<HTML> <HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <META name="verify-v1" content="3ITqiX0/oB541GvtYYqqMYN0HCZzfGw0PBOY6P2hQ4E=" /> <META name="description" content="DVMX is a Web Review of current events and issues from an international arts and sciences perspective."> <link rel="stylesheet" href="dvmxcom.css" type="text/css"> <STYLE TYPE="text/css"><!-- a:link, a:visited, a:active {text-decoration:none} --></STYLE><TITLE>News and Commentary from Dvmx.com </TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#998877" VLINK="#888888" ALINK="#ffcc99"> <center> <table align=center width=800 border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=6><tr><TD align=right valign="top" width=142 height=124 background="wrigglesm2.jpg"> <IMG WIDTH=142 HEIGHT=118 BORDER=0 SRC="dogyear.jpg" alt="Year of the Dog"></td> <td align=center width=480 height=124 valign="top" background="wrigglesm2.jpg"> <BR> DVMX<br><br><br> <span class="textsmtitle"> Current Issue   <a href="life_on_earth.html"class="home">Life on Earth</a> &nbsp; <A HREF="#previous"class="home">Previous Issues</a> &nbsp; <a href="links_and_downloads.html"class="home">Links and pdf Downloads</a></span></td> <TD align=center width=142 height=124 valign=top background="wrigglesm2.jpg"> <img src="vigilant.jpg" align=center width=64 height=100 alt="Vigilance"> <br><br></td></tr></table> <table align=center width=800 border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=6> <tr><td colspan=3 align=center> <span class="textVJs"> <i>"I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world, not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well. And I look forward to a world which will be safe not only for democracy and diversity but also for personal distinction.<br> I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty."- JFK 10/26/63 Amherst College</i></span> <br> </td></tr> <tr> <td align=left valign=top width=142> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b>

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743272234?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743272234"><img border="0" src="0743272234.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V40244304_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0743272234" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br><span class="textVSmallNz">When weapons inspector Kay told CIA's deputy director McLaughlin that Saddam had not produced any WMD, he replied, "Don't tell anyone this. This could be upsetting. Be very careful. We can't let this out until we're sure." <br> Bob Woodward, <i> State of Denial</i></span>
<b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/159420103X&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="159420103X.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V51816843_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=159420103X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0307346811&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0307346811.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V52133233_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0307346811" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/1595581367&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="1595581367.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V61160563_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1595581367" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/1931859396&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="1931859396.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V62129040_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1931859396" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0743294238&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0743294238.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V62143183_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0743294238" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0743286855&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0743286855.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V62143180_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0743286855" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> </p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0374299633&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0374299633.01._AA_SCTZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0374299633" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="Anousha.jpg" width=140 height=150 alt="Anousha Ansari"> <br>Anousha Ansari, an Iranian born American high-tech entrepreneur and the first female space tourist takes off on Sept 18 from the Baikanour Cosomdrome. She will conduct experiments on board the space station for The European Space Agency. <a href="http://news.cubasi.cu/DesktopDefault.aspx?SPK=160&CLK=132340&LK=2&CK=68675&SPKA=35"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="randi_rhodes.jpg" width=101 height=83 alt="Randi Rhodes"> <br><a href="http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/"class="home"target="external">The Randi Rhodes Show</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <a href="http://dvmx.com/Bush_Grope.mov"target="external"> <img src="Bush_grope2.jpg" width=140 height=186 alt="Bush Groping Merkel" border=0></a> <br> <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8475672348753422268&pr=goog-sl"target="external"><img src="Bush_grope3.jpg" width=140 height=161 alt="Bush Groping Merkel" border=0> </a> <br> <b>Inappropriate Behavior</b> <br>Strangely frisky Bush gropes Germany's Merkel. click image for video<br><br> <a href="http://dvmx.com/Bush-Mouthfull-Syria-bullshit.mov"target="external"> <img src="Bush_shit.jpg" alt="Bush- mouth full, mike open" border=0></a> <br><b>Mouth full, mike open:</b> <br><i>"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit..."</i> <br> <a href="http://dvmx.com/Bush-Mouthfull-Syria-bullshit.mov"target="external">Click for video</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="bush-hayden-sm.jpg"width=140 vspace=4 height=94 alt="Bush and Hayden"> <br> <span class="textVredB">NSA Monitoring: <br> Every Call You Make <br> Every Mail You Send</span> <br><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm"class="home"target="external">USA Today reveals</a> the spy agency has been collecting information on every phone call made in this country... "high likelihood" that this information is being passed on to the FBI and CIA. <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0512-10.htm"class="home"target="external">(email too)</a> AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth have been turning over detailed call histories of all their customers since Sept. 11, 2001, to help the NSA compile <b>"the largest database ever assembled in the world."</b> <br> <i>And you too can be part of it! Just pick up your phone now, and call... well, anyone!</i> <br><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm"class="home"target="external">(USAT article)</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156025940X?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=156025940X"><img border="0" src="156025940X.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V61459954_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=156025940X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="lawrence_wilkerson_2.jpg" width=140 height=126 vspace=4 alt="lawrence_wilkerson"> <br><i>Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell from 2002 to 2005:</i> <br> "As Alexis de Tocqueville once said: "America is great because she is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." In January 2001, with the inauguration of George W. Bush as president, America set on a path to cease being good; America became a revolutionary nation, a radical republic. If our country continues on this path, it will cease to be great - as happened to all great powers before it, without exception." <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.radical23apr23,0,7907127.story"class="home"target="external">(story)</a> </p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0375422625&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0375422625.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0375422625" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br><span class="textVSmallNz"> <b>That Giant Sucking Sound</b> <br>Official: "US needs a net inflow of $3 billion <i>per day</i> to keep the economy afloat..." <br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/business/worldbusiness/10chill.html"class="home"target="external"> (story, NYT)</a> </span> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="Murtha.jpg" width=140 vspace=4 height=105 alt="Congressman Murtha"> Rep. Murtha: "Let me tell you, the only people who want us in Iraq is Iran and al-Qaeda.." <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/05/murtha-only-people-who-_n_16796.html"class="home"target="external">(story)</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="mccain_bush_hug.jpg" width=140 height=155 vspace=4 alt="McCain Hugs the Chief"> <br><b> McCain gets religion</b> <br> John McCain now hopes to pick up the Bush vote in 08. </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." -Edward R. Murrow <br><b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> "The erosion of freedom rarely comes as an all-out frontal assault, rather, it is a gradual, noxious creeping cloaked in secrecy and glossed over by reassurances of greater security." -Robert Byrd, dean of the Senate. </p> &nbsp;&nbsp;<B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0300113994&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0300113994.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0300113994" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNJ"> <IMG WIDTH=139 HEIGHT=157 BORDER=0 vspace=4 SRC="hand_in_hand.jpg"> <br>"Holding hands is the warmest expression of affection between men, It's a sign of solidarity and kinship." - Samir Khalaf, professor of sociology, American University of Beirut. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/weekinreview/01basics.html"class="home" target="external">... story</a>) </p> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <p class="textVSmallNJ"><img src="boykin.jpg"width=139 height=141 vspace=4 alt="General Boykin"> "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." -Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin <br> <i>President Bush apparently found this remark sufficient evidence of the man's superior intellect to name him Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. Snideness aside, the worry here is that Bush is infiltrating top military ranks with right-wing christian dominionists...<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/980764.asp"class="home"target="external">(story)</a></i> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <img src="cheney_rumsfeld.jpg" width=142 height=56 vspace=6 alt="Cheney, Rumsfeld Should Resign"> <br> <span class="textVSmallNz"> <b> Los Angeles Times Calls for Cheney Resignation</b> <br><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush23apr23,0,1626138,print.story"class="home"target="external">(LAT Ed)</a> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0312360169&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0312360169.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0312360169" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br><br> <span class="textVSmallNJ"> <B>Politics + Society</B></span> <BR> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <span class="textVSmallNJ"><A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/"class="home"target="_blank"> Huffington Post</A> <br> <A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/"class="home"target="_blank">Truth Out</A> <BR> <A HREF="http://www.cursor.org/"class="home"target="_blank">Cursor</A> <BR> <a href="http://www.rawstory.com" class="home"target="_blank">Raw Story</a> <br> <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/" class="home"target="_blank">Talking Points Memo</a> <br> <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=5"class="home"target="_blank">Counterspin</a> <br> <a href="links_and_downloads.html"class="home"><i>More links</i></a> </span> <br> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <BR> <span class="textVSmallNJ"> <b>PDF Downloads</b> <br>now moved <a href="links_and_downloads.html"class="home">here</a></span> <br> <B>&nbsp; &nbsp; <FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font> </B> <br><br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0307237346&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0307237346.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0307237346" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br><span class="textVSmallNJ">"Hostile Takeover tells you more about our corporations and politicians than our corporations and politicians think you really ought to know." <br> -<a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/quicktakes/cst-nws-qt01.html"class="home"target="external">Chicago Sun-Times</span> <br> <B>&nbsp; &nbsp; <FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font> </B> <br> <span class="textVSmallNJa"> <!-- include cost of war javascript; this runs the counter --> <script language="JavaScript" src="http://costofwar.com/costofwar.js"></script> <!-- the elements 'row' and 'alt' will be changed by the javascript to contain the correct numbers --> <div><b><font size=-2> Iraq War Cost</font></b></div><div id="raw">(JavaScript Error)</div><div><a href="http://costofwar.com" target="_top">More details: click here.</a></div><!-- this line triggers the counter to start --><script language="JavaScript">inc_totals_at_rate(1000);</script> </span> <br> <B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font>&nbsp;&nbsp;</B> <p class="textVSmallNJ"> <a href="pat_robertson_aliens_lg.jpg"target="_blank"><img src="pat_robertson_aliens.jpg" width=140 height=105 alt="Pat Robertson on Aliens" border=0></a> <br>"The devil can disguise himself in many forms...if there is life on other planets it is demonic. There is no question that there are demons in outer space."<br> -Pat Robertson</p> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br><p class="textVSmallNJ">"A tormenting thought: as of a certain point, history was no longer real. Without noticing it, all mankind suddenly left reality..." -Elias Canetti</p> <p class="textVSmallNJ"> <a href="Bush_storm.jpg" target="external"><img src="Bush_stormsm.jpg" border=0 width=140 height=97 vspace=4 alt="Bush storm"></a> <br> "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." <i> Voltaire</i> </p> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307265773?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307265773"><img border="0" src="0307265773.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V61158535_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0307265773" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <p class="textVSmallNJ"> "The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes that the world [is] about to end and that its ending [will] be glorious, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency." -Sam Harris, <a href="http://www.samharris.org/site/book_letter_to_christian_nation/"class="home"target="external">"Letter to a Christian Nation"</a> </p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0393060942&tag=mkzdk&camp=1789&creative=9325"><img border="0" src="0393060942.01._AA_SCTZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0393060942" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <p class="textVSmallNJ"> <b>Kingdom Coming:<br> The Rise of Christian Nationalism</b> <br>Read the review at Salon: <i>"Across the United States, religious activists are organizing to establish an American theocracy. A frightening look inside the growing right-wing movement"... by Michelle Goldberg <a href="http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/05/12/goldberg/"class="home"target="external">(article at Salon)</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br><br> <img src="pat_tillman.jpg" width=140 height=155 alt="Pat Tillman" border=0> <p class="textVSmallNz"> Update March 3: The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into whether Corporal Tillman's death was <b>homicide</b>... <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/14023652.htm"class="home"target="external">(story)</a> <br> See our earlier piece on the suspicious circumstances of Tillman's death <a href="pat_tillman_death.html"class="home">here</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <img align=center src="Bush_sotu.jpg" width=140 height=112 vspace=2 alt="Bush on SOTU"> <p class="textVSmallNz">Bush on the state of the union speech- <i>a must see</i> <a href="speech_to_the_nation.mov" class="home"target="external">(quicktime download)</a> . </p> <font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font> <br><span class="textVSmallNJx"> "American journalism is in need of a spine transplant" <a href="http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3099"class="home"target="external">Dan Rather</a> </span> <br> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="evil_and_stupid.jpg"width=140 height=149 border=0 vspace=4 alt="evil and stupid"> <br> Hey! It's <a href="bushboogies.mov" class="home"target="external">Hard Work!</a>! Well, maybe we can just <a href="imagine___walk_on_the_wild_side.m3u" class="home"target="external">Imagine... Walk on the Wild Side!</a> (mp3s) </p> <B>&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <p class="textVSmallNJ">Richard Nixon, referring to the report by the Warren Commission: "it was the <b>greatest hoax</b> that has ever been perpetuated".[sic] <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1848157.stm"class="home" target="_blank">(...ref)</A><br><br>Oh, and Oswald <i>was </i> CIA <br><a href="oswald_was_cia.gif"class="home"target="external">(view document)</a> </p> &nbsp;&nbsp;<B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br><br> <img src="swirlgirl.jpg" width=140 height=154 alt="dervish"> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <p class="textVSmallNz"> <img src="sheen911.jpg" width=140 height=117 alt="Sheen on 911"> <br><i>Charlie Sheen on CNN:</i> <br> <b>"911 was an Inside Job"</b> <BR>And 82% agree! <a href="http://www.911blogger.com/2006/03/no-longer-minority-82-plus-support.html"class="home" target="external">(ref)</a> </p> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <img src="atta_jarrah.jpg" width=140 height=94 alt="atta and jarrah"> <br> <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2382919,00.html"class="home"target="external">New videos</a> show 9/11 hijackers at BinLaden's camp in 2000. Here pictured: Atta (r.) and Jarrah (l.) <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br><br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566566592?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1566566592"><img border="0" src="1566566592.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V52599342_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1566566592" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592090265?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1592090265"><img border="0" src="1592090265.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V61223519_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1592090265" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566565847?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1566565847"><img border="0" src="1566565847.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1566565847" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <b><font size=3 color="#cc2222">&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></b> <br> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446579327?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446579327"><img border="0" src="0446579327.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V55103970_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=0446579327" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <br> <br> <A NAME="previous">&nbsp;&nbsp;<B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></a> <br> <span class="textVSmallNJ"> <b>Previous issues:</b> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_Sept06.html"class="home">09.20.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_Aug06.html"class="home">08.10.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_May06.html"class="home">05.20.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_april06.html"class="home">04.20.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_mar-apr_06.html"class="home">03.20.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_jan-feb_06.html"class="home">01.20.06</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_Oct05.html"class="home">10.01.05</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index_sept05.html"class="home">9.01.05</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index-June05.html"class="home">6.01.05</a> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index-may1-05.html"class="home">5.01.05</a> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="index-jan30_05.html"class="home">1.30.05</a> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexDec30_04.html"class="home">12.30.04</A> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexNovember04.html"class="home">11.14.04</A> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexoctober04.html"class="home">10.04.04</A> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexjul04.html"class="home">7.04.04</A> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexapr04.html"class="home">4.05.04</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexmarch04.html"class="home">3.12.04</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexjun.html"class="home">6.18.03</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexma18.html"class="home">5.18.03</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexap22.html"class="home">4.22.03</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexap14.html"class="home">4.14.03</A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="indexmar20.html"class="home">3.20.03</A> </span> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;<B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br><span class="textVSmallNJ">Editor: S. Miller</span><br> <span class="textVSmallNJ"> <A HREF="MAILTO:&#115;&#109;&#100;&#118;&#109;&#120;&#064;&#103;&#109;&#097;&#105;&#108;&#046;&#099;&#111;&#109; "class="home">Contact Dvmx.com</A> </span> <br><br><IMG WIDTH=88 HEIGHT=82 BORDER=0 ALT="Dvmx" SRC="wumpussm2.jpg"> <br> </td> <TD align=left valign=top width=480> <br> <span class="textItalicRed">Oct 1 2006 </span> <br> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="scoundrels_all.jpg" width=450 height=192 alt="scoundrels all"> <br><br> <b>Fools on the Hill Sell Us Out Once Again</b> <br>In the midst of a volley of reports of administration incompetence, dishonesty, and arrogant authoritarianism, Congress bends over and passes the 'Military Commissions Act of 2006', which goes a long way to giving Bush what he always wanted - <a href="bush_dictator.m3u"class="home">to be a dictator</a>. "It'd be a heck of a lot easier!" <br><i> A reaction review: </i> <br><br> <b>This Time, Congress Has No Excuse</b> <br> Andrew Cohen <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2006/09/shame_on_congress_for_passing.html"class="home"target="external">in The Washington Post, 9/28: <br> "Of all the stupid, lazy, short-sighted, hasty, ill-conceived, partisan-inspired, damage-inflicting, dangerous and offensive things this Congress has done (or not done) in its past few recent miserable terms, the looming passage of the terror detainee bill takes the cake. At least when Congress voted to authorize the Iraq War legislators can point to the fact that they were deceived by Administration officials. But what's Congress' excuse now for agreeing to sign off on a law that would give the executive branch even more unfettered power over the rest of us than it already has?" <br><br> <b>"This is one of the most tyrannical and dangerous bills to be enacted in our nation's history"</b> <br> Glenn Greenwald, constitutional lawyer:<br> "Following in the footsteps of the House, the Senate this afternoon approved the bill <i>which vests in the President the power of indefinite, unreviewable detention (even of U.S. citizens)</i> and which also legalizes various torture techniques. It is not hyperbole to say that this is one of the most tyrannical and dangerous bills to be enacted in our nation's history... The final Senate vote was 65-34. The Democrats lacked the votes for a filibuster and therefore did not attempt one. Twelve (out of 44) Senate Democrats voted in favor of this bill, while only one Republican (Chafee) voted against it. The dishonorable list of Democrats voting for the bill: Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich)." <a href="http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/george-bushs-vast-new-powers-of.html" class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> <br><br> <b>Molly Ivins | Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)</b> <br> Molly Ivins writes: "Fellow citizens, this bill throws out legal and moral restraints as the president deems it necessary - these are fundamental principles of basic decency, as well as law. I'd like those supporting this evil bill to spare me one affliction: Do not, please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation. And do not pretend to be shocked when the world begins comparing us to the Nazis." <a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092906B.shtml"class="home"target="external">(article)

In the autumn of the year [...] the world's only military superpower was dealt a profound psychological blow by a daring terrorist attack on its very heart. In the panicky aftermath of the attack, the [...] people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty.
The year was 68 BC, and the republic was Rome. Read the article by Robert Harris "What A Terrorist Incident in Ancient Rome Can Teach Us - Pirates of the Mediterranean - New York Times <br><br> Amnesty International has an <a href="http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/c.goJTI0OvElH/b.2070005/k.BBAA/National_Callin_Week_for_the_America_We_Believe_In/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=goJTI0OvElH&b=2070005&en=ckJVI7PLLnLTJ6ONLbLQJbMUKcLNJ2MNLfIYKlN6H"class="home"target="external">action page on this legislation</a> <br><br> Open letter from 540 outraged law professors <a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/advocates/downloads/openlettertocongress.pdf"class="home"target="external">(download pdf letter)</a> <br><br> NYTimes: "The bill...does not just allow the president to determine the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions; it also strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear challenges to his interpretation. <br> "And it broadens the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" to include not only those who fight the United States but also those who have "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." The latter group could include those accused of providing financial or other indirect support to terrorists, human rights groups say. The designation can be made by any "competent tribunal" created by the president or secretary of defense." <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/us/30detain.html?ei=5094&en=4b0651b4401c1962&hp=&ex=1159675200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print"class="home"target="external">(NYT ref)</a> </P> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> Pentaghoul <b>Iraq Debacle</b> <br> Iraq: Commanders in the field now saying the US cannot defeat the insurgency. Instead the mission is now to train Iraqi forces so that they can take on the insurgency. <i>- Hookah-smoking Caterpillar, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-09-12-iraq-mission_x.htm"class="home"target="external">quoted in USA Today</a></i> <br><br> 9/20: Latest military report: "overwhelming majority of Sunnis now support the insurgency". <br><br> 9/27: 'The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest." <br>The report is the latest indictment of U.S. construction giant Parsons Corp, which was awarded $1 billion for a variety of reconstruction projects across Iraq, and has failed to properly build health clinics, prisons and hospitals...' <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092702134.html"class="home"target="external">(WaPo 9/27/06)</a> <a href="PA-06-078_079_Baghdad_Police_College.pdf"class="home"target="external">(report pdf)</a> <br><br> According to the latest <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_mi_ea/storytext/iraqi_opinion/20432084/SIG=10larmdkf/*http://www.pipa.org"class="home"target="external">PIPA poll</a>, 61% of Iraqis approved attacks on the American occupiers. And according to The Washington Post, a State Department poll found two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces <br><br> Meanwhile we also learned that Lord Rumsfeld, in a fit of pique back in 2002, yelled at his colleagues that he'd fire the next person who bought up the subject of a post-war plan of occupation for Iraq. <br><br> In <i>State of Denial</i> Mr. Bush is quoted as saying in November 2003 of the situation in Iraq: "I don't want anyone in the cabinet to say it is an insurgency. I don't think we are there yet." <br>Lord Rumsfeld, with the benefits of hindsight: <br> "Well, I think that anyone who looks at it with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight has to say that there was not an anticipation that the level of insurgency would be anything approximating what it is," Rumsfeld told the CNN documentary, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.rumsfeld.html"class="home"target="external">"Rumsfeld - Man of War"</a> which debuts Sept 30. <br><br>"We're in a real fix right now. We're there because Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ignored sound military advice, dismissed it all, went with his plan and his plan alone." - Former U.S. Army Maj. Gen John Batiste at Senate hearing on Iraq War <a href="Batiste.html"class="home">(full text)</a>. <a href="http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/webcast_092506.ram"class="home"target="external"> (hearings webcast)</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400044871?ie=UTF8&tag=mkzdk&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1400044871"><img align=left hspace=8 vspace=4 border="0" src="1400044871.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_V65593524_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mkzdk&l=as2&o=1&a=1400044871" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> <b>Imperial Life in the Emerald City</b> <br> "Like any good foreign correspondent, Rajiv Chandrasekaran pays attention to the details. Food, for instance. In the U.S. enclave in Baghdad, that meant a "bottomless barrel of pork: sausage for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, pork chops for dinner ... bacon cheeseburgers, grilled-cheese-and-bacon sandwiches, and bacon omelets" all served and consumed blithely in front of hundreds of Iraqi Muslim secretaries and translators who worked inside this bubble known as the Green Zone." - from the <a href="http://www.newsday.com/features/booksmags/ny-botleft4899817sep24,0,6474479.story?coll=ny-bookreview-headlines"class="home"target="external">Newsday review</a> of Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran's new book, "Imperial Life in the Emerald City". Andrew Metz writes: "with an impeccable eye for the tragic and outrageous, Chandrasekaran unveils the occupation authority compound as a Middle East Oz, grossly out of touch with the harsh realities of the real Iraq." <br><br> Sept 24: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html"class="home"target="external"> A leaked classified National Intelligence Estimate</a> completed in April says <i>the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse, and that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe".</i> <br> Keep up on Iraq with <a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/"class="home"target="external">Dahr Jamail</a> and <a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/"class="home"target="external">Riverbend</a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVSmallV"> Our previous pieces re Iraq Occupation are still pertinent: <br> <a href="index-jan30_05.html"class="home"target="external"> <i>January 2005: Iraq: The Election and Beyond</i></a> / <a href="index-jan30_05.html#iran"class="home"target="external"> <i>January 2005: Iran </i></a> / <A href="abadidea.html"class="home"> <i> April 2004: Iraq- A Bad Idea Gets Worse</i> </a> / <A href="truthorconsequences.html"class="home"> <i> March 2004: Truth or Consequences</i> </a> / <A href="quicksand.html"class="home"> <i> June 2003: Quicksand</i> </a> / <A href="tookthebait.html"class="home"> <i> May 2003: Bait Taken</i> </a> / <A href="hotpotato.html"class="home"> <i> April 2003: Hot Potato</i> </a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <a href="chavez_UN_speech.html"><img src="still_smells_of_sulphur_sm.jpg" align=center width=480 height=203 border=0 alt="And it still smells of sulphur"></a> <br><span class="textItalicC">click to enlarge</span> <center><b><span class="textVJs"><i>"Yesterday the devil came here... and this place still smells of sulphur. <br> He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world."</i></span></b></center> <p class="textVJs"><a href="chavez_UN_speech.html"class=home">see full text of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's speech to the UN here</a> <br><br> Venezuela began a program last year which provides discounted home heating oil to low income families in the US. Chavez announced in New York he would more than double the subsidized oil, to 100 million gallons. "It makes us feel good to give" said Chavez. Read more on the new Venezuela <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0706-32.htm"class="home"target="external">here</a> <br><br> Nanci Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "a thug" last week. A little perspective is in order here: Chavez is a democratically elected leader; who, in contrast to our own president, won two clean elections by a solid margin. Furthermore, Chavez has not tried to overthrow the US government, as the Bush administration tried to do to Venezuela, in order to prevent Chavez from redistributing the oil wealth to his country's impoverished majority. So what is this remark? Some kind of obeisance to the nativist know-nothings in ascendance these days in DC? Methinks Ms. Pelosi should be more concerned about the congress voting away half the bill of rights this week and making America an outlaw nation in the eyes of the world. Where was she when our own Thug in Chief came over to Capitol Hill to twist arms and force the bill through? Twelve democratic senators and 34 democratic House members shamefully voted for this 'legislation'. So much for the efficacy of Mr. Reid's and Ms. Pelosi's "leadership". </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <b>FISA warrants</b> are easy to get. Even after the fact. Refusal rate around .02 of 1 percent. So why bother bypassing them and getting every one upset? <br> 1. To assert president's authority to do whatever he wants to do (in order to protect us of course). <br> 2. So as not to leave records of who was being wiretapped. This is the big one. Because they were wiretapping people for other reasons. Like Nixon, to see who didn't like them, or who disagreed on policies; and journalists, to find out who their sources were and 'plug the leaks'- silence the whistleblowers. And officials everywhere, making sure everyone towed the line; anyone in fact, to get some dirt on people - always useful when it comes to 'arm-twisting' ... you get the picture. You don't ask for a warrant because you don't want a record of who your targets were. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <b>Torture Nation</b> <i>(excerpt from last issue)</i> <br> In all the discussion of torture and treatment of prisoners, a big part is missing. <br> The issue is not the fine gradients of a suspect's presumed evil and the appropriate corresponding degree of torture. <br> The issue is whether we are torturers or not. Not whether this one or that one deserves what level of horror, but who exactly are we? Are we now the torturers? <br> <i>The vile posturings of the Bush administration and it's minions in this regard must be condemned and repudiated.</i> <br><br> P.S. Note <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412258"class="home"target="external">the story of Maher Arar</a>, kidnapped in the transit lounge of JFK on his way home to his family in Canada, sent to be tortured in Syria (!) for a year before being released...whoops, a mistake, no apologies. <br> Or <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,438371,00.html"class="home"target="external">that of Khaled al-Masri</a>, a German citizen of Lebanese descent kidnapped on New Year's Eve 2003 while on vacation with his family in Macedonia. Abused for 5 months in various secret prisons around the world, and then dumped on a street in Albania. Whoops... wrong guy. No apologies. <br><br> And remember that 90% of the Iraqis held in Abu Ghraib were innocent of any involvement with the insurgency. And that many of the prisoners held in Guantanamo were simply innocents kidnapped by warlords in Afghanistan and sold to the Americans as terrorists for cash. (Officials have let it be understood that Bush faces a quandary in regard to the innocents: they should be released, but after years of abuse at American hands, they probably really hate us by now, and may now represent a danger if released. <i> Fairness and justice for all!</i> ) <br>
<b>"Rushing Off a Cliff" </B>-NYTimes: The new law "would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error." <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/opinion/28thu1.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print"class="home"target="external">NYT Ed 9/28 "Rushing Off a Cliff"</a> <br><br> Notes: <br> Benjamin Ferencz, a chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes in Nuremberg has said George Bush <a href="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=8161"class="home"target="external">should be prosecuted for war crimes</a>. <br><br> Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said in Geneva that torture in Iraq "is <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_torture "class="home"target="external">totally out of hand</a>"... "many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein". <br><br> 9/24: Officials tell the New York Times that<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html"class="home"target="external"> the classified National Intelligence Estimate</a> completed in April says <i>the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse, and that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe".</i> <br><br> Just a couple weeks ago, the Council on Global Terrorism, an independent research group of respected terrorism experts, assigned a grade of D+ to United States efforts over the past five years to combat Islamic extremism. The council concluded that "there is every sign that radicalization in the Muslim world is spreading rather than shrinking." <a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092406Z.shtml"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> <br><br> At this point it might be useful to revisit <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700018.html"class="home"target="external">an article</a> in The Washington Post last December by Vladimir Bukovsky, who spent 12 years in the Soviet Gulag. Some excerpts from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700018.html"class="home"target="external">"Torture's Long Shadow"</a>: <br> <i>- A joke told among close friends in Moscow in the dark days of Stalin: One nasty morning Comrade Stalin discovered that his favorite pipe was missing. Naturally, he called in his henchman, Lavrenti Beria, and instructed him to find the pipe. A few hours later, Stalin found it in his desk and called off the search. "But, Comrade Stalin," stammered Beria, "five suspects have already confessed to stealing it."</i> <br> - The Czars "understood that torture is the professional disease of any investigative machinery" <br> - "...much as a good hunter trains his hounds to bring the game to him rather than eating it, a good ruler has to restrain his henchmen from devouring the prey lest he be left empty-handed. Investigation is a subtle process, requiring patience and fine analytical ability, as well as a skill in cultivating one's sources. When torture is condoned, these rare talented people leave the service, having been outstripped by less gifted colleagues with their quick-fix methods, and the service itself degenerates into a playground for sadists. Thus, in its heyday, Joseph Stalin's notorious NKVD (the Soviet secret police) became nothing more than an army of butchers terrorizing the whole country but incapable of solving the simplest of crimes." <br> - "If Vice President Cheney is right and some "cruel, inhumane or degrading" (CID) treatment of captives is a necessary tool for winning the war on terrorism, then the war is lost already..." </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <span class="textItalicC">click for clip (excerpt Eminem's Mosh Continues) </span><br> <a href="cheneyswetdream.mov" target="external"><img src="osama_bin_forgotten.jpg" width=240 height=175 border=0 align=left hspace=8 vspace=6 alt="Osama Bin Forgotten"></a> <br> <br> <b>Osama Bin Forgotten?</b> <br> Recently we learned that the CIA's Bin Laden unit was disbanded; also that Bin Laden is not wanted by the FBI for 9/11 (<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm"class="home"target="external">see wanted poster</a>). And that Pakistan has signaled that Bin Laden and his coterie can remain unmolested in Waziristan so long as they remain "men of peace", and do not engage in terrorism. Pakistan also released thousands of Taliban as part of the deal. Someone, presumably AlQueda, released a kind of commemorative videotape on Sept 11 showing Bin Laden and the Martyrs preparing for the attacks; on the same day a Bush anniversary photo-op and speech from Ground Zero... and the ABC 4-hour commercial-free, right-winger scripted (and funded?) fakumentary, "Path to 9/11" blaming it all on the Clinton administration ( ! ). Cheney always says the enemy is media-sophisticated; funny - they seem to be working it together... <br><br> "The goal has never been to get bin Laden"- General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 6 April 2002. <br> "I don't know where he is. I - I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him." - George W Bush, 13 March 2002 <br><br> "There is a kind of an urban myth here in Washington about how this administration hasn't stayed focused on Osama bin Laden. Forget it." -George Bush 9/06 <br><br> <img src="pervez.jpg" width=81 height=72 align=left hspace=8 vspace=6 alt="pervez musharref"> <br>Latest From Pervez: Just after 9/11, Asst. Sec State Armitage conveyed the message that Pakistan could either be America's ally in the GWOT, or be bombed "back to the stone age". <br> <i>An offer he couldn't refuse. </i><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1878618,00.html"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> <br><br> In the midst of all this, an "intelligence leak" <a href="http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060923-091303-2145r"class="home"target="external">appears in the French press </a>suggesting that Bin Laden may have died in Pakistan in August of a "water-born illness". This would certainly be convenient for everyone concerned, notably the US and Pakistan, and for BinLaden too of course, if he's still alive. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <i>BambinoDiva writes: Li'l Georgie has taken over the house and made a terrible mess; he sits amid the rubble, unexploded bombs, shredded constitution, playing with Li'l Condi, he wears a silly crown, looks looney. . Speedy Gonzales, wearing a joker's hat, is woofing on Georgie's command... Uncle Sam in the background with an insane grimace flexes tattooed muscles and fists with brass knuckles and chains before the mirror, his hobnailed boot on the neck of someone tied up in a knot at his feet. In the side room, Darth and Don, Lil Georgie's two snickering gangbanger buddies, count the dough amid racks of guns.... and pappy's in the library sitting on the floor against a wall, head spinning in denial. Isn't it time someone organized an intervention?</i> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <a href="http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2/webfullreport.htm"class="home"target="external">House Judiciary / Conyers Report: Constitution in Crisis </a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"><b>2006 Election Ripe For Hacking</b> <br> <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_kennedy_jr__will_the_next_election_be_hacked"target="external"><img src="rollingstone_rfk2.jpg" border=0 width=100 height=139 align=left hspace=8 vspace=4 alt="Rolling Stone RFK2 Article"></a> Hard to imagine that the opposition will not take back the Congress in November, the way things are going. But if the machines can be used as part of the RNC victory strategy... we already notice a batch of new MainStreamMedia polls rather questionably showing Bush back up in the 40's... and a 45-55 count in even the exit polls can easily turn out to be 55-45 when the vote counts are released. After all, it happens all the time!- Starting in 2000, there are dozens of examples of this, so many in fact that no-one bothers to investigate them (except RFK2- see his <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/election04"class="home"target="external">"Was the 2004 Election Stolen?"</a>). <br> Watch the Princeton report linked below and read RFK2's new piece and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the people, (as in 'government of the people, by the people...') are up against- again, this fall; and maybe what we can still do about it.</i> <br><br> Princeton researchers demonstrate how the Diebold Voting Machine can be hacked, using a virus to steal the vote and leave no trace. <a href="http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/videos.html"class="home"target="external">See the video here.</a> / <a href="ts-paper.pdf"class="home"target="external">Download report here</a> <br><br> Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the new Rolling Stone: <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_kennedy_jr__will_the_next_election_be_hacked"class="home"target="external">"Will The Next Election Be Hacked?"</a> in which a Diebold whistleblower describes a near identical scenario he participated in Georgia in 2002. RFK2: "'Every board of election has staff members with the technological ability to fix an election,' Ion Sancho, an election supervisor in Leon County, Florida, told me. 'Even one corrupt staffer can throw an election. Without paper records, it could happen under my nose and there is no way I'd ever find out about it. With a few key people in the right places, it would be possible to throw a presidential election.'" <br><br> Note: New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson has ordered the scrapping of plans to use touch-screen voting machines, and mandated a return to paper ballots and optical scanners. "I didn't want my state to continue being an embarrassment like Ohio and Florida every four years," he said, adding "I also thought we needed to restore voter confidence, and that wasn't going to happen with the touch-screen machines." <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/us/politics/24voting.html"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> 780,000 Americans arrested in 2005 for marijuana. 90% for possession. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> The FCC ordered staff to destroy every last copy of a study that found FCC policy detrimental to news source diversity- this was the second one in a week discovered to have been deep-sixed by Colin Powell's son Michael and the Corruption Crew at the FCC. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> DENVER (Sept. 17) - Ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates called for world peace and took aim at U.S. policy makers, asking an enthusiastic crowd of 7,000 youth to demand that the United States pull back its military, spread its wealth and offer aid to developing countries. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="Willis.jpg" width=110 height=108 align=left hspace=8 vspace=6 alt="Bruce Willis renounces republicans"> <br> Republicans are bailing the sinking ship: politicians switching parties, and now this, Bruce Willis, told a reporter "Please write this. I'm always being accused of being a Hollywood Republican - but I'm not!" <br clear=all> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <i>Too soon forgotten department:</i> San Antonio, TX Dec 09, 2005 <br> Air Force leaders released a <a href="http://www.af.mil/main/welcome.asp"class="home"target="external">new mission statement</a> last December that defines the current and future direction of the Air Force. "The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests -- to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace." <i> Yes- Cyberspace!</i> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> On Sept 11, Chief of the Air Force Wynne said the military should use next-generation 'non-lethal' weapons on US demonstrators before deploying to the battlefield... in order that US citizens should appreciate the 'non-lethality' and be immune to accusations of proscribed weapons use from operating theaters abroad. <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060913&articleId=3213"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> <br>Right. This is in reality nothing less than a trojan horse to legitimize- even institutionalize- the use of first line battlefield weaponry against US citizens in the US. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B> <br> <p class="textVJs"> <span class="textVred"><b>Attitude</b></span> <br> Maybe it's a symptom of the age of information overload; most people these days apparently don't care to be burdened with endless facts and the weighing of contradictory claims... the short cut is <i>attitude</i>. So instead of learning about something and forming a judgement, they consider other peoples' attitudes and choose the one they identify with. Right-wing punditry is all about attitude. So is FOX News. So is Bushian foreign policy. So is the Republican national election narrative. (The Democrats simply don't have an attitude of any kind.) Try a Google search for 'Bush + "my attitude"'. <br><br> By this point we find ourselves so steeped in delusional attitude - 'we are the greatest country on earth, you're a traitor if you don't agree, and anyone who obstructs us is bad', that even opposition party leaders believe they stray from this puerile mantra at their own peril. And Americans have fallen for it in vast numbers it seems; maybe its the media, the constant drumbeat of fear and silliness; maybe it's the collapsed education system that's spawned such gullibility. Thus a great country withdraws into a bubble of delusion; it is pathetic to see the nation that midwifed the United Nations, launched the Peace Corps, and put men on the moon, so shamed by it's political leadership as to have become a pariah in the community of nations, a feared and tiresome bully, not a respected leader. I've posted a sampling of the national discussions I think we should be having <a href="renaissance.html">(Notes Toward an American Renaissance)</a>; but I'm pretty sanguine on whether we as a nation, at the rate we're going, will ever get around to such advanced considerations. (Ed.) </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="keith_olbermann.jpg"width=160 height=135 align=left hspace=8 vspace=6 alt="Keith Olbermann">America may have found it's new Edward R. Murrow, and his name is Keith Olbermann, the only MSM journalist with the courage to aggressively denounce the behavior of this government, which he does relentlessly from his perch at MSNBC's Countdown. <a href="http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm"class="home"target="external">Watch video clips</a> of his best recent statements: 'Bush Owes Us an Apology', 'This Hole in the Ground', 'Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?', 'There Is Fascism, Indeed', 'Terror and Politics in America'. </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="nw1.jpg" width=102 height=145 hspace=8 alt="Europe Edition"><img src="nw2.jpg" width=102 height=145 hspace=8 alt="Asia Edition"><img src="nw3.jpg" width=102 height=145 hspace=8 alt="Latin America Edition"><img src="nw4.jpg" width=102 height=145 hspace=8 alt="US Edition"> <br> Newsweek's choice of covers for it's various worldwide editions <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/"class="home"target="external">of its October 2 issue</a> seems to single out its US audience as being exceptionally stupid, or at least in need of protection from news of the havoc wrought in its name. <br> Thanks to <a href="http://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/"class="home"target="external"> Rising-Hegemon</a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> It turns out that 18 particularly wealthy families have been secretly funding lobbying for estate tax repeal. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/25/estate-18/"class="home"target="external">(story)</a> <a href="http://responsiblewealth.org/" class="home"target="external"><i>Not all the hyper-rich are so greedy</i></a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="new_york_under_water.jpg" width=180 height=115 align=left hspace=8 vspace=4 alt="New York Under Water"> 'The Queen of England is afraid. International C.E.O.'s are nervous. And the scientific establishment is loud and clear. If global warming isn't halted, rising sea levels could submerge coastal cities by 2100. So how did this virtual certainty get labeled a "liberal hoax"?' (Vanity Fair:<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/060424roco03"class="home"target="external">While Washington Slept) </a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img src="Al_Gore.jpg"width=220 height=119 align=left alt="Al Gore Climate Change Movie" vspace=4 hspace=8> Al Gore, President in Exile - On his movie <a href="http://climatecrisis.net"class="home"target="external">An Inconvenient Truth</a>, Eleanor Clift says, "By not playing the overt political game, Gore may be putting in place the first issue-driven campaign of the 21st century, one that is premised on a big moral challenge that is becoming more real with soaring gas prices and uncertain oil supplies. A senior Democrat who once ran for the White House himself but harbors no illusions the party will turn to him in 2008 looks at Gore and marvels, 'This guy is running the best campaign I've seen for president.'" <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12535070/site/newsweek/"class="home"target="external">(ref)</a> <br>Al Gore speech on presidential powers, 1/16/06: <a href="http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/01/1796089.php"class="home"target="external">audio, text)</a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <b> Rolling Stone: The Worst President in History?</b> <a href="RollingStone-WorstPresident.jpg"target="external"><img src="worst-president-ever.jpg" width=140 height=170 alt="Rolling Stone: The Worst President Ever?" align=left border=0 hspace=8 vspace=2 ></a> <br> RS does a devastating indictment of the Bush Regime by Sean Wilentz in the May 4 issue; it begins: <br>'Said Abraham Lincoln: <i> "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."</i> <br> Said George W. Bush: <i>"History. We won't know. We'll all be dead."</i> <br> 'George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.' <br> <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history"class="home"target="external">(Read the article</a>) </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <img align=left src="scholars_for_911_truth.jpg" width=132 vspace=4 hspace=8 height=200 alt="scholars for 9/11 truth"> <b>Scholars for 9/11 Truth </b> <br> January 27 2006 press release: "An influential group of prominent experts and scholars have joined together alleging that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11... These experts contend that books and articles by members and associates have established that the World Trade Center was almost certainly brought down by controlled demolitions and that the available relevant evidence casts grave doubt on the official story about the attack on the Pentagon. They believe that the government not only permitted 9/11 to occur but may even have orchestrated these events to facilitate its political agenda." <br> "Founders include Robert M. Bowman, Former Director of the U.S. "Star Wars" Space Defense Program in both Republican and Democratic administrations, and a former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with 101 combat missions; Morgan Reynolds, former Chief Economist for the Department of Labor for President George W. Bush, and former Director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis; and Andreas von Buelow, former assistant German defense minister, and director of the German Secret Service." <br> <a href="http://www.st911.org/ "class="home"target="external">Website, Scholars for 9/11 Truth</a> <br><br> <b><i>Update:</i> Scholars for 911 Truth Member Michael Zebuhr killed</b> <br> "Police said two men in their 20's approached the group, stole Zebuhr's mother's purse and as they left, fired two shots into Zebuhr's forehead for no apparent reason" <a href="http://wcco.com/crime/local_story_080225959.html"class="home"target="external">(story)</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news?client=safari&rls=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&hl=en&q=Michael+Zebuhr+shot&btnG=Search+News"class="home"target="external">(latest)</a> <br><br><b>Loose Change</b> <br> New 9/11 documentary by Dylan Avery. <a href="http://www.loosechange911.com/"class="home"target="external">Free viewing online, DVD available.</a> <br><br>Here's the Decider-in Chief responding [sic] to 911 doubts: <a href="Bush-911.mov"class="home"target="external">Bush-911.mov</a> </p> <center><B><FONT size=2 COLOR="#cc2222">. &nbsp; . &nbsp; .</font></B></center> <p class="textVJs"> <b>Over-Loaded Update:</b> <br> Paul