QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names" ~ Chinese Proverb

TWO ALLIGATORS WERE TALKING...

Two alligators were sitting around talking. The smaller alligator turned to the bigger one & said, 'I can't understand how you can be so much bigger than me. We're the same age; we were the same size as kids I just don't get it. 'Well,' said the big Gator, 'what have you been eating?' 'Politicians, same as you,' replied the small Gator. 'H'mm. Well, where do you catch them?' Down the other side of the swamp near the parking lot by the Capitol.' 'Same here. Hmm. How do you catch them?' 'Well, I crawl up under one of their Lexus cars and wait for one to unlock the car door. Then I jump out, grab them by the leg, shake the shit out of them and eat 'em!' 'Ah!' says the big Alligator, "I think I see your problem." "You're not getting any real nourishment. See, by the time you finish shaking the shit out of a politician, there's nothing left but an asshole and a briefcase."

'SMOKING GUN' WITNESS AGAINST TORTURER IN CHIEF BUSH IS FOUND 'SUICIDED'

FROM 'INDICT BUSH NOW.ORG Bush's 'Smoking Gun' Witness Found Dead IndictBushNow files Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get to bottom of story The cover-up of Bush-era crimes is taking a shocking but not unexpected turn. A fateful move has been made and it is certain to backfire. Colin Powell used al-Libi's tortured and knowingly fabricated testimony to tell the United Nations that Saddam Hussein's government was helping al-Qaeda develop weapons of mass destruction to kill Americans. It was all a lie. IndictBushNow.org is joining with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the ANSWER Coalition to demand that the truth be told. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the CIA, Department of Defense, Department of State and other agencies to reveal information in their possession about Libi’s imprisonment, torture, false testimony on Iraq and the circumstances of his death. To read a copy of the FOIA, (GO TO THE WEBSITE FOR THE LINKS) A prisoner who was horribly tortured in 2002 until he agreed - at the demand of Bush torturers - to say that al-Qaeda was linked to Saddam Hussein is suddenly dead. Several weeks ago, Human Rights Watch investigators discovered the missing inmate and talked to him. He had been secretly transferred by the administration to a prison in Libya after having been held by the CIA both in secret “black hole prisons” and in Egypt. Under conditions of extreme torture, the prisoner, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, agreed in 2002 to supply the Bush-ordered interrogators what they sought as a political cover for Bush’s marketing of the pending war of aggression against Iraq. Mr. Libi agreed to tell them whatever they wanted in exchange for an end to the torture. The now famous Torture Memos providing legal cover for the torture were written at the same time starting in the summer of 2002. Libi’s tortured and knowingly fabricated testimony was the source of information used by Bush to sell the war to the U.S. Senate, and the source for Colin Powell’s bogus and lying presentation to the United Nations in 2003. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice are now running around saying that the torture regime “protected the country from terrorist attack.” But the torture was used for the personal political goals of Bush and Cheney: namely, to sell their Iraq invasion to a very skeptical and disbelieving country. Having been discovered by human rights investigators two weeks ago, Mr. Libi’s story coincided with the release of the Torture Memos and the growing clamor for criminal prosecutions of Bush officials. His testimony is the smoking gun that would reveal that the torture regime was not for “national security” but for the personal political aims of Bush and Cheney. He was Exhibit A in the indictment that alleges that tortured confessions and the contrived legal justifications of torture set up by Justice Department lawyers in July/August 2002 were central to the launch of the war against Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of U.S. service members have either been killed or badly wounded in a war that was based on lies fortified and promoted by the most sadistic torture. Mr. Libi is suddenly dead. A Libyan “newspaper source” says that his death is an apparent suicide. His friends don’t believe that. We are building a movement for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. This is not a political choice. It is a legal imperative. Mr. Libi’s death must be the first business of the investigation. When other prisoners who had been kept at secret sites were sent to Guantanamo, the Bush administration and the CIA intentionally kept Mr. Libi from being part of that transfer. Mr. Libi was publicly stating that the Iraq-al-Qaeda links attributed to him from his torture sessions were not true. “Who was the beneficiary” from his death? Why was he spirited away by the Bush administration to hidden foreign prisons after he recanted his tortured testimony and revealed that he was forced to make false statements about Iraq under torture? IndictBushNow.org is joining with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the ANSWER Coalition to demand that the truth be told. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the CIA, Department of Defense, Department of State and other agencies to reveal information in their possession about Libi’s imprisonment, torture, false testimony on Iraq and the circumstances of his death. To read a copy of the FOIA, click this link.

JACOB HORNBERGER ...FFF.ORG

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Lt. Erin Watada and a Standing Army by Jacob G. Hornberger The case of Lt. Erin Watada provides a good example of why our American ancestors opposed a standing army. You’ll recall that Watada is the U.S. military officer who refused orders to deploy to Iraq on the ground that to do so would constitute the war crime of waging a war of aggression. The U.S. Army prosecuted him for refusing to obey such orders but then screwed up by agreeing to the granting of a mistrial after Watada’s trial had already begun. Since another trial would have violated the constitutional provision on double jeopardy, U.S. military officials have recently decided to drop the charges. Still pending are charges relating to Watada’s criticism of President Bush. Why did Watada incur the wrath of his superiors? One reason and one reason alone: Making an independent judgment that President Bush’s war on Iraq violated both the U.S. Constitution and international law, he refused to obey orders to deploy to Iraq. It’s that simple. In the eyes of the Pentagon, that’s not what a soldier, especially an officer, is supposed to do. A soldier loyally and obediently follows the orders of his commander in chief, no questions asked. Look at the national torture debate. The CIA is saying, “Don’t prosecute us. We were just following orders.” And look at all the people who are sympathetic to their position. The idea is, “Hey, they’re the patriots. They were just doing their job by following orders. If anyone is at fault, it’s got to be the people who ordered them to violate the law, not those people who loyally and obediently obeyed the orders.” (Of course, never mind that many of those same people are saying that those who issued the orders should be prosecuted either.) But the point is that the military mindset is such that everyone, especially the officers, is expected to loyally and obediently obey the orders of his commander in chief. That’s what most of them define as fulfilling their oath to “support and defend the Constitution.” When they loyally and obediently follow the orders of their commander in chief, in their mind they are defending our freedoms, fighting for our country, keeping us safe, and supporting and defending the Constitution. And people like Watada, who follow their conscience and the law, are considered bad people who deserve to be prosecuted and punished as common criminals. What happens if the president issues orders that violate the Constitution or statutory law? Theoretically, the soldier, especially the officer, is supposed to refuse to obey such orders. But as a practical matter, that’s not what happens. In the real world, the soldier is not supposed to make that type of determination. He is simply expected to loyally and obediently follow the orders of his commander in chief. What better proof of this phenomenon than the Watada case? It is undisputed that Iraq never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. It is also undisputed that President Bush never secured the constitutionally required congressional declaration of war against Iraq. It would be difficult to find a better example of an illegal and unconstitutional war, which is precisely why Watada refused to obey orders to participate in it. But the U.S. military considers him to be the bad guy, which is why they prosecuted him as a criminal. In the eyes of the military, the good guys are the officers who loyally and obediently obeyed the president’s orders to invade and occupy Iraq, just as the good guys are those CIA agents who loyally violated the laws against torture. The upshot of all this is that the president essentially has an enormous personal army at his disposal, one that is prepared to loyally and obediently carry out whatever orders he issues. That’s not a good thing when it comes to a free society. The Founding Fathers understood that principle, which is precisely why they opposed a standing army for the United States. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

Treaty against your 2nd Amendment rights

http://www.brasschecktv.com:80/page/619.html short video on another attempt at gun control

QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

The mark of the man of the world is absence of pretension. He does not make a speech; he takes a low business-tone, avoids all brag, is nobody, dresses plainly, promises not at all, performs much, speaks in monosyllables, hugs his fact. He calls his employment by its lowest name, and so takes from evil tongues their sharpest weapon. His conversation clings to the weather and the news, yet he allows himself to be surprised into thought, and the unlocking of his learning and philosophy. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with their own money. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 - 1859)

WITH ENOUGH TIME, THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU

The Patriot Act at work http://www.brasschecktv.com:80/page/618.html

GOOD ARTICLE TO READ

CREDIT TO CLYMER FOR THE LINK http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13544

WELCOME TO ALL THOSE VISITORS FROM TONY'S SITE

I recommend you scroll down to my first posts from way back when, and see what I have been doing. My posts here have become fewer do to less time and the fact that most articles are making their way to an abundance of other sites, so I expect that those of you who are putting in the time each day to find THE TRUTH about what's happening in our world, will have found most articles before I post them. ABOVE ALL, I recommend JSMINESET.COM AND...INFORMATIONCLEARINGHOUSE.INFO THEDAILYRECKONING.COM is great for keeping current and a fun read. There is so much news out there it is almost impossible to read it all, but the main thread of the news is that WE ARE ALL FUCKED! So do your best to prepare for THE WORST as it is just around the corner.

CREDIT CARD LOSSES FOR BANKS WILL BE MOUNTING

Next challenge for banks: Credit card losses Number usually tracks unemployment, but this time it may be worse http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30673906/ According to estimates by Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm, card losses at the nation’s biggest banks could exceed $141.5 billion by 2010 if the regulators’ loss rate was applied to their entire credit card business. It could reach $180 billion for the entire credit card industry.

Three Worst Reasons to Delay Putting Cheney in Prison

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/42500 WORTH READING CAREFULLY... THEN... CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPS AND WRITE LETTERS TO YOUR LOCAL PAPERS DEMANDING THAT OUR COUNTRIES' TREASONOUS WAR CRIMINALS ARE TRIED FOR THEIR CRIMES SOON, NOT LATER, IF EVER.

LATEST MIKE WHITNEY ARTICLE

Depressionus Interruptus Did Bernanke pull the economy back from the brink? By Mike Whitney The stock market surge doesn't help working people who get paid by the hour and don't have the extra money to bet on equities. They can't move numbers from one ledger to another and magically show a profit. They have to balance their check books, show up on time, and play by the rules. For these people--the bulk of working Americans--the future has never been grimmer and less certain. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22580.htm