And a Merry False Flag Christmas to you, too, Mr. Underwear Bomber

"Happy new year. Aren't you tired of all the false-flag attacks?"

That's what I want to say to people. I certainly think it would be a conversation-starter, but probably not the kind I'd want. I imagine I'd spend much of the time explaining that I'm not crazy.

I think you have to be crazy to think that a guy can slip through our ridiculous airport security even though he had every red flag in the book blinking around him, including being ratted out by his own dad as a potential terrorist. Yeah, I'm talking about that tool, Mutallab the Underwear Bomber or whatever we're calling him.

This whole episode stinks to high heaven. There is a big part of the story that the media is not focusing on:

Kurt Haskell is an attorney. He and his wife were in Amsterdam that day after a safari and Kurt witnessed the underwear bomber (Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab) before the flight being aided by what Haskell described to be an older Indian gentleman who was well dressed. (emphasis mine)

Who was this sharp-dressed man (besides a ZZtop fan)? No doubt he was Mutallab's handler.

Since Mutallab is a classic patsy, he has the intelligence (and loyalty) of a particularly gullible puppy. He needs help dressing, tying his shoes, boarding flights... and making his bombs work, too. (Thank Allah for that!)

Webster Tarpley has a good analysis of this event and the importance of it in the geopolitical sense. Long story short: Certain parties are trying to involve us in yet another war against yet another Islamic country. Yemen, this time.

But Obama and his advisors should be urged to consider a third explanation far more plausible than either of these. This third explanation would include the desire of a rogue network inside the US government to unleash a new wave of Islamophobic hysteria to rehabilitate the discredited “global war on terror” strategy in a new and more sophisticated form, while imposing a new round of outrageous and degrading search procedures at airports (such as the full body scanners peddled by the venal Michael Chertoff) to soften up the American people for heightened totalitarian control and political repression. All of this, moreover, in ways that will be politically harmful to Obama.

But this Underwear Bombing farce is a double-edged sword; it provides Obama and those who are opposed to this rogue Anglo terror network a chance to follow the clues back to the real puppetmasters, and perhaps even reveal the existence of the moles and their shadow government to the American people.

That may be a bridge too far, but these false flag terror attacks a getting increasingly ridiculous and unbelievable. Are we really supposed to believe that Mutallab was alloweded to fly without the intervention of a politically-connected CIA "handler"?

Mutallab had been denied a visa to enter the United Kingdom, despite the fact that his family owned a luxury apartment in London’s West End. His name had been placed on the UK watch list. Mutallab’s father, a prominent Nigerian banker, personally denounced him to the CIA and the State Department as a possible extremist who was then in Yemen, most probably at a training camp. Nevertheless, Mutallab’s visa was not revoked. Mutallab had met the infamous Anwar Awlaki, who had just received a wave of publicity for his relations with Major Hasan the Fort Hood patsy. Chatter from the Yemen patsy milieu monitored by the US contained references to “the Nigerian” – meaning Mutallab. Mutallab paid cash for his ticket in Ghana, checked no luggage, and entered Nigeria illegally, but was nevertheless permitted to embark on the first leg of his mission. (emphasis mine)

This man was practically a walking, talking, blinking red flag. The excuse that got him past security -- without a passport -- was that he was a Sudanese refugee. But nevermind that; Mutallab was the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker. His own father pointed him out as a threat to the CIA and what did they do?

Nothing.

It sure seems like the infiltrated CIA is only concerned with getting more power to interfere with our lives, not doing their job with the considerable power they already have.

This is the classic false flag mindset; it's right out of the playbook the neocons used after 9/11. Instead of blaming Bush for the security lapses they screamed that Bush needed more power to intercept these terrorists. Never mind that there was ample warning ("Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."). There was also a condescending dismissal of the importance of the warning and related intelligence:

We've known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." We've known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn't know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."

Neocons and their rogue network within the government are not interested in stopping terror, only creating it. They use false flag attacks to gradually expand their powerbase while counting on the zero-sum nature of politcal power to drain their enemies of power. We are their enemies, unless we are their (straight Republican-ticket-voting) patsies.

Don't be a patsy. The neocons will keep doing it until they get caught. And as they get increasingly desperate the attacks may grow more deadly.

Please do your part and speak up so the public is primed to absorb this startling information. I already have to take off my shoes at the airport, which is bad enough. Are soon going to have to fly commando-style? Trust me, people, you do not want me taking off my stinky skivvies at the airport security scanner in front of you. Do yourself a favor and stop this joyless game before the next false-flag patsy sticks a bomb up his ass and we all have to get a public rectal exam to board a flight home.

In the wake of the New Iranian Revolution, will social media come under attack?

Perhaps it's obvious to say that there are political undercurrents at work in the Iranian Revolution 2009 we're witnessing, but it goes well beyond the streets of Tehran. This is a global phenomenon and it bodes ill for the Old Ways.

If you're reading this blog you're probably a little more savvy than most, but for those who are new to social media this coup attempt is shining a light on something certain elements within our political structure have tried to keep hidden: Iranians are just like us.

That might not seem like such a radical statement, but when you're in the business of demonizing people it's an earth-shattering revelation. Here in America, our government and our media have been in the business of demonizing Iran for the last 30 years. If the revolution succeeds and Ahmadinejad is thrown into the dustbin of history then our government will not have a despotic Iran to kick around any more. Early indications are that the people of Iran and Mousavi's hypothetical government will favor normalizing relations with America, or at least responding favorably to Obama's overtures.

You might think this would make the neocons very happy, but that is not the case. Blogger Andrew Sullivan has been on top of the revolution from the get-go and he says: "Even I am a little taken aback by the neocons' desire for an Ahmadinejad victory."

The sad truth is that a lot of people are scared of change and they don't like it when their favorite whipping-horse suddenly grabs the reins with his teeth.

Given the incredible impact that social media has had in this election/coup it should not be surprising if hardline forces --not just in Iran -- take a dim view of social media in the future.

The first thing the illegitimate Iranian government did when it saw trouble brewing was to block Facebook and Twitter. Cell phone service was taken down in many areas. Mousavi's website was taken out by government forces.

It's obvious why: Social media is an inherently democratizing force.

Allowing people to connect outside of traditional, controlled channels is dangerous for any repressive regime. People can share news instantly, they can plan, they can support each other and they can warn each other of danger. This used to be the province of the authorities with their rigid hierarchies, their walkie-talkies and their chains of command.

Now anybody with a cellphone can change the world with a hashtag.

I say again: Iranians are just like us. They love Facebook and have a Mousavi fan page with 50,000 supporters. They have been using Twitter (and Twitpic) extensively. (Check out this page for a list of English language Iranian twitterers). And videos depicting the mostly-peaceful marches today are already showing up on YouTube:



As night falls things are getting more violent. It's too early to declare victory, but I think the world is starting to see that the divisions our mainstream media has helped our government create are largely an artifice of ignorance and omission. We are all the same on Facebook. We are one on Twitter.

Social media is the bane of dictators everywhere, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But we have to be ready for the backlash against social media by those hardline forces stuck in the past. They may start to attack social media out of fear. We can't let those repressive forces have their say anymore. If Iran can stand up for democracy, we can too.

EMP: Now with more laughs and less despair!

Hey everybody. I've added a bunch of new links to the blogroll: Crazy Web Comics!

Check out the sidebar (under the Blogroll, which is under the Archives, etc.) for 12 of the funniest comics you can find on the web -- and only on the web, since they contain "mature" content that's apparently not fit for the family newspaper.

Got any great comics that I'm missing? Let me know in the comments.

Believe it or not, this blog was intended to be a humorous, fun, weird place. I originally wanted the blog to live up to its name a little more than it does now (although there are many meanings, connotations, perspectives to be had on my bizarre little name). Yep; Electric Monkey Pants was supposed to be a barrel full of monkeys. But something got mixed up and the monkeys took over the White House and things have been getting steadily worse ever since, which is pretty depressing.

So yeah. Politics, while a big interest of mine, was not supposed to so utterly dominate the blog. It just kind of happened. I felt I had to speak out, even if it all it got me was placed on a list somewhere and the creeped out stares of friends and coworkers.

I'm hoping things get better soon so I can focus on quirky, fun shit, rather than serious, depressing shit. Will Obama deliver that sort of turnaround?

Don't make me laugh. It's gonna take a lot more than that. But I think the neocons are weaker than they seem. The cracks are starting show and the juggernaut is beginning to sputter and list to the side. When their ship of fools runs aground I will be the one laughing so hard it sounds like thunder.

St. Thomas' decision to ban Desmond Tutu from campus smacks of cowardice

The intellectual cowards over at the head office of the St. Thomas University adminstration should be ashamed. They have shown themselves to be contemptible weaklings without the guts or the will to hear viewpoints they may disagree with. And this institution is supposed to be a vanguard of academic freedom? For shame.

What am I talking about? I'm referring to St. Thomas' recent decision to withhold an invitation to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

St. Thomas never invited Tutu to speak, but declined to approve an invitation as part of the PeaceJam, an event the school has hosted for the past four years. PeaceJam officials have now arranged to have the South African archbishop and activist speak at its April event, which will be held at Metropolitan State University.

St. Thomas officials said that local Jewish leaders they consulted felt that Tutu had made remarks offensive to the Jewish people in a 2002 speech about Israeli policy toward the Palestinians.

Columbia University just made St. Thomas look like a bunch of backwater bush-league pussies. Nobody likes Ahmadinejad; that's not the point. The point is the free exchange of ideas. If you don't like what somebody says you don't try to censor them, you use your freedom of speech to elucidate your opposition to said ideas. The president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, may have been a dick to Ahmadinejad, but at least he let the motherfucker speak. St. Thomas' president, the Rev. Dennis Dease, won't even let a fellow man of the cloth on campus. What a fucking pussy.

His lame-ass excuse "Teh Joos don't like one speech he made dis one time!" is full of shit. What he means is "Some extreme-rightwing Zionist oppressor Jews don't want nobody talking shit about the way they fuck over A-rabs in Palestine." There, fixed it for you, Dease. (You can suck dees nuts)

In fact, Dease has been getting a lot of mail from Jewish groups saying, "Let this guy speak! We're not anti-free speech! Why'd you listen to those assholes?!" [[ I'm paraphrasing in case you haven't noticed ]]

So, you might be wondering what crazy-ass shit this Tutu guy was spewing that pissed off the hard-right fascist/zionist types. Well, he said the most offensive thing you can possibly say to a warmonger: "Peace is possible."

Israeli Jew, Palestinian Arab can live amicably side by side in a secure peace. And, as Cannon Ateek kept underscoring, a secure peace built on justice and equity. These two peoples are God’s chosen and beloved, looking in their face back to a common ancestor Abraham and confessing belief in the one creator God of salaam and shalom.

Oh man, that is some whack shit! Who let this guy in here?

Then he reveals his true hatred for teh Joos:

I give thanks for all that I have received as a Christian from the teachings of God’s people the Jews. When we were opposing the vicious system of apartheid, which claimed that what invested people with worth was a biological irrelevance – skin color – we turned to the Jewish Torah, which asserted that what gave people their infinite worth was the fact that they were created in the image of God.

He calls teh Joos "God's people." We're clearly dealing with a loose cannon here, folks.

Seriously, that's what the whole speech is like. He criticizes the occupation of Palestinian lands, but he clearly has problems with the Israeli government, not the Jewish people.

I with many other Nobel Peace Laureates. I, after taking counsel with the then Bishop of Jerusalem, am a member of the Board of the Shimon Peres peace center in Tel Aviv. I am a patron of the Holocaust center in Capetown. I believe that Israel has a right to secure borders, internationally recognized, in a land assured of territorial integrity and with acknowledged sovereignty as an independent country. That the Arab nations made a bad mistake in refusing to recognize the existence of sovereign and in pledging to work for her destruction. It was a short sighted policy that led to Israel’s nervousness, her high state of alert and military preparedness to guarantee her continued existence. This was understandable. What was no so understandable, what was not justifiable was what Israel did to another people to guarantee her existence. I have been very deeply distressed in all my visits to the Holy Land, how so much of what was taking place there reminded me so much of what used to happen to us Blacks in Apartheid South Africa.

This guy sees echoes of Apartheid in Israel. He was there. He expresses viewpoints not too far from middle-of-the-road Democrats in America. When did expressing disagreement with a foreign government become a censorable offense? Oh that's right; when you're a boot-licking fascist who wants to kiss the ass of future dictator George Bush. I guess Dease thinks he can become the Tsar of Education under a future King George. (Or whatever. Maybe he's just a fucking idiot, I don't know.)

The scary thing here is not the shoddy treatment of a Nobel laureate. He'll speak on another campus, one not controlled by Nazis. He'll be fine. No, the scary thing here is how incredibly fucking normal, sane and mainstream his ideas are. If this is how a Nobel laureate is treated by The Powers That Be, how are the rest of the us going to be treated when the other jackboot falls and we're under martial law? Tutu's beliefs are almost exactly in line with mainstream Democrats, Independents and even many Republicans. The main difference is that he's an archbishop, an Apatheid survivor and a international icon.

Where the fuck does that leave the rest of us?

The Cloak of Stupidity

The Oligarchy won't allow impeachment.

However, if you want to remove the Oligarchy you have to remove Bush first. It's a Catch-22 born in Hell and swaddled in conspiracy. Some people suggest that the Democratic Congress is simply incompetent and divided. I think it's much more likely that they are servile and paid-for.

Check out this awesome article from Glenn Greenwald. He nails the Democratic-controlled Congress for being the sell-outs they are.

Impeachment is necessary, but the Democrats resist where there's merit while the Republicans rushed forth without the People behind them. Both parties are a bunch of fuck-ups. They're so incompetent that there's no difference between that and evil. When that's the case you have evil hiding itself behind a Cloak of Stupidity. Ironically, it's a brilliant plan.

Whoever said "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity," was essentially writing evil a blank check. It seems the quote itself is stupid...or evil. Hanlon, however, created the quotation as more of a joke, not a axiom set in stone. Foolish are those who set store by it.

The Dark Ones will gladly use the Cloak of Stupidity to escape perceived culpability because the repercussions for negligence are much less severe than those for malice. It's a simple cost-benefit analysis for the neocons: "We're not evil, we're stupid!" I predict you'll be hearing that excuse a lot in the near future. Don't fall for it. If you wear the Cloak of Stupidity you deserve to be stripped naked, warts laid bear.

The Oligarchy reacts to sunlight like a vampire does. Expose the Hidden Hand and you'll be one step closer to impeachment and true liberty.

Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent" During Martial Law

A shocking KSLA news report has confirmed the story we first broke last year, that Clergy Response Teams are being trained by the federal government to "quell dissent" and pacify citizens to obey the government in the event of a declaration of martial law. Economic Collapse? Another mass-casualty, false-flag attack? [/digg]

This is incredibly disturbing. Here's the news clip for those who doubt:




Am I cynical to believe that something terrible will happen either right before or right after the elections (before inauguration)?

If it does, we've gotta stick together, organize and resist. This can't happen to America. It's like a nightmare you can't wake up from.

Wicked Writhing Weasels

They wiggle. They squirm. They stonewall.

Karma's ruthless cycle spins on, heading directly towards the neocons like a bolder rolling down a mountain. The years of lies, paranoia, war and greed are finally catching up. They will do anything to avoid the inevitable fallout of their actions.

Anything.

Post Reveals Dick Cheney Spies On White House Staffers

The Washington Post's profile of Dick Cheney reveals there is "unannounced standing order" in the White House: "Documents prepared for the national security adviser, another White House official said, were 'routed outside the formal process' to Cheney, too." [/digg]

This is unbelieveable. Cheney has set up a Shadow White House, a secret one designed to give him control over information going from and to Bush.

Sorry if this blog seems like the "Dick Cheney really sucks, mkay" blog lately, but I think it's amazing how blatantly unconstitutional Cheney's mindset and the Bush/Cheney White House really is. We need to get this asshole out of here NOW. He has remade the executive branch in his own image, but with himself floating above the pyramid like an all-seeing eye. Sauron, er, I mean, Cheney, is clearly trying to build a dictatorship.

Somebody has called for a general strike. At this point, I'm prepared to second that motion.

Cheney tells agency that VP's office is not part of the executive branch

The Office of Vice President Dick Cheney told an agency within the National Archives that for purposes of securing classified information, the Vice President's office is not an 'entity within the executive branch' according to a letter released Thursday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. [/digg]

See? This is why Dick needs hookers (and hooker disposal services) -- being the master of a super-governmental agency, floating above the executive, legislative and judicial branches is tough work.

Hookers. Dick needs hookers.

If you think voting for Hillary will solve the problems Bush made you're fuckin' dreaming

George W. Bush has been a disaster for this country, there can be no doubt. However, beware of those who want to be his successor -- many of them are just as bad, if not worse.

Case in point: Hillary Clinton has vowed to keep U.S. troops in Iraq if she's elected. Not only is she a war supporter, she is even more blatant about her willingness to spill American blood for Iraqi oil.

As for Iraq’s importance to US “national security,” Clinton could not have been clearer: “It is right in the heart of the oil region.”

Asked how many troops would be left behind under such a plan Clinton demurred, claiming that she would bow to “the advice of military officers.” Undoubtedly, however, these open-ended missions—securing Iraq’s borders, suppressing resistance, training its military and, above all, assuring control of its oil, not to mention protecting and supporting all those engaged in these activities—would require the permanent basing of tens of thousands of US soldiers and marines in an occupation that would last for decades.

Hillary Clinton is an imperial neocon traitor, just like Bush. Do not be fooled. If Hillary is elected we can look forward to more of the same. She's so ambitious she will sell out any principle, sacrifice any amount of American lives, do any amount of damage to our nation to achieve her selfish goals. The only thing that matters to her is getting elected president. Everything else is secondary, including our Constitution, our troops, our nation, our liberty and our standing in the world.

I repeat: Do not be fooled! Many of the Democrats are nothing more than neocons in sheep's clothing. Ironically, the Republican-in-name-only Ron Paul might be our best bet for 2008. He's basically a Liberatian in Republican guise. He was against the war in Iraq from the beginning and he wants to shut down the Federal Reserve -- that pretty much gets my vote right there.

It's worth noting that the Democrats have done little to get us out of Iraq so far -- if this is still the case in 2008 then we might need to re-examine our ideas of partisanship. All partisanship does is divide us. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Maybe it's time to vote for the person and not the party.

Bush & Gen. Pace: No "Plan B" Strategy for Iraq (There was a "Plan A"?!!)

From Digg. Full story here.

A group of governors asked Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work? The conclusion they took away was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."

"Plan B was to make Plan A work."

Talk about some scary shit. Are these two running a war or a comedy show?

If the Democrats don't smell weakness here and move in, it's because they're controlled by the same folks who control the neocons. I was hoping there was another game in town, but it looks like We the People are alone in this fight. And most of us would rather watch Larry the Cable Guy than put pressure on our representatives. We know this is stupid.... are we still going to stand for it?

Sometimes I think the world would be better off without us. If we can't fix this maybe our species doesn't get to survive. We're destroying our planet and killing each other. All these years and we still haven't figured it out.

"The ultimate Plan B is pull everybody out," said Stephen D. Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the Defense Department. "Nobody wants to do that. Most are looking at the middle ground between surge and pullout."

Well, let's go for Plan-fucking B already, asshole!! "Nobody" wants to do that? Who the fuck are you talking to, Biddle?! Get us the fuck out of there. NOW! We don't want to be an Empire anymore, okay? So fuck off and die.

Biddle, who noted that new Iraq strategy proposals "proliferate hourly" in the public domain, said another variant is to set up "heavily defended forward operating bases out in the desert somewhere [and] either sit there and mind our own business and do nothing except be present -- enabling us to say we're still there -- or, in a somewhat more activist flavor, to conduct raids of various kinds" against al-Qaeda bases and rescue missions for Iraqi military units.

Oh great, we can be warlords in western Iraq and Somalia just like all the other gangsters and thugs. We could conduct raiding parties like pirates or vikings. Brilliant. This fucking egghead is just brilliant. This weak-ass, spineless piece of shit is suggesting the United States of America assume the position of the lowest of the low -- a marauding band of beggars and thieves.

First of all, al-Qaeda is mostly an illusion, a creation of the CIA during the Afghan war against the Soviets. Secondly, they were just an excuse to kick our country in gear. The Powers That Be decided that they wanted us to be aggressive and bloodthirsty to further the consolidation of their empire so they cooked up 9.11 to whip us into a frenzy. But now the excitement has worn off and we're stuck in the middle of the desert with a bunch of people who are so crazy they're killing each other more than us.

Let's face reality, wake up from this nightmare, impeach Bush/Cheney and bring the troops back home! Then we can apologize to the world, undertake massive economic reforms, investigate the wrong-doings of the government going back 60-some years and put things right politically. We've really let things get all fucked up, so we've gotta clean house. First on the list are those spineless scorpions -- the neocons. Then we can get the vampire bats (fat aristocracy/business) and the filthy rats (criminal networks) and the scheming spiders (secret ruling cabals) who have woven this network of fear and exploitation.

Can we agree that this war is bankrupt? It's all over but the crying... and some more killing if the neocons get their way. That's why we have to sweep them from power. If we don't act soon we can expect more of the same. Attacking Iran would be colossally stupid... in other words, it's right up the neocons' alley.

World Conquest is a Lonely Sport

Tony "Poodle" Blair has decided to pull out of Iraq. Sort of. Eventually.

This more of a big deal symbolically than realistically since Britain only had around 7,000 troops in country anyway (they had around 45,000 for the invasion -- you know, "the fun part").

Hopefully this will cause people in America to scratch their softboiled heads and wonder, "Well, uh, why are we still there? Is the U.K. safe from terrorism now?" You will recall, of course, that the UK/USA alliance was keen to fight the terrorists "over there" rather than "over here." What changed? Was there some anti-terr'rist bust in Iraq that I missed? Did they somehow solve the terrorism problem in the UK? Oh, if only such a solution worked in the US too! Maybe they have perfected some sort of anti-terror aerosol spray. But then, that wouldn't really fit with with the neocon MO, would it? Terror is their bread and butter. They need it to govern. Blair is only doing this because he knows his term is almost up. He obviously plans to declare victory and hope that the public just forgets about the whole thing. Will they forget all of the lies and manipulation and sexing-up of intelligence dossiers? Experience shows they might.

But that won't be so simple in America. We've borne the brunt of this conquest (well, except for the Iraqis, but nobody counting them, right?), and Bush pulled out all the stops to sell this war. Now it looks like we're all alone in this boondoggle.

I don't mean to disparage Kazakhstan's 29 troops. Or the 41 troops Estonia has over there. Truly, a fearsome fighting force. I quake in my boots just thinking about them. And Moldova's troops, all 12 of them, are so incredibly powerful that I think it would be fine if we left them in charge and took our 132,000 troops back home to preside over the president's trial for treason.

But we may have problems doing that since King George is the commander in chief. Still, Congress has certain powers, including the power of the purse strings. Cutting off funds for the war is a harsh and dangerous course.... but so is leaving the troops in Iraq indefinitely. It's time to take a stand, people. If it's a constitutional crisis Bush and neocons want, then that is what they'll get. I think there are enough pissed off Democrats in the House and Senate to make this a very interesting fight. I suspect that much is being played out behind the scenes. The neocons know that it's time for them to leave, but like a drunken and belligerent house guest they are steadfastly resisting all attempts at reason. More drastic actions may be required. (Fun way to get rid is a belligerent houseguest: Tell them their car has been towed. Hopefully they'll be on the front lawn by the time they remember they took the bus. Use this time to lock the door and pull the shades)

I'm ready to take to the streets if necessary to compel the neocons from power. I know my shit don't amount to much, but it's all I got. I wish I could lend more to the struggle. I know there are some people, even in the ruling class, who have had enough of the neocons. I trust that they have a plan to remove them from power... but it sure is taking a long time. I don't know what's playing out behind the scenes, but I can't imagine the neocons have many allies left. Regardless, it's time to end this game. World conquest is not a good way to make friends.

Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate El Presidente Bush in Plame/CIA Leak Affair

The two biggest criminals in this country are both implicated in the Plame affair. As Scooter Libby's trial progresses and things look worse and worse for Cheney's ex-right-hand-man his defense team is casting blame in every direction... including toward "the top."

Last week, Libby's attorney Theodore Wells made a stunning pronouncement during opening statements of Libby's trial. He claimed that the White House had made Libby a scapegoat for the leak to protect Karl Rove - Bush's political adviser and "right-hand man."

"Mr. Libby, you will learn, went to the vice president of the United States and met with the vice president in private. Mr. Libby said to the vice president, 'I think the White House ... is trying to set me up. People in the White House want me to be a scapegoat,'" said Wells.

Cheney's notes seem to help bolster Wells's defense strategy. Libby's defense team first discussed the notes - written by Cheney in September 2003 for White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan - during opening statements last week. Wells said Cheney had written "not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his head in the meat grinder because of incompetence of others": a reference to Libby being asked to deal with the media and vociferously rebut Wilson's allegations that the Bush administration knowingly "twisted" intelligence to win support for the war in Iraq.

However, when Cheney wrote the notes, he had originally written "this Pres." instead of "that was.

The "meat grinder" is generally taken to mean "the DC press corps". So, after re-inserting "this Pres" into Cheney's note it reads: "not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy this Pres. asked to stick his head in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others."

It's not surprising that strategy concerning the Plame affair would be discussed at the highest levels. But Bush has been denying all along that he knew anything about the leak.

When Cheney testifies will he throw Libby under the bus like Addington? I can't wait to find out. What happens when the top two liars in the country are implicated in a scandal, tied to an illegal war that's been used to justify illegal wiretapping? Well, if Republicans are in charge: Nothing. However, I have a smidgen of hope that the Democrats will pursue impeachment. They'd better hurry up about it because I keep hearing more and more noise about starting a war with Iran. It sounds like the preparations for a joint U.S./Israeli strike are almost complete.

VP Cheney Threatens Iran with his Cock

The neocons push closer to war with Iran, as shown by the blunt comments made by El Presidente Cheney in Newsweek:

He repeated the Bush administration's stance that the United States seeks to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program through diplomatic means, but that all options are on the table.

"I think most of the nations in that part of the world believe their security is supported, if you will, by the United States. They want us to have a major presence there," Cheney said in an interview with Newsweek magazine, according to a transcript released by the White House on Sunday.

"When we -- as the president did, for example, recently -- deploy another aircraft carrier task force to the Gulf, that sends a very strong signal to everybody in the region that the United States is here to stay, that we clearly have significant capabilities, and that we are working with friends and allies as well as the international organizations to deal with the Iranian threat," Cheney said.

Allow me to translate in case Captain Cheney's comments were too subtle: "Iran, you best watch THE FUCK out, ya heard? We're comin' for your shit, so you might as well run now, bitches. Represent, sluts!!! We gonna fucks you up!"

The above is an official translation.

Cheney proceeded to whip out his dick and let the fucker smash on a table with a menacing thud:

Responding to other comments -- including criticism from Brent Scowcroft, and others who have worked with Cheney in the past -- he says, "Well, I'm vice president and they're not."

Yeah, you're a big man, Dick. The whole article sounds like one big "fuck you" to everyone who's ever criticized him... which means: just about everybody. I'm sooo glad he isn't even bothering to hide his megalomaniacal tendencies or paranoid hatred of all who disagree with him. It's refreshing.

Now, is anyone planning to remove Bush/Cheney from power soon? I dunno, like maybe the Democrats? They sure don't seem to be moving very fast. They'd better hurry the hell up 'cause from the sound of things we're gonna be having a blood kegger in Tehran by the end of the year. I'm sure Persian blood may not taste as sweet as Arab blood, but Cheney will still do a fucking kegstand on their country unless we get him the fuck out of office.

The neoconservatives like to point to "appeasement" by the UK during Hitler's rise to power in order to justify their invasion of Iraq. I think we should use Chamberlain's appeasement to justify removing Cheney from power before it's too late. Appeasement of fascists is never a good idea. Cheney, as a fascist, should know.

War of Global Aggression: White House Wanted 2002 Iraq War Resolution to Include Entire Middle East

In an interview in GQ Magazine, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel reveals that the Bush administration tried to get Congress to approve military action anywhere in the Middle East -- not just in Iraq -- in the fall of 2002 during the run-up the War in Iraq.

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

GQ: It’s incredible that you had to ask for that.
Hagel: It is incredible. That’s what I said to Andy Card. Said it to Powell, said it to Rice. Might have even said it to the president. And finally, begrudgingly, they sent over a resolution for Congress to approve. Well, it was astounding. It said they could go anywhere in the region.

GQ: It wasn’t specific to Iraq?
Hagel: Oh no. It said the whole region! They could go into Greece or anywhere. I mean, is Central Asia in the region? I suppose! Sure as hell it was clear they meant the whole Middle East. It was anything they wanted. It was literally anything. No boundaries. No restrictions.

GQ: They expected Congress to let them start a war anywhere they wanted in the Middle East?
Hagel: Yes. Yes. Wide open. We had to rewrite it. Joe Biden, Dick Lugar, and I stripped the language that the White House had set up, and put our language in it.

This is really chilling stuff. Right here, in front of our faces, we have evidence (from a Republican no less) that the Bush regime was planning a war of global aggression back in 2002. What more is there to say? The neocons have been planning a series of invasions for years (probably long before 2002) which would allow them to reshape and control the whole Middle East, from Iran and Syria to Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Iraq is only the first step; that's why the neocons are so determined to stamp out opposition to the war.

Do you still think the talk of going into Iran is just talk? I'm betting battle plans have been drawn up and they are entering the final phase of preparations. The key is to trick us into war. Keep your eyes open for a false flag attack.

Neo-cons hang Saddam in retaliation for assassination of Gerald Ford

This just in from the Electric Monkey Pants Intergalactic News Network (EMPINN):

Washington insiders say that today's execution of former Iraqi dictactor Saddam Hussein was moved forward by neo-conservatives eager to punish the traitorous hippies for the alleged assassination of former President Gerald Ford.

Our sources indicate that the neocons, led by Dick Cheney, believe that a covert hippy assassination squad was responsible for the untimely death of Cheney's old boss, Gerald Ford. The prevailing theory is that a Greenpeace-trained eco-terrorist squad was responsible for the hit, citing Ford's love of meat as the main beef.

EMPINN correspondants report that most people on "the street" believe that a poisoned carton of applesauce was smuggled into the Ford residence and deployed remotely, via "secret hippy-powers."

A call to Hippy Headquarters in San Francisco reached the "main dude" of the Hippy Network who responded to the allegations forcefully, stating, "What?! Uh... man, that's fucked up. No way, dude; these people are on acid. Fuck them, dude."

Now insiders are indicating that the hanging of Saddam Hussein was, in part, a retaliation for the hippy hit on Ford. An anonymously dressed source maintains "it was payback for the Ford hit. Since, you know, hippies are in league with Saddam the Cheneyites figured that killing Saddam would sap them of their powers."

The vice president's office refused to comment, saying, "Dick doesn't have time to respond to every little rumor that his office leaks out. Besides, he's in a meeting with the Prince of Darkness and can't be interrupted."

This has been an Electric Monkey Pants Intergalactic News Network special report.

I can't fucking wait until the world ends: We all deserve to die

You've heard about global warming, massive ecological damage to the planet, blah blah blah... HURRY UP!!! Where's the fucking death and destruction I've been waiting for? Not here, and that's the problem.

I don't think I need to go over the basics of global warming, environmental destruction, nuclear weapons, overpopulation, terrorism, Peak Oil, the neocons being in charge or the end of the Mayan calender in late 2012. You know about that shit, right? We're living in an apocalyptic age. So here's my question: Where the fuck is the apocalypse already?!!! I'm getting tired of waiting.

We all know it's coming. It's like the crappy twist ending to an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Everybody knows it's a fucking alien or whatever. But this is like the Shyamalan movie that keeps going on and on and on and on and on and the fucking cheesy twist gimmick hasn't showed up yet. Hell, you guessed what the twist will be about 3 hours ago, but the movie is stilllll going!! What the FUCK?!! Will the world just end already? Jeeze!

I want to see our wretched over-consuming, ultra-militarized American society collapse under its own weight. I want to see the fat and the weak die in the streets! Where's the fucking blood, man?! I'm sick of our horrifically obese (physically, financially, politically) nation beating the living shit out of brown people in various parts of the world. When's our turn?! You know it's coming. The laws of karma demand it.

We deserve to burn for Iraq. We should all go to hell for letting this bullshit war continue. We deserve to die, like we've condemned the Iraqis to die. And the worst part is we continue to LIE to them and tell them we've liberated them! Jesus fucking Christ people, at least have the courtesy to tell them the truth while we're raping their country of it's precious natural resources! You're gonna tell me all the goddamn flag-waving hicks who support this war ACTUALLY GIVE A FUCK about Iraqis?!!!! I will laugh in your ignorant face, you fucking gullible tool.

Our government is composed of the most evil, wicked and soulless men alive. Our government, along with the military-industrial complex, killed 3,000 people on September 11th, 2001 in order to trick us into going to war. And what has our reaction to this fascist take-over been?

"Ooohh, let's see if Lost is on! The revolution can wait until after Survivor is over! Oh wait, I just want to read a retarded fashion magazine! I can't wait until the new Wii is released! I'm a delusional fucking idiot who doesn't know anything about politics! Let's just let the country careen into a fucking ditch the size of the Grand Canyon! Who gives a fuck as long as I've got my botox, designer jeans, video games, reality TV, SUV, 401k, and a lot of other useless crap that makes me feel good for about 2 seconds so I can forget that my government is a satanic collective of Nazis bent on taking over the world's resources while simultaneously lowering the world's population through war, starvation and man-made diseases!"

Fuck all of you selfish fucks! And fuck me too for not having the balls to light myself on fire and run into the capitol building with a bomb strapped to my chest. Fuck all of us. We deserve to die. We are killing the planet with every piece of food we eat (fuck all of you self-righteous vegans for thinking you're not guilty of the same thing! Plant flesh is just as sacred as animal flesh!). We kill it every time we drive a car, every time we turn on a fucking light, and every time we knock down a tree so we can build a goddamn strip mall with a 27 muthafucking acre parking lot!!!

Humanity is a fucking virus, and we're killing the host. It's time to die people.

DIE DIE DIE!!!!

When the next American civil war comes (and it will come -- soon), it will be my honor to kill each and every last one of you fucking traitors who supports the war in Iraq and the Bush regime that perpetrated 9/11.

I suppose a lot of you are still in denial about 9/11. Understandable. Not everyone is a structural engineer. But there's no more excuses. We have the power of the internet and people are still ignorant. I don't think you need any help from me. Open Google and start researching. It's only the future of our entire fucking country at stake, so please don't complain about me calling you a useless traitor piece of shit if you decide to watch The Biggest Loser instead.

To some extent we are all absolved by the fact that this world was totally fucked up long before any of us were born. However, the time of excuses is running out rapidly. With the power of the internet at your fingertips you have NO EXCUSE for being an ignoramus anymore.

Do you think America is "teh koolest-est cuntree evar!!"? Then you are a fucking idiot. America has fallen. America is now the world leader in corruption, evil, terrorism, hatred and intolerance. The CIA is the premier terrorist organization in the world. They fucking own al-Qaeda -- literally. The CIA started al-Qaeda during the 80's to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. They are still being funded and controlled by the CIA. So fuck all of you shitheads who tell me I'm not patriotic enough. I love America -- the REAL America, not the "Amerika" it has become (rather like evil Superman). We haven't used the Constitution for anything except for toilet paper in almost 100 years. America is fallen. Amerika is now the Empire from Star Wars, and Dick Cheney is its Emperor.

Amerika is a place where you can get arrested for smoking a joint or wearing a T-shirt that says "Peace" on it, but if you're the president you can send thousands of troops to die and kill in a foreign land based on lies and distorted intelligence and nobody can do shit about it. And half the people think it's just fucking great. Amerika committed genocide while it was being born (ask the Native Americans about that one) but then it turns around and claims Saddam is evil for killing his own people... with WMDs that we gave him! (well, "sold to him" -- Amerika is all about $$$$$). What the fuck are we supposed to make of this hypocrisy?!

And don't get me started on all the fucking greedy businessmen who are so obsessed with money that they don't give a second thought to destroying the environment if it helps the bottom line. The only thought that goes through their fat, ugly heads is: "How can I make sure I don't get caught?" Amerika drains the lifeblood from the earth, like a vampire. We are all a party to this wicked devil-dance. If you dance to their tune, you're just as guilty as they are. Are you willing to bet your soul that George Bush is right? Do really fucking believe he gives a damn about the welfare of everyday Iraqis? Do you really believe businessmen when they say, "trust me, I care deeply about the environment and our workers' safety and happiness." Sucker. They don't give a fuck. It's all about PR. Just lie to the cameras and everything will be okay.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle lie. That's all there is to it. Neither side can be trusted. And if there is someone in power who dares to speak the truth he will be ruthlessly co-opted or assassinated, post-haste. We've lost 2 Kennedys, MLK, John Lennon and Paul Wellstone to the machinations of the elite. The elite, by the way, are a sick bunch indeed. They are engaged in drug smuggling, terrorism, arms dealing, child abduction and molestation, torture, murder, satan-worship and God knows what else.

I'm not really saying I wish we all die tomorrow. I mostly just wish the global elite would. But since the reverse is more likely to happen, maybe I shouldn't pin all my hopes on our coming destruction. But it doesn't really matter what I think, does it? Oil will peak. The economy will crash. The environment will shed its parasites. Our government will collapse (every government eventually does). The only question is when? And what are we going to do about it?

Well, I for one, will be glad. Not because I like not being able to eat, drink, work, drive a car or turn on a light. That part will suck. No, I will enjoy it because there will be so much less ignorance and hubris in the world. I'm so fucking sick of the arrogance and suicidal stupidity of most Amerikans, and pretty much all of western civilization for that matter.

There's an not-so-old saying the Middle East (ya know, the place we're presently occupying, destroying, raping and terrorizing) that goes like this:

My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies in a jet plane.

His son will ride a camel.

Ya know, maybe the internet doesn't make you smart. Those people didn't need it to come up with that revelation, and here we are in Amerika with a quarter billion morons surfing the web. Maybe we will be smarter once we have nothing. Maybe the world will be a better place once we're no longer in it.

First Rumsfeld says goodbye, then Pinochet does too

Donald Rumsfeld flew to Iraq today, with only a few days left in office. He "bid the troops farewell" and tried to shore up the neocon war effort in Iraq, warning of the consequences of failure. Indeed, this war is Rumsfeld's legacy, and he wants to see it won. Too bad he fucked it up so badly, every step of the way. His only true legacy will be American humiliation.

And we should be ashamed, for propping up men like General Pinochet, ex-Dictator of Chile and friend of evil, who said goodbye in his own way, by kicking the bucket. It's worth noting he took power on September 11th, 1973. How fitting. The linked article above glides past CIA responsibility for Pinochet's coup, but everyone knows Washington wanted Allende out of the picture. They admit as much. I wonder what Rumsfeld was up to in the summer of 1973...

Ah Rummy & Pinochet! What a couple! ...

See ya, boys. ...

You won't be missed.

Fascism Creeps Ever Closer

Yes, the elections went pretty well -- better than we might have expected, but we're still stuck with two factions of the Business Party. At least now there's some hope -- a fool's hope, but we have nothing else.

We're gonna need all the help we can get given what Bush has in store for us. If we don't lean on the Democrats and make them demand accountability from the Bush Regime and the 109th Congress we can kiss our freedom and our future goodbye.

In an excellent article on Yahoo write Ted Rall lays out the terrifying anti-Constitutional laws that the 109th passed (and Bush signed) shortly before the election:

On October 17, 2006 Bush signed the Military Commissions Act. The new law, scarcely mentioned in the media, is breathtaking for the breadth of its attack on basic rights. Under the MCA either the president or the secretary of defense may declare you an "enemy combatant"--as usual, without proof. Under that designation you may be jailed, without the right to an attorney, for the rest of your life. You can even be tortured. Your U.S. citizenship can't protect you. And it's all "legal."

The Military Commissions Act got all the press for taking away Habeas Corpus:



But the John Warner Defense Authorization Act might be even more onerous.

About a week ago some left-wing bloggers began circulating rumors that Bush had secretly signed something called the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" that "allows the president to declare a 'public emergency' and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to 'suppress public disorder.'" I couldn't find the text of the law at the time, formerly H.R. 5122, or a reliable media account, so I decided not to report on it.

I can now confirm the bloggers' account. Bush signed the JWDAA hours after the MCA, in a furtive closed-door White House ceremony. There is, buried deep down in Title V, Subtitle B, Part II, Section 525(a) of the JWDAA, a coup. The Bush Administration has quietly stolen the National Guard away from the states.

Oh great. Bush has a standing army at his disposal. We can only guess what he'll do with that power. If it's like anything else he's done he'll fuck it up. But that could mean anything from invading Iran with our National Guard to... well, enslaving America under his fascist tyranny.

Given the way Bush has ruled for the last 6 years which do you think is most likely?

What can you do about it? Well, you can start by educating yourself about the underlying causes of our current bout of fascism.

Rumsfeld Resigns!! Applies for position of 'Skeletor'

This is something of a shocker. I thought they were gonna keep Rummy until the bitter end. But after the Democrats took the House and now -- possibly -- the Senate, Rummy and friends probably realized that he was going to be eaten alive before committees of all kinds. He'll probably still have to testify, but cutting him loose was a smart move. The ready-made replacement, Robert Gates, is an old CIA hand who was investigated during the Iran/Contra scandal. Not exactly inspiring. We can expect more of the same from Gates.

Election Fraud in America -- "It can't happen here 'cause we're above that sort of thing"

Well, today's the big day. Will things go smoothly, or are we going to experience the kind of election fraud that folks like Greg Palast have been warning us about these past 6 years? I can only hope that things will be fair, although I suspect that is a fool's hope, borne by a man wallowing in apathy and disbelief. What will we do if election fraud is staring us right in the face? Will we have the courage to stand up and refuse to accept bogus results?

God help us.

Pray America finally sees the truth and returns to its former glory.

We need to get rid of The Worst Congress Ever and turn Bush into the lamest of lame ducks. The Democrats are far from ideal from this task. Many of them are sniveling suck-ups, traitors and liars. They are not as corrupt as the Republicans are...but then, who is?

So let me just say, if I'm screaming about election fraud tomorrow it's not because I love the Democrats. In fact, I think they're shit and I'm not voting for any of them. But I do want a fair election. I already know my candidates are not going to win -- they never do. My only desire is an honest election.

That and I want to see Bush impeached. Slowly, over a growing flame.

But first we need fair elections. The polls are unanimous in saying that this will be a good showing by the Democrats. They are almost assured control of the House. The Senate is up for grabs. A change is coming. Keep an eye out for fraud and watch the HBO special: Hacking Democracy.

The Sexy, Sexy Skeletons in Mark Foley's Closet -- Denny Hastert's Nightmare

Holy shit, this Foley business is exploding. It looks really bad for the Republicans. The leadership of the GOP is in shambles. People are breaking ranks and speaking to the press to cover their own asses and the media is lapping it up. The leadership itself has tried to present a united front, but they seem to be taking a "duck and cover" approach to the storm. We'll see if that works.

This is serious business. It is a serious breach of trust and a serious problem for a Republican party that has been trying to shake the "Culture of Corruption" tag that the Democrats have hung around their heads.

The blogs have been going nuts, of course. Glenn Greenwald in particular has had thorough and consistant coverage. He's been all over this thing.

Hastert's first interview since this scandal began is here, with CNN. He really just seems exhausted, beaten, and even resigned. He dismissively shrugs off the reporter's incredulous question as to how he could simply forget reports from Rep. Reynolds that a 53-year-old Congressman was sending inappropriate emails to a 16-year-old page, and speculates that perhaps he forget about it because Reynolds mentioned it in passing along with a half-dozen or dozen other "campaign" items. This story really can't end unless and until Hastert resigns.

The audio is really bad in that link above, and it's not synched with the video. But the point is that Dennis Hastert is toast. He's done. He had knowledge and he did nothing with it. There doesn't seem to be any sort of "intervention" where Hastert might've wisely sat Foley down and told him, "Hey, dumbshit, quit hitting on the fucking pages, already, eh?" That might've happened, but it hasn't come out yet. Denying any knowledge of the crime is a normal fallback for any politician (look at Condi Rice using that exact tactic to deflect culpability for the 9/11 attacks), but this time it might get Hastert burned since there are others close to him on record as saying that he was informed.

Of course, the neocons have wiggled out of tight spots before, a hundred times. But this might be their undoing. And yes, they look incompetent here, but they knew exactly what they were doing. Every powerful person has their favorite perks of the job, and Mark Foley's was that he liked the endless stream of underage boys that he could hit on and do god-knows-what-else to. He could just as easily have been a high school gym teacher. Who knows what Hastert likes. Whisky? Hookers? Cocaine? All 3 at once? It doesn't matter. These guys all look out for each other and they know when they have to look the other way. If Foley likes boys and Hastert likes hookers and Cheney likes skull fucking the corpses from his recent hunting expeditions, that's just fine and dandy within the ruling elite.

But stories like this aren't supposed to leak into the mainstream. And if they do, they are supposed to be buried quickly. So watch out for any attempts to do so (which will actually take the form of a deafening silence), and raise hell if you see it. I have no doubt that Hastert would have liked to cover this thing up way before the media caught wind of it. He should've put the kibosh on it long ago and now it's come around to bite him in the ass. He'll have to pay the piper.

Quite frankly, I suspect we've only scratched the surface of this one. The way that Foley resigned his seat -- not decided to quit his re-election campaign, not said he would work out the remainder of his term -- tells me that there may be more skeletons hidden in his closet. Possibly cute 15 year old skeletons with stories to tell. We shall see (but most likely we won't, whether they exist or not). I don't want to speculate (okay, yes I do), but I'm guessing that this goes waaaay deeper than "overly-friendly" notes to underage pages. I think we have to watch for something much worse. I can only subscribe Foley's quick exit (at the very beginning of the media frenzy) to a guilty conscience.

What horror lurks in Foley's closet?

Rep. Mark Foley (Republican) resigns after emails reveal him hitting on a 16 year old male congressional page

I mean, like, ewwwww!!

This guy is creepy, man. He's 52 years old and he's sending fairly explicit messages to teenaged pages. Pages, as you probably know, work for congresspeople in a sort of intern/gopher role. This particular page did not actually work for Foley, but they struck up a friendship. The page started getting freaked out after he gave his email address to Foley and ended up receiving some pretty sick emails. Raw Story has the emails if you want to check them out.

Foley has long marketed himself as a protector of children from sexual predation. In 2003, he became an outspoken critic of a summer nudist camp for children. An amendment by Foley to change federal sex offender laws became part of the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act of 2006.

Yeah, Foley loves children. He really, really looooooves children.

Like I said: Eww...

Rolling Stone and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. return with another look at election fraud

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has uncovered a bombshell in Chris Hood, former Diebold employee, who claims that he personally patched dozens of Diebold electronic voting machines with an unauthorized patch:

Then, one muggy day in mid-August, Hood was surprised to see the president of Diebold's election unit, Bob Urosevich, arrive in Georgia from his headquarters in Texas. With the primaries looming, Urosevich was personally distributing a "patch," a little piece of software designed to correct glitches in the computer program. "We were told that it was intended to fix the clock in the system, which it didn't do," Hood says. "The curious thing is the very swift, covert way this was done."

Georgia law mandates that any change made in voting machines be certified by the state. But thanks to Cox's agreement with Diebold, the company was essentially allowed to certify itself. "It was an unauthorized patch, and they were trying to keep it secret from the state," Hood told me. "We were told not to talk to county personnel about it. I received instructions directly from Urosevich. It was very unusual that a president of the company would give an order like that and be involved at that level."

According to Hood, Diebold employees altered software in some 5,000 machines in DeKalb and Fulton counties - the state's largest Democratic strongholds. To avoid detection, Hood and others on his team entered warehouses early in the morning. "We went in at 7:30 a.m. and were out by 11," Hood says. "There was a universal key to unlock the machines, and it's easy to get access. The machines in the warehouses were unlocked. We had control of everything. The state gave us the keys to the castle, so to speak, and they stayed out of our way." Hood personally patched fifty-six machines and witnessed the patch being applied to more than 1,200 others.

Gee, that's not suspicious or anything, is it?

Earlier in the article Hood says that the company was able to operate with unusual freedom since Georgia essentially privatized the election by giving Diebold (the highest bidder) the keys to the kingdom in order to get everything ready in a short timeframe.

Hood says it was "common knowledge" within the company that Diebold also illegally installed uncertified software in machines used in the 2004 presidential primaries - a charge the company denies. Disturbed to see the promise of electronic machines subverted by private companies, Hood left the election consulting business and became a whistle-blower. "What I saw," he says, "was basically a corporate takeover of our voting system."

How do we know we live in a democracy anymore? What proof do any of us have that the system is fair? Certainly, articles like this one don't inspire any faith in me, and I'd bet that that's the case for many folks out there.

So what should we do? Attack the messenger? Cross our fingers? Trust in Big Business?

None of those solutions are acceptable to me. I work with computers; I know what they can do. Hacking an election is trivial for Diebold. There's no receipt or evidence left behind for a manual recount. Once the election is stolen, it's gone for good. No recount is possible.

We need an open source solution, subject to rigid testing and public oversight if we're going to use electionic ballots. Personally, I'm not convinced of the need for an electronic system. But if we do go with e-voting we need to stay away from "blackbox" voting. They call it blackbox because anything could be going on in there. You have no way of knowing if the person you just voted for actually received your vote. It's far too uncertain. I prefer paper ballots for this reason.

The article goes on to deal with the ironically-named Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which actually does more to help Corporate America choose our representatives for us:

The primary author and steward of HAVA was Rep. Bob Ney, the GOP chairman of the powerful U.S. House Administration Committee. Ney had close ties to the now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose firm received at least $275,000 from Diebold to lobby for its touch-screen machines. Ney's former chief of staff, David DiStefano, also worked as a registered lobbyist for Diebold, receiving at least $180,000 from the firm to lobby for HAVA and "other election reform issues." Ney - who accepted campaign contributions from DiStefano and counted Diebold's then-CEO O'Dell among his constituents - made sure that HAVA strongly favored the use of the company's machines.

Ney also made sure that Diebold and other companies would not be required to equip their machines with printers to provide paper records that could be verified by voters. In a clever twist, HAVA effectively pressures every precinct to provide at least one voting device that has no paper trail - supposedly so that vision-impaired citizens can vote in secrecy.

This is dirty, dirty business. It won't be easy for Americans to believe that our (illegitimately elected, as it turns out) representatives and business leaders would be so evil to steal elections again and again, but America has a lot of waking up to do. "It can't happen here" seems to be our mantra.

But it can. And it has.

The War on Iran, Treason, and the origins of the Iran-Contra Scandal

October Surprise indeed! Check out this detailed story over at ConsortiumNews:

Having gone through the diplomatic motions with Iran, George W. Bush is shifting toward a military option that carries severe risks for American soldiers in Iraq as well as for long-term U.S. interests around the world. Yet, despite this looming crisis, the Bush Family continues to withhold key historical facts about U.S.-Iranian relations.

Those historical facts – relating to Republican contacts with Iran’s Islamic regime more than a quarter century ago – are relevant today because an underlying theme in Bush’s rationale for war is that direct negotiations with Iran are pointless. But Bush’s own father may know otherwise.

The evidence is now persuasive that George H.W. Bush participated in negotiations with Iran’s radical regime in 1980, behind President Jimmy Carter’s back, with the goal of arranging for 52 American hostages to be released after Bush and Ronald Reagan were sworn in as Vice President and President, respectively.

Keep reading. War-monger Bush isn't done with Iran yet. This is gonna get worse before it gets better.

Do we have what it takes to stop the Bush Regime before it attacks again?

Pentagon: Able Danger unit couldn't stop 9/11... because we wouldn't let them

The Pentagon has finished investigating itself, and it finds itself.... not guilty!!! Yayyy!! What a triumph of democracy and accountability. [/sarcasm]

Let's have Congressman Curt Weldon talk about that:

The World Can't Wait -- Destroy the Bush Regime before it destroys us

I noticed this full-page ad in the paper today:

The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime

They're calling for a work stoppage and massive protests on October 5th, 2006. BE THERE! Don't go into work/school. It's time to resist!

The protests planned include on in downtown Minneapolis. Details below:

Minneapolis, MN

2006-10-05
11:30AM
Federal Building, Minneapolis
Meet at Federal Building. Peaceful migration to Loring Park.
3PM Concert at Loring Park.
minneapolis@worldcantwait.org

Like I said. BE THERE!!!

FBI forced to triple fraud squads to keep up with rampant corruption on Capitol Hill

Title pretty much says it all. Here's the scoop:

There is so much political corruption on Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to triple the number of squads investigating lobbyists, lawmakers and influence peddlers, the Daily News has learned.

For decades, only one squad in Washington handled corruption cases because the crimes were seen as local offenses handled by FBI field offices in lawmakers' home districts.

But in recent years, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and other abuses of power and privilege have prompted the FBI to assign 37 agents full-time to three new squads in an office near Capitol Hill.

FBI Assistant Director Chip Burrus told The News yesterday that he wants to detail even more agents to the Washington field office for a fourth corruption squad because so much wrongdoing is being uncovered.

My advice for the FBI: Keep up the pace. We're gonna need a lot more agents if we want to get all of it. But I fear that the FBI lacks the political will to push too far, especially if the trail of corruption reaches too high up the chain of command. We need squeaky-clean corridors of power, but right now they're covered in filth and decay. Does the FBI have the strength to arrest all of the perpetrators, not just the ones who get hung out to dry by their masters?

Really, if we wanted to stop corruption we'd have to arrest everybody in Washington except the janitors and the maids.

Global takeover by the neocons has been in the works since at least 1987

A married couple were approached by Osama bin Laden's brothers in 1987. The brothers revealed the plot to destroy the World Trade Center in order to bring the U.S. into a position to invade the Middle East for its copious oil reserves:

The couple, working in the NASA scientific community, said neither of two brothers looked like Osama, but both emphatically said they were the 'mavericks' of the family, not wanting to participate with others in helping facilitate corrupt U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia.

The two scientists' first encounter with the Saudi aristocratic family members came in 1987 when the bin Ladens and others barged their way into the couple's Sedona Arizona home.

They said the bin Ladens were seeking general information about an advanced brain development project the couple worked on, as well as possibly trying to alert Americans about the U.S. government's intentions to control the Middle East and blow up the WTC in the process.

"I was shocked and didn't know what to make of them when they entered. Remember, back then, no one had an idea about 9/11 so I didn't know what to make of it," said Rachel Welch. 51, of Albuquerque. "Looking back, I think they thought we may have had a way to alert those inside NASA, sympathetic to Saudi interests, about U.S. intentions to takeover precious resources and oil reserves."

It's hard to tell if these people are full of shit or not, but the story it plausible at least. It's clear to me that 9/11 was nothing but a pretext for war in the Middle East. Look, we've got Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran is next on the list. Hell, we'll get Syria too, while we're at it. People don't seem to realize that we're Germany in 1940. This is ridiculous. We've got to stop this imperial madness!

During the first bin Laden encounter, the couple said those showed them sensitive documents and film, revealing the pre-planning for blowing up the WTC and intentions in government for a global takeover.

They said they were told that these sinister and deadly plans included an eventual catastrophic de-population of the world while at the same time taking control of the world's diminishing natural resources.

Eventually it's going to come home to roost. We can't send the world spiraling into suffering and death without reaping our karmic "reward." Every minute the war continues is a travesty. How have we become the empire? How have we become exactly what we defeated in Europe just over 60 years ago? How did people manage to forget so quickly?

Cheney's Finances Reveal He's Betting on a Bad Economy

According to Kiplinger's, the Cheneys, who may be worth close to $100 million, have invested the vast majority of their wealth overseas, in markets that do not fluctuate based on the U.S. dollar. Cheney's money is not in a blind trust.

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From Digg, as an FYI.

Here I am betting on a good economy and Cheney (the supposed patriot) is putting all his money in safe European investments?! What does he know that we don't?

Want the terrorists to win? Then be afraid and surrender your rights

I've never understood how the people who claim to be fighting the terrorists (Bush & co.) are the same ones who urge us to give up our civil liberties in order to do so.

I mean, I understand why Bush argues that: He's evil, he hates freedom and wants to turn America into a dictatorship. What I don't understand is why anybody actually falls for it. How stupid do you have to be?

I don't give a FUCK how many people the terrorists kill. I'm not giving up even one of my rights. Not a single one. Or else the terrorists win. (And if you've been reading this blog you should know who the real terrorists are... the same people arguing we should give up our liberties).

There's a new article in Wired that lays it down quite well:

The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics.

The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.

And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.

It's very simple: The goal of terrorism is terror. If you feel afraid -- terrified -- after a terrorist attack, then the terrorists have done their job. Don't let them win! Don't give in to fear.

I know it's hard to stare death, destruction and suffering in the face and laugh, but you must do it in order to stay free. And what scares me much more than death is the idea of living in slavery/tyranny.

We can't allow the terrorists to dictate the rules of the game or they will win. We've got to be rational about this: You're much more likely to die in a car crash than a terrorist attack. By a factor of 10+. Yet, do we hesitate to jump in a car and drive? You've mastered your fear when it comes to driving -- master your fear when it comes to living! Don't live in fear of death or terrorism. We can't give in to fear or the terrorists win. It's that simple.

The next time somebody tells you we should give up rights and liberties so that we can better defend against the terrorist threat, ask yourself: Whose side is he on? Isn't he playing into the terrorists' hands? Isn't the terrorists' goal to make us afraid and to trick us into acting on that fear?

Fear is the mind-killer. It won't be easy, but we must overcome our fear if we want to survive as a society. We can't let the terrorists push us around. It might seem sick, greeting a terrorist attack with a yawn, but that's what we have to do.

You know what pisses off a terrorist more than anything? Being ignored.

Seriously. They're already resigned to death. There's not much you can do to hurt them... except ignore them. They really hate that. Then they died for nothing!

Terrorism: It only works if you let it work on you. You have the power to make terrorism useless. Don't give in to fear!

NSA wiretapping program deemed unconstitutional by federal judge!

Yes! Best news I've heard all day! Think Progress has the scoop:

Fox News reports a federal district court in Detroit has ruled that the Bush administration’s NSA warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

Hell yeah!! I wonder what the neocons' next move will be. The judge has issued an injunction (pdf) (I'm glad to see James Bamford is one of the plaintiffs).

Only problem is: How will we ever know for sure that they've stopped the program? We didn't know when they started it -- it was revealed only recently. What mechanism do we have for ensuring that the NSA doesn't simply change the name of the program and ignore the judge's order?

The NSA is a rogue agency. We need Congress to crack it wide open and see what it's been hiding all these years.

Cheney is one sick fucker. He's a goddamn fascist; a satanic, criminal psychopath

And that's about the best thing I can say about him.

I'm sure you've all heard of the alleged plans to bring down 11 or 12 airplanes flying from Britain to the U.S., using liquid explosives. Well, I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. I'm a cynical bastard, perhaps, but I think this whole story is full of shit. It stinks to high heaven.

Cheney, meanwhile, is standing up for his buddy, Joe "Loser" Lieberman. This is what he had to say, shortly after learning of the supposed terror attack plans:

Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that one thing he found disturbing about the defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary on Tuesday was that "our adversaries in this conflict, the al Qaeda types, clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people." (Cheney made the comments after he was briefed on the suspected terror plot, according to a senior administration official.)

What the fuck is he talking about? Did he just basically call the voters who chose Ned Lamont "al Qaeda types"? Or is he saying that "Lamont is the al Qeada candidate"? Either way, that's basically slander. Not to mention stupid.

I don't know if Cheney is aware that 60% of Americans polled recently said that we should begin troop withdrawals by the end of the year, but that the type of thing he should be aware of. So are 60% of Americans traitors? According to Cheney, yes.

You know, the neocons are always very quick to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being a traitor. But we have a saying where I come from that goes, "Whoever smelt it, dealt it." Referring to farting, of course (this isn't the fucking NY Times). And I think that, crude as it is, it's often very correct. It is the neocons who are the traitors.

We are engaged in a war for the very soul of our great nation. These are dangerous times, and if we don't choose our fate wisely we will end up being ruled by a small cadre of psychotic fascists who use terror to achieve their political and financial goals. The neocons are evil, and somehow they've taken over our country. We have to get it back.

This story is but one small example of the lengths that the neocons will go to in order to hold onto their ill-gotten power. They will slander over half the nation, imply that anyone who disagrees with them is a "far-left extremist traitor" and cynically exploit terror threats to usurp more federal power.

We would not be in this situation if the media was doing it's job. This blog probably would not exist if the media was reliable and aggressive in its pursuit of truth. But it's not. The mainstream media has failed us again and again. They are failing us again today by not questioning the government's claims more aggressively.

Don't believe everything the government says. The government is utterly controlled by the evil neocons. It's time people wake up to that fact and vote accordingly.

Power Wars - Republicans using fake "Legalize Marijuana" campaign to trick voters

Title says it all. Here's the story from the Central Valley IndyMedia:

As I’m filling out my name and address on the petition I notice that the young lady is filling out a very official looking form. Probably just the ballot initiative form, I think to myself. Then, she says "is it OK if I register you as a Republican?" "What?!?" I say "yes, I do mind! What are you doing?" She says that if I register Republican she will get an extra 10 cents. But, I complain, "I don’t want to re-register." She explains that this is just to update the records for the County Clerks office. I repeat that "I do not want or need to update my records." I am repeatedly told that it is OK and that they just want to update my voter registration records. She also tells me that she is working for the Republican party, being paid hourly, and that the ploy about the "10 cent bonus" was not accurate.

This Republican party employee goes on to tell me that she is there to attract people to the table that is set up in Fresno’s Courthouse Park, and that the legalize marijuana petition is just a prop. She confirmed that there is no ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. She said that the petition will be given to an elected official in Sacramento. I have my doubts about that.

Man, who can you trust when the Republican Party lets you down? [snort!] [snort!]

It looks like the Republicans are desperately using every trick in the book to make people register as Republicans so that their electoral ploys this November will look more plausible. I'll keep an eye for any of these fake campaigns in my neck of the woods.

At least the Republicans know how popular their drug policy is; which is to say, not at all! Both parties remain committed to the continuation of the failed War on Drugs, despite its unpopularity with voters. Gee, sounds a bit like Iraq, doesn't it?

These ideological wars aren't waged because they're popular -- though they may be at the start -- they are waged to serve as a distraction and a power amplification conduit. The distraction part is obvious, but the power conduit part is less recognized. These wars transfer massive amounts of political, financial and military power to certain people within the government; that is the point of these wars. Bush/Cheney's wartime expansion of executive power is the prototypical example for this type of power amplification, and it is repeated down the chain of command, at least where it's relevant. The Dept. of Education hasn't gained much power from the War in Iraq. But the Drug Czar, the FBI, DEA and the CIA have all benefitted hugely from the War on Drugs.

Of course, the fact that the War on Drugs and the War in Iraq don't make sense from a rational point of view also constitutes an unanncounced War on Logic. Many of the neocons' statements seem to portend an upcoming War on Reality. We can only guess at what comes after that. Perhaps a War on Everybody is in the works?

Before that war, we've got a series of additional wars that need waging. The War on Syria and the long-awaited War on Iran are coming down the pipeline shortly. What other wars will we need after that? Well, perhaps a War on Every Other Islamic Nation will be needed because I suspect they will assume they're next even if they aren't. And who can blame them? We've been invading Islamic nations for awhile now. If we go into Iran and Syria that will make 4 that we've taken out in the last half-decade.

War, war, war!! It's a dirty business, but it hasn't to be waged, doesn't it?

Well, what about the power amplification conduit I mentioned earlier? What about the incredible amount of power we've transferred to the Pentagon, the White House, NSA, CIA and all the corporations helping them wage the war? Doesn't it seem clear that they are addicted to power? They constantly need more of it. They feed, but they're still hungry. More power!

When does it end?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It ends with the War on Everybody.