Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| 3 Comments »
By- Suzie-Q @ 7:00 PM MST
Huffington Post | April 30, 2008 03:06 PM
Last night on “Countdown,” Keith Olbermann ripped apart President Bush’s speech on the economy, fact-checking each claim and dismantling Bush’s case point-by-point. It was reminiscent of this clip from February, where Keith presented a detailed timeline of the Bush administration’s political exploitation of the terror threat.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| Leave a Comment »
by Geezer Power…5:03 pm
Heating Things Up in the Persian Gulf
Come on in folks the waters fine. There’s a really good special on PBS this week about the Aircraft Carrier Nimitz. It’s a ten hour special and plays every night for two hours, so don’t worry about your regular programs, you get to see some good old fashioned propoganda just like WW2 when they had Donald Duck in an army uniform to show that it was the American way to go to war. We have two carriers in the Persian Gulf, with Lord knows how many nuclear submarines, so what an oppertune moment to take up time on PBS to show that there is plenty of apple pie being served to our young folks in the US Navy. Why, it’s almost like Disneyland being on a carrier and contributing to George Duhbaya Bu$h’s war for oil. Never mind what havok is being reeked on the Iraqi people or the repurcussions from using DU warheads it’s time to sign up and go to war with Iran. As an added bonus you will learn about direct energy weapons which will soon be the American weapon of choice for the war on terror.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| Leave a Comment »
By- Suzie-Q @ 12:05 PM MST
LOLITA C. BALDOR | April 29, 2008 11:15 PM EST | 
MEXICO CITY — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran, but he said it’s not an escalation of force.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terror groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran.
Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“I do not have a sense at this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan,” Gates said. “There is, as best I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would still characterize it as relatively modest.”
His comments contrasted with those from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said last week that he had not seen any new signs of Iranian support for the Taliban.
Gates played down the addition of a second carrier to the Gulf, saying that the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he doesn’t expect there to two carriers there for a long time.
Asked if the carrier move went hand in hand with the rising U.S. rhetoric against Iran, Gates said, “I don’t see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.”
Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| 1 Comment »
By- Suzie-Q @ 9:00 AM MST
From: Carpetbagger Report
At his White House press conference this morning, the president was asked about GDP figures due to be released and whether he’s concerned that they’ll point to an official recession. After responding with some talk about drilling ANWR, Bush added:
“[I]f you want to send a good signal during these uncertain times, is make the tax cuts permanent, is to let people — send the signal that people are going to be able to keep their money. And I think that will help the psychology of the country.”
He repeated the line a few minutes later:
“I would hope that those who worry about recession, slowdown, whatever you want to call it, make the tax cuts permanent as a way of helping to address this issue — because if you’re somebody out there trying to plan your future and you’re worried about the future and you think your taxes are going to go up, it’s going to cause different behavioral patterns.”
This apparently may have gone out as some kind of GOP strategy memo. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently said the same thing.
“[Tax cuts were] the right medicine for an ailing economy and the results were clear. By lowering taxes, the federal government spurred economic development and actually collected more in tax revenue. […]
“I believe some of the uneasiness taxpayers feel today about the economy is driven by concerns they are going to be hit with huge tax increases when the tax cuts expire.”
I have no idea what these people are talking about. Or, more likely, these people have no idea what they’re talking about.
To hear Bush tell it, the economic anxiety Americans feel right now is somehow related to tax cuts that expire in 2011 — tax cuts that primarily don’t help the middle class or low-income families anyway.
In all seriousness, how many people who are worried about their families’ finances right now are going to say, “I’ve been really worried, but now that I know my tax rate will remain the same in 2011 as it is 2010, I’m feeling better again”? That, in essence, is what the president argued with a straight face this morning. The answer for economic angst now is maintenance of existing tax cuts three years from now.
Ben at TP recently offered a competing explanation for economic anxiety.
[M]aybe American negative attitudes toward the economy stem from the housing and credit crises, job losses, rising unemployment, a volatile stock market, high gas prices, high family debt, flat wages, increasing budget deficits, a weak dollar, and rising health care costs — not to mention the effects of the $12 billion per month war in Iraq that is being bankrolled largely on borrowed funds.
Could that have more to do with explaining why Americans are so upset with the economy? Nah. It must have something to do with expectations for tax rates in 2011. After all, as Bush insisted this morning, those three-years-away rates “cause different behavioral patterns.”
That makes a lot more sense. Thank goodness the president and his congressional allies are so in touch with concerns and fears facing American families.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2008| 2 Comments »
By- Suzie-Q @ 7:00 AM MST
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
America selling grandma’s dishes to pay for gas & debt
Chris in Paris · 4/30/2008 02:34:00 AM ET
One could definitely argue that Americans collect much too much compared to people in other wealthy countries but still, this is yet another troubling sign. Again, when are the damned Democrats going to join forces with the overwhelming majority of Americans and kick Wall Street’s ass for the bailout? It may have been something exceptional but any time you change the terms, well, you change the damned terms. Wall Street received their bailout, so let’s tell Wall Street how their financial free-for-all is going to change. You are Congress so start acting like it.
“This is not about downsizing. It’s about needing gas money,” said Nancy Baughman, founder of eBizAuctions, an online auction service she runs out of her garage in Raleigh, N.C. One former affluent customer is now unemployed and had to unload Hermes leather jackets and Versace jeans and silk shirts.
At Craigslist, which has become a kind of online flea market for the world, the number of for-sale listings has soared 70 percent since last July. In March, the number of listings more than doubled to almost 15 million from the year-ago period.
Craigslist CEO Jeff Buckmaster acknowledged the increasing popularity of selling all sort of items on the Web, but said the rate of growth is “moving above the usual trend line.” He said he was amazed at the desperate tone in some ads.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2008| 2 Comments »
By- Suzie-Q @ 8:00 PM MST
By: SilentPatriot on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 4:15 PM – PDT
“He’s such a maverick he not only doesn’t play by other people’s rules, he doesn’t even play by his own rules.”
Despite his horrendous showing at the ABC debate, I’m grateful Stephanopoulos finally broke the media silence and confronted McCain on his Hagee problem last weekend. When will the rest of the mainstream press wake up and realize that religious leaders on the right have been saying controversial stuff for years?
When will they also realize that the Maverick they fell in love with has left the building? Saint McCain once championed strict campaign finance rules. Now he exploits (and even violates) his own signature legislation. The man who once stood as the moral arbiter on torture now remains silent as his own legislation gets used to torture people. He was for the Bush tax cuts before he was against them. Agent of intolerance to commencement speaker. “Bring em all home” to “100 years is fine with me.”
Are there any defining attributes John McCain won’t sacrifice to appease the lunatic fringe and become President? More importantly, is there any way to get the press to cover this?
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2008| 5 Comments »
GEF @ 6:38 PM MST
Who says Ron Paul is out of the race?
AP via TPM: (h/t Scarce)
Outmaneuvered by raucous Ron Paul supporters, Nevada Republican Party leaders abruptly shut down their state convention and now must resume the event to complete a list of 31 delegates to the GOP national convention.
Outnumbered supporters of expected Republican presidential nominee John McCain faced off Saturday against well-organized Paul supporters. A large share of the more than 1,300 state convention delegates enabled Paul supporters to get a rule change positioning them for more national convention delegate slots than expected.
“I’ve seen factions walk out. I’ve never seen a party walk out,” said Jeff Greenspan, regional coordinator for the Paul campaign.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2008| 1 Comment »
By- Suzie-Q @ 6:00 PM MST
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) knew he was going to get a fight. And he’s getting one.
Earlier this month, he scheduled a hearing for next week on the administration’s authorization of torture, and along with John Yoo, has invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former CIA Director George Tenet, former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington, and former Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin.
Yesterday Conyers released some of the correspondence he’s been having with lawyers for Addington, Yoo, and Ashcroft. As expected, none of them want to testify, and they’re not short on reasons.
Both Yoo and Ashcroft say that they have not been authorized by the Department of Justice to discuss the context of the key torture memos, internal discussions about them, and the like. And both say that they are the subject of lawsuits, and so it would be “inappropriate” to testify.
But it won’t surprise anyone that the letter from Kathryn Wheelbarger, Vice President Dick Cheney’s counsel, is the real masterpiece. It is by now common knowledge that Addington is by far the most powerful and influential lawyer in the administration, particularly with regard to the controversial counterterrorism policies such as torture and the warrantless wiretapping program. But Wheelbarger says that Conyer’s got the wrong guy. If you’re looking to discuss presidential powers in war time, then you really ought to be bugging a presidential aide, she writes. And if it’s interrogation you want to talk about, then “the Director of National Intelligence or his designee and the Secretary of Defense or his designee, respectively, would be the appropriate witness.” From there, it’s on to an argument about how the power of Congress to investigate is limited, so Addington cannot be compelled to show. And then on to an argument about how Addington, due to privilege concerns, wouldn’t be able to say much even if he did show voluntary.
So to sum up, that’s: You’re asking the wrong person, but even if you were asking the right person, you couldn’t make him show up, and even if he did show up, he wouldn’t say anything.
As for Conyers, he says he will issue subpoenas to those who do not agree to appear by this Friday.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2008| 1 Comment »
GEF @ 4:08 PM MST
By: Devvy
April 28, 2008
On April 24, 2008, The Arizona-Republic, published a hit piece on Sen. Karen Johnson, who currently serves in the Arizona State Legislature. This piece of drivel is titled, ‘Drinking the 9/11 Kool-Aid.’ As you can see by reading it, the author believes that no elected official should question any aspect of the Bush Administration’s fairy tale of the events of September 11, 2001. This has been the prevailing attitude of the so-called mainstream media, including cable “news” networks since that day. Anyone questioning the hoax perpetrated on the American people is a Kool-Aid drinker or worse.
I’ve written many columns on OKC, WACO, TWA Flight 800 and 9/11, so I’m not going to rehash them here. I am proud to call Sen. Karen Johnson my friend. She is an extraordinary woman who has consistently and steadfastly stood up for the U.S. Constitution and we the people. Unlike these news editors all across this country, Sen. Johnson is not afraid to look at facts, evidence and use common sense when looking at an event such as 9/11 and concluding there are legitimate questions that need answers.
However, according to smarmy sycophants like Bill O’Reilly, Dan Abrams, Shallow Sean Hannity and hundreds of newspaper editors around this country, there is no way rogue elements within the Bush Administration would ever allow 3,000 Americans to be slaughtered. Why, it’s simply preposterous! End of story. Shut up and go shopping. That might have worked for past events, but millions of Americans, with good reason, do not trust this government and do not believe their bald faced lies about 911.
As for prior knowledge, there is no question the FBI, under the Clinton Administration, knew and did NOT stop the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The FBI was running the operation and allowed it to happen. There can be NO misunderstanding on that one:
“The New York Times later reports on Emad Salem, an undercover agent who will be the key government witness in the trial against Yousef. Salem testifies that the FBI knew about the attack beforehand and told him they would thwart it by substituting a harmless powder for the explosives. However, an FBI supervisor called off this plan, and the bombing was not stopped. [New York Times, 10/28/1993]
“Other suspects were ineptly investigated before the bombing as early as 1990. Several of the bombers were trained by the CIA to fight in the Afghan war, and the CIA later concludes, in internal documents, that it was “partly culpable” for this bombing (see January 24, 1994). [Independent, 11/1/1998] 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is an uncle of Yousef and also has a role in the WTC bombing (see March 20, 1993). [Independent, 6/6/2002; Los Angeles Times, 9/1/2002] One of the attackers even leaves a message which will later be found by investigators, stating, “Next time, it will be very precise.” [Associated Press, 9/30/2001]”
This factual accounting of Salem and the sting operation came out during trial and cannot be disputed. What shocked me is that for once, the truth actually appeared in the NY Times, which, unfortunately, has become nothing more than a propaganda rag over the years. At the time, millions of Americans should have demanded not only criminal indictments against the FBI personnel involved, but the removal of the Director of the FBI and the Attorney General for allowing this act of terrorism to happen. It didn’t happen, either because Americans didn’t know or didn’t care.
I have covered every major tragedy in this country since Ruby Ridge, where a man and his family were terrorized by “our government.” A son killed from being shot in the back, a mother shot through the head by a very large caliber bullet while holding her eight-month old baby – over a wrong court date. All accomplished under one of the most evil females walking this earth, Janet Reno. This incompetent lesbian also ran the murder of almost 100 Americans at WACO; 17 children were gassed and burned to death while America watched. The Ron Brown murder, TWA Flight 800, WACO and 911, you name it, I’ve watched them and the cover ups unfold in living color on the boob tube because I work at home.
Suzie-Que's Truth and Justice Blog 