Nobody Could Have Predicted...

Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 27, 2006; 11:53 PM

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.

The Code Breakers

Led by the brilliant Alan Turing, inventor of the computer, the codebreakers of England's cipher-cracking organization, Bletchley Park, were mathematicians, crossword-puzzle fanatics, and other super-brains. For decades what these men and women did at "B.P.," and how they managed to break the Germans' seemingly impregnable Enigma encoding machine, was classified.


One should note that the brilliant Alan Turing, who was instrumental in the allied effort to win WWII and the inventor of the computer, was a homosexual.

This obsession about gays who are doing vital work goes completely against the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Principle.

The first CEO President. Which makes some sense if CEO stands for Criminally Engineered Occupation.

When Bush wielded the first presidential veto of his tenure on a bill that would have provided federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, he had a bit of a ceremony. At that ceremony were parents and their "Snowflake" children. Snowflakes are children who were adopted as frozen embryos instead of being discarded or left frozen. Although this photo is somewhat lacking, it does it appear that Snowflake families have one common characteristic; they are all white. As some have noted, certain restrictions may be placed on adopting families such as race, religion, and political views. It would be interesting to know what criteria was used in these Snowflake adoptions given the commonality of skin color.

Bill Kristol, like GWB, a perfect example of a meritocracy in reverse.

Part of the repetitive and deception mantra of the so-called conservatives is that democrats, as dangerous liberals, are the party of big government and tax and spend evildoers without fiscal restraint.

Since GWB was granted the presidency, wholesale fraud and abuse in all areas of government procurement have flourished. It ranges from Iraq no-bid, cost-plus contracts rife with war profiteering to bribes for votes euphemistically called "Faith Based Initiatives."

If democrats can be painted with the "tax and spend, big government" brush, the GOP can be shellacked with the "borrow and spend, bad government" spray gun. Far from being a "good steward," this adminstration uses federal tax dollars to boost its supporters and to curry favor from voters. This policy is pandemic throughout the administration meaning we pay more and get less. Incompetence becomes the order of the day.

Here are a few examples:

Bush Promises to Be Good Steward While Cutting Taxes Creating Historic Budget Deficit

No Drought Required for Federal Drought Aid

Farm Program Pays 1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm

Homeland Security Department is Accused of Credit Card Misuse

Audit: U.S. Lost Track of $9 Billion in Iraq Funds

This is just the tip of the fiscal irresponsibility iceberg. One has to wonder how long before the true conservatives recognize this for what it is.

If American news organizations or talk shows were to broadcast the video of Bush with Blair without deleting the expletive "shit," could they be fined by the FCC for indecency?

As let's not forget that Clymer is a major league asshole.

Does the American taxpayer pay for all the backdrops at the G8 Summit like we do anytime Bush ventures before a camera?

Anyone who's seen The French Connection remembers how Popeye Doyle explained to a rookie how to handle perps in an one-up-manship escalation of violence.

For example, "He pull a knife, you pull a gun..."

Basically, this approach suggests that you use a level of or threat of violence which goes beyond that of your adversary to assure your victory but not so much so that it seems inappropriate.

This makes me wonder about Israel's response to Hezbollah and Hamas. Granted, Israel has a right to defend itself, but that defense should be measured and proportionate to the attack. Innocent civilians, young and old, are caught in the middle.

One cannot imagine Doyle saying, "He pulls a knife, you kill some stranger's wife and kids."

I don't profess to know all the aggravating factors in this most recent escalation of violence. It does worry me that this can likely lead to further escalation resulting in even more death and destruction.

Apparently, one of the GOP orchestrated talking points which is being floated out there by the likes of Tucker Carlson is that there is no discernible proof that the revealing of Valerie Wilson's identity as a CIA agent has harmed intelligence gathering in any way. Given that her job was to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, let's hope that that "discernble proof" is not in the shape of a mushroom cloud.

A dedicated public servant whose CIA career was ruined in an act of petty political retribution by evil men who swore to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States but have forever denigrated the administration to which they belong.

I've noticed, at least on the TV news I've heard, that the victim of the alleged rape and murder in Iraq by American soldiers was referred to as an Iraqi woman. As I understand it, her age was initially disputed, but since then, her age has been definitively established as 14 years old. Because all accounts I've heard since her age was established still referred to her as a woman, it made me wonder why and whether there was a concerted effort to make it seem she was not a teenage girl of 14. Is the crime any less heinous if the victim is a woman and not a girl? Given the facts as described, with the murder of her parents and 6 year old sister, how can it make a difference in the realm of perception about the crime? Is there some cultural sensitivity either in Iraq or the US that makes it worthwhile to portray her as older than she actually was? Normally, I'd consider this really collateral to the whole issue, but why is so much attention being paid to this victim"s age and not the murder of her 6 year old sister? That's the question I cannot answer, but I've learned over the years that news reported in a certain way does affect the opinions of many who hear it. So then, why is it so important that the rape victim be a woman and not a teenage girl?

Editor and Publisher

Senators Graham and Kyl submitted a deceptive amicus brief to the Supreme Court containing a bogus transcript of a floor debate. There can be no doubt that they did this knowingly. The only question that remains is whether their respective State Bar Associations will allow this breach of lawyer ethics to go unpunished. See, it's an ethical violation to knowingly commit a fraud on the court as candor to any tribunal is one of the cornerstones of attorney ethics and professional responsibility.

Hopefully, someone in their respective states will file an ethics violation complaint with their bar associations for these two highly placed liars.

Link to Slate Article

Ron Suskind is out promoting his new book. He makes the claim that Al Queda had an operational plan to gas the NY subway system but it was called off by Ayman al-Zawahiri because it just wasn't spectacular enough and Al Queda next attack must be more spectacular than 9/11. How does he know this? Well, there's a mole in Al Queda, apparently our mole. This, of course, begs a few questions:

Why hasn't the GOP echo chamber denounced Suskind for revealing the presence of our mole in Al Queda potentially ruining this well-placed asset?

If there is a mole, why hasn't he given us the location of OBL or Mullah Omar or Ayman al-Zawahiri?

Who, in their right mind, would reveal the existence of the mole in Al Queda to Suskind?

Doesn't the disclosure about the foiled attack seem more that just a little convenient for the fear-mongerers.

This is the talking point consevatives are peddling, including George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. So, seemingly disparate stories come together such that finally I have to agree, it's no accident. OBL works to get Bush re-elected. A nearly operational plan to attack the NY subways is inexplicably cancelled. The most powerful military in the world with a multitude of success in Afghanistan, manages to fail to capture the most wanted man in the world. And finally, the professionals at the CIA who are charged with the capture and or killing of the worst mass-murderer ever on U.S. soil have their unit disbanded.

“What the CIA had learned over nearly a decade is that bin Laden speaks only for strategic reasons and those reasons are debated with often startling depths inside the organization’s leadership. Today’s conclusion: bin Laden’s message was clearly designed to assist the president’s re-election.”

http://www.martinirepublic.com/item/did-osama-bin-ladin-intervene-to-get-bush-reelected-on-purpose/

Al-Qaeda terrorists came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system with a lethal gas similar to that used in Nazi death camps. They were stopped not by any intelligence breakthrough, but by an order from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Zawahiri.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1205309,00.html

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.
The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?ex=1309665600&en=3779ed9b98bb9d22&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The US-led war in Afghanistan was going exceedingly well up to that point. The Taliban regime had been pushed from the northern half of the country; the capital of Kabul and much of the rest of Afghanistan would fall within the next few days.
It was a war like no other. In an evolutionary leap powered by Information Age technology, US ground soldiers were mainly employed as observers, liaisons, and spotters for air power - not as direct combatants sent to occupy a foreign land. The success of the US was dazzling, save for the fight for Tora Bora, which may have been this unconventional war's most crucial battle. For the US, Tora Bora wasn't about capturing caverns or destroying fortifications - it was about taking the world's most wanted terrorist "dead or alive."
In retrospect, it becomes clear that the battle's underlying story is of how scant intelligence, poorly chosen allies, and dubious military tactics fumbled a golden opportunity to capture bin Laden as well as many senior Al Qaeda commanders.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0304/p01s03-wosc.html

I'd say the absence of a subsequent attack since 9/11 is anything but an accident.

This photo seems eerily familiar. Made me wonder whether this was a plastic cake for this photo-op.

"Wag The Turkey" See the MSN article about creating an "image."

How do they keep getting away with it?

FARM PROGRAM PAYS 1.3 BILLION TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T FARM

This article points out that twice as much money is spent of farm subsidies as goes to welfare programs with a great deal of the subsidy money going to wealthy individuals some of whom are not even U.S. citizens.

The GOP opts to wave the Jolly Roger while making the "straw man" assertion that others want to wave the "white flag of surrender" along with other jingoistic nonsense.