Say it ain't so, Joe.

[lazarus]

BREAKING NEWS:

ALASKA SEN. TED STEVENS, LONGEST-SERVING REPUBLICAN SENATOR, CHARGED BY FEDERAL GRAND JURY FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS.

Stevens is so far only charged with seven counts of making false statements to federal investigators. However, it apparently involves connections to an energy company called Vico, whose chief executive has pleaded guilty to bribery charges. This has the makings of a huge story.


Brad

[lazarus]

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has been under scrutiny for allegations of public corruption, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly making false statements to investigators.

The Justice Department has scheduled a 1:20 p.m. ET press conference in regards to a " significant criminal matter."

Last July, FBI and IRS agents executed a search warrant Stevens' Alaska home. Prosecutors have been investigating the senator's ties to VECO, an Alaska oil services firm.


Brad

[lazarus]

I've been doing some research on Hitler.

Yes, he lusted for violence and war. Like someone else we know, he spent much of his time defending warfare.

However, the part that struck me was his hatred for... liberals and socialists.
Yep... just like the crazed jackass who shot up the church full of children...
and just like Joe.

You're quite the American, Joe.


Brad

[JIM HAMRICK]

Mr. Rabaudo:

Your post of 7-24-08 with the quotes of Hitler was an awakening to my old brain. I have never read this book but it might help to explain why our society is headed the way it is.

Rumor has it that there are people today who are exploring the concept of a fascist type government for the U.S. This coming from "operation paper clip", I believe, which was the importation of German brain power to be used for their knowledge of science. this was at the end of W.W. 2. Powerful U.S. citizens have been said to nurture it. Ar least that is the supposition.

I don't think that you are old enough to have any memory of pre world war two where a a large segment of the U.S. citizens thought that we should enter the war on Germany's side. Because of this I may have to rethink my assessment of the current political leanings in this country. It does make more sense when you consider ultra liberals and fascist along with fascist Arabs could be working for the same end result.

If I can get my fat, tired. old body to dredge up enough energy I will check at my local library for a copy.

jim hamrick

[Joe Ribaudo]

Jim,

It's good to hear from you again. I see you, mostly lurking, over on Peter's site now and again.

I hope all is well with you and the family, and you are making plans to be in camp for the Rendezvous. It takes a long time to make an old friend, and we have not had our share of talks yet. I like to think that the Rendezvous help to speed up that process.

Hitler was a sad little man who started out spewing his hatred to a small circle of sycophants who ended up advancing their cause beyond endurance. The mindless hatred that is being that is being spread by Internet cowards, is doing it's best to emulate that madman. We can't move forward in this country if we don't learn from the past. Letting the name calling and threats of violence silence us, will only embolden the hate peddlers.

The book is scary, because of the level of power that Hitler archived. How could such a sick mind become so powerful. History tells us that it is because good men stood silent, and did nothing.

Take care,

Joe

[lazarus]

You two ignorant rednecks were born to be Bush supporters. What a pair of jackasses!

Hitler used the Reichstag fire to stoke the fires of fear and nationalism. Much like George Bush, he declared you were either with him or with the enemy.

Following 9/11, the Bush administration imitated Hitler play for play, stoking fear and nationalism.

A bunch of stupid rednecks that forgot to read their history books then jumped aboard, behaving just like the clueless jackasses from the movie 'Wag the Dog" You guys made huge fools of yourselves and you are still making huge fools of yourselves. You bought every lie the Bush administration told. all 935 of them.

You are right that too many good people stood by and did nothing while Bush drove this country into the gutter. You idiots were too busy making excuses for criminals to open your eyes. You are both pathetic!

Brad

[pippinwhitepaws]

just a note on trevor-roper....he is a fraud...or at least, his access to 'secret conversations and diaries' of hitler is based on fraud. not surprising that some people would use false information to rationalize their position...

"The nadir of his career came in 1983, when, under pressure from The Times and along with some others (the opinion among experts in the field was by no means unanimous; even David Irving, widely accused of Nazi sympathies decried them as forgeries - although on 2nd May 1983 he too changed his mind and declared them genuine), he first authenticated (and then retracted his support for ) the so-called Hitler Diaries, which later forensic examination proved to be a fake. The other experts asked to examine the diaries were Eberhard Jäckel and Gerhard Weinberg. The embarrassing incident gave his enemies at Peterhouse and elsewhere the opportunity to criticise him openly.

Trevor-Roper's initial endorsement of the alleged Hitler diaries raised questions in the public mind not only about his perspicacity as a historian but also about his integrity, because The Sunday Times, a newspaper to which he regularly contributed book reviews and of which he was an independent director, had already paid a considerable sum for the right to serialise the diaries. Lord Dacre denied any dishonest motivation, explaining that he had been given certain assurances as to how the diaries had come into the possession of their "discoverer" -- and that these assurances had been mistaken. It was after this incident, at rate, that Private Eye nicknamed Trevor-Roper Hugh Very-Ropey."

[JIM HAMRICK]

Mr. lazarus:

I am not sure if you were referring to Mr. Rabaudo and myself. If I am to be called a Bush support please check this out first. I did not vote for Bush either time because I did not trust the direction he seemed to be going and I think that I have been proved correct.

The war in Iraq was masterfully done by the generals and troops, it was the transition to peace that has been screwed up by the politicians.

What I see by many posts is a hate for one man but my friends this is a republic and not a kingdom and most of what has happened has been approved by the congress, both republican and democrat controlled. If you believe that President Bush should be impeached also ask for most of congress as well.

We are now ready to elect a new president this should be a time to look ahead and not back. If one is to intelligently pick a new president one needs to know the past but work on the future not on hate for one man who will soon pass into history.

As for my self I am confronted with not thinking that either main party candidates are what I want. I would like to see, even by a third party candidate, who will stand up and say " America first" if this would happen that person would get my vote.

jim hamrick

[lazarus]

Jim,
if you insist I am mistaken in my assessment of your support for George W. Bush, then I am mistaken. As such, I apologize, and I will refrain from including you in the future. I was obviously in error.

I have never claimed Bush was in this alone. Research will show that I have long blamed the entire administration, and all of those who have supported and defended their numerous transgressions. Hitler did not murder six million Jews by himself. He had help. Bush did not do this alone either.


Joe,
you blew it again, didn't you...


Brad

[JIM HAMRICK]

I may be speaking out where perhaps I should not but I think that Mr. Rabaudo and I may have some difference of opinion on the minutia of our governments actions but we both think that there has never been a country like ours before. I do not like the younger peoples lack of historical knowledge and I assume that Mr. Rabaudo feels the same.

If I have spoken out of ignorance I do apologize. It seems to me that the longer I live, I am past 70, the more I respect this nation.

jim hamrick

[lazarus]

Jim,

there is little question that it was I who was out of line. I can be rather stupid in the morning before my coffee.

I am not excusing my conduct, but rest assured, I won't make that mistake again. I misinterpreted your post, and like Joe so often does, I made a fool of myself in the process.

I don't think there has ever been a country quite like ours either. That's why I am not willing to stand aside and let people like Joe throw it down the toilet.


Brad

[lazarus]

Last night I was doing some research and came upon this old article about the use of Willie Pete as a weapon in Iraq. The US military, and folks named Joe, swore the US was not using WP as a weapon, as it violates international law. Add another lie and another violation the ever growing list of war crimes.

The Pentagon's admission - despite earlier denials - that US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon in Falluja last year is more than a public relations issue - it has opened up a debate about the use of this weapon in modern warfare.

The admission contradicted a statement this week from the new and clearly under-briefed US ambassador in London Robert Holmes Tuttle that US forces "do not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons".

The official line to that point had been that WP, or Willie Pete to use its old name from Vietnam, was used only to illuminate the battlefield and to provide smoke for camouflage.

This line however crumbled when bloggers (whose influence must not be under-estimated these days) ferreted out an article published by the US Army's Field Artillery Magazine in its issue of March/April this year.

The article, written by a captain, a first lieutenant and a sergeant, was a review of the attack on Falluja in November 2004 and in particular of the use of indirect fire, mainly mortars.

It makes quite clear that WP was used as a weapon not just as illumination or camouflage.

It's [WP] not forbidden if it is used within the context of a military application which does not require or does not intend to use the toxic properties.

"WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes where we could not get effects on them with HE [High Explosive]. We fired "shake and bake" missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out," the article said.

In another passage the authors noted that they could have used other smoke munitions and "saved our WP for lethal missions".

A word about the term "shake and bake." Anyone with a family to feed in the US knows what this term, properly "Shake 'n Bake, means. Made by Kraft, it is a seasoning which is put into a plastic bag with chicken and shaken before before baking. Its use gives the article the smack of reality. It's the kind of thing US soldiers would say.


Yep, Joe...
you were wrong again, you ignorant fucking warmonger!


Brad

[lazarus]

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

The forge was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official “that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion.”

The letter’s existence has been reported before, and it had been written about as if it were genuine. It was passed in Baghdad to a reporter for The (London) Sunday Telegraph who wrote about it on the front page of Dec. 14, 2003, under the headline, “Terrorist behind September 11 strike ‘was trained by Saddam.’”

Yes, Joe...
you are a fucking shit for brains warmonger!

[lazarus]

For those of you shitbags who still want to believe the invasion of Iraq was justified...
go fuck yourselves, you are out of excuses.


Brad

[lazarus]

“Truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter.”

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

[lazarus]

(CBS/ AP) A U.S. military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a surprisingly light sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for at least a 30-year sentence to deter would-be terrorists.

Salim Hamdan's sentence of 5½ years, including five years and a month already served at Guantanamo Bay, fell far short of the life sentence he could have gotten for aiding terrorism by driving and guarding bin Laden. It now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten the sentence but not extend it.


Note:
This verdict is no surprise, as the evidence never supported charges of conspiracy. These are the kind of prisoners being held at Gitmo. We were told by Bush and Cheney these guys were the worst of the worst, but in fact, they are nothing of the sort. A jury just proved it.

But of course, warmongers like Joe don't give a damn if justice is ever served. Joe is just an inhuman scumbag, hellbent on murder.

Brad

[lazarus]

The Bush administration needed a big win in the Salim Hamdan case at Guantánamo. It didn't get one. By convicting Osama bin Laden's former driver—the first "terrorist" to be tried under the first U.S. war-crimes tribunal since World War II—only of "material" support for terrorism, and absolving him of conspiracy to commit terrorism, the military judges provoked questions about what Hamdan was doing there in the first place. Is driving a car a war crime? The appeals court may decide not—in which case even this meager verdict could be thrown out.

"I would be very surprised if any of this conviction stands at the end of the day," says Scott Horton, a law professor specializing in human rights at Columbia University. "He was convicted of things that are not war crimes by a tribunal that has the power only to prosecute war crimes."


I agree. One must be overwhelmingly stupid to think Hamdan committed war crimes. On the other hand, Joe will ignore the law, and insist he was cheated out of blood.

Brad

[lazarus]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah, Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland ordered the court-martial of Sgt. Ryan Weemer after finding there was sufficient evidence to send him to trial.

Weemer is one of three current and former Marines accused of breaking rules of engagement and killing four men they had captured after a platoon commander radioed to ask whether the Iraqis were "dead yet."

[lazarus]

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CNN)
Salim Hamdan, the first detainee from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to face a tribunal, could be seen smiling in court, just like he is in one of the few photographs we've seen of him. He came across as genial and polite in his court appearances. To the judge and jury he was unfailingly polite.

Testimony gave a glimpse of the character of the man known to most by the job he held when he was captured, Osama bin Laden's driver. One character witness, a psychologist, spoke of how he was more cooperative when they brought him cheesecake.

Before he was sentenced to 5½ years on a single count of aiding a terrorist, Hamdan addressed the court, speaking directly to the jury at times, though a translator. He thanked the anonymous military jurors who some news accounts portrayed as his enemies, and he apologized for the acts of his former boss, Osama bin Laden.

"It was big shock for me when someone who had treated you with respect and regard, and then you realize what they were up to," said Hamdan, referring to bin Laden.

Prosecutors portrayed Hamdan's statement as phony remorse and continued to paint Hamdan as "a career al Qaeda warrior" and a member of bin Laden's inner circle who was therefore complicit in terrorists attacks, including September 11, 2001.

But the jury of five men and one woman, all military officers picked by the Pentagon, sent a clear message by handing down the sentence of just 66 months. They knew that 61 months would be subtracted for time served.

The jury bought the defense argument that Hamdan was a little fish, a driver, a go-fer, who has already paid for his crimes since his capture in Afghanistan in November 2001 and should be released in a few months.

What amounts to a five-month sentence raises questions about whether the government's description of prisoners at Guantanamo as hardened terrorists should be taken at face value.

Should Hamdan have been charged with war crimes in the first place? In the trial, the defense compared Hamdan to the driver for Adolf Hitler. But Hitler's driver was not charged with anything after World War II.

Hamdan's defense team, a mix of military and civilian lawyers, was ecstatic about the sentence. But the fate of their client remains uncertain. The United States could continue to call him an "enemy combatant" and hold him indefinitely.

The attorneys -- and even the judge, who himself is a Navy captain -- appeared to have developed some real affection for the 40-year old father of two girls.

But ask the attorneys how they feel about defending someone who may have helped kill Americans and they tell you they are not defending a terrorist. They believe they are defending the rule of law and America's core values.

[lazarus]

Fact:

You Bush supporters blew it!
You blew it big time. None of you can ever be trusted on any level ever again. You sold your souls to the devil. You are worthless, scumbags with no redeemable value.

Brad

[lazarus]

The Justice Department first came under fire last year when questions were raised about whether nine U.S. Attorneys were fired for political reasons. Further investigations revealed broader problems at the department, including how top political officials had screened out applicants for career positions who had more liberal affiliations and politics.

So far, the department's inspector general has issued two reports on the politicization at the department. They found that Goodling, Elston and McDonald violated the law in vetting candidates for career positions based on their political allegiences and affiliations.

Note to Joe:

the US Constitution is more than 211 old...
is that too old to respect?

Because over the years, you have shown ZERO respect for the US Constitution.

Brad

[pippinwhitepaws]

By Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie Johnson

updated 9:23 p.m. MT, Fri., Aug. 15, 2008
The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

[lazarus]

updated 9:59 p.m. MT, Sat., Aug. 16, 2008

Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case.

The guards, all former U.S. military personnel, were working as security contractors for the State Department, assigned to protect U.S. diplomats and other non-military officials in Iraq. The shooting occurred when their convoy arrived at a busy square in central Baghdad and guards tried to stop traffic.

An Iraqi government investigation concluded that the security contractors fired without provocation.


Shitbags...
just like Joe.


Brad

[lazarus]

AP) The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.



Brad

[lazarus]

WASHINGTON - Wholesale inflation surged in July, leaving prices for the past year rising at the fastest pace in 27 years, according to government data released Tuesday.



Brad