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Thursday, December 30, 2004
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Returning Falloujans get an unsettling look at their ruined city
the destruction of Fallujah will be remembered as a major genocidal crime of the Bush era
The Smirking Chimp
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G.O.P. to make ethics inquiries harder to begin
Repugs blow off ethics, making clear they are totally immoral
The Smirking Chimp
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U.S. businesses overseas threatened by rising anti-Americanism
US business abroad increasingly threatened as hatred for Bush policies escalates
The Smirking Chimp
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Wednesday, December 29, 2004
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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
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Ohio GOP election officials ducking subpoenas as Kerry enters stolen vote fray
GOP election crooks in Ohio sweat as the Heat is on; too bad the media is not there with daily headline stories of fraud and corruption, with masses in the street calling for a new election and regime change (oh, that was the Ukraine!)
The Smirking Chimp: "Ohio GOP election officials ducking subpoenas as Kerry enters stolen vote fray"
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Reelection honeymoon with voters eludes Bush, polls say
no honeymoon for Bush, people hold him in contempt more than ever, as they should
The Smirking Chimp
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Monday, December 27, 2004
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Informed Comment: From Juan Cole: Tsunami a Foretaste of Global Warming
From Juan Cole:Tsunami a Foretaste of Global Warming
The horror of waves caroming across the Indian ocean at 500 miles an hour (the speed of a commercial jet liner!) and then crashing into beaches and shorelines at a height of as much as 30 feet, for all the world like liquid Godzilla, crushing sunbathers and carrying hapless villagers off deep into the sea, can scarcely be guessed at for those of us who only see a bit of rubble and ankle-deep flooding, in the aftermath, on the cable television news feeds. On Sunday at least 12,500 to 14,000 lives were abruptly snuffed out in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere in the path of the enormous waves, called tsunami. [ 1/27/04 2:33 pm: The toll is now 22,000 and rising]. It was caused by a massive earthquake in the Pacific off Indonesia, of nearly 9 on the 10-point Richter scale--the fourth largest measured in the past century. On the east coast of India, some 500,000 persons were left without electricity or sewerage, surrounded by dead animals and human corpses, some of the latter in trees or atop surviving houses.
This particular tsunami was caused by an earthquake and was unrelated to climate change.
Since some readers have been confused by skimming, let me repeat this sentence: This particular tsunami was caused by an earthquake and was unrelated to climate change.
But everyone should realize that global warming contributes to extreme weather events, causing more hurricanes and typhoons and stronger ones.
Even in the year 2004 extreme weather events caused on the order of $100 billion in damage-- an unprecedentedly high figure and one due to rise.
Giant waves are only one potential problem with global warming.
A recent documentary on the effects of global warming in Maryland showed:
"According to CCAN, global warming may ultimately damage coastal property, destroy freshwater aquifers and eliminate entire towns and islands. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the altered precipitation patterns associated with climate change could reduce Maryland's major agricultural crops by 24 to 42 percent. Other negative changes may include a decline in Chesapeake Bay crab and fish harvests, and increases in deaths from urban heat stress and mosquito-borne diseases, according to CCAN."
As Naomi Oreskes pointed out in the Washington Post on Saturday, the scientific literature for the past decade has expressed no doubts about the reality of global warming or of human responsibility for some large portion of it. Although not all scientists are convinced, the scholarly literature where this matter is debated technically is characterized by broad consensus. The main doubts that are raised are in the mass media, for ulterior motives, by non-scientists. Moving to cleaner energy as soon as possible is the only way to prevent future tsunamis that will hit closer to home for Americans.
posted by Juan @ 12/27/2004 06:40:26 AM
Informed Comment
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PHOTOS Show George W. Bush Seriously Ill Physically : Houston Indymedia
Lauren Langman just sent me a Houston Indymedia piece that the Bush wire photos indicate a serious illness; I have previously published a piece on the Wired Bush with all the pictures and links and still think its largely an effort to tell him what to say, but, who knows, maybe there is an illness factor here; will the mainstream media ever pick up on this and sort it out...
PHOTOS Show George W. Bush Seriously Ill Physically : Houston Indymedia
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Sunday, December 26, 2004
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Antonia Zerbisias: 'Unnatural story selection'
good analysis of how media in 2004 picked trival stories and downplayed important ones, like the utter failure of the Bush-Cheney administration
The Smirking Chimp: "Antonia Zerbisias: 'Unnatural story selection'"
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Saturday, December 25, 2004
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Friday, December 24, 2004
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Ari Berman: 'Torture at the top'
new FBI documents disclose continuation of torture in Iraq and US prison in Guantanomo and that Bush himself signed off on the torture and thus justified it; this is important story to pursue....
The Smirking Chimp
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Thursday, December 23, 2004
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washingtonpost.com: Cloned Cat Sale Generates Ethics Debate
big advance in cloning, first case of cloned domestic pets, potentially a gigantic market IF this isn't a fraud as have been some stories of human cloning; cat and dog cloning had previously been seen as highly complicated with many failures
washingtonpost.com: Cloned Cat Sale Generates Ethics Debate
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washingtonpost.com: Arlington Company Quits Work In Iraq
one of the reasons for the Iraq invasion was to destroy their government institutions and get contracts for US companies close to the Bush administration but level of violence is driving them out; the Bush-Cheney Iraq scam has failed totally
washingtonpost.com: Arlington Company Quits Work In Iraq
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washingtonpost.com: War Crimes
Even the Washington Post recognizes that the US is guilty of systematic war crimes in abuse and torture of prisoners. The Post takes it up to Rumsfeld but Bush too signed on; the criminals should be prosecuted, watch for Rumsfeld to be out sooner rather than later
washingtonpost.com: War Crimes
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Salon.com News | Suicide mission The mess-hall bombing in Mosul, say military analysts, signals the final unraveling of the U.S. war effort in Iraq
Bush's Iraq "Mission" is unraveling, military experts says; indeed, its Mission Impossible. Excerpt: "The devastating noontime mess-hall attack on a U.S. base just outside of Mosul Tuesday -- which resulted in 22 dead America soldiers and civilians -- was the latest in an escalating series of ever-bolder moves by the Iraqi insurgency against coalition and Iraqi forces. According to Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the explosion was likely incited by a suicide bomber.
To some military analysts, the fact that a suicide bomber could wreak so much damage inside a heavily fortified Army base suggests that the Iraqi occupation has sunk to a new level of chaos. The war in many parts of Iraq, they say, is apparently so out of control that we don't even know what we don't know. The lack of human intelligence is almost total. "The situation in Iraq is so confusing that I have no idea what is going on there, and anyone that tells you that they do is not telling you the truth," says Thomas Nichols, professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
A more blunt assessment comes from retired Military Intelligence Sgt. Maj. J. David Gallant, an instructor at the Army Military Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. "National will is going to falter in its support of this U.S. involvement -- more than it already has -- if our soldiers cannot even be secure in large, semi-hardened containment areas," he says. "This is a damned cold slap in the face, and not one of these soldiers should have been killed or injured." He goes on to say, "Iraq is heading for civil war and total chaos and the Jan. 30 election is like putting a Flintstones Band-Aid on a gushing femoral artery."
That a suicide bomber could penetrate the base shows a new and increased sophistication by the insurgents to obtain accurate, actionable intelligence, analysts say. It also marks a new low in terms of American commanders securing their facilities against such attacks. Commenting on the breach, Sgt. Maj. Gallant says, "If my son or yours were in that DFAC [mess hall] and was killed or maimed, I would goddamned well want to know just who the hell is not doing his job that is allowing incipient attacks like this to occur."
While many neoconservatives and senior military officials have avoided comparing Iraq to Vietnam, the analogy can no longer be ignored. The mess-tent bombing even suggests a worse situation. It took a good four to five years for things to go south in a big way during the Vietnam War. That includes sapper attacks and major strikes against U.S. bases, populated areas and government officials -- the kinds of things happening every day now in Iraq. The difference is that we've only been in Iraq for 18 months.
The Pentagon is asking that we not give the suicide attack more credit than it is due here. Defense Department officials would like us to look at this as an isolated event in an otherwise promising scenario of the rebuilding of Iraq. Yet analysts are no longer buying that line of reasoning. The problem is that during a war, you cannot look at these kind of incidents as "isolated events," they say. Every skirmish or attack must be correlated with every other and laid out in a clear, coherent and accurate manner to be analyzed for any discernible patterns, capabilities and methods. Only then can any projections be made from which to plan our next move.
Looking ahead, Sgt. Maj. Gallant believes the suicide attack may be the watershed event in the unraveling of the U.S. war effort in Iraq. "I am afraid 2005 is even going to be worse than 2004," he says."
Salon.com News Suicide mission
Fear and Trembling as US troops wait to go to the Iraq hellhole
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/national/23reax.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Inside Iraq, US troops face relentlessly hostile population as they fight on in hopeless situation where they are hated fiercely and know it
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20723-2004Dec22?language=printer
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Wednesday, December 22, 2004
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Rick Perlstein: 'The case of the Ohio recount'
Ohio recount saga continued
The Smirking Chimp: "Rick Perlstein: 'The case of the Ohio recount'"
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004
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Smoking gun: President authorized Abu Ghraib torture, FBI email says
Bush himself authorized torture, the impeachment case builds
The Smirking Chimp
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January 20, 2005: Our Resistance Continues
antiBush inauguration protests shaping up
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Monday, December 20, 2004
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Sunday, December 19, 2004
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washingtonpost.com: Two Deadly Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq
carnage in Iraq which will probably continue to escalate until the elections -- which may or may not happen-- and probably beyond; Bush's Pandora Box in Iraq continues to unfold untold evils everyday
washingtonpost.com: Two Deadly Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq
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Saturday, December 18, 2004
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Howdy friends! What a year!
pretty funny satire of Laura Bush though not as devastating as new Tony Kushner play that has her reading Dostoevsky to dead Iraqi children, among other things
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Thomas F. Schaller: 'West Texas-style whack job'
here's a good Mayberry Machiavelli analysis of the Kerik fiasco: Karl Rove set up Kerik meltdown to hit Rudy G and take him out of Repug presidential sweepstakes so a more Rovian candidate could have it
The Smirking Chimp
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Michael Schwartz: 'America's Fallujan dystopia'
here's a frightening story of the totalitarian police state a la Bush that US has in mind for Fallajuh
The Smirking Chimp
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The New York Times > : Fiddling as Iraq Burns
Bob Herbert argues that the Bush administration has gone from deception to delusion in giving Freedom medals to those most responsible for the iraq debacle; it also shows the utter contempt for truth and honor in the Bush administration
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Fiddling as Iraq Burns
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Friday, December 17, 2004
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Jonathan Chait: 'Bushonomics: Still crazy after all these years'
Bushonomics out-voodoo's Papa Bush's voodoo economics, like the son, its just whacked
The Smirking Chimp: "Jonathan Chait: 'Bushonomics: Still crazy after all these years'"
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Thursday, December 16, 2004
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Fitrakis, Rosenfeld & Wasserman: 'American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio'
more on Ohio. Excerpt: "As the whole world watches, American democracy may be hanging by a thread in Ohio.
Monday, December 13, saw a triple play that will live in electoral infamy. But every new day brings still more stunning revelations -- this time from Toledo -- of vote theft and fraud and a towering wall of resistance and sabotage against a fair recount of the votes that allegedly gave George W. Bush four more years in the White House.
Three major events made December 13 a monument to electoral theft: a lawsuit filed in the morning at the Ohio State Supreme Court demanding a recount of all Ohio ballots; a Congressional hearing held in Columbus City Council chambers filled with angry, high-profile testimony of vote fraud and disenfranchisement and the illegal sabotaging of a recount; and then, at noon, a block away at the statehouse, the vote of Ohio's twenty illegitimate electors designating their choice of George W. Bush to be president."
The Smirking Chimp: "Fitrakis, Rosenfeld & Wasserman: 'American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio'"
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Keith Olbermann: 'Conyers 'prepared' to contest Ohio Electoral Vote'
where's Kerry and the Dems on the Ohio election scandals? this is a very big story who few are touching; every night, keith olbermann has a report on his MSNBC show...
The Smirking Chimp: "Keith Olbermann: 'Conyers 'prepared' to contest Ohio Electoral Vote'"
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Mike Whitney: 'Corporate America, 'silent partners' in intelligence reform'
the new "intelligence reform" bill is another corporate give-away
The Smirking Chimp: "Mike Whitney: 'Corporate America, 'silent partners' in intelligence reform'"
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washingtonpost.com: Presidential Medals of Failure
the Farcial Bush gives highest medals of honor to most abject Iraq and 9/11 failures, inverting the usual "values"; but he should have given Bernie a medal for training the Iraqi police
washingtonpost.com: Presidential Medals of Failure
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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
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The New York Times >> Missteps Cited in Kerik Vetting by White House
blundering and amoral Bush White House overlooked layers of Kerik sleaze; obviously, corruption, lies, and thuggery didn't really bother them since that's the way of life at the Bush White House; what they didn't count on was that the media would do its job (and most of the stories were already known anyway)
The New York Times > Washington > Missteps Cited in Kerik Vetting by White House
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
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Evelyn Pringle: 'Prince Neil Bush - far from charming'
Bush family sleaze about the "values" folks
The Smirking Chimp
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Federal background check on Kerik turns up a secret third marriage
more Bernie sleaze: this guy's got a guaranteed book and movie contract
The Smirking Chimp
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Mike Whitney: 'Intelligence reform or Patriot Act 2?'
here's a sharp analysis of how the so-called intelligence "reform" bill reinstates attacks on civil liberties from Patriot Act 2; once again, either Congress didn't read the bill or they are complicit with infamy
The Smirking Chimp
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Chile's Pinochet Charged in Plot to Kill Opponents
justice comes to Chile, will we ever get justice in the US for the crimes of the Bush-Cheney regime?
Bloomberg.com: Latin America
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Monday, December 13, 2004
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Harley Sorensen: 'Deserters are heroes'
quite so
The Smirking Chimp: "Harley Sorensen: 'Deserters are heroes'"
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Kerik cheated on wife with Judith Regan and correction officer
we've been saying Bernie Kerik is a sleaze....
The Smirking Chimp
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Anti-Darwinians step up challenge in school crusade
rightwing ignorance on the march, trying to take evolution out of the schools; hey, are we back in the 1920s?!
The Smirking Chimp
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Sunday, December 12, 2004
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Gary Leupp: 'Bush's capital: Is it running out?'
Bush and Capital with asides on how Bush amassed his capital and how his political capital is running out but still threatens us
The Smirking Chimp
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The biggest loser of all: Kerik's flameout burns Giuliani politically
here's how the Kerik scandal burns Rudy G
The Smirking Chimp
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washingtonpost.com: White House Puts Blame on Kerik
we still don't know the story of why Bernie Kerik pulled out as Homeland Security honcho; he uses the untaxed nanny excuse and a lame CBS news presented the story last night in these terms; ABC probed deeper and suggested without outlining financial "conflicts of interest" (read=scandals), some of which are outlined here. None of the TV networks mentioned the stories we'd cited this week about how Kerik spied on possible lovers of his boss in Saudi Arabia and used elite police to track down possible thefts of a publisher friend (things that weren't even stolen). Oh, and let's remember he was a total failure in training Iraqi police. No doubt there are many more skeletons and juicy scandals rattling around but the bottom line is that the Bushites chose a complete incompetent and scandal-ridden scum to head most sensitive positive in the US; its also an embarassment for Rudy G who recommended him, in in biz with him, and is becoming one of the fiercist Republican ideologues and hitmen and obvious candidate for president; piling on Rudy G is a task for the epoch
washingtonpost.com: White House Puts Blame on Kerik
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washingtonpost.com: IAEA Leader's Phone Tapped
pigs in the BUsh administration try through nefarious means to get rid of an honorable IAEA official who has frequently punctured their lies about Iraq, Iran, etc and their nuclear programs
washingtonpost.com: IAEA Leader's Phone Tapped
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Saturday, December 11, 2004
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US Army plagued by desertion and plunging morale
desertion in US military is soaring, over 5500 since Iraq war according to 60 Minutes report; one out of six vets returns with war trauma; Bush is creating a human debacle for Iraq and US
The Smirking Chimp: "US Army plagued by desertion and plunging morale"
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washingtonpost.com: Homeland Security Nominee Kerik Pulls Out
Sleaze Boy Bernie goes down, supposedly because a la Linda Chavaz he didn't pay taxes on immigrant worker but we know he's a bad bad boy, and perfectly sleazy and corrupt for the Bush-Cheney Gang
washingtonpost.com: Homeland Security Nominee Kerik Pulls Out
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Friday, December 10, 2004
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Thursday, December 09, 2004
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The Commish of Homeland Insecurity (washingtonpost.com)
another story on how sleazoid Bernie Kerik, Bush's choice to lead Homeland Security, misused his office to engage in personal police activity to help out a friend; last night, 60 Minutes had a puff-piece on Kerik without any of these disturbing allegations
The Commish of Homeland Insecurity (washingtonpost.com)
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Howard Dean: 'The future of the Democratic Party'
Dean on future of Dems
The Smirking Chimp: "Howard Dean: 'The future of the Democratic Party'"
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John Conyers wants 'raw' exit poll data from media
Conyers seems serious about investigating what happened in election in Ohio; Keith Olbermann continues to follow the story on MSNBC
The Smirking Chimp: "John Conyers wants 'raw' exit poll data from media"
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Rumsfeld vs. the American Soldier
Rummy on the hot-seat, gets toasted by US troops
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Wednesday, December 08, 2004
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You Call That a Reform Bill? The new national intelligence director will be a toothless figurehead
less than meets the eye in intelligence "reform" bill
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Greg Palast: 'A stolen election: The view from my black helicopter'
another stolen election?
The Smirking Chimp: "Greg Palast: 'A stolen election: The view from my black helicopter'"
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Rosenfeld, Fitrakis & Wasserman: 'Ohio election uproar blasting to new level'
Ohio getting hotter
The Smirking Chimp: "Rosenfeld, Fitrakis & Wasserman: 'Ohio election uproar blasting to new level'"
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
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Bill Gallagher: 'Bush's embarrassing Canadian visit'
always an embarassment, George W Bush
The Smirking Chimp: "Bill Gallagher: 'Bush's embarrassing Canadian visit'"
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Keith Olbermann: 'Certified and/or certifiable'
Ohio certification and protest update from the only mainstream journalist following the story...
The Smirking Chimp: "Keith Olbermann: 'Certified and/or certifiable'"
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Monday, December 06, 2004
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MSNBC -Votes, Steroids, and Shoes (Keith Olbermann
Olberman continues to ask the questions about the Dirty Election
MSNBC -
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Sunday, December 05, 2004
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Jonathan Chait: 'Seeds of downfall in GOP's victory'
sooner or later GOP will self-destruct
The Smirking Chimp
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U.N. Envoy Says Iraq Is a 'Mess'
increasingly skepticism concerning whether elections can be held in the big mess of Iraq that Bush hath wrought
U.N. Envoy Says Iraq Is a 'Mess'
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Howard Dean seeks to rally demoralized Democrats
can Dean rally demoralized Dems?
The Smirking Chimp: "Howard Dean seeks to rally demoralized Democrats"
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Saturday, December 04, 2004
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Friday, December 03, 2004
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waJuan Gonzalez: 'Ohio tally fit for Ukraine'
more funny voting phenomena in Ohio, in largely black districts scores of votes for obscure candidates, the fix was in
The Smirking Chimp
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Randolph T. Holhut: 'Economic Armageddon? It may come sooner than you think'
the collapse of the economy via Bushonomics will come sooner or later, some think sooner and for sure
The Smirking Chimp
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Wednesday, December 01, 2004
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Bush's "election" endangers US, radicalizes al Qaeda
After Bush’s election in 2004, there have been frightening reports that this could significantly increase the dangers of lethal terrorist attacks in the US: “One well-known conservative thinks that President Bush's reelection will lead to a horrific al-Qaida attack. According to the Jerusalem Post, Yossef Bodansky, the Israeli-born former director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare and author of "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America," says that an al-Qaida attack on the U.S. with nonconventional weapons is virtually "inevitable," and that the organization is likely "tying up the knots" for such an attack. "All of the warnings we have today indicate that a major strike -- something more horrible than anything we've seen before -- is all but inevitable," he told the Post on Sunday.
After 9/11 and the launch of the U.S. global war on terrorism, a theological debate began within the operational arm of al-Qaida, Bodansky says, over whether the mass killing of innocents using weapons of mass destruction was permissible. Former CIA analyst and bin Laden expert Michael Scheuer asserted in his book "Imperial Hubris" that bin Laden has had the Islamic world's approval to use nuclear weapons against U.S. civilians since May 2003, when a Saudi cleric condoned it in a "lucidly written" treatise citing Islamic law and rebuking U.S. transgressions against Muslims.
Bodansky argues that Bush's reelection has poured fuel on that fire.
"While bin Laden and his associates argued that by virtue of their participation in US democracy, US citizens were enabling their rulers to fight, other Islamic luminaries contended that this does not permit such massive attacks, Bodansky said. The reelection of Bush in November, he said, was viewed by bin Laden and his cohorts as a decisive answer to this deliberation, with Americans now 'choosing' to be the enemies of Islam. In bin Laden's mind-set, he said, the stage was set for a non-conventional attack. While there may still be some vestiges of debate and doubt within Islamic circles, he believes that planning for such an attack is finished. 'They got the kosher stamp from the Islamic world to use nuclear weapons,' he said."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/right_hook/2004/12/01/terror_cia/index.html
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