The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

It sure is reassuring to know that ONE of the 3 parts of our government still isn't in the pocket of the White House! The Supreme Court today in a 5-3 verdict, ruled that the military tribunals in Gitmo that the Vice Pres and Attorney General said were legal are, in fact, considered illegal under US military law and the Geneva Conventions.

So how will the White House now try to weasel their way out of shutting down that hellhole and treating nonconvicted detainees more humanely?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

If these allegations that were made on June 23 in NY that the NSA requested that ATT build special facilities to track domestic phone calls BEFORE the events of 9/11 are true, then that means the White House used 9/11 as an excuse to legitimize its desire to hold all of us presumptively guilty of being spies or traitors until proven otherwise, which led to the establishment of the Patriot Act and the monitoring of financial transactions both here and abroad. And it also implies that maybe the White House was aware that we would be attacked in this country sometime soon...kinda like what happened with the attack on Pearl Harbor, where the government knew something was going to happen (they even held air attack drills in Hawai'i a few months prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which is something most of us who were born after 1942 are not aware of).

"...The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept? 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

"The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11," plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. "This undermines that assertion."



Miulang

[Miulang]

"Divine Strake"....shhhh!

While most of the country was concentrating on the testosterone-fueled gyrations of the Ayatollah and our own government, unbeknownst to most people---with the exception of the people living in Utah and Nevada--the Pentagon was quietly planning a little exercise called "Divine Strake". What? You never heard about it? Well neither did I, until today.

What I learned was very very alarming. Can you imagine a blast using the same ingredients as the Oklahoma City bomb but about 700 times bigger?

Fortunately, enough of the "downwinder" groups who have suffered immensely after the underground testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada test site have managed to get the government to postpone the testing, which was supposed to happen in June, until sometime after Sept. If more Americans become aware of what's going on and how hypocritical we are when we wag our fingers at North Korea and Iran, then maybe we can stop all this madness. Even if the Pentagon says this testing doesn't involve nuclear weapons, 700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in this "mini-nuclear" bomb is going to pack quite a wallop. And if the casino gamblers in Las Vegas are really lucky, they'll be able to see a mushroom cloud when this baby is detonated, because the test range is a mere 65 miles away from Sin City!

Miulang

P.S. More reading about "Divine Strake"
http://alternet.org/blogs/peek/35211/
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/179394/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st...060310618.html
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...206312,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert...e_b_20805.html
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?c...articleId=2209

[Miulang]

Brainwash 'em while they're young!

The parents and teachers in Peterborough, NH are up in arms at a magazine which is targeted for the 9-14 year old reader. This magazine, Cobblestone, is distributed to libraries and schools across the country. Why are the adults so upset?

"...Cobblestone magazine, which is put out by Carus Publishing in Peterborough, is aimed at children ages 9-14 and is distributed nationwide to schools and libraries. Its latest issue features a cover photo of a soldier in Iraq clutching a machine gun and articles on what it's like to go through boot camp, a rundown of the Army's "awesome arsenal" and a detailed description of Army career opportunities.

Most controversial has been a set of classroom guides that accompany the magazine, which suggest teachers invite a soldier, Army recruiter or veteran to speak to their classes and ask students whether they might want to join the Army someday.

One of the teaching guides - written by Mary Lawson, a teacher in Saint Cloud., Fla. - suggests having students write essays pretending they are going to join the Army: "Have them decide which career they feel they would qualify for and write a paper to persuade a recruiter why that should be the career..."

Hmmm...seems like the DoD wants to brainwash kiddies so when they turn 18, they will be ready to sign on that dotted line... Here's the cover story that's causing all the brouhaha. Wonder if the Army paid the publisher money to have that story published out of its "PSYOPS" fund?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Educational benefits denied to veteran Reservists

This is totally reprehensible. We have uprooted many many reservists from their homes and families to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, but when they return to civilian life with honorable discharges, they cannot participate in the GI Bill educational benefits just because they are no longer in uniform???

"...When military benefits were updated in 1984 through a law called the Montgomery GI Bill, members of Congress and even the military did not envision reservists being called into active duty as frequently as they are today. The law did not extend full college benefits to citizen soldiers and terminated them once they left the Guard or Reserve.

But since 2001, more than 500,000 reservists and Guard troops have been deployed for homeland security duties or sent to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet when they get home, they don't get the same benefits as those who were active-duty service members.

"...Primary opposition to changing the education benefit for reservists and Guard troops - those on duty one weekend a month and two weeks in summer unless they are called to active duty - is coming from the Pentagon's Office of Reserve Affairs. Pentagon officials fear changes could hurt attracting and keeping men and women who sign up for the Guard or Reserve.

"...Current law gives troops who serve on active duty three or more years to collect up to $1,034 a month for 36 months as full-time students. That benefit is available up to 10 years after discharge.

Reserve and Guard troops can earn 60 percent of that, or about $22,000, if they are mobilized for 15 months - the average length of deployment - and then go to school full time. However, they can collect only if they remain in a Guard or Reserve unit. If they go into the inactive Reserve - also known as the Individual Ready Reserve - as Rowe did, or are discharged, they no longer are eligible for education benefits.

"Right now, it's a double standard. They are treating these reservists like second-class citizens," Norton said. U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) said Marine reservists in his congressional district who were deployed after 9/11 alerted him to the disparity in benefits...."

There is enough bipartisan Congressional support to probably push a bill through, but it's going to cost lots of taxpayer money. Another one of those "DUH" moments for the Pentagon and the White House. The Reservists who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the same benefits under the GI Bill that active duty soldiers receive. And we need to grandfather those Reservists who are already discharged on or Individual Ready Reserve status to give them those same benefits, too.

Miulang

[Miulang]

White House reverses Gitmo stance

Like a recalcitrant child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the White House today announced that it would now be adhering to the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3, which guarantees humane treatment for detainees held on terrorism charges. Speculation is that this is a result of the Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the government's rights to using certain forms of "interrogation" at Gitmo (and by extension Abu Ghraib and any other military prison where the US is holding suspected terrorists).

"...Since 2001, the administration has argued that the Geneva Conventions would be respected as a matter of policy but that they did not apply by law to detainees in the war on terrorism who are held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or in U.S. military custody elsewhere...."

Of course, the White House is saying that this is most definitely NOT a reversal of its former policies. But if that was the case, why are they making such a big deal out of this now? Some analysts believe that the Supreme Court decision barring the legality of military tribunals could also lead to indictments of certain members of the White House for war crimes. heheheheh. What will come first? This administration leaving office at the end of its term in 2008? Impeachment? Indictment for war crimes? Wish I had a crystal ball...

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: White House reverses Gitmo stance

Of course, the White House is saying that this is most definitely NOT a reversal of its former policies. But if that was the case, why are they making such a big deal out of this now? Some analysts believe that the Supreme Court decision barring the legality of military tribunals could also lead to indictments of certain members of the White House for war crimes. heheheheh. What will come first? This administration leaving office at the end of its term in 2008? Impeachment? Indictment for war crimes? Wish I had a crystal ball...

Miulang

Not only was this Administration caught with its hands in the cookie jar by the Supreme Court, but their own words also help rub in the fact that they continue to equivocate ("never say you're wrong, under any circumstances"). NO ONE is making up this stuff about this Administration's flagrant abuse of international law. The question still remains: what kinds of interrogation will Congress allow of these detainees? And for those high value detainees who are secreted in CIA jails around the world, this ruling doesn't even touch them.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Bye, bye Halliburton!

The Army announced yesterday that it was ending its no-bid contract with Halliburton for logistical services it is providing to bases overseas. Instead, there will be a bidding process to award smaller contracts to three or four vendors.

"... Under the [old] deal, Halliburton had exclusive rights to provide the military with a wide range of work that included keeping soldiers around the world fed, sheltered and in communication with friends and family back home. Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.

Halliburton officials have denied the allegations strenuously. Army officials yesterday defended the company's performance but also acknowledged that reliance on a single contractor left the government vulnerable. The Pentagon's new plan will split the work among three companies, to be chosen this fall, with a fourth firm hired to help monitor the performance of the other three. Halliburton will be eligible to bid on the work.

The decision on Halliburton comes as the U.S. contribution to Iraq's reconstruction begins to wane, reducing opportunities for U.S. companies after nearly four years of massive payouts to the private sector.

Of the more than $18 billion Congress allocated for reconstruction in late 2003, more than two-thirds has been spent and more than 90 percent has been contractually obligated, according to the inspector general's office overseeing reconstruction work. The rest of the money, which is collectively known as the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, needs to be obligated by the end of September...

"...Among those contracts is another Halliburton deal, for up to $1.2 billion to restore oil services in southern Iraq. As with the others, it will not be extended.

"The Iraq reconstruction is winding down ... so there is no need for new contracts to replace the existing," Foster said.

Instead, the Iraqi government will have to find its own contractors to do the work, which includes tackling a large number of projects left undone by the United States...."

Yeah, now that Halliburton has sucked all the money up and Iraq is supposedly entering into its "rebuilding phase", we're pulling up our tents and leaving the Iraqis to fend for themselves.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: White House reverses Gitmo stance

Not only was this Administration caught with its hands in the cookie jar by the Supreme Court, but their own words also help rub in the fact that they continue to equivocate ("never say you're wrong, under any circumstances"). NO ONE is making up this stuff about this Administration's flagrant abuse of international law. The question still remains: what kinds of interrogation will Congress allow of these detainees? And for those high value detainees who are secreted in CIA jails around the world, this ruling doesn't even touch them.

Miulang

So here's a link to the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 that everyone is dithering about. See if you can explain how the past atrocities that were documented at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib by numerous sources are not in direct violation of this article. D'ya think if the White House stopped calling the occupation of Iraq a "war" on terrorism that it might help their case?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

If the White House had nothing to hide from the Justice Dept investigation of alleged illegal wiretapping by the NSA, why did the President effectively shut down the investigation by refusing to give security clearances to the investigators? This man really does think he is above the law, and he's got people all around him who tell him that he IS above the law.

"...President Bush effectively blocked a Justice Department investigation of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program, refusing to give security clearances to attorneys who were attempting to conduct the probe, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday.

Bush's decision represents an unusually direct and unprecedented White House intervention into an investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility, the internal affairs office at Justice, administration officials and legal experts said. It forced OPR to abandon its investigation of the role Justice officials played in authorizing and monitoring the controversial NSA eavesdropping effort, according to officials and government documents...

"..."The president decided that protecting the secrecy and security of the program requires that a strict limit be placed on the number of persons granted access to information about the program for non-operational reasons," Gonzales wrote in a related letter sent to the committee's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). "Every additional security clearance that is granted for the [program] increases the risk that national security might be compromised."

"...Some legal experts and members of Congress who have questioned the legality of the NSA program said Bush's move to quash the Justice probe represents a politically motivated interference in Justice Department affairs. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), one of the lawmakers who spearheaded calls for the Justice review, said the move is an example of "an administration that thinks it doesn't have to follow the law."

"...Jarrett noted that clearances were granted to lawyers and agents from Justice and the FBI who were assigned to investigate the original leak of the NSA program's existence to the media. He also noted that numerous other investigators and officials -- including members of Congress and the members of a federal civil liberties board -- had been granted access to or had been briefed on the program.

"In contrast, our repeated requests for access to classified information about the NSA program have not been granted," Jarrett wrote on March 21 to Gonzales's deputy. By late April, he wrote internally that the office intended to close its investigation...."

Miulang

[Miulang]

The "Christian" hypocrisy of the White House

After Congress passed a bill opening up the possibility of expanding stem cell research, George Bush today vetoed the bill, the first time in his 5 years in office that he exercised this right.

"..."It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it," Bush told backers at a White House event.

House Republican leaders have said they would try for an override vote on the measure, but it's unlikely to pass, lacking the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber.

In August 2001, Bush announced that his administration would allow federal funding only for research on about 60 stem-cell lines that existed at the time. Researchers have since found that many of those lines are contaminated and unusable for research...."

George Bush cares more about fertilized 4-day old embryos that will probably be discarded anyway than he does the thousands of innocent people being killed in Iraq and Lebanon or the millions of American citizens who suffer from debilitating diseases. Yes, that's a REAL Christian. I hope and pray no one in his family ever suffers the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and many other chronic and debilitating diseases which might find cures through the use of embryonic stem cell research, because essentially what he is doing is making the lives of victims of these diseases worse.

Miulang

[waioli kai]

complicit in misleaders' crimes ? , Re: The "Christian" hypocrUSy of the White House

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-- " George Bush cares more about fertilized 4-day old embryos that will probably be discarded anyway than he does the thousands of innocent people being killed in Iraq and Lebanon or the millions of American citizens who suffer from debilitating diseases. " = Miulang

I have no link to a photo and some accompanying words that came in e-mail, except for what is in brackets [ ] :

a picture is worth ...

[photo (from video it looks like) from wBush's last trip to Iraq shows wBush, in an olive colored, stars'nbars on right shoulder jacket, flanked by a four star general to his left and another executive officer to Bush's right, both officers in camou khakis. Bush has a pair of the twice normal size binoculars to his eyes which are aiming in a direction toward which both the officers are also looking, presumably looking out from their camouflaged sentry post in US-occupied Iraq toward a distant place where they could only be welcomed with unfathomable hate and ceaseless attempts on their lives.]

Trip on Air Force One to Visit Army generals- $1,000,000

New Suit- $6000

Weatherproof Jacket complete with US Fag patch- $500

Bulletproof vest - $6000

Commander-in-Chief of your Nation's Defense Forces using binoculars without the Lens Cap removed- $PRICELESS

..... ....... ..... ... .
..... ....... ..... ... .

That photo is certainly a priceless scene, most worthy of the wBush legacy of ruination.

Ruination beginning with Bush, Cheney, their neo-cons and fundamentalist right-wing setting the United States back 20-50 years socially, politically and environmentally but for the incomparable fact that the United States under their rule is now in a state of irrevocable financial bankrupcy. Whereas internationally, their pirUSy has unveiled to all the world the moral bankrupcy of the United States Congress and Executive. In the history of the United States, the United States government certainly, and maybe the peoples of the United States as a whole, has never been so hated and wished ill upon: yet another first for our most deservedly despised misleaders.

Just how much longer can the peoples of the United States be excused from the guilt of complicity in the unforgivable crimes of their misleaders?

9-!! was a series of daring attacks on 'hard targets' in the United States misleaders' domain. 9-!! was both anti-terrorUSt$ punishments/retributions and unmistakable messages to U.S. misleaders and U.S. peoples: U.S. misleaders can lie and deceive but they are not invulnerable, not untouchable; U.S. peoples, though willfully misled should take note that they are most vulnerable, and if, as a result of their comforts, their false sense of security, their self-absorbed lives, they cannot rein in their misleadership, they will inevitably, ultimately be deemed to have chosen to be complicit in their misleaders' crimes against Earth and Humanity.

[Mahi Waina]

Re: complicit in misleaders' crimes ? , Re: The "Christian" hypocrUSy of the White House

-[INDENT]-- "

Just how much longer can the peoples of the United States be excused from the guilt of complicity in the unforgivable crimes of their misleaders?

'The peoples of the United States' didn't vote for them, they stole the elections. Since 9-11 happened, the "how much longer" seems to have ended already, whether we're complicit or not. Don't leave the Press out of the equation, who else can shine a light on the 'power gone mad in the darkness?'

[Miulang]

Bush keeps secret re Pakistani nuclear plans

Even as we are signing agreements with India to help them further their nuclear technology, the White House withheld information from Congress that Pakistan was also in the process of doing the same thing.

"...The Bush administration acknowledged yesterday that it had long known about Pakistan's plans to build a large plutonium-production reactor, but it said the White House was working to dissuade Pakistan from using the plant to expand its nuclear arsenal.

"...The acknowledgment came as arms-control experts and some in Congress expressed alarm about a possible escalation of South Asia's arms race. Some also sharply criticized the administration for failing to disclose the existence of a facility that could influence an upcoming congressional debate over U.S. nuclear policy toward India and Pakistan.

"If either India or Pakistan starts increasing its nuclear arsenal, the other side will respond in kind," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chairman of a House bipartisan task force on nonproliferation. "The Bush administration's proposed nuclear deal with India is making that much more likely."

That proposal would allow the United States to share civilian nuclear technology with India.

Construction of the reactor in Pakistan began as early as 2000, and the plant is still several years from completion, according to an analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit group that produces technical assessments of nuclear weapons facilities. Based on a study of satellite photos, the group estimated the new reactor to have an operating capacity of 1,000 megawatts thermal and an annual yield of at least 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium...."

So you're going to have a situation where China, India, Pakistan and North Korea all will have that potential for nuclear arms capability. If they ever decided to cooperate with each other and gang up on us, we'd be in a hell of a pickle with our "might=right" doctrine, wouldn't we?

Miulang

[waioli kai]

From Russia, on The Bush Watch

'On America’s Sickness and Inevitable Destruction' in The Bush Watch

'Observing America today, one is puzzled by the absence of spirituality. Not only Christianity but most of the world’s religions traditionally have taught that knowledge and fulfillment are achieved by denying the flesh. Pagan Rome rejected that teaching, and America has now far surpassed Ancient Rome’s paganism. But doesn’t George W. represent some esoteric flavor of spirituality? “W.”, who parades himself as a pious practitioner of the American religion, relies upon shamans preaching prosperity in orgiastic performances, tap-dancing preachers promising riches and blessings. ...' ^ttp://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/10-05-2006/80036-America-0