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Bioterrorism Charges Brought Against Professor
gnetwerker writes "Wired
and others are reporting about artist Steve Kurtz, professor at Univesity of Buffalo (NY), and member of the
Critical Art Ensemble will face a Grand Jury in two weeks on bioterrorism charges over artwork that used samples of harmless bacteria to make a statement about genetic engineering and food safety. He is charged with BioTerrorism under Section 817 of the PATRIOT Act. Apparently
John Ashcroft can't tell a weapons lab from an art installation. There is more info and a
Defense Fund on the CAE Defense Fund Site."
Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides By DOUG THOMPSON Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue Jun 4, 2004, 06:15
President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader's state of mind.
In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as "enemies of the state."
Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.
"It reminds me of the Nixon days," says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. "Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That's the mood over there."
In interviews with a number of White House staffers who were willing to talk off the record, a picture of an administration under siege has emerged, led by a man who declares his decisions to be "God's will" and then tells aides to "fuck over" anyone they consider to be an opponent of the administration.
"We're at war, there's no doubt about it. What I don't know anymore is just who the enemy might be," says one troubled White House aide. "We seem to spend more time trying to destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda and our enemies list just keeps growing and growing."
Aides say the President gets "hung up on minor details," micromanaging to the extreme while ignoring the bigger picture. He will spend hours personally reviewing and approving every attack ad against his Democratic opponent and then kiss off a meeting on economic issues.
"This is what is killing us on Iraq," one aide says. "We lost focus. The President got hung up on the weapons of mass destruction and an unproven link to al Qaeda. We could have found other justifiable reasons for the war but the President insisted the focus stay on those two, tenuous items."
Aides who raise questions quickly find themselves shut out of access to the President or other top advisors. Among top officials, Bush's inner circle is shrinking. Secretary of State Colin Powell has fallen out of favor because of his growing doubts about the administration's war against Iraq.
The President's abrupt dismissal of CIA Directory George Tenet Wednesday night is, aides say, an example of how he works.
"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and wouldn't hear of it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune time to make a change, not in the middle of an election campaign but when the director challenged the President during the meeting Wednesday, the President cut him off by saying 'that's it George. I cannot abide disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."
Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked staff of the decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President actually described the decision as "God's will."
God may also be the reason Attorney General John Ashcroft, the administration's lightning rod because of his questionable actions that critics argue threatens freedoms granted by the Constitution, remains part of the power elite. West Wing staffers call Bush and
@de_machina
Please
Wait, can someone explain to me why this is offtopic, i don't necessarily agree with it, but it is definitely on topic. Jeez. moderators!
LMAO!!!
-- Note to liberals, yes please flee to Canada.
The most unfortunate part? It's mostly true. Most people people are lemmings.
Two paraphrases (because I'm to tired from fighting flu to search for exact quotes, sorry)
"And it profits evil that good men do nothing" Burk IIRC, the only possible answer to Goering, and then only when backed by somthing like our constitution, which also unfortunately the 'two' parties have been undermining because no-one follows Burkes admonition there.
"A person is smart, but people are blind, stupid, panicky and you know it." -K men in black.
I have alot of belief in the goodness of my fellow man, but people scare the shit outa me.--me:)
I wasn't attacking with the godwins law ref, and I'm honestly sorry if you got that impression. I've been fairly sick with the flu last two days and fevers and exaustion play games with my sense of humour. I was humourously trying to point out that some hyperboly can damage credibility (for all I'm often guilty of excess hyperboly myself).
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
we have found some just not the huge stockpiles everyone expected.
It's news to me that we've found ONE "weapon of mass destruction" in Iraq, let alone "some". Did I miss a meeting?
Wouldn't Bush, Blair and the rest of the coalition be screaming this from the top of their lungs by now? I mean, we've found mobile labs ... only they weren't. We've found a shell (which is a battlefield munition, not a WMD), we've found a couple of drums which had some sort of chemical residue which was initially claimed to be WMD ... only that sort of fell by the wayside ...
So ... where was the WMD(s) again?