Sunny,

Why should justice be the objective? I’m happy if the objective is simply to get rid of the Cabal before they start nuking things and provoke massive response. Then start mending the busted fences.

I want a little revenge, too, and that’s not so wrong, but it seems that justice is too much to ask for. Fitz keeping the pressure on is what’s required. He doesn’t have the weight yet to take out Bush, and can only get to Cheney indirectly, but he doesn’t have to in either case. The worst punishment for these people is to remove them from power. They’re eating America’s young to avoid that, and now they’ll turn on their own.

MarcLord
Have you read John Dean’s open letter to Fitz? It expresses perfectly my frustration with his too -low -key investigation. He certainly could go after espionage charges, take civil action to revoke security clearances of the leakers, and just generally be more aggressive than he has been. Is there really any hope that justice will be done? I don’t know, but I keep hoping against all evidence to the contrary.

Hi Sunny. You sound pretty bright!

(chortle! ohh, I am soooo lame)

Yes. antiaristo is right. Brewster Jennings stood in the way of the WMDs that were meant to be injected into Iraq to prove their tautological existence, and amongst other things, VX was stopped in a crummy Turkish warehouse before reaching its destination. The Counterpro people didn’t care by whose order it was shipped under, and they seized the nasty stuff.

Cheney blew up and exposed Brewster, then he blew up even bigger when Wilson came back at him and totally wrecked compartmentalization. So yes, you all read correctly, the Plan was to put a lakeful of WMD into Iraq, only it was thwarted by the CIA. Valerie Plame is an honest-to-gosh hero who knowingly put her life and those of others on the line.

Counterpro people have probably died off the exposure, and it all falls under the Espionage Act. The missing eight pages in Fitzie’s indictment pertain to national security. Hmmm…and Bush doesn’t benefit from immunity when it comes to espionage. I personally don’t think that Bush will be prosecuted, and wouldn’t be surprised if Cheney isn’t. Whereas John Hannah well might be.

The threat of the espionage indictment is the important thing. This dirty laundry doesn’t need to get aired in front of the country (how much press have you heard about Isro-spy Franklin pleading out?) when you can get your targets on incompetence and corruption. Still, Fitzmas stops them from being able to deflect the main thrust of the Abramoff investigation, which is what will really clear the decks. antiaristo, have you seen any direct connection from Abramoff to AIPAC?

Conspiracy theory, or political science? You be the judge for now, and time may tell.

antiaristo, where you been man? Your work on this subject at RI should be required reading for everyone here at FDL. I admire their tenacious hatred of Bushco, but, guys? you are not nearly cynical enough. This barrel of monkeys goes waaaaaaaaay deeper.

Just catchin up on the stuff here & I must say Jane & ReddHedd have been “on fire” these last few days

Wonderful stuff

Keep it up !

Semper Fi

I’m impressed with the profound levels of this thread today. Thanks, I needed that. I’m spiritual not religious, I step outside to enter my church the cathedral of Nature. I feel blessed to be able to commune here with All Our Relations.

Hope this hasn’t been linked previously. Here’s the video of Bushboy trying to exit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavcon…..id=4455316

thread nouvelle (froggish enuff fer ya?)

Sorry for the inaccurate web-site.
here it is for the Rumsfeld article.
go to http//www.robert.fisk.com
then on the left sidebar click
Latest Headlines (MyAnti-war.org)
scroll down and you will find it.

I meant BOTH Landstuhl and stateside.

Cathy – About “battefield” deaths vs. those that occur after leaving the ‘theatre of operations,’ I’ve read of that opinion (that the latter aren’t counted in the total) so periodically I check
http://icasualties.org/oif/ where not only totals are listed but information about the serviceperson, including LOCATION of death. They DO show hospital deaths, but Landstuhl and stateside. I think answers that question, at least for me.

Yeah, and Bushboy thought the Chinese would be so pleased when he lectured them on being more like Taiwan and wrote God Bless All Chinese Christians in the guestbook.

That lovable oaf Clusterfuck– ain’t he cute?

Hell ya just have to love how he was SO convinced that we’d have a real good party in Iraq after the cakewalk– such an optimistic guy– hell -even the 2000 dead guys are probably laughing at the cute little guy–so special!

btw, I love it when y’all start writing Latin. Reminds me of the old Addams Family show, when Morticia would speak French to Gomez. Remember that?

Watch for BushCo to drag out Laura Bush soon to say people should stop picking on her husband, who is a good man.

I have always thought Laura, the Stepford Wife, is co-dependent with Bushboy.

——————————————————————————–
No Closer to Cracking the Case

Three out of four Americans think John F. Kennedy’s assassination was the result of a conspiracy. Almost as many think there was a coverup.

Hope Fitzy works faster than this!

Hi siun, somehow I’d missed that Russell’s Thread of Grace was already published. Thanks for the tip!

President Cluseau!!!

Just got back from the zoo- probably everyone has already seen it but me– but funny as hell:

“The final reporter he called on critiqued Bush’s performance earlier in the day when he stood next to Hu in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.

“Respectfully, sir — you know we’re always respectful — in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?” he asked.

“Have you ever heard of jet lag?” Bush responded. “Well, good. That answers your question.”

The president then recited a list of things of that he viewed as positive developments from his Beijing meetings, including cooperation on North Korean nuclear disarmament and the ability to have “frank discussions” with his Chinese counterpart.

When the reporter asked for “a very quick follow-up,” Bush cut him off by thanking the press corps and telling the reporter “No you may not,” as he strode toward a set of double doors leading out of the room.

The only problem was that they were locked.

“I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn’t work,” Bush quipped, facing reporters again until an aide rescued him by pointing to him toward the correct door.”

Sam – I was looking for that article and hit the Google News homepage – there’s a Rumsfeld story and when I clicked to the list of all the related stories, I got really dizzy! If you just skim the headlines, it reads Rumsfeld says we’re withdrawing, Rumsfeld says we’re not withdrawing, etc … all contrary takes from link to link.

So why aren’t the Dems out in front with a clear statement on all this – they must have seen the collapse of the Bush worship coming – it would be nice if they actually were prepared to respond with a coherent policy and message. (again, see TPM’s two posts from a Repub and a Dem about Dem’s ability to respond)

A Dutch newspaper has an article about the 60th anniversary of the Nuremburg trials. It says:
In het Duitse Neurenberg is zaterdag en zondag herdacht dat daar zestig jaar geleden de processen tegen de nazi-kopstukken begonnen.

“Saturday and Sunday the German city of Nuremburg commemorated that 60 years ago the trials against the Nazi-leadership began there.”

Could it be that history will repeat itself?

Here’s hoping.

Correction – spelling: bodhisttva (Sanskrit) should be bodhisattva: bodhi=awakened/enlightened, sattva=being.

Sanskrit=Avalokitesvara (lord who sees/hears the [sufferings of the] world)
Chinese=Kwan Yin, Guan Yin, etc.
Japanese=Kannon
Tibetan=Chenrezig, also White Tara

All these names will yield great google stuff. Enjoy and please embrace the Kwan Yin in yourself. Nuf sed.

seconding jlr – today’s comments are a real treasure as we glimpse more of each other

MarcLord – Have you read Russell’s A Thread of Grace? I had somehow missed her first two, Sparrow and Children of God, but happily went back and read both and then was knocked over by Thread of Grace. ToG is the story of Italians trying to survive under the Nazis – much to say about resistance and hope. Powerful and beautiful.

Antiwar.com has the link to Yahoo for the
Rumsfeld story of denying he was for the
war. Check it out. Has this man lost his
marbles?

I’m starting to get a sense of the rich and varied lives behind the names and words of the commenters on FDL.

Thank-you all.

Thanks all for the Kuan Yin information. That led me to thinking about “Mother Earth” and then to the destruction of our planet home, and then more specifically to BushCo and science. This doesn’t get headlines daily. But, it’s another part of BushCo evil.

From this link, Bush’s Misuse of Science, http://webexhibits.org/bush/1.html one of the pages:

# There is a well-established pattern of suppression and distortion of scientific findings by high-ranking Bush administration political appointees across numerous federal agencies. These actions have consequences for human health, public safety, and community well-being.

Incidents involve air pollutants, heat-trapping emissions, reproductive health, drug resistant bacteria, endangered species, forest health, and military intelligence.

# There is strong documentation of a wideranging effort to manipulate the governmentÂ’s scientific advisory system to prevent the appearance of advice that might run counter to the administrationÂ’s political agenda

These actions include: appointing underqualified individuals to important advisory roles including childhood lead poisoning prevention and reproductive health; applying political litmus tests that have no bearing on a nomineeÂ’s expertise or advisory role; appointing a non-scientist to a senior position in the presidentÂ’s scientific advisory staff; and dismissing highly qualified scientific advisors.

# There is evidence that the administration often imposes restrictions on what government scientists can say or write about “sensitive” topics

In this context, “sensitive” applies to issues that might provoke opposition from the administration’s political and ideological supporters.

# There is significant evidence that the scope and scale of the manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration is unprecedented.

Thank you, MrsK8 and you others for expressing the roots of your faith. I’m a believer as well, particularly in the teachings of Christ, and in whatever force for good gives the little nudge to helpful coincidences.

When Bushco took the election again last November, I was really as low and scared as I’ve ever been in my life (and I’ve been in a foreign prison). My country was gone, the people who took it looked unbeatable, friends were parroting Talking Points and New Economy crap like their bodies had been snatched, this even after Fallujah. All while our publicly traded military was grinding Iraq, other countries, and millions of innocent people to bits. But you can feel the tide turning now.

I’ve studied fascism since being able to read, and the smell it gives off is as distinctive to me as rotting meat. Unbearable. I felt absolutely powerless, and thought about New Zealand, about Spain, Thailand, Canada somewhere else. I had lived in Japan, Switzerland, Germany, and England, so the thought was logistically possible. But there is nowhere far enough away on Earth to hide from these people.

I didn’t give up hope, even knowing that Cheney was bent on taking us into a world war (you recall the third-deck debate on whether to call it WWIII or WWIV). Probably what comforted me most during that time was the correspondence that Tolkien and CS Lewis had concerning their own despair and crises of faith, in which they considered that “mere Christianity” was not enough to hold back far more of the industrial killing they’d witnessed.

I reflected on the strange coincidence that Tolkien had been in the trenches only yards away from Hitler at the Somme in October of 1916, and on how each became devoted to addressing the great evil they’d experienced. And then all of Tolkien’s work fell into place for me. Gandalf was one of the Valar, I realized, and Tolkien’s work was planned as a powerful meme and represented long meditation on mere Christianity being enough. (Probably the only reference to the Valar in Lord of the Rings is where Gandalf remarks of how he returned after dying, “Naked they sent me back.” You might think of the Valar as immortal umpires.)

The concept of the Valar signifies Tolkien believed in “sins that cry out to heaven;” he believed that heaven favors people brave enough to hope against evil and to resist it, and that such favor often appears as chance. He knew that not everything could be saved either way, but that winning means we can save the best things, which we will pass down to our children as legends and myths to help guide them through dark times. Now when I see Condi Rice, for example, I think “oil wraith” right alongside Christ’s “ye nest of vipers.”

Sorry for the length of this post. But thanks be to you here. What we resist is far from defeated, it is not going to retire before the rule of law alone, but it is beatable and heaven will favor us against it. And Mrs. K8, if you have not already read “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell, I suspect you would enjoy it very much.

just read the la times curveball article
this guy makes chalabi sound reliable

i mean, who would stake a nation’s future on a ‘curveball’ anyways

chalabi – strike 1
nigerian yellowcake – strike 2
curveball – steee-rike
you’re outa here

suntzu, beautiful, absolutely beautiful description of Kuan Yin, Kwan Yin, Quan Yin, I know there are several spellings. A fuller title is Kuan Shih Yin, (or Kannon) and I misquoted, it is “The One Who Hears The Cries of the World”. I agree there should be no gender, to be closer to the true essence. Kuan Yin knows no religious boundries, and is the only deity who can be found all over the world.

It’s the only statue I own.

Kuan Yin is the embodiment of my compassion of and for the world, for the Highest Good of All That Is.

count me in as a Kwan Yin fan

Good morning all (at least it’s still morning where I am). The torrent of headlines re: lies, manipulation, corruption, etc that greeted me today makes me think less of dominoes falling and more of a house of cards facing a growing breeze…. A couple more puffs and numerous jokers will searching in vain for unlocked doors. Maybe. Hopefully.

Lovely post, suntzu.

I think a lot of the anger I feel has to do with a feeling of helplessness, an inability to stop our country from making the tragic mistake of invading and occupying Iraq.

While the immorality of the Bush Administrations policies are becoming clear to more and more people, I wish there was something positive I could do to to help the Iraqis.

Perhaps, at some point down the road there will be a way to give money and/or time to heal that unfortunate country.

Imagine that.. they may have gotten another Number Two man, again?

Well someone here wins the door prize for predicting this just last night, wonder what took the Bushco’s so long to get it out there today. I believe another terra alert was predicted to follow any second. They’re going to have to add the color fuschia soon to the security level wheel.

Cheney worships Mammon; Bush is more a Moloch guy—cool, laid black, loves sacrificing children.

In Chinese Buddhism, Kwan Yin is the personification of compassion, one of the two cardinal virtues of the enlightened mind, the other being wisdom. As such, Kwan Yin is venerated as a bodhisttva, an “awakened person,” who has vowed to relieve suffering wherever she finds it. In Indian Buddhism, Kwan Yin is called Avalokiteshvara, and is represented as masculine. I for one prefer to think of Kwan Yin as gender neutral.

That someone here has invoked the name of Kwan Yin does not surprise me at all, since the common thread here is the outrage we feel about the sheer magnitude and arbitrariness of the suffering that has been inflicted on the world by the gang who call themselves the leaders of the free world.

When we, as ordinary human beings, respond to suffering in others with empathy, outrage, understanding, and follow through with action — even if that only means speaking out — we are in fact manifesting the wish of Kwan Yin. In that respect, we become, and are, Kwan Yin.

Eurasia caught Goldstein?

From Reuters –

By Caroline Drees
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. authorities are looking into whether al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a gunfight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a U.S. official said on Sunday, but a White House spokesman said that was “highly unlikely.”

Fox News Flash:

Abu Zarqarwi Killed Today.

No Confirmation.

Yes Kuan Yin. Diety of hope.

Re: Iraq Body Count.

About a year after what turned out to be the end of the first phase of the war, I wrote the NY Times to ask them is they would consider doing a running tally of the estimated number of Iraq’s killed in the war.

I wrote both the managing editor and the international news editor and got no reply. I used the phrase “as the paper of record” I think it is your duty to provide the American people with all possible information on this war, etc.

A few weeks later the Public Editor for the Times did a rant about how the Times was NOT the paper of record, and that it was silly to say so.

It’s absolutely shameful that the majority of the American people have no idea how many Iraqi’s have died during the war and insurgency. And it’s cowardly of the American press not to face up to it’s duty and report the truth.

Thanks for all the links everyone.

GSD –

Ooops, just caught your response post now. You are absolutely right about Katrina. It unmasked them so thoroughly that no one could miss it.

I have to be very careful about reading about the horrible Katrina stuff, it’s ongoing, that horror. The story about the corpses still in the homes of the poor….I become so angry it makes me literally ill, and other than calling representatives and screaming at them, and faxing missives so hot it must burn their machines, I end up almost unable to function whatsoever.

That’s another letter to send to media: WHY have you abandoned the Katrina victims again in your coverage, and neglected the corruption of the “clean-up” contracts? WHY?

[OK, now it’s really off to the bath…]

I guess Rummy was just taking orders.

Body Counts:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
one of the more reliable counts of civilian deaths

http://icasualties.org/oif/
deaths for all coalition forces plus wounded figures – no figures are given for wounded who die, only those who did not return to combat within 72 hours

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
the links at the bottom are useful – link to Centcom figures, etc

Rumsfeld now saying “I did not advocate going to war”

I’m literally sputtering Sam. Oh Jon Stewart! Please do a montage on this! TDS is going to have to expand to 8 days a week any moment now to keep up with these malusaum mendax malefactoris

Pardon my Latin.

I may have it wrong but the spirit of it is correct.

Anastasia-

I thought about that senario too, but even if all of the soldier’s families have been told, they wouldn’t necessarily know what is happening state wide , in fact noone would. So it would be an easy thing to cover up.

W’s domestic media get togethers are so planned they should be nomicated for Tonys, the theater best of year awards. Now when he is out of a totally unscripted event except for the talking points, he quickly looks befuddled.

cathy,

Actually, I be surprised if that were true, because the Pentagon announces every death once the family has been notified.

I think that the familys of soldiers who had died say, weeks after they were wounded would make a stink. Since many news organizations, make a point of reporting the name of each soldier that died, I’m sure the Pentagon would not be able to get away with it.

However, were you aware that over 15,000 Americans have been wounded since the beginning of the war? That’s an astounding number, isn’t it? And many of those are amputees.

Cathy,

Go to icasualties.org. They seem to be the best source online.

The numbers are a cagey thing.

Official military death toll is 2,094 at this date. That is Americans official tally by the Pentagon.

England has 98

Other coalition is 103

I recently read somewhere that the military estimate of Iraqi insurgents killed by the US forces is 45,000 to 50,000.

The dead civilians seems to be estimated between 30,000 to 100,000.

Not to mention wounded.

Lots of tragedy to go around for sure.

-GSD

Does anyone know what the actual number of deaths in the war is? The 2000+ number is the death toll that the defense department tells but that is just the number who actually die on the battlefield. It doesn’t count the soldiers who are wounded and later die in a hospital. I’ve heard that it many thousands higher.

Anyone have a site to visit to get an actual death toll estimate that’s closer to reality?

It is surprising that there is no mention of this, even on left wing radio or blogs.

Someone needs to get Rumsfeld to say whether he told Bush he didn’t believe in the war.

Also, let’s use our parsers here: If Rumsfeld says that he didn’t advocate going to war, does that mean he was not in support of it, or does it mean that he was not a vocal proponent/salesman of the war? I believe he is trying to elide the difference .

I agree with the poster who talked about rule by MBAs.
Think about how the government used to be able to carry out huge works programs, like the Grand Coulee dam. There’s no way something of that scale could be accomplished by Washington today, and yet on the other side of the globe, China is working on THREE projects each of which dwarfs the Coulee dam in scale.

Shez –

Glad to see you posted fair warning about Mary Magdalene. I took lots of (real, not wingnut) theology courses, including some at Hans Kueng’s ecumenical institute in Tuebingen (Hans Kueng was a nemesis of Ratzinger), and I’m so tempted to rear back and let ‘er rip with what the so-called “Church Fathers” did with/to the story of M.M.

But I’ll let you have all the fun.

Thank you for all the prelimary info on Kuan Yin. Whether here or at your work-in-progress website, I look forward to learning about your Vision Quest. I love your name.

We live in Arizona, home to many tribes, and some day I want to investigate their cultures. [Feel a little awkward about just walking in and saying “Hi, I’m an ignorant white woman, can I just hang around and learn stuff?” — But I did get to know, briefly, a Navajo woman who lived next door to my mother-in-law and gave me some beautiful jewelry. Was all geared up to sign up for a “Beginning Navajo” language class, when he had to up and move to a different town.]

————
Oh, and…mack? Thanks for passing on today’s (appropriate) gospel. I’ve kinda been “on strike” with church attendence ever since Pope Benny got installed.

————-
Just got in from a cold swim in the 67-degree pool (kinda interesting, this endurance test), and now it’s time for a warm bath, and then the dog park.

Love this place. Will see you all ASAP.
.

Sam,

Re: Rumsfeld now saying “I did not advocate going to war”

That’s amazing! Where did you see or hear that? Do you have a link?

I can’t believe these people. Their arrogance and yes, cowardice is beyond the beyond.

Ms. K8,

I recently reread some of the Somoza Family antics about the earthquake and the relief aid theft.

I must agree, when you start to add up all of the sins of omission and comission there is so much blood on the hands of this administration it is a true horror.

That was why I felt George W. Bush was so devasted by the Katrina response. Not because it was politically damaging per se, but that he knew his politically calculating mentor, Karl Rove, used politics in the face of disaster and he knew he was complicit in that crime.

That is why they are still hiding and fudging the death toll.

Look at Bush and you see a haunted man who is shrinking before our very eyes.

The great hoop of life has tossed one hell of a boomerrang that is chasing Bush down and he is scared. I think, despite all of the evil done by him that he has some sort of a conscience. Rove I am certain has no soul or sold it to the devil in the early 70’s.

-GSD

Rumsfeld now saying “I did not advocate going to war”

Just incredible the denial. Perphaps he’s now
afraid he just might be hauled in front of
the Hague on War Crimes. New York times may
run a front page article on “shake and bake”
white phosphorous in Falluja. About time !
FIRE THE BASTARD NOW. Just as McNamara
should of been fired during the Viet Nam war.

yes, a lot of dominoes are going to fall.

I’m really surprised that the Dems aren’t taking advantage of Murtha’s call to withdraw from Iraq. Even if they don’t agree with his position (I’m unsure myself about it) they could at least applaud his courage and his integrity in coming forward with important truths about the situation there.

After watching the debate on C-Span the other night, I thought; Gee. I remember this. A real debate about an important issue. At least we have a dialogue going even if we’re not sure or don’t agree.

The Dems have stopped all effective debate with geroge Bush since 9/11, especially on national security issues, but here was someone who was saying what he honestly believed, and was willing to take it on the chin.

So the Dem leadership (an obvious misnomer) let him hang out there all by himself.

They’re complete lunkheads if they don’t take advantage of this moment.

Conrad Black did not look a worried man on Tuesday evening, the night before news broke that federal prosecutors in the US were seeking his extradition on charges of skimming $80m (£47m) off Hollinger International – charges that could spell ruination for the fallen press baron and years in prison.

Lord Black will not have long to wait to start proving his innocence. The US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has said he expects him to appear voluntarily in a US District Court in Chicago on Tuesday to hear the criminal fraud charges against him. Lord Black’s lawyer repeated that his client was “confident that if given a full opportunity to defend himself, he will be found innocent”.

Lord Black has been under legal assault for two years now, first from angry shareholders, then Hollinger itself, which accused him and his associates of, in effect, looting the company. Now, most seriously, he is under assault from Mr Fitzgerald, the same fearless, plain-spoken US prosecutor whose recent indictment for perjury served on Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff to the US Vice-President Dick Cheney, sent tremors of fear through the White House.

http://news.independent.co.uk/…..328150.ece

ruh row mack, I’ve got to catch up on this thread because of dinner, but you just picked on my confirmation name of Mary Magdelene, fair warning you have a lesson coming on who and what She really was. ;) lol

As long as we’re piling it on, there’s the Curveball Chronicles, which is getting some legs from the LAT.

If Tom Clancy wanted to write a potboiler based on the story of how Curveball snookered the United States into starting a war against Saddam, his editor might think Clancy has lost his touch. “Er, Tom, this scenario, well, it’s too far-fetched don’t you think?” Not at all. The Cheny-Rumsfeld Cabal bought it hook, line, and sinker, and even got Colin to peddle the hash of lies.

This article in the LAT describes the whole scenario as “like a children’s game of “telephone,” in which information gets increasingly distorted.”

[snip]

The German authorities, speaking about the case for the first time, also said that their informant [Curveball] suffered from emotional and mental problems. “He is not a stable, psychologically stable guy,” said a BND official who supervised the case. “He is not a completely normal person,” agreed a BND analyst.

Curveball was the chief source of inaccurate prewar U.S. accusations that Baghdad had biological weapons, a commission appointed by Bush reported this year. The commission did not interview Curveball, who still insists his story was true, or the German officials who handled his case.

The German account emerges as the White House is lashing out at domestic critics, particularly Senate Democrats, over allegations the administration manipulated intelligence to go to war. Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney called such claims reprehensible and pernicious.

[snip]

I tried to find the right words to describe this perversion of the use of so-called intelligence, but could only come up with Hanna Arendt’s “the banality of evil.” Of course a canny scriptwriter might give this story a slapstick twist and go far with it, except that this was ultimately no laughing matter. Just think, we went to war in part because we believed in a looney bird from Iraq.

And to fill out the comedy of errors, the man who gave us Curveball was just being feted at the White House last week: you guessed it — Ahmad the Unclean.

http://tinyurl.com/ax5d9

Mrs. k8 and Shez, here’s an interesting link http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/st…..un-yin.htm on Kuan Yin in Tibetan Buddhism, where she becomes “Chenrezi, who is literally manifested in the person of the Dalai Lama.”

to repeat my prior theory
we have government by MBA

the problem is that while buffing up the quarterly reports they neglect any sort of long term vision

this is a problem in the world of business when the house of cards collapses, but corporations can be absorbed, and a humungous economy makes these things into blips on the radar

these mitigating factors do not apply to our nation – this kind of fundamentally wrong thinking leads to a meltdown such as we are seeing

and there are no ‘friendly mergers’ or ‘golden parachutes’

Wow, Ariel Sharon is leaving Likud.
Big news.

My wife is better at keeping things like church bulletins

see the following when blaming Christians for the Republican party
They do not speak for me – never have

Matthew 25:34-
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

Isn’t the inherent danger of a small group of people running the government and making life and death decisions at the heart of the Bush Administration’s ineptitude? Lil’ Bush was supposed to be the CEO president. Every successful CEO knows that the best way to run a company into the ground is to surround yourself with “yes” men (or women in Bush’s current situation) and to ignore criticism and alternative viewpoints. Bush’s island of “yes” people has gotten so small it doesn’t even have any “yes” men on it anymore. The sharks are circling and they are the American people demanding not only answers, but some bare MINIMUM of competency. I swear I’m going to have an aneurysm…

There has been a lot of speculation today that Richard Armitage was Woodward’s source. The Post had a recent story that claimed the source had testified earlier before the grand jury. Does anyone remember whether it has been reported that Armitage was one of the grand jury witnesses? I know Colin Powell was, but can’t remember whether Armitrage was.

pretend to be holy

interestingly enough – today’s scripture had to do with failing to feed and comfort the poor and hungry
Christ reminds the selfish that they denied *Him* food water and shelter

I’m real bad at chapter and verse quotations – preferring to take the meaning home

an object lesson

(moral of the story – selfish bastards burn in hell – even if they go to church every sunday and pretend to be hold)

what was Mary Magdalene’s profession again (oh yeah, same a Abramoff)

Mrs. K8, I have a couple books on Kuan Yin, we would have to google her. She’s called a Chinese Goddess but actually her roots are from India, She refuses to leave the Wheel of Karma until there is Peace on Earth, and no babies needlessly crying. In my spiritual circles all the Archangels and God/Goddesses=Godd/ess are of the same essence and astral plane, all from Source. Plato said Light is the shadow of God.

In our Native American Traditional Law her counterpart would be White Buffalo Calf Woman, whom came as the Holy of Holies. She brought us the sacred Peace Pipe of Prayer, the gift of Gifts.

She came because the Nation had forgotten the rule of wormwood, that until humans re-remembered THEY were just as important as the earthworm they would not understand the balance and interconnectedness of the universe.

She taught about Yin/Yang, the braves had begun abusing their squaws by making them walk a step behind them instead of beside them, that the baby is as important as the chief: equality. Edgar Cayce the Sleeping Prophet taught this exact same lesson, things MUST be 50/50, it is the major lesson of karma.

And if you are interested my Indian name is Spirit Eye, I had a true Vision Quest I guess you could say. I’ll tell you the story sometime how I came to have that name.

My website I’m building about reality and illusion is called Third Eye Eclipse.com. My other website I’m building is called Humor Has It.com, I’ve decided to turn that one into a political one after all. I got sidetracked when Katrina happened and have been absorbed in the blogs ever since, I’ll get back to building them this winter. At least I have my domains registered.

Haven’t even read this thread yet; which I will do along with the always also insightful comments here ~ but WOW people; I saw that photo of num-nuts on AOL via Huffington…immediately thought “oh that’s got Jane and Firedoglake written ALL over it”…and voila; never, EVER disappointed here. Amazing; Jane, Reddhedd….all of you now regular posters ~ been here since the “lazy quiet days”. It become THE place on the Internet for me to come to stay informed and to maintain my sanity. I don’t post much; but I’m sure reading and appreciating every word on a daily basis.

~ THANK YOU ~

…den der was: tax cuts, negated arms treaties, medicare, Katrina, 8/6/2001, … This guy is on a role.

grinning at the VP Laura idea – MSNBC did a piece last week about W now only talking to 4 people – Laura, Barbara, Condi and Karen or Harriet (can’t remember) – this sure suggests a prez locked into downward spiral

Bob Graham’s article should be front and center on every news outlet (papers, magazines, television, radio, etc.) in the country. It could not be stated more clearly–a sixth grader would get it. I am always so absolutley disappointed and dismayed with the MSM. The First Ammendment gives the liars the right to peddle their garbage, unfortunately, but the MSM has as its highest obligation the duty to challenge them. What has happened? It is imperative that this this be corrected immedialtely. Members of the Fifth Estate must either deliver on their responsibilities or be ready to pay the price of the anger of the citizens of the coulntry/world. Corporate, publisher and editor types should be taking note and steering their people in the right direction.

ME, my letter of the day.

Sonoma-

Can anyone say President Miers? Although my money is on Laura replacing the Prince of Darkness.

Bush = Pee Wee Herman

I believe the Bush administration will fall. I believe Bush will be forced from office, not by an act of impeachment, but by an outpouring of public revulsion so pronounced that the GOP will prevail on him to resign for the good of their party. This will follow on the the heels of Cheney’s resignation, and his successor will ascend to the presidency.

Granted, I also once thought Bill Walsh was making a big mistake in benching Steve DeBerg and starting Joe Montana.

Still, I can’t imagine Bush surviving the political avalanche cascading towards him.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you sent Toto’s nemesis out to call a 37-year Marine Corp veteran a “coward” on the floor of the House.”

ReddHedd, you made my day with that one. Thank you.

p.lukasiak — Graham actually was quite outspoken about problems that he had with how the planning went for the war and the issues that the Administration was highlighting. He just didn’t get much coverage for his statements at the time. He was very outspoken during the primaries in 2003 when he was running for the Dem slot — and his opposition to the Administration on the war was a centerpiece of a lot of his campaign at that point as well. Again, not a lot of coverage.

Angst about schadenfreude?

I’m so glad these bastards’ plans are coming down on soooo many different fronts. It feels personally vindicating. Is that bad?

Shez –

I don’t know about Kuan Yin, can you tell me, or provide a link? Yes, I believe in a deity who hears the cries of the world!

When I was growing up, my mom used to use a certain phrase. It wasn’t until I was older that it really sank in: I told my mom (who wasn’t plugged in to too many news details) about how Samoza and his family in Nicaragua stole the money which poured in from around the world for the Nicaraguan earthquake victims, and she used that phrase again:

“These are the sins that cry out to heaven!”

Can we beg MoveOn (or should I assume they are already on it) to widely run and ad with that photo and the line “let’s help W find the exit” … or … tagline anyone?

Bob Graham’s op-ed was excellent…. but why wasn’t he running around telling everyone that the White Paper was total BS?

Mrs. K8, thank you. Bless You.

I myself am praying the Goddess Kuan Yin – She Who Hears The Cries of the World – is being channeled in and evoked.

Now,now,good slaves of the Christian empire. Please don’t criticize our great and glorious worker in the Lord’s vineyard,Preznit Death and Destruction. He is only reaping what he has sown.

Right,Davis X. Machina? Bushfish.org

That attempted exit by Bush was incredible. My brain did a weird time shift and I actually thought I was watching a Johnny Carson skit. But it wasn’t funny.

Mrs K8 – you always wow me – thanks!

Justwondering asked in the last thread who would be a good Dem candidate – my answer was as follows but I’ve been so unhappy with the Dems, I haven’t really looked for one I’d like – are there any good candidates we could push now?

here’s my first pass:
justwondering – I’m not sure since I don’t see any of the Dems really standing up. Waxman has been very good on corporate issues, Halliburton, etc. Find someone who has pushed repeatedly on the lack of proper supplies for the troops (that coulda been Kerry if he’d had any smarts), willing to take on corporate lobbying, etc. Obama is interesting though too new, Clark was great in the last but needs coaching on how to project presidential, Dean coulda been it but the Dems slaughtered him – I guess that’s my big worry – the Dems have been spineless on the war and they kill their own when anyone threatens to shake up the status quo.

(so am I the only FDL’er splitting their time between reading and catching the last race? go smoke!)

Me –

Sometimes I’ve tried to calculate actual numbers, but it’s impossible. Even after you add up our military war dead, the Iraqis, the hurricane victims, the Afghans, etc. etc. — you would need some omniscient viewer, you know, like God, to calculate the number of people whose deaths have been caused or at least hastened by things like:

infant mortality rates, people with inadequate health care, no health care, people unable to get their insurance companies to pay their claims because corporations reign supreme, people whose health has deteriorated rapidly because they were busy fighting some bureaucratic nightmare they should never have needed to fight (stress causes illness), soldiers and others suffering PTSD who commit suicide or kill their wives, people who’ve died from overdoses or otherwise had their lives destroyed because heroin was allowed to flourish again in Afghanistan, the effects of depression from intractable hopelessness, the crushing of the poor because of “free trade,” the people blown up with explosives stolen from unsecured Al QaQa stores, etc. etc. etc.

The number is incalculable.

As a believer, I can say this much: When I was a child, the notion that God “sees all” was a very frightening thing. Maybe God saw me talking in class, and then saw me pretend it wasn’t me when the nun turned around from the blackboard! Oh no!

As an adult believer, the notion that there is a God who sees all is a great, great comfort to me. If even the fall of a sparrow is noted, imagine every instance of obscene corruption noted carefully by a God who will not be mocked.

And for those who do not share my faith, I can imagine there might be a comfort in knowing that these obscenely corrupt people are so blind, they pretend they know nothing of history. As if they can continue their spree of exploitation and oppression with no consequences! As if! The “rules” of history, the dynamics of tyranny and its ultimate downfall, will not magically be suspended for these disgusting spoiled brats.

CNN has a Quick Vote up that asks:

Is it unpatriotic to question the president’s Iraq policy while troops are still fighting there?

Yes – 17% 5,021 votes
No – 83% 24,807

http://www.cnn.com/

Looks like we’ve reached the tipping point.

For my money, Murtha is absolutly the right guy at the right time to express the country’s dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and the Bush Administration’s mantra of “Stay the course.”

Love that Murtha!

At first glance this might seem off topic but, in fact, it is all a part of the same story.

There is a heart wrenching and very sad diary at Dkos.
It is well worth reading. It reminds us of why we participate in these blogs and why we care.

He’s Dead

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…../94333/311

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Im sure we all remember Andy Cards “new product” remark during the run-up to Iraq. To echo Murtha’s remarks on MTP today – this is not a “product” it’s a war. I hope the dems pick this up in their nacent attempt to wake the hell up. Do they have any idea how potent and powerful the unvarnished truth will be to the American public regardless of the dangers of swift boating?

Ladies,
I know this will not be popular.

The notion that Valerie Plame Wilson was the ultimate target of the plot is disabused by the events of early October 2003. One week AFTER the DoJ launched the criminal investigation.

There is no other explanation for this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..ge=printer

Oh! Sorry. The Washington Post is concealing the evidence of institutional complicity? Well, they would, wouldn’t they? But that concealment took place during the last three weeks

It’s all here

http://p216.ezboard.com/frigor…..1705.topic

A fact is a fact whether or not one likes it and whether or not it fits one’s personal predisposition.

That’s what Comey meant when he told Fitzgerald to “go where the evidence takes him”.

IMHO

http://fusioner.proboards60.co…..1131129004

^^ We ^ Need ^ _YOUR_ ^ Letters HERE ^^

Did Bush Lie About War?

Let me ask another, much harder question: Find me an example where Bush, his administration, or his shills in the media told the truth about the war, or about anything for that matter? I smell war crimes all over this, and I want to see open trials for the perpetraitors. The media needs to get off their asses, and quit letting a corrupt Republican propaganda machine steer the country. It has to stop or the media becomes just as guilty for conspiring against the United States of America as the Republican party is.

Re: Bush

“Thus 18 U.S.C., Sec. 1001 was evidently violated.”

http://www.house.gov/apps/list…..etter.html

Re: Pat Roberts – Looks like he is working on a felony obstruction of justice charge… Or he would be if I was a prosecutor. He’s certainly guilty of obstruction, and we have reason to believe a crime was commited.

****

How many Americans have to die to feed a bloodthirsty and corrupt political machine?