http://shop.newsmax.com/shop/index.cfm?page=products&productid=1&s=al&promo_code=7188-1
I can't copy this page because of a code in the page that crashes my browser.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Gulf War Illness Confirmed
Ok, now which wing of the political party do you suppose was behind the suppression of Gulf War Illness? Is this what the Republicans call supporting the troops? If I were a troop, I would probably not vote for Republicans, knowing that if I got sick because I served, that they would not take care of me. -O.L.
Thomas D. Williams
Panel: Gulf War Illness Confirmed
http://www.truthout.org/111808A
Thomas D. Williams, Truthout: "A federal health panel released conclusions Monday that evidence strongly and consistently indicates hundreds of thousands of US troops in the first Gulf War contracted long-term illnesses from use of pills, given by their own military to protect them from effects of chemical weaponized nerve agents, and from their military's pesticide use during deployment."
Thomas D. Williams
Panel: Gulf War Illness Confirmed
http://www.truthout.org/111808A
Thomas D. Williams, Truthout: "A federal health panel released conclusions Monday that evidence strongly and consistently indicates hundreds of thousands of US troops in the first Gulf War contracted long-term illnesses from use of pills, given by their own military to protect them from effects of chemical weaponized nerve agents, and from their military's pesticide use during deployment."
The coming Obama "Stock Market Crash"
http://w3.newsmax.com/a/jun08/?promo_code=2A89-1
Go here and read about how the Obama administration is going to make the stock market crash. (Holding sides in hysterical laughter.)
The Republican policies of borrow, spend, and being "soft" on corporate crime put us here. Somehow, they think that more of the same is going to solve the problem.
I can't take time to articulate the misrepresentations in this article now. A project for later, when I have caught up on my real work, the work that puts food on my family.
Go here and read about how the Obama administration is going to make the stock market crash. (Holding sides in hysterical laughter.)
The Republican policies of borrow, spend, and being "soft" on corporate crime put us here. Somehow, they think that more of the same is going to solve the problem.
I can't take time to articulate the misrepresentations in this article now. A project for later, when I have caught up on my real work, the work that puts food on my family.
Right-wing "best sellers"
Ever wonder how these dreadful fascist screeds reach the best-seller lists? Organizations such as Newsmax give them to readers, who are only asked to pay shipping, as in this case:
https://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/sarah.cfm?s=al&promo_code=7167-1
and Mike Huckabee, free!
Do the Right Thing
Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America
FREE OFFER! — Get this book FREE, Click Here Now
https://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/sarah.cfm?s=al&promo_code=7167-1
Get Sarah Palin's Book FREE
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Get "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down"
Or, get Ronald Kessler's Terrorist Watch, FREE, by subscribing to Newsmax Magazine!
and Mike Huckabee, free!
Do the Right Thing
Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America
FREE OFFER! — Get this book FREE, Click Here Now
The "Out of Control Left Wing Agenda"
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/chambliss_georgia_senate/2008/11/17/152348.html?s=al&promo_code=7188-1
Chambliss Warns: 'Out of Control' Congress at Stake in Georgia Race
Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who faces a runoff election against Democrat Jim Martin in Georgia, tells Newsmax that Senate Democrats will promote an “out-of-control left-wing agenda” if they gain a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority.
This claim is largely based on his opponent's opposition to a massive tax cut in the State of Georgia. When Zell Miller was governor, he wanted to take the taxes paid by all Georgia citizens for the betterment of the state, and clean out the Treasury by giving citizens those "feel good" rebates. These are nothing more than a form of political bribery that leads to massive deficits and crippling denial of state services.
Shame on Saxby for hate-mongering and fear-peddling. Obama is a right-centrist. Not a Marxist, not a Communist, and most certainly not an out-of-control leftist.
Chambliss Warns: 'Out of Control' Congress at Stake in Georgia Race
Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who faces a runoff election against Democrat Jim Martin in Georgia, tells Newsmax that Senate Democrats will promote an “out-of-control left-wing agenda” if they gain a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority.
This claim is largely based on his opponent's opposition to a massive tax cut in the State of Georgia. When Zell Miller was governor, he wanted to take the taxes paid by all Georgia citizens for the betterment of the state, and clean out the Treasury by giving citizens those "feel good" rebates. These are nothing more than a form of political bribery that leads to massive deficits and crippling denial of state services.
Shame on Saxby for hate-mongering and fear-peddling. Obama is a right-centrist. Not a Marxist, not a Communist, and most certainly not an out-of-control leftist.
The White Power Scum Perspective
http://theoccidentalquarterly.com/index.html
From the Editor
The 2008 US Presidential Election
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States is a good thing for white nationalism.
Whites will regain control over our nation and our destiny only when we have a change of consciousness. First, we must again think of ourselves as a distinct ethnic group with distinct interests—interests that often conflict with those of other ethnic groups. Second, we must again believe that we are entitled—nay, obligated—to take our own side when our interests conflict with those of other groups.
From the Editor
The 2008 US Presidential Election
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States is a good thing for white nationalism.
Whites will regain control over our nation and our destiny only when we have a change of consciousness. First, we must again think of ourselves as a distinct ethnic group with distinct interests—interests that often conflict with those of other ethnic groups. Second, we must again believe that we are entitled—nay, obligated—to take our own side when our interests conflict with those of other groups.
The National Review Continues to Sink: 'Frightened' Frum Resigns
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/107459/
The magazine began by the man who claimed to be a "conservative intellectual," William F. Buckley, Jr., has descended to the level of a supermarket tabloid. Some of its erstwhile contributors can no longer stomach what it has become.
No doubt that Buckley was bright, and a skilled debater. What I doubt is his claim to adherence to scientifically verifiable facts. It was Buckley's bloviating rhetoric which allowed such suit-and-tie fascists as David Duke to receive national attention. Hate-mongers like Duke, aping Buckley's pseudo-intellectual cover for greed as a force for human advancement, keep fascism alive and well in the USA.
Buckley's ability to provide a sheen of respectability to ideologies that we thought we had conquered during WWII has created a lot of human suffering. Bah, Buckley. Don't rest in peace. -O.L.
The National Review Continues to Sink: 'Frightened' Frum Resigns
Christopher Buckley was pushed out for praising Barack Obama; Kathleen Parker is persona non grata for failing to praise Sarah Palin, and the shake-ups at the National Review continue with David Frum's resignation.
...David Frum, a prominent conservative writer who enmeshed himself in a minor dustup during the campaign by turning negative on Governor Palin, is leaving, too. In an interview, he said he planned to leave the magazine, where he writes a popular blog, to strike out on his own on the Web. [...]
Mr. Frum said deciding to leave was amicable, but distancing himself from the magazine founded by his idol, Mr. Buckley, was not a hard decision. He said the controversy over Governor Palin's nomination for vice president was "symbolic of a lot of differences" between his views and those of National Review's.
"I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated," he said.
I can't honestly say I've found Frum's perspective compelling, but I can acknowledge that he's been one of the magazine's better writers, and has been willing to at least question the party line from time to time.
Noting the recent departures, Andrew Sullivan added:
"[W]e are left with adolescent bilge from Kathryn-Jean Lopez and spittle-flecked postings from Mark Levin and Andy McCarthy and Mark Krikorian and Mark Steyn, it may indeed be time to call the era of National Review as a repository for intellectual debate over."
This has almost certainly been the case for quite a while, but if one were inclined to note the day and time the notion of intellectual debate at the National Review ended, I'd say it was around noon on Oct. 3, when Rich Lowry, an NR editor, explained that he sat "a little straighter" when Sarah Palin winked at the camera during a nationally televised debate, because it was "so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing." Lowry concluded, "It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."
I'd stopped taking the magazine seriously long before then, but this was the proverbial nail in the coffin.
The New York Times noted the magazine "may" have lost its "reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals." You don't say.
The magazine began by the man who claimed to be a "conservative intellectual," William F. Buckley, Jr., has descended to the level of a supermarket tabloid. Some of its erstwhile contributors can no longer stomach what it has become.
No doubt that Buckley was bright, and a skilled debater. What I doubt is his claim to adherence to scientifically verifiable facts. It was Buckley's bloviating rhetoric which allowed such suit-and-tie fascists as David Duke to receive national attention. Hate-mongers like Duke, aping Buckley's pseudo-intellectual cover for greed as a force for human advancement, keep fascism alive and well in the USA.
Buckley's ability to provide a sheen of respectability to ideologies that we thought we had conquered during WWII has created a lot of human suffering. Bah, Buckley. Don't rest in peace. -O.L.
The National Review Continues to Sink: 'Frightened' Frum Resigns
Christopher Buckley was pushed out for praising Barack Obama; Kathleen Parker is persona non grata for failing to praise Sarah Palin, and the shake-ups at the National Review continue with David Frum's resignation.
...David Frum, a prominent conservative writer who enmeshed himself in a minor dustup during the campaign by turning negative on Governor Palin, is leaving, too. In an interview, he said he planned to leave the magazine, where he writes a popular blog, to strike out on his own on the Web. [...]
Mr. Frum said deciding to leave was amicable, but distancing himself from the magazine founded by his idol, Mr. Buckley, was not a hard decision. He said the controversy over Governor Palin's nomination for vice president was "symbolic of a lot of differences" between his views and those of National Review's.
"I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated," he said.
I can't honestly say I've found Frum's perspective compelling, but I can acknowledge that he's been one of the magazine's better writers, and has been willing to at least question the party line from time to time.
Noting the recent departures, Andrew Sullivan added:
"[W]e are left with adolescent bilge from Kathryn-Jean Lopez and spittle-flecked postings from Mark Levin and Andy McCarthy and Mark Krikorian and Mark Steyn, it may indeed be time to call the era of National Review as a repository for intellectual debate over."
This has almost certainly been the case for quite a while, but if one were inclined to note the day and time the notion of intellectual debate at the National Review ended, I'd say it was around noon on Oct. 3, when Rich Lowry, an NR editor, explained that he sat "a little straighter" when Sarah Palin winked at the camera during a nationally televised debate, because it was "so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing." Lowry concluded, "It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."
I'd stopped taking the magazine seriously long before then, but this was the proverbial nail in the coffin.
The New York Times noted the magazine "may" have lost its "reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals." You don't say.
White rage: The rednecks out to kill Obama
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/white-rage-the-rednecks-out-to-kill-obama-1017497.html
When millions watched Barack Obama give his history-making victory speech in Grant Park on election night, one thing stood out starkly – the bulletproof screen surrounding him. But just how serious is the threat of assassination to the President-elect?
By Andrew Gumbel
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Shawn Adolf and his cousin Tharin Gartrell fancied that 28 August, 2008 would be a good day for the next president of the United States to die. They had the guns – Gartrell was later caught with a Ruger Model M77 Mark II bolt-action rifle with an attached scope and bipod, and a Remington Model 721, also with a scope. They were believers in a radical white supremacist ideology that gave them the motivation they needed to risk their own lives, if necessary, to prevent a black man from entering the Oval Office. (Or, as a friend reported Adolf as saying: "No nigger should ever live in the White House.")
Tharin Gartrell and his cousin Shawn Adolf were arrested after plotting to assassinate Obama in August
Like many assassins before them, both the successful ones and the idle fantasists, Adolf and Gartrell took their inspiration from popular culture. They considered hiding a rifle inside a hollowed out television camera – an idea they borrowed from the Kevin Costner-Whitney Houston vehicle The Bodyguard. (It is also similar to the way al-Qa'eda operatives posing as a news crew assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, on 9 September, 2001, but it is far from clear whether Adolf and Gartrell had any notion of this.)
They toyed with the idea of hitting Obama from as far away as 750 yards, using one of their high-powered rifles; according to their friend Nathan Johnson, who may or may not have been part of the plot, they had in mind the conspiracy theory that President Kennedy was not shot by Lee Harvey Oswald from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building, but rather by professional assassins stationed on the "grassy knoll" above Dallas's Dealey Plaza.
None of these plans was ever remotely realistic, however. Adolf and Gartrell may have had some fearsome weaponry, and a vague affiliation with a white supremacist biker gang called the Sons of Silence, which disavowed them the moment they were arrested. But they were also rank amateurs living in a crystal methamphetamine-induced haze of paranoia and race hatred. (One can't help thinking Adolf's name went to his head, at least a little, as he fingered the swastika ring on his finger.) They had no clue how to circumvent the security surrounding Obama – prosecutors who examined their plans laughed them off as ludicrously naïve. And they couldn't even figure out what every half-interested member of the press corps knew, that Obama was not staying at the Hyatt Regency, the temporary HQ of the Democratic National Committee, but at a different hotel altogether.
Four days before Obama's acceptance speech, Gartrell was pulled over for drunk-driving in the Denver suburb ' of Aurora after a patrol officer spotted his rented Dodge Ram truck swerving erratically, and the whole plot, such as it was, fell apart almost instantly. Certainly, the officer found plenty inside the truck to sound alarm bells – the two high-powered rifles, a silencer, a bulletproof vest, camouflage clothing, and three fake identification cards. But it was also clear that Gartrell was high on meth as well as drunk. The truck contained enough drug-making equipment to be considered a mobile meth lab.
Gartrell ratted out Johnson and Adolf almost as soon as he was taken in and photographed for his singularly striking mugshot. (With his bleached blonde hair, heavy silver earrings and pierced lip, he looks like the neo-Nazi from central casting.) Johnson was in the room at the Hyatt Regency, and wasted no time in talking himself – insisting he had no idea about any assassination plot while almost simultaneously telling the world Adolf was planning to "go down in a blaze of glory" and take Obama with him.
Read the rest here...
When millions watched Barack Obama give his history-making victory speech in Grant Park on election night, one thing stood out starkly – the bulletproof screen surrounding him. But just how serious is the threat of assassination to the President-elect?
By Andrew Gumbel
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Shawn Adolf and his cousin Tharin Gartrell fancied that 28 August, 2008 would be a good day for the next president of the United States to die. They had the guns – Gartrell was later caught with a Ruger Model M77 Mark II bolt-action rifle with an attached scope and bipod, and a Remington Model 721, also with a scope. They were believers in a radical white supremacist ideology that gave them the motivation they needed to risk their own lives, if necessary, to prevent a black man from entering the Oval Office. (Or, as a friend reported Adolf as saying: "No nigger should ever live in the White House.")
Tharin Gartrell and his cousin Shawn Adolf were arrested after plotting to assassinate Obama in AugustAnd they had at least the outlines of a plan. They checked into the downtown Denver hotel where they believed Barack Obama was staying, and talked about the ways they could try to gun down the Democratic nominee on the day he was due to accept his party's nomination at an outdoor sports arena before an adoring crowd of more than 70,000 people.
Like many assassins before them, both the successful ones and the idle fantasists, Adolf and Gartrell took their inspiration from popular culture. They considered hiding a rifle inside a hollowed out television camera – an idea they borrowed from the Kevin Costner-Whitney Houston vehicle The Bodyguard. (It is also similar to the way al-Qa'eda operatives posing as a news crew assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, on 9 September, 2001, but it is far from clear whether Adolf and Gartrell had any notion of this.)
They toyed with the idea of hitting Obama from as far away as 750 yards, using one of their high-powered rifles; according to their friend Nathan Johnson, who may or may not have been part of the plot, they had in mind the conspiracy theory that President Kennedy was not shot by Lee Harvey Oswald from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building, but rather by professional assassins stationed on the "grassy knoll" above Dallas's Dealey Plaza.
None of these plans was ever remotely realistic, however. Adolf and Gartrell may have had some fearsome weaponry, and a vague affiliation with a white supremacist biker gang called the Sons of Silence, which disavowed them the moment they were arrested. But they were also rank amateurs living in a crystal methamphetamine-induced haze of paranoia and race hatred. (One can't help thinking Adolf's name went to his head, at least a little, as he fingered the swastika ring on his finger.) They had no clue how to circumvent the security surrounding Obama – prosecutors who examined their plans laughed them off as ludicrously naïve. And they couldn't even figure out what every half-interested member of the press corps knew, that Obama was not staying at the Hyatt Regency, the temporary HQ of the Democratic National Committee, but at a different hotel altogether.
Four days before Obama's acceptance speech, Gartrell was pulled over for drunk-driving in the Denver suburb ' of Aurora after a patrol officer spotted his rented Dodge Ram truck swerving erratically, and the whole plot, such as it was, fell apart almost instantly. Certainly, the officer found plenty inside the truck to sound alarm bells – the two high-powered rifles, a silencer, a bulletproof vest, camouflage clothing, and three fake identification cards. But it was also clear that Gartrell was high on meth as well as drunk. The truck contained enough drug-making equipment to be considered a mobile meth lab.
Gartrell ratted out Johnson and Adolf almost as soon as he was taken in and photographed for his singularly striking mugshot. (With his bleached blonde hair, heavy silver earrings and pierced lip, he looks like the neo-Nazi from central casting.) Johnson was in the room at the Hyatt Regency, and wasted no time in talking himself – insisting he had no idea about any assassination plot while almost simultaneously telling the world Adolf was planning to "go down in a blaze of glory" and take Obama with him.
Read the rest here...
Naomi Klein: The Borderline Illegal Deals Behind the $700 Billion Bailout
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/107458/
Naomi Klein: Well, there's a few elements now that are being described as illegal that we're finding out. First of all, the equity deals that were negotiated with the largest banks and also some smaller banks, representing $250 billion worth of the bailout money, this is the deal to inject capital into the banks in exchange for equity. The idea was to address the so-called credit crunch to get banks lending again. The legislation that enabled this was quite explicit that it had to encourage lending. Barney Frank, who was one of the architects of that legislation, has said that it violates the act if the money is not going to that purpose and is instead going to bonuses, is instead going to dividends, going to salaries, going to mergers. He said that violates the acts, i.e. it's illegal. But what we know is that it's going precisely to those purposes. It is going to bonuses. It is going to shareholders. And it is not going to lending. The banks have been quite explicit about this. Citibank has talked about using the money to buy other banks.
Then there's other aspects of this that are borderline illegal. We found out that in the midst of the crisis, the Bush Treasury Department pushed through a tax windfall for the banks, a piece of legislation that allows the banks to save a huge amount of money when they merge with each other. And the estimate is that this represents a loss of $140 billion worth of tax revenue for the US government. Many tax attorneys who were interviewed by the Washington Post said that they felt that the way in which the Treasury Department went about this by unilaterally changing the tax code was illegal, that this had to include Congress. Congress only found out about it after the fact.
There's another piece of this puzzle that is also borderline illegal, which is that in addition to the $700 billion that we are discussing, the $700 billion bailout, there's another $2 trillion that's been handed out by the Federal Reserve in emergency loans to financial institutions, to banks, that actually we don't really know who they're handing the money out to, because, apparently, it's a secret. They could be handing it out to a range of other corporations -- I think they are -- but they're saying that they won't disclose who has received these taxpayer loans, because it could cause a run on the banks, it could cause the market to lose confidence in the institutions that have taken these loans. Once again, that represents an additional $2 trillion.
The other thing that the Fed won't disclose is what they have accepted as collateral in exchange for these loans. This is a really key point, because, of course, at the heart of the financial crisis is -- are these so- called distressed assets. The value of these assets is enormously controversial. They may be worth very little. So if the Fed has accepted distressed assets as collateral in exchange for these loans, there's a very good chance the taxpayers aren't going to be getting this money back. So Bloomberg News has launched a lawsuit in federal court to find out who has received the loans and what has been accepted as collateral, because they believe that this lack of transparency is illegal. So that's why we're calling this the "trillion-dollar crime scene" or the "multi-trillion-dollar crime scene." And they're really challenging lawmakers to call them out, the Treasury is.
Naomi Klein: Well, there's a few elements now that are being described as illegal that we're finding out. First of all, the equity deals that were negotiated with the largest banks and also some smaller banks, representing $250 billion worth of the bailout money, this is the deal to inject capital into the banks in exchange for equity. The idea was to address the so-called credit crunch to get banks lending again. The legislation that enabled this was quite explicit that it had to encourage lending. Barney Frank, who was one of the architects of that legislation, has said that it violates the act if the money is not going to that purpose and is instead going to bonuses, is instead going to dividends, going to salaries, going to mergers. He said that violates the acts, i.e. it's illegal. But what we know is that it's going precisely to those purposes. It is going to bonuses. It is going to shareholders. And it is not going to lending. The banks have been quite explicit about this. Citibank has talked about using the money to buy other banks.
Then there's other aspects of this that are borderline illegal. We found out that in the midst of the crisis, the Bush Treasury Department pushed through a tax windfall for the banks, a piece of legislation that allows the banks to save a huge amount of money when they merge with each other. And the estimate is that this represents a loss of $140 billion worth of tax revenue for the US government. Many tax attorneys who were interviewed by the Washington Post said that they felt that the way in which the Treasury Department went about this by unilaterally changing the tax code was illegal, that this had to include Congress. Congress only found out about it after the fact.
There's another piece of this puzzle that is also borderline illegal, which is that in addition to the $700 billion that we are discussing, the $700 billion bailout, there's another $2 trillion that's been handed out by the Federal Reserve in emergency loans to financial institutions, to banks, that actually we don't really know who they're handing the money out to, because, apparently, it's a secret. They could be handing it out to a range of other corporations -- I think they are -- but they're saying that they won't disclose who has received these taxpayer loans, because it could cause a run on the banks, it could cause the market to lose confidence in the institutions that have taken these loans. Once again, that represents an additional $2 trillion.
The other thing that the Fed won't disclose is what they have accepted as collateral in exchange for these loans. This is a really key point, because, of course, at the heart of the financial crisis is -- are these so- called distressed assets. The value of these assets is enormously controversial. They may be worth very little. So if the Fed has accepted distressed assets as collateral in exchange for these loans, there's a very good chance the taxpayers aren't going to be getting this money back. So Bloomberg News has launched a lawsuit in federal court to find out who has received the loans and what has been accepted as collateral, because they believe that this lack of transparency is illegal. So that's why we're calling this the "trillion-dollar crime scene" or the "multi-trillion-dollar crime scene." And they're really challenging lawmakers to call them out, the Treasury is.
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