Osama Who?

It has been 1081 days since George W's famous "dead or alive" speech.

Jose Padilla has been imprisoned without trial, charges, representation or any outside contact since May 08, 2002. That's what, 855 days? Does anybody remember the Constitution?

Two failed wars. Afghanistan is a disaster. Iraq is a catastrophy.

The 978 dead American soldiers are still dead. The war is still perched on a precarious tower of lies.

27 ongoing investigations about the Iraq war. Three active investigations around the office of Douglas Feith.

The corporate controlled media allows Republicans to lie with impunity.

Mass arrests in New York.

John Ashcroft is still Attorney General.

1081 days since George W. Bush swore that we would Get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive" and wenever even hear his name anymore.

Yes it would be hard to find a 6 foot 6inch tall man on dialysis.

Around Here

I am not very good at recounting details and refuse to Read the Daily Interruption because they wouldn't give the Patriot Act any serious scrutiny - afraid to appear even slightly critical of George Bush's policies (consequently the only people who have a clue what those policies are either read Buzzflash or The Missoula Independent).

The very small amount of anything I know covers the tragic, the miraculous, and the strange.

I am so sorry and angry that Staff Sgt. Aaron N. Holleyman, 26, of Glasgow, Mont., died Aug 30 in Khutayiah, Iraq, when his military vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. Holleyman was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky. That he would be the 978th American fatality in this war of lies and rampant profiteering is nothing less than tragic. The man who sent him there to die was at the very least AWOL, quite possibly a deserter who may have committed payroll fraud and ridicules those who serve honorably. I wonder if he will laugh when the form letter is sent out.

Last Thursday evening a three year old boy got lost while camping in the nine mile area with his parents. Despite temperatures in the fourties and previous livestock kills by wolves there, he was found alive and well about two o'clock Sunday afternoon.

A small airplane crashed into a house in Kalispell killing both the men in the airplane and a dog who was home alone.

The only bowling alley in Kalispell burned to the ground the other night. The fire chief apparently pulled his men out in the nick of time. No one was hurt, wise call or divine intervention?

"Conciously Failed To Act"

wha do you bet that most Americans don't know about PNAC and their dreams of "a new Pearl Harbor" so that we could be launched into eternal warfare? I am sure that most people don't even Know that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Michael Leedeen, Jeb Bush, and a lot of other influential crooks signed off on this in September 2000.

So each and every defensive system that we have relied upon for decades inadvertantly and simultaneously broke down on that tragic morning that we experienced our "new Pearl Harbor" live and on our very own televisions. wow.

I am not the only one who has a hard time swallowing the official story here.

Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed” To Act; 66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York’s Attorney General, New Zogby International Poll Reveals

On the eve of a Republican National Convention invoking 9/11 symbols, sound bytes and imagery, half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of New York citizens overall say that some of our leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act," according to the poll conducted by Zogby International. The poll of New York residents was conducted from Tuesday August 24 through Thursday August 26, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/-3.5.

The poll is the first of its kind conducted in America that surveys attitudes regarding US government complicity in the 9/11 tragedy. Despite the acute legal and political implications of this accusation, nearly 30% of registered Republicans and over 38% of those who described themselves as "very conservative" supported the claim.

The charge found very high support among adults under 30 (62.8%), African-Americans (62.5%), Hispanics (60.1%), Asians (59.4%), and "Born Again" Evangelical Christians (47.9%).

Less than two in five (36%) believe that the 9/11 Commission had "answered all the important questions about what actually happened on September 11th," and two in three (66%) New Yorkers (and 56.2% overall) called for another full investigation of the "still unanswered questions" by Congress or Elliot Spitzer, New York's Attorney General. Self-identified "very liberal" New Yorkers supported a new inquiry by a margin of three to one, but so did half (53%) of "very conservative" citizens across the state. The call for a deeper probe was especially strong from Hispanics (75.6%), African-Americans (75.3%) citizens with income from $15-25K (74.3%), women (62%) and Evangelicals (59.9%).

W. David Kubiak, executive director of 911truth.org, the group that commissioned the poll, expressed genuine surprise that New Yorkers' belief in the administration's complicity is as high or higher than that seen overseas. "We're familiar with high levels of 9/11 skepticism abroad where there has been open debate of the evidence for US government complicity. On May 26th the Toronto Star reported a national poll showing that 63% of Canadians are also convinced US leaders had 'prior knowledge' of the attacks yet declined to act. There was no US coverage of this startling poll or the facts supporting the Canadians' conclusions, and there has been virtually no debate on the victim families' scores of still unanswered questions. I think these numbers show that most New Yorkers are now fed up with the silence, and that politicians trying to exploit 9/11 do so at their peril. The 9/11 case is not closed and New York's questions are not going away."

Nicholas Levis of NY911truth.org, an advisor on the poll, agrees, "The 9/11 Commission gave us a plenty of 'recommendations', but far more plentiful were the discrepancies, gaps and omissions in their supposedly 'final' report. How can proposals based on such deficient findings ever make us safe? We think these poll numbers are basically saying, 'Wait just a minute. What about the scores of still outstanding questions? What about the unexplained collapses of WTC 7, our air defenses, official accountability, the chain of command on 9/11, the anthrax, insider trading & FBI field probes? There's so much more to this story that we need to know about.' When such a huge majority of New Yorkers want a new investigation, it will be interesting to see how quickly Attorney General Spitzer and our legislators respond."

SCOPE: The poll covered five areas of related interest: 1) Iraq - do New Yorkers think that our leaders "deliberately misled" us before the war (51.2% do); 2) the 9/11 Commission - did it answer all the "important questions" (only 36% said yes); 3) the inexplicable and largely unreported collapse of the third WTC skyscraper on 9/11 - what was its number (28% of NYC area residents knew); 4) the question on complicity; and 5) how many wanted a new 9/11 probe. All inquiries about questions, responses and demographics should be directed to Zogby International.

SPONSOR: 911truth.org is a coalition of researchers, journalists and victim family members working to expose and resolve the hundreds of critical questions still swirling around 9/11, especially the nearly 400 questions that the Family Steering Committee filed with the 9/11Commission which they fought to create. Initially welcomed by the commissioners as a "road map" for their inquiry, these queries cut to the heart of 9/11 crimes and accountability. Specifically, they raised the central issues of motive, means and cui bono (who profited?). But the Commission ignored the majority of these questions, opting only to explore system failures, miscommunications and incompetence. The victim families' most incisive issues remain unaddressed to this day. The Zogby International poll was also cosponsored by Walden Three (walden3.org) and 9/11 Citizens Watch (911citizenswatch.org), a watchdog group which has monitored the Commission since its inception and will release its findings, "The 9/11 Omission Report," in several weeks.

On September 9th and 11th, 911Truth.org will cosponsor two large successive inquiries in New York, a preliminary 9/11 Citizens Commission hearing and "Confronting the Evidence: 9/11 and the Search for Truth," a research-focused evidentiary forum. These inquiries will examine many of the 9/11 Commission-shunned questions and discuss preparation of a probable cause complaint demanding a grand jury and criminal investigation from the New York Attorney General. Possible charges range from criminal negligence and gross dereliction of duty to foreknowledge, complicity and subsequent obstruction of justice. For details and developments, see www.911truth.org. For press info, contact Kyle Hence 212-243-7787 kylehence@earthlink.net

Zogby International conducted interviews of 808 adults chosen at random in New York State. All calls were made from Zogby International headquarters in Utica, N.Y., from 8/24/04 through 8/26/04. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points. Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, and gender to more accurately reflect the population. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

Paul Wolfowitz

Ted's got new kneepads

They are getting a workout too! Mr Koppel (yes he does have a vested interest in maintaining the media consolidation and his excessive tax cuts) told John Edwards that Bush's statement about not winning the war on terror was a "nuanced position"

BWAHAAHAAHAAHAA HAAHAAHAA HAAHAAWPLUNK

How stoopid does he think we are?

Just in case they forgot their lines he also tried to explain this "nuanced position" to a Republican talking head. I dunno which one it was because I couldn't tear my eyes away from the jazz spots on Ted's face

Isn't he supposed to show some pretense of being the referee not the cheerleader?

Now McCain is talking about remembering September 11. He really is not a very good speaker at all, but he never once referred to the rovian dirty tricks, gross incompetence, crony capitalism or any family member who may or may not be detained in an undisclosed location and was promptly rewarded with a standing ovation.

Why would anybody even consider choosing a CEO who has done nothing but profit from one catastrophic failure after another catastrophic failure,and another catastrophic failure after another catastrophic failure. repeat repeat repeat.

What kind of drugs could they be doing to make me feel like I'm on a bad trip?

[the how "stupid do they think we are?" department was borrowed without asking from corrente]

You are no Lady

I used to wonder about you, why you would tie your life to someone so low. I used to think that it was low self esteem and pent up guilt.

I have begun to realize that it isn't so. You feel that you are entitled to all that you desire and that working for what you want would be an insult. You lied about the newspapers, you lied about the lump in my bed. Now you are an active champion of lies about an honorable man.

You act as if you are a protector of libraries yet you were silent when funding was cut. The American Library Association has been at the forefront of the battle to regain our civil liberties. Librarians across America have sponsored the Freedom To Read Act. Did you lend them your suport? No you didn't.

Instead you have critisized any efforts the rest of us have made to regain our privacy, our dignity and our freedom. You are not a passionate or particurlarly competent woman at all. Snivelling about how unfair life has been to your husband is just so unbecomming. You were born to the elite class that does not even to pretend to comply with the restrictions set upon the rest of us.

Just face it, you are not only phony, you are a lukewarm person. A lady you are not.

Where would you put your faith?

I really wish this bimbo would apply just a fraction of the energy to the job the citizens expect her to do as she uses to subvert the democratic process.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood issued the ruling preventing manual recounts in touchscreen counties in April. She could appeal Kirkland's decision, which would automatically keep the rule in place for now. A spokeswoman for Hood said late Friday that she was considering that option.

There was a whole bunch of stuff reported in the middle of this article that seem like a non denial denial to me, but it ends with this line (emphasis mine):

Nash said Hood already has confidence in the touchscreens, saying they have "delivered hundreds of successful elections since Florida began using them in 2002."

Hmmm I guess that she hasn't gotten around to reading Black Box Voting or any one of the many newspaper articles that document some pretty serious foul ups with the machines. That makes her the 458th Bush appointee with difficulties reading material that is directly related to her job.

On a related note Bush the lesser trusts that God speaks through him. I am in no position to determine if he really does believe it or not, but each and every action that he has taken as president seems to be contradictory to the teachings of Jesus.

I trust verifiable paper reciepts much more than I will ever trust those partisan hacks Glenda Hood and Theresa Le Pore. Likewise I trust the words and actions of Jesus but not those of George W. Bush.

Best title

Cicadas

Good work Josh!

On Friday evening, CBS News reported that the FBI is investigating a suspected mole in the Department of Defense who allegedly passed to Israel, via a pro-Israeli lobbying organization, classified American intelligence about Iran. The focus of the investigation, according to U.S. government officials, is Larry Franklin, a veteran Defense Intelligence Agency Iran analyst now working in the office of the Pentagon's number three civilian official, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

Have you ever noticed that whenever we have Bushes we get a "rogue faction at the Pentagon?"

The administration's reluctance to disclose these details seems clear: the DoD-Ghorbanifar meetings suggest the possibility that a rogue faction at the Pentagon was trying to work outside normal US foreign policy channels to advance a "regime change" agenda not approved by the president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself.

Sounds like an amazing coincidence theory to me.

Bravo for Betty Hall and Free Speech!

What is all this crap about arresting anybody who does not worship George Bush. It is always happening somewhere. The wrong shirt, sticker, sign or even t shirts under your clothing anywhere near a taxpayer funded Bush performance has somehow become a reason to arrest innocent citizens.

George you should pay their legal fees. wait that would be too gentlemanly.

NASHUA — A former state representative was acquitted yesterday in a case that tested the police’s authority to remove protesters during a Presidential visit.

A judge ruled that Nashua police acted unlawfully when they arrested 83-year-old Betty Hall of Brookline for refusing to back away while protesting President Bush’s last trip to the city in March.

Police physically carried her into a squad car after repeatedly pleading with her to leave the designated “safety zone,” where Hall sat on a portable stool and propped up a sign reading “Bush is bad for America.”

Before the President’s motorcade arrived, she was hauled to the Hudson Police Station and charged with disorderly conduct.

Judge Clifford Kinghorn said he could not find Hall guilty because she had not substantially interfered with the police’s traffic and pedestrian management efforts, as the state’s criminal code requires for a conviction.

Hall, who had earlier defined her case as a matter of civil rights, called the judge’s decision an affirmation of her right to speak freely.

“I still live in a free country and a free state,” Hall said after the ruling.

The case comes just days before Bush’s expected return to Nashua. Bush is scheduled to campaign Monday at Nashua High School North, where he will be joined by his wife and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

As usual, police are expecting a healthy gathering of protesters.

Deputy Chief Donald Conley of the Nashua Police Department said his officers will enforce the safety zone just as aggressively this time around and will not hesitate to press charges. The difference, he said, will be in the types of charges they press.

“There won’t be any additional state charges forthcoming,” Conley said, “but there could very well be federal charges as a result of anybody violating the safety zone of the President.”

Conley said the department would work with the U.S. Marshals office or the Secret Service to ensure they have legitimate grounds for arresting disobedient protesters.

Hall hasn’t made up her mind, but it’s likely she’ll be in the thick of it again come Monday, holding a sign for the President to see.

“Chances are excellent that I will,” she said.

The March 25 arrest was a first for Hall, who has a long record of public service in New Hampshire. Hall served 11 terms in the State House and has held several elected positions in Brookline. She is a member of the Hollis-Brookline Cooperative School Board.

Outside the district courthouse, as Hall made her entrance, a pair of supporters displayed signs accusing the police and President Bush of squelching free speech.

Inside, Hall found support from more than two-dozen friends and like-minded activists.

Hall’s attorney, Michael Pignatelli, questioned the officers who arrested Hall about their reasons for asking her to relocate. Hall had already complied twice when officers asked her to move back for her own safety, he said.

But she had her limits, he said, when the officers asked her to get up yet again after she had already settled on the far side of Amherst Street, about 70 feet from Bush’s expected entrance point to the Nashua Community Technical College.

Hall walks with the help of a cane and told the officers it would be hard for her to move again, she testified. In any case, she said, it wasn’t fair.

“I didn’t think it was lawful to make me move,” she told the court. “I was all by myself. I wasn’t threatening anybody.”

Officer Daniel Mederos said he wanted Hall to move back another 75 or 100 feet, to the limit of the safety zone. But Hall said she didn’t see how Bush could notice them from so far away.

“I just feel our country is going down the wrong road, telling people they can’t stand up for what they believe in,” Hall said, prompting her supporters in the pews to applaud.

Two other protesters were arrested during Bush’s visit: Howard Morse, 73, of Amherst; and Valerie Farrell, 54, of Merrimack. Whereas Hall initially conceded to police requests to move the protesters, Morse and Farrell resisted from the start.

Both are scheduled to face trial in Nashua District Court Sept. 30.

Morse, who came to court yesterday to support Hall, said Kinghorn’s ruling yesterday bodes well for his own case.

He’ll be out of town when the President returns Monday, though.

“I think I made my point,” he said.

Class warfare

Why do we cling to the idea that the very wealthy work harder or are smarter than everybody else? There is a local family that must have almost 200 work years combined, they have always worked long days and long weeks and they still do. They are the very best at what they do, and they have never been foolish with their money. Why aren't these people worth more than George Bush who works short days, short weeks, has failed all of his businesses and spends about 20% of his time on vacation?

There are an awful lot of very wealthy people in this area, but almost 25% of the people who live here are at or below 150% of the poverty line. I heard that the feeding programs run out of food because the demand has increased quite a bit with the increase in gas prices and milk prices.

Guess who does most of the feeding? Churches, the poor churches with volunteers who probably don't miss the poverty line by much themselves. The richer churches just don't really contribute to much of anything that I can tell.

I just don't get it.

giving it away for free

Is there another guy who claims to dispute John Kerry's honorable service in Viet Nam? Excuse me, but the whole thing has thoroughly bored me so much that I lost track of it all. I get the whole we can't take twenty minutes to verify this...that is all it took to discredit every other liar that stepped forward to this point thus far, right?

It is shameful enough to air all those outright blatant vindictive lies for money, but why are you giving them our airtime for free? Would it be the same reason the RNC gets more airtime than the Democratic convention did?

What do you intend to give us instead, coverage of all that non violent self expression protesting every single sone of Bush's policies? Maybe you could just ask the short man with the whiny passionless wife how many times he has been arrested.