others relies on a part of neural anatomy, one that likely evolved before the brain regions responsible for analysis and planning.

The researchers emphasize that the study was small and that the moral decisions were hypothetical; the results cannot predict how people with or without brain injuries will act in real life-or-death situations. Yet the findings, appearing Thursday in the journal Nature, confirm the central role of the damaged region — the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is thought to generate social emotions, like compassion.

Maybe brain injuries caused Gonzo-Rove-Meijers to fire DOJ prosecutors Why I Was Fired Op-Ed by DAVID C. IGLESIAS

WITH this week’s release of more than 3,000 Justice Department e-mail messages about the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, it seems clear that politics played a role in the ousters.

Of course, as one of the eight, I’ve felt this way for some time. But now that the record is out there in black and white for the rest of the country to see, the argument that we were fired for “performance related” reasons (in the words of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty) is starting to look more than a little wobbly.

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

As this story has unfolded these last few weeks, much has been made of my decision to not prosecute alleged voter fraud in New Mexico. Without the benefit of reviewing evidence gleaned from F.B.I. investigative reports, party officials in my state have said that I should have begun a prosecution. What the critics, who don’t have any experience as prosecutors, have asserted is reprehensible — namely that I should have proceeded without having proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The public has a right to believe that prosecution decisions are made on legal, not political, grounds.

Hey look-Ohio now has a Governor with a brain...The Columbus Dispatch (AKA The Columbus Disgrace or Dogpatch )Abstinence programs face cuts Approach to preventing teen pregnancy unproven, too costly, Strickland says

Jeffrey Silleck, executive director of Pregnancy Decision Health Centers in Franklin and Fairfield counties, said scrapping abstinence-only education also would give youths the wrong message."It sends the signal to them that sexual activity before marriage is not only possible and permissible but normal and the expectation," he said.

Silleck's organization is paying for its abstinence-only education program with a federal grant of $389,000 a year for five years and a 14-month state grant of $275,000, he said.

But Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said her concern is that youths who become sexually active aren't getting accurate information about contraceptives and preventing diseases.

She pointed to studies including a 2005 report from researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland who found that abstinence-only education did not significantly reduce the likelihood of middle-school students having sex.

"Given how high the stakes are, we can't be careless," Copeland said.

Granny said they have been trying to figure out how to stop young people from having sex since Plato was a boy...and yet they still do it.

Obviously prevention of disease and pregnancy prevention should be priority. It's much less expensive than unwanted children, many of which end up in juvenile corrections or foster care. Neocons stop caring as soon as mom gives birth...

The Mirror DIANA DEATH: EX-SPY IS GAGGED

Richard Tomlinson, Britain's MI6 agent in France between 1991 and 1995, has been gagged by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.

A permanent injunction stops Mr Tomlinson, who lives in Cannes, from talking about his former role as it would breach the Official Secrets Act.

He said: "I think they have been quite crafty."

During the earlier inquiry led by Lord Stevens, he had told of seeing a top secret file detailing how to make an assassination look like a crash. The inquiry rejected his claims.

If there was deviance involved, it will eventually come out. Those Brits and their Official Secrets Act- Like Bush, the British government will learn there are no secrets as long as the internet survives...

Bush Reaffirms Support for Gonzales

Earlier Friday, a staunch White House ally, Sen. John Cornyn, summoned presidential counsel Fred Fielding to Capitol Hill and told him he wanted "no surprises."

"I told him, 'Everything you can release, please release. We need to know what the facts are,'" Cornyn said.

The latest e-mails indicate that some of Gonzales' most trusted advisers were kept out of the loop in the firings. Scolinos apparently learned last Nov. 17 about the plans to dismiss the prosecutors; that was nearly two years after Sampson and the White House first began talking about replacing them.

Democrats question whether the eight were selected because they were not seen as, in Sampson's words, "loyal Bushies."

CNN Iran says British sailors 'confess' to illegal entry

The incident threatened to exacerbate the tension between Iran and much of the West on the eve of a U.N. Security Council vote to impose new sanctions on Iran. The world powers will meet Saturday to consider that next step in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. (Full story)

There have been similar incidents in the past. In 2004, Iran stopped three British boats and seized eight sailors and six marines. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said at the time the three boats had crossed into Iran's territorial waters.

The detained servicemen appeared on Iranian television blindfolded.

They were released after Iran said it determined they had mistakenly crossed into Iran's waters.

Der Spiegel The US Prepares its First Guantanamo Trials DISHONORING A NATION'S HISTORY

When legal experts from the respected Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey were given access to files at the Defense Department, they arrived at some surprising conclusions. According to the documents, the Pentagon itself only classifies 8 percent of the Guantanamo detainees as al-Qaida fighters, and it finds that 40 percent have no connection whatsoever to the terrorist organization.

The Seton Hall report contains another interesting figure: 86 percent of those taken into custody in Afghanistan were handed over to the Americans by Pakistanis or members of the Northern Alliance -- at a time when substantial bounties were being paid for terrorists.

The Jurist Spain judge says Bush and Iraq war allies should face war crimes charges

On Sunday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile; BBC profile] said President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair may one day face war crimes charges [JURIST report] before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive] at The Hague. Moreno-Ocampo said that the ICC could investigate allegations of war crimes stemming from the conduct of coalition forces in Iraq [JURIST news archive], so long as Iraq agrees to ratify the Rome Statute [text, PDF] and accede to ICC jurisdiction.

CNN University denies Jeb Bush honorary degree

Finally, a degree Poppy Bush couldn't buy for his kids...

WaPo Gonzales And His "I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman" Moment

On March 13, Gonazales looked both you and me in the eye and under a sweaty brow said this about the burgeoning scandal over the dismissal of the eight prosecutors: "What I know is that there began a process of evaluating strong performers, not-as-strong performers, and weak performers. And so far as I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers. Where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that's what I knew. But again, with respect to this whole process, like every CEO, I am ultimately accountable and responsible for what happens within the department. But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That's basically what I knew as the Attorney General." (Emphasis Added).

This directly contradicts the documents released last night. How? Because Gonzales "met with senior aides on Nov. 27 to review a plan to fire a group of U.S. attorneys," the Washington Post and about a thousand other outlets are reporting. Because, reports the Post's Dan Eggen, "the hour-long November meeting in the attorney general's conference room included Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and four other senior Justice officials, including the Gonzales aide who coordinated the firings, then-Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson, records show." It is no wonder that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) already is turning up the heat on Gonzales to resign-- and that yet another Republican lawmaker urged the Attorney General to quit. The Post reports: "Rep. Paul E. Gillmor (Ohio) said Gonzales has become a 'lightning rod' for criticism. 'It would be better for the president and the department if the attorney general were to step down,' Gillmor said.

And of course if you read the archives, you'll find what else Prissy has been up to...Thank you, Constant. Prissy greatly appreciates the work you do, it has been such a help! Constants Pations Gonzalez Lied Under Oath; Military Officers Forced To Resign Like US Attorneys

There is another problem. The US Attorneys were supposedly fired because they didn't do something. Yet, the GOP cannot explain why they did not put pressure on US Attorneys to prosecute those who attacked the GOP campaign offices.

Evidence suggests the GOP attacked their offices, hoped to blame the DNC, and dissuaded US Attorneys from prosecuting the real culprits behind the 2004 attacks on the GOP offices.

Ref: Someone has the details on the JAGs. Want to know more? Click the link, send her an e-mail, and maybe she'll spill the beans. Then again, maybe she'll reveal the evidence to war crimes prosecutors and help bring down the President with a war crimes indictment showing he attempted to thwart investigators looking into his war crimes. She is unstoppable and has full support of We the People: Over 300 Million against the Godless heathens in the Republican Party.

Judge Advocate GeneralRef: Any explanation for the strange JAG attacks on Guantanamo defense counsel, and why Stimson's recklessness appears to have been repeated?

NY SUN Bush: 'This is not going to happen'

A sharply divided House voted Friday to order President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq next year, a victory for Democrats in an epic war-powers struggle and Congress' boldest challenge yet to the administration's policy.

Just over an hour later, an angry Mr. Bush accused Democrats of staging nothing more than political theater and said that if the spending bill is not approved and signed into law by April 15, troops and their families "will face significant disruptions."

Is that some kind of a sick Bushie joke? "Significant disruptions"- is Dubya issuing a threat to us military families? Dubya should really watch how he talks to the military and their families, these days... Click to enlarge

Reuters Toxin found in tainted pet food is used in rat poison

The New York State Food Laboratory found 40 parts per million of aminopterin in cat food samples, but were waiting to hear from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on how safe that level was and if it came from the wheat gluten that was previously suspected of causing illnesses and deaths in pets, Department spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden said.

The FDA said previously that wheat gluten, which is used to thicken the gravy in wet pet food, was the likely cause of contamination.

Menu would not confirm or deny earlier reports that identified wheat gluten from China as the suspect ingredient.

China?? Notice labels on canned goods, Dearest Readers. Prissy noticed at the dollar store all kinds of them made in China (mushrooms, oranges, strawberries) and baby shrimp(caught wild) in Thailand.

Talk about taking your chances...Granted, our FDA is no prize-but do the other countries even HAVE an FDA?

CNN Money-Well, who didn't know this was on the horizon? Fed governor warns against rate hikes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Core U.S. inflation is likely to drop to 2 percent from about 2 1/4 percent, but pushing it below that may require higher interest rates, Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin said on Friday.

"I am less optimistic about the prospects for core PCE inflation to move much below 2 percent in the absence of a determined effort by monetary policy," Mishkin said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Mishkin was referring to a favorite inflation gauge of the U.S. central bank - the 12-month change in the government's Personal Consumption Expenditures index with volatile food and energy costs set aside.

Always leaving out the "extras"- like food and energy costs!

Wired France Puts Secret UFO Archive on Web

France is the first country to put its entire weird sightings archive online, said Jacques Patenet, who heads the space agency's UFO cell - the Group for Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena.

Their oldest recorded sighting dates from 1937, Patenet told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. The first batch of archives went up on the agency's Web site this week, drawing a server-busting wave of traffic.

"The Web site exploded in two hours. We suspected that there was a certain amount of interest, but not to this extent," Patenet said.

The archive includes police and expert reports, witness sketches (some are childlike doodlings), maps, photos and video and audio recordings. In all, the archive has some 1,650 cases on record and about 6,000 witness accounts.

CNES CNES is the French site for the UFO's-its in English too!

Prissy hasn't seen any UFO's but if they were friendly she'd say "Stop the Earth, I wanna get off!"

Wired Politics Son of TIA Will Mine Asian Data

Poindexter, who was also on the roster of people the Singaporeans were scheduled to meet with in the United States, never quite disappeared from the data-mining scene. In January of this year, he was elected to the board of BrightPlanet, a firm that boasts "the most powerful search, harvest and document federation technology available in the world." The company's press release announcing Poindexter's appointment noted the former national security adviser would "provide guidance in developing further contacts within the intelligence community."

As for Poindexter's association with RAHS and his appearance at this week's conference, Nathan noted that meetings with the former Darpa manager are consultative. "We have no formal relationship with John Poindexter but have met him to exchange ideas and perspectives," he said.

Whether formal or informal, everyone involved in RAHS is aware that Poindexter has proved a lightning rod for critics of data mining. Recalling the events that led to the closing of Poindexter's office, Snowden, who describes himself as "on the left politically," was candid about the man he still calls a friend.

"He's a genius," Snowden said, "but he's a naive genius; he didn't realize how it was going to be picked up."

Naive genius? More like the terrorist of civil rights...Click to enlarge

Quotes of the Day for Bushies

Temper is what gets most of us into trouble, but pride is what keeps us there. Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.- Proverbs 16:18

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.--Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Never do today what you can do as well tomorrow because something may occur to make you regret your premature action.--Aaron Burr (1756-1836)

It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it. --G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev were riding on a train. When it came to a halt, the engineer said, "Our engine has failed-what shall I do?"

"Let the invincible spirit of the people pull us on!" Lenin declared.

"Shoot the engineer!" offered Stalin.

And Gorbachev suggested, "Close the shades and we can pretend we're moving forward!"

All progress is the result of change, but all change is not necessarily progress--Rich Zera, Author