The Priss is Back and Full of Sass

Is this the real reason Prissy hasn't been blogging?

Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'

So what are they now? POWT's? (Prisoners of War on Terror?)It's a good thing, because otherwise there are a lot of others who might get swept up by definition of that terminology...

Dearest Readers, How have you been? Prissy sure needed a hiatus after the election...fighting to get President Obama into office tough, but a great success and took a lot out of us here in Ohio. Needed to take time off too allow the corporate owned media to catch up with The Prissy Patriot...Recall this? A Chat With the "D.C. Madame" Deborah Jeane Palfrey Update

Now those who scoffed are saying this: (H/T to WhatReallyHappened)

The Palfrey-Cheney Connection Tags:* ASSASSINATION

Well, lookie, lookie, Roll Call, Politico and Wonkette all served up items yesterday that mentioned the possibility that Dick Cheney used the services of Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s escort service in the 1990s.

Will we hold our new president as accountable as we did Bush?

As Ding-a-Ling Sarah Palin would say "You betcha!" We expect more from him mostly because he has a much higher IQ than Dubya ever dreamed of.

Besides, with the new President being half African American, he can't pretend not to know what oppression really is, unlike the drunken Frat boy.

So much has happened, where shall we begin? By now you all know by way of Seymour Hersh that Dead Eye Dick is all that and more. Prissy told you years ago to put nothing past this bunch. Kind of makes you wonder about the long list of "suicides" such as Debra Jean Palfrey, aka the DC Madame, Dr. Kelly of Great Britain, Mike Connell, the GOP IT guru and his "plane accident"...more on this later.

Deadly Dick the assassin. You heard it here first, Dick would stop at nothing to shut people up...Prissy has seen his kind before- of course, she was their guard in a maximum security prison.

Hot Links

Minnesota Post Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring' which reported directly to Cheney But what does Hersh know? Plenty, here's a run down on scoops over the years that he has exposed:

* The My Lai massacre, which Hersh first revealed publicly and which he last night called “the end of innocence about us and war.” * The Pentagon Papers case, which Mondale called the best example of the “government’s potential for vast public deception.” * Henry Kissinger’s secret dealings, mostly relating to the Vietnam War. (Hersh, who has written volumes about Kissinger, said that he will always believe that whereas ordinary people count sheep to fall asleep, Kissinger “has to count burned and maimed Cambodian babies.”)

* The Church Committee investigation of CIA and FBI abuses, in which Mondale played a major role. (He talked about the fact that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover not only spied on Martin Luther King but literally tried to drive him to suicide.) * The Iran Contra scandal. (Hersh said the Reagan administration came to office with a clear goal of finding a way to finance covert actions, such as the funding of the Nicaraguan Contras, without appropriations so that Congress wouldn't know about them. Mondale noted that Reagan had signed a law barring further aid to the Contras, then participated in a scheme to keep the aid flowing. Hersh said that two key veterans of Iran-Contra, Dick Cheney and national security official Elliot Abrams, were reunited in the George W. Bush White House and decided that the key lesson from Iran-Contra was that too many people in the administration knew about it.) * And the Bush-Cheney years. (Said Hersh: “The contempt for Congress in the Bush-Cheney White House was extaordinary.” Said Mondale of his successor, Cheney, and his inner circle: “they ran a government within the government.” Hersh added: “Eight or nine neoconservatives took over our country.” Mondale said that the precedents of abuse of vice presidential power by Cheney would remain "like a loaded pistol that you leave on the dining room table.")

BBC The Bush/Blair years will never end for his victims UK resident freed from Guantanamo Bay

US interrogators told him, "This is the British file and this is the American file," Binyam Mohamed, 30, told the BBC in his first broadcast interview.

He said he wanted to see ex-President George Bush put on trial and, if there were evidence, former UK PM Tony Blair.

The UK says it does not condone torture, but will examine any claims.

The US has dropped all charges against Mr Mohamed.

Yet another "terrorist" case that wouldn't stick...

If you want the best advice and food for thought on the net, read George Washington's Blogspot. Prissy reads him every day. He's one of the best on the net to make sense of the economic disaster. Let's not forget who started the bailout-and the need for one... Why Obama Must Fire Geithner and Summers

As Robert Kuttner writes:

Geithner has ... come up with the idea of subjecting the largest banks to "stress tests" to determine just how badly damaged their balance sheets are. This has been advertised as government examiners crawling all over bank records, but much of this belated effort will rely on the banks' own risk models--the same risk models that got the banks into this mess.

Come to think of it, where have the examiners been all along? Why wasn't there serious investigation of bank balance sheets all along? Why should stress tests be performed only after disaster has struck (shades of Hurricane Katrina)?

The worst culprit among the feeble regulators is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose examiners are responsible for assessing the safety and soundness of the holding companies of Wall Street's largest banks. It was high risk speculative activities by holding company affiliates that put the big banks under water.

Who dropped the ball? You may recall that Secretary Geithner, before he assumed his present post, was president of the New York Fed Bank. According to a withering feature piece from Bloomberg, he was asleep at the switch, and far too cozy with the banks. Heckuva job, Timmy.

Prissy concurs with George on this one. Geithner is a horrible pick, unless he's willing to tell us "where the bodies are buried." Is it Rahm Emanuel who is responsible for these awful cabinet picks?

In depth interview with Geithner and Charlie Rose. Hat tip to Justice League Blogspot, another favorite blog... BTW, Prissy heard Geithner say he has worked in public service all of his life. He was president of the Federal Reserve bank, but isn't aware that is not a federal government entity? Oh come now! Charlie Rose show: A conversation with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

A must see if you haven't already. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart blasts self proclaimed money expert Jim Cramer. Cramer is an expert with his own money, not yours or mine...Comedian calls financial "reporter" on his bullshit

Powerful video of today's reality facing America. Posted two years ago...Note at this video's end: The Prissy Patriot does not advocate the legalization of all drugs. Our law enforcement professors used to comment that pot legalization would be OK with them-tax it, regulate it and remove the criminal element. As they had yet to be on a domestic violence call where the perpetrator was just smoking pot-alcohol was nearly always the drug involved...

WSJ. Maxine Waters voted against Israel regarding their latest bloodbath in Gaza. Apparently she didn't think shooting fish in a barrel was fair. Is this her punishment? Waters Defends Ties to Bank

Ms. Waters (D., Calif.) said her efforts were intended to aid minority-owned banks overall, not just OneUnited Bank, an institution that received $12 million in federal bailout money.

Reports this week in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times detailed Ms. Waters's efforts to help OneUnited in recent years, in particular last fall, when she sought help from Treasury officials after the bank's capital dried up and it was in danger of failing.

"I have been an outspoken advocate for minority communities and businesses in California and nationally for decades," she said. "These articles only revealed one thing: I am indeed an advocate for minority banks."

Ms. Waters's statement said she asked former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to meet with the National Bankers Association, a group of African-American bankers whose president is the senior counsel of OneUnited.

BBC Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has defied an apparent house arrest order to head for a protest in Lahore.

Mr Sharif was ousted as prime minister in 1999 during a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled until August 2008.

Tensions between Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif date back to the 1990s, but the two formed a brief partnership in government after parliamentary elections in February 2008.

Mr Sharif's party later left the alliance, complaining of reluctance by Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's Party to reinstate the judges sacked by the last government.

Relations have been further strained in recent weeks by a Supreme Court decision to ban Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, and President Zardari's decision to put their stronghold in Punjab province under direct rule from Islamabad.

The same Pakistan which retrofitted fighter planes (which we sold them) with nuclear weaponry. Hurray for instability in a country that butts up against Iran,Afghanistan and India- the worlds largest democracy and Pakistan's mortal "enemy."

More on the situation in Pakistan from YahooProtests against Pakistani government turn violent

Sharif denounced the order as illegal and later left the house in a convoy of vehicles packed with chanting, flag-waving supporters, headed for a downtown rally that had already turned violent.

Mobs accompanying the swelling convoy smashed the windows of buses parked along the route. Others torched tires, sending plumes of black smoke into the blue sky over a usually bustling boulevard littered with stones and empty tear gas shells.

And...Washington worries that the crisis will further destabilize the shaky the year-old government and prevent it from being an effective ally in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.

Suspected militants attacked a transport terminal in northwestern Pakistan used to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan before dawn on Sunday and torched dozens of containers and military vehicles, police said.

Dubya should have kept Pakistan out of his "War on Terror" as an "ally".

From Pakistan, The News A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel’s survival beyond the next 20 years.

The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

And...

He said CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an ‘Israeli land’ would happen ‘way sooner’ than later.

The study further predicts the return of over one and a half million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births whereas a rise in the Palestinian population.

Lamb said given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza strip in particular, the American public—which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv’s measures in the last 25 years—may ‘not take it anymore’.

Professor Juan Cole Did Schumer and Emanuel Sink Freeman?

My interpretation of Chas Freeman's withdrawal from appointment as the chairman of the National Intelligence Council is that it was provoked primarily by Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel. Schumer's call to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was probably the decisive event, though we don't know what Emanuel's reaction was.

That is, the original charge against Freeman was led by the spy for Israel, Steve Rosen, whose hiring by Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum/ Campus Watch is excellent evidence of what those operations really are. Rosen, when he was a head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Middle East bureau, handed over classified Pentagon documents to the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, which were given to him by the agent Larry Franklin, a high-level Pentagon employee who reported to Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz.

And...Schumer angered some of his constituents with his defense of the Israeli total war on Gaza's civilian population this winter, and you wonder if his isn't the last AIPAC generation in US politics. I like Schumer and loved the way he stood up to Bush, but he and other admirable people like Mike Bloomberg just have this moral black hole in their souls when it comes to supporting far rightwing Israeli policies (policies that they would unalterably oppose if pursued by the US government).

Freeman gave his own take on the whole affair to NPR. What happened to Freeman is further evidence for the resilience of the Israel lobbies and their enormous power in US politics. The Neoconservatives were roundly defeated on the budget, and even had to swallow George Mitchell as a special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But they still have the power to exclude a Washington Arabist such as Freeman even from an appointive position.

Interesting to note that the two AIPAC spies who bought information from former Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, who was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. Larry gave Rosen and his fellow AIPAC lobbyist friend Weissman info about a number of subjects, including American policy in Iran, terrorism in central Asia, Al Qaeda and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment in Saudi Arabia, which killed 23 Americans, mainly members of the military.(NYT, 01/06)

WaPo Bailout King AIG Still to Pay Millions In Bonuses

The issue came to a head when Geithner called Liddy and told him the payments were unacceptable and had to be renegotiated, said an administration official who was not authorized to comment on the Geithner conversation.

In a letter to Geithner yesterday, Liddy agreed to restructure some of the payments. But Liddy said he had "grave concerns" about the impact on the firm's ability to retain talented staff "if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury."

Lawyers at both the Treasury Department and AIG have concluded that the firm would risk a lawsuit if it scrapped the retention payments at the AIG Financial Products subsidiary, whose troublesome derivative trading nearly sank AIG. The company promised before the government started bailing out the firm in September that employees would be awarded more than $400 million in retention pay this year and next.

"I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them," Liddy wrote.

Prissy finds it distasteful and wasteful AIG is still in business. Not happy, once again, with President Obama's pick of Geithner. "No guts Geithner" (while kinda cute) couldn't put the hammer down on these guys if the country's life depended upon it...and the CEO's with their hands out should tell him to put those hands back into their own pockets. No bailouts for bonuses. That is about as ethical as jacking up the credit cards for glorious trips abroad and then declaring bankruptcy.

Yahoo News Barbara Bush leaves hospital after heart surgery

"Nobody ever had better medical treatment than I did this past week and a half," she added.

And she does mean nobody... Allow Prissy to point out it was taxpayer funded healthcare who picked up the tab on ole Babs.

MSNBC The Mess George Bush Left Behind (with complicity of the GOP, Congress and Corporate owned media)MSNBC calling it Obama's "new strategy", Prissy calling it "the truth of the matter."

Over the past month, Obama has reminded the public at every turn that he is facing problems "inherited" from the Bush administration, using increasingly bracing language to describe the challenges his administration is up against. The "deepening economic crisis" that the president described six days after taking office became "a big mess" in remarks this month to graduating police cadets in Columbus, Ohio. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

"By any measure," he said during a March 4 event calling for government-contracting reform, "my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster."

Obama's more frequent and acid reminders that former president George W. Bush left behind a trillion-dollar budget deficit, a 14-month recession and a broken financial system have come at the same time Republicans have ramped up criticism that the current president's policies are compounding the nation's economic problems.

Bush is accustomed to having minorities and/or women cleaning up after him...

CNN = Certainly NOT News Commentary: Why bin Laden is speaking out CNN Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst and a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington and at New York University's Center on Law and Security. His most recent book is "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The new 22-minute tape posted Wednesday on a radical Islamist Web site is the first one from Osama bin Laden in nine months. On it, the al Qaeda leader urges Muslims to wage jihad against Israel because of its offensive in Gaza.

U.S. counter-terrorism officials had been expecting that bin Laden would release a tape before the 2008 presidential election just as he had done four years earlier.

On October 29, 2004, he released a videotaped address to the American people in which he said that it was irrelevant whether Americans elected Sen. John Kerry or George W. Bush as president. The key issue, as far as he was concerned, was that the United States needed to change its policies in the Muslim world.

Bin Laden, however, made no comments during the 2008 campaign season, and his recent silence has been puzzling.

However, Peter Bergen using the latest "news" for his Osama book isn't so puzzling...

BBC, you know they are a true ally, just don't ask to whom they are true... 'Bin Laden urges war on Israel' Note key word in bold by PP.

A new audio message purported to be from Osama Bin Laden has urged Muslims to launch a holy war to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The message also said Israel's assault was a desperate attempt to benefit from the last days of President George Bush.

It also accused Arab leaders of colluding with the Jewish state.

The US has dismissed the tape, saying it shows the al-Qaeda leader's isolation, and looks like an attempt to raise money.

And why you should "dismiss" the tape and laugh yourselves silly over his next purported news release...

Flashback from WaPo Feb. 1, 1999 When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing

"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.

At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.

But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

By taking just a 10-minute digital recording of Steiner's voice, scientist George Papcun is able, in near real time, to clone speech patterns and develop an accurate facsimile. Steiner was so impressed, he asked for a copy of the tape

Online Journal Who’s behind Madoff? by Wayne Madsen

As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had cut a deal with $50 billion Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff whereby Madoff will neither admit nor deny fraud claims against him in a suit brought by the SEC. In return Madoff has agreed to pay civil fines and penalties levied by the SEC. The agreement has no bearing on Madoff’s criminal trial.

WMR has learned that in addition to 20 million documents stored by Madoff in a warehouse in Queens that were stored without any indexing system and merely placed in boxes and strewn around the floor are millions of additional documents that were stored by Madoff in a Brooklyn warehouse that was partially flooded. A number of the Madoff documents there were destroyed by water damage.

WMR has also learned that a key element in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was Madoff Energy LLC, formed as a Delaware corporation in February 2007. Other Madoff firms in the energy arena were Madoff Energy Holdings LLC, Madoff Energy III LLC, and Madoff Energy IV LLC. There are links between these now-defunct Madoff energy entities and Texas oil and natural gas industry interests, some close to the Bushes and Dick Cheney.

WMR has also learned that the kid glove treatment given by federal authorities to Madoff, including allowing him to remain in his Upper East Side luxury town home, is because Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was part of a much larger operation, one involving top officials of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, as well as the notorious Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Top official of the Obama administration? Gee, wonder who that could be... Don't let this guy become your KKKarl Rove, Mr. President

From The Public Record, Jason Leopold- a great site DOJ Watchdog Probed Yoo/Bybee Rendition Memo; Report May Criticize Opinion

This memo is one of several that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has scrutinized in a four-year-old investigation into the legal work of Yoo and Bybee, according to legal sources at the DOJ who have seen a still classified report on the work of the OLC. It's unknown what conclusions OPR reached as the draft report has gone through changes since it was completed late last year.

The memo, prepared for then Department of Defense General Counsel William Haynes, was the product of several high-level meetings that took place over the course of several weeks that Yoo and Bybee participated in along with senior Bush administration officials.

The legal opinion was not, legal sources said, the result of a question "asked and answered" but rather the result of Bybee and Yoo acting as advocates for administration policy and providing the legal framework so the White House could carry out its plans.

OPR has probed whether Yoo and Bybee deliberately signed off on the March 13, 2002 memo and purposely misinterpreted long-standing case law simply to give the administration legal cover for extraordinary renditions undertaken before a legal memorandum authorizing the policy was drafted.

More on those released memo's from A Time for Change Bush Memos Released By DOJ Are Outrageous Affront to Constitution

The release of 9 memos written by members of the Bush administration have unleashed a firestorm of criticism because as bad as people expected these memos to be, no one expected that the administration would try to sweep away the Constitution in favor of martial law. According to the New York Times, these memos mean that: * the president could use the nation’s military within the United States to combat terrorism suspects and to conduct raids without obtaining search warrants * he president could unilaterally abrogate foreign treaties, ignore any guidance from Congress in dealing with detainees suspected of terrorism, and conduct a program of domestic eavesdropping without warrants * the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars the military from domestic law enforcement operations, would pose no obstacle to the use of troops in a domestic fight against terrorism suspects * The memorandum discussed the use of military forces to carry out “raids on terrorist cells” and even seize property of US citizens * any objections based on the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches are swept away * “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.” It added that “the current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically.” * judicial precedents approving deadly force in self-defense could be extended to allow for eavesdropping without warrants * Other memorandums said Congress had no right to intervene in the president’s determination of the treatment of detainees, a proposition that has since been invalidated by the Supreme Court.

Justice League Blogspot. Thank you to Bil for explaining the who, what and why on this subject. The Continuation of Obama Administration Addressing the Disposition of Detainees at Gitmo

On March 8, 2006, Karpinski gave an interview to Dateline on the Australian SBS network. When asked who was ultimately responsible for the actions of torture and humiliation depicted in the photographs, Karpinski stated: "you have to go back to the memorandum that was authored by our now-Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzalez, and John Yoo, from out in California, who was with the current administration at the time, and they did a memorandum, authorizing departures from the Geneva Convention."

"The memorandum, which was certainly discussed at length with the Secretary of Defense and the Vice-President, according to sworn statements by people who were there when those conversations took place, that authorized the initial departure [from the Geneva Convention]. And yes, there was a memorandum that was posted at Abu Ghraib prison, that I only became aware of, after I heard of this ongoing investigation out at Abu Ghraib, and it was signed by the Secretary of Defense." "...the signature on the memorandum was over the signature block of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and the ink that was used to sign appeared to be the same ink used for this handwritten note in the margin, "make sure this happens", and it was a list of interrogation techniques that were approved, so he obviously had knowledge of those [interrogation] techniques."

Bottom line: Obama Administration and DOJ have lot to piece together every secret memos and legal opinions on authorization of torture to decipher which detainee was a terrorist and who wasn't. As you can see, Bush authorized the detainees to be torture as the President of the United States but there were many more co-conspirators who were given power to torture the detainees. In order to remove the cancer in this issue and on-going investigation, Obama has to hold each individuals given authority to torture detainees accountable.

Quotes of the Day

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~ Unknown

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Headline of New York Herald Tribune, October 27, 1929 Brokers Believe Worst Is Over and Recommend Buying of Real Bargains

Headlines two days later...October 29, 1929 - Stock Market Crashes!

For Tim Geithner: An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.~ Friedrich Engels

(h/t to WMR) Paraphrasing Denis Diderot: Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last banker. (Banker was originally "priest.")

Dubya and Dick Play Whack Iraq

Hot Links

Cincinnati Enquirer FINALLY THIS IS FRONT PAGE 2004 ballots not preserved Result of presidential vote cannot be verified

In a federal civil rights lawsuit, six groups representing mostly African-American, elderly, college-age and homeless voters alleged elections officials allowed fraudulent votes to be cast for Bush, double-counted some absentee ballots, suppressed votes that likely would have been for U.S. Sen. John Kerry and failed to conduct a proper recount. They insist they've identified enough cumulative problems to reverse the outcome of the presidential race, and possibly the race for Ohio Supreme Court chief justice.

Clifford O. Arnebeck Jr., their Columbus attorney, began to learn of the widespread missing ballots last month, and held a news conference last week.

Federal law requires all ballots to be preserved for 22 months after a election. That would have been until Sept. 2, 2006. So that month, acting on a request from the groups, U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley issued the order to keep all ballots, used and unused, until Aug. 10, 2007.

Marbley did not return a call for comment Friday, but a court spokeswoman said a lawsuit seeking to preserve the ballots remains active. It's unclear what penalty, if any, county boards of election could face for violating Marbley's order. Arnebeck has asked Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat, to pursue criminal action. Dann's press secretary, Jennifer Brindisi, said Friday they had no immediate comment on the case.

We are supposed to believe, because Bushites are known for telling the truth(snark) that Bush won Ohio and thus the presidency.

Get this, Dearest Readers: 56 of Ohio's 88 counties and their boards of elections "lost, shredded or dumped nearly 1.6 million ballots and election records." Federal law and Marbley's order, however, were ignored: Why did anyone listen to republicans when they screamed the Ohio 2004 vote went down with no funny stuff?

Bloomberg Romney, Winner in Iowa, `Misspoke' About Sons' Military Choice

Mitt Romney, who won the Iowa Republican straw poll yesterday, said he ``misspoke'' when he suggested that his sons' work on his presidential campaign was comparable to serving in the military in Iraq.

``I misspoke,'' the former Massachusetts governor said today on ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``It's not service to the country, it's service for me, and there's just no comparison there.''

At an event in Iowa last week, Romney was asked why his adult sons hadn't enlisted in the military and responded by saying: ``One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president,'' according to the Associated Press.

Romney said today that he ``didn't mean in any way to compare service in the country with my boys in any way. Service in this country is an extraordinary sacrifice being made by individuals and their families.

Romney didn't misspeak...he and his boys believe they are too good to fight, sweat and die for their country. The ones like them must stay around to enjoy the sacrifices of others...AKA as cowards and punks who won't put their actions behind their words. "Republicans support the troops" Good one, as Ron Paul is the only Prissy has seen willing to support the troops. Democrats don't support the troops either, see below:

NYT Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years

Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years.

Boy those democrats are getting just as good as republicans in making enemies of We the People. No wonder so many Americans are leaving for Canada in droves. Its beautiful too. Thanks to regular reader Randall for the picture, taken near his Canadian home.

Wide open skies of Canada, thanks to reader RHK! (Click to enlarge)

Utube Bush asked about his prior knowledge of 911

Chicago Suburban News All signs point to impressive meteor shower Sunday night

Whether you're an amateur astronomer, world-renowned astrophysist or average Joe, spotting a falling star at night is almost always cause for excitement.

Barring cloudy weather, people in most of North America might get a chance to see dozens of meteors, including some very bright ones, this weekend.

According to sky watchers at NASA, this year's Perseid meteor shower, which will peak Sunday night and Monday morning, will be something to see.

"It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The moon is new on Aug. 12th - which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors."

AP Italy Probe Unearths Huge Iraq Arms Deal

As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered.

For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command - a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases.

Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear.

The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset of civil war.

WaPo, Prissy has a love/hate with this paper. Dan Froomkin makes it loveable. Who's Afraid of George W. Bush?

Olivier Knox of AFP catches Bush in a misstatement: "US President George W. Bush charged Monday that Iran has openly declared that it seeks nuclear weapons -- an inaccurate accusation at a time of sharp tensions between Washington and Tehran.

"'It's up to Iran to prove to the world that they're a stabilizing force as opposed to a destabilizing force. After all, this is a government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon,' he said during a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But Iran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program, which is widely believed in the West to be cover for an effort to develop atomic weapons, is for civilian purposes."

So did the White House retract the statement once reporters inquired about it? No.

Flashback 321 Gold David Chapman Jun 26, 2003. He's like, a fortune teller...Looming mortgage crisis!

So with the potential for a serious waning in housing prices supported by recent surveys that show that house and car sales, two key economic drivers are slowing, the potential for a bigger problem is looming if house prices actually began to fall. Recent statistics showed that foreclosure rates hit a record 1.2% in the first quarter while the delinquency rate remained stable at 4.5%. Clearly if the economy slips further despite the liquidity efforts of the Federal Reserve these numbers could deteriorate further.

With the investigations into Freddie Mac and now Fannie Mae some have dared to say that they could become a crisis comparable to the Long Term Capital Management collapse of 1998. This would be far worse. But clearly Freddie and Fannie along with Easy Al have gone a long way in generating the biggest housing bubble in history. An implosion here would not only completely shatter the US housing market but it would have far reaching ramifications on the world's financial system. Clearly there are those who do not agree with this potential scenario but if there is smoke there is usually fire and it may not be easily contained if other financial problems arose or the proverbial financial accident happened.

The situation in Canada is not that much different although Canadians do not have a Freddie or Fannie and unlike the US there are penalties for early redemption of a mortgage. Still Canadians have borrowed an extra $12 billion by refinancing mortgages and a further $10 billion in expanded lines of credit according to a CIBC World Markets report. And as in the US the money has largely gone into supporting consumer spending. This is a game that can clearly only survive if the housing market maintains firmness in prices. Signs are beginning to show, however, that the top may be behind us as sales are beginning to fall.

Financial stocks are key to the health of the major indices. If the financial stocks are in trouble the indices are in trouble and so to is the economy. Since the lows seen in October 2002 and again in March 2003 the financial stocks have led the market up. The troubles that have surfaced with both Freddie and Fannie have seen their stocks take respective drops from highs of 11% and 14% to June 25. But the charts of Freddie and Fannie do not generate a lot of confidence, as they are both clearly in a massive multi-year rollover patterns. Both have fallen under their respective 40-week moving averages. These massive rollover patterns always end poorly so investors would be wise to heed them. And usually it means that they eventually break down out of the more gently sloping down pattern for an inevitable crash.

Hat tip to Randy Kent officer tickets man for 'Impeach Bush' sign

Kent - A soft-spoken teacher posted the words "Impeach Bush" in a public garden, and Kent police cast him as an outlaw.

Today Kevin Egler is fighting that in Kent Municipal Court, and the case is emerging as a free-speech issue of interest well beyond the boundaries of placid Portage County.

Police ticketed Egler for unlawfully advertising in a public place because he put up a free-standing sign near the intersection of Haymarket Parkway and Willow and Main streets

Yes that's right, and when Prissy's friend and big city attorney Bob Fitrakis showed up to assist, the charges were dropped.

MSNBC How does Fed ‘inject’ money into the system?

In the case of last Friday’s "injection" the Fed did something a little unusual. Ordinarily the bonds it offers to buy or sell are good old U.S. Treasuries; the Fed has lots of them lying around. But because the current breakdown in the credit markets is caused by bonds backed by subprime mortgages, those are the bonds the Fed specifically went shopping for (some $38 billion worth, to be exact).

Until the Fed stepped in, there were virtually no buyers for these things, because investors have all but given up trying to figure out what — if anything — they’re worth. Until it's clear how many more mortgage holders are going to default on their loans, it hard to know where things will shake out. But, based on recent sales, it turns out these bonds may be worth as little as a third of what they were supposed to be worth.

The Fed may have put out the fire for now. But the larger worry is that the banks, investment funds and hedge funds that are holding billions more of these bonds may now have to book those losses. And since the hedge funds holding these bonds are not regulated by the Fed, it’s anyone’s guess just who is holding them and how much damage was done by the collapse in their value.

Some holders, including Bear Stearns and the French bank Paribas, have already let Wall Street have the bad news. But there are almost certainly more shoes to drop before the current credit crunch runs its course.

The Market Oracle US Dollar Warning - This is going to dramatically affect you ..

This won't happen overnight. In fact, there are bound to be rallies in the dollar. For example, we saw the greenback bounce a bit yesterday after it plunged on Tuesday. But over the next two or three years, I expect the dollar to lose at least another 20% in value … perhaps as much as 40%.

For investors who fail to prepare, it will be a disaster. For those who do, it will be a bonanza. Here are some things you absolutely need to understand …

A. The U.S. Federal Government is broke. It's at least $9 trillion in debt. And once you count all the contingent liabilities of the U.S. government — such as Social Security, Medicare, government pensions, etc. — the debt soars to more than $55 trillion .

There is no way Washington can ever pay those debts, or even a fraction of them, without substantially weakening the medium of exchange underlying those debts — the greenback.

blogs at the Guardian Pilger on the press, propaganda and censorship

A lecture by John Pilger, in which he discusses propaganda, the press, censorship and "resisting the American empire", is available in both written and audio form. A taster: "Liberal democracy is moving toward a form of corporate dictatorship. This is an historic shift, and the media must not be allowed to be its façade, but itself made into a popular, burning issue, and subjected to direct action... Tom Paine warned that if the majority of the people were denied the truth and the ideas of truth, it was time to storm what he called the Bastille of words. That time is now.

"

DerSpiegel America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser

The steady influx of the adventurous and hard-working -- which helped increase the country's labor force by about 44 million people since 1980 alone and continues today -- ensures a constant replenishment of daring. After all, it's not just the additional people that make the difference. The mere addition of 17 million people into Germany following reunification in 1990 - newcomers more concerned with preserving their guaranteed rights than with making the extraordinary effort necessary for success - did nothing to foster the kind of daring you see in the United States. Indeed, the result was exactly the opposite, and it has been a painful lesson for Germany.

Second, the United States is radically global. Its very origins -- in the rebellious citizens from every country in the world who assembled on the territory that is now the United States -- mark its people as true children of the world. Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt calls the founding fathers of the United States a "vital elite," one that continues to pass down its genes to this very day. Their language is dominant, having marginalized Spanish and French during the second half of the past century. Their everyday culture -- from the T-shirt and rock 'n' roll to e-mail -- has peacefully colonized half the world. And from the very beginning, US corporations were eager to venture abroad in order to trade and set up production sites in other countries. Multinational corporations may not have been a US invention, but they became its specialty.

Third, the United States is the only nation on earth that can do business globally in its own currency. Indeed, the dollar has established itself as the world's currency. Whoever wants to own it has to purchase it in the United States. All important decisions about the quantity of cash that circulates or the setting of interest rates are made within the nation's borders, which guarantees a maximum degree of national independence. It's American blood that flows through the veins of the global economy. Almost half of all business deals are closed using dollars as the currency, and two-thirds of all currency reserves are held in dollars. Charles de Gaulle, who was president of France after World War II, admired this "exorbitant privilege" even then.

The trial of strength-But there is a flip side to the coin. First, Americans are so optimistic that they often blur the line between optimism and naivete. Public, private and corporate debt far exceeds any previously known dimensions. Forever piously trusting in a future rosier than the present, millions of households are borrowing so much money that they end up endangering the very future they're looking forward to. The lower and middle classes have practically given up on putting aside any savings. They're going into the 21st century like a poverty-stricken, Third World family, living from hand to mouth without any financial reserves whatsoever.

New Scientist UK biosecurity lapse is "tip of iceberg"

We now know that a research lab was to blame for the latest outbreak of foot and mouth in the UK. But the escape of a biological agent from a supposedly secure facility is nothing new, say experts. Worse, similar incidents are more likely in the future.

“Lab accidents happen more frequently than the public knows,” says Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project in Austin, Texas, a non-profit organisation that monitors the use of biological agents.

“They are not always as spectacular as the one in the UK, but I believe, based on years of looking into this, that there’s a real culture of denial about the scale of the problem,” says Hammond, who recently used the US Freedom of Information Act to confirm and expose an undeclared incident at Texas A&M University in College Station. US rethink

Hammond says the UK outbreak, discovered in a cow on 3 August, may even cause a rethink in the US about the wisdom of building a huge new high-containment facility to study the most harmful animal diseases, including foot and mouth.

Google with no tracking system googlonymous

Telegraph Overstretched US cuts aid to Israel

America has been forced to withhold funding from its key ally in the Middle East amid the strain of paying for its expensive military campaign in Iraq.

Washington had promised Israel a substantial increase in its financial support to bolster it against Iran.

But US officials decided to amend their pledge because of escalating costs, including the need to spend $750 million (£375 million) to fly thousands of armoured troop carriers to Iraq to protect troops against Iranian-made roadside bombs.

The Pentagon has come under intense pressure to speed up deployment of the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP), which boasts a V-shaped hull and a raised chassis and is proven to withstand a range of explosive projectiles common in Iraq.

As usual, Bush has offered no real proof these IED's are made anyplace except a garage in Iraq.

Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire In this interview from April 15th, 1994, Dick Cheney reveals the reasons why invading Baghdad and toppling Saddam Hussein wouldn't be a great idea. He also stipulates that "not very many" American soldiers' lives were worth losing to take out Saddam during the Gulf War.

Crimes and Corruption Speechless in Chicago

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has canceled a September speech on U.S.-Israel relations and Washington’s pro-Israel lobby by two prominent U.S. political scientists.

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt were scheduled to use the Sept. 27 address to outline their upcoming book, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” which is expected to be released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux early next month. But the president of the Chicago Council, Marshall Bouton, canceled the event under pressure from critics who were uncomfortable with the academics’ arguments, according to a letter drafted by Mearsheimer and Walt to the Council’s board.

These opponents of the event argued that the two political scientists could only address the Chicago Council if someone from the opposing side, “such as Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, concurrently appeared on stage with the authors.

“One might argue that our views are too controversial to be presented on their own,” Mearsheimer and Walt wrote. “However, they are seen as controversial only because some of the groups and individuals that we criticized in our original article have misrepresented what we said.”

Quotes of the Day

This, Dearest politicians, shows the level of anger in the populace! Shame on them for ignoring the will of the people. Some have apparently reached their limits... "A 50 CENT INVESTMENT WILL GIVE THEM TERM LIMITS THAT WILL BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE NEXT “OFFICIAL”--OLD SCRATCH, Dissident Voice poster

Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

“Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?”--Abraham Lincoln

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”--Patrick Henry

“An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.”--Confucius

Scooting Out of Prison Time

The judicial system should not take this too personally. Dubya flips off everyone, then waves the flag in their face. Then he laughs about it like the Riddler in Batman.

Dubya, Dubya, Dubya...What can we say at this point, Dearest Readers. Not only does Dubya lack good manners, he has now gone on to perform one of the more tasteless acts he could be responsible for in American history, considering Scooters role in the war on Iraq.

Dubya just commuted the lawful (and standard) sentence imposed by Judge Reggie Walton, a Bush appointee! Let us not forget special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was also a Bush appointee. At the same time, Gonzo and Bush are yelling for stronger federal sentencing standards. Just not for their fall guys...

Can you imagine what a slap in the face that must have been for some of the nation’s most respected legal scholars, the ones on the bench and practitioners of the courtroom. The lawyers involved were some of the best in the country, even if Prissy did make fun of Scooter's team...

Here in OH-HI-O, it was just another crack of the Massah Boosh's whip. He let us know a long time ago that he is going to be the decider of whomever. And that he (and KKKarl) will chose to decide their fate.

Prissy is amazed to see those who thought the power of the law was on our side assume such this powerful government-gang of neocon mob rule, would succumb willingly to the rule of law.

Dubya blew off long held standards of Federal sentencing guidelines. He did this to America as a whole as most were against pardon or commutation. 70% of Ohioans were outraged at the commutation.

Running numbers like this, will the GOP attempt to steal yet another election? They should not, as they well know, it is very difficult to steal a landslide.

Prissy promises you citizens of all political stripes these days are very concerned about this and they will be watching the elections process carefully.

Watch out Canada, who knows what is next. These guys are loose cannons...Let's hope Ms Palfrey can help them along in the struggle to be righteous to the nation.

The violence George Bush and friends have stunned us all with knows no bounds. You see, they are so dangerous because they have no boundaries. They never have and in their minds, they never will. Now do you understand?

What can you do? Well, like it or not we all will have to get out in the street as well as hold town hall meetings and demand representatives attend. Send them an invitation, if they fail to come-mark their spot so media can note that. No rest for them, they are failing this country remarkable in its depth of tragedy. America, we must put a stop to this and use every avenue it takes to make them either represent us, or leave office.

Replace these old fools with someone qualified for the job, for there can be no question in the mind of anyone aware of this situation that malfeasance runs wild and untamed. David Shuster* slams Bush and Tucker explained the situation very well. He appears a bit angry since like the rest of us, understands what really went on. And we want justice. It is as American as the 4th of July.

Hot Links

Midnight Special Update: Prissy heard from Ms Palfrey and she has instructed her attorney to send us the phone lists. Looking forward to working on that, Dearest Readers. You will be the first to know.

An illegal war, potential 911 negligence at best, Gonzo's DOJ won't take them down. But a sex scandal? And away they go...Jeane Palfrey at a recent press conference with her lawyers. Thanks to Suzie-Q for the picture

Transcript of the last part of our Jeane Palfrey interview:

Ms Palfrey: "Can you imagine scandal after scandal after scandal coming out every week, every two weeks, this one, that one? It will collapse the administration. That’s why the injunction is not being lifted. There is no reason for Judge Kessler at this point in time, in my opinion, to be continuing this injunction. The ban should be lifted and I should be free to release those records en masse at this moment.

But because of the fact that once these records are released en masse to a multitude of responsible investigators and journalists, be they independents or mainstream, the truth will be gotten to. And in those records there are probably twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred, possibly more Randall Tobiases, Dick Morrises, Harlan Ullman -- and yes, the name Dick Cheney has been touted on more than one occasion. In those records. Can you imagine? It will be Watergate times all those people.

And look what Judge Kessler said. She isn't fooled about what is going on here. Judge Walton was threatened for following long held conservative legal standards of justice. That is a tragedy, obviously done by republicans, who so vehemently went into attack mode on behalf of Scooter.

Judge Kessler wrote: At oral argument, the Government was asked whether the List contained the telephone numbers of unindicted co-conspirators. After a significant silence, Government counsel agreed that the answer to the courts question was “yes.” One cannot help wondering why the government has exhibited such a strong interest in protecting a list containing the telephone numbers of unindicted co conspirators, i.e. the women who the Government alleges provided the illegal sexual services and the men who the Government alleges sought and obtained such illegal sexual services.

Yes, "Government" was indeed interested in keeping it locked up, without really wanting to explain why.

Government in this case is Jeffery Taylor. He is the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Hmm...about Taylor:

Gonzales appointed Taylor, and because normally the Senate has to allow in an approval process, they vett them. Taylor was appointed under a little section that the GOP of the 109th Congress slipped into the renewal of the Patriot Act, the AG can appoint US Attorneys into vacant-slots indefinitely (Senate cannot even remove them). The other person was Tim Griffin, the caging-lists guy in Arkansas. It was passed in the renewal in March of 2006.

Apparently, the ones they pick do law Gonzo's way. Most likely why he picked them, you saw what happened to honest republican U.S. Attorneys. Out they went, more about that later too.

Prissy thinks if republicans cannot police themselves, they should be disbanded similar to a fraternity gone bad.

Republicans like Ron Paul shouldn't be afraid to call themselves a Libertarian candidate. They should feel odd wanting to call themselves republicans considering the list of damages done to America under their reign.

Not that the enabling dems should get off lightly either. Prissy hears the dems have a hot new plan for success. We shall see...please tell Prissy it isn't a dems version of "Project for a New American Century."

**Prissy could not place Shuster at the time, but later realized it was he, during both times spent at the Scooter Libby trial. Apparently, he was paying close attention. Everyone else in the courtroom was too. And we all knew it was about being lied into the war. Scooter's lies helped people die, since Dick and Dubya's lies did make people die.

Scooter never had to lift a finger, it was just a little paperwork, chitchat and his job was done. Easy chitchat, which endangered a CIA spy, her family and her contacts spanning a 20-year career of distinguished service to her country. That was Scooter's noteworthy contribution to America.

The right wing leaning Columbus Dispatch is also the only major daily newspaper in town. Ironically known its uncanny polling ability to just about "name it" days before an election, even if the owners do not like the results-much to their credit. Commutation gets condemnation In Central Ohio (considered a bellwether state by political gurus)

The unfavorable view of Bush's action was backed up by 70 percent of the more than 240 respondents to the Hot Issue feature on Dispatch.com as of yesterday afternoon.

The minority of supporters often cited Clinton's grand jury perjury or his commutations.

The tired "Clinton did it!” get a new line. Prissy is tired of the Clinton's too, though she would have dinner with Bubba-but who would not? He is so charming, his wife kept him despite the very public philandering. Prissy has not met a man who was that charming, not yet.

CNN Flashback from 1999 Sen. Voinvich's closed-door impeachment statement

The very foundation of this nation is the rule of law not of men. The framers of our Constitution specifically provided Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution which states, "The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

And...One who has committed high Crimes and Misdemeanors disqualifies himself from serving as President, Commander-in-Chief, and chief law enforcement officer. The President also represents much more than these titles and responsibilities. He is a symbol of the greatness of the American people. Presidential scholar Clinton Rossiter observed that the president of the United States is "the one-man distillation of the American people." And, President William Howard Taft described the president as "the personal embodiment and representative of their dignity and majesty."

By virtue of his own conduct, William Jefferson Clinton has forfeited his elected right to hold the office of president. I sincerely believe that this country can survive the removal of a popular president who has forfeited public trust. But, our country cannot survive the abandonment of trust itself.

Substitute "George Bush & Dick Cheney" for Bill Clinton, it works just as well, if not better. Prissy will certainly remind the Senator of his prior judgment and expect him to vote accordingly.

Senator Voinovich was smart in having no comment on the Libby commutation. Being a former prosecutor himself (and Prissy reminds him of this regularly) he should certainly know better than to support such nonsense for a criminal like Scooter.

NY Sun more trouble for Scooter by defense lawyers citing his case for their own clients. Ironic it will aid someone he calls an enemy. Libby Case May Aid Hamas Suspect

"There is so much good fodder in the president's statement," a law professor who specializes in sentencing issues, Douglas Berman of Ohio State University, said. "I think any very good defense attorney could and should look for ways to use the statement aggressively." The professor cautioned, however, that judges were still obligated to follow existing precedents.

The issue of enhancing a defendant's punishment on account of acquitted or uncharged conduct has been raised in several recent Supreme Court decisions but not definitively resolved. In an opinion just last month, Justice Scalia said the current sentencing system suffers from a "patent constitutional flaw" in part because of the continuing role "judge-found facts" play in determining a sentence's constitutionality.

The Libby commutation is also expected to be raised when Salah's co-defendant, Ashqar, is sentenced in a few months. "If you consider the Ashqar case under what the president has said, there certainly seem to be a lot of reasons for leniency," Ashqar's attorney, William Moffitt, said yesterday. "I think you'll probably hear a lot about Mr. Libby and President Bush."

KOS from a military mom in Cleveland. ENOUGH

My son chose to be a soldier, but dammit, I'm going to be putting all the energy I can muster into persuading him NOT to remain in the Army when he has to make that decision in a few months. Because I'm sick of the majority of the people in this country sitting on their thumbs while our military is misused, abused, and destroyed by the wrecking crew that has hijacked our government. Slapping a yellow magnetic ribbon on cars is NOT "supporting the troops." Supporting the troops is demanding that they be utilized in a manner consistent with the US Constitution and international law, and common decency. They're not a bunch of little plastic green guys. And if the people of this country can't find it in themselves to stand up and say ENOUGH already, then this country is not one that is worth fighting and dying for. Sorry, General, I think we're going down, and people won't know it until it's gone, unless somebody takes them by the lapels and shakes them hard. And while the American people remain in this stupor, I've decided they're not getting my son, if there's anything I can do about it. They don't deserve him.

Guardian Russia issues new missile defence threat

The Kremlin's latest warning comes after two days of meetings between Mr Putin and George Bush at the US president's seaside family retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine. Ahead of the talks the Pentagon had incensed Mr Putin by announcing plans to place elements of its missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr Putin has derided US claims that the system is aimed at dealing with rogue missiles fired by Iran and North Korea, saying it is actually aimed at Russia.

Last month Mr Putin suggested the US scrap its existing plans and instead share a Soviet-era radar station in Azerbaijan. During talks this week he went further - offering to work with the US administration over missile defence within the framework of the Nato-Russia Council, and promising use of another early-warning system in southern Russia.

Mr Bush's answer, however, was decidedly lukewarm. Although the president praised Mr Putin's offer as "innovative and strategic", he made it clear that Washington was likely to go ahead anyway with its missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. "As I told Vladimir, I think that the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of the system," Mr Bush said.

Most experts now believe that Russia will take active military countermeasures. They include targeting the US's new defence bases in central Europe with Iskandar missiles based in Kaliningrad. Russia will also upgrade its nuclear missile arsenal, put more missiles on mobile launchers and move its fleet of nuclear submarines to the north pole, experts predict.

Good job again, Dubya. Always choosing confrontation over cooperation with the menfolk. He runs from confrontations with women (think Cindy Sheehan). Prissy blames his mother...

Haaretz Olmert to ask AG Mazuz to close pullout protesters' criminal files

The subcommittee was told stories of youths who participated in protest activities, and were indicted over light offences such as "prohibited assembly," or "disturbing a police officer at work." The criminal records prevent the youths from serving in the Israel Defense Forces, and from finding work.

The example was given of a right-wing activist who was tried because he refused to show his identification card to a police officer.

Many of the indicted are the children of evacuated families, whose parents are unemployed and have not managed to readjust socially and economically to life after the pullout.

With 50% of Israeli youth finding a way out of doing the mandatory IDF service, they need all the help they can get.

Sydney Morning Herald Iraq like historic US war, says Bush

He was adamant he would stand up to calls to end the Iraq war before it was won. When Congress returns next week, Democrats plan to renew their campaign to bring troops home.

"Withdrawing our troops prematurely based on politics, not on the advice and recommendation of our military commanders, would not be in our national interest," he said.

"It would hand the enemy a victory and put America's security at risk, and that's something we're not going to do."

Mr Bush delivered his speech to the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia National Guard, a unit that has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq - some for second and third deployments.

Dubya, all branches of the military despise you, but Prissy would have to say from her experience it is the Air National Guard that would get first place for that feeling...

Post to be updated later this evening.

Quotes of the Day

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.--Albert Einstein

You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.--Dwight D. Eisenhower

The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.--Faye Wattleton

Leaders shouldn't attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can't compromise.--Peter F. Drucker

Let's Stop Following the Misleader

Prissy always did have an attitude about following orders from people dumber than herself...

Dearest Readers, later today Prissy and Betty Buckaneer will be doing a pilot for our new radio show, The Progressive Revolution

Prissy will podcast as soon as the tech guys record it, later this evening or tomorrow, it should be posted. While it will be live today in Columbus, the new FM station doesn't have much range yet-but with the podcast online, that won't matter much.

To all the daddies out there today and to the men who are not bio daddies, yet put forth a good example, "Happy Father's Day!"

Hot Links

Financial Times BAE faces fresh congressional scrutiny

Congress is renewing its scrutiny of BAE Systems in the wake of allegations that the British defence company bribed a former Saudi ambas­sador to Washington to secure valuable defence contracts.

The department of justice is also considering whether it should open a full-blown inquiry into whether BAE has violated US anti-bribery laws in relation to its international arms deals.

That should be interesting...

Sure it will, from Reuters Top general says his Iraq report will be candid

The top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Sunday he will have a good idea in September how well the troop increase has worked and will be able to provide a forthright report to the policy makers in Washington.

"We can provide a reasonable snapshot of the situation at that time and how things have gone in the surge, both in the security and then in the political and economic arenas," Gen. David Petraeus said on "Fox News Sunday."

President George W. Bush has said Petraeus' September report would be important in deciding the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq, but some in his administration have started to play down its significance to relieve some of the anticipation among members of Congress.

General Sanchez actually does give "candid" reports, now that he is no longer on Dubya's payroll...

UK Times ‘Ostrich’ ruling by judge may tilt jury against Lord Black

“Here, the Government has introduced sufficient evidence to support an inference of deliberate avoidance,” the judge ruled at the trial in Chicago.

Her decision will make it harder for Lord Black to beat US charges that he looted $60 million (£30 million) in bogus “noncompete” payments and perks – including a $62,000 surprise birthday party for his wife Barbara Amiel and a trip for two on the corporate jet to Bora Bora – from the newspaper empire that he ran.

“I don’t think he is walking out of this without a few years,” said Leonard Cavise, a law professor at DePaul University.

Lord Black has loudly protested his innocence in the press, drawing a rebuke from the judge when he declared in one interview that the prosecutors’ case was “hanging like a toilet seat around their necks”. But the normally loquacious peer curtly declined a formal invitation from the judge to testify on his behalf as his lawyers put on an unexpectedly brief defence, lasting only a few days. The only words that he has spoken in court during the three-month trial are: “I decline to exercise my right to testify.”

Patrick Fitzgerald's Chicago office is also prosecuting m'lord -he's got problems on a global scale. This guy will get his goose cooked, much like Scooter. Rich guys are the worst bad guys, for sure.

What motivated the 9/11 hijackers? See testimony most didn't. Watch Lee Hamilton cut off the FBI agent giving him an answer he didn't like.

Page 147 of the 911 Commission Report: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) first came to the attention of U.S. law enforcement as a result of his cameo role in the first World Trade Center bombing. According to KSM, he learned of Ramzi Yousef 's intention to launch an attack inside the United States in 1991 or 1992, when Yousef was receiving explosives training in Afghanistan. During the fall of 1992, while Yousef was building the bomb he would use in that attack, KSM and Yousef had numerous telephone conversations during which Yousef discussed his progress and sought additional funding. On November 3, 1992, KSM wired $660 from Qatar to the bank account of Yousef 's co-conspirator, Mohammed Salameh. KSM does not appear to have contributed any more substantially to this operation.

Yousef 's instant notoriety as the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Cen- ter bombing inspired KSM to become involved in planning attacks against the United States. By his own account, KSM's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his vio- lent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.

He didn't say violent disagreement with American freedoms...

Wired Judge Orders FBI to Turn Over Thousands of Patriot Act Abuse Documents

The April request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation asked the FBI to turn over documents related to its misuse of National Security Letters, self-issued subpoenas that don't need a judge's approval and which can get financial, phone and internet records. Recipients of the letters are forbidden by law from ever telling anyone other than their lawyer that they received the request. Though initially warned initially to use this power sparingly, FBI agents issued more than 47,000 in 2005, more than half of which targeted Americans. Information obtained from the requests, which need only be certified by the agency to be "relevant" to an investigation, are dumped into a data-mining warehouse for perpetuity.

An Inspector General report in March found rampant errors in the small sample of NSLs examined and systemic underreporting of the powers usage to Congress. The report also found that agents issued more than 700 "expedited" letters, some containing materially false sworn statements. These letters had no legal basis and essentially asked companies to turn over data by pretending there was an emergency in order to get the data necessary to get a proper NSL. One former FBI agent says its clear the FBI violated the law.

Now the Justice Department must turn over 2,500 pages of documents a month to the EFF, including information on cozy surveillance contracts between the FBI and telephone companies and information on how data captured by NSLs were put into the FBI's massive data mining warehouse.

The Justice Department told the court that there were more than 100,000 potentially responsive documents and that ten people are working full time on filling the request for documents. Look out for a run on thick, black magic markers in D.C.

Oh yes indeed, we want to know it all...let the lawsuits begin!

Video of the Marine, loyal Bushies and the pentagon wish to make an example of. Interesting that cowards who ducked out of Vietnam are pushing for this...Sgt. Liam Madden-Justified Dissent

Patrick Fitzgerald who told Prissy his blog is a fake! Duh, Mr. Fitzgerald, Prissy's blog is a fake too. Public Service - Good Medicine

Since graduating from Amherst College 25 years ago, Patrick Fitzgerald ’82 has proved himself one of the nation’s best prosecutors, and one of its most remarkable citizens.

Think Progress Special Counsel Probe Into Rove’s Politicization Of Government Advances

The Office of Special Counsel, which has already recommended that GSA chief Lurita Doan be suspended or fired for participating in partisan activities while on the job, is now moving forward with its investigation of nearly 20 other administration agencies.

Eighteen agencies have been asked by the Office of Special Counsel to preserve electronic information dating back to January 2001 as part of its government wide investigation into alleged violations of the law that limits political activity in federal agencies.

The OSC task force investigating the claims has asked agencies, including the General Services Administration, to preserve all e-mail records, calendar information, phone logs and hard drives going back to the beginning of the Bush administration. The task force is headed by deputy OSC special counsel James Byrne.

The White House has admitted that roughly 20 agencies have received a PowerPoint briefing created by Karl Rove’s office “that included slides listing Democratic and Republican seats the White House viewed as vulnerable in 2008, a map of contested Senate seats and other information on 2008 election strategy.”

This is about Ms. Doan's deed as a "loyal Bushie."

Gov Exec Magazine GSA chief spars with House panel Democrats

Waxman said Doan cannot be an effective leader because she "has abused the trust of her employees, [and] threatened to deny [employees] promotions and bonuses for telling the truth." He also argued she has lost the public's confidence by politicizing GSA.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., on Tuesday said President Bush should fire or suspend Doan immediately. And in April, two Democratic senators called for her to resign in light of "multiple ethical lapses."

The head of the Office of Special Counsel, an independent investigative agency, said in a four-page letter delivered to President Bush late last week that Doan should be "be disciplined to the fullest extent" for violating the Hatch Act and for failing to cooperate fully and honestly with OSC's investigation into the violation.

OSC concluded that Doan violated the Hatch Act's prohibition against using her authority to interfere with or affect an election through her role in a Jan. 26 meeting at GSA headquarters. After a presentation by White House official Scott Jennings, Doan allegedly asked a question about helping Republican candidates, though accounts of her exact wording vary. Doan has maintained that she does not remember making such a comment and has argued that the OSC report is flawed and omits critical evidence.

Federal Times more about Doan 2005 e-mail shows Doan record of promises to assist GOP

Before her appointment to head the General Services Administration, Lurita Doan pledged to use a prospective position atop another agency to help the Republican Party. In a draft of a May 2005 e-mail to a Republican official pitching her credentials to head the Small Business Administration, Doan, who is black, wrote: “I believe that the part[y] has a unique opportunity to make about a 5 percent swing of black votes to the GOP. One of the largest concentrations of wealth and influence lies in the black business community of small black business owners who represent the participants in various SBA programs.”

The Office of the Special Counsel reported to President Bush on June 8 that Doan violated the Hatch Act at a January meeting of GSA political employees. At that meeting, a White House political aide gave a presentation on congressional races that Republicans planned to target in 2008. After the briefing, Doan, a Bush appointee, said something like, “How can we help our candidates,” according to multiple witnesses.

Doan has denied partisan bias and said she is not interested in politics or political polling. But Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said at a hearing today that the e-mail refuted those claims.

Was she a friend of Rover's too?

FreePress Radio US-IRAN: New War Rhetoric Undercuts Iraq Talks

WASHINGTON, Jun 12 (IPS) - U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman’s call for cross-border raids into Iran appears to be the culmination of a two-week long campaign by proponents of war to put the military option centre-stage in the U.S. debate over Iran once more.

The immediate effect of reigniting the let’s-bomb-Iran discussions is the undercutting of the recently initiated U.S.-Iran talks over Iraq, which in turn will cause the military confrontation with Iran to be viewed in a new light.

Senator Lieberman out-hawked the George W. Bush administration on the television news show "Face the Nation" this past Sunday by calling for "aggressive military action against the Iranians," including "a strike over the border into Iran." Repeating by now all but abandoned accusations by the Bush administration of Iranian complicity in the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the Connecticut senator’s comments caused a storm in the U.S. media Monday. Suddenly, the military option against Iran was once more at the centre of the U.S.’s Iran debate.

Chico Beat, sent by a military Dad. Happy Father's Day, Tim Kahlor, MFSO Orange County, CA. One of the best military dads Prissy has known in our efforts to end the war. A Letter to a Child Not Yet Born To be delivered in the year 2057, to an American soldier stationed at a base somewhere in Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability... the White House said on Wednesday. The United States has had thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea to guard against a North Korean invasion for 50 years.

Dear Pfc. ___________. Perhaps you are 18, maybe 19, born in 2038, or 2039, a child not yet born to a child not yet born. If the teaching of history is as bad in your time as it was in ours, you may not have heard of the man who is responsible for your presence in Iraq, so I will begin this letter-sent through space and across time-by telling you that you are where you are because an American president named George W. Bush told the American people that Iraq had stockpiled weapons that were an immediate threat to the security of the American homeland. This happened before you were born, of course, and before your parents were born, too, so it will perhaps surprise you to know that decisions made by a man so very long ago were instrumental in determining the course of your life.

It was that man, George W. Bush, who also told the nation that Iraq had been responsible for an attack on American soil that brought down two skyscrapers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, and knocked out a chunk of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. that same day. You probably read about these events when you were in middle school. They are as far removed from you in time as the Eisenhower administration was from your grandfather's time. (Eisenhower was an American president a hundred years remote from your own days.)

Anyway, because of that attack and our fear of those weapons, we launched an invasion of Iraq, a hi-tech pounding the military strategists called "shock and awe," designed to scare the bejesus out of the Iraqis and pave the way for our occupation of the place. We did not call it an "occupation," of course. We called it a "liberation," and we were told that the Iraqis would greet us accordingly.

Reuters-still suffering the effects of Vietnam. Oh but George Bush isn't...Mothers hope U.S.-Vietnam Agent Orange efforts help

"It is better to die immediately than to die this way," said Tu, who earns 2 million dong ($124) a month as a night-time cleaner at a school.

Phong, his back bent and his left arm shortened, stands up by leaning against the cot railing. He makes unintelligible noises and does not understand when he is spoken to, his parents said.

In 1975, the final year of the U.S. war in Vietnam, Phong's father Nhu Van Phuc spent time at two places now identified by scientists as "hot spots" for dioxin, a small compound within the "agent orange" herbicide that is one of the most toxic known.

The United States maintains there is no scientifically proven link between the wartime spraying and more than three million people Vietnam says are disabled by dioxin over three generations.

It should be pointed out no one in the Bush family is suffering the effects of any war, unless you include a dive in the polls...

The Local, Sweden's English newspaper Former DN Editor: 'This ruling damages freedom of expression'

Svante Nycander, former editor of Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, gives his view after local politician Dahn Pettersson is fined for hate speech. Pettersson claimed in a motion that 95 percent of all heroin that comes into Sweden comes via Kosovo.

"The ruling in Malmö District Court is damaging to freedom of expression. Many will take it as proof that the authorities are afraid of uncomfortable truths, and that lacking reasoned counter-arguments they punish those who speak plainly.

And..."This is the result of changes at various points in the clause on Agitation against a National or Ethnic Group. The ban has developed in such a way that it inhibits not only prejudiced statements, but also nearly all discussion of sensitive issues that interest a large proportion of the public. Such a law thwarts its own purpose.

Know of fraud, or where the money for Iraq went? Get it off your chest here.

FraudNET

The purpose of the Government Accountability Office's FraudNET is to facilitate the reporting of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of federal funds.

If you want to report such allegations, you may do so by filling out a FraudNET Form or by using one of these other methods: * Send allegations via e-mail to fraudnet@gao.gov * Send a fax to FraudNet at 202-512-3086 * Write to:

GAO FraudNET 441 G Street NW Washington, D.C. 20548

TPM Cafe A Letter to the RNC from former CIA Officers by Larry Johnson

As former intelligence officers -- most of us have served the United States in undercover positions -- we are saddened and appalled by the recent public comments of former Senator Fred Thompson, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Governor Mitt Romney -- one a potential candidate and the other two declared candidates for the Republican nomination for president -- with respect to the perjury and obstruction of justice conviction of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

These men misrepresent the case against Mr. Libby and call into question the integrity of a respected Federal Judge and U.S. attorney. Their positions with respect to the just and fair punishment meted out to Mr. Libby raise serious questions about their commitment to the rule of law free of partisan bias.

We are particularly concerned by the recent speech by Fred Thompson, who declared: As you may recall, for some inexplicable reason, the CIA sent the husband of one of its employees to Niger on a sensitive mission. She had suggested it. He came back to the U.S. and proceeded to publicly blast the administration. Naturally, everyone wanted to know "who is this guy?" and "why was he sent to Niger?" Just as naturally, the fact that he was married to Valerie Plame at the CIA was leaked.

Larry goes on to write "This is not an issue of Republican versus Democrat. The signatories of this letter include registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents."

Want a good laugh? Read what some of Scooter equally shallow friends wrote in support of their criminal friend. Birds of a feather, stick together?

E&P Why the 'L.A. Times' Called for Iraq Pullout by Greg Mitchell who finally gets it. What Greg, are your own little darlings getting uncomfortably close to draft age? Better late than never or 50 years from now, like Korea...

(June 13, 2007) -- “I see no moral reason to wait until fall,” Jim Newton, editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times told me earlier today. “We need to evaluate in real time. That’s part of the motivation for the editorial this week. Besides Gen. Petraeus, others have a right to assess the facts as well.”

Newton was referring to an editorial in his paper on Tuesday calling for peace talks and a ceasefire in Iraq. It’s the kind of talk we heard often in relation to Vietnam and later conflicts but oddly missing in regard to Iraq. But the Times is taking all sorts of bold stands on the war these days. Six weeks ago the paper advocated – hold on to your hats – that the U.S. actually start to disengage in Iraq.

That editorial was titled simply, if eloquently, “Bring Them Home.

PBS Utube clip A must watch! BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Listening to History

Bill Moyers reflects on a conversation between Lyndon Johnson and his National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy that took place in 1964.

Bill Moyers blog Begging His Pardon

The line that should shame Libby forever...

One beltway insider reports that the entire community is grieving—“weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness” of Libby's sentence.

And there’s the rub.

None seem the least weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness of sentencing soldiers to repeated and longer tours of duty in a war induced by deception. It was left to the hawkish academic Fouad Ajami to state the matter baldly. In a piece published on the editorial page of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Ajami pleaded with Bush to pardon Libby. For believing “in the nobility of this war,” wrote Ajami, Scooter Libby had himself become a “casualty”—a fallen soldier the President dare not leave behind on the Beltway battlefield.

Not a word in the entire article about the real fallen soldiers. The honest-to-God dead, and dying, and wounded. Not a word about the chaos or the cost. Even as the calamity they created worsens, all they can muster is a cry for leniency for one of their own who lied to cover their tracks.

There are contrarian voices: “This is an open and shut case of perjury and obstruction of justice,” said Pat Buchanan. “The Republican Party stands for the idea that high officials should not be lying to special investigators.” From the former Governor of Virginia, James Gilmore, a staunch conservative, comes this verdict: “If the public believes there’s one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system.”

Yikes, Prissy just agreed with Pat Buchanan and other female disrespectors...Bill Moyers is one of the best journalists in America. That's why they put him on PBS, so no one else will know what he is saying.

Quotes of the Day

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.-- Henry David Thoreau

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.--Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and author of Democracy in America(July 29, 1805 – April 16, 1859)

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.--Aristotle

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.--CS Lewis

There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots. What is it? Distrust.--Demosthenes