Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
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Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated at a political rally in Rawalpindi.
The Sun reports:
FORMER Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a gun and bomb attack.
At least 20 people were killed when the bomber struck after opposition leader Mrs Bhutto addressed a political rally, witnesses said.
It has been reported that Mrs Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the bomber blew himself up.
Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General hospital, said Mrs Bhutto died at 6.16pm Pakistani time (1.16pm GMT)
Babar Awan, Bhutto’s lawyer, said: “The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred.”
A witness at the scene of the attack said he heard two shots moments before the blast.
“As party leaders, including Bhutto, started coming out a man tried to go close to them and then he fired some shots and blew himself up,” said a police officer, at the scene.
More Here
The Raw Story is currently working on a number of related articles Here
From NBC News:
Benazir Bhutto's last interview with NBC News - shortly after her return to Pakistan and after an earlier assassination attempt:
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Human Causes for Global Warming
This is nothing new!
Why wasn't more done sooner?
(I actually remember this from grade school.)
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Chris Dodd A True American Hero!
So where were the other Dem. Candidates?
None of the other Democrats running for President were present for this hearing.
Further Research:
Fact sheet for The Dodd-Feingold amendment.
Official Chris Dodd Congressional website.
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Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
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Friday, December 14, 2007
Impeach Cheney
But don't stop there!
Congressman Robert Wexler's web site: WexlerWantsHearings.com
The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.
From The Raw Story:
As the House Judiciary Committee continues to refuse any action on proposals to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, three of that panel's members tried to take their case to influential op-ed pages of the nation's largest newspapers.
They were turned down by every one -- including the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald -- so now one of the lawmakers has taken his campaign to the Internet.
......
"The truth is the mainstream media have no interest in this issue," Wexler said Friday.
"They have bought into the notion that impeachment hearings are outside the bounds of what the congress ought to be doing," the six-term Congressman elaborated during a conference call Friday.
......
"People are just afraid that we would just be putting the shoe on the other foot and just doing ... what the Republicans did to Bill Clinton," Wexler told the conference call, which was organized by Democrats.com.
The "kangaroo court" Republicans used to impeach Clinton, on grounds that he lied about his liaison with an intern, cannot become the precedent by which the constitutional tool is judged, Wexler said.
Although Bush and Cheney will be leaving the White House for good in 13 months, Wexler said impeachment hearings were necessary because of the need to ferret out possible criminality in the administration.
"We have to follow the evidence where it leads," he said. "We have an obligation to do it, and to do it as thoroughly as possible."
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
I've Been Watching TV
...and I'm about to pop an aneurysm! The mind control and the propaganda is everywhere across the dial.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
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Thursday, December 06, 2007
The Joys of Propaganda
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Surprise Ending
UPDATE: Davis wants a money bomb....
Better get to it because the other money bomber is kicking ass and taking names....
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Be Careful What You Sign!
With the cancer petition on the top of the clip board, a rubber band was placed over the petitions just above the signature boxes. By doing this the body of the petitions below the cancer one were hidden from the signers. The petition takers then gave misleading information about these hidden petitions and managed to get people to sign them without reading them.
From the No More Dirty Tricks website:
As you know, California Counts -- a cabal of right-wing political operatives linked to Rudy Giuliani -- are working hard to steal the White House (again) in 2008. They want to fool California voters into changing the rules so Giuliani -- or some other regressive Republican presidential nominee -- can rob at least 20 Electoral College votes from California.If you come across this tactic being used here in California please report it to the Courage Campaign at http://www.couragecampaign.org/sneaky where it will be passed on to Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Debra has promised to take action on the matter if she receives enough complaints.
When Steven Attewell, an eagle-eyed member of the blog Daily Kos, alerted Courage Campaign staffer Erik Love that California Counts petition-gatherers at UC Santa Barbara were gathering signatures to help "children with cancer," he headed out to investigate. And, sure enough, Erik noticed that "children with cancer" was just a sneaky tactic to get people to sign the so-called "Electoral College Reform Initiative" -- what we call the dirty trick initiative. Erik and a Courage Campaign film crew caught these sneaky tactics. [Video Above ]
More on the Electoral College Reform Initiative
A special thank you to Z for finding the video and providing the links.
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Monday, November 26, 2007
Parallel Universe
In 1960 Bell Labs built a giant radio telescope in Holmdel, New Jersey as part of the Echo Satellite system. The echo Satellites where large metallic balloons used as reflectors for radio waves to send transmissions over wide areas. Obsoleted by the Telstar satellite in 1962 the telescope caught the eyes of Bell Lab Radio Astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
As soon as they began to use the telescope they became aware of an annoying background signal similar to static on a radio. Consisting of a uniform microwave signal coming from all directions it was at first assumed it was an artifact of the telescope itself. Although it didn’t interfere with the Echo program, they needed to get rid of it make the types of observations they were planning.
After four years of studies ruling out possible sources they reached out to Robert Dicke at Princeton University. Dicke was pursuing the Big Bang theory and postulated that if there had been a Big Bang the residue would now be in the form of a low level background radiation throughout the universe.
At first they discounted the theory that the noise they were dealing with was in fact the background radiation postulated by Dicke. In fact others during the 1950s had also observed this radiation but didn’t know what it was. However by the mid 1970s, based on the work of Penzias, Wilson and Dicke as well as earlier work by Edwin Hubble, the Big Bang Theory had become the standard model. Penzias and Wilson received the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics.
The next step in mapping this Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) was carried out with the use of NASA’s COBE satellite by US scientists John C Mather – senior astrophysicist at the US Space Agency and George F Smoot – University of California, Berkley physics professor. Although the resolution was fairly low, they were able to produce the first precise measurements of the CMB. The pair was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for their research.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill physics Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton has a different interpretation. She is convinced that this void, found in the constellation Eridanus, is in fact the imprint of another universe beyond our own.
Should her theory of Entangled Universes prove correct, it would bring new support to the string theory as well as other debates central to the science of astrophysics. Her theory is such that one is able to make testable predictions which can either prove or dispute the theory. Her model predicts two such voids, one in each of the North and South hemispheres of the universe. The currently discovered void is in the Northern hemisphere. Her team expects further observations by WMAP as well as other cutting-edge experiments will prove her correct, leading to a whole new way of cosmological thinking.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Final Inspection Passed
Occupancy Permit Issued
Saturday, November 24, 2007
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Friday, November 23, 2007
Under Construction
The Lair is in the process of being moved from the old Blogger template to the new format. Some features will be temporarily missing as the side-bar code is transfered.
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Thursday, November 22, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
An Administration of Lies
John Dean discusses the implications of Scott's revelations.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Democrats in Action
Censure Dianne Feinstein! Little kerfuffle in an anonymous meeting room, and pft. Then begins the name-calling, finger-pointing and the ever-popular whining.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Dennis Kucinich is the Democratic Front Runner
Why don't we know that?
Hillary scored a paltry 5th place with only 4.21% - behind John Edwards (15.6%) and Barack Obama (13.86%).
Yet every day we hear nothing but Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, from the main stream media. Once again the press has already decided who the candidate will be and is totally ignoring the actual front runners. Anyone remember Pravda?
Grass Roots poll results.
Dennis For President Website
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Saturday Night Music Videos
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Friday, November 16, 2007
Having Privacy Issues?
Redefine it!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
DU Storm
When my friend and fellow blogger Homeyra sent me this photo my first thought was that this was a dramatic photo of a natural event which occurs frequently in desert areas such as Iraq.
Then I took a trip to neufneuf where Agent 99 reminded me of something.
For the last 4 1/2 years, as well as during the Gulf War, we have been disposing of tons of radioactive waste in the form of Depleted Uranium all over the Iraqi countryside. Pulverized into minute particles upon penetrating tanks and the like, it is easily inhaled but remains in the lungs causing damage over time.
Also blamed for birth defects and other abnormalities, traces of it have been found on the wind as far away as Europe and other areas surrounding the Mideast.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Japan's Kaguya Moon Probe
The Japan Space Agency's (JAXA) Kaguya moon probe has begun its mission and is returning High Definition photos such as the one above. It has also released two probes, one of which will eventually land on the moon.
On a mission to map the moon using High Definition photos the satellite is currently going through its initial tests prior to starting the actual mission.
This photo clearly shows how finite our world is and gives meaning to the causes to save its environment and its people.
More can be found at the Kaguya website.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
They're Killing The Bay
Originally it was reported that only 140 gallons of oil had been spilled. It wasn't until the next morning that the true extent of the 58,000 gallon spill was realized.
The Coast Guard response was far from stellar. They have been backpedaling on various aspects of their response or lack of it.
Volunteers work to help save the wildlife.
UPDATE 11/14/07:
The pilot of the freighter that struck the Bay Bridge last week, fouling the bay with 58,000 gallons of fuel, told federal investigators that the accident occurred after the ship's radar failed and the captain of the vessel made a monumental error, a lawyer for the pilot said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger postponed the start of the bay's normally vibrant fishing season, while cleanup crews made significant headway on the worst-hit beaches, and politicians and environmentalists braced for a flurry of state and federal hearings into the spill.
The most startling of the day's revelations came from attorney John Meadows, who represents John Cota, the pilot of the Cosco Busan last Wednesday. Cota said the Chinese captain of the ship guided the freighter toward a bridge tower in the fog, the attorney said.
Meadows said his client told him and investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into the crash, that the Cosco Busan's radar "conked out" twice - first before departure and again as the ship was near the lighthouse on Yerba Buena Island.
More Here - includes a time line of the incident plus numerous links to orginaztions involved in the cleanup.
My question is why this 900 foot long ship was allowed to navigate in the fog with 300 feet visibility and a faulty radar?UPDATE #2 11/14/07:
The Coast Guard and the owners of the Cosco Busan freighter apparently botched the drug and alcohol testing of the crew of the ship after it hit the Bay Bridge last week and dumped 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay, Coast Guard officials told The Chronicle this morning.The agency informed lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday that ship's operators had failed to test all the crew members for drugs within the 32 hours required by federal law. In fact, some of the crew was not tested until 53 hours after the incident last week.
The immediate testing of the crew after an incident is the responsibility of the owner and operator of the vessel, but the Coast Guard is responsible for making sure the testing rules are strictly followed.
The Coast guard, for whom I have always held the highest regards, is beginning to look like FEMA:
There also seems to be a huge discrepancy in the amount of oil recovered so far:"It certainly shows the operator missed a crucial detail," Lt. Commander Tony Guild, who oversees inspections, investigations and analysts for the Coast Guard's western region.
Guild said a Coast Guard casualty investigator only learned on Friday that the drug testing of the crew had not taken place from an agent for the ship's owner, Regal Stone Ltd.
"(The agent) said, 'We only tested the master for drugs, so the Coast Guard investigating officer said, 'You need to test everybody,' " Guild said.
Guild said the Coast Guard investigator moved quickly to order the drug tests, but acknowledged the agency bore some responsibility for failing to get the tests done on time.
"I think we could have done a better job of that," he said.
More than 2,745 gallons of oil has been collected from the water so far, the command center for the spill reported this morning. Another 580 gallons have been dispersed naturally, and an estimated 4,060 gallons of oil has evaporated.The total has been revised in recent days from a total of 20,546 reported recovered from the water last week, as emergency officials were able to more accurately gauge the precision of what was water, what was oil, and what was actually pulled up from the bay.
So they were reporting over 20,000 gallons last week but now it is only a little over 7,000 gallons including that which was "dispersed naturally" - about 1/3 of what was originally reported.
What exactly is "dispersed naturally" - was that the oil stuck on the dead birds?
Monday, November 12, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
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Friday, November 09, 2007
Who's Watching You?
Used any internet messenger service?
Browsed the internet?
Used a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) phone service?
Do you know who is recording all of it?
Raw Story has this report on Mark Klein's lobbying efforts to prevent immunity for the telecoms which broke the FISA laws.
The Intelligence Committee bill faces substantial roadblocks because of its immunity provision. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has placed a customary "hold" on the bill, and he says he would filibuster if a bill that grants immunity comes up for a vote. Dodd, a dark-horse presidential candidates, has been joined by the Senate's more prominent White House contenders like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Activists credit pressure aimed a lawmakers from whistleblowers and others alleging abuse from telecom companies.
"That makes me feel like maybe we've had a teeny bit of impact," said Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee who has alleged the company has allowed the National Security Agency to monitor all Web traffic on the company's network. Klein's allegations and internal documents he obtained form the basis of a key lawsuit against AT&T brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of AT&T customers.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
AMERICA
Land of Contrasts
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
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Friday, November 02, 2007
CONTROL Emergency Requisition #70211a
CONTROL has issued Emergency Requisition #70211a for the immediate delivery of one Ice Cream Sundae to Agent 99.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
FUGITIVE
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today fearing arrest over charges of "ordering and authorizing" torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, unconfirmed reports coming from Paris suggest.
U.S. embassy officials whisked Rumsfeld away yesterday from a breakfast meeting in Paris organized by the Foreign Policy magazine after human rights groups filed a criminal complaint against the man who spearheaded President George W. Bush's "war on terror" for six years.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
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Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Faux News Reports
Fox News continues the drumbeat of terror, associating the fires in southern California with al Qaeda. Being in lockstep with the Bush administration they want us to be afraid - very afraid. This after all is the way they have controlled us over the last six years.
One problem though - the document they are using to stir up this new terror fear is four years old and was dismissed as unsupported when it was first released.
Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow set the record straight:
Thanks for the glimpse at reality Keith and Rachel!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007
Agent 99 thinks this is of utmost importance.
I agree and think it is the first great thing to come out of this Congress.
What is ironic is that it is from a Republican - not the Democrats who we elected nearly 1 year ago to enact such changes.
American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 (Introduced in House)
HR 3835 IH
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3835
To restore the Constitution's checks and balances and protections against government abuses as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 15, 2007
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and
Select Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To restore the Constitution's checks and balances and protections against government
abuses as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
(1) Unchecked power by any branch leads to oppressive transgressions on
individual freedoms and ill-considered government policies.
(2) The Founding Fathers enshrined checks and balances in the Constitution
to protect against government abuses to derail ill-conceived domestic or
foreign endeavors.
(3) Checks and balances make the Nation safer by preventing abuses that
would be exploited by Al Qaeda to boost terrorist recruitment, would deter
foreign governments from cooperating in defeating international terrorism,
and would make the American people reluctant to support aggressive
counter-terrorism measures.
(4) Checks and balances have withered since 9/11 and an alarming
concentration of power has been accumulated in the presidency based on
hyper-inflated fears of international terrorism and a desire permanently to
alter the equilibrium of power between the three branches of government.
(5) The unprecedented constitutional powers claimed by the President since
9/11 subtracted national security and have been asserted for non-national
security purposes.
(6) Experience demonstrates that global terrorism can be thwarted,
deterred, and punished through muscular application of law enforcement
measures and prosecutions in Federal civilian courts in lieu of military
commissions or military law.
(7) Congressional oversight of the executive branch is necessary to prevent
secret government, which undermines self-government and invites
lawlessness and maladministration.
(8) The post-9/11 challenges to checks and balances are unique in the
Nation's history because the war on global terrorism has no discernable
end.
(b) Purpose-The American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 is intended to restore the
Constitution's checks and balances and protections against government abuses as
envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
SEC. 3. MILITARY COMMISSIONS; ENEMY COMBATANTS; HABEAS CORPUS.
(a) The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is hereby repealed.
(b) The President is authorized to establish military commissions for the trial of
War crimes only in places of active hostilities against the
immediate trial is necessary to preserve fresh evidence or to prevent local
anarchy.
(c) The President is prohibited from detaining any individual indefinitely as an
unlawful enemy combatant absent proof by substantial evidence that the
individual has directly engaged in active hostilities against the
provided that no
citizen shall be detained as an unlawful enemy combatant.
(d) Any individual detained as an enemy combatant by the
entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus under section 2241 of title 28,
No civilian or military tribunal of the
defendant by torture or coercion.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). The President's constitutional power to
gather foreign intelligence is subordinated to this provision.
SEC. 6. PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS.
declaratory judgment action in an appropriate Federal district court to challenge
the constitutionality of a presidential signing statement that declares the
President's intent to disregard provisions of a bill he has signed into law because he believes
they are unconstitutional.
person abroad based solely on the President's belief that the subject of the
kidnapping, imprisonment, or torture is a criminal or enemy combatant; provided
that kidnapping shall be permitted if undertaken with the intent of bringing the
kidnapped person for prosecution or interrogation to gather intelligence before a
tribunal that meets international standards of fairness and due process. A knowing
violation of this section shall be punished as a felony punishable by a fine or
imprisonment of up to 2 years.
information received from the executive branch or Congress unless the publication
would cause direct, immediate, and irreparable harm to the national security of the
DESIGNATIONS.
or any other member of the executive branch to designate an individual or
organization with a
terrorist organization for purposes of the criminal law or otherwise imposing
criminal or civil sanctions.