Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

"Mortgage giants avert potential disaster"

By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer

21 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A potential financial disaster that could have shaken the housing market was averted because regulators discovered accounting failures at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the new head of the agency that oversees the mortgage giants said Monday.

The government-sponsored organizations appear to have gotten the message that they need to reform, but it still will take years to repair their internal problems, James B. Lockhart said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"The housing market is so important to this country," said Lockhart, who has headed the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight for about two months.

"And to have it built on what turned out to be a shaky foundation could have caused significant financial problems."

Problems were averted, he said, because the regulators acted to identify and order corrections at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together stand behind some 40 percent of the $8 trillion U.S. home-mortgage market.

"The good news is that it was caught in time and the remedies are starting to be in place, so that there was no major problem for the average American," Lockhart said.

Lockhart, a friend of Bush from prep school and college, became director of an agency whose previous leader had for years waged a quixotic battle against the two politically powerful companies.

After serious accounting problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became known, a push by the administration to tighten the government reins on them gained ground in Congress.

Lockhart, 60, was executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that backs private defined-benefit pensions, in the administration of the first President Bush.

He has worked in the private financial sector and was deputy commissioner of Social Security before taking his current job.

Like the White House and many lawmakers, he believes the mortgage holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — totaling more than $1 trillion — should be reduced.

He called legislation pending in the Senate "a very good starting point."

Fannie Mae, the second-largest U.S. financial institution after Citigroup Inc. and the second-biggest borrower after the federal government, is restating its earnings back to 2001 — a correction expected to reach at least $11 billion.

The company was fined $400 million in a settlement in May with OFHEO and the Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the largest civil penalties ever in an accounting fraud case.

It also agreed to make top-to-bottom changes in its corporate culture, accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.

The accounting failures and earnings manipulation at Washington-based Fannie Mae became known in September 2004 after the OFHEO regulators discovered them in a special review.

No. 2 rival Freddie Mac had its own accounting crisis in mid-2003, when the company disclosed that it had misstated earnings by some $5 billion — mostly underreported — for 2000-2002 and ousted its top executives.

Similarly, it was fined $125 million by OFHEO and ordered to make changes.

If either company should fail, there could be less money for consumers to borrow to get a mortgage, and interest rates on home loans could be forced higher.

Congress created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to inject money into the home-loan market.

They buy mortgages from banks and other lenders and bundle the loans into securities for sale to investors worldwide.

"The risk has certainly been reduced by the remedial actions that the two management teams have put in place at our direction," Lockhart said.

But it will take a number of years — two, three or more — for the two companies to get their financial houses fully in order, he cautioned.

In addition, he said, "There's still some arrogance in the culture."

"... There are certainly people in both organizations that have retained and will retain some of that arrogance."

OFHEO's review found that current and former executives of Fannie Mae reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses in a deceptive accounting scheme from 1998 to 2004.

Employees are said to have manipulated accounting to hit quarterly earnings targets so senior executives could pocket the bonus money.

Lockhart has promised that his agency will pursue some company executives to recover allegedly tainted bonus money if the Fannie Mae board fails to do so.
___

On the Net:

Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight: http://www.ofheo.gov

Fannie Mae: http://www.fanniemae.com

Freddie Mac: http://www.freddiemac.com

[Livyjr]

And here's "CON-JOB CONNIE" ......

"Rice: Iraq gov't can prevail over violence"

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

1 hour, 45 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she is certain Iraq's new leaders can prevail over "determined killers" like those that killed 41 people over the weekend.

"No one could have expected that just within weeks of coming to power that the Iraqi government would have been able to stop the violence and to completely address a difficult security situation," Rice said.

She spoke before a meeting at the State Department with Pakistani Foreign Minister Kursheed Kasuri.

The Bush administration has said the permanent democratic government that took power in Baghdad this spring offers the best hope for quelling rising sectarian violence and ending the anti-government and anti-American insurgency.

"There are determined killers there, determined people who really do want to make life difficult and to arrest the democratic progress that Iraq is making," Rice said.

"But I'm quite certain that the combination of a strong government and the security forces that are now engaged in the security plan for Baghdad will be able to bring this situation under control."

Sunni leaders expressed outrage over the weekend killings; most of the victims were Sunnis.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, appealed for calm, warning that the nation stood "in front of a dangerous precipice."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has set the improvement of security in an increasingly lawless Baghdad as an early test of his administration.

Al-Maliki has promised to disband Shiite militias and other armed groups blamed for much of the sectarian violence.

The groups have flourished in large part because of the inability of Iraqi and coalition forces to guarantee security.

Al-Maliki has also imposed curfews and taken other drastic steps, to little avail.

U.S.-led forces are supporting Iraqi forces in carrying out al-Maliki's security plan.

Eventually, the Bush administration hopes that al-Maliki can assert enough political and security control to allow the withdrawal of most of the more than 130,000 U.S. forces in Iraq more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

Two car bombs struck a Shiite district in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, officials said, as sectarian tensions rose following brazen attacks Sunday in which Sunnis were pulled from their cars or picked out on the street and killed by masked Shiite gunmen.

"It is obvious that, for many people, they believe that if you can disrupt Baghdad, you can kill democracy in Iraq," White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

"It is also obvious that it is U.S. policy, and also the policy of Prime Minister Maliki, that that is not going to happen; that they will bring resources to bear to make sure that everything from roving gangs to insurgents who are determined to insight sectarian strife — that they do not succeed."

[Snuffysmith]

CCR Report In Full:

Report Details Recent Torture and Inhumane Treatment in Violation of U.S. Law and the Supreme Court’s Recent Hamdan Decision;
http://tinyurl.com/ow8k5

[Livyjr]

"Oh, Eliot, You're JUST So Vain" 
     
With apologies to Carly Simon

Oh, Eliot ....

You foxy devil, you .....   

You walked into the party ....

Like you were walking into the Governor's Chambers ....

In the capital ....

In Albany, New York ....

Your hat strategically dipped below one eye ...

Your scarf it was apricot ....

You had one eye in the mirror ....

On yourself, of course .....

And the other ...

On all the LOBBYISTS in the room ....

And the little bags of money in their hands ....

As you watched yourself gavotte ....

From lobbyist to lobbyist ...

Collecting your due, of course ...

And all the girls dreamed .....

As they do when in the company of powerful politicians like you ....

That they'd be your "partner" .....

They'd be your partner, and....

Oh, Eliot ......

You're just so vain ....

You KNOW this song is about you .....

Oh "Big EL" .....

You're just so vain ....

You're out there hiring people ....

To write pretty songs about you .....

Aren't you?

Aren't you?

You had New York State .....

Several years ago .....

When we were still quite naive .....

Well you said that you and New York State ....

Made such a pretty pair ....

And that you would never leave us stranded .....

Outside the protection of law ....

While your GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDACY .....

Stuffed its pockets .....

With money ...

From those who would have it be so .....

But like all politicans in the end, Eliot ....

You gave away the things we loved .....

Like HONESTY ...

And INTEGRITY ....

And FORTHRIGHTNESS .....

And Eliot ....

One of those "things" you gave away ....

Was me .....

So Eliot ....

I had some dreams ....

Or so I thought ....

They were clouds in my coffee .....

Clouds in my coffee and ....

NO ...

Actually .....

It was GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION, instead .....

And no dream at all ...

Thanks to YOU, Big EL ....

And Eliot ....

You're just so vain .....

You know this song is about you .....

You're just so vain .....

You have your "press poodles" out there ....

Writing all sorts of pretty songs about you ....

Don't you, Eliot ....

Yes, you do .....

Well I hear you went up to Saratoga ......

To "get" some votes .....

And your horse naturally won .....

Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink ....

Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia .....

To see the total eclipse of the sun .....

As well as to see what kind of CONTRIBUTIONS and DISBURSEMENTS there might be up there ....

While you were at it ....

Well, Eliot ...

Smart politician that you are ....

You're where you should be .....

All of the time .....

Thanks to a good appointments secretary .....

And campaign committee .....

And when you're not .....

You're with .....

Some underworld spy .....

Plotting some further political strategy ...

That will put you in the New York State Governor's Mansion .....

In 2006 ....

Or the wife of a close friend .....

With lots of money ....

Wife of a close friend, and....

Ready to make a fat contribution ...

To your cause ....

Because ...

Eliot ....

You're just so vain .....

Which people actually like in their politicans today .....

That you just know this song is about you .....

You're just so vain .....

Thinking you could even be president of America one day ..

The SPITZER PRESIDENCY ....

You already have your lackeys writing that song  about you .....

Don't you?

Don't you?

And so ......

"Eliot's trust issue - Foundation's investments coincide with contributions; Family charity is regulated by Spitzer's office"

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the top cop for New York's 60,000 charities and nonprofits, also helps his family run a charity regulated by his office.

The Spitzer Trust invests nearly all of its assets - $25.9 million - in hedge funds and equity funds.

Executives at those firms, meanwhile, have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Spitzer's front-running Democratic gubernatorial campaign.

IRS records and state Board of Elections filings reviewed by the Daily News show that the trust:

Placed $9.5 million with Cramer-Berkowitz, a hedge fund.

Jeffrey Berkowitz, its principal, gave $50,100 to Spitzer through his limited liability company, Berkowitz Capital.

Invested $7 million with hedge funds Seneca Capital and Seneca International.

Douglas Hirsch, the managing partner, also plunked down $50,100, the maximum allowable by law.

Put $3.8 million into Bedford Fall Investors, another hedge fund.

Karen Finerman, president of its parent firm, also handed Spitzer $50,100.

Another manager gave $10,000.

Placed $1 million with Golub Capital Partners, a private equity firm.

Lawrence Golub, its president, also maxed out, and another executive tossed in $25,000.

Berkowitz and Hirsch didn't return calls.

Finerman and Golub were out of town.

The hedge funds are run by people with long personal friendships with the Spitzers.

Given those ties, "It makes sense that the CEOs, as individuals, would choose to support Eliot," said Spitzer communications director Darren Dopp.

But Marcy Murninghan, a Boston-based consultant to foundations and a former ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, said, "It raises ethical questions - and suggests a level of self-dealing - when financial investments are placed with investors who happen to be his biggest contributors."

Since 2001, Spitzer has served with his parents and brother as one of the four unpaid trustees of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust.

Bankrolled by his 82-year-old father, Bernard, who struck it rich in midtown real estate, the Spitzer Trust is one of the little-known jewels of Manhattan philanthropy.

With neither staff nor consultants, it keeps overhead low and writes fat checks - discreetly - to dozens of cultural, religious, scientific and educational institutions.

"The family has never advertised the fact that it's donated tens of millions of dollars to charity," Dopp said.

Spitzer declined to address the finances of his charity or any perceived role it might play in his political career.

Dopp said the family members give because they're thankful for their business success and want to give back to the community.

But good-government groups, law professors and attorneys for nonprofits questioned why a public official - the No. 1 charities regulator in the state - would sit on a private charitable board monitored by his subordinates.

"Wearing both hats is a potential conflict because his private life, family life and charitable life could all bleed into his public life," said Rachel Leon, executive director of Common Cause/NY.

Aides say Spitzer has recused himself from any official business his office has with the trust.

He has never asked the state Ethics Commission to approve his work for the charity because, aides say, his post is unpaid and no laws or regulations bar him from serving as a trustee.

That's not good enough, says Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group:

"Our advice to the attorney general is that he should do one of two things: Either request an advisory opinion from the state Ethics Commission - or withdraw from the board."

The good works of the charity are abundant.

It helps the Anti-Defamation League stamp out hate, funds research into juvenile diabetes, supports programming for Channel 13 and mounts butterfly exhibits at the Museum of Natural History.

But the Spitzer Trust, which is tax-exempt, does not have an unblemished record with the Internal Revenue Service.

It had to pay a $51,768 IRS penalty in 2004 for failing to make charitable gifts at the level mandated by U.S. tax law.

Dopp said the elder Spitzer decided not to meet the trust's obligations because, after giving out several hundred thousand dollars, he had difficulty finding recipients that met his standards for the remaining amount.

So he chose to pay the penalty instead.

"It's not a fraud on the United States - but it is technically a violation of U.S. law," said Marcus Owens, an attorney who was chief of the IRS exempt organizations division from 1990 to 2000.

The great institutions of the city - the Jewish Museum, New York Public Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art - have been the typical recipients of the family's largess.

But politically connected groups that can advance Spitzer's campaign for higher office have also been funded, though there's no evidence they were picked for that reason.

Among them:

The Progressive America Fund, a left-leaning civic group in Brooklyn that runs get-out-the-vote drives, got $30,000 in 2004.

PAF is closely tied to the union-backed Working Families Party, which endorsed Spitzer seven months later.

"Who do you think we'd support?" said Dan Cantor, the party's executive director.

"We'd have paid for the right to endorse him."

The NARAL Pro-Choice New York Foundation, affiliated with the state's most influential abortion-rights group, has received $101,000 since Spitzer became a trustee five years ago.

NARAL endorsed him in February - and slammed his opponent, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, as "not trustworthy."

"If they hadn't given us a penny, we'd still be trying to elect Eliot Spitzer," said Robert Jaffe, NARAL executive vice president.

The Drum Major Institute, a think tank linked to defeated Democratic mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer, a political ally of Spitzer, got $10,000.

Originally published on July 9, 2006

[Livyjr]

And from America's newest DE-MOCKERY of IRAQINAM .....

What else?

"Iraqis turn to fake IDs for safety"

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

Mon Jul 10, 4:17 PM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bookstore in eastern Baghdad is getting more customers these days, but they aren't looking for something to read.

The owner sells fake IDs, a booming business as Iraqis try to hide their identities in hopes of staying alive.

Although it's nearly impossible to distinguish between a Sunni and a Shiite by sight, names can be telling.

Surnames refer to tribe and clan, while first names are often chosen to honor historical figures revered by one sect but sometimes despised by the other.

For about $35, someone with a common Sunni name like Omar could become Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite name that might provide safe passage through dangerous areas.

"I got a fake ID card to protect myself from the Shiite militias who are deploying in Baghdad and hunt Sunnis at fake checkpoints," said Omar Abdul Rahman, a 22-year-old university student.

He refused to give the name on his fake ID.

The growing use of fake IDs reflects the spike in violence between Sunnis and Shiites since the Feb. 22 bombing of a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra — an attack that triggered reprisal killings of Sunnis and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharawi said officials are aware fake IDs are common but have more important things to focus on — such as stopping violence.

"They are issuing Sunni IDs in the Shiite areas and vice versa," he said.

"It's illegal, but one can understand why they do it."

The problem was thrust into the spotlight Sunday when masked Shiite gunmen ambushed Sunnis in western Baghdad, singling out those with names commonly used by Sunnis to be killed.

Wissam Mohammad al-Ani, a 27-year-old Sunni calligrapher, said his false identification card has a Shiite name and it saved his life when he was approached by gunmen.

"When they saw it, they let me go," he said, adding that two young men standing with him at a bus stop in the Jihad neighborhood were seized.

Shiites are the majority in Iraq, but some Shiites also seek alternate identities to avoid attacks by Sunni-led insurgents.

Just last month, masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students northeast of Baghdad, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs, and killed the 21 Shiites "in the name of Islam," a witness said.

Making fake IDs is relatively low-tech, and vendors can be found in empty houses and in alleys.

The bookstore owner, whose shop is in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood and declined to give his name for fear of reprisals, said he buys blank IDs from print shops.

He then fills in the desired information and adds photos — a process known in the Baghdad street as "the change."

Most of his customers are Shiite drivers and construction workers planning to work in Sunni neighborhoods, with prices ranging from 5,000 Iraq dinars ($3.50) for a card that looks like one issued during Saddam Hussein's regime to 50,000 Iraqi dinars ($35) for a modern version.

Shiite militiamen, who are widely blamed for much of the sectarian violence, allow him to operate because he agreed to turn in any Sunnis who wander into his store.

He said the ID business spiked after the bombing in Samarra.

"Nobody did the change from Shiite to Sunni before that, when the real sectarian tension began," he said.

Sunni and Shiite names often can easily be distinguished in Iraq by tribe or clan, or because they refer to followers of Muhammad who split over who should lead Islam after the prophet died in the 7th century.

Residential areas also can be telling as they are increasingly segregated, with residents fleeing sectarian attacks.

Sunni names include Abu Bakr, Omar or Othman, who are particularly reviled by Shiite extremists who perceive them as having usurped power from Imam Ali, the prophet's cousin and the Shiites most revered saint.

Typically Shiite names are Abdul Zahra and Moussawi.

Sufyan Mahmoud, a 36-year-old Sunni grocer named for Abu Sufyan — the pre-Islamic ruler of Mecca whose descendants opposed Imam Ali — paid $30 for false papers with the neutral Arabic name of Mohammed Ahmed Mahmoud.

Some Iraqis recall having false identification papers to avoid persecution during Saddam's rule, but the practice was rare until recently because the former regime kept tight control over its subjects.

"Under Saddam it used to be shameful, but now everybody's doing it," the bookseller said.

A newspaper commentator mockingly suggested Iraqis should turn to the Bible instead of Islam to find names for their children.

"According to the present sectarian concepts, fathers should choose 'neutral names' such as Jesus, Adam, or Abraham that have nothing to do with the two sectarian camps," Sabah al-Lami wrote in the independent al-Mashriq newspaper.
___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

end quote

Not only has George W. Bush ...

Been shown ....

IN OUR UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT .....

To be more lawless ...

And less civilized .....

And less knowledgeable ....

ABOUT OUR CONSTITUTION .....

OUR LAWS .....

AND OUR TREATIES ...

Than the TAY-RIST who beat him in that august setting .....

HE IS ALSO WORSE ...

FOR IRAQ .....

THAN SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS .....

And so ...

That makes him some kind of WORLD LEADER, I guess .....

And so ....

IF YOU ARE FOR THAT .....

VOTE REPUBLICAN ......

FOR THEY ARE THE "SOURCE" ....

OF THAT LAWLESSNESS ....

AND IGNORANCE .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

"Judge: FBI raid on lawmaker's office legal"

By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - "A federal judge is not a mere rubber stamp in the warrant process, but rather an independent and neutral official sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution," Hogan said.

HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al., continued ....

certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit

No. 05-184. 

Argued March 28, 2006--Decided June 29, 2006

The Chief Justice took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

And so ......

That above here ....

Is the first part ....

Of what is being called the Guantanamo Case ......

Before the United States Supreme Court ....

Involving George W. Bush .....

And the alleged TAY-RIST Hamdan ......

Where it was demonstrated .....

To the HIGH COURT ......

By the alleged TAY-RIST ......

THAT DESPITE HIS OATH OF OFFICE .....

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States ......"

GEORGE W. BUSH .....

WAS IN OPEN ...

AND FLAGRANT ...

VIOLATION .....

OF INTERNATIONAL TREATY .....

AS WELL AS UNITED STATES LAW .....

With his KANGAROO COURT SCHEME .....

TO RAILROAD PEOPLE ......

THAT GEORGE DON'T LIKE ....

And so ......

There are many, many lessons ...

To be gleaned .....

From these words above .....

Of the United States Supreme Court .....

WHICH ARE LAW ...

OF OUR LAND ....

EVEN FOR AN ACCUSED TAY-RIST ....

Despite George W. Bush ...

And his TEXAS-STYLE VIGILANTEEISM ......

And one of those ......

IS THAT THIS FIRST PART OF THIS LANDMARK DECISION .....

WHICH SLAPS GEORGE W. BUSH DOWN .....

SO HARD .....

HIS ANCESTORS ....

BACK IN TEXAS .....

ARE BOUNCING ......

IS REALLY A VINDICATION .....

OF OUR AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAW .....

AND IF IT IS A REPUDIATION OF ANYONE .....

THAT HAS TO BE .....

ALL OF THE LAWYERS ....

WHO ADVISED GEORGE W. BUSH ......

THAT IT WOULD BE ALRIGHT .....

FOR HIM TO VIOLATE THE LAW .....

AND ONE OF THOSE LAWYERS .....

WOULD HAVE TO BE .....

THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMSELF .....

WHO TOOK NO PART, I NOTICE ......

IN TRYING TO DEFEND GEORGE W. BUSH .....

AND SO ......

IF GERMANY ...

HAD HAD .....

A SUPREME COURT ......

LIKE OURS RIGHT NOW .....

WHEN HITLER WAS TAKING OVER THAT COUNTRY .....

TO SLAP HITLER DOWN .....

THE WAY THIS COURT .....

SLAPPED GEORGE W. BUSH BACK DOWN .....

What a different world it would have been .....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And so ......

There are many, many lessons ...

To be gleaned .....

From these words above .....

Of the United States Supreme Court .....

WHICH ARE LAW ...

OF OUR LAND ....

EVEN FOR AN ACCUSED TAY-RIST ....

Despite George W. Bush ...

And his TEXAS-STYLE VIGILANTEEISM ......

And one of those ......

IS THAT THIS FIRST PART OF THIS LANDMARK DECISION .....

WHICH SLAPS GEORGE W. BUSH DOWN .....

SO HARD .....

HIS ANCESTORS ....

BACK IN TEXAS .....

ARE BOUNCING ......

IS REALLY A VINDICATION .....

OF OUR AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAW .....

AND IF IT IS A REPUDIATION OF ANYONE .....

THAT HAS TO BE .....

ALL OF THE LAWYERS ....

WHO ADVISED GEORGE W. BUSH ......

THAT IT WOULD BE ALRIGHT .....

FOR HIM TO VIOLATE THE LAW .....

AND ONE OF THOSE LAWYERS .....

WOULD HAVE TO BE .....

THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMSELF .....

WHO TOOK NO PART, I NOTICE ......

IN TRYING TO DEFEND GEORGE W. BUSH .....

AND SO ......

SALIM AHMED HAMDAN, PETITIONER v. DONALD H. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al., continued

on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit

[June 29, 2006]

Justice Breyer, with whom Justice Kennedy, Justice Souter, and Justice Ginsburg join, concurring.

The dissenters say that today's decision would "sorely hamper the President's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

Post, at 29 (opinion of Thomas, J.).

They suggest that it undermines our Nation's ability to "preven[t] future attacks" of the grievous sort that we have already suffered.

Post, at 48.

That claim leads me to state briefly what I believe the majority sets forth both explicitly and implicitly at greater length.

The Court's conclusion ultimately rests upon a single ground:

Congress has not issued the Executive a "blank check."

Cf. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U. S. 507, 536 (2004) (plurality opinion).

Indeed, Congress has denied the President the legislative authority to create military commissions of the kind at issue here.

Nothing prevents the President from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary.

Where, as here, no emergency prevents consultation with Congress, judicial insistence upon that consultation does not weaken our Nation's ability to deal with danger.

To the contrary, that insistence strengthens the Nation's ability to determine--through democratic means--how best to do so.

The Constitution places its faith in those democratic means.

Our Court today simply does the same.

[Livyjr]

AND SO ......

IF GERMANY ...

HAD HAD .....

A SUPREME COURT ......

LIKE OURS RIGHT NOW .....

WHEN HITLER WAS TAKING OVER THAT COUNTRY .....

TO SLAP HITLER DOWN .....

THE WAY THIS COURT .....

SLAPPED GEORGE W. BUSH BACK DOWN .....

What a different world it would have been .....

And so ....

"US vows to comply with Geneva Conventions"

by Charlotte Raab

1 hour, 35 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon pledged to respect the rights of "war on terror" suspects, as the US Senate began looking into new ways to prosecute detainees at its Guantanamo Bay detention center.

In a memo, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England instructed US military leadership "to promptly review all relevant directives, regulations, policies, practices and procedures under your purview to ensure that they comply with the standards of Common Article Three" of the Geneva Conventions.

"You will ensure that all DoD (Department of Defense) personnel adhere to these standards," said the memo, dated July 7 and made public Tuesday.

The Pentagon announcement appeared to be a reversal of the George W. Bush administration's long-held stance that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to Taliban, al-Qaeda and other combatants targeted in the US-led "war on terror."

The unexpected shift, as well as Tuesday's Senate hearings, were prompted by a Supreme Court ruling late last month rejecting the Bush administration's plans to impanel special military tribunals to try the terror suspects.

The high court ruled that such panels were a violation of international and domestic law.

The US administration, meanwhile, insisted that it all along has respected the human rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

"It is not really a reversal of policy."

"Humane treatment has always been the standard, and that is something they followed at Guantanamo," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

Daniel Dell'Orto, principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Defense, affirmed the same in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on prosecuting foreign-born suspects held in the "war on terror."

"We believe the treatment that all detainees are receiving meets or exceeds the standards of Article Three of the Geneva Conventions," said Dell'Orto, testifying at the first in a series of planned hearings on prosecuting Guantanamo inmates.

Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions prohibits "inhumane treatment" of prisoners and requires certain basic legal rights at trial -- rules that would apparently apply to the Guantanamo inmates and anyone else in US military custody.

The clause also specifies that captured soldiers "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, color, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria."

Bush had insisted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that as commander-in-chief he possessed "inherent authority" to hold "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo and use special military tribunals to determine their fate.

Snow said humane treatment has always been practiced at Guantanamo and all other US military facilities.

"The instruction manuals that are used by the Department of Defense all comply with humane treatment, which is obviously the overarching requirement of Common Article Three," said the spokesman.

The June 29 Supreme Court ruling on the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case faulted the administration for establishing the tribunals without congressional authorization.

Snow said Tuesday that would soon be resolved.

"We're going to work with members of Congress to make sure that the detainees are treated in a manner that's consistent with their human rights, and also that they're brought to justice," Snow said.

Justice Department acting assistant attorney general Steve Bradbury told the Senate panel that the high court ruling -- seen by some as a stunning setback for the Bush administration -- was actually an opportunity.

"The decision in Hamdan gives the political branches an opportunity to work as one to establish the legitimate authority of the US to rely on military commissions to bring the terrorists to justice," Bradbury said.

Dell'Orto said at the same hearing that it is important "to avoid the absurd result of adopting protections for terrorists that American citizens do not receive in civilian courts."

Snow agreed that the challenge lay in balancing the rights of the inmates against the security concerns of Americans.

"We're going to do this in a way that's consistent with national security, so as to avoid giving out national security information and putting American lives at risk," Snow added.

"Those are objectives that are shared by the House and Senate, and the Supreme Court has pretty much said it's over to you guys to figure out how to get this done."

end quotes

IF YOU REALLY WANT ...

"TO GET THIS DONE ..."

TRY FOLLOWING THE LAW, TONY .......

TRY FOLLOWING THE LAW ......

IT REALLY IS QUITE SIMPLE .....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And before you go to sleep tonight .....

Say a short prayer .....

For the poor people .....

Of IRAQINAMISTAN ......

WHO CAN NO LONGER .....

USE ....

THEIR REAL NAMES .....

FOR FEAR OF BEING MURDERED .....

And so ......

If a nation full of people .....

With a bunch of different fake names .....

Is a sign of a DEMOCRACY...

Then George W. Bush ...

Has created one .....

In spades .....

To the max .....

Over there ...

In IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Where people have to have fake names ....

And false ID's ......

Simply to survive another hour ....

Let alone a day ....

And so .....

"In Baghdad streets, little sign of rule of law"

Tue Jul 11, 12:51 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Private Uday Abdullah is one of 50,000 Iraqi troops and police sent on to Baghdad's streets last month to make the city safe -- but he does not see the point.

Lounging in the shade to escape the midday heat on Tuesday, the soldier said it is gunmen from rival Shi'ite and Sunni parties with clout in the government who rule the streets.

"We arrest lots of gunmen and they just walk free the next day."

"They're always from the Mehdi Army or the Badr Brigade or the Islamic Party."

"So what's the point of our job?" he said.

Many in Baghdad wonder the same thing as checkpoints set up as part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on violence spawn ever greater traffic jams but have failed to prevent dozens dying in sectarian shootings and bombings this week.

"We do nothing but create huge traffic jams with these checkpoints," Abdullah said.

Pointing to the traffic backed up on Senak Bridge, a major artery over the Tigris river, he said:

"I am standing here."

"But I have no desire to be here."

Raed Abd al-Hafudh Saleem, a lieutenant in Baghdad's traffic department, is equally bemused and cynical.

From his concrete booth in the middle of a busy intersection in upmarket Mansour, he has a clear view of the many vehicles carrying heavily armed men that speed past every day.

"I don't know who these people are."

"I can't stop them because they never hesitate to point their guns at me."

Every morning, when he reports for duty at his little booth, he finds fresh bullet casings littering the road.

"I don't know where they come from."

"Everyone carries a gun in this country, from the bodyguards of officials and members of parliament to private security companies.

"How can I distinguish between all those and the insurgents, and militias?" he said.

He told how bodyguards recently fired into the air to clear the road for a ministerial convoy.

When he remonstrated with them, one man fired a burst from his AK-47 just past his head.

"He said to me: 'Who are you to say this'?"

"'I am the state."'

end quotes

George W. Bush .....

Is like the SECOND COMING, alright .......

The SECOND COMING ....

Of HULAGU KHAN .....

To BAGHDAD .....

And so ......

Expect BARBARIANISM ...

And you won't be disappointed ......

Or let down .....

By all of the violence ...

And chaos ....

That George W. Bush ....

Has unleashed .....

On the poor suffering people .....

Of IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Who can't even use ...

Their real names anymore ...

Thanks to George W. Bush ...

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And so ......

If a nation full of people .....

With a bunch of different fake names .....

Is a sign of a DEMOCRACY...

Then George W. Bush ...

Has created one .....

In spades .....

To the max .....

Over there ...

In IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Where people have to have fake names ....

And false ID's ......

Simply to survive another hour ....

Let alone a day ....

And so .....

Hulagu Khan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hulagu Khan 1217 – 8 February 1265

Hulagu Khan (also known as Hülegü, and Hulegu) (1217 – 8 February 1265) was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia.

The grandson of Genghis Khan and the brother of Arik Boke, Mongke and Kublai Khan, he became the first khan of the Ilkhanate of Persia.

Background

Hulagu, the child of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki, a Christian woman, was dispatched by his brother Mongke (who was Great Khan from 1251-1258), in 1255 to accomplish the destruction of the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia.

First, the subjugation of the Lurs, a people of southern Iran; second, the destruction of the sect of the Assassins; third, the submission or destruction of the Abbasid caliphate; the submission or destruction of the Ayyubid states in Syria, and finally, the submission or destruction of the Mamluk Sultanate of Eygpt.

Mongke Khan had ordered Hulagu to treat kindly those who submitted, and utterly destroy those who did not.

Hulagu certainly carried out the latter.

The Assassins and marching on Baghdad

Hulagu marched out with perhaps the largest Mongol army ever assembled.

Among his subsidiary generals was Kitbuqa, a Christian.

Hulagu easily destroyed the Lurs, and his reputation so frightened the Assassins (also known as the Hashshashin) that they surrendered their impregnable fortress of Alamut to him without a fight.

Hulagu probably always intended to take Baghdad, which the Mongols had been meaning to attack for over ten years (see Eljigidei), but he used the caliph's refusal to send troops to him as a pretext for conquest.

Hulagu sent a message to the caliph, Al-Musta'sim, containing the following (trans. John Woods):

"When I lead my army against Baghdad in anger, whether you hide in heaven or in earth

I will bring you down from the spinning spheres;

I will toss you in the air like a lion.

I will leave no one alive in your realm;

I will burn your city, your land, your self.

If you wish to spare yourself and your venerable family, give heed to my advice with the ear of intelligence.

If you do not, you will see what God has willed."

Battle of Baghdad

Main article: Battle of Baghdad (1258)

The Mongol army, led by Hulagu Khan set out for Baghdad in November of 1257.

He marched with what was probably the largest army ever fielded by the Mongols.

By order of Monke Khan, one in ten fighting men in the entire empire were gathered for Hulagu's army (Saunders 1971).

Hulagu demanded surrender; the caliph refused, warning the Mongols that they faced the wrath of God if they attacked the caliph.

Many accounts say that the caliph failed to prepare for the onslaught; he neither gathered armies nor strengthened the walls of Baghdad.

Once near the city, Hulagu divided his forces, so that they threatened both sides of the city, on the east and west banks of the Tigris.

The caliph's army repulsed some of the forces attacking from the west, but were defeated in the next battle.

The attacking Mongols broke some dikes and flooded the ground behind the caliph’s army, trapping them.

Much of the army was slaughtered or drowned.

The Mongols under a chinese general, Kuo Kan, then laid siege to the city, constructing a palisade and ditch, wheeling up siege engines and catapults.

The siege started on January 29.

The battle was swift, by siege standards.

By February 5 the Mongols controlled a stretch of the wall.

Al-Musta'sim tried to negotiate, but was refused.

Although the city was defended by 500 thousand men, it didn't stop the Mongols from maching in.

On February 10 Baghdad surrendered.

The Mongols swept into the city on February 13 and began a week of massacre, looting, rape, and destruction.

Sack of Baghdad

As far as damage done, the sack of Bagdad by the Mongols made the sack of Rome by Alaric look kindly.

The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed.

Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.

Citizens attempted to flee, but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who raped and killed with abandon.

Although death counts vary widely and cannot be easily substantiated, a number of estimates do exist.

Martin Sicker writes that close to 90,000 people may have died (Sicker 2000, p. 111).

Other estimates go much higher.

Muslim historian Abdullah Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand or more.

Ian Frazier of The New Yorker says estimates of the death toll have ranged from 200,000 to a million.

The Mongols looted and then destroyed.

Mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals — grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground.

The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered.

The caliph was trampled to death.

Marco Polo reports that Hulagu starved the caliph to death, but there is no corroborating evidence for that.

Most historians believe the Mongol accounts (and Muslim) that the Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood.

All of his sons but one were killed.

Prior to this, the Mongols destroyed a city only if it had resisted them.

Cities that capitulated at the first demand for surrender could usually expect to be spared.

Cities that surrendered after a short fight, such as this, normally could expect a sack, but not complete devastation.

The utter ferocity of the rape of Baghdad is the worst example of Mongol excess known.

(It is said some Chinese cities suffered a similar fate, but this is not documented).

Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered something of its former glory.

Aftermath

Thus was the caliphate destroyed, and Iraq ravaged — it has never again been such a major center of culture and influence.

The smaller states in the region hastened to reassure Hulagu of their loyalty, and the Mongols turned to Syria in 1259, conquering the Ayyubids and sending advance patrols as far ahead as Gaza.

Egypt's turn seemed next, but the death of Mongke forced Hulagu and most of his army to withdraw, for the succession crisis that followed was the most ruinous to date.

Indeed, although the succession was finally settled by imprisonment of one of his brothers, and another elevated to Great Khan, (Kublai Khan), the truth is that after 1258 there was no unified Mongol Empire, but four separate kingdoms, including the Il-Khanate of Persia established by Hulagu.

In the meantime, the Mongols led by Kitbuqa had fallen out with the crusaders holding the coast of Palestine, and the Mamluks were able to ally with them, pass through their territory, and destroy the Mongol army at the Battle of Ain Jalut.

Palestine and Syria were permanently lost, the border remaining the Tigris for the duration of Hulagu's dynasty.

Hulagu returned to his lands by 1262, but instead of being able to avenge his defeats, was drawn into civil war with Batu Khan's brother Berke.

Berke Khan had promised such a defeat in his rage after Hulagu's sack of Bagdad; Berke was a Muslim.

Muslim Historian Rashid al Din quoted Berke Khan as sending the following message to Mongke Khan, protesting the attack on Bagdad, (not knowing Mongke had died in China) "he has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought about the death of the Caliph."

"With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood." (see The Mongol Warlords, quoting Rashid al Din's record of Berke Khan's pronouncement; this quote is also found in The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War) -- it is notable that Berke Khan kept his promise, allying himself with the Mamluks, and when Hulagu returned to his lands in 1262, after the succession was finally settled with Kublai as the last Great Khan, and massed his armies to avenge Ain Jalut and attack the Mamluks, Berke Khan initiated a series of raids in force which drew Hulagu north to meet him, and Hulagu Khan suffered severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263.

This was the first open war between Mongols, and signaled the end of the unified empire.

Hulagu Khan died in 1265 and was buried in the Kaboudi Island in Lake Urmia.

His funeral was the only Ilkhanid funeral to feature human sacrifice.

He was succeeded by his son Abaqa, thus establishing his line.

References

Boyle, J.A., (Editor). The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods . Cambridge University Press; Reissue edition (January 1, 1968). ISBN 052106936X.

Perhaps the best overview of the history of the il-khanate.

Covers politics, economics, religion, culture and the arts and sciences.

Also has a section on the Isma'ilis, Hulagu's nemesis.

Encyclopedia Iranica has scholar-reviewed articles on a wide range of Persian subjects, including Hulagu.

Morgan, David. The Mongols. Blackwell Publishers; Reprint edition, April 1990. ISBN 0631175636.

Best for an overview of the wider context of medieval Mongol history and culture.

See also

Berke-Hulagu war

External links

A long article about Hulagu's conquest of Baghdad, written by Ian Frazier, appeared in the April 25, 2005 issue of The New Yorker.

An Osama bin Laden tape in which Osama bin Laden compares Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell to Hulagu and his attack on Baghdad.

Dated November 12, 2002.

A collection of coins from Hulagu's reign. 1256 - 1265.

[Livyjr]

Hulagu probably always intended to take Baghdad, which the Mongols had been meaning to attack for over ten years (see Eljigidei), but he used the caliph's refusal to send troops to him as a pretext for conquest.

Hulagu sent a message to the caliph, Al-Musta'sim, containing the following (trans. John Woods):

"When I lead my army against Baghdad in anger, whether you hide in heaven or in earth

I will bring you down from the spinning spheres;

I will toss you in the air like a lion.

I will leave no one alive in your realm;

I will burn your city, your land, your self.

If you wish to spare yourself and your venerable family, give heed to my advice with the ear of intelligence.

If you do not, you will see what God has willed."

end quotes

That sounds ...

Like what George W. Bush ...

Told Saddam Hussein .....

And the people ......

Of IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Just before George .....

And the REPUBLICANS .....

Invaded .....

To steal their oil .....

And so .....

In the reign .....

Of THE GREAT KHAN ....

George W. Bush .....

All was chaos .....

And disorder .....

AND LAWLESSNESS ..

And so ....

Who is surprised .....

At this?

"Scientists Question Nature's Fundamental Laws"

Michael Schirber, Special to SPACE.com

Tue Jul 11, 12:00 PM ET

Public confidence in the "constants" of nature may be at an all time low.

Recent research has found evidence that the value of certain fundamental parameters, such as the speed of light or the invisible glue that holds nuclei together, may have been different in the past.

"There is absolutely no reason these constants should be constant," says astronomer Michael Murphy of the University of Cambridge.

"These are famous numbers in physics, but we have no real reason for why they are what they are."

The observed differences are small - roughly a few parts in a million - but the implications are huge: The laws of physics would have to be rewritten, not to mention we might need to make room for six more spatial dimensions than the three that we are used to.

Lines of evidence

The evidence for varying constants focuses primarily on quasar studies.

Quasars are extremely luminous objects, powered by giant black holes.

Some of them are so far away that their light was emitted 12 billion years ago.

Astronomers study the spectra of this ancient light to determine if the early universe was different than now.

Specifically, they look at absorption lines, which are due to gas clouds between us and the quasars.

The lines reveal exactly what is in the clouds, since each type of atom has a "fingerprint" - a set of specific frequencies at which it absorbs.

In 1999, Murphy and his colleagues found the first convincing evidence that these fingerprints change with time.

Using data from the Keck observatory in Hawaii, they detected a frequency difference between billion-year-old quasar lines and the corresponding lines measured on Earth.

Some of these Earth-bound lines were not well characterized, so Murphy and others recently performed careful lab experiments to confirm that there is indeed a shift in the quasar spectra.

A spectra is basically light split into its component frequencies, much like when white light goes through a prism to produce a rainbow.

What's in a constant

Because the frequencies of absorption lines depend on various parameters, the quasar observations are sometimes interpreted as indicating that light was faster in the past, or that the electron had a weaker charge.

But theorist Carlos Martins of the University of Cambridge tells LiveScience that this is not entirely correct:

"It doesn't make sense to talk about a varying speed of light or electron charge."

This is because the values of these parameters include units that might change.

The speed of light, for instance, might be measured one day with a ruler and a clock.

If the next day the same measurement gave a different answer, no one could tell if the speed of light changed, the ruler length changed, or the clock ticking changed.

To avoid this confusion, scientists use dimensionless constants - pure numbers that are ratios of measured quantities.

In the case of the shifts in Murphy's data, the relevant dimensionless constant is the fine structure constant (often designated by the Greek letter alpha), which characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force.

The researchers found that alpha was smaller in the past, but other "famous numbers" would not be immune to the vagaries of time.

"You would expect variation in all the fundamental constants," Murphy says.

It was therefore not entirely a surprise when - in April of this year - Patrick Petitjean of the Astrophysical Institute of Paris and his collaborators detected a change in the proton to electron mass ratio from molecular absorption lines in quasar spectra.

The mass variation can be interpreted as the strong force's coupling constant being larger in the early universe, Petitjean says.

A hole in the theory

Time-varying constants of nature violate Einstein's equivalence principle, which says that any experiment testing nuclear or electromagnetic forces should give the same result no matter where or when it is performed.

If this principle is broken, then two objects dropped in a gravitational field should fall at slightly different rates.

Moreover, Einstein's gravitational theory - general relativity - would no longer be completely correct, Martins says.

A popular alternative to relativity, which assumes that sub-atomic particles are vibrating strings and that the universe has 10 or more spatial dimensions, actually predicts inconstant constants.

According to this string theory, the extra dimensions are hidden from us, but the "true" constants of nature are defined on all dimensions.

Therefore, if the hidden dimensions expand or contract, we will notice this as a variation in our "local" 3D constants.

Even if string theory is not correct, the current model of gravity will likely need to be revised to unite it with the other three fundamental forces.

"We have an incomplete theory, so you look for holes that will point to a new theory," Murphy says.

Varying constants may be just such a hole.

[Snuffysmith]

"I will bring you down from the spinning spheres;

I will toss you in the air like a lion.

I will leave no one alive in your realm;

I will burn your city, your land, your self."


Strikes me that this is what is going on now. My how history repeats itself.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071006R.shtml

A Day in the Life
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 10 July 2006

Upon reading of the astonishing shooting incident in the al-Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad yesterday, I sat down and attempted to imagine, simply, what it must be like to live in that city these days. I tried to imagine what it must be like to be surrounded by constant violence, escalating cycles of revenge, and a total absence of government control.

Pretend you live in Iraq. The day starts, as it usually does, with you wondering what will happen because of the bombings and killings the day before. Several members of a Shiite family were mowed down by gunmen in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad yesterday, and three others were shot to death in an ice cream shop. A Sunni cleric was shot to death yesterday, and several people died when a Baghdad mosque was bombed. Four children were killed by mortars in the capital. Outside Baghdad, three US Marines died when their convoy was bombed in al-Anbar.

You hear about all this - Shiites killing Sunnis, Sunnis killing Shiites, the mosque getting bombed and the Marines getting killed - and you know what you knew the day before, and the day before that: someone, somewhere is going to try to exact revenge today for the mayhem of yesterday. It could be Shiite revenge, Sunni revenge or American revenge, but the arc always arrives at the same spot. Someone is going to die today, and you hope it isn't you.

You attempt to go about your business, but that is hardly a simple task. Every neighborhood you pass through is barricaded and patrolled by "neighborhood governments" who are armed to the teeth and murderously distrustful of outsiders. Kidnappings happen all the time. Islamic fundamentalists, once a rarity in Iraq, now patrol the streets doling out punishment to anyone deemed to be dressed improperly.

If your errand is to get some gasoline, you'll be in line for the rest of the day and into tomorrow. If you're looking for food, your chore is equally daunting. Fresh food is hard to come by, and not a good idea generally. Electricity is off for hours at a time, turning your refrigerator into a useless hotbox, and anything you buy will spoil quickly in the stifling heat.

There is no true government outside the so-called "Green Zone" set up by the Americans. Beyond the concrete barricades and hard-eyed soldiers, it is a free-for-all. As you walk, you catch a snippet of the American president bragging about Iraqi democracy on someone's radio, and you laugh to yourself at the absurdity. You laugh quietly, however, and not for long. You don't want to draw any attention to yourself.

You turn the corner into the al-Jihad neighborhood of western Baghdad and head for a vegetable stand a friend told you was good. Before you can get there, you see three cars drive up and stop. Out of the cars pile several black-clad men toting assault rifles, and you dive for cover, and you watch.

The guns erupt and people begin to drop. The gunmen begin kicking in doors and dragging people out into the street, where they are riddled and left to bleed out. You see several people hanged by improvised nooses, and you see others held down and tortured to death with power drills. From one kicked-in apartment door you hear horrifying screams and the sound of a hammer pounding, and you realize that someone inside is being pegged to a wall.

Before you turn to flee, you recognize the shooters as members of the Shiite militia they call the Mahdi Army, which is controlled by powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Mahdi fighters means the ones dying are Sunnis. You count more than fifty bodies on the ground before you duck behind some cars and sprint around a corner. The vegetables can wait.

On your way back home, you hear a distant boom. When you get back to the relative safety of your own neighborhood government-guarded apartment, you hear that two car bombs went off at a Shiite mosque not too far away. You do a little mental calculus: The Shiites gunned down yesterday means the Sunnis who died today paid for that carnage, and the Shiite mosque bombing today means the Sunnis outraged by the massacre in al-Jihad reached out to touch someone.

The electricity comes on for a little while that night, and you tune in to an Al Jazeera news broadcast. You hear the Iraq deputy prime minister for security affairs, Salam al-Zawbae, accuse the defense and interior ministries within his own government of helping the militias organize and carry out the attacks. "Interior and defense ministries are infiltrated," says Zawbae, "and there are officials who lead brigades who are involved in this. What is happening now is an ugly slaughter."

The power abruptly cuts off again and the television screen goes blank. You sit in the dark and think about Bush's happy comments on Iraqi democracy, the words you heard on that radio before the shooting started. Politicians loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr control more than thirty seats on the so-called Iraqi parliament, making any attacks against the Mahdi Army a ready excuse to explode the government. The civil war playing out in the streets is also being fought by those supposedly elected to lead Iraq out of chaos.

You hand-roll a cigarette made of black market tobacco, and you sit in the dark, and you try to guess who will die tomorrow. You hope, as always, that it isn't you.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.

[Snuffysmith]

http://www.counterpunch.org/

An Illegal War Degenerates
Iraq: Raped
By RAED JARRAR

A few months ago, Abir Al-Janabi was just another 14-year-old Iraqi girl in a small town called Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Both of her parents are from the Al-Janabi tribe, one of the biggest tribes with Sunni and Shia branches.

Omar Al-Janabi, a neighbor and relative, was informed by Abir's mother that the young girl was being harassed by U.S. soldiers stationed in a nearby checkpoint. That is why Abir was sent to spend the night in her neighbor's home. The next day, Omar Al-Janabi was among the first people who found Abir, with her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah, her 45-year-old father Qasim, and her 7-year-old sister Hadil, murdered in their home. Abir was raped, killed by a bullet in her head, and then burned on March 12, five months before her fifteenth birthday.

Muhammad Al-Janabi, Abir's uncle, reached the house shortly after the attack as well. Iraqi police and army officers informed him and other angry relatives that an "armed terrorist group" was responsible for the horrifying attack. This is exactly what the angry relatives of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha four months before this incident had been told as well. In that case, U.S. officials initially claimed that a roadside bomb planted by terrorists had killed the 24 Iraqi civilians and one U.S. soldier in Haditha, but the Iraqi people knew that it was the Americans.

Unlike the case of Haditha, where Iraqi public opinion was furious about the massacre months before it reached to the U.S. mainstream media, the Iraqi press had not even heard of Abir until the U.S. army accidentally found out information about her while investigating another incident. This raises questions about the number of other similar cases that were never investigated and were blamed on non-occupation parties instead.

According to Iraq Body Count, a credible project documenting Iraq's civilian casualties, the occupation armies are directly responsible for killing more than one fourth of civilians in Iraq since the beginning of the war. This makes the assumption that Abir's case is just one of many even more plausible.

The "Hadji Girl" song is yet another indicator that what happened to Abir is most like not an anomalous case. "Hadji Girl" is a videotaped song about killing Iraqis written and performed by U.S. Marine Corporal Joshua Belile while he was at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. The song became controversial a few weeks ago when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) discovered it on the internet and objected to its lyrics.

The lyrics, accompanied by loud laughter and applause, include lines as such as "So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally. Then I hid behind the TV, and I locked and loaded my M-16, and I blew those little "expletive deleted"ers to eternity. And I said Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad, Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah, they should have known they were "expletive deleted"ing with a Marine". A two-week investigation held by the U.S. army ended with no punishment for Corporal Belile. Furthermore, according to the spokesperson for the Mike Church Show, Mike Church is planning to record and release "Hadji Girl" and give royalties to Belile. The right-wing presenter will sing and release the song on air this week.

But even if you believe that the case of Abir is a rare exception, it is still a major scandal in Iraq. Issues relating to honor are even more sensitive for the Iraqi public and government than the ongoing daily civilian murders. The first Iraqi governmental reaction came when an Iraqi female member of Parliament asked for an urgent session for which Prime Minister Al-Maliki was called back home to attend. The Iraqi Parliament described the rape as a crime against "the honor of all Iraqis". As a result, Al-Maliki asked for a review of the laws put in place by U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer, giving foreign troops immunity from prosecution in Iraq. This seems to be an Iraqi public demand. Iraqi tribal leaders had a number of meetings across the country last week on the anniversary of "Thawrat Al-Eshrin", the 1920 revolution against the British occupation. The largest meeting was that of the mostly Shia Middle Euphrates Tribes. During this meeting, they threatened to initiate a full-scale revolution against the occupation, similar to what had happened in 1920, unless the U.S. army hands over to them all soldiers accused of raping the "Al-Mahmudiyah Virgin," as she is now known.

The uproar created in the wake of the death of Abir is but the culmination of over three years of pent-up frustration and rage the Iraqi people feel. It will only end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. What is happening in Iraq is a rape of a nation, not just a rape of a 14-year-old girl, and it has to be stopped as soon as possible.

Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi living in the United States, is the director of the Iraq Project at Global Exchange. Jarrar can be reached at: jarrar.raed@gmail.com

[Livyjr]

"I will bring you down from the spinning spheres;

I will toss you in the air like a lion.

I will leave no one alive in your realm;

I will burn your city, your land, your self."

Strikes me that this is what is going on now.

My how history repeats itself.

Yes, it does, Snuf ...

History repeat itself, I mean .....

And I like that line ....

About the "Spinning Spheres" .....

PURE KARL ROVE, that line is .....

Plenty of theatrical flair ....

Plus the boasting tone ....

And so ...

Yeah, you just got to love that "ARCHITECT" ......

When it comes to POLITICS .....

HE IS THE MASTER ....

Hand's down ...

Which is why he is in such demand down there in Washington, D.C. .....

By all the wannabees .....

Like "BIG BILL" Frist .....

And so ...

"Novak: Rove was a source in outing Plame"

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

47 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Now that Karl Rove won't be indicted, now that the president won't fire him, now that it really doesn't matter anymore, more details of the Valerie Plame leak investigation trickle out.

In his latest syndicated column released Wednesday, columnist Robert Novak revealed his side of the story in the Plame affair, saying Rove was a confirming source for Novak's story outing the CIA officer, underscoring Rove's role in a leak President Bush once promised to punish.

The columnist said he learned of Plame's CIA employment from a source he still refuses to publicly identify, and then confirmed with Rove and then-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, whose roles in talking to Novak have been previously reported.

Novak said for the first time that prosecutors looking into the leaks already knew his sources when he agreed to disclose them.

Novak comes late to the Plame game, long after several other reporters talked publicly about the involvement of Rove and of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, in leaking the CIA identity of the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson.

Novak says he kept his mouth shut so long because prosecutors asked him to.

A month ago, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said he didn't anticipate seeking charges against Rove.

Novak wrote that, more recently, Fitzgerald told his lawyer that after 2 1/2 years his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to Novak has been concluded, freeing him to talk now.

Triggering the criminal investigation that resulted in Libby being charged with perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI, Novak revealed Plame's CIA employment on July 14, 2003, eight days after her husband went on the attack against the Bush administration.

Initially refusing to identify his sources to the FBI, Novak knew that Fitzgerald had obtained signed waivers from every official who might have provided Novak information about Plame.

Despite that, Novak was prepared to resist.

He says he relented in early 2004 when it became clear that Fitzgerald "knew the names of my sources."

Novak could still have protected his sources, but his lawyer told him "I was sure to lose a case in the courts at great expense."

In contrast to other reporters whose news organizations footed the bill for lengthy and expensive legal battles, the fact that Novak was a no-show in contentious court proceedings fed a rumor mill.

"Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue," Novak writes.

The facts were simpler.

He was telling prosecutors everything he knew, and taking a beating in public for not talking about it.

Keeping quiet had the effect of providing protection for the Bush White House during the 2004 presidential campaign, because the White House had denied Rove played any role in the leak of Plame's CIA identity.

As Rove's legal problems grew a year ago, Bush said he stood by his pledge to "fire anybody" in his administration shown to have leaked Valerie Plame's name.

His press secretary, after checking with Rove and Libby, assured the public that neither man had anything to do with the leak.

Now that he's finally opening up, Novak is stirring up more trouble, saying without elaboration that his recollection of his conversation with Rove about Plame differs from Rove's.

Rove's spokesman says the difference amounts to very little.

"I have revealed Rove's name because his attorney has divulged the substance of our conversation, though in a form different from my recollection," Novak wrote.

Novak did not elaborate.

A spokesman for Rove's legal team, Mark Corallo, said that Rove did not even know Plame's name at the time he spoke with Novak, that the columnist called Rove, not the other way around, and that Rove simply replied he had heard the same information that Novak passed along to him regarding Plame.

"There was not much of a difference" between the recollections of Rove and Novak, said Corallo.

Novak says he told Fitzgerald that Harlow of the CIA had confirmed information about Plame.

Harlow declined to comment Tuesday night.

But a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the matter denied that Harlow had been a confirming source for Novak on the story.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Harlow repeatedly tried to talk Novak out of running the information about Plame and that Harlow's efforts did not in any way constitute confirming Plame's CIA identity.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Harlow may end up being a witness in a separate part of Fitzgerald's investigation, the upcoming criminal trial of Libby.
___

On the Web:

Chicago Sun-Times report:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-leak11.html

end quotes

I am actually surprised .....

That anyone ...

Would take a word ...

Uttered by WHITE HOUSE SPOKESBOY .....

Scottie McClellan seriously .....

Or any of that crowd, actually .....

When the man they work for ...

Has no INTEGRITY .....

Why on earth ....

Would anyone ...

Expect .....

His hand-picked hired help .....

To be any different than he .....

And so ...

KARL ROVE's greatest strength .....

Is knowing ...

THAT YOU CAN OPENLY ...

AND BLATANTLY .....

LIE ...

TO THE SAME PEOPLE ...

DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY .....

IF THOSE PEOPLE .....

ARE TOLD .....

THAT IT IS AN "AUTHORITY" SPEAKING .....

And so ......

KARL IS THE MAN .....

And THE MAN has the power ....

And THE MAN ...

With THE POWER ....

Is an UNTOUCHABLE ....

And so .....

Another day .....

In the LIFE ....

Here in OUR AMERICA ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And so ......

That above here ....

Is the first part ....

Of what is being called the Guantanamo Case ......

Before the United States Supreme Court ....

Involving George W. Bush .....

And the alleged TAY-RIST Hamdan ......

Where it was demonstrated .....

To the HIGH COURT ......

By the alleged TAY-RIST ......

THAT DESPITE HIS OATH OF OFFICE .....

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States ......"

GEORGE W. BUSH .....

WAS IN OPEN ...

AND FLAGRANT ...

VIOLATION .....

OF INTERNATIONAL TREATY .....

AS WELL AS UNITED STATES LAW .....

With his KANGAROO COURT SCHEME .....

TO RAILROAD PEOPLE ......

THAT GEORGE DON'T LIKE ....

And so ......

There are many, many lessons ...

To be gleaned .....

From these words above .....

Of the United States Supreme Court .....

WHICH ARE LAW ...

OF OUR LAND ....

EVEN FOR AN ACCUSED TAY-RIST ....

Despite George W. Bush ...

And his TEXAS-STYLE VIGILANTEEISM ......

And one of those ......

IS THAT THIS FIRST PART OF THIS LANDMARK DECISION .....

WHICH SLAPS GEORGE W. BUSH DOWN .....

SO HARD .....

HIS ANCESTORS ....

BACK IN TEXAS .....

ARE BOUNCING ......

IS REALLY A VINDICATION .....

OF OUR AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAW .....

AND IF IT IS A REPUDIATION OF ANYONE .....

THAT HAS TO BE .....

ALL OF THE LAWYERS ....

WHO ADVISED GEORGE W. BUSH ......

THAT IT WOULD BE ALRIGHT .....

FOR HIM TO VIOLATE THE LAW .....

AND ONE OF THOSE LAWYERS .....

WOULD HAVE TO BE .....

THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMSELF .....

WHO TOOK NO PART, I NOTICE ......

IN TRYING TO DEFEND GEORGE W. BUSH .....

AND SO ......

SALIM AHMED HAMDAN, PETITIONER v. DONALD H. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al., continued .....

on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit

[June 29, 2006]

Justice Kennedy, with whom Justice Souter, Justice Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer join as to Parts I and II, concurring in part.

Military Commission Order No. 1, which governs the military commission established to try petitioner Salim Hamdan for war crimes, exceeds limits that certain statutes, duly enacted by Congress, have placed on the President's authority to convene military courts.

This is not a case, then, where the Executive can assert some unilateral authority to fill a void left by congressional inaction.

It is a case where Congress, in the proper exercise of its powers as an independent branch of government, and as part of a long tradition of legislative involvement in matters of military justice, has considered the subject of military tribunals and set limits on the President's authority.

Where a statute provides the conditions for the exercise of governmental power, its requirements are the result of a deliberative and reflective process engaging both of the political branches.

Respect for laws derived from the customary operation of the Executive and Legislative Branches gives some assurance of stability in time of crisis.

The Constitution is best preserved by reliance on standards tested over time and insulated from the pressures of the moment.

These principles seem vindicated here, for a case that may be of extraordinary importance is resolved by ordinary rules.

The rules of most relevance here are those pertaining to the authority of Congress and the interpretation of its enactments.

It seems appropriate to recite these rather fundamental points because the Court refers, as it should in its exposition of the case, to the requirement of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 that military tribunals be "regularly constituted" ante, at 69--a requirement that controls here, if for no other reason, because Congress requires that military commissions like the ones at issue conform to the "law of war," 10 U. S. C. §821.

Whatever the substance and content of the term "regularly constituted" as interpreted in this and any later cases, there seems little doubt that it relies upon the importance of standards deliberated upon and chosen in advance of crisis, under a system where the single power of the Executive is checked by other constitutional mechanisms.

All of which returns us to the point of beginning -- that domestic statutes control this case.

If Congress, after due consideration, deems it appropriate to change the controlling statutes, in conformance with the Constitution and other laws, it has the power and prerogative to do so.

I join the Court's opinion, save Parts V and VI-D-iv.

To state my reasons for this reservation, and to show my agreement with the remainder of the Court's analysis by identifying particular deficiencies in the military commissions at issue, this separate opinion seems appropriate.

TO BE CONTINUED .....

[Livyjr]

"Oh, Eliot, You're JUST So Vain" 
     
With apologies to Carly Simon

Oh, Eliot ....

You foxy devil, you .....   

You walked into the party ....

Like you were walking into the Governor's Chambers ....

In the capital ....

In Albany, New York ....

Your hat strategically dipped below one eye ...

Your scarf it was apricot ....

You had one eye in the mirror ....

On yourself, of course .....

And the other ...

On all the LOBBYISTS in the room ....

And the little bags of money in their hands ....

As you watched yourself gavotte ....

From lobbyist to lobbyist ...

Collecting your due, of course ...

And all the girls dreamed .....

As they do when in the company of powerful politicians like you ....

That they'd be your "partner" .....

They'd be your partner, and....

Oh, Eliot ......

You're just so vain ....

You KNOW this song is about you .....

Oh "Big EL" .....

You're just so vain ....

You're out there hiring people ....

To write pretty songs about you .....

Aren't you?

Aren't you?

You had New York State .....

Several years ago .....

When we were still quite naive .....

Well you said that you and New York State ....

Made such a pretty pair ....

And that you would never leave us stranded .....

Outside the protection of law ....

While your GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDACY .....

Stuffed its pockets .....

With money ...

From those who would have it be so .....

But like all politicans in the end, Eliot ....

You gave away the things we loved .....

Like HONESTY ...

And INTEGRITY ....

And FORTHRIGHTNESS .....

And Eliot ....

One of those "things" you gave away ....

Was me .....

So Eliot ....

I had some dreams ....

Or so I thought ....

They were clouds in my coffee .....

Clouds in my coffee and ....

NO ...

Actually .....

It was GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION, instead .....

And no dream at all ...

Thanks to YOU, Big EL ....

And Eliot ....

You're just so vain .....

You know this song is about you .....

You're just so vain .....

You have your "press poodles" out there ....

Writing all sorts of pretty songs about you ....

Don't you, Eliot ....

Yes, you do .....

Well I hear you went up to Saratoga ......

To "get" some votes .....

And your horse naturally won .....

Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink, eh, BIG EL ....

"Eliot's trust issue - Foundation's investments coincide with contributions; Family charity is regulated by Spitzer's office"

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the top cop for New York's 60,000 charities and nonprofits, also helps his family run a charity regulated by his office.

The Spitzer Trust invests nearly all of its assets - $25.9 million - in hedge funds and equity funds.

Executives at those firms, meanwhile, have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Spitzer's front-running Democratic gubernatorial campaign.

"Spitzer links emerge in field of racing bids - Groups vying for NYRA franchise have numerous political ties in state"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006

ALBANY -- The field of proposed bidders on New York's horse racing franchise includes a secretive company represented by the father of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's campaign manager.

Among the entries to replace the New York Racing Association as operators of the Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga Springs tracks is Western New York Gaming Associates of Sanborn.

WNY Gaming lists Tim Toohey, a lawyer from Lewiston, as its representative, but he won't disclose the principals and competitors say they haven't a clue on who is behind the group.

The 16 prospective bidders also include a casino giant whose lobbyist is one of Spitzer's biggest campaign donors; a group partnering a major Democratic operative and George Steinbrenner's kin; and lobbyists with numerous potential conflicts.

Toohey is the father of Ryan Toohey, manager of Spitzer's campaign for governor.

Tim Toohey recently was convicted of willfully filing a false statement on a federal tax return and was sentenced to both probation and incarceration, but the jail time is being contested.

Criminality could be cause for refusal of racing and lottery licenses by state authorities.

Toohey said he has no intention of running races or video lottery terminals and is only handling bidding for potential bidders he would not identify.

He has represented members of the Seneca Indian Nation in tribal court.

The tribe operates casinos in western New York.

If he wins election in November, Spitzer could decide who gets the racing franchise held since 1955 by NYRA.

NYRA is one of the entities that informed the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing of interest in bidding on the franchise.

Spitzer has been highly critical of NYRA and has prosecuted past employees.

Besides Toohey, connections to Spitzer among bidders include Stuart Shorenstein, a top lobbyist for MGM Grand, an announced potential bidder.

MGM also is partnering with NYRA on a plan to build a $180 million video lottery terminal facility at Aqueduct and is interested in a bigger role if the state authorizes VLTs at Belmont.

With his wife, Janice, and others living at his address, Shorenstein has contributed heavily to Spitzer -- more than $29,600 since 2001.

Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Spitzer campaign, said the candidate would deal independently on who gets the racing franchise regardless of ties to bidders.

The bidding list also includes Excelsior Racing Associates, whose principals are George Steinbrenner's hand-picked successor to head the New York Yankees -- his son-in-law Stephen Swindal, former Democratic comptroller candidate William Mulrow and former Donald Trump associate Richard Fields and others.

Lobbyist William Powers and others linked to Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno also are believed to be part of Excelsior, according to competitors.

A spokesman, Howard Wolfson, would only confirm Fields and Swindal.

LRW Development, another entity planning to bid, is an offshoot of Steve Wynn's Las Vegas casino business.

The representative for Wynn on the project is Kim Sinatra, formerly with Caesars Entertainment who got into trouble with the state lobbying commission when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver received perks and discounts at a Las Vegas casino/hotel.

Other entanglements include three lobbying firms who represent competing potential bidders.

James Featherstonhaugh's firm works for the New York State Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, which is backing Empire Racing Associates, a Saratoga Springs-based firm partnering with Delaware North on a bid.

Featherstonhaugh also represents Churchill Downs, another potential bidder.

Brian Meara represents three potential bidders: Nassau Regional OTB, Empire Racing and Empire Resorts, which runs Monticello Raceway.

He also represents Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack its owner, Delaware North.

"I notified all of them that I represent them all; it's totally open and on the record," Meara said.

"I have no belief that there is a conflict."

And the James Crane/Dennis Vacco lobbying group represents three potential bidders: TVG Network, Empire Racing and Delaware North.

"The fact that there's a long list, indicates that industry experts believe that New York state can do better," said Jeff Perlee, head of Empire Racing.

"The involvement and connections by a whole host of out-of-state entities only strengthens Empire Racing's position of the home-grown alternative."

NYRA Chairman Charles Hayward said the association is proposing to bid with a for-profit partner.

Its franchise expires at the end of 2007.

The number and composition of competing bidders is irrelevant, he said.

Bids are due Aug. 15, and the ad-hoc committee is to make a nonbinding recommendation to the governor and Legislature by Sept. 15.

Lawmakers say they expect a decision won't come until next year when a newly elected governor and Legislature is seated.

M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

CORRUPT GOVERNMENT .....

Outside of Washington, D.C., which may or may not have the MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN OUR AMERICA, and there, I mean the federal government, New York State is in the TOP TEN ....

CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS in the United States that is ...

Or maybe even the world, for that matter .....

Since we are supposed to have some of the very best politicians in the world that money can buy ....

And so ....

Being from here, I shine a spotlight on government corruption here in New York State from time to time ....

And so ....

With OUR governor's office being up for grabs this November ...

It is never too early to get that spotlight turned on bright ...

And when it is ...

The picture that is revealed is not at all a pretty or welcome one to us common citizens who do not live or reside in the New York City METRO AREA ....

Where New York State Attorney General Eliot "BIG EL" Spitzer holds sway with all the big-money interests .....

"Big EL", or "Old Uncle Eliot" as he is sometimes known up here in the hinterlands, is soft, oh so very soft, on government corruption here in the State of New York ...

Which makes him the "enemy" of the PEOPLE of the State of New York who want corruption gone from OUR government ....

But because "Old Uncle Eliot" is soft on corruption in government, HE HAS THE SUPPORT OF THE "MACHINE" that helps to produce and promote and prolong that corruption ......

And so ...

"Suozzi draws the short straw - Spitzer easily wins Democratic Rural Conference poll, 148-7"
 
By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, March 5, 2006

ITHACA -- Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi made the case for his gubernatorial nomination to Democratic leaders from 41 upstate counties Saturday, but it didn't do him much good.

As expected, and even predicted by Suozzi himself, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer handily won the Democratic Rural Conference straw poll, trouncing his opponent 148-7.

"Suozzi closer to challenge after petition filing - Nassau County official hands in signatures for gubernatorial primary against Eliot Spitzer"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006

ALBANY -- Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi on Monday filed what his campaign said was more than three times the number of signatures necessary to petition his way into a Democratic primary against gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer this September.

Thirty-three volumes of petitions -- a total of 4,811 pages that each had space for 10 names -- arrived at the state Board of Elections late in the afternoon, board spokesman Lee Daghlian confirmed.

If every line is filled, Suozzi will have filed 48,110 signatures from enrolled Democrats -- far more than the 15,000 he needs to formalize his candidacy by landing a spot on the ballot.

The Suozzi campaign said it used an army of volunteers and some paid staffers to collect at least 500 signatures in all but one of New York's 29 congressional districts.

The law requires candidates to collect at least 100 names in 15 of the districts.

"We have always known that a candidate with Tom's record of government reform and results, political independence and vision for the state would be what Democrats in New York would want for their next governor," said Suozzi campaign manager Kim Devlin.

Spitzer's campaign has three days to review Suozzi's petitions and decide whether to file a general objection.

That would trigger a six-day period during which the Spitzer camp could file specific challenges to Suozzi's petitions.

"We don't have any plans to challenge the petitions, but we'll take a look at them," said Spitzer campaign spokeswoman Christine Anderson.

Spitzer has maintained double-digit leads over Suozzi in statewide polls and is expected to have millions more on hand when fundraising figures for the last six months are made public on Monday.

Spitzer would be offering Suozzi a rare validation if he formally challenges the underdog's petitions.

The primary winner would face off against John Faso, the Republican and Conservative gubernatorial candidate.

Suozzi isn't the only Democrat who mounted a petition drive.

Charlie King, one of three Democrats trying to force a primary in the state attorney general's race, announced Monday he will file 50,000 signatures at the state Board of Elections this week.

Former U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo was the only Democratic attorney general candidate who won enough support at the party's May convention to land an automatic ballot slot.

The campaigns of the two other attorney general hopefuls, former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green and Sean Patrick Maloney, a one-time counsel to President Clinton, refused to say how many signatures they had collected, but insisted they would have more than enough to get on the primary ballot.

Asked if Cuomo would challenge his rivals' petitions, his spokeswoman Wendy Katz replied:

"We fully expect all candidates seeking to be New York's next attorney general to have filed legally sufficient petitions."

The winner of the Democratic attorney general primary will run against former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the only Republican seeking that office, in November.

Labor activist Jonathan Tasini, who is mounting a long shot challenge to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by running to her left with an anti-war campaign, said he will file more than the 15,000 necessary signatures Thursday at the Board of Elections.

Two Republican U.S. Senate hopefuls, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and Reagan-era Pentagon official Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, both received enough support at the GOP convention in June to get on the September ballot.

The winner of that fight will try to topple Clinton in the general election.

Benjamin can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at ebenjamin@timesunion.com.

end quote

My God ....

No wonder "OLD ONCLE ELIOT" has so much money .....

In his CAMPAIGN WAR CHEST ......

When you look at all the people he is in bed with .....

To get all that money ...

Well .....

You'd be surprised .....

IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A BUNDLE ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

My God ....

No wonder "OLD ONCLE ELIOT" Spitzer has so much money .....

In his CAMPAIGN WAR CHEST ......

When you look at all the people he is in bed with .....

To get all that money ...

Well .....

You'd be surprised .....

IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A BUNDLE ....

And so .....

"Rivals dispute Spitzer's inevitability"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
First published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

BOLTON LANDING -- Republican John Faso and Democratic maverick Tom Suozzi said Monday that too many New Yorkers think Eliot Spitzer has a lock on being elected governor.

But the Democratic attorney general, with big leads in fundraising and in the polls, can be beaten, the two said at a conference hosted by the New York State Broadcasters Association.

"I know many out there have said there's a candidate who all he has to do is send out engraved invitations to his inauguration, and he's going to be in office," Faso said.

But Faso, a former state Assembly minority leader, said this fall's election will turn on economic issues and the sorry state of New York's tax climate.

"When people realize that Eliot Spitzer has made billions (of dollars worth) of promises for new spending and new borrowing, and that inevitably Eliot Spitzer's election will require him to raise taxes, they will not vote for him," Faso told the broadcasters, meeting at the Sagamore resort on Lake George.

Spitzer was invited to address the broadcasters, but didn't attend.

Faso outlined his own proposals that include getting rid of taxes on tractor-trailer trucks and eliminating the state's estate tax.

The Spitzer camp has said he has proposals to save enough money by cutting waste and some state spending programs to pay for his ambitious plans to increase spending on education and some health programs.

Suozzi, hoping to force Spitzer into a Sept. 12 Democratic primary, said New York can be fixed, but Spitzer isn't the man for the job.

The Nassau County executive compared state government to a troubled corporation.

Suozzi said Spitzer, as attorney general for more than seven years, "was sitting on the board of directors."

end quotes

No, Tom .....

That's not exactly right ...

Although close to the mark .....

Old "Big EL" Spitzer wasn't just on the "BOARD OF DIRECTORS" .....

HE WAS THE LAWYER ....

WHO WAS PROVIDING COVER .....

FOR ALL THE WRONG-DOING ...

BY THE "BOARD OF DIRECTORS" .....

TO INCLUDE .....

IN AT LEAST ONE CASE ...

UNDER DISCUSSION ...

IN ANOTHER THREAD ...

IN THIS FORUM ...

http://commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/...php/t24721.html

ALLEGEDLY SUBORNING PERJURY .....

SO THAT HE COULD CRUSH .....

CITIZEN DISSENT .....

AGAINST GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION .....

IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK .....

And so ...

"BIG EL" SPITZER .....

IS MORE THAN JUST A PARTICIPANT ....

AS NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ...

HE "EMPOWERS" CORRUPTION ....

WHICH IN TURN ...

BENEFITS HIM .....

BY WINNING HIM FAVOR ...

WITH THOSE ...

WHO BENEFIT THEMSELVES .....

FROM CORRUPT STATE GOVERNMENT ...

HERE IN THE CORRUPT STATE OF NEW YORK ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

"Rivals dispute Spitzer's inevitability" 
 
By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
First published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

BOLTON LANDING -- Suozzi, hoping to force Spitzer into a Sept. 12 Democratic primary, said New York can be fixed, but Spitzer isn't the man for the job.

The Nassau County executive compared state government to a troubled corporation.

Suozzi said Spitzer, as attorney general for more than seven years, "was sitting on the board of directors."

end quotes

No, Tom .....

That's not exactly right ...

Although close to the mark .....

Old "Big EL" Spitzer wasn't just on the "BOARD OF DIRECTORS" .....

HE WAS THE LAWYER ....

WHO WAS PROVIDING COVER .....

FOR ALL THE WRONG-DOING ...

BY THE "BOARD OF DIRECTORS" .....

TO INCLUDE .....

IN AT LEAST ONE CASE ...

UNDER DISCUSSION ...

IN ANOTHER THREAD ...

IN THIS FORUM ...

http://commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/...php/t24721.html

ALLEGEDLY SUBORNING PERJURY .....

SO THAT HE COULD CRUSH .....

CITIZEN DISSENT .....

AGAINST GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION .....

IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK .....

And so ...

"BIG EL" SPITZER .....

IS MORE THAN JUST A PARTICIPANT ....

AS NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ...

HE "EMPOWERS" CORRUPTION ....

WHICH IN TURN ...

BENEFITS HIM .....

BY WINNING HIM FAVOR ...

WITH THOSE ...

WHO BENEFIT THEMSELVES .....

FROM CORRUPT STATE GOVERNMENT ...

HERE IN THE CORRUPT STATE OF NEW YORK ...

And so .....

And while we are on the subject .....

Of the corrupt State of New York ...

Which is held to be ...

ONE OF THE LEAST DEMOCRATIC STATES .....

In the United States ...

If not the world .....

To include Putin's Russia ....

We have .....

"McCain And The NY GOP"

July 11, 2006 at 5:31 pm

by Elizabeth Benjamin, Albany, New York Times Union

Thanks to the plethora of political blogs and the assiduousness of state Democratic Party spokesman Blake Zeff, you’ve probably already seen this new Esquire piece about U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Az., which includes a vingette about his visit here in May to give U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, a fundraising boost.

Much has been made of the fact that Sweeney, a former executive director of the state GOP, pronounced the entire state of New York to be “in play” when it comes to this fall’s midterm House elections.

Other highlights have included Sweeney’s blaming of the “checked out” Gov. George Pataki, and McCain saying he doesn’t know anyone with a 29 percent approval rating who “thinks he can run for president.”

For the record, Pataki’s approval rating is higher now - it was up to 39 in a June Quinnipiac Poll.

Sweeney, once Pataki’s Labor commissioner, has been highly critical of the governor many times before.

The two have been on the outs for a while, due to a host of things, including the fact that Sweeney is still firmly in the camp of Bill Powers, the former state GOP chairman ousted by the Pataki camp in 2001 in favor of Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell, who is widely believed to covet Sweeney’s seat in Congress.

McCain, as is noted in the Esquire piece, hasn’t forgotten that Pataki - who, at least in his own mind, is now a McCain rival for the White House in 2008 - tried mightily to keep the senator off the presidential ballot in 2000.

An interesting part of the Esquire story that hasn’t been touched on is the part about Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, (or as he’s referred to in the piece: “old-school Joe Bruno”…”perhaps New York’s most powerful grassroots Republican”) who held a picnic McCain attended while he was in town.

“Bruno—a strong-jawed, thirty-year senator—and about a thousand of his supporters have been waiting in a steady rain to shake McCain’s hand or touch him on the elbow."

"These folks will do whatever Bruno asks of them, and given the 'graciousness of today’s visit,' he is exactly the sort of man who will one day ask them to vote early and often for John McCain.”

It seems the senator really buys in to the idea of Bruno-as-top-dog-Republican in New York.

“Yeah, that was great,” McCain says.

“We won’t have to sue to get on the ballot this time around.”

[Livyjr]

WHOA, DICK ...

Easy down there, big fellow ....

Easy down ....

You're kind of getting carried away now, here .....

That's it ...

That's it ...

Right, right, right ...

NOW ...

That's it ...

Just put the gun down, there, Dick ...

And everything will be alright ....

Now ...

That's it ...

Just assume the position ....

"Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

"Putin's Cheney jab underscores G-8 tension"

By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 27 minutes ago

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of Russia "an unsuccessful hunting shot," a caustic comment that underlines tensions ahead of the Group of Eight summit this weekend.

Under fire from critics who say his country does not deserve to be in the G-8 because of democratic backsliding during his more than six years in power, a confident Putin said the elite club of wealthy nations needs Russia because of its energy riches and nuclear might.

In three interviews with Western TV networks posted on the Kremlin Web site Wednesday, days before the summit in St. Petersburg, Putin set out what sounded like ground rules for dealing with an increasingly assertive Russia, saying his nation is open for constructive criticism but will not be pushed around.

Because of its economic weakness following the Soviet collapse of 1991, other nations countries had strong levers of influence on Russia, Putin said an interview with France's TF-1 television.

"Today these levers have been lost, but some of our partners have retained the desire to influence our foreign and domestic policies," he said.

"They must get rid of this desire as fast as possible and shift to the normal, equal relations of partners."

Putin reserved his most acerbic words for Cheney, who angered the Kremlin with a May speech in the ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania in which he accused Russia of cracking down on religious and political rights and of using its energy reserves as "tools of intimidation or blackmail."

"I think the statements of this sort by your vice president are the same as an unsuccessful hunting shot."

"It's pretty much the same," Putin said in an interview with NBC, referring mischievously to the errant shot by Cheney that wounded a companion on a hunting trip.

Putin, who is sensitive about growing U.S. influence in former Soviet republics and satellites that have turned westward since the Soviet collapse, said he believed Cheney's comments were driven by "political considerations, the desire to support certain political forces in Eastern Europe" at Russia's expense.

"It bothers me that ... this approach is based on a 20th-century foreign policy philosophy under which our partners always acted from the need to hold Russia back, seeing it as a political opponent at a minimum, or as an enemy," he said.

"This is a rudiment of Cold War thinking."

Putin offered his standard arguments against Cheney's criticism, saying Moscow has always fulfilled its natural gas supply contracts with European countries.

He contended that while it is impossible to build democracy swiftly after centuries of czarist and communist rule, Russian democracy compares favorably in some ways to that of the West.

"In your country ... the president is elected not directly ... but through a system of electors," he told NBC, referring to the Electoral College.

"And in our country, in Russia, the president ... is elected by a direct secret vote of the entire population."

"Where is there more democracy in deciding the most important question about power?"

Putin, who regularly makes distinctions between outspoken critics among politicians in foreign countries and the leaders who tend to speak less vehemently, seemed to set Cheney apart from President Bush, calling him "my partner and friend" and suggesting that he is no longer mired in Cold War thinking.

With some in the West arguing that Russia does not deserve a spot in the G-8 — let alone the presidency, which it holds this year and which Putin is using to bolster its international clout — Putin told NBC he sees his country as "a natural member of the club."

"It would be difficult to imagine the effective resolution of the problems we see as today as the most acute for the world economy and world security," he said, adding that Russia has "four times more proven oil and gas reserves than all the other G-8 countries taken together" and is "one of the mightiest nuclear powers."

Despite the criticism and warnings to the West, Putin also stressed that Russia shares "common aims" with the United States and other G-8 nations and is not out to confront them or undermine their efforts on issues such as Iran and North Korea.

"The difference is only in the path to the solution of this problem or that one," he told NBC.