Sunday, December 23, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Dysfunctional Congress Solution
Ever wonder why the business of Congress hasn't been taken care of since the Democrats have taken the majority? I sure have! I've also suspected that there was some stinky business going on in DC in order to keep the few good reps in Congress down too (blackmail perhaps?). It is just amazing to me that even with the hearings that have taken place, that Congress continues to allow the administration to cut them off and get away with illegal and immoral activities!
Well, one thing is for certain, the leadership is totally inept! I can't understand why the few representatives that were in favor of and openly advocating for impeachment hearings have stopped since the Democrats have taken the majority - unless it's due to the leadership somehow clamping down on them.
I might add that Reid & Peloser have recently decided that they will not even try to remove our troops from Iraq by way of legislation either, and have instead opted to support yet ANOTHER unconditional blank check for Bush's war-profiteering machine!
Below is a petition to remove some of the blockage of justice, please sign it.
Online Petition to Remove Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives
CLICK HERE For The Petition
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please watch this video of my latest poli-crush ♥ Congressman Wexler - and sign his petition to hold impeachment hearings too. He is determined to do his congressional duty of oversight of the administrative branch, and we need to support his motion! Allow the hearings to determine the truth, and make way for justice to be served as was intended to be in America.
Sign Congressman Wexler's petition.
Well, one thing is for certain, the leadership is totally inept! I can't understand why the few representatives that were in favor of and openly advocating for impeachment hearings have stopped since the Democrats have taken the majority - unless it's due to the leadership somehow clamping down on them.
I might add that Reid & Peloser have recently decided that they will not even try to remove our troops from Iraq by way of legislation either, and have instead opted to support yet ANOTHER unconditional blank check for Bush's war-profiteering machine!
Below is a petition to remove some of the blockage of justice, please sign it.
Online Petition to Remove Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives
CLICK HERE For The Petition
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please watch this video of my latest poli-crush ♥ Congressman Wexler - and sign his petition to hold impeachment hearings too. He is determined to do his congressional duty of oversight of the administrative branch, and we need to support his motion! Allow the hearings to determine the truth, and make way for justice to be served as was intended to be in America.
Sign Congressman Wexler's petition.
Criminal Activity Continues to go Unchecked
I have been hearing this is true for about two years now, but I find it just amazing that the story keeps making it out into the public and yet nothing ever gets done about it. When you hear that Bush wants blanket immunity for telecommunications companies' involvement/compliance in the wiretapping program, it's exactly about this very aspect: wiretapping BEFORE 9/11 or the so-called need to do so for "security reasons." There was no reason to break the law and invade Americans' privacy without probable cause, and there never will be!
AT&T engineer says Bush Administration sought to implement domestic spying within two weeks of taking office
John Byrne
Published: Sunday December 16, 2007
Nearly 1,300 words into Sunday's New York Times article revealing new details of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, the lawyer for an AT&T engineer alleges that "within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”
In a New Jersey federal court case, the engineer claims that AT&T sought to create a phone center that would give the NSA access to "all the global phone and e-mail traffic that ran through" a New Jersey network hub.
The former AT&T employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Times said he took part in several discussions with agency officials about the plan.
"The officials, he said, discussed ways to duplicate the Bedminster system in Maryland so the agency “could listen in” with unfettered access to communications that it believed had intelligence value and store them for later review," Times reporters Eric Lichtblau, James Risen and Scott Shane wrote. "There was no discussion of limiting the monitoring to international communications, he said."
“At some point,” he told the paper, “I started feeling something isn’t right.”
"Two other AT&T employees who worked on the proposal discounted his claims, saying in interviews that the project had simply sought to improve the N.S.A.’s internal communications systems and was never designed to allow the agency access to outside communications."
AT&T's spokesman said they didn't comment on national security matters, as did a spokesman for Qwest, which was also approached but apparently rebuffed the plan. The lawyer for the engineer and others in the New Jersey case says AT&T's internal documents would vindicate his clients.
“What he saw,” Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told the Times, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I must add that Qwest was severely sought after by government officials, due to what I believe was revenge for non-compliance to the illegal request to wiretap millions of innocent Americans! The owner of Qwest currently sits in prison for some sort of business fraud charges, that were surely trumped up in order to set an example to other companies that might consider not complying. Tyranny at it's worst.
Are we also going to let the administration bully Congress and the people into giving them a free pass for their illegal activities? Perhaps the legality point could be considered arguable after 9/11, but Congress has absolutely NO EXCUSE for not going after the administration for their egregious actions prior to the attack! This sole act sits near the very top of the long list of impeachable offenses, and I say that's exactly why Congress has proven grossly negligent in their duties of oversight in this case.
Since this article was in today's New York times, this presents the perfect opportunity to remind our congressional members that we will not condone their giving a free pass to the companies that chose to violate our rights! Send them a link to this article, and let them know you have not forgotten about it, nor do you think it is appropriate for them to continue to ignore this serious violation that is clearly known to exist.
Contact Congress
UPDATE: Chris Dodd is filibustering the retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies RIGHT NOW! Support Dodd's filibuster!!! Contact your member of Congress to implore them to support the filibuster.
AT&T engineer says Bush Administration sought to implement domestic spying within two weeks of taking office
John Byrne
Published: Sunday December 16, 2007
Nearly 1,300 words into Sunday's New York Times article revealing new details of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, the lawyer for an AT&T engineer alleges that "within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”
In a New Jersey federal court case, the engineer claims that AT&T sought to create a phone center that would give the NSA access to "all the global phone and e-mail traffic that ran through" a New Jersey network hub.
The former AT&T employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Times said he took part in several discussions with agency officials about the plan.
"The officials, he said, discussed ways to duplicate the Bedminster system in Maryland so the agency “could listen in” with unfettered access to communications that it believed had intelligence value and store them for later review," Times reporters Eric Lichtblau, James Risen and Scott Shane wrote. "There was no discussion of limiting the monitoring to international communications, he said."
“At some point,” he told the paper, “I started feeling something isn’t right.”
"Two other AT&T employees who worked on the proposal discounted his claims, saying in interviews that the project had simply sought to improve the N.S.A.’s internal communications systems and was never designed to allow the agency access to outside communications."
AT&T's spokesman said they didn't comment on national security matters, as did a spokesman for Qwest, which was also approached but apparently rebuffed the plan. The lawyer for the engineer and others in the New Jersey case says AT&T's internal documents would vindicate his clients.
“What he saw,” Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told the Times, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I must add that Qwest was severely sought after by government officials, due to what I believe was revenge for non-compliance to the illegal request to wiretap millions of innocent Americans! The owner of Qwest currently sits in prison for some sort of business fraud charges, that were surely trumped up in order to set an example to other companies that might consider not complying. Tyranny at it's worst.
Are we also going to let the administration bully Congress and the people into giving them a free pass for their illegal activities? Perhaps the legality point could be considered arguable after 9/11, but Congress has absolutely NO EXCUSE for not going after the administration for their egregious actions prior to the attack! This sole act sits near the very top of the long list of impeachable offenses, and I say that's exactly why Congress has proven grossly negligent in their duties of oversight in this case.
Since this article was in today's New York times, this presents the perfect opportunity to remind our congressional members that we will not condone their giving a free pass to the companies that chose to violate our rights! Send them a link to this article, and let them know you have not forgotten about it, nor do you think it is appropriate for them to continue to ignore this serious violation that is clearly known to exist.
Contact Congress
UPDATE: Chris Dodd is filibustering the retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies RIGHT NOW! Support Dodd's filibuster!!! Contact your member of Congress to implore them to support the filibuster.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Busted? Claim Amnesia!
It seems to me that every time a member of BushCo is about to be busted, they suddenly have a bout of amnesia. Such was the case with the recent discovery of the destroyed torture tapes. Not that much different from the Bush claiming he didn't have the info provided in the NIE report that was being held back for the last year. Why bother blocking the release if you don't know what's in it? And again I ask you, if the president doesn't have access or isn't briefed on Intel reports, then who does and why even have them? This whole thing just defies common sense people!
In light of the recent discovery of the CIA agents that were willing to go to jail if that was what it took to get that NIE released, perhaps we should be thinking about just how close the US was to another unwarranted preemptive attack on a sovereign nation! I can't think of another reason for those agents to go to such extremes, can you?
Below is Olbermann's commentary on this whole Bush fiasco on Iran, and his insistence that Iran is still a threat in spite of the reports. Mind you, it wasn't so long ago that the IAEA report was released, and that report's conclusion wasn't much different from the NIE. What I find most interesting in this clip is the spotlight on the Washington Post article that showed a slight shift in Bush's language, which clearly indicates he had some knowledge of the information in the NIE long before he claims he did. But then, he's so forgetful that we should just chalk it up to that and move along, right? WRONG!
In light of the recent discovery of the CIA agents that were willing to go to jail if that was what it took to get that NIE released, perhaps we should be thinking about just how close the US was to another unwarranted preemptive attack on a sovereign nation! I can't think of another reason for those agents to go to such extremes, can you?
Below is Olbermann's commentary on this whole Bush fiasco on Iran, and his insistence that Iran is still a threat in spite of the reports. Mind you, it wasn't so long ago that the IAEA report was released, and that report's conclusion wasn't much different from the NIE. What I find most interesting in this clip is the spotlight on the Washington Post article that showed a slight shift in Bush's language, which clearly indicates he had some knowledge of the information in the NIE long before he claims he did. But then, he's so forgetful that we should just chalk it up to that and move along, right? WRONG!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Bush Stands Alone on Iran
Just a couple weeks ago the IAEA report on Iran was released, and it essentially gave Iran a clean bill...but you wouldn't know it by the way it was reported in the US! The tides turned just a little today in media land, when our own National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)on Iran was released though.
As was well explained in the video below, the US' latest NIE on Iran's nuclear program was released today...ONE YEAR after it was completed!
In this video you will also hear about something that is getting little to no attention whatsoever, but I personally find it VERY disturbing: Wolfowitz may be BACK, as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). The ISAB is the board that advises the president on international proliferation matters, and that would certainly include Iran. Who better to decide whether Iran has weapons than the man that falsely accused Iraq, right? Could the rotten pattern be any more apparent people?!?!? I mean REALLY!!!
When Bush finally came to the press room today (video here), he still asserts that Iran is a threat. I must commend some of the reporters in this clip that kept at Bush too, asking about his credibility in regards to accusing Iran of having WMD. I sincerely hope this means that the media will not allow Bush get away with using the media as his war-tool again! However, Bush answered that line of questioning with praise for the improvements in the Intelligence community - almost taking credit for it too. Since most of the world now knows that the attack on Iraq was based on some very selective cherry picking of Intel info, and NOT due to bad Intel itself, then I would think this praise wasn't taken so kindly by the Intelligence community.
Another interesting point that is being asked about is what Hadley had initially said for Bush (and he reiterated in the press conference); that Bush was not briefed on the NIE until last week. As seen in the video above, Bush had said that Iran had weapons capabilities as recently as six weeks ago, and even used the words "World War Three." What I find fascinating is that if the president of the US doesn't have the benefit of being briefed on Intel reports when completed, then WHO DOES? Why did the Intel community purportedly wait an entire year to brief the president on their findings? Bush also said when asked about it, that he was not ever advised to "tone it down" in light of their findings either. These two things I find incredibly difficult to believe! In fact, it is most unlikely to be the case. I suspect that it was the administration that denied the Intelligence community their release of the report, and that we should be thankful to them for releasing it no matter how late. Perhaps the Intel community felt it was necessary in order to prevent another unnecessary war? THAT seems far more likely to be the case to me!!!
Another frightening thing about the White House press conference today was that Bush uses the same terminology that Hillary has, about "sticks and carrots" having a positive effect in regards to "diplomatic measures." Now if that was meant to harm Hillary or not, nobody really knows I suppose. I tend to think that it's more of a sign that Hillary is VERY like-minded to Bush policies, and there is plenty of evidence prior in my mind. The Democratic debate in Iowa today was just another example of how like-minded she really IS too. She also used the same language as Bush did in his conference today in regards to Iran, about how pressure on Iran has shown results. Since the NIE reported that Iran halted its program in 2003; I would argue that it may have been the attack on Iraq that year, and not the pressure that was applied to Iran long after we invaded Iraq that may have actually influenced their decision to halt their nuclear program.
What do you think?
As was well explained in the video below, the US' latest NIE on Iran's nuclear program was released today...ONE YEAR after it was completed!
In this video you will also hear about something that is getting little to no attention whatsoever, but I personally find it VERY disturbing: Wolfowitz may be BACK, as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). The ISAB is the board that advises the president on international proliferation matters, and that would certainly include Iran. Who better to decide whether Iran has weapons than the man that falsely accused Iraq, right? Could the rotten pattern be any more apparent people?!?!? I mean REALLY!!!
When Bush finally came to the press room today (video here), he still asserts that Iran is a threat. I must commend some of the reporters in this clip that kept at Bush too, asking about his credibility in regards to accusing Iran of having WMD. I sincerely hope this means that the media will not allow Bush get away with using the media as his war-tool again! However, Bush answered that line of questioning with praise for the improvements in the Intelligence community - almost taking credit for it too. Since most of the world now knows that the attack on Iraq was based on some very selective cherry picking of Intel info, and NOT due to bad Intel itself, then I would think this praise wasn't taken so kindly by the Intelligence community.
Another interesting point that is being asked about is what Hadley had initially said for Bush (and he reiterated in the press conference); that Bush was not briefed on the NIE until last week. As seen in the video above, Bush had said that Iran had weapons capabilities as recently as six weeks ago, and even used the words "World War Three." What I find fascinating is that if the president of the US doesn't have the benefit of being briefed on Intel reports when completed, then WHO DOES? Why did the Intel community purportedly wait an entire year to brief the president on their findings? Bush also said when asked about it, that he was not ever advised to "tone it down" in light of their findings either. These two things I find incredibly difficult to believe! In fact, it is most unlikely to be the case. I suspect that it was the administration that denied the Intelligence community their release of the report, and that we should be thankful to them for releasing it no matter how late. Perhaps the Intel community felt it was necessary in order to prevent another unnecessary war? THAT seems far more likely to be the case to me!!!
Another frightening thing about the White House press conference today was that Bush uses the same terminology that Hillary has, about "sticks and carrots" having a positive effect in regards to "diplomatic measures." Now if that was meant to harm Hillary or not, nobody really knows I suppose. I tend to think that it's more of a sign that Hillary is VERY like-minded to Bush policies, and there is plenty of evidence prior in my mind. The Democratic debate in Iowa today was just another example of how like-minded she really IS too. She also used the same language as Bush did in his conference today in regards to Iran, about how pressure on Iran has shown results. Since the NIE reported that Iran halted its program in 2003; I would argue that it may have been the attack on Iraq that year, and not the pressure that was applied to Iran long after we invaded Iraq that may have actually influenced their decision to halt their nuclear program.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
About Me
- the Left Paw
- I had been writing a News & Politics column for an online magazine for a little over three years, and just last fall opened this blog to continue publication. I also had the pleasure of being the associate producer for a progressive talk radio host for about a year. Alittle of everything... I've advised small businesses, and I paint all kinds of things (boxes, figurines, greeting cards, personalized children's and other dish-wares, decor...). I still paint when I can, but mainly I'm manage a wholesale company for a Fair Trade, eco-friendly Jewelry & Homewares designer/producer out of Bali called, Verlu. You can see a full catalog of our line on the website, and there is now a list of our retailers for you to visit too. "Wear in everybody's Good Health!"
The political opinions expressed in this blog are in no way related to Verlu. The proud Progressive in me is thrilled to say I'm working with a company that operates in a manner respectful to both Mother Earth & Humanity; however, Progressive Mews is not meant to reflect any opinion - aside from my very own.