Wednesday, January 31, 2007

South Florida To Get Voting Paper Trail!

Thank you Representative Wexler and Governor Crist!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cvoting31jan31,0,7995759.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

"Gov. Charlie Crist wants to scrap the controversial touch-screen voting machines used in Broward, Palm Beach and 13 other counties and replace them with optical scanners that would count paper ballots. "It's important to make sure people have confidence in our voting system. We all remember 2000. That's why this issue is so important. What could be more important to democracy than ensuring the integrity of our elective process? It's at the very foundation of it all. You go to an ATM machine, you get some kind of a record. You go to the gas station, you get a record. If there's a need for a recount, it's important to have something to count," the governor said Wednesday morning at a gathering of Florida newspaper editors and reporters."

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

CNN Reports Iran behind Karbala "Trojan Horse" Attack

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.main/index.html

"The Pentagon is investigating whether a recent attack on a military compound in Karbalawas carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives, two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said. "People are looking at it seriously," one of the officials said. That official added the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation into the January 20 attack that killed five soldiers. The second official said: "We believe it's possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained." Five U.S. soldiers were killed in the sophisticated attack by men wearing U.S.-style uniforms, according to U.S. military reports."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1583523,00.html?cnn=yes

"Some Iraqis speculate that the IRGC has already started a campaign of revenge with the killing of five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. 20, nine days after the arrest of the IRGC members in Erbil. As the logic of the rumor goes, five American soldiers were killed for five Iranians taken; Karbala was an IRGC message to release its colleagues — or else. The speculation that Karbala was an IRGC operation may have as much to do with Iraqis' respect for IRGC capacity for revenge as it does with the truth. Nevertheless, we should count on the IRGC gearing up for a fight. And we shouldn't underestimate its capacities. Aside from arming the opposition, the IRGC is capable of doing serious damage to our logistics lines. I called up an American contractor in Baghdad who runs convoys from Kuwait every day and asked him just how much damage."Let me put it this way,"he said."In Basra today the currency is the Iranian toman, not the Iraqi dinar."He said his convoys now are forced to pay a 40% surcharge to Shi'a militias and Iraqi police in the south, many of whom are affiliated with IRGC."

This screams of a false-flag operation. It has smelled fishy from the beginning. Soliders, speaking english, in American uniforms, driving American vehicles enter an American compound and, at first reported, kill American soldiers and leave unchallenged through the front door. Follow up reporting (after the absurdity of the initial story was questioned) showed the Americans were not, in fact, killed at the post, but kidnapped by the American "imposters" in a "Trojan Horse" ambush and killed in a neighboring province.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2Farticle%2F20070126%2FD8MT1R2G0.html

Here's an easy question. Which military has english speaking soliders, arms, vehicles and access to high security areas in Iraq? Answer: the American military. End of story. This event stinks now more than it did last week. Stay tuned.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Neocon War Profiteers: Blackwater USA

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/26/1559232

...And what’s really frightening is that you have a man in Erik Prince, who is a neo-crusader, a Christian supremacist, who has been given over a half a billion dollars in federal contracts, and that's not to mention his black contracts, his secret contracts, his contracts with foreign friendly governments like Jordan. This is a man who espouses Christian supremacy, and he has been given, essentially, allowed to create a private army to defend Christendom around the world against secularists and Muslims and others, and has really been brought into the fold. He refers to Blackwater as the sort of FedEx of the Pentagon. He says if you really want a package to get somewhere, do you go with the postal service or do you go with FedEx? This is how these people view themselves. And it embodies everything that President Eisenhower prophesied would happen with the rise of an unchecked military-industrial complex. You have it all in Blackwater."

This group is about as shadowy as it gets. I hope.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Tell Your Congressperson to Pass HR 508!

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-508

End the Iraq War sponsored by Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

Vienna Actionist Adolph Frohner Dies at 72

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/obituaries/sfl-ofrohnerjan27,0,2594203.story?coll=sfla-news-obituaries

"Mr. Frohner, who once walled himself in behind brick and mortar for three days to explore what it meant to be an isolated observer, died suddenly of natural causes, public broadcaster ORF said.

Details of his illness were not disclosed.

His death came only five days after he ceremoniously broke ground on the Frohner Forum, a new museum being built in his name in the Danube River town of Krems, 40 miles west of Vienna, ORF said. It said the gallery would open later in the year as planned."

The Vienna Actionists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_Actionism


http://www.subcin.com/aktion.html

Friday, January 26, 2007

Right Wing Countdown Clock for War With Iran

globalsecurity.org

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran.htm

Brought to you by John Pike et. al. and his fearmongers, war profiteers and other neoCONS at globalsecurity.org.

Cleary the neocons embolden the enemy. History will show just how wrong they were, and how complicit we are.

Nonlethal Weapons: A Primer In Honor of the Army's New Ray Gun

http://www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/nonlethal.html

INSS Occasional Paper 15, USAF Institute for National Security Studies, USAF Academy, Colorado, (1997?)

My faves are the "Hologram Prophet - The projection of the image of an ancient god over an enemy capitol whose public communications have been seized and used against it in a massive psychological operation," and "Polysound - Acoustic, High Intensity Sound . Loud music was used by American forces to drive Manual Norriega (sic) from the Vatican Embassy in Panama in 1990. Also known as polysound." Cool names, yes?
We used Styx Polysound to drive Noriega nuts, now he's ready to get out of prison and get back to work (whatever that is).

Video From Haifa Street Battle

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/118/2/

Whole Lotta Disinfo Goin' On

Troops Died After, Not In, Sneak Attack

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2Farticle%2F20070126%2FD8MT1R2G0.html

"Contrary to U.S. military statements, four U.S. soldiers did not die repelling a sneak attack at the governor's office in the Shiite holy city of Karbala last week. New information obtained by The Associated Press shows they were abducted and found dead or dying as far as 25 miles away.
The brazen assault 50 miles south of Baghdad was launched Jan. 20 by a group of nine to 12 militants. They traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles - the type used by U.S. government convoys, had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues and spoke English.
In a written statement, the U.S. command reported at the time that five soldiers were killed while "repelling the attack." Two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials now say three of them were found dead and one mortally wounded in locations as far as 25 miles east of the governor's office."

I knew something smelled fishy with this story.

Are We Leveling Civilian High Rises in Baghdad?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/24/Iraq.main/index.html

"Iraqi and U.S. troops battling militants along Baghdad's volatile Haifa Street on Wednesday killed at least 30 insurgents and detained 35, according to an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman.

The battle on Haifa Street went on for eight hours, as U.S. and Iraqi forces fought to regain control of the mainly Sunni area, which Iraqi officials have described in the past as full of "terrorist hideouts."

I watched the Arwa Damon "embedded" report on CNN Wednesday showing a civilian high rise apartment building on Haifa street used as a hiding spot for insurgents battling U.S. forces first engaged in an hours-long firefight with troops and Apache helicopters, then being leveled to rubble by a missile. I never heard or saw another thing about the story. Watch the video. I think we are toppling towers to get to snipers.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Thursday night, HBO, "Friends of God" an Alexandra Pelosi film.

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/friends_of_god/index.html

The estimated 50 to 80 million evangelical Christians living in America today have become a formidable force in our culture and democracy. But the evangelical movement is a big tent. To try and get a better understanding of the range and diversity of this community, intrepid filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi hit the road to meet some evangelicals and learn about what their influence may mean for the future of the country.

Don't miss this film. By the way, "Jesus Camp" comes out on DVD tomorrow. Must see movies for ALL.

China looks for new ways to spend US $1 trillion in foreign reserves

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IA23Cb03.html

China has finally decided to diversify disposal of its huge yet steadily growing foreign-exchange reserve by investing in overseas markets, a dramatic departure from its current practice of putting most of its eggs into one basket - US Treasury bonds. The decision was made at the all-important Central Conference on Financial Affairs, which ended on Saturday. A state-owned company will be set up to invest the Asian powerhouse's US$1 trillion foreign-exchange reserve in overseas markets.

I have some swamp land here in Florida to sell you, Premier.

Right on Cue - Al Qaeda No. 2 tape appears!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/22/qaeda.tape.ap/index.html

Al Qaeda's deputy leader mocked U.S. President Bush's plan to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq, challenging him to send "the entire army" and vowing insurgents will defeat them in a new videotape, a U.S. group that tracks al Qaeda messages said Monday.
The Washington-based SITE Institute said it had intercepted the video from Ayman al-Zawahri, which had not yet been posted on Islamic militant Web sites, where his messages are usually posted. SITE did not elaborate on how it received the message.
Al-Zawahri said the U.S. strategy for Iraq, outlined by Bush in a January 9 speech, was doomed to fail.
"I ask him, why send 20,000 (troops) only -- why not send 50 or 100 thousand? Aren't you aware that the dogs of Iraq are pining for your troops' dead bodies?" al-Zawahri said in an excerpt of the video released by SITE.
"So send your entire army to be annihilated at the hands of the mujahedeen (holy warriors) to free the world from your evil," he said, "because Iraq, land of the Caliphate and Jihad, is able to bury ten armies like yours, with Allah's help and power."
The video showed al-Zawahri, wearing a white turban, in front of a black backdrop.
The message was the first reaction from al Qaeda's leadership to the new Iraq strategy. The U.S. has said the extra troops aim to crack down on al Qaeda fighters and other Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq, as well as Shiite militiamen blamed in the country's spiraling sectarian violence.

Why can't we find these production studios, trace the IP addresses or locate the PR firm these guys use? Right on cue, though, the day before the SOTU address.

Neocon watch: Richard Perle

U.S. will attack if Iran obatins nukes - Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/816046.html

President George Bush will order an attack on Iran if it becomes clear to him that Iran is set to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities while he is still in office, Richard Perle told the Herzliya Conference on Sunday. Perle is close to the Bush administration, particularly to Vice President Richard Cheney.

The leading neoconservative and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute addressed the session on Iran's nuclear program. He said that the present policy of attempting to impose sanctions on Iran will not cause it to abandon its nuclear aspirations, and unless stopped the country will become a nuclear power.

AEI and the neonuts have been WRONG on everything. They should be shunned and treated to a jail cell.

War News for Monday January 22, 2007

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m29967&hd=&size=1&l=e

On the karbala "trojan Horse" raid:
On Saturday, a civil affairs team of American soldiers sat with local leaders in Karbala's provincial headquarters to discuss security for Ashoura, a Shiite commemoration of the massacre of the revered Imam Hussein that began Sunday.
Outside, danger was approaching. A convoy of seven white GMC Suburbans sped toward the building, breezing through checkpoints, with the men wearing American and Iraqi military uniforms and flashing American ID cards, Iraqi officials said. The force stopped at the police directorate in Karbala and took weapons but gave no reason, said police spokesman Capt. Muthana Ahmed in Babel province.
A call was made to the provincial headquarters to inform them an American convoy was on its way, said the governor of Karbala, Akeel al-Khazaali. But the Americans stationed inside the building, which acts as a coordination center for Iraqi officials, Iraqi security forces and U.S. forces, had not been informed, Iraqi officials said.
As the U.S. soldiers and the Iraqis scrambled to figure out if the men were Americans or an illegally armed group, the convoy arrived and the gunmen tried to break in.
The gunmen launched grenades, mortars and small arms fire, according to a U.S. military statement. The U.S. military said Sunday it was still not clear if the gunmen were Sunni or Shiite militia. Abu Abdullah, a commander in Karbala of the Mahdi Army, the militia led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, on Sunday denied involvement in the attack.
After 15 minutes of fighting, the gunmen fled towards Hilla, the capital of Babel, a mixed Sunni-Shiite province, Ahmed said.
Babel police were notified as the convoy sped toward their capital city, and Iraqi police commandos gave chase. The police commandos discovered the vehicles and found three dead men inside, a wounded man and five others, Ahmed said. He said they all spoke English. Iraqi police took the men back to the police station and American forces retrieved them by dawn.
Also inside the vehicles, Iraqi police found a bag filled with American military uniforms. They also found flak vests, American weapons and American ID cards that had allowed the gunmen to maneuver through the city, Ahmed said."

Fighting us with fake ID's (which any teenager can make) fake uniforms (readily available) black SUV's (car lot) shaves and haircuts (come on) and maybe blue contact lenses.

Letter from Bill Clinton on new McAuliffe book

Dear Friend,

Former Chairman Terry McAuliffe has a new book about his years in Democratic politics. What a Party!: My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals is a fascinating, hilarious, and provocative look at the life of one of Washington's legendary figures. From wrestling an alligator to running the Democratic National Committee to his friendship with President Clinton, Chairman McAuliffe's wonderful memoir covers it all and is the political book of the year.

What a Party! will be fully released in stores all across the country on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, though it is currently available in select cities right now. The book is also available for purchase now at amazon.com.

Chairman McAuliffe will be appearing on local and national TV and radio to spread the word about What a Party!, as well as doing a book tour in select cities -- including yours. He'll be in New York City at Barnes & Noble at Union Square on January 24 at 7 PM.

"I thought I knew Terry McAuliffe as well as anyone, but this time he surprised even me. Who knew Terry could sit still long enough to give us a book this good? What a Party! is a must-read for all of us who love politics, believe in public service, and know that laughter is often the best survival strategy." -- President Bill Clinton

Neocon Watch: Kristol

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/01/21/kristol-iraq-quiet/

Kristol On War Critics: ‘It’s So Irresponsible That They Can’t Be Quiet For Six Or Nine Months’

The Neocons have been wrong on everything so far. I'd rather hear a talk show psychic than Bull Kristol - at least they MAY have credibility.

At least 78 dead in suicide bombing

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

At least 78 people were killed and more than 150 wounded Monday after two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad in the deadliest attack in two months, officials said. The U.S. military reported the deaths of two Marines in a particularly bloody weekend for American forces in Iraq. Monday's first blast, a parked car bomb, tore through stalls of vendors peddling DVDs and secondhand clothes shortly after noon in the Bab al-Sharqi market between Tayaran and Tahrir squares — one of the busiest parts of Baghdad. Seconds later, a suicide car bomber drove into the crowd. Police estimated that each car was loaded with nearly 220 pounds of explosives"



Where's the story about the disguised sucide bombers reported this a.m. on CNN? They reported that five American servicemen were killed, and now I can't find the story...

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Global Disaster Watch. For the cynics.

http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html

Warnings and updates for:
drought, earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, landslides, meteor
showers, severe weather warnings, solar flares, tsunamis,
volcanoes, wildfires, plus disaster archives and record-breaking
disasters.

And here:

http://nhss.cr.usgs.gov/

USGS Natural Hazard Support System. Click on "Launch Viewer"

Troop Escalation Begins

3000 U.S. troops arrive in Baghdad to support "Clear and Hold" strategy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6283817.stm


"More than 3,000 US troops have arrived in Baghdad, the first deployment of extra forces promised for the Iraqi capital by US President George W Bush. As the deployment began, the US military said four soldiers and one marine had been killed in the restive western province of Anbar. It took to 22 the number of US deaths in Iraq on Saturday - one of the worst days for US troops since the invasion. In the lastest violence in Baghdad seven people were killed in two blasts."

Er, excuse me, shouldn't they be going the OTHER way?

$1 million for a Florida trailer, and they're whining!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-orl-briny2107jan21,0,3417367.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines


"Save Briny -- Vote No," the buttons urge.

"They think they won the lottery and I'm trying to take it away from them," Byrne, 68, said, sitting on his front porch across from his fishing boat. "I did not want to sell because I love this place. This is my home. I wanted to go out of here feet-first."

Closing on the sale is not scheduled until, at the earliest, March 2009, giving Byrne and other Brinyites more than two years to prepare for a move -- and to wait for their payoffs, which are calculated by the size and location of their lots.

Byrne stands to get just more than $1 million for the canal-front property he bought sight unseen for $30,000 a quarter-century ago. He concedes that "a consolation prize of a million bucks isn't bad." But he still hopes the deal will be derailed by restrictions on zoning and density or protests from neighboring communities."

Who lives in a trailer that WOULDN'T sell for $1 million?!

Why do Blackhawks go DOWN so often?

More Americans die in the sands of the Middle East

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


January 20, 2007
"Four U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed Saturday during combat in Anbar, the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said. A roadside bomb also struck a security patrol northeast of Baghdad, killing one soldier.
Saturday's carnage also included 12 soldiers killed in a Blackhawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, five killed in a militant attack in the holy Shiite city of Karbala and two others slain elsewhere in roadside bombings."

It's time to go back down the memory hole and learn how many Blackhawk crashes have occured since the start of OIL?

Under reported news since the New Year

Another Russian dead in London

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/15/uk.russian.reut/index.html


"Russian prosecutors plan to ask British police to check their suspicions that a co-founder of ruined Russian oil giant Yukos was killed in London, Russian news agencies reported on Monday...
Golubev was one of the main witnesses in an investigation into a number of Yukos officials in what critics said was a Kremlin campaign against Khodorkovsky, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin's leadership."

Bush Seizes Control of State Militias

http://www.progress.org/2007/ussr03.htm


"Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October changed the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies. In a letter to Congress, the governors called the change "a dramatic expansion of federal authority during natural disasters that could cause confusion in the command-and-control of the National Guard and interfere with states' ability to respond to natural disasters within their borders."

Cubans protest FOR terrorist in Miami

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/MIA01.htm


"An anti-Castro Cuban activist throws a megaphone at a Castro supporter (L) during a protest to support Luis Posada Carriles in Little Havana, Miami January 19, 2007. Cuba said on January 15 the United States should indict Carriles, a militant anti-Castro exile accused in the bombing of a Cuban airliner, for terrorism instead of minor immigration charges. The Cuban Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. government of protecting the former CIA operative from extradition to Venezuela to face charges of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976."

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