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Greenspan Embarrassment Tour
09.17.07 — 9:51PMBy Josh Marshall

Yep, I was wondering the same thing. Alan Greenspan’s claim that Saddam was going to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz breaks down about 30 seconds after you look at a map. Why is no one else pointing this out?
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He’s just one of the rats leaving a sinking ship, but trying to rationalize their involvement and innocence.

All this Bush stuff was ’sold’ to various people based on their interests. Apparently they sold the war to Greenspan based on an economics idea. Of course, being a solid Bushie, he bought it hook line and sinker.

And, he is historically very involved because of the way he manipulated interest rates in 2000, causing the .com bubble burst and trying to sink the Gore campaign hopes.

Greenspan was on the front lines.

woid @ 85

No, I don’t believe 9/11 was an inside job.

With all due respect — Why not?

Oh no, watch out, here come the cops with tasers….

Oh no Mr. Bill.

We had dark clouds and bad traffic today in KC . . . not weather related, but politics:

Vice President Dick Cheney came to Kansas City today to raise campaign cash for 6th District Congressman Sam Graves.

Cheney lavished praise on the four-term congressman, but he spent the bulk of his 24-minute address applauding President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq.

It was, he said, exactly the right move at the right time.

[snip]

Cheney spoke to about 230 Republicans with Graves at his side at the Downtown Marriott. Aides to the congressman said about $275,000 was raised for his 2008 re-election battle against likely Democratic opponent Kay Barnes. The total raised is less than the $340,000 Cheney generated the last time he stumped for Graves, in 2004.

I guess a visit from Dick Cheney doesn’t carry the cachet it used to, even in GOP circles.

And I’ll bet Kay Barnes just loves being able to tie Graves closer and closer to Bush’s War. “C’mon back again, Dick — we’d love to see you campaign with Sam some more!”

Peterr- happy to hear you’re from KC. We are having a big progressive happy hour this Wed at Baja 600. Come on by and have a cocktail or two!

America’s long-term goal, the survival of our democracy, its economic prosperity and solvency are threatened by elements in our own culture whose “self-interest,” is protected and flourishes at the expense of the governed, and for some arguably, the world. This identified dysfunction, where essential energy needs are based on short-term ill logic, combined with a lack of political will and an outright failure to plan long term is no mistake. It has been orchestrated and guaranteed by proactive measures utilized by petroleum interests and its bedfellows at all levels of government and the market, protecting entrenched political / financial interests.
Under the illusion of liberation, for the Iraqi people and a “War on Terror,” against Osama and his network, the Bush administration and congress have deceived America. The administration aided by Congress leveraged the events of 9/11/2001, and subsequent National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to its political advantage by embarking on a dangerous course within America and in an area of the world, where unintended consequences are the norm. The lack of fact and historical context to the War in Iraq, a gigantic void in our past and current decision making process, is evidenced, if by nothing else, the decades long, senseless loss of life in Iraq, which continues to date, under occupation.
One fact is undeniable. An organism’s inability to adapt to a changing environment is extinction. America’s failure to aggressively develop clean and efficient alternative energy sources in a growing world energy market over a thirty year period is displaying such inability to adapt. The demonstrably ill effects of two prior oil embargoes, recent history, on America has been eviscerated from our collective memory and the “logic of reason,” replaced by instilments, so pleasurable and numerous given our finite affluence, that we are incapable of grasping the inevitable consequences of our actions. However, in spite of conscience attempts by our political leaders to digress and manipulate issues, for their political livelihood, reality provides simple truths. Americans are yearning for responsible local, state and national leadership addressing real issues and taking reasoned measures to address those issues.
The “Iraq War” is symptomatic of America’s addiction to oil. Seldom is the relationship between oil and terror discussed, nor are the histories of oil rich countries and American and British involvement really brought to light in the mainstream media. Also ignored are the suppressed national movements of oil rich countries attempting to exercise self-determination and control of their natural resources. Movements, not unlike ours here in America, squashed and crushed by corporate oil’s considerable clout via US and British military operations and covert actions, again manifest in Iraq.
Today the petroleum industry prospers, by shifting the cost of the “Iraq War,” what is essentially a start up cost, to the American taxpayer on money borrowed from foreign interests. This reality, when viewed against a backdrop of forever increasing energy costs ($80.00 per barrel oil) in addition to the loss of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and non-combatants in an untenable “Iraqi War,” while the perpetrators of 911 have not been eradicated is absurd.
Energy is the most important issue facing our democracy. However, instead of fostering corporate oil off its “cash cow” to “begrudgingly” assist in vital and necessary “energy adaptations,” consistent with natural selection, the administration overstated the threat to America’s national security. Under the paternalistic tone of a “War on Terror,” started the “Iraq War,” on intentionally, misleading, cherry-picked intelligence is “protecting” the interests of the petroleum industry. Herein lies, t(r)eason when in the interest of political expediency “Reason,” is replaced by the servile prejudices of policy makers, using the “executive powers” of the presidency of the United States and our military, not for the benefit of American society and the general welfare of the governed, but rather to guarantee corporate oil’s stranglehold on America and profit, while enabling America’s oil addiction,” Iraq’s occupation and subjugation of its right to self determination, to western interests is inconsistent with the American values.
Self-sacrifice for family and friend in a legitimate “War on Terror” is honorable and a necessary cost in protecting god given “reason” and freedoms, secured by the rule of law, from the ravages of misguided religious and secular intolerances, absolutisms and greed, both foreign and domestic. However, for this American, it is impossible to justify and equate that same cost, to secure a foreign barrel of Iraqi, Al-Anbar Province extracted, “Executive Oil.”
If there be no greater sacrifice than to lay down one’s life in defense of freedom so others may live; then it stands that the intentional manipulation of “reason” and the ‘systematic instillation; of “falsehoods,” leading to war triggering unwarranted death and destruction constitutes a high crime. In moments of crisis the rule of law provided guidance. The wisdom of our founders provides a path less taken. America has always reaffirmed the values we hold dear, like, “…. liberty and justice for all.” Given its plain and ordinary meaning, not some twisted legalese designed to deny someone protection from government policies, good or bad? Our founders laid the foundation for America’s solution to our devastated credibility and moral authority in this world. It is a demonstrative corrective measure. Joe Wilson’s OPED, “What I Did Not Find In Africa,” http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm, posed a question, if left unanswered, is unacceptable! “The act of war is the last option of a democracy, taken when there is a grave threat to our national security. More than 200 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq already. We have a duty to ensure that their sacrifice came for the right reasons?”
Well knowing what we know now about “the intentional fabrication of intelligence,” can this be justified taking a hard look at all the “facts” and an undistorted view of history!! Now, to hide behind national security and executive privilege to obstruct judicial review and constitutional accountability is over the top and a threat to liberty everywhere, for where the rule of law ends, tyranny begins.

Natural Selection, Corporate Treason, and “Executive Oil”

Side note: Footnote 5., pgs, 4-5 of Justice Kennedy’s recent NSA decision is scary. Seems in a footnote the Judge identifies a “constitutional violation,” the executive’s refusal to permit the judge and or law clerk with proper security clearance to view “certain” documents in a fact based inquiry. This is blatant judicial obstruction. A judge cannot determine the justification for withholding a FOI request of Government, if the evidence to make that determination is withheld in violation of BASIC constitutional principles. JUST LIKE SILENT GERMANS, NOBODY SAYS ANYTHING!!!! Now we find that Bush wants a lasting occupation in Iraq, Talk, about moving goalposts, we are now on a different planet.

As President Kennedy presented irrefutable evidence of nuclear missiles installation in Cuba, Powell’s presentation concerning Iraqi WMD before the UN had the same effect on me. As Mrs. Powell later stated on the Larry King Show, “They used my husband.” What more need to be said. Are there sufficient facts to meet a threshold, “probable cause” to initiate an investigation concerning allegations of high crimes and misdemeanors by the executive. At this point I wish we where all dealing with Clinton’s lying under oath about a BJ in the oval office. It terms of severity and scope, it is a nat on a bull’s arse, where Bush has obliterated the bull’s arse. There is no comparison. This administration is criminal. BTW, kill Bin Lauden………..

Hiya PW:

I just wrote a whole blog post about this story:

Iraq orders expulsion of US security firm

· Decision taken after killing of Iraqi civilians
· Rice tries to overturn ban on

Blackwater guards

This is part of what I wrote:

If we (the United States) turned everything over to the Iraqi government and we’re so proud of how democratic things are becoming there, then why are we (Condi Rice) trying to overturn their rules? We have nearly run out of soldiers and marines to send to Iraq, but the private mercenaries are not as reliable since they are not subject to any laws or rules. The article in the Guardian points out that:

The dilemma for the US government is that it needs private security firms but a reversal of the Iraqi government decision would undermine the credibility of assertions by the Bush administration that the Iraqi government is autonomous.

One word to describe the entire situation, GROSS!!! At what poit will the US guns turn on the Iraqi nationalist who realize they are gettingn screwed by the saME interests that screw the American population!!!!!

Now in Reality Land, a developed country’s State Dept should have advised such a long time resident that it was revoking her residency and work permits and allowed her to reapply for them from outside the US. That might allow her to a) fight the decision openly, before being tarred as if she were a criminal, and b) take care of her job, the cat, the car at the airport lot, her apt or home lease, her students, her fiance, and oh, pay her last utility bills before having her credit impaired for not doing so.

In BushWorld, our State Dept says nussink. Our dangerous, thirty-something musicologist from Oxford and Berkeley attempts to re-enter after a working visit to her home country, the UK, and armed Customs and Immigration agents interrogate her for hours. Needlessly. They knew nothing – other than about the State Dept’s decision not to renew her permits. They wanted no information from her. She had none to give. She’s not allowed to tell her fiance, returning from the UK with her and waiting for her elsewhere in the SFO airport. They accuse her of being “Hispanic” when she’s Welsh and Sikh, and throw sand in her face about not being able to speak, among other languages, Welsh (she was born in Wales). She is humiliatingly and frighteningly ejected not because she’s dangerous, but because our SFO airport guards get a kick out of doing it that way. She’s been fighting her summary ejection for a year, to no avail.

In Reality Land, the Customs agents would be demoted or fired and sent back to the rejected-for-guard-duty-at-San-Quentin hiring pool from which they were chosen. She would marry her US national fiance and re-enter the US as of right and with an apology from State.

In BushWorld, the guards keep their jobs and keep treating all entering foreigners as if each worked for Al Qaeda, and never themselves have to pass an English as a foreign language test or a criminal background check. In BushWorld, the State Dept never has to check its information to see how faulty it may be, and like George, Tasers people instead of apologizing for its mistakes.

It is possible, of course, that this was not a mistake and our musicologist has been sending coded messages to Al Qaeda in the notes of a purportedly newly discovered Elgar march. But since these bozos work for George, the odds of that are not good. In a world in which George never hires anyone more talented than himself, we are doomed to incompetence and adolescent vindictiveness. How many more days?

The Democrats have failed miserably and utterly, to respond or behave,
with any evident understanding of the enormity and consequence of these times. As we apparently drift ever closer towards world-wide conflagration, their concerns appear petty, parochial and geared to a calculus of personal or partisan gain. Their response, to date, is not merely insufficient – it is cowardly, disastrous and deadly. And yet, they fully expect to be rewarded for their ‘efforts.’

great post. triple ding on that. What happened to that student right in front of Kerry is a good example of how the ruling class, or whatever you may call them in your terminology, feel that the commoners can be treated.

and Pheonix Woman.. that link sure looks like a comprehensive debunking site… they’ve done a lot of work, there was a lot of back and forth.

And Cozumel – lone wolfs don’t brew up weaponized anthrax, nor does Fort Detrick ‘just lose it’ okay?

So where did it come from? Did a Black Helicopter drop it? Maybe you beleive Khalid Sheik Mohammed did it… or did he forget to include that in his confession?

Although I dislike the term, appeasement now seems to be quite accurate and appropriate in describing the response of the Democratic leadership to the disastrous ‘war on terror’ polity of the Bush administration. The unwillingness of the ‘opposition’ party to actually ‘oppose’manifest and accelerating failure is, simply, beyond belief.

The Democrats often counter, when pressed, that they ‘know things’ we citizens do not; therefore we must ‘trust’ their judgment. That attitude is not beyond belief, it is merely despicable.

Decisions of Life and Death, in a nation which pretends ‘democracy’ CANNOT be left to an elite group, hiding behind ‘national security’ or ’secrecy,’ many of whom are darlings of wealth and immune, for the most part, to the consequences of their decisions.

For our nation, this is an era of infamy and shame, the bulk of which rests squarely on the shoulders of the ruling class, while the brutal, often lethal cost is borne by an ill-served and increasingly desperate citizenry. A citizenry who cannot trust that the small ‘participation’ allowed them, the ‘right’ to vote, is either meaningful or even honestly reported.

Coupled to a complacent and uninterested media, the behavior of the ‘deciders’ is neither open to careful scrutiny nor subject to meaningful debate. All is now sham, pretense, arrogance and deceit.

Our nation, at the most profound crossroads of its history, is out of control and a danger to the world itself, a juggernaut of hubris and self-deluding myth.

Following the President’s mindless reiterations and appeals to what may only be termed ‘magical thinking’ in his ’speech’ of September 13, 2007, the Democrats, with few exceptions, most notably the too-short response of John Edwards, simply made little yipping sounds. The Democrats have failed miserably and utterly, to respond or behave,
with any evident understanding of the enormity and consequence of these times. As we apparently drift ever closer towards world-wide conflagration, their concerns appear petty, parochial and geared to a calculus of personal or partisan gain. Their response, to date, is not merely insufficient – it is cowardly, disastrous and deadly. And yet, they fully expect to be rewarded for their ‘efforts.’

If any on the Republican side possess even the minutest smidgen of conscience then it is NOT evident. If ever a political party deserved banishment to the dustbin of oblivion, it is today’s GOP. ‘The party of Lincoln’ has embraced the essential elements of fascism and appears to relish the prospect of ‘endless war.’ The party’s leaders have eagerly adopted an ‘end-time’ thesis of a vengeful Armageddon, which is now being peddled abroad, in certain regions, with gleeful anticipation.
Mounting violence, uncounted deaths, and increasingly widespread suffering apparently trouble their avarice and the alleged ‘purity’ of their Heavenly Guidance, not at all.

The official policies of both political parties essential embrace the ‘divine right’ of money.

There is no philosophy of governance, simply a holistic embrasure of greed, wrapped in appeals to blind patriotism and a brutal, brutalizing perversion of Christianity, the hypocrisy of which is on daily display.

Were our nation not staggering drunk on power we might even be ashamed. And well we should be, for the least-evolved and most-vile amongst us hold sway and swagger in the conceit that none may gainsay them.

At horrific cost they shall be proved wrong.
The soul of our very humanity, as well as our future is on the line.

Criminal conspiracies exist on every level of society — except at the very top (so it goes).

If you think criminal conspiracies exist at the very top level of society, you’re insane.

You need to be “medicated.”

This tin-foil-hat-meme is antiquated in light of the events of the last 6.5 years.