Virginia Metze Reading List for Tuesday 9 August and Wednesday 10 August

[Guest guest]

" Virginia Metze " <vmetze

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:31:03 -0500

Reading List for Tuesday 9 August and Wednesday 10 August, 2005

 

 

 

So far as I am aware, Cindy Sheehan was not arrested today as she was

told she would be, but there are a few more hours of Thursday left ...

 

I have been waiting for this to happen! I hope that the Democrats

make clear their support for these men! The last time truckers did

this, it had a BIG effect...

 

Hundreds Of Truckers Protest High Gas Prices

POSTED: 11:02 am EDT August 10, 2005

UPDATED: 4:12 pm EDT August 10, 2005

NBC6.net

South Florida

 

MIAMI -- More than 600 truckers gathered in their big rigs Wednesday

to protest the rising gas prices in South Florida, NBC 6's Hank Tester

reported.

 

The trucks, which included tractor-trailers, dump trucks and box

trucks, gathered at the intersection of Okeechobee Road and the

Florida Turnpike in Miami-Dade County.

 

Traffic in the area was at a standstill as the trucks started a

caravan headed toward Miami City Hall.

 

The trucks traveled 20 miles to present a petition requesting a fuel

surcharge break for independently owned trucks.

 

The truckers claim that the high cost of gas has made it impossible

for them to earn a living. [...] Read the whole story at

http://www.nbc6.net/news/4832833/detail.html

Oil Prices Rise to $65 a Barrel

Aug 10, 3:19 PM (ET)

By BRAD FOSS

 

Oil prices zoomed higher Wednesday, touching a new high of $65 a

barrel, with buyers focused on refinery snags and shrinking U.S.

inventories of gasoline.

 

The latest rally - crude futures have risen 14 percent in three weeks

- highlights just how nervous the market has become to just about any

threat to output, even though analysts say the country has adequate

levels of fuel in inventory to offset routine supply disruptions.

 

The heightened sensitivity comes amid strong demand in the United

States and China, the world's top consuming nations, where high prices

have only tempered rising fuel consumption slightly. [...] Read the

rest at ABCnews: http://tinyurl.com/9mqpw

 

Bush Is No Nixon

By William Rivers Pitt

t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 10 August 2005

 

No mother who lost her son to this Iraq war should be made to stand in

a ditch, and yet that is exactly where Cindy Sheehan stands today, by

the side of the road in Crawford, Texas. She has been standing there

since she heard about the 20 Marines who were killed in Iraq last

week, since she heard George W. Bush describe from his vacation home

the noble cause for which those Marines died.

 

Cindy's son, Casey, died in Iraq for that cause more than a year ago.

She heard those words from Mr. Bush and went to Crawford. She wanted

to talk to the president. The folks in the ranch sent out a couple of

lackeys to speak with her. " They were very respectful, " Sheehan said

later to CNN. " They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat

to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told

them I wouldn't leave until I talked to George Bush. I want to ask the

president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?' Last

week, he said my son died for a 'noble cause' and I want to ask him

what that noble cause is. " [...] Read the whole column at the

TruthOut web site: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081005I.shtml

 

I knew there must be SOME reason that I had not liked Patricia

Cornwell books for some time...

Banned in America

 

Dr. Les Sachs is a gentle and peaceful writer whose freedom of speech

has been illegally banned by the USA government, after he dared to

criticize a wealthy friend of the President George Bush family. Dr.

Sachs is an expert critic of USA corruption. This is his weblog of

occasional published articles, by someone truly " Banned in America " .

 

Patrick Fitzgerald Requests Patricia Cornwell Scandal Material for

Grand Jury - Report of Indictments of Pres. Bush and V.P. Cheney

 

It's good that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, and his staffer

Randall (Randy) Samborn (sometimes spelled 'Sanborn' in press

reports), have requested from me in the Netherlands, the material

involved in the ongoing legal issues with Bush celebrity friend and

contributor Patricia Cornwell, and Cornwell's crimes of court fraud,

bribery and extortion with U.S. federal judge Robert Payne, who was

appointed to office by the Bushes.

 

Internet reports are that Fitzgerald's office, via Randy Samborn, are

NOT denying that his grand jury has already secretly " returned " (i.e.,

charged or issued) indictments against President Bush and Vice

President Cheney themselves, as well as others (click here for report).

(Note the difference between Fitzgerald's previous public denial that

he HIMSELF has issued indictments, and how his office would NOT deny

that the " GRAND JURY had returned " indictments against Bush and Cheney

- said to be the legally more relevant phrase.) [..] Read it all at

http://bannedinamerica.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

Someone dug up this article, and commented that it sure sounded like

Bush. What do you think?

Profile of a Sociopath

 

A number of mind-manipulating cult leaders may exhibit many of the

behavioral characteristics of a sociopath--an outstanding ability to

charm and seduce followers. Since they appear apparently normal, they

are not easily recognizable as deviant or disturbed. Although only a

trained professional can make a diagnosis, it is important to be able

to recognize the personality type in order to avoid further abuse.

These traits also apply to a one-on-one cultic relationship. [...]

Read the list of characteristics at:

http://home.datawest.net/esn-recovery/artcls/socio.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/6k3hu

 

 

 

MoveOn enters the Cindy Sheehan support effort by running ad in

Crawford paper!

You may want to read and sign their petition at

http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/

 

 

 

Talk About Obscene—Rumsfeld's 9/11 Street Party

By: Jack Dalton 8-10-05

 

If you want something absolutely obscene, here it is: Pentagon to Host

9/11 March, Show.

 

This September 11th, will mark 4 years since that horrible mass murder

took place. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the rest of the chickenhawk

neo-cons are going to " celebrate " by throwing a big street party with

music provided by none other than Clint Black.

 

Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld & Co., Inc. are still trying to connect 9/11 and

Iraq! This nation is being run by people that devoid and out of touch

with reality. The only connection between 9/11 and Iraq is them. And

the way things are looking right now, Bush/Cheney do not have clean

hands about 9/11—I put nothing past these people, nothing. [...]

Read the rest at http://jack-dalton.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Are you a John Edwards fan? Have you seen

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/20050726.asp

 

 

 

Another great column --

Widespread Ignorance

Only 28 percent of Americans believe in evolution; 68 percent believe

in Satan. And since Bush's endorsement of 'intelligent design,' the

battle between faith and reason is growing stronger.

By Sam Harris, HuffingtonPost.com. Posted August 10, 2005.

 

President Bush has endorsed the pseudo-scientific notion of

" intelligent design " (ID) and declared it to be a legitimate

alternative to the theory of evolution. This is not surprising, as he

has always maintained that " the jury is still out " on the question of

evolution.

 

But the jury is not out -- indeed it was well in before President Bush

was even born -- and anyone familiar with modern biology knows that ID

is nothing more than a program of political and religious advocacy

masquerading as science.

 

It is for this reason that the scientific community has been divided

on just how (or whether) to dignify the spurious claims of ID

" theorists " with a response. While understandable, I believe that such

scruples are now misplaced. The Trojan Horse has passed the innermost

gates of the city, and scary religious imbeciles are now spilling out.

[...] Read it all at Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/story/23964/

 

 

 

If you haven't encountered the Green Dog Democrat yet, you have a

treat coming ... I particularly love the quote from President Dwight

D. Eisenhower that they use: " Here in America we are descended in

blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels -- men and women

who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we

never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. "

 

Meet Cindy

 

Hello from the Green Dog --

 

If you hadn't heard much about Cindy Sheehan before August 6 -- and

it's likely that you had heard a pretty fair amount -- you certainly

have heard a really big amount since then, haven't you?

 

Probably the best explanation of why she is now so high-profile is in

an editorial in The New York Times of Aug. 9. 2005. To wit --

 

" Summertime often produces unexpected media figures, and this is Cindy

Sheehan's season. Ms. Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq

last year, is camping out near President George Bush's ranch in

Crawford, Tex., and says she won't leave until Mr. Bush agrees to meet

with her to discuss the war. [1] There are many reasons for the flood

of media attention she is attracting: she has a poignant personal

story and she is articulate -- and, let's face it, August is a slow

news month. But most of all, she is tapping into a growing popular

feeling that the Bush administration is out of touch with the

realities, and the costs, of the Iraq war. [...] Read more about

Cindy Sheehan at this mirror site

http://www.eurolegal.org/greendogdem/gdd0805/20050809gdd.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/8ekhn A number of other articles about Sheehan

follow this one on the web site.

 

 

 

CAFTA wasn't passed legally -- but no one seems to be doing anything

about it! Why can't this be taken to court?

 

Under the Cover of Darkness

 

There is a reason some votes are not called until the dead of night.

Everyone knew the House vote on the Central American Free Trade

Agreement (CAFTA) was going to be a close one. " As the showdown

neared, the sales effort became more intense. It included a personal

appeal by [President] Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who were

whisked to the Capitol by motorcade Wednesday morning to ask House

Republicans to support the president's legislative priorities. " The

vote began a couple minutes after 11:00pm. " When the usual 15-minute

voting period expired at 11:17 p.m., " the nays had won by a mere 5

votes. But proponents of the bill, who had made it clear that they

were willing to do " whatever they need to do to get " passage of the

legislation, were not ready to admit defeat. Employing a tactic that

Vice President Dick Cheney once called " the greatest abuse of

democracy, " House Republican leaders held the vote open for an

additional 47 minutes. During this time, they worked furiously to

round up votes, browbeating representatives in a manner reminiscent of

the 2003 Medicare vote. One representative -- Rep. Charles Boustany

(R-LA) -- was brought into the Republican cloakroom where no less than

the president himself gave him the hard sell via cellular telephone.

In the waning hours of the morning, the House passed CAFTA by a vote

of 217 to 215. [...] Read more at the

American Progress Action Fund: http://tinyurl.com/8eudh

 

 

 

His code name is " Hair Trigger " -- Why is this no surprise to those

who warned the country of this man's behavior?

Bolton Bar Brawl Marks Rocky Start to UN Tenure

by Deanna Swift

August 08, 2005

 

NEW YORK—It should have been an occasion for celebration: the new US

Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, dropped by the

exclusive Delegate's Lounge for his favorite cocktail, a Hand Grenade,

a refreshing mixture of gin, grain alcohol, melon liqueur, rum and

vodka. But instead of glasses being hoisted all around, multinational

fisticuffs broke out after Ambassador Bolton alleged that the bowl of

mixed nuts he'd ordered contained " mostly peanuts. "

Insiders note that the menu at the Delegate's Lounge lists a " Mixed

Nut Bowl " that includes cashews, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts and Brazil

nuts.

 

'He went off like a rocket'

The scuffle is said to have erupted just minutes after Ambassador

Bolton took a seat at the bar. The bartender allegedly took Bolton's

order for a Hand Grenade, prepared the beverage, then served him the

drink along with the bowl of roasted nuts. After that, say observers

present in the lounge that afternoon, the new Ambassador appeared to

" go ballistic. "

 

" He threw the nuts in the face of the bartender and accused him of

being disrespectful because he, Bolton, was a recess appointment, "

said one representative of a European country who asked that he and

his country remain anonymous out of fear that the new Ambassador might

retaliate against them. [...] Read the rest at the swiftreport blog:

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/08/bolton_bar_braw.html

 

 

 

Democrats are mulling this story over -- is it just a rumor, or

forewarner of a coup?

 

Four Star General Fired For Organizing Coup Against Neo-Cons?

Reporter suggests Brynes discovered plan to turn nuke exercise into

staged terror attack

 

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | August 10 2005

 

The head of Fort Monroe's Training and Doctrine Command, four star

general Kevin P. Byrnes, was fired Tuesday apparently for sexual

misconduct according to official sources.

 

Other sources however have offered a different explanation for Byrnes'

dismissal which ties in with the Bush administration's unpopular plan

to attack Iran and the staged nuclear attack in the US which would

provide the pretext to do so.

 

According to reporter Greg Szymanski, anonymous military sources said

that Brynes was the leader of a faction that was preparing to

instigate a coup against the neo-con hawks in an attempt to prevent

further global conflict.

 

Indications are that, much like popular opinion amongst the general

public, half the military oppose the neo-con's agenda and half support

it. [...] Read it all at http://tinyurl.com/d8bb7

 

 

 

Dissent in the United States

" If you don't love this country, get the f--- out! "

By James Rothenberg

8/10/05

Information Clearing House

 

08/10/05 " ICH " -- -- It is better to be wrong and having to explain

why you were for non-violence in the world when it turned out that

violence was the proper mode, than be wrong and having to explain why

you were for violence when it turned out that non-violence was the

proper mode.

 

Has nothing much changed since March 2003? That mushroom cloud turned

out to have zero degrees of probability, and as to the whereabouts of

the weapons of mass destruction…maybe Judith Miller knows. Real inner

circle guys like Paul O'Neil and Richard Clarke said some highly

unflattering things about this administration, but you know how people

talk after they leave the job. And you couldn't miss the prison

torture pictures, not from anywhere on this planet. Nor those nasty

explosions from those ungrateful insurgents who wouldn't recognize

freedom if it was hanging from a flagpole. Still, considering what is

going on in the world, and specifically in Iraq, there is a real quiet

here.

 

Most of our politicians say they are against a draft, and let's accept

that for a moment. I'm going to speculate, though, that our country's

rulers are against it for a very specific reason – that they would

never be able to get away with what they've been getting away with if

there was a draft, because the campuses would have stopped this thing

by now, maybe not even have allowed it to begin. No draft equals quiet

campuses, and quiet campuses equal a quiet country. [...] Read the

rest at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9730.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/8kt6j

 

 

 

A Childish Theory

Charley Reese

August 9, 2005

lewrockwell.com

 

As of this writing, more than 1,800 young Americans have died in Iraq.

The combined cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $340 billion.

This is what happens when we elect people who refuse to accept the

limits set by the United States Constitution.

 

The Constitution gave us a government to govern America, not the

world. It is none of our business what forms of government other

countries have, just as it is none of our business whether the women

in a foreign country wear burkhas or bikinis.

Surely you realize by now that either the Bush administration knew

Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction or, even scarier, was dumb

enough to believe it did have them. On Sept. 11, 2001, we had one

enemy – a terrorist organization that calls itself al-Qaida. Instead

of limiting our response to taking out that organization, President

George Bush declared war on the world.

He bought the childishly unrealistic theory, concocted by mostly

pro-Israeli neoconservatives, that we could take out Saddam Hussein

and install a Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq, and that this fine

example would spread liberal democracy to the entire Middle East. This

was going to be cheap and easy, they said. It was not only a childish

and simplistic theory, it was stupid. It's what you would expect from

a bunch of mostly academics who have never heard the sound of gunfire

and who don't read or speak Arabic, much less have ever spent any time

in the area. [...] Read the rest at LewRockwell.com:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese214.html Roberts Papers Being

Delayed

 

 

 

Bush Aides Screen Pages for Surprises

By Jo BeckerWashington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Page A01

 

Thrown on the defensive by recent revelations about Supreme Court

nominee John G. Roberts Jr.'s legal work, White House aides are

delaying the release of tens of thousands of documents from the Reagan

administration to give themselves time to find any new surprises

before they are turned into political ammunition by Democrats.

 

Before Roberts's July 19 selection by President Bush, there was no

comprehensive effort to examine the voluminous paper trail from his

previous tours as an important legal and political hand under

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, administration

officials said.

Three weeks later, these officials say they recognize that Roberts's

record is going to be central to Senate confirmation hearings

scheduled to begin Sept. 6, and lawyers and political aides are

urgently reviewing more than 50,000 pages -- at the same time denying

requests from Democrats for an immediate release. [...] Read it all

at: http://tinyurl.com/dd2mx

 

 

 

The modern know-nothings seem to have gained far too much control of

science!

It's time for equal time for Darwinian evolution

By Peter Schrag -- Bee Columnist

Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 10, 2005 var ppn='Page

B7';if(ppv==1){ppn=''+ppn+'';}document.write('

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Lyndon Johnson liked to tell a story about a Depression-era school

teacher who was applying for a job in Johnson City, Texas, the

president's hometown. The school board, he said, was divided on

whether Earth was round or flat, so they asked him how he taught it.

 

" The poor fellow needed a job so much; he said, 'I can teach it either

way.' "

Henceforth, if President Bush has his druthers - or if the school

boards in Kansas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere that have decreed equal

time for " intelligent design " in their classes have theirs - teachers

will have to teach it both ways. Or maybe no way. [...] Read it all

at Sacramento Bee web site: http://tinyurl.com/ag9a5

 

 

 

Maureen Dowd hits one out of the park again...

Why No Tea and Sympathy?

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: August 10, 2005

The New York Times Op-Ed column

Washington

 

W. can't get no satisfaction on Iraq.

 

There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside his Crawford

ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be

carefully choreographed.

 

A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now

think that going to war was a mistake and that the war has made the

U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. So fighting them there means it's

more likely we'll have to fight them here?

 

Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that sophisticated bombs were

streaming over the border from Iran to Iraq.

 

And the Rolling Stones have taken a rare break from sex odes to record

an antiwar song called " Sweet Neo Con, " chiding Condi Rice and Mr.

Bush. " You call yourself a Christian; I call you a hypocrite, " Mick

Jagger sings. [...] Read the whole article at

http://tinyurl.com/ey4m9

 

 

 

And Arianna Huffington comes through again, as always!

At Rummy's Bizarro Pentagon, Torture is Rewarded While Sex is a Firing

Offense

August 10, 2005

Huffington Post

 

 

Here's all the proof you need that the lunatics have taken over the

Pentagon and DoD asylums (that is, if the lunacy of their Iraq

policies hadn't already convinced you):

 

Four-star General Kevin Byrnes, the third most senior of the Army's 11

four-star generals, was sacked over allegations that he had an

extramarital affair. Meanwhile, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the

senior commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib torture and abuse

scandal, is being considered for promotion to, yep, four-star general.

 

Talk about your utterly perverted priorities. [...] Read it all at

the Huffington Post:

http://tinyurl.com/duupx

 

 

 

There is another excellent one on the 9th: Support Our Troops: Call a

Truce in America's Drug War You may want to check it out, as it is

right after the post above.

 

Halliburton announces 284 percent increase in war profits

25 July 2005

 

WASHINGTON, July 25 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- Halliburton announced on

Friday that its KBR division, responsible for carrying out Pentagon

contracts, experienced a 284 percent increase in operating profits

during the second quarter of this year.

 

The increase in profits was primarily due to the Pentagon's payment of

" award fees " for what military officials call " good " or " very good "

work done by KBR in the Middle East for America's taxpayers and the

troops.

 

Despite the scandals that plague KBR's military contracts, the

Pentagon awarded $70 million in " award " fees to the company, along

with four ratings of " excellent " and two ratings of " very good " for

the troop logistics work under the Army's LOGCAP contract. [...]

Read the rest at:

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/earnings072205.html or

http://tinyurl.com/dasfw

 

 

 

There will never be a charge for this reading list and I won't ask for

contributions.

 

It may be freely distributed as long as it is sent out in its entirety

with this statement attached and no charge is made. Of course you are

free to use the URLs in your own posts, etc.

 

© Virginia Metze

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