Bush Was Warned of Possible Attack in U.S., Official Says
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Bush Was Warned of Possible Attack in U.S., Official Says --Dictator Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday.
Secret memo shows Bush knew about hijack plot before 9/11 --Forced on to the defensive by talk of a cover-up, the White House yesterday agreed to publish a top secret memorandum which warned Dictator George W Bush a month before the September 11 attacks that terrorists might be preparing to hijack aircraft. The Aug 6, 2001 memo is a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States".
Bush Was Warned of Possible Attack in U.S., Official Says --Dictator Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday.
Secret memo shows Bush knew about hijack plot before 9/11 --Forced on to the defensive by talk of a cover-up, the White House yesterday agreed to publish a top secret memorandum which warned Dictator George W Bush a month before the September 11 attacks that terrorists might be preparing to hijack aircraft. The Aug 6, 2001 memo is a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States".
The Quest for a Monopoly on Violence
With warfare escalating in Iraq, syndicated columnist George Will has
just explained the logic of the occupation. “In the war against the
militias,” he wrote, “every door American troops crash through, every
civilian bystander shot -- there will be many -- will make matters worse,
for a while. Nevertheless, the first task of the occupation remains the
first task of government: to establish a monopoly on violence.”
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
Death of democracy
AUSTIN, Texas -- You may be wondering why House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is raising money for a legal defense fund and telling his fellow Republicans in Washington to be prepared to name his replacement in the event he is indicted. DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
Faking Democracy - Americans Don't Vote, Machines Do, & Ballot Printers Can't Fix That
Machines will produce 99.4% of the election results for the upcoming 2004 presidential election. With all the hoopla over voting machine "glitches," porous software, leaked memos, and the creepy corporations that sell and service these contraptions, and with all the controversy that surrounds campaign financing, voter registration, redistricting issues, and the general privatization of the election process - we are missing the boat on the biggest crisis facing our democracy.
Americans aren't really voting. Machines are. Call it faking democracy.
And no one seems to be challenging it. As far as I can tell from my own investigations and from discussions with law professors, attorneys, and others, there has never been a lawsuit that challenges the right of machines to be used in the voting process. Recent lawsuits that have been filed by Susan Marie Webber of California and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) are based on verification. The plaintiffs want voting machines to produce paper ballots so that voters can verify that the machine's output matched their input. They also want paper ballots for manual audits and recounts.
Americans aren't really voting. Machines are. Call it faking democracy.
And no one seems to be challenging it. As far as I can tell from my own investigations and from discussions with law professors, attorneys, and others, there has never been a lawsuit that challenges the right of machines to be used in the voting process. Recent lawsuits that have been filed by Susan Marie Webber of California and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) are based on verification. The plaintiffs want voting machines to produce paper ballots so that voters can verify that the machine's output matched their input. They also want paper ballots for manual audits and recounts.
A mess
AUSTIN, Texas -- Iraq. What. A. Mess.
As Cousin Eddie Faulk used to say during Vietnam, "If those folks don't like what we're doin' for 'em, why don't they just go back where they come from?"
Eric Alterman sums up the position of the "We told you so" crowd thusly:
-- The invasion of Iraq will cause, not prevent terrorism.
-- The Bush administration was not to be trusted when it warned of the WMD threat.
-- Going in without the United Nations is worse than not going in at all.
-- They were asleep at the switch pre-9/11 and have been trying to cover this up ever since.
-- And they manipulated 9-11 as a pretext for a long-planned invasion of Iraq.
As Cousin Eddie Faulk used to say during Vietnam, "If those folks don't like what we're doin' for 'em, why don't they just go back where they come from?"
Eric Alterman sums up the position of the "We told you so" crowd thusly:
-- The invasion of Iraq will cause, not prevent terrorism.
-- The Bush administration was not to be trusted when it warned of the WMD threat.
-- Going in without the United Nations is worse than not going in at all.
-- They were asleep at the switch pre-9/11 and have been trying to cover this up ever since.
-- And they manipulated 9-11 as a pretext for a long-planned invasion of Iraq.
Media Strategy Memo to George and Dick
Some of the most closely guarded documents in the White House are
sure to be the ones written by the president’s top media strategist. The
public will never get to see the key memos from Karl Rove, but a typical
one these days might read something like...
To: George and Dick
Re: Media Terrain
First, don’t worry about Richard Clarke. We’ll fix his wagon.
About Condi testifying in public -- people forget she can spin with the best. Is history ready for a black female Ollie North with a Ph.D.?
Closer to home now. I say this with the fondest high regard, etc., but both of you need to remember my admonition about looking a bit cartoonish on occasion. George, keep practicing that smile like I told you -- it still drifts a little too much toward “What, Me Worry?” -- and we sure don’t need that in swing states. Repeat after me: “I am not Alfred E. Neuman...”
To: George and Dick
Re: Media Terrain
First, don’t worry about Richard Clarke. We’ll fix his wagon.
About Condi testifying in public -- people forget she can spin with the best. Is history ready for a black female Ollie North with a Ph.D.?
Closer to home now. I say this with the fondest high regard, etc., but both of you need to remember my admonition about looking a bit cartoonish on occasion. George, keep practicing that smile like I told you -- it still drifts a little too much toward “What, Me Worry?” -- and we sure don’t need that in swing states. Repeat after me: “I am not Alfred E. Neuman...”
Strange peaches
AUSTIN, Texas -- Strange peaches. All of us out here in the boonies should be aware this is a truly weird political year. For one thing, nobody has ever seen this much money involved. What can $200 million do in a political race, answered, we presume, by at least $100 million by the Democrats? No one knows.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
Brainwashing season
AUSTIN, Texas -- Strange peaches. All of us out here in the boonies should be aware this is a truly weird political year. For one thing, nobody has ever seen this much money involved. What can $200 million do in a political race, answered, we presume, by at least $100 million by the Democrats? No one knows.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
When Good Men Don't Do Nothing
Perhaps, after all these years, Edmund Burke may have got it wrong: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is not, as the wise Englishman once opined, for good men to do nothing. Sometimes men blunder into evil by the sheer force of their own cowardice. Evil was done in Massachusetts this week, and it was as unnecessary as it was pointless. >From the first, we need to tease apart the lie that the state legislature "made room" for civil unions; or worse, that they were trying to avoid "promoting gay marriage."
9/11: It worked, didn't it?
Richard Clarke in "Against All Enemies" paints a picture of wrong-headed leadership making bad judgment calls. Given the Bush objectives, however, this can all be seen as good judgment, casting an entirely different light on 9/11: It worked, didn't it? If the 9/11 Commission is to get to the heart of the matter, it cannot ignore this aspect.
Condoleezza Rice protests vigorously that the Bush team was doing everything it could to attack Al Qaeda, and it is within this arena that Clarke's criticism is contained. This is a debate about covering the dump to halt a plague of rats. The homeowner 9/11 survivors are all for that, but they want to know how the rats got into their house to kill the baby, and no one wants to talk about that. They put up a clamor and a study commission is created to find out. The question still hangs: How did the rats get in?
Condoleezza Rice protests vigorously that the Bush team was doing everything it could to attack Al Qaeda, and it is within this arena that Clarke's criticism is contained. This is a debate about covering the dump to halt a plague of rats. The homeowner 9/11 survivors are all for that, but they want to know how the rats got into their house to kill the baby, and no one wants to talk about that. They put up a clamor and a study commission is created to find out. The question still hangs: How did the rats get in?