Matt O

Matt O.!

wow…. two zeros in one day…..
Hi Teddy…. Hi Matt

Go Blue!

Hello katymine

Nice job, Matt. How’re you doing?

Pacha #6

Very tired. Still at the office actually.

Politics. No offseasons, no closing hours. (Unless you’re Bush.)

When the House turns Blue in November, we’re probably gonna see some quick-fix corporate shenanigans (spinoffs, buyouts, IPOs, whatever they want to call their chicanery) in order to isolate the corporate entities and their leaders responsible for this profiteering. I imagine they’ll have everything well papered-over by the time subpoenas get issued in January, nice and tidy so the moolah and the crooks are outta reach.

Sad to read that Judge Gray Miller decided the case would require him to make unwarranted intrusion into executive processes during wartime. I expect this will be a valuable precedent going forward, should it be upheld on appeal. He’s a brand new Bush judge on the bench — I bet Cheney’s proud of this one!

=========
Had Enough?
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The Phoenix Air America has a show at noon called “About Face” which is hosted by two from the Phoenix Chapter of Veterans For Peace. The will be discussing Iraq for Sale extensively until the screenings on Nov 3rd.

The particular egregious part of this is that these companies get no-bid contracts at cost plus, they make boat loads of money and then turn around and donate it back into the RNC et al. Which means MY tax dollars end up supporting ReThugs.

Teddy –

I think the White House is bracing for a Democratic Congress after November. Didn’t they try to push retroactive legalization of their criminal behavior recently?

Hey there Matt!

Hope you don’t take offense at the paucity of participation just yet, ’cause a lot of us are still drowning in our beers on the last post. *g*

Btw, just a note for folks that the link for screenings you provided also works for finding screenings in/near your own Zip code.

Ta!

(((Hi Matt O)))

I’m just so disgusted with everything today.

Used to be the revolving door was not just frowned upon but illegal. I’m guessing it was another Reagan innovation to get it spinning again, hmmm?

katymine @ 9

The Phoenix Air America has a show at noon called “About Face” which is hosted by two from the Phoenix Chapter of Veterans For Peace. The will be discussing Iraq for Sale extensively until the screenings on Nov 3rd.

The particular egregious part of this is that these companies get no-bid contracts at cost plus, they make boat loads of money and then turn around and donate it back into the RNC et al. Which means MY tax dollars end up supporting ReThugs.

COST PLUS -

Exactly. A greater incentive to overcharge because they get a percentage on top of the cost of the project.

So if it costs $100 million to do project A, and they get 10%, they get $10 million. Total cost to American taxpayers — $110 million.

Now add in overcharges. Contracted for $100 million, they spend $150 million, they get $15 million in profit rather than the $10 million before.

Cool. Used that same clip for a post on my blog, too, because I was really impressed by both the research and the production values. First-source interviews with the people who saw the incredible, cynical thing going down. All they have to do is let the camera roll.

Thanks for the reminder, Matt, to go out and get the documentary itself and pass it on to friends. People have no idea how bad it has been. Makes you think the ideology backing the war was little more than a smokescreen for profit motive.

fitz! and Matt O.’s book!

Many may not know but we have a lot of Iraqi Vets here in AZ and so many have been extremely vocal against the treatment of the miltary by BushCo.

KBR charges for meals by counting the disposable plates. So on the days they are having sand storms and the troops get a meal to-go using a plate as a top to keep their meal sandfree…. KBR charges for two meals.

They are serving food with expired use dates, have been damaged with munitions and who knows how well kept with the lack of eletricity and refrigeration.

(from the last thread)

Hi siun,

thank you, and if you’re here, thank you for having your gentle soul. The only thing you would probably torture anyone with is…too much food. ;-)

FYI FDLpups, da Big Dog meets Timmeh tomorrow.

MarcLord … ah, merci.

I just noticed an Amnesty International ad on another site:

President Bush struck a deal with the Senate.
The Geneva Conventions and human rights lost.
Please, with all the urgency available, call Congress now.
Call 1 800 AMNESTY to be connected to your Senator.
Tell them to vote against this and any proposals that would weaken the Geneva Conventions.

Sounds like I know what I’m doing tomorrow morning!

Christy was asking earlier today for ideas about how best to harness our collective talents and efforts in order to help Democratic candidates in the 2006 elections and beyond.

I have a modest idea that may have real potential for extending the reach of firedoglake and growing the FDL readership.

Right now, most readers here have found their way to FDL via other websites or the stray mentions in the mainstream media. I think that there is a gigantic untapped audience for FDL.

I believe that the progressive movement would be extremely well served if we could get the word out about FDL to others in our respective communities. My suggestion is to add another item to the FireDogLake CafePress website – FireDogLake Business Cards.

We could put a side banner up at the main FDL website mentioning the business cards and the FDL campaign. The cards could then be purchased by FDL readers and distributed to friends, acquaintances, and strangers in towns and cities across the country. They could be left in elevators, waiting rooms and lobbies everywhere that we travel…

The business cards would have the website address, the FDL logo, and a few pithy lines about FireDogLake that would be intriguing enough to draw in potential readers, e.g. “FireDogLake – The Website George Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know About” or one of any of the thousands of better slogans that we could come up with together.

It would be a way to reach out to others who might not find their way over to FDL on their own, increasing our numbers, our strength, and our voice. FDL outreach.

*xyz @
20

Christy was asking earlier today for ideas about how best to harness our collective talents and efforts in order to help Democratic candidates in the 2006 elections and beyond.

I have a modest idea that may have real potential for extending the reach of firedoglake and growing the FDL readership.

We could put a side banner up at the main FDL website mentioning the business cards and the FDL campaign. The cards could then be purchased by FDL readers and distributed to friends, acquaintances, and strangers in towns and cities across the country. They could be left in elevators, waiting rooms and lobbies everywhere that we travel…

It would be a way to reach out to others who might not find their way over to FDL on their own, increasing our numbers, our strength, and our voice. FDL outreach.

This is brilliant.

Excellent idea xyz! With the okay of Christy & Jane, we can print our own cards as needed. Much faster that way.

ccmask @ 22

Excellent idea xyz! With the okay of Christy & Jane, we can print our own cards as needed. Much faster that way.

If it is set up on a PDF you can print out the sheets of Avery business cards on our home printers.

Thank you Matt O. for your tireless work on this issue. Waxman and Dorgan are to be commended for their dogged pursuit of the truth.

If nothing else wakes up America, knowing that their taxdollars are enriching the rich and corrupt will. I had my first delivery of heating oil this week, and as usual, I talked to the man– I’ll try to engage any warm body. The deliveryman said “good for you that you did the pre-buy, oil is going up”. I said “yeah, but all those poor people and old people can’t afford to put their money up front– I feel guilty!” He looked suprised at me and said that he hadn’t been able to do so on his salary. He said that he wouldn’t mind so much if the oil companies weren’t making record profits and pocketing all of it. He said that Chavez guy is giving poor slobs free heating oil, why can’t these millionaires? I said maybe because we’d rather fight for it in war. He said that’s wrong as hell, and I voted for this guy too, twice. (said with disgust and a shake of his head)

A billion here, a billion there. Most people can’t/don’t/won’t pay attention to it. There’s a disconnect there for the average Joe/Jane. Spell it out, there’s gonna be outrage.

So, thank you very much.

*xyz @ 20

My suggestion is to add another item to the FireDogLake CafePress website – FireDogLake Business Cards.

…”FireDogLake – The Website George Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know About” or one of any of the thousands of better slogans that we could come up with together.

This idea totally rocks!!!

A couple of other slogans to have printed on them:

“Where folks go when they’ve had enough – http://www.firedoglake.com”
“Repugs are dangerous to your health! Take the cure at http://www.firedoglake.com!”
“If you care about your country’s future – http://www.firedoglake.com”

And yes, you’re right! There are thousands more!

I missed the “I’m disgusted” post, so I hope this doesn’t offend, since its OT.

Once Congress legalizes war crimes, we will no longer be the America our Founding Fathers envisioned. The rightousness of freedom and liberty, no longer applies to a nation that commits torture, spies on its citizens, and ignores domestic and international law. America will have lost the last shred of credibility we had left, in the eyes of the world. We will no longer have the moral clarity and superiority we once held. The reputation and character of our nation has been sullied, by our own words and actions. We have done some serious damage, in such a short time.

Our Constitutional blueprint, which made us rise above all others, has been cynically altered and perverted for political gain. Capitulation to fear, has turned us into the land of the not so free, and home of the afraid. What we once despised in others, we now embrace. We now have equality and justice for most, but not for all. Guilty until proven innocent for some, is now acceptable. Lies and distorted truths are considered conventional wisdom. We live in times where officials are rewarded and praised for incompetance and failure. We have a Government that promotes corporate welfare over the general welfare, by structuring our economy to produce poverty. The most patriotic Americans are now labeled unpatriotic and morally confused.

Instead of desperately searching for the suicide hotline number, I’m going to speak louder and fight harder than ever, until we return to the American values our heroic Fathers envisioned. Apathy is not an option.

I love this country too much to give up now.

Another good thing about business cards – people enjoy getting them, especially when they are in color. They are keepsakes, and a sign of legitimacy. It is hard to underestimate the psychological weight that a business card carries.

And, when we hand them out and leave them in lobbies, we are not just reaching out, we are announcing our presence – showing strength – flying our colors – telling the world that we are physically out there, not just online in metaspace, but in communities across the country, and we will not be ignored.

Thanks for the post Matt. I live in Michigan, where the Repub nominee for gov is Dick DeVos, the Amway guy. But what he also is, is the brother-in-law of Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater USA. He’s making boatloads of money off this war. And they also got paid for security in NOLA post Katrina. These people make me sick.

Looking for a narrative? Framing?

Wayne Harris @ 251

snip…The Dems should have used Bush’s insistence on torture as further evidence of his astounding incompetence. Something like: “Torture not only endangers our troops and operatives – there is no credible evidence that it works. This is the President who told you there were WMDs in Iraq; who insinuated Saddam was personally involved in the 9/11/; who assured you Iraqis would greet us as liberators; who said the the war would be over in six months; who promised the war would be self-financing with oil revenues; who said the mission was accomplished; and who said Brownie was doing a heck of a job as FEMA did nothing while the death toll mounted in New Orleans. Now he’s telling you he needs to trash the U.S. Constitution, spy on you without a warrant and torture whom he pleases (you maybe?) to make you safe. Why the hell should you believe him?”

Narrative: this is it. Use it.

FireDogLake Business Cards!!!!!!
BRILLIANT!!!!!!
It is so simple it is elegant.

*xyz @ 27

Another good thing about business cards – people enjoy getting them, especially when they are in color. They are keepsakes, and a sign of legitimacy. It is hard to underestimate the psychological weight that a business card carries.

And, when we hand them out and leave them in lobbies, we are not just reaching out, we are announcing our presence – showing strength – flying our colors – telling the world that we are physically out there, not just online in metaspace, but in communities across the country, and we will not be ignored.

OK, calling Darkblack, calling Darkblack!!!

FDL logo and/or card design needed ASAP! And I’m totally serious!

Jane, Christy – blessing or not?

And xyz, though I support the idea of having them available from the FDL CafePress site, I also agree that one could easily and cheaply get them made locally so as to hasten their delivery.

I’m like talkin’ about placing an order on Monday and getting ‘em back Tuesday-Wednesday.

I have a favor to ask–I could use a few sets of eyes on something I’m working on. Ideally sets of eyes that connect to the internet via different sorts of browsers. This is the current URL of my blog, Howard-Empowered People

http://howardempowered.blogspot.com/

This is the old address, that I hung onto for tinkering under the hood whenever I need to mess with the code.

http://shadowbfa.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer…I freakin’ *hate* messing with the code. But enough people have been having problems with the site that I decided to try to start from scratch with a new 3-column template for Blogger. When I did this before, just when I thought I had things working properly, someone who used Safari told me that the site looked absolutely ghastly in that browser.

So, right now I’m in the process of plugging all the little bits of stuff from the sidebars into the new template, and previewing to see if it looks right.

http://shadowbfa.blogspot.com/

But I’d hate to go through all of that, think I’m finally done, and then find out that it’s really screwed up in certain browsers. So could people please have a look-see and let me know if there’s anything weird going on with the formatting?

ooh, I want to be able to hand out business cards.

The People’s Business. Democracy in Action. Firedoglake.

J. Hamsher

C.H. Smith

(*xyz– you rock!)

I posted this last night but I think it ties in a lot in relationship to the corruption and the privatization of America that moved from Iraq to NOLA. The same players, same game, just the same cost plus contracts and complete incompetence.

I got a really nice email from my boyfriend after he read the article in GC “Kiss of Death”. My boyfriend is working this week in NOLA, it is his first time seeing New Orleans so he has no frame of reference. He was also out of the country during Katrina in Spain and saw the devistation through their eyes.

From the article:

Amid the crush of people around him, I say to Ned, “In your wildest dreams, did you ever picture yourself up there with Jesse, in a black church, rocking the house like that?” He throws his head back with a smile, and I’m sure he’s about to say, “No way,” but instead he says, “Yes. Yes. In my wildest dreams, I did.” And then: “You feel the hope of everybody on every pew, and you know you owe them your heart and soul. It’s not like that in Greenwich.”

My God, if we can only elect people like this we might stand a chance. America might still stand a chance. In New Orleans I’ve been seeing what America will look like if we fail and it scares the hell out of me. The downtown and the wealthy areas are coming back, but the middle class and poor areas are just shocking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such mass devastation. Mile after mile of broken sidewalks and empty, rotting houses. Almost no businesses are left open in those areas and waterlogged garbage is still piled high in the streets. This is the America of George Bush and the corporatists. If we can’t elect people who “feel the hope of everybody on every pew, and you know you owe them your heart and soul,” we’re screwed.

Renee in Ohio @ 32

I have a favor to ask–I could use a few sets of eyes on something I’m working on.

Howdy Renee,

The formatting is definitely off under IE 6.0 running under Windows XP SP2. Just re-built this system, so I have nothing but virgin MS software running on it.

I get a left/right scrollbar at the bottom which is necessary since the rightside 2 1/2 inches is out of view.

Hope that helps!

wow katymine.

thank you for posting that– I missed it and it’s a jewel.

Ooops, by hard to underestimate I obviously meant hard to overestimate…

I’m sure that Jane and Christy will have thoughts as to whether and how to proceed with the business cards, and I defer to their good judgment.

One thing I would say is that the business card message should not be too negative or sarcastic, and the logo should be simple and beautiful, like the logo at the top of the website.

Simple, elegant design a positive, pithy and enticing/mysterious quote.

That is the recipe, in my opinion.

As long as we have K-Street controlling most politicians, and this obscene campaign financing going on, we always have Halliburton and the like. Halliburton is the symptom, not the cause.

So … who is planning to attend or host an Iraq for Sale party?

Getting people to see the film is the perfect action item response to all of Matt O’s great posts!

Matt — another fine post. I was thinking this is a good post to spotlight to TV and radio talk shows/hosts, to see if we can expand publicity about the film.

Mad Dogs, are you having the scrolling issue with this version?

http://shadowbfa.blogspot.com

*xyz @ 37

Ooops, by hard to underestimate I obviously meant hard to overestimate…

I’m sure that Jane and Christy will have thoughts as to whether and how to proceed with the business cards, and I defer to their good judgment.

One thing I would say is that the business card message should not be too negative or sarcastic, and the logo should be simple and beautiful, like the logo at the top of the website.

Simple, elegant design a positive, pithy and enticing/mysterious quote.

That is the recipe, in my opinion.

Yup! And I would vote (if I had a vote *g*) that the proprietor of FDL have full control and authority over any such card design and pithy or otherwise quotes.

If you think about it, that’s only normal. Tis Jane’s place, her rep, her trademark.

I sure hope she says yes!

The NYTimes and the WaPoo sat on important facts we the voters should have had before us in the last election. They and other media allowed themselves to be bullied, coerced, coopted…take your pick. All of the above?

To not air these issues, to censor your press coverage, to whitewash or soften the truth, to become an echo chamber for the propaganda is to favor the status quo, the BushCo incompetence, corruption, and criminality.

Nod to Colbert–truth has a liberal bias.

Another good idea is to go to the Chamber of Commerce website for your county. Click on members and they have great lists of local business complete with email addresses. I do this ALL THE TIME. Great for local issues.

Siun @ 39

So … who is planning to attend or host an Iraq for Sale party?

Getting people to see the film is the perfect action item response to all of Matt O’s great posts!

I already reserved my seat at the St. Paul, MN showing on 10/10.

Looks like it’s at a local library with seating for only about 75 or so folks.

I guess I’ll call it “cozy”. Cozy is good, isn’t it? *g*

Renee in Ohio @ 41

Mad Dogs, are you having the scrolling issue with this version?

http://shadowbfa.blogspot.com

Nope, that one works fine. The only scrolling is the normal up/down kind. *g*

hi Renee — Safari OS-X Mac here, your site looks fabulous!

Suin: I have my reservations set for a Iraq for Sale showing in October. Pass the popcorn.

Siun, I am going to be working with the other progressive groups here and AAR to get many screenings going here. We were talking about it after the John Dean Townhall, one will make the DVD’s and another will convert some to video for those without a DVD player.

BTW, I did 9 counties in Florida and it only took 2 hours.

We will attend on Oct 9, Blue Hill, Maine, Peninsula Peace & Justice Alliance

Shameless plug, brought on by the title of this post.

My husband recently designed a “Turn Congress Blue” bumper sticker.

OfT:
I’m hoping that Russ Feingold’s announcement Monday is a big old not-so-secret HOLD on the kabuki torture bill. Senators can do that, like Hillary did on the FDA guy until they let Plan B through, right? Others unafraid to call “shame” can join him, I suppose, but it only takes one.

sorry, I want to get back on the torture bill

the National Intelligence Estimate is going to tell us the presidents decisions have caused more terrorism that the decisions have fueled the insurgency

WE CAN JUMP ON THAT TO PROVE THE INSURGENCY IS FUELED BY OUR POLICY CONDONING TORTURE

we have to keep trying, we have to try to get a filibuster…we have to at least try

can’t someone get in touch with feingold?

I wish we could get murtha to go public but he’s in tons of trouble and that would hurt us

I don’t care, we have to try to prevent that bill from going forward

from the new york times

“A stark assessment of terrorism trends by U.S. intelligence agencies has found that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks,” reports Mark Mazzetti.

“The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington who were involved in preparing the assessment or have read the final document,” the article continues.

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by U.S. intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and it represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,” it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.

An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology. The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one U.S. intelligence official.

….

For more than two years, there has been tension between the Bush administration and U.S. spy agencies over the violence in Iraq and the prospects for a stable democracy in the country. Some intelligence officials have said that the White House has consistently presented a more optimistic picture of the situation in Iraq than has been justified by intelligence reports from the field.

The broad judgments of the new intelligence estimate are consistent with assessments of global terrorist threats by U.S. allies and independent terrorism experts

we can really use that…timing has not been kind to us

it’s kind to us today

we need to do something about the torture bill, even if we fail

I understand DeVos of Michigan is connected to Blackwater, a cousin or something. That would make sense.

I am hoping to get our local (first run movies, progressive*) and very well attended theater to host one. They actually do have some free movie screenings on the weekends.

If I fail, then I am trundling up the road 14 miles to see it. Even if I succeed, I might take the ride.

* shh, some people don’t know that…

DeVos is the brother-in-law of Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater USA. Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos who until recently was the head of the Michigan GOP. I think this is a big deal. Nobody here, (in MI), ever brings it up. Business as usual.

Thanks, TeddySanFran. I don’t have the facilities to check my site in Safari, so I’m glad you were able to check it out.

Before my little foray into template purgatory, I wrote up a bit more of what I heard from the fair elections panel on Monday. It’s posted here at Buckeye State Blog, for anyone who’s interested.

CAIRO, Egypt – An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Saturday purporting to show the bodies of two American soldiers being dragged behind a truck, then set on fire in apparent retaliation for the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by U.S. troops from the same unit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..NlYwM3MjE-

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…..etsy_DeVos

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…..st_America

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…..hard_DeVos

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…..kwater_USA

BTW, SourceWatch is a great site for research.

*xyz @ 37

Ooops, by hard to underestimate I obviously meant hard to overestimate…

I’m sure that Jane and Christy will have thoughts as to whether and how to proceed with the business cards, and I defer to their good judgment.

One thing I would say is that the business card message should not be too negative or sarcastic, and the logo should be simple and beautiful, like the logo at the top of the website.

Simple, elegant design a positive, pithy and enticing/mysterious quote.

That is the recipe, in my opinion.

Reading the above comments got me feeling artistic so I played around with a business card layout for fun.

FDL Card – (Purely a Sample for Fun)

Sometimes I just like playing marketing graphics stuff. Feedback and insults welcome. :)

What can I say that hasn’t already been a movie:
http://sonyclassics.com/whywefight/
*Check out the site after the trailer.

Complete movie: ‘Why We Fight’
http://www.informationclearing…..le8494.htm

Nate @ 62

*xyz @ 37

Ooops, by hard to underestimate I obviously meant hard to overestimate…

I’m sure that Jane and Christy will have thoughts as to whether and how to proceed with the business cards, and I defer to their good judgment.

One thing I would say is that the business card message should not be too negative or sarcastic, and the logo should be simple and beautiful, like the logo at the top of the website.

Simple, elegant design a positive, pithy and enticing/mysterious quote.

That is the recipe, in my opinion.

Reading the above comments got me feeling artistic so I played around with a business card layout for fun.

FDL Card – (Purely a Sample for Fun)

Sometimes I just like playing marketing graphics stuff. Feedback and insults welcome. :)

Nate my friend, the link ain’t working.

ccmask @ 60

CAIRO, Egypt – An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Saturday purporting to show the bodies of two American soldiers being dragged behind a truck, then set on fire in apparent retaliation for the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by U.S. troops from the same unit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..NlYwM3MjE-

I wonder if that vid was shot back then, obtained and suppressed by us, and sumbody jest released it. If it’s truly our soldiers; it breaks my heart. If it’s somebodies else, it breaks my heart. If it is more psy-ops for the American people, I am not suprised. June 16th, eh? Wonder what their poor families were told?

I am going to go outside and scream now.

Going to see the movie on October 10th at a local university. Am going to try to convince my husband to go with me – I think he would be appropriately appalled, and it might convince him that Republicans are not to be trusted. Since he is a Republican, it’s sometimes hard to get past the defensiveness, but I don’t think he could possibly find any defense for what has been going on with the contractors.

Mad Dogs @ 64

Nate @ 62

*xyz @ 37

Ooops, by hard to underestimate I obviously meant hard to overestimate…

I’m sure that Jane and Christy will have thoughts as to whether and how to proceed with the business cards, and I defer to their good judgment.

One thing I would say is that the business card message should not be too negative or sarcastic, and the logo should be simple and beautiful, like the logo at the top of the website.

Simple, elegant design a positive, pithy and enticing/mysterious quote.

That is the recipe, in my opinion.

Reading the above comments got me feeling artistic so I played around with a business card layout for fun.

FDL Card – (Purely a Sample for Fun)

Sometimes I just like playing marketing graphics stuff. Feedback and insults welcome. :)

Nate my friend, the link ain’t working.

Not sure why… It’s working for me. It’s just a link to a hosted JPG file. A picture.

Try this

Nate my friend, the link ain’t working.

Not working for me either. I think I’ve found that in the past when trying to link to images hosted on Blogger. I’m not quite sure why that is, but I’ve taken to using my Photobucket account a lot more often because it makes posts with photos a bit more portable.

reveals an incestuous relationship between the defense industry and the highest levels of government

I believe that relationship was present before we went to war and that the plan for this war has always been to profit from it. First, the neocons thought they could finance their warprofiteering from Iraqi oil revenues. When that didn’t work out, they started plundering our treasury.

angie @
65

ccmask @ 60

CAIRO, Egypt – An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Saturday purporting to show the bodies of two American soldiers being dragged behind a truck, then set on fire in apparent retaliation for the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by U.S. troops from the same unit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..NlYwM3MjE-

I wonder if that vid was shot back then, obtained and suppressed by us, and sumbody jest released it. If it’s truly our soldiers; it breaks my heart. If it’s somebodies else, it breaks my heart. If it is more psy-ops for the American people, I am not suprised. June 16th, eh? Wonder what their poor families were told?

I am going to go outside and scream now.

Karl Rove will stoop to nothing to steal votes.

Nice card. But I had to comment on this:

ADHD Theater
For the ATTENTION-IMPAIRED

I thought some people might appreciate what Edward Hallowell, M.D. wrote a while back about what it’s like to have A.D.D.

Attention Deficit Disorder. First of all I resent the term. As far as I’m concerned most people have Attention Surplus Disorder. I mean, life being what it is, who can pay attention to anything for very long? Is it really a sign of mental health to be able to balance your checkbook, sit still in your chair, and never speak out of turn? As far as I can see, many people who don’t have ADD are charter members of the Congenitally Boring.

Okay, some of my best friends are Neurotypical, so I hope you all take that as tongue in cheek. But I think it’s fun to turn things sideways once in a while…

hahahaha, beautiful, Ms. Renee, I needed a good and cleansing laugh today, and you and Dr. Hallowell provided it. :)

Nate,

Try this: http://adhdtheater.blogspot.co…..-card.html

That one works.

Now for the critique *g*:

The little FDL logo at the bottom left should be far bigger and replace that thingie at the top left.

Also, though I always liked Jane’s mystical adage of “…bedlam is dreaming of rain…”, I got to admit I’ve never quite understood what it meant. *g*

Might want to include it, but then some folks might think the card represents an ad for the local nuthouse. Guess I’d pass on including it. *g*

Also I would not use the acronym FDL at all. It is fine for folks here inside, but the etheral beauty of “firedoglake” should be the only name used.

Firedoglake is the marketing sizzle that will entice folks to come enjoy the steak!

On Cspan III I saw a great hearing with Sen. Dorgan, Durbin, ect. on Halliburton cooruption in Iraq. That is where the thing about the secret clause they inserted into the so-called release of medical records for an award…
sleazy little rodents aren’t they????

Nate,

Not sure why… It’s working for me. It’s just a link to a hosted JPG file. A picture.

Btw, the problem with the original link was “Access Denied”.

The reason you can get there, but we can’t, is simply that you have access as the creator.

Glad you enjoyed it, Angie. I was just saying that after working on blog templates for a long time, and before that, doing transcription, I have been feeling a need for some “mental sorbet”.

Some of that can be found here

http://www.cuteoverload.com
http://www.catsinsinks.com

mrstrailerco @
28

Thanks for the post Matt. I live in Michigan, where the Repub nominee for gov is Dick DeVos, the Amway guy. But what he also is, is the brother-in-law of Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater USA. He’s making boatloads of money off this war. And they also got paid for security in NOLA post Katrina. These people make me sick.

Yeah, I wrote about his connections to Erik Prince (via Betsy, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party at IraqforSale.org).

I do not live in Michigan. Is Granholm making his ties to war profiteers an issue? I would not believe it if she was not.

Headline: GOP Gov Candidate Family Profits from Iraq War

mrstrailerco @ 28

Thanks for the post Matt. I live in Michigan, where the Repub nominee for gov is Dick DeVos, the Amway guy. But what he also is, is the brother-in-law of Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater USA. He’s making boatloads of money off this war. And they also got paid for security in NOLA post Katrina. These people make me sick.

Side issue, maybe related. Dick DeVos or his brother (?) is a major player in Ideasphere Inc. A venture capital group that within the last couple of years bought TwinLab and Metabolife via banruptsy on the cheap (vitamins and nutraceuticals). Any contracts to sell their stuff to “Iraq” via the U.S. government?

thanks again matt and the FDL folks for keeping up on this issue and helping make everyone aware of its import and impact… we fight on together. robert

robert greenwald @ 79

thanks again matt and the FDL folks for keeping up on this issue and helping make everyone aware of its import and impact… we fight on together. robert

thank you, Robert. together we will prevail.