Updates on the Republican Cyber Predator, the cover-up, and more revelations

http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fcannonfire.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F10%2Fflaggots.html

HOW THEY STOLE THE MID-TERM ELECTION

HOW THEY STOLE THE MID-TERM ELECTION

by Greg Palast

for The Guardian (UK), Comment
Monday November 6, 2006

 

Here's how the 2006 mid-term election was stolen.

 

Note the past tense. And I'm not kidding.

 

And shoot me for saying this, but it won't be stolen by jerking with the touch-screen machines (though they'll do their nasty part). While progressives panic over the viral spread of suspect computer black boxes, the Karl Rove-bots have been tunneling into the vote vaults through entirely different means.

 

For six years now, our investigations team, at first on assignment for BBC TV and the Guardian, has been digging into the nitty-gritty of the gaming of US elections. We've found that November 7, 2006 is a day that will live in infamy. Four and a half million votes have been shoplifted. Here's how they'll do it, in three easy steps:

Theft #1: Registrations gone with the wind.

 

On January 1, 2006, while America slept off New Year's Eve hangovers, a new federal law crept out of the swamps that has devoured 1.9 million votes, overwhelmingly those of African-Americans and Hispanics. The vote-snatching statute is a cankerous codicil slipped into the 2002 Help America Vote Act -- strategically timed to go into effect in this mid-term year. It requires every state to reject new would-be voters whose identity can't be verified against a state verification database.

 

Sounds arcane and not too threatening. But look at the numbers and you won't feel so fine. About 24.3 million Americans attempt to register or re-register each year. The New York University Law School's Brennan Center told me that, under the new law, Republican Secretaries of State began the year by blocking about one in three new voters.

 

How? To begin with, Mr. Bush's Social Security Administration has failed to verify 47% of registrants. After appeals and new attempts to register, US Elections Assistance Agency statistics indicate 1.9 million would-be voters will still find themselves barred from the ballot on Tuesday.

 

But don't worry: those holding passports from their ski vacations to Switzerland are doing just fine. And that's the point. It's not the number of voters rejected, it's their color. For example, California's Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson figured out how to block 40% of registrants, mostly Hispanics. In a rare counter-move, Los Angeles, with a Hispanic mayor, contacted these citizens, "verified" them and got almost every single one back on the rolls. But throughout the rest of the West, new Hispanics remain victims of the "José Crow" treatment.

In hotly contested Ohio, Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State and the Republican's candidate for Governor, remains voter-rejection champ -- partly by keeping the rejection criteria a complete secret.

 

Theft #2: Turned Away - the ID game

A legion of pimple-faced Republicans with Blackberries loaded with lists of new voters is assigned to challenge citizens in heavily Black and Hispanic(i.e. Democratic) precincts to demand photo ID that perfectly matches registration data.

 

Sounds benign, but it's not. The federal HAVA law and complex new ID requirements in states like New Mexico will easily allow the GOP squads to triple the number of voters turned away. Rather than deny using these voter suppression tactics, Republican spokesmen are claiming they are "protecting the integrity of the vote."

I've heard that before. In 2004, we got our hands on fifty confidential internal memos from the files of the Republican National Committee. Attached to these were some pretty strange spreadsheets. They called them "caging lists" -- and it wasn't about zoo feeding times. They were lists (70,000 for Florida alone) of new Black and Jewish voters -- a very Democratic demographic -- to challenge on Election Day. The GOP did so with a vengeance: In 2004, for the first time in half a century, more than 3.5 million voters were challenged on Election Day. Worse, nearly half lost their vote: 300,000 were turned away for wrong ID; 1.1 million were allowed a "provisional" ballot -- which was then simply tossed out.

 

Tomorrow, new federal ID requirements and a dozen new state show-me-your-ID laws will permit the GOP challenge campaign to triple their 300,000 record to nearly one million voters blocked.

 

Theft #3: Votes Spoiled Rotten

 

The nasty little secret of US elections is that three million ballots are cast in national elections but not counted -- 3,600,380 not counted in 2004 according to US Election Commission stats. These are votes lost because a punch card didn't punch (its chad got "hung"), a stray mark voided a paper ballot and other machinery glitches.

Officials call it "spoilage." I call it, "inaugurating Republicans." Why? According to statisticians working with the US Civil Rights Commission, the chance your vote will "spoil" this way is 900% higher for Black folk and 500% higher for Hispanics than for white voters. When we do the arithmetic, we find that well over half of all votes spoiled or "blank" are cast by voters of color. On balance, this spoilage game produces a million-vote edge for the GOP.

That's where the Black Boxes come into play. Forget about Karl Rove messing with the software to change your vote. Rather, the big losses occur when computers crash, fail to start or simply don't respond to your touch. They are the new spoilage machines of choice with, statistically, the same racial bias as the old vote-snatching lever machines. (Funny, but paper ballots with in-precinct scanners don't go rotten on Black voters. Maybe that's why Republican Secretaries of State have installed so few of them.)

 

So Let's Add it Up

 

Two million legitimate voters will be turned away because of wrongly rejected or purged registrations.

Add another one million voters challenged and turned away for "improper ID."

Then add yet another million for Democratic votes "spoiled" by busted black boxes and by bad ballots.

And let's not forget to include the one million "provisional" ballots which will never get counted. Based on the experience of 2004, we know that, overwhelmingly, minority voters are the ones shunted to these baloney ballots.

And there's one more group of votes that won't be counted: absentee ballots challenged and discarded. Elections Assistance Agency data tell us a half million of these absentee votes will go down the drain.

Driving this massive suppression of the vote are sophisticated challenge operations. And here I must note that the Democrats have no national challenge campaign. That's morally laudable; electorally suicidal.

 

Add it all up -- all those Democratic-leaning votes rejected, barred and spoiled -- and the Republican Party begins Election Day with a 4.5 million-vote thumb on the vote-tally scale.

 

So, what are you going to do about it? May I suggest you … steal back your vote.

 

It's true you can't win with 51% of the vote anymore. So just get over it. The regime's sneak attack via vote suppression will only net them 4.5 million votes, about 5% of the total. You should be able to beat that blindfolded. If you can't get 55%, then you're just a bunch of crybaby pussycats who don't deserve to win back America.

 

********

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "ARMED MADHOUSE."

 

For specific advice on How to Steal Back Your Vote, go to http://www.gregpalast.com/steal-back-your-vote

Catch Greg Palast on Election Night on the new Mike Malloy Show on many Air America affiliates.

Abramoff Scandal--the Sequel

October 19, 2006 -- WMR's Capitol Hill sources report that the final shoe on the Jack Abramoff scandal has not yet dropped and that something "big" may come just prior to the November 7 election. WMR has previously reported that forced child prostitution in the U.S. Pacific territory of the Northern Marianas may involve some GOP members of Congress. Abramoff represented the Northern Marianas and its unregulated clothing manufacturers that imported slave laborers from China and the Philippines. There is evidence that the children of the laborers were used as child prostitutes for visiting U.S. "dignitaries."

From the WayneMadsenReport.com

American Prison Camps On the Way

A New story has been sent by a friend susanswilk
Message Posted :
Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, is constructing a huge facility at an undisclosed location to hold tens of thousands of Bush's "unlawful enemy combatants." Americans are certain to be among them.

http://www.nexteranews.com/comments.aspx?id=369
If you have any questions, concerns or need support. Please make sure to contact us here:
http://www.nexteranews.com/feedback.aspx


Best Regards,
nexteranews.com Support Team,
www.nexteranews.com

Say goodbye to America. It ends tomorrow.

http://www.bordc.org/

Take Action Tuesday as Pres. Bush Signs Military Commission Act which "limits habeas corpus, permits indefinite detention without judicial oversight, permits torture and cruel and degrading treatment, and limits accountability for abuses perpetrated by U.S. officials."

Liberal talk radio -- the sequel!!

We the People,

It is with great excitement and optimism that I announce today the formation of a new progressive talk radio network. Myself along with my partners, Anita and Sheldon Drobny; the original co founders of the Air America Radio Network, want to be the first to tell all you truth seekers that the original truth seeker himself Mike Malloy will be born again live on the public airwaves. The planned second coming (barring any apocalypse) is scheduled for October 30, 2006. The Mike Malloy Show will initially broadcast live, from 9PM -12 Midnight (EST) on Nova M Radio affiliates 1480-AM KPHX Phoenix.

In addition, Im equally excited to announce our strategic partnership with Joe Trippi and associates. Joe Trippi revolutionized electoral politics in America with his instrumental role in Howard Deans 2004 presidential campaign, raising over $40 million in small donor ontributions over the Internet. Joe created a new paradigm in how campaigns locally and nationally are conducted by leveraging the scope and breadth of innovative Internet-based technologies and digital tools. Joe and his team will help us reach out to millions of us who share common values and common goals.

Also joining our team will be internationally renowned pollster John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International. John will be co-hosting a weekly one hour show, The Pulse of the Nation where John polls particular hot button issues from politics and pop culture to the War in Iraq and stem cell research. Each program will include expert guests and audience participation. At the end of each show John will reveal the secret results of the poll and each listener will then know whether or not they have their finger on The Pulse of the Nation!

We will continue to build upon the foundation laid by our predecessors and will work tirelessly to fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities to our investors. Equally important, we will with the millions of faithful progressive listeners uphold our vision to promote freedom, social justice,
economic justice and peace worldwide.

We have many more exciting announcements to make; new talent, name of new network and so on. So stay tuned and keep up to date at our web site, http://www.novamradio.com/ <http://www.novamradio.com/> ! And as always, from the bottom of my bleeding liberal heart, God Bless America!

In Solidarity,


Mike Newcomb, MD
CEO & Chairman, Nova M Radio, Inc.

The Plame Scandal Isn't Over

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2006/

Huge Foley Contribution to Reynolds: $100,000

http://blogs.nydailynews.com/dailypolitics/

That's a huge chunk of change. Reasonable minds wonder if it was hush money; you know, a bribe, a "thank you for not turning me in" gift.

Speak up, speak out!

http://www.hastertmustgo.com/

 

 

Israel to strike Iran says former Navy intel officer

A former Navy intelligence officer weighs in on how the world will stop Iran from building nuclear bombs: "I really believe the Israelis are going to strike [Iran's] several uranium processing factories soon. They cannot survive a first strike. This time, unlike when they sent eight F-16s to destroy the Iraqi reactor Osirak, I think they will use the Jericho missiles and the submarine-launched, nuclear-tipped Tomahawks to do nuclear strikes. Most of the factories are 150 meters underground and too deep for bunker busters."

[manipulation alert: First published in The Washington Times]
http://www.washingtontimes.com%2Fnational%2Finring.htm

Journalist shot in head by U.S. soldier -- while on the way to a hospital

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1889272,00.html

Someone at Fox is manipulating YouTube

Thanks , nay huge thanks to Codem0nkey

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OOMae792lUw

Watch this for the barebones.

Copyright © 2006 YouTube, Inc.

Alzheimers news

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15145917/

Pagegate is spreading

This in from WayneMadsenReport.com

 

October 5, 2006 -- Pagegate. Heard from the Washington "grapevine." The GOP spin machine will try and keep the focus in Pagegate on Mark Foley and off of his congressional enablers. The effort at "containment" will fail. There are more revelations to follow. The scandal waves are lapping at the doors of the US Senate, Republican National Committee, and Florida administration of Jeb Bush and Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate) Charlie Crist. Certain Florida-based conservative media commentators may also be caught up in the scandal.

 

Pagegate spreading outside the House of Representatives to Senate, RNC, and Florida

 

BREAKING. A well-placed source has told WMR that the Pagegate scandal will soon involve underage male and female teens who have not served as congressional pages, but who have reported abuse by well-known GOP players in the nation's capital. The source says the Psychiatric Institute of Washington's "Center Unit" has dealt with a number of child abuse cases involving senior Republican office holders in the Washington, DC area. Now that GOP abuse of minors is finally receiving media attention as a result of Pagegate, it is a matter of time before the abused males and females report the details of their own abuse cases.

 

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Mooney Censored for Anti-Bush Jokes

Time Warner Gives Bush-Bashing Comic the Hook

GET UP, STAND-UP Mooney

Is Time Warner getting into the censorship business? A host of Showtime at the Apollo claims he got the hook for angering top brass at the media megaconglomerate with jokes about President George W. Bush.

Comic Paul Mooney (most recently of Chappelle's Show) was midway through a taping of the famed Harlem theater's weekly variety show when the plug was abruptly pulled. Mooney claims the show's producer, Suzanne de Passe, told him material in his monologue had offended unnamed officials from Time Warner, whose chairman, Richard Parsons, heads the Apollo Theater Foundation's board of directors and is among the country's most prominent black Republicans. De Passe was traveling and unreachable for comment, but a Time Warner spokeswoman called the story "ridiculous." "It's absolutely untrue" that the company had anything to do with the incident, she says, noting that Parsons was out of the country at the time.

Mooney, however, seems certain who shut him down. "They wanted me out of there, the Republicans, the Time Warner people," he says. "They said I was Bush bashing, and it was hatred. I felt like I was in Iran or Cuba or somewhere."

After everything that's been said about Bush at this point, how did Mooney manage to provoke such a harsh response? "I talked about his little drunk daughters, Gin and Juice," he says, referring to Jenna and Barbara Bush. "I talked about his mother, who looks like the man on the oatmeal box." Mooney also did a bit on how the letters in Bush's name can be manipulated to produce the number 666, proving Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's recent claim that Bush is the devil.

"The audience went crazy for that," he says.

But whether the jokes were funny or in good taste is irrelevant, he adds. "My point is ever since 9/11, we lost all our rights. They're practicing on the minorities, but when they get good at it they're going to do it to the white folks."

Funnily enough, Mooney was filling in for Whoopi Goldberg, who had hosted the show's previous eight episodes. Goldberg faced her own Bush-bash-backlash in 2004, when she made a sexual double entendre on the president's name during a Kerry-Edwards fundraiser, prompting Slim-Fast to fire her as its spokeswoman. Mooney says he called Goldberg after the taping was scrubbed, "and she said, 'Welcome to the club.'"

By Jeff Bercovici   10/04/06 7:00 AM

What Waterboarding Is

http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/09/this_is_what_wa.php

House races-- still an uphill battle

CQ now has less than 218 seats listed as "safe Republican", "Republican Favored", or "Lean Republican".

 

           Now Safe Fav Lean Projected
Republican 230  168  27  22  217
Democrat   202  184   8  12  204

No Clear Favorite: 14

You need 218 seats for the majority.

Video: Lawrence O'Donnell says Abramoff had 'run' of White House

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/

White House Ties to Abramoff Stronger Than Reported

TPM Muckraker brings us news of corruption at the top.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001631.php

Jack Cafferty lashes out at President Bush for failures of the war in Afghanistan.

On CNN's Situation Room, Jack Cafferty lashed out at President Bush for failures of the war in Afghanistan.

Kinky's a hoot! but not governor material.-- Fact check

POLICY STATEMENTS, PROPOSALS AND REALITY

Here's a look at some of Kinky Friedman's recent policy statements and proposals and how they fall short:

Mr. Friedman: "We're 50th in education, with Guam and Samoa sneaking up on us."

Fact: Texas is not last in any of the 10 categories ranked by the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers group.

Mr. Friedman: "[I] want to create new revenue and not by jacking up everybody's electric bill 80 percent."

Fact: The state does not derive any direct benefit from utilities, which are owned by private companies or municipalities. The state does charge a fee - used for energy efficiency and other programs - based on kilowatt hours.

Mr. Friedman: Lottery revenue "is going to lobbyists. It's going to politicians. It's going to the same place the horny toad license plate is going - into the general fund."

Fact: Lottery proceeds are legally dedicated to the state education foundation fund. They cannot be used for general spending.

Mr. Friedman: "We've got to appoint people to the system who have seen the inside of a classroom sometime in their lifetime."

Fact: Four of the last five state commissioners for education - including the current chief, Shirley Neeley - began their careers as teachers.

Mr. Friedman: "We've got to get rid of the TAKS test."

Fact: Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, the state must use standardized testing to rate campuses or it cannot receive federal funding.

Mr. Friedman: He would send 10,000 troops to the border with law enforcement power. "I would put teeth into this program," he said.

Fact: National Guardsmen are not trained in law enforcement, and federal mandates prohibit their being used in that capacity unless a governor has declared martial law and places communities under military authority.

Mr. Friedman: "We discovered that [his rivals in the governor's race] have 89 years of politics. ... I don't think they've done anything outside of politics their whole damn lives."

Fact: The three other candidates have held political office for a combined 48 years: Rick Perry for 22 years; Carole Keeton Strayhorn for 19 years; and Chris Bell for seven. Before running for office, Mr. Perry was a rancher;
Mrs. Strayhorn has been a teacher and business consultant; Mr. Bell was a lawyer and journalist.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research

October 5: No Work. No School. Protest in the Streets.

On October 5, people everywhere will walk out of school, take off work, and come to the downtowns & townsquares and set out from there, going through the streets and calling on many more to join us - making a powerful statement: "NO! THIS REGIME DOES NOT REPRESENT US! AND WE WILL DRIVE IT OUT!"

 

 

http://www.worldcantwait.net/

 

 

Watch Clinton Spank the Rightwing

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-laden/

House Democrats Call For Investigation Into FCC Reports page!

http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=276738

Check out the FMQB website!

House Democrats Call For Investigation Into FCC Reports page!

Demonstration of Vote Stealing Ability

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/41675

The accompanying article by Alternet writer Evan Derkacz discusses the Princeton study's findings on whether it is possible to hack electronic election systems to steal votes.

http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/

Politicians' rhetoric heighten sense of fear

Alerts aid terror goals, study finds

Intense media scrutiny and politicians' rhetoric heighten sense of fear, researchers say
http://sfgate.com/

False Flag Operations (Story running on Yahoo news)

False Flag Operations: Declassified military documents show how US government planned terrorist attacks against its own citizens.

http://news.yahoo.com/news

BOOK: Cable News Media, Exposed

This looks like a worthwhile read.

http://cablenewsconfidential.com/

Who Is Behind "The Path to 9/11"?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001491.php

Olbermann blasts Rumsfeld

This is why I love Keith Olbermann . . .
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Olbermann blasts Rumsfeld

http://www.salon.com/

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Thu Sep 7 00:01:08 2006

What a disgrace: ABC's planned 9/11 "mockumentary"

If this mockumentary airs, it will mean ABC's own self-destruction.

 

You see, it's too late to rewrite history--we now know better. Imagine how Americans will react, as our intelligence is insulted with this piece, this transparent attempt to manipulate the November election.

 

We're onto you.We see this for what it is: an abuse of power, use of the public airways to sway an election. This is the 2006 swiftboat story. No, we know that you don't actually believe this story--this fresh fiction designed to plant seeds of doubt.

 

Imagine what will happen as over half of America forever turns away from ABC and Disney in disgust.

 

BOYCOTT is not a strong enough word for what will happen. I personally commit to shunning this company and all of its subsidiaries.

92% support for the public's right to view vote counting

From Zogby:

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1163

Americans Concerned About Election Transparency and Security
New poll shows more than 60% have heard news reports of flaws in new electronic voting equipment
A majority of Americans—61%—are aware of news reports of flaws in electronic voting machines and want members of the general public to be able to watch votes be counted following an election, a new Zogby International poll shows.
The telephone survey of 1,018 likely voters was conducted Aug. 11-15, 2006. It carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Asked whether Americans have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes, 92% of respondents concurred.
"The 92% support for the public's right to view vote counting and obtain information about it is a very strong political value of transparency and against secret vote counting outside the observation of the public," said Paul Lehto, a lawyer and sponsor of the survey. "To put this figure in context, support for election transparency exceeds the support for tax cuts, exceeds the approval of Pres. Bush immediately after 9-11, and virtually all other political values being measured." Mr. Lehto is counsel in the 50th Congressional District election contest in California.

Failure to perform

From DailyKos:

• Iraq is both a failure of Bush performance and policy. While we can argue about how to get out, the conclusion denied by the WH is nonetheless conventional wisdom
• Katrina was and is a failure both of Bush performance and policy. The anniversary is coming, and the spotlight on NOLA will not be pretty.
• The war on terror is a failure of Bush performance and policy. Most people do not think we are winning; those who buy the crap about iraq being part of it are just as likely to feel that way as those who don't.

VOTE RIGGING TESTIMONY

http://alternet.org/blogs/video/40755/

AlterNet: Another 9/11 Coverup in the Making?

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

http://www.alternet.org/story/40693

The author of a new book about the mistakes that led to 9/11 accuses the National Geographic Channel of diluting a documentary about the book in order to protect the government.
-------------------------------------

New Tapes Disclose Confusion Within the Military on Sept. 11

http://topics.nytimes.com/


The above article references an article posted this week on the Web site of Vanity Fair magazine (www.vanityfair. com). The Web site includes links http://www.vanityfair.com/ to excerpts from the actual tapes.

MSNBC BUSH IMPEACHMENT POLL

The results are amazing! Vote, then check it out--they have collected 1/4 of a million votes.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/

Real Damage

Ever wonder what else happened as a result of the Bush/Cheney cabal outing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA non-official cover agent?

They will argue about their motive, and at the same time deny that they "explicitly said her name."

 

But, who else got hurt? Do you think this mattered to them?

 

From the Wayne Madsen Report:

After Mrs. Wilson's name and identity of her cover company were revealed by the White House to the media, at least one CIA non-official cover agent monitoring Iran's nuclear weapons program was tortured and executed, according to our intelligence sources. In addition, WMR has learned that covert Iranian backchannels employed by a current member of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of Plame's Brewster Jennings & Associates network were thoroughly compromised by the White House leak. The member of Congress, who, like Plame, had been an earlier CIA "non-official cover (NOC) energy consultant" in the Middle East during the late 1970s and early 80s, and who was familiar with the early weapons of mass destruction proliferation involving the A. Q. Khan network of Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, was compromised and he and his connections to the Brewster Jennings & Associates intelligence network and Iranian government contacts were made known to adversarial intelligence agencies. The staff of the member whose covert Iranian contact network was compromised was targeted and tainted with Jack Abramoff money, putting the U.S. Representative in extreme political jeopardy.

Bush violated the law --broke 26 statutes

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/

Quote of the Day

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
--B.F. Skinner

A picture from happier times

I don't know about you guys, but I am feeling pounded and battered by all of the bad news, so I decided to post a picture from our trip to Hawaii that we took in May.

Bush wearing the wire again today?

I just saw Bush on CNN in a clip of his signing the Voting Rights (Extension) Act into law. When he turned around, I saw that now-familiar snaked wire on his back, under his suit. This time, the wire traverses his back from upper left to lower right.

Am I imagining it? Y'all check it out when the clip runs again. There is no box now, but I'm sure that they've learned their lesson and moved it to a less conspicuous place (like--> on his right side).

Who can find out definitively what that is? (Not that it truly matters at this point--I'm just deeply curious.)

The Reason Not to Vote for a Dope even if the other guy's medals are probably not well earned

No conflict ever hinged more on the competence of the people in charge
of the world than does this one. This is the very reason why you don't
vote for a dope because he seems like a nice guy, and the other guy,
well, his war hero medals might just be bogus. Somebody just shoot me.

What would have happened if we had had Bush as president during the
Cuban missile crisis? We'd still be recovering from that war. Many of us
wouldn't be here right now.

We need a team of smart people to run the government: people who
understand how to negotiate with all types----and by negotiate, I don't
mean people who have refined their bullying techniques into multiple
modes.

We need people who respect other cultures, who can empathize with those
who have become so enraged at being a victim of strong-arm tactics of
our government, and our corporations.

This ruling cabal just bullies others to do what they say (in their own
cabinet, military, dissenters; and anyone outside the country), because
they're running the most powerful government on the planet (and, for how
long, before they wreck us?) We're in a precarious place--all parties must back off. It could easily turn into the world war that certain parties crave--for different
reasons. Some people believe that our government is behind the Israel
overreaction.

I'm sick about this. Do you read Newsweek? I just started a subscription
a few weeks ago. In the issue I just got in the mail a day or two ago,
there is a picture of a dead little boy -- laying there, brains spilled
onto the rubble. He was Lebanese, as if that matters. One dead little
child of any stripe is absolutely abominable. I want every war-mongering
chicken hawk up and down the ladder to have to live with that image--to
know it with deep empathy, as if it were their child--to be haunted by
it, as I am.

The Iran Strategy

From Wayne Madsen Report:

July 21/22/23, 2006 -- UPDATED -- Informed sources have told WMR that arch-neocon Michael Ledeen, who acts as an unofficial foreign policy adviser to Karl Rove, was at the White House yesterday with a group of Iranian opposition figures. Among the topics discussed was a promised $25 million grant by the Bush administration to the Iranian insurgents. The deal is said to involve the Iran interlocutor from the Iran-Contra scandal, Manucher Ghorbanifar. The money is to be used to plant Desert Storm-vintage biological and chemical weapons shells, confiscated by U.S. forces in Iraq, on the Iranian side of the Iraqi border. The weapons will be used as "proof" of Iran's plan to "attack" U.S. troops in Iraq. That will be used to justify, ex post facto, the coming U.S. attack on Iran. Our sources report that George W. Bush dropped by the White House meeting to offer his support to the Iranian opposition operatives.

Meanwhile, the Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi II, is being given special protection and support by the CIA in the event of an expected U.S. invasion of Iran and the establishment of a U.S.-supported puppet government.

Pretext for war with Iran: White House plans to move chem-bio weapons from Iraq into Iranian side of this desolate border.

For more inside information, a goldmine of secrets, go to Wayne Madsen's website:

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

The Movement We Need

An unbelievable amount of people do not know the essential facts about
Iraq and the Bush administration.

I want to start a movement to educate those who are getting the wrong
information. Call it "Get the Facts." Starting with the basics:

*       Saddam Hussein was in no way related to the 9/11 attacks.

*       No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

I want to take out billboards, put flyers on cars during mega-church
services, NASCAR gatherings. Stuff like that.

On the flyers, I would provide a link to articles (or to YouTube
videos--preferably of the president himself) that would back up our
facts. The sources must be ones that conservatives would be able to
trust. (No NYT links, in other words.)
 

Any interest out there?
 

ABA to Release Report on Presidential Signing Statements

You can see it on C-SPAN at 10am on MONDAY.

 

 

AlterNet: Bush gropes German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Does no one handle this guy anymore? Where are the manners police?

-------------------------------------
Bush gropes German Chancellor Angela Merkel

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/mcewan/39135

And she's not happy about it
-------------------------------------

How to know if the NSA is monitoring you

This is a link to instructions on running a command to see if your communications are being monitored by the NSA.

http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/

Makes you wish the founders would come back and kick some right-wing bottoms

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-05-foia-research_x.htm

Report: Bush ordered Cheney to use classified info to discredit Wilson

http://nationaljournal.com/

Al-Zarqawi's wife: Al-Qaida sold him out

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060703/ap_on_re_eu/iraq_al_zarqawi

ROME - Al-Qaida leaders sold out Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to the United States in exchange for a promise to let up in the search for Osama bin Laden, the slain militant's wife claimed in an interview with an Italian newspaper.

CIA closes down unit that was hunting Bin Laden

http://www.rawstory.com/

Recruiter beats protesters with baseball bat

From Iraq Veterans for Peace:

"The following is a statement that is being circulated regarding an incident at the military recruiting station on Orange Street in New Haven on Wednesday, June 28.

A baseball bat-wielding Marine recruiter engaged in an unprovoked assault on two demonstrators outside the recruiting center and then seized the cell phone belonging to another demonstrator who had witnessed and photographed the assault. There are plans for a rally and press conference outside the recruiting center for July 5 at 5PM. The National Lawyers Guild was contacted immediately after the incident by organizers who were looking for legal assistance because, among other things, the New Haven police were trying to discourage the victims from making a complaint against the recruiter —apparently at least one officer expressed the opinion that having an anti-war demonstration outside a military recruiting center was a “provocation.” The question that this incident must raise is this: if a US Marine recruiter, while safely ensconced behind a desk in an air-conditioned office in New Haven, working in a position that plainly keeps him in the public eye, feels free to use a baseball bat to beat a protester . . . then how much restraint do we imagine that his compatriots use against Iraqis? I would strongly urge people to participate in the rally on July 5. The movement needs to respond in a strong and clear voice to violence against demonstrators, and all the more so when it comes from government personnel and is calculated to discourage political opposition.

-- Peter Goselin, NLG-CT.

9/11 professor to be fired by Illinois? VOTE NO!!!

From http://www.channel3 000.com/news/ 9457154/detail. html

Dr. Kevin Barrett gave a very informative talk in Peoria, ILon March 4, 2006.You might want to write a letter to University of Wisconsin authorities defending Barretts free speech rights:

Patrick V. Farrell
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
150 Bascom Hall
500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608/262-1304
Fax: 608/265-3324
E-mail: pfarrell@...

Chancellor John Wiley
E-mail:chancellor@ ...
Phone:608-262-9946
161 Bascom Hall
500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI53706

Most disturbing paragraph I've read in years

Wayne Madsen (WMR) reports fascinating stuff. Check out his site:

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

One of his sources told him this:

July 1, 2006 -- A former top Defense Department official has told WMR that he fears the Bush administration will pull off another "911" before the November election. The official stated that the next 911 will be used as a pretext for shipping U.S. citizens of Middle East descent to mass detention camps, establish martial law, impose strict censorship, and finally eliminate the power of the Congress and the Supreme Court over the president. "The next 911 will be much more like the Reichstag fire in terms of creating a dictatorship," said the official.

Okay, say you don't believe that would ever happen.

Say you don't think the Bush people are THAT bad. . . (still wearing those rose-colored glasses, are you?)

Let's just engage in a little intellectual exploration of possible strategies. In the face of a second 9/11, what does the opposition say and do to prevent the scenario from playing out the way Bush et al wants it to?

What are our options?

Bush linked to WMDs in Iraq

Wayne Madsen has some explosive information about the Bush I connection to Saddam's WMDs. It turns out that Bush II was so sure that Hussein had WMD's because Bush I has holdings in a company that sold the chemicals to make them to him.

Some of Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons were provided in 1988 by The Carlyle Group, through Spanish and French intermediaries. WMR has learned that pre-cursor and recombinant chemicals used in Iraqi WMDs were provided by a Texas petrochemical company and a chemical/biological toxin firm in which George H. W. Bush held and continues to hold a financial stake.

"The bombs had been purchased in the United States in 1988 from what appeared to be a government contractor called The Carlyle Group."

For more, see the June 28 postings on Wayne Madsen's website:


http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

McKinnney's Goals Are Noble

Rep. Cynthia McKinney has been one of the very few persistent voices opposing the Bush-Cheney regime in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a result has become a target for them. I am posting her appeal for donations in order to highlight the paragraph because this kind of attitude is so rare in our elected officials. She speaks for me, for us.

Please support Rep. Cynthia McKinney--we need a couple hundred more just like her.

Dear Friend:

Since my last missive to you, we've done a 1970s "Get Down" fun(d)raiser and a DC event. Many of you have been responsive to our request for assistance, and I thank those of you who have made a donation to my campaign; for those of you who have not yet done so, I ask for your additional consideration of my request. Here's why:

I have no desire to be in Congress for the sake of being here. My only goal is to do something, to achieve something, to make a difference and serve as a voice--if even in the wilderness--for those of us who feel left out, left behind, and underrepresented by the powers that be in Washington, DC. I can only make that difference and be that voice if I have a strong financial base, independent from those very Washington, DC powers that be.

Your contribution will go toward my election day operation. You know what it's like with the electronic voting machines. But I have to take precious resources and train poll watchers what to look out for on these machines. Like getting a zero count at the beginning of the day. We have already had to send a letter of protest to the Georgia Secretary of State whose regulations will
prevent our poll watchers from securing this vital piece of information at the beginning of the voting day.

Last election I had 1,000 people on the streets of the 4th Congressional District of Georgia. They need transportation, food, material to pass out, t-shirts, and lots of water, water, water because it's hot and humid in Georgia! Those of you who came to Georgia two years ago know that!

I don't need a lot of money, but I do need enough to accomplish our goals. And I don't regularly ask. But I'm asking now because I need your assistance now. The good thing is that if each of us does a little, then no one of us has to do a lot. I'm asking you to do a little now to help us fund our election day activities.

I've been true to the values and the ideals that sent me to Congress and you can count on me to stay that way. There are a few of us who will never compromise on the values that are important to you. Our country is at stake and your help is needed now, more than ever. You can snail mail a contribution to:

Cynthia McKinney for Congress
PO Box 371125
Decatur, GA 30037

or you can just click here to make a donation:

http://www.cynthiaforcongress.com/donate.php

Please support Rep. Cynthia McKinney today!

Jeb's Foundation for Florida's Future paid pollster, former campaign finance chief

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/

Help Americans get the truth -- our media 'protects' us from the truth

Americans who pay attention (33%, tops) know that Bush is a failed businessman who shouldn't be put in charge of anything, much less a nuclear-armed country. Many of the people who propped him up probably chose him because he has a famous family name. These people are Nixon-era Republicans (do you remember America's previous "dark age"?) The people who surround Bush in his cabinet are ideologues and/or cronies. The ideologues don't even represent mainstream Republicans, much less all of America.

As seen during the last big corruption scandal, our system works , but it is SOOOOO slow, painfully slow.

I believe that we in America can reverse some of the damage done to our country as long as there is a free press and fair and transparent elections. Both are endangered under this administration.

(We call Fox News "Faux News" )

If you want citizens of the US to vote better, vote smarter, do what you can to help the US media get the real stories--the truth!--not just what the Bush administration wants us to know. It should disturb every American to know that the US media chooses not to report some stories, not because there is doubt about the facts, but rather, that they believe Americans can't handle the truth. (I suspect they know that we would not agree with the choices they are making if we had all of the information.) Who is it that asked how much the American people know about what is going on--was it Al Gore? The answer was 1%.

Ignorance is not bliss. People who are not paying attention (presumably they know 0% of what is going on) may be fat, dumb, and happy, but the rest of us are profoundly disturbed by what we observe. Our foreign policy seems to be driven by big oil--we still don't know about the discussions that took place in the energy task force with Cheney and Ken Lay early in the Bush administration.

And to the paternal media I say: You underestimate us. We can handle it. We are adults, not children who need to be protected.

Bush admin sought call records prior to 9/11

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abIV0cO64zJE

Scalia is intellectually corrupt

http://www.latimes.com/

Limbaugh arrested again

http://cbs4.com/

Don't worry Rush, there are plenty of conservative mouthpieces left to fill your shoes.

Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

By Greg Mitchell

Published: June 18, 2006 6:20 PM ET

NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable,
marked "sensitive," that it says shows that just before President
Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad
for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in
Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and
hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."

This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening
conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded
international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant
fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S.
government."

It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below
indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's
rights, and "ethnic cleansing."

A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in
Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name
at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador,
though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely
approved it.

The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public
Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."

As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An
Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of
ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi
province, as political parties and their militias are seemingly
engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."

Among the other troubling reports:

-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with
the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off
outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant;
even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias.
People no longer trust most neighbors."

-- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another
received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.

-- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in
May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia
groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the
quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale
neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now
described as a "ghost town."

-- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office
reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May...."some groups are
pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even
at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full
abaya after receiving direct threats.

-- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public
and "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts."
People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.

-- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must
remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover
will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families
where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one
takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee
said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her
family believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."

-- Since April, the "demeanor" of guards in the Green Zone has
changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting"
embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly
that they work in the embassy: "Such information is a death sentence
if overheard by the wrong people." For this reason, some have asked
for press instead of embassy credentials.

-- "For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local
staff members for translation at on-camera press events....We cannot
call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing
their 'cover.'"

-- "More recently, we have begun shredding documents printed out
that show local staff surnames. In March, a few staff members
approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we
evacuate."

-- The overall environment is one of "frayed social networks," with
frequent actual or perceived insults. None of this is helped by lack
of electricity. "One colleague told us he feels 'defeated' by
circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his two-
year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stifling heat," which
is now reaching 115 degrees.

-- "Another employee tell us that life outside the Green Zone has
become 'emotionally draining.' He lives in a mostly Shiite area and
claims to attend a funeral 'every evening.'"

-- Fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in
line on his day off. "Employees all confirm that by the last week of
May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours
without. ... One staff member reported that a friend lives in a
building that houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his
appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day."

-- The cable concludes that employees' "personal fears are
reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of
reconciliation by officials."

The final line of the Cable is: KHALILZAD

Count Every Vote! Volunteer for the National Hand Count Registry

PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR LISTS!

The November 2006 election will dictate control of congress, and voting machines are melting down right and left. Let's take away all the excuses -- Black Box Voting is compiling a national registry of citizens willing to hand count if needed.

Register for the National Hand Count Registry here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-profile.cgi?action=register

HAVE HANDS, WILL TRAVEL:

Local regulations permitting, citizens from New Hampshire to New Mexico are telling us they're willing to go where they're needed to help count the ballots. If it becomes necessary, we will contact you to let you know where you are needed.

BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL:

You never know when your local jurisdiction's voting machines will choke (as happened in Cleveland -- Cuyahoga County, Ohio -- in the May 2 primary). Don't give them any excuses. In Cuyahoga County, 17,000 absentee votes could not be counted on the scanners. What did they do? They reportedly ENTERED EACH VOTE INTO A TOUCH-SCREEN. Next time, we should have a battalion of citizens ready to count those ballots.

In Riverside County, California, citizens who opted for a paper ballot because they didn't trust the touch-screens were dismayed to find that their paper ballot was later punched into a touch-screen.

Black Box Voting is making certain that no elections jurisdiction can claim they don't have anyone to hand count.

Join the BBV National Hand Count Registry now, and please persuade a friend to sign up too.

You will find the link to join the Hand Count Registry on the main page of our Web site:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

The direct link to register is at the top of this e-mail.

Thank you, citizens.

[Einstein's theory: "We the People" = us]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections watchdog group funded entirely by citizen donations. If you would like to support our work, click here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
or mail to:
BLACK BOX VOTING
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98055

URGENT ACTION: Call about the Voting Rights Act tomorrow!

On Monday, Common Cause and a coalition of civil rights groups working to pass legislation that will renew and restore the Voting Rights Act want you to make three important calls to Congress.
Please use the toll-free number 1-866-808-0065 to call:

• House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
• House Majority Leader Jack Boehner (R-OH)
• Rep. Peter Sessions

Urge Reps. Hastert and Boehner to use their leadership positions to bring H.R. 9 to the floor "as is," and to ensure that H.R. 9 passes without amendment. Then use the same toll-free number to call your representative and urge him/her to fully support H.R. 9.

Got Link?

Link tv ran an all-day special on voting in America, covering the 2000 election and Florida, 2002 and the New Jersey Booker/James debacle, 2004 and Ohio of course. Greg Palast was interviewed at length.

www.gregpalast.com

He has a new book out called Armed Madhouse. After hearing him talk this afternoon, it sounds like a must-read. Included is a letter from Jeb Bush to Kathleen Harris' office directing her to purge voters. (Bush' office denies that he had anything to do with the voter purge.)

www.linktv.org

Link tv--on Directv, it is channel 375. If you don't get it, I urge you to contact your cable tv provider and request it. The channel is viewer supported, but moreover, they accept NO corporate sponsorships and of course, receive NO government funding, which means that they are beholden to no outside forces.
Amy Goodman's news show, Democracy Now!, airs every weekday, and can be downloaded as a podcast and watched whenever you have some time.

Talk about MUST SEE TV!

Austria's Haider says Bush is a war criminal

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian right-wing populist Joerg Haider called President Bush a war criminal on Saturday, days before Austria's government hosts Bush and European leaders in Vienna.

Haider says Bush is a war criminal

Frame the Issues

http://www.frameshopisopen.com/

Pool of Dead Rights

Our freedom from unreasonable search and seizure was lost today when the not-so-supremes ruled that police do not need to knock in order to execute a warrant.

Iraq war--want more of the same?

If you want more of the same in Iraq, support the Republicans.

More election fraud, compliments of the Republicans in Florida

In an exclusive interview with Florida House of Representatives candidate Charlie Grapski - arrested after he filed a lawsuit alleging voting fraud against Alachua County City Manager Clovis Watson, RAW STORY learns of corruption allegations that can only be described as not seen since the days of Boss Tweed.

Charlie Grapski, a Democrat running for the Florida House of Representatives, was arrested in April after filing a lawsuit alleging that City officials abused power and influenced the outcome of an election by manipulating the absentee voting process. The story, however, does not start or ..

More at Rawstory.com

What you need to know about the IRI

The Raw Story has some interesting information about an organization called the International Republican Institute, which ". . .has been associated with unscrupulous and undemocratic campaign practices both at home and overseas. "

Remember these names: Tony Marsh and Lance Copsey

The International Republican Institute, though billing itself as an independent nonprofit unaffiliated with the Republican Party, acts essentially as a wing of the GOP. Its is chaired by party presidential frontrunner Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Representatives David Dreier (R-CA) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) serve on its board of directors. Many of IRI’s high-ranking staff members have at some point worked directly for the Bush administration.

Read more

Politics TV--very cool

You MUST check this out.

Politics TV: http://www.politicstv.com/

It provides free access to videos of political events. There are several channels:

• Democracy channel
• Candidates channel
• Satire channel
• Blog channel

This site seems to have great potential. Right now, there isn't much content, but as the mid-terms heat up, it should get exciting.

Right now, they are posting videos of sessions from the YearlyKos. convention that is going on right now in Las Vegas. (YearlyKos is the first annual conference of people who read and blog on DailyKos, a high-traffic progressive blogsite.) The conference is drawing an impressive line-up of speakers.

I just watched a clip of Paul Krugman, who is one of my favorite "reality-based community" voices these days. Sen. Harry Reid is the keynote speaker. Many of the presidential hopefuls are likely to show up there. Wes Clark is to speak.

Check it out. Spread the word!

You won't see this on the evening news...

Thank you to Margaret for bringing this to my attention.

"Last week an American military convoy on a road into Kabul crashed in a traffic jam. What happened next is confused. It appears the American soldiers, whose drug consumption is reputedly prodigious, lost their heads and fired into the crowd. The result was half a dozen deaths and the worst riot Kabul has seen since the occupation four and a half years ago..."

Read more at The Guardian

See, I TOLD you the election was STOLEN . . .

Read the entire article at The Rolling Stone:

http://www.rollingstone.com/

MSM finally acknowledges the Diebold E-Voting Threat to Democracy

Read all about it at BradBlog

Please join me in demanding paper ballots.
MOM, this means YOU! (She lives in Florida.)

Fitz-watch: Any day now

The grand jury meets every Wednesday and Friday. One might surmise that the indictment will be served on one of those days--but not necessarily . . .

Read more at ThinkProgress

Rove Indictment Summary: From TRUTHOUT: Information Sharing on the Rove Indictment Story

I am reposting this TRUTHOUT blog post in its entirety because the server at TRUTHOUT is overloaded. It took me several hours to get to it.

Information Sharing on the Rove Indictment Story

By Marc Ash

Sun May 21st, 2006 at 11:58:26 AM EDT

Fitzgerald Investigation

I'd like to break this posting into two categories: What we know, and what we believe. They will be clearly marked. We know that we have now three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove were handed an indictment either late in the night of May 12 or early in the morning of May 13. We know that each source was in a position to know what they were talking about. We know that the office of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald will not confirm, will not deny, will not comment on its investigation or on our report. We know that both Rove's attorney Robert Luskin and Rove's spokesman Mark Corallo have categorically denied all key facts we have set forth. We know we have information that directly contradicts Luskin and Corallo's denials. We know that there were two network news crews outside of the building in Washington, DC that houses the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm that represents Karl Rove. We know that the 4th floor of that building (where the Patton Boggs offices are located) was locked down all day Friday and into Saturday night. We know that we have not received a request for a retraction from anyone. And we know that White House spokesman Tony Snow now refuses to discuss Karl Rove - at all. Further, we know - and we want our readers to know - that we are dependent on confidential sources. We know that a report based solely on information obtained from confidential sources bears some inherent risks. We know that this is - by far - the biggest story we have ever covered, and that we are learning some things as we go along. Finally, we know that we have the support of those who have always supported us, and that must now earn the support of those who have joined us as of late.

We now move on to what we believe. (If you are looking for any guarantees, please turn back now.)

We believe that we hit a nerve with our report. When I get calls on my cell phone from Karl Rove's attorney and spokesman, I have to wonder what's up. "I" believe - but cannot confirm - that Mark Corallo, Karl Rove's spokesman gave Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post my phone number. I believe Howard Kurtz contacted me with the intention of writing a piece critical of our organization. I know that Anne Marie Squeo of the Wall Street Journal attacked us and independent journalism as a whole in her piece titled, "Rove's Camp Takes Center of Web Storm / Bloggers Underscore How Net's Reporting, Dynamics Provide Grist for the Rumor Mill." We believe that rolling out that much conservative journalistic muscle to rebut this story is telling. And we believe that Rove's camp is making a concerted effort to discredit our story and our organization. Further - and again this is "What We Believe" - Rove may be turning state's evidence. We suspect that the scope of Fitzgerald's investigation may have broadened - clearly to Cheney - and according to one "off the record source" to individuals and events not directly related to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. We believe that the indictment which does exist against Karl Rove is sealed. Finally, we believe that there is currently a great deal of activity in the Plame investigation. We know that this story is of vital interest to the community, and that providing as much information as we can is very important to our readers. We want you to know that this is challenging territory and that we are proceeding with as much speed as the terrain will allow. Marc Ash, Executive Director - t r u t h o u t
director@truthout.org

Fun facts from last week

Bush's approval rating dipped into the twenty's this week, and Cheney's hit 17.

Judith Miller had a warning prior to 9/11. Can we believe a word she says?
http://alternet.org/story/36388/

The Pentagon FINALLY released a video of the airplane hitting the Pentagon to dispel conspiracy theories that a plane didn't hit the Pentagon.
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=d4325ef7-fe03-4a49-af96-ff2ed8a983d0&t=m5&p=News_Comment%20-%20Analysis

MERRY FITZMAS!!!

Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051206Y.shtml

Friday afternoon entertainment

A little non-political fun, for a change!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

Approval rating slips 3% in one week

Bush's approval rating/popularity is down to 31%, a new low.

He is:
7% among liberals (huh? That many?)
28% among moderates
54% among conservatives
68% among Republicans (this is as surprising as the 7% liberals)

How can 68% of Republicans be so wrongheaded as to put party above the
nation's well-being? What percentage of those people still haven't figured
out that Fox News is rigged?

Disapproval rating: 65%.

Don't gut our health insurance!

Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005
S.1955

Please help get the word out about the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005 S.1955.

Despite the name, this bill--which we prefer to call the "Lose Your Health Care Benefits Bill."--would eliminate state mandates on health insurance companies that protect Americans. Many of the state requirements are particularly important to women, including prescription contraceptives,mammographies, cervical cancer screenings, bone density screenings,maternity care, and minimum hospital stays after mastectomy. This bill would also preempt these health care requirements and would also raise insurance premiums for Americans with complex health needs by lifting most state restrictions on how insurance companies establish premiums. Under S.1955, insurance companies would have the leeway to charge people more based on their age, gender and health status. This would price many out of the health insurance market and could especially burden women, whose health care costs tend to be greater.

Below is a compilation of articles on this issue.

Field/Development Assistant
National Women's Law Center
11 Dupont Circle, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
202-588-5180 tel
202-588-5185 fax
amaytal@nwlc.org

Billings Gazette (MN)

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/03/16/news/wyoming/30-enzi.txt

LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-golden6apr06,1,4779499.column

Reuters

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-03-15T214238Z_01_N15298093_RTRIDST_0_CONGRESS-HEALTH.XML

United Press International

http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20060320-072249-2304r

Dayton (Ohio) Daily News

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0325brown.
html

The NewStandard (Internet only)

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/OPINION0101/603070366/1012/OPINION

Scripps Howard News Service - ran at least in Times Record News (TX)

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=HEALTHPOOLS-03-22-06

Commercial Appeal (TN) -- editorial by Sen. Frist

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/editorials/article/0,2845,MCA_25348_4559743,00.html

In these times

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2558

McCook Daily Gazette (NE) - LTE against bill

http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1145811.html

Duluth Weekly (GA)

http://www.theweekly.com/news/2006/March/16/Johnny_Isakson.html

BusinessWeek, appears on web sites for MSNBC and TV stations in:
CA, IA, GA, TX, FL, PA, NM, CT, NV, MI, MD, WA, CO, RI, AL, OK,
WI, IN, MS, NH, NC, OH, NY ....

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2006/sb20060316_204180.htm

The Chattanoogan (TN)

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_82083.asp

Sacramento Bee (CA)

http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/14227209p-15050979c.html

April 10, 2006

Tell Senators: "Don't Gut My Health Insurance!"

Irans plans

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43956

Man confronts Rumsfeld about Lies

http://images1.americanprogress.org/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2006/rum.320.240.mov

Hearing vowed on Bush's powers

Hearing vowed on Bush's Abuse of Power

____________________________________________________________

The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: Hearing vowed on Bush's powers
Date: May 3, 2006

"WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
accusing the White House of a ''very blatant encroachment"

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/03/hearing_vowed_on_bushs_powers?p1=email_to_a_friend

Cheney exempts his office from reporting

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14462039.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Be the first to own an ITMFA plate!

http://www.itmfa.com/

Katherine Harris is in trouble

Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members... The new admissions, including details that identify Reps. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) and Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) as recipients of illegal campaign contributions, are contained in Wade's agreement to plead guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his role in the Cunningham probe.

Costco prescriptions cheaper than Medicare Part D

This, from BuyBlue.org:

"The LA Times brings us the story of a few studies that have concluded that you'll save more money by shopping for your prescription drugs at Costco than by using the new Medicare Part D plans."

Read more, here: http://www.buyblue.org/node/6202

Colbert at the White House Correspondent's Dinner

If you missed Colbert roasting our Liar-in-Chief, try to catch it at cspan.org.

After you see his ballsy performance, you'll probably want to thank him.

http://thankyoustephencolbert.org

Gratzi to Miz MAD for tipping me to the 'Span reruns.

Thank you, Frank!

Frank Rich has returned, bringing us a column to remind us that Bush's original sin--lying about the reason to go to war with Iraq--caused most of the cascading failures that followed. (Some might argue that the original sin was the stolen 2000 election, but just roll with it.) Sadly, Rich's column is only available to select NY Times subscribers. The man performs a vital public service!

Kos diarist Lolligolli has an excerpt and a summary of Rep Hinchley's position: that, if true, the Downing Street Memo exposes all participants in the writing of the State of the Union address of 2003 as:

". . . guilty of violations of USC (Criminal Code) 18 Sections 1001 and Section 371. These are felonies and would therefore be impeachable offenses. '

There's more detail--read the whole post here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/62023/4470

And, check out the poll at the end.

Without court approval

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5787717,00.html

Neil Young's Powerful New Anti-War Music

http://www.hyfntrak.com/neilyoung2/AFF23084/

This Must End

Let us join together, all Americans, Republican and Democrat, voter and non-voter, black and white, lovers and fighters to impeach the President for his many crimes, abuses of power, and flat incompetence.

• For hijacking religion and using it to get elected
• For dividing our country
• For leaving Americans neglected after Katrina
• For sitting there for seven minutes after being told our country is under attack
• For corrupt elections, involvement in vote rigging, jamming Democrat's phones on election day, making voting machines inaccessible in left-leaning precincts on Ohio, for illegally accessing Democrat's computers
• For the filthy gutter political tricks of "swift boating" honorable people
• For bypassing FISA to illegally tap our phones
• For ignoring the advice of the military leaders
• For hiring cronies and putting them in charge of FEMA
• For the immoral Bush Doctrine of waging pre-emptive war
• For putting forth the proposal that the President is above the law because he is the President
• For the widespread use and promotion of torture and abuse in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and other American-run prisons, and for secret renditions of prisoners to countries who openly torture
• For squandering the surplus and spending it on an elective war abroad
• For awarding no-bid contracts to Halliburton and other shady war-profiteers
• For the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives--the lives of people from so many countries around the world
• For failing to pursue bin Laden and Al Zawahiri
• For failing utterly to lead this country in a respectable humane way.

Impeach Bush and the Cheney he rode in on.

The world can't wait for the next election. They must be removed now.