Bush makes power grab

President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president.

The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator.

That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for "National Essential Functions" of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a national emergency.

The directive loosely defines "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions."

When the president determines a catastrophic emergency has occurred, the president can take over all government functions and direct all private sector activities to ensure we will emerge from the emergency with an "enduring constitutional government."

Translated into layman's terms, when the president determines a national emergency has occurred, the president can declare to the office of the presidency powers usually assumed by dictators to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over.

Ironically, the directive sees no contradiction in the assumption of dictatorial powers by the president with the goal of maintaining constitutional continuity through an emergency.

Source: WorldNetDaily
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Hillary Clinton - What Does she stand for?

I think that says it all!

ABC News: Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

Source: ABCNEWS Blog
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US says Israel has right to defend against Hamas

The United States said on Thursday that Israel had the right to defend itself against rocket attacks from the militant Palestinian group Hamas and praised the Jewish state for "great restraint" in recent days. Israeli air strikes on Thursday destroyed a Hamas security headquarters and a car carrying one of the group's top commanders. Israel had threatened a "severe" response to cross-border rocket attacks that have persisted despite a troop and settler pullout from Gaza in 2005. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged restraint on all sides but said Israel had the right to respond to rocket attacks from Hamas. "Israel has the right to defend itself and it has exercised great restraint in the face of these rocket attacks," McCormack told reporters. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke earlier to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as well as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about the latest violence pitting Abbas' Fatah movement against Hamas. Israel has also launched deadly air strikes against the Islamists."She wanted to talk to them directly and see how they saw the situation," said McCormack of the calls Rice made to the two leaders. "We certainly want to see a reduction or an end to the violence but let's remember how that violence started and it started with these Hamas-led forces," he added.

Source: Reuters

It looks like the US just stands by while innocent people are being killed

Fox News Hannity and Colmes double-teamed Ron Paul

After the show, Hannity and Colmes double-teamed Paul in an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of both liberals and conservatives, with Colmes going after him on abortion and Hannity chomping at the bit to smear the Texas Congressman as weak on terrorism.

Here is the video:

Rice rejects 'new Cold War' talk

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed talk of a new Cold War between Russia and the US, at the start of a visit to Moscow.

Ms Rice said "I think the parallels just frankly have no basis whatsoever", while acknowledging that "it's not an easy time" for Russian-US relations.

The Kremlin has expressed strong opposition to US plans to deploy a missile defence shield in Europe.

Washington's backing for Kosovo's independence has also been attacked.

Source: BBC News
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Cheney calls 'water-boarding' a valuable interrogation tool

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaeda suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called ''water-boarding,'' which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. ''It's a no-brainer for me,'' Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Cheney's comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration's view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.

The U.S. Army, senior Republican lawmakers, human rights experts and many experts on the laws of war, however, consider water-boarding cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that is banned by U.S. law and by international treaties that prohibit torture. Some intelligence professionals argue that it often provides false or misleading information because many subjects will tell their interrogators what they think they want to hear to make the water-boarding stop.

GOP SENATORS FIGHT IT

Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have said that a law Bush signed last month prohibits water-boarding. The three are the sponsors of the Military Commissions Act, which authorized the administration to continue its interrogations of enemy combatants.

Graham, a military lawyer who serves in the Air Force Reserve, reaffirmed that view in an interview last week with McClatchy Newspapers.

''Water-boarding, in my opinion, would cause extreme physical and psychological pain and suffering, and it very much could run afoul of the War Crimes Act,'' he said, referring to a 1996 law. ``It could very much open people up to prosecution under the War Crimes Act, as well as be a violation of the Detainees Treatment Act.''

A revised U.S. Army Field Manual published last month bans water-boarding as ``cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.''

''There is a disconnect between the president and the vice president and on the other side leading proponents from their own party and leading experts on the laws of war,'' said Neal Sonnett, the chairman of the American Bar Association's Task Force on Enemy Combatants.

CHENEY INTERVIEWED

The radio interview Tuesday was the first time that a senior Bush administration official has confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding against important al Qaeda suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged chief architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mohammed was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, and turned over to the CIA.

Water-boarding involves holding a person's head under water or pouring water on cloth or cellophane placed over the nose and mouth to simulate drowning until the subject agrees to talk or confess.

Lee Ann McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, denied that Cheney confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding or endorsed the technique.

''What the vice president was referring to was an interrogation program without torture,'' she said. ``The vice president never goes into what may or may not be techniques or methods of questioning.''

`A VALUABLE TOOL'

In the interview on Tuesday, Scott Hennen of WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., told Cheney that listeners had asked him to ``let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves American lives.''

''Again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat we face, would you agree?'' Hennen said.

''I do agree,'' Cheney replied, according to a transcript of the interview released Wednesday. ``And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that's been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation.''

Cheney added that Mohammed had provided ``enormously valuable information about how many [al Qaeda members] there are, about how they plan, what their training processes are and so forth. We've learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that.''

''Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?'' asked Hennen.

'It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president `for torture.' We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in,'' Cheney replied. ``We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that.''

CIA spokeswoman Michelle Neff said, ``While we do not discuss specific interrogation methods, the techniques we use have been reviewed by the Department of Justice and are in keeping with our laws and treaty obligations. We neither conduct nor condone torture.''

McClatchy Washington Bureau correspondents James Rosen and Marisa Taylor contributed to this report.

Olbermann slams GOP for imitating terror tactics

From an month to two month out, we are finally back reporting on news around the world.. Today Olbermann slams GOP for imitating terror tactics:

Republicans are using terror tactics in an attempt to gain votes, says Keith Olbermann. A new political advertisement sponsored by the Republican National Committee hopes that voters' fear will increase votes for Republican Candidates. The advertisement shows images of Osama bin Laden with only the sounds of a ticking time bomb.

In his commentary, Olbermann's explains how Republicans use propaganda of fear in a way that imitates the propaganda video releases from terrorists organizations

Bill Clinton Destroys Chris Wallace And FOX news

A few days ago, Bill Clinton was interviewed by Fox news, see how Bill Clinton gets blamed for 9-11.

Olbermann tells it like it is

An interesting note from Olbermann: See what he has to say

CIA ‘refused to operate’ secret jails

The Bush administration had to empty its secret prisons and transfer terror suspects to the military-run detention centre at Guantánamo this month in part because CIA interrogators had refused to carry out further interrogations and run the secret facilities, according to former CIA officials and people close to the programme.

The former officials said the CIA interrogators’ refusal was a factor in forcing the Bush administration to act earlier than it might have wished.

Source: FT.COM
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Bush, Republicans forge terrorism interrogation deal

President Bush bowed to pressure from leading senators in his Republican party on Thursday, revising a bill for interrogating terrorism suspects that critics had said would allow abusive treatment.

The deal between the White House and the three Senate heavyweights ended days of negotiations and appeared to clear the way for Congress to pass legislation setting up trials for foreign suspects at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Source: Reuters
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America is alienating rest of world: Powell

The former US secretary of state Colin Powell has accused the White House of pursuing policies in the "war on terror" that have put America out of step with the rest of the world.

In a rare public breach with the administration, Mr Powell told an audience in Norfolk, Virginia, on Tuesday that he opposed White House plans to redefine America's commitment to sections of the Geneva convention protecting detainees from torture and degrading treatment.

Source: Guardian Unlimited
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Olbermann's choice of video clips from Bush's press conference

Olbermann's choice of video clips from Bush's press conference, on Friday 15th Sept, followed by some analysis by George Washington Univ. Law Professor Jonathan Turley.

Keith Olbermann asks Jonathan Turley if Bush could be trying to retroactively protect himself from possible war crimes charges by demanding that new interpretations of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 be set into law prior to the midterm elections.

Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine

Is this how President Bush won his second term, This paper presents a fully independent security study of a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine, including its hardware and software. We obtained the machine from a private party. Analysis of the machine, in light of real election procedures, shows that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks. For example, an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code on a machine could steal votes undetectably, modifying all records, logs, and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote count it creates. An attacker could also create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from machine to machine during normal election activities — a voting-machine virus. We have constructed working demonstrations of these attacks in our lab. Mitigating these threats will require changes to the voting machine's hardware and software and the adoption of more rigorous election procedures.

Video:


Source: Princeton University

President Bush, A Chilling View....

When asked tough questions about torture and illegal, secret prisons by Matt Lauer, Bush evades the question, tries to intimidate Matt Lauer, poking his finger at him aggressively, then avoids the question and goes straight to fearmongering. See the video here:

CNN Propaganda Piece?

The following is a it's live video of an attack on a 911 memorial service in Afghanistan, on CNN. It shows CNN reporter - Anderson Cooper in Afghanistan talking to the public, but strangely all the troops rush off screen and man their battlements. And then they cut to the troops firing at an unseen enemy. Here is the video:

When searching forAnderson Cooper I came onto this site: The secret CIA past of CNN's Anderson Cooper.
This got me thinking, if you want to promote fear to the general public and show that terrorist are still out that, then what the best thing you can do? The video shown is strange, it too screams of 'setup'...
Another Site has this report as well: Rense.com

The following can best sums it up from Hsing Lee

We're supposed to believe that the Taliban was good enough to allow Cooper the time to give his set up on live TV before they started firing, and we're also supposed to believe that CNN just happened to have cameras perfectly positioned and ready to record the American soldiers firing those bigass guns at an enemy that we never get to actually see.