Government Defies an Order to Release Iraq Abuse Photos

This is priceless.....

"He rejected arguments from the government that releasing the photographs would violate the Geneva Conventions because prisoners might be identified and "further humiliated," but he ordered any identifying features to be removed from the images."

Ohh, *now* the Geneva Convention is a big deal!

And where have we heard that excuse trotted out before ? Every goodamn time something goes down in a dommestic prison where the guards are at fault they pull this shit out of their asses and foist it on a receptive public.

Damned hipocrites.....

But the big picture sounds good to me. Wasn't this where Watergate started?

Hey. One can hope.......

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Government Defies an Order to Release Iraq Abuse Photos

By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: July 23, 2005

Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
cont........

Comcast IS censoring Political Content Regarding Impeachment

Upon investigation of this claim, I received the following from a truly freedom loving individual (in contrast to the pseudo-patriots over at Lump on a Blog*, and the other Freeper-type mad dogs)

Mycos
*The guy banned me as a "spammer" for simply disagreeing with him! An example of a real American, eh? Now you know what your fighting for (and against)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mycos,
I called Comcast yesterday, as I was looking for a Downing Street meeting in my area (Western Missouri). I was perplexed because I knew my Congressman had signed the Conyers letter, but no meeting was showing up. I am on the elist of my Congressman, as well as the dot.org that "Comcast must not let pass".

Prior to the reference made at the web site that can't be mentioned, I received a notification from Conyers office of the trouble, but not the cause. Other lists had made posts as to the reason prior to my receiving the post from "the Bright Mail fingered web site".

After receiving the email from "ADS.org", I called Comcast locally, going through the unfriendly telephone tree. I spoke to a customer service representative because no one would answer a call directed to "public affairs" as I asked. Stopped cold, I told my story to the guy at he customer service desk. Sounding like a guy who handles collections and flaky complaints all day, he was skeptical at first, and asked for details of my complaint with Comcast. In short, I gave them to him, particularly the "AxxxxDxxxxxxSxxxxx.org" web site, telling him I thought that Comcast was interfering with my First Amendment rights and asking who the Bloody Hell Comcast thought they were to do that. I told the rep to Google the name of the site and "Comcast", which he did. When the Googled list came up, his skepticism disappeared. He even began to ask questions as he began to read the memoranda. I told him "You probably deal with screwy calls all day. This is not one of them. You're using Bright Mail filters, no? This is quashing of dissent. The Town Hall meetings are scheduled for Saturday. Currently, eight are scheduled. Without this communication gap, the intent was to have eighty".

Then he asked more questions as he continued to read, spending about five minutes on his browser. He then sent himself an email through the Comcast office system. He waited, then waited some more. Finally, he asked for the spelling again and sent another email. about that time, the first one came back to him as a CC: and he told me.
I asked, "Was it longer than it should have been?" He replied, "Seemed like it."
At that point, I was left to read his inflection, which had changed. Hoping he had just had an epiphany, I said, "Well, you should look into this. But it might be better to do so on your own time, from another machine. But, I think you understand the implications. The better informed citizens are, the better protected they are. Good Luck!"

And we then parted telephonic company. Though I don't expect Comcast will come clean to the average citizen calling and complaining on the phone, hopefully they take note. If it was not, indeed, happening, I think this guy's job was to set me straight on anything that was cockamamie. The fact that he did not "correct" my allegations, asking questions instead, confirmed for me that the email from AxxxxDxxxxxSxxxxx.org is accurate.

All of that, in a FWIW.

Lump 'O (pending.... ;-)

Since the lump won't allow any kind of reply on his own blog, something so typical of the right, of Bush and of Rove (remember what they did to Wilson?), I'll have to add this here. I urge others to go over and get themselves flagged as "spammers" (yes!). Coming from them, it's a great honor :-)

Mycos~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You assume so much. First, why do assume I have done nothing? I have been aware of the threat to Western civilization from religious extremism for my entire adult life and have openly and repeatedly warned against it. But instead of heeding mine and many, many others advice, the fool Americans go and elect one of the stupid SOB's president! Second, as you have now probably guessed, I am not an American. I am a Canadian who is repeatedly reminded about the American predilection for thinking they are at the center of the universe, just as you have done now. But finally, as I was saying, do you really think that in the aftermath of some real devastation, something you and America have not yet had to deal with on your home soil, (likely the single most important factor leading to the kind of ignorance about life in the rest of the world that allows you to make such utterly absurd statements)..... do you really think that people won't do some good, hard thinking once this happens? That good men and women won't finally come around to the realisation that the corporate driven, blind profiteering of corporate America that has enraged so many....in so much of the world is what has got us all where we are? Your damned rights they will! But unfortunately a deadly combination of ignorance and fanaticism like Lumpy, Bush, the Dis-Honorable representative and the the Islamofascists all display seem to be hell bent on pushing it to it's natural outcome. Woe (or a brain) become these men before we all have to suffer the blow-back due all the the greed, ignorance, religious fanaticism.


Mycos

Plame's Identity Marked As Secret

And lest their was any remaining doubt about the motivation of Rove, well......

So you right-wing dittoheads can all get off the "it was an accident" or whatever garbage you've had imprinted onto your baby duck brains.

And lest you have any doubts about Roves personality, hows this for an indication of the sliminess of the guy. First he gets into politics , starts his "dirty tricks" style of campaigning and the guy soon gets so slimy even his wife has to leave him. His mother is so embarrased she commits suicide.....and the REPugnants love him! A star is born!

Only in America you say? Absolutely......

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plame's Identity Marked As Secret
Memo Central to Probe Of Leak Was Written By State Dept. Analyst

By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 21, 2005; Page A01

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked '(S)' for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials."
cont.......

How We Got Here

Over on Lump On A Blog, Lumpy says;

For those who counsel a restrained response I have to ask myself: Would they feel the same way if they awoke tomorrow to country in ruins, on the verge of anarchy; a collapsed economy; one million dead, and their own lives and the lives of their children forever altered? Would they beg on the behalf of Islam for restraint? I doubt it.

Does he really think that in the aftermath of some real devastation that people won't do some real hard thinking? That they won't finally come around to the realization that the corporate driven, blind profiteers of corporate America that has enraged so many in the world (and *NOT JUST THE MUSLIM FANATICS*) is what got us where we are?
Your damned rights they will!
And unfortunately fanatics like Lumpy seem to be hell bent on pushing it to it's fullest extreme. Woe (or a brain) become these men before we all have to suffer the blowback due their their greed and ignorance.......

Mycos

Questions About The Sudan Apology to Rice

You will notice in this article that although this trip has been billed as a "diplomatic mission", one can easily start to wonder whether this mission was actually one of provocation. As you read through the article, a pattern emerges in that it is repeatedly a woman who has the run-ins with the Sudanese authorities. Why this is happening is likely due to either of two reasons, those being that the Sudanese, out of patriarchal bigotry, are targeting the woman specifically, or...and this is what I'm wondering about..... because the administration, still playing their game of Bolton-esque, in your face diplomacy.... or non-diplomacy, as it were, has deliberately sent over a team composed mainly of woman so as to provoke a confrontation. To that end, I'd be very interested in determining the gender make-up of this particular mission and then contrast that with the content of what a typical diplomatic corp may contain.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sudan apology to Rice over scuffle

From Andrea Koppel
CNN State Department Correspondent
Thursday, July 21, 2005; Posted: 8:10 a.m. EDT (12:10 GMT)

Rice: 'They have no right to push and shove.'

WESTERN DARFUR, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudan's foreign minister has apologized to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after authorities roughed up journalists and staff members traveling with her."
cont......

Comcast censoring Political Content Regarding Impeachment?

This is *extremely* interesting stuff. I say this because I can foresee an incident like this, if shown to have substance, being turned into a story of "scandal" proportions. Naturally, because it contains the subject of impeachment, it will in turn raise the issue up to the level that it currently should have in the publics eye. As yet, it has not been widely talked about in the corporate media for reasons we can easily surmise. But in this instance there exists at least two things going for those persons who want to see an impeachment process take place.

The first is one that was raised awhile ago; that being the almost blind pursuit by corporations of short term profits, even if the long term result is the death of the company. I believe it possible, perhaps even likely, that competing corporations would be happy to use such a scandal to drive Comcast into a hole, eliminating them as a threat to any future customer base, not to mention the possibility of freeing up a bunch of surplus customers as a result of the death of Comcast. The fact that in the long term, their "man in Washington", George W. Bush is out of office would likely take a back-seat to the obvious win/win situation I highlighted above.

And secondly, if there is a conspiracy in corporate America to restrict information regarding Bush, then perhaps the pressure put on Comcast by competing organizations might cause them to attempt to save themselves by throwing overboard whoever has been behind this effort. This may even take the form of an outright betrayal of someone from the administration who might possibly be suggesting that Comcast et al, behave in the manner they have. I need not explain why that would be indeed a glorious day for those looking towards impeaching the President.

So what I am suggesting at this point is to check out whether this assertion regarding whether email containing "www.afterdowningstreet.org" actually do go missing. So.... does anybody have a friend with that domain in their email addy? Check it out and could you please get back to me with the results. And use for any replies, both positive or negative. Either way, I'm sure we would all like to get at the truth of this assertion.

Mycos

Newsroom-l wrote:

>
> How Comcast Censors Political Content
> Or Why My Comcast Horror Story Is Better Than Yours
> By David Swanson

> [Excerpt]

> I'm working on a campaign headquartered at www.afterdowningstreet.org > that seeks to draw attention to the Downing Street Minutes and to lobby > Congress to open an investigation into whether the President has > committed impeachable offenses. According to a recent Zogby poll, 42 > percent of Americans favor impeachment proceedings if the President lied > about the reasons for war, and according to a recent ABC News / > Washington Post poll, 52 percent think he did. But this story is nowhere > to be found in the corporate media. So, our website attracts a lot of > traffic. >

> In addition, July 23rd is the three-year anniversary of the meeting on > Downing Street that produced the now infamous minutes, and we are > organizing events all over the country on that day. Or, we're trying to. > But we noticed about a week ago that everyone working on this campaign > was having strange Email problems. Some people would get Emails and some > wouldn't, or they'd receive some but not others. Conference calls were > worse than usual (I can't stand the things anyway) because half the > people wouldnt get the info and know where to call in. Organizing by > internet is super easy, but when you have to follow up every Email with > a phone call to see if someone got it, it becomes super frustrating. > Volunteers have been complaining all over the country  especially now > that we've figured out what the problem was and they know what to > complain about. >

> We didn't know it, but for the past week, anyone using Comcast has been > unable to receive any Email with "www.afterdowningstreet.org" in the > body of the Email. That has included every Email from me, since that was > in my signature at the bottom of every Email I sent. And it included any > Email linking people to any information about the upcoming events. >

> From the flood this evening of Emails saying "Oh, so that's why I > haven't heard anything from you guys lately," it seems clear that we > would have significantly more events organized by now for the 23rd if > not for this block by Comcast. >

> Disturbingly, Comcast did not notify us of this block. It took us a > number of days to nail down Comcast as the cause of the problems, and > then more days, working with Comcast's abuse department to identify > exactly what was going on. We'd reached that point by Thursday, but > Comcast was slow to fix the problem. >

> During the day on Friday we escalated our threats to flood Comcast's > executives with phone calls and cancellations, and we gave them > deadlines. Friday evening, Comcast passed the buck to Symantec. Comcast > said that Symantec's Bright Mail filter was blocking the Emails, and > that Symantec refused to lift the block, because they had supposedly > received 46,000 complaints about Emails with our URL in them. Forty-six > thousand! Of course, Symantec was working for Comcast, and Comcast could > insist that they shape up, or drop them. But Comcast wasn't interested > in doing that. >

> Could we see two or three, or even one, of those 46,000 complaints? No, > and Comcast claimed that Symantec wouldn't share them with Comcast either. >

> By the time Comcast had passed the buck to the company that it was > paying to filter its customers Emails, Brad Blog had posted an article > about the situation and urged people to complain to Comcast. > http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001602.htm >

> Brad quickly added Symantec phone numbers to the story on his website, > and we called Symantec's communications department, which fixed the > problem in a matter of minutes. >

> [There's more at ] >

> -- > http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts

France Invades the US (Part 8)

Brilliant satire! And a piece that vividly illustrates the ethnocentic attitude of those of us in the west regarding people of different religions or cultures. Highly reccomended.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

by Jerry Ghinelli

07/20/05 'ICH' - - French President Jacques Chirac reacts caustically to the suggestion France is losing its 'Global War on Evil' as the American insurgency begins to dampen French public opinion. With his poll numbers steadily decreasing and with nearly 1,800 French troops killed and another 13,000 seriously wounded by American insurgents, the French public, media and even France's 'puppet' parliament are beginning to question Chirac’s motives and judgment concerning his decision back in March 2003 to invade the US."
cont........

Betty Bowers on Geeks Who Leak

Our dashing (usually away from pesky, fact-obsessed reporters) President, in more of a flop sweat than a flip-flop, changed His mind this week about firing anyone undermining national security for political gain. After all, the only war that matters is not the one to protect Americans from deadly threats from abroad, but the one to protect them from uncomfortable truths at home. In a previous moment of uncharacteristic weakness, our handsome President ordained that He would fire anyone who leaked. This sent Dick Cheney in a covert scurry to CVS in Foggy Bottom for a large box of Depends. Under the new criteria for dismissal from the White House, you have to either say, "I don't agree with you, Mr. President" or be recorded on security video robbing a liquor store. That's what we Americans love about our fine-looking President: He is always a straight shooter. Indeed, in both directions, if necessary. (Of course, after male prostitute Jeff Gannon has been giddily passed around the West Wing for hundreds of joy-filled hours, it may be a stretch to refer to any of them as straight.)

Key Facts: U.S. Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts

Key Facts: U.S. Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts

From Reuters
Here are some key facts about U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts:

- Roberts, a conservative, joined the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2003 as an appointee of President Bush.
Cont........

America, India and the outsourcing of imperial overreach

In a recent survey showing favorable perceptions of the US, India still has the highest. Meanwhile, it is has been steadily plunging most everywhere else in the world. This is very worrisome for a number of the reasons you have pointed out above. While I hope that the reasons for the Indian perception of the US are creditable ones, I have a fear that it is may be due to the "courting" of the Indian people by a concentrated and intense US military and corporate PR strategy. As was noted above, this is not born of some altruistic.... or even mutual "back-scratching" motive. Far from it.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
America, India and the outsourcing of imperial overreach

13 July 2005
The Hindu

America, India and the outsourcing of imperial overreach
In offering to make India a 'major world power', Washington wants a 'low cost ally' whose support in 'low-end tasks' will help free its own military for the 'high-end' military operations central to maintaining its power in Asia.

Siddharth Varadarajan

If there is one document everyone should read to understand the direction relations between the United States and India have begun to take in the past few years, it is The Indo-U.S. Military Relationship: Expectations and Perceptions , a report commissioned by the Pentagon in October 2002.

Written by Juli A. MacDonald of the Information Assurance Technology Analysis Center (IATAC) , a Department of Defense-affiliated outfit, the 131-page report was based on in-depth, off-the-record interviews with 40 senior serving U.S. officials -- including military officers -- and around the same number of serving and retired Indian officials and officers. The aim: to 'reveal the opportunities for and impediments to military-to-military cooperation' between the two countries."

cont.......

Now they're Trying To Crown George for Life

There's a bill now being put through to eliminate term limits!

Sorry. The link doesn't go straight through.

So go here, Then type in < H.J.RES.24 > in the Search box. Be sure to select Bill Nnumber

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gay Terrorist Training Tapes???

Yeah. Sounds weird.......Do inquiring minds really want to know more?

Heheh....Stay tuned. I'll hunt around for some details. See if this pans out to something or is a complete wash.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from the NY times, July 18

TAPES OF TERRORIST TRAINING

All I know is most viewers were skeptical and I have no idea where the tapes are, or indeed, if they are even real

In a videotaped confession of Sheik Zane in Erbil, Iraq in the Kurdish area, the sheik says he and his recruits beheaded, shot, blackmailed, raped, and engaged in gay sex for a decade

The Sheik claims he ran a training program to create ruthless killers for Islamic terrorist groups.

The recruits are shown engaged in gay sex, and beheading victims

The gay sex tapes were used to blackmail recruits into obedience

Could Valerie Plame Sue Karl Rove? --Findlaw Writ

FindLaw's Writ - Sebok: Could Valerie Plame Sue Karl Rove?: "A civil suit can be an excellent way to force information into the open."

Mycos

BSC Cover-Up In The Works?

How about the timing of this, huh? In the news recently there were reports of BSC-infected cattle in the US. It made a minor kerfuffle, even though there were people warning about a cover-up of similarly affected cattle more than a year or so ago. I think I even blogged or told the group about this several months ago now.

But in any case, now that the cats out of the bag, I can't help but be cynical about the reasons why they would suddenly want some Canadian cattle back in the US food chain. It occurs to me it would make for some great cover in any lawsuits that might be pending as a result of people coming down with the human form of BSC in future.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breaking news from CBC News Online:

_______________________________________________

• Agriculture Canada has confirmed that a truck carrying live Canadian cattle crossed the border from Ontario into the United States on Monday morning, after a ban of more than two years was lifted. You are currently signed-up for CBC.ca's Alerts newsletter.

Cheney Mafia Finally Moving Into The Crosshairs

Perhaps the most dangerous people in the White House and the least visible.... by choice and by design. This is the little group of corporate cash vultures who are reaping the windfall of tax-dollars that the neocons have managed to jar loose from Congress with the hype about 9/11, Saddam Hussein etc. See what a tight little ship they have up there? Bush gets to rant and rave about good over evil, thereby pleasing the religious right. The wars that this battle entails is what the neocons need to further their goals as stated in the PNAC document. And Cheney, he gets to sit there and rake in the cash for his corporate friends back at Halliburton et al. Was there ever a more incestous love triangle in history? Certainly not in the political history of the United States. But there's no need for me to point out who's really getting screwed, is there?

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Top Aides Reportedly Set Sights on Wilson

Rove and Cheney chief of staff were intent on discrediting CIA agent's husband, prosecutors have been told.

By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writers

07/18/05 'Los Angeles Times' - - WASHINGTON — Top aides to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were intensely focused on discrediting former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV in the days after he wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times suggesting the administration manipulated intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq, federal investigators have been told.

Prosecutors investigating whether administration officials illegally leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, a CIA officer who had worked undercover, have been told that Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove, and Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, were especially intent on undercutting Wilson's credibility, according to people
cont........ "

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip

Interesting statement, whatever the case may be. If true, it could be a statement of propaganda that is actually for the consumption of the Jewish settlers. Many of them are so extreme that the hope of a massive slaughter of Palestinians might be the only thing that would get them out of the way peacefully. On the other hand, Sharon may very well still be one of those extremists. You be the judge. Frankly, nothing out of Israel surprises me any more.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Warning from Israel

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip

By URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, and TAMAR YARON

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

We held back on getting this statement published and circulated, seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha'aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister's Office, motivated us not to delay publication and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television to the effect that 'Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the disengagement is being implemented' and that 'If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding"

cont.......

Bush aide 'is source of CIA leak'

And you know, I've been thinking that Fitz , even if for a technically sound legal reason, would be hard pressed to let Rove off the hook without something happening. It sedems to me that perhaps the hopes of the left, the hopes of the rational , the goals of the reasonable have been dashed too many times by this president and his cadre of crooks. I feel that if Karl Rove is allowed to walk free without a damn thing happeningto him will be the straw that broke the camels back. I see that finally, their is almost a giddiness in the air of those of us who have been watching crime after obvious, blatant crime go, not only unp[unished, but rewarded. There's a sense of hope that is being enjoyed by us now that has been enjoyed only by these creeps for far, far too long now. To pull the rug out from under us all..... at this point once again....I think will finally just be too godamn much! There may well be a violent reaction to such a scenario.

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Bush aide 'is source of CIA leak'

A US journalist says presidential aide Karl Rove was the first to tell him that the wife of a prominent administration critic was a CIA agent.

Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper said Mr Rove did not disclose Valerie Plame's name, but said the wife of a government critic worked for the CIA.

Mr Rove has denied being behind the leaking of her identity to the media.

A federal prosecutor is investigating whether any officials broke the law by revealing the name of a covert agent.

Weapons claim

Newspaper columnist Robert Novak first publicly revealed that Ms Plame was a covert CIA agent in July 2003, citing two administration officials.

That was shortly after Mr Wilson wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times in which he accused President George W Bush's administration of twisting intelligence on Iraq.

• Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

cont.......

Iraq's Ghost Battalions: Patrick Cockburn:

A Tidal Wave of Corruption
Iraq's Ghost Battalions

By PATRICK COCKBURN

Baghdad.

A tidal wave of corruption may ensure the Iraqi army and police will be too few and too poorly armed to replace American and British forces fighting anti-government insurgents. That could frustrate plans in Washington and London to reduce their forces in Iraq.

The Iraqi armed forces are full of 'ghost battalions' in which officers pocket the pay of soldiers who never existed or have gone home. 'I know of at least one unit which was meant to be 2,200 but the real figure was only 300 men,' said a veteran Iraqi politician and member of parliament, Mahmoud Othman. 'The US talks about 150,000 Iraqis in the security forces but I doubt if there are more than 40,000.'

The army and police are poorly armed despite heavy expenditure. 'The interim government spent $5.2bn (£2.6bn) on the ministry of defence and ministry of the interior during six months but there is little to show for it,' said a senior Iraqi official who did not want his name published.

He cited the case of more than $300m spent on buying 24 military helicopters and other equipment from Poland. When Iraqi experts examined the helicopters they found them to be 28 years old - and their manufacturer recommended that they be scrapped after 25 years. Iraq is now trying to get its money back.

The corruption started under the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003 when Iraqis, often with little experience, were appointed to senior positions in ministries. The Iraqis did not act alone. 'The Americans were the partners of the Iraqis in all this corruption,' says Dr Othman. "
cont....

History of Corporations (United States)

Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States

When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country's founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end."
Cont......

Plan Called for Covert Aid in Iraq Vote - New York Times

A chip right off the ol' block, eh? This is entirely reminiscent of dear ol' dad and his days at the CIA, overthrowing elected governments and subsidizing the private armies of future ruthless, bloody dictators. Indeed, this almost gives me a sense of nostalgia about the good ol' days of Reagan and Nixon (groan....).

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plan Called for Covert Aid in Iraq Vote

By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: July 17, 2005

WASHINGTON, July 16 - In the months before the Iraqi elections in January, President Bush approved a plan to provide covert support to certain Iraqi candidates and political parties, but rescinded the proposal because of Congressional opposition, current and former government officials said Saturday."
cont.......

Just A Bull-Shitter Rather Than A Pathological Liar?

Oh dear..... Yes, I know it's an old story, but it still seems fascinating ( albeit in an increasingly morbid way) that Bush continues to lie so blatantly.
But here is another take that might explain this most enigmatic of mysteries :D .

Mycos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My own bullshit detector has been on high alert over the past two weeks, and I know what set it off. First there was President George Bush’s speech at Fort Bragg on June 28, in which he outlined America’s progress in his so-called 'war on terror.' Then there was the manner in which the Canadian media – or some of it, anyway – responded to last week’s bomb attacks in London. I appreciate that these are tense and troubled times, but all the same it might be helpful to clear the air of its recent farmyard stench.

Addressing an audience of assembled soldiers and military officials, Bush reasserted the two-pronged message from which he’s rarely deviated over the past two years – namely (a) that there is a direct link between the 9-11 terrorists and the regime of Saddam Hussein; and (b) that despite any or all appearances to the contrary, U.S. plans for post-Saddam Iraq are actually progressing on schedule."

cont.......