Slashdot Mirror

You are half-right in that the separation of powers that the Founder specified in the constitution is the division between the federal executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The other separation of powers that they specified is the separation between federal, state, and local governments. Supposedly, each is sovereign. We and any readers probably know how the sovereignty of the state and local governments has fared in the past 250+ years.

The point that I didn't make clear is that the various bureaucracies, for all their waste and inefficiency, *do* serve as a de facto check on the powers of government. The political scientist James Wilson talks about this. From that perspective, bureaucratic 'duplication' and fighting between agencies and levels of government are not entirely unwanted, if you are interested in separation of powers.

That's why I think projects like the Patriot Act, breaking down the walls between various federal, state, and local governments, or the CIA and FBI co-operating, are so insidious. We really don't want law enforcement working in perfect harmony or tandem, because then when some dictator-to-be shows up, he has a much easier time. When Blackwater troops are dispatched in New Orleans, for example, and the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans have already ceded power to the President because of the national emergency, there is no oversight of Blackwater troops, aside from the executive branch. A personal, private republican guard is what every good dictator needs to do his dirty work. In this case, the seperation of powers between the federal, state, and local law enforcement, has been side stepped, and in a national emergency, the congress and the judiciary are just not involved. Add to that a national ID, and you have one-stop-shopping for rounding up dissidents.

I wonder how the executive branch will attempt to sell this to Congress? "The Telcos performed illegal acts because we told them to"?

Also it is worth noting that the Bush administration started domestically spying before 9/11 and we all know how well the government used it's resources to prevent the "attacks".

On the freedom of religion front, there's also Bush's attempt to withhold AIDS treatment from Africans that have access to abortions, and the faith based initiatives.

The other areas actually look worse. Under Clinton, US radio stations were consolidated into the hands of a few by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Television and newspapers are following. The trend has accelerated, and now the military (now, government) is even writing some of our news for us, and ISPs are lobbying congress so they can control speech online. The NSA has been building up networks to log all IP connections made over the Internet background.

Only $900 M? thats just a few pallets

This reminds me of the case (again, near Atlanta) of a vegan being arrested and sent to jail for writing down the license plate number of an unmarked cop car that Homeland Security sent to photograph the protester.

Fortunately the ACLU took up the case .

Don't be shocked as the tyrants find more ways to increase their power of tyranny. They are not here to help you, there are not here to protect you -- there are there to protect their own incomes and pensions, and you are powerless to stop...

To show the truth of this, and to point out the absurdity, anyone who is engaged in political protest is targeted in an effort to intimidate -- even the police themselves. When the police publicly protested the slow pace of their contract talks with the city, they too were videotaped, photographed, and harassed . They were very surprised, because they were police themselves.

If you look at that situation in terms of the system being mostly in maintaining itself, then it would be natural for the system to fear and harass anyone pushing for change, even the police themselves.

Hopefully the "new media" of blogs and other internet information will help become an effective counterweight to the immense power of the authoritarian elements of our government. Meanwhile, don't be too surprised at finding other examples of creeping authoritarianism in our country. A grandmother in Atlanta was shot and killed by plainclothes police when they invaded her home no-knock raid at night . She thought they were robbers trying to break in when she wounded three of them and was killed by return fire. All they found in her house was a small amount of marijuana. They tried to get an informant to lie and say that he told them that drugs were being sold there after the whole affair becam a public relations nightmare.

The AMD strategy to increase the price of corn by burning in automobiles has worked. That's nice for them but not for people who can't afford to eat anymore. I'd rather directly subsidize farmers and send the result to people who are hungry.

...the Scooter Libby trial, where "copies of handwritten notes by Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced at trial by defense attorneys for former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, would appear to implicate George W. Bush in the Plame CIA Leak case". http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107Z.shtml

If there's one thing you can rely on, it's bad news for the Adminstration being accompanied by a hyped-up terror scare that turns out to be nothing.

the Korean mentality is to be as homogeneous as possible. Anybody "weird" is singled out and alienated. This mindset is embedded in their society, culture, personal and professional lives, and everything else they do.

How did that come to be? How is it possible to raise an entire country of emotional bullies and not have it blow up on itself?

"For his intimates and those closer to home, Bush appears to be what is called an emotional bully. An emotional bully gains control using sarcasm, teasing, mocking, name calling, threatening, ignoring, lying, or angering the other and forcing him to back down. Bush administration insider accounts describe this sort of behavior from the president. He's well known for his dismissive remarks. His penchant for giving nicknames to everyone has its dark, bully's side. Naming people is a way to control them."

my daughter said something quite profound about a year ago: "Standing up to bullies is easy, you just stomp on their toes".

It is profound for several reasons. You shouldn't fight the bully head on, they are bigger and (in this case) control the White house and the Army.

But you make it hurt, a lot (you "stomp"), but you do it below the vision of most people watching.

You stand right up to the bully, to their face and make them face you. Most bullies are craven and will crumble at the first sign of real resistance.

Bush Psychology -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011807J.shtml

This is just the first step in a long, painful road to recovery for this nation.

Actually we are getting dangerously close to a nuclear war. The US now has TWO Carrier Strike Groups in the Persian Gulf. The Gulf is getting so crowded that a US sub bumped into a Japanese tanker. Ted Koppel on NPR Friday evening said that people in the military have indicated that our assets in the Gulf are not useful for combating the insurgency in Iraq but are well suited for strikes on Iran. Koppel said that senior military personnel have told him that it is likely that the US will be at war with Iran before 2007 is over.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=6836561

Israel is drawing up plans for a NUCLEAR strike on Iran's nuclear power program.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?t ype=topNews&storyID=2007-01-07T185259Z_01_L0675940 5_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-NUCLEAR-ISRAEL.xml&WTmodLoc=To p%2BNews-C1-Headline-8

In the last several weeks Bush has fired and reassigned several high level military and intelligence people that were in some way in his way to a broader mid-east war. Generals John Abizaid and George Casey who were opposed to an escalation in Iraq and John Negroponte who has recently stated that Iran is 10 years from having the Bomb.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010807R.shtml

I'd say that the doomsday clock is definitely ticking, and we are in for a shit storm in 2007.

I don't see any evidence of torture, except for Abdullah al-Muhajir's claims. However, it's hard to take that seriously when claiming torture is literally taken directly from the Al Qaeda handbook. Does it not bother you that you are playing into the hands of the enemies of the US just because you hate Bush so much?

I'm not sure that I trust the FBI these days, but some of them have come forward with allegations of routine torture for people who are often released without charge. They may have been guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and most are deemed safe for release, aka not dangerous. In Jose's case, it was to a US citizen.

What enemy? My country is defined by a Constitution and Bill of Rights, nothing more. The US can be any shape and size or hold any people, so long as they understand and obey the US constitution. Those who violate the Constitution are enemies of the US, regardless of party affiliation or anything else they might say. Wiretapping, torture, unreasonable search, and so on are un-American. Bandits who fly airplanes into buildings are unable to do real damage.

Uh, name one. Just one... actually, you said citizenS... so I guess you should name at least two. Oh and define torture while you are at it.

José Padilla, a US citizen is one such victim. There may be others, but the US government does not have to tell you about them for "national security" reasons. Certainly, there are hundreds if not thousands of foreign torture victims, examples and more examples. Not even guilty people deserve that kind of barbaric treatment. This is the result of approving "stress positions," sleep deprivation and other "mild" forms of torture for suspects.

So tell me, who's taking away rights again? ... Have you been arrested for what you are typing?

In the US, it's easier to smear and blacklist your political or economic enemies than it is to jail them. It's called "economic assassination." Domestic spying programs are used to make the blacklists. Political abuse of such programs has happened in the past and should be expected but they hardly ever round up real criminals, so they are always a waste of money. The harm they can do is gauged by the extent of government GDP, currently larger than 25% of the economy. The victim never knows.

Well, it's been going on in this administration at least since 2002. The Office of Strategic Influence was its former name, which was officially shut down because of backlash from the press, but its activities continued. That office was intended to influence foreign media, but the question is, how much of the disinformation makes its way back into (or is spread directly into) our media in the form of blowback. Contracts for this type of work run into the hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraq. You better believe they are using the same strategies at home (no reg.).

That means that all the little people take it in the shorts, while Al Gore and Ted Turner and Laurie David go on swanning about in private jets and eight-car motorcades.

...

Until we start confiscating Learjets from rich liberals, I'll spend money and consume energy as I please, and vote for politicians who will allow me to keep doing so.

It seems that it isn't just the liberals that are flying around in Lear Jets. Some administration officials (you know, those people who aren't those dammed liberals) are flying around in private jets on the taxpayer's dime. How's that for the little people taking it in the shorts?

I want people trying to influence this election unfairly to be Americans

Don't worry, my friend! Whether you're interested in hacked voting machines or hackable paper ballot scanners, the company that promised to deliver the 2004 election to Bush will see you through the next Republican landslide election!

ya, we are supposed to have checks and balances, etc. Perhaps you need to take a gander at the issue of "signing statements", and read what the attorney general has to say about federal judges who might actually want to do their jobs. They have just been told to fuck off, to put it impolitely but in normal phraseology.

Oh ya, and the little matter of blackbox voting....links a-plenty there. Sure go ahead and vote! You have zero guarantees anymore, they can completely control the vote and you won't know-or be able to do-anything about it. Now, I will vote, but only from inertia. I knew this jig was up three elections ago when they got away with the hijacking, and then it happened *again*, and then again. It is the *system* now, entrenched, it is *controlled*.

All we have now is the executive branch issuing edicts. That's it. That's called a police state. The other branches are now for political show business purposes, to maintain the illusion. We now live in a dictatorship that arose from a bona fide coup, complete with a reichstagg fire event, and one which just passed a new version of the enabling act.

Since the US seems to be preparing to attack Iran or at least engage in some type of 'regime change', they'll probably have to rebuild their infrastructure anyhow. Maybe the new 'supreme leader' will allow broadband, that is, if the Iranians aren't all dead or suffering for radiation sickness from our depleted uranium munitions.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601009_bush s_nuclear_apocalypse/
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101806Q.shtml
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9814279694 71020612
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/1 6/144204

Who said anything about the NSA or the CIA being used to influence people? The Bush administration has been caught paying reporters to print stories so many times now, I've lost count.

But Bush ordered the NSA to be used for domestic spying and that's against the law, why not for disinfo, too?

Below, you ask when Bush ordered torture. Are you trying to be disingenous, or or you really that naive? He wouldn't order any particular use of torture personally! But if you think he hasn't ordered torture, you haven't been following the news. Here, I've made a google search for you.

The FBI prefers to refer to them as 'radical militant librarians'.
You can buy your button here

That story is false.

There propabaly wouldn't have been 9/11 if Bush were as competent as Clinton. Read and weep: http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/101303A.shtml

Try watching The News Hour on PBS. Interesting, unbiased, fluff-free. Follow up

That's why Bush appointed Patricia Harrison, one of his politik propagandists and former GOP Chair, to be Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She has been directly involved in precisely the "fake news" we are discussing: "[A]s a senior department official, Patricia Harrison, told Congress last year, the Bush administration has come to regard such 'good news' segments as 'powerful strategic tools' for influencing public opinion." http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.c gi/37/9592

See also "Destroying PBS": http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0617-27.htm

On my local public radio I have heard gems like, "Is it possible for an atheist to have a morality?" When they ran "Socrates, the Soldiering Years" interviewing a military academy historian while Bush was beating the Iraq war drums, I said, "You've _GOT_ to be kidding!" And turned the dial. Forever. It is wishful thinking to believe there is U.S. broadcast media untouched by the rising fascism. Question _everything_ your TV and radio tell you.

I don't like fake news in any form, but I think they should focus on false news coming out of the White House first.

Perhaps they should start at the executive branch of the good 'ol USA. The Bush administration was doing just this to push their Medicare Reform bill a couple years back. They got quite the bad press when it became public. One wonders, have they stopped? Well, certainly *someone* hasn't...

I seem to remember there's a word for this. Uhhh propagation? Proposition? Proletariat? No....

hmmm...

Ah, yes. propaganda!

Well, lets just take a look at what Americans did when we were going to invade Iraq:

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/theprinceofbombs.jp g
http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/d30-30/free-republic- protest-3.jpg
http://truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.probush.082705.g rab.jpg
http://www.beyondsatire.us/files/Pro-war.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www. brumm.com/antiwar/feb16/images/032-DefeatEvilProWa r2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.brumm.com/antiwar/feb1 6/032.html&h=480&w=640&sz=103&hl=en&start=6&tbnid= Z_lFLjYPEHUHrM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq %3D%2522pro-war%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3 D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG
http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/d30-30/free-republic- protest-1.jpg
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/28/xinsr c_5620802281138515300128.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~bobbyfoto1/sitebuilderc ontent/sitebuilderpictures/wegavepeace.jpg

Of course, that's not nearly as bad as what you see in Israel. There was the October 2000 riots which involved thousands of Jews chanting "Death to Arabs" while they ransacked arab property, for example. Oy, I could go on for hours about the sort of stuff you get in Israel. Tons of speeches by all sorts of politicians and army leaders referring to them as vermin, worms, cockroaches, a disease, etc. Sh'a Tova even carried a comic strip for children which said "Yes, a good Arab is a dead Arab." Here's a nice article, although it's only a start.

While I think what you're doing is a good thing, are you sure they're made in the USA? Checking the labels may not be enough.

Oil prices have risen because the 6 oil companies that control our government have cut down production. No new oil refineries have been built in the US since 1976. We are at an 8 year high in supply for oil, we just don't refine it!

A congressional investigation uncovered internal memos written by the major oil companies operating in the U.S. discussing their successful strategies to maximize profits by forcing independent refineries out of business, resulting in tighter refinery capacity. From 1995-2002, 97% of the more than 920,000 barrels of oil per day of capacity that have been shut down were owned and operated by smaller, independent refiners. Were this capacity to be in operation today, refiners could use it to better meet today's reformulated gasoline blend needs. Profit margins for oil refiners have been at record highs. In 1999, for every gallon of gasoline refined from crude oil, U.S. oil refiners made a profit of 22.8 cents. By 2004, the profits jumped 80% to 40.8 cents per gallon of gasoline refined. Between 2001 and mid-2005, the combined profits for the biggest five refiners was $228 billion. - Public Citizen

If you look at these oil companies investor reports, you will see it is price gouging. Take Exxon/Mobil. Last year as a share of capital investment, Exxon Mobil made a 46% rate of return on it's US oil operations, a 59% profit margin on it's US oil refining, totalling $36 billion. They love reporting this information to their investors. While a barrel of oil costs $20 to make, they turn around and sell it for $70.

It's a myth that Saudis or some organization sets these prices. The prices are set on energy trading markets. Back in 2000, Enron lobbied hard for the "Commodities Futures Modernization Act." Look it up. It deregulated the energy trading exhanges, meaning over half of the trades are unregulated. When the oil companies are the main ones throwing money around on these exchanges, it's easy for them to hike up the price.

As for the Democrats, yes they do receive money. But if you look at the percentage of campaign contributions going to Republicans, Republicans receive 4 times as much money from oil companies than democrats. That means Republicans should be hung 4 times as high for making consumers deal with this BS.

I may sound like an ass$%^ explaining this to a little child, but in the US a public prosecutor once actually claimed, in front of a judge, that an IP address is like a social security number! You could laugh at this, but the suspect did walk.

The same goes for a huge gang of 419 scammers in Amsterdam. (Some of which actually came from Nigeria). They lived with a lot of people in a very few apartments. So who was sitting behind the PC when the "send" button was pressed? An undercover agent dressed up as a pizza delivery guy could find out. Just ring the doorbell and peek in after a spam salvo is send. The problem certainly wasn't cooperation between the police and the internet provider. This group used stolen cable modems hooked up by crooked installers. So the provider had every reason to work along with whatever the police would ask.

The biggest offender in this area must be the RIAA and its friends. They just keep harassing grannies.

Sure in 99%, hell, lets make that 99.99%, of the cases a phone number identifies a pin protected cell phone that can only be answered by the person who carries it and whose name is on the phone bill and the bank account that pay that phone bill and who owns the house where that cell phone spends its nights....

But people who fear they might be the target of surveillance will work hard, very hard, to be in that 0.01%. Depending on the penalty of getting caught they might go pretty far in this. Would you steal cell phones if it kept you out of GITMO?

So you if you talk about social network analysis then you risk getting people a little to excited about extensive legislation and billion dollar surveillance projects. Its more like mapping a sexual relations network to find STD sources...based on surveys. You would be wise to expect some missing links. Phone traffic network analysis sounds less exciting, but it's accurate.

So how would you stay safe regardless of how high your e-mail identity scores on the statistical Japanese^d^d^dcommunist^d^d^dterrorist detection system?

Well Khalid Shaikh Mohammed used Swiss pre-paid cell phones. A good start and had he seen HBO`s the Wire like others suggested here already then he would have dumped them regularly as well. He didn't. (The register headlined: "Al Qaeda boss confused phone SIM with cloaking device")

Maybe that fact that they used Swiss phones is the result of a western intelligence agency "hinting" that this would be smart. There is no way that someone would mistake banking secrecy and neutrality with communication security after the crypto AG story. For those who forgot, Crypto AG sold NSA and German intelligence designed crypto systems to every country, but especially those under extra US export rules. That is, until Iran decided to take one of their sales rep`s hostage and started asking questions, after that other customers started asking questions as well ;-) And then some of the engineer started talking about the people that gave them the algorithms.

A Pakistani named Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan had a smarter idea. He and his communication partners regularly changed e-mail addresses and used crypto. He may have used his own algorithms though. He got caught and started to work with Pakistani intelligence. He started to arrange for the capture of the people he was in contact with. But then there was a pre-election terror alert in the US. US Intelligence people were looking for an explanation for this alert, so someone leaked to the New York Times that Pakistan

If you are concerned about the legitimacy of our democratic system it is worth looking at John Conyer's report on the irregulaties in Ohio's results - including three references to Diebold.

It's about 100 pages long, covers a range of issues, including the machines, and is very objective.

The thirty-six current co-sponsors of H. Res 635 to create a Select Committee investigating the grounds for recommending President Bush's impeachment are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Jackson, Jr., (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. John Olver (D-MA), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN), Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Rep. David Wu (D-OR). Source. All Democrats, but still members. I'm not sure if any are up for reelection this term.

If no member of Congress is willing to stat the process, it does not start.

The US Constitution Article I, Section 2 grants the House "the sole Power of Impeachment." (Section 3 places trial of such impeachments with the Senate.) Under the House Rules, impeachment is governed by Section 603 (in sec. LIII) of Jeffereson's Rules. This states (ommitting crossreferences):

House of Representatives there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion: by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Member or Delegate; by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to a committee for examination; or by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred to a committee; by a message from the President; by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State or Territory or from a grand jury; or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House.

Most of these methods (such as the abovementioned Select Committee) are internal, but not all. Since a trial necessarily can exhonorate as well as convict, it is not inconceivable that a President might demand his own impeachment trial, to confront and counter debilitating political attack by rumor and innuendo; however, I would consider it implausible given the personal and political character of President Bush. (The president referring the VP for impeachment is barely more conceivable in present circumstances.) Charges may also come from a state legislature, as folk in California, Vermont, and Illinois are currently pushing; if conveyed this way, it must be addressed as a priveleged bill, taking precedence over all other House business. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is currently investigating the executive, with Libby indicted by a grand jury, and Rove anticipated to follow; it's not inconceivable that Cheney or Bush might be next on his list.

With a Republican controlled House, the potential exists for bills so introduced to be p

As far as I can tell, only Truthout is reporting Rove's indictment; other blogs are repeating the Truthout story. AFAIK, no mainstream sites are carrying the story yet.

First after a call to AT&T, where I had a nice 15 minute talk with the customer service representative (she was aware there was something going on and had some canned response for reporters, but didn't understand what the "big deal" (her words) was, until I explained it to her. By the end of the conversation, she agreed that this was pretty scary... or at least pretended to, but she sounded sincere.) who told me that only one other customer had called her to complain (about 2pm).

Second, I'm cancelling my phone service w/AT&T and I will let them know exactly why. I'm switching to an Internet phone. Now, I know that this may not be much safer, especially considering any call INTO a bad phone company would be logged and reported to the NSA. (This is why Qwest customers aren't safe if they call anyone who uses AT&T, for example)... but if enough people cancel in disgust, who knows, maybe they'll get the message.

Third, I'm donating to the EFF. They need our help more than ever. And vice-versa.

Fourth, I'm ready, willing, and able to join any class action lawsuits against these companies. Even if they get thrown out.

Fifth, not an email. Not a letter. But a phone call to my state Senators and Representative.

Also #1: Has anyone put together a unified wiki/forum trying to "reverse-engineer" the NSA's data mining program from published reports + what IT folks & mathematicians think is possible? I bet with enough collaboration and discussion, the net can figure out pretty close to what they're doing with this massive database/total information awareness program (sounds a bit like they're creating associations between clusters of people, much like Amazon does when they profile you to recommend new products... The more info they have, the more they can cross-reference, looking for patterns and comparing with patterns of known profiles (criminals, political enemies, etc.).. I'd be really interested in learning more about what people think this program is and how it might work, from a technological point of view.

Also #2: Merry Fitzmas

Ken Lay certainly had his fingers all over Cheney, but even worse, Enron basically gave the job of CA governor to Schwarzenegger. Sit down some time and watch "Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room". Little birdies have told me it is, uh, "readily available" for download.

..or just fire up a google search. Or Check out the PBS Frontline special, Blackout.

Basically, think "Iran Contra arms-for-hostages" scandal, only instead of Regan, President, and arms...think Schwarzenegger, CA Governor, and the CA power grid- which Enron was have an absolute joy shutting down (yes, shutting down.)

From Truthout.org: More important, however, Schwarzenegger still wont respond to questions about why he was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills two years ago where he, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk bond king Michael Milken, met secretly with former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay who was touting a plan for solving the states energy crisis. Other luminaries who were invited but didnt attend the May 24, 2001 meeting included former Los Angeles Laker Earvin Magic Johnson and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.

While Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken listened to Lays pitch, Gov. Davis pleaded with President George Bush to enact much needed price controls on electricity sold in the state, which skyrocketed to more than $200 per megawatt-hour. Davis said that Texas-based energy companies were manipulating Californias power market, charging obscene prices for power and holding consumers hostage. Bush agreed to meet with Davis at the Century Plaza Hotel in West Los Angeles on May 29, 2001, five days after Lay met with Schwarzenegger, to discuss the California power crisis.

At the meeting, Davis asked Bush for federal assistance, such as imposing federally mandated price caps, to rein in soaring energy prices. But Bush refused saying California legislators designed an electricity market that left too many regulatory restrictions in place and thats what caused electricity prices in the state to skyrocket. It was up to the governor to fix the problem, Bush said. However, Bushs response appears to be part of a coordinated effort launched by Lay to have Davis shoulder the blame for the crisis. It worked. According to recent polls, a majority of voters grew increasingly frustrated with the way Davis handled the power crisis. Schwarzenegger has used the energy crisis and missteps by Davis to bolster his standing with potential voters. While Davis took a beating in the press (some energy companies ran attack ads against the governor), Lay used his political clout to gather support for deregulation.

Or stuff like:

Wearing shirts that speak out against a popular (unpopular?) war : http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.c gi/48/17374
http://www.albany.edu/~mg2300/doc/news/TU_Marchers -protest-arrest-of-man-for-wearing-peace-Tshirt-at -Crossgates_03-05-2003.html

The issue about free speech is that (in my opinion) it only REALLY counts when someone's view is unpopular. Yes, yelling fire in a crowded movie theater is illegal. Why? Because people can be trampled to death by the stampede. Somehow I don't think wearing a T-shirt that says "Give peace a chance" is likely to do the same thing.

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."

    --H. L. Mencken

"I have fought censorship all of my adult life. To me, the most precious of all rights in this marvelous country called the United States of America is the freedom to think, write and say whatever is on your mind... That freedom also extends to thoughts that are stupid, ignorant or incendiary. No one needs a First Amendment to write about how cute newborn babies are or to publish a recipe for stawberry shortcake. Nobody needs a First Amendment for innocuous or popular points of view. That's point one. Point two is that the majority-you and I-must always protect the right of a minority-even a minority of one-to express the most outrageous and offensive ideas. Only then is total freedom of expression guaranteed." Lyle Stuart

Just some food for thought.

My 2 cents...
-A.A

Can you back up your claim about the geographic locations of Diebold machines? What about machines made by Triad systems: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml, or http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

The 2004 election in Ohio is a black mark on America's democracy: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/2004votefraud_oh io.html

The Diebold suspicions are difficult to prove (and I don't have time to dig for info right now) but the Ohio election itself was a disgrace. That's not a "liberal urban legend", it's well-documented fact.

Can you back up your claim about the geographic locations of Diebold machines? What about machines made by Triad systems: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml, or http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

The 2004 election in Ohio is a black mark on America's democracy: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/2004votefraud_oh io.html

The Diebold suspicions are difficult to prove (and I don't have time to dig for info right now) but the Ohio election itself was a disgrace. That's not a "liberal urban legend", it's well-documented fact.

illegal pre-9/11 domestic surveillance

The problem with either side of this argument is simply that WE DO NOT KNOW what the government is doing. What they claim to be doing is "protecting citizens" and listening to the conversations of terrorists, but we have no way of proving that. In fact, some people fear domestic spying against war critics and even political opponents. Sources? Newsweek, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times(not a direct link, but a mirror) and CNN to start. So tell me, are you feeling a little more nervous yet?

He was re-elected. So say of George W. Bush what you like but if he is a moron what the hell does that make the majority of americans who elected him.


IMO, Bush was NEVER elected by a majority of Americans, but there is not sufficient evidence to prove that he was.

Bush played with the old boy network and the electoral college to get into office by rigging elections. He had help from his brother in Floida and help from Diebold in other states, possibly Traid as well.

Privacy Guardian Is Still a Paper Tiger
By Richard B. Schmitt
The Los Angeles Times

Monday 20 February 2006

A year after its creation, the White House civil liberties board has yet to do a single day of work.

Washington - For Americans troubled by the prospect of federal agents eavesdropping on their phone conversations or combing through their Internet records, there is good news: A little-known board exists in the White House whose purpose is to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are protected in the fight against terrorism.

Someday, it might actually meet.

Initially proposed by the bipartisan commission that investigated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was created by the intelligence overhaul that President Bush signed into law in December 2004.

More than a year later, it exists only on paper.

Foot-dragging, debate over its budget and powers, and concern over the qualifications of some of its members - one was treasurer of Bush's first campaign for Texas governor - has kept the board from doing a single day of work.

On Thursday, after months of delay, the Senate Judiciary Committee took a first step toward standing up the fledgling watchdog, approving the two lawyers Bush nominated to lead the panel. But it may take months before the board is up and running and doing much serious work.

Critics say the inaction shows the administration is just going through the motions when it comes to civil liberties.

"They have stalled in giving the board adequate funding. They have stalled in making appointments," said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.). "It is apparent they are not taking this seriously."

The Sept. 11 commission also has expressed reservations about the commitment to the liberties panel.

"We felt it was absolutely vital," said Thomas H. Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey who led the commission. "We had certainly hoped it would have been up and running a long time ago."

The inaction is especially noteworthy in light of recent events. Some Republicans joined Democrats to delay renewal of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act because of civil liberties concerns. And the disclosure in December that Bush approved surveillance of certain US residents' international communications without a court order has caused bipartisan dismay in Congress.

"Obviously, civil liberties issues are critically important, and they have been to this president, especially after 9/11," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, adding that the White House had moved expeditiously to establish the board. "We do not formally nominate until we are through the background investigation and the full vetting. It takes time to present those nominations to the Senate. But now that they have been confirmed, that is a good thing."

The board chairwoman is Carol E. Dinkins, a Houston lawyer who was a Justice Department official in the Reagan administration. A longtime friend of the Bush family, she was the treasurer of George W. Bush's first campaign for governor of Texas, in 1994, and co-chair of Lawyers for Bush-Cheney, which recruited Republican lawyers to handle legal battles after the November 2004 election.

Dinkins, a longtime partner in the Houston law firm of Vinson & Elkins, where Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales once was a partner, has specialized in defending oil and gas companies in environmental lawsuits.

Foremost among her credentials, she told Senate Judiciary Committee members in a response to their questions, was the two years she spent as deputy attorney general in President Reagan's Justice Department. There, she said, she had to weigh civil liberties concerns while overseeing domestic surveillance and counter-intelligence cases.

The board vice chairman is Alan

Really?

For background, please read:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.03E.Hallib.Iraq .htm

The trade with Iraq occurred from 1998 to 2000, under the 1997 "Food for Oil" program, which allowed trading with Iraq for certain limited purposes under UN supervision - "They returned to dealing with Iraq after the council established the "oil-for-food" program in December 1996, permitting Iraq to export oil under U.N. supervision and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and humanitarian goods. The program was expanded in 1998 to allow Iraq to import spare parts for its oil facilities. "

The specifics of what were sold:

"The subsidiaries, Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co., sold water and sewage treatment pumps, spare parts for oil facilities and pipeline equipment to Baghdad through French affiliates from the first half of 1997 to the summer of 2000, U.N. records show. Ingersoll Dresser Pump also signed contracts -- later blocked by the United States -- to help repair an Iraqi oil terminal that U.S.-led military forces destroyed in the Gulf War."

Don't let facts get in the way of your hate, though.

The incidents in Ohio?

too bad i blanked my political forums :/

hold on lemme see what i can dig up - i remember the incidents on memory

Inappropriate tampering with the machines: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml
Inproper voting machine allocation - i used to have a source for this but i cannot find it now and i don't haev time to [i'm at work]

here is one i confirmed with my own eyes from the PDF
"2. Stryguy on the DemocraticUnderground.com found a huge anomaly in Franklin County Ohio. One polling location registered a Bush victory 4258-260. Wow- impressive Bush support eh? Funny how the vote (in this precinct) on all the other races was like 350-250. It seems like 4,000 Bush lovers came to the polls to vote for Bush and nothing else."
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=41 75 (VERY information heavy link - go here!)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1114-02.ht m

some simple googling will get you a wealth of information. There were more clear instances of irregularities in the US election than in the Ukranian election that Bush called fraudulent. Also the "descrepency with the exist polls" Bush, and everyone, cited as evidence of fraud in the Ukranian election also took place happened more severely in the US election (see bellacio org link for charts). One statistican from an ivy league school (yale i believe) said the likelyhood that the exits polls, that showed kerry winning, were wrong was 250 million:1 AGAINST them being incorrect or some smiliar number

grr where i should have made backups

"Americans" working for an average salary in the 5 digit range should welcome the competition, because it's "the reality of a global economy," but Halliburton, working for an average contract in the 10 digit range, doesn't need the competition and should instead receive no-bid contracts. I wonder why that is? Is Halliburton participating in the economy of some other globe we don't know about?

Well, it's not necessarily an American mentality as much as this administration's mentality. After all, they don't believe in the validty of the "reality-based" community (I'd link to the original, but the NYTimes wants to charge for everything, these days). Theirs is the attitude and hubris that will eventually bring about the downfall of our once great country.

Just like their friends, the corporate Masters of the Universe at Enron, they think that their spin is reality. And they'll keep on believing it until someone bites them in the ass. So, Jihadis, let me give you a clue - if you want to make an impression on these morons, rioting in your own countries won't make a difference - they don't care! Doing anything to our country won't make any impression on them either - they don't care and they'll just spin it to make you look bad to the rest of us! The only way to get through to them is to bite them and their friends - personally - in the ass again and again until they get the message. Just try not to take out too many innocents while you're at it - it makes you look bad (I think a few suitcase nukes in the middle of the Saudis' main oilfields would probably make a *big* impression with a minimal loss of life, given how close Prince Bandar is with them, huh? Just give me a couple of weeks notice so I can load up on oil futures first, OK?). Have a nice Jihad...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021706A.shtml

  "Cyber Storm" was testing the government's ability to withstand an onslaught of information and protest from bloggers and online activists.

ENEMY TARGET SIGHTED: BLOGGER CRITICAL OF US GOVT.

I'm sure Exxon and friends, with their 'oh snap look what's going on in the Middle East right now' speculative price hikes will manage to edge it closer to $200 this year. I mean, just take a look at the record profits these megacorps are raking in. All it will take this year is the threat of action against Iran, a few hurricanes here and there, and bam, another huge hike.

  Keep in mind that Cheney is still sitting on the board at Halliburton, which has recorded record quarters since the beginning of the Iraq war, by winning closed-bidding contracts for reconstruction. Strangely enough the US military is tasked with keeping Halliburton contractors safe while they work..which isn't always successful. If you look carefully at the list, you'll see the majority of KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Haliburton company) employees were involved in logistics, i.e. truck drivers. Convoys are popular targets for IEDs. KBR has been a thorn in the side for Halliburton, and they've considered selling it off for awhile, due to the PR nightmare and litigation that ended in a 4 billion dollar settlement over asbestos claims.

People make mistakes.

That's one of the ways the Italian gov't tracked down the CIA agents who kidnapped some guy out of Italy and took him to Egypt to be tortured.

One of the CIA guys called his family in the USA (amongst other people) on a 'field' cell phone and the Italian Feds worked backwards from there.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122705M.shtml

That's because free markets are based on the idea of competition, not monopolies. When you deregulate a monopoly, like the power industry in California, then you get an Enron situation where prices are inflated by artificially reducing supply. It's not really practical to provide competition for an infrastructure, so the best alternative is to keep it regulated and keep the operation as transparent as possible. Incidentally, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" was an excellent documentary on the subject. I just hope it gets the attention it deserves, since many people just think of the whole thing as a little book fixing. In fact, it's far more insidious and involved many "reputable" institutions facilitating all of it.