The Crushing of Colin

Ann Wright, one of the few to resign before the Bombing of Baghdad, tells her story in an interview at www.tomdispatch.com , well worth reading.

"Tragically, Colin Powell, who was trying to counsel Donald Rumsfeld behind the scenes that there weren't enough troops in Iraq, never stood up to say, "Hold it, guys, I'll resign if we don't get this under control so that logical functions go in logical organizations and you, the Defense Department, don't do post-combat civil reconstruction stuff. That's ours."

He just didn't do it. To me, he was more loyal to the Bush family than he was to the country. His resignation was possibly the one thing that could have deterred the war. Then the people of America would really have looked closely at what was going on.

But tragically he decided loyalty to the administration was more valuable than loyalty to the country. I mean, it breaks my heart to say that, but it's what really happened."

Cascading Evil Can Be So Damn Boring ...

President George and his cronies have suffered a reversal of fortune unlike anything we’ve ever seen. The crush of bad news for the administration seems unending. Even trying to chronicle one debacle proves to be overwhelming.

The “yellow-cake” affair itself leads in a half-dozen directions – an Italian newspaper with its own “Judy”, curiously “obvious” forged documents (and hey, what about Dan Rather and his own "obviously forged documents" – remember the rumor that Rove planted them?), visits to the White House by Italian secret agents, and so on. I can’t keep up, and this is only one of so many. So what’s a blogger to do?

I’ve found an antidote, a writer at SFGate.com – Mark Morford, so jaded and cynical that he can even make me laugh at Tom Delay. I quote …

“I think it was somewhere around my 17th article on "Scooter" Libby's duplicitous vileness or maybe it was the umpteenth piece on Karl Rove's bleak sweatiness or Tom DeLay's toothy mug-shot "I'll be skipping prison" grin, like he'd just swallowed a whole baby seal and two live puppies and was coming for your cat.“

Hook Mr. Morford up to your RSS feed, and enjoy.

silver

Not Financial Advice

As you know, I do not give out financial advice as I am usually too early. So take the following as a starting point in your own research.


FMNN:The Silver User’s Association startled the investment community recently when it came out hard against Barclay’s Bank’s proposal to create a silver-backed Exchange Traded Fund. The Silver Users Association is a lobbyist group for industrial end-users of silver, including Kodak. While the Silver Users’ opposition to any new investment demand for silver was predictable, the reasoning behind that opposition stunned many. Here’s Free-Market News Network commentator Jason Hommel to explain. Jason?

JASON HOMMEL: Yes! Their reason for opposing the Silver ETF was that they said it would cause a shortage of silver, and rising silver prices!

This news is HUGE and EXTREMELY important for people to pay attention to.

The silver shortage has been confirmed, publicly, by people who have a stated goal of keeping silver prices low. They do NOT want investors to buy silver, which is why they oppose the Silver ETF, but here they are, making the case for why investors should buy silver by confirming the silver shortage, and saying that silver prices will rise!

Why would they say that unless they are in a panic?When the silver shortage hits, industrial users will panic, and will buy up silver to crazy high prices, without regard to price--to prevent shutting down their factories!

And given the amounts involved, THAT the Silver ETF needs 130 million ounces that the world may not have… that means it is ALREADY TOO LATE FOR BILLIONAIRES TO JUMP ON BOARD AND BUY SILVER, BECAUSE THERE IS PROBABLY NOT A BILLION DOLLARS OF SILVER AVAILABLE IN THE WORLD TO BUY AT UNDER $10/OZ. SILVER PRICES WOULD PROBABLY HAVE TO RISE TO $25/OZ., JUST FOR THERE TO BE A BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF SILVER AVAILABLE TO BUY!

Silver is so cheap today, even the silver miners can’t make money mining it at $7.50/oz.

So, if you care at all about the financial security of your loved ones (or readers), you should probably forward this email to them.I have long waited for the tipping point in the silver market, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is it.

For more information on this story, see my article:
Silver Users Fear Silver Shortage
Thursday October 27, 3:49 pm ET

For more information on silver, and especially silver stocks, see my web site, www.silverstockreport.com

or the latest silver stock report #57, from July at http://www.silverstockreport.com/reports/silverstockreport57.html

You can subscribe to this email list by sending a blank email to:subscribe@silverstockreport.com

Bush Snaps; Dragged from West Wing

Sources close to the President report that days after Karl Rove was forced to resign, Bush began drinking heavily, ranting, and throwing furniture around the Oval office. This soon escalated into coke snorting and screaming. Strangely, it was reported, he continually referred to the coke as "yellow-cake".

Despite attempts by aides to calm him, he progressively became more agitated until White House guards had to be called.

"Get me Karl! Get me Karl!" he screamed as he was finally led out to the Rose Garden and hosed down by Big Dick Cheney.

In other related news, the dollar plunged to new lows as the world markets finally gave up and began massive selling. Gold reached a new high at $959/oz.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. And thanks to www.restructures.net for the photo.

Meet Up Tonight

The proposed National Strike has morphed into 1100 demonstrations to protest the illegal war in Iraq and the death of 2000 US soldiers and over 30,000 Iraqis, to be held at a location near you. Click on title above to find one.

Call for National Strike for Peace

Some are calling for a National Strike on the day after the death toll of American Soldiers in Iraq hits 2,000. The current tally is 1,996. We will probably reach 2,000 on Monday or Tuesday of this week. Are you ready?

1. Stay home from work. Call in and tell them you are out on a National Strike for Peace.

2. Stay home from school. Ditto.

3. Take to the streets. Carry a large sign. "National Strike for Peace."

4. Be disruptive - be creative. A stalled car can stop thousands.

5. Talk to your neighbors about stopping American global aggression.

You probably have never seen a National Strike. I was in Peru once when a National Strike was called. All of the workers and students stayed home. They took over the streets. They dragged burning tires into the streets to stop the cars. They threw stones at commercial vehicles trying to drive on the streets.

I am not giving any advice as to what you might do. Use your imagination. Be peaceful - no violence. This war must stop - now.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,..."

The Day After We Hit 2000

The day after the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq reaches
2000, we take to the streets.

Stay home from work.

Stay home from school.

A day of action.

Keep your ears open.

Your Government at Work

See for yourself - click on title.

Do You Have the Stomach for the TRUTH?

Learn what we have bought with our money.

For your (and your grandchildren's future) hard-earned cash, the US is now the proud owner of 14 semi-permanent army bases (named, appropriately, after oil companies)

Paul Bremer, George Bush, and their supporters have quietly legalized themselves into an estimated 3 trillion in oil revenues, and, with truly Mephistophelean evil ingenuity, managed to engineer the Iraq people into paying for the cluster bombs, napalm and depleted uranium being used to kill them.

The 120 contractors who contributed the most to Republican candidates ($2.5 million) have made a 20,000-fold return on their investment ($53 billion) -- enough money to bury a football field in over 35 feet of cash.

Certifiable

God talks to U.S. President

by Jennifer Monroe
WASHINGTON, D.C. (OfficialWire) -- 10/07/05

Ask anyone. But mental health practitioners will tell you that to speak to God is often-claimed by some of their patients. At most, a cursory note is added to their file and watchful eye thereafter.

Most doctors will agree, however, that when God speaks back...whoa!

These same doctors say that that's when they add notes like 'delusional' and 'schizophrenic'...but now they can jot down 'presidential'

A former Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, has told BBC News that George W. Bush told a Palestinian delegation in 2003 that God spoke to him and said: "George, go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan" and also "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq".

Shaath told BBC film-makers: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did."

'And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And by God I'm gonna do it,'" Bush is quoted as saying.

It's really creepy to think that Bush thinks God is speaking to him. I wonder—if this happens in the Oval Office, can we get tapes of it? No, seriously, the U.S. president is sick and needs help.

PRINTED FROM OFFICIALWIRE.COM THE INTERNET'S NO. 1 ONLINE NEWSWIRE & PR SERVICE!

Top Cop

Very interesting articles by a Canadian with a reply from an American (from the "Axis of Logic").

"The United States claims to be a nation of peace lovers and officially it has been at peace since the end of the Second World War. Except, that is, for their attacks on:

China (1945-46)
Korea (1950-53)
Guatemala (1954, 1967-69)
Cuba (1959-60)
Belgian Congo (1964)
Vietnam (1961-73)
Cambodia (1969-70)
Grenada (1983)
Libya (1986)
El Salvador (1980-92)
Nicaragua (1981-90)
Panama (1989)
Iraq (1991)
Somalia (1993)
Bosnia (1995)
Sudan (1998)
Yugoslavia (1999)
Afghanistan (2001-02)
plus a grudge match currently underway in Iraq (since 2003)
Plus "police action" in Colombia re: drugs (ongoing), an insurrection in Chile (1973) and numerous other covert bombings conducted by, or under the direction of, the CIA."

Who Owns The Fed?

You know about the Federal Reserve Bank, don’t you? You know, “the Fed” that raises (or lowers) interest rates every once in a while. The Famous Maestro of Money, Alan Greenspan, goes on TV and bores everyone with phrases filled with hidden meaning. You probably thought the Federal Reserve Bank was a Federal agency of some kind, right?

Wrong.

Peter Kershaw provides the answer in Economic Solutions where he lists the ten primary shareholders in the Federal Reserve banking system:

The Rothschild Family – London
The Rothschild Family – Berlin
The Lazard Brothers – Paris
Israel Seiff – Italy
Kuhn-Loeb Company – Germany
The Warburgs – Amsterdam
The Warburgs - Hamburg
Lehman Brothers - New York
Goldman & Sachs - New York
The Rockefeller Family - New York

So these guys are controlling the printing of all of these excess dollars (backed by nothing) thereby causing the devaluation of our currency, and controlling the interest rates?

In fact, it’s even worse than that. These people have been very prolific over the decades and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are now all over the place and in particular all over the Board of Directors of many major corporations.

This is a fraud so pervasive it amazes even me, and I’ve grown jaded over the years. Read on if you dare….

And to finish off your descent into despair, from the Mogambo Guru,

“So, what is the bad news? Well, first off, the official government number is that annual inflation has averaged - and I hope you have a safety helmet on when you hear this - 4.71 percent since 1968!

This is, in historical context, so horrifically bad that is ranks as one of the longest and worst episodes of inflationary misery in our history. After the paramedics have restarted your heart, tell them to stand by, because next you are going to learn that the Freebuck.com people show, and quite easily, too, that inflation is really running at 5.96 percent.

That six percent inflation is, coincidentally, less than the real, wallet-busting, prices-you-pay type of inflation that is roaring right freaking now! Actually, true inflation is somewhere between 7 percent and 11 percent, as far as I can tell, and I get that from looking at the checks I have to write every damned month. It is the worst in decades, judging by the number of tears that I shed while paying those bills."

Bush Back on the Bottle?

I know its the National Inquirer, but they often get it first and right. It is also very big in the red states. Who could have guessed?

BUSH'S BOOZE CRISIS
By JENNIFER LUCE and DON GENTILE

Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal. Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.

Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster. His worried wife yelled at him: "Stop, George."

Following the shocking incident, disclosed here for the first time, Laura privately warned her husband against "falling off the wagon" and vowed to travel with him more often so that she can keep an eye on Dubya, the sources add.

"When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot," said one insider. "He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: "Stop George!"

"Laura gave him an ultimatum before, 'It's Jim Beam or me.' She doesn't want to replay that nightmare — especially now when it's such tough going for her husband." Bush is under the worst pressure of his two terms in office and his popularity is near an all-time low. The handling of the Katrina crisis and troop losses in Iraq have fueled public discontent and pushed Bush back to drink.

A Washington source said: "The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital. He's been in a pressure cooker for months. The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained. The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. "

And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn't go out of control." Another source said: "I'm only surprised to hear that he hadn't taken a shot sooner. Before Katrina, he was at his wit's end. I've known him for years. He's been a good ol' Texas boy forever. George had a drinking problem for years that most professionals would say needed therapy. He doesn't believe in it [therapy], he never got it. He drank his way through his youth, through college and well into his thirties. Everyone's drinking around him."

Peak Oil - The Future

If you've been pondering the "Peak Oil" issue you have undoubtedly spent some time thinking about the future. Here (click on title) is a unique document exploring how the United States could be shaken from the current "5% use 25%" piggy position. Its a 48-page fictional projection with a happy ending (for some). Let me know what you think with your comments.

Gold Breaks Out

gold

Golden Opportunity

I am not offering financial advice, but if you've ever thought about buying gold or silver, now might be a good time to do it. Some of technicians believe that now that gold has broken the $450 barrier, it is going up to $505. Time will tell.

Find out how at:

www.goldmoney.com
www.lewrockwell.com
www.gata.org
www.kitco.com

Bush Promises

Last night in his "New Orleans" speech, Mr. Bush promised "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen." We'll put this promise in the same category as the January 2004 promise to send a manned space flight to Mars.

BS

Preparedness - by Howard Paul

I received this in an email and pass it along in the hopes that some will take heed.

The American Red Cross and others have been telling you how to prepare for a disaster, for years. Have you listened? Their advice is commonly ignored because people tell themselves "it will not happen to me."

I'm sending this to my relatives and friends, in the hope that my experiences in search and rescue (whoa -- 20 years now!!) will lend some credence to the absolute necessity to prepare to take care of yourself and your family.

In mountain and wilderness search and rescue we depend very little upon outside assistance. Small teams - two to four of us - carry what we need on our backs, prepared for 12-48 hours without support. But hardly anyone else is so prepared. Because of that when local services are severely delayed - or destroyed - such as in the enormous area of devastation on the Gulf Coast, most folks are desperate for aid, any aid from anywhere. Our societal norms are stretched and frequently break, resulting in chaotic danger.

As you have seen in the news this week, even with the best preplans and best efforts possible to respond to a disaster it will takes days for help to reach you; while the affected people and local officials are pleading for help from their state and federal government (and with my"insider" knowledge of the emergency services community I know that the response is actually working well, better than most folks understand). Because of this I want all of you to understand that you must be ready to take care of yourself.

In search and rescue we actually teach this to the public; with more"gadgets" out there (GPS receivers, cell phones) we work constantly to make folks understand they must learn to NOT depend upon them, as they fail, batteries die and the like. They MUST know how to survive in the backcountry until help arrives.

This happens time and time again because everyone believes "it will never happen to me, it is always someone else." Guess what- it does and YOU are the "someone else" of countless others.
There are now hundreds of thousands of people on the Gulf Coast who are your, and my,"someone else" in an urban wilderness.

I can survive out of my little Subaru for quite some time, on the equipment and supplies I carry for SAR work. Without the car I can carry it in my backpack and can care for a couple of others at the same time.

Here is some basic information about what you MUST do if your Michigan town is destroyed by a tornado; your New Mexico/Colorado border community is evacuated because of a forest fire, or several Ohio counties surrounding you are flooded, your California city is destroyed by an earthquake or your Colorado town is entirely isolated by a 200 year blizzard- or a "non-natural" catastrophe such as a terrorist strike or industrial accident/explosion.

The mountain men of the 1800s carried a "possibles bag." Even today mountain hikers (and SAR team members) carry the "10 Essentials," both are kits to survive. Your modern, civilized "possibles kit" comprises items you will need but without access to a bank or ATM, pharmacy, grocery or hardware store.

You must be ready, both physical and emotionally, to take care of yourself. You and your neighbors can become a remarkably strong unit, accomplishing quite a lot to survive! You should have available (and ready to move) your "possibles kit" (*are essential):

* Water (1 gal/person/day)
* Battery powered radio and batteries
* Easy to use food (breakfast bars, granola bars, etc).
* Pet food!
* GOOD SHOES!
* Flashlight (that uses the same batteries as radio!)
* Essential medications for a week or more (pharmacies may be destroyed)
* First aid kit
* Spare eyeglasses
* Cash (for until you can reach a functioning bank or ATM!)
* List of phone numbers and addresses
* Pocket knife ("Swiss Army" type is great)
Non-perishable food AND manual can opener
Deck of cards (remember "manual" solitaire?)
Small games for the kids
Blankets or sleeping bags
Baby food and supplies
Plastic garbage bags

As an outdoors person I would add my own camping stove and tent, but that may be a "luxury."

Before you ever have to evacuate:

-You should predetermine a local meeting place to await help; also a not-to-distant relative's or friend's home to where you can travel on your own, if it is possible.

-You should predetermine someone to act as a hub to pass messages among family, friends and co-workers (one or two distant persons to call to advise you are OK and where you are).

-If you must evacuate let them know you are leaving and where you plan to go. Remember, everyone else will take the same routes, so unless your local officials order you to use designated routes, you should know the area well enough to travel lesser routes.

-If you must be relocated (such as New Orleans to Houston) remember to take your important papers (insurance, prescriptions or list of medications, identification, etc.) With all these items... well, it won't be pretty but survival will be "possible."

One last thought about preparation: if you or a family member is disabled or dependent upon oxygen, contact your local police department, fire department or EMS service and tell them. Call them today on a NON-EMERGENCY line so they can "flag" your address as one that may require special assistance in case of an evacuation. They will be glad to know this!

What else can you do? Find out if your community has a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). CERT teams are specially trained local volunteers that will fill in until outside help arrives. Why not join yours today? For more information go to these web sites right now - because your area's disaster might occur tomorrow:

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/http://www.ready.gov/

http://www.ready.gov/> http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/CERT/

Howard Paul is a rescue member of the Alpine Rescue Team, the president of the Colorado Search and Rescue Board and the executive director of the Emergency Medical Services Association of Colorado.

(c) 2005 Howard M. Paul
Permission granted for non commercial publication and distribution. Please forward to your friends and coworkers.

Dr. Dave Goes Global

I’m guessing you’ve heard about downloading music from peer-to-peer sites, lawsuits attempting to stop the illegal distribution of copyrighted material, and Steve Jobs capture of the process by making it legal for those willing to pay 99 cents per song. Jobs again demonstrated his brilliance by doing what no one else had been able to do: licensing the majors and packaging it in a cute hardware form called an iPod.

I bought my first mp3 player 4 or 5 years ago when it was new. What a great device – the Rio. No moving parts and tons of good music for your ears while you jogged or traveled. I even invested in the company – I think I lost money. The early adapters either ripped (copied) the CDs they owned or downloaded from Napster. Millions ignored the illegality issues until the music industry began to sue its customers. Kazaa(lite)++ made it less likely that you would be caught, but the threat was still there.

So Jobs came along and scooped up the entire process and made it one of Apple’s major successes. Now enterprising gearheads have begun to use the platform for the rebirth of internet radio – podcasting. Podcasts are really nothing more that audio (mp3) files, but through the use of aggregator websites, users can automatically gather and download their favorite tunes/shows and listen to their own custom-built radio while on the move. iTunes makes this even easier.

My good friend, psychologist Dr. David Van Nuys, is an early adapter, and has started his own podcast series – Shrink Rap Radio. Once you are there, Click on "Shows" to hear Dr. Dave interviewing other psychologists. He provides the listener with an inside look into the current state of the art (or science) of the psyche. "Its all in your mind" is his tag.

As a physiological psychology research scientist in my former life, I was interviewed recently for his show. We talked about “The Death of Psychology”. You won’t need an iPod (or anything else starting with that incessant little “i”) to be able to listen. Assuming your computer is sound enabled (and most are) just click on the link and see what you think about this new medium, podcasting and Dr. Dave.

Fed Stock Market Manipulation

Many have suspected, but few have proven that our Federal Government routinely manipulates the stock market.

The Sprott report concludes:"Given the available information, we do not believe there can be any doubt that the U.S. government has intervened to support the stock market. Too much credible information exists to deny this. Yet virtually no one ever mentions government intervention publicly, preferring instead to pretend as if such activities have never taken place and never would."

It is time that market participants, the media and, most of all, the government acknowledge what should be blatantly obvious to anyone who reviews the public record on the matter: These markets have been interfered with on numerous occasions. Our primary concern is that what apparently started as a stopgap measure may have morphed into a serious moral hazard situation, with market manipulation an endemic feature of the U.S. stock market.

"We have not taken a position on the wisdom of intervention in this paper, largely because exceptional circumstances could argue for it. In many respects, for instance, the apparent rescue after the 1987 crash and the planned intervention in the wake of September 11 were very defensible. Administered in extremely small doses and with the most stringent safeguards and transparency, market stabilization could be justified."

But a policy enacted in secret and knowingly withheld from the body politic has created a huge disconnect between those knowledgeable about such activities and the majority of the public, who have no clue whatsoever.

"There can be no doubt that the firms responsible for implementing government interventions enjoy an enviable position unavailable to other investors. Whether they have been indemnified against potential losses or simply made privy to non-public government policy, the major Wall Street firms evidently responsible for preventing plunges no longer must compete on anywhere near a level playing field. It is most unfair that the immensely powerful have been further ensconced in their perched positions and thus effectively insulated from the competitive market forces ostensibly present in our society."

In addition to creating a privileged class, the manipulation also has little democratic legitimacy in the sense that the citizenry has not given its consent. This has tangible ramifications. By not informing the public, successive U.S. administrations have employed a dangerous policy response that is subject to the worst possible abuse. In this regard, the line between national necessity and political expediency has no doubt been perilously blurred.

"We can only urge people to see what the evidence indicates and debate what is and ought to be a very contentious matter. The time for such a public discussion is long overdue."The Sprott report can be found in Adobe Acrobat format at the Sprott Internet site here: (click title)

Truthteller

Cindy Sheehan has a knack for telling the straight forward truth in a way never (rarely) seen in a politician, who is constantly trying to keep from upsetting some subset of voters of the opposite opinion, the "true believers". No so Cindy. Thanks to Buzzflash, in the column to the right.

Dangerous Incompetence

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan

George Bush has been an incompetent failure his entire life. Fortunately, for humanity, he was just partying his way through school, running companies into the ground and being an alcoholic and cocaine abuser for most of that time and his incompetence was limited to hurting the people who worked for him and his own family. The people in his life who were hurt by his incompetence probably have been able to "get on" with their lives. Now, though, his incompetence affects the world and is responsible for so many deaths and so much destruction.

How many of us did not foresee the mess he would make of the world when he was selected the first time? We saw what he had done to Texas.

How many of us marveled and were so discouraged and amazed when he was "re-elected" the second time? We saw what he had done to the world.

Dangerous incompetence should never be rewarded, let alone be rewarded so handsomely as in George's case.

Can we survive three more years of this? When the financial "storm surge" hits, all of the "levies" will go down.

Bush Declares His Efforts "Unacceptable"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina have been unacceptable,
President Bush acknowledged on Friday before heading out on a tour of storm-ravaged New Orleans and other areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast....

Faced with victims' urgent pleas for help and mounting criticism that the federal government has been too slow to respond, Bush said many people had been working hard in the five days since the deadly storm struck on Monday morning, but more needed to be done.

In this first instance of self criticism, Bush has declared his efforts so far as "unacceptable" and agreed to .... ooops, I thought I was writing for The Onion. Does this pretend President even know who runs the Federal Government?

As I watch the live feed from Mobile, Alabama, Bush seems to be having a hard time paying attention to the people feeding him information about the situation "on the ground". Staring at the floor, shifting from one foot to another, grinding his teeth from time to time, Bush proclaims "we have a lot to do, its a big job."

"We are going to restore law and order.... Out of the destruction of Trent Lott's house, we are going to see an even better house, and I look forward to sitting on the front porch."

I didn't make that up.

There is a Reason Why ....

There is a reason why a relatively recent Army survey found that 54% of all soldiers in Iraq reported either “low” or “very low” morale.

There is also a reason why, again according to the Army, that 30% of all soldiers returning from Iraq develop mental health problems 3-4 months after their return.

And there is a reason why soldiers like Nicolas Prubyla come home and join organizations like Iraq Veterans Against the War.

“Up until five days ago, I had large amounts of blood in my stool,” he told me recently, “I’ve felt tired all the time, I have had loss of hair…loss of the feeling in my right arm…I’m battling this stuff.”

What he is battling is exposure to uranium munitions in Iraq. He is battling radiation sickness as the result of the most recent nuclear war waged by the United States of America. There is a reason why over 11,000 veterans from the ’91 Gulf War are dead today, and over 250,000 others are on medical disability. That reason (hundreds and hundreds of tons of uranium munitions dropped on Iraq) is the same thing Prubyla is battling today.

“As the years go on this is going to effect a hell of a lot more people than we think…radioactive dust and the clouds of smoke and dust from firing the DU [depleted uranium] is getting to us now,” he said, “And I know I’m not the only person in my unit-my boss got diagnosed with cancer, one of my other buddies who is 23 years-old is getting rashes….every time I do more research on DU-I’m seeing that I have all the side effects.”

What Are You Planning For?

If you have been following the "Peak Oil" issue you may want to subscribe to this free newsletter. Some seem to want to ignore the issue as in ..."I'll think about that tomorrow"... Well, with Katrina as the tipping point, this may be tomorrow.

The Rude Awakening
Wall Street, New York
Wednesday, August 31, 2005

.....

Publicly, the White House urges calm and predicts that oil prices will retreat from their current high levels. But privately, the U.S. government is quietly planning to add to existing oil reserves at a furious pace.

Squirreled away in new energy legislation is a directive to increase the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from 700 million barrels (70 days' supply of imports) to ONE BILLION BARRELS. They're adding to the SPR when oil prices are sky-high. What are they afraid of?
A confidential source in the Department of Energy gave me the scoop on the addition to the SPR. This stunning new directive was placed inside the 1,724-page Energy Policy Act of 2005 without any fanfare whatsoever – it's hidden in plain sight. And the mainstream media is too busy going to beltway cocktail parties to notice.

This 42% jump in reserves is so huge, the government doesn't even have a place to put it all – yet. The plan is to fill the SPR to capacity with a minimum of market disruption or undue influence on the market, blah-blah. If you're planning to fill the SPR when oil is over $60 per barrel, you aren't planning on getting that oil on the cheap.

I don't know what is motivating the Bush administration to boost petroleum reserves. But I do know that two oil men are in the White House right now. They probably have access to raw data on America's oil fields – including depletion rates – that the rest of us don't. Again, what are they afraid of? I'm certainly not going to buy the "don't' worry, be happy," line peddled by the White House.
....

On A Lighter Note

Lighter

Just back from a few days in the Rocky Mountains, I am pleased to report that the woods are still there in all of their glory. In a few days, I'll have the video prepared on Colorado Cruise, my new travel blog. More later ....

Angry George

While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

“I’m not meeting again with that goddamned bitch,” Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. “She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”

Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them “motherfucking traitors.” He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore “bullshit protectors” over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to “tell those VFW assholes that I’ll never speak to them again is they can’t keep their members under control.”

White House insiders say Bush is growing increasingly bitter over mounting opposition to his war in Iraq. Polls show a vast majority of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and most doubt the President’s honesty.

“Who gives a flying fuck what the polls say,” he screamed at a recent strategy meeting. “I’m the President and I’ll do whatever I goddamned please. They don’t know shit.”

Bush, while setting up for a photo op for signing the recent CAFTA bill, flipped an extended middle finger to reporters. Aides say the President often “flips the bird” to show his displeasure and tells aides who disagree with him to “go to hell” or to “go fuck yourself.” His habit of giving people the finger goes back to his days as Texas governor, aides admit, and videos of him doing so before press conferences were widely circulated among TV stations during those days. A recent video showing him shooting the finger to reporters while walking also recently surfaced.

Bush’s behavior, according to prominent Washington psychiatrist, Dr. Justin Frank, author of “Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President,” is all too typical of an alcohol-abusing bully who is ruled by fear.
To see that fear emerges, Dr. Frank says, all one has to do is confront the President. “To actually directly confront him in a clear way, to bring him out, so you would really see the bully, and you would also see the fear,” he says.

Dr. Frank, in his book, speculates that Bush, an alcoholic who brags that he gave up booze without help from groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, may be drinking again.

“Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office,” Dr. Frank says. “Is he still drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state.”

Last year, Capitol Hill Blue learned the White House physician prescribed anti-depressant drugs for the President to control what aides called “violent mood swings.” As Dr. Frank also notes: “In writing about Bush's halting appearance in a press conference just before the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated that ‘the president may have been ever so slightly medicated.’”

Dr. Frank explains Bush’s behavior as all-to-typical of an alcoholic who is still in denial:
“The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely limited to his or her drinking,” he says. “The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush's personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat.”

© Copyright 2005 by Capitol Hill Blue

From One Who Was There

Edward H. Hawkins is my partner, mentor, and office sage. An artist, Merchant Marine, writer, film producer, and business consultant, he provides a unique perspective from one who was there. The one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. Sometimes it pays to just listen....


All at once, it's 1936. I'm twelve years old and sitting in my father's insurance office, listening to him and his friends talking about Germany rearming and that fellow, Winston Churchill. A soft voice made husky by mustard gas of World War One says:

"Everyone knows Germany is rearming. Adolph Hitler is building airplanes again"

"What's the matter with the League of Nations? Don't they realize that all this rearmament is against the provisions of the Versailles Treaty?"

"What about the damn Japanese? They're striding down the Malaysian Peninsula like it's their own country! All they want is the oil in Southeast Asia. Everyone knows that."

"Hell! Nobody's gonna do anything about either the Germans or the Japanese. Congress and Roosevelt have got the election to think about this year. They didn't do anything about Italy and Mussolini invading Ethiopia. What makes you think they're going to do anything now?"

"I think we ought to stop Hitler right now before he and the German army gets any stronger. First thing you know, he'll be marching into Belgium and Holland just like the Germans did in 1914."

Voices strong and vibrant to my immature ears. I didn't like what I heard next.

"We don't have to worry none. It'll be Eddie, here, and his friends who'll fight the next war."

I choked slightly on my Mars candy bar and swallowed hard on my sip of RC Cola. I didn't want to think about dying, but I knew the men were right.

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The time changed to 1941. The voices continued. "Damn Japanese. What the hell did they think they was doin' bombing Pearl Harbor?"

"Why didn't we know the Japs were acomin'?" Where was our Naval Intelligence? Those fellas in Washington musta had their heads up their ass!"

"Now, Joe. Roosevelt has been trying to warn us for two years....ever since Hitler invaded France. Nobody listened to him."

"Congress is just as bad. When the Germans were bombing buildings in London, you'd think those peace lovin' shitheads in Congress would of woke up. All they'll do now is hold an investigation and blame some poor general or admiral. Did ja hear Edward R. Murrow on the radio last night broadcastin' from London. It's gettin' fierce over there."

"Is anybody listening?"

"Naw. The French could of stopped the Bache long ago. Wonder why they didn't."

"They're French."

"Nuff said."

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A new voice - Hollandia, New Guinea, South Pacific. From the ship's captain on the bridge to me in the crow's nest lookout tub atop the foremast of the S.S. Gulfwax, oil tanker:

"Hawkins, we're entering the harbor now. Keep a sharp lookout for debris."

"Aye, aye, Sir. Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Captain, there's bodies all over, floating in the water!"

"Of course. We've just secured the island. The marines landed here three days ago."

The water is littered with bodies. Some are bloody, some are partially ripped apart, some are already bloating. Jesus H. Christ.......!

I choke back the vomit. The stomach acid stings my throat. I swallow. I can't lean over the side of the lookout tub and let go the puke. Members of the deck gang are below, already attaching the hoses to the tank valves in preparation for unloading. I crank the intercom to the bridge.

"Captain, there's a big group of bodies dead ahead."

"Can you make out? American or Japanese?"

"Japanese, I think. The uniforms are green."

"Good. We'll plow through them and grind them up in the propeller. Good riddance."

I watch the bodies drift by the sides of the ship and into the stern screw. I shut my eyes, hoping I never dream about this later, knowing full well I certainly will.

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A new voice - North Atlantic - 1943:

"Hard right, Hawkins. Steer 090, due east. The convoy's turning to starboard. There's German subs out there. Look at those Canadian Corvettes go. Must be makin' twenty, thirty knots."

A speaker crackles:

"Periscope, two degrees on the port bow!"

"Hard left, Hawkins. Turn the son-of-bitch! Full ahead. Where the hell are those Corvettes?"

"Oh, shit. Here it comes. Sweet Jesus. It just missed us. Steer it back to 090, Hawkins."

"When this war ends I hope Americans figure out how to recognize evil and evil men and do something about it before it becomes bigger and stronger."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Different voices. Sitting around in my Welton Street film production office in Denver, drinking Coors - 1950.

"Ed, did you hear. President Truman says North Korea has invaded South Korea. Where's your map. You were in the Pacific in WW Two. Where the hell is Korea?"

"Don't worry. The United Nations will take care of those commies."

"Naw. It'll be American G.I.s that'll take the brunt of this one. You wait and see."

"Where was our intelligence? Why didn't we know about this? What's Congress doing? Who the hell is minding the store in Washington? Are you going to re-activate your commission?"

Wife's voice: "Ed, you're not going back to sea. Let someone else do it. You served your time. Besides, you've got two new movie contracts."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Sound of sound stage door opening. Voices shouting:

"Kennedy just said that the Soviets have missile bases on Cuba. He's called for a blockade to stop the ships heading toward Cuba. This is it, Hawkins. Nuclear war. Get set."

"What the hell do the Soviets think they're doing?"

"Where was the CIA? Why didn't we know about this sooner?"

"We did. But no one would believe President Kennedy until he showed 'em pictures. Now we have photographs. The missile silos are there."

"Why didn't we take out that commie bastard, Castro, when we had the chance?"

"That's a good way to start a war, dumbo."

"Whatya think this is, chess?"

"Let's all hope so."

Voices, strong, scared.

---------------------------------------------

Other voices - 1965 - "President Johnson says the damn North Vietnamese fired on one of our ships in the Gulf ofTonkin."

"What the hell are those damn kooks thinking of?"

"Where was the CIA? Our so-called 'advisers'. Whose minding the store in Washington?"

"We should have bombed the crap out of those commie kooks when we had the chance. Now, some of the peaceniks in Congress want to negotiate. Where's George Patton when we need him?"

"He's dead."

"Oh, damn!"

-------------------------------------------

Strained voices - 1992 - my office; "Saddam Hussein just invaded Kuwait!"

"Who the hell is Saddam Hussein?"

"Ya know, Iraq."

"You mean Iran."

"Naw, Iraq. The dictator. Just like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. He's killing his own people with chemical weapons."

"What do we care?"

"Oil, mister. Oil. Iraq has the largest army in the Middle East. They can take over Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, and control all the oil."

"So?"

"Ya like freezing to death in the dark, ole buddy?"

"What did Jack Kennedy say about oil: 'Any country that runs on oil, better not run out!'"

"What's President Bush saying?"

"He's going to the United Nations."

"What the hell for?"

"He wants the U.N. to pass a resolution and build a coalition of other countries."

"You're kidding."

"Yeah, seriously. Congress is behind him."

"That's where they always are.....to the rear."

"Well, how did Iraq get away with it. Where was our CIA. Where was our spies. Couldn't we have stopped this Hussein character early on? Who the hell is minding the store in Washington?"

"Are we going to send in troops, bombers, helicopters?

"Guess so."

"It's always us, ain't it?"

"Yeah."

"Where's Harry Truman when we need him."

"He's dead."

"Oh, damn."

----------------------------------------------------

I'm listening intently. I'm hearing voices all over again. Different voices. New words. Frightened words - 2001.

"Turn on the television. A plane just hit one of the World Trade Center towers!"

"A second tower has been hit."

"A plane just flew into the Pentagon!"

"What the hell is happening?"

"They say it's a group called 'Al Qaeda' Ya know, the Taliban from Afghanistan."

"Who the hell are they?"

"Islamic ragheads. The same ones that bombed the Trade Center in 1993. A fella named Osama Bin Laden is the leader."

"What the hell do they think they're doing?"

"They don't like us."

"Obviously."

"What does the President say?"

"He says we're gonna get 'em."

"Where was the CIA? Where was our intelligence? Who's minding the store in Washington?"

-----------------------------------------------------------

A different, quieter voice - 2002.

"The President says that Saddam Hussein will have a nuclear bomb in a few months and that he already has biological weapons."

"I thought the U.N. took care of this character when we wupped his ass in 1993. Signed a
treaty that made him give up his weapons."

"Yep. That's what we did. Put in weapon inspectors and all"

"What happened."

"The U.N. didn't follow through. Hussein tossed out the inspectors on their butts."

"What's the President gonna do?"

"He wants to go kill the bastard."

"Good for him. What's stopping him?"

"Some members of Congress want him to go get approval from the U.N."

"What the hell for?"

"They think it's the proper, legal thing to do."

"Legal, smegal. They could kill us all in the meantime. Where is George Patton when we need him?"

"He's dead."

"Still dead, huh?"

"We will be too, if we just sit and do nuttin."

"Yeah. It's a real problem, ain't it."

"Are we going to go get him or wait 'til he comes to us."

"I dunno. It's up to Congress and the President."

"There's a pair to draw to......."

"...And the U.N."

"Ah, the Joker in the game."

"Yeah. And it's still a problem, ain't it!"

"Well, the President warned us. Think we'll listen this time?"

"Hell no. No more'n than the Brits listened to Churchill, or we listened to Roosevelt or Kennedy or.....Truman or Reagan or Bush One." Sigh.

"Where's Winston Churchill when we need him."

"He's dead"

"Still dead, huh?."

"Yeah."

"Jack Kennedy?"

"He's dead, too."

"George Washington?"

"Yeah. Him too."

"Elvis......?"

"Yeah.......I think so."

"Ain't we got any leaders left?"

"Michael Jackson......."

"Oh, damn."

"How about Dubya, the Prez? What's he say?"

"He said: 'If Iraq gains even greater destructive power, nations in the Middle East would
face blackmail, intimidation, or attack. Chaos in that region would be felt in Europe and beyond....Those who choose to live in denial may eventually be forced to live in fear'."

"Think anybody will listen to him?"

"Nope. Nobody listened to those other guys either when they warned about evil threats from evil men."

"Well, Dubya ain't no Churchill!"

"Can you be sure? Do you want to take the chance?"

"Naw. Guess not."

"Think there'll be protesters in the streets?"

"Oh, hell, yes. Aren't there always?"

"Protesters never won a war."

"Yeah, they don't fight and die either."

"Of course. That's the idea of protestin'. Ya don't have ta die."

"You know what Gen. Patton said....."

"Yeah, yeah. I remember.....make the other poor bastard die fer his country."

"Where's Patton when we need him to kick the asses of the protesters?"

"He's dead."

"Still dead, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Shit."

--------------------------------------------------------

The voices recede. I'm driving home in my car thinking about 1936 and my father's friends. I turn on the radio. It's election time. Voices advise me to call some darn politician and tell him to quit ruining Social Security, to quit lying, to tell the truth, to quit taking money from special interests......

I'm frustrated. I switch to the CD player. A remastered CD of the voice of a 1960's ballad singer comes through the speaker:

"When will they ever learn; when will they.....ever learn.
The answer, my friend, is blowin’in the wind.
The answer is blowin’ in the wind."

I turn the corner leading to my house. The voices of the past echo in my 78 year-old ears, clogged with the earwax of disgust.

"The answer is blowin’ in the wind."

---------------------------------------------

New voices. Angry voices. Political voices. 2004. Election Year. I'm having a drink at my favorite bar. A voice from the left chimes in.

"Have you heard about that new dirty book claiming that John Kerry was lying about his Vietnam experiences? Jes', what a slam book. Bunch of lies."

"What book?" a voice down the bar on the right chirps up.

"It's called 'Unfit For Command. - Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.' It
proves that Kerry was lying about his medals, ya know....Purple Hearts, Silver Star and Bronze Star."

"Proof, shit. It's a slam book, a dirty political book!"

The voice from the left down the bar was vehement. "Oh, like "Fahrenheit 9-11". The slam book and movie about Bush and how he lied."

"It ain't the same. Bush was lyin'. Kerry was telling the truth."

"How about the 250 Vietnam Swift Boat vets that were in the same place as Kerry. All of them aren't lying. And one of 'em is an admiral. Get real."

"Aw, they're all just being run by the Republican National Committee and Bush's cronies."

"All Bush supporters, huh?"

"Yep. Bought and paid for by Bush."

"And that fat-ass movie author, Michael Moore, and that toilet mouth, Oprah Winfrey, are not bought and paid for by Kerry's cronies."

"Naw. They're all independent. Kerry doesn't have any control over them."

"Horse shit. Where you been hiding? And all them Vietnam vets are controlled by Bush?"

"Sure. And Bush ought to tell them guys to stop those lying dirty television ads"

"What about the past six months of lying dirty television political ads about Bush up to the Democrat convention."

"Those were the truth."

"And the 250 vets aren't tellin' the truth?"

"Naw. They're lying through their teeth. They're all Bush supporters."

"And Kerry's swift boat guys, Michael Moore and Oprah and all them Hollywood queer-eyes aren't Kerry supporters?"

"Yeah. But it's a free country. First amendment says they can say whatever they please."

"But, let me get this straight...the 250 Vietnam vets can't say whatever they want to."

"Sure they can say it, even if they are lies."

"You must be a democrat."

"Sure I am. What'd think I was, a Socialist?"

"It crossed my mind. Have another beer. I'm buyin'. How about a Coors?"

"I don't drink fascist beer."

"Okay, how about a Heineken?"

"That's better."

"From Socialist Holland."

"You're buyin'. Pay the lady."

"Okay. But Bush is gonna win."

"Like hell. Kerry's gonna win."

"Good thing you're wearing flip-flop sandals. Kerry would be proud. Bush was right about the war, though."

"Shit."

"He's doing the same thing Gen. Patton would have done."

"Patton's dead."

"Still dead, huh."

"Eisenhower?"

"He's dead, too."

"Well, how about Truman and Korea. We still have soldiers on the DMZ and North Korea is threatening nuclear weapons."

"Shut up and drink."

The sound of bottles clinking echoed as I walked out. Funny thing. I got in my car, turned on the radio to my favorite folk music station and the music of the old Kingston Trio came through the speaker,

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.....the answer is blowin' in the wind."

War, Iraq, Iran, London, Moscow, Washington, the cold North Atlantic ocean and the hot, miserable South Pacific jungle rot seemed far away. Politics had quieted. The voices had softened and poor old Charley was still trying to get off the MTA.

Tomorrow is my 80th birthday. Thank God for something that makes sense.

Ed Hawkins - August 19, 2004.

© 2004 Edward H. Hawkins

P.S. I WROTE THIS A YEAR AGO, AND SATURDAY IS MY 81ST BIRTHDAY. FUNNY THING......WE'RE STILL IN IRAQ. IRAN'S GOING NUKULAR. SO'S N. KOREA. CONGRESS IS STILL FUKIN AROUND WITH THAR THUMB UP THAR BEHIND. THE POPULACE IS STILL BEATIN UP THE PREZ. DEMOS AND REPUBS ARE BEATIN UP EACH OTHER. LIBERTARIANS ARE LAFFIN THAR ASS OFF. AIN'T NUTHIN CHANGED IN A WHOLE GODDAM YEAR!

What'd ya think I'm going to be writing here in 2006? I'll copy ya then. Bye.

Ed Hawkins - August 18, 2005

© 2005 (renewed) Edward H. Hawkins

Let's See....Who's Next?

Reported under Conspiracy Theory at al Jazeera web site...

The U.S. Vice President has instructed the Air Force to start putting plans for an air strike on Iran's nuclear sites using the excuse of the next “terrorist attack”, according to CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi, now a partner in Cannistraro Associates.

"In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing – that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack – but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections."

So Philip Giraldi is raising concerns that Mr. Cheney and the neocons, the same men who used 9/11 as their excuse to attack Iraq, are pushing for another war against Iran, using the excuse of another “terrorist” attack.

Why would Iran attack the U.S. when they have been doing everything possible to avoid a war that would absolutely devastate their country? But the U.S. government is following the same script as with Iraq: ‘This Axis of Evil member has ties to “terrorism” and a nuclear weapons program, the UN won't act, so we have to attack them from the air, if not invade them to plant the flag of “liberty and democracy”’.

Again, there’s a convergence of interests between those who have a long-term energy strategy and those whose primary objective is protecting Israel.

Giraldi confirmed information about Air Force Intelligence currently in Qatar picking targets. He said that the Special Forces were also already in Iran hunting for "suspected sites."

Last April, former Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter wrote an article saying that Air Force officers had told him that they were working on plans for war against Iran, that are supposed to be ready by June of this year.

Ritter also stated that the invasion will come from U.S. bases in Azerbaijan, and that the U.S. is already flying drones in Iranian airspace. He writes: "Americans, and indeed much of the rest of the world, continue to be lulled into a false sense of complacency by the fact that overt conventional military operations have not yet commenced between the United States and Iran.
"As such, many hold out the false hope that an extension of the current insanity in Iraq can be postponed or prevented in the case of Iran. But this is a fool's dream."

Invading Iran through Iraq would be impossible, as Iraq’s Shiites would finally be unleashed against U.S. forces, who would then have to fight from both front and rear. Also a general Shiite uprising in Iraq would be a likely result of bombing Iran.

If the U.S. attacked the Bushehr reactor, not only would radioactive particles blast into the air and fall back down to earth and cause great harm to the environment, but numerous Russians would also be killed.

How is the U.S. going to react if the Russians in retaliation bombed a reactor full of Americans in, say, India?

Ooops...something else we forgot to think about

"On Sept. 9, 2002, with U.S. bases being readied in Kuwait, Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei summoned his war council in Tehran. According to Iranian sources, the Supreme National Security Council concluded, "It is necessary to adopt an active policy in order to prevent long-term and short-term dangers to Iran."...

Before the March 2003 invasion, military sources say, elements of up to 46 Iranian infantry and missile brigades moved to buttress the border. Positioned among them were units of the Badr Corps, formed in the 1980s as the armed wing of the Iraqi Shi'ite group known by its acronym SCIRI, now the most powerful party in Iraq. Divided into northern, central and southern axes, Badr's mission was to pour into Iraq in the chaos of the invasion to seize towns and government offices, filling the vacuum left by the collapse of Saddam's regime. As many as 12,000 armed men, along with Iranian intelligence officers, swarmed into Iraq.

The story is about the growing presence and influence of Islamist Iran, in defeating both the US and the secular society of Iraq. Iran infiltrated early and often. Time says it has documents showing that Iran paid the salaries of "at least 11,740 members of the Badr Corps" last year, and probably still has them on the payroll. The Iranian plan didn't just cover military issues: "Businesses, front companies, religious groups, NGOs and aid for schools and universities are all part of the mix." And the Iranians are still working hard at winning this war. Time reports that they're bringing in more sophisticated weapons, more trained insurgents, and more theocratic policies."

The "Beat" Goes On....

An Egyptian school teacher about to be released after being held for 3 1/2 years as a detainee (prisoner) describes his treatment and why he can't walk.

Focusing Our Outrage

You may already know that Arianna Huffington has a blog with about 200 regular contributors. You may also want to consider signing up for her weekly email news. This one is dynamite, and there’s much more.

Cindy Sheehan Steps Into the Leadership Void
Posted August 11, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. EDT

During my many years as a writer, I've interviewed hundreds of people. But talking with Cindy Sheehan this morning was unlike any conversation I've ever had. Even though we were talking via cell phone -- and had a crummy, staticky connection at that -- her authenticity and passion reached through the receiver and both touched my heart and punched me in the gut.

She spoke with a combination of utter determination, unassailable integrity, fearlessness, and the peace of someone who knows that their cause is just. Her commitment was palpable -- and infectious. It reminded me an old quote about the great Greek orators: "When Pericles spoke, the people said, 'How well he speaks.' But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us march!'"

That's the feeling I got from this former Catholic youth minister. She of the floppy hat and the six foot frame (though she's standing even taller than that these days). A woman driven by faith and conviction who used to think that one person couldn't make a difference and is learning otherwise. Her humanity stands in stark contrast to the inhumanity of those who refuse to admit their mistakes and continue to send our young men and women to die in Iraq.

She may not be the kind of media figure the cable news channels would order up from newsmaker central, a la Natalee Holloway. But she is the kind of unexpected leader I've been writing about for years. One who springs not from the corridors of power, but from among the people. One who may come from Vacaville, California, but who makes nonsense of red state/blue state distinctions.

The time has passed when we can stand around waiting for a knight on a white horse to ride to our rescue. We've got to look to ourselves -- to the leader in the mirror. Our elected officials have woefully failed to provide the leadership needed on this most vital issue of our time. And stepping into that void is Cindy Sheehan. Inspiring us. Touching our conscience. Calling forth our courage and our commitment. Focusing our outrage. And acting as a catalyst for the tens of millions of Americans who know that the war in Iraq is a disgrace.

Who knows, her example might even be just the thing to give Hillary and Harry and the rest of the Democratic leaders the spine transplant they so desperately need. But don't hold your breath. Instead, use it to show your support for Cindy Sheehan -- and for our troops.”

Dennis Hastert to Win "Spiro Agnew" Award

Announcement coming soon....

Hastert Shares Pork Pie

I'm Not Making This Up

Voodoo Man

This sounds like it should be in the Onion, but nooooo, this is our new reality.

"Pentagon to host 9/11 march, show

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon will hold a massive march and country music concert to mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an unusual announcement tucked into an Iraq war briefing yesterday.

"This year the Department of Defense will initiate an America Supports You Freedom Walk," Rumsfeld said, adding that the march would remind people of "the sacrifices of this generation and of each previous generation."

The march will start at the Pentagon, where nearly 200 people died on 9/11, and end at the National Mall with a show by country star Clint Black.

Word of the event startled some observers. "I've never heard of such a thing," said John Pike, who has been a defense analyst in Washington for 25 years and runs GlobalSecurity.org.

The news also reignited debate and anger over linking Sept. 11 with the war in Iraq.

"That piece of it is disturbing since we all know now there was no connection," said Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq veteran who heads Operation Truth, an anti-administration military booster.
Rieckhoff suggested the event was an ill-conceived publicity stunt. "I think it's clear that their public opinion polls are in the toilet," he said.

Rumsfeld's walk had some relatives of 9/11 victims fuming.

"How about telling Mr. Rumsfeld to leave the memories of Sept. 11 victims to the families?" said Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband in the attacks.

Administration supporters insisted Rumsfeld was right to link Iraq and 9/11, and hold the rally.

"We are at war," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.). "It's essential that we support our troops."
He also said attacking Iraq was necessary after 9/11. "You do not defeat Al Qaeda until you stabilize the Middle East, and that's not possible as long as Saddam Hussein is in power."

Originally published on August 10, 2005

(Not-so) Depleted Uranium

However, Charlie Anderson, another Iraq veteran, had strong words for Bush. After discussing how the background radiation in Baghdad is now five times the normal rate-the equivalent of having 3 chest x-rays an hour, he said, "These are not accidents-the DU [Depleted Uraniaum]-it's important for people to understand this-the use of DU and its effects are by design. These are very carefully engineered and orchestrated incidents."

Click title for entire article.

Truth Leaks

Years after the fact we sometimes learn the truth:

- Hitler was a methamphetamine addict
- Kennedy got daily injections from Dr. Feelgood
- Nixon was an alcoholic
- Reagan's brain was filling up with plaque on its own
- Bush, the First, puked on the lap of the Prime Minister of Japan and said to Barbara "Don't let me go out when I'm this drunk".

During the 2000 debates, I noticed that Bush II was constantly chewing on his inner lip. In 2004 this had turned into a tooth-grinding jaw movement. These subtle hints made me wonder if he was reverting back to his cocaine days or just nervous. The truth leaks out slowly.

Bush Taking Anti-Depressants to Control Mood Swings

By CHB Staff
Jul 28, 2004, 06:13

President George W. Bush is taking anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned.

The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President’s mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says one aide. “We can’t have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally.”

Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.

“Keep those motherfuckers away from me,” he screamed at an aide backstage. “If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”

Bush’s mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President’s wide mood swings and obscene outbursts.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

“I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed,” Dr. Frank said. “He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated.”

Dr. Frank’s conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School.

The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first campaign for President.

“President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and megalomaniac tendencies,” Dr. Frank adds.

The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this article.

The exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known. While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President’s annual physical, details of the President’s health and any drugs or treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the President.

Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information about Bush’s health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald Reagan’s second term when aides managed to conceal the President’s increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer’s Disease.
It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon’s final days when the soon-to-resign President wandered the halls and talked to portraits of former Presidents. The stories didn’t emerge until after Nixon left office.

One long-time GOP political consultant who – for obvious reasons – asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush.
“We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes,” he says sadly. “That’s not good for my candidates, it’s not good for the party and it’s certainly not good for the country.”

KIA Soldier's Mom to Confront Bush in Crawford

Cindy Sheehan, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, and mother of a soldier killed in action in Iraq, plans to confront President Bush with questions at his Crawford ranch on Saturday morning, August 6, 11 a.m. CT.

Accompanying Sheehan will be members of Veteran's for Peace (VFP), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), CODE PINK, and Crawford Peace House, all members or allies of the AfterDowningStreet.org Coalition.

On Wednesday, Bush said (speaking about the dreadful loss of life in Iraq in August): "We have to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by completing the mission." and "The families of the fallen can be assured that they died for a noble cause."

In response, Sheehan wrote:"We want our loved ones' sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions. Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation that we are? We would like for him to explain this 'noble cause' to us, and plan to ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble. If he is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately. We will demand a speedy withdrawal."

Sheehan said today that she plans to stay "until we are arrested or satisfied with the answers."

Click on title to continue ...

Tech Note: Gizmo vs Skype

A few weeks back I recommended that you try Skype, a VOIP “softphone” that enables you to make free long distance telephone calls to anyone else who has the program. Now that I’ve tried Gizmo, another similar free product, I’m afraid I’m going to have to change my recommendation.

Gizmo is better than Skype. Gizmo seems to be second generation. The interface is smoother, the feature set is larger (includes built in recorder), and, best of all, the quality of the phone call itself is better. Check it out at http://www.gizmoproject.com/.

Tech Note:"We are the Web" - Wired Magazine

I bought my first computer in 1979, and having come from 10 years of study of and research in how the human brain works, I’ve been dreaming of the global computer brain. In my fantasy, one day in the future all of our screens would report that a singularity had occurred and that our global brain had started thinking. Maybe it already has...

This article is the best I’ve read that examines these concepts.

"Today, the Machine acts like a very large computer with top-level functions that operate at approximately the clock speed of an early PC. It processes 1 million emails each second, which essentially means network email runs at 1 megahertz. Same with Web searches. Instant messaging runs at 100 kilohertz, SMS at 1 kilohertz. The Machine's total external RAM is about 200 terabytes. In any one second, 10 terabits can be coursing through its backbone, and each year it generates nearly 20 exabytes of data. Its distributed "chip" spans 1 billion active PCs, which is approximately the number of transistors in one PC.

This planet-sized computer is comparable in complexity to a human brain. Both the brain and the Web have hundreds of billions of neurons (or Web pages). Each biological neuron sprouts synaptic links to thousands of other neurons, while each Web page branches into dozens of hyperlinks. That adds up to a trillion "synapses" between the static pages on the Web. The human brain has about 100 times that number - but brains are not doubling in size every few years. The Machine is.

Since each of its "transistors" is itself a personal computer with a billion transistors running lower functions, the Machine is fractal. In total, it harnesses a quintillion transistors, expanding its complexity beyond that of a biological brain. It has already surpassed the 20-petahertz threshold for potential intelligence as calculated by Ray Kurzweil. For this reason some researchers pursuing artificial intelligence have switched their bets to the Net as the computer most likely to think first. Danny Hillis, a computer scientist who once claimed he wanted to make an AI "that would be proud of me," has invented massively parallel supercomputers in part to advance us in that direction. He now believes the first real AI will emerge not in a stand-alone supercomputer like IBM's proposed 23-teraflop Blue Brain, but in the vast digital tangle of the global Machine.

In 10 years, the system will contain hundreds of millions of miles of fiber-optic neurons linking the billions of ant-smart chips embedded into manufactured products, buried in environmental sensors, staring out from satellite cameras, guiding cars, and saturating our world with enough complexity to begin to learn. We will live inside this thing."

Religion itself is the fount of most evil

"Everyone is being blamed, from the obvious villainous duo of George W Bush and Tony Blair, to the inaction of Muslim “communities”. But it has never been clearer that there is only one place to lay the blame and it has ever been thus. The cause of all this misery, mayhem, violence, terror and ignorance is of course religion itself, and if it seems ludicrous to have to state such an obvious reality, the fact is that the government and the media are doing a pretty good job of pretending that it isn’t so.

Bush’s fundamentalist Christian insanity seems temporarily forgotten, and there is much talk of moderate Islam as if this is a jolly good thing, when in fact, in tandem with all other world religions, very much including Bush’s, it is a Dark Ages nonsense that should, of course, be tolerated and its adherents protected and permitted to practice it peacefully, but falls a very long way from meriting respect. The age of enlightenment freed reasoning humans from the shackles of crudely hewn anthropomorphic gods, leaving these man-made deities to serve those who wished to keep them alive for the purposes of comforting self-delusion, social control – particularly the control of women – and the validation of power, violence and aggression."

Let the Reframing Begin

Remember when you first heard the phrase “weapons of mass destruction”, and then WMD? I can’t remember exactly when it was either, but when I first heard it I felt it was a clever “framing” which would eventually lead to deception. What followed was a series of lies relating to these WMD which were used to rationalize an elective war.

When the phrase “War on Terror” got started, I thought it was just another American “War on X”. Poverty, Drugs, etc. Everyone should have known you can’t have a war on a tactic. But Bush insisted. And now the reframing has begun. I wonder why?

WASHINGTON, July 25 - The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.

In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice.

Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had "objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution." He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremists, with the recognition that "terror is the method they use."

Although the military is heavily engaged in the mission now, he said, future efforts require "all instruments of our national power, all instruments of the international communities' national power." The solution is "more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military," he concluded.

Administration and Pentagon officials say the revamped campaign has grown out of meetings of President Bush's senior national security advisers that began in January, and it reflects the evolution in Mr. Bush's own thinking nearly four years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke in the new terms on Friday when he addressed an audience in Annapolis, Md., for the retirement ceremony of Adm. Vern Clark as chief of naval operations. Mr. Rumsfeld described America's efforts as it "wages the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies of civilization."

The shifting language is one of the most public changes in the administration's strategy to battle Al Qaeda and its affiliates, and it tracks closely with Mr. Bush's recent speeches emphasizing freedom, democracy and the worldwide clash of ideas.

"It is more than just a military war on terror," Steven J. Hadley, the national security adviser, said in a telephone interview. "It's broader than that. It's a global struggle against extremism. We need to dispute both the gloomy vision and offer a positive alternative."

Could it be because you can lose a war? but a "struggle" goes on and on....

Pants on Fire

From the Ironic Times

honesty

The Crookeder Crook

Nixon was a small-minded man with a complex of problems that lead him to criminal behavior and his downfall. Nixon was a crook.

Bush is a small-minded man with a complex of problems that lead him to self-destructive behavior, but he wants to bring us along with him. Bush is a sociopath, and much more dangerous.

As usual, the Daily Kos nails it.

"There is no ethic, law, decency or national interest that trumps the political fortunes and powers of the GOP in Rove World. Indeed, in that sense, this is the most corrupt Administration since Nixon. Unfortunately, unlike the Nixon Administration, it appears that there is and was not one competent official involved in GOVERNING rather than politics in the Bush Administration. This combination of incompetence and lack of respect for law, ethic, truth and decency has proven a disastrous combination, leading to the worst administration in American history. And I say this without hyperbole."

Bush is going down! (or am I dreaming?)

Leave Rove Alone

Many are calling for the resignation or firing of Karl Rove. I say we leave him alone as he is one of the keystones of the Bush administration and will bring the whole sordid mess down when he is indicted. Fitzpatrick, the Special Prosecutor, is carefully building a case much larger the Valerie Plame outing. His findings will reveal the entire story of how we were lied to in order to convince us that the war in Iraq was necessary. As Andrea Mitchell said this morning on the Imus show, “how do you spell impeachment?”

Whose Last Throes?

Allawi: this is the start of civil war

Hala Jaber, Amman

IRAQ’S former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has warned that his country is facing civil war and has predicted dire consequences for Europe and America as well as the Middle East if the crisis is not resolved.

“The problem is that the Americans have no vision and no clear policy on how to go about in Iraq,” said Allawi, a long-time ally of Washington.

In an interview with The Sunday Times last week as he visited Amman, the Jordanian capital, he said: “The policy should be of building national unity in Iraq. Without this we will most certainly slip into a civil war. We are practically in stage one of a civil war as we speak.”

Bali

Updated: 8:38 p.m. ET July 9, 2005
Associated Press

New York and Washington. Bali, Riyadh, Istanbul, Madrid. And now London.
When will it end? Where will it all lead?

The experts aren’t encouraged. One prominent terrorism researcher sees the prospect of “endless” war. Adds the man who tracked Osama bin Laden for the CIA, “I don’t think it’s even started yet.”

An Associated Press survey of longtime students of international terrorism finds them ever more convinced, in the aftermath of London’s bloody Thursday, that the world has entered a long siege in a new kind of war. They believe that al-Qaida is mutating into a global insurgency, a possible prototype for other 21st-century movements, technologically astute, almost leaderless. And the way out is far from clear.

In fact, says Michael Scheuer, the ex-CIA analyst, rather than move toward solutions, the United States took a big step backward by invading Iraq.

The Mogambo Guru

You've got to read this guy for straight up analysis presented in a humorous style. Go Mogambo!

The Puke Point
by The Mogambo Guru
June 28, 2005


-I am in full lock-down mode here at the Mogambo Bunker, and I gotta tell ya that I look pretty sharp in my camouflage Speedo and these bandoliers of ammo across my chest. The reason that I am so frantic is that the growth in Total Fed Credit has gone to zero for over a month now. This is, for me, the ultimate in bad news.

The lack of growth in Fed Credit is bad news because, as Peter Zihlmann of P. Zihlmann Investments explains, "The present expansion is the longest running expansion on record. It has surpassed all other economic expansions before it. The driving force behind it is the rapid growth of the money supply and the explosion of credit that has accompanied it." Many people are saying that the money supply is anemic, too, but that is not exactly true. In fact, M3 has accelerated over the last month above its trend for the last few years, although the monetary base has pretty much leveled off.

And later…

And if that wasn't enough, in the last week foreigners have suddenly stopped buying our debt through their accounts at the Fed. And the banks have suddenly divested themselves of $74 billion in government debt. In one week! One! And the banks got rid of another $11.5 billion in "other securities", to boot!

And further on…

And so the people are upset? Hahahaha! The state has debased and destroyed their money, but they are not upset about that. The state has grown itself to be, literally, half the entire economy, but they are not upset about that. The state has now installed so many taxes on so many things that they have driven up prices, but they are not upset about that. The state has indebted every citizen alive, and citizens who are not even born yet, so heavily that the debt cannot ever be paid back, but they are not upset about that. The state has encouraged that all the retirement accounts of everyone be put into the stock and bond markets, and they have lost money for years, but they are not upset about that. The state has gradually eaten away at every liberty, piece by piece by piece, but they are not upset about that. They have allowed the Constitution to be gutted, bit by bit by bit, but they are not upset about that. But maybe force them to move out of their houses, and they are, all of a sudden, upset about that! Hahahaha!

Tech Note: Google Earth

You've got to try this out. Download the software and fly over your house.

"A 3D interface to the planet

Google Earth – Explore, Search and Discover

Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in. "

Another Peek at Peak Oil

I was getting ready to write an article about how I consistently make the mistake of being too early in my projections ( I thought the peak in the Denver real estate market was 2000 ). Then I ran across this article.

Oil 'will hit $100 by winter' Worst-ever crisis looms, says analyst

Surging demand to keep prices high
Heather Stewart, economics correspondent
Sunday July 3, 2005
The Observer

Oil prices could rocket to $100 within six months, plunging the world into an unprecedented fuel crisis, controversial Texan oil analyst Matt Simmons has warned.

After crude surged through $60 a barrel last week, nervous investors were pinning their hopes on a build-up in US oil-stocks to depress prices in the coming months.

But Simmons believes surging demand will keep prices bubbling well above $50. 'We could be at $100 by this winter. We have the biggest risk we have ever had of demand exceeding supply. We are now just about to face up to the biggest crisis we have ever had,' he said.

Please don't execute me for treason. It was only a little leak.

It's About Time

Some of us have been wondering when and if the Valerie Plame “outing” scandal was going to break. It looks like it is now beginning. Could Karl “Doughboy” Rove be the traitor, as we long suspected?

"Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source. Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, now claims that at least two sources have confirmed that the name is--top White House mastermind Karl Rove.

What we're going to go to now in the next stage, when Matt Cooper's e-mails, within Time Magazine, are handed over to the grand jury--the ultimate revelation, probably within the week of who his source is.

"I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time magazine's going to do with the grand jury."