Baghdad Bombing Thoroughly Barbaric (video) + 91 Dead in 2 Baghdad Blasts by Juan Cole

Dandelion Salad

CSPANJUNKIEdotORG

February 01, 2008 BBC World

***

91 Dead in 2 Baghdad Blasts

by Juan Cole
Informed Comment
Saturday, February 02, 2008

Two women set off separate suicide bombs in two markets in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 91 persons and wounding a similar number. Contrary to what this AP squib implies, the bombings suggest neither that “al-Qaeda” is running out of men nor that it is desperate. Women were used because they would be less likely to be closely searched, in a society where gender segregation and female honor and chastity are important values. The story that the women had Downs syndrome seems unlikely to be true; you wouldn’t trust a sensitive terror plot to someone without their full faculties. Rather, the bombings show that the Sunni Arab guerrillas seeking to destabilize Iraq have not been defeated and are still capable of making a big strike right under the noses of the surge troops. And that is how guerrilla war is– large conventional forces find it difficult to curb it.

McClatchy reports from the scene and observes, “Friday’s death toll also seemed to cement a recent steady increase in the monthly toll of Baghdad bombing deaths. In September, 164 people died from bombings, according to McClatchy statistics. That number reached a low of 76 in November, but rose to 87 in December and 100 in January. With 65 deaths on the first day of the month, February seems likely to witness another increase.”

Reuters adds other political violence on Friday:

‘TIKRIT – A U.S. soldier was killed by indirect fire in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said without giving further details. Another soldier was wounded in the attack.

* KUT – Gunmen killed two policemen and wounded four civilians when they stormed a bus terminal and opened fire in Kut, 170 km (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA – A sniper killed one Iraqi soldier while on patrol in central Samarra, 100 km (68 miles) north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army source said.

MOSUL – U.S. forces arrested seven gunmen during operations in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.’

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Mike Gravel is going the distance (video)

Dandelion Salad

oldhacks

and he needs your support

Added: February 02, 2008

see

MoveOn.org Pushes the Worst, Ignoring Gravel for President (video

MoveOn.org left Mike Gravel’s name off in their online poll (updated)

Chomsky Applauds Mike Gravel (video)

Gravel-Mike

Mike Gravel For President 2008

Please Consider the Courts, All Ye Deeply Ticked-Off by The Other Katherine Harris

The Other Katherine Harris

by The Other Katherine Harris

Featured writer
Dandelion Salad

The Other Katherine Harris’s blog
Feb. 2, 2008

Please Consider the Courts, All Ye Deeply Ticked-Off

I’m as upset as anybody about how corporate money and media have undermined our presidential primary process — I wept, when Edwards gave up — but I’m even more disturbed by the “don’t bother voting” movement that’s developing among some progressives and by the whiff of third-party candidacies that would erode Democratic support.

Mind you, I’ve said for ages that we’d be better off with a multi-party system that fosters alliances and accommodations, instead of winner take all; however, that prospect is so far from viability in this country as to be a pipe dream.

One further proviso should be stated before I get to my main point: I confess to feeling torn between voting for Edwards or Obama on Tuesday, having veered back and forth all week. Fortunately, whether or not to throw away a primary vote as a growl of personal protest doesn’t have to be decided in this moment.

Anyway, it’s November that I want to talk about, and the fact that even Hillary — whose husband brought us the media conglomeration that has so distorted news and political discourse (plus the financial deregulation and trade policies that have wrecked our economy) — wouldn’t turn to the Heritage Foundation for her judicial nominees.

If the Supremes get one more member from the radical right, this country will be screwed for decades — not to mention the evils being done daily in our lower courts now packed with right-wing judges who routinely rule for the powerful over those whom they’ve harmed.

Every few years, we get a crack at choosing a better President and Congress, but the courts roll on largely unchanged until someone dies or resigns. Thus due to duration, every judicial appointment has far greater weight than an elective position, impacting not only us but today’s children and potentially another generation to come.

I’d love to be able to vote in November for Edwards — as many others would love to vote for him, Kucinich, Biden, Dodd or Richardson — but I’ll show up and vote for whichever Dem gets that far, because it’s about a lot more than pleasing me. It’s about rejecting the hold of institutionalized injustice, both now and after I’m gone.

There’s also the possibility that Barack or Hillary could surprise us — and even themselves — by putting the people first and telling their grillionaire sponsors to go jump off something. FDR wasn’t elected on the platform that he subsequently enacted, remember? We face similarly extreme circumstances today and either Democrat might rise sublimely to the occasion. No Republican will, nor can any third-party candidate be elected.

see

Sitting Out the Election By Mary Pitt

The Evolution of Evil By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Seriously, it’s time to not vote in the presidential election by Lo

Much Ado About Ron Paul by Grim

No Debate by Ralph Nader

Nader considers running for president again (videos)

Is Michael Bloomberg pondering White House bid? (video)

How about Bloomberg for president? by Eric Margolis

MoveOn.org Pushes the Worst, Ignoring Gravel for President (video)

NATO; Kucinich; Political Intelligence; Keep on Preaching to the Choir, by William Blum

by William Blum
Featured Writer, Dandelion Salad
February 2, 2008

The Anti-Empire Report

Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life

NATO is a treaty on wheels — It can be rolled in any direction to suit Washington’s current policy

Have you by chance noticed that NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has become virtually a country? With more international rights and military power than almost any other country in the world? Yes, the same NATO that we were told was created in 1949 to defend against a Soviet attack in Western Europe, and thus should have gone out of existence in 1991 when the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact expired and explicitly invited NATO to do the same. Other reasons have been suggested for NATO’s creation: to help suppress the left in Italy and France if either country’s Communist Party came to power through an election, and/or to advance American hegemony by preventing the major European nations from pursuing independent foreign policies. This latter notion has been around a long time. In 2004, the US ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, stated: “Europeans need to resist creating a united Europe in competition or as a counterweight to the United States.”[1]

Continue reading

Ron Paul in Colorado 02.01.08 (videos) (updated)

Updated: Feb. 3, 2008 added full speech

Dandelion Salad

peacespeech

DENVER (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Friday his three remaining GOP opponents are making a mistake trying to write him off while he continues to draw huge crowds and raise millions of dollars on the campaign trail.

original location: http://www.9news.com/video/player.asp…

Continue reading

MoveOn.org Pushes the Worst, Ignoring Gravel for President (video)

The Nation just made their endorsement, leaving Gravel’s name out, too.  And they call themselves progressive?!  Shame on them.

see
The Choice by Christopher Hayes

~Lo

Dandelion Salad

representativepress

http://representativepress.googlepage…
MoveOn.org Pushes the Worst, Ignoring Gravel for President, MoveOn is pushing Obama on us.

MoveOn.org omits Mike Gravel as a choice for the Democratic nomination.

see

MoveOn.org left Mike Gravel’s name off in their online poll (updated)

Chomsky Applauds Mike Gravel (video)

Gravel-Mike

Mike Gravel For President 2008

The Consequences of Globalization and Neoliberal Policies. What are the Alternatives? by Prof. Claudia von Werlhof

Dandelion Salad

by Prof. Claudia von Werlhof
Global Research
, February 1, 2008

Are there alternatives to plundering the earth, making war and destroying the planet

This text is based on a panel presentation together with Ferdinand Lacina, former Austrian Minister of Finance and Ewald Nowotny, President of the BAWAG-Bank during the “Dallinger Conference”, AK Wien, November 21, 2005.

Original German Title: “Alternativen zur neoliberalen Globalisierung, oder: Die Globalisierung des Neoliberalismus und seine Folgen, Wien, Picus 2007.

Claudia von-Werlhof is  prominent writer and academic, Professor of Women’s Studies and Political Science at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

(Translation: from the German by Gabriel Kuhn)


Introduction

Is there an alternative to plundering the earth?

Is there an alternative to making war?

Is there an alternative to destroying the planet?

No one asks these questions because they seem absurd. Yet, no one can escape them either. They have to be asked. Ultimate absurdity has taken hold of our lives. We are not only headed towards the world’s annihilation – we are headed towards it with ever increasing speed. The reason is the “globalization” of so-called “neoliberalism”. Its motto is TINA: “There Is No Alternative!” It is the deal of deals, the big feast, the final battle – Armageddon.

Wrong? Exaggerated?

Let us first clarify what globalization and neoliberalism are, where they come from, who they are directed by, what they claim, what they do, why their effects are so fatal, why they will fail, and why people nonetheless cling to them. Then, let us look at the responses of those who are not – or will not – be able to live with the consequences they cause.

1. What Is “Neoliberal Globalization”?

1.1 TINA – Supposedly without Alternative

Before talking about the topic of this panel – alternatives to neoliberal globalization, or: the globalization of neoliberalism – one has to acknowledge that there is indeed a problem here. And not only that. One also has to define what the problem is exactly.

This is where the difficulties begin. For a good twenty years now we have been told that there is no alternative to neoliberal globalization/the globalization of neoliberalism, and that, in fact, no such alternative is needed either. Over and over again, we have been confronted with the TINA-concept: “There Is No Alternative!” The “iron lady”, Margaret Thatcher, was one of those who reiterated this belief without end – it is an embarrassment to women when one of their own displays such a politics of callousness once she has gained power.

The TINA-concept prohibits all thought. It follows the rationale that there is no point in analyzing and discussing neoliberalism and so-called globalization because they are inevitable. Whether we condone what is happening or not does not matter, it is happening anyway. There is no point in trying to understand. Hence: Go with it! Kill or be killed!

Some go as far as suggesting that neoliberalism and its globalization – meaning, a specific economic system that developed within specific socio-historical circumstances – is nothing less but a law of nature. In turn, “human nature” is supposedly reflected by the character of the system’s economic subjects: egotistical, ruthless, greedy and cold. This, we are told, works towards everyone’s benefit.

The question remains, of course, why Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” (which supposedly guides the economic process towards the common good, even if this remains imperceptible to the individual, Binswanger 1998) has become a “visible fist”? While a tiny minority reaps enormous benefits of today’s economic liberalism (none of which will remain, of course), the vast majority of the earth’s population, yes the earth itself, suffer hardship to an extent that puts their very survival at risk. The damage done seems irreversible.

All over the world media outlets – especially television stations – avoid addressing the problem. A common excuse is that it cannot be explained (Mies/Werlhof 2003, p. 23ff, 36ff). The true reason is, of course, the media’s corporate control. Neoliberalism means corporate politics.

Unfortunately, this still evades the public. In most Western countries – as, for example, in Austria – “neoliberalism” is not even commonly accepted as a term, and even “globalization” struggles to find recognition (Salmutter 1998, Dimmel/Schmee 2005). In the Austrian example, a curious provincialism reigns that pretends the country was somehow excluded from everything happening around it. If one listened to former chancellor Schüssel, it sounded like Austria knew no problems at all. The logic seems that if there is no term, there is no problem either. Unnameable, unspeakable, unthinkable: non-existing. Felix Austria.

Although Austria’s decision to join the European Union in 1995 bore the same consequences that neoliberalism bears everywhere, the connections remain ignored. This despite the fact that the European Union is – next to, and partly even ahead of, the US – the main driving force behind neoliberalism and its globalization. But let us take one step at a time…

…continued

The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author’s copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com
© Copyright Claudia von Werlhof, Global Research, 2008
The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7973

New World Order: Unimaginable Intentional Human Suffering by Peter Chamberlin

Dandelion Salad

by Peter Chamberlin
Global Research, February 2, 2008
The People’s Voice

Perhaps one day we shall know the truth about being, and being alive on planet earth, whether life on every living planet is as messed-up as it is here. Earth’s problems must be unique, as they are of man’s own creation, man-made disasters caused by ambitious men who are allowed to rise to the top, where they dominate us for self-gain. We allow our leaders to take the positions of power that they desire, instead of actually choosing who shall lead us. Humans tend to submit to those who claim authority, since it is easier to believe in symbols of power, than it is to personally submit to the tedium of the reasoning process. As a people, we tend to follow the natural order of things along the path of least resistance. By taking the easy way out, we give our blessing to the law of the jungle.

It is natural for societies to become dominated by powerful elites, who gain control of the inner workings of government and commerce, in order to bend them both to their will. “Meritocracy” and other forms of “social Darwinism,” describe the belief that “success” by this definition justifies the survival of the fittest capitalism (globalism) that has decimated the world. The brutal belief system widely promoted as “neoconservatism” is behind the fascist agenda that emerged from the bowels of corporate-owned “think tanks.” These elitist thinkers believe that it is necessary for our government to “cull” the “useless eaters” from the face of the earth, through forced population reduction and perpetual war. They are the true radicals, possessed by “extremist belief systems.” Their plans for us are the end program of a centuries-old class war between the elitist self-proclaimed neo-aristocrats, who would be masters of mankind and the rest of the human race. The neocons are nothing new, just the latest, most-concentrated form of this egotistical brand of pure evil.

If the elitist “one-worlders” were correct about being the “natural leaders” of the world, dedicated to saving the most noble of mankind from the excesses of the dirty masses, then their cold-blooded plans might be justified by the results, by anyone who survived them. The plan is to kill-off a significant portion of the earth’s “dead weight,” keep another segment as a labor force and extend their own lives through genetic and eugenic research. They are not being all that secretive about this research, only about where it all is meant to lead us. If the idea of rich men carrying-out a plot to kill-off billions of poor people isn’t enough to motivate the masses into torch-carrying mobs, I can’t imagine what would be enough.

People with any conscience at all can see the obvious evil inherent in the selective use of genocide as an element of state policy, for the purpose of eliminating entire populations that are in our way, and thereby terrorizing others into submission with our killing power and basic lack of morality. It is unconscionable that a “civilized” nation would seek to force its will upon other nations by terrorizing them into submission under fear of certain death. This is an abomination upon the American spirit, equal to the abomination in which this spirit was founded, when we wiped-out the first Americans, in claiming our parasitic “manifest destiny.”

The fact that genocide is an acceptable form of warfare is testimony about the many evils which we have learned to accept. The collective conscience of the human race and the mind of God demand that we act to make genocide unacceptable, once again. Ideas cannot fight against raw power, unless they become a shared idea, driving a political momentum. We have to make our countrymen see the reality beyond the illusions of the nightly dream-weavers and the patriotic drum-beaters.

The people of the United States must be made to understand that, more than ever, genocide is government policy, before they will rise-up in righteous indignation to it. It is a clear-cut case of “good – vs. – evil,” with the evil being the world’s number one source of state terrorism, the government of the United States of America. The American people can only save themselves if they are made aware of the fact that they are under attack by those who claim to be their trusted leaders. Likewise, all the people of the earth are under attack by their own governments, who serve as American representatives, to help conquer the earth and corrupt all life. The people of every nation must rise-up and become their own governments, the only truly democratic government.

In opposition to the leadership of the elite, which stands leeringly over the dying American corpse, there is another leadership rising-up, the researchers and writers who are exposing and resisting the corrupted power structure. We are those who would dig beneath the official lies to expose the bloody roots of corruption that support all that is hostile to human life. We are the voluntary citizens’ press corps, dedicated to taking up the task of reporting on government deceptions, a job that the mainstream media has forsaken. One day, when freedom prevails, the alternative media will replace the sell-outs and the official lie-passers of the nightly news. But, until that blessed day, researchers like Prof. Michel Chossudovsky will keep turning-up the soil for us, exposing the inner workings of our criminal government. His important research on the roots of the Islamic Militant Network and its CIA origins has blown the lid off the most important story of the Twenty-first Century. (Al Qaeda & the “War on Terrorism” by Michel Chossudovsky)

The names and keywords that other researchers have associated with the genocidal plans of the elite are too numerous to list or remember here, yet to do so would weave a sordid tale of interconnections and plots that clearly intersect in complicated patterns. By listing the elements of the octopus, we lay-out the proof of an elitist conspiracy for the few who care enough to open their eyes. But, in order to reach the distracted and pre-occupied majority, we must stick to single key issues like the “Global 2000” report, to tell the genocidal plans of our government, while secret war plans like “Operation North Woods,” demonstrate just how far they are willing to go to start wars, the key to the war on terror.

The case proving government complicity in the 9/11 attacks which initiated the war on terrorism is becoming stronger every day. In addition to all the forensic evidence from the attacks and the unbelievable string of “coincidences” that made the attacks possible, we now know that Islamist terrorists, “associated with al Qaida” have been key elements of US foreign policy up until, and including, the time of the Trade Center attack. We have begun to understand the depth of US/CIA involvement in the destabilizing of a dozen or more countries with these highly-trained Islamic “insurgencies.” This criminal foreign policy of creating radical Islamic militias for the purpose of starting wars in nations now at peace creates ever-expanding bands of Islamic uprisings throughout the Middle East and southeast Asia, justifying genocidal counter-attacks as “fighting terrorism.”

The US is following the time-tested strategy developed by the Israelis (who first implemented it as a double-edged sword for waging war to thin-out the Muslims, while increasing the number of Islamists gradually) to justify greater and greater waves of ethnic repression. For, if you plan to one day force an entire population out of their ancient homeland, in order to colonize it, you will first need to rationalize a massive wave of state terrorism that will be needed for the task. For this, you will need an army of credibly bloodthirsty Islamists, to justify the monstrous offensives into civilian populations. This is why Israel created Hamas and the US and Israel created al Qaida.

Our government and many of our people have whole-heartedly embraced Israel’s implementation of ethnic cleansing policies in Gaza and Lebanon, seeing them as dress rehearsals for our own genocidal plans against other innocent Muslims around the world.

The barbaric acts committed by Israel against the captive Gaza population are not the acts of moral people. Every act of repression, every secret move to limit the rights of Arabs, is intended to provoke reactions from the mostly defenseless people, in order to justify counter-reactions from the world’s fifth most powerful military force. For Israel to “save face” in its international PR campaign, images of terrorists must be created to defend against. If Palestinians do not attempt to defend themselves with primitive weapons, then the Zionist oppressors will be hard-pressed to justify targeted assassinations and other brutal tactics meant to drive them from their homes. Palestinians, like Americans and all other targeted populations must follow the scripts that have been written for them and rise-up in defiant acts of self-defense, so that all the complainers can be bombed into bloody submission. The only difference between modern American/Israeli fascism and classic Nazism is the modern capability to control all information and suppress the truth.

The scale of the intentional suffering being inflicted by supposedly moral human beings, who consider themselves superior to their victims, is unimaginable. What is even more unimaginable is the international spectacle of other supposedly moral nations fawning over the killers, each nation trying harder than the next to suck-up to those who are starving helpless children, depriving them of medicine, and mowing them down with cannon and machine gun fire, in order to wipe them from their land and erase them from the “pages of time.” The international horror shows of “diplomacy” and “humanitarianism” are shams, meant to seduce the masses into reveling in the bloodlust that is scheduled to head in their direction. “Negotiations” with pseudo-humanitarians like Bush, Olmert and Cheney can be nothing more than discussing terms of surrender. One day soon, the entire earth will rise-up against this axis of evil. Our actions today will determine if the people of America stand with the rest of the world against our own government, or if we will continue in our surrender to the beasts of the modern jungle, who intend to devour everything we hold dear.

The earth is standing at the edge of a dark precipice; on the other side is the greatest epic in mankind’s history, waiting to be written, waiting for those of us who dare to take up the pen and to fight the darkness of the lies. An army of freedom-writers, who are as dedicated to defending life as the enemies of life are dedicated to ending it, can bring forth a new sustaining vision of life. We must first choose to place our own freedom in jeopardy, by stepping forward to stop those who would take us into the void in a vain gamble to crush most of the earth’s life for the sake of greater “profit.”

It is time for all of God’s children to take a stand together. It is time to end the American nightmare (formerly known as the American dream).

Peter Chamberlin is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com
© Copyright Peter Chamberlin, The People’s Voice, 2008
The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7975

see

The Evolution of Evil By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Al Qaeda & the “War on Terrorism” by Michel Chossudovsky

No Debate by Ralph Nader + Nader’s Ticket to the Debate

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
Friday, February 1. 2008

It was billed as the great debate that, in the words of moderator Wolf Blitzer, “could change the course of this presidential race and the nation.”

Situated at the packed historic Kodak Theatre—site of the Hollywood Oscar awards, thousands of people, including anti-war protestors, were outside, where tickets were being scalped for $1,000. Continue reading

Safeguarding ‘New-cue-lur’ Secrets by Gordon Prather

Dandelion Salad

by Gordon Prather
antiwar.com
February 2, 2008

According to the Sunday Times, Sibel Edmonds has revealed to them details – in defiance of several government gag orders – of how this and several previous administrations “monitored”, but did little or nothing to interfere with, the “infiltration” of Western states by “foreign states” seeking “nuclear secrets.”

Edmonds, a fluent speaker of Turkish and Farsi, was recruited by the FBI in the aftermath of 9/11 to help translate a backlog of recordings – thousands of hours of conversations dating back to 1997 – obtained during an FBI investigation into links between Turks, Pakistanis, Israelis and various Americans, in and out of government.

According to the Times, the Turks and Israelis had planted “moles” in practically every agency or institution involved in nuclear technology. The Turks and their American Turkish Council, Edmonds claimed, often acted as a “conduit,” passing nuclear secrets to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, and receiving cash payments in return.

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

State Secret Abuses Come to a Boil By Jeff Stein

For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets

Edmonds-Sibel

Olbermann: Primary Colors + 9/11 Commission Omissions + Iraq + Veepstakes + Bushed!

Dandelion Salad

Ryokibin

February 01, 2008

Primary Colors

Keith talks with Howard Fineman.

9/11 Commission Omissions

Keith talks with Pete Williams.

Iraq And A Hard Place

Keith talks with Richard Wolffe.

Veepstakes

Keith talks with Craig Crawford.

Dazzle Down Front

Keith talks to Paul F. Tompkins.

Bushed!

Waterboarding-Gate

Surge Didn’t Work-Gate

Tone Deafness-Gate

World’s Worst

Worse: Woolworths

Worser: Rush Limbaugh

Worst: Bill’O

State Secret Abuses Come to a Boil By Jeff Stein

Dandelion Salad

By Jeff Stein
CQ National Security Editor
Feb. 1, 2008 – 6:30 p.m.

Imagine members of a Mission Impossible team listening to their assignment. They get the usual warning about the government disowning them if they’re caught. Then the voice on the tape casually adds, “If we screw up, don’t even think of complaining, much less suing.”

“If you do, you’ll be crushed.”

It’s not so far-fetched.

Our secret warriors silently put their lives on the line without complaint. And it’s in their nature to blow the whistle on the slackers, nincompoops, bigots, idiots and cheats in their business, especially in the executive suites.

Such due diligence is seldom rewarded. In fact, it’s often punished. Often they leave, a few stay on to fight. They rarely succeed. Eventually they’re forced out, or quit in disgust,

Some turn to the courts for redress. And that’s when they encounter the judicial version of a neutron bomb, the state secrets privilege.

For more than 50 years, it’s allowed the spy agencies to pre-empt troublesome suits by declaring a matter so sensitive that mere mention of any of its elements in court, no matter how oblique, would cause “grave damage” to U.S. national security.

… FBI translator Sibel Edmonds was forced out after she blew the whistle on irregularities and security problems in the translations unit, including evidence of high-level corruption involving U.S. and Turkish officials. As with Mike German, an inspector general validated her allegations, but her case remains shrouded in official secrecy, even though she broker her own silence in a Times of London article earlier this year.

…continued

h/t: We Can Change The World
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Edmonds-Sibel

Alone on the left wing by Joe Queenan

Dandelion Salad

by Joe Queenan
The Guardian
Saturday February 2, 2008

Liberal America deserves a champion, yet the only candidate was too far out in the presidential race

Several weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story about Dennis Kucinich, the gadfly Ohio congressman who was running a quixotic campaign for the US presidency. The article did not focus on Iraq, or his plans to provide universal healthcare, or his efforts to get Dick Cheney impeached. Nor, for that matter, did it dwell on his presidential campaign. Instead, it exhumed a 25-year-old story that Kucinich may have seen a trio of unidentified flying objects while a guest at Shirley MacLaine’s home in Washington state.

Kucinich, fighting to keep his cash-strapped campaign alive in the New Hampshire primary, would not discuss the incident – presumably because he was more interested in discussing aliens entering the US from Mexico than aliens pouring in from outer space. But the media had no interest in Dennis Kucinich, the Candidate. Their interest was confined to Dennis Kucinich, the Flake.

Once upon a time the Democratic party had a left wing – not in the European sense, as communism has never flourished here and socialism has barely taken root; but by American standards, presidential candidates such as George McGovern and Teddy Kennedy in the 70s and early 80s were pretty far left. (Kennedy, whose contributions to his country surpass those of his more famous bothers, remains uncompromisingly liberal, but represents Massachusetts, America’s most liberal state.) This led to electoral disaster and a Republican golden age, interrupted only by Jimmy Carter’s bewildering presidency and ended when Bill Clinton pulled the party back to the centre of the spectrum, where it is today. Of the candidates on the hustings this year, only Kucinich is even vaguely of the left. And now he has pulled out, lacking the cash to go on and worried that he might lose his congressional seat.

…continued

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see

Cimperman Campaign Against Kucinich is Based on Lies

The Cleveland Plain Dealer = Spin Machine (website)

Kucinich-Dennis