Con man

Sometimes it takes more than confidence.

Why do they hate us?

When we are so good.

Privatization fucks us again

A private company, USEC, was "spun-off" the Department of Energy, giving it the job of providing enriched uranium to the US. In addition to enriching uranium ore, they were asked to take old atom bombs from the USSR, and include that material in their nuclear fuel product. This line of production was more costly, so USEC secretly discouraged Russia from accelerating the shipment of its warheads to the US for processing. (Joseph Stiglitz)
[1] NY Times article, before the scandal
[2] Paducah Sun article about Russian warhead glut
[3] Stiglitz on the 'hush money' to MinAtom, the Russian partner

In other news

China walks in space.

Something is happening here

and you don't know what it is. Do you. Mr Jones.
[This] may help. It's the borg.

No Exit

[Art]

India helps Saadam go nuclear (Globe and Mail, 2005)

[full article]
Nuclear cooperation between India and Iraq started in 1974 under the direct supervision of Saddam Hussain himself on the Iraqi side when he was still the Vice President. Saadam flew to India specially to sign a Nuclear Cooperation Treaty with the then Indian Prime Minster Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The little known Treaty involved the exchange of scientists, training and technology.

India tested its first nuclear explosive device on 18 May 1974, in less than two months time from signing of these agreements.

Tyranny and backwardness

They go hand-in-hand. [Slater]
Which way are we headed?
--- He also says ---
the early Christians embraced radically democratic values and practices, but they, too, were soon engulfed by the universal authoritarianism of the age.

Dilawar

d. Dec 5, 2002,
Bagram, Afghanistan
while in custody

Intelligence failures

01. stability of Iran under the Shah
Jimmy Carter, new year's eve, 1977:
"Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world. This is a great tribute to you, your Majesty, and to your leadership, and to the respect and the admiration and love which your people give to you."
02. formerly known as the Soviet Union
03. Saadam will not invade Kuwait
04. Saadam is a grave and gathering threat
05. yellow cake
06. the fundamentals of the economy are sound
07. India's atomic bomb
08. Tonkin Gulf
09. remember the Maine
10. arctic ice caps
11. peak oil
12. Iran/contra
13. overthrow Allende
14. overthrow Hugo Chávez
15. overthrow Mohammad Mossadegh
16. overthrow Saadam
17. rejection of 'grand bargain' from Iran
18. we will be greeted with flowers
19. we do not torture
20. School of the Americas
21. De-Stalinization
22. Sputnik
23. the missle gap
24. overthrow Castro
25. Kobar Towers
26. the Pueblo
27. 9-11
28. Vietnam
29. World Trade Center Bombing
30. Douglas Feith *
31. Gorbachev
32. Pearl Harbor
33. Francis Gary Powers
34. the Chinese embassyin Yugoslavia
35. the Chinese will not cross the Yalu Rive
36. Alrich Ames

The dog that didn't bark

The US dollar continued to gain strength
despite the failure of the bailout.

Siebel Edmonds

[wikipedia]
Another loose thread, some 9/11 related

Drill, baby, drill

Is downing a six-pack to fix your hangover.

Rachel Corrie

The silver lining, or The upside side of down

[full article]
1. The End of American Empire
  The US will not be able to afford a global military presence.
2. Energy Availability
  A depression will force down demand.
3. From Offshoring to Onshoring
  After we default, no country will sell to us.
4. Decreasing Income Disparities
  The rich will lose their shirts, like everybody else.
5. We’re Headed There Anyway
  Might as well be happy.

John Bolton says we never said.

Bush never said Saddam was an "imminent threat". [article]
And in 2004, then-Director of the CIA George Tenet defended his organization's prewar estimates of Saddam Hussein's military might by saying, "They never said there was an imminent threat."

David Addington

Addington was the man behind the illegal wiretap policy.
Behind Addington? The Cheney.

Camp Victory, in Bagdad

View Larger Map

Camp Anaconda, in Balad

View Larger Map

Camp Cupcake, in Al Asad

View Larger Map
#2 of the 4 permanent bases in Iraq

The Predator Hellfire

The air war surge in Iraq.

CIA and cocane

Think Iran-Contra was the end of CIA drug trade?
Or that those who are above the law will not be attracted to drugs?
Drug plane crashes.

The bully pulpit

And the bully.

Unit of measure, oil imports

We import 7 of these a day.
14 million barrels per day.

The USDA is out to kill you

[flyer from 1947]
[TED: Ann Cooper on school lunches]
[TED: Mark Bittman - death at the steak]

The Inquisition

called by
Pope George II

Part of the Bush Doctrine
When He speaks, ex cathedra, as Commander
his views cannot be challenged.

Bush opposed investigating 911

He did not want to pull on that thread.
For good reason.

Pagan Rome killed many Christians

As has Christian Rome.
---
Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492,
the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first three centuries after Christ
was a mild and humane procedure...
  We must rank the Inquisition along with the wars and persecutions of our time
as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind...
Will Durant

Status of forces / IRAQ - draft version

courtesy of democracy now
translated by Raed Jarrar (AFS)
here

We have to stop destabilizing democracy

[29:15] Trouble in Haiti.

Something is hinky

Letterman on global warming: Been nice knowing you.
[The interview with T. Friedman] is also good.

God hopes for peace

[56:00] IVAW member, who served at Abu Ghraib.

Larry Everest

[28:30] The economy is not the issue.

To kill the other half

I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
Jay Gould

Right to bear cameras

The government correctly sees photos to be subversive.
[article]

The last super power

What about the USA?
Ruined, unless we get a tyrant.

Free speech: for what it's worth

This wall mural was painted over by the city of Denver just prior to the DNC.   The police claimed it was the work of anarchists.
Located at "The Other Side Arts", 1644 Platte, 2nd floor.
[story] [update]

Our permanent base in Iraq

"The new embassy will serve the same function that the Kinshasa embassy did during the cold war." Jim McDermmott to Jeremy Scahill from the DNC in denver, at 41:41

Alicia Forrest, CodePink, Denver DNC

Hit with the ever-popular "sucker punch" move.

Henry James

Life is, in fact, a battle.
Evil is insolent and strong; folly defiant; beauty rare.
Goodness apt to be weak; wickedness to carry the day.
Imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small.
And mankind generally unhappy.
But the world as it stands is no illusion, no evil dream of a night.
We wake up to it again for ever and ever.
We can neither forget it nor deny it
nor dispense with it.
Quoted in Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.

Will my grandchildren fly?

Or drive?

When Saudi Arabia collapses

will we send in the army?

Bizzare is not the word

for outlawing cameras in public.

Cut. cut.

Not that she couldn't have handled this question.

Operation "Just Because"

caution: link opens with sound playing
El Chorrillo. Thousands killed.
George Bush: "...yes, it has been worth it."

Collateral damage

to a war with Iran.
When the oil from Iran shuts down, so will Europe.

Impeach Bush

Or else apologize to Nixon.
He only bugged the DNC, and erased 8 minutes of tape.

Fingerprinting mortgage loan officers?

The mortgage rescue package includes fingerprinting loan officers.
How is that related?
Ron Paul

Malalai Joya

For president.

Missile agreement with Czech Republic

Why we didn't put the missiles in Turkey?
Guess they didn't want them.

The Boston Tea Party

Why did they dress up as Native Americans?
If it were done today, would they dress up as Chicanos?

Impeach the Enabler

Impeach Pelosi, se puede.

In the name of God, stop the repression

Archbishop Oscar Romero, of El Salvador,
killed by a soldier from Fort Benning, Georgia.
----2008/07/31
Defense Minister Jose Guillermo Garcia, a graduate of the School of the Americas, was implicated in the deaths of Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan.
--
Reagan's Jeane Kirkpatrick, said they were not "just nuns", but political activists.
--
Regan's Alexander Haig said "there may have been an exchange of gunfire" as "they tried to run a roadblock." Maybe and maybe not?

Pyramid scheme

All businesses tend to scoot money to the top. It is as natural as black holes.
What are the checks to black holes? Other black holes, possibly, and the nature of reality.
What is to stop the concentration of wealth? Other thieves, plus the laws of the land. If they can buy off the lawmakers, then it is just - other thieves.

Peak Oil / Exports

The issue for the USA is the size of the oil export market.
Today, 35 million barrels per day are available, [larger graph]
but Mexico's and Russia's exports are declining.
The UK no longer exports any of its oil from the North Sea.

The USA imports 13 mbbl/day, of the 35 available.

Bureaucrats lie about Korean war MIAs

Documents received in a March 2003 meeting in Beijing appear to undercut the Pentagon's public stance that China returned all POWs it held. The stories that circulate about American prisoners not returned after the war, and held in Chinese prison camps, is confirmed, despite the Pentagon's assurances to the contrary.
[related MSNBC story]

James John Regan

February 9, 2007

Love it or leave it

Leave it.

Military apprehends Militants

Militants cannot be offered POW status,
AKA professional courtesy,
because they are slobs.

Everything.

Everything...