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it got enough attention on the issue for this to happen:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mastercard-visa-licenses-revoked-iceland-wikileaks/

without the protests mastercards involvement would have been nothing but dull boring nerd news and almost nobody would have heard about it.

Wow.
you really haven't been keeping up with the news.
it drew so much attention to the issue that in at least one country mastercard is being dragged over the coals by regulators.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mastercard-visa-licenses-revoked-iceland-wikileaks/

which may lead to them no longer being allowed do buisness in an entire country.
Without the Anon protests the issue wouldn't have hit the headlines and the politicians/regulators would almost certainly never heard of it.

I don't see any credible evidence that they are professional prostitutes, and none of the sites returned by that search seem particularly objective. Anna Ardin does appear to have been on the U.S. payroll for anti-Communist activities though...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-rape-accuser-cia-ties/
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/sex-by-surprise-at-heart-of-julian-assange-criminal-probe/19741444

And yet one of them worked for an anti-Communist group funded by the CIA.

Assange Rape Accuser's notorious CIA ties

One of the women that is accusing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of sex crimes appears to have worked with a group that has connections to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Read it for yourself - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-rape-accuser-cia-ties/

Thanks to Wikileaks, we now know that the Saudis (some of them) are sponsoring terrorists. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/shocker-admits-saudi-donors-chief-financiers-al-qaeda-leaked-cable/ The US government has given rise to just about every original terrorist out there: Taliban-Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Saddam... http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/dec/31/iraq.politics More recently, the FBI created a "terrorist" (Christmas Tree) almost from whole cloth. http://wonkette.com/431185/u-s-government-now-creating-terrorists-so-it-can-arrest-them Since we're kinda making terrorists ourselves, but ignorant policy and a more ignorant populace will keep the terror dream alive. I welcome the Wikileaks dumps. Our government has done more "harm" where terrorists are concerned than any other country on the planet. It's our own fault we keep doing this to ourselves, then ignoring it. Every administration since Regan has lead us to where we are.

If he really was innocent why wouldn't he talk to the authorities?

First of all, he did offer to meet with the authorities, when this BS first broke. Now that it has turned into an international incident, he has scaled that down to meeting only remotely, for obvious reasons.

"Obvious reasons"? How about the fact that the ladies in question have already admitted they had consensual sex? How about the fact that one of them wrote her thesis (in part) on the use of rape as a weapon of the matriarchy, and has attempted to erase her entire public persona (such as her blog post on the finer points of revenge)?

Or how about the fact that, once they have him in custody, he has a moth's chance against a blowtorch of not "accidentally" dying before he ever sees a courtroom?


If not a fool, he'll take Ecuador up on its offer of asylum.


Oh, and for those wondering... Bank of America. Duh.

"That is the only way that we can get a truly free internet."

You're high. Apparently you're thinking this organization would be made up of member states like "Rock Candy Mountain Land", "Santa's Republic of the North Pole" and "Stallmanistan".

Look at the freakin' UN:

The UN has removed a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution condemning arbitrary and unjustified executions.

The UN General Assembly resolution, which is renewed every two years, contained a reference opposing the execution of LBGT people in its 2008 version. But this year's version passed without any reference to gay rights after a group of mostly African and Asian countries, led by Mali and Morocco, voted to remove it.

Gay rights groups fear the move -- which passed in a narrow 79 to 70 vote -- will act as a signal that persecuting people for their sexual orientation is internationally acceptable

Complain all you want about the US, but the majority of nations in the world aren't particularly freedom-loving.

Want to lose your 1st and 2nd amendment rights? Vote Democrat.

You do realize that, under Obama we signed into law the expansion of gun rights in national parks (was outlawed, now legal)?

Don't paint with too broad a brush.

Now if we could only also vote for those appointed positions that hold so much power (SoS,NSA,CoS, etc).

Well considering we've had forty years of being trickled on I'd be happy to try the bubble up. Hell it can't get much worse now, can it? We've had historically low taxes on the rich since Reagan, and yet we have a record gap between rich and poor and you want to stay the course?

Call me a foil hat wearing lunatic but I say at this point we've seen more than enough evidence of close cooperation between the American government and America's large industries to call it a budding facism.

Consider: Pluralism has been steadily weakening as congress and the presidents sign law after law giving and allowing the president to take unprecedented power. The courts already lack any real ability to stop this trend.

New laws have made everyone a criminal. Those against whom the government chooses to enforce these laws are being imprisoned and harassed. It's no longer possible to be a law abiding citizen in America -- only on the ruling powers' good side or not. Police all over the US have an "us against them" mindset that has led to countless abuses to the extent that a police uniform is no longer a comforting site even for those who obey the law. It's now illegal in several states to even record these abuses and Americans everywhere are shutting up and keeping their heads down.

If these dangerous trends are not stopped the US will be a fascist police state very soon.

Where are they going to find the cops to make sure growers are paying their taxes?

Here's two, one by harris, one by research 2000. You may not believe the one by research 2000, but their numbers are quite similar to Harris, so no particular reason to discredit this particular poll.

http://washingtonindependent.com/75525/the-ultimate-poll-of-republican-beliefs

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/scary-harris-poll-24-republicans-obama-may-antichrist/

To a crisp, sir!
And more in the works!

Have a nice day.

The Italian Authorities actually threatened another man (Gioacchino Giuliani) with arrest for predicting this earthquake! And now they have the temerity to threaten scientists for not stepping forward with a warning? Well, with the incentives that you've put in place for the scientists, why should they put their necks out?! http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Italy_quake_kills_92_devastates_historic_0406.html

He also signed an order for an extra-judicial killing of an American citizen, ignored when an American citizen was killed and is making the greatest changes to arresting, prosecuting and punishing government whistleblowers since the cold war. Obama has also kept the manhunting squads (warning PDF) created by Vice Pres Cheney running at full steam. These are the same sort of people who pulled off that assassination in Dubai, but will likely be far more competent.

I'm too lazy to read the prior posts. However, here's the link to Matt Simmons talking about another leak. The one currently being reported is MINOR.

Seize B.P.'s U.S. assets before the executives flee to the United Kingdoom.

Yours In Astrakhan,
Kilgore Trout, C.I.O.

Yes, and Obama promised government transparency, and yet his track record on FOIA requests has been worse than Bush's.

In other words, I wish our friends across the pond in the UK the best of luck, but I'll not be holding my breath expecting them to make good on their "tear down the cameras" promises.

That's an offending false choice and the answer is both. Reagan's "prosperity" was more than offset by the amount of debt he burdened this country with which still needs to be paid someday. If you look at the other features of his "prosperity", perhaps you wouldn't be so enamored with it.

http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/mayhew/reagan_destroyed_american_dream.htm
http://prorev.com/worst.htm
http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id395.htm

You'll notice the second and third articles directly reference the loss of farm income that in nearly decimated the family farm. Several members of my family and neighbors including my father were forced to declare bankruptcy due the policies in place at the time. If you check out the data, you'll see the scope of this crisis was not limited to my area. Obviously, not all of this was caused by Reagan, but he essentially worsened already bad policies, instituted other "corporate friendly" ones, and failed to act in any meaningful way.

You might say "good, I'm not a fan of farm subsidies anyway". Well, if you're speaking of today's farm subsidies I would completely agree on some of them, but during the time period they were much more limited. The only widespread mid-west grain farm subsidy I'm aware of was a farm and ranch conservation program which might get you enough money to make the loan payments while the land was in the program.

Now if you talk about his peace, where do you want to start? The huge amassing of weapons? Supplying the middle-east with them? The Cold War(a.k.a.) The largest waste of money, man power, intelligence, and resources in the history of mankind(the fire Reagan loved stoking)? Or the other conflict he liked to poke with a stick Iran-Iraq(eventually leading the area to it's current state)? Not to mention his corrupt administration which easily surpasses Nixon. Iran-contra? Iran hostage crisis?

These devices are networked and have storage devices attached to them. The official story is that the connectivity and storage is only active for testing and training.

Oh and the official story is that the naughty bits on screen are blocked out, well this proves that the naughty bits aren't blocked out and that the TSA folks here in the US and the UK, where there have already been problems, who will be seeing travelers naked are raging morons.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0324/warning-airport-breast-xray/

So its a rights online issue.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0504/russian-paper-suggests-nuclear-explosion-cut-gulf-oil-geyser/ this would be so cool

No, not after 2005.

I'm just waiting now for Fox/Glen Beck,etc to blame Obama in some way for this.....

Rush Limbaugh FTW

Heparin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_heparin_adulteration

Since this "over-sulphated" variant is not naturally occurring and mimics the properties of heparin, the counterfeit is almost certainly intentional as opposed to an accidental lapse in manufacturing.[8] The heparin was cut from anywhere from 2-60% with a counterfeit substance due to cost effectiveness, and a shortage of suitable pigs in China.

Drywall: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chinese_drywall

The drywall has been linked to corrosion of wiring, air conditioning units, computers, doorknobs and jewelry, along with possible health effects. Tenenbaum said some samples of the Chinese-made product emit 100 times as much hydrogen sulfide as drywall made elsewhere.

Pet Food: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_food_recalls

Sometime in mid-March, an "unnamed pet food company" reported to Cornell that they had discovered an industrial chemical utilized in plastics manufacture, melamine, in internal testing of wheat gluten samples. ..... The chemical was found in the suspected wheat gluten in raw concentrations as high as 6.6 percent.

Cooking Oil: http://rawstory.com/2010/03/chinese-consumed-millions-gallons-toxic-sewage-oil-study/

Chinese cooking oil siphoned from restaurants' waste tanks and stripped out of raw sewage is being resold on the cheap and has for years tainted approximately one out of every ten meals cooked in the eastern nation, according to a recent study.

Tooth Paste http://publicsafety.tufts.edu/ehs/?pid=27

In recent weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified a number of instances of contaminated toothpastes that have been imported and sold in the United States. The toothpaste from China and counterfeit Colgate toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol (DEG), a chemical used in antifreeze.

Two are current: cooking oil and drywall.

Yes, the US will be a much better competitor if we just give up regulation, make a few people rich and poison everyone. Actually we already have, if you consider how unregulated Toxic Assets have ruined both the domestic and world economy....

& Mr Rogers. Anything you could ever want to know about Fox news is summed up with the fact that they did a hit piece on Mr. Rogers.

The guy a few generations grew up on.
The guy that got PBS funding doubled.
The guy that defended VCRs against Sony

MR. ROGERS.

Exactly. The issue here is one of no consequences. A drone several thousand kilometres away in a foreign country kills a wedding party. Big deal. It happened in a virtual world with no smell or sound, probably hardly any visual impact either, just ants on a screen, everything controlled by joystick. The perpetrators weren't there, they didn't see it happen. The outcome was just to have the military go into damage control, claim terrorists were hiding among them, or they're terribly sorry. Zero consequences. It was just a video game. How else can it be tolerated that an estimated one in three people killed by drones in Pakistan are civilians? Fighting terror with terror, battling monsters and becoming a monster. Pointless bullshit.

come now, the Florida election in 2000 was badly flawed by the use of voter purges. The NAACP won a civil suit about this issue. http://archive.democrats.com/view2.cfm?id=10360 The system that exists was systematically abused by the Republican party in 2000. Even worse abuses were alleged in 2004, especially in Ohio. http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Republican_IT_consultant_subpoenaed_in_case_0929.html however, the subpoena in question could not be carried out due to the death of the IT consultant in a plane crash.

It takes a great State like Utah to stand out amidst such gleaming examples. I must admit that South Carolina was looking pretty impressive, with the registry of subversives, but if the registration comes with a frame-able certificate, it might be a moneymaker! http://rawstory.com/2010/02/south-carolinas-subversive-activities-registration-act-force/ Texas can hold it's own though. Since the Texas Pledge of Allegiance does not say much more than that Texas is indivisible, it is a spectacular example. Considering that Texas is the only State that actually is divisible.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a college student who was arrested by the TSA and detained for five hours over a set of Arabic-language flash cards he was carrying.

Among the questions a TSA agent asked him were "Do you know who did 9/11?" and "Do you know what language Osama bin Laden spoke?"

So one of the morons in the TSA, whom I'm sure has the functional skills of an 8 year old child, actually recognized Arabic script. On flash cards. With English on the back. He must have unhappy memories from the times tables he never mastered for multiplication, so he assumes TERRORIST! The student is detained, and the geniuses from the FBI are called in. They have an equivalent mental level of a 12 year old. The one who should have redone a year, but passed by stealing class notes and cheating, who was the class bully. This is where you get the gem: "Do you know what language Osama bin Laden spoke?" Kind of a '"Who is buried in Grants Tomb?" statement from our own so professional law inforcement personal.

This is not "far from perfect". it is a waste of time, effort and resources. They are incapable and uninterested in fighting terrorism. What they really want is to control other people. To assert their power in an arbitrary fashion, and mess with somebodies life.

But it's OK. The people in power all well meaning. And you feel really really safe. And you never have to worry about being detained for studying Arabic. And you don't have to worry about your email, phone, bank records, medical record and confidential employment history being accessed by a group of low wattage workers. People who's primary qualifications are that they work cheap, and have trouble getting employed in more demanding positions (sworn law enforcement/security guard).

Remember the people doing the actual work at TSA and pushing papers for the Patriot Act (aka the War is Peace Double Speak Act) are all private contractors working for politically connected (i.e. Republican political donor) security firms. And they always follow the rules, and never make mistakes, and whenever there is a problem there is always strict accountability. No one lies, and the victim is never blamed.

From the article: The agency said George had been flagged for inspection even before he arrived at the security gate because he was "acting suspiciously."

And during the questioning, George's "behavior escalated to a point where our officers deemed it necessary to contact the Philadelphia Police Department," a TSA spokesman told the news network.

I'm really glad you feel safe, because I'm scared shitless.

Google is EVIL. Period.

Google is no cooperating with the NSA. They are a fully-funded CIA company operation, with stock-price manipulation managed in a hideous outgrowth of the "plunge protection" team.

Look. George Herbert Walker Bush and his invisible masters are teh real, secret government in the USA. The former head of the secret police has been the Defense Secretary for the past 2 administrations.

The company captured the US. This became apparent as they engineered the killings of JFK, RFK and MLK - then ensured the downfall of Nixon - to be replaced by Ford, one of the lead stooges on the Warren Commission.

Google is the new name for Big Brother. This is the principal tool for social control and monitoring of the shadow-corporatist government, enforced through the "TLA's"

Use this shit, and it's like kissing your own prison floor.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/02/googles-reported-tie-up-with-nsa-raises-concern-/1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057.html?wpisrc=nl_tech

http://www.threadwatch.org/node/9612

http://groups.google.com/group/global-text-project-general-group/browse_thread/thread/d7256b9b18f0b0a7

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6130M120100204

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_creates_miniGoogle_0331.html

http://www.google-watch.org/jobad.html

http://911review.org/Alex/reference/google_and_CIA.html

The article linked in the article posted here provides some context. He seemed to have been talking about this as a way of preventing cyber attacks, you'd have your license revoked if your computer was compromised and could be used in an attack. MS seems to have been trying to cover their asses: "It's not our fault, if we would just put this intrusive system in place, which has no chance of working, but more importantly would never be funded and never built, then the problem will be solved." The next time a problem with MS products creates a serious problem, they'll say "We told you so! If you had just put up a billion dollars to make the drivers license system, it might not have completely failed, and this could have been avoided! Your fault!"

Actually, I remember hearing/reading/something somewhere that there are prototype robots that can scavenge wood, etc. to burn for fuel. Sure, it's not bullets, but it does make a point. A quick google got me this.

Videos like these?

I am sure that the drooling retards who call themselves Glenn Beck fans are outraged about this decision.

I want one of those broad brushes. Where did you get yours? Ace? HomeDepot?

The 'architect' of the bailout, Henry Paulson, left as the CEO of Goldman Sachs to become Bush's Secretary of the Treasury in just 2006. It is widely believed that Paulson exploited conflicts of interest, putting his former firm ahead of its competition, leaving the others in ruin. The link is a reasonably brief good read.

"Hitchens: Christianity is a fraud if it’s not literally true

If the story of Jesus Christ isn't literally true, then Christianity is a fraud that promotes "a positively wicked doctrine," conservative writer Christopher Hitchens told Fox & Friends Monday morning.

Hitchens, an avowed atheist whose 2007 book God is Not Great attempts to divorce conservatism from religious teachings, discussed the role of religion in American society in the wake of a recent study (PDF) that shows the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has roughly doubled in the past two decades, from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008.

more at...

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/hitchens-christianity-fraud/

This is an issue between China and the United States, it's not a 'Cold War mentality' when you're keeping tabs on threats to you. Every country does it. The fear here is that China is dipping into/forcing a civilian base to partake in information warfare. If we were writing this report about being afraid of China for it's pool of computer science resources, we would be much more afraid of India--the largest pool of information technology.

I seriously doubt that China is "forcing" civilians to participate. There's crazy nationalists willing to whatever it for the "greater good" as they see it in every country. The United Kingdom, Germany, even the United States.Nationalism is on the upswing in China, especially with the youth. Even if the segment of the self-mobilized population is same fraction of any other country, then there still would be more in China.

Never underestimate the will of some crazy to try to take matters into his own hands.

"the Supreme Court has ruled that the right to Free Speech is not absolute, but the prosecution of a girl for calling another girl names over a dispute over a boy? A matter for parents and possibly high school guidance counselors, or on the rare outside case for a psychiatrist, but not for the courts."

RTFA: "Details of the incident weren't made available, but police say the harassment went on for a few months and involved a dispute over a boy."

This is a bit more than just a girl posting OMG UZ STOLEZ MY BF U IZ BIATCH!!!! Also at 16 years old she's hardly a "girl", as I'm sure you heard about the 15 yr old who lit a teen on fire over $40 and laugh about it or the four teens who beat a 16 yr old bystander and honor roll student to death and recorded it on a cellphone.

I'm glad police are taking this seriously and doing something about it, teens should not be burned alive or beaten to death.

But as far as I'm concerned... I want to get myself a taser... and if a jumpy cop (who is not my cousin) pulls a taser on me, I'm pulling one on them.

If you are dealing with a jumpy cop your best bet is to shut the fuck up and start answering their questions with "Yes Sir" and "No Sir". Even the ACLU says this. Pulling a taser (or any weapon for that matter) on them is a one way ticket to the ER or morgue.

There was recently a case in Syracuse where a woman got tased. From the footage I've seen and the reports I've read she did not deserve to get tased. That said, it's also my belief that she contributed to the escalation of the situation and that wiser choices on her part would have brought the incident to a better conclusion. Getting out of the car during a traffic stop without being asked to do so is just going to put the officer on edge. Arguing with him and demanding to see his "evidence" is only going to make it worse. You don't argue with a police officer during a traffic stop -- you accept the ticket, plead not-guilty and fight it out in the court system.

Remember that a police officer is someone who has to worry about getting shot every single time he or she pulls someone over. Putting him or her on edge is just not a wise course of action. Do I think the officer in Syracuse overreacted? Undoubtedly. Would it have happened if he pulled me over? Nope. I would have accepted the ticket without argument and fought it in the courts.

but only recently has SCOTUS decided that "Sure, the 2nd means self-defense, too."

The concept of self-defense predates the 2nd amendment. It predates the invention of firearms. A firearm is just a tool to defend yourself with. You'd still have the right of self-defense without them -- you just wouldn't be able to protect yourself as effectively.

it's just that the Founders debated guns for self-defense, and intentionally left it out of there

So what? If you agree with the concept of self-defense (which I assume you do?) then I don't see why you'd take issue with someone using a legal tool to achieve that end.

but gun owners and the gun lobby is soooo powerful, they bent SCOTUS and bent the Constitution to say something it has never said before

No, they got it to say that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership. Self-defense is just one reason why someone would want to own a firearm. There are others. Do you dispute that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right?

But I'll never carry a gun, nor use one against another, even if in self-defense

Good for you. Nobody is forcing you to carry a gun. Just don't try and tell me that I can't carry one or use it if my life is seconds away from ending.

And I'll pray that after a few more appointments to SCOTUS with an eye towards accuracy, and a special (perhaps contrived) case that comes before them, they will restore the true spirit of the 2nd (which is you have the right to carry a gun to protect everyone -but yourself- from a tyrannical government -- my paraphrase... but that's what militias are for)

So if the gestapo busts my neighbors door down I can shoot to defend him but if they bust my door down I have to surrender? I'm not following your logic here. I also think you've confused self-defense with the 2nd amendment. The laws of self-defense are generally regulated by the States. My state's laws don't even mention firearms. They define two types of force: physical force and deadly physical force. Deadly physical force is defined as force that is likely to cause serious injury or death. Physical force is defined as everything else. You can generally only use deadly physical force to defend yourself or another against the

Just connect the dots. What is the criteria?

1) The company is big
2) The company is essentially a monopoly
3) The company is American

I'd say Google. Maybe Oracle.

You get a 1.5 out of 3. The first item is likely true, in part because smaller cases are probably either handled at the national level (do not need to involve the EU) or perhaps such cases exist but do not get the same media coverage. But OK, I'll give you that one.

As to item 3: the EU also regularly heavily fines large European companies. For example, Siemens got fined for 400 million euro for forming a price cartel. Also see here: "The total fines slapped on 11 companies based in the EU and Japan amount to some 750.7 million euros. [..] The total penalty for the cartel is the second-highest imposed by the commission [as of 2007], following a record 790.5 million euros for fixing vitamin prices in 2001".

Oh, and before you ask, that vitamin cartel involved Hoffman-La Roche of Switzerland, which got fined 462m euros, and BASF of Germany, which got fined to the tune of 296m.

As to 2: the company doesn't have to be a monopoly either, although such fines do indeed commonly concern oligopolies (since forming cartels is a very lucrative prospect in such an environment, for obvious reasons). See above examples. Because of such cartels you could perhaps call this "essentially a monopoly", so ok, half point there.

I'd have assumed you where just trolling, but since you are getting upmodded and I've seen such sentiments in other discussions as well, I thought I'd point this out.

i can has citation?

Let me help:

"Putting hits and stalkers out of folks who don't agree with the Catholic agenda" See: Bill Donahue or The Holy Office of the Inquisition.

"Defense fees for pedophile priests" See: Diocese of Boston.

Here's a link to an article that makes reference to both of the GPs assertions of "hits and stalkers" and "defense fees for pedophiles".

OR.... Diebold didn't make them, rather Premier Election Solutions did. Diebold bought Premier back in the early oughties when Wally O'Dell was CEO and had deep interest with the Bush administration. Your banking "issues" are from a completely separate company in a completely separate state.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2005/Diebold_CEO_resigns_after_reports_of_1212.html

You're funny

Lawsuits can still be used effectively to silence science. While this may draw temporary attention, it may have a chilling effect on future studies which would have supported the findings.

Another example - Taser has sued successfully to alter medical records to remove references to Tasers as causes of death. http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Judge_orders_all_references_to_Taser_0504.html or http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=499151. The streisand effect might be acceptable in the short-term if the lawsuit helps you in the end.

It was with considerable amazement that I heard the news that Bush had actually protected a natural area -- one with oil, no less! The mystery of why Bush set aside so much area around the Mariana Trench and other Pacific natural areas is now solved.

A secret mission is now under way with a navy vessel to drop Chency's Man-Sized Safes, the backup tapes with emails, and lots of other incriminating evidence into the trench. What safer place to bury the bodies?

Review IT architecture of (the late) Mike Connell for the GOP:
Read the links, Videos with Spoonamore, another GOP IT Guru.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F23%2F2128209

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJi7ViN35O8

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Foul_play_not_suspected_in_GOP_0113.html

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/prosecute_rove/

You telling me Systems people don't do backups?
Thought not.

Better than having Jeff Gannon visit the White House 115 times. What was Jeff doing there at 11pm eastern 35 times?
http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/secret_service_gannon_424.htm

Oh, and Cheney: 1) Have job that pays millions 2) Give it up to earn $200K as VP, be vilified as Darth Vader 3) Profit???

Actually, quite a bit of profit.

Cheney continues to receive deferred compensation from Halliburton as well as having stock options which have mysteriously risen in value by 3,281% in just one of the past years.

When you don't tax capital, it moves too quickly, and causes too much boom and bust. That's why western countries have rules against capital flight, and some european countries have a token tax - a fraction of a percent - for every stock transaction to slow people's overreactions.

Personally, I have a somewhat libertarian ideal - eliminate corporations as they are known, and remove the corporate veil of protection for most companies, except for special charters given to insurance companies and other temporary projects - bridge building, mass transit, internet service, etc. There's no reason to grant a corporation special status unless it is doing something beneficial for the community.

I think it would keep companies small and healthy, and keep large, sensible corporations very well regulated. Just require total transparency, and you'll keep the crooks out. But while the crooks are still ruling the White House, the rich are still making the rules.

Does anyone really think this was an accident?

Not to go all Paul Wellstone on everyone, but rawstory is reporting that "45-year-old Republican operative and experienced pilot had been warned not to fly his plane in the days before the crash."

"Connell...was apparently told by a close friend not to fly his plane because his plane might be sabotaged," Renault said. "And twice in the last two months Connell, who is an experienced pilot, cancelled two flights because of suspicious problems with his plane."

From PRNewsWire:

A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.

Alternet reports the following exchange on Amy Goodman's program Democracy Now:

Amy Goodman: Velvet Revolution, a non-profit investigating Connell's activities, revealed this weekend that Connell had recently said he was afraid George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus." Cliff Arnebeck had also previously alerted Attorney General Michael Mukasey to alleged threats from Karl Rove to Connell if he refused to "take the fall." Well, Mark Crispin Miller joins us now, a professor of media culture and communication at New York University

[snip]

Marc Crispin Miller: Well, I cannot assert with perfect confidence that this was no accident, but I will say that the circumstances are so suspicious and so convenient for Rove and the White House that I think we're obliged to investigate this thing very, very thoroughly. And that means, first of all, taking a close look at some of the stories that were immediately circulated to account for what happened, that it was bad weather. That was the line they used when Wellstone's plane went down. There had been bad weather, but it had passed two hours before. And this comes from a woman at the airport information desk in Akron. We're told that his plane was running out of gas, which is a little bit odd for a highly experienced pilot like Connell, but apparently, when the plane went down, there was an explosion, a fireball that actually charred and pocked some of the house fronts in the neighborhood. People can go online and see the footage that news crews took. But beyond the, you know, dubiousness of the official story, we have to take a close look at -- and a serious look at all the charges that Connell was set to make.

AG: Now, he had asked the Attorney General Mukasey for protective custody, because of threats to him and his wife?

MCM: He reported threats to his lawyer, Cliff Arnebeck, and Arnebeck -- also, Velvet Revolution heard from tipsters, as well, tipsters who also claimed that Connell's life was at risk. Stephen Spoonamore, the whistleblower who was the first -- who was the one to name Connell in the first place, also had an ear to the inside. He's also very connected. And all these people were

Good post, good citizen lysergic.acid.

Anybody interested in the American news today can only find it in Mother Jones, Hustler and McClatchy-owned newspapers. What informed citizen bothers with the NY Times (New Whore Times), the Wash. Post, LA Times or other putrid rags???

I generally stick to foreign news and reliable blog websites. With only investigative reporters such as Larisa Alexandrovna, Rawstory, Greg Palast, gregpalast.com, and a few others out there, real news in Amerika has been "deep captured" by the corps.