Attacking Iran: What's In It For Bush? January 17, 2007 Attacking Iran What's In It For Bush? By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Initially, the Bush Regime denied that Bush’s escalation speech on January 10 signaled that the Regime intends to attack Iran. Now a number of Regime officials have made it clear that Iran, not Iraq, is the focus of the Regime’s war planning. Robert Gates, the new Defense Secretary and member of the Iraq Study Group, was supposedly brought into the Pentagon to de... (more)
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Critics See 'Slippery Slope' in Reintroduced Federal 'Hate Crimes' Law (CNSNews.com) - As the new Democratic majority continues its 100-hour legislative blitz in the U.S. House, one Democrat has quietly reintroduced controversial legislation that would give the federal government more authority over so-called "hate crimes."
On Jan. 5, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced a bill that would create federal guidelines for the sentencing of violent criminals who were "motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sex... (more)
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Blair Set To Radically Enhance British Police State A series of policy review documents have been published today by the Cabinet Office of the British Government that detail Tony Blair's desire to implement radical "crime tackling" measures that would not look out of place in the most hellish of dictatorship states on the face of the planet.
... (more)
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Was Jesus an evil-doer? Everyone knows George W. Bush loves Jesus. You might even say he's crazy about him. As governor of Texas, he went as far as to proclaim June 10, 2000 to be "Jesus Day," for chrissake. "I urge all Texans to answer the call to serve those in need," Dubya declared. "By volunteering their time, energy or resources to helping others, adults and youngsters follow Christ's message of love and service in thought and deed."
Everyone also knows George W. Bush does not love evil-doers. "Our... (more)
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Democrats complain that 'little known' Patriot Act amendment allows the Bush Administration to 'circumvent' Senate with US Attorney 'swaps' A little-known, year-old amendment to the USA Patriot Act is allowing the Bush Administration to replace outgoing U.S. Attorneys with controversial appointments in a process that circumvents the usual approval process in the Senate, and three Democrats are charging that an unknown number of attorneys have been asked to resign "without cause."
Before last year's amendment was added to the Patriot Act, the Attorney General was allowed to appoint interim State Attorneys, but only fo... (more)
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Time and the More It Changes
Charismatic philosopher and mystic Alan Watts muses on the meaning of time and change, causality and the significance of being driven, and how in reality, the past is a result of the present.
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Presidential absolutism: Bush claims unlimited surveillance powersWhen Congress was out of town for the winter recess, President Bush asserted unilateral powers to open U.S. mail without a warrant. In yet another unfortunate "signing statement," Bush claims he can do searches without obtaining a warrant, as required by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and laws enacted by Congress. This comes on top of earlier claims that he can intercept phone calls and e-mails.
Congress passed a routine bill designed to improve the quality of posta... (more)
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The Strange Case Of Dirt-Peddler De-Luxe And ‘Dubious Julia’Early last December, at the height of anti-Kremlin hysteria, the Observer turns up with the real story on Litvinenko.
Instead of the passionate human rights worker of press release pathos, Litvinenko is suddenly revealed as an eccentric, a man given to wild claims and to strange fantasies of being... (more)
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Bush 'chain gang' attacked in Memphis; Protesters claim police ignored street scuffle MEMPHIS – Memphis police officers observed an attack on anti-Bush protesters but drove away and failed to intervene, two activists who were on the scene told RAW STORY.
"We were down on Beale Street late on Friday night [January 12]," said Barbara Cummings, a peace activist with the Backbone Campaign, self-described as "a grassroots effort to embolden citizens and elected officials to stand up for progressive values." Cummings, a grandmother from Spring Valley, California, ... (more)
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Fox Show "24": Torture on TV With at least one big torture scene in every episode and steadily increasing ratings, TV show "24" is more convincing than the White House at making the case for torture.
"24" is back on Fox TV -- the hit show starring Kiefer Sutherland, which premiered Sunday night, once again features at least one big torture scene in every episode -- the kind of torture the Bush White House says is necessary to protect us from you-know-who.
The show is much more convincing than ... (more)
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Is 24 Propaganda? Is The Pope Catholic?To coincide with the start of a new season of Fox's much vaunted 24 program, MSNBC featured a debate asking whether the lead character, Jack Bauer, was a right-wing propagandist. What the talking heads and others that defend the neutrality of the show consistently fail to omit is the fact that 24 cast and crew members met with U.S. government officials and Neo-Con ideologues to run PR for the war on terror last year. ... (more)
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Interior minister proposes pan-European network of DNA and fingerprint databasesAt an informal meeting of European Union ministers of justice and ministers of the interior in Dresden on Monday the Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble proposed within the context of what is known as the Trio Presidency of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers that the Prüm Treaty be transposed into the legal framework of the EU. The treaty, which was signed by Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain in the town of P... (more)
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Turkey Considers Military Action In Northern IraqAnkara is thinking aloud about a possible military intervention in northern Iraq. As the Kurdish population consolidates its hold on oil-rich Kirkuk, the Turkish government worries about increased sectarian violence among the separatist PKK.
The confidential report on strategic threats to the Turkish nation issued by Turkey's National Intelligence Service (MIT) bore a simple title: "Iraq, Terror, Kirkuk and the PKK." Copies of the explosive document were a... (more)
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Update: Supreme Court Rejects Eminent Domain 'Extortion' CaseThe U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a New York case challenging a use of eminent domain that the landowner called "extortion."
The case was one of more than 100 that the court rejected Tuesday without comment. It would have provided the justices an opportunity to clarify their controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, in which they ruled that local governments can seize personal property for redevelopment plans.
The New York case, D... (more)
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AWB executives receive $1.25m pay-outAWB executives receive $1.25m pay-out
Wheat exporter AWB has awarded termination payments totalling $1.25 million to two former executives facing possible criminal charges over the oil-for-food scandal.
The details are contained in the company's annual report, released today.
AWB's annual report details the salaries and payments made last year to its current and former senior executives.
The Cole inquiry last year identified 11 former ... (more)
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Microchips for mentally ill planned in shake-up Radical measures for tackling crime - ranging from monitoring the behaviour of the mentally ill with radio chips to hormone injections for sex offenders — are to be considered by the Government in a wide-ranging policy review ordered by Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister said yesterday that Labour had to renew its sense of leadership and energy as voters were getting bored with the party after 10 years in power.
He disclosed that he intended ... (more)
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Federal Workers Owe Billions in Unpaid Taxes WASHINGTON - As the 2006 tax season approaches, the federal government is still trying to recover nearly $3 billion from its own employees who failed to file income tax returns for 2005.
More than 450,000 active and retired federal employees did not voluntarily comply with federal income tax requirements for the 2005 tax year, according to documents obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act. (2004 - 2005)
The total balance owed is $2,799,950,... (more)
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Escalation Against Iran: The Pieces Are Being Put in PlaceThe pieces are moving. They’ll be in place by the end of February. The United States will be able to escalate military operations against Iran.
The second carrier strike group leaves the U.S. west coast on January 16. It will be joined by naval mine clearing assets from both the United States and the UK. Patriot missile defense systems have also been ordered to deploy to the Gulf.
Maybe as a guard against North Korea seeing operations focused on Iran as a chan... (more)
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New Year, New LiesWell it's a new year, and you know what that means... time to update the administration's list of stated reasons for it's war in Iraq, why we are there, why we are/must “win,” and why the loss of American lives there is a “price worth paying.”
Whew! Just typing the above sentence exhausted me. I am so tired of three years of struggling with this administration's full frontal assault on our collective intelligence. Tired of trying to untangle their torqued l... (more)
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House Resolution 33: Recognizing and Honoring Freemasons110th CONGRESS, 1st Session
H. RES. 33
Recognizing the thousands of Freemasons in every State in the Nation and honoring them for their many contributions to the Nation throughout its history.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 5, 2007
Mr. GILLMOR submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
___________________
RESOLUTION
Recog... (more)
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U.S. Smart Bombs Pave Way For Somali DictatorshipInternational gangsters, tinpot dictators and genocidal megalomaniacs worldwide should take note - if you want to topple a democratically elected government and subjugate, indenture and abuse a population, just give the White House a call. For the right price, they'll be happy to lend a hand and a few smart bombs. Just make the check out in the name of "The War On Terror."
That's right - the "global struggle against the enemies of freedom" has claimed anot... (more)
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Death Watch in the Persian Gulf and WashingtonWatching the slow-motion march to war against Iran is a bit like watching a terminal cancer patient in a hospice. We know how it's going to end. We know it's going to be tragic and ugly. But we are powerless to stop it.
There is a difference of course.
For the cancer patient, there really is no alternative.
For us, there is an alternative to the catastrophe which President Bush and his regent, Dick Cheney, are preparing for us all.
... (more)
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New Law Could Subject Civilians to Military TrialPrivate contractors and other civilians serving with U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could be subject for the first time to military courts-martial under a new federal provision that legal scholars say is almost certain to spark constitutional challenges.
The provision, which was slipped into a spending bill at the end of the last Congress, is intended to close a long-standing loophole that critics say puts contractors in war zones above the law.
But the provisi... (more)
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Cheney and the Dead Body of OsamaAre you tired of Dick Cheney yet? He says the same thing over and over and the corporate media sucks it up through a straw. He drags out Osama bin Dead some six years now and Yahoo throws it up on the web.
“US Vice-President Dick Cheney accused critics of the administration’s new strategy in Iraq of playing into the hands of Osama bin Laden and global terrorism,” Yahoo News reports. It’s a fitting name for this sort of stuff, Yahoo News. News for the ... (more)
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Some at Guantanamo Mark 5 Years in LimboShackled at the wrists and blinded by special goggles, the first captives from the U.S. war in Afghanistan were ushered to makeshift prison cells thousands of miles from the battle, at the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, five years ago last week.
Gholam Ruhani was among them, the prison's third official inmate, flown in by cargo plane with the first group of 20 men. The 23-year-old Afghan shopkeeper, who spoke a little English, was seized near his hometown of Ghazni wh... (more) Related: The children of Guantanamo Bay: The 'IoS' reveals today that more than 60 of the detainees of the US camp were under 18 at the time of their capture, some as young as 14 |
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Australia: Anti-Terror Program Used to Issue Parking TicketsA new federal anti-terror police force in Australia is citing "terrorism" as the reason for issuing parking and speeding tickets at airports. The Airport Uniform Police (AUP), formed last year as part of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), are currently deployed to improve security at eleven airports.
"That's why we're here -- to provide that high visibility presence, to reassure the traveling public, and to deter and prevent criminal and terrorist-related activity," Superintend... (more)
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Anti-war campaigner comes to TateBrian Haw, who has held an anti-war vigil outside the Houses of Parliament for six years, has been immortalised in art in London's Tate Britain gallery.
Police seized Mr Haw's placards last year, saying he was in breach of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.
Now former Turner Prize nominee Mark Wallinger has recreated the protestor's camp, and his banners, in the Tate.
The gallery falls within a 1km zone around Parliament in which unauthorised... (more)
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Blair rebuts 'Big Brother' claims Tony Blair today rejected claims that the government wanted to create a Big Brother-style "super-database", following criticism from civil liberties groups.
The prime minister insisted government plans to allow Whitehall departments to share information on individuals were "perfectly sensible" but had been the victim of misrepresentation.
Mr Blair spoke out after opposition parties and civil liberties campaigners united to call it a move ... (more)
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