"An Isolated, Reviled Nation."

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Monday October 15, 2007 · 2:27 PM PDT

2007/10/15 · 14:27

The Bush administration talks about oppression in Burma but turns a blind eye to the massive crack down in Egypt on opposition. And why is this?

Chris Hedges of Truthdig Writes a Must Read editorial on our relationship with Egypt, that tortures for us in exchange for billions in US aid.

"We are losing the war in Iraq. We are an isolated and reviled nation. We are pitiless to others weaker than ourselves. We have lost sight of our democratic ideals. Thucydides wrote of Athens’ expanding empire and how this empire led it to become a tyrant abroad and then a tyrant at home. The tyranny Athens imposed on others, it finally imposed on itself. If we do not confront our hubris and the lies we tell to justify the killing and mask the destruction carried out in our name in Iraq, if we do not grasp the moral corrosiveness of empire and occupation, if we continue to allow force and violence to be our primary form of communication, if we do not remove from power our flag-waving, cross-bearing versions of the Taliban, the despotism we empower abroad will become the despotism we soon experience at home. "

catfishkatfish

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Wednesday October 10, 2007 · 7:30 PM PDT

2007/10/10 · 19:30

On the heels of Bush’s statement that "we don’t torture", The greatest president this country ever had ( sorry wingnuts and Reagan fetishists) Jimmy Carter speaks it plainly and truthfully.

btw- Carter winged Bush Administration too...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.

"I don't think it. I know it," Carter told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."

catfishkatfish

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Monday October 01, 2007 · 1:03 PM PDT

2007/10/01 · 13:03

Friedman hits one out of the park with his column 9/11 is over. But first some comments from Juan Cole (The guy who made a fool out of Jonah Goldberg).

The column is significant because it argues that Bushism- Cheneyism is bad for business. The United States is the world's foremost business society, and virtually everything in the society (low taxes on the wealthy, no health care for the middle classes and poor, no protections for labor organizers, favoring of certain kinds of international trade over lower middle class job security, etc.) is arranged for the convenience of the business classes. If Friedman's conviction becomes widespread in that community, the pressures to abandon the 'War on Terror' will be irresistible.

http://www.juancole.com/...

catfishkatfish

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Sunday September 30, 2007 · 4:54 PM PDT

2007/09/30 · 16:54

As you know, in the Republican Corporatocracy, business rights trump your rights. Now if you criticize or blog against AT&T, they can terminate your service.

5.1 Suspension/Termination. Your Service may be suspended or terminated if your payment is past due and such condition continues un-remedied for thirty (30) days. In addition, AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries. Termination or suspension by AT&T of Service also constitutes termination or suspension (as applicable) of your license to use any Software. AT&T may also terminate or suspend your Service if you provide false or inaccurate information that is required for the provision of Service or is necessary to allow AT&T to bill you for Service.

catfishkatfish

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Thursday September 27, 2007 · 4:54 PM PDT

2007/09/27 · 16:54

When asked the size of the Insurgency, we were given a figure last year.

Last year, Gen. John Abizaid, then commander of military forces in the region, estimated the Sunni insurgency to be 10,000 to 20,000 fighters. He said the Shiite militia members were in the "low thousands." The U.S. military hasn't publicly provided any recent estimates.

OK then, there are about 20,000 insurgents we have to fight against on the high side of the estimate. Now new military records show us two new pieces of information. Both which quite literally don't add up.

More on the flip.

catfishkatfish

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Wednesday September 26, 2007 · 7:42 AM PDT

2007/09/26 · 07:42

Bush Administration officials are openly hamstringing investigations into past due tax revenue collections from oil companies. Often even telling Interior Department investigators to drop the investigations on billions in back taxed owed by the Oil Companies.

Two officials were so concerned about being retaliated against for whsitleblowing that they filed suit under the False Claims Act- and guess what?

The Bushy irritants were removed from their jobs.

Prepared by the Interior Department’s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, the report said that investigators found a "profound failure" in the agency’s technology for monitoring oil and gas payments.

It suggested that the agency was too cozy with oil companies and that internal critics had good reason to fear punishment.

"It demonstrates a Band-Aid approach to holding together one of the federal government’s largest revenue-producing operations," Mr. Devaney concluded.

catfishkatfish

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Friday September 21, 2007 · 9:34 PM PDT

2007/09/21 · 21:34

Washington Post Staff Writer Ellen Nakashima reports that the US Government is not just listening to your phone calls, they are watching everywhere you go, who you sit next to and what you are reading.

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.

catfishkatfish

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Friday September 21, 2007 · 7:38 PM PDT

2007/09/21 · 19:38

September US deaths in Iraq, first three weeks, US military deaths only counted here.

20-Sep-2007

US NAME NOT RELEASED YET
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET

19-Sep-2007

US Corporal Graham M. McMahon
US Private 1st Class Christian M. Neff

18-Sep-2007

US Sergeant Edmund J. Jeffers
US Specialist Aaron J. Walker
US Specialist Matthew J. Emerson
US Specialist Joseph N. Landry III
US Specialist Nicholas P. Olson
US Specialist Donald E. Valentine III

16-Sep-2007

US Staff Sergeant Michael L. Townes

15-Sep-2007

US Private 1st Class Brandon T. Thorsen
US Corporal Terrence P. Allen

catfishkatfish

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Wednesday September 19, 2007 · 1:17 PM PDT

2007/09/19 · 13:17

Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer reports that Bush had to be protected from bad news and his propaganda machine wouldn’t be bothered with facts. In fact they had their own propagandist in charge, another Fox in the hen house just to protect Bush from embarrassment, not unlike the Stalinists or Maoists or any dictator who rules by message control.

Howard J. Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged today in a 13-page letter.

The letter, signed by committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and released by the committee today, said the allegations were based on the testimony of seven current and former officials on Krongard's staff, including two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used, and private e-mail exchanges obtained by the committee. The letter said the allegations were not limited to a single unit or project, but concerned all three major divisions of Krongard's office -- investigations, audits and inspections.

catfishkatfish

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Tuesday September 18, 2007 · 8:38 AM PDT

2007/09/18 · 08:38

OJ Simpson...Brittany Spears...No mention of legislation moving through Congress...no images of the millions of refugees we have created. After ten minutes of watching CNN bumpers, on a hunch, I logged onto CNN.com and then to Al Jazeera.com and compared the topics covered.

Let’s look at four randomly chosen topics.

Saudi Arabia 'buys 72 Eurofighters'

Saudi Arabia has signed an $8.9bn deal with the British government to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from UK-based manufacturer BAE Systems.

Leader sworn in amid Freetown riots

Violence and looting have erupted in Sierra Leone just hours after Ernest Bai Koroma, the former opposition leader, was sworn in as the country's new president.

Typhoon Nari lashes South Korea

A fast-moving typhoon has killed at least 14 people in South Korea, with many others reported missing.

Greek conservatives celebrate win

Greek conservatives have celebrated a slim election victory, returning to power with promises to press ahead with a privatisation programme and other economic changes.

Link here: http://english.aljazeera.net

catfishkatfish

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Sunday September 16, 2007 · 7:22 AM PDT

2007/09/16 · 07:22

Ah...the unreality of it all...that General Petraeus was entering the world stage in a role that no one believed except those who were vested in believing him. A commander in chief who is supposed to make policy was not there, instead a General, who does NOT make policy, explained it. A public with a memory shorter than a flash cube that can barely make its way through seven years of lies, believing some, rejecting other assertions.

I don’t know if you like Frank Rich. He an NYT political columnist who used to be stuck in theatre.

But then, politics in America is ALL theatre.

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker could grab an hour of prime television time only by slinking into the safe foxhole of Fox News, where Brit Hume chaperoned them on a gloomy, bunkerlike set before an audience of merely 1.5 million true believers. Their "Briefing for America," as Fox titled it, was all too fittingly interrupted early on for a commercial promising pharmaceutical relief from erectile dysfunction.

catfishkatfish

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Saturday September 15, 2007 · 4:45 PM PDT

2007/09/15 · 16:45

I attended a church lecture given by a relief worker who returned from the Mideast. She spent three months there helping some UN volunteer organizations coordinate relief to the Iraqi refugee camps forming in Southern Lebanon and Syria.

This is my paraphrase of her description of the scene.

There are shanty town tent cities popping up in Syria and Lebanon. And from Iraq, there is a long line of desperate shell shocked people who were forced to walk away from everything they had. Their clothes. Their precious belongings. Their jobs. Their friends. Many are on foot. Some are piled dangerously into dangerous vehicles. They are desperate and scared and few hear their stories.

It’s a nightmare like all refugees. They rely on Syria and Lebanon and aid organizations for everything. Every thing they eat, drink, all their medicines all have to come from someone else. Even finding an empty and usable bathroom facility is an enormous task. Most Americans are totally and utterly ignorant of the misery they have created.

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"An Isolated, Reviled Nation."

Pres. Carter Smacks Wolf Blitzer In Head With Truth.

Turns Out The War On Terror Is Bad For Business.

Be Careful When Criticizing AT&T

This Just Does Not Add Up.

Administration Blocking Past-Due Collection From Oil Companies.

Be Careful What Books You Carry On A Plane (Update)

Suggested Light Reading For Republican Senators.

Bush Can't Handle The Truth!

Aljazeera.net Covers More News Than CNN.com

Frank Rich: Will The Democrats Betray Us?

Think About What We’ve Done To The Iraqis.