Like I posted in a previous post, the recent E.coli outbreak in spinach is most likely linked back to livestock farm animals. The growing suspicion in the below article confirms this theory as a likely possibility. This factor is being ignored by the FDA to protect the billion dollar meat industry.
The FDA claims they don't know where the source of the E.coli is coming from? Sure they do. Livestock farm animals. The problem is the FDA is taking handouts from the billion dollar meat industry. This factor will go ignored to protect the meat industry, and in the process, this cover-up will continue to smear more sustainible and envrionmentally responsible methods of agriculture like the farming of produce.
...This was the 20th outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 in leafy greens in 10 years, and half had been traced to central California.
“What it does is it raises concerns about what is going on in that environment,” Acheson said. For instance, cattle may need to be kept away from fields where food is grown, and physical barriers may have to be used, he said.
E. coli is a common and usually harmless bacteria found in the guts of animals including people. The 0157:H7 strain can be toxic and is found in the intestines and manure of cattle.
“Having cattle that may or may not be carrying 0157 that are uphill and upstream of a field that is growing a fresh product that is going to be consumed without cooking obviously raises concerns and questions,” Acheson said. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15067012/
The real problem is that over 60 billion farm animals are used each year globally to produce meat, milk and eggs. The majority are raised in industrial farming systems where their welfare needs are not met. In addition to issues of inhumane mis-treatment of animals, live stock contributes to droughts and water shortages due to the fact that over half of our American water supply is used to keep livestock animals going. In addition, the animals are kept in such tight quarters that they are prone to disease. To fight off disease, the farmers inject the animals with all kinds of anti-biotics as well as growth hormones. These chemical agents are then passed on to you in the meat and milk that you consume, which now has a proven link to cancer. Furthermore, cattle ranching is one of the biggest contributors to global warming in two ways. First, it is the direct cause of millions of tons of methane being released into the air produced naturally by animal waste. Secondly, it requires transportation, which uses up oil and gas and puts a lot of exhaust into the air.
What you can do: Eat vegetarian and don't contribute to an industry that misuses animals and destroys the environment. If you can't entirely give up meat now, try cutting it out of your diet for half the week. If every American cut half of their diet down to being vegetarian, our own health as well as the health of the environment would drastically improve. Don't let the spinach contamination scare you (all fresh organic spinach was still ok to eat.) This scare tactic is being used by the meat industry to advance their profits, also indicated by a new aggressive advertising campaign. Let's stop putting big corporate interests over the best interests of our own health and the health of the environment.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Republican denial
The #2 reasons this administration put us in this horrible situation in Iraq were WMD and links to terrorism. The chemical and biological agents they spoke of (that yes we gave them) were from outdated reports up to 12 years old. Whatever did remain would have had an expired shelf life, but they never even found anything, did they? Links to terrorism, zero again.
Now that we're there, on the other hand, there is terrorism running rampant in Iraq. Read Woodward's new book on that. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15068379/
Iraq has become a breeding ground for terrorism, which it never was even under Sadddam's leadership. By the way, we were the ones who used biological weapons against the Iraqis in 2003, which the international community is well aware of and in which makes the Bush administration guilty of war crimes.
Now Republicans try to use the genocide and oppressive government cards. If genocide was really on the top of their list, why aren’t they doing a thing about Darfur? If oppressive government was a reason, why aren’t they doing anything about Saudi Arabia or China? Instead, we do business with them.
One Republican recently said, “they (the next president) will have to finish the job IF it isn't finished by then.” Do they honestly believe that Bush is going to fix this Iraq problem in the next year? Those are rose-colored glasses they’re looking through, again.
Republicans also like us to believe that the terrorist problem will go not away when the present administration is no longer in office. They're actually right, of course terrorism won’t go away; they’ve created more of it. Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism now. Bush has angered so many in the Middle East that we’ll see the repercussions for years, as we did with 9/11— a result of 12 years of Republican follies and aggression.
There is nothing irrational about remembering why we even there in the first place. We should never forget the truth and we should hold those responsible for lies and misinformation. People are dying, but Republicans obviously don’t care.
They can recheck all of the issues you want; the facts are this administration spent months lying to the public on a propaganda campaign to get into Iraq. They can’t just erase public record because it makes their party look like cheap liars.
Repressed NIE report states that Iraq has led to more global terrorism
In the much-discussed National Intelligence Estimate, the government’s top analysts concluded that Iraq has become a “cause celebre” for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, the analysts said, the risks to the U.S. interests at home and abroad surely will grow.
“Are more terrorists being created in the world? We don’t know,” said Rumsfeld, adding that there aren’t good ways to measure how many terrorists are being trained at camps around the world.
Disclosure of the classified report, and President Bush’s subsequent move to make portions of it public, has had broad political ramifications.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15059815/
Read the declassified part here:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/060926
_Declassified_ NIE_Key_Judgments.pdf
Now that we're there, on the other hand, there is terrorism running rampant in Iraq. Read Woodward's new book on that. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15068379/
Iraq has become a breeding ground for terrorism, which it never was even under Sadddam's leadership. By the way, we were the ones who used biological weapons against the Iraqis in 2003, which the international community is well aware of and in which makes the Bush administration guilty of war crimes.
Now Republicans try to use the genocide and oppressive government cards. If genocide was really on the top of their list, why aren’t they doing a thing about Darfur? If oppressive government was a reason, why aren’t they doing anything about Saudi Arabia or China? Instead, we do business with them.
One Republican recently said, “they (the next president) will have to finish the job IF it isn't finished by then.” Do they honestly believe that Bush is going to fix this Iraq problem in the next year? Those are rose-colored glasses they’re looking through, again.
Republicans also like us to believe that the terrorist problem will go not away when the present administration is no longer in office. They're actually right, of course terrorism won’t go away; they’ve created more of it. Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism now. Bush has angered so many in the Middle East that we’ll see the repercussions for years, as we did with 9/11— a result of 12 years of Republican follies and aggression.
There is nothing irrational about remembering why we even there in the first place. We should never forget the truth and we should hold those responsible for lies and misinformation. People are dying, but Republicans obviously don’t care.
They can recheck all of the issues you want; the facts are this administration spent months lying to the public on a propaganda campaign to get into Iraq. They can’t just erase public record because it makes their party look like cheap liars.
Repressed NIE report states that Iraq has led to more global terrorism
In the much-discussed National Intelligence Estimate, the government’s top analysts concluded that Iraq has become a “cause celebre” for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, the analysts said, the risks to the U.S. interests at home and abroad surely will grow.
“Are more terrorists being created in the world? We don’t know,” said Rumsfeld, adding that there aren’t good ways to measure how many terrorists are being trained at camps around the world.
Disclosure of the classified report, and President Bush’s subsequent move to make portions of it public, has had broad political ramifications.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15059815/
Read the declassified part here:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/060926
_Declassified_ NIE_Key_Judgments.pdf
Friday, September 29, 2006
SCHOOL VIOLENCE GROWING
Colorado authorities say a gunman who took over a high school in Bailey, Colorado, is dead. Officials say the middle-aged man walked into the school, fired at least two shots and took six people hostage before the situation ended with his death.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15057589/
Principal reportedly shot at Wisconsin school
Shooter armed with multiple weapons, local TV station reports
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15060698/
Both of these tragedies occurred within days of each other representative of a new spiking trend in school violence.
Question #1 It's bad enough our American schools are failing society, now how can keep them safe?
Question #2 Where did these criminals get their weapons and what if any qualifications did they have to own a gun?
Question #3 When are gun advocates going to realize the gun problem in America and when will they finally begin to take responsibility?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15057589/
Principal reportedly shot at Wisconsin school
Shooter armed with multiple weapons, local TV station reports
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15060698/
Both of these tragedies occurred within days of each other representative of a new spiking trend in school violence.
Question #1 It's bad enough our American schools are failing society, now how can keep them safe?
Question #2 Where did these criminals get their weapons and what if any qualifications did they have to own a gun?
Question #3 When are gun advocates going to realize the gun problem in America and when will they finally begin to take responsibility?
Let's remind American voters of the Republican Lie Machine
LIES
In January 2003, Bush stood before Congress and delivered his State of the Union Address to the American people. He solemnly broke the news to us how Iraq was in possession of “26,000 liters of Anthrax; 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin; 500 tons of serin, mustard and VX gas; mobile biological weapons labs and stations; and uranium obtained from Niger to build nuclear weapons of mass destruction.” Bush also informed us of the bad news of how the Middle East nation of Iraq had connections to terrorism and Al Qaeda. Over three years later with U.S. soldiers still dying in Iraq, the United States government hung up their boots, quit their search for weapons, and went home deserting the troops. The search for weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism was over. The results: ZERO!
“Hussein has in fact reinstated nuclear weapons.” Cheney
“We know for a fact there are weapons there.” Fleischer
“There clearly are contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq.” Rice
Republicans had lied again. The world knows it now, many of us knew it then, yet Bush still won’t admit it and say he’s sorry. Most of us know now that he lied, but how many lies did he and his administration tell? And what were the reasons behind them? Let’s first look at some of the most notorious ones:
LIE: “The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati
LIE: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
-President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, State of the Union
LIE: “We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”
-VP Cheney on March 16, 2003 on Meet the Press
LIE: “The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons...And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.”
-President Bush on September 26, 2002
LIE: “[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade.”
-CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they’re weaponized...”
-President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a radio address
LIE: “Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.”
-Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council
LIE: “We know where they [Iraq’s WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.”
-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press
LIE: “Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq, which the UN prohibited.”
-President Bush in Poland, June 1, 2003
These lies could go on for pages but we won’t waste the paper. You get the point. You have…
INTELLIGENCE
“It is somewhat puzzling that you have 100% certainty about WMD’s existence and 0 certainty of where they are.”
- Hans Blix
In January 2003, Bush stood before Congress and delivered his State of the Union Address to the American people. He solemnly broke the news to us how Iraq was in possession of “26,000 liters of Anthrax; 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin; 500 tons of serin, mustard and VX gas; mobile biological weapons labs and stations; and uranium obtained from Niger to build nuclear weapons of mass destruction.” Bush also informed us of the bad news of how the Middle East nation of Iraq had connections to terrorism and Al Qaeda. Over three years later with U.S. soldiers still dying in Iraq, the United States government hung up their boots, quit their search for weapons, and went home deserting the troops. The search for weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism was over. The results: ZERO!
“Hussein has in fact reinstated nuclear weapons.” Cheney
“We know for a fact there are weapons there.” Fleischer
“There clearly are contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq.” Rice
Republicans had lied again. The world knows it now, many of us knew it then, yet Bush still won’t admit it and say he’s sorry. Most of us know now that he lied, but how many lies did he and his administration tell? And what were the reasons behind them? Let’s first look at some of the most notorious ones:
LIE: “The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati
LIE: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
-President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, State of the Union
LIE: “We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”
-VP Cheney on March 16, 2003 on Meet the Press
LIE: “The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons...And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.”
-President Bush on September 26, 2002
LIE: “[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade.”
-CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States.”
-President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
LIE: “We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they’re weaponized...”
-President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a radio address
LIE: “Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.”
-Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council
LIE: “We know where they [Iraq’s WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.”
-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press
LIE: “Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq, which the UN prohibited.”
-President Bush in Poland, June 1, 2003
These lies could go on for pages but we won’t waste the paper. You get the point. You have…
INTELLIGENCE
“It is somewhat puzzling that you have 100% certainty about WMD’s existence and 0 certainty of where they are.”
- Hans Blix
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Rice challenges statements by Clinton on terror
NEW YORK - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged former President Clinton's recent claim that he did more than many of his conservative critics to pursue al-Qaida, saying in an interview published Tuesday that the Bush administration aggressively pursued the group even before the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15011269/
Perhaps she forgets her flimsy testimony:
Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=44918
CLAIM: There was "nothing about the threat of attack in the U.S." in the Presidential Daily Briefing the President received on August 6th. [responding to Ben Veniste]
FACT: Rice herself confirmed that "the title [of the PDB] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said, "Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event -- there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
CLAIM: "The decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a lot of work to deal with this very important priority." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Internal government documents show that while the Clinton Administration officially prioritized counterterrorism as a "Tier One" priority, but when the Bush Administration took office, top officials downgraded counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reported, these documents show that before Sept. 11 the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top billing." Rice admitted that "we decided to take a different track" than the Clinton Administration in protecting America. [Source: Internal government documents, 1998-2001; Washington Post, 3/22/04; Rice testimony, 4/8/04]
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, COMMISSION MEMBER: Good morning, Dr. Rice.
RICE: Good morning.
BEN-VENISTE: Nice to see you again.
RICE: Nice to see you.
BEN-VENISTE: I want to ask you some questions about the August 6, 2001, PDB. We had been advised in writing by CIA on March 19, 2004, that the August 6 PDB was prepared and self-generated by a CIA employee. Following Director Tenet's testimony on March 26 before us, the CIA clarified its version of events, saying that questions by the president prompted them to prepare the August 6 PDB.
Now, you have said to us in our meeting together earlier in February, that the president directed the CIA to prepare the August 6 PDB.
The extraordinary high terrorist attack threat level in the summer of 2001 is well-documented. And Richard Clarke's testimony about the possibility of an attack against the United States homeland was repeatedly discussed from May to August within the intelligence community, and that is well-documented.
You acknowledged to us in your interview of February 7, 2004, that Richard Clarke told you that al Qaeda cells were in the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president, at any time prior to August 6, of the existence of al Qaeda cells in the United States?
RICE: First, let me just make certain...
BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited...
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it's important...
BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president...
RICE: ... that I also address...
It's also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you'll just give me a moment.
BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you...
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will...
BEN-VENISTE: ... told the president.
RICE: If you'll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you've asked.
First of all, yes, the August 6 PDB was in response to questions of the president -- and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of al Qaeda's operations.
Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum -- I remember it as being only a line or two -- that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States.
Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that?
And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these al Qaeda cells. I believe in the August 6 memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And so there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it. I really don't remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.
BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?
RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Now, the...
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste...
BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the...
RICE: I would like to finish my point here.
BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.
RICE: Given that -- you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.
BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.
RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Now, you knew by August 2001 of al Qaeda involvement in the first World Trade Center bombing, is that correct? You knew that in 1999, late '99, in the millennium threat period, that we had thwarted an al Qaeda attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and thwarted cells operating in Brooklyn, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts.
As of the August 6 briefing, you learned that al Qaeda members have resided or traveled to the United States for years and maintained a support system in the United States.
And you learned that FBI information since the 1998 blind sheikh warning of hijackings to free the blind sheikh indicated a pattern of suspicious activity in the country up until August 6 consistent with preparation for hijackings. Isn't that so?
RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not -- you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6 that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations -- not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al Qaeda cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?
RICE: What the August 6 PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...
BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.
RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...
BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.
RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB -- exceptional access. But let me address your question.
BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.
RICE: May I address the question, sir?
The fact is that this August 6 PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by al Qaeda inside the United States. He asked because all of the threat reporting or the threat reporting that was actionable was about the threats abroad, not about the United States.
This particular PDB had a long section on what bin Laden had wanted to do -- speculative, much of it -- in '97, '98; that he had, in fact, liked the results of the 1993 bombing.
RICE: It had a number of discussions of -- it had a discussion of whether or not they might use hijacking to try and free a prisoner who was being held in the United States -- Ressam. It reported that the FBI had full field investigations under way.
And we checked on the issue of whether or not there was something going on with surveillance of buildings, and we were told, I believe, that the issue was the courthouse in which this might take place.
Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo -- historical memo prepared by the agency because the president was asking questions about what we knew about the inside.
BEN-VENISTE: Well, if you are willing...
RICE: Now, we had already taken...
BEN-VENISTE: If you are willing to declassify that document, then others can make up their minds about it.
Let me ask you a general matter, beyond the fact that this memorandum provided information, not speculative, but based on intelligence information, that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.
There was nothing reassuring, was there, in that PDB?
RICE: Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring.
But I can also tell you that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C. There was nothing in this memo as to time, place, how or where. This was not a threat report to the president or a threat report to me.
BEN-VENISTE: We agree that there were no specifics. Let me move on, if I may.
RICE: There were no specifics, and, in fact, the country had already taken steps through the FAA to warn of potential hijackings. The country had already taken steps through the FBI to task their 56 field offices to increase their activity. The country had taken the steps that it could given that there was no threat reporting about what might happen inside the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: We have explored that and we will continue to with respect to the muscularity and the specifics of those efforts.
The president was in Crawford, Texas, at the time he received the PDB, you were not with him, correct?
RICE: That is correct.
BEN-VENISTE: Now, was the president, in words or substance, alarmed or in any way motivated to take any action, such as meeting with the director of the FBI, meeting with the attorney general, as a result of receiving the information contained in the PDB?
RICE: I want to repeat that when this document was presented, it was presented as, yes, there were some frightening things -- and by the way, I was not at Crawford, but the president and I were in contact and I might have even been, though I can't remember, with him by video link during that time.
The president was told this is historical information. I'm told he was told this is historical information and there was nothing actionable in this. The president knew that the FBI was pursuing this issue. The president knew that the director of central intelligence was pursuing this issue. And there was no new threat information in this document to pursue.
BEN-VENISTE: Final question, because my time has almost expired.
Do you believe that, had the president taken action to issue a directive to the director of CIA to ensure that the FBI had pulsed the agency, to make sure that any information which we know now had been collected was transmitted to the director, that the president might have been able to receive information from CIA with respect to the fact that two al Qaeda operatives who took part in the 9/11 catastrophe were in the United States -- Alhazmi and Mihdhar; and that Moussaoui, who Dick Clarke was never even made aware of, who had jihadist connections, who the FBI had arrested, and who had been in a flight school in Minnesota trying to learn the avionics of a commercial jetliner despite the fact that he had no training previously, had no explanation for the funds in his bank account, and no explanation for why he was in the United States -- would that have possibly, in your view, in hindsight, made a difference in the ability to collect this information, shake the trees, as Richard Clarke had said, and possibly, possibly interrupt the plotters?
RICE: My view, Commissioner Ben-Veniste, as I said to Chairman Kean, is that, first of all, the director of central intelligence and the director of the FBI, given the level of threat, were doing what they thought they could do to deal with the threat that we faced.
There was no threat reporting of any substance about an attack coming in the United States.
RICE: And the director of the FBI and the director of the CIA, had they received information, I am quite certain -- given that the director of the CIA met frequently face to face with the president of the United States -- that he would have made that available to the president or to me.
I do not believe that it is a good analysis to go back and assume that somehow maybe we would have gotten lucky by, quote, "shaking the trees." Dick Clarke was shaking the trees, director of central intelligence was shaking the trees, director of the FBI was shaking the trees. We had a structural problem in the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of the FBI? RICE: We had a structural problem in the United States, and that structural problem was that we did not share domestic and foreign intelligence in a way to make a product for policymakers, for good reasons -- for legal reasons, for cultural reasons -- a product that people could depend upon.
BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of...
KEAN: Commissioner, we got to move on...
BEN-VENISTE: ... the FBI between August 6 and September 11?
KEAN: ... to Commissioner Fielding.
RICE: I will have to get back to you on that. I am not certain.
KEAN: Commissioner Fielding?
For the entire transcript of Rice's testimony:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/08/rice.transcript/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15011269/
Perhaps she forgets her flimsy testimony:
Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=44918
CLAIM: There was "nothing about the threat of attack in the U.S." in the Presidential Daily Briefing the President received on August 6th. [responding to Ben Veniste]
FACT: Rice herself confirmed that "the title [of the PDB] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said, "Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event -- there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
CLAIM: "The decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a lot of work to deal with this very important priority." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Internal government documents show that while the Clinton Administration officially prioritized counterterrorism as a "Tier One" priority, but when the Bush Administration took office, top officials downgraded counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reported, these documents show that before Sept. 11 the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top billing." Rice admitted that "we decided to take a different track" than the Clinton Administration in protecting America. [Source: Internal government documents, 1998-2001; Washington Post, 3/22/04; Rice testimony, 4/8/04]
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, COMMISSION MEMBER: Good morning, Dr. Rice.
RICE: Good morning.
BEN-VENISTE: Nice to see you again.
RICE: Nice to see you.
BEN-VENISTE: I want to ask you some questions about the August 6, 2001, PDB. We had been advised in writing by CIA on March 19, 2004, that the August 6 PDB was prepared and self-generated by a CIA employee. Following Director Tenet's testimony on March 26 before us, the CIA clarified its version of events, saying that questions by the president prompted them to prepare the August 6 PDB.
Now, you have said to us in our meeting together earlier in February, that the president directed the CIA to prepare the August 6 PDB.
The extraordinary high terrorist attack threat level in the summer of 2001 is well-documented. And Richard Clarke's testimony about the possibility of an attack against the United States homeland was repeatedly discussed from May to August within the intelligence community, and that is well-documented.
You acknowledged to us in your interview of February 7, 2004, that Richard Clarke told you that al Qaeda cells were in the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president, at any time prior to August 6, of the existence of al Qaeda cells in the United States?
RICE: First, let me just make certain...
BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited...
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it's important...
BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president...
RICE: ... that I also address...
It's also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you'll just give me a moment.
BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you...
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will...
BEN-VENISTE: ... told the president.
RICE: If you'll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you've asked.
First of all, yes, the August 6 PDB was in response to questions of the president -- and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of al Qaeda's operations.
Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum -- I remember it as being only a line or two -- that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States.
Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that?
And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these al Qaeda cells. I believe in the August 6 memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And so there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it. I really don't remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.
BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?
RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Now, the...
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste...
BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the...
RICE: I would like to finish my point here.
BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.
RICE: Given that -- you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.
BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.
RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Now, you knew by August 2001 of al Qaeda involvement in the first World Trade Center bombing, is that correct? You knew that in 1999, late '99, in the millennium threat period, that we had thwarted an al Qaeda attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and thwarted cells operating in Brooklyn, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts.
As of the August 6 briefing, you learned that al Qaeda members have resided or traveled to the United States for years and maintained a support system in the United States.
And you learned that FBI information since the 1998 blind sheikh warning of hijackings to free the blind sheikh indicated a pattern of suspicious activity in the country up until August 6 consistent with preparation for hijackings. Isn't that so?
RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not -- you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6 that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations -- not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al Qaeda cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?
RICE: What the August 6 PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...
BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.
RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...
BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.
RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB -- exceptional access. But let me address your question.
BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.
RICE: May I address the question, sir?
The fact is that this August 6 PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by al Qaeda inside the United States. He asked because all of the threat reporting or the threat reporting that was actionable was about the threats abroad, not about the United States.
This particular PDB had a long section on what bin Laden had wanted to do -- speculative, much of it -- in '97, '98; that he had, in fact, liked the results of the 1993 bombing.
RICE: It had a number of discussions of -- it had a discussion of whether or not they might use hijacking to try and free a prisoner who was being held in the United States -- Ressam. It reported that the FBI had full field investigations under way.
And we checked on the issue of whether or not there was something going on with surveillance of buildings, and we were told, I believe, that the issue was the courthouse in which this might take place.
Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo -- historical memo prepared by the agency because the president was asking questions about what we knew about the inside.
BEN-VENISTE: Well, if you are willing...
RICE: Now, we had already taken...
BEN-VENISTE: If you are willing to declassify that document, then others can make up their minds about it.
Let me ask you a general matter, beyond the fact that this memorandum provided information, not speculative, but based on intelligence information, that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.
There was nothing reassuring, was there, in that PDB?
RICE: Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring.
But I can also tell you that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C. There was nothing in this memo as to time, place, how or where. This was not a threat report to the president or a threat report to me.
BEN-VENISTE: We agree that there were no specifics. Let me move on, if I may.
RICE: There were no specifics, and, in fact, the country had already taken steps through the FAA to warn of potential hijackings. The country had already taken steps through the FBI to task their 56 field offices to increase their activity. The country had taken the steps that it could given that there was no threat reporting about what might happen inside the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: We have explored that and we will continue to with respect to the muscularity and the specifics of those efforts.
The president was in Crawford, Texas, at the time he received the PDB, you were not with him, correct?
RICE: That is correct.
BEN-VENISTE: Now, was the president, in words or substance, alarmed or in any way motivated to take any action, such as meeting with the director of the FBI, meeting with the attorney general, as a result of receiving the information contained in the PDB?
RICE: I want to repeat that when this document was presented, it was presented as, yes, there were some frightening things -- and by the way, I was not at Crawford, but the president and I were in contact and I might have even been, though I can't remember, with him by video link during that time.
The president was told this is historical information. I'm told he was told this is historical information and there was nothing actionable in this. The president knew that the FBI was pursuing this issue. The president knew that the director of central intelligence was pursuing this issue. And there was no new threat information in this document to pursue.
BEN-VENISTE: Final question, because my time has almost expired.
Do you believe that, had the president taken action to issue a directive to the director of CIA to ensure that the FBI had pulsed the agency, to make sure that any information which we know now had been collected was transmitted to the director, that the president might have been able to receive information from CIA with respect to the fact that two al Qaeda operatives who took part in the 9/11 catastrophe were in the United States -- Alhazmi and Mihdhar; and that Moussaoui, who Dick Clarke was never even made aware of, who had jihadist connections, who the FBI had arrested, and who had been in a flight school in Minnesota trying to learn the avionics of a commercial jetliner despite the fact that he had no training previously, had no explanation for the funds in his bank account, and no explanation for why he was in the United States -- would that have possibly, in your view, in hindsight, made a difference in the ability to collect this information, shake the trees, as Richard Clarke had said, and possibly, possibly interrupt the plotters?
RICE: My view, Commissioner Ben-Veniste, as I said to Chairman Kean, is that, first of all, the director of central intelligence and the director of the FBI, given the level of threat, were doing what they thought they could do to deal with the threat that we faced.
There was no threat reporting of any substance about an attack coming in the United States.
RICE: And the director of the FBI and the director of the CIA, had they received information, I am quite certain -- given that the director of the CIA met frequently face to face with the president of the United States -- that he would have made that available to the president or to me.
I do not believe that it is a good analysis to go back and assume that somehow maybe we would have gotten lucky by, quote, "shaking the trees." Dick Clarke was shaking the trees, director of central intelligence was shaking the trees, director of the FBI was shaking the trees. We had a structural problem in the United States.
BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of the FBI? RICE: We had a structural problem in the United States, and that structural problem was that we did not share domestic and foreign intelligence in a way to make a product for policymakers, for good reasons -- for legal reasons, for cultural reasons -- a product that people could depend upon.
BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of...
KEAN: Commissioner, we got to move on...
BEN-VENISTE: ... the FBI between August 6 and September 11?
KEAN: ... to Commissioner Fielding.
RICE: I will have to get back to you on that. I am not certain.
KEAN: Commissioner Fielding?
For the entire transcript of Rice's testimony:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/08/rice.transcript/
Sunday, September 24, 2006
The Ghost in the Machines
Will The Next Election Be Hacked?
Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
The debacle of the 2000 presidential election made it all too apparent to most Americans that our electoral system is broken. And private-sector entrepreneurs were quick to offer a fix: Touch-screen voting machines, promised the industry and its lobbyists, would make voting as easy and reliable as withdrawing cash from an ATM. Congress, always ready with funds for needy industries, swiftly authorized $3.9 billion to upgrade the nation's election systems - with much of the money devoted to installing electronic voting machines in each of America's 180,000 precincts. But as midterm elections approach this November, electronic voting machines are making things worse instead of better. Studies have demonstrated that hackers can easily rig the technology to fix an election - and across the country this year, faulty equipment and lax security have repeatedly undermined election primaries. In Tarrant County, Texas, electronic machines counted some ballots as many as six times, recording 100,000 more votes than were actually cast. In San Diego, poll workers took machines home for unsupervised "sleepovers" before the vote, leaving the equipment vulnerable to tampering. And in Ohio - where, as I recently reported in "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" [RS 1002], dirty tricks may have cost John Kerry the presidency - a government report uncovered large and unexplained discrepancies in vote totals recorded by machines in Cuyahoga County.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_
kennedy_jr__will_the_ next_election_be_hacked
Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
The debacle of the 2000 presidential election made it all too apparent to most Americans that our electoral system is broken. And private-sector entrepreneurs were quick to offer a fix: Touch-screen voting machines, promised the industry and its lobbyists, would make voting as easy and reliable as withdrawing cash from an ATM. Congress, always ready with funds for needy industries, swiftly authorized $3.9 billion to upgrade the nation's election systems - with much of the money devoted to installing electronic voting machines in each of America's 180,000 precincts. But as midterm elections approach this November, electronic voting machines are making things worse instead of better. Studies have demonstrated that hackers can easily rig the technology to fix an election - and across the country this year, faulty equipment and lax security have repeatedly undermined election primaries. In Tarrant County, Texas, electronic machines counted some ballots as many as six times, recording 100,000 more votes than were actually cast. In San Diego, poll workers took machines home for unsupervised "sleepovers" before the vote, leaving the equipment vulnerable to tampering. And in Ohio - where, as I recently reported in "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" [RS 1002], dirty tricks may have cost John Kerry the presidency - a government report uncovered large and unexplained discrepancies in vote totals recorded by machines in Cuyahoga County.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_
kennedy_jr__will_the_ next_election_be_hacked
Friday, September 22, 2006
Global Warming Facts
Global Warming Facts:
21 Percent of America's global warming pollution
produced by individual households.
42 - Number of states where electricity customers have the option to buy green power through their utility or an alternative power supplier.
200,00 - Number of American households
that use solar energy.
25 - Pounds of global warming pollution
emitted per gallon of gas used in cars.
10 - Percent that Americans could reduce their global warming pollution if all car buyers chose a model that gets 5 more gallons/mile than their current vehicle.
350 - Pounds of global warming pollution reduced
by lowering the thermostat 2 degrees in winter.
38 - Number of watts needed to replace a standard 150 watt lightbulb with a compact florescent lightbulb.
25- Percent reduction in home heating bills
by insulating attics, pipes, ductwork and flooring.
What You Can Do:
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=135
21 Percent of America's global warming pollution
produced by individual households.
42 - Number of states where electricity customers have the option to buy green power through their utility or an alternative power supplier.
200,00 - Number of American households
that use solar energy.
25 - Pounds of global warming pollution
emitted per gallon of gas used in cars.
10 - Percent that Americans could reduce their global warming pollution if all car buyers chose a model that gets 5 more gallons/mile than their current vehicle.
350 - Pounds of global warming pollution reduced
by lowering the thermostat 2 degrees in winter.
38 - Number of watts needed to replace a standard 150 watt lightbulb with a compact florescent lightbulb.
25- Percent reduction in home heating bills
by insulating attics, pipes, ductwork and flooring.
What You Can Do:
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=135
Sunday, September 17, 2006
PETA rips on Steve Irwin?
Dear PETA,
I am writing in regards to your recent internet article: “Steve Irwin: Not a True Wildlife Warrior” in addition to Vice President Dan Mathews related comments. My wife and I are fond supporters of your organization, but you have crossed the line on this one. These outrageous claims are disturbing and alienating to those who support the endeavors of both PETA and Steve Irwin. One can not insult the deceased without insulting the masses of people influenced and taught by Irwin, many of whom are also supporters of PETA, many others who are potential supporters. This story is insulting, ignorant of the facts, and appears to be a cheap publicity stunt by your vice president, which is now threatening the reputation of PETA.
I demand an apology and call for the resignation of Dan Mathews.
Yes, while Irwin did come uncomfortably close to some species throughout his career, he did always stress the importance of others not doing so on their own. He emphasized education and conservation, and influenced millions of children to have a fondness of animals. Furthermore, he never hurt an animal in his entire career. The only one he ever hurt was himself, as he was aware that stepping into the wild to educate others involved dangerous and sometimes fatal risks. Irwin’s final message for us was that not even “The Crocodile Hunter” is invincible from the forces of wildlife and nature. You can’t take that or any of his accomplishments away from him just because you rushed to judge and didn’t think through your statement or do the appropriate research.
Speaking of accomplishments, let me educate you. Steve Irwin founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which protects habitats and wildlife, creates rescue programs, and leads in scientific research that will help save endangered species for generations to come. Irwin also helped found the International Crocodile Rescue.
Irwin also founded the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in which all donations go directly to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center with 3,450 acres of wildlife sanctuary.
Irwin used the profits from his show to buy 83,000 acres of endangered Acacia Woodland in southwestern Queensland, in addition to other portions of Australia, all for the sole purpose of conserving habitats for wildlife.
Steve Irwin is responsible for starting endangered species breeding programs for the Southern Cassowary, Koalas, Fijian Crested Iguanas, Bilby Rhinoceros Iguanas, Galapagos Giant Land Tortoises, Aldabran Giant Land Tortoises, Mary River Turtles, Peregrine Falcons, Komodo Dragons, and Irwins Turtles -- a newly-discovered breed named after Steve himself. He has also established breeding programs for such vulnerable species as Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Echidnas, Red Kangaroos, Asian Small-Clawed Otters, Queensland Womas, Death Adders, Rusty Monitors, Canopy Goannas, Yakka Skinks, Reticulated Pythons, Burmese Pythons, Australian Green Pythons, Sea Snakes, Black Cockatoos, Jabirus, Curlews, and his beloved Saltwater Crocodiles. Steve Irwin’s devotion to wildlife and conservation can not be questioned. His legacy will live on and his mission of wildlife conservation will march on stronger than ever. On the contrary, what has Dan Mathew’s personal and professional contribution been?
Dan Mathew’s comments are distasteful and disrespectful. While these comments do call more attention to the late Steve Irwin and keep his mission vitalized, of which we are thankful, these comments are also hurting the PETA image. This is not the way to recruit members and spread our message of animal liberation. Wouldn’t it have been better to pay tribute to Irwin and draw in new PETA supporters in that manner? Instead, you have turned away potential supporters. I must now question your intentions and credibility.
I demand a public apology for these malicious statements, in addition to the resignation of Dan Mathews.
I hope we can all move forward and continue the battle to protect all animals.
Bill Lawrence
SIGN THE PETITION HERE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/191553641
I am writing in regards to your recent internet article: “Steve Irwin: Not a True Wildlife Warrior” in addition to Vice President Dan Mathews related comments. My wife and I are fond supporters of your organization, but you have crossed the line on this one. These outrageous claims are disturbing and alienating to those who support the endeavors of both PETA and Steve Irwin. One can not insult the deceased without insulting the masses of people influenced and taught by Irwin, many of whom are also supporters of PETA, many others who are potential supporters. This story is insulting, ignorant of the facts, and appears to be a cheap publicity stunt by your vice president, which is now threatening the reputation of PETA.
I demand an apology and call for the resignation of Dan Mathews.
Yes, while Irwin did come uncomfortably close to some species throughout his career, he did always stress the importance of others not doing so on their own. He emphasized education and conservation, and influenced millions of children to have a fondness of animals. Furthermore, he never hurt an animal in his entire career. The only one he ever hurt was himself, as he was aware that stepping into the wild to educate others involved dangerous and sometimes fatal risks. Irwin’s final message for us was that not even “The Crocodile Hunter” is invincible from the forces of wildlife and nature. You can’t take that or any of his accomplishments away from him just because you rushed to judge and didn’t think through your statement or do the appropriate research.
Speaking of accomplishments, let me educate you. Steve Irwin founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which protects habitats and wildlife, creates rescue programs, and leads in scientific research that will help save endangered species for generations to come. Irwin also helped found the International Crocodile Rescue.
Irwin also founded the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in which all donations go directly to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center with 3,450 acres of wildlife sanctuary.
Irwin used the profits from his show to buy 83,000 acres of endangered Acacia Woodland in southwestern Queensland, in addition to other portions of Australia, all for the sole purpose of conserving habitats for wildlife.
Steve Irwin is responsible for starting endangered species breeding programs for the Southern Cassowary, Koalas, Fijian Crested Iguanas, Bilby Rhinoceros Iguanas, Galapagos Giant Land Tortoises, Aldabran Giant Land Tortoises, Mary River Turtles, Peregrine Falcons, Komodo Dragons, and Irwins Turtles -- a newly-discovered breed named after Steve himself. He has also established breeding programs for such vulnerable species as Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Echidnas, Red Kangaroos, Asian Small-Clawed Otters, Queensland Womas, Death Adders, Rusty Monitors, Canopy Goannas, Yakka Skinks, Reticulated Pythons, Burmese Pythons, Australian Green Pythons, Sea Snakes, Black Cockatoos, Jabirus, Curlews, and his beloved Saltwater Crocodiles. Steve Irwin’s devotion to wildlife and conservation can not be questioned. His legacy will live on and his mission of wildlife conservation will march on stronger than ever. On the contrary, what has Dan Mathew’s personal and professional contribution been?
Dan Mathew’s comments are distasteful and disrespectful. While these comments do call more attention to the late Steve Irwin and keep his mission vitalized, of which we are thankful, these comments are also hurting the PETA image. This is not the way to recruit members and spread our message of animal liberation. Wouldn’t it have been better to pay tribute to Irwin and draw in new PETA supporters in that manner? Instead, you have turned away potential supporters. I must now question your intentions and credibility.
I demand a public apology for these malicious statements, in addition to the resignation of Dan Mathews.
I hope we can all move forward and continue the battle to protect all animals.
Bill Lawrence
SIGN THE PETITION HERE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/191553641
Saturday, September 16, 2006
TIMELINE
1977: Salem Bin Laden invests in Arbusto Energy, Inc. owned by George W. Bush.
1980’s: Reagan/Bush Administration trains Osama Bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill the Soviets. The CIA gives them $3 billion.
1982: Reagan/Bush Administration provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians. Donald Rumsfeld presents Saddam with a pair of golden spurs as a gift.
1983: Reagan/Bush Administration gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis.
1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from U.S.
1991: U.S. enters Iraq-Gulf War. Dictator is reinstated in Kuwait.
1991-99: U.S. planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. The U.N. estimates that over 500,000 Iraqi’s died from these bombings and sanctions.
1995: George W. Bush becomes Governor of Texas.
1995-2000: Dick Cheney is CEO of Halliburton, which during this period does business with Iraq, Libya, and Iran.
1996: FOX News is launched along with an attack campaign on Clinton.
1998: Florida uses electronic voting machines for the first time. Jeb Bush becomes Governor.
2001: George W. Bush becomes president after the most controversial election in U.S. history.
2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in aid, some of which is put towards their opium crops and later smuggled right back into the U.S.
September 11, 2001: Osama Bin Laden uses his CIA training.
2003-04: U.S. invades Iraq despite 9 years of bombings, no possible weapon-making capability, and no connections to Bin Laden. Saddam Hussein is removed from power. Over 2,500 Americans are killed. 100,000 civilians are killed. Civil war erupts in Iraq. U.S. national debt hits all time high. And well, you know the rest of the story.
1980’s: Reagan/Bush Administration trains Osama Bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill the Soviets. The CIA gives them $3 billion.
1982: Reagan/Bush Administration provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians. Donald Rumsfeld presents Saddam with a pair of golden spurs as a gift.
1983: Reagan/Bush Administration gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis.
1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from U.S.
1991: U.S. enters Iraq-Gulf War. Dictator is reinstated in Kuwait.
1991-99: U.S. planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. The U.N. estimates that over 500,000 Iraqi’s died from these bombings and sanctions.
1995: George W. Bush becomes Governor of Texas.
1995-2000: Dick Cheney is CEO of Halliburton, which during this period does business with Iraq, Libya, and Iran.
1996: FOX News is launched along with an attack campaign on Clinton.
1998: Florida uses electronic voting machines for the first time. Jeb Bush becomes Governor.
2001: George W. Bush becomes president after the most controversial election in U.S. history.
2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in aid, some of which is put towards their opium crops and later smuggled right back into the U.S.
September 11, 2001: Osama Bin Laden uses his CIA training.
2003-04: U.S. invades Iraq despite 9 years of bombings, no possible weapon-making capability, and no connections to Bin Laden. Saddam Hussein is removed from power. Over 2,500 Americans are killed. 100,000 civilians are killed. Civil war erupts in Iraq. U.S. national debt hits all time high. And well, you know the rest of the story.
E.Coli outbreak
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14841731/
I suspect the meat industry has something to do with this. Let's wait and see: intentional corporate terrorism by meat industry or just unintentional run-off from the livestock farms?
I suspect the meat industry has something to do with this. Let's wait and see: intentional corporate terrorism by meat industry or just unintentional run-off from the livestock farms?
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
A Hole in the Ground
Watch Keith Olberman's 9/11 comment. A must see!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
As I watched the 9/11 unfold on MSNBC on the rebroadcast of The Today Show, several things occurred to me. One thing is how quickly Osama Bin Laden was blamed for the attacks. Another thing is how quick these "newscasters" proclaimed a war on terrorism. Both of these concepts were fed to us within an hour of the attacks by news broadcasters and journalists who are fed the information via their sources: government officials.
"This is the largest intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor." -Andrea Mitchell
"This is an act of war." -Tom Browkaw
The list of quotes goes on, but you get the point.
I'm sorry but this is Shakespearian theater at its best. The best thing you can do to salute those killed on 9/11 is demand the truth, demand that the investigation be re-opened, and not to believe anything you see and hear on network news.
For more information:
http://www.911truth.org/index.php
http://911review.com/
http://911research.wtc7.net/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
As I watched the 9/11 unfold on MSNBC on the rebroadcast of The Today Show, several things occurred to me. One thing is how quickly Osama Bin Laden was blamed for the attacks. Another thing is how quick these "newscasters" proclaimed a war on terrorism. Both of these concepts were fed to us within an hour of the attacks by news broadcasters and journalists who are fed the information via their sources: government officials.
"This is the largest intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor." -Andrea Mitchell
"This is an act of war." -Tom Browkaw
The list of quotes goes on, but you get the point.
I'm sorry but this is Shakespearian theater at its best. The best thing you can do to salute those killed on 9/11 is demand the truth, demand that the investigation be re-opened, and not to believe anything you see and hear on network news.
For more information:
http://www.911truth.org/index.php
http://911review.com/
http://911research.wtc7.net/
Friday, September 08, 2006
9/11 conspiracy theorists multiply
Many Americans suspect U.S. government involvement or complicity
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14723997/
Distrust near Ground ZeroDistrust percolates more strongly near Ground Zero. A Zogby International poll of New York City residents two years ago found 49.3 percent believed the government "consciously failed to act."
In September 2001, NORAD generals said they learned of the hijackings in time to scramble fighter jets. But the government recently released tapes claiming to show the FAA did not tell the military about the hijackings until three of the four planes had crashed. That would mean the FAA repeatedly lied. It would also mean, as Griffin points out, that the entire military chain of command stayed quiet about huge inaccuracies for four years "even though . . . the true story would put the military in a better light."
More mysteries pile up. The 9/11 Commission says Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 9:37. But Honegger says clocks stopped at the Pentagon at 9:32. Then there's the collapse of the twin towers, which Jones, the physics professor, timed at just short of free fall. Griffin cites firefighters, including a captain, who said in hearings and on tapes from that day that they saw flashes and heard the sound of explosions before the collapse.
Vote Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14727720/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14723997/
Distrust near Ground ZeroDistrust percolates more strongly near Ground Zero. A Zogby International poll of New York City residents two years ago found 49.3 percent believed the government "consciously failed to act."
In September 2001, NORAD generals said they learned of the hijackings in time to scramble fighter jets. But the government recently released tapes claiming to show the FAA did not tell the military about the hijackings until three of the four planes had crashed. That would mean the FAA repeatedly lied. It would also mean, as Griffin points out, that the entire military chain of command stayed quiet about huge inaccuracies for four years "even though . . . the true story would put the military in a better light."
More mysteries pile up. The 9/11 Commission says Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 9:37. But Honegger says clocks stopped at the Pentagon at 9:32. Then there's the collapse of the twin towers, which Jones, the physics professor, timed at just short of free fall. Griffin cites firefighters, including a captain, who said in hearings and on tapes from that day that they saw flashes and heard the sound of explosions before the collapse.
Vote Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14727720/
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Advanced Knowledge of 9/11
Unfortunately, and despite some helpful information, what we obtained from the 9/11 Commission’s research is limited because of the rules Bush made for himself. Twenty-eight pages are completely classified and blocked from the public. Many familiar with the report claim this section deals with Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the hijackers. The truth is, officials in our government knew about the attacks long before they happened. As Richard Clarke said in his testimony, “I’m sorry, but we (your government) have failed you.”
The following is a summary of just a few of the many warnings of 9/11:
· In early 2001, the BAD ordered U.S. agents to back off and end the investigation of the Bin Ladens. 2
· In early 2001, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, declared the most serious national threats as a hurricane hitting New Orleans, an earthquake hitting San Francisco, and a terrorist attack hitting New York City. As of this printing, two had occurred; the earthquake, of course had not yet hit California. We can now be assured our government won’t be ready for that one either.
· In June 2001, the CIA was warned by German intelligence that Middle Eastern terrorists were “planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture.” This information came to the German government by way of a phone call by an Iranian man, who supposedly also phoned U.S. law enforcement to warn of an imminent attack the week of September 9. German police confirm the calls but state that the U.S. Secret Service would not reveal any further information. [i]
· In July 2001, an FBI agent in Arizona named Kenneth Williams warned about “an inordinate number of individuals of investigative-interest taking flight training.” This memo, known as the “Phoenix Memo” asked the FBI to collect data on flight schools and foreign students. According to the July 25, 2003 story “A History of Missed Connections” in the Washington Post, one of the men mentioned in the memo was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 with a senior Al Qaeda facilitator, Abu Zubayda. [ii]
· In August 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to warn the U.S. of imminent terrorist attacks on airports and government buildings. [iii]
· One very strange and disturbing story took place in August 2001 when U.S. Navy Lieutenant Mike Vreeland was jailed in Toronto on U.S. fraud charges for claiming to be an officer of U.S. Naval Intelligence. Vreeland, while imprisoned, wrote details of the pending attack on the U.S. and sealed these papers in an envelope, which he then handed over to Canadian authorities. Canadian jailers opened this letter three days after 9/11 and read the warnings. When Canada initially contacted the U.S., the Navy claimed Vreeland was discharged in 1986 and had never worked in Intelligence. On January 10, 2002 during Vreeland’s trial, his attorneys called the Pentagon switchboard operator from a speakerphone and confirmed that Vreeland was indeed a Naval Lieutenant on active duty. The operator even provided a direct phone extension to Vreeland’s empty Pentagon office. What we will ever learn about Vreeland’s knowledge of the attacks is all uncertain. Why haven’t we heard his story in the major media? The answer is he’s been silenced by the government and the conspiracy-labeling Republicans who have smeared him because of their fear that the truth will come out. [iv]
· Newspapers in the Middle East received warnings from Al-Qaeda. 10
· MSNBC reported that in the week before the attacks, a caller to a Cayman Islands radio talk show gave several warnings of an attack on the U.S. [v]
· Several children, ages 8-16, in New York and New Jersey leaked information to classmates and teachers prophesizing a disaster and warning them to stay away from Manhattan. The New York City Board of Education confirmed that school officials reported the incidents to police and that the matter had since been taken over by the FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force. This disturbing news was well documented by many U.S. news stations in the days following September 11, but how quickly the public forgets. [vi]
· On the morning of 9/11, employees of Odigo Inc. in Israel, a worldwide instant messaging company with offices in New York, received threat warnings of an attack on the World Trade Center. This was two hours before the first plane struck. [vii]
· The FAA received 52 warnings. Five of the warnings mentioned hijackers. Two of the warnings mentioned suicide missions.All of these warnings from governments, citizens, and even children have vanished from our minds in the haze of everything that has transpired since, and in which the U.S. government has suppressed into silence. Republicans have dismissed these truths as conspiracy or coincidence.
The following is a summary of just a few of the many warnings of 9/11:
· In early 2001, the BAD ordered U.S. agents to back off and end the investigation of the Bin Ladens. 2
· In early 2001, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, declared the most serious national threats as a hurricane hitting New Orleans, an earthquake hitting San Francisco, and a terrorist attack hitting New York City. As of this printing, two had occurred; the earthquake, of course had not yet hit California. We can now be assured our government won’t be ready for that one either.
· In June 2001, the CIA was warned by German intelligence that Middle Eastern terrorists were “planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture.” This information came to the German government by way of a phone call by an Iranian man, who supposedly also phoned U.S. law enforcement to warn of an imminent attack the week of September 9. German police confirm the calls but state that the U.S. Secret Service would not reveal any further information. [i]
· In July 2001, an FBI agent in Arizona named Kenneth Williams warned about “an inordinate number of individuals of investigative-interest taking flight training.” This memo, known as the “Phoenix Memo” asked the FBI to collect data on flight schools and foreign students. According to the July 25, 2003 story “A History of Missed Connections” in the Washington Post, one of the men mentioned in the memo was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 with a senior Al Qaeda facilitator, Abu Zubayda. [ii]
· In August 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to warn the U.S. of imminent terrorist attacks on airports and government buildings. [iii]
· One very strange and disturbing story took place in August 2001 when U.S. Navy Lieutenant Mike Vreeland was jailed in Toronto on U.S. fraud charges for claiming to be an officer of U.S. Naval Intelligence. Vreeland, while imprisoned, wrote details of the pending attack on the U.S. and sealed these papers in an envelope, which he then handed over to Canadian authorities. Canadian jailers opened this letter three days after 9/11 and read the warnings. When Canada initially contacted the U.S., the Navy claimed Vreeland was discharged in 1986 and had never worked in Intelligence. On January 10, 2002 during Vreeland’s trial, his attorneys called the Pentagon switchboard operator from a speakerphone and confirmed that Vreeland was indeed a Naval Lieutenant on active duty. The operator even provided a direct phone extension to Vreeland’s empty Pentagon office. What we will ever learn about Vreeland’s knowledge of the attacks is all uncertain. Why haven’t we heard his story in the major media? The answer is he’s been silenced by the government and the conspiracy-labeling Republicans who have smeared him because of their fear that the truth will come out. [iv]
· Newspapers in the Middle East received warnings from Al-Qaeda. 10
· MSNBC reported that in the week before the attacks, a caller to a Cayman Islands radio talk show gave several warnings of an attack on the U.S. [v]
· Several children, ages 8-16, in New York and New Jersey leaked information to classmates and teachers prophesizing a disaster and warning them to stay away from Manhattan. The New York City Board of Education confirmed that school officials reported the incidents to police and that the matter had since been taken over by the FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force. This disturbing news was well documented by many U.S. news stations in the days following September 11, but how quickly the public forgets. [vi]
· On the morning of 9/11, employees of Odigo Inc. in Israel, a worldwide instant messaging company with offices in New York, received threat warnings of an attack on the World Trade Center. This was two hours before the first plane struck. [vii]
· The FAA received 52 warnings. Five of the warnings mentioned hijackers. Two of the warnings mentioned suicide missions.All of these warnings from governments, citizens, and even children have vanished from our minds in the haze of everything that has transpired since, and in which the U.S. government has suppressed into silence. Republicans have dismissed these truths as conspiracy or coincidence.
Profile of Richard "Dick" Cheney
Relation to presidents:
● Worked for Nixon, Ford, George H.W. & George W. Bush
● Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. Reagan is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office.
● “White House Chief of Staff Richard Cheney is blamed by Ford insiders for a succession of campaign blunders.”
- Robert Novak
Education + Draft:
● Won a scholarship to Yale, partied it away, flunked, and dropped out after his freshman year.
● When the draft began for Vietnam, Cheney woke up and enrolled at Casper Community College. Cheney then transferred to University of Wyoming, which kept him out of the draft until 8/7/64. Married Lynne Vincent earning another deferment. On Oct. 26, 1965 the Selective Service announced that childless married men were no longer exempted from service: 9 months and 2 days later, Cheney’s first daughter Elizabeth was born. Received a total of five deferments between ‘63 & ‘66. Turned 26 in January 1967 making him safe from the draft and enabling him to abandon his mock-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin.
The one time Cheney has answered the question as to why he avoided serving in Vietnam he said,
“I had other priorities.”
Experience:
1986:
● 1 of 21 members of the House to oppose the Safe Drinking Water Act
● Fought efforts to clean up hazardous waste because it was too costly
● Voted against funding for the Veterans Administration
● Opposed extending the Civil Rights Act
● Opposed the release of Nelson Mandela from jail in South Africa
● Voted to ok cop-killer bullets
1988:
● Was appointed as head of the Defense Department, yet he avoided service
● Pushed military duties over to private corporations
● Pushed “defense intellectuals” with no military experience into key posts at Pentagon, e.g. Paul Wolfowitz
1992:
● Selected as CEO of Halliburton. Picked up subsidiary that did business with Saddam Hussein. That same subsidiary resulted in multi-million dollar asbestos lawsuits, which plummeted stock. Cheney continues to receive $150,000 a year in deferred compensation. Halliburton has since been awarded $8 billion in contracts from the Iraq War.
1997:
● Was one of the founding members of the radical PNAC, which included Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. This group of leading neo-conservatives led a crusade to lobby President Clinton to topple Hussein. Their purpose was to influence American foreign and defense policy.
2000:
● Violated the Constitution, since it is forbidden that a state’s electors vote for president and vice president who are both “an inhabitant of the same state as themselves.” Cheney was an official citizen of Texas.
● Foisted fake and altered reports on the intelligence.
● Visited 9 Arab countries to enlist countries for the battle vs. Saddam. Not one nation provided troops and most refused to permit the US to use their territory for war.
● Insisted there were WMD in Iraq and that there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, even though none have ever been found.
● Worked for Nixon, Ford, George H.W. & George W. Bush
● Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. Reagan is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office.
● “White House Chief of Staff Richard Cheney is blamed by Ford insiders for a succession of campaign blunders.”
- Robert Novak
Education + Draft:
● Won a scholarship to Yale, partied it away, flunked, and dropped out after his freshman year.
● When the draft began for Vietnam, Cheney woke up and enrolled at Casper Community College. Cheney then transferred to University of Wyoming, which kept him out of the draft until 8/7/64. Married Lynne Vincent earning another deferment. On Oct. 26, 1965 the Selective Service announced that childless married men were no longer exempted from service: 9 months and 2 days later, Cheney’s first daughter Elizabeth was born. Received a total of five deferments between ‘63 & ‘66. Turned 26 in January 1967 making him safe from the draft and enabling him to abandon his mock-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin.
The one time Cheney has answered the question as to why he avoided serving in Vietnam he said,
“I had other priorities.”
Experience:
1986:
● 1 of 21 members of the House to oppose the Safe Drinking Water Act
● Fought efforts to clean up hazardous waste because it was too costly
● Voted against funding for the Veterans Administration
● Opposed extending the Civil Rights Act
● Opposed the release of Nelson Mandela from jail in South Africa
● Voted to ok cop-killer bullets
1988:
● Was appointed as head of the Defense Department, yet he avoided service
● Pushed military duties over to private corporations
● Pushed “defense intellectuals” with no military experience into key posts at Pentagon, e.g. Paul Wolfowitz
1992:
● Selected as CEO of Halliburton. Picked up subsidiary that did business with Saddam Hussein. That same subsidiary resulted in multi-million dollar asbestos lawsuits, which plummeted stock. Cheney continues to receive $150,000 a year in deferred compensation. Halliburton has since been awarded $8 billion in contracts from the Iraq War.
1997:
● Was one of the founding members of the radical PNAC, which included Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. This group of leading neo-conservatives led a crusade to lobby President Clinton to topple Hussein. Their purpose was to influence American foreign and defense policy.
2000:
● Violated the Constitution, since it is forbidden that a state’s electors vote for president and vice president who are both “an inhabitant of the same state as themselves.” Cheney was an official citizen of Texas.
● Foisted fake and altered reports on the intelligence.
● Visited 9 Arab countries to enlist countries for the battle vs. Saddam. Not one nation provided troops and most refused to permit the US to use their territory for war.
● Insisted there were WMD in Iraq and that there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, even though none have ever been found.
Bush's accomplishments as President:
● Invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
● Lied to the entire world about his reasons for attacking Iraq, and then blamed the lies on his British friends.
● Supported development of a nuclear “Tactical Bunker Buster,” a Weapon of Mass Destruction. ● Spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
● Set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
● Set a record for most home foreclosures in U.S. history.
● Set the record for most days on vacation in any one-year period for a sitting president.
● Set the record for fewest press conferences than any president in the age of television.
● Largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of his best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history. Bush’s political party used the Enron private jets and corporate attorneys during the 2000 selection scandal. Has since protected his friends at Enron from prosecution.
● Oversaw the loss of over 3 million jobs and counting.
● Appointed more convicted criminals to an administration than any other president.
● Appointed more unqualified persons to an administration than any other president.
● Became the first president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record— drunk driving 9/4/76.
● Presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
● Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
● Became the most simultaneously protested person in public venues world wide in the history of civilization.
● The first president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
● Withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
● Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war “detainees,” and thereby refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
● The first president in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
● The first U.S. president in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
● Failed to capture Osama Bin Laden when he said he would.
●Let 9/11 happen even after repetitive intelligence warnimgs
● Lied to the entire world about his reasons for attacking Iraq, and then blamed the lies on his British friends.
● Supported development of a nuclear “Tactical Bunker Buster,” a Weapon of Mass Destruction. ● Spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
● Set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
● Set a record for most home foreclosures in U.S. history.
● Set the record for most days on vacation in any one-year period for a sitting president.
● Set the record for fewest press conferences than any president in the age of television.
● Largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of his best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history. Bush’s political party used the Enron private jets and corporate attorneys during the 2000 selection scandal. Has since protected his friends at Enron from prosecution.
● Oversaw the loss of over 3 million jobs and counting.
● Appointed more convicted criminals to an administration than any other president.
● Appointed more unqualified persons to an administration than any other president.
● Became the first president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record— drunk driving 9/4/76.
● Presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
● Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
● Became the most simultaneously protested person in public venues world wide in the history of civilization.
● The first president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
● Withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
● Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war “detainees,” and thereby refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
● The first president in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
● The first U.S. president in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
● Failed to capture Osama Bin Laden when he said he would.
●Let 9/11 happen even after repetitive intelligence warnimgs
Monday, September 04, 2006
In Memory of the Wildlife Warrior
‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin killed by stingray
Internationally recognized environmentalist, 44, was filming documentary
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14663786/
May we always remember him as the conservation warrior that he was. Steve Irwin brought well needed attention to wildlife and conservation issues. Though his life was short, he spent it doing what he loved and shared his love for animals with the world, thus influencing millions of children to acknowledge and appreciate the wonderful world of wildlife.
For more on the loss of Steve Irwin visit: http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/steve/statement.html
Sunday, September 03, 2006
ABC's 9/11 tribute is a Republican agenda
As the 5th anniversary of 9/11 nears, we will all be reminded of the horrors that took place on that day, not that we could ever forget it anyway. CNN has announced that it intends, on the 11th, to rebroadcast all of the coverage of the attacks from 8:30 a.m. until midnight. Other networks have similar plans. What does ABC have in mind? How about a right-wing Republican smear that blames the entire terrorist attack on President Clinton? Yes, that's right. Extremist Republicans are exploiting 9/11 again for political gain, to smear Clinton as they did while he was in office, and to show that Democrats only let things like 9/11 happen, when we know that is far from the truth.
For more on the program see: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083006J.shtml
To contact ABC and complain: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html
The truth is they're hiding from the facts. The facts that George W. Bush ignored more than several key warnings; some warnings are preserved in writing such as the August 2001 memo "Bin Laden determined to strike the U.S.... using airliners." The fact that Republicans cut anti-terrorism funding. The fact that many people from around the world knew the attacks were going to take place that day and the administration did nothing. The fact that the Bush family had strong connections with the Bin Laden family. The fact that Republicans have done business with the Bin Ladens for decades. The fact that the administration has failed to capture Osama for his crimes. Don't let their story-telling and cover-ups distract you from the truth.
We should never forget why and how 9/11 happened: incompetence, ignorance, failed policy, laziness, and opportunistic motive to exploit, all on the part of the Bush administration. And we saw it again with Hurricane Katrina, the response to the Asian Tsunami, the lack of response to Darfur, the U.S. economy, the highest gas & oil prices in U.S. history, the war in Iraq, lack of healthcare, rising poverty, a rising crime-rate, and their attack on the environment. If only things had been different and we had had a real democratic election of our president in 2000.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Broken_Nation
For more on the program see: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083006J.shtml
To contact ABC and complain: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html
The truth is they're hiding from the facts. The facts that George W. Bush ignored more than several key warnings; some warnings are preserved in writing such as the August 2001 memo "Bin Laden determined to strike the U.S.... using airliners." The fact that Republicans cut anti-terrorism funding. The fact that many people from around the world knew the attacks were going to take place that day and the administration did nothing. The fact that the Bush family had strong connections with the Bin Laden family. The fact that Republicans have done business with the Bin Ladens for decades. The fact that the administration has failed to capture Osama for his crimes. Don't let their story-telling and cover-ups distract you from the truth.
We should never forget why and how 9/11 happened: incompetence, ignorance, failed policy, laziness, and opportunistic motive to exploit, all on the part of the Bush administration. And we saw it again with Hurricane Katrina, the response to the Asian Tsunami, the lack of response to Darfur, the U.S. economy, the highest gas & oil prices in U.S. history, the war in Iraq, lack of healthcare, rising poverty, a rising crime-rate, and their attack on the environment. If only things had been different and we had had a real democratic election of our president in 2000.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Broken_Nation
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Notable Resources
http://www.airamericaradio.com/
http://www.algore.org/
http://www.americanprogress.org/
http://www.broken-nation.blogspot.com/
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/
http://www.democraticgovernors.org/
http://www.democrats.com/
http://www.democrats.org/
http://www.disinfo.com/
http://www.costofwar.com/
www.environmentaldefense.org
http://www.freepress.org/
http://www.internationalanswer.org/
http://www.impeachbush.org/
http://www.justicefor911.org/
http://killtown.911review.org/911smokingguns.html
http://www.legitgov.org/
http://www.mediamatters.org/
http://www.moveon.org/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/
http://www.opportunityrocks.org/
http://www.rawstory.com/
http://www.readythinkvote.com/
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/
http://www.tolerance.org/
http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/
http://www.tvnewslies.com/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
http://www.zfacts.org/
http://www.algore.org/
http://www.americanprogress.org/
http://www.broken-nation.blogspot.com/
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/
http://www.democraticgovernors.org/
http://www.democrats.com/
http://www.democrats.org/
http://www.disinfo.com/
http://www.costofwar.com/
www.environmentaldefense.org
http://www.freepress.org/
http://www.internationalanswer.org/
http://www.impeachbush.org/
http://www.justicefor911.org/
http://killtown.911review.org/911smokingguns.html
http://www.legitgov.org/
http://www.mediamatters.org/
http://www.moveon.org/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/
http://www.opportunityrocks.org/
http://www.rawstory.com/
http://www.readythinkvote.com/
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/
http://www.tolerance.org/
http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/
http://www.tvnewslies.com/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
http://www.zfacts.org/
Friday, September 01, 2006
Selection 2004: Are we ready for 2006??
On November 2, 2004 millions of Americans went to the polls to elect a new president; some waited almost six hours to do so. Some voters stepped up to the electronic terminals and registered their choice. Some voters stepped into a booth, pulled a lever, and registered their choice. Some voters filled out provisional ballots or absentee ballots by hand and registered their choice. All these votes were then counted by honest non-partisan citizens or were they?
Now of course, anyone who insinuates that the 2004 election was fixed is doomed to the title of crazy-conspiracy- theorist. The majority of Americans would need the visible proof right before their eyes to support such a “radical” idea, and even then it is still quite hard to swallow. We do know though that these problems are not just fabricated fiction by the Democrats or a wild-eyed freshman journalist because the information is indeed documented on government websites. Perhaps these irregularities are just coincidences— a lot of coincidences! But what if they are not? If these coincidences begin to have a pattern, one that eventually leads back to a candidate, we have what would be a serious infraction of our democracy.
George W. Bush already has a credibility problem with half of America. After all, this president is the one who became president in 2001 after losing the popular vote and stalling the count through the Supreme Court. After all, this president is the one with the 9/10 mentality where 9/11 occurred on his watch even after repetitive warnings from Richard Clarke and others in the CIA. After all, this is the president who went to war with Iraq, claiming there were WMD and links to terrorism when there were none, while many believe the administration forged, distorted and used out of date intelligence to convince Congress. After all, this is the president who has assaulted the environment for the best interest of corporate contributors and who appointed friends to cabinet positions who previously worked for oil, coal, gas, timber, and energy companies. After all, this is the president who said gay unions would be left up to the states and has since pushed for a Constitutional ban. After all, this is the president who took a trillion dollar surplus and dragged us into a canyon of deficit. George W. Bush may just be the least credible president in the history of the United States, so with this and the facts about both the 2000 and 2004 elections, how could one not suspect fraud?
IRREGULARITIES
The first category of irregularities in the 2004 election are the electronic voting scanners, most without any paper receipts or trail, coincidentally designed by Diebold, a company with close ties to the Republicans. These electronic machines have been proven to register inaccurate votes and are prone to being tapped into and hacked. 52 counties in Florida scanned their votes with these machines; 29 of these were predominantly Democratic, yet Bush won. For example, counties with 88% registered Democrats produced landslides for Bush. Furthermore, only counties where the optical scanning was used for precinct totals had results that turned pro-Kerry exit polls into a Bush victory.
The two companies that developed the touch-screen voting machines have deep Republican roots. The two companies are Diebold of Ohio and Election Systems and Software of Nebraska. It’s quite strange that the United States Department of Homeland Security picked up on the Diebold crisis before it occurred, quite possibly on accident. In a cyber security bulletin the week of September 1, 2004, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (a section of Homeland Security) reported that “A vulnerability exists due to an undocumented backdoor account” in the Diebold system.[i] This vulnerability revealed that an authenticated malicious user could modify votes, yet nothing was done to stop it.
While Diebold got the most attention for having rotten ethics and Republican connections, the Omaha-based ES&S is just as bad. The ES&S Company began under the name Data Mark in the 1980’s. After several buy-outs, merges, and name changes, the company eventually became ES&S. In 1992 an investment banker named Chuck Hagel became chairman of ES&S. In 1996, in less than eight months after stepping down as director, Hagel defeated a very popular former Nebraska Governor Benjamin Nelson for a seat on the Senate. National predictions and exit polls all indicated the opposite results, but hey, maybe it was just a coincidence that ES&S produced the machines that tallied over 85% of the votes. Hagel, coincidently still owns more than $1 million worth of stock in McCarthy & Co, which owns a healthy percentage of ES&S interest. Yet the media never even reported these facts.
Diebold made news (not headline news) after reports of fraud during the 2000 election. Remember the over, under, and double votes in Florida during the 2000 election? On election night in Volusia County, a central ballot-counting computer showed a Socialist Party candidate with more than an impossible 9,000 votes. On the same computer, Al Gore showed having -19,000. Notice the -? Yes, that’s a minus. How in the universe does a candidate lose votes?
Throughout the night of the 2000 election, Gore’s votes continued to go down in several key counties. When confronted with this, Diebold simply responded that it was due to a “faulty memory chip.” The company cost a major candidate an election because of a “faulty memory chip,” and admitted it with apathy, yet they’re allowed to produce even more computers for the 2004 election?
Black Box Voting did an investigative study on the Diebold systems and concluded that the 2004 election could have been easily altered by one hacker with a secondary education:
After examining the Diebold software and related internal e-mails, local security professionals were able to demonstrate a hack into a simulated system…The hack that did work was unsophisticated enough that many high school students would be able to achieve it. This hack altered the election by 100,000 votes, leaving no trace at all in the central tabulator program. It did not appear in any audit log. The hack could have been executed in the November 2004 election by just one person…It calls into question the results of as many as 40 million votes in 30 states…By hacking into the central tabulator so easily, we showed that Diebold has not told the truth about the security of its system. Indeed, the software being used in BOTH examples is still extremely vulnerable, with little or no effort made to correct its security flaws.[ii]
Brad Blog reported another exhaustive investigation, which turned up links between “current Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, a customized Windows-based program to suppress Democratic votes on touch screen voting machines, a Florida computer services company and top level officials of the BAD.”
According to a notarized affidavit signed by Clint Curtis, while he was employed by the NASA Kennedy Space Center contractor, Yang Enterprises, Inc., during 2000, Feeney solicited him to write a program to “control the vote.” At the time, Curtis was of the opinion that the program was to be used for preventing fraud in the 2002 election in Palm Beach County, Florida. His mind was changed, however, when the true intentions of Feeney became clear: the computer program was going to be used to suppress the Democratic vote in counties with large Democratic registrations. (47)
Clint Curtis, a technology adviser for Yang, first became aware of Feeney’s interest in election rigging in 1999. According to Curtis, Feeney bragged at a meeting how “he could reduce the minority vote and deliver the election to George.” At the same meeting, Feeney also said he had “implemented a list that would eliminate thousands of voters that would vote for Democratic candidates” and that “a proper placement of police patrols could further reduce the black vote by as much as 25 percent.” (44)
The number of votes in 2004, both electronic and paper, were also, indeed, off. Many more votes than registered voters were found in counties throughout Ohio. For example, 29 precincts in Cuyahoga, Ohio showed 93,000 more votes than registered voters. In Fairview Park, Ohio, where there were only 13,342 registered voters, 18,472 votes were somehow cast. In North Carolina, it is estimated that 4,500 to 12,000 votes were lost per machine. In Ohio, it is believed that at least 130,656 votes were deducted from Kerry and added to the Bush column. It is estimated that Kerry won Ohio by at least more than 142,537 votes, but due to irregularities in record-keeping and lack of paper receipts, we’ll never know how much Kerry really won by.
Another quandary was the odd exit polls, which showed Kerry in a strong lead over Bush in most of the questionable states. All national exit polls indicate Kerry won. The exit polls show that Bush actually lost the national vote by a significant margin to John Kerry. According to a report completed by Steven F. Freeman, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, “The chance of Kerry receiving a greater percentage of the popular vote than Bush in an honest election was 98.7%.” Freeman’s exhaustive research further reveals there was “clear and convincing evidence of election fraud in ten of the ‘battleground’ states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.)
Take the home state of John Edwards, North Carolina, a state riddled with irregularities and suspected fraud. There were 3,498,746 total votes for president according to the office of electors in the state. There were 3,471,720 total votes for the open senate seat that Edwards was leaving. That’s a difference of over 27,026 votes between senate and president; votes that are missing. Furthermore, 3,486,688 voted to elect a new state governor. That’s also a difference of over 12,000 missing votes between president and governor. Who would walk into a voting facility, vote for the president and leave the rest of the ballot blank forfeiting the rest of their potential votes? It doesn’t even make sense. Moreover, the newly elected state governor was a Democrat who easily defeated his Republican opponent with close to 60% of the vote. Yet the ever so popular John Edwards couldn’t deliver his home state? Doubtful.
Now let’s also throw in the 155,815 voter complaints from around the country, the majority in Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Florida. In Ohio, these complaints ranged from voters being turned away to Ralph Nader being on the ballot when he had “officially” been taken off, therefore wasting votes. It’s pretty bad when Nader votes do “not” count. In one odd situation, Democrats and members of the press were locked out and denied observation of the counting of votes in an administration building in Warren County, Ohio. According to Warren County officials, this lockdown came by order of the Department of Homeland Security, which has refused to comment on the incident. We should feel really safe now that George’s department is protecting our votes!
Excerpt from Broken Nation
Now of course, anyone who insinuates that the 2004 election was fixed is doomed to the title of crazy-conspiracy- theorist. The majority of Americans would need the visible proof right before their eyes to support such a “radical” idea, and even then it is still quite hard to swallow. We do know though that these problems are not just fabricated fiction by the Democrats or a wild-eyed freshman journalist because the information is indeed documented on government websites. Perhaps these irregularities are just coincidences— a lot of coincidences! But what if they are not? If these coincidences begin to have a pattern, one that eventually leads back to a candidate, we have what would be a serious infraction of our democracy.
George W. Bush already has a credibility problem with half of America. After all, this president is the one who became president in 2001 after losing the popular vote and stalling the count through the Supreme Court. After all, this president is the one with the 9/10 mentality where 9/11 occurred on his watch even after repetitive warnings from Richard Clarke and others in the CIA. After all, this is the president who went to war with Iraq, claiming there were WMD and links to terrorism when there were none, while many believe the administration forged, distorted and used out of date intelligence to convince Congress. After all, this is the president who has assaulted the environment for the best interest of corporate contributors and who appointed friends to cabinet positions who previously worked for oil, coal, gas, timber, and energy companies. After all, this is the president who said gay unions would be left up to the states and has since pushed for a Constitutional ban. After all, this is the president who took a trillion dollar surplus and dragged us into a canyon of deficit. George W. Bush may just be the least credible president in the history of the United States, so with this and the facts about both the 2000 and 2004 elections, how could one not suspect fraud?
IRREGULARITIES
The first category of irregularities in the 2004 election are the electronic voting scanners, most without any paper receipts or trail, coincidentally designed by Diebold, a company with close ties to the Republicans. These electronic machines have been proven to register inaccurate votes and are prone to being tapped into and hacked. 52 counties in Florida scanned their votes with these machines; 29 of these were predominantly Democratic, yet Bush won. For example, counties with 88% registered Democrats produced landslides for Bush. Furthermore, only counties where the optical scanning was used for precinct totals had results that turned pro-Kerry exit polls into a Bush victory.
The two companies that developed the touch-screen voting machines have deep Republican roots. The two companies are Diebold of Ohio and Election Systems and Software of Nebraska. It’s quite strange that the United States Department of Homeland Security picked up on the Diebold crisis before it occurred, quite possibly on accident. In a cyber security bulletin the week of September 1, 2004, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (a section of Homeland Security) reported that “A vulnerability exists due to an undocumented backdoor account” in the Diebold system.[i] This vulnerability revealed that an authenticated malicious user could modify votes, yet nothing was done to stop it.
While Diebold got the most attention for having rotten ethics and Republican connections, the Omaha-based ES&S is just as bad. The ES&S Company began under the name Data Mark in the 1980’s. After several buy-outs, merges, and name changes, the company eventually became ES&S. In 1992 an investment banker named Chuck Hagel became chairman of ES&S. In 1996, in less than eight months after stepping down as director, Hagel defeated a very popular former Nebraska Governor Benjamin Nelson for a seat on the Senate. National predictions and exit polls all indicated the opposite results, but hey, maybe it was just a coincidence that ES&S produced the machines that tallied over 85% of the votes. Hagel, coincidently still owns more than $1 million worth of stock in McCarthy & Co, which owns a healthy percentage of ES&S interest. Yet the media never even reported these facts.
Diebold made news (not headline news) after reports of fraud during the 2000 election. Remember the over, under, and double votes in Florida during the 2000 election? On election night in Volusia County, a central ballot-counting computer showed a Socialist Party candidate with more than an impossible 9,000 votes. On the same computer, Al Gore showed having -19,000. Notice the -? Yes, that’s a minus. How in the universe does a candidate lose votes?
Throughout the night of the 2000 election, Gore’s votes continued to go down in several key counties. When confronted with this, Diebold simply responded that it was due to a “faulty memory chip.” The company cost a major candidate an election because of a “faulty memory chip,” and admitted it with apathy, yet they’re allowed to produce even more computers for the 2004 election?
Black Box Voting did an investigative study on the Diebold systems and concluded that the 2004 election could have been easily altered by one hacker with a secondary education:
After examining the Diebold software and related internal e-mails, local security professionals were able to demonstrate a hack into a simulated system…The hack that did work was unsophisticated enough that many high school students would be able to achieve it. This hack altered the election by 100,000 votes, leaving no trace at all in the central tabulator program. It did not appear in any audit log. The hack could have been executed in the November 2004 election by just one person…It calls into question the results of as many as 40 million votes in 30 states…By hacking into the central tabulator so easily, we showed that Diebold has not told the truth about the security of its system. Indeed, the software being used in BOTH examples is still extremely vulnerable, with little or no effort made to correct its security flaws.[ii]
Brad Blog reported another exhaustive investigation, which turned up links between “current Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, a customized Windows-based program to suppress Democratic votes on touch screen voting machines, a Florida computer services company and top level officials of the BAD.”
According to a notarized affidavit signed by Clint Curtis, while he was employed by the NASA Kennedy Space Center contractor, Yang Enterprises, Inc., during 2000, Feeney solicited him to write a program to “control the vote.” At the time, Curtis was of the opinion that the program was to be used for preventing fraud in the 2002 election in Palm Beach County, Florida. His mind was changed, however, when the true intentions of Feeney became clear: the computer program was going to be used to suppress the Democratic vote in counties with large Democratic registrations. (47)
Clint Curtis, a technology adviser for Yang, first became aware of Feeney’s interest in election rigging in 1999. According to Curtis, Feeney bragged at a meeting how “he could reduce the minority vote and deliver the election to George.” At the same meeting, Feeney also said he had “implemented a list that would eliminate thousands of voters that would vote for Democratic candidates” and that “a proper placement of police patrols could further reduce the black vote by as much as 25 percent.” (44)
The number of votes in 2004, both electronic and paper, were also, indeed, off. Many more votes than registered voters were found in counties throughout Ohio. For example, 29 precincts in Cuyahoga, Ohio showed 93,000 more votes than registered voters. In Fairview Park, Ohio, where there were only 13,342 registered voters, 18,472 votes were somehow cast. In North Carolina, it is estimated that 4,500 to 12,000 votes were lost per machine. In Ohio, it is believed that at least 130,656 votes were deducted from Kerry and added to the Bush column. It is estimated that Kerry won Ohio by at least more than 142,537 votes, but due to irregularities in record-keeping and lack of paper receipts, we’ll never know how much Kerry really won by.
Another quandary was the odd exit polls, which showed Kerry in a strong lead over Bush in most of the questionable states. All national exit polls indicate Kerry won. The exit polls show that Bush actually lost the national vote by a significant margin to John Kerry. According to a report completed by Steven F. Freeman, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, “The chance of Kerry receiving a greater percentage of the popular vote than Bush in an honest election was 98.7%.” Freeman’s exhaustive research further reveals there was “clear and convincing evidence of election fraud in ten of the ‘battleground’ states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.)
Take the home state of John Edwards, North Carolina, a state riddled with irregularities and suspected fraud. There were 3,498,746 total votes for president according to the office of electors in the state. There were 3,471,720 total votes for the open senate seat that Edwards was leaving. That’s a difference of over 27,026 votes between senate and president; votes that are missing. Furthermore, 3,486,688 voted to elect a new state governor. That’s also a difference of over 12,000 missing votes between president and governor. Who would walk into a voting facility, vote for the president and leave the rest of the ballot blank forfeiting the rest of their potential votes? It doesn’t even make sense. Moreover, the newly elected state governor was a Democrat who easily defeated his Republican opponent with close to 60% of the vote. Yet the ever so popular John Edwards couldn’t deliver his home state? Doubtful.
Now let’s also throw in the 155,815 voter complaints from around the country, the majority in Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Florida. In Ohio, these complaints ranged from voters being turned away to Ralph Nader being on the ballot when he had “officially” been taken off, therefore wasting votes. It’s pretty bad when Nader votes do “not” count. In one odd situation, Democrats and members of the press were locked out and denied observation of the counting of votes in an administration building in Warren County, Ohio. According to Warren County officials, this lockdown came by order of the Department of Homeland Security, which has refused to comment on the incident. We should feel really safe now that George’s department is protecting our votes!
Excerpt from Broken Nation
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