News -- April 22, 2006

Iran still years away from having nukes: US intelligence chief - ""By the same token, our assessment at the moment is that even though we believe that Iran is determined to acquire or obtain a nuclear weapon, that we believe that it is still a number of years off before they are likely to have enough fissile material to assemble into, or to put into a nuclear weapon; perhaps into the next decade," he said. "So I think it's important that this issue be kept in perspective," he said."

Here it comes - "Since our "federal reserve notes" have no value unless all countries are forced to buy them at economic gunpoint, Iran is the leak in the dike. If the USA doesn't stick its finger in it, it will definitely grow. Once other nations see Iran getting away with selling her oil for real money, they will stop buying U.S. dollars and the USA will be flooded with inflation because of her idiocy in having federal reserve notes backed by nothing."

GEORGE WACKO BUSH - "Prof Justin Frank said the president is a danger to the world because he actually believes he is all-powerful and beyond the law."

If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President - "Bush is following the classic mistaken pattern of active/negative presidents: As Barber explained, they issue order after order, without public support, until they eventually dissipate the real powers they have -- until "nothing [is] left but the shell of the office." Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon all followed this pattern. Active/negative presidents are risk-takers. (Consider the colossal risk Bush took with the Iraq invasion). And once they have taken a position, they lock on to failed courses of action and insist on rigidly holding steady, even when new facts indicate that flexibility is required. The source of their rigidity is that they've become emotionally attached to their own positions; to change them, in their minds, would be to change their personal identity, their very essence. That, they are not willing to do at any cost. Wilson rode his unpopular League of Nations proposal to his ruin; Hoover refused to let the federal government intervene to prevent or lessen a fiscal depression; Johnson escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam while misleading Americans (thereby making himself unelectable); and Nixon went down with his bogus defense of Watergate. George Bush has misled America into a preemptive war in Iraq; he is using terrorism to claim that as Commander-in-Chief, he is above the law; and he refuses to acknowledge that American law prohibits torturing our enemies and warrantlessly wiretapping Americans. Americans, increasingly, are not buying his justifications for any of these positions. Yet Bush has made no effort to persuade them that his actions are sound, prudent or productive; rather, he takes offense when anyone questions his unilateral powers. He responds as if personally insulted."

Rumsfeld Zeros in on the Internet - "Before Bush took office, “political rantings and musings about current events” were protected under the 1st amendment. No more. The War Department is planning to insert itself into every area of the Internet from blogs to chat rooms, from leftist web sites to editorial commentary. Their rapid response team will be on hair-trigger alert to dispute any tidbit of information that challenges the official storyline. We can expect to encounter, as the BBC notes, “psychological operations (that) try to manipulate the thoughts and the beliefs of the enemy (as well as) computer network specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.”The enemy, of course, is anyone who refuses to accept their servile role in the new world order or who disrupts the smooth-operation of the Bush police-state.The resolve to foreclose on free speech has never been greater."

Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info - "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday."

CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Information - "In a rare move, the CIA has fired an employee for leaking classified information to the press. ... ABC News has learned that the fired officer admitted to the leaking after he failed a polygraph test. The leak included information on the CIA's secret prisions, but that was not the only story this official was accused of leaking."

A Spy Speaks Out - "A CIA official who had a top role during the run-up to the Iraqi war charges the White House with ignoring intelligence that said there were no weapons of mass destruction or an active nuclear program in Iraq. ... They didn't want any additional data from Sabri because, says Drumheller: "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy.""

Homeland Security grants spent on clowns and gyms - "Fire departments are using Homeland Security grants to buy gym equipment, sponsor puppet and clown shows, and turn first responders into fitness trainers. The spending choices are allowable under the guidelines of the Assistance to Firefighters grant administered by the Homeland Security Department, which has awarded nearly 250 grants since February totaling more than $25 million out of the current spending pot of $545 million."

Texans Going To Pawn Shops To Get Extra Gas $$ - "Pawn shops say their business is increasing, with some customers saying they're selling things to buy gas." -- It's $3.09 here. It went up 15 cents yesterday alone.

Damning Evidence of ‘Big Oil’ Conspiracy To Limit Supply - "“As observed over the last few years and as projected well into the future, the most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus refining capacity, and the surplus gasoline production capacity. The same situation exists for the entire U.S. refining industry. Supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins, and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline.” --Internal Texaco document, March 7, 1996"

Senior Democrat Exits House Ethics Panel - "The top Democrat on the House ethics committee, Alan Mollohan, will leave the panel _ at least temporarily _ while he defends his own financial conduct, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday. Mollohan's decision comes in an election year when his party is accusing majority Republicans of allowing a "culture of corruption" in Congress."

Australia is Debt Free - "THE Federal Government will today finally manage to do what most Australians struggle to achieve – pay off the dreaded credit card."

Neil Young's protest album to get Web premiere - "Neil Young's newly recorded protest album "Living With War," including a song calling for the impeachment of President Bush, will be posted for free Internet streaming next week, his label said on Friday."

The "smoking iPod": Definitive proof that George W. Bush is a lawbreaker - "OK, forget the fact that he called the author of one of the great pop hits of all-time "Dan McLean" instead of "Don McLean" or that he admits listening to Betty, Veronica and Jughead. If stupidity were an impeachable offense, the late Chief Justice Rehnquist would have been sending his "Pirates of Penzance" outfit bck to the dry cleaner four-and-a-half years ago. No, the key part is where he admits, not once but twice, that he downloads the Beatles."

Japanese researchers find new giant picture on Peru's Nazca Plateau - "The image is 65 meters long, and appears to be an animal with horns. It is thought to have been drawn as a symbol of hopes for good crops, but there are no similar patterns elsewhere, and the type of the animal remains unclear. The discovery marks the first time since the 1980s that a picture other than a geometrical pattern has been found on the Nazca Plateau." -- Check out the picture.

American Ethnic Geography -- Lots of interesting information at this site. Thanks to Secular Front for posting the link.




Quote of the Day
"It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity and incumbency."
~ George W. Bush, June 14, 2001, speaking to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Perrson, unaware that a live television camera was still rolling