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Wednesday, July 31, 2002
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Tuesday, July 30, 2002
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Independent News
UN chickens out, withholds a damning report on Afghan massacre
Independent News
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USATODAY.com - 9/11 probe panel on deck?
It was not widely reported that House voted for probe into 911 that could implicate Bush administration, as well as FBI, CIA, etc. It remains to be seen if the Senate has the cahones to go ahead with such an investigation and where it goes...
USATODAY.com - 9/11 probe panel on deck?
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Halliburton to Build New Cells at Guantanamo Base
Cheney's ex-company Halliburton gets government contracts to preserve it from bankruptcy and builds concentration camps in Cuba! The Texas company Brown and Root, absorbed by Halliburton, built tiger huts, inhumane cages for prisoners, during Vietnam. The same old shits up to the same old stuff...
Halliburton to Build New Cells at Guantanamo Base
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Profound Effect on U.S. Economy Seen in a War on Iraq
Economic burden of war against Iraq may keep US from fullscale invasion; last time allies paid, US got rid of old munitions, some claim actually made money on it; this time an Iraq war that no one would support or pay for could bankrupt US and send oil market into uncertainities...
Profound Effect on U.S. Economy Seen in a War on Iraq
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Independent Argument
Debate in Britain as to whether Blair should support Bush on war against Iraq
Independent Argument
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Monday, July 29, 2002
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Sunday, July 28, 2002
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Independent Argument
Editorial begging Blair not to support a US attack on Iraq
Independent Argument
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Independent News
Brit lawyers warn Blair about illegality of Iraq attack
Independent News
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Saturday, July 27, 2002
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Friday, July 26, 2002
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An October Surprise?
Samuel Day Fassbinder said: And then this, from the Seattle Times:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0726-04.htm
\"\'If it happened in October, I wouldn\'t be completely surprised,\' said one official involved in the planning.\"
DK responds: this would indeed give new meanings to the October Surprise!
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War Against Iraq
Samuel Day Fassbinder said: If W. is really in such trouble as you say, then we should all be on the lookout for this coming war against Iraq, and intensifying the campaign against it happening.
:
the coming war against Iraq
DK responds: I have long suggested that when the shit hits the fan for Bush and Cheney that war against Iraq will occur as a distraction. It could occur at any time in fact as the scandals concerning the Bush administration are growing, their polls are going down, and the economy and stock market are tanking. So any day now....
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Thursday, July 25, 2002
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BuzzFlash Premiums - The Forbidden Truth
Book just released that documents Bush administration active support of Taliban, will be interesting to see how this plays out in US media; the original French version got a lot of European coverage and some US internet play but has basically been ignored, now that it's in English...
BuzzFlash Premiums - The Forbidden Truth
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Reuters | The World's Leading Provider of Financial Information and News
This is somewhat surprising, Reuters article claims that Bush played an active role in Harken energy company; previous released papers had indicated that Bush had been given documents that indicated that Harken's financial prospects were rapidly dimming so it seems like evidence was accumulating that Bush did engage in insider trading but I cannot imagine that he could actually participate in Harken daily business and make actual contributions...
Reuters | The World's Leading Provider of Financial Information and News
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Wednesday, July 24, 2002
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The Consortium
Bush cannot do the job and major leaders should tell him to step down
The Consortium
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Salon.com
Salon wants YOU to start your own blog!
Salon.com
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Tuesday, July 23, 2002
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The Smirking Chimp
Good news for a change! Bush's re-election prospects declining
The Smirking Chimp
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Comments and Response
Peter Zelchenko said [in response to postings on current economic crisis]: Might there be some continuity to this collapse? All things being linked, what we saw two years ago was a failure of confidence in the most bleeding-edge consumer sector on earth, the dot-coms. In more recent months, we are seeing deep erosions in what can be argued as the next-highest tech consumer sector, telecom, alongside its cohort, energy. The incunabula of these two industries occurred around mid-century.
Most of this has been based on unrealistic toying with finances to effect and celebrate gain, and perhaps the law of diminishing returns is beginning to prevail.
After the most self-indulgent century in history, one could paint a dystopian denouement: a domino effect on industries, in reverse order of technological onset or complexity of innovation -- core factors in the advancement of each of the industries. Next would be automechanical transportation, publishing and entertainment, and consumer electronics. These all rose in the 19th century as, respectively, railroads and other engines; automatic presses and the telegraph; and the gramophone, the electric power grid, and radio. We already have seen consolidation in these sectors in particular over the past 40 years, crescendoing in the last 10 or so.
\"Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.\" Is there any precedent here from 1929 which we are in the midst of repeating?
DK responds: While I don't disagree with the specifics of Peter's analysis I think they need historical and political context. For one thing, Bush's giant tax cut, his strange policy on steel tariffs and subsidies for agriculture that went against his free-market ideology disconcerted some investors while foreign and domestic investors were put off by the corporate scandals, Bush administration complicity in them in terms of precedents and policies, and disgust with Bush unilateralism in foreign policy. The cumulative result was drop in foreign investor confidence in US and taking tremendous amounts of money out of the US market. In addition, Bush has fouled up the fiscal policy of the state, on his way to record deficits (from the previous surplus). So where one can derive ups and downs of markets from purely economic cyclical factors, I think in this case Bush administration politics have contributed mightily to our current economic woes.
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A Nation Online
This is interesting, for the Bush administration there is no longer a digital divide, just a nation online. Hence, no more need for federal programs to get computers into kids hands and classrooms, to train in computer literacy and offer support. The Bushsies diappeared the problem!
A Nation Online
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Sunday, July 21, 2002
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washingtonpost.com: Bush's Economic Address, Suffering Slings and (Down) Arrows
Bush's biggest media PR crisis: Nets showing stocker prices going down while he was giving a speech on the economy. Surprising that Fox, usually a Republican propaganda machine, presented such critical imagery which, accurately in my view, associated Bush with economic crisis.
washingtonpost.com: Bush's Economic Address, Suffering Slings and (Down) Arrows
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Saturday, July 20, 2002
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Bush Family Value$
This classic Steven Pizzo/MJ account of Bush family scandals bears rereading AND keeping in mind that much was known of Bush family malfeascence for years but was ignored in mainstream media!
Bush Family Value$
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Guilt by association
This seems to me a good idea, that al Qaeda should be criminalized on a global level, could be basis of more effective global effort rather than unilateral US campaign driven by military imperatives
Guilt by association
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Economist.com
British Economist on the Telecom crash
Economist.com
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Friday, July 19, 2002
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The Bush Economy and Bush-Cheney Economic Scandals
In one of the most stunning economic reversals in U.S. history, the Bush administration gave away record budget surpluses in taxes to the rich and returned to the dangerous levels of budget deficits brought about by the first Reagan and Bush administrations. During the Reagan presidency, the national deficit was doubled to two trillion dollars while in the four years of Bush I, the deficit doubled again to an almost inconceivable record $4 trillion debt, flipping the U.S. from the position of the first major creditor nation to the number one debtor nation. George W. Bush is well on the way to matching his father’s disastrous economic performance as he piles up sky-rocketing deficits, gives away profuse tax cuts to the rich, and provides corporate favors to his allies in the business and military-industrial complex.
While both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been largely immune from personal criticism for their responsibilities concerning the September 11 terror attacks, their business records were sharply scutinized and discussed beginning with a media blitz of investigative and critical reporting in July 2002. During July the stock market tanked, thereby wiping out the savings of millions. Moreover, the Bush administration announced that the national deficit for the next year would be over $165 billion, corporate scandals contined to multiply, and it was becoming clear that the Bush administration was completely mismanaging the economy. ABC News reported on July 15 that since March 2001, the market had lost an unparalleled $7.7 trillion dollars and the news was full of stories of working and middle class families who had lost much of their life savings and who had their retirement funds devastated. Heart-wrenching stories circulated through the media of many average families who saw their dreams of a better future shattered under Bush Junior’s tenure.
Further, there was a perhaps unprecedented contemporary media focus upon the corruptions of corporate capitalism in the light of the Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, and related corporate scandals, and burgeoning reports indicated that Bush and Cheney were allegedly guilty of the same sort of corporate corruption that was daily being vilified in the press. Investor confidence was shaken by reports of foreign investor disgust with U.S. corporate management and growing anger at Bush administration policies, leading to escalating amounts of foreign investment taken out of the U.S. economy. As the economic situations of many worsened, growing attention was focused uoon the Bush administration’s responsibility for people’s economic woes and upon Bush and Cheney’s participation in a life-time of corporate corruption and fraud.
A July 7 Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by Paul Kruger, “The Insider Game,“ raised the question concerning the longtime allegations that Bush had engaged in insider trading with Harken energy stocks when he was on the company’s board of directors. Bush’s accounts of this event over the years were always contradictory and unconvincing and new material was released that indicated that he had received accounts of Harken’s declining profit situation just before he unloaded his stocks. This constituted a type of insider trading and appeared as the very type of unethical corporate behavior that Bush’s own rhetoric claimed to denounce. As a result, major media outlets began looking into the story, and new twists and nuances emerged almost daily, keeping the story in media focus (for more on Bush economic and political scandals, see Chapter 1, 11.3, and passim).
Moreover, the revelations of Cheney’s checkered career as CEO of Halliburton were much more current and even more shocking. During his last year as CEO before becoming Vice President, Cheney was paid $36 million by the Halliburton corporation in salary, stock options, and bonuses, providing another striking example of CEO overcompensation and excessive corporate greed. There were allegations that Halliburton had engaged in the same sort of profit frauds that Enron and others had been using, and a video of Cheney endorsing the same Arthur Anderson accounting company that had been involved in so many corporate frauds showed that Cheney was deeply complicit in the most corrupt and failed sectors of corporate capital. Stories circulated concerning illegal sales by Halliburton under Cheney’s leadership to Iraq and Libya, states that had been on terrorist lists prohibiting direct U.S. corporate involvement. Moreover, Halliburton’s stock had falled sharply since Cheney’s tenure and many analysts ascribed the failure of the company to Cheney’s merger with Dresser Industries as CEO, a company long connected with the Texas Bush gang. And adding to his headaches, Cheney and Halliburton were sued by the conservative group Judicial Watch, a nemesis of Bill Clinton, that filed a shareholder lawsuit alleging account fraud that led to shareholder losses.
There are two sides to the economic and political scandals that permeate the Bush administration, ideological and practical. The ideology of market neo-liberalism that attacks all regulation and that believes an unregulated market is the royal road to freedom and prosperity helped deregulate the economy and block the sort of meaningful regulation that would have at least mitigated the corporate scandals that erupted into light during the Bush era. The other aspect of Bush administration revealed by the scandals is the obvious tendency of the Bush-Cheney gang to abuse power to enrich their contributers and associates, accompanied by an atmosphere of permissiveness and greed. The result was growing relevations concerning how key players in the Bush administration and their closest corporate allies had enriched themselves through shady business and political practices, using the state to gain wealth and power, in often audacious scams with attendent risks of criminal prosecution.
Many were coming to perceive the Bush administration as one of the most corrupt political cabals in U.S. history and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were emerging as poster boys for greed, sleeze, and corruption. Bush’s entire business career was predicted on exploiting family friends and connections for his personal gain, and in using those who wanted to buy influence from various Bush administrations to invest in his usually failed business ventures. Bush’s first profitful venture in Harken energy involved getting questionable loans from the company to buy stock, and then unloading the stock when he learned that profits would be down and the future of the company was in question. Likewise, Cheney was finally being accurately vilified as the type of corporate CEO who had engaged in exactly the forms of unethical business practices being attacked in the press, and as a man who had enriched himself at the cost of the shareholders and corporation.
Moreover, Bush and Cheney had long used the institutions of government to enrich themselves and their corporate allies and contributers. As Governor of Texas, Bush gave Enron and other favored corporations every tax break, state contract and handout, and regulatory largess that they requested and was doing the same in Washington both before and after September 11. Cheney’s Halliburton firm had received over $2.3 billion in government contracts during his tenure as CEO and was awarded billions in key contracts while Cheney was Vice President, despite many examples of Halliburton subsidiaries overcharging the government and the obvious impropriety of a former CEO using his influence to enrich his company. Indeed, Halliburton’s stock was in such serious crisis because, in part, of Cheney’s poor management, that the company would probably collapse without its pipeline of lucrative government contracts.
Bush administration economic policy can be accurately described as a pro-corporate administration which lets the oil and energy companies write oil and energy policy; allows Wall Street and big banks to formulate banking and investment laws, the credit card companies who had contributed to Bush’s campaign write credit laws, and other major contributors to Bush campaigns to get the laws, regulations (or lack thereof), tax breaks or other federal giveaways that they requested (Kellner 2001). In sum, the Bush-Cheney gang has primarily represented permissability and a hardright de-regulatory market ideology, promoting a wheeling and dealing cowboy capitalism. They have used government to enrich themselves and their corporate allies, and engaged in practices that were destroying investor confidence and greatly harming the U.S. and global economy. Part and parcel of the corruption involving corporate America and its political sector now coming to light, both Bush and Cheney have long engaged in unsavory and failed business and political practices. So far, the consequences of business-as-usual politics have been the free-fall of the U.S. economy and the creation of escalating antipathy toward the U.S. throughout the globe (see Note X).
As the reports of Bush and Cheney’s corruption multiplied in July 2002, the Bush administration continued to leak rumors concerning an impending war against Iraq. Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair came to Washington to discuss the Iraq issue, and speculation mounted that the Bush administration would wage war in Iraq to distract attention from its mounting scandals and the worsening economic situation. It appeared clear that the Bush administration would wage war against Iraq to boost its sagging ratings and to distract attention from its growing scandals and the increasingly critical press coverage, especially of Bush and Cheney who were emerging as symbols of the corporate corruption and deregulatory and permissive politics that had caused current U.S. and increasingly global economic and political woes. The fruits of the theft of election 2000 were increasingly poisonous and whether U.S. democracy would survive was at stake.
[DK This is a selection from my forthcoming book on Terror War; for larger version, see http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/sept11kell.htm
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US Patent Office Homeland Security Expo
From Richard Kahn:
Two things: Check out the USPTO's Homeland Security logo -- eye peering
through a keyhole in front of the flag. Bizarre!
Then, be sure to click through on the "full story" to see the happy
photos of all the designers who are plying their homeland security wares
for patenting and a better nation. Sick! One guy looks like he hasn't
slept in weeks and may be a terrorist himself in his spare time...
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/pulse/epulse/pulse0204_home.
htm
DK: The eye and keyhole is very Orwellian, evoking the sense that Big Brother is Watching! The TIPS citizen-spy program is also Orwellian and was a distinguishing feature of Nazi and Soviet communist societies. Has it come to this in Bush's America?!
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Thursday, July 18, 2002
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Tuesday, July 16, 2002
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washingtonpost.com: What Is Operation TIPS?
The story on citizen spys is one of the most blogged stories circulating but mainstream media with some exceptions has been quiet on this political atrocity proposed by bush administration
washingtonpost.com: What Is Operation TIPS?
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Comments
Samuel Day Fassbinder said: My guess is that W. is waiting until after the baseball season is over before making a decision on Iraq. Remember, this guy\'s two big life-interests are baseball and killing people...
DK replies: Bush Jr.'s third great interest in life is scamming money for the Bush gang and their corporate allies and this is exactly the crux of his current problem. The Bush and Cheney economic histories are so scandalous that as people get pissed off as they lose their jobs, savings, and see the economy tank they are going to turn their anger on the Bush administration (quite rightly). Then, the Bush gang needs a war to distract attention and Saddam Hussein is the perfect villain -- left in place for family emergencies by Bush I....
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Problems with Iraq invasion plans
Everyday it seems the media publishes a new account of Bush administration Iraq invasion plans; some of the leaks are by Pentagon types who oppose certain plans and want to discredit them but on the whole the continual leakage of Iraq plans by the Bush administration naturalizes an Iraqi invasion and makes it appear inevitable; clearly, the Bushies will need eventually to invade Iraq to distract attention from their failures and scandals; its just a question of when though we should starting opposing this now.
Problems with Iraq invasion plans
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For Cheney, Tarnish From Halliburton (washingtonpost.com)
Even the pro-establishment Washington Post is questioning Cheney's business practices; in fact, his major achievement at Halliburton, besides cooking the books and scamming $36 million for himself during his last year there, was a merger with Dresser industries that has wrecked the value of the company; Dresser industries goes back to earlier Bush I connections and has a colorful history that so far the mainstream media have avoided probing. The history of Bush and Cheney is a history of scandal....
For Cheney, Tarnish From Halliburton (washingtonpost.com)
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Monday, July 15, 2002
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Gale Warnings in Washington
NYT gets critical on Bush; good sign that establishment media are beginning to assume the critical mode
Gale Warnings in Washington
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Become a spy on your fellow citizens!
Is this a fantasy world or are they really doing this?!
USA Freedom Corps, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Operations TIPS
http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html
Terrorism Information and Prevention System
"A national system for concerned workers to report suspicious activity."
Operation TIPS - the Terrorism Information and Prevention System - will be a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity. Operation TIPS, a project of the U.S. Department of Justice, will begin as a pilot program in 10 cities that will be selected.
Operation TIPS, involving 1 million workers in the pilot stage, will be a national reporting system that allows these workers, whose routines make them well-positioned to recognize unusual events, to report suspicious activity. Every participant in this new program will be given an Operation TIPS information sticker to be affixed to the cab of their vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll-free reporting number is readily available.
Everywhere in America, a concerned worker can call a toll-free number and be connected directly to a hotline routing calls to the proper law enforcement agency or other responder organizations when appropriate.
Operation TIPS is coming in August 2002.
[To the age impaired: In the Soviet Union, not only did neighbors rat on each other, sometimes only because they were angry with each other, children were encouraged to turn in their own parents for saying anything against the government. What can this program possibly do, other than spread suspicion and divisiveness in this country?]
Carolyn Kay
47 West Polk Street, Suite 100-223
Chicago, IL 60605
312-697-0887
MakeThemAccountable.com
Buy Back Our Government
To be published in August--Forbidden Truth: How U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy Thwarted the Search for Bin Laden and Helped Trigger September 11 by Jean-Charles Brisard, Wayne Madsen, Guillaume Dasquie. Order it from Barnes & Noble, and MakeThemAccountable gets a cut! Click here:
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=2181&sourceid=39661686&bfpid=1560254149&bfmtype=book
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Citizen spies!
Sydney Morning Herald
> 15 July 2002
>
> US Planning to Recruit One in 24 Americans as Citizen Spies
> By Ritt Goldstein
>
> The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States
> citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil
> liberties groups.
>
> The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means that
> the US will have a HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF CITIZEN INFORMANTS
> THAN THE FORMER EAST GERMANY had through the infamous
> Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent
> of Americans to report "suspicious activity".
>
> Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage
> earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive,
> large-scale investigations of US citizens.
>
> As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-
> called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.
>
> Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers
> are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides
> access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers,
> utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those
> named as targeted recruits.
>
> A pilot program, described on the government Web site
> www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities,
> with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming
> the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1
> million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or
> one in 24 people.
>
> Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic
> states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on
> Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some
> informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of
> having fabricated their reports.
>
> Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports
> will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The
> information will then be broadly available within the department,
> related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual
> will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its
> contents.
>
> The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched
> without that person being informed that a search was ever performed,
> or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.
>
> At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co-ordinated by
> the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was given sweeping new
> powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's
> national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are
> part of the Bush Administration.
>
> The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was
> another Reagan national security initiative.
>
>
>
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Sunday, July 14, 2002
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This is the article on Bush administration corruption that inspired Paul Krugman to write his July 7 NYT Op-Ed piece that began media inquiry into Bush and Cheney etal scandals
"The Gate-less Community" by Joshua Green
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A BIG-TIME Bush scandal
Did The Carlyle Group Profit From Insider Information On The Crusader
Weapons System?
by Douglas Page
JULY 8, 2002 (Douglas Page) -- TCG Holdings, a Carlyle company, itself
owned a privately held company, United Defense Industries until it was
taken public in an IPO on December 13, 2001. United Defense Industries Inc.
raised $400.9 million, ahead of its initial public offering. The company
sold 21.1 million shares at $19, the mid-point of its $18 to $20 price
range.
UDI held the contract to build the Crusader weapon system.
Speculation is that UDI had tried for years to mount an IPO, but was unable
to do so. On the strength of the Crusader contract and plenty of verbal
help, UDI offered a successful IPO.
TCG Holdings owned 40% of UDI prior to the IPO on December 13, 2001. The
IPO was attractive for investors because of the Crusader weapons system,
for which UDI had a contract.
Strangely enough, the insider officers and President of UDI sold a lot of
their stock on December 19, 2001.
Furthermore, The Carlyle Group (TCG Holdings) sold off more than 240
million dollars worth of UDI stock in January 2002.
Did these people sponsor an IPO based on Crusader enthusiasm, and then
quickly sell their stock, knowing that Rumsfeld was going to cancel the
Crusader?
January 12, 2002: TCG sold 11 million shares for $202 million.
January 16, 2002: TCG sold another 2.3 million shares for $41 million.
January 16, 2002: insider officers sold more of their shares.
According to the NYSE report on UDI's Insider and Restricted Trades (Yahoo
Finance -- second link, below) TCG Holding's sale of UDI stock "Indicates
that some (or all) shares are held indirectly (e.g. in a trust, by a spouse
etc.)"
On June 5, 2002 Iron Horse Holdings announced a planned sale of 1 million
shares of UDI stock for an estimated $22 million. (we have not been able
to locate further information on Iron Horse Holdings.)
These are, to say the least, very suspicious transactions. If UDI shares
prior to the IPO were of dubious value, the Carlyle Group profited
handsomely from these transactions.
The address of TCG Holdings is
c/o Carlyle Group
1001 Pennsylvania Ave
Suite 2203
Washington DC 20004-2505
Phone: 202-347-2626.
Does The Carlyle Group hold and manage any assets of President George W
Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld?
Were any of these assets vested in UDI stock?
Considering that former President George H.W. Bush, James Baker, and other
principals of the Carlyle Group have long personal and financial
relationships with the current administration -- can these assets possibly
be held by TCG in a true "blind" trust?
Peter Boyer writes in the July 1, 2002 issue of the New Yorker magazine of
the antagonism between Donald Rumsfeld and the Army "old guard". Rumsfeld
wants a modern, very mobile Army with light armaments; the Army "old guard"
want heavy, expensive items such as the Crusader artillery system. Bush
publicly campaigned for the Crusader and publicly supported it at least
until May of this year. Rumsfeld came aboard to moderninze the Army in a
revolutionary way. Despite what Bush said publicly, one can only suspect
that he must have known of Rumsfeld's intentions and his view.
When did the principals of The Carlyle Group learn of Donald Rumsfeld's
intent to cancel the Crusader as part of the Army modernization -- despite
the President Bush's public support of the Crusader?
Forbes analysis of UDI
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jhtml?tkr=UDI
Background: United Defense Industries is engaged in the design,
development and production of combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns,
missile launchers and precision munitions. For the 3 months ended 3/31/02,
revenues rose 22% to $356.4M. Net income before extra. item rose from
$5.1M to $19.3M. Results reflect funding for the Crusader program,
increased funding for a Bradley upgrade contract and a decrease in
intangible amortization and interest expenses. Fifty-Two Week
High: $29.85 Fifty-Two Week Low: $18.99.
-----
UDI -- Insider & restricted shareholder transactions reported over the
last two years
http://biz.yahoo.com/t/U/UDI.html
UDI Stock Chart: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=udi&d=c&t=1y
UDI summary:
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/020702/manufacturing_uniteddefense_s_p_1.html
UDI in the News: http://biz.yahoo.com/n/u/udi.html
UDI IPO: http://money.cnn.com/2001/12/13/ipo/ipo_price/
UDI downgraded -- May 2, 2002:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B7B6C92DB%2D28BA%2D4DAF%2DAB5E%2D9EC3653DD3A4%7D
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- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -
American Politics Journal is the longest-running political commentary on
the Internet. For over a decade, our commentary has been read by
America's most powerful decision shapers and opinion makers.
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Saturday, July 13, 2002
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The Smirking Chimp
Whoah!, BUSINESS WEEK wonders if Cheney will bring down the Bush administration!
The Smirking Chimp
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The Candidate from Brown and Root, 10/6/2000 - The Texas Observer
Here's some background on Brown and Root and Cheney from Texas press; only local Texas press, as far as I can tell, reported on the corrupt corporate background of Cheney and Halliburton during election 2000 that is finally surfacing although the investigative report by Knud Royce listed above has some mainstream sources critical of Cheney circa 2000 at the end of the article
The Candidate from Brown and Root, 10/6/2000 - The Texas Observer
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Independent News
Cheney stumbles; will he fall or like Dracula emerge again to do more evil?Independent News
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washingtonpost.com: Suit on Cheney Energy Files to Proceed
Suit on Cheney to proceed; as I viewed ABC News tapes of last week, there was one day when Cheney suit was headline; the establishment is closing in on the bastards; I think its a combination of Bush-Cheney being the most corrupt administration in US history AND they are fucking up the economy, meaning that serious people are starting to get serious about taking them down; at least I hope this is the case
washingtonpost.com: Suit on Cheney Energy Files to Proceed
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Friday, July 12, 2002
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MEGALOMEDIA: The voice of globalization - NI 333 - Worldbeaters... Dick Cheney
an older critique of Cheney's record; I recall In These Times and Nation articles also on Cheney's woeful rightwing record published during the election. too bad that Cheney did not become a major issue in Election 2000, another big failure of the Dems and Gore campaign; BUT he should be made a big issue now, Big-Time
MEGALOMEDIA: The voice of globalization - NI 333 - Worldbeaters... Dick Cheney
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Salon.com News | Cheney sued for accounting fraud
The Cheney suit got one day's TV coverage in the US and generated a fair amount of stories; in Australia this week the Cheney fraud story was headlined TV story; this is an issue that the Bush gang is vulnerable on as Cheney has very dicey record as Halliburton CEO and was intimately connected to Enron, Anderson, and other major corporate criminals. Cheney could indeed serve as the poster boy for corporate fraud and corruption, as well as the swinging door between the most corrupt corporate section and the Bush administration;
Salon.com News | Cheney sued for accounting fraud
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The Anthrax Files
An interesting article by NYT writer indicating possible previous mail assaults via Anthrax of the US biochemical scientist suspected in the anthrax attacks; the big question is why the FBI isn't more aggressively going after the guy; maybe its time for another public interest lawsuit
The Anthrax Files
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Monday, July 01, 2002
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World Court Becomes a Reality Despite US Contestation
One can understand why the US is fighting the existence of this court so intensely, recent UN committee politics have been enough to show that despite the overwhelming power exerted by America upon global federal bodies, situations can erupt in which cartels of nations form diplomatic alliances such as to seriously affect US global policy. The political result of which can produce the awkward reality in which countries like Syria essentially legislate over the US in certain key domains.
Considering the level of global intervention in which the US is currently involved around the world, in either "peace-keeping" or "terror-fighting" modes, it is unremarkable then that the Bush administration is seeking to undermine a court that could potentially try US military (and related officials) for crimes related to war.
It is real bad luck for Bush, however, that on the day of the world court's inception that the war on terror would once again terrorize civilians -- it will be interesting to see if anyone in the media makes the connection that this new war crime is exactly the type of situation that the US wants no part of having to answer for at the Hague.
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Afghans Say U.S. Attacked Wedding
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. helicopter gunships and jets attacked a house Monday while a wedding was under way, killing and injuring scores, witnesses and hospital officials said.
The attack occurred in the village of Kakarak in Uruzgan province, where special forces and other coalition troops are searching for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives.
There was no comment from U.S. officials.
One survivor, Abdul Qayyum, told reporters at the Mir Wais Hospital in Kandahar that the attack began about 2 a.m. and continued until 4 a.m., after which U.S. special forces ground troops were in the area.
"The Americans came and asked me 'who fired on the helicopters', and I said 'I don't know' and one of the soldiers wanted to tie my hands but someone said he is an old man and out of the respect they didn't," he said.
Hospital officials said a number of wounded were being brought to Kandahar. Most of the dead and injured were women and children, they said.
"We have many children who are injured and who have no family," nurse Mohammed Nadir said. "Their families are gone. The villagers brought these children and they have no parents. Everyone says that their parents are dead."
Another nurse, Sher Mohammed, said he heard that scores were dead and injured.
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U.S. Bombs Kill or Wound at Least 120 Afghans
KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. plane killed or wounded at least 120 members of an Afghan wedding party in an attack on a village in Uruzgan province on Monday, residents said.
They said the bombing occurred 105 miles northeast of the southwestern city of Kandahar at about 1 a.m. local time.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the local Bakhtar Information Agency the "sudden attack" happened in the Dehrawud district of Uruzgan province.
"We are trying to organize aid and a commission has gone there headed by the ministry of frontiers affairs," he said.
Residents said between 120 and 150 people were either killed or wounded. There have been several reports of U.S. mistakenly attacking civilian targets since Washington's bombing offensive started in Afghanistan on Oct. 7 last year.
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