November 22, 2005
Today is the 42nd anniversary of the coup d'etat against President Kennedy. Some extra links have been added to the oilempire Kennedy page to spur honest examination of what is possibly the most important pivot point for understanding the rise of the permanent warfare national security state.
October 28, 2005
"Scooter" Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice-President Cheney, has been indicted.
Bush has withdrawn the nomination of his attorney Harriet Miers to have a life term as a "Just Us" on the US Supreme Court. Here's a few excellent commentaries on the perverse quality of Dubya's latest appointment.
http://polunatic.blogspot.com/2005/10/bushs-stay-out-of-jail-card.html
Monday, October 03, 2005
Bush's Stay out of Jail Cardhttp://www.thesimon.com/magazine/articles/canon_fodder/0975_harriet_miers_all_hail_caligula_horse.html
Harriet Miers: All Hail Caligula's Horse
What better way to avoid prison for high crimes and misdemeanors and conspiracy than by appoint your own lawyer to the Supreme Court?
By Matt Hutaff Oct 4, 2005http://www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2005/10/caligulas-horse-and-emperor-dubyas.htm
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Caligula's Horse and the Emperor Dubya's Supreme Court
October 25, 2005
Please help a small, important publisher fight to stop a harassment lawsuit that threatens to silence their voice. Trine Day, an Oregon book publishing company, is being sued for publishing "Expendable Elite" by Vietnam War veteran Lt Col. "Dangerous Dan" Daniel Marvin. Details (and a way to contribute) are at http://www.expendableelite.com/lawsuit1/ A good article about this is in the Willamette Week (newspaper in Portland, Oregon) at http://willametteweek.com/story.php?story=6867
The audio page has been updated - several new links to interesting speeches for your listening pleasure and informational entertainment. Several additional links will be added shortly.
Waiting for the indictments to be unveiled ... let's all hope the Rovians don't have something go "boom" to distract from their legal plight.
Rosa Parks has died (of old age). It was interesting to see some of the media note that she was an activist in the NAACP and had been to trainings at the Highlander Center (famous social justice retreat in Tennessee) prior to her test case of the segregation laws. The claim that she was merely tired when she refused to give up her seat on the bus obscures her involvement in the civil rights movement prior to that incident -- one of the most famous events in modern American history. It is analogous to the historical whitewash of Martin Luther King as merely a civil rights activist, when in reality his analysis included a deep understanding of economic injustice, globalization, and militarism. When he was killed, he was trying to unite the civil rights, economic justice and the anti-Vietnam war movements -- an unacceptable threat to the Powers That Be.
The "Questions Questions" website has a new analysis of disinformation flooding the 9/11 truth movement at http://www.questionsquestions.net/WTC/review.html Questions Questions has done very good work debunking the "no plane" hoaxes (WTC and Pentagon), although they are not interested in the motivation of Peak Oil for allowing / enabling 9/11 to happen. The "Critical Review" essay has excellent insight into how the 9/11 truth movement was set up by some of the fake claims, and suggestions for how to avoid the trap. The first part of the essay is technical and detailed, the second half is more important (focusing on conclusions and implications).
October 14, 2005
Lots of news since the last update.
On this website, there is a lot of new material posted about the Katrina disaster that is of extreme importance for understanding the Cheney plan to deal with Peak Oil. Please also read the chart of "Propaganda Patterns" about how incompetence is the excuse used by the empire to explain its behaviors on the great scandals of the day (Katrina, Peak Oil, Iraq war, stolen elections, 9/11).
The permatopia.com website has a new chart about Local, Bioregional, Global solutions to Peak Oil and climate change.
As for following the news, it is happening too fast for this website to keep track of everything. The Roberts confirmation, the appointment of Bush's personal attorney to be on the Supreme Court (useful to exxon-erate him if he is indicted), the threat of Bird Flu (make sure you have a good breathing mask, available at any hardware store), the potential indictment(s) of Karl Rove and/or other members of the regime in the Valerie Plame story, the most recent terror scare regarding the New York City subway system (which was announced within hours of a news story that Rove was going to testify again in the Plame investigation, and later admitted to be a hoax after it was used to displace the Rove story from the headlines), among other outrages. Please read here for a list of media efforts that are making honest, diligent efforts to keep currrent about these and other outrages.
Some good news: on October 28, the first statewide convention on secession from the Union (Empire) since the Civil War will take place in the State Capital building in Montpelier, Vermont. Please visit the Second Vermont Republic website for details and inspiration. Vermont was an independent republic for a few years after the Declaration of Independence (of the 13 original colonies) and the organizers of this event hope to spark serious discussions about how to peacefully separate from an empire whose political system seems broken beyond repair. There is more information here about other proposed bioregional political efforts and secessionist movements.
August 30, 2005
Bush plays music while New Orleans drowns
President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day. (AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz)
Lots of good commentaries about the catastrophe.
It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2005/08/new_orleans.html
I wish a journo would dig up info. on how real Presidents respond to disasters. It's almost irrelevant now as it's moved from disaster to catastrophe. The essential thing was to get the National Guard in there Fri. to sandbag the levees to prevent a breech. That would save the city. I'm almost speechless w/horror.
I think all Pres. Bumblekins thinks about is how Powerful he is, how he can do anything he wants. I think all he's concerned w/is how he can feel powerful/"feel like a man",...feel good. So, kill kill kill...FEMA becomes just another agency to manipulate so he can become the First American Dictator. Add to that the possibility that FEMA is so demoralized from being so financially gutted that no one can plan or even think straight, and now the politics must be prohibitive.What has this Bastard done to defend our country? Isn't this enough to convince people that they must be thrown out now???
We should conduct a poll to see how many people think, he & Rove had discussions about whether or not to do anything in advance to protect NO...and whether they decided it would be better to let it flood to wash Cindy Sheehan out of the papers altogether. Then he can return to DC & look like some hero sending in supplies to help rescue the people after the fact.
Didn't Grover Norquist say something about reducing govt. down so far that you can drown it in a bathtub?? Wonder what he has to say now??? (Bets that when Idiot-in-Chief speaks to "the nation", he'll yak about acts of God.) Every effing Repug who yaks about smaller govt. deserves to have their life destroyed by this. Divine Justice MoFo.
Posted by: jj | Aug 30, 2005 10:50:17 PM | #New Orleans will very soon need hundreds of doctors who know how to do relief work in low-tech third world environments (like a city with no electricity). Cuba has those doctors, with lots of hurricane experience and lots of knowledge about public health and disease prevention in subtropical environments. They could save lives. Think that's gonna happen in Bush's America? More proof that stupid rightwing politics kill people.
Posted by: the exile | Aug 30, 2005 11:05:36 PM | #I read the thread on the hurrricane over at Kos.
Some interesting points:
Actual captions on photos-
Black "looters hit a drug store", White people " finding bread and soda from a local grocery store." Actually, all shops should be opened by the police for people to take supplies as needed, given the magnitude of the disaster. Everything will go bad after the city is evacuated and flooded anyway.
Stupid-ass Clarence Paige had an essay on the Newshour tonight about how good it is that there isn't any more racism around in the south anymore! By the way, the main interview on the Newshour was a northern reporter from the Washington Post; I guess it's hard to find local reporters down there who aren't to embarrasing to put on TV.
Bush was actually photographed strumming a guitar today (He was trying to play "My Pet Goat"), three days after he should have been doing something about the disaster. Maybe we should just call him Nero.
At one point today, NPR's lead story was "President cuts short vacation because of emergency." Every news story is always personalized around Bush to create a cult of personality and a sense of authority. That's one reason why I won't listen to the "liberal media" like NPR anymore, and would welcome it going belly up, so we could get a few more progressive stations up and going.
This disaster will be just as damaging in human terms, and probably more costly financially than 9-11. We couldn't get 9-11 off of our screeens, and yet they are downplaying this. Less rich people have died, it's true. But more to the point, the propaganda model always accentuates the evil of others (9-11 terrorists), and the goodness of us, especially the authorities (rescue scenes all day today.)
As you watch the coverage, remember that the general underlying tenor is "the government can do no wrong."
Cindy who? Ya gotta wonder at W's luck--even if it always seems to come at the expense of others. Now 9-11 will become a big morality play about American unity (NO DISSENT ALLOWED) in the face of adversity.
Just like Vietnam, now is an excellent time to step up the terrorist bombing of innocent civilians to pacify them. Wach carefully for what falls below the radar now.
Posted by: Malooga | Aug 31, 2005 12:46:49 AM | #
Citizens for Legitimate Government
August 12, 2005
Hoax Alert from Mike Ruppert:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/080305_world_stories.shtml
[There sure is a lot of noise lately. Anything to keep people from thinking about Peak - which is looking more and more certain to arrive this fall and winter. There is also desperation in the bogus stories we're seeing because even the slightest attempt at verification leads to instant discredit (e.g., Bush-Cheney secretly indicted; Iran's nuclear program must be stopped now, while at the same time DoD intelligence discloses that Iran is 10 (not five) years away from the bomb; more fog out of London than the analytical eye can penetrate... et cetera).
Keep your eye on the ball.
The fact that Norwegian production is plummeting is extremely important. Norway has been the third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia for many years. Global decline is not just apparent, it's starting to scream. The fact that the US government is doing nothing to prepare its people for these shocks is despicable. The author here says it best, "I'd like to be able to tell you that the U.S. government is doing everything it can to prepare for the coming energy emergency...but I can't. In fact, when I think about how little prepared this country is for the changes that are about to hit us, my hands automatically clench into fists."
Mine too. - MCR]Cartoonist Ted Rall snared by "9,000 dead troops in Iraq" hoax floated by fascists
Ted Rall, an excellent editorial cartoonist, was snared by the "9,000 dead US troops in Iraq" hoax floated by the tbrnews.org website published by "The Barnes Review," a Holocaust Denial publication that works with KKK leader David Duke and praises Hitler. Barnes Review's sibling publication American Free Press has created and promoted a variety of hoaxes about 9/11 complicity - see www.oilempire.us/holocaust-denial.html for background info on these clowns. Always remember to check your sources, especially when discussing highly controversial and incendiary allegations about the illegal Cheney-Bush regime, since they seem to enjoy floating fake evidence to discredit critics of real scandals. A few minutes at tbrnews will find the link to "The Barnes Review," and one need not look too long at "Barnes" to see that their on-line bookstore is a large collection of racist hoaxes (they do include some serious historical books in the catalog, which provides them with the veneer of credibility if you don't look at their so-called revionist pages).
It is probably true that some US casualties in Iraq are not counted - the dead mercenaries (euphemistically called "contractors"), civilian employees of companies like Halliburton and the "green card" soldiers (illegal immigrants offered legal residence if they fight for Uncle Sam). But the "9,000 dead" figure is pure bullshit offered by far right neo-Nazis who simultaneously manage to discredit liberal peace activists and the Bush administration with this hoax (assuming that the hoax is not merely another Karl Rove smear campaign to use fake evidence to trash government critics).
Unfortunately, the number of Iraqi dead and wounded is not public, but is probably somewhere in the six figures (over 100,000). All life is sacred, and the all of the deaths in this one-sided war are pointless murder. True justice in the wake of the Iraqi occupation would require the US to compensate the Iraqi people for their suffering under our bombing campaigns, and a shift in US foreign policies so that future atrocities were no longer required by our economic system.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001013511
Ted Rall Issues 'Retraction' of Iraq Cartoon
By E&P Staff
Published: August 11, 2005 2:50 PM ET
NEW YORK Ted Rall has offered a "retraction" of his Aug. 4 cartoon that cited a 9,000 figure -- rather than the commonly used 1,800-plus -- for the number of American soldiers who have died in the Iraq war.
On Tuesday, Rall wrote in his blog: "I read a story that came off as possible, sourced it using previously reliable informants, and ended up doing a cartoon that I wouldn't have done had I known then what I know now. So this is a retraction of [the] cartoon. Did 9,000-plus soldiers get killed in Iraq? Maybe, maybe not. But as a cartoonist friend of mine points out: The relatives of those hidden 7,000 dead troops sure would be raising hell if the Pentagon were trying to hide them. ... The battery in my BS detector must have been running low last week."
The cartoon with the 9,000 figure (E&P Online, Aug. 8) showed a soldier -- as he helps carry a badly wounded man to a helicopter -- saying: "You don't count as war dead unless you die IN Iraq. If you die in Germany, or even on the plane leaving Baghdad, you're not counted." In the cartoon's final panel, the soldier urges the wounded man to try to stay alive at least until the helicopter takes off.
One of the sources used by Rall had been TBRnews.org.
Rall -- whose work is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate -- also wrote in his blog entry: "I draw more than 200 cartoons a year, but this has never happened to me before: commenting on a story that turns out to be, if not bogus, at least inadequately sourced. Of course, an editorial cartoonist is always commenting on other people's reporting, so he or she is always vulnerable to the possibility of being taken in... . Consider, for example, all the cartoonists who did cartoons about Saddam postulating what he'd do with his nuclear weapons!"Regarding a fake list of fake internet news sources -- a response to Oil Empire's list of bogus 9/11 websites? the "list" includes most of the best 9/11 truth sites, some of the most popular liberal alternative sites, and some (but not all) of the 9/11 hoax disinfo sites.
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com
By the way, Fintan Dunne has thoughtfully published a list of "CIA Internet Fakes." He writes, "We do not contend that everyone associated with these websites are knowing intelligence operatives. Some have been professionally manipulated, others merely misled. In any event these are promoting the psyop agendas and disinformation themes of the covert controllers. This is also not meant to be a fully comprehensive listing of all the fake websites."
It's really quite the list. And honestly, given some of the cans of worms lying open around here, I can see why he might include Rigorous Intuition, and think I'm at best misled. But Buzzflash? CooperativeResearch? Narconews? Riverbend? The only site I see missing is his own.
There are psyop agendas and disinformation themes. But someone who sees them everywhere can't help but make me wonder: What's his agenda?Good News -- Cynthia McKinney forum to be broadcast on C-SPAN
from John Judge (assistant to Representative McKinney)
Rep Cynthia McKinney organized a day-long briefing on July 22 to address the 9/11 Commission's Final Report one year later. The event included leading victims' family members, former government and intelligence workers, academics and authors speaking on the flaws and weaknesses of the 9/11 Commission's investigation, assumptions, omissions, conclusions and recommendations. It was filmed in entirety by C-SPAN.
Some of you took part in or attended the event, and I want to send a sincere thanks to you for your support and interest. If you missed the event, here is an easy way to revisit the presentation of new and critical information that puts 9/11 into historical perspective and looks at the causes, responses and effects on our domestic and foreign policy and intelligence reforms. This is information the 9/11 Commission did not include in its hearings or address fully in its Final Report.
C-SPAN has now set some times and dates for airing the event. They will air on C-SPAN2 from 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm on Wednesday, August 31 and from 8:00 pm to 1:00 am on Friday, September 2 It is broken into two parts described below.
Part I Forum
September 11 Commission Report Results, Pt. 1
U.S. House of Representatives, McKinney, C. (D-GA)
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
ID: 187857 - 07/22/2005 - 3:30 - No Sale
Daugherty, Rebecca, Director, Freedom of Info. Service Center
Smith, Wayne, Member, Center for International Policy
Gage, Kit, National Coordinator, National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom
Kleinberg, Mindy, Relative
Judge, John, Co-Founder, 9/11 CitizensWatch
McKinney, Cynthia, U.S. Representative, D, Georgia (State)
Families of victims, former intelligence officials, and authors speak at a
day-long forum on the September 11 Commission Report, focusing on the
methodology of the investigation, recommendations made by the commission,
causes of the attacks, and government responses to the attacks.Part II Forum
September 11 Commission Report Results, Pt. 2
U.S. House of Representatives, McKinney, C. (D-GA)
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
ID: 187857 - 2 - 07/22/2005 - 5:00 - No Sale
McKinney, Cynthia, U.S. Representative, D, Georgia (State)
Families of victims, former intelligence officials, and authors speak at a
day-long forum on the September 11 Commission Report, focusing on the
methodology of the investigation, recommendations made by the commission,
causes of the attacks, and government responses to the attacks.The 9-11 Public Discourse Project forums [note: the new name for the official 9/11 Commission] will be aired around our events on the following days on C-SPAN 2 on the following days:
CIA and FBI Reform on August 24 at 8 pm
Congressional Intelligence Reform on August 24 at 10:10 pm
Challenges Facing the DNI on August 25 at 8 pm
Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction on August 26 at 8 pm
Homeland Security on August 26 at 10:05 pm
Civil Liberties on August 29 at 8 pm
Foreign Policy on August 30 at 8 pm
Winning the Struggle of Ideas September 1 at 8 pm and 9:30 pm on C-SPAN 1For full details on these see: www.c-span.org and click the "TV Schedules" link at the top right of the lead page, just above the flashing ad for C-SPAN pod-casting.
Please let others know about the showings.
John Judge
Special Projects Assistant
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
July 26, 2005
The Center for Cooperative Research has posted the most comprehensive list of military exercises and operations on 9/11 at http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=militaryExercises
Required reading for everyone concerned about the "failure" of the Air Force to stop the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon.
July 23, 2005
The Atlanta Journal Constitution runs an OK article on the McKinney hearing - considering the paper's opposition to her, it's probably the best article that could be expected.
The London police admit the man they shot five times on the Underground subway yesterday was not part of any bombing attack - this is reminiscent of Latin American death squads.
Channel 4 in London runs an article on the "simultaneous" exercises on 7/7 and notes that none of those speculating that this was a 9/11 style coverup (exercises masking real events) bothered to contact the company doing the exercise to verify the evidence. Is this (the exercises) a true story, or bait for the skeptics? It's worth noting that the 7/7 attacks were at the start of the G8 summit, when security services would have been on extra alert - and an exercise at that time would have been logical timing.
July 22, 2005
Forwarded upon request of the office of Congresswoman McKinney (D-GA)
Spread the word -- please fwd and post widely.
==========================================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[please see earlier press releases from Rep. McKinney office posted at http://www.911citizenswatch.org]Contact: Seema or Adrienne 202-225-1605
Congressional Briefing on 9/11 to Air on Web, TV and Radio For the World to Hear - Reps. Cynthia McKinney (GA) and Raúl Grijalva (AZ) to host
Title: 'The 9/11 Commission Report One Year Later - A Citizens' Response - Did They Get It Right?'
What: Congressional Briefing for Members of Congress and their staffs to hear testimony from family members and experts appraising the 9/11 Commission Report
Where: Room 345, Cannon House Office Building, Independence Ave & First Street SE, Washington, DC When: July 22, 2005, from 9 am to 5 pm EST.The following media coverage has been confirmed:
--C-SPAN TV is taping the entire event for rebroadcast on Saturday, July 23rd, after 5 pm EST (station TBA); check for scheduling at www.c-span.org
; click on 'TV schedules' in the black box.--The INDEPENDENT RADIO NETWORK and the dcradiocoop.org are airing a webcast of the briefing during the day on their websites: dc.indymedia.org and the global indymedia.org for the world to hear. The webcast will either be live, or delayed by no more than 2 hours. Keep checking these websites for updates. They will rebroadcast it all day Saturday, starting at 9 am EST, and will make it available on demand thereafter at dc.indymedia.org.
--The PACIFICA RADIO NETWORK will redistribute the stream on their KU Satellite Right channel for their 5 stations and more than 75 affiliates to air at their discretion during the day on Friday, July 22nd, and will later provide it for them on demand on audioport.org.
--INN Report on FREE SPEECH TV (FSTV) will run two 20 minute broadcasts of the highlights of the morning session at 6:30 pm EST on Friday, July 22nd, and 1 am Saturday, July 23rd. Find FSTV affiliates via Satellite at: http://www.innworldreport.net/html/schedule.html
--In New York City the MANHATTAN NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK (MNN) will air a rebroadcast of parts of the briefing at 7:30 am EST on Monday, July 25th.
One year after the release of the 9/11 Commission Final Report many questions about what transpired on September 11, 2001 and who should be held accountable still remain unanswered. At this briefing, family members will address questions about 9/11that remain unanswered, and the shortcomings of the 9/11 Commission. Other experts and authors will explore the omissions and errors in the Commission's Final Report, will provide historical perspective not found in the Report and will review its recommendations and offer alternatives.
July 21, 2005
Another USA PATRIOT Act vote, another act of terrorism ... the London Underground subway was attacked again today (fortunately no one was killed).
It was strange that this newest attack was four simultaneous DUDS - are the perpetrators competent (in coordination) or incompetent (no one was hurt, apparently), or was the psyop the intention? Is this just a 21st Century version of the "strategy of tension" -- the campaign in Italy in the late 1970s and early 1980s involving fascists commiting terrorism that was blamed on the Communists? One of the most notorious examples of this was the 1980 bombing of the Bologna, Italy train station, which killed about 80 people and injured about 200.
Whatever the truths of the attacks in London, it is going to be used by the Bush regime to clamp down on freedom of movement and opposition to their agenda of slowly ratcheting up the levels of surveillance and repression. This is part of the quiet decision to pursue a militaristic approach to Peak Oil - to seize the remaining oil supplies around the world, and to institute the "Homeland Security" state. A "Powerdown" strategy as outlined by Richard Heinberg would have decided to use the incredible resources, technology, money and skills that were developed during the industrial era to determine how these creations could be used to ensure a decent life for everyone as the fossil fuel era begins to wind down. Hopefully, it is not too late for this strategy to be selected - at least on regional levels - and for it to make meaningful differences in addressing Peak Oil, climate change and other crises that threaten our global civilization.
From the Center for Legitimate Government:
House, Senate debate Patriot Act extension 21 Jul 2005 Just hours after explosions created fresh terrorist concerns in London on Thursday [Holy *coincidence,* Batman!!], the House debated an extension of the USA Patriot Act, the premier American anti[pro]-terrorism tool. The bill called for making permanent 14 of 16 provisions of the original law, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and scheduled to expire at the end of this year. It also gave a 10-year extension to two provisions — one allowing roving wiretaps and another allowing searches of library and medical records.
House poised to reauthorize USA Patriot Act 21 Jul 2005 The House of Representatives, ignoring protests from civil liberties groups and some conservatives, moved on Thursday to renew the USA Patriot Act giving the government unprecedented powers to investigate suspected 'terrorists.'
July 19, 2005
Judge John Roberts has been nominated to the Supreme Court. Background information about him is posted at http://www.oilempire.us/justus.html - he supported Vice President Cheney's efforts to keep the records of his "Energy Task Force" secret.
The Valerie Plame scandal is in the news - http://www.oilempire.us/plame.html and http://www.oilempire.us/rove.html have important background information.
July 7, 2005
Comments about the civil liberties impacts of the subway / bus bombings in London are at http://www.oilempire.us/london.html Whoever perpetrated these atrocities, Bush and Blair will be the beneficiaries.