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"A few years ago, one of the great figures of contemporary biology, Ernst Mayr, published some reflections on the likelihood of success in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He considered the prospects very low. His reasoning had to do with the adaptive value of what we call 'higher intelligence,' meaning the particular human form of intellectual organization. Mayr estimated the number of species since the origin of life at about fifty billion, only one of which 'achieved the kind of intelligence needed to establish a civilization.' It did so very recently, perhaps 100,000 years ago. It is generally assumed that only one small breeding group survived, of which we are all descendants.

Mayr speculated that the human form of intellectual organization may not be favored by selection. The history of life on Earth, he wrote, refutes the claim that 'it is better to be smart than to be stupid,'  at least judging by biological success: beetles and bacteria, for example, are vastly more successful than humans in terms of survival. He also made the rather somber observation that 'the average life expectancy of a species is about 100,000 years'.

We are entering a period of human history that may provide an answer to the question of whether it is better to be smart than stupid. The most hopeful prospect is that the question will NOT be answered: if it receives a definite answer, that answer can only be that humans were a kind of 'biological error', using their allotted 100,000 years to destroy themselves, and in the process, much else.

The species has surely developed the capacity to do just that, and a hypothetical extraterrestrial observer might well conclude that humans have demonstrated that capacity throughout their history, dramatically in the past few hundred years, with an assault on the environment that sustains life, on the diversity of more complex organisms, and with cold and calculated savagery, on each other as well. "

Noam Chomsky in Hegemony or Survival

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Q: What comes with a House Majority?
A: Subpoena power.


GOOGLE “Bush Paraguay”


To see what Bush’s “Exit Plan” is.

 Hint: it’s the same as the Nazis’.

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“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

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A CNN reporter asked him about the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report that puts the civilian death toll in Iraq at 655,000. “I am, you know, amazed that this is a society which so wants to be free that they’re willing to – you know, that there’s a level of violence that they tolerate,” he responded.

Yes. That’s what he said.

This is, to a degree, not terribly surprising. Mr. Bush has a penchant for casually saying the most abominable things imaginable without blinking.

Following 9/11, while poison smoke still hung low over NYC& Americans were still collecting their mail with oven mitts while holding our breath to avert Anthrax poisoning…..

On 10/4, 2001, less than a month after the attacks, Bush said, “We need to counter the shock wave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates.”

Yes. That’s what he said.

These two statements serve as bookends for the wretched years we have endured. The worst attack in American history is used to pimp a plan for tax cuts, and the unimaginable slaughter of Iraqi civilians is a platform for praising the survivors of the carnage because they are so darned good at tolerating it.

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If you don't get it, you don't get it.

Plan B 2.0

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Businesses Seek Protection on Legal Front
By STEPHEN LABATON
Two industry groups with close ties to Bush administration officials are hoping to swing the regulatory pendulum in corporate America's favor.

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A company headed by President Bush’s brother and partly owned by his parents is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act.

With investments from his parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and other backers, Neil Bush’s company, Ignite! Learning, has placed its products in 40 U.S. school districts and now plans to market internationally.

The law provides federal funds to help school districts better serve disadvantaged students and improve their performance, especially in reading and math.

But Ignite does not offer reading instruction, and its math program will not be available until next year.

Neil Bush said in an e-mail to The Times that Ignite’s program had demonstrated success in improving the test scores of economically disadvantaged children. He also said political influence had not played a role in Ignite’s rapid growth.

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Thanks Ted Rall

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15375.htm

Robert Fisk: We’ve all been veiled from the truth

The wretched fiction of Iraq’s ‘success’ is Blair’s attempt to make us wear the veil

By Robert Fisk

10/21/06 “The Independent”

Yes, the film O Jerusalem – loosely based on the epic history of the birth of Israel by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins – has reached Europe (mercifully, not yet Britain) and it is everything we have come to expect of the Hollywoodisation of Europe. It is dramatic; it stars the French singer Patrick Bruel as an Israeli commander; there is a flamboyant David Ben-Gurion – all white hair defying gravity – and Saïd Taghmaoui and JJ Feild as that essential duo of all such movies, the honourable, moderate, kind-hearted Arab (Saïd Chahine) and Jew (Bobby Goldman) whose friendship outlives the war between them.

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[found on internet]

Mr. President, this job can’t be fun for you any more. �There’s no more money to spend—you used up all of that.You can’t start another war because you used up the army.And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.Listen to your Mom.The cupboard’s bare, the credit cards maxed out.No one’s speaking to you.Mission accomplished.

Now it’s time to do what you’ve always done best: lose interest and walk away.Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team.It’s time.Time to move on and try the next fantasy job.How about cowboy or space man?Now I know what you’re saying:there’s so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in.Please don’t.I know, I know.There’s a lot left to do.There’s a war with Venezuela.Eliminating the sales tax on yachts.Turning the space program over to the church.And Social Security to Fannie Mae.Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now.Why?Because you govern like Billy Joel drives.You’ve performed so poorly I’m surprised that you haven’t given yourself a medal.You’re a catastrophe that walks like a man.Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we’ve lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.Maybe you’re just not lucky.I’m not saying you don’t love this country.I’m just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

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We know the mainstream media does a poor job of providing context. But we can use the internet to fill the gaps and actually help people understand their world and what’s going on around them.

This video is of an Iraq War vet explaining why he jumped the White House fence on Oct. 14, 2006. It’s worth the watch …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXEfPvbxP_Q

Please forward the link to your network.

Thanks for all your work!

L.J.

---

Remember that IDIOT called Rummy?

Sunday 09 Feb 2003

“It is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months,”

Rumsfeld told them.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/print/2003/02/07/rumsfeld_030207

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102606R.shtml

The Exxon Mobil Corporation reported today that it earned $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second largest quarterly profit ever posted by a publicly traded American company.

---

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102606S.shtml

Dozens of civilians were killed during NATO airstrikes in a volatile area of southern Afghanistan that was once the heartland of the Taliban. The Afghan Interior Ministry and local officials estimated between 40 and 85 civilians were killed in fighting in three separate villages.

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Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails
the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands
and pillaging the very hills?

Kahlil Gibran 

Chomsky On “Terrorism”

By Saad Sayeed

“What I write causes extreme anger for the very simple reason that I use the
U.S. government’s official definition of terrorism from the official U.S. code
of laws. If you use that definition, it follows very quickly that the U.S. is
the leading terrorist state and a major sponsor of terrorism and since that
conclusion is unacceptable, it arouses furious anger.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15416.htm

---

On October 25, 2002, a private plane
carrying Minnesota

Senator Paul Wellstone

crashed under highlighly unusual
circumstances.

Ten days before his re-election.

Wellstonewas an outspoken opponent of George Bush and could have been counted on to be a vigorous opponent of Bush’s plans to invade Iraq.

Why this crash was no accident:

http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/cia/cia4.html

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Conquered states that have been accustomed to liberty and the government of
their own laws can be held by the conqueror in three different ways. The first
is to ruin them; the second, for the conqueror to go and reside there in person;
and the third is to allow them to continue to live under their own laws, subject
to a regular tribute, and to create in them a government of a few, who will keep
the country friendly to the conqueror.

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

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Health and Human Rights Project (JVP HAHRP) delegation to Israel/Palestine has landed!

Go to the JVP blog to learn why:

one of their members was detained for 6 hours at the airport last night

the Anarchists Against the Wall aren’t all anarchists

Israeli and Palestinian doctors are investigating the possibility of a new weapon being used against Gazans which has caused relentless tissue damage and death

Read live updates and leave comments for the delegation of medical workers and lawyers. Go here: http://blog.jewishvoiceforpeace.org

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By William A. Cook

By yoking itself to the Zionist cause, the eradication of the Palestinians and
the theft of their land, the U.S. President and the Congress have ensured a continuing supply of “terrorists” for years to come.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15413.htm

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6080232.stm

The world’s largest river, the Amazon, once flowed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific – the opposite of its present direction, a study shows.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6075408.stm

Israel has for the first time admitted it used controversial phosphorus bombs during fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon in July and August.

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If BushCo had to face Nuremburg charges


The Nuremburg Trials—the charges:

Indictments

Count One: Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War

This count helped address the crimes committed before the war began, showing a plan to commit crimes during the war.

Count Two: Waging Aggressive War, or “Crimes Against Peace”

Includingthe planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances.�

Count Three: War Crimes

These were the moretraditional� violations of the law of war including treatment of prisoners of war, slave labor, and use of outlaws weapons.
Count Four: Crimes Against Humanity
This count involved the actions in concentration camps and other death rampages.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzU1Q5WTgQ

http://tinyurl.com/ymq2jq

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How did John Paul II stack up against Chimpy?

The Pope brought down European communism.
bush brought down America.

The Pope spoke 7 languages.
bush finished last in his college class and can barely speak English.

The Pope’s IQ has been estimated at 185.
bush’s IQ is 80.

During the Pope’s reign he disbursed over $200 million to third world parishes.

Bush and his henchmen ripped off 50 billion from California and the west during the phony energy crisis of 2001.

During WW2, the Pope fought the NAZIs.
During Viet Nam, bush fought hangovers.

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Brazil to call for global fund 

to save rainforests and cut climate change

Link to aid for developing states ‘a win-win situation’

Amazon not for sale, ministers warn outsiders

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Friday October 20, 2006

Guardian
Plans for a global fund to help contain rainforest destruction and slash carbon emissions will be unveiled next month by the Brazilian government.

The project, by which rich nations would offer financial incentives to developing countries that combat deforestation, will be announced at a November convention on climate change in Nairobi.

Championed by Marina Silva, Brazil’s environment minister, officials claim the fund would help protect tropical forests while giving a much-needed economic impetus to the developing world.

“It is a win-win situation,” a Brazilian government source told the Guardian, describing the plans as Brazil’s contribution to the global fight against climate change. “The climate wins, the developing countries win and those industrialised countries who will be fulfilling their obligations [to reduce deforestation] win.”

News of Brazil’s proposals followed crossed swords with the British government, after the environment secretary, David Miliband, raised doubts over Brazil’s capacity to protect the rainforest.

In an interview on October 1 Mr Miliband reportedly suggested creating an “international trust” to manage the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The British government denied Mr Miliband’s comments but they caused anger among Brazilians, many of whom are suspicious of foreign intervention in the Amazon.

In a newspaper article entitled “The Amazon is not for sale”, three senior Brazilian ministers this week championed the idea of an international fund and suggested that attempts to “privatise” the rainforest were an attack on the country’s sovereignty. They added that “well-intentioned” outsiders were “ignorant of the reality of the Amazon rainforest” and should stick to trying to influence their own governments.

At least two foreign businessmen – Johan Eliasch, a Swedish sportswear tycoon, and Chinese timber magnate Lu Wei-Guang – have purchased large tracts of the Amazon in recent years, professing the desire to help cut deforestation and implement sustainable development.

Authorities in Brazil, however, insist they are tackling the problem, pointing to a 32% cut in deforestation last year and predicting a further 11% drop next year.

“We are taking care of Amazonia in accordance with development models based on the principles of sustainability,” the ministers wrote. “[It] is the patrimony of the Brazilian people and is not for sale.”

Brazil is often at the sharp end of criticism from environmentalists, who point to the destruction of over 132,000 sq km of rainforest since 2000 – razed by cattle farmers, illegal loggers and soya planters.

Yet officials say developed nations are in fact responsible for the bulk of greenhouse emissions through their dependency on fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

Mauro Armelin, political coordinator of WWF Brazil, welcomed the idea of a fund but warned that the contradiction between agricultural progress and sustainability was still far from being resolved.

“A clean toilet is not the one you most clean, it is the one you dirty least,” he said.

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Inside the Worst Congress Ever

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After Pat’s Birthday

By Kevin Tillman

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002. Pat was killed in
Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a
powerful, must-read document.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15365.htm

N.B. Remember, Pat was "Tillmanned" soon after he came out AGAINST the invasion of Iraq.

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15310.htm

By Andrew Greene
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government.

Thomas Jefferson was a rebel, as so many of his comments demonstrated. He also was a gun enthusiast, and not the bird-shooting kind. His gang of insurgents fought the British with the eighteenth century equivalents of assault rifles, RPGs, and roadside bombs — and that is why they are worth recalling when our conversation turns to Iraq.

Before going further, I should declare that I am a patriot, but a qualified one. My loyalty is to the kinds of ideas Jefferson put in the Declaration: the sanctity of property, suspicion of power, and extra suspicion of the state. I am saying so now because some of what follows might sound deeply unpatriotic to the modern ear, but I think it would have sounded just fine to Jefferson’s classical one.

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You can find more in our web site at: http://www.pmwatch.org/

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Revealting “Did you know” quotes:
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http://qumsiyeh.org
http://academicsforjustice.org
http://al-awda.org
http://boycottisraeligoods.org
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Top Ten Signs You’re a

Fundamentalist Christian

10 – You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 – You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 – You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 – Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!

6 – You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 – You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 – You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs—though excluding those in all rival sects – will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”

3 – While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.

2 – You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 – You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history – but still call yourself a Christian.

http://www.evilbible.com/Top_Ten_List.htm

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Remember the Soviet Invasion of Hungary

Don’t Let the Neocons, especially Death Squad Specialist and Chief of Secret Police John Negroponte, Turn America into a Hideous Police State Like Hungary Was

On Monday, October 23rd, 50 years ago Hungarian freedom fighters challenged the Soviet occupation, succeeded for a few days, but were soon butchered by the Soviets when the West turned their backs on them. Let’s remember those
heroes!

Excellent site with videos and photos:

http://www.hungary1956.com/photos.htm

“Death to the Secret Police”

N.B. See John Negroponte for info on American Secret Police and Death Squads

Soviet Invasion of Hungary

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/hungary.htm

On October 23, 1956, a Budapest student rally in support of Polish efforts to win autonomy from the Soviet Union sparked mass demonstrations. The police attacked, and the demonstrators fought back, tearing down symbols of Soviet domination and HWP rule, sacking the party newspaper’s offices and shouting in favor of free elections, national independence, and the return of Imre Nagy to power. Erno Gero (Soviet Party leader in Hungary) called out the army, but many soldiers handed their weapons to the demonstrators and joined the uprising . Soviet officials in Budapest summoned Nagy to speak to the crowd, but the violence continued. At Gero’s request, Soviet troops entered Budapest on October 24. The presence of these troops further enraged the Hungarians, who battled the troops and state security police. Crowds emptied the prisons, freed Cardinal Mindszenty, sacked police stations, and summarily hanged some member of the secret police.

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In other news from Washington, a federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release records on who has visited Vice President Dick Cheney. The Washington Post took the request to court after being denied by the Secret Service earlier this year. The Bush administration has argued releasing the records would compromise Cheney’s ability to do his job. The court ruling comes one month after a similar lawsuit led to the release of records showing two key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal held more than one hundred meetings inside the Bush White House.

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

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Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Reaches Record Size

In environmental news, the US space agency – NASA – says it’s recorded the largest hole in the ozone over Antarctica on record. Government scientists say the size of the hole now exceeds the size of North America. The development comes as the UN top’s environmental official has issued a new plea for increased efforts to curb global warming. The official, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program Achim Steiner, spoke Thursday in Beijing.

Achim Steiner: “If the global warming trends continue at the moment – and the model suggests they are, and in fact may be doing so more rapidly – they have significant impacts on where people can live, and where people can grow food, and where people will have to leave because they can no longer live there – coastal areas. We will have disease spreading, we will have implications in terms of global trade, perhaps, nations that don’t play their part in terms of climate regime, how do they work with nations that are investing in setting their CO2 emissions. So, the potential for conflict to arise from the consequences of global warming are major trends that we now see.”

Achim Steiner’s comments ahead of next month’s summit meeting of environmental ministers in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/20/1433257

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Greenland ice sheet shrinking fast: NASA

Thu Oct 19, 5:12 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The vast sheet of ice that covers Greenland is shrinking fast, but still not as fast as previous research indicated,
NASA scientists said on Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT

Greenland’s low coastal regions lost 155 gigatons (41 cubic miles) of ice each year between 2003 and 2005 from excess melting and icebergs, the scientists said in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061019/sc_nm/environment_greenland_dc_1

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Date: October 18, 2006

A new poll commissioned by the Council for the National Interest Foundation shows that a significant number of Americans are wary of the power of the Israel lobby, and believe it is behind the invasion of Iraq and the current belligerent tone of the White House and Congress toward Iran.

The poll, which was carried out by Zogby International, reveals that 39% of the American public “agree” or “somewhat agree” that “the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran.” However, a similar number, 40%, “strongly disagreed” or “somewhat disagreed” with this position. Some 20% of the public, or more than one in five, were not sure.

The poll suggests that the espionage charges against two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the publicity given to a new study of the power of the Israel lobby by two mainstream academic professors has had an affect on people’s awareness of the lobby.

The academic study, done by Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University, was published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, and was the subject of a recent debate at Peter Cooper Union that included Professor Mearsheimer, Prof. Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University), and Prof. Tony Judt (New York University) and three influential pro-Zionists, Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, and Shlomo Ben-Ami.

The poll’s details show that 46% of Democrats tended to believe that the lobby was influential in the decision to go to war in Iraq while 45% of Republicans tended to believe it was not.

Along religious lines, while Protestants tended to be evenly divided on the role of the Israel Lobby in the Iraq invasion, 49% of Catholics tended to see the lobby’s hand in the invasion, while 77% of Jewish Americans overwhelming disagreed with the premise. Among ethnic groups, Hispanics (53%) believed that the lobby’s role was influential.

Among age groups, 50% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 agreed that the Israel lobby had a hand in forming the current pro-war policy. As one might expect, those who call themselves progressive (49%) or liberal (52%) also agreed in the role of the lobby, while “moderates” (42%) and “very conservative” (44%) people disagreed with the idea, as did a significant percentage of college graduates (44%).

Eugene Bird, president of CNI Foundation, commented about the poll, “It demonstrates the need for widening the circulation of information about the role of the Neocons and the pro-Israel lobby in the corridors of power during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.”

Some 1,035 people participated in the poll, which was conducted in every part of the country. For a full presentation of the data, see

www.cnionline.org/learn/polls/czandlobby/.

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“Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in “mission creep,” and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.’s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different — and perhaps barren — outcome.”

George HW Bush, 1992

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October 20, 2006

Priest Admits Being Naked With Foley
ROME Oct 20, 2006 (AP)— A Roman Catholic diocese has opened an investigation of a priest who said he fondled and shared saunas while naked with Mark Foley when the former U.S. congressman was a boy in Florida.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2590509&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Republican woes lead to feuding by conservatives
WASHINGTON Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies. Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down. Hawks say President George W. Bush is bungling the war in Iraq. And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley’s sexual messages to teenage pages
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/20/america/web.1020repubs.php

Ethics panel quizzes House figures / 2 reportedly confirm Hastert or his aides were told of Foley
(10-20) 04:00 PDT Washington—Two key congressional figures testified before a House ethics panel Thursday about their roles in the Mark Foley scandal, reportedly sticking to accounts indicating that Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., or his top aides were alerted to concerns about the disgraced Florida lawmaker’s behavior toward teenage pages before it became public.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/20/MNGALLSSFO1.DTL&feed =rss.news

Boehner repeats he told Hastert about Foley
(Capitol Hill-AP) October 19, 2006 – House Majority Leader John Boehner says he’s sticking to his story.
http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=5563705

Weldon’s FBI ‘informant’ on Curt’s payroll
A scan of the latest Federal Election Commission filings reveals two interesting facts about the 7th District race: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee finally plunked down the big bucks—$1.58 million worth of TV ad time on Tuesday alone—to help defeat U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon
http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17353831&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id =18171&rfi=6

House Intel Chair suspends staff member
Democrats say the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee had no grounds to suspend a staff member who’s come under scrutiny for the leak of a secret intelligence assessment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061020/ap_on_go_co/congress_leak_6

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Opinion/Editorial

IT IS TIME TO FACE

WAR’S DEVASTATION AT HOME

Laurie King, Electronic Iraq

“Denial is a powerful defense mechanism, and it afflicts
not only supporters of the war, but many of its detractors
as well. The reality is that both Iraqis and Americans
will be crippled, albeit in different ways, by this
senseless war for decades. Both peoples are now
inextricably linked by the tragedy, horror, waste, and
arrogance of the Bush Administration’s adventures in
pre-emptive warfare and attempts to deliver democracy at
gunpoint.”

http://electronicIraq.net/news/2550.shtml

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The NeoFascists just eliminated

the Writ of

HABEAS CORPUS

Do you idiots understand what this means?
You are no longer entitled to a jury of your peers.

Do you get it yet?
As of this week you can be arrested and jailed for years WITHOUT A TRIAL, WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO DEFEND YOURSELF.

According to the bill, Donald Rumsfeld or G.W. Bush can declare ANYONE as an ENEMY COMBATANT and THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. NO ACCESS TO A LAWYER. NO TRIAL. NO RECOURSE. NO OVERSIGHT FROM THE COURTS.

Habeas Corpus was the key to The American Democracy.

It protected the individual from wrongful prosecution, and gave everyone a right to their day in court.

WAKE UP AMERICA
This is NOT about “Libs vs Cons.”
This is about EVERYTHING THIS COUNTRY STANDS FOR.
Watch and learn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6prNQZmmuI

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A Time Of Shame:

National yawn as our rights evaporate

By Keith Olbermann – Anchor, ‘Countdown’

First thing this morning, the president signed into law the Military Commissions
Act of 2006, which does away with habeas corpus, the right of suspected
terrorists or anybody else to know why they have been imprisoned, provided the
president does not think it should apply to you and declares you an enemy
combatant.

Video and transcript.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15342.htm

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By Juan Cole

Bush and a supine, cowardly Congress shredded the US Constitution on Tuesday,
abolishing the right of a court review (habeas corpus) for some classes of
suspect. Suspect, mind you, not proven criminal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15339.htm

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Oct 19th 2006 | JERUSALEM
From The Economist print edition
Israeli politics swirls with intrigue

SINCE the ill-fated war against Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israeli politics has been in turmoil. A poll last week in the Yediot Achronot newspaper found that in an election now, the centre-right Likud and the nationalist, Russian-speakers’ party, Yisrael Beiteinu, would get 22 and 20 seats in parliament, roughly double what they have now, while Kadima and Labour, the main parties in the governing coalition, would drop to just 15 seats each.

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8058481&fsrc=RSS

from that "liberal" news magazine "The Economist"

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Talking with

Marwan Barghouti

Marwan Barghouthi is a member of the Revolutionary Council of Fateh. He is
currently serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail, but is viewed by all
observers, including Israelis, as a potential future Palestinian leader. His
imprisonment is seen as a political act and his release will constitute a
substantial part of any future political breakthrough.

http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=820

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The Palmer Raids

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

The Palmer Raids were a series of controversial raids by the U.S. Justice and Immigration Departments from 1918 to 1921 on the radical left in the United States. The raids are named for Alexander Mitchell Palmer, United States Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson.

The crackdown on radical left-wing political groups had actually begun during World War I. After a series of bomb attacks of court buildings, police stations, churches and homes tied to violent Italian anarchist groups, the Department of Justice and its small Bureau of Investigation (BOI) (predecessor to the FBI) had begun to track their activities with the approval of President Woodrow Wilson. In 1915, Wilson himself warned of hyphenated Americans who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life..Such creatures of passion, disloyalty and anarchy must be crushed out. Handicapped by the secrecy of these groups and limited Federal law enforcement capabilities, the Bureau of Investigation significantly increased its workload on anarchist movements after 1917 when the Galleanists (followers of Luigi Galleani) and other radical groups commenced a new series of bomb attacks that reverberated through several major American cities. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker’s revolution there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States.

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New Poll: Americans Question Bush on 9/11 Intelligence:

Only 16 per cent of respondents say the government headed by U.S. president
George W. Bush is telling the truth on what it knew prior to the terrorist
attacks, down five points since May 2002.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/13469

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Study of Iraqi Dead Shocking, But Sound Science :

The Statistical Assessment Service a non-profit, non-partisan media research
organization – finds the study estimating 650,000 excess Iraqi casualties since
American forces entered the country to be methodologically sound.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15335.htm

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Over 650,000 excesive Iraqi deaths 

during war and occupation:

The scientific community is in agreement over the statistical methods used to
collect the data and the validity of the conclusions drawn by the researchers
conducting the study.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15336.htm

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The Pentagon has a long history of using

US troops as guinea pigs for medical

experiments.

Earlier this week and barely noticed by the news,
the Pentagon resumed a court-halted program that
compels US servicemen and women to accept untested
anthrax vaccinations or face disciplinary action.

Here’s a short clip from the film “Beyond Treason”
that traces the origin of Gulf War Illness, a
condition that has crippled tens of thousands of
US troops since the first Gulf War.

http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/iraq/iraqwar14.html

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Winning Hearts and Minds

8 courts-martial ordered in rape, murder cases :

4 U.S. soldiers face charges over 14 year old girl’s death in Iraqi town of
Mahmoudiya

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15320226/

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Bush: Lying Sack of Shit

“We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being.”
- George W. Bush – Lying Sack of Shit

“Our values as a nation, values that we share with many nations in the world, call for us to treat detainees humanely, including those who are not legally entitled to such treatment,”
- George W. Bush – Lying Sack of Shit

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HATRIOT ACT REDEFINES “TERRORISM”

The Patriot Act Redefined the word “terrorist” 

Here are some examples of potential “domestic terrorists”

MICHIGAN-School District Portrays Homeschoolers as “Terrorists”
Michigan: Homeschool Terrorist Drill
September 22, 2004
http://www.home-school.com/news/terrorists.html

KENTUCKY-Warn your children: No Zombie Stories
Kentucky Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding
February 29, 2005
http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614

ARIZONA State Patrol on Look Out for These Potential DomesticTerrorists
http://www.stanley2002.org/FBI-MCOSTerrorist.htm
Do you consider yourself to be a “defender” of the U.S. Constitution against the federal government and the UN?
Have you ever asked an officer why you have been pulled over?
Do you make numerous references to the U.S. Constitution?
Do you believe in animal rights?
Are you a lone individual?

INDIANA Bank Complainer Arrested for Terroristic Mischief when he refused to leave
Man complains at bank is arrested and charged with felony
March 25, 2005 indystar.com
http://tinyurl.com/d2yc7

CALIFORNIA Environmental Activist Targeted as Domestic Terrorist. As such, spyed on without a warrant.
TERRORIST OR ACTIVIST?
March 2, 2005
http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/story/0,14124,1428024,00.html

NEW YORK CITY Potential Domestic Terrorists Groups
Anti-War Protest Groups
Bike Activism Groups
New Video Evidence Shows NYPD Covert Surveillance of Cyclists and Protests
December 27, 2005 Democracy Now
See this link for audio/video links
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/27/1444202
For more info see: http://www.stillweridethemovie.com/

Journalists as Potential Domestic Terrorists
WASHINGTON DC Dissent Busting
November 21 2005
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7678.shtml

NEW JERSEY Homeless Driven Out Using Patriot Act
Use of Patriot Act against homeless is under fire
N.J. City Criticized for Homeless Lawsuit
June 29, 2005 associated press
http://tinyurl.com/79pao

WISCONSIN Nabs a “Paper Terrorist” who complained too much
‘Paper terrorist’ gets five years in prison
January 17, 2003
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jan03/111509.asp

IOWA Vet Arrested for Complaining too much to VA
Homeland Security Arrests Vet For Complaining
August 11, 2004
http://tinyurl.com/cp56t

NEW YORK STATE School Prankster Arrested Under Patriot Act
April 5 2005
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?SecID=33&ArID=125290

MICHIGAN Teenager Charged With Terrorism Under Patriot Act After Swearing at Teacher
October 4, 2004 The Jackson Citizen Patriot
http://www.infowars.com/print/patriot_act/teenrebel.htm
Student Misconduct Becomes Terrorism under Patriot Act
While such conduct certainly needs to be addressed, framing teen-age acting out as terrorism sidesteps the normal judicial process and could be an exaggeration of the actual seriousness of the crime or offense. It certainly is not what Americans think of as terrorism. What was the outcome of these two cases, I wonder.

OREGON
Homeland Security Visits Pufferbelly Toys
AUDIO
November 9, 2004
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/audio/091104cox.htm

CALIFORNIA
Targeting Blacks as Domestic Terrorists
http://www.newsandletters.org/Issues/2005/Nov-Dec/WST_Nov-Dec_05.htm

OHIO
Website called terroristic tool. Email to judge criticizing his action called paper terrorism.
Ohio Activist Elsebeth Baumgartner Charged 66 years and 6 months
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2006/05/20011.php

CALIFORNIA NIGHTMARE: The U.S. Government Wanted ‘To Make An Example Out of Me’: Young Webmaster Heads to Prison for Political Website
VIDEO http://www.prisonplanet.com/030903sherman.html

CALIFORNIA
Former Black Panthers considered terrorists under Patriot Act
The Freedom Archives Friday, Jan. 13, 2006
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/01/1795356.php

VIRGINIA
Virginia Training Manual Lists Property Rights Activists As Terrorists
Says video cameras, binoculars, sketch pads are terrorist tools
March 28, 2006 (See link for picture of the brochure)
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/280306trainingmanual.htm

TEXAS
UPDATED: TX Terror Training Pamphlet: Anyone Might be a Terrorist
Terrorists May Be Traveling with Children, May Appear to be “Nice Guy”
See link for pamphlet
http://www.infowars.com/articles/terror/terror_manual_says_property_rights_activ ists_terrorists.htm

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Larry Silverstein Raking in the Billions on the 9/11 Inside Job

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/18/news/companies/swiss_re.reut/index.htm?section=money_latest

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