Is This Why We Support "Our Troops"?

Yet another reason for the US citizen to hang their head in shame. That is, if they were even paying attention. Did Cindy Sheehan's son and so many other sons and daughters die to defend this sort of disgusting arrogance?

Once again, thanks to the Signs Team for bringing this to the blosphere. G-d knows we'd never hear it on CNBC or FOX.

Blue Ibis

U.S.: License to Abuse Would Put CIA Above the Law

Source: Human Rights Watch
26 Oct 2005

(New York, October 26, 2005) – The Bush administration is now the only government in the world to claim a legal justification for mistreating prisoners during interrogations, Human Rights Watch said today. The administration recently approached members of the U.S. Congress to seek a waiver that would allow the CIA to use cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment on detainees in U.S. custody outside the United States.

While many other governments practice torture and other forms of mistreatment and have records of abuse far worse than the United States, no other government currently claims that such abuse is legally permissible, Human Rights Watch said.

"The administration is setting a dangerous example for the world when it claims that spy agencies are above the law," said Tom Malinowski, Washington director of Human Rights Watch. "Congress should reject this proposal outright. Otherwise, the United States will have no standing to demand humane treatment if an American falls into the hands of foreign intelligence services."

Earlier this month, in a 90-9 vote, the U.S. Senate approved a measure sponsored by Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham that would prohibit the military and CIA from using "cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment" in the case of any detainee, anywhere in the world.

But last week, Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA director Porter Goss met with Sen. McCain to propose a presidential waiver for the proposed legislation. The proposed waiver states that the measure "shall not apply with respect to clandestine counterterrorism operations conducted abroad, with respect to terrorists who are not citizens of the United States, that are carried out by an element of the United States government other than the Department of Defense." [...]

CIA
Human Rights
Torture
Senator McCain
Cindy Sheehan
Fascism
Terrorism

Don't Get Too Excited

I've been traveling and will be commenting on that experience soon. In the mean time here is another excellent op/ed from the Signs of the Times team.

Blue Ibis

False Hopes
Signs of the Times

Now that Bush and his administration are in deep trouble -- his approval ratings are way down, the war in Iraq is so far out of control that only the most rabid Bushistas are not seeing it, the White House is under investigation for leaking secrets, Hurricane Katrina brought to the screens of CNN and Fox the structural racism of American society and the Bush Administration's lack of concern for the plight of the poor and Blacks, gas prices are at historical highs, the US economy is on the verge of a major crash after being kept on life support via consumer debt, and stories that have long been found only on the Internet about Bush's drinking and drug problems, not to mention his abusive treatment of staff, are finally making it into the mainstream press, and so on --, we are going to see a lot of proposals for what should be done. What will be common to most of them is that they will completely miss the mark.

The current investigation of Patrick Fitzgerald, should it finish by handing down indictments to major figures of the Bush Reich, has been focused on a very small and relatively unimportant element of the litany of horror stories that have been such an integral part of this administration since it stole its way into office through a Supreme Court fiat. Outing a CIA spy is really a trivial matter. They should all be outed. There are reports, however, that Fitzgerald may be enlarging his investigation to look at the so-called faulty intelligence planted by the neo-cons in the press prior to launching their war on Iraq.

But still...

If Karl Rove or Scooter Libby, or even George W. himself, were to be named by Fitzgerald, prosecuted, and even convicted, do we actually think it would change anything? Do we think that any of these three men were actually involved in the organisation or carrying out of the events of 9/11?

We think not.

So if the public face of the new American fascism is removed, what about all of the others, the real power, the names we don't know? They'll still be in place. And this is why we think that all the hoopla will be much ado about nothing, sound and fury signifying yet another hoodwinking of the American public into believing the "system works", just like with Watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Well, yeah, it does. It works very well for those in control. It just doesn't work for what it claims: protecting and ensuring the freedom of the US people.

However, there is another degree of control that no one is talking about, a level of control that is so outlandish and preposterous for most of us that we laugh it off and consider the person making such a proposition as deranged. Yes, friends, we are speaking of the control that comes from hyperdimensional realities and our hyperdimensional overlords. You remember them; they consider us as livestock to be bred for their needs. If coming to the conclusion that the neocons and Israel were behind 9/11 is a bridge too far, how much further is it for the man on the street to consider that we are ruled by time-traveling beings who appear to us as gods and aliens in order to better manipulate us? Who have filled our heads with monotheism in order to divide us, to set us one against another, and if that doesn't work, then, whup, let's bring out the New Age and the occult, black magic and paganism, Planet Nibiru and the other fads of millennial thinking.

If you were holed up in the White House and saw that you were becoming encircled by enemy forces, what would you do? It is easy to suggest that Bush & Co could order another "terrorist" attack on the country, however, it is clear that Bush is but a puppet when it comes to such things. What if his puppet masters didn't want to help him out? What if he has become expendable?

That doesn't exclude the possibility that Bush and Rove could have their black ops experts pull off a little attack of their own, the way MI5 put terror back on the front pages in July in London, but it is risky because not everyone has the experience and know-how of Israeli intelligence when it comes to false flag operations. London was to a certain extent a bungled affair. Too many loose ends. It is only the complicity of the press, that watch dog that seems to forever feast on a piece of stray meat thrown its way when it should be doing its job, that the false flag nature of the bombings haven't come to light in the mainstream media.

We seem to have entered a period of turbulence, perhaps a phase transition. The new state into which we pass will depend upon the energy that is put into the system now, while it is beginning to boil. There are two choices, either the energy of creation or the energy of entropy. Creation is intimately linked to our ability to see the world as it is, free from any and all illusion. In our case, these illusions have to do with the social programming we receive in school, the emotional programming that comes from our relationships in our families, with our friends. If we continue to believe the lies we have been fed all of our lives, then we will remain embedded in a reality of lies, of chaos, of disorder, violence, hunger, and aggression. We will be swept down into the maelstrom of entropy.

Subjectivity is our enemy. It is what holds us prisoner to our personalities, unable to reach deeply inside to touch our real selves.

Only by staring the world in its face, working through the emotional chains that hold us, consciously revisiting our upbringing and identifying our programming, and then learning how to make a different choice when the programme starts to run will be be able to face the world in front of us calmly, steadfastly, and with the clear gaze that will enable us to respond creatively.

And So It Has Come To This

Honest dissent has now become terrorism . . . .

An 82 year old man feebly voices the word "nonsense" when Home
Secretary Jack straw stated that there was only one reason that the UK was in
Iraq. He and another man who came to his aid were then "manhandled"
out of the building. The 82 year old was then held under recently-passed
anti-terrorism laws to prevent him from re-entering the building.

Story here. See the video here:

The PTB jumped on this one fast. See here how the story has morphed into this frail man "shouting" (being unruly and disruptive to the esteemed secretary) and so maybe "had it coming". In any case a mealy mouthed apology has been offered. No word on when the stewards of the Labour Party will start wearing brown shirts.

Blue Ibis

What Goes Around Can Bite You Again?

As interesting as this little tidbit is, you can find a lot more here and here. Both are in-depth treatments of this, the Reischstag fire of the 21st century, by the good folks at Signs of the Times. Funny what drops down the media memory hole when there's a Katrina for tragic distraction. Such is the callousness of our "leaders". . .

Blue Ibis

Bogus Israeli Moving Co -
Israeli Intel - Back In US?

By Wayne Madsen
9-14-5

Is Urban Moving Systems chief back in US? There are indications that Israeli national Dominik Suter, the former head of Urban Moving Systems in Weehawken, NJ is back in the United States, this time in south Florida and may be using his actual name. Suter ran the Weehawken, NJ-based moving company on 9-11 when a number of Urban Moving Systems vans were spotted around north Jersey before and after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center. One Urban Moving van was seen at Liberty State Park in Jersey City as the first plane hit the towers. The five occupants, all Israeli nationals, were seen videotaping and celebrating the attack and were dressed in Arab clothing. The five were later arrested near Giant Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. One of the Israelis told police they were at Liberty State Park to "document the event."

After the Israelis were detained for several months in Brooklyn as terrorist suspects, they were quickly deported to Israel. After the FBI questioned Suter on September 11, he fled the United States on September 14, 2001. The FBI was due to question Suter again before he fled the country. Later, Federal law enforcement agents discovered pipes, caps, explosive chemical materials, and traces of anthrax at the Weehawken warehouse. Suter's name and those of some of his moving employees turned up in a CIA database of foreign intelligence agents. Suter's name also appeared on an FBI 9-11 terrorism suspect list. Suter's year of birth is listed as 1970 with a social security number of 129-78-0926. His addresses before 9-11 are listed as 28 Harlow Crescent Rd., Fairlawn, NJ 07410; 312 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07302; and 15000 Dickens, Suite 11, Sherman Oaks CA. If Suter has been permitted to re-enter the United States, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Michael Chertoff have a lot of explaining to do.

http://waynemadsenreport.com/

Katrina
Isreali Agents
9-11
Spies in U.S.
Patriot Act
Fascism

Nuggets of Truth

They're there, those little tidbits that tell you what is really going on. You just have to look for them. From today's Meet the Press interviews:

[... Discussion of Renquist's replacement and nauseating spin from Chertoff about what a great job the government is going to do . . . .]

Coming next, the very latest from the governor of Mississippi. And the president of Jefferson Parish just outside New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina continues on this special edition of MEET THE PRESS.
(Announcements)
MR. RUSSERT: More on Hurricane Katrina, the response from the governor of Mississippi and the president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, after this station break.
(Announcements)
MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.

Jefferson Parish President Broussard, let me start with you. You just heard the director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. {Really? Check out that "effectiveness" of FEMA below} .It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...

MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. While you gather yourself in your very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Governor Barbour, can you bring our audience up to date on what is happening in your state, how many deaths have you experienced and what do you see playing out over the next couple days?

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R-MS): Well, we were ground zero of the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States. And it's not just a calamity on our Gulf Coast, which is decimated, I mean, destroyed, all the infrastructure overwhelmed. We have damage 150 miles inland. We have 100 miles inland, 12 deaths from winds over 110 miles an hour.
[...]
But my experience is very different from Louisiana, apparently. I don't know anything about Louisiana. Over here, we had the Coast Guard in Monday night. They took 1,700 people off the roofs of houses with guys hanging off of helicopters to get them. They sent us a million meals last night because we'd eaten everything through. Everything hasn't been perfect here, by any stretch of the imagination, Tim. But the federal government has been good partners to us. They've tried hard. Our people have tried hard. Firemen and policemen and emergency medical people, National Guard, highway patrolmen working virtually around the clock, sleeping in their cars when they could sleep. And we've made progress every day.

{Does anyone think to ask why? Who gains from drowning New Orleans?}

But should I--we haven't made as much progress as I want any day. And to be honest, we won't make as much progress as I want any day because the devastation we're dealing with is unimaginable, not just unprecedented. It's unimaginable.
[....]

MR. RUSSERT: Governor, how many people do you think have died in the state of Mississippi?

GOV. BARBOUR: Well, the official death toll is 160-something. And with the debris, Tim, that we have on the coast, which in many areas is six, eight, 10 feet tall, and because some people didn't evacuate, I think that toll will go up. I can't tell you how much, but we have so many people on the coast, they boarded up for Ivan, evacuated, nothing happened. Boarded up for Dennis, evacuated, nothing happened. Then they said, you know, "Where I am was OK for Camille." Nobody ever imagined something worse than Camille. And we have a lot of people...

MR. RUSSERT: Right.

GOV. BARBOUR: ...who may have died because they didn't believe anything could be worse than Camille.

MR. RUSSERT: Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, we thank you very much for your own personal testimony this morning and sharing it with the American viewers.

Coming next, why were all the warnings about New Orleans ignored? And what will be the impact of this crisis on our nation's economy and our nation's psyche? Coming up right here on MEET THE PRESS.
(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: Welcome all.

By now this animation by NBC News has become very familiar. It shows exactly how New Orleans is that so-called bathtub, a city in between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. And when those levees break, the city can be flooded and disaster can occur.

Mark Fischetti, you wrote an article for Scientific American 2001...

MR. MARK FISCHETTI: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...and you basically predicted this very thing happening.

MR. FISCHETTI: Right. The article came out in 2001. It was based on computer models that Louisiana State University had been running for several years. A plan had been put together in 1998 already by scientists and engineers what could be done to protect New Orleans if a Category 4 or 5 hurricane came from the south as it did.

MR. RUSSERT: So when the president and Secretary Chertoff say, "We were surprised that the levees were breached," were you surprised?

MR. FISCHETTI: I wasn't surprised. I felt sick Sunday night myself having written this piece and seen the computer models about what could happen in this very instance. I wasn't the only one to write about it. Others have written about it. The models have been out there.

MR. RUSSERT: Mike Tidwell, you've written about it as well, and you say that in order to rebuild, there's going to have to be some serious undertakings in recognition of the environmental realities of what exists in the New Orleans area.

MR. MIKE TIDWELL: [....]You can't just fix the levees in New Orleans. We now have to have a massive coastal restoration project where we get the water out of the Mississippi River in a controlled fashion toward the Barrier islands, restore the wetlands. If you don't commit to this plan which is this $14 billion, costs of the Big Dig in Boston, or two weeks of spending Iraq, you shouldn't fix a single window in New Orleans. You shouldn't pick up a single piece of debris because to do one without the other is to set the table for another nightmare.

MR. RUSSERT: So if you keep status quo, rebuild the levee and not do the other environmental corrections that you're talking about, this will happen again?

MR. TIDWELL: I don't think we should fix a single window in New Orleans unless as a nation we commit to this $14 billion plan called Coast 2050. You can Google it under the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. It's been on the table since the mid-'90s. The Bush administration has had all kinds of folks in New Orleans and in Louisiana begging for funding for this--the cost of the Big Dig--to restore the Barrier islands, to fix the wetlands because without that, New Orleans is an endangered city forever.

MR. RUSSERT: Marc Morial, you were the mayor of New Orleans.

MR. MARC MORIAL: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: Your dad was the mayor. In fact, ironically, the very faces of those poor souls we saw in the Convention Center, it's the Dutch Morial Convention Center named after your dad.

MR. MORIAL: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: I want to raise a subject that was written by The Washington Post and I've seen you on television speaking about it. "The Racial Dimension: To Me, It Just seems Like Black People Are Marked"--was the headline of The Washington Post story. "While hundreds of thousands of people have been dislocated by Hurricane Katrina, the images that have filled the television screens have been mainly of black Americans--grieving, suffering, in some cases looting and desperately trying to leave New Orleans. Along with the intimate tales of family drama and survival being played out Thursday, there was no escaping that race had become a subtext to the unfolding drama of the hurricane's aftermath."

MR. MORIAL: One has to ask themselves a question: Were this Washington, D.C., New York, an earthquake in Los Angeles, would the response have been so inadequate, been so lacking? Tim, what-- where my emotions are and watching Aaron Broussard, it just struck me another time. Where my emotions are is there was Hurricane Katrina, and then there was the first 72 to 96 hours of response. It was wholly and completely inadequate.

Not only am I upset, shocked, angry, I hope that as I talk on this show today that this nation will recognize that this is a wake-up call and an opportunity for black and white people to come together to try to do something for the now almost one million people who've been displaced from their homes, unprecedented in American history, a humanitarian crisis of untold proportions. And we've got to focus on that.

I'm on my way to Houston today to visit the residents of my former city just to try to give hope and try to give healing and to try to say we care. There's going to need to be a retrospective and an examination of all that went wrong, but there needs to be a continuation of rescue efforts in New Orleans and also energy, money and resources, not just from the private sector, but from the government of the United States to do something about all of the people who have now evacuated and must be resettled.
{but you can bet it won't be anywhere near all that prime real estate. Wonder what the alternatives are then?}

MR. RUSSERT: There was a poll taken before the hurricane, and about 60 percent of the residents of New Orleans said they probably wouldn't leave if they were asked to evacuate. Many of them said they couldn't leave. They live check to check. They don't have an automobile. Should the mayor, should the governor, should the president, should everyone have been more insistent and provided the resources-- trains, planes, buses, automobiles, boats--to evacuate the city before the hurricane?

MR. MORIAL: When I was mayor in '98, we orchestrated the first evacuation of the city during Hurricane Georges. After the evacuation, we did a public opinion poll, or a poll of the citizens of the city, which demonstrated that 50 percent, approximately, evacuated. About 20 to 25 percent found themselves in shelters of last resort, which were the dome, the Convention Center, and then another 25 percent refused to go. It was always foreseeable that there would be those that would not leave. There was a marker here, Hurricane Georges going forward, that led, I must admit to, for example, changes in the city's hurricane evacuation plan which contraflowed the interstate, which, if that had not occurred, the tragedy may have even been greater.

So under these circumstances, faced with what we're faced, it was foreseeable that people would not be able to evacuate. Many of the people you saw at the Convention Center or the dome didn't have cars, didn't have means, didn't have money. And also, let's not forget, there were many who have now evacuated to hotels whose money is short, their jobs are gone. This requires a massive undertaking by our government on behalf of our own citizens. These are not, Tim, refugees. Let's not refer to them as refugees. They're citizens. They're survivors.

MR. RUSSERT: Yeah. They're Americans.

MR. MORIAL: They're us.

MR. RUSSERT: David Wessel, let me ask you about the economic impact of all this. You work for The Wall Street Journal and have written about it. Louisiana's coast produces one-third of the country's seafood, one-fifth of the oil, one quarter of our natural gas, and the strip between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is the nation's largest port. What is going to be the fallout for the rest of the nation from this crisis?

MR. DAVID WESSEL: It's going to be big, Tim. Of course, at first--the first blush is it's a horrible tragedy for the people there and the economy. Rebuilding there is going to be just a massive undertaking, as the mayor said. But this is like having a heart attack and then having problems with your circulatory system. The United States' economy depends on oil and gas and refineries that are in this region. They've been damaged, and it's going to be a shock to the economy if those things don't come back soon.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe they will come back soon?

MR. WESSEL: I don't think we know yet. It's pretty clear that some of them are coming back as power is restored. We know that the pressure in the pipelines...

MR. RUSSERT: Yeah.

MR. WESSEL: ...for instance, that carry the fuel from the coast to the rest of the country, is being restored. But a number of these refineries and also oil drilling platforms have been damaged so severely that it'll probably be months before they come back. And that's why the rest of us are going to be feeling the impact of this, not only in our hearts but in our economic lives.

MR. RUSSERT: Gasoline prices will be very high for some time to come?

MR. WESSEL: That's right. The early signs are, since the end of last week, that the financial markets, which guess, which bet on future gasoline prices, are that the price is coming down a little bit; that is, that we'll have a spike for a few weeks and then it'll start to come down. But that could turn around quickly when the oil companies--if the oil companies tell us that the refineries are going to be out of commission for a long time.

MR. RUSSERT: Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert started a debate by saying, "Well, we have to think about whether or not New Orleans should be rebuilt in the way it is and where it is." He then put out several other statements saying, "What I meant to say is that it will be rebuilt, but it has to be rebuilt correctly." It follows up on what you've been saying, Mark and Mike, in terms of just what is there and what should be there. Do you believe that we have the wherewithal, the money, $14 billion, to rebuild New Orleans? And how long will it take to do that?

MR. FISCHETTI: I don't think it's a question of money. It's a question of will. Florida in 2000 started this--Congress approved, essentially, a $7 billion plan to refresh the Everglades, which is a very similar kind of project. It's freshwater; it's marsh lands. $7 billion in 2000. I don't think the dollar figure is the obstacle. It's the desire to do it.

MR. TIDWELL: I think there are a number of stories here. I mean, first of all, we need to, of course, address the humanitarian crisis. And beyond that, we got to start thinking about how--what we need to do to rebuild New Orleans. And that's going to take just restoration now for--to get the water of the Mississippi back toward the Barrier islands and the wetlands.

But the really final big story here is that the Bush administration is failing on another level to hear warning signs and take credible evidence that there's dire problems. The Bush administration itself--its own studies say that we will in this century turn every coastal city in America into a New Orleans. Why? Because we got three feet of subsidence, sinking,in south Louisiana in the 20th century because of the levees. Right now, because of global climate change, the Bush administration's own studies say we will get between one and three feet of sea level rise worldwide because of our use of fossil fuels.

{but if Jesus is coming, it won't matter. Bush talks to God remember?}

The big, big, big take-away message here is: New Orleans is the future of Miami, New York, San Diego, every coastal city in the world, because whether the land sinks three feet and you get a bowl in a hurricane like this, or sea level rises worldwide, same problem. We have got to address this energy problem that David mentioned. We have an irrational energy problem.

The way most Americans are going to feel this hurricane is at the gas pump and the energy. That's because this infrastructure is irrationally exposed to hurricanes. That's a problem big enough itself and shows how vulnerable we are to fossil fuels. Then you have the consequences of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases turning every city, coastal city in the world into a New Orleans. We've got to start thinking about a new energy future.

MR. RUSSERT: I also think we feel it in our hearts very, very deeply as we watch those pictures as well, as the gasoline pumps. And I can tell you by the reaction I've gotten from people all across the country. Mr. Mayor, do you believe that the people of New Orleans will come back to their city? With-- there are no housing. There are no jobs. Will they come back?

MR. MORIAL: New Orleans must be rebuilt. It must be rebuilt as the diverse cultural gumbo that it's always been. It must be rebuilt the right way. Mary Landrieu has had legislation for a coastal restoration initiative now pending in Congress for three years and has not been able to get it passed. What we need here is a reconstruction and resettlement czar, someone like Colin Powell, someone like Andrew Young, someone with broad credibility to lead the efforts to resettle people and provide the leadership for the reconstruction of New Orleans, Louisiana, and southern Mississippi.
[....]
(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: That's all for today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the people of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as they try to rebuild their lives and their homes.

And we leave you with these haunting images of this terrible week, set to the voice of a son of New Orleans, Aaron Neville. These faces, these eyes, these tears are forever seared into our hearts.

(Videotape, photos and footage of hurricane aftermath; audio of Neville song)

*****************************
Well if you slogged it this far, you know that the focus just had to return to the economics of it. Does anybody really think all that prime real estate and resources will go back to those who actually lived there? This is the new diapsora. The people who lived there for generations are being dispersed all over the country. Notice the shift from "victim" to "refugee". In the American psyche the refugee is the Other, not good ol' us:

Texas to Airlift Katrina Refugees

AUSTIN — With nearly a quarter-million Katrina refugees already in Texas and more still pouring in, Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency officials today to airlift some of them to other states that have offered help.
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said relief centers around the state are running out of room.

"There are shelters set up in other states that are sitting empty while thousands arrive in Texas by the day, if not the hour," Perry said. "We are doing everything we can to address the needs of evacuees as they arrive, but in order to meet this enormous need, we need help from other states."
[....]
Aid centers will be set up at airports in Houston and Dallas where incoming refugees can be given food, water and medical care before they are flown out. The governor's office said some of those flights could begin today.

The Texas National Guard will coordinate the air operation. Perry said American, Continental and Southwest Airlines, all of which are based in Texas, have agreed to help.
[....]
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said she she did not know how many refugees might ultimately end up in other states.
[...]

What else is there to say?

Blue Ibis
Katrina
New Orleans
Bush
Flood
National Guard
Patriot Act
Fascism

Help When Words Fail

The masterful Jeff Wells says it better than I could. He's writing a another book (yeah!!), but still has time to put up some great posts. Check him out at Rigorous Intuition. Especially check out THIS blog entry. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

From: Because They Can

When it all comes down to dust, I will help you if I must;
I will kill you if I can. - Leonard Cohen

Maybe you think the worst is over, now Bush has had his photo op as the clockwork convoy of aid finally rolled into New Orleans. I thought, maybe so. Maybe that's enough death for them.

If you're like I was, you haven't seen this yet:

[See Photo at Link]

It's Geraldo Rivera, Friday night at the New Orleans Convention Center, where 30,000 Americans are locked down again with their piss and their shit and their dead. Rivera gets it, but he doesn't know what he's got. "What the hell, man - let them walk out of here!" If anyone tries it, if anyone reaches the perimeter, they're turned back.

From the website of the American Red Cross, their disaster FAQ:

Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?

Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

In the end, there is no understanding evil. There is only opposing it.

People shake their heads, "Why would they do this?" Because they can't fathom a reason they deny it's happening, and disbelieve the witness of the tightness in their chests.

When Polish Jews first entered the Warsaw Ghetto, they knew they'd been through Hell, but they thought they'd come out the other side.

This is happening, America, to your brothers and sisters. Don't think it isn't because you can't understand it.

Coming this week, count on it: the "pacification" of New Orleans.

[See Photo at Link]
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The only defense we have is "to understand". Knowledge Protects, Ignorance Endangers. Start protecting yourself with knowledge HERE.

Blue Ibis

Bush's (and our?) Final Embarassment??

Once again we have to go outside the sychophantic media that pass for the fifth estate in the U.S. From The Independent in the U.K.:

'CASUAL TO THE POINT OF CARELESS'
- Bush under fire for slow reaction

By Andrew Gumbel
Published: 02 September 2005

President Bush faced not only the fallout of Hurricane Katrina but
also an intense political storm yesterday as relief experts,
government officials and newspaper editorials criticized everything
from his administration's disaster preparedness policies to the
manner in which he made his public entry into the growing crisis on
the Gulf coast.

The New York Times said of a speech he made on Tuesday: "Nothing
about the President's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the
point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the
current crisis."

No less trenchant - and more heartfelt - was the Biloxi Sun Herald in
Mississippi which surveyed the disaster around its editorial offices and
asked: "Why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in south
Mississippi been pressed into service?"

As when the Asian tsunami hit last year, Mr. Bush found himself on
holiday at his Texas ranch when disaster struck. As with the tsunami, he
was soon in the firing line for reacting slowly - he spent Monday on a
fundraising tour of the American West - and failing to provide adequate
leadership. As survivors complained of a lack of water, food and medical
supplies yesterday, fingers from across the political spectrum were
pointed at the White House.

Experts on the Mississippi Delta pointed out that a plan to shore up the
levees around New Orleans was abandoned last year for lack of government
funding. They noted that flood-control spending for south-eastern
Louisiana had been chopped every year that Mr. Bush has been in office,
that hurricane protection funds have also fallen, and that the local army
corps of engineers has also had its budget cut. The emergency management
chief for Jefferson parish told the Times- Picayune newspaper:
"It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

The torrent of criticism contrasted sharply to the reaction to the 11
September attacks, when political sniping was put on hold and dissenters
were told their complaints were both unwelcome and unpatriotic. The change
in tone partly suggests a growing disenchantment with Mr. Bush.

The usually restrained New York Times said: "Why were developers
permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have
held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off
to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the
gaping holes in the area's flood protection?"

******

Why indeed? A look at the connections between those developers and the state officials and Congressmen that received campaign contributions from them would probably answer any such questions. Go Capitalism!

Blue Ibis

Katrina
New Orleans
Bush
Flood
National Guard
Patriot Act
Fascism

Express Yourself Until Instructed to Stop

Compare the lip service to freedom of expression, to the actions described below. Cognitive dissonance anyone?

Blue Ibis

Utah Youth Treated Like Terrorists!

Evol Intents Account Of The Incident!

08/22/05 "ICH"
Last night, I was booked to play an event about an hour outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The hype behind this show was huge, they presold 700 tickets and they expected up to 3,000 people total. The promoters did an amazing job with the show.. they even made slipmats with the flyers on them to promote in local shops.

So, we got to the show around 11:15 or so and it was really cool. It was all outdoors, in a valley surrounded by huge mountains. They had an amazing light show flashing on to a mountain behind the site, the sound was booming, the crowd was about 1500 people thick and everything just seemed too good to be true really. Well...

At about 11:30 or so, I was standing behind the stage talking with someone when I noticed a helicopter pulling over one of the mountain tops. I jokingly said "Oh look, here comes big brother" to the person I was with. I wasn't far off.

The helicopter dipped lower and lower and started shining its lights on the crowd. I was kind of in awe and just sat and watched this thing circle us for a minute. As I looked back towards the crowd I saw a guy dressed in camoflauge walking by, toting an assault rifle. At this point, everyone was fully aware of what was going on . A few "troops" rushed the stage and cut the sound off and started yelling that everyone "get the fuck out of here or go to jail". This is where it got really sticky.

No one resisted. That's for sure. They had police dogs raiding the crowd of people and I saw a dog signal out a guy who obviously had some drugs on him. The soldiers attacked the guy (4 of them on 1), and kicked him a few times in the ribs and had their knees in his back and sides. As they were cuffing him, there was about 1000 kids trying to leave in the backdrop, peacefully. Next thing I know, A can of fucking TEAR GAS is launched into the crowd. People are running and screaming at this point. Girls are crying, guys are cussing... bad scene.

Now, this is all I saw with my own eyes, but I heard plenty of other accounts of the night. Now this isnt gossip I heard from some candy raver, these are instances cited straight out of the promoters mouth..

- One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.

- The police confiscated 3 video tapes in total. People were trying to document what was happening out there. The police saw one guy filming and ran after him, tackled him and his camera fell, and luckily.. his friend grabbed it and ran and got away. priceless footage. That's not all though. Out of 1,500 people, there's sure to be more footage.

- The police were rounding up the staff of the party and the main promoter went up to them with the permit for the show and said "here, I have the permit." The police then said, "no you don't" and ripped the permit out of his hand. Then, they put an assault rifle to his forehead and said "get the fuck out of here right now."

Now.. let's get the facts straight here.

This event was 100% legal. They had every permit the city told them they needed. They had a 2 MILLION DOLLAR insurance policy for the event. They had liscenced security guards at the gates confiscating any alcohol or drugs found upon entry (yes, they searched every car on the way in). Oh, I suppose I should mention that they arrested all the security guards for possession.

Oh another interesting fact.. the police did not have a warrant. The owner of the land already has a lawsuit against the city for something similar. A few months ago, she rented her land for a party and the police raided that as well. And catch this, the police forced her to LEAVE HER OWN PERSONAL PROPERTY. That's right. They didnt arrest her, but made her leave her own property!!!

Don't get it twisted, this is all going down in probably THE most conservative state in the USA. And this is scary.. a gross violation of our civil liberties. The police wanted this party shut down, so they made it happen. Even though everything about this event was legal. The promoters spent over $ 20,000 on this show and did everything they had to to make it legit, only to have it taken away from them by a group of radical neo-con's with an agenda.

This was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed in person. I can't even begin to describe how surreal it was. Helicopters, assault rifles, tear gas, camoflauge-wearing soldiers.... why? Was that really necessary?

This needs to be big news across the USofA. At least in our music scene (edm as a whole)... this could happen to any of us at any time. When we're losing the right to gather peacefully, we're also letting the police set a standard of what we can get away with. And I think that's BULLSHIT!

The system fucked up last night... They broke up a party that was 100% legal and they physically hurt a lot of people there at the same time. The promoters already have 6 lawsuits ready to file with their lawyers and the ACLU is already involved.

I'm sure some pictures (and hopefully some video) will surface soon. I'll make sure to post them up here on 404, so you can see the Police State of America at work.

Comment: There is video footage of the incident on the linked page.

Unlike the writer of this report, we don't think the system made a mistake. Such a raid is part and parcel of the system, the authoritarian, pseudo-Christian state that Bush's handlers are bent on imposing over the entire population.

Rave Culture
Politics
Police State
Privacy
Fascism

The Protest Song LIVES!

I'm just listening to Bob Dylan on the radio. It's nice to know the tradition of the protest song is still strong.

Blue Ibis

You Lied
Sung by Away with the Fairys
Words and Music by Signs of the Times

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Streaming audio version
Download (Right click and "Save link as...") (6 megs - 128 bit)

Download (Right click and "Save link as...") (8 megs - 160 bit)

Prior to the Live8 concerts of July 2, 2005, Bob Geldolf announced that participating artists should stay away from criticizing President Bush.

Hmmm.

In a moment of fantasy, we wondered what kind of song we'd want to sing in those circumstances, the gauntlet having been thrown down as it were. They're a few things we'd like to say to Mr. Bush and his colleagues in Washington, not that he'd listen to us -- the Washington Post article about our Pentagon Strike flash didn't change anything, and we're certain it caught the eye of the White House -- and to Mr. Geldolf who seems to be living in a lala land where mass demonstrations have an effect on the Bush administration. Didn't the millions of people in the streets prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq demonstrate clearly enough that Bush gets his orders elsewhere?

Well, the news immediately after Live8 showed there ain't no hope for Geldolf's wishful thinking as Bush declared he's going to put the US first (would we expect anything else?), but we have never been enamoured with wishful thinking, preferring to look the world in the face and see it as objectively as possible.

Hence, this song.

Not having the forum of a world-wide TV broadcast, we turned to what we do have, the Internet. With the help of our friends at Away With the Fairys, we offer you this song as our little gift to those who see how quickly things are careening out of control. Fortunately, we don't think the song will change anything except maybe get a few people tapping their feet.

Let us know what you think. If you like it, pass it around. And once you've heard it, check out our Pentagon Strike flash if you still haven't seen it.

There are French, German, and Spanish translations at the bottom of the page sent in by readers. If you want to do a translation, send it in, and we'll add it to the list.

And, of course, to keep up with more lies by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Sharon, as well as politicians and rock stars around the world, read Signs of the Times.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YOU LIED words & music by Signs of the Times

D*************************A6
You told the world Saddam had chemical bombs
Em -----------------------A6
To kill us all in our homes, on our farms
D -----------------------A6
You said he sent his men into the heavens
Em ------------------------ A6
big planes crashing down, September 11
-----D ------A6

You lied, You lied,

---------Em -------------A6
People died, When Bush lied

I've got some questions, wipe that smirk off your face
Betraying your people, that's a real disgrace
See I'm having a hard time finding that plane
you said hit the Pentagon, bursting into flames
Vapourising the aircraft, didn't leave no remains
But the bodies appear not to burn quite the same

More lies Yeah, yeah, more lies
America died, When Bush lied

And talk about mir'cles, did you see how they fell,
the three towers in New York, those charges worked well
Flattened out in a straight line, just like it was planned
Did you think we were so stupid that we wouldn't understand
And it's a pity about the folks there on Flight 93,
Just as they took back control, you blew them to smithereens

You lied, You lied
Heroes died, when Bush lied

You say Osama is living in a place you have traced
But you don't go and get him, it seems such a waste
Could it be it's because he's still one of your men
A C-I-A asset just like he was then
He endorsed your campaign in a last minute pitch
Is he just one more man who has gotten quite rich

From your lies, Your lies
Freedom died, from your lies

How about those Israelis dancing to their success,
On the rooftops of Jersey, they created a mess
So you sent them back home with a slap on the wrist
Told the cops not to bother, 'cause they don't exist

It's a lie, You lied
Justice died, when you lied

Now people are dying through your crimes in Iraq
You've killed more than Saddam, though you don't care to keep track
Cause they're only some Arabs in a faraway land
That Yahweh has promised to his chosen band
While Sharon and his cronies pull on your strings
When he opens his mouth your whole government sings

His lies, His lies
Palestinians die, With Bush lies

Next time you talk to your God, I've got a question for him
What side is he on or does it change on a whim'
There's a whole lot of people, suff'rin here in his name
What kind of pyscho is he that he's playing this game
It sounds more like the devil is guiding your hand
Destruction and death are the plagues of the land

of your lies, your lies
Children die, When Bush lies

You see, Mr President, there's something amiss
Two elections you lost, but you overcame this
By rigging the vote, not counting the blacks
You've ensured two full terms, the dry drunk is back
And now they're changing the laws to get you a third
The brown shirts are charging at the front of the herd

of your lies, your lies
Democracy dies, When Bush lies

The question remains what can we do about this
Most people refuse to consider this list
They're lost in illusion, can't recognise proof
so we offer this song to all who stand for the truth

No more lies, No more lies
Must we all die, Because of your lies

No more lies, No more lies
Must we all die, Because of your lies

Your lies...

copyright 2005 Signs of the Times


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Menteur (traduit par Ingrid R.)

T'as raconté partout que Saddam avait les bombes
qui feraient de nos fermes et de nos foyers nos tombes
T'as dit qu'au travers des cieux, pour nous descendre
il avait crashé ses hommes aux vols du 11 Septembre

Menteur, menteur
Les gens meurent, au jeu du Bush Menteur

J'ai 2 ou 3 questions, histoire de virer ton faux sourire
Quelle déchéance, c'est vrai, t'as ton peuple à trahir,
J'ai du mal à trouver la moindre trace de cet avion
Percant le pentagone, dis-tu, en s'enflammant
Vaporisant le personnel, ne laissant que du charbon
Pourtant on dit que les corps brûlent tout autrement

Menteur, Menteur
L'Amérique meurt, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Et en parlant de miracles, as-tu vu comme elles sont tombées
ces tours new-yorkaises, ces charges ont bien marché
s'applatissant à l'équerre comme si c'était prédit
Pensais-tu vraiment que nous n'aurions rien compris
Et quelle pitié pour ceux qui ne s'étaient pas soumis
dans le vol 93, t'en as fait des confettis

Menteur, Menteur
Les heros meurent, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Pour Osama t'as dit que t'avais fait les repérages
Pourtant tu restes là, ce serait pas du gaspillage
Ou bien peut-etre est-il toujours des tiens
Un investissement auquel la C-I-A tient
Juste au bon moment, il a sorti sa bande-annonce,
ça fait de lui un riche de plus, et pour toi ta campagne fonce

Menteur, Menteur
La Liberté se meurt, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Que dire de ces Israëliens, célébrant leur succès
Ils ont mis un sacré bordel sur les toits de Jersey
Alors tu les as renvoyés une tape sur le poignet
Disant aux flics de ne pas les inquiéter: ils n'ont jamais existés

Quel Menteur, Menteur
La Justice se meurt, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Maintenant que les gens meurent pour tes crimes en Irak
T'en a tué bien plus que Saddam, mais tu caches ça au fond de ton sac
Puisque ce ne sont que des Arabes, dans un pays si lointain
Que Yahvé avait promis de donner aux siens
C'est en tirant sur tes ficelles que Sharon et ses potes
font chanter ton gouvernement, à chaque fois que ça les botte

Menteur, Menteur
Les Palestiniens meurent, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Quand tu causeras à ton Dieu j'ai une question pour lui
Est-ce qu'il a choisit un camp, ou il change d'après ses lubies
Y'a un tas de gens qui souffrent là bas en son nom
Quel genre de fou est-il pour avoir ces passions
On dirait plutôt que c'est le diable qui guide tes actions
Les plaies de ce pays ne sont que mort et destructions

Menteur, menteur
Les enfants meurent, au jeu du Bush Menteur

Vois-tu cher Président, quelque chose m'échappe
Deux élections que tu perds, et pourtant t'en réchappes
En truquant les votes, tu t'es offert deux tours
Et sans compter ceux des noirs, ivre mort t'es de retour
Et maintenant qu'ils changent la loi pour ton triplé
A l'assaut du troupeau les chemises brunes sont prêtes à charger

Menteur, menteur
La Démocratie se meurt, au jeu du Bush Menteur

La question qui se pose est qu'est que nous pouvons faire
Cette liste la plupart n'en n'ont vraiment rien à faire
Perdus dans leurs illusions, l'évidence leur est cachée
alors nous offrons cet air pour ceux qui soutiennent la vérité

Ne plus mentir, Ne plus mentir
Ou devons-nous tous mourir, pour t'avoir laissé mentir

Ne plus mentir, Ne plus mentir
Ou devons nous tous mourir, pour t'avoir laissé mentir

Menteur...


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Du hast gelogen tr. Guery H.

Du hast der Welt gesagt, Saddam hätte chemische Bomben
Um uns in unseren Heimen und Höfen zu töten
Du sagtest, er schickte seine Männer in den Himmel
als große Flugzeuge stürzten, am 11. September

Du logst, du hast gelogen
Leute sind gestorben, als Bush log

Ich hab ein paar Fragen, hör doch auf zu grinsen
Deine Leute zu betrügen, ist eine wahre Schande
Schau ich hatte echt Mühe das Flugzeug zu finden
Das wie du sagtest das Pentagon traf, und in Flammen ausbrach
Verdampft soll es sein, hinterließ gar keine Spuren
Doch Körper scheinen einfach nicht gleich zu brennen

Mehr Lügen, ja mehr Lügen
Amerika starb, als Bush hat gelogen

Nun sprechen wir von Wundern, hast du gesehen wie sie fielen
Die drei Türme in New York, die Ladungen funktionierten perfekt
Flachgelegt in einer Reihe, genau wie geplant
Dachtest du wirklich wir sind zu blöd, um es nicht zu verstehen
Und es ist so schade um die Leute von Flug 93,
Grad als sie die Kontrolle wieder hatten, habt ihr sie in Fetzen geschossen

Du hast gelogen, du hast gelogen
Helden sind gestorben, als Bush log

Du sagtest Osama lebt, an einem dir bekannten Ort
Doch du gehst nicht hin und holst ihn dir, scheint nur Verschwendung zu sein
Könnte es so sein, weil er immer noch einer deiner Leute ist
Ein guter CIA-Angestellter, wie er schon damals war
Er unterstützte deine Kampagne mit einem Schlag in letzter Minute
Ist er nicht einfach ein Man mehr, der ziemlich reich wurde,

Dank deiner Lügen, deiner Lügen
Freiheit starb, durch deine Lügen

Was ist mit den Israelis, die zu ihrem Erfolg tanzten
Auf den Dächern von Jersey, vermasselten sie fast alles
Also schicktet ihr sie nach Hause, mit einem Schlag auf die Finger
Sagtet den Bullen, sie sollen sich nicht kümmern, weil es die gar nicht gibt

Es ist eine Lüge, Du hast gelogen
Gerechtigkeit starb, als du logst.

Nun sterben Leute wegen deinen Verbrechen in Irak
Du brachtest mehr als Saddam um, doch das ist dir egal
Weil es nur ein paar Araber sind in einer fernem Land
Welches Yahweh seiner erwählten Bande versprochen haben mag
Während Scharon und seine Kerle an deinen Fäden ziehen
Mach er nur das Maul auf, deine ganze Regierung singt

Seine Lügen, Seine Lügen
Palästinenser sterben, wenn Bush lügt

Wenn du wieder mal mit deinem Gott hier sprichst, hab ich eine Frag an ihn
Auf welcher Seite ist er, oder weht sie wie 'ne Flagge im Wind
Es gibt eine Menge Leute, die in seinem Namen leiden
Was für ein Psycho ist er, daß er so ein Spiel spielt
Es kommt mir mehr vor, als ob der Teufel führt deine Hand
Zerstörung und Tod sind Plagen des Landes

Deiner Lügen, Deiner Lügen
Kinder sterben, wenn Bush lügt

Siehst du, Mister Präsident, etwas ist hier ziemlich faul
Zwei verlorene Wahlen, doch hast du diese überwunden
Durch manipulierte Wahlen, das nicht Zählen der Schwarzen
Du sicherst dir zwei Amtsperioden, der Trockenalki ist zurück
Und nun ändern sie die Gesetze für eine dritte Tour für dich
Die Braunhemden leiten 'ne Herde ganz vorne an

Wegen deinen Lügen, deinen Lügen
Demokratie stirbt, wenn Bush lügt

Die Frage bleibt bestehen, was können wir deswegen tun
Die meisten Leute weigern sich, diese Liste verstehen zu wollen
Sie sind verloren in ihren Illusionen, können Beweise nicht erkennen
also schenken wir dieses Lied allen, die für die Wahrheit einstehen

Keine Lügen mehr, keine Lügen mehr
Müssen wir alle sterben, wegen deinen Lügen

Keine Lügen mehr, keine Lügen mehr
Müssen wir alle sterben, wegen deinen Lügen

Deine Lügen...


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Mentiste letra y música por Signs of the Times, tr. Andrés P.

Le dijiste al mundo que Saddam tenía bombas químicas
Para matarnos en nuestras casas, en nuestras granjas
Dijiste que mandó a sus hombres a los cielos
grandes aviones estrellándose, 11 de septiembre

Mentiste, mentiste,
La gente murió, cuando Bush mintió

Tengo algunas preguntas, quita esa sonrisa burlona de tu cara
Traicionando a tu gente, esa es una vergüenza
Mira que tengo problemas para encontrar ese avión
que dices que golpeó el Pentágono, explotando en llamas
Vaporizando la nave, no dejó restos
Pero los cuerpos parecen no arder del mismo modo

Más mentiras, sí, sí, más mentiras
América murió, cuando Bush mintió

Y hablando de milagros, viste cómo cayeron,
las tres torres en Nueva York, esos explosivos funcionaron bien
Aplanados en línea recta, tal y como fue planeado
Creíste que seríamos tan estúpidos que no comprenderíamos
Y es una lástima por las gentes del Vuelo 93,
Justo cuando retomaban el control, los hiciste volar en pedazos

Mentiste, mentiste
Los héroes murieron, cuando Bush mintió

Dices que Osama vive en un lugar que has rastreado
Pero no vas a atraparlo, parece un gran desperdicio
¿Podría ser porque todavía es uno de tus hombres?
Un elemento de la CIA igual que era cuando
Impulsó tu campaña en el último momento
¿Será un hombre más que acaba de volverse muy rico?

De tus mentiras, tus mentiras
La libertad murió por tus mentiras

Ahora la gente está muriendo a través de tus crímenes en Iraq
Has matado a más que Saddam, aunque no te importa seguir la cuenta
Porque sólo son unos árabes en una tierra lejana
Que Jehová prometió a su banda elegida
Mientras que Sharon y sus cómplices jalan tus hilos
Cuando abre la boca todo tu gobierno canta

Sus mentiras, sus mentiras
Palestinos mueren, con las mentiras de Bush

La próxima vez que hables con Dios, le tengo una pregunta
¿De qué lado está o cambia según su capricho?
Hay un montón de gente sufriendo aquí en su nombre
¿Qué clase de psicópata es que está jugando este juego?
Más bien parece que el diablo guía tu mano
Destrucción y muerte son las plagas de la tierra

de tus mentiras, tus mentiras
Los niños mueren cuando Bush miente

Verá, Sr. Presidente, hay algo fuera de lugar
Perdiste dos elecciones, pero superaste la dificultad
Manipulando el voto, no contando a los negros
Has asegurado dos periodos completos, el alcohólico seco está de vuelta
Y ahora están cambiando las leyes para darte un tercero
Los camisas cafés van a la carga al frente de la manada

de tus mentiras, tus mentiras
La democracia muere, cuando Bush miente

Queda la pregunta acerca de qué podemos hacer al respecto
La mayoría de la gente se rehúsa a considerar esta lista
Están perdidos en la ilusión, no pueden reconocer las pruebas
así que ofrecemos esta canción para quienes defienden la verdad

No más mentiras, no más mentiras
¿Debemos todos morir, por tus mentiras?

No más mentiras, no más mentiras
¿Debemos todos morir, por tus mentiras?

Tus mentiras...

News
Political Songs
9-11
Bush Lies
Patriot Act
Fascism
Flight 93

It Could Be So Much Worse, eh?

So here's the story behind the kvetching about my job(s). I used to sew a lot, both for myself and semi-professionally, making specialized costumes for dancers. The kids were finally old enough, and I was venturing into the regular business world. Costumes are fun, but they don't pay the bills. Sewing for neurotic, damanding clients who have no idea the value they were receiving (because they DON'T sew) was just too stressful. Working in a fabric store seemed a natural. It was great fun, and I could leave the job at the store, as opposed to obsessing about commissions 24/7. Things were going well. I was even promoted to supervisor, learning to handle the cash and inventory. I'd have been at this place a year in April (yes! raise coming!) I added the office temping as a backup to support my sweetie's new business venture.

What happened? Apparently though on the surface all was well, this company had had serious cash flow problems for years. We got the "don't worry" letter in January. "We're restructuring. We're closing two stores in town, but the other three will be fine, and you will have the opportunity to switch to one of the remaining locations, blah, blah". Okaaay . . . . . .

Fortunately, I work at the head office location, so regardless, I knew that store would be fine. Three stores could easily absorb the staff of the ones that were closing. Everything seemed to be moving along right up to the end of April. The Bank pulled the plug that Friday. The Receiver's letter came on Sunday, posted in the staffroom. What a masterpiece of insult. No obligations contracted by the company to any salaried employees were in effect anymore, i.e. my lovely manager's severance agreement was gone, reduction in benefits to wage folk, and "we are pleased to retain you at your present salary, paid bi-weekly, until we terminate your position." And by the way, we only have to give you 24 hours notice. "Thank you for your cooperation in this time of transition."

I BEG YOUR PARDON????

But the worst was the practically instantaneous change in the character of the customers. As I live and breathe, I never thought I would see such behaviour from "civilized" and may I add well-off (the store is in a fairly affluent part of town) people.

All of the sudden, it's perfectly ok to leave bolts of silk drapery unravelled all over the floor. To pull bolts from all over, and dump them whereever you happen to get distracted. To switch discount tags ("I"m sorry madam, but the heavy cream chenille upholstery you have there, just doesn't sell for $9.99. Did you notice the roll it's on says grey organza?") Or just outright steal the material. We find empty bolts tucked everywhere. But the hardest thing is how rude and demanding people are being, because they are being inconvenienced.

They were mad for the first week because there weren't any more special orders. The second week because the lines were so long, they had to wait. The third week because there wasn't enough of the perfect thing they found and we aren't (can't, really) doing any more interstore checks. Or phone checks to see if we have the exact colour and length of zipper ("I'm sorry ma'am but I have 16 people in line for cash. I really can't go look". Huffs and hangs up). They still want all the consultation help they used to get. ("Well, I'm not really sure how big my windows are and I don't know what kind of rod I have, but I want to make drapes. How much do I need?") And so on. And for every person who says "I'm so sorry, I hope you all will be able to find work.", there are ten who whine "But, where are we going to shop??" and "will there be any more discounts before you close?" It's like a lake of pirhanas.

I think of how tired I am at the end of a full shift. The average bold of fleece weighs about 8lbs, and you handle an average of 60 bolts a shift. That's JUST fleece, nevermind the quilting cottons or drapery and vinyl, etc. . Or how difficult it is to hold my tongue when some woman (and it's ALWAYS a woman) tells me some variation on how "our attitude and customer service has dropped shamefully, since we started to close." That "She is never coming back again". Oh honey, do you ever listen to what you are actually saying? We are in the seventh week of an After Christmas-type sale. We are all exhausted and we are all losing our jobs. Sometimes we're just not feeling perky! And by the way, GOOD. We've got more than enough to deal with, without you too.

But when I think about all that, I still can't feel badly. I have a great life. I am blessed beyond measure and nothing, nothing I have to deal with is an inconvenience. What if I had to live the life of the poor women and men who are trapped in the ever-shrinking Isreali-created ghetto that is the Occupied Territories? These are people who are stronger and braver than any of us could dream. That they must be strong and brave, because their situation is being ignored, is the shame of the entire Western World.

Blue Ibis

Signs June 18, 2005

Ran HaCohen: The Quiet Occupation

Friday, June 17 2005
By Ran HaCohen

(ANTIWAR.COM) - What is the first picture the term "occupation" raises in our mind? Probably some kind of extreme violence among civilians: lethal fire in the middle of town, terrified kids in pajamas watching heavily armed soldiers searching a house, a helicopter firing a missile in the midst of Gaza. All these violent scenes do happen, but they do not give an adequate picture of what the occupation really looks like.

Very few people realize that Israel has turned life in the occupied territories (Israeli settlers excluded) into complete misery without any need to fire a single bullet. A unique, invaluable glance into the mechanisms that constitute this "quiet" occupation, usually hidden behind the literal smokescreen of violence, is given by the first annual report of the Israeli human rights group Machsom Watch, presented in a press conference in Tel Aviv last week.

West Bank Checkpoints: The Basics

Machsom – "roadblock" in Hebrew - stands for a whole arsenal of obstacles spread throughout the occupied territories: temporary or permanent roadblocks, manned checkpoints or roads closed off by heavy cement blocks, gates in the Wall, earth mounds, trenches, observation towers. The least known but most significant fact about these various physical obstacles is that almost all of them are NOT "border checkpoints" located between Israel and the occupied territories; almost all of them are placed WITHIN the occupied territories, hampering the movement from one Palestinian town or village to another.

Within the last four years - signs were clear enough in early 2002 - Israel made every movement of every Palestinian dependent on Israeli permit. Incredible, but true: a Palestinian wishing to get out of (or reenter) his or her immediate surrounding - a town, a village, a neighborhood, or just an arbitrarily cut-off part of a village - has to get a permit from Israel in advance and show it at every Israeli-manned checkpoint. You cannot just go to work, to do some shopping or business, to school, to visit family or friends, to a hospital - you have to go through one or several Israeli checkpoints first.

The numbers are horrifying. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) counted in November 2004 not less than 719 (!) physical obstacles throughout the West Bank. Machsom Watch reports that less than 70 of them were removed in the recent "calm" period, some only to be replaced by the rapidly progressing Wall. An army general reported that the 25 central checkpoints under his command required 1,000 soldiers, and up to 5,000 soldiers are employed on special alerts (Ha'aretz, July 22, 2003); no wonder the checkpoints are consistently undermanned, resulting in endless queues.

None of the more than 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank thus live more than a couple of miles away from a roadblock or checkpoint. A short route through the West Bank would inevitably take you through several Israeli checkpoints, some of them five minutes' ride from each other. Lucky to have gone through one checkpoint? The next one is just a few minutes ahead, where you'll have to start all over again.

Checkpoints are closed on Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and other holidays and public occasions, paralyzing Palestinian economic and social life. Machsom Watch reports that

"From March to May [2004], a closure was imposed that included full encirclement in many areas of the West Bank. The closure started for the Passover holiday, continued uninterrupted until Israeli Independence Day (several weeks later) and from then to the Likud party's referendum, and it was finally lifted after the Final Four playoff games."

A Personal Aside

When I was 18, I had my basic training with an Israeli infantry unit notorious for its ferocity. The most difficult aspect of the 100 days I spent there, in early 1983, was not the physical hardship: it was bad enough, but a piece of cake compared to the permanent stress caused by the intentional, systematic policy of keeping the new recruits under complete uncertainty. We had no idea what might happen a few minutes later - would we be taken to a lecture, a physical exercise, a meal, or moved to a remote base? We were sent to bed late at night only to be awakened half an hour later; a weekend off at home would be announced and withdrawn several times till Friday afternoon; and individual soldiers would be punished for no clear reason. As my officer later told us, the idea was to "break us down as civilians in order to rebuild us as soldiers." At least the first part was accomplished successfully: The unbearable stress caused many of us severe mental damage, like shock, identification with the aggressor, or post-traumatic syndromes.

Through the Checkpoint

Machsom Watch activists say they have seen the idea behind the checkpoints policy actually written in a military document: Keeping the Palestinian population under permanent uncertainty. Precisely the same principle, then, used to "break down" recruits during basic training, is applied to an entire population, children and adults, women and men, sick and elderly. The checkpoints are at the heart of this policy.

The moment you start a journey through the West Bank, you are no longer master of your time. You do not know whether you'll be able to make it at all, nor even roughly how long it will take. Due to "surprise checkpoints" and checkpoints manned only during certain hours, you cannot even tell how many checkpoints you'll have to go through. Any checkpoint can be closed at any time, without prior notice nor any indication whether and when it will reopen. You can pass three checkpoints on your way, only to be stopped at the fourth. Crossing a checkpoint can take minutes or hours, due to unpredictable queues. The army may also suddenly impose the notorious "Stop All Life Procedure" - a total freeze on movement that lasts for hours at a time.

Detention

Even when a checkpoint is open, individuals are exposed to extreme arbitrariness and uncertainty. Having a permit is a necessary condition to pass through the checkpoint, but not a sufficient one. With a hardly noticeable gesture of his or her finger, a 19-year-old soldier may decide your document needs "inspection" and detain you. Such a detention can take 20 minutes; but it can also take several hours, during which you have to wait in the unroofed Jora ("hole" in Arabic, "sewage hole" in Hebrew), where you may be ordered to remain standing, or to sit on the ground facing the wall. If you are a bus driver, all your passengers will have to wait with you. Your document may be sent for inspection immediately; but it may have to wait until 20 or 30 other documents are accumulated and sent together. When it returns with an OK, you may proceed; but some documents often get lost in the process.

Who is detained? Here are some answers Machsom Watch activists got from checkpoint soldiers: "Anyone who looks stressed" (under these circumstances, who wouldn't?); "Every ninth man"; "Everyone called Mohammed"; "Everyone who wants to go through my checkpoint." Arbitrariness incarnate. Many soldiers refer to detention at checkpoints as a kind of punishment or "educational measure," and even order those in charge: "Detain this guy for a long time."

English Weather

Behind this system are myriads of human beings with sometimes heartbreaking stories – the arrested kidney patient, the beaten student. Some of these stories clearly fall under abuse. Israel's efficiency in turning Palestinian life into hell disappears when complaints are to be processed: out of 100 complaints sent by Machsom Watch in 2004 to several state and army offices, 87 percent were ignored or insufficiently answered. Two years ago, the army admitted that out of 1,200 "inquiries" into checkpoint complaints, only 18 had led to military police investigations; the rest - 98.5 percent – had been shelved (Ha'aretz, July 22, 2003).

But it is important not to let the cases of abuse distract from the "normal" routine: Palestinian daily life is unbearable even on what Machsom Watch activists call "an English weather," i.e., a usual day without any exceptional event. If the roots of Palestinian frustration, despair, and violence - "terrorism," if you like - are to be sought, the checkpoint system is an excellent place to start.

Comment: It is clear that Israeli government oppression of Palestinians has little to do with security concerns and everything to do with harassing and often murdering Palestinian civilians and leaders in order to prevent them from establishing themselves as a independent people with a sovereign voice on the world stage.

Central to this goal is the continued portrayal of any Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation as "terrorism" when, in reality, resistance (including armed) to an occupying power is a fundamental right laid down in the article four of the third Geneva Convention.

However, according to humanitarian law, in order to lawfully use force in a conflict you must first be designated a lawful 'combatant'. To be a 'combatant', you have to belong to an 'armed resistance group' and that group must belong to a 'party' to the conflict. It is in this fact that we find one of the chief reasons why Israel will NEVER willingly allow the creation of a Palestinian state.

As long as Palestine does not have official state status, any Palestinian resistance group cannot claim to be a party in the conflict and must remain a simple independent resistance group, or a "terrorist" group in modern parlance.

Not only did the developed world oversee the theft of Palestinian land in order to create the state of Israel in 1948, but in continuing to refuse to lobby for an independent Palestinian state, they ensure that any Palestinian resistance to Israeli aggression is delegitimised in advance.

The day that Palestine is recognised as an independent state by the world (don't hold your breath) is the day that Israel will no longer be able to bulldoze Palestinian homes or execute Palestinian school children and claim that they are "fighting terrorism". On that day, Palestinian resistance will be legitismised and the actions of the IDF recognised for the war crimes that they are.

Occupied Territories
IDF
Checkpoints
Receivership
Palestinians
Machsom Watch
Ran HaCohen

What You Miss as a Corporate Drone

As mentioned, I've been working double shifts for about three weeks up till two weeks ago. Regular 8 - 5 office (but an hour for lunch, very civilized and RARE these days), then hoof it down the freeway for 5:30 to my once-fun little retail job in a big funky fabric store. Other than the sheer number of hours (60+), this used to not be a bad schedule. If I got really burned out, I could let the temp agency know I was taking a week off, just do the retail end, sleep in a couple days till I felt human again, then back into it. My husband is getting a new business off the ground (yess!!), so currently I'm the cash flow.

I'll get into why the retail job is a now an exhausting, depressing drag later. Suffice to say, though I've been off the office side of things for two weeks, it took a whole week of 12-hour sleeps to have any energy. What I missed in the grind was the whole Downing Street Memo kerfluffle. At least it seemed to be a big deal everywhere EXCEPT the mainstream media. So you catch up where you can on the net. The first I heard of it was on the Signs page . Then, as really important things tend to do, it showed up here, at Le Metropole Cafe, which is my favourite investing news letter. If you have an interest in how the global economy REALLY works (it ain't pretty), you can't do better than Le Metropole Cafe. This followup commentary by the reporter who broke the Downing Street Memo story was included in Bill Murphy's daily newsletter, Midas du Metropole.

Blue Ibis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMENTARY

The Real News in the Downing Street Memos

By Michael Smith
Michael Smith writes on defense issues for the Sunday Times of London.

June 23, 2005

It is now nine months since I obtained the first of the "Downing Street memos," thrust into my hand by someone who asked me to meet him in a quiet watering hole in London for what I imagined would just be a friendly drink.

At the time, I was defense correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, and a staunch supporter of the decision to oust Saddam Hussein. The source was a friend. He'd given me a few stories before but nothing nearly as interesting as this.

The six leaked documents I took away with me that night were to change completely my opinion of the decision to go to war and the honesty of Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush.

They focused on the period leading up to the Crawford, Texas, summit between Blair and Bush in early April 2002, and were most striking for the way in which British officials warned the prime minister, with remarkable prescience, what a mess post-war Iraq would become. Even by the cynical standards of realpolitik, the decision to overrule this expert advice seemed to be criminal.

The second batch of leaks arrived in the middle of this year's British general election, by which time I was writing for a different newspaper, the Sunday Times. These documents, which came from a different source, related to a crucial meeting of Blair's war Cabinet on July 23, 2002. The timing of the leak was significant, with Blair clearly in electoral difficulties because of an unpopular war.

I did not then regard the now-infamous memo — the one that includes the minutes of the July 23 meeting — as the most important. My main article focused on the separate briefing paper for those taking part, prepared beforehand by Cabinet Office experts.

It said that Blair agreed at Crawford that "the UK would support military action to bring about regime change. " Because this was illegal, the officials noted, it was "necessary to create the conditions in which we could legally support military action."

But Downing Street had a "clever" plan that it hoped would trap Hussein into giving the allies the excuse they needed to go to war. It would persuade the U.N. Security Council to give the Iraqi leader an ultimatum to let in the weapons inspectors.

Although Blair and Bush still insist the decision to go to the U.N. was about averting war, one memo states that it was, in fact, about "wrong-footing" Hussein into giving them a legal justification for war.

British officials hoped the ultimatum could be framed in words that would be so unacceptable to Hussein that he would reject it outright. But they were far from certain this would work, so there was also a Plan B.

American media coverage of the Downing Street memo has largely focused on the assertion by Sir Richard Dearlove, head of British foreign intelligence, that war was seen as inevitable in Washington, where "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

But another part of the memo is arguably more important. It quotes British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon as saying that "the U.S. had already begun 'spikes of activity' to put pressure on the regime." This we now realize was Plan B.

Put simply, U.S. aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone were dropping a lot more bombs in the hope of provoking a reaction that would give the allies an excuse to carry out a full-scale bombing campaign, an air war, the first stage of the conflict.

British government figures for the number of bombs dropped on southern Iraq in 2002 show that although virtually none were used in March and April, an average of 10 tons a month were dropped between May and August.

But these initial "spikes of activity" didn't have the desired effect. The Iraqis didn't retaliate. They didn't provide the excuse Bush and Blair needed. So at the end of August, the allies dramatically intensified the bombing into what was effectively the initial air war.

The number of bombs dropped on southern Iraq by allied aircraft shot up to 54.6 tons in September alone, with the increased rates continuing into 2003.

In other words, Bush and Blair began their war not in March 2003, as everyone believed, but at the end of August 2002, six weeks before Congress approved military action against Iraq.

The way in which the intelligence was "fixed" to justify war is old news.

The real news is the shady April 2002 deal to go to war, the cynical use of the U.N. to provide an excuse, and the secret, illegal air war without the backing of Congress.

Downing Street Memo
Michael Smith
Tony Blair
Iraq War Lies
Patriot Act
Fascism
Plan B