Major Political Changes in the USA

[DudeAsInCool]

The Drudge Report:

REPORTER VOWS TO 'KILL SELF' IF CHENEY RUNS FOR PRESIDENT

Thu Jul 28 2005 15:32:13 ET

Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to 'kill herself' if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president.

The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday.

MORE

"The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told the HILL. "All we need is one more liar."

Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."

MORE

[DudeAsInCool]

Judge Gets in Swipe at Bush Administration

SEATTLE (AP) - The sentence itself was fairly straightforward: An Algerian man received 22 years for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium. It was what the judge said in imposing the term that raised eyebrows.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said the successful prosecution of Ahmed Ressam should serve not only as a warning to terrorists, but as a statement to the Bush administration about its terrorism-fighting tactics.

"We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel," he said Wednesday. "The message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart."

He added that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks have made Americans realize they are vulnerable to terrorism and that some believe "this threat renders our Constitution obsolete ... If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050728/D8BKE0R80.html

[slum_goddess]

Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to 'kill herself' if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president.

Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."

more proof the country's fucked for good: Helen doesn't give a shit about her future anymore.

[DudeAsInCool]

Slate rounds up the best articles on the web on Judge Roberts:

http://www.slate.com/id/2123385/

Robert's Investment Portfolio

http://www.slate.com/id/2123414/

[DudeAsInCool]

Ex-Agent Sues CIA For Blocking Bin Laden Book

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/28/cia.book...tion=cnn_latest

[slum_goddess]

IT'S OK TO FIGHT IN IRAQ BUT YOU'RE FUCKED IF YOU'RE A VET AND WANNA RUN FOR CONGRESS

'American vets from Iraq war not qualified to serve in public office, GOP US House candidate says in Ohio by John in DC - 7/28/2005 06:10:00 PM

This is bad, seriously. Paul Hackett is running as the first Iraq war vet to run for Congress, and now his GOP opponent, Jean Schmidt, just said that being an American vet from the Iraq war is the wrong kind of experience for a member of Congress. I kid you not.

The Swift Boaters started it last year with Kerry, and Bush did the same thing to McCain in 2000. Slur a guy because he's a vet. And now we have a GOP candidate for Congress saying that service in the Iraq war apparently disqualifies you for being a member of Congress.

Any US service members watching? This is what I'm talking about. You think the Republicans are automatically your friends? Ask yourself why the only ones upset about all of you guys getting killed, maimed, sent to war based on a lie, not being given any plan to win the war, not even being given body armor three years after hostilities commenced - why the only people upset about all of that are Democrats? Then listen to this woman.

Any questions?'

[DudeAsInCool]

washingtonpost.com

Senate Approves Partial Renewal of Patriot Act

Measure Would Limit Search and Seizure Powers

The Senate approved legislation last night that would make permanent most provisions of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law while placing new limitations on the government's use of secret search and surveillance powers.

The vote, by unanimous consent in the GOP-controlled Senate, marks a defeat for the Bush administration...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2901962_pf.html

[slum_goddess]

EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT: here's a report on the newly-completed independent security audit of Diebold's electronic voting machines, and here's an excerpt: 'According to the report, Exploits available with this design include, but are not limited to:

1) Paper trail falsification - Ability to modify the election results reports so that they do not match the actual vote data

1.1) Production of false optical scan reports to facilitate checks and balances (matching the optical scan report to the central tabulator report), in order to conceal attacks like redistribution of the votes or Trojan horse scripts such as those designed by Dr. Herbert Thompson.

1.2) An ingenious exploit presents itself, for a single memory card to mimic votes from many precincts at once while transmitting votes to the central tabulator. The paper trail falsification methods in this report will hide evidence of out-of-place information from the optical scan report if that attack is used.

2) Removal of information about pre-loaded votes

2.1) Ability to hide pre-loaded votes

2.2) Ability to hide a pre-arranged integer overflow

3) Ability to program conditional behavior based on time/date, number of votes counted, and many other hidden triggers...'

more reason why we're fucked as long as mainstream media doesn't report on this (not that anyone will actually do anything). has anyone else noticed how things like this and other 'conspiracy theories' are all panning out to be the truth?

[DudeAsInCool]

has anyone else noticed how things like this and other 'conspiracy theories' are all panning out to be the truth?

Me

[DudeAsInCool]

Bush Appoints Bolton As U.N. Ambassador

WASHINGTON -- President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0100259_pf.html

[DudeAsInCool]

Two Prosecutors Faulted Trials for Detainees

WASHINGTON, July 31 - As the Pentagon was making its final preparations to begin war crimes trials against four detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, two senior prosecutors complained in confidential messages last year that the trial system had been secretly arranged to improve the chance of conviction and to deprive defendants of material that could prove their innocence.

The electronic messages, obtained by The New York Times, reveal a bitter dispute within the military legal community over the fairness of the system at a time when the Bush administration and the Pentagon were eager to have the military commissions, the first for the United States since the aftermath of World War II, be seen as just at home and abroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/politics...serland&emc=rss

[DudeAsInCool]

Exclusive: Secret Memo—Send to Be Tortured

Newsweek

Aug. 8, 2005 issue - An FBI agent warned superiors in a memo three years ago that U.S. officials who discussed plans to ship terror suspects to foreign nations that practice torture could be prosecuted for conspiring to violate U.S. law, according to a copy of the memo obtained by NEWSWEEK. The strongly worded memo, written by an FBI supervisor then assigned to Guantanamo, is the latest in a series of documents that have recently surfaced reflecting unease among some government lawyers and FBI agents over tactics being used in the war on terror. This memo appears to be the first that directly questions the legal premises of the Bush administration policy of "extraordinary rendition"—a secret program under which terror suspects are transferred to foreign countries that have been widely criticized for practicing torture.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8769416/site/newsweek/

I always wondered how they got a way with this crap - it's not legal and someone should

step up to the plate and do something about it

[slum_goddess]

312 school districts around the country are now teaching that 'the Bible was the foundation and blueprint for our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, our educational system, and our entire history until the last 20 to 30 years.' They also teach that NASA has proved that the earth stopped -- twice -- orbiting the sun, that 'the sun stood still' just like it says in Joshua and II Kings. from here?

[slum_goddess]

The US is still recognised as a leading place to do business, the home of desirable brands and popular culture,' said Simon Anholt, author of the survey. 'But its governance, its cultural heritage and its people are no longer widely respected or admired by the world.'...

...'Although the US received high marks for its popular culture, it ranked last in cultural heritage, a measure of a country's 'wisdom, intelligence, and integrity,' according to Mr Anholt.

'That the world takes a dim view of the US people will surprise most Americans themselves: the study's American respondents consistently placed the US at the top of all six categories polled...' from world turning its back on brand america

[Malicious Intent]

American respondents consistently placed the US at the top of all six categories polled...

I wonder where the world gets the arrogance perception from?

[ASUmusicMAN]

Holy shit...i'm SOOOO pissed.

I was willing to take a little bit, and give a liitle bit. Give Bush a chance, and i've been hanging in there with him through all his bullshit of this second term.

But this

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/new.../printstory.jsp

holy christ...we're soo fucked if we have this many retards believing in this complete and utter nonsense. To quote on of my favorite biology professor's blogs:

"Here I am, a biologist living in the 21st century in one of the richest countries in the world, and one of the two biology teachers in my kids’ high school is a creationist. Last year, the education commissioner in my state tried to subvert the recommendations for the state science standards by packing a hand-picked ‘minority report’ committee to push for required instruction in intelligent design creationism in our schools. All across the country, we have these lunatics trying to stuff pseudoscientific religious garbage into our schools and museums and zoos.

This is insane.

Please don’t try to tell me that you object to the tone of our complaints. Our only problem is that we aren’t martial enough, or vigorous enough, or loud enough, or angry enough. The only appropriate responses should involve some form of righteous fury, much butt-kicking, and the public firing and humiliation of some teachers, many schoolboard members, and vast numbers of sleazy far-right politicians."

aaaaahhhh...too goddamn pissed to think.

[DudeAsInCool]

Yep - a lot of religious nuts in his administration - he and ashcroft (thank god he's gone) kind of stand out in that regard

[ASUmusicMAN]

Makes me feel better

[DudeAsInCool]

washingtonpost.com

Vacationing Bush Poised to Set a Record

With Long Sojourn at Ranch, President on His Way to Surpassing Reagan's Total

WACO, Tex., Aug. 2 -- President Bush is getting the kind of break most Americans can only dream of -- nearly five weeks away from the office, loaded with vacation time.

The president departed Tuesday for his longest stretch yet away from the White House, arriving at his Crawford ranch in the evening for a stretch of clearing brush, visiting with family and friends, and tending to some outside-the-Beltway politics. By historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0201703_pf.html

Between exercising and taking vacations, I wonder how much time this

jerk really puts in as President?????@@@@&&*$**$

[slum_goddess]

I wonder where the world gets the arrogance perception from?

what the fuck are you talking about dude? we're number ONE...FOREVER! GO! GO! USA!

I was willing to take a little bit, and give a liitle bit.  Give Bush a chance, and i've been hanging in there with him through all his bullshit of this second term.

i was wondering what it would take to get you to realise that giving the preznit a chance et al. would get people nowhere cause he never gives back, like a greedy bully.

Between exercising and taking vacations, I wonder how much time this

jerk really puts in as President?????@@@@&&*$**$

don't forget to count all that time at the beginning of this year when he toured the states w/the fucked social security bullshit while nobody was doing the prezniting in DC (i'm just sayin')

[DudeAsInCool]

Judge Says Bush's Easing of Forest Plan Is Illegal

A federal judge has concluded that the Bush administration broke environmental laws last year when it cleared the way for more commercial logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

...Ruling Monday in a case filed by environmental groups, District Judge Marsha J. Pechman in Seattle said the agencies had violated the law by not fully analyzing the environmental effects of eliminating the surveys. The government had argued that another conservation measure would protect many of the species covered by the survey requirement, but Pechman noted that there was no guarantee those species would be included in the other program.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...eadlines-nation

[DudeAsInCool]

Americans anxious about U.S. foreign policy - poll

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are anxious about the direction of U.S. foreign policy and how the country is perceived overseas and a majority believe the government has been too quick to go to war, a survey released on Tuesday said.

"Contrary to conventional wisdom that the American public doesn't know and doesn't care how it is seen abroad, strong majorities" believe the U.S. image overseas is suffering and "large majorities are worried about it," the survey concluded.

Some 63 percent of Americans say the charge that the United States has been too quick to go to war is justified and three-quarters worry about losing trust abroad and about the growing hatred of the United States in Muslim countries, it said.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle....USA-POLL-DC.XML

[DudeAsInCool]

washingtonpost.com

Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs

Interrogated General's Sleeping-Bag Death, CIA's Use of Secret Iraqi Squad Are Among Details

By Josh White

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 3, 2005; A01

Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.

It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs, lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified documents

...The circumstances that led up to Mowhoush's death paint a vivid example of how the pressure to produce intelligence for anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq led U.S. military interrogators to improvise and develop abusive measures, not just at Abu Ghraib but in detention centers elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mowhoush's ordeal in Qaim, over 16 days in November 2003, also reflects U.S. government secrecy surrounding some abuse cases and gives a glimpse into a covert CIA unit that was set up to foment rebellion before the war and took part in some interrogations during the insurgency.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0201941_pf.html

:reallymad:

[slum_goddess]

dig this shit: '...Consider the fact that the Republicans create a "voting irregularity" front group to counter the charges that they are fixing elections. Fine. I would expect no less. This is what they do.

'But, by God, I never thought they'd be dumb enough to use nationally known Republican operatives to do it. Jim Dyke was the communications director for the RNC during the 2004 campaign, ferchistsake. He was all over television. And now six months later he's working with a 501c "non-partisan" group that released a report claiming "Democrat operatives" are stealing elections. Please. Any good GOP sleaze artist knows that you create at least a couple of degrees of separation between the party and the ratfucking. Roger Stone must be shaking his head in disgust. I suppose it's what happens when you lose the hunger for power.' the above link's really interesting IMO, this post is from digby

[DudeAsInCool]

6 Out of Ten Thinks Bush Has Country On Wrong Track

AP Poll: Approval of Bush's handling of Iraq reaches low point

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq is at its lowest level yet, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that also found fewer than half now think he's honest.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...ll_x.htm?csp=34