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The Soviets that Reagan faced had thousands of nuclear warheads targeting the entire continental United States and all of our allies...

Can you explain how proxy wars in Afghanistan or in other places around the world changes this situation? I'm failing to see your logic.

Of course, and all methods prior to war should be employed since violence should be reserved for the court of very last appeal...

The simple fact is that all methods prior to war is not how it happens. Under the lesser of two evils mentality, force is actually one of the first options considered. Iraq is just one of many examples going back to World War II.

The world court is useful for the prosecution of war criminals...

Not even that, see Nicaragua v. United States. I am leery of any government, including ours, that thinks is can conduct wars of aggression with impunity. When sovereignty of nations is held up as an excuse for war criminals to hide behind, then international law and the World Court have no meaning.

The military contractors employed by the United States government in Iraq are not mercenaries because they are nationals (i.e. US Citizens) of party to the conflict or residents of territory (Iraqis) controlled by a Party to the conflict.

I'll quote from the Government Accountability Office since you keep asserting what is false:

DOD estimates that it has more than 50,000 contractor employees in support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.1 Depending on the types of services being provided [which include combat operations] contractor employees may be U.S. citizens or third country nationals from countries such as the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, or Pakistan [we won't mention South Africa or Chile - not good politics]...Additionally, contractor employees have been responsible for additional illegal activities, including acts of theft and black market activities [not to mention murder, sexual assault and other villianry]...Contractors may find it difficult to complete background screenings of their Iraqi and third country national employees because of a lack of reliable information...As GAO reported in July 2005,11 screening for human rights violators is problematic, and others we have spoken with agree that screening individuals for human rights abuses or convictions is very difficult.

According to this article: "There are more than 1,500 South Africans in Iraq today, most of whom are former members of the South African Defense Force and South African Police."

I think you'll have to work a little harder to "prove" that it doesn't meet the criteria under the definition that you have supplied. Clearly, it does - do a little more research if you don't like the "liberal" news source.

As for civilians not having any business making that choice for other people...

My argument is not that citizens shouldn't be involved. My argument is that if citizens are going to decide on military operations, they should be part of them. You support the war? You should have the courage of your convictions and join it or be able to explain why someone else - someone that is probably poorer, less educated, and with a darker skin color than you - should die in your place.

Your excuse seems to be that those in the military "volunteered" to do it. So many people "volunteering" in fact, that the U.S. needs to hire mercenaries to do the fighting. So many people that they are offering sign-up bonuses and other incentives in the neighborhood of $16,000 dollars per recruit to entice people from lower income strata to join. And you have the gall to sit here and claim mercenaries aren'

A Brief History of Rage, Murder and Rebellion

'Gifted Child Industry' Preys on Parents' Insecurities
http://www.alternet.org/story/42644/?comments=view &cID=259124&pID=259049

The "Gifted and Talented" Fraud
http://borntoexplore.org/unschool/gifted.htm
"The truth is that "gifted and talented" programs are fast-track indoctrination courses, not real academics."

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/15c.htm
"I could regale you with mountains of statistics to illustrate the damage schools cause. I could bring before your attention a line of case studies to illustrate the mutilation of specific individuals--even those who have been apparently privileged as its "gifted and talented." What would that prove? You've heard those stories, read these figures before until you went numb from the assault on common sense. School can't be that bad, you say. You survived, didn't you? Or did you? Review what you learned there. Has it made a crucial difference for good in your life? Don't answer. I know it hasn't. You surrendered twelve years of your life because you had no choice. You paid your dues, I paid mine. But who collected those dues?"

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologu e_print.html
"In 30 years of teaching kids rich and poor I almost never met a learning disabled child; hardly ever met a gifted and talented one either. Like all school categories, these are sacred myths, created by human imagination. They derive from questionable values we never examine because they preserve the temple of schooling."

"Old-fashioned dumbness used to be simple ignorance; now it is transformed from ignorance into permanent mathematical categories of relative stupidity like "gifted and talented," "mainstream," "special ed." Categories in which learning is rationed for the good of a system of order. Dumb people are no longer merely ignorant. Now they are indoctrinated, their minds conditioned with substantial doses of commercially prepared disinformation dispensed for tranquilizing purposes. Jacques Ellul, whose book Propaganda is a reflection on the phenomenon, warned us that prosperous children are more susceptible than others to the effects of schooling because they are promised more lifelong comfort and security for yielding wholly: Critical judgment disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgment....The individual can no longer judge for himself because he inescapably relates his thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to political situations, he is given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of the truth by...the word of experts."

but the Taliban are much worse than Christian fundamentalists.

In the middle east, if a woman is raped, she is executed.

What does the Christian fundies do for raped women here? For starters, they lobby hard against HPV vaccines, claiming that it will lead to wonton sex among teenagers, so when she is raped, she may contract HPV, leading to cancer. 50% of all cervical cancer patients die. Of course, with early detection via pap-smears, the death rate drops to 10%, typically via hysterectomy. Unfortunately for poor or rural women, the largest provider of pap-smears (and breast-cancer tests) for the poor or remote is also the largest provider of birth control and abortions: planned parenthood. For instance, in Texas, the fundies re-arranged the funding for rural clinics, nearly causing the shutdown of several planned parenthood clinics serving people that would have had to drive half a day to have a pap smear. Of course, that's not a problem for them, since the fundies operate clinics where they convince patients not to get abortions, and provide them with fake pre-natal care (unless, of course, it turns out they needed real medical care, in which case they boot them out the door long after medical attention was needed and let them fend for themselves). Of course, these clinics don't offer HPV testing, because only whores would need it, so now we're back to 50%.

So, in the US, if a woman is raped and contracts HPV, she is left to die slowly, painfully, and at great expense to herself, her family, and everyone else. At least the taliban do it on the cheap.

"He opposes the inheritance tax, like his dad..."

I don't know about Bill Gates, but William H. Gates Sr., the father of Bill Gates, supports the inheritance tax.

From Now with Bill Moyers: "There's a campaign to restore the inheritance tax. And it's being led, believe it or not, by some of the country's richest people including Bill Gates, Sr. ..."

From Alternet.org: "Case Against Inheritance Tax Is Bogus", By Chuck Collins and Bill Gates, Sr., AlterNet. Posted September 15, 2005.

The reason is obvious -- without the inheritance tax, the US would develop a wealthy aristocratic class. This is one of the main reasons the founding fathers broke away from Britain and developed a constitutional Republic.

All your shit talking does is discourage others from following his lead

You're probably right that "big scientific ideas have to be assimilated" over time. In fact there's some evidence that even the heliocentric theory of the solar system is still in doubt by enough people to make a stink. Other data about US religious beliefs claims that 47% of Americans agree with the statement, "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years."

While in the strictest sense "evolution" refers only to changes in distribution of alleles in a population of living creatures, the concept of groups changing in response to selection pressures applies in some way to pretty much every field of science. It's needlessly limiting to say evolution is only what Darwin said it was.

"Why, if this was happening, there would be a great big smoking gun lying on the table in front of me!"

CLUNK

"I'm not looking down, I'm not looking down, I'm not looking down! There's no smoking gun on this table!"

"Until someone steps forward and says "I did X & Y at the direction of Mr Z,""

Here you go:

Clint Curtis testified before congress that

"At the behest of Rep. Tom Feeney, in September 2000, he was asked to write a program for a touchscreen voting machine that would make it possible to change the results of an election undetectably. This technology, Curtis explained , could also be used in any electronic tabulation machine or scanner. Curtis assumed initially that this effort was aimed at detecting Democratic fraud, but later learned that it was intended to benefit the Republican Party.

West Palm Beach was named as an intended target, but used punched card ballots in the 2000 elections. Indeed, West Palm Beach was famous for the "hanging chad" recounts of that election."

Here's a video of his testimony.

That blacks vote for Kerry overwhelmingly or that they are less likely to participate in an exit poll?

For the former, that's just an unfortunate fact.

For the latter, weren't we told by the same crowd claiming OH was stolen that FL was stolen and that TN was stolen by the positioning of police near minority precincts? Yes, we were.

"And NOBODY ratted them out?"

There is one guy, Clint Curtis, who testified before congress that he was hired to create an election-flipping program:

"At the behest of Rep. Tom Feeney, in September 2000, he was asked to write a program for a touchscreen voting machine that would make it possible to change the results of an election undetectably. This technology, Curtis explained , could also be used in any electronic tabulation machine or scanner. Curtis assumed initially that this effort was aimed at detecting Democratic fraud, but later learned that it was intended to benefit the Republican Party."

Here's a partial transcript of his testimony (video in link):

"Because in October of 2000, I wrote a prototype for Congressman Tom Feeney [R-FL]... It would flip the vote, 51-49. Whoever you wanted it to go to and whichever race you wanted to win."

Probably because people clam up and act like morons when presented with a new electronic device for the first time. Massive conspiracy that nobody leaked, coincidental series of smaller conspiracies that also weren't leaked, or people being stupid when presented with a computer... Which seems more likely to you?

The stupidity theory would predict an equal number of accidental votes for democrats as accidental votes for Republicans. In fact, in states with electronic voting, the discrepancy between exit polls and votes always favored the Republicans.

Also, see this.

Kasparov believes that Putin is virtually a dictator who is dismantling democracy and returning Russia to an authoritarian regime.

Kasparov believes that Putin is virtually a dictator who is dismantling democracy and returning Russia to an authoritarian regime.

They know they need these kinds of measures because if the US economy starts hardcore tanking and people cant feed themselves or get work, they know that they will turn to revolution out of desperation. This is also why they contracted halliburton to start building massive prison camps. Sadly, this is one of those chicken and egg things. When the americans realize what has happened, they will already be poor and hungry. Before this time, they (will be)/(are) too comfortable to care.

A hungry man is an angry man. If I was american, I would stockpile guns like in terminator 2. Thats the next right to go.

As far as I can tell, this is nothing new-- there are a variety of publicly available programs that have done the same thing since as early as 1996, when China and Singapore first announced their intentions to censor the Web. One such tool is CGIProxy, but there are others.

My first thought was that this was Triangle Boy all over again (except without Safeweb on the other end, but that was sort of immaterial anyway).

I think there are some. A cursory search turns up the following.

• For some evangelicals, Mideast war stirs hope
• Troubled times give some believers hope
• Does Bush Think War with Iran Is Preordained?

If I had my copy of The God Delusion handy, I could cite the same sources as Dawkins.

I haven't given much thought to who is a likely in the as the GOP candidate in '08.

I firmly believe that one of the biggest weaknesses in any democracy-styled electoral society is that the persons who actually desire to hold political office are unsuitable, simply because they desire it. At the same time, if your choice in a political election was predicated upon a lesser of two evils decision, you have by your own admission chosen evil.

My solution actually started out as a joke, but seems more appropriate as i grow older. It is to end all elections immediately, and instead begin to choose our politicains they way the draft lottery worked or juror pool selection works; purely randomised picking out of the entire population base of eligible citizens, and all adult citizens are in the pool, excepting of course, people who actually desire to hold political office, because they have psychological ailments which make them unfit.

A possible strong GOP candidate is still Chuck Hagel, but he cannot have my vote irregardless of the other candidates. He weaseled during the heat of the BuShilling Anal Navigators lies in '04; went MIA in Africa on a 'factfinding' trip. He damn well knows that Kerry would still stand up for him if the tables were reversed too. There's a real wannabe in Brownback. He's got the fever, and has been keeping pretty quiet of late. He's the choice of Pat Robertson, although it's hard to believe that he would receive staunch backing from a vast majority of the religious right. He's Catholic, and many evangelicals are still very anti-papist.

It is also extremely difficult to launch a winning presidential run from the Senate or the House. To much easily obtainable ammo that can be used nationally against them.

That would seem to indicate another governor. Who is able? Tough for any Atlantic Seaboard Yankee to carry the essential by GOP South, so the Mass frat boy from hell is a probable no go. Maybe Perry from Texecution, but I have a feeling that after the Delay mess is finished down there, he's going to be carrying one hell of a foot locker himself. The only two Western States that have a big enough population base, and enough credence with the GOP would be Arizona (Dem Gov and a Woman), and California, and we both know that The Kindergarten Konan hasn't a prayer. Someone must have an old copy or two of pumping iron around to scare the bejeezus out of the repressed right. Arnold was quite fond of the ladies when he was young, and it's pretty easy to understand why this runs counter to the instincts of many rightards.

Taft is screwed, Ohio is one mess of political mud for the GOP presently. Your Gov isn't much of a darling these days with the conservative pundits, and being a New Yorker, he'd have to have them on his side.

My take on the GOP for '08 is that it's wide open for a midwestern or semi-southern GOP governor. Didn't I read something about Iowa's Gov the other day?

That's about it for a rambling muse from me presently on the GOP. I have been working a bit on marking up the Gates Chapter in the Walsh Iran/Contra report, but started playing with a different idea for displaying footnotes, so it isn't finished yet. All that is left is the CSS though, so it should be up either early morn your time, or late afternoon mine today, depending on what I get accomplished before crashing. Look for a reference to the file at: History at Liberated Text

Oh yeah, almost forgot; two more Brzezinski refs:

• David Corn, "Anthrax, Mujaheddin and the CIA", AlterNet, October 19, 2001.
• The National Security Archive, "Interview with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, for CNN's Cold war Series

On the other hand, Israel has nuclear weapons already.

Considering the recent events in Lebanon, who can guarantee that Israel is not going to use them?

What you left out is that the reason Bush didn't send them in for a week is that the governor of Louisiana did not ask for a week - routing around idocy in state government is what this bill is about, being able to send in the national guard to assist without having to wait for the governor to say it is OK.

And what you left out is that this claim has already been debunked.

Specifically, Blanco had already declared a state of emergency on 26 August, and even if she hadn't, the Department of Homeland Security (under which FEMA operates) took over primary responsibility as of March 1 of 2005, needing only a Presidential declaration of Emergency, which they got on 29 August.

In case you don't remember, Homeland Security was the big federal Washington-knows-best project that was created specifically to deal with major disasters at the federal level, and cut the states out of the picture. So turning around and trying to blame the states because it didn't do its job just doesn't pass the laugh test.

--MarkusQ

Comparing Hilter and President Bush...

The comparison is entirely apt. How much do you know about Hitler?

In particular, I invite you to study the history of the German Reichstag fire and the resulting legislation passed by Hitler, and compare such with 9/11 and the resulting legislation there. Unless you're completely mired in denial, you might find the contrast interesting.

Then there are such wonderful things as this.

But of course...I (and anyone else who would believe Bush seeks dictatorship) am merely a tinfoil hat wearing, schizoid nutcase. Pay me no mind.

You'd better damn well hope that's true...for your sake.

This doesn't change the fact that medical research does show it has harmful effects.

... and has also shown its beneficial effects.

Not only did a study in Madrid in 2000 show anti-carcinogenic properties of cannabis, but a similar project in Virginia which showed similar reults was squelched by the DEA under Reagan .

"Computer programmer Clinton Eugene Curtis testifies under oath before the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio (back in 2004)"

Is this the link?

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40755

Why prosecute Canadians when you can just ship them off to Syria?

>> The Israelis haven't been angels by any means, but I haven't heard of their soldiers pounding teenagers with concrete blocks after they've been shot.

Have you heard of this? From the link: the sight of U.S. troops kicking the heads of decapitated Iraqis around 'like a soccer ball' made Army soldier Joshua Key desert to Canada.

Newsflash: U.S. economy is in BIG trouble.

Short history lesson: Federal reserve started to inflate the money supply in early 1995 (blue line in the graph). The 'tech bubble' followed a couple years later. That trend wasn't sustainable, and the dot-coms bombed sometime in 2000/2001. The economy was well on its way to a recession by late-summer/fall 2001. The Federal Reserve responded to "9/11" by cutting interest rates to 1% (over several months), supposedly for the purpose of 'stimulating' the economy.

Newsflash: Mismanagement of the U.S. currency has caused half of the economic equation, production, to move to Asia and Mexico, either in search of lower wages or to flee rising U.S. costs. This is not a new phenomena, and has been ongoing since the 1970's, though it is only recently (circa-2001) that that trend has accelerated to a completely unsustainable level. Cisco assembled their wireless access points in the U.S., and Intel made motherboards in Silicon Valley up until 1999/2000 or so. What happened to the Americans who used to be employed assembling motherboards and other electronics? Perhaps some of them moved to finance, and some to auto sales. But I digress...

Thus, when the Fed slashed interest rates starting in 2001, instead of entrepreneurs borrowing money to set up new production lines, individuals borrowed money to buy a bigger house. And an investment house. And a condo in the mountains. The widely-proclaimed 'housing bubble' started to take off ... circa 2002/2003, and reached its peak summer 2005. Crashes always follow bubbles, and the current real estate market is no exception.

Low interest rates also facilitated GM's 0% financing "keep america rolling" sales campaign. (don't remember what Ford & Chrysler called their corresponding 0% programs). But now Ford and General Motors are in trouble, because they can't sell new cars to customers whose credit line is maxed out.

Gonna get ugly, folks. The good news is that this coming transition marks the end of corporate wage-slavery. The economic system that will arise from the ashes will be founded with something along the lines of worker cooperatives. This is the worker benefiting from their own labor. No more slaving away to pay the "shareholders" dividends (mostly rich dudes who sit on their lazy asses and parasitically live off the working class).

John Gatto's book about the 'massification' of America fits in here too. Gatto maintains that the original american ideal was an independent livelihood. Blacksmith, farmer, woodworker, wheelmaker, etc. Mass production / standardization required government schools to produce a populace who would accept working a repetive job where someone else ("shareholder") was the primary beneficiary. Fun while it lasted, right? :)

Also see my recent comment, how the government spins the stats.

I had to reply to this ridiculous comment.

Israel cares so much about the Palestinians that Ariel Sharon order Sabra and Shatilla.

Israel cares so much about the Palestinians that they killed over 770 Palestinian children since 2000.

Israel cares so much about the Palestinians that they built the apartheid wall to rob them of their land.

Israel cares so much about the Palestinians that they're starving them.

And on another note: Israel apparently cares about their own Israel-Arab citizens so much they didn't even provide them with bomb shelter during the recent Lebanon/Israel conflict.

It's time to stop supporting racism and get you're facts straight.

I never expected to live in a world where librarians and encyclopedists are the guardians of civil liberties.

My initial concerns about these voting machines was someone obtaining one through other means than stealing one from the government and then creating trojan software for it. I mean, if other people can buy these ... then they can study them and learn how to hack them. On the converse, if we can't study them, how do we know the government isn't rigging them?

So there was this interesting catch-22 where you couldn't let them into the general population for fear of a trojan being created and inserted into a group of normal ones on election day. But you also can't trust your government. Especially not the current one in the United States and considering the voluntary resignation of the Diebold CEO, I think we should at least ask for third party verification of these machines. In fact, I for one consider Black Box Voting to be a champion protector of my right to vote for publishing this information. You might not feel as strongly about them but had I not read two articles from them, I would still be ready to use a voting machine in the next presidential election.

Black Box Voting had me convinced these machines were at least a liability and at best a luddite's fear. After reading this quick "how-to" about these machines, my perception is no longer that we need to define how these machines are bought, sold & handled ... but instead my opinion is now that we may be trying to use something that shouldn't be used at all.

Product created with shoddy security features. Get rid of Diebold and hope the market brings a new contestant into the ring for the much sought after prize of the American public's voting machine contract!

The Diebold Acu-vote has failed as a product that requires the utmost security. I am a dissatisfied consumer and I sincerely hope every citizen of the United States agrees with me.

I appreciate the reply.

We can quibble over specifics, especially the issue of who pays the costs versus who gets the benefits, e.g.:
      Banking: The gold standard (gold dinar and islamic banking vs. fiat dollars and usury):
          http://www.moneyfiles.org/goldwar.html
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_gold_dinar
          http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/wi zzoz.html
    Health: "Has Canada Got The Cure?"
        http://www.alternet.org/story/40951/
    Empire: "War is a Racket"
          http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracke t.htm
but thanks for the comment about being a good start -- we sure need to start somewhere. :-)

Another excerpt from the essay:
    http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/oscomak/AchievingASt arTrekSociety.html
"A common denominator in just about each of these areas is the domination
by out-of-date ideologies based on scarcity perspectives and/or the
capture of the government regulatory and funding bodies by narrow
interests who are afraid of losing out by progressive post-scarcity
change (which they fear will leave them impoverished). There is also the
issue of some people desiring to continue to have lots of raw power over
other people's lives (like that of a master over slaves); frankly I
can't address that character flaw other than to point at religious and
humanistic traditions of enlarging one's sense of self to include
community and world responsibilities (including finding joy in helping
the growth of others to be independent decision makers), so I restrict
what follows to monetary aspects of the problem. Ultimately though, raw
power lust has to be dealt with -- and dealing with that I freely admit
will be tougher than the economic aspects of making the case for a
post-scarcity worldview."

That is really where the core of the problem is. We can always argue about specifics in any one area -- but that is the big picture as we transition to a world where kids realize the schools they are forced to be in have little relation to an emerging post-scarcity reality made possible by automation and the internet:
    http://www.whywork.org/

If you can watch this entire video, and still use an electronic voting machine, you deserve the government you get. If your state or district has decided to use electronic voting machines this November demand an absentee ballot today. Watch this video. Then join those of us who have decided that since paper was good enough for our constitution, it's good enough for our vote too.

Oh, and when you're done watching the whole video... pass it along. November is only a a few weeks off and the last thing Republicans want to see is either house returned to Democrat control. Because if that happens, hearings happen. And if hearings happen... well, who knows - someone(s) could go to jail. So, demand a paper ballot or an absentee ballot in Nov. and leave the cheaters with a pocket full of worthless Diebold electrons.

Speaking as a Euroweenie, I just don't understand the apparent apathy in the USA with regards to the very serious issues surrounding vote counting machines. In a democracy, could anything be more important than making sure that votes are counted correctly and fairly, with a transparent process that can be verified?

Have you seen this, for instance?

http://alternet.org/blogs/video/40755/

That was a computer programmer testifying (two years ago) that he'd been asked to write vote rigging software for the Ohio elections. What was the outcome of that? Was there a formal non-partisan enquiry into the elections in Ohio? Was there a huge public protest there? What am I missing?

Remember when you fold your hat, you want the shiny side of the foil OUT, or it won't work to protect you from Karl Rove's Mind Control Rays.

Before you start implying that someone is paranoid, you may want to do a little fact checking. Going over the grandparent post line by line:

• Would it surprise you to learn that these doctored photos were placed by someone on the far Right trying to discredit the centrist media?

  Note that he's not saying that it's true, just suggesting that it might be. And, given that this is a well known technique in spin control / psyops, it isn't an unreasonable questions.

• Sort of like the way the fake 60 Minutes article on Bush's little vacation from the Air National Guard was placed by a GOP operative trying to smear CBS and Dan Rather.

  Well, he's certainly not alone in this theory, and it is consistent with what Rove is known to have done to Alan Dixon, John McCain, and many others.

• The goons on the Right in this country are playing a very deep game.

  Goons is subjective, and pejorative, but the rest of this point is darned hard to argue with. When a party rises from the mat to take control of all three branches of the federal Government, is a coordinated effort lasting decades, you'd be hard pressed to call it luck.

• They're sophisticated enough to data mine,

  Widely known

• and they're morally deformed enough to try to smear the patriotism of a triple amputee war hero.

  His name was Max Clealand, and they did just what he said.

• It's just fascinating that the paste-eaters at LGF are always the ones who find these doctored photos,

  "Always" is an exaduration, and "paste-eaters" is (probably) unjustified, but other than that it is an interesting point. They certainly have found a number of them, and always leaning to the right.

• but never say a word about the ones on GOP web sites that show too much smoke on the destroyed World Trade Center.

  This did happen, and so far as I know none of them raised a stink, so he's spot on.

• With a news media that's run by press agents,

  Also well known.

• and a government run by lobbyists,

  Well, they write the laws, and

• you should just be prepared to only believe your own experience, and the media that you absolutely trust.

  If you want to, go ahead and argue that you should believe sources you don't trust.

• Other than that, expect it to be lies.

  Thing that aren't true, are...lies. Again, pretty hard to argue with.

• Then, get ready for the struggle to save our freedom that is inevitable.

  Everyone from Ben "A Republic, if you can keep it" Franklin has agreed with this.

Amen :)

I saw this article on AlterNet today. There is a San Antonio, born again bible thumper, John Hagee, who is currently leading a national crusade to invade Iran because they think it will trigger the second coming of Christ, oh and the EU is the Antichrist. From the article:

"Thanks to the viral marketing made possible by the hundreds of evangelical leaders who have signed on to his new organization, his warmongering has rippled through megachurches across America for months. Hagee calls pastors "the spiritual generals of America," an appropriate phrase given his reliance on them to rally their troops behind his message."

So in this case these sermons ARE a virus, Oh where were you when we needed you Symantec.

This would be funny except the Republican party is right there with them. Ken Mehlman, the Republican party chairman addressed their convention and George W. sent this nut case a letter cheering him which he read at this Apocalypse Now Convention. There is a reason the U.S. so unconditionally backs Israel lately, the born again lunatics in power now think that the Jews have to control the holy land for the imminent second coming of Christ to happen and if places like Iran destroy Israel it will prevent the second coming of Christ. I've actually seen serious pieces on CNN about this.

If only this anti virus scanner had kicked in when this nutcase wrote his book(its sold 800,000 copies) and deleted it, it might have saved America from tilting in to complete lunacy.

The Catholic church purportedly has a saying, something to the effect of, "Give me a child for instruction and by age six they are mine for life".

Apparently law enforcment agencies in the US are subscribing to the same model.

By enforcing draconian measures at increasingly young ages, it will be ever so much easier to get the sheep to slaughter in the future police state.

Pardon me, I must go now....I hear the helicopters.....

Let's see, off the top of my head, Gary Brecher, Matt Taibbi, Mark Ames or John Dolan.

Of course, those are all eXile alumns, and one of them is probably a Nom de Guerre, but I'm sure others can be found if you look hard enough.

Let's see, off the top of my head, Gary Brecher, Matt Taibbi, Mark Ames or John Dolan.

Of course, those are all eXile alumns, and one of them is probably a Nom de Guerre, but I'm sure others can be found if you look hard enough.

When Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act, it made spam extinct, disappeared from every inbox. Now they'll wave a magic law and the world's online gambling compulsion will also disappear. The US is always much safer when Intarwebs experts like Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) are protecting us from evil.
>/SNARK<

Of course that law is BS. It won't even stop outed Republican hypocrites like Bill Bennett from gambling. It will get Christaliban to pull the lever (or touch the screen) for Republicans this November, along with Bush's threatened stemcell veto. As usual, its real power will lie in all the other unrelated corporate welfare clauses stuck under its figleaf that pass in stealth, while the mass media talks about only its sexy title.

Senator Ted Stevens is the kind of nerd who wishes he were a geek, doesn't have the brains. He does have the sucka MC mic on C-SPAN whenever he wants to throw down the jive, so he's an artificial-hip-hopper, nationwide.

Your Republican Congress wants to remix the Internet.

The trick, and why you don't see it generally, is to construct self-policing schemes in such a way that they don't enable unscrupulous players to use them as tools of grief.'"

To admit that the draft dodging liberal Republicans have won.....
http://www.buffalobeast.com/99/policestate.htm
or
http://www.alternet.org/story/36553/
Same article just two links to spread the /. affect.

Imagine if "Bin Laden determined to strike in the U.S." went to the media instead of the authorities.

It almost did. Judy Miller, of the Plame case, was trying to write an article on possible al Qaeda attacks. Unfortunately she never got enough information to put together an article.

Cohen believes that fuel made from domestic farm products should be subsidized so that they can reduce the need for foreign oil. "We need to develop economical alternative fuel sources that won't fluctuate (like oil prices)," Cohen said. "This observation seems to be missing from the current president's energy plan."

In 2003, Changing World Technologies, Inc. touted its Carthage, Missouri Renewable Environmental Solutions (RES) plant as a "green" solution to U.S. dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels...It promised to turn turkey feces and carcasses into crude oil at a predicted construction cost of $15 million and production costs of $15 per barrel...Backed by such promises and with the support of environmental activists, the federal government gave RES a $5 million grant to build the plant. Now, just two years later and $25 million over budget, the RES plan to turn fowl waste into crude oil has run afoul of financial and chemical realities...The new facility cost about $40 million to build, more than twice the original estimate. Then the plant went far over its targeted production costs, with the product coming in at $80 per barrel--five times higher than estimated and twice the market price for crude oil...And now the plant is releasing a stench that's bothering nearby residents."

It's a joint venture of Conagra. It got $5 million in funding from the U.S. government. It doesn't work. It was in fact, "Turkey Credits". Besides laying this on Democrats - who don't control Congress nor were they at Cheney's secret meetings to develop the nation's energy policy once Bush got in office - is simply foolish.

As evidenced by the growing grassroots political discussions on forums and blogs everywhere.

Wonderful piece about this phenomenon today at AlterNet.

Go read the Puzzle Palace for an interesting history of the NSA. The NSA was always allowd to operate and spy in the USA. It is nothing new.

Actually, I read the Puzzle Palace, as well as "Body of Secrets", the follow-up book by James Bamford. Here is what this book says on the subject (page 440-441, 1st Edition, published in May 2001, if you have to know):

"Among the reforms to come out of the Church Committee investigation was the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [...] In order for NSA to target an American citizen or permanent resident alien -- a green card holder -- within the United States, a secret warrant must be obtained from the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] court. To get the warrant, the NSA officials must show that the person they wish to target is either an agent of a foreign power or involved in espionage or terrorism. But because these issues fall under the jurisidction of the FBI within the United States the NSA seldom becomes involved. Thus, according to senior U.S. intelligence official involved in Sigint, NSA does not target Americans at home." (Emphasis mine).

Therefore, contrary to what you just posted, NSA is allowed to spy on American citizens, but only after getting a court warrant. The fact that the NSA is spying right now on American citizens -- without obtaining this warrant -- should be more than enough reason to impeach the current President of the United States, as well as prosecute USAF General Hayden, the former NSA Director who authorized this program, and who is now the new CIA director.

Somehow, I don't think this is going to happen.

Yeah, don't we all?
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/35839/

That and other things are enough for anyone willing to convince themselves that there is a conspiracy. I was just pointing out that fact in my previous post, I do not think there really is one (except the not-really-secret stuff -- dirty politicians here and there).

Rep. Ed Markey has introduced some legislation for net neutrality. Write your congressman or something about this.

You somehow left out that Wal-Mart is a major portal for Chinese goods. I think that China will be a great country eventually, but most of these goods are being produced by what is essentially slave labor.

Here's one article about it..
and another..

I don't shop at Wal-mart anymore because saving a buck is not more important to me than encouraging slave labor.

Aero