Al Gore For President: The Man Meets The Moment

Imagine this: a President of the United States with vast domestic and international experience who would aspire to unify the American people, uplift a reformed American politics, and inspire friends of freedom and democracy everywhere.

Imagine: a President who would assume office with commander in chief quality experience...

READ POST

DRAFT GORE: AL GORE FOR PRESIDENT 2008

He won it once. He can win it again. Help us draft Gore

Readers Speak: Gore, Chomsky and Ivins Are Winners

Gore wins big in AlterNet's presidential straw poll while Hillary trails badly; Chomsky grabs Most Valuable Progressive and Ivins gets Best Opinion Writer.

read posts of Gore interviews : Crooks and Liars » Al Gore

Al Gore is the only chance I see for the U.S. ,

to have a legitimate government ~ Hello in there

Fascism is new buzz word among GOP
WASHINGTON - President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.
Republicans are totally unscrupulous in accusing others of doing whatever nefarious thing they themselves are doing.  Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are fooled by that.  They think no one would be daring enough to lie so blatantly.  Well, welcome to 21st century America, friends.

Project for the Old American Century

We do indeed have a new Fascism,

George Bushes Fascist regime ~

Hello In There

Reclaiming The Issues: Islamic Or Republican Fascism?
by Thom Hartmann

In the years since George W. Bush first used 9/11 as his own "Reichstag fire" to gut the Constitution and enhance the power and wealth of his corporate cronies, many across the political spectrum have accused him and his Republican support group of being fascists.

On the right,The John Birch Society's website editor recently opined of the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretap program: "This is to say that from the administration's perspective, the president is, in effect, our living constitution. This is, in a specific and unmistakable sense, fascist."

On the left, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. specifically indicts the Bush administration for fascistic behavior in his book "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and his Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy."

Genuine American fascists are on the run, and part of their survival strategy is to redefine the term "fascism" so it can't be applied to them any more. Most recently, George W. Bush said: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

Why Isn't This a Banner Headline in the Mainstream Media? "The ousted head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency says the White House wanted him to lie about the response to Hurricane Katrina."

Also in Hurricane Katrina

An Unhappy Anniversary

The Yes Men strike again. Yes!

One of the "Yes Men" publicly burns HUD on Katrina failures 8-29
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/28/hud.hoax/

More 8-29
http://www.theyesmen.org/

Elections stolen in 2000, 2002,

and 2004. Expect the same in

 November 2006. The mass

brainwashing of the U.S. by

the media has allowed the

complete takeover of the

Neo-cons. The Christian

Nationalists with the message

of the Bush agenda preached

in the mega churches has

allowed a small group to

win at the polls. What we have

is tyranny of the minority.

~Hello in there

---

The stolen election of 2004: welcome back to hell

Using a variety of criminal methods that they have perfected over the past four years, the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove syndicate stole another election, and extended their illegal occupation of the White House. Experienced, informed and unblinking observers were not fooled by any aspect of this utterly predictable goose-step towards full dictatorship.

But to those who are "shocked" as they watched the election night numbers mysteriously slip away amidst controversy; those who are struggling to understand "what happened" let this cold realization serve as bracing edification.

Welcome to hell. Welcome to the horrifying reality that whistleblowers have suffered and fought through every day, over lifetimes. No more illusions. This is reality.

It Is a Rigged Game

Read more...

911 "Conspiracy Theorists" Vindicated: Pentagon deliberately misled Public Opinion

Michel Chossudovsky | Aug 3 2006

From Hightower Lowdown | Home

Where Bush's Arrogance Has Taken UsBy Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
An illegal war, a long list of eroded rights, and a country run by and for the benefit of corporate campaign donors -- all courtesy of the imperial presidency

Number of Americans killed in Bush's Iraq war as of August 2006: 2577 What Bush press flack Tony Snow said the day the total number of American dead reached 2,500: "It's a number" Number of Americans killed since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003: 2,438 Number of Americans wounded (a vague term that includes such horrors as brain damage, limb blasted off, eyes blown out, psyche shattered, etc.) in Bush's war: Official count: 18,777 Independent count: up to 48,000 Estimated number of Iraqi civilians (men, women, and children) killed in Bush's war since Saddam Hussein was ousted: 38,960 For Iraqis, the bloodiest month of the war so far: June 2006 more than 100 civilians killed per day Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit's advice to Iraqis who see TV reports of innocent civilians being killed by occupying troops: "Change the channel." Percent of Iraqis who want American troops to leave: 82 Stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction found in Iraq since Bush committed Americans to war in 2003 on the basis that Saddam had and was about to use WMDs: 0 Number of nations in the world: 192 Number that joined Bush's "Coalition of the Willing" (COW) to invade Iraq: 48 (The list includes such military powers as Angola, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Latvia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Romania, Solomon Islands, and Uganda.) Number of COW nations that actually sent any troops to Iraq: 39 (Of these, 32 sent fewer than 1,000 troops. Many sent no fighting units, deploying only engineers, trainers, humanitarian units, and other noncombat personnel.)	The official White House claim before the invasion of what the war and occupation would cost U.S.taxpayers: $50 billion As of July 2006, the total amount appropriated by Congress for Bush's ongoing war and occupation: $295,634,921,248 Current Pentagon spending per month in Iraq: $8 billion (or $185,185.19 per minute) Assuming all troops return home by 2010, the projected "real costs" for the war: More than $1 trillion (includes veterans' pay and medical costs, interest on the billions Bush has borrowed to pay for his war, etc.) Annual salary of Stuart Baker, hired by the Bushites to be the White House "Director for Lessons Learned": $106,641 Number of lessons that Bush appears to have learned: 0
	Number of the 39 COW nations contributing troops that have since withdrawn them: 17 (An additional 7 have announced plans to withdraw all or part of their contingents this year.) Number of COW troops in Iraq: 150,000 Number of these that are U.S. troops: 139,000 Number of White House officials and cabinet members who have any of their immediate family in Bush's war: 0
When signing a particular congressional act into law, a few presidents have occasionally issued a "signing statement" to clarify their understanding of what Congress intended. These have not had the force of law and have been used discreetly in the past. Very quietly, however, Bush has radically increased both the number and reach of these statements, essentially asserting that the president can arbitrarily decide which laws he will obey. Number of signing statements issued by Bush as of July 2006: more than 800 (This is more than the combined total of all 42 previous presidents.) A few examples of congressionally passed laws he has effectively annulled through these extralegal signing statements: a ban against torture of prisoners by the U.S. military a requirement that the FBI periodically report to Congress on how it is using the Patriot Act to search our homes and secretly seize people's private papers a ban against storage in military databases of intelligence about Americans that was obtained illegally a directive for the executive branch to transmit scientific information to Congress "uncensored and without delay" when requested Provision of the Constitution clearly stating that Congress alone has the power "to make all laws": Article 1, Section 8 Provision of the Constitution clearly stating that the president "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed": Article 2, Section 3 Name of the young lawyer in the Reagan administration who wrote a 1986 strategy memo on how to pervert the use of signing statements in order to concentrate more power in the executive branch, as Bush is now doing: Samuel Alito, named to the U.S. Supreme Court by Bush this year These are secret executive writs that the infamous 2001 Patriot Act authorizes the FBI to issue to public libraries, internet firms, banks, and others. Upon receiving an NSL, the institution or firm is required to turn over any private records it holds on you, me, or whomever the agents have chosen to search. Who authorizes the FBI to issue these secret writs? The FBI itself. Surely the agents have to get a search warrant, a grand jury subpoena, or a court's approval? No But to issue an NSL, an agent must show probable cause that the person being searched has committed some crime, right? No Well, don't officials have to inform citizens that their records are being seized so they can defend themselves or protest? No Number of NSLs issued by various FBI offices last year alone: 9,254 In 2001, Bush issued a secret order for the National Security Agency to begin vacuuming up massive numbers of telephone and internet exchanges by U.S. citizens, illegally seizing this material without any judicial approval or informing Congress, as required by law. Number of Americans who have had their phone and internet communications taken by NSA: Just about everyone! (NSA is tapping into the entire database of long-distance calls and internet messages run through AT&T and probably other companies as well.) In May of this year, the Justice Department abruptly halted an internal investigation that was trying to uncover the name of the top officials who had authorized NSA's warrantless, unconstitutional program. Who killed this probe, which was requested by Congress? George W himself! (He directed NSA simply to refuse security clearances for the department's legal investigators.)	The New York Times reported this June that Bush was running another spy program. This one was snooping through international banking records, including millions of bank transactions done by innocent Americans. George reacted angrily to the exposure, branding the Times report "disgraceful" and declaring that revelation of his spy program "does great harm to the United States." The White House and its right-wing acolytes promptly launched a "Hate-the-Times" political campaign. Name the guy who was the first to reveal that such a bank-spying program was in the works: George W. Bush! At a September 2001 press conference, he announced that he'd just signed an executive order to monitor all international bank transactions. From the Bushites' ill-fated Total Information Awareness program (meant to monitor all of our computerized transactions) to the robust efforts by Rumsfeld's Pentagon to barge into the domestic surveillance game, America under Bush has fast become The Watched Society. Number of data-mining programs being run secretly on us by the federal government: Nearly 200 separate programs at 52 agencies Number of "local activity reports" submitted to the Pentagon in 2004 under the "Threat and Local Observation Notice" program (TALON), which directed military officers throughout our country to keep an eye on suspicious activities by civilians: More than 5,000 (They included such "threats" as peace demonstrators and 10 activists protesting outside Halliburton's headquarters.) Number of official "watch lists" maintained by the feds: More than a dozen run by 9 different agencies Number of Americans on the Transportation Security Administration's "No- Fly" list: That's a secret. (TSA concedes that it's in the tens of thousands. In 2005 alone, some 30,000 people called TSA to complain that their names were mistakenly on the list.) Most famous citizen who is on the No-Fly list and has been repeatedly pulled aside by TSA for additional screenings at airports: Sen. Ted Kennedy How can you get your name removed from TSA list? That's a secret. In 1966, a young Republican congressman stood against his party's elders to cosponsor the original Freedom of Information Act, valiantly declaring that public records "are public property." He said that FOIA "will make it considerably more difficult for secrecy-minded bureaucrats to decide arbitrarily that the people should be denied access to information on the conduct of government." Who was that virtuous law maker? Donald Rumsfeld! Only eight years later, Gerald Ford's chief of staff strongly urged him to veto the continuation of FOIA. Who was that dastardly staffer? Donald Rumsfeld! Who is now one of the chief "secrecy-minded bureaucrats" who routinely violates OIA's principles? Right, him again!
	What happened to NSA Director Michael Hayden, who was the key architect of Bush's illegal eavesdropping program and the one who would've formally denied clearances to Justice Department investigators? In May, Bush promoted him to head the CIA. This past May, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales warned that journalists who report on NSA's spy program could be prosecuted under the antiquated Espionage Act of 1917. Times in U.S. history this act has been used to go after the press: 0 Margin by which the U.S. House in 1917 voted down an amendment to make the Espionage Act apply to journalists: 184-144
Total value of contracts given to Halliburton for work in the Bush-Cheney "War on Terror" since 2001: More than $15 billion Amount that Halliburton pays to the Third World laborers it imports into Iraq to do the work in its dining facilities, laundries, etc.: $6 per 12-hour day (50 cents an hour) Amount that Halliburton bills us taxpayers for each of these workers: $50 a day Amount that Halliburton bills U.S. taxpayers for: A case of sodas: $45 Washing a bag of laundry: $100 Halliburton's campaign contributions in Bush-Cheney election years: In 2000: $285,252 (96% to Republicans) In 2004: $145,500 (89% to Republicans) Plus $365,065 from members of its board of directors (99% to Republicans) Increase in Halliburton's profits since Bush-Cheney took office in 2000: 379% Halliburton's 2005 profit: $1.1 billion (highest in the corporation's 86-year history Annual payments that Cheney has received from Halliburton since he's been vice-president: 2001: $205,298 2002: $162,392 2003: $178,437 2004: $194,852 2005: $211,465 Cash bonus paid to Cheney by Halliburton just before he took office: $1.4 million Retirement package he was given in 2000 after only 5 years as CEO: $20 million Number of times in the past two years that Republicans have killed Sen. Byron Dorgan's amendment to set up a Truman-style committee on war profiteering to investigate Halliburton: 3 Naughty word Cheney used during a Senate photo session in 2004 to assail Sen. Patrick Leahy, who had criticized Cheney's ongoing ties to Halliburton: "Go #@!% yourself.	Increase in the number of government documents marked "secret" between 2001 and 2004: 81% Number of government documents stamped "secret" in 2001: 8.6 million Number of government documents stamped "secret" in 2004: 15.6 million (a new record) Cost to taxpayers of classifying and securing documents in 2004: $7.2 billion ($460 per document) Number of previously declassified documents that the CIA tried to reclassify as "secret" under a 2001 secret agreement with the National Archives, even though many had already been published and some date back to the Korean War: 25,315 Number of different "official designations" the government now has to classify nonsecret information so it still is kept out of the public's reach: Between 50 and 60 (They include such stamps as CBU - Controlled But Unclassified, SBU - Sensitive But Unclassified, and LOU—Limited Official Use Only.) The only vice-president in history who has claimed that he, like the president, has the inherent authority to mark "secret" on any document he chooses: "Buckshot" Cheney Number of documents Cheney has classified: That's a secret. (He claims he does not have to report this to anyone—not even the president.) Of the 7,045 advisory committee meetings held by the Bushites in 2004, percentage that were completely closed to the public, contrary to the clear intent of the Federal Advisory Committee Act: 64% (a new record) Number of times from 1953 to1975 (the peak of the Cold War) that presidents invoked the "state secrets" privilege, which grants them unilateral power in extraordinary instances literally to shut down court cases on the grounds they could reveal secrets that the president doesn't want disclosed: 4 Number of times the same privilege was invoked between 2001 and 2006: At least 24 Under Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno issued an official memo instructing agencies to release as much information as possible to the public. In October 2001, AG John Ashcroft issued a memo canceling Reno's approach, expressly instructing agencies to look for reasons to deny the public access to information and pledging to support the denials if the agencies were sued. 2005 FOIA requests still awaiting a response at year's end: 31% (a one-third increase over the 2004 backlog) Median waiting time to get an answer on FOIA request from Bush's justice department: 863 days

Olbermann: 'The Nexus of politics and terror'

David Edwards
Published: Tuesday August 15, 2006

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann offered an updated top 10 list of occasions that the Bush Administration has gained political benefits around the same time that the public's fear of terrorism was at a peak. Olbermann describes it as "The Nexus of Politics and Terror."

In this video from last night's broadcast, Olbermann includes the latest foiled terrorist plot in Britain with the newest edition of the "Nexus of Politics and Terror Top 10 List". Olbermann concludes that if these occasions are more than just coincidences then, he says, "it underscores the need for questions to be asked in this country, questions about what is prudence and what is fear-mongering."

A transcript follows the video.

The Raw Story | Olbermann: 'The Nexus of politics and terror'

This is a very important segment that Olberman did relating to the politics/terror warning nexus. I would encourage everyone to watch it and send it to "non-believers".

Tonight watch :

HBO: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

on tonight and tomorrow on HBO 8 pm Central time.

ABC SANITIZES SPIKE LEE
Spike Lee was interviewed on This Weekabout his new
Katrina documentary. The portion that aired on TV stripped out
all of Lee's critical comments towards the Bush administration.
Check out both versions and see how ABC sanitized Lee.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40592/

Sheehan, Others Protest at Rove Event

The Associated Press
Sunday, August 20, 2006; 1:35 AM

RoveeventinAustin

Rove was speaking to the Associated Republicans of Texas, and ticket prices started at $200. He was not in the Renaissance Hotel lobby during the reception.

"I want him arrested. He planned the war that killed my son," Sheehan told officers guarding the door. Sheehan's oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

Police then ordered the group to leave, but some protesters had paid for rooms for the night. Those protesters went upstairs, including Sheehan.

One protester slipped inside the ballroom during the dinner but was escorted out after shouting about men and women dying, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its Sunday editions.

"Pat, did you get her check before she left?" Rove quipped to the GOP group's executive director, Pat Robbins, as the crowd of 300 laughed, the newspaper reported.

"I don't question the patriotism of our critics. Many are hardworking public servants who are doing the best they can. Some of them are people looking for a free meal," Rove said, drawing more laughs.

Earlier, wearing shorts and T-shirts while guests of the lobby reception walked past in sequined dresses and expensive suits, anti-war demonstrators carried American flags and signs, including one that read "Check your conscience." A few protesters unfurled a large banner from a sixth-floor hotel balcony that read "Rove v. Truth: No Contest. Pink slip Rove."

Those at the reception sipped their drinks and largely ignored the protesters before they started chanting. One man looked at the group and said, "Go Bush!"

Earlier Saturday, the group of more than 70 gathered at the hotel entrance, carrying a large banner that read, "Rove: Guilty of crimes against humanity." Ann Wright, a former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in protest over the war, yelled through a bullhorn, "Karl Rove, you are a criminal!"

After about 30 minutes, Austin police made them move onto grass at the edge of the property about a block away. Dozens remained later Saturday, holding signs as cars drove by, honking their horns.

Sheehan and the group left their campsite in Crawford near Bush's ranch, where they have held vigil the past two weeks, and drove about 100 miles south to Austin.

The war protest will continue until early September, although Bush's ranch 10-day ranch vacation ended last weekend. Sheehan's 26-day protest last August drew more than 10,000 people to her campsite in ditches off the rural road leading to the ranch, but she recently bought land near downtown for the group to camp on

From Linda Foley:

I also said that our presence was a reminder to the Republicans that there are plenty of people who do not believe a word that comes out of the mouths of Bush, Cheney, Rummy and the rest of this administration.
 
There were about 50 people who caravanned to Austin for this action. When we gathered across from the hotel parking lot we were approached by security who told us that we could not park there unless we were customers of the shopping center or nearby restaurants. There was discussion with the security people over this and we all walked off to "go shopping" and become legitimate parking customers.
 
We were holding signs and wearing t-shirts with a variety of messages, including IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY. 

LIES

This is what the gullible,

ignorant majority of the U.S.

gets as news every day.

The biggest lie of all is the

U.S. government had nothing

to do with 9-11. The truth is

the U.S. government killed

thousands of people on 9-11

and more are dying daily based

on lies. ~ Hello In There

The Busheviks believe that if you state a lie over and over again it becomes the truth.

Cheney is the best illustration of this, but Rumsfeld and Bush are right up there.

In fact, as has been noted before, Bush told some schoolchildren (his peer group, so to speak) that his role as President was to repeat the same message over and over again to "catapult the propaganda." (The full quotation is ""See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." You can listen to Bush say it here, as he did on May 24, 2005 to middle and high school students in Rochester, New York.)

Of course the truth to Bush is the truth as he sees it, or as Dick Cheney tells him it is. For them the truth becomes determined by the unrelenting drumbeat of a series of lies. Lies become the truth.

War is peace; peace is war.

Increasing the Number of Terrorists is Fighting a War on Terrorists.

Failure is success; success is failure.

If you have any doubt about the effectiveness of the GOP's ability to "catapult the propaganda," just think about the recent polling results that indicate 50% of Americans still think weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

The number of the misled sheeple had gone down, but Rick Santorum, in a Bushevik "catapulting of propaganda," held a timely diversionary news conference to announce that useless chemicals found in Iraq were actually "discovered" weapons of mass destruction.  

The world is waking up to the fact

that the U.S. is not protecting its

people. More than a third of

Americans believe 9-11 was an

inside job or was allowed to happen.

911Truth.org ::::: The 9/11 Truth Movement

~Hello in there

Republican are unimaginably bad on national security. Say it
loud, say it often, it's the truth. 8-18
http://www.alternet.org/story/40438/

Todays big news:

Federal Judge Halts Bush's 'Unconstitutional' Wiretapping
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0817-09.htm

Conservatives' Response to Federal Court Decision Striking Down Illegal Wiretapping? Attack the Judge. How Predictable! -- A BuzzFlash News Analysis
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/095

AS DEFINED BY OTHERS
By Nancy Greggs

After listening to the right-wing pundits, talk-show hosts, and the GOP
itself, I have put together a summary of who I am, based on their
definition.

In the aftermath of the Lamont win, I have been reminded, ad nauseam,
that I am disloyal because I don't support the candidacy of fellow
party
members who betray their own constituents.

But wait, there's more:

I am anti-American because I believe in the Constitution, and the
concept of a president upholding it after he has sworn an oath to do
so.

I am unpatriotic because I believe in a transparent government that
adheres to the laws of my nation, and a voting system that isn't
operated behind closed doors.

I am disrespectful of the office of the presidency because I believe it
should be occupied by someone whose policies are aimed at the
betterment
of my countrymen rather than the sole benefit of his own cronies.

I don't support the troops because I believe they shouldn't be placed
in
harm's way based on lies, nor be under-equipped when sent into combat.

I am selfish because I think the interests of my fellow citizens should
come before the interests of Big Business, Big Oil and Big Pharma.

I am a coward because I don't blindly support military aggression
advanced by people who themselves refused to serve in a time of war, or
by those who profit from it financially.

I am unethical because I believe politicians should debate their
opponents on issues, rather than concocting smear campaigns against
them
personally.

I am anti-Christian because I do not accept that people who invariably
display un-Christ-like behavior should be called Christians, nor should
they, or any other religious group, have influence over my government.

I am sympathetic to my country's enemies because I don't support
torture, or the killing of innocent civilians.

I am stubborn because I insist on thinking for myself, instead of
allowing myself to be told what to think.

I am an intellectual snob, because I seek out the truth, instead of
accepting what I am told without questioning the motives behind it.

I am an elitist because I believe in being well-read, well-educated,
and
well-informed, and do not want my country being governed by those who
are clearly none of those things.

I am a cut-and-run pacifist because I don't believe that inflaming my
alleged enemies' hatred by killing their families and destroying their
way of life makes me any safer.

I am a bleeding-heart because I believe that diplomacy, rather than
killing children, is more likely to lead to peaceful co-existence.

I am irresponsible because I believe that those in charge of my
government should be held to account when their incompetence and their
ulterior motives cause harm to my country.

I am naïve because I believe that political corruption should be rooted
out instead of being accepted as business-as-usual.

I am an unyielding skeptic because I continue to question where
millions
of taxpayers' dollars have gone when no one is able, nor willing, to
explain it.

I am obviously guilty of something because I refuse to willingly accept
being wire-tapped or spied upon.

I am heartless when I mourn the loss of my fellow citizens and an
entire
American city, instead of focusing on the inconveniencing of those who
were in a position to assist and ignored their cries for help.

I am ill-informed because I do not accept biased media news coverage as
being the last word on any topic.

I am ill-advised because I want to hear both sides of an issue, and not
just the side I am told is the correct side.

I am stupid because I don't believe that every Muslim in the world
spends their every waking hour thinking about ways to kill me.

I am a communist because I believe the wealthy should pay their fair
share of taxes instead of placing the entire burden of the national
debt
on the back of the working middle-class.

I am a socialist because I believe that in a country as wealthy as
mine,
children should not go to bed hungry and people should not die because
they cannot afford medical care.

I am thick-headed because I question the veracity of things said by
people who have been proven to have lied to me over and over, and over
again.

I am godless because I believe we should respect every person as a
child
of God, regardless of how they choose to worship Him.

I am a bigot because I refuse to hate people on the basis of their
income, their color, their ethnicity, or their citizenship.

I am immoral because I judge people on the basis of who they are and
not
on the basis of their sexual orientation.

I am short-sighted because I do not foresee that after trillions of
dollars spent, tens of thousands of lives lost, and escalating chaos
and
violence, 'victory' in Iraq is imminent.

I am a snob because I do not see the president of my country acting
like
a clown in public as being charming or funny.

I am an enemy of the state, because I am a proud member of one the
country's two political parties - just not the 'right' one.

I am a Democrat. This is how I am defined by others. I think the
hypocrisy of that definition is self-evident.

'Nuff said?

Fascists of All Varieties
By Marc Ash
t r u t h o u t | Perspective



Reveling in this weeks announcement that a plot to blow up
American Airlines planes departing from British airports had been
foiled by British authorities, George W. Bush leapt at the
opportunity to sell his "war on terra" to whoever would listen. Using
the best Madison Avenue technique money can buy, he was even ready to
roll out a new slogan du jour on cue for the event. Today's phrase
that pays: We are at war with "Islamic fascists."

First let me say that if British law enforcement did in fact do
all of what the US mainstream press is implying they did, I thank
them for finding an efficient, non-violent way to guard the public
safety. "Efficient" and "non-violent" being the key words in the
preceding sentence.

Efficiency and non-violence have been glaringly absent from
US-British national security operations over the past five years. And
that absence contributes greatly to the current atmosphere of
conflict. War and a warlike mentality are espoused at every turn as
the remedies of choice in dealing with all threats to Western
security. As a result, Western security has suffered.

What worked in foiling the plot to destroy the airliners was
good old fashioned police work and a solid investigation. Not
military action. The tools used by British authorities are tools that
were available on September 11th 2001. They were available the day
the US invaded Iraq, and they are available today. We have always had
good tools to safeguard our security. Launching massive invasions is
not helping, it's adding to the rage that fuels the madness.

Fascism at Issue

Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash.com

As we've said before, when it comes to using fear to achieve political ends and consolidate power, the Bush Administration makes us feel like it's Groundhog Day everyday when they need some tyrannical law passed or election season is approaching.

So, in today's BuzzFlash stories, we have a number of examples of their latest efforts that are really from the same page of the same playbook that they have been using since 9/11: make the population fearful, make them think that only the Busheviks can save them, and then grab as much UnConstitutional power as Cheney and Bush can and use fear to preserve a one-party state (you know, Soviet-style.)

In Saturday's headline line-up alone, you will see that the Bush Administration wants to use the latest alleged terror threat to:

-- achieve their UnConstitutional goals for Kafkaesque Gitmo trials that the Supreme ruled against the law.

-- make their illegal NSA spying and data mining on American citizens legal (shades of the East German Stasi secret police).

-- protect themselves retroactively for being tried for war crimes.

And what's more, they are even boasting about how they are going to use the alleged terrorist threat to achieve their goals.

There was an Agence France Press article earlier in the week describing White House aides as gleeful with the opportunities that the alleged British terrorist cell offers them to make political gains -- in dismantling the Constitution and keeping the Democrats from taking over either House of Congress.

The Bush Administration is basically treasonous. They thrive off of terror.