Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

Just thought of one more item which I read in the paper yesterday., and which I intended to put in my post above.

Another country getting very annoyed with our  president telling them how to live.

Egypt.

Whether you like them or not, they have been supportive and helpful to us.

Now they are getting a little edgy with our constant " holier than thou "attitude.

A.B.

I think the whole wide world is, and here, I would make one small correction, with respect to "OUR" holier-than-thou attitude.

Make it OUR minus me.

Actually, make it the "holier-than-thou" attitude of JUST George W. Bush and his, and that will be right on point!

The whole wide world is just plain sick and tired of George W. Bush and his crowd's "HOLIER-THAN-EVERYBODY,-INCLUDING-GOD" attitude, and with good reason!

As for me, here is this guy, the poor little rich boy, who was irresponsible a good part of his early adult life; who did not finally crawl out of a bottle until he was forty, who is now going around making out to everybody under the sun that he is the image of perfection down here on earth, above and beyond everybody else, because in his mind, Jesus saved him from being a drunk!

Wel, get real, George!

I'm glad for you that at age forty, YOU finally saw the light and got religion, and so quit being a mean, nasty drunk who spit tobacco juice on fancy, country-club women's purses, or shoes, BUT GUESS WHAT?

All that makes you is human, not perfect!

So get down off the high horse, please!

On behalf of what would be an extremely grateful nation and world if you did!

[Livyjr]

And speaking of having no confidence whatsoever in George W. Bush:
 
Top Stories - The Christian Science Monitor

"War mistake tests Italy's patience"

Thu Mar 10, 9:33 AM ET 

Italy and the US have agreed to a joint investigation of the death of an Italian agent who rescued a hostage.

By Sophie Arie, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ROME - They've had the tears, the tributes, and the angry accusations.

Now, Italians want answers.

In an effort to solder their strained relations, the United States and Italy have agreed that they will join forces to investigate how an Italian intelligence agent was shot dead by American troops as he accompanied a rescued hostage, journalist Giulia Sgrena, to the Baghdad Airport last week.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hopes the joint effort will soothe his country's raw emotions.

"We can be satisfied," Mr. Berlusconi said, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

"Because in this way [President] Bush has assumed responsibility for his friendship with me."

"He has done everything possible."

But for now, Italy - a close American ally that sent some 3,000 troops to Iraq - remains on edge, its pride dented by the wartime mistake.

Many here fear that justice will never be served.

The recent history of how US friendly-fire cases were resolved doesn't raise their hopes.

In many cases of US military errors, critics say there is rarely any recognition of a failure high in the American command chain.

Technical glitches are identified or individual, junior soldiers are punished, usually lightly.

"At best, they will tell us a soldier from Tennessee made a mistake," said Bobo Craxi, the son of Italy's former Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, dismissing the investigations.

"In a lot of cases, victims are not satisfied," says Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, in Arlington Va.

"The cases that give the most pain are the ones where the military justice system appears not to punish."

"In a sense, the military justice system is biased, but in the same way that a judicial system is."

"There is a long tradition of this in military justice around the world, not just [US] military justice."

"You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications," he adds.

Tension is high because Italian and US officials offer competing versions of the accident.

US officials say the Italian authorities themselves may have played a part in the incident by failing to inform the US command in Baghdad of their movements.

George Casey, US chief of command in Baghdad, said the Italian government had not given the US advance warning about the convoy carrying Ms. Sgrena, the kidnapped journalist who was injured in the shooting.

"I personally do not have any indication of that, even on a preliminary basis," he said Tuesday.

Italy initially complained that its agent had been shot despite having notified CIA  officials at Baghdad Airport.

Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini confirmed the incident had been an accident, but said Calipari's car had not encountered a US checkpoint on the airport road, it had not been driving at high speed, and US forces had not issued warnings before opening fire.

The US ambassador to Rome has met three times with Italian government officials to lay out the US assessment of the incident.

Italian media have published photos of the car showing eight bullet holes in front and side windows.

The other assassination, the Italian Journalist.

Who would gain by her death.

The terrorists?

Not likely, they had just released her.

The interim Iraqi Gov't?

The Americans?

I know for sure the same two things I stated before.

1. What goes around comes around.

2. Never give up.

A.B.

What goes around does come back, big time, and boy, don't be standing at ground zero when the s*** hits the fan.

If I learned one thing in Viet Nam, IT IS THAT!

And you have raised some interesting points, here, Mr. A.B., and I think they really need to be addressed, because the question "CUI BONO" really needs to be addressed, and then answered, and my money is on that there won't be an investigation at all.

WHO CAN MAKE ONE HAPPEN?

The Italians?

The can't do ****, if you'll pardon the grossness of the expression.

AND WHAT IS THERE TO INVESTIGATE, really?

The Italian guy, the NEGOTIATOR, is dead from a bullet hole in his temple!

The Italians say the car was stopped.

The woman says the driver was yelling that they were Italians.

Now, it would seem that when the driver started yelling, that the rifles were already raised, and the firing either had started, or was about to start, and he would be the very first to know that, since they were aiming at him, AND it is quite obvious and apparent if you have ever seen it, or ever had it done to you.

As if back in WWII, Mr. A.B. you could not possibly have known that a Japanese plane that you could clearly see with your own eyes was coming in low over the trees to either bomb you, or strafe you.

By this "OTHER" theory of the Bush Co.'s, PERHAPS that Japanese plane was really coming in low over the trees towards your position, BECAUSE some of your personal mail had somehow, through a post office error, been diverted to Tokyo, and in the interests of international friendship and solidarity and brotherhood, they wanted to re-unite you with your mail in the quickest way possible, which of course, would be by fighter plane delivery, since they were so fast.

Isn't it just ridiculous on its face?

In any event, the driver seems to have known that they were in for it, BUT ...

That person's full testimony SHOULD BE brought out in the open for ALL the candid world to hear, since this is a very serious matter, and IT CANNOT JUST BE COVERED OVER TO PROTECT PEOPLE IN HIGH PLACES, which is business as usual, especially in this case, in light of the words of this Doctor Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, in Arlington Va., where he says:

"The cases that give the most pain are the ones where the military justice system appears not to punish."

"In a sense, the military justice system is biased, but in the same way that a judicial system is."

"There is a long tradition of this in military justice around the world, not just [US] military justice."

"You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications," he adds.

end quotes

To be very truthful, AS A DISABLED COMBAT VETERAN, and as a natural-born American citizen, I find these words to be extremely offensive!

We had a Revolution against English tyranny BECAUSE English military justice was very biased, against us, as were the King's courts, all of which is to be found in the language of OUR Declaration of Independence.

I was in the United States Army, and I know that in the very first days of my training, I was in fact schooled in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as were all the others in my training brigade, and we were taught that the United States Military Justice system WAS NOT BIASED, nor should ever become so!

As an enlisted soldier, I could have sat at some point as the jury for a court martial of an enlisted man who had requested enlisted men on his jury, and so, it was very serious business indeed.

And before you could even become an American soldier, you had to have had a minimum high school education, and you had to know about OUR system of justice on the civilian side, WHICH IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE BIASED!

As a trained American soldier, YOU KNEW THE LAW AT ALL TIMES, and before you ever pulled the trigger, YOU ALWAYS KNEW YOUR TARGET WAS "LAWFUL", so what crap is it that this GOVERNMENT CONSULTANT is peddling here, with this statement "You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications!"

What ABSOLUTE SEDITIOUS CRAP is this that is contrary, totally contrary, to everything that I learned in my life, both as an American citizen, and as a member of this nation's armed forces.

AS A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, THERE IS NEVER A MOMENT WHEN YOU ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT THE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF YOUR ACTIONS, EVER!

SO!

What kind of murdering thugs who don't have worry about the legal ramifications of their actions are these GOVERNMENT CONSULTANTS planning to turn OUR American military forces into, and for what agenda?

As an American soldier, I was trained as to what differentiates an American soldier from any other soldier in the world, and it is that the American soldier is always a "CITIZEN SOLDIER", volunteer or not.

We fight for OUR liberty, while soldiers of other nations fight for Monarchs, or totalitarian governments, or such.

Now, I hear the GOVERNMENT CONSULTANT talking in such a way that makes it sound as if OUR soldiers of today are enemies of liberty, AND BY DESIGN, and that to me is sedition and treason!

Serious business, indeed, Mr. A.B., serious business, indeed.

In fact, when OUR military oath was explained to us, especially the part about domestic enemies of the United States Constitution, it was explained to us that the ONLY WAY the United States could ever be defeated would have to be from within, from someone, or a group of someones, SUBVERTING OUR GOVERNMENT, which is what appears to be happening here, right before OUR eyes!

I went out in the woods earlier today on snowshoes for about two hours, just to get as far away from this crap as I possibly could, and to clean out my mind, to let it rest, and the thought that came to me, because of that, or despite that, however, is that IF YOU TAKE the words of George W. Bush at face value, that this was a tragic accident that Calipari was shot, and you factor in all the other evidence, it may have been the woman who was the target, and Calipari, if his instincts were honed as mine are, he would have known the shot was coming, and instinctively, he would have moved in front of the reporter.

Elsewise, he was the target, or both.

He would have been the target, I think, because he was the "NEGOTIATOR", which to the Bush Co., would have been an "act of high treason", even though Calipari was not an American, which to Bush Co., would not make any difference:

"IF YOU ARE NOT WITH US, THEN YOU ARE AGAINST US, AND YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"

The consequences here are lurid and graphic, and very public, as they would need to be; the man, the "NEGOTIATOR WITH TAY-RISTS", shot right in the temple, right out there for all the world to see.

The only way it would have been more graphic to me is if they shot him in the eye, instead of the temple, because that really freaks people right on out, to see that!

"Bet he won't look anywhere anymore with that eye!"

But this was a temple shot, and so, to me, the message is a different one:

"WHO WANTS TO BE NEXT?"

And the question "CUI BONO" does not really apply, I think!

Rather, an example was made, and that was the point that comes across to me, anyway.

SO!

In that sense, America as defined by George W. Bush benefits.

As to the America of the rest of us, that America is brought even further down into the muck and slime of this new form of government that these alleged seditionists are foisting off on us, through the Bush Co. regime.

As I said before, Calipari's negotiating with TAY-RISTS days are over, and I think that is the single point.

As to the women, she would have been shot because she was a COMMIE who was going to give the enemies of George W. Bush some press, which again, would be seen by Bush Co. as giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

To stop her would cost about what, a dollar, which is the cost of the bullet?

There are many, many Viet Nam vets around still, and one of them is a good friend of mine, a Green beret who was "assigned" to the Phoenix Program in Viet Nam, an "extermination" program, to put it in its proper context, and I will tell you that to the people who "operate" these programs of extermination, which is exactly what they are, human life aint' worth doodly-squat, and if anyone thinks that outright murder is not done in a combat zone, that person is a pure fool.

Outright murder is used as a tool of terror, pure and simple, and by America!

What does anyone think we were doing with that helicopter and the "FREE FIRE ZONES"?

Winning hearts and minds?

Yeah, right!

SO!

Let us have a full and fair and especially, a very open and transparent investigation here of this Calipari shooting, and let us really see where ALL the chips may fall!

In the name of truth, justice and the REAL American way, and not the faux Amerika that these seditionists are trying to create, here in OUR America.

[Livyjr]

That person's full testimony SHOULD BE brought out in the open for ALL the candid world to hear, since this is a very serious matter, and IT CANNOT JUST BE COVERED OVER TO PROTECT PEOPLE IN HIGH PLACES, which is business as usual, especially in this case, in light of the words of this Doctor Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, in Arlington Va., where he says: 

"The cases that give the most pain are the ones where the military justice system appears not to punish."

"In a sense, the military justice system is biased, but in the same way that a judicial system is."

"There is a long tradition of this in military justice around the world, not just [US] military justice."

"You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications," he adds.

end quotes

To be very truthful, AS A DISABLED COMBAT VETERAN, and as a natural-born American citizen, I find these words to be extremely offensive!

We had a Revolution against English tyranny BECAUSE English military justice was very biased, against us, as were the King's courts, all of which is to be found in the language of OUR Declaration of Independence.

I was in the United States Army, and I know that in the very first days of my training, I was in fact schooled in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as were all the others in my training brigade, and we were taught that the United States Military Justice system WAS NOT BIASED, nor should ever become so!

As an enlisted soldier, I could have sat at some point as the jury for a court martial of an enlisted man who had requested enlisted men on his jury, and so, it was very serious business indeed.

And before you could even become an American soldier, you had to have had a minimum high school education, and you had to know about OUR system of justice on the civilian side, WHICH IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE BIASED!

As a trained American soldier, YOU KNEW THE LAW AT ALL TIMES, and before you ever pulled the trigger, YOU ALWAYS KNEW YOUR TARGET WAS "LAWFUL", so what crap is it that this GOVERNMENT CONSULTANT is peddling here, with this statement "You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications!"

What ABSOLUTE SEDITIOUS CRAP is this that is contrary, totally contrary, to everything that I learned in my life, both as an American citizen, and as a member of this nation's armed forces.

AS A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, THERE IS NEVER A MOMENT WHEN YOU ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT THE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF YOUR ACTIONS, EVER!

SO!

What kind of murdering thugs who don't have worry about the legal ramifications of their actions are these GOVERNMENT CONSULTANTS planning to turn OUR American military forces into, and for what agenda?

As an American soldier, I was trained as to what differentiates an American soldier from any other soldier in the world, and it is that the American soldier is always a "CITIZEN SOLDIER", volunteer or not.

We fight for OUR liberty, while soldiers of other nations fight for Monarchs, or totalitarian governments, or such.

Now, I hear the GOVERNMENT CONSULTANT talking in such a way that makes it sound as if OUR soldiers of today are enemies of liberty, AND BY DESIGN, and that to me is sedition and treason!

Serious business, indeed, Mr. A.B., serious business, indeed.

And who on earth is Doctor Daniel Goure, and what is the Lexington Institute, and how does he and it get to have a say in how OUR American military is run, especially with regard to stripping our American military of legal consequnces for its actions?

As to the first question, who is Doctor Daniel Goure, here is a very recent "position paper" on behalf of some company's "interests" that he has posted on the Lexington Institute website at http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org

"A DEAL SO GOOD ONLY THE PENTAGON COULD TURN IT DOWN"

Dr. Daniel Goure
Issue Brief
01 March 2005

Only an organization in desperate straits would even think of turning down a business deal that would lower its costs and provide it additional resources.

Yet, that is exactly what the Department of Defense is doing.

The Pentagon is short of money for the war in Iraq, the transformation of the military and the replacement of aging or battle-worn equipment.

The Air Force, for example, is trying to figure out how it can simultaneously pay for two new fighter programs, procure a new generation of tankers, invest in unmanned aerial vehicles and meet the demand for airlift by a globally deployed military.

Budget limitations are forcing the Pentagon to cut back or even eliminate critical programs.

So when a private company offers to use its own money to acquire a commercial variant of a military aircraft, thereby lowering the price to the Air Fore while simultaneously creating a capability on which the military can call in an emergency, one would think the Air Fore would jump at the chance.

No way.

Instead, the Air Force blocked such efforts for the past four years.

The company in question, Cargo Force, wants to buy at least 25 and possibly 80 C-17s, the Air Force’s premier long-range transport aircraft.

The commercial C-17s would be used to carry high volume and heavy/outsized cargo.

Because of the aircraft’s unique handling characteristics, it could use hundreds of airfields around the world that are too small for large commercial aircraft.

This could be big business, employing tens of thousands around the country and generating billions of dollars of revenue a year

Cargo Force’s proposal has some real advantages for the Pentagon.

Their purchase of C-17s would spread the program’s fixed costs over a larger number of aircraft, thereby reducing the price of each one, including those bought by the Air Force.

Cargo Force’s aircraft could be made a part of the civil air reserve fleet thereby making them available to the Air Force should the need arise.

The Nation would get more C-17s at a better price.

The Air Force is resisting a good deal because it hopes to convince the Pentagon and Congress to pay for more C-17s.

The current approved plan is for 180 C-17s.

However, the Air Force believes that at least 220 are needed to meet mobility requirements.

There are studies underway to determine the appropriate number.

But the Air Force does not want to risk its chances of reaching the magic target by allowing a private concern to buy C-17s.

The Cargo Force proposal is likely to mean more than 180 C-17s for the Air Force and an additional number in commercial use, available to the military, if needed.

This is a good deal for everyone, including the taxpayer.

The Air Force needs to rethink its priorities, particularly at a time of tightening defense budgets.

end quotes

AND SOMETHING MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER HERE, FOLKS!

WHAT EXACTLY IS IT THAT THIS MAN IS NOT TELLING US ABOUT THIS "PLAN" BY THIS CARGO FORCE COMPANY, AND WHO EXACTLY ARE THEY, NOW, AND HOW DO THEY FIT INTO THE PICTURE, HERE?

[Livyjr]

And who on earth is Doctor Daniel Goure, and what is the Lexington Institute, and how does he and it get to have a say in how OUR American military is run, especially with regard to stripping our American military of legal consequnces for its actions?

Lexington Institute
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703-522-5828
Fax: 703-522-5837
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org

Mission Statement

In 1775 a handful of citizen-soldiers stood on Lexington Common and defied the military might of the most powerful empire on earth.

They made a stand to secure their rights as free men in an unprecedented democratic experiment.

In doing so, they began a revolution that continues today -- a revolution that advances freedom, opportunity, and equality before the law for all men and women.

It was no accident that the patriots of Lexington made their stand on the Common, the heart and symbol of their community since its founding by Puritans in the early eighteenth century.

Every community that has meaning to its members provides some common ground where they can meet to express their shared values and resolve their differences.

The Lexington Institute participates on the common ground of American democracy, the political process that expresses the will of the people.

It is the goal of the Lexington Institute to inform, educate, and shape the public debate of national priorities in those areas that are of surpassing importance to the future success of democracy, such as national security, education reform, tax reform, immigration and federal policy concerning science and technology.

By promoting America's ability to project power around the globe we not only defend the homeland of democracy, but also sustain the international stability in which other free-market democracies can thrive.

The Lexington Institute believes in limiting the role of the federal government to those functions explicitly stated or implicitly defined by the Constitution.

The Institute therefore actively opposes the unnecessary intrusion of the federal government into the commerce and culture of the nation, and strives to find nongovernmental, market-based solutions to public-policy challenges.

We believe a dynamic private sector is the greatest engine for social progress and economic prosperity.

[Livyjr]

That person's full testimony SHOULD BE brought out in the open for ALL the candid world to hear, since this is a very serious matter, and IT CANNOT JUST BE COVERED OVER TO PROTECT PEOPLE IN HIGH PLACES, which is business as usual, especially in this case, in light of the words of this Doctor Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, in Arlington Va., where he says: 

"The cases that give the most pain are the ones where the military justice system appears not to punish."

"In a sense, the military justice system is biased, but in the same way that a judicial system is."

"There is a long tradition of this in military justice around the world, not just [US] military justice."

"You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications," he adds.

end quotes

To be very truthful, AS A DISABLED COMBAT VETERAN, and as a natural-born American citizen, I find these words to be extremely offensive!

We had a Revolution against English tyranny BECAUSE English military justice was very biased, against us, as were the King's courts, all of which is to be found in the language of OUR Declaration of Independence.

I was in the United States Army, and I know that in the very first days of my training, I was in fact schooled in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as were all the others in my training brigade, and we were taught that the United States Military Justice system WAS NOT BIASED, nor should ever become so!

As an enlisted soldier, I could have sat at some point as the jury for a court martial of an enlisted man who had requested enlisted men on his jury, and so, it was very serious business indeed.

And before you could even become an American soldier, you had to have had a minimum high school education, and you had to know about OUR system of justice on the civilian side, WHICH IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE BIASED!

As a trained American soldier, YOU KNEW THE LAW AT ALL TIMES, and before you ever pulled the trigger, YOU ALWAYS KNEW YOUR TARGET WAS "LAWFUL", so what crap is it that this GOVERNMENT CONSULTANT is peddling here, with this statement "You do not want a military man hesitating to fire because he's worried about the legal ramifications!"

What ABSOLUTE SEDITIOUS CRAP is this that is contrary, totally contrary, to everything that I learned in my life, both as an American citizen, and as a member of this nation's armed forces.

AS A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, THERE IS NEVER A MOMENT WHEN YOU ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT THE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF YOUR ACTIONS, EVER!

SO!

Dr. Daniel Goure
Vice President
Lexington Institute

Dr. Goure is a Vice President with the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

He is involved in a wide range of issues as part of the institute’s national security program.

Dr. Goure has held senior positions in both the private sector and the U.S. Government.

Most recently, he was a member of the 2001 Department of Defense Transition Team.

Dr. Goure spent two years in the U.S. Government as the director of the Office of Strategic Competitiveness in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He also served as a senior analyst on national security and defense issues with the Center for Naval Analyses, Science Applications International Corporation, SRS Technologies, R&D Associates and System Planning Corporation.

Prior to joining the Lexington Institute, Dr. Goure was the Deputy Director, International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

At CSIS, Dr. Goure was responsible for analyses of:

* U.S. national security policy;

* the future of conflict and warfare;

* the information revolution;

* counter-proliferation; and

* defense industrial management.

He directed analyses of emerging security issues with a special emphasis on U.S. military capabilities in the next century.

Dr. Goure also has done extensive consulting and teaching.

From 1990 to 1991 he led a study for the U.S. Institute of Peace on deterrence after the INF Treaty.

Dr. Goure has consulted for the Departments of State, Defense and Energy.

He has taught or lectured at the Johns Hopkins University, the Foreign Service Institute, the National War College, the Naval War College, the Air War College, and the Inter-American Defense College.

Dr. Goure is a well-known and respective presence in the national and international media, having been interviewed by all the major networks, CNN, Fox, the BBC, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

He has published written extensively in over two dozen journals and periodicals.

He is also an NBC national security military analyst.

Dr. Goure holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in international relations and Russian Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Government and History from Pomona College.

[Livyjr]

Lexington Institute
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703-522-5828
Fax: 703-522-5837
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org

Mission Statement
 
It is the goal of the Lexington Institute to inform, educate, and shape the public debate of national priorities in those areas that are of surpassing importance to the future success of democracy, such as national security, education reform, tax reform, immigration and federal policy concerning science and technology.

By promoting America's ability to project power around the globe we not only defend the homeland of democracy, but also sustain the international stability in which other free-market democracies can thrive.

The Lexington Institute believes in limiting the role of the federal government to those functions explicitly stated or implicitly defined by the Constitution.

The Institute therefore actively opposes the unnecessary intrusion of the federal government into the commerce and culture of the nation, and strives to find nongovernmental, market-based solutions to public-policy challenges.

Lexington Institute
From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?titl...ngton_Institute

The Lexington Institute was founded by Merrick Carey in 1998.

Leadership
James Andrew Courter, Chairman
Merrick Carey, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Loren B. Thompson, Chief Operating Officer
Don Soifer ( http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/biography/soiferbio.htm ), Executive Vice President
Philip Peters, Vice President
Dr. Daniel Goure, Vice President
Robert Holland, Senior Fellow
Kerry Finnegan ( http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/biography/finneganbio.asp ), Program Director
Dr. Andrew Rhein ( http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/biography/rheinbio.asp ), Research Analyst

Others
Clifford Sobel was is a trustee of the Lexington Institute [1] http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/immigration/cspraid.htm
Bonner Cohen was in 1998 a Visiting Fellow [2] http://web.archive.org/web/20010306071730/...onment/mtbe.htm and from January 1999 [3] http://web.archive.org/web/20000823110441/...hy/cohenbio.htm to 2003 [4] http://epw.senate.gov/108th/Cohen2_040203.htm a Senior Fellow of the Lexington Institute
Paul F. Steidler was from 1998 [5] http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/education/morteach.htm to 2000 [6] http://web.archive.org/web/20010716082331/.../antisocial.htm Senior Fellow of the Lexington Institute
Robert Severns was involved in the start-up of the Lexington Institute and received posthumously the 'Lexington 2003 Leadership Award'. [7] http://www.severnsfoundation.org/lexleader.html
Russell G. Redenbaugh, director since 1999 [8] http://www.usccr.gov/cos/bio/redenbau.htm
Daniel Strickberger, director since 1999
Adrienne J. Murphy joined the Lexington Institute in October 1998 as Program Coordinator, became the Director of Operations in August 1999, and she was Vice President from August 2000 to summer 2001. [9] http://web.archive.org/web/20010303075709/...y/murphybio.htm
Nancy J. Limauro joined the Lexington Institute in September 1999 as a Program Coordinator until the end of 2000. [10] http://web.archive.org/web/20000823110504/...aphy/limbio.htm

Relation with the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Many people involved in the Lexington Institute were before active at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

Name (former) function at AdTI

James Andrew Courter former chairman of the 'Committee for the Common Defense' (an AdTI defense program) and in 1998 consultant at AdTI
Merrick Carey Former President AdTI
Dr. Loren B. Thompson Senior Fellow
Philip Peters staff (1998)
Clifford Sobel director (1996)
Paul F. Steidler director of the AdTI's Education Reform Project
Robert Severns member of the first board in 1989

Gregory Fossedal (chairman of AdTI) wrote about Merrick Carey (who founded the Lexington Institute in 1998)

"... a bright and well-organized fellow who helped give me my start in politics in 1982, as I later gave him a start in the think tank business in 1993." [11]
http://www.adti.net/Severns062703.html

[Livyjr]

Lexington Institute
From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?titl...ngton_Institute

The Lexington Institute was founded by Merrick Carey in 1998.

Relation with the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Many people involved in the Lexington Institute were before active at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

Gregory Fossedal (chairman of AdTI) wrote about Merrick Carey (who founded the Lexington Institute in 1998)

"... a bright and well-organized fellow who helped give me my start in politics in 1982, as I later gave him a start in the think tank business in 1993." [11]
http://www.adti.net/Severns062703.html

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
From SourceWatch

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) is an industry-funded organization which publishes propaganda from major corporations, giving it an air of respectability.

They also organize coordinated publicity and letter-writing campaigns.

They charge for both services.

Projects

Philip Morris

Working closely with Philip Morris, they issued studies and conducted an astroturf campaign arguing the EPA's regulations (including those of cigarette smoke) were scientifically unsound, overly-burdensome, and unnecessary.

And facing a cigarette tax increase as part of the Clinton healthcare plan, they organized an astroturf campaign to misleadingly attack it
http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/cgi-bi...og/2004/05#adti , charging Morris $60,000 for the work.

Microsoft

Heavily funded by Microsoft [1] http://www.wired.com/news/linux/0,1411,52973,00.html [2] http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021227-105113-4829r , they have engaged in a number of campaigns to suggest Open Source Software, and Linux in particular, is dangerous, insecure, and illegal.

They published a book claiming Linus Torvalds did not invent Linux.

The book was widely discredited and earned them the nickname "the think tank that didn't".

(While conceding they did fund the institute, Microsoft refused to comment on whether they specifically funded the book.)

Funding

AdTI is very secretive about their income sources, refusing to divulge any funders, but we do know about some grants they have received.

Between 1988 and 2002, AdTI has received $1,723,900 (unadjusted for inflation) from conservative foundations [3] http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_re...p?recipientID=7 , namely Bradley, Olin, Scaife, the Philip M. McKenna Foundation, and the Claude R. Lambe Foundation (a Koch Family Foundations).

Projects funded by these foundations include:

Bradley grants “to support education-reform research and activities”;

the “Teacher Choice Project”;

$50,000 to “support research on teacher unions and education reform” (Bradley, 2000)

$168,750 “to support research and writing on new tactics of U.S. progressive movement in the Post-Cold War era” (Bradley and Olin, 1998)

$30,000 for “the Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense” (Olin, 1995-1996)

$5,000 to “support promotion for The Democratic Century, a book by Gregory Fossedal” (Olin, 1998)

Conservative think-tank Capital Research Center reports funding by Fannie Mae, AT&T Foundation, and Amoco Foundation. [4] http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgd....asp?Org=ATI100

Tobaccodocuments.org [5] http://tobaccodocuments.org/lor/92756807-6876.html contains a number of searchable documents produced as a result of the settlement of court actions that link AdTI to Lorillard and Phillip Morris corporations.

AdTI is linked to Dr. S. Fred Singer in the tobacco documents [6] http://www.smokefreeforhealth.org/studies/YachBialous.htm , the Cooler Heads Coalition [7] http://www.cleanairtrust.org/villain.0301.html , Consumer Alert [8] http://www.consumeralert.org/ncc/releases/rally.htm , Heartland Institute [9] http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=1568 [10] http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=1568 and the Competitive Enterprise Institute [11] http://www.cei.org/gencon/014,02832.cfm [12] http://www.cei.org/gencon/014,02833.cfm [13] http://www.cei.org/gencon/014,02821.cfm .

See also: AdTI-Funding.

Personnel

Staff and Associates Name Title

Mike Gravel Chairman
Ken Brown President
Christopher Cox Co-Chairman

AdTI Board of Advisors

John Norquist Co-Chairman
AdTI Board of Advisors

Gordon Macklin Co-Chairman
Market History Research Program

Robert Toricelli Co-Chairman
IMF Assessment Project

Gregory Fossedal Senior Fellow

Donald Payne Co-Chairman
Opportunity Africa

Alveda King Senior Fellow
Education Policy and Civil Rights

Becky Norton Dunlop Director, Democracy and the Environment Research Program

David Kirkpatrick Fellow, Education Policy

Dan Evans Teacher Choice Fellow

Don Koniezco Teacher Choice Fellow

Marilyn Ketter Rittmeyer Teacher Choice Fellow

Sahir Zuberi Webmaster

Others:

Dan Buck Board member

Sita Mazumder, Director

Philip Peters (Salary: $114,083) [14] http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgd....asp?Org=ATI100

Merrick Carey Alexis de Tocqueville Institution former president (Salary: $172,000) [15] http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgd....asp?Org=ATI100

Cesar Conda [16] http://www.mises.org/econsense/postscript.asp#p407 , [17] http://reason.com/rodgers.shtml , recently was Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Domestic Policy [18] http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=6248 previously was executive director of AdTI, currently on Board of Empower America.

Jack Kemp Co-Chairman, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution and Co-Director, Empower America [19] http://www.house.gov/judiciary/6017.htm

General information

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution was founded in 1988 in Redwood City, CA.

The first corporate board was formed in 1989 by Robert Severns, Eugene Ravizza and Bruce Thompson.

AdTI claims that they "follow the principles of Tocqueville himself...among these liberal ideas are civil liberty, political equality, and economic freedom and opportunity".

On older pages on their web site they wrote ".. Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a non-profit public research foundation with offices in Virginia and California" [20] http://web.archive.org/web/20000301192407/...intmonfund.html but for a long time they seem to have no activities in California anymore.

Along with other conservative think tanks AdTI advocates lower taxes and less regulation.

It also works on education 'reform' and against teachers unions, immigration policy, environmental issues and projects on China, Cuba, Africa and Switzerland.

It has defended the interests of the tobacco industry and works on the International Monetary Fund.

More recently it has made a name for itself defending the interests of proprietary software companies and criticising open-source software.

AdTI is a part of the stable of conservative think tanks with their commentary regularly posted on the websites of the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Science and Environmental Policy Project and other websites.

Corporate and business inquiries:

10 Benning Street # 151
West Lebanon, NH 03784

Washington, DC office at:

611 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Number 119
Washington, DC 20003

However, both addresses are UPS stores [21] http://www.theupsstore.com/locations/locde...nterNum=MBE2438 [22] http://www.theupsstore.com/locations/locde...nterNum=MBE2092 .

On AdTI's 990 for the year 2001 the address was the above mentioned address in West Lebanon.

Earlier 990 forms had 1611 N. Kent Street room 901, Arlington, AV 22209.

Old pages of the Emerging Markets Group had almost the same address: 1611 North Kent Street #901-b, Arlington, VA 22209 [23] http://web.archive.org/web/20020210151110/...com/va/emgroup/ .

On the other hand, the address in West Lebanon can also be found at the 990 form for 2002 of the Ernest Martin Hopkins Institute and was in 2003 shown on the web site of the Democratic Century Fund [24] http://web.archive.org/web/20030622030706/www.dcfund.net which is managed by the Emerging Markets Group.

Web: http://www.adti.net/

AdTI Programs

Most of the following AdTI programs are now defunct:

American Immigration Institute
Center on Regulation and Economic Growth
Committee for the Common Defense
Focus on Agricultural Regulation and Markets (FARM)
International Monetary Fund Assessment Project
Opportunity Africa
Teacher Choice

External links

Michelle Delio, "Did MS Pay for Open-Source Scare? http://www.wired.com/news/linux/0,1411,52973,00.html ", Wired, June 5, 2002.

David F. Skoll, "Opening the Open-Source Debate http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/...2982813264.html ", The Age, June 10 2002.

Groklaw.net, "Andrew S. Tanenbaum's Reply to ADTI http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040522014416143 " , May 22, 2004

Wikipedia, "Alexis de Tocqueville Institution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Toc...lle_Institution "

Retrieved from " http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title...lle_Institution "

[Livyjr]

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
From SourceWatch

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) is an industry-funded organization which publishes propaganda from major corporations, giving it an air of respectability.

They also organize coordinated publicity and letter-writing campaigns.

They charge for both services.

Projects funded by these foundations include:

$30,000 for “the Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense” (Olin, 1995-1996)

Personnel

Cesar Conda [16] http://www.mises.org/econsense/postscript.asp#p407 , [17] http://reason.com/rodgers.shtml , recently was Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Domestic Policy [18] http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=6248 previously was executive director of AdTI, currently on Board of Empower America.

AdTI is a part of the stable of conservative think tanks with their commentary regularly posted on the websites of the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Science and Environmental Policy Project and other websites.

Wikipedia, "Alexis de Tocqueville Institution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Toc...lle_Institution "

Retrieved from " http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title...lle_Institution "

Committee for the Common Defense
From SourceWatch

Committee for the Common Defense is a program of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

This 'Committee for the Common Defense' sent on January 5, 1995 a letter to President Bill Clinton, signed by Melvin Laird, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.

In this letter they asked Clinton not to terminate the B-2 program (see: AdTI-Funding).

In a report called 'US Military Ammunition Policy: Reliving the Mistakes of the Past?' published in the autumn of 1994 it says about the authors:

"Jim Courter is Chairman of the Committee for the Common Defense, the national security arm of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution."

" ... Dr. Loren B. Thompson is a Senior Fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution and is Executive Director of its Committee for the Common Defense." [1] http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1994/davis.htm

The John M. Olin Foundation gave in 1995 to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution $10,000 for the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

One year later they gave $20,000 to AdTI for "The Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense". [2] http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_re...p?recipientID=7

This same 'Committee for the Common Defense' was in 2002 responsible for a pro-Microsoft report stating: Open Source Software May Offer Target for Terrorists http://www.adti.net/opensource_pressrelease_05_30_2002.html .

In the press release they wrote:

"In a paper to be released next week, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution outlines how open source might facilitate efforts to disrupt or sabotage electronic commerce, air traffic control or even sensitive surveillance systems."

"Unlike proprietary software, open source software does not make the underlying code of a software confidential."

"Computer systems are the backbone of U.S. national security", says Fossedal, chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution and its Committee for the Common Defense, which will release the study."

Mr. Rumsfeld was in May 2001 according to Multinational Monitor a member of the National Security Program of AdTI. [3] http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/01m...hcc.html#donald

It's not clear what the relationship is between that program and the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

In February 1994 [4] http://www.pmdocs.com/PDF/2073011709_1710.PDF the committee members were:

Chairman: James Courter

Senior Advisory Board:

Frank Carlucci
Sen. Ernest Hollings
H.T. Johnson
Sen. John McCain
Rep. Dave McCurdy
Donald Rumsfeld
Rep. Ike Skelton [5] http://www.house.gov/skelton/
Robert Stuart
Rep. Robert Torricelli
John Whitehead

[Livyjr]

Bush’s Corporate Cabinet: Others In The Bush League

Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff.

Former job: Chief lobbyist for General Motors. President of American Automobile Manufacturers Association (1993 to 1998). AAA spent $12 million on lobbying in 1997-1998, often to fight higher fuel-efficiency regulations as well as the Kyoto Protocol and other global warming initiatives.

Card is a long-time Bush family supporter; worked as deputy chief of staff for Bush I administration.

On January 20, Card ordered all executive departments to postpone for 60 days the effective date of a wide range of regulations announced by President Bill Clinton in his final days.

Karl Rove, advisor to the President.

Called “the governor’s Svengali” by the National Review.

Philip Morris paid political intelligence operative, 1991 to 1996 (starting at $3,000/month).

Shaped governor Bush’s positions on tort “reform.”

Jeanne L. Phillips, representative to OECD. Managing director of Dallas office of Public Strategies,Inc.; former president of Jeanne Johnson and Co.

John E. Robson, president of Ex-Im Bank.

Senior advisor with Robertson Stephens bank.

Earl Floyed Kvamme, co-chair of President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a Menlo Park California venture capital firm; former executive vice president of sales and marketing at Apple Computer.

Tom Scully, administrator of Health Care Financing Administration. President and CEO of Federation of American Hospitals.

Lawrence Lindsey, top economic advisor to the president. Arthur F. Burns chair at the American Enterprise Institute.

Diana Furchgott-Roth, staff chief to the Council of Economic Advisors. Resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

[b][color=red]Nina Rees, adviser to Vice President Cheney. Senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

Stephen J. Hadley, deputy director of National Security Council. Partner in Shea & Garner (representing Lockheed Martin). Lead lobbyist for development of missile defense during presidential campaign.

Michael Powell, FCC Chair. Lawyer who represented GTE (GTE merged last year with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon Communcations). Says he does not believe a “digital divide” is splitting U.S. society between those who have computers and Internet access and those who don’t. “I think there is a Mercedes divide … I would like to have one, but I can’t afford one.”

Kathleen Q. Abernathy, FCC Commissioner. Vice president for public policy of Broadband Office Communications. Former vice president of Air Touch Communications.

Michael J. Copps, FCC Commissioner. Former senior vice president of the American Meat Institute (1989 to 1993); director of government affairs for Collins and Aikman Corp. (1985 to 1989). Recently assistant secretary of commerce for trade development (1998 to 2001).

Nicholas Calio, White House director of legislative affairs. Lobbyist for Tenneco Automotive and Atlantic Richfield Co. Top deputy is Kirsten Ardleigh Chadwick, also formerly a registered lobbyist for Tenneco.

John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Although he has a four-decade foreign service career, he most recently served as executive vice president for global markets at McGraw-Hill.

[Livyjr]

Committee for the Common Defense
From SourceWatch

Committee for the Common Defense is a program of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

This 'Committee for the Common Defense' sent on January 5, 1995 a letter to President Bill Clinton, signed by Melvin Laird, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.

In this letter they asked Clinton not to terminate the B-2 program (see: AdTI-Funding).

The John M. Olin Foundation gave in 1995 to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution $10,000 for the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

One year later they gave $20,000 to AdTI for "The Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense". [2] http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_re...p?recipientID=7

Mr. Rumsfeld was in May 2001 according to Multinational Monitor a member of the National Security Program of AdTI. [3] http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/01m...hcc.html#donald

It's not clear what the relationship is between that program and the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

In February 1994 [4] http://www.pmdocs.com/PDF/2073011709_1710.PDF the committee members were:

Chairman: James Courter

Senior Advisory Board:

Frank Carlucci
Sen. Ernest Hollings
H.T. Johnson
Sen. John McCain
Rep. Dave McCurdy
Donald Rumsfeld
Rep. Ike Skelton [5] http://www.house.gov/skelton/
Robert Stuart
Rep. Robert Torricelli
John Whitehead

Bush’s Corporate Cabinet:

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense

Ex-CEO of General Instrument Corp. (1990-1993).

Ex-CEO Searle pharmaceuticals (1977-1985).

Leading proponent of National Missile Defense [See “Star Wars, Continued,” Multinational Monitor, October 2000].

Estimated total assets between $61 million and $242.5 million.

Financial disclosure report is 78 pages long (not including appendices).

Chair of Salomon Smith Barney’s international advisory board.

Directorships: Kellogg Company (7/85 - 4/99); ABB; Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. (1/93 - 9/99); Forstmann Little & Co. (5/90 - 1/00); Amylin Pharmaceutical; Gilead Sciences, Inc., chair of board; Chicago Tribune Company; OverX, Inc.; Investor AB (advisor); Metricom, Inc. (advisory board); Hamilton Group (advisory board); Transaction Info. Systems (advisory board); Dreyfus Corp. (nine mutual fund boards); Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (advisory board); Hasbro, Inc.

Other positions: Balkan Action Council, Bilderberg Meetings; World Economic Forum (advisor); U.S. Committee on NATO (executive board); government of Singapore (International Academic Advisory Panel); BP-Amoco (consultant); the Limited Service Corp. (consultant); Bretton Woods Committee; National Strategy Forum; Alexis de Tocqueville Institution-National Security Program; Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Organization on Crime (steering committee); Committee for Common Defense; Alfalfa Club; Bohemian Club.

Subappointments:

Pete Aldridge, undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics. CEO of Aerospace Corporation.

Victoria Clarke, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. General manager of Washington office of Hill & Knowlton.

Gordon England, secretary of the Navy. General Dynamics executive.

William James Haynes, general counsel. Partner at Jenner & Bloch law firm.

James Roche, secretary of the Air Force, Northrup Grumman executive.

David S.C. Shu, under secretary for personnel and readiness. Vice president of RAND Corporation’s army research division.

Thomas White, secretary of the Army. Enron executive.

Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary. Received $300,000 from Hughes Electronics as co-chair of Nunn-Wolfowitz task force; Dean of Johns Hopkins U. School of Advanced International Studies

[jeffmoskin]

" Democracy is taking hold in the Middle East. "

The only place democracy has taken hold in the Middle East is in a small country called Israel.

How could a man who tells us he reads his Bible every day, not be telling us the truth?

Ahah! That's it. For the same reason he spent 20 minutes reading "My Pet Goat." He can't read beyond a first grade level. So he may "read" the Bible" every day, but he cannot comprehend its message.

Explains a lot.

Frank Carlucci

Livyjr, as usual you are on a posting frenzy, writing faster than I can read.

However, the name Frank Carlucci did not escape my eye. He is a Senior Exec with The Carlyle Group, an International consortium of dealers in weapons and oil industry equipment. Used to be headed by Bush the Elder, and financed by the bin Laden family.

Nice folks

[jeffmoskin]

Stay away from trees?

My God, man, I live in the woods!

OH NO!

Run, Livyjr, RUN!

Oh well!

Did you? Where are you?

[Abu Beacon]

Stay away from trees?

My God, man, I live in the woods!

OH NO!

Run, Livyjr, RUN!

Oh well!

Did you? Where are you?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My thoughts exactly.

Livyjr ----- Where are you?

A.B.

[Livyjr]

My thoughts exactly.

Livyjr ----- Where are you?

A.B.

Right here next to you guys!

The HARD BOYS come for me, they better bring a lunch, or two, or a bunch, and bring some nuclear weapons to soften me up a little, too, and maybe about ten or twenty thousand of your friends, to help hold me down, assuming you can ever catch me in the first place, inept fools that you are.

And of course, when they start on their way, I will hear their thoughts, and know they are coming towards me with ill intent, so when the hammer falls, I will not be there when it falls, I'll be behind them, watching it all go down!

[Livyjr]

Somehow, I believe the situation has become what it is because those in power were able to effectively do the one thing that they had to do.

And that one thing is -----

They accomplished the "dumbing down" of the citizenry.

"Democracy is taking hold in the Middle East."

In a pig's ear, it is.

It wouldn't take much to push Lebanon into another civil war.

The same could happen in Iraq.

In regards to the two assassinations which have happened recently, I use the word assassination because that's what they were, I keep going back to just one premise.

Who would gain?

In the case of Prime Minister Hairiri of Lebanon -- who gained by his death?

A.B.

Bush’s Corporate Cabinet:

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense

Estimated total assets between $61 million and $242.5 million.

Financial disclosure report is 78 pages long (not including appendices).

Other positions: Balkan Action Council, Bilderberg Meetings; World Economic Forum (advisor); U.S. Committee on NATO (executive board); government of Singapore (International Academic Advisory Panel); BP-Amoco (consultant); the Limited Service Corp. (consultant); Bretton Woods Committee; National Strategy Forum; Alexis de Tocqueville Institution-National Security Program; Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Organization on Crime (steering committee); Committee for Common Defense; Alfalfa Club; Bohemian Club.

Committee for the Common Defense
From SourceWatch

Committee for the Common Defense is a program of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

This 'Committee for the Common Defense' sent on January 5, 1995 a letter to President Bill Clinton, signed by Melvin Laird, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.

The John M. Olin Foundation gave in 1995 to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution $10,000 for the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

One year later they gave $20,000 to AdTI for "The Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense". [2] http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_re...p?recipientID=7

This same 'Committee for the Common Defense' was in 2002 responsible for a pro-Microsoft report stating: Open Source Software May Offer Target for Terrorists http://www.adti.net/opensource_pressrelease_05_30_2002.html .

Mr. Rumsfeld was in May 2001 according to Multinational Monitor a member of the National Security Program of AdTI. [3] http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/01m...hcc.html#donald

It's not clear what the relationship is between that program and the 'Committee for the Common Defense'.

In February 1994 [4] http://www.pmdocs.com/PDF/2073011709_1710.PDF the committee members were:

Chairman: James Courter

Senior Advisory Board:

Frank Carlucci
Sen. Ernest Hollings
H.T. Johnson
Sen. John McCain
Rep. Dave McCurdy
Donald Rumsfeld
Rep. Ike Skelton [5] http://www.house.gov/skelton/
Robert Stuart
Rep. Robert Torricelli
John Whitehead

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
From SourceWatch

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) is an industry-funded organization which publishes propaganda from major corporations, giving it an air of respectability.

They also organize coordinated publicity and letter-writing campaigns.

They charge for both services.

Projects funded by these foundations include:

$30,000 for “the Action Plan for Defense Privatization, conducted by the Committee for the Common Defense” (Olin, 1995-1996)

Personnel

Cesar Conda [16] http://www.mises.org/econsense/postscript.asp#p407 , [17] http://reason.com/rodgers.shtml , recently was Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Domestic Policy [18] http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=6248 previously was executive director of AdTI, currently on Board of Empower America.

AdTI is a part of the stable of conservative think tanks with their commentary regularly posted on the websites of the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Science and Environmental Policy Project and other websites.

Lexington Institute
From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?titl...ngton_Institute

The Lexington Institute was founded by Merrick Carey in 1998.

Relation with the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Many people involved in the Lexington Institute were before active at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

Dr. Daniel Goure
Vice President
Lexington Institute

Dr. Goure is a Vice President with the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

He is involved in a wide range of issues as part of the institute’s national security program.

Dr. Goure is a well-known and respective presence in the national and international media, having been interviewed by all the major networks, CNN, Fox, the BBC, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. 

He has published written extensively in over two dozen journals and periodicals.

He is also an NBC national security military analyst.

Lexington Institute
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703-522-5828
Fax: 703-522-5837
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org

Mission Statement
 
It is the goal of the Lexington Institute to inform, educate, and shape the public debate of national priorities in those areas that are of surpassing importance to the future success of democracy, such as national security, education reform, tax reform, immigration and federal policy concerning science and technology.

By promoting America's ability to project power around the globe we not only defend the homeland of democracy, but also sustain the international stability in which other free-market democracies can thrive.

Automotive News

"Gas prices seen hitting record high this year - Soaring crude costs cited ahead of summer driving season"

MSNBC staff and news service reports

Updated: 12:00 p.m. ET March 4, 2005

NEW YORK - It could be a tough time for American motorists when they hit the road for the vacation season with gasoline prices poised to hit record highs.

The average pump price for self-serve gas is currently $1.92 a gallon, about 13 cents below the all-time record hit last May, and 22 cents higher than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association.

Furthermore, oil prices are at their highest level in months and still rising.

The head of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries has said crude could get as high as $80 per barrel, up from about $54 currently.

“All of the dynamics are in place for U.S. motorists to pay new record high prices again this year,” said AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom.

Oil prices are roughly 44 percent higher than a year ago, rising sharply in recent weeks due to a combination of colder weather, the declining value of the dollar and the world’s tight supply-demand balance.

Instability in Iraq and underlying fears about terrorism have also played a part in the rally.

Livyjr, as usual you are on a posting frenzy, writing faster than I can read.

However, the name Frank Carlucci did not escape my eye.

He is a Senior Exec with The Carlyle Group, an International consortium of dealers in weapons and oil industry equipment.

Used to be headed by Bush the Elder, and financed by the bin Laden family.

Nice folks!

Sorry, jeffmoskin, about the posting frenzy, but I live on a borrowed computer, so, my time is cyberspace, here in the BLOG-O-SPHERE, is limited, and I couldn't stop with that CHAIN OF CONCURRENCE above here, until I got to the end, WHICH IS REALLY THE BEGINNING of the take-over of OUR America by something that I am going to call "CORPORATIA"!

And what an invention this computer really is, and God bless Al Gore for giving it to us!

CUI BONO!

Let's start there, since Mr. A.B. really got me to thinking about that when he asked that rhetorical question in the top post of this "STRING OF PEARLS" above here - WHO DOES BENEFIT FROM CONTINUED TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

The people who live there?

Yeah, right, give me a break!

WHO IN THE HELL IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS TO LIVE IN A WAR ZONE?

Certainly not anyone who has ever been in one, which IS NOT George W. Bush and Richard "HALLIBURTON DICK" Cheney, and that is for sure, BUT ....

Let's look at these following sentences from the March 4, 2005 news article above entitled "Gas prices seen hitting record high this year - Soaring crude costs cited ahead of summer driving season", to wit:

NEW YORK - It could be a tough time for American motorists when they hit the road for the vacation season with gasoline prices poised to hit record highs.

The average pump price for self-serve gas is currently $1.92 a gallon, about 13 cents below the all-time record hit last May, and 22 cents higher than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association.

Furthermore, oil prices are at their highest level in months and still rising.

The head of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries has said crude could get as high as $80 per barrel, up from about $54 currently.

“All of the dynamics are in place for U.S. motorists to pay new record high prices again this year,” said AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom.

Oil prices are roughly 44 percent higher than a year ago, rising sharply in recent weeks due to a combination of colder weather, the declining value of the dollar and the world’s tight supply-demand balance.

Instability in Iraq and underlying fears about terrorism have also played a part in the rally.

end quotes

SO?

Is there a KEY WORD somewhere in there, like the word RALLY?

"Instability in Iraq and underlying fears about terrorism have also played a part in the rally".

Now, is that a Freudian slip, perhaps?

Or what?

What is this RALLY that they are talking about, and is it just an innocuous word?

OR IS IT MANNA FROM HEAVEN FOR MR. RICHARD "HALLIBURTON DICK" CHENEY AND HIS ULTRA TOP-SECRET "ENERGY ADVISORY COUNCIL", THANKS TO NINO?

AND WHO IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL OF KEEPING IRAQ, AND THE WHOLE MIDDLE EAST, UNSTABLE?

The pawns, er, people who live there, OR GEORGE W. BUSH?

WHO IS ALSO IN COMPLETE AND TOTAL CHARGE OF CONTINUING "FEARS OF TAY-RIZM" IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Isn't that also George W. Bush?

And now, we have a RALLY in crude oil prices WHICH DOES NOT BENEFIT ANYBODY BUT DICK CHENEY AND HIS!

OR AM I MISTAKEN?

Does that RALLY in crude oil prices that are going to cause us to get gouged and raped by the OIL COMPANIES in some way benefit us?

Am I missing some stray or random psychological factor here that is operating on us as a population group, here in OUR America, that has us COLLECTIVELY WANTING, YEA, NEEDING, TO GET RAPED AND GOUGED BY DICK CHENEY AND HIS?

Or is it something different, something more basic, LIKE ALL OF US ARE GOING TO BE SLAVES TO THE COMPANY STORE, and that company store is going to be imposed upon us, BY the CORPORATIONS who form CORPORATIA?

A new world order is taking over, and we are so blind, so stupid, that it is happening right before OUR eyes, and we just don't see!

OR DO WE?

Maybe we are not blind, and we do really want this, just as the people in the last days of the Roman REPUBLIC wanted KIND MASTERS over LIBERTY!

THEY WILL BE KIND MASTERS, AFTER ALL, WON'T THEY; THE CORPORATIONS WHO ARE GOING TO TAKE AMERICA FROM US, BY FORCE, IF NECESSARY, AND TURN IT INTO A PARADISE ON EARTH FOR THEM KNOWN FOR ALL FUTURE TIME AS CORPORATIA?

KIND MASTERS so long as you don't step out of line, of course, and why anyone who does step out of line IS A TAY-RIST and deserves to die on the spot, and anyone who negotiates with TAY-RISTS, like that Calipari, why he deserves to be made an example of.

"POP THAT BOY RIGHT IN THE HEAD, AND BLOW HIM CLEAN AWAY, RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CANDID WATCHING WORLD, JUST SO THEY KNOW, AND SO THEY WON'T EVER FORGET, WHO HOLDS THE REAL POWER HERE, AND WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!"

"WHO WANTS SOME OF WHAT THE ITALIAN BOY JUST GOT?"

"ANYBODY?"

"NO, I DID NOT THINK SO!"

And Lebanon?

IF LEBANON IS PEACEFUL, THEN WILL THERE BE A NEED TO PROJECT AMERICAN POWER OVER THERE, AS THESE LEXINGTON INSTITUTE BOYS ARE ADVOCATING, IN THE INTERESTS OF CORPORATIA, OF COURSE, WHO SHALL REIGN OVER ALL THE EARTH, THE HEAVENS, AND THE STARS?

CUI BONO, indeed!

NOT US!

[Livyjr]

The HARD BOYS come for me, they better bring a lunch, or two, or a bunch, and bring some nuclear weapons to soften me up a little, too, and maybe about ten or twenty thousand of your friends, to help hold me down, assuming you can ever catch me in the first place, inept fools that you are.

And of course, when they start on their way, I will hear their thoughts, and know they are coming towards me with ill intent, so when the hammer falls, I will not be there when it falls, I'll be behind them, watching it all go down!

Bush’s Corporate Cabinet:

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense

Estimated total assets between $61 million and $242.5 million.

Financial disclosure report is 78 pages long (not including appendices).

And if anyone thinks that these HARD BOYS are just a figment of my imagination, or that I don't take the threat of them quite seriously, guess again, for they ARE NOT, and I do!

I take them very seriously indeed, for they are real, and they are around as well, at least my house, where a couple of weeks ago, to "get my attention", as the investigating State Trooper told me, some "AMERICAN HERO" in a four wheel drive vehicle with a snow plow attached took the time and trouble to flatten my mail box pole, which is a four-inch stainless steel pipe imbedded in concrete.

To do that, to finally push it down flat, the "AMERICAN HERO" just about dug himself down to China, spinning his wheels against the resistance of the pipe.

But these HARD BOYS, well, they just are tough enough to stick it out, and so, in the end, down went my mailbox, pole and all, and there it is to this day, the pole anyway, with the yellow paint from the snowplow blade still evident on it.

"Ya got yoreself some enemies" is what the State Trooper told me, and what I told him back is "yeah, I do, but they are cowards, aren't they, if all the guts they got is to come after my mailbox, instead of me!"

And perhaps, in the end, that is why the path of my life wended its way through Viet Nam, as it did, where I was twice-wounded, and where I saw violence in technicolor, right in front of my own face, so as to enable me today to be able to stand up to the HARD BOYS and all the harassment and intimidation crap that they so far have been able to dish out to me to date, which has been a bit more than just pushing down my mailbox and pole.

In the movie Apocalypse Now, in the beginning perhaps it was, Kurtz, the renegade American officer who has "gone up the river", says something about a "snail crawling on the edge of a razer blade", and I have yet to meet anyone who really understands what he is saying there, as for the snail, crawling on the edge of the razer blade is about as safe a place as a snail can be, SINCE THE SNAIL NEVER CRAWLS ON THE EDGE OF A RAZER BLADE, AT ALL.

The snail crawls on a layer of "slime", and so, never touches the edge of the razer blade, but anything coming for the snail would!

And it is a very powerful metaphor, indeed, especially for someone like me who years ago, decided that standing up for those weaker than me was a real American thing to do, and being a thug, or a bully, who preyed on the weak was not only cowardly, but very un-American, to boot.

Come right out in very plain sight, as I am doing in here, and stand right on the edge of the razer blade, so that all who come after you have to risk that edge cutting their own feet!

And it does.

And here, someone might ask, don't my feet get cut too, and badly?

And the answer is OF COURSE, THEY DO!

But, so far, it has not yet been fatal, and it just seems to go with the territory of being a responsible American citizen over the age of eighteen, as I see it anyway.

Look at Nathan Hale, if anybody in America even knows his name, which sadly, is doubtful!

Old Billy Howe stretched his neck for him, for standing up for OUR America, and so, I harbor no illusions whatsoever that the same fate won't befall me, as well, but so far, I am still up here, on the razer blade's edge, positively dancing a jig, like an Irish sailer just hit landfall in the HOLY GROUND again after a long voyage at sea!

An advantage to having been twice wounded in combat is that it just is no big thing anymore, the thought of having it happen again, which I would not desire, nor relish, BUT ....

The next time is simply that, the next time.

If you don't survive, what have you got to worry about, after all?

And if you do, it hurts like hell for a while, but that is just transitory, so you get over it, and drive on, as the saying goes.

I have been at this "citizenship game" that I am playing at in here for quite a while now, and while I do get disgusted, and while my standard of living has been reduced to one of abject poverty, still I am here.

Many times, "slings and arrows" have come in my direction from the BID-NESS BOYS who pray the coming of CORPORATIA and the complete and total end of any responsibility whatsoever for them; and miraculously, at the last moment, those "sings and arrows" are turned aside, SO LONG AS I DO NOT ACT TO CREATE AN ADVANTAGE FOR MYSELF OVER ANOTHER LIVING HUMAN BEING!

"He who lives by the sword had always better know where the sharp edge of that sword really is at all times, lest the sharp edge find itself pressing in on the flesh of his or her own throat."

God's words, not mine, and I heed them well.

This is no game, folks, this is in fact deadly serious stuff that I and we are about in here, and make no mistake about that!

What is at stake here for CORPORATIA?

For an answer to that, just go up to the post right above here, in the little view window, and take a look at Donald Rumsfeld's own CORPORATE WORTH of between $61 and $242 MILLION, and ask yourself this question - DOES DONALD RUMSFELD NOW HAVE ENOUGH?

And then think of all the turmoil in the world, and think how that turmoil just might benefit the corporate holdings of Donald Rumsfeld, who along with George W. Bush, and Condo Rice and Richard "HALLIBURTON DICK" Cheney, IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE TURMOIL IN THE WORLD THAT BENEFITS HIM, at OUR expense, unless, of course, you are one of those who has him as YOUR KIND MASTER, in which case, I am your enemy, right, because I certainly am not one of those here in MY America who is standing with you in YOURS?

[Livyjr]

Subject: Life!

I'll be happy when...

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another.

Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are.

After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with.

We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation or when we retire.

The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

Happiness is the way.

So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with ... and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting.

Until your car or home is paid off.
Until you get a new car or home.
Until your kids leave the house.
Until you go back to school.
Until you finish school.
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married.
Until you get a divorce.
Until you have kids.
Until you retire.
Until summer..
Until spring.
Until winter.
Until fall.
Until you die.

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and, dance like no one's watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.

I just did!

[jeffmoskin]

The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

Happiness is the way.

Truer words were never spoken.

As Dorothy Parker would have said, "Well, you might as well live."

[Abu Beacon]

Truer words were never spoken.

As Dorothy Parker would have said, "Well, you might as well live."

Does anyone remember one of Dorothy Parker's more famous and risque comments ---

" If all the girls from Vassar were laid end to end ----

I wouldn't be a bit surprised ".

( Vassar administrators were somewhat unhappy with this. )

A.B.

[Livyjr]

Does anyone remember one of Dorothy Parker's more famous and risque comments --- 

"If all the girls from Vassar were laid end to end ----

I wouldn't be a bit surprised".

(Vassar administrators were somewhat unhappy with this.)

A.B.

Boy, Mr. A.B., what a line, and you have cracked me right up here, with it.

Well said, well done!

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised"!

I'm going to be chuckling all day long about this, I think.

In fact, maybe a "horse laugh", or two, which is never a bad thing, at all.