Here's Hoping

In Search of a Criminal: Donald Rumsfeld's Name Tops the List of Accused of War Crimes

No one thinks that Donald Rumsfeld will end his days in a German prison. Or that there is any real chance he will have to face trial in Germany over allegations that he authorized policies leading to the torture of prisoners at U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But that doesn’t mean that a complaint filed in Germany last month won’t have some ripple effects. The complaint asks a federal prosecutor there to begin an investigation, and ultimately a criminal prosecution, of the former secretary of defense and other U.S. officials for their roles in the abuses. “Rumsfeld is no longer untouchable,” says Wolfgang Kaleck, the German lawyer who filed the complaint along with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights. “He is now deeply connected with claims of abuses and torture. We have taken the first step to begin the legal discussion on his accountability.”

The Crazies Are Still at the Wheel

Could Bush Start Another War? - by Scott Horton

It seems the only way he can imagine to take one last shot at greatness is to compound his mistake by 1,000 times.

Perhaps the question is whether Israel will start a war in Syria as a back door to the expansion of America's war to Iran, or will the U.S. simply fake another Gulf of Tonkin provocation in the Indian Ocean and hit Syria second?

Even if Iran did have nuclear weapons, it would still be none of America's business. They do not have the rocket technology to deliver them here, nor would they be likely to share their prize with terrorists. Nuclear bombs all come with a "return address." And let's not forget that back in 2003, they offered to give the U.S. everything.

Israel has at least 400 nuclear bombs, a fully capable conventional military and can protect itself just fine. They don't need the U.S. for their defense, but for aggression against threats that do not really exist.

Even Robert Gates, our new secretary of "defense" admitted to Congress that the only reason Iran would want a nuke is that they are surrounded by powers with nukes.

Robert Parry reports that Bush, Blair and Olmert are already planning for more war in the new year. The Iranians seem to have waited too long to get their act together. If they had withdrawn from the NPT and started harvesting plutonium the way North Korea did, instead of throwing their books wide open to the UN and trying to go along, they'd have a nuclear deterrent by now.

MERRY X-MASS

Scared of Santa

The Right Man For President...

... Who would never be President.



Little Big Man

HE IS THE OLDEST of seven children and was raised in Cleveland in 21 apartments, plus a few cars, by the time he was 17. His father, though a Teamster, barely got by. The children were drilled to flee when the landlord appeared since his parents often could get housing only by lying about the size of the family. Kucinich likes to recall sleeping with his family in a car in Industrial Valley, watching steel mills shoot flames into the night. He attended Catholic schools, and the belief that the world is built on a moral floor underscores all of his political utterances. When he was about 12, his parents left him and his siblings at an orphanage for five months. He is a babble of inner-city tongues: In three days raising money in Los Angeles, he used Hebrew, Croatian, Italian, and Spanish. "You just have to ride bus 84 in Cleveland," he tells me. He may be the only candidate who put himself through college, working two jobs. As Jim Trakas, Republican chairman of the Cleveland area, explains, "He has this sense that George W. Bush is exactly what he is not. Dennis Kucinich has never had an easy day in his life."



In 1977, at age 31, he was elected mayor of Cleveland by 3,000 votes, the youngest person ever to hold such office in a major American city. He ran on a platform of saving the city's struggling municipal power company. The local banks, heavily committed to the competing private utility, offered him a deal: sell the municipal system and they would make his mayoralty easy. Kucinich claims that as he sat in that meeting what he really heard in his head was a childhood memory of his parents counting pennies on a chipped porcelain table in the kitchen. He turned down the deal, the banks cut off the city's credit, and the city went into default. He also convinced a lot of voters he was an arrogant punk. He went on live television to can the police chief he'd hired, survived a recall after only nine months in office by a mere 236 votes, and had to add a bulletproof vest to his wardrobe so he could toss out the first pitch at a Cleveland Indians game. Kucinich became a one-term mayor in a city where Democrats outnumbered Republicans 8 to 1. He left office tagged as "Dennis the Menace" and labeled by one Cleveland Press columnist as a "brutal, vain, yappy, little demagogue." A panel of historians would later declare him to be the seventh worst mayor in American history. For 15 years he was a political nobody, a nobody who repeatedly tried for elected office. In 1982, he made $38, and finally, he had to move out of Ohio to earn a living. Somewhere in the lost years he failed at his second marriage (he has one daughter) and became a vegan.



Eventually, the City Council that helped destroy him admitted he was right in a public ceremony. The municipal power company was never sold and this fact has saved Cleveland residents hundreds of millions in low rates. In 1994, Kucinich rode the change in public opinion to the Ohio state Senate; two years later he made it to the U.S. House of Representatives using a lightbulb as his campaign symbol. Little glimmers of his life seep through cracks in his speeches: his parents counting pennies on the kitchen table -- clink, clink, clink -- his father dying just after retirement with his first Social Security check still uncashed in his pocket. And then there is his handshake, a bone-crushing greeting straight from a rust-belt mill.

So What Else is New?

White House accused of censorship

A former National Security Council official said Monday that the White House tried to silence his criticism of its Middle East policies by ordering the CIA to censor an op-ed column he wrote.

Flynt Leverett, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, or NSC, and a former CIA analyst, said the White House told a CIA censor board to excise parts of a 1,000-word commentary on U.S. policy toward Iran that he had offered to the New York Times.

Oh Please... Oh Please... Oh Please!

Oh god, if you exist, make it that we don't have to choose between these two fuckers.



Oh please... pretty please with a cherry on top?



Poll: Sen. Clinton vulnerable against potential GOP rivals

Democrats have an overwhelmingly favorable view of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she would be soundly beaten if she ran for president against Republican Sen. John McCain now, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

More on Pinochet

The Progressive

When Allende came to power, Henry Kissinger infamously said: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”



So the CIA helped finance the destabilzation efforts that rocked Allende’s rule.



And the U.S. backed Pinochet’s coup.



As soon as he seized power, the U.S. opened its purse strings, with Kissinger running interference for Pinochet in Congress.

Look What I Found!

Papa George shacking hands with the Butcher of Santiago!

Why doesn't this surprise me?

One More

Saved by the Bell

Pinochet's Death Spares Bush Family

Gen. Augusto Pinochet's death on Dec. 10 means the Bush Family can breathe a little bit easier, knowing that criminal proceedings against Chile's notorious dictator can no longer implicate his longtime friend and protector, former President George H.W. Bush.

Although Chilean investigations against other defendants may continue, the cases against Pinochet end with his death of a heart attack at the age of 91. Pinochet's death from natural causes also marks a victory for world leaders, including George H.W. and George W. Bush, who shielded Pinochet from justice over the past three decades.

The Bush Family's role in the Pinochet cover-up began in 1976 when then-CIA Director George H.W. Bush diverted investigators away from Pinochet's guilt in a car bombing in Washington that killed political rival Orlando Letelier and an American, Ronni Moffitt.

Life of a Criminal

Key dates in Pinochet's career - Americas - International Herald Tribune

Key dates in the career of Gen. Augusto Pinochet:

Aug. 23, 1973 — Named commander of the Chilean army by Marxist President Salvador Allende.

Sept. 11, 1973 — Leads bloody military rebellion against Allende, who committed suicide in his presidential palace under air and ground attack.

Dec. 11, 1974 — Pinochet, until then head of a four-man military junta, takes the title of president of the republic.

March 11, 1981 — Pinochet is sworn in as president according to newly written constitution.

May 1983 — Pinochet regime faces first widespread protests, reacts with strong repression.

Sept. 7, 1986 — Survives attempt on life by pro-Communist guerrilla gang. Five bodyguards are killed.

March 11, 1988 — Signs law restoring legal political parties, except Marxists.

Oct. 5, 1988 — Loses referendum that would have extended his rule eight more years.

Dec. 16, 1989 — Loses presidential election to Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat.

March 11, 1990 — Pinochet hands over presidency, remains army commander.

Jan. 20, 1998 — The Communist Party files first criminal suit against Pinochet for human rights violations during his regime. Many more suits would follow.

March 10, 1998 — Pinochet steps down as army commander, enters Senate as senator-for-life, a post created in the constitution written by his regime.

Oct. 16, 1998 — While recovering from back surgery in England, Pinochet is arrested on a warrant issued by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon.

March 2, 2000 — British authorities allow Pinochet to return to Chile because of deteriorated health.

January 2001 — Judge Juan Guzman issues first indictment of Pinochet on human rights charges. But case falters because courts rule poor health rules out a trial.

July 2004 — A U.S. Senate investigation reveals that Pinochet has a fortune in foreign bank accounts, estimated by a Chilean judge at US$28 million. Pinochet is indicted for tax evasion.

Nov. 25, 2006 — On his 91st birthday, Pinochet issues a statement taking "full political responsibility" for the actions of his government.

Dec. 3, 2006 — Hospitalized after suffering acute heart attack, undergoes angioplasty.

Dec. 10, 2006 — Pinochet dies at age 91.

All the Way Down to Hell

Pinochet Dies After Decade Evading Trial

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who terrorized his opponents for 17 years after taking power in a bloody coup, died Sunday, putting an end to a decade of intensifying efforts to bring him to trial for human rights abuses blamed on his regime. He was 91.

Supporters saw Pinochet as a Cold War hero for overthrowing democratically elected President Salvador Allende at a time when the U.S. was working to destabilize his Marxist government and keep Chile from exporting communism in Latin America.

But the world soon reacted in horror as Santiago's main soccer stadium filled with political prisoners to be tortured, shot, disappeared or forced into exile.

Easy Answers

U.S. has most prisoners in world due to tough laws - Yahoo! News

A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail.

According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College in London, more people are behind bars in the United States than in any other country. China ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000.

The U.S. incarceration rate of 737 per 100,000 people in the highest, followed by 611 in Russia and 547 for St. Kitts and Nevis. In contrast, the incarceration rates in many Western industrial nations range around 100 per 100,000 people.

Black is White

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
Bush, June 18, 2002


"War is Peace"
Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984

Just Do It

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III | Impeachment Is Not a Partisan Issue; It's a Democracy Issue

As we look toward January 3, 2007, the day that the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, one of the issues that must be addressed is whether or not the impeachment of President George W. Bush and others in the Bush administration should take place. Regarding the invasion of Iraq and the manner in which information was presented to the American people, did the president and/or members of his administration commit treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors?

Many see this as a partisan issue. Most if not all Republicans are against the idea. Some Democrats support impeachment. All Americans who believe in democracy should support it. Impeachment, in this instance, is not a partisan issue; it's a democracy issue.

Impeach the Bastard

A Closing Call for Impeachment

"President George W. Bush has failed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States; he has failed to ensure that senior members of his administration do the same; and he has betrayed the trust of the American people," Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney explained in remarks prepared to accompany her submission on Friday of articles of impeachment against Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Power of Flatulance

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Monday morning after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of flatulence, authorities said.

The Dallas-bound flight was diverted to Nashville after several passengers reported smelling burning sulfur from the matches, said Lynne Lowrance, spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority. All 99 passengers and five crew members were taken off and screened while the plane was searched and luggage was screened.

Flatulence Forces Plane to Land

Chavez Wins... Again

Venezuelan President Chavez Wins Re-Election

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election, giving him six more years to use the country's oil wealth to help the poor and stir up anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America. Chavez took 61 percent of the vote while opposition candidate Manuel Rosales took 38 percent, based on 78 percent of the votes counted by the National Electoral Council. "I surrender myself to the Venezuelan people," Chavez told backers who crowded around the Presidential Palace in Caracas and roared their approval. Chavez sung the national anthem from the palace balcony as fireworks lit up the sky. "Long live Venezuela. Long live the Socialist Revolution. Long Live Bolivar."

I Knew It

Psychos for Bush

Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.

But before you go thinking all your conservative friends are psychotic, listen to Lohse’s explanation.

“Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,” Lohse says. “If your world is very mixed up, there’s something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’”

See Through

New X-Ray Machine

Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons.

"If we could get Clinton to cooperate, all the right-wing morons would finally get to see the cock they've been slobbering over for years."
by Figaro

Umm...

The Coalition of the Willing has turned into the Coalition of the Leaving!



Britain may start pulling out of Iraq

LONDON - Britain said Monday it expects to withdraw thousands of its 7,000 military personnel from
Iraq by the end of next year, while Poland and Italy announced the impending withdrawal of their remaining troops.
ADVERTISEMENT

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said his country, a U.S. ally in Iraq and
Afghanistan, would pull its remaining 900 soldiers out of Iraq by the end of 2007. And Italian Premier Romano Prodi said the last of Italy's soldiers in Iraq — some 60-70 troops — will return home this week, ending the Italian contingent's presence in the south of the country after more than three years.

Got Your Score?

Millions of American international travelers assigned terrorist risk ratings by government.

WASHINGTON – Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.



The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.

Is This What it is All About?

Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a “New Middle East”

The Map of the “New Middle East”

A relatively unknown map of the Middle East, NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been circulating around strategic, governmental, NATO, policy and military circles since mid-2006. It has been causally allowed to surface in public, maybe in an attempt to build consensus and to slowly prepare the general public for possible, maybe even cataclysmic, changes in the Middle East. This is a map of a redrawn and restructured Middle East identified as the “New Middle East.”

You Think This Will Appear on CNN?

CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive

11/19/06 "AFP"-- -- WASHINGTON - A classified draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter said on Saturday.

Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.

A month before the November 7 legislative elections, Hersh wrote, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a national-security discussion that touched on the impact of Democratic victory in both chambers on Iran policy.

“If the Democrats won on November 7th, the vice president said, that victory would not stop the administration from pursuing a military option with Iran,” Hersh wrote, citing a source familiar with the discussion.

Cheney said the White House would circumvent any legislative restrictions “and thus stop Congress from getting in its way,” he said.

The Democratic victory unleashed a surge of calls for the Bush administration to begin direct talks with Iran.

But the administration’s planning of a military option was made ”far more complicated” in recent months by a highly classified draft assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency “challenging the White House’s assumptions about how close Iran might be to building a nuclear bomb,” he wrote.

“The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program running parallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Hersh wrote, adding the CIA had declined to comment on that story.

A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis and said the White House had been hostile to it, he wrote.

What Else is Left For Them to Do?

Palestinians Are Being Denied The Right of Non-Violent Resistance?

If one thing offers a terrifying glimpse of where the experiment in human despair that is Gaza under Israeli siege is leading, it is the news that a Palestinian woman in her sixties -- a grandmother -- chose last week to strap on a suicide belt and explode herself next to a group of Israeli soldiers invading her refugee camp.

Despite the "Man bites dog" news value of the story, most of the Israeli media played down the incident. Not surprisingly: it is difficult to portray Fatma al-Najar as a crazed fanatic bent only the destruction of Israel.

It is equally difficult not to pause and wonder at the reasons for her suicide mission: according to her family, one of her grandsons was killed by the Israeli army, another is in a wheelchair after his leg had to be amputated, and her house had been demolished.