Sunday, July 31, 2005

Duh!!!!

"The framers of Iraq's constitution appear likely to enshrine Islam as the main basis of law in the country — a stronger role than the United States had hoped for and one some Iraqis fear will mean a more fundamentalist regime."

Islam Likely Main Basis for Iraqi Law

Did anyone think it would be any different? I would bet that the American Taliban in the White House knew this from the get go but simply failed to let us in this well kept secret.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Too Bad...

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Such great adventures pinned down because of technical reasons. I remember when I was a kid, I would dream about being an astronaute...

New Poll

What is important is to know what the people are going to do about it...

Majority in U.S. Feels Misled on Iraq War

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Delusions

Anything this man writes is worth reading...

"George W. Bush and his people spent months telling the American public that Iraq was a direct threat to our security. They invaded based upon false pretenses. They maintain the fiction that the war was necessary when it has become manifestly clear that it was not. They maintain the fiction that freedom has been brought to Iraq when it has become manifestly clear that it has not. Perhaps worst of all, they maintain the fiction that the United States and the world are safer because of the invasion. Recent events in London rip this fantasy to shreds, and never mind the reports from the French news media that the London explosives may have been made from materials stolen from the unsecured Al-Qaqaa facility in Iraq.

A recent article from the Associated Press titled 'Experts Fear Endless Terror War' noted, 'An Associated Press survey of longtime students of international terrorism finds them ever more convinced, in the aftermath of London's bloody Thursday, that the world has entered a long siege in a new kind of war. They believe that al-Qaida is mutating into a global insurgency, a possible prototype for other 21st-century movements, technologically astute, almost leaderless. And the way out is far from clear. In fact, says Michael Scheuer, the ex-CIA analyst, rather than move toward solutions, the United States took a big

The article continues, "Scheuer, who headed the CIA's bin Laden unit for nine years, sees a different way out - through US foreign policy. He said he resigned last November to expose the US leadership's 'willful blindness' to what needs to be done: withdraw the US military from the Mideast, end 'unqualified support' for Israel, sever close ties to Arab oil-state 'tyrannies.'"

Willful blindness is an appropriate phrase. It captures not only the fact that we are manufacturing threats to our security every day we remain in Iraq, but the fact that virtually everything associated with Bush administration policy depends on self-delusion and the manipulation of data to fulfill political desires. Even the most fundamental underpinnings of conservative political philosophy have been ground up in the gears of this grand fantasy.

Truth no longer matters. Ethics no longer matter. Facts are there for the twisting. Decades-old conservative ideals regarding the budget and the size of the Federal government have been thrown under the bus because they are no longer convenient, and get in the way of the manufacture of reality. Soviet self-delusion led that nation into Afghanistan and disaster. The Bush administration’s self-delusion has led us into Iraq. Res ipsa loquitor. "

William Rivers Pitt | Bush's Soviet State

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Turd Blossom... How Appropriate!!

turdblossom2

turdblossom

"A dozen newspapers refused to carry Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip yesterday, because it referred to Bush advisor Karl Rove by the moniker 'Turd Blossom.' It has been widely reported already that 'Turd Blossom' is indeed the president's nickname for Mr. Rove. Some of the newspapers, which included the Rhode Island daily the Providence Journal, called the remarks 'potty humor,' and edited the offending language from the strip before publication."
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

And... Still Counting...

Still Counting...

Ha Ha Ha...

"That's right. Bombs are exploding all over, and the main revision George W. Bush will make in the war on terrorism is to change its name. From now on, the United States is no longer engaged in a 'global war on terror,' and instead, we're fighting a 'global struggle against violent extremism.'"

Salon.com Politics (subscribe to it already!!!)

Chicago Once Again!!



buildings


"A new building proposed for Chicago's lakefront would twist into the sky like an oversized birthday candle, surpassing Sears Tower."

Chicago Tribune news

Monday, July 25, 2005

Perhaps There is Hope?

"Polling by the Associated Press, announced today, found that 24% of Americans 'strongly approve' dropping the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and another 24% 'somewhat approve.' But 23% 'somewhat disapprove' and 24% 'strongly disapprove.' Another 6% are not sure.

Polls in past years have generally shown strong majority support for the use of the bomb, although the 'pro' count has slowly subsided over the years. "

Poll Shows Americans, For First Time, Divided on Use of A-Bombs in 1945

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Take Action!

awaken-senate-logo



"Last year, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence completed the first phase of its investigation into prewar intelligence on Iraq. The report addressed the quality of the intelligence, but not how it was used. Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) said the committee would come back to that question (Phase 2) "after the elections" but now refuses to make good on his promise. Contrary to what some would have us believe, the question of how intelligence was used to support the administration's case for war has yet to be addressed.

Every weekday in July, we will post the name of one Committee member who will be the target of a focused campaign for that one day—phone calls, faxes, emails. Please join us with your own words to call on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to fulfill its commitment and complete its investigation into the use of prewar intelligence."

TAKE ACTION::The Downing Street Memos

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Euros...

It is seldom talked about that just prior to the Iraq Invasion, Saddam had announced his intention to begin using Euro as the base currency for the trade of oil coming out from Iraq. Iran has made a similar announcement...

"It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam’s long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining control over Iraq’s hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintaining the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market. Throughout 2004 statements by former administration insiders revealed that the Bush/Cheney administration entered into office with the intention of toppling Saddam Hussein. Indeed, the neoconservative strategy of installing a pro-U.S. puppet in Baghdad along with multiple U.S. military bases was partly designed to thwart further momentum within OPEC towards a 'petroeuro.' However, subsequent events show this strategy to be fundamentally flawed, with Iran moving forward towards a petroeuro system for international oil trades, while Russia discusses this option. "

The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target

Quotable

"Media criticism does exist in America. But by and large, it is not citizen-based criticism designed to make media a better source of information in a democracy. Instead, it is a cynical manipulation of the discourse designed to silence even the mildest dissent..."
-- Robert McChesney and John Nichols

Quotable

A "conspiracy theorist" is one that is willing to print a story four years before New York Times decides to print it.

-- Greg Palast

The GOP: Protecting The Sanctity of Marriage...

... From themselves?

"Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., admitted in court papers filed Thursday that he had a five-year affair with a Maryland woman, but he denied abusing her, as she claimed in a $5.5 million civil suit. "

Sherwood denies abusing Maryland woman in court papers

This would have been funny if it wasn't so sad...

Put His Ass in Jail

roveshirtfront


"Rogue Rove: A Leaker and a Liar

For two years, top presidential advisor Karl Rove has denied leaking the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, a CIA agent working to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Rove exposed the CIA employee to the press. He ran a smear campaign against the agent's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of Iraq war intelligence. And he told several journalists that 'Wilson's wife is fair game.'

Now it's Rove who's fair game.

Show the world that you'd like to see Bush's Brain behind bars with the Karl Rove LINE UP T-shirt. "

See Karl Rove in Jail

Rove Scandal Continues--Despite Diversions!

rovebastard

Thursday, July 21, 2005

:/

rovecover

At Last!!

"14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun."

Declaration of Revocation by John Cleese

Let Me Get This Straight

"Under pressure from Democratic senators, the board that rates video games assigned the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series an adults-only label yesterday, effectively removing it from the shelves of most major retail stores."

Video Game Known for Violence Lands in Trouble Over Sex

So in another words, it is OK to kill at random, pedestrians, passer byes, men, women and children pretty much at random, but it is not OK to allude to sexual acts. Killing at random does not get you a "Mature" rating, but gyrating your pelvis, even while clothed, gets you a 'Mature" rating...

Now that makes so much sense!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Welcome to China

Under the Patriot Act, the government can:


SEARCH YOUR HOME AND NOT EVEN TELL YOU (Sec. 213)
COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT YOU READ,
WHAT YOU BUY, YOUR HOTEL VISITS AND YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY (Sec
. 215)
SEIZE BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL RECORDS (Sec. 505)
TRACK YOUR EMAIL ACTIVITY AND WEB USAGE (Sec. 216)



Learn more about the (un)Patriot Act.
If you really have nothing better to do, go here.









Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch...

While the Plame scandal is brewing, the Iraq war is boiling, and the Boy King in the White House is dabbling in ignorance, away from the lights of the media, Israel's processing of the peace continues.

"Israel yesterday massed thousands of troops along the border of the Gaza Strip and warned that it would invade unless the Palestinian Authority acted to prevent the firing of missiles at Israeli towns.

Israeli officials said more than 100 missiles had been fired from Gaza at Israeli targets in and outside the Gaza Strip, killing one woman and injuring several others.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, said his security forces should show no restraint in suppressing the fire if the authority failed to do so."

Israel masses troops along Gaza border

Monday, July 18, 2005

The Last Throws... They Say.

"SUICIDE bombings have become the world’s most common form of terrorism since the hijackings of September 11, 2001, and by far the most effective, apart from the potential use of weapons of mass destruction, according to a study released yesterday.

The pace of suicide attacks has accelerated so quickly that three quarters of all suicide bombings in the past 25 years have been carried out since the 2001 attacks on America."

Wave of suicide bombers will go on

Coke is It

cokewater

Indian Photographer Faces Suit over Coke Billboard: "An Indian photographer has been threatened with legal action by beverage giant Coca-Cola Co. for displaying one of his photographs - depicting water shortages against a backdrop of the company's ubiquitous logo - on a giant billboard.

The wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the Atlanta based company has asked well-known photographer Sharad Haksar to remove the billboard and make an unconditional apology or face a legal suit and damages claim of 2 million rupees ($46,000)."

Pussy Footing Around

Henry Waxman hit the nail slam on the head with his observation about the today's statement from the Bushola who is now changing tunes regarding firing anyone involved in the leakage regarding the identity of the CIA agent Plame.

Read it for yourself

But then again, since when law and order mattered to this Administration?

Wanna Feel Good About...

... What we are doing in Iraq?

Here... read this and get your heartwarming war story of the day... Awww...

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Quotable

"Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them."
--Voltaire

Had Enough

A very beautiful editorial piece worth reading.

The Left Coaster: Patriots and the gop

"Well, I've pretty much had it the bushco regime. Really, really, really, had it.

I'm tired of trying to decide who I hate more, which is the greater outrage, what has caused the greatest harm to my country.

Frankly, they're the sum of the parts, the slimy, fetid, pustulent leaking cardboard box of them, the skeletel, blue-white arm of coulter dangling over the edge, the pasty faced doughboys like rover and newtie and denny and spinnin scottie hanging over that edge and vomiting their filth down the sides, the pompous, bleating lies echoing from the box from big time dick, robertson, limbaugh, hume, like the death rattles from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. All cut from the same smallpox infested cloth."

Don't Get Played

Rock the Vote - I Love Social Security!

A Very Cruel Joke

And how come the tribunal has not included charges of conspiracy against others who had a "role" in the alleged massacre, namely, Mr. Bush, Sr., Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Chaney and the very dead Mr. Ronald "I Don't Recall" Reagan.

Iraq's Special Tribunal Announces Hussein Charges: "Former president Saddam Hussein and three co-defendants will be tried, perhaps as soon as early September, for their alleged roles in the 1982 massacre of more than 150 people the town of Dujail, the chief investigative judge of Iraq's Special Tribunal announced Sunday."

[...]

"Compared with the chemical weapons attack that killed an estimated 5,000 ethnic Kurds in the northern town of Halabja in 1988, or the brutal suppression of a revolt by Shiite Muslims in 1991, the Dujail massacre was a relatively minor incident. But its limited scope made it easier to investigate and produced a less complex case than other alleged crimes, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity."

And perhaps this last bit of omission was to further hide the role of the Reagan Administration in the killings perpetrated by Mr. Hussein.

I wonder whether the Iraqis find this cruel joke funny or simply sad.

What Does This Mean?

Israel has taken a policy of "no peace, no peace negotiation." I am trying to figure this out. So long as there is no peace, Israel will not negotiate for peace. But, if there was peace, why would anyone want to negotiate to obtain that which already exist? And why not, by the same token, negotiate to obtain that which does not exist.

Unless of course, you simply want to pay lip service to "peace process" and continue to usurp the result of your aggression as a ruse to obtain/steal more territory.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The Liar That Keeps On Giving

Rumsfeld beleives that Iran was behind some bombings in Israel:

"I wouldn't want to suggest that I know about the attack today, but clearly that's been one of the stated and continuous purposes of Iran, to harm Israel," said Rumsfeld, speaking at a press conference with his Italian counterpart Antonio Martino.

"We know that Iran has been on the terrorist list. We know that Iran has been assisting Hezbollah and other organizations and moving equipment and people down through Damascus into Beirut and down into positions where they can attack Israel for years and years and years and years," he said.

This is the same guy who said this regarding the WMDs in Iraq:

"We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." — ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, 3/30/03

There is an Iranian proverb that goes something like this:
"So long as there are idiots in the world, the smart will not go hungry..."

Monday, July 11, 2005

The Mother Fucker's Forked Tongue

"When CNN asked him about the Plame case last summer, Rove said: "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name."

Maybe that was technically correct, but it's now clear that it was something less than the whole truth. As Newsweek is reporting, Karl Rove may not have referred to Plame by name when he spoke with Time's Matthew Cooper on July 11, 2003. But the email messages Time has turned over to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald show that, in a phone call with Cooper that day, Rove tried to discredit Joseph Wilson's conclusion that Iraq hadn't tried to buy uranium from Niger by claiming that Wilson had been assigned to look into the Iraq-Niger connection not by the vice president or by the director of the CIA but by Wilson's wife. And Wilson's wife, Rove told Cooper, was a CIA analyst working on WMD issues."


From Salon.com.

:)

mind


And you thought flying an airplane was hard.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Very Intriguing

age_11


age_7


Bobby Neel Adams Photograpy

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Hmmm... So Which Is It?

"'For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.' (Jeremiah 3:12)

'Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever.' (Jeremiah 17:4)"

Crazy stuff from the bible

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Map of the Fallen

View Map

Quotable

"...patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
– Julius Caesar"

See Them For What They Are

"If the media had exposed the full scope of the settlers' deeds over the years - the dubious ways in which they took over land, the huge budgets they received, their violent behavior - perhaps they would have been denounced long ago, as should be done by a healthy society. If their full story had been told, perhaps we would not have blindly subscribed to the distinction between 'moderate' and 'extreme' settlers, to their portrayal as modern day pioneers and to the sugary and hypocritical preaching for dialogue with them. Israeli society chose to be led by their cynical manipulations, and we journalists lent a hand to this. 'A leftist mafia?' What a ridiculous contention. Never has there been such an impressive media success here as that of the right. An enterprise that was criminal from the outset was depicted as one of high principles, even by people who favor compromise with the Palestinians. It was portrayed as an enterprise worthy of sympathy and appreciation, mainly comprised of idealists - and even if some stray weeds sprouted there, they were just an exception."

They Broke The Public's Heart

Keeping Up With Inflation

Halliburton's Higher Bill: "The Army has ordered nearly $5 billion in work from Halliburton Co. to provide logistics support to U.S. troops in Iraq over the next year, $1 billion above what the Army paid for similar services the previous year."

You were wondering where the money is going?

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

What is Good For the Goose...

... Evidently is NOT good for the gander.

The AWOL President has not had a change of heart regarding the Military service. His father and him did everything they could to get the Golden Boy out and away from the service he now praises... Hypocrisy is not scarce in this Administration.

"And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces. We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater than themselves. Those who serve today are taking their rightful place among the greatest generations that have worn our Nation's uniform. When the history of this period is written, the liberation of Afghanistan and the liberation of Iraq will be remembered as great turning points in the story of freedom."

Full text of Bush's address

:/

bushdracula

Can You Even Resist?

dognose1


From dognoses.com

Declaration of Impeachment

Veterans For Peace is seeking individual and organizational supporters to work jointly on the effort to impeach the president.

Read more and then sign the petition:
Veterans For Peace

Monday, July 04, 2005

Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague: Available at www.tunes.co.uk, the dance specialists: "Take 13 songs from the UK's 1978-81 post punk / new wave era, from bands including XTC, The Specials, PiL, Dead Kennedys, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke and so on, and re-record them in an authentic bossa nova style, with the abrasive vocals from the all-male originals interpreted by a selection of sweet sounding French chanteuses. It's a concept that ought to stink like catfood but strangely, doesn't. "

:?

courtjester1

Memories...

This is one hilarious site about a motel that evidently is long gone. I would have loved to visit it...

The Gobbler

Just Some Interesting Pictures

monalisa2


angelgun2


Found here.

Things All Men Should Know

I particularly like this one.


See More here.

A Crazy Night-Read Lawless Night

So we are driving back from a party in Crustal Lake and got to the off ramp for I-55 off of I-90 and that is where it all started. People began just pulling over wherever they could in order to see the fireworks... The traffic crawled to a 1 mph speed. The car in front of us contained 3 young adults and they were hanging out (literally--I mean the driver and the passenger's upper torsos were OUT of the car while moving forward) cars where stopped anywhere they could... We made it to the Lake Shore Dr. and noticed again cars everywhere stopped, making turns in front of oncoming vehicles... It reminded me of the nights of riots I experienced back in LA after the Rodney King Verdict.

Lawlessness...

Chicago Tribune news : Local news

Happy Independence Day

In the hope that we soon rid ourselves of the American Taliban infesting the White House...

Bush's Speech:

Salon.com News | Bush makes third July 4 visit to W. Va.: "Even though the television images of death 'are 'difficult for our compassionate nation to watch,'' Bush said, the insurgents are no closer to stopping the move toward democracy."

What TV images? Your Administration has a ban on showing the true horror of war in hopes that people will support you in an ignorance induced stupor... Although that strategy hasn't worked lately.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Another Sad Day in the American History

The American Taliban has its first chance to nominate a "faithful" to the Court... This one will leave a scar.

"'It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms,' the 75-year-old justice wrote Bush in a one-paragraph resignation letter. 'I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure.'

Little more than an hour later, Bush praised O'Connor as 'a discerning and conscientious judge and a public servant of complete integrity.' He said he would recommend a replacement who will 'faithfully interpret' the laws."

O'Connor Retires From Supreme Court