Bush fell off his bike AGAIN!
We should get together and get him some training wheels.
Politics, Everyday, All day... morning, noon and night....
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DVD Burner
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DVD Burner
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- Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2003 3:09 am
- Burning Since: 1986
- Camp Name: White Trash Camp
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controversal politics today. These 2 for 1:
Vanunu: JFK Murder Conspiracy Linked to Israel
by URI DOWBENKO
Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said that according to "near-certain indications" US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, due to "pressure he exerted on then head of government, David Ben-Gurion, to shed light on Dimona's nuclear reactor."
An Israeli nuclear technician, Vanunu was imprisoned for 18 years after revealing that Israel had illegal nuclear weapons technology. He was released in April 2004 and banned from talking to the media.
Vanunu's allegations coincide with evidence from a ground-breaking book by Michael Collins Piper called "Final Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy," which details numerous connections between the murder of President Kennedy, the CIA, FBI, the Mafia, Organized Crime Boss Meyer Lansky, the Israeli Lobby and Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
In an interview with the UK-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Vanunu was quoted as saying, "We do not know which irresponsible Israeli prime minister will take office and decide to use nuclear weapons in the struggle against neighboring Arab countries.
What has already been exposed about the weapons Israel is holding can destroy the region and kill millions."
Vanunu also said that the Israeli reactor in Dimona could become a "second Chernobyl," referring to the Soviet-era nuclear disaster in Ukraine which killed and/or poisoned millions and polluted the area for thousands of years.
In addtion, Vanunu said that an earthquake at the Dimona nuclear facility could cause fissures to the core which could produce a serious radiation leak "threatening millions" of people in the Middle East.
The assassination of JFK was covered up by the notorious Warren Commission Report, which blamed CIA patsy Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder.
Even though the Warren Commission Report has been thoroughly discredited as a government whitewash, the conspirators who engineered the JFK assasination have never been tried.
Meanwhile the ludicrous Warren Commission Report helped popularize the term "lone nut killer," which has subsequently been used in every government cover-up, including the murders of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and numerous other politically incorrect leaders in America.
CIA- Israeli Mossad Directed Iraqi Rapes of Women
by ERNESTO CIENFUEGOS - LA VOZ DE AZTLAN
The new photographs released today of the depraved sexual abuse of Iraqi POW's by the US Military Police on orders of CIA and Israeli operatives at the Abu Ghraib prison still do not show the worst of the war crimes.
The photographs so far officially released are, without exception, only of male Iraqi prisoners of war.
According to returning Mexican-American soldiers and staff members of Congressmen who have viewed the videos and photographs in private sessions, there are far more shocking photographs that have not been released to the public.
Senator Richard J. Durbin himself said "There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the rings of hell, and sadly it was our own creation".
Other members of Congress said, after viewing the images, that they included Iraqi women exposing their breasts and other private parts. Congressman Martin T. Meehan said, ''I was obviously shocked and horrified to discover that the new photos are even more gruesome than those we have seen in the media.
Vanunu: JFK Murder Conspiracy Linked to Israel
by URI DOWBENKO
Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said that according to "near-certain indications" US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, due to "pressure he exerted on then head of government, David Ben-Gurion, to shed light on Dimona's nuclear reactor."
An Israeli nuclear technician, Vanunu was imprisoned for 18 years after revealing that Israel had illegal nuclear weapons technology. He was released in April 2004 and banned from talking to the media.
Vanunu's allegations coincide with evidence from a ground-breaking book by Michael Collins Piper called "Final Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy," which details numerous connections between the murder of President Kennedy, the CIA, FBI, the Mafia, Organized Crime Boss Meyer Lansky, the Israeli Lobby and Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
In an interview with the UK-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Vanunu was quoted as saying, "We do not know which irresponsible Israeli prime minister will take office and decide to use nuclear weapons in the struggle against neighboring Arab countries.
What has already been exposed about the weapons Israel is holding can destroy the region and kill millions."
Vanunu also said that the Israeli reactor in Dimona could become a "second Chernobyl," referring to the Soviet-era nuclear disaster in Ukraine which killed and/or poisoned millions and polluted the area for thousands of years.
In addtion, Vanunu said that an earthquake at the Dimona nuclear facility could cause fissures to the core which could produce a serious radiation leak "threatening millions" of people in the Middle East.
The assassination of JFK was covered up by the notorious Warren Commission Report, which blamed CIA patsy Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder.
Even though the Warren Commission Report has been thoroughly discredited as a government whitewash, the conspirators who engineered the JFK assasination have never been tried.
Meanwhile the ludicrous Warren Commission Report helped popularize the term "lone nut killer," which has subsequently been used in every government cover-up, including the murders of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and numerous other politically incorrect leaders in America.
CIA- Israeli Mossad Directed Iraqi Rapes of Women
by ERNESTO CIENFUEGOS - LA VOZ DE AZTLAN
The new photographs released today of the depraved sexual abuse of Iraqi POW's by the US Military Police on orders of CIA and Israeli operatives at the Abu Ghraib prison still do not show the worst of the war crimes.
The photographs so far officially released are, without exception, only of male Iraqi prisoners of war.
According to returning Mexican-American soldiers and staff members of Congressmen who have viewed the videos and photographs in private sessions, there are far more shocking photographs that have not been released to the public.
Senator Richard J. Durbin himself said "There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the rings of hell, and sadly it was our own creation".
Other members of Congress said, after viewing the images, that they included Iraqi women exposing their breasts and other private parts. Congressman Martin T. Meehan said, ''I was obviously shocked and horrified to discover that the new photos are even more gruesome than those we have seen in the media.
https://www.facebook.com/NeXTCODER
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cowboyangel
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DVD Burner
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Simply Joel
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cowboyangel
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any doubts about how difficult this idiot war is for the soldiers and their families....listen to this
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/ ... 01:37:24.8
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/ ... 01:37:24.8
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981
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Simply Joel
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"They apologized a lot; they said they chose the wrong man to do such an action."
MUHAMMAD MAMDOUH QUTB, an Egyptian diplomat held hostage for four days in Iraq.
I could be wrong... but from where I am sitting... they chose the "wrong action" as well.
MUHAMMAD MAMDOUH QUTB, an Egyptian diplomat held hostage for four days in Iraq.
I could be wrong... but from where I am sitting... they chose the "wrong action" as well.
Democrats... snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, daily!
slap my salmon, baby
slap my salmon, baby
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Simply Joel
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July 28, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Unbearable Emptiness
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
SALEM, Ore. — Ever since a group of Iraqis told me last year about seeing a redheaded American soldier who was captured, held naked and then executed, I've been haunted by the question of his identity.
The first clues were in Nasiriya, Iraq, where in the aftermath of the war I interviewed the doctors and hospital staff who had cared for Pfc. Jessica Lynch. They said that the Pentagon had exaggerated the drama of her rescue, but what I could never put out of my mind was their tale of another American, whose name they never knew.
Abdul Hadi, an ambulance driver, tried to pick up a male American P.O.W. being held by Saddam Fedayeen. The American, he said, had been stripped naked and handcuffed, but he was allowed to smoke a cigarette while under guard. The prisoner, Mr. Hadi said, was about 19, with short red hair, lightly injured in the leg.
The hospital staff said the guards refused to give up the American and threatened the ambulance crew with guns and grenades. So the ambulance retreated - and several hours later, the same P.O.W. was brought to the hospital as a corpse, shot dead.
I mentioned this American in a sentence in my column at the time, but cautiously, because I couldn't match him with any known P.O.W., and I later wondered if the whole tale had been concocted.
Then I heard about Sgt. Donald Walters. He was a cook who vanished in the same firefight in which Jessica Lynch was captured, and his body was later recovered in Nasiriya. But some details didn't fit. He was 33, not 19. And his hair was said to be blond, not red.
So I visited Sergeant Walters's parents, Norman and Arlene Walters, at their home here in Salem, Ore. As they sat in their living room, heavy with memorials, photos and grief, Mr. and Mrs. Walters said that Don's hair had actually been reddish-blond, he had been injured in the leg, and he had smoked. Photos also show he looked young for his age.
What's more, the U.S. military recently informed Mr. and Mrs. Walters that Don had been captured before being shot.
It also seems that the heroism originally attributed to Private Lynch may actually have been Sergeant Walters's. Iraqi radio intercepts had described a blond U.S. soldier fighting tenaciously, and the Army this year awarded him a posthumous Silver Star in implicit acknowledgment that he was probably that soldier.
The citation reads: "His actions and selfless courage under fire resulted in saving lives of several other members of the convoy" - perhaps including Private Lynch. His cover fire allowed fellow soldiers to escape, while he remained alone in a hostile city; when he ran out of ammunition, he ran but was captured. So it looks as if the paramount hero of that day was not the one we thought, but rather a soldier who died anonymously.
Sergeant Walters left three children, then 9 months, 6 years and 8 years old. A veteran of the first gulf war, he had re-enlisted out of patriotism after 9/11.
Red, white and blue are everywhere in Mr. and Mrs. Walters's house, and Mr. Walters says that if he were president, he would threaten to nuke Baghdad unless the insurgency stopped, although in his next breath he backs off. I asked Mrs. Walters if she felt that her son had fallen for a noble purpose.
"That's hard," she said, pausing. "I have to feel that way, because so many soldiers have lost their lives."
One of the revelations in the 9/11 commission report was the casualness of the resort to war. On the afternoon of Sept. 11, Donald Rumsfeld spoke of attacking Saddam Hussein, and President Bush began asking about Iraq the next day. Older men blithely found a war for younger men and women to die in.
The result is the unbearable emptiness in homes like the Walters's all across America - and, even more often, in Iraq. The American victims are disproportionately from working-class families, not well represented either in White House meetings or in this newspaper's readership. It is those families of the dead and wounded who are bearing 99.9 percent of the burden of this war.
When hawks say that the Iraq war was worth the price, they should remember that that price is measured in the lives of people like Don Walters, forever young, forever heroes, forever gone.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
and when doves speak of it... I hope to hear some respect for the dead.
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Unbearable Emptiness
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
SALEM, Ore. — Ever since a group of Iraqis told me last year about seeing a redheaded American soldier who was captured, held naked and then executed, I've been haunted by the question of his identity.
The first clues were in Nasiriya, Iraq, where in the aftermath of the war I interviewed the doctors and hospital staff who had cared for Pfc. Jessica Lynch. They said that the Pentagon had exaggerated the drama of her rescue, but what I could never put out of my mind was their tale of another American, whose name they never knew.
Abdul Hadi, an ambulance driver, tried to pick up a male American P.O.W. being held by Saddam Fedayeen. The American, he said, had been stripped naked and handcuffed, but he was allowed to smoke a cigarette while under guard. The prisoner, Mr. Hadi said, was about 19, with short red hair, lightly injured in the leg.
The hospital staff said the guards refused to give up the American and threatened the ambulance crew with guns and grenades. So the ambulance retreated - and several hours later, the same P.O.W. was brought to the hospital as a corpse, shot dead.
I mentioned this American in a sentence in my column at the time, but cautiously, because I couldn't match him with any known P.O.W., and I later wondered if the whole tale had been concocted.
Then I heard about Sgt. Donald Walters. He was a cook who vanished in the same firefight in which Jessica Lynch was captured, and his body was later recovered in Nasiriya. But some details didn't fit. He was 33, not 19. And his hair was said to be blond, not red.
So I visited Sergeant Walters's parents, Norman and Arlene Walters, at their home here in Salem, Ore. As they sat in their living room, heavy with memorials, photos and grief, Mr. and Mrs. Walters said that Don's hair had actually been reddish-blond, he had been injured in the leg, and he had smoked. Photos also show he looked young for his age.
What's more, the U.S. military recently informed Mr. and Mrs. Walters that Don had been captured before being shot.
It also seems that the heroism originally attributed to Private Lynch may actually have been Sergeant Walters's. Iraqi radio intercepts had described a blond U.S. soldier fighting tenaciously, and the Army this year awarded him a posthumous Silver Star in implicit acknowledgment that he was probably that soldier.
The citation reads: "His actions and selfless courage under fire resulted in saving lives of several other members of the convoy" - perhaps including Private Lynch. His cover fire allowed fellow soldiers to escape, while he remained alone in a hostile city; when he ran out of ammunition, he ran but was captured. So it looks as if the paramount hero of that day was not the one we thought, but rather a soldier who died anonymously.
Sergeant Walters left three children, then 9 months, 6 years and 8 years old. A veteran of the first gulf war, he had re-enlisted out of patriotism after 9/11.
Red, white and blue are everywhere in Mr. and Mrs. Walters's house, and Mr. Walters says that if he were president, he would threaten to nuke Baghdad unless the insurgency stopped, although in his next breath he backs off. I asked Mrs. Walters if she felt that her son had fallen for a noble purpose.
"That's hard," she said, pausing. "I have to feel that way, because so many soldiers have lost their lives."
One of the revelations in the 9/11 commission report was the casualness of the resort to war. On the afternoon of Sept. 11, Donald Rumsfeld spoke of attacking Saddam Hussein, and President Bush began asking about Iraq the next day. Older men blithely found a war for younger men and women to die in.
The result is the unbearable emptiness in homes like the Walters's all across America - and, even more often, in Iraq. The American victims are disproportionately from working-class families, not well represented either in White House meetings or in this newspaper's readership. It is those families of the dead and wounded who are bearing 99.9 percent of the burden of this war.
When hawks say that the Iraq war was worth the price, they should remember that that price is measured in the lives of people like Don Walters, forever young, forever heroes, forever gone.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
and when doves speak of it... I hope to hear some respect for the dead.
Democrats... snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, daily!
slap my salmon, baby
slap my salmon, baby
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Rian Jackson
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Today's News from the Front Lines (from Aaron):
Hello to family and friends. I am writing to you from inside the town of Jenin, occupied Palestine.
Maybe I should have written sooner. There is not enough time to adequately relate all my experiences of the last week in one email. I haven't even the time to process anything. Here events roll past me fast. Military incursions in Nablus and Tulkarm yesterday, six political assassinations in Tulkarm Monday, an unarmed man shot after running at Huwwara checkpoint Monday, and god knows what about the explosions that keep coming from the Jenin refugee camp.
It is little wonder why the Western Media barely reports most of what goes on here, and usually reduces it to a statistic, sitting in the back of some newspaper looking unimportant. The daily Palestinian death count, old news, little entertainment value. It has been all around me, and I’m quite overwhelmed by the whole thing. There is no avoiding it, there is evidence in the colourful resistance graffiti that marks every wall and the ever-present posters of the shahiid (martyrs), and in the people's stories.
A resident of Jenin, Bassan, says that he was once tied to a chair, handcuffed, and with a bag over his head that reeked of urine. He sat there, in Israeli prison, for seventy-five days, with only a two minute break every day for a little water and bread. There was no trial, and no actual charge of a crime. Like I said, everyone has a story like this. Most nights in Jenin I hear gunshots, low-flying helicopters. It is around me and I hear it and hear about it, but it has felt surreal, having been around it but not seen it. Surreal, I suppose, until yesterday when I saw and experienced some of it for the first time.
It was very much in contrast with a demonstration we had on Monday at Huwwara checkpoint outside Nablus, where we, Internationals with the ISM and Palestinians, managed to occupy the checkpoint for over an hour with no violence from the soldiers. Wednesday evening, the ISM volunteers from the Jenin region attempted to non-violently remove a roadblock with the villagers of Jabbad.
It didn't take the soldiers very long to explode a military-grade tear gas canister near my face. I went into shock for a moment, and inhaled tear gas, but the shebab were quite to grab me and take me into safety. The blast from the explosion gave me cuts and bruises, el-hamdulelah (praise be to god) that it is nothing serious. I was hospitalised with five others, one Irish, one Swedish, and three Palestinian.
For me, it was nothing, honestly. A doctor wiped my face with something and I walked out of hospital fine. He talked about being a doctor in Jabbad, he had an astute sense of humor, but he was in real emotional pain, he would say "sometimes we get fifty, sixty wounded a day". As internationals we are often asked to stand on the front line of non-violent demonstrations like this one as a way to prevent the military from using violence.
It is difficult, however, because there is only so much one can do. Whenever the Palestinians protest, there are serious repercussions for the local population. The entire village is punished. The demonstration was pushed up into a residential area in the village by APCs (armoured personnel carriers), which meant that sound bombs and gas canisters were exploded in neighbourhoods.
When plastic coated steel bullets were fired indiscriminately at the villagers, some of the shebab responded with stones. A curfew was declared, meaning everyone in the entire village must be in their homes, or face the soldiers. All night there were APCs patrolling the dirt roads, sometimes firing warning shots and broadcasting messages in Hebrew.
The internationals stayed with the villagers that night to make sure that no one participating in the protests got arrested. For a Palestinian, arrest can mean six months or one year in prison without trial. Israel can claim "administrative detention", and not have to tell you what you did to justify behind held in prison until one day after one year.
For whatever reason I seemed to earn the respect of every resident of the town for having a visible wound, however minor. I was well attended to that night, everyone wanted to come see me. I felt weird about it, because I didn't do anything courageous or anything to learn their respect necessarily, at least nothing that different than what the other internationals were doing.
The only difference being that a tear gas canister blew up close to my face by coincidence. It was as if I had been initiated to an age-old ritual, getting hurt by the state of Israel. The doctor joked with me that "this is the first time the army has launched cats", in reference to my scratches, "for this we will give to you a Palestinian passport". I didn't get it, I hadn't yet seen the scratches in the mirror and there are no Palestinian passports.
Hello to family and friends. I am writing to you from inside the town of Jenin, occupied Palestine.
Maybe I should have written sooner. There is not enough time to adequately relate all my experiences of the last week in one email. I haven't even the time to process anything. Here events roll past me fast. Military incursions in Nablus and Tulkarm yesterday, six political assassinations in Tulkarm Monday, an unarmed man shot after running at Huwwara checkpoint Monday, and god knows what about the explosions that keep coming from the Jenin refugee camp.
It is little wonder why the Western Media barely reports most of what goes on here, and usually reduces it to a statistic, sitting in the back of some newspaper looking unimportant. The daily Palestinian death count, old news, little entertainment value. It has been all around me, and I’m quite overwhelmed by the whole thing. There is no avoiding it, there is evidence in the colourful resistance graffiti that marks every wall and the ever-present posters of the shahiid (martyrs), and in the people's stories.
A resident of Jenin, Bassan, says that he was once tied to a chair, handcuffed, and with a bag over his head that reeked of urine. He sat there, in Israeli prison, for seventy-five days, with only a two minute break every day for a little water and bread. There was no trial, and no actual charge of a crime. Like I said, everyone has a story like this. Most nights in Jenin I hear gunshots, low-flying helicopters. It is around me and I hear it and hear about it, but it has felt surreal, having been around it but not seen it. Surreal, I suppose, until yesterday when I saw and experienced some of it for the first time.
It was very much in contrast with a demonstration we had on Monday at Huwwara checkpoint outside Nablus, where we, Internationals with the ISM and Palestinians, managed to occupy the checkpoint for over an hour with no violence from the soldiers. Wednesday evening, the ISM volunteers from the Jenin region attempted to non-violently remove a roadblock with the villagers of Jabbad.
It didn't take the soldiers very long to explode a military-grade tear gas canister near my face. I went into shock for a moment, and inhaled tear gas, but the shebab were quite to grab me and take me into safety. The blast from the explosion gave me cuts and bruises, el-hamdulelah (praise be to god) that it is nothing serious. I was hospitalised with five others, one Irish, one Swedish, and three Palestinian.
For me, it was nothing, honestly. A doctor wiped my face with something and I walked out of hospital fine. He talked about being a doctor in Jabbad, he had an astute sense of humor, but he was in real emotional pain, he would say "sometimes we get fifty, sixty wounded a day". As internationals we are often asked to stand on the front line of non-violent demonstrations like this one as a way to prevent the military from using violence.
It is difficult, however, because there is only so much one can do. Whenever the Palestinians protest, there are serious repercussions for the local population. The entire village is punished. The demonstration was pushed up into a residential area in the village by APCs (armoured personnel carriers), which meant that sound bombs and gas canisters were exploded in neighbourhoods.
When plastic coated steel bullets were fired indiscriminately at the villagers, some of the shebab responded with stones. A curfew was declared, meaning everyone in the entire village must be in their homes, or face the soldiers. All night there were APCs patrolling the dirt roads, sometimes firing warning shots and broadcasting messages in Hebrew.
The internationals stayed with the villagers that night to make sure that no one participating in the protests got arrested. For a Palestinian, arrest can mean six months or one year in prison without trial. Israel can claim "administrative detention", and not have to tell you what you did to justify behind held in prison until one day after one year.
For whatever reason I seemed to earn the respect of every resident of the town for having a visible wound, however minor. I was well attended to that night, everyone wanted to come see me. I felt weird about it, because I didn't do anything courageous or anything to learn their respect necessarily, at least nothing that different than what the other internationals were doing.
The only difference being that a tear gas canister blew up close to my face by coincidence. It was as if I had been initiated to an age-old ritual, getting hurt by the state of Israel. The doctor joked with me that "this is the first time the army has launched cats", in reference to my scratches, "for this we will give to you a Palestinian passport". I didn't get it, I hadn't yet seen the scratches in the mirror and there are no Palestinian passports.
surlier than thou
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Simply Joel
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And now a letter from a burning man friend of mine in Iraq...
Hey there everyone!!!
Sorry it has been a while since my last update to you all. Things have been a little hectic around here. Not necessarily dangerous, just hectic. We have been stepping up our inspections to the various oil sites in this region, so just a lot of time out and about.
The last time I wrote, the transition of authority to the new Iraqi government had just taken place and many of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) personnel were leaving to go home. Well, the population of our compound has continued to drop; now down to about 150. And, the compound itself is now a U.S. Embassy. Iraq, of course, is a unique situation for the State Department. Normally, there is only one U.S. Embassy in a given country - Iraq now has four; the main one is in Baghdad and then there are three satellite embassies in Mosul, Kirkuk, and Basrah. We have been having a period of adjustment to the new operating procedures of an embassy environment. Mainly just minor stuff; new identification cards, different security measures, mess hall rules, and etc. We thought the numbers would build back up again very quickly with a surge of new State Department folks. However, it seems that many of the “adventure-minded” Foreign Service types have just been plain ta pped out over the last year or so. And, as this posting is a volunteer one for them, it looks as if the numbers in our camp will continue to stay low.
The few CPA’ers of us that are left have been commenting on how the camp is very different now (not just because of the new embassy stuff). The CPA effort was very much an international one; there were the Brits, Italians, Danes, Aussies, and the Swedes. It was always nice to sit down with them and learn about their countries, cultures, clear up any misinformed notions of each other, and, at the very least, just do impressions of each others accents – that was always good for a few laughs. Some new personnel here would be a nice diversion. Talking to new people helps to combat the “Groundhog Day” effect (Bill Murray movie). Oh well, in due time, I’m sure they’ll come.
Our mission outside the camp continues. The activity in the South has remained the same. Before we go out of the camp we always consult an “Out of Bounds” report that is updated every evening and details any new nefarious activity by the different groups that are operating in our area. The report usually highlights Improvised Explosive Device (IED) threat areas, militia activity, collapsed bridges, and etc. However, we just had an interesting one show up in the last week: Leprosy. Apparently, there is a Leper colony in the Southern-most portion of Iraq and we have been advised to not stop within 500 meters of its location. I’m almost certain that leprosy is contagious, so we’ll be steering clear of that one. That one kind of hit me as odd, an illness that dates back to biblical times and all – but, hey, I guess I’m nestled here in the biblical lands…go figure.
More specifically with the mission we have here – oil site protection – we have been discovering that there is a vast network of corruption that lies just beneath the surface of the everyday routine here. Aside from the normal pipeline attacks, which have been decreasing, we are finding that there is a heck of a lot of smuggling and black marketeering going on behind the scenes. Essentially, what happens is that there are several petroleum products i.e. crude oil, diesel fuel, and benzene (gasoline) that flows throughout the pipelines that snake across the country. The smuggling comes in when some entrepreneurial types (and there are a heck of a lot of them) go out to one of these numerous pipelines in the desert; places a tap in the line, and fills up his 5,000 gallon tanker truck. The smuggler then takes the truck over to the Shat al Arab River (which runs between Iraq and Iran) and the product is then downloaded to a fishing boat and is either sold, for a hefty profit , in Iran or down to the United Arab Emirates. The security force that we have set up down here just does not have the manpower or resources to eradicate this type of activity. What makes this even more frustrating is that it is seemingly condoned and supported by the people in power. I have always been one to dislike the saying, “That’s not my Job,” but in this case, this eradication of corrupt practices is really “not my job” here. One thing we are not is Elliot Ness and the Untouchables weeding out the rackets in Basrah. There is just so much money that is made behind the scenes that to try to uncover it will only paint a bull’s-eye on your chest. Besides, we already have one just because we’re Americans. And, two would just be too much! We are realizing that you just have to put your blinders on and focus on the “exact” job you were sent here to do. And, hey, if the Iraqis, who are now in charge, don’t see a problem with it, why should we. I guess this situation kind of falls into the category of “what are we trying to accomplish here?”
On not such a serious side, we’re leaving in the morning for Kuwait. We have to pick up some supplies at Camp Doha (just outside of Kuwait City) and drop some of our Private Security Detachment guys at the airport so they can go on leave. We’ll be staying overnight, so we might just head over to the Kuwait T.G.I.Fridays for a nice dinner – a little Americana and a nice T-bone steak might be really nice.
The temperature here continues to climb. We are currently at 125 degrees during the peak of the day. It’s reminiscent of the blast you get in the face when you open up the door to an oven. Once you take a bottle of water out of a cooler, you better have that thing guzzled down in less than five minutes. Any longer than that and the water is the perfect temperature to add to a Ramen Cup-O-Noodles. And, believe it or not, we still have another 15 degrees to go once we get into August.
Hey there everyone!!!
Sorry it has been a while since my last update to you all. Things have been a little hectic around here. Not necessarily dangerous, just hectic. We have been stepping up our inspections to the various oil sites in this region, so just a lot of time out and about.
The last time I wrote, the transition of authority to the new Iraqi government had just taken place and many of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) personnel were leaving to go home. Well, the population of our compound has continued to drop; now down to about 150. And, the compound itself is now a U.S. Embassy. Iraq, of course, is a unique situation for the State Department. Normally, there is only one U.S. Embassy in a given country - Iraq now has four; the main one is in Baghdad and then there are three satellite embassies in Mosul, Kirkuk, and Basrah. We have been having a period of adjustment to the new operating procedures of an embassy environment. Mainly just minor stuff; new identification cards, different security measures, mess hall rules, and etc. We thought the numbers would build back up again very quickly with a surge of new State Department folks. However, it seems that many of the “adventure-minded” Foreign Service types have just been plain ta pped out over the last year or so. And, as this posting is a volunteer one for them, it looks as if the numbers in our camp will continue to stay low.
The few CPA’ers of us that are left have been commenting on how the camp is very different now (not just because of the new embassy stuff). The CPA effort was very much an international one; there were the Brits, Italians, Danes, Aussies, and the Swedes. It was always nice to sit down with them and learn about their countries, cultures, clear up any misinformed notions of each other, and, at the very least, just do impressions of each others accents – that was always good for a few laughs. Some new personnel here would be a nice diversion. Talking to new people helps to combat the “Groundhog Day” effect (Bill Murray movie). Oh well, in due time, I’m sure they’ll come.
Our mission outside the camp continues. The activity in the South has remained the same. Before we go out of the camp we always consult an “Out of Bounds” report that is updated every evening and details any new nefarious activity by the different groups that are operating in our area. The report usually highlights Improvised Explosive Device (IED) threat areas, militia activity, collapsed bridges, and etc. However, we just had an interesting one show up in the last week: Leprosy. Apparently, there is a Leper colony in the Southern-most portion of Iraq and we have been advised to not stop within 500 meters of its location. I’m almost certain that leprosy is contagious, so we’ll be steering clear of that one. That one kind of hit me as odd, an illness that dates back to biblical times and all – but, hey, I guess I’m nestled here in the biblical lands…go figure.
More specifically with the mission we have here – oil site protection – we have been discovering that there is a vast network of corruption that lies just beneath the surface of the everyday routine here. Aside from the normal pipeline attacks, which have been decreasing, we are finding that there is a heck of a lot of smuggling and black marketeering going on behind the scenes. Essentially, what happens is that there are several petroleum products i.e. crude oil, diesel fuel, and benzene (gasoline) that flows throughout the pipelines that snake across the country. The smuggling comes in when some entrepreneurial types (and there are a heck of a lot of them) go out to one of these numerous pipelines in the desert; places a tap in the line, and fills up his 5,000 gallon tanker truck. The smuggler then takes the truck over to the Shat al Arab River (which runs between Iraq and Iran) and the product is then downloaded to a fishing boat and is either sold, for a hefty profit , in Iran or down to the United Arab Emirates. The security force that we have set up down here just does not have the manpower or resources to eradicate this type of activity. What makes this even more frustrating is that it is seemingly condoned and supported by the people in power. I have always been one to dislike the saying, “That’s not my Job,” but in this case, this eradication of corrupt practices is really “not my job” here. One thing we are not is Elliot Ness and the Untouchables weeding out the rackets in Basrah. There is just so much money that is made behind the scenes that to try to uncover it will only paint a bull’s-eye on your chest. Besides, we already have one just because we’re Americans. And, two would just be too much! We are realizing that you just have to put your blinders on and focus on the “exact” job you were sent here to do. And, hey, if the Iraqis, who are now in charge, don’t see a problem with it, why should we. I guess this situation kind of falls into the category of “what are we trying to accomplish here?”
On not such a serious side, we’re leaving in the morning for Kuwait. We have to pick up some supplies at Camp Doha (just outside of Kuwait City) and drop some of our Private Security Detachment guys at the airport so they can go on leave. We’ll be staying overnight, so we might just head over to the Kuwait T.G.I.Fridays for a nice dinner – a little Americana and a nice T-bone steak might be really nice.
The temperature here continues to climb. We are currently at 125 degrees during the peak of the day. It’s reminiscent of the blast you get in the face when you open up the door to an oven. Once you take a bottle of water out of a cooler, you better have that thing guzzled down in less than five minutes. Any longer than that and the water is the perfect temperature to add to a Ramen Cup-O-Noodles. And, believe it or not, we still have another 15 degrees to go once we get into August.
Democrats... snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, daily!
slap my salmon, baby
slap my salmon, baby
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DVD Burner
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So can anyone explain the diffrence to me between this corruption and what Halliburton does?More specifically with the mission we have here – oil site protection – we have been discovering that there is a vast network of corruption that lies just beneath the surface of the everyday routine here. Aside from the normal pipeline attacks, which have been decreasing, we are finding that there is a heck of a lot of smuggling and black marketeering going on behind the scenes. Essentially, what happens is that there are several petroleum products i.e. crude oil, diesel fuel, and benzene (gasoline) that flows throughout the pipelines that snake across the country. The smuggling comes in when some entrepreneurial types (and there are a heck of a lot of them) go out to one of these numerous pipelines in the desert;
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Simply Joel
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Simply Joel
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Rian Jackson
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DVD Burner
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cowboyangel
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AP) - U.S. civilian authorities in Baghdad failed to keep good track of nearly $1 billion in Iraqi money spent for reconstruction projects and can't produce records to show whether they got some services and products they paid for, anew audit concludes. The former Coalition Provisional Authority paid nearly $200,000 for 15 police trucks without confirming they were delivered, and auditors have not located them, the report from the CPA's Inspector General said. More ...
well this is just fine ...just fuckin fine.....so when is someone gonna go to fuckin jail?
well this is just fine ...just fuckin fine.....so when is someone gonna go to fuckin jail?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981
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cowboyangel
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Where would Jesus Bank?
this is way too good to pass up...Catherine is awesome.......
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0407/S00040.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0407/S00040.htm
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981
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President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to
control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill
Blue has learned.
The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the
White House physician, can impair the President's mental faculties
and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to
respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately.
"It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him
flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need
a President who is alert mentally."
Angry Bush walked away from reporter's questions.
Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush
stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions
about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.
"Keep those motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide
backstage. "If you can't, I'll find someone who can."
Bush's mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers
in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about
increasing concern among White House aides over the President's wide
mood swings and obscene outbursts.
Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush
propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George
Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush
on the
Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the
President as a "paranoid meglomaniac" and "untreated alcoholic"
whose "lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks
(using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists,
gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before
the bombing of Baghdad" showcase Bush's instabilities.
"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching
everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on
videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank said. "He fits the
profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."
Dr. Frank's conclusions have been praised by other prominent
psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA
Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at
Stanford University Medical School.
The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful
anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical
dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought
treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as
a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first
campaign for President.
"President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and
megalomaniac tendencies," Dr. Frank adds.
The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this
article.
Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and
behavior are not known, White House sources say they are "powerful
medications" designed to bring his erratic actions under control.
While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President's
annual physical, details of the President's health and any drugs or
treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded
zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the
President.
Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information
about Bush's health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald
Reagan's second term when aides managed to conceal the President's
increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer's
Disease.
It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon's final days when the
soon-to-resign President wondered the halls and talked to portraits
of former Presidents. The stories didn't emerge until after Nixon
left office.
One long-time GOP political consultant who - for obvious reasons -
asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican
Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush.
"We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the
United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for
my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not
good for the country."
© Copyright 2004 by Capitol Hill Blue
control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill
Blue has learned.
The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the
White House physician, can impair the President's mental faculties
and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to
respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately.
"It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him
flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need
a President who is alert mentally."
Angry Bush walked away from reporter's questions.
Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush
stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions
about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.
"Keep those motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide
backstage. "If you can't, I'll find someone who can."
Bush's mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers
in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about
increasing concern among White House aides over the President's wide
mood swings and obscene outbursts.
Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush
propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George
Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush
on the
Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the
President as a "paranoid meglomaniac" and "untreated alcoholic"
whose "lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks
(using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists,
gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before
the bombing of Baghdad" showcase Bush's instabilities.
"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching
everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on
videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank said. "He fits the
profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."
Dr. Frank's conclusions have been praised by other prominent
psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA
Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at
Stanford University Medical School.
The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful
anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical
dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought
treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as
a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first
campaign for President.
"President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and
megalomaniac tendencies," Dr. Frank adds.
The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this
article.
Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and
behavior are not known, White House sources say they are "powerful
medications" designed to bring his erratic actions under control.
While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President's
annual physical, details of the President's health and any drugs or
treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded
zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the
President.
Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information
about Bush's health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald
Reagan's second term when aides managed to conceal the President's
increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer's
Disease.
It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon's final days when the
soon-to-resign President wondered the halls and talked to portraits
of former Presidents. The stories didn't emerge until after Nixon
left office.
One long-time GOP political consultant who - for obvious reasons -
asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican
Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush.
"We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the
United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for
my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not
good for the country."
© Copyright 2004 by Capitol Hill Blue
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Simply Joel
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Simply Joel
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samtzu
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Joel wrote:
By the way, what the hell kind of 'treatment' do you give to a person who is in denial? None that I know of...
I thought for years that it was the alcohol that made me an asshole, until I sobered up, and then realized that, no... I was just an asshole.cowboyangel wrote:very much like most e-playans.who knows for sure? Kennedy was pumped up on all kinds of drugs and functioned rather well as a president. Bush doesn't need drugs to act like an idiot.
By the way, what the hell kind of 'treatment' do you give to a person who is in denial? None that I know of...
The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing ~~ Eric Hoffer
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DVD Burner
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Lets try this instead:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookse ... 736705#PUB
Bush On the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President
From the Publisher
For all his simplicity and affability, George W. Bush has remained, to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, "a mystery wrapped in an enigma." In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Justin A. Frank, a well-respected Washington, D.C.–based psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry, unwraps that mystery, assembling a comprehensive psychological profile of President Bush. Using the principles of applied psychoanalysis -- the discipline of psychoanalyzing public and historical figures pioneered by Freud -- Frank fearlessly builds his case ... and reaches conclusions that are at once highly persuasive and deeply disturbing.
Through a close analysis of Bush's public statements and behavior, as well as the historical record provided by journalists, biographers, and those who have known the president well, Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood to the present day. Examining closely the role of the president's parents -- especially Barbara Bush, an acknowledged disciplinarian whose own insecurities may have prevented her from adequately nurturing her son -- Frank finds in Bush's childhood the roots of a dramatic psychic split that remains a dominant influence on his adult worldview. Frank argues that this split has inevitably hampered Bush's ability to manage his emotions, charging his psyche with restless anxiety, and conditioning him to view the world in the black-and-white terms that have so evidently shaped his administration.
Among the other subjects Frank explores:
Bush's false sense of omnipotence, instilled within him during childhood and emboldened by his deep investment in fundamentalist religion
The president's history of untreated alcohol abuse, and the questions it raises about denial, impairment, and the enabling streak in our culture
The growing anecdotal evidence that Bush may suffer from dyslexia, ADHD, and other thought disorders
His comfort living outside the law, defying international law in his presidency as boldly as he once defied DUI statutes and military reporting requirements
His love-hate relationship with his father, and how it triggered a complex and dangerous mix of feelings including yearning, rivalry, anger, and sadism
Bush's rigid and simplistic thought patterns, paranoia, and megalomania -- and how they have driven him to invent adversaries so that he can destroy them
At once a compelling portrait of George W. Bush and a damning indictment of his policies, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on an administration whose record of violence and cruelty seems increasingly dependent on the unstable psyche of the man at its center. Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch tackles the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?
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Rob the Wop
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The psychiatrists/pschologists that I personally know cringe at the idea of diagnosing a patient without ever having spent 'couch time' with them. Kind of like using dream interpretation without subsequent therapy as a tool to determine a psychological makeup. When I first heard about this book I thought "interesting...", once I found out that this guy was never his doctor- I thought "quack...". Problem is, if he ever was his doctor, the breaking of a patient/doctor confidentiality would then have me question motives. The only true and believable account of GWB's possible issues would have to be post-mortum from someone that was his psychiatrist.DVD Burner wrote: Among the other subjects Frank explores:
Bush's false sense of omnipotence, instilled within him during childhood and emboldened by his deep investment in fundamentalist religion
The president's history of untreated alcohol abuse, and the questions it raises about denial, impairment, and the enabling streak in our culture
The growing anecdotal evidence that Bush may suffer from dyslexia, ADHD, and other thought disorders
His comfort living outside the law, defying international law in his presidency as boldly as he once defied DUI statutes and military reporting requirements
His love-hate relationship with his father, and how it triggered a complex and dangerous mix of feelings including yearning, rivalry, anger, and sadism
Bush's rigid and simplistic thought patterns, paranoia, and megalomania -- and how they have driven him to invent adversaries so that he can destroy them
At once a compelling portrait of George W. Bush and a damning indictment of his policies, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on an administration whose record of violence and cruelty seems increasingly dependent on the unstable psyche of the man at its center. Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch tackles the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?
[b]The other, other white meat.[/b]
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cowboyangel
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Simply Joel wrote:very much like most e-playans.cowboyangel wrote:who knows for sure? Kennedy was pumped up on all kinds of drugs and functioned rather well as a president. Bush doesn't need drugs to act like an idiot.
awww Joel come onnnnnnn........ I'd rather think that we are a bunch of fools much in the vein of Lear's fool who was wiser than the king.........
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981
