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

[Livyjr]

"Sweeney has 19-point lead over Gillibrand - With 10 weeks to go, incumbent has big, but not insurmountable edge, Siena poll spokesman says" 
 
By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, August 29, 2006

TROY -- Sweeney argued that Gillibrand is trying to run a case out of the national Democratic playbook rather than based on local concerns.

"You can't represent people if you haven't shared their experiences," he said.

"My opponent simply doesn't have that base of knowledge."

And while we are on the subject ....

Of rocket scientists in here .....

Here is one .....

From up in "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY JOHNNIE" Sweeney's home town ....

Of Clifton Park, New York ....

And when "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY JOHNNIE" Sweeney talks about sharing the experiences of his constitutents ....

Well ...

This guy is one of them ....

And so ....

"Read all about it: cops are looking for you - Police say man filled out newspaper subscription card before bolting with load of energy drinks"

By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

CLIFTON PARK -- Red Bull might give you wings, but apparently it doesn't give you smarts.

The man who allegedly stole two cases of the energy drink Monday at Price Chopper in Shopper's World left a calling card, a witness said, when he signed up for a Times Union subscription and the chance to win a $100 gift card.

After filling out the information, the man allegedly loaded two shopping baskets with cases of Red Bull and took off.

"This kid comes over to me and says, 'Do you work here?'"

"I said no, then he said, 'When you see me, just stand there,' " said Dave Dudley of Schenectady, who was working as a subscription sales contractor.

Dudley remembered the man's first name was Jesse and he was from Schenectady.

Dudley didn't think much of it until a few minutes later, when he saw the man run out of the store holding a red basket in each hand, and Price Chopper employees chasing him.

The automatic door to the store wasn't working properly, Dudley said, so the alleged thief had to shimmy his way through.

The suspect's truck stalled in the parking lot, which let the employees grab one of the baskets out of the back before the driver and a passenger sped away.

Afterward, Dudley gave the store manager the information he collected.

Price Chopper spokeswoman Mona Golub confirmed the story.

State Trooper Joseph Grudecki, who responded to the call, said he hasn't tracked down the man yet.

"We have to compare it to eyewitness accounts and see if he didn't just put down someone else's name," the trooper said.

[Livyjr]

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Saratogian
Times Union
Troy Record

This morning, on CLEAR CHANNELS 810 WGY, I heard what was purported to be a fire chief, or fireman in Cambridge, New York making a blatant political speech on behalf of United States Congressman John Sweeney, and personally, I found that to be offensive.

First of all, IF Congressman John Sweeney had really procured the funds that allowed this Cambridge fire company to buy new hoses, that was simply a case of United States Congressman John Sweeney doing what he was elected to do by the people of this Congressional District, of which I am one, which is his job, as delivering milk is the job of a milkman, or fighting fires is the job of a fireman.

For this fire chief to then be making this into a partisan political issue somehow plays false to me, especially with respect to the timing of this campaign advertisement featuring what is purported to be the Cambridge fire chief, who himself should be non-partisan.

DID UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN SWEENEY GIVE THIS FIRE DEPARTMENT FEDERAL MONEY IN EXCHANGE FOR A POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT?

It sure does seem so to me.

And that then raises a question of who United States Congressman John Sweeney did not procure federal funds for, if this alleged Cambridge fire chief is making such a big issue out of it to the residents of United States Congressman John Sweeney's Congressional District just before the up-coming congressional elections in November of this year.

IS UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN SWEENEY PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH FEDERAL GRANTS AT ELECTION TIME SO AS TO GARNER HIMSELF POLITICAL SUPPORT?

That campaign ad this morning sure did raise that thought in my head, anyway.

And so .....

[Livyjr]

On September 10 (2001), Rumsfeld held a town meeting at the Pentagon to let officials know that he felt the MAIN THREAT to a more efficient and innovative defense structure was internal.

"THE TOPIC TODAY IS AN ADVERSARY THAT POSES A THREAT, A SERIOUS THREAT, TO THE SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," Rumsfeld began.

"FROM A SINGLE CAPITAL, IT ATTEMPTS TO IMPOSE ITS DEMANDS ACROSS TIME ZONES, CONTINENTS, OCEANS AND BEYOND."

"WITH BRUTAL CONSISTENCY, IT STIFLES FREE THOUGHT AND CRUSHES NEW IDEAS."

"IT DISRUPTS THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES AND PLACES THE LIVES OF MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM AT RISK ....."

"YOU MAY THINK I'M DESCRIBING ONE OF THE LAST DECREPIT DICTATORS OF THE WORLD."

"BUT THEIR DAY, TOO, IS ALMOST PAST, AND THEY CANNOT MATCH THE STRENGTH AND SIZE OF THIS ADVERSARY."

"THE ADVERSARY'S CLOSER TO HOME."

"IT'S THE PENTAGON BUREAUCRACY."

- Donald Rumsfeld, "Bureaucracy to Battlefield," speech, 10 September 2001, available from http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/2001/s...910-secdef.html , accessed 1 Nov. 2005

- - page 9, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor ......

NY Times -August 30, 2006

"Rumsfeld Says War Critics Haven’t Learned Lessons of History"

By DAVID S. CLOUD

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 29 — Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that critics of the war in Iraq and the campaign against terror groups “seem not to have learned history’s lessons,” and he alluded to those in the 1930’s who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany.

In a speech to thousands of veterans at the American Legion’s annual convention here, Mr. Rumsfeld sharpened his rebuttal of critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy, some of whom have called for phased withdrawal of United States forces or partitioning of the country.

Comparing terrorist groups to a “new type of fascism,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, “With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?”

It was the second unusually combative speech by Mr. Rumsfeld to a veterans group in two days and appeared to be part of a concerted administration effort to address criticism of the war’s conduct.

On Monday, Mr. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney gave separate speeches to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to the American Legion Auxiliary on Tuesday and President Bush is to address veterans later this week.

Mr. Cheney, too, spoke of appeasement at an appearance on Tuesday at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, reciting a passage that echoed verbatim one of his stock speeches.

“This is not an enemy that can be ignored, or negotiated with, or appeased,’’ he said.

“And every retreat by civilized nations is an invitation to further violence against us."

"Men who despise freedom will attack freedom in any part of the world, and so responsible nations have a duty to stay on the offensive, together, to remove this threat.”

Mr. Rumsfeld’s speech on Tuesday did not explicitly mention the Democrats, and he cited only comments by human rights groups and in press reports as evidence of what he described as “moral or intellectual confusion about who or what is right or wrong.”

In many previous speeches, including some before groups of veterans for whom World War II is a sacred memory, he has compared the government of Saddam Hussein, and the violent resistance since it fell, to the Nazis, and warned explicitly against appeasement there or in the broader campaign against terrorism, comparing it to the error of appeasing Hitler.

While he did not directly compare current critics of the war in Iraq to those who sought to appease Hitler, his juxtaposition of the themes led Democrats to say that he was leveling an unfair charge.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a former Army officer and a Democratic member of the Armed Services Committee, responded that “no one has misread history more” than Mr. Rumsfeld.

“It’s a political rant to cover up his incompetence,” Senator Reed, a longtime critic of Mr. Rumsfeld’s handling of the war, told The Associated Press.

Mr. Reed said there were “scores of patriotic Americans of both parties who are highly critical of his handling of the Department of Defense.”

Mr. Rumsfeld, speaking just weeks before the fifth anniversary of 9/11, also took on criticisms of the administration’s approach for combating terrorism outside Iraq, like the use of wiretaps without warrants.

“This enemy is serious, lethal and relentless,’’ he said.

“But this is not well recognized or fully understood.”

[Livyjr]

NY Times -August 30, 2006

"Rumsfeld Says War Critics Haven’t Learned Lessons of History"

By DAVID S. CLOUD

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 29 — Comparing terrorist groups to a “new type of fascism,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, “With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?”

Mr. Cheney, too, spoke of appeasement at an appearance on Tuesday at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, reciting a passage that echoed verbatim one of his stock speeches.

“This is not an enemy that can be ignored, or negotiated with, or appeased,’’ he said.

“And every retreat by civilized nations is an invitation to further violence against us."

And from the "GROUND ZERO" .....

Of REPUBLICAN George Pataki's CORRUPT REPUBLICAN CAPITAL .....

Of Albany, New York .....

We have  ......

VIOLENCE, AS USUAL .....

While REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI .....

And "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" Sweeney .....

Try to convince us ......

That all of OUR problems .....

Are over there in the quicksand of Iraq ......

WHICH IS BULL **** ......

I know a young man .....

Who is a Police Officer down there in the CORRUPT PATAKI CAPITAL .....

Of Albany, New York ....

And the other night ....

He tussled with .....

And arrested, finally .....

A fifteen-year old .....

Who had a $1200 Ruger .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun .....

Fully loaded .....

And ready for use ....

In his possession ....

And that is just one of a steady wave up here .....

Where George Pataki's CAPITAL CITY ....

Of Albany, New York .....

Is like a run-down version ....

Of the slums of Iraq ....

A vision, perhaps .....

Of what the REPUBLICANS will turn Iraq into .....

If we give them the chance .....

And so ....

"Shots hit 4 on Albany street - One victim "serious" as police hunt for two suspects in First Street shootings" 
 
By MARC PARRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, August 24, 2006

ALBANY - Four people were shot on an Arbor Hill street late Wednesday night, leaving at least one man with "serious" injuries, police said.

Three men and a woman were wounded on First Street, between Lexington Avenue and Judson Street, at 9:15 p.m., said Detective James Miller, a police spokesman.
 
He said one of the victims suffered a "serious" gunshot wound, but stopped short of calling it life-threatening.

The man and another victim were undergoing surgery at Albany Medical Center Hospital, where all four people were taken after police arrived.

The other two victims were in stable condition, Miller said.

Investigators were searching for two men they suspect in the shooting, he said.

The names of the victims were unavailable.

"They're trying to work as quickly as possible to piece this together and identify people responsible so we don't have anything further occur," Miller said.

Police closed off a section of First Street after the shooting.

Sabrina Henderson, 41, of First Street, where she's lived for six months, was in her home when she heard the shooting.

"All I heard was gunshots."

"I stayed in the house," Henderson said, as she waited by police tape to get back in her home just before midnight.

"This street is hot -- stays hot."

"I go to work, (go) in the house, stay there until I go to work."

"I don't go out on this block."

end quotes

Posting stories .....

About people getting shot ....

On the streets .....

In George Pataki's Albany .....

In a lot of ways ...

Is like talking about cars going fast .....

On the interstates up here .....

So generally ...

I don't say anything about the rampant violence up here .....

WHICH IS A DAY-TO-DAY OCCURRENCE .....

But as we head into these November elections .....

With all this talk about "staying the course" in Iraq .....

To "help the alleged reformers" over there .....

MY THOUGHT IS ......

THAT PERHAPS .....

WE SHOULD FIX WHAT IS BROKEN OVER HERE FIRST ......

And a good place for that to start ......

Is right here in Albany, New York .....

Where you can find violence any day of the week .....

And drugs .....

And gunfire .....

Right outside the doors of George Pataki's BUNKER COMPLEX .....

At the top of State Street hill .....

In CORRUPT Albany .....

WHERE YOU NEVER FIND GEORGE PATAKI THESE DAYS ......

And so ....

And while Donald "GASBAG" Rumsfeld ...

And Dick Cheney ....

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" (KILLER) Rice .....

Keep trying to load our heads up .....

With a bunch of pure BULL **** .....

About where threats of violence to us up here are coming from ....

And as Dick Cheney tells us that ....

“And every retreat by civilized nations is an invitation to further violence against us ......"

I personally have to wonder .....

Exactly where it is that these alleged civilized nations are retreating from .....

That invites this further violence ....

AGAINST US ....

BECAUSE IT SURE DOES SEEM .....

THAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT RIGHT HERE ....

WHERE I AM ......

WHERE THE ALBANY POLICE .....

TAKE THEIR LIVES IN THEIR OWN HANDS .....

AS SOON AS THEY STEP OUT ONTO THE VIOLENT STREETS .....

OF REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI'S CAPITAL CITY OF ALBANY, NEW YORK ...

And so ....

"Albany man accused of attacking police officer -
Terrance Anthony, 26, charged with first-degree attempted murder for shooting at officer"

Staff reports, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 3:18 p.m., Wednesday, August 30, 2006

ALBANY -- A 26-year-old Yates Street man is accused of punching and shooting at an Albany police officer.

In a statement today, police said this is what happened:

Officer William Van Amburgh was on patrol about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and spotted two men crouched in a Clinton Street doorway.

The officer approached the pair, talked to them and started to pat them down when he allegedly felt a gun.

At that point, one of the men, identified as Terrance Anthony, punched the officer and ran.

Van Amburgh chased him.

Moments later, as Van Amburgh rounded onto Schuyler Street, he said he saw Anthony turn and fire a gun at him.

The officer lost sight of Anthony on Broad Street.

A silent alarm was triggered at Mount Zion Church, and other officers responding to the chase found broken windows.

Anthony was not inside.

He was arrested in an alley off Schuyler Street.

He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault, possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal use of a firearm.

Anthony was arraigned in Albany City Criminal Court this morning and sent to Albany County Jail without bail.

Van Amburgh was taken to Albany Medical Center and treated for cuts and bruises on his jaw and face.

Police also said emergency workers treated Anthony for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg, allegedly suffered during the altercation.

[Livyjr]

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Message sent to the following recipients:

Saratogian
Times Union
Troy Record

This morning, on CLEAR CHANNELS 810 WGY, I heard what was purported to be a fire chief, or fireman in Cambridge, New York making a blatant political speech on behalf of United States Congressman John Sweeney, and personally, I found that to be offensive.

First of all, IF Congressman John Sweeney had really procured the funds that allowed this Cambridge fire company to buy new hoses, that was simply a case of United States Congressman John Sweeney doing what he was elected to do by the people of this Congressional District, of which I am one, which is his job, as delivering milk is the job of a milkman, or fighting fires is the job of a fireman.

For this fire chief to then be making this into a partisan political issue somehow plays false to me, especially with respect to the timing of this campaign advertisement featuring what is purported to be the Cambridge fire chief, who himself should be non-partisan.

DID UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN SWEENEY GIVE THIS FIRE DEPARTMENT FEDERAL MONEY IN EXCHANGE FOR A POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT?

It sure does seem so to me.

And that then raises a question of who United States Congressman John Sweeney did not procure federal funds for, if this alleged Cambridge fire chief is making such a big issue out of it to the residents of United States Congressman John Sweeney's Congressional District just before the up-coming congressional elections in November of this year.

IS UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN SWEENEY PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH FEDERAL GRANTS AT ELECTION TIME SO AS TO GARNER HIMSELF POLITICAL SUPPORT?

That campaign ad this morning sure did raise that thought in my head, anyway.

And so .....

And for those of you who are interested in this Congressional race between REPUBLICAN "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" Sweeney .....

And his Democratic challenger ....

http://www.gillibrand2006.com

[Livyjr]

And talking about this BUSHCO crowd .....

Playing fast and loose .....

With OUR national security .....

To gain a partisan political advantage for themselves ....

While feeding us a load of pure BULL **** .....

About threats to OUR national security ......

Coming from outside this BUSHCO administration .....

As opposed to directly from them .....

We have ....

NY Times - August 30, 2006

"First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says"

By NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, has acknowledged that he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday.

Mr. Armitage did not return calls for comment.

But the lawyer and other associates of Mr. Armitage have said he has confirmed that he was the initial and primary source for the columnist, Robert D. Novak, whose column of July 14, 2003, identified Valerie Wilson as a Central Intelligence Agency officer.

The identification of Mr. Armitage as the original leaker to Mr. Novak ends what has been a tantalizing mystery.

In recent months, however, Mr. Armitage’s role had become clear to many, and it was recently reported by Newsweek magazine and The Washington Post.

In the accounts by the lawyer and associates, Mr. Armitage disclosed casually to Mr. Novak that Ms. Wilson worked for the C.I.A. at the end of an interview in his State Department office.

Mr. Armitage knew that, the accounts continue, because he had seen a written memorandum by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman.

Mr. Grossman had taken up the task of finding out about Ms. Wilson after an inquiry from I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mr. Libby’s inquiry was prompted by an Op-Ed article on May 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof and an article on June 12, 2003, in The Washington Post by Walter Pincus.

The two articles reported on a trip by a former ambassador to Africa sponsored by the C.I.A. to check reports that Iraq was seeking enriched uranium to help with its nuclear arms program.

Neither article identified the ambassador, but it was known inside the government that he was Joseph C. Wilson IV, Ms. Wilson’s husband.

White House officials wanted to know how much of a role she had in selecting him for the assignment.

Ms. Wilson was a covert employee, and after Mr. Novak printed her identity, the agency requested an investigation to see whether her name had been leaked illegally.

Some administration critics said her name had been made public in a campaign to punish Mr. Wilson, who had written in a commentary in The Times that his investigation in Africa led him to believe that the Bush administration had twisted intelligence to justify an attack on Iraq.

The complaints after Mr. Novak’s column led to the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s identity.

The special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, did not bring charges in connection with laws that prohibit the willful disclosure of the identity of an C.I.A. officer.

But Mr. Fitzgerald did indict Mr. Libby on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, saying Mr. Libby had testified untruthfully to a grand jury and federal agents when he said he learned about Ms. Wilson’s role at the agency from reporters rather than from several officials, including Mr. Cheney.

According to an account in a coming book, “Hubris, the Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War’’ by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, excerpts of which appeared in Newsweek this week, Mr. Armitage told a few State Department colleagues that he might have been the leaker whose identity was being sought.

The book says Mr. Armitage realized that when Mr. Novak published a second column in October 2003 that said his source had been an official who was “not a political gunslinger.’’

The Justice Department was quickly informed, and Mr. Armitage disclosed his talks with Mr. Novak in subsequent interviews with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, even before Mr. Fitzgerald’s appointment.

The book quotes Carl W. Ford Jr., then head of the intelligence and research bureau at the State Department, as saying that Mr. Armitage had told him, “I may be the guy who caused this whole thing,’’ and that he regretted having told the columnist more than he should have.

Mr. Grossman’s memorandum did not mention that Ms. Wilson had undercover status.

Apart from Mr. Ford, as quoted in the book, the lawyer and colleagues of Mr. Armitage who discussed the case have spoken insisting on anonymity, apparently because Mr. Armitage was still not comfortable with the public acknowledgment of his role.

He was also the source for another journalist about Ms. Wilson, a reporter who did not write about her.

The lawyers and associates said Mr. Armitage also told Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and a well-known author, of her identity in June 2003.

Mr. Woodward was a late player in the legal drama when he disclosed last November that he had the received the information and testified to a grand jury about it after learning that his source had disclosed the conversation to prosecutors.

[Livyjr]

"Rumsfeld's poetry goes into hiding"

By HART SEELY
First published: Tuesday, August 29, 2006

August kills poetry.

For starters, it's too hot.

You can feel the days shrinking.

You can sense changes coming.

August devours poets.

Maybe that's what's eating Donald Rumsfeld.

I refer to the U.S. secretary of defense, from whose throat spontaneous verses once poured.

For years, Rumsfeld shared his idiosyncratic haiku with the nation during televised news conferences, while his hands made hypnotic kung fu gestures for the cameras.

Back then, in the salad days of the war on terror, Rumsfeld would romance every question, then uncork a response that might bob across an ocean and back.

He discussed "chasing the chicken around the chicken yard."

He described Iraq as "an enormous country ... bigger than Texas, or as big, I guess."

He noted the "unknown unknowns," those intangibles that "we don't know what we don't know," the bumps that bedevil all those who launch silly things, like wars.

But lately, Rumsfeld has entered a J.D. Salinger mode.

He has cut back on news conferences and, when fielding questions, generally avoids the chicken yard.

His last significant poem gushed forth in a July 31 briefing.

Asked about the war in Lebanon, Rumsfeld offered what I have on his behalf titled, "Observations on Wasted Sunlight":

"It is what it is."

"What's happened has happened."

"And the folks over there are sorting it out."

"And Condi and the President Have both commented on it."

"That's good enough for our country."

"Good to see you all."

"Why are you all not out there In the sun, getting a suntan?"

If Rumsfeld that day was musing about some far-off beach, who could blame him?

In recent weeks, he has been laid bare in public more often than Pamela Anderson.

A new best-seller, "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq," by Washington Post reporter Thomas E. Ricks, blames him, as Ricks writes, for "perhaps the worst war plan in American history."

For Rumsfeld's critics, the book has had the foaming effect of Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke.

But the cruelest cut came Aug. 3, during a rare Rumsfeldian visit to Congress.

Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he endured a sound-bite tongue-lashing from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who asked, "Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?"

Rumsfeld winced, perhaps from Clinton's lack of pentameter, but then could offer nothing poetic beyond, "My goodness."

So we wonder: What's happened to the Beltway Bard?

Unpopularity?

Thin skin?

A tightened White House leash?

Or could it be age?

On July 9, Rumsfeld turned 74, making him the oldest Defense secretary in history.

If he lasts until 2007, he will replace Robert McNamara -- author of that earlier fiasco, Vietnam -- as America's longest-enduring Pentagon chief.

He'll become the Cal Ripken Jr. of unpopular wars.

As Rumsfeld would say, that's one long, hard slog.

Then again, William Wordsworth wrote poetry until 77.

Robert Frost conjured a verse for incoming President Kennedy at 87.

Ezra Pound was still ranting at 89.

Surely Rumsfeld has a few couplets still inside, burning to get out.

But as the elections approach, don't expect Rumsfeld to be calling bingo at GOP fundraisers.

His name already adorns a newfound species of slime-mold beetle, Agathidium rumsfeldi.

He faces lawsuits.

He faces attacks.

If Iraq doesn't improve, he probably faces ever-harsher judgments.

He might feel it's a good time to lie low.

Thus, I feel compelled to try to answer Sen. Clinton's question: Why should we believe Rumsfeld now?

Actually, it's simple.

In poetry, truth can take many forms.

But it's always in there somewhere, stuffed amid all the things we thought we knew that we knew -- and now realize that we didn't.

And it's not necessarily the truth we hoped to hear.

Believe whatever you want.

At the end of the day, poetry is only words.

The book on Rumsfeld?

He is what he is.

What has happened has happened.

It will take a long time to sort everything out.

But, hey, feel that sun!

Who's got the cocoa butter?

It's August, the eater of poets.

The days are growing shorter.

Hart Seely is the author of "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld." He wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times.

[Livyjr]

"Inept management, not terrorism, has endangered U.S. and its economy"

Letter to Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The recent presidential diatribe on "staying the course" relative to both Iraq and economic policy is based upon the Bush administration and most legislators in the national Republican Party believing that the repetition of sheer nonsense is adequate to control the voting activities of a stupid electorate.

Bush's election, coupled with Republican control of the House and Senate, has in no way made our defense against terrorism or our economy stronger.

In both cases (and one can add the Louisiana flood devastation), misguided policy and inept management have left our country in a dramatically weakened position.

Iraq will historically stand out as a monument of administration incompetence.

With no real understanding of Iraq's internal group rivalry and potential for sectarian violence, the Bush administration decided to get rid of an evil dictator with military forces dramatically inadequate to stabilize the country.

The disastrous results we are now witnessing were entirely predictable.

The only way we can redeem ourselves is to reinstitute the draft, dramatically increase our forces in Iraq and increase taxes largely, but not exclusively, by rescinding most of our recent tax cuts.

Incidentally, the denial of the Bush administration to financially support family planning and birth control in the terrorist breeding parts of the world has not helped the situation.

The policies of the Bush administration have increased the scope of terrorism rather than protected us.

One should not get credit for the poor and incompetent execution of a "good" idea that ends up a disaster.

In the economic and financial area, the hardly conservative Bush/Republican judgment is equally disastrous.

Their tax reductions have been inappropriate and poorly targeted and have led to substantial unnecessary deficit financing during relatively good times.

The deficits are much larger than necessary to provide any needed stimulation because they are poorly targeted and will at some point make our international trade and investment position intolerable.

There are very few Republicans in Congress who can avoid responsibility for our poorly thought out foreign adventure and our ill-conceived and hardly conservative economic policy which ignores the less fortunate and increases inequality.

The Republicans have controlled all branches of government lately, and common sense indicates that this control must be ended.

A. RICHARD G.
Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=8/29/2006

[Livyjr]

"Recalling troops exposes the war lie"

By DERRICK Z. JACKSON
First published: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Vietnam creep in Iraq continued last week as the Marines said they would recall up to 2,500 troops.

Guy Stratton, the head of the Marines' manpower mobilization, told reporters, "We've been tracking our volunteer numbers for the last two years."

"If you tracked it on a timeline or chart, you would see it going down."

This was not the timeline that President Bush hoped for, either for Iraqi liberation or American patriotism.

He admitted as much at a testy news conference last week.

Asked if he was frustrated, he said, "Frustrated?"

"Sometimes I'm frustrated."

"... These are challenging times, and they're difficult times, and they're straining the psyche of our country."

This is from the man who strained to promise us a Rose Garden war.

The 2,500 reservists are not a big number in an occupation of 138,000 soldiers, but they are a huge reminder of one of the biggest lies that the administration told us to justify the invasion.

Just before the hostilities, the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, said at a Senate hearing that "something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" would probably be required in postwar Iraq.

"We're talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems."

Top administration officials all but called Shinseki crazy, even though almost none of them had ever fought in a war.

They sold the fantasy that high-tech weapons in the air would reduce the need for boots on the ground.

They downplayed fears that soldiers would need to corral a civil war.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said at a House hearing that predictions, "such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark."

"First, it's hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army."

"Hard to imagine."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said it was "not logical" to him that it would take as many forces for the occupation as were needed for the invasion.

"We have no idea how long the war will last," Rumsfeld told reporters.

"We don't know to what extent there may or may not be weapons of mass destruction used."

"We don't know -- have any idea whether or not there would be ethnic strife."

"We don't know exactly how long it would take to find weapons of mass destruction and destroy them -- those sites."

"There are so many variables that it is not knowable."

"However I will say this: What is, I think, reasonably certain is the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces I think is far from the mark."

"... Any idea that it's several hundred thousand over any sustained period is simply not the case."

Vice President Dick Cheney, in the same appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" during which he claimed Iraqis "will welcome as liberators the United States," said of Shinseki's estimate, "I disagree."

"... To suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don't think is accurate."

"I think that's an overstatement."

There were groups with gravitas back in 2003 that knew Shinseki was right.

A Council on Foreign Relations task force, one that included John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted postwar troop estimates of 75,000 to more than 200,000 and said, "The task force recommends that deployments for peace stabilization err on the side of robustness."

Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Cheney have proven to be so wildly off the mark that Frederick Kagan, a military historian from the conservative, pro-war American Enterprise Institute, last year told the Houston Chronicle, "The Army needs to grow by about 200,000 soldiers."

"Reorganizing the troops we have now is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

The ship is listing so badly that it is being abandoned by both the right and the left.

In announcing the involuntary call-up of Marines, spokesman Maj. Steven O'Connor said, "When Baghdad fell, we thought that this was not going to be a prolonged battle."

Until we get out of Iraq, Bush has to soothe the American psyche.

He can start by firing Rumsfeld, who told us the battle would not be prolonged.

That would be a good first step to rearranging the chairs.

Derrick Z. Jackson writes for The Boston Globe. His e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.

[Livyjr]

Rumsfeld had been receiving his daily CIA briefing shortly before the American Airlines plane plowed into the building on September 11.

Afterward, he had staked out a clear position on how the Bush team should respond.

The United States should take the fight to the Taliban and Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, BUT IT WOULD NOT END THERE.

The Pentagon needed to take an even more forceful step that would let its enemies know that the United States was now involved in a global war against the terrorists and the renegade states that helped them.

The U.S. needed to land a series of blows well beyond Afghanistan.

The question was where and when to strike.

The defense secretary's meeting had been called to ponder the war plan for another potential adversary.

General Richard B. Myers, the PLIABLE chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) who was picked by Rumsfeld because of his reputation as a team player, was there.

SO WAS PETER PACE, THE AMBITIOUS VICE CHAIRMAN WHO WAS ALREADY BEING TALKED ABOUT AS AN OFFICER WHO MIGHT FOLLOW IN MYER'S FOOTSTEPS.

Greg Newbold, the three-star general who served as chief operations deputy for the JCS, had the main assignment for the session.

He was to outline Central Command's OPLAN 1003-98, the military's contingency plan in the event of war with Iraq.

Newbold was armed with a pile of slides as the generals and Rumsfeld sat around a conference table.

As Newbold outlined the plan, which called for as many as 500,000 troops, IT WAS CLEAR THAT RUMSFELD WAS GROWING INCREASINGLY IRRITATED.

FOR RUMSFELD, THE PLAN REQUIRED TOO MANY TROOPS AND SUPPLIES AND TOOK FAR TOO LONG TO EXECUTE.

IT WAS, RUMSFELD DECLARED, THE PRODUCT OF OLD THINKING AND THE EMBODIMENT OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRONG WITH THE MILITARY.

MYERS ASKED RUMSFELD HOW MANY TROOPS HE THOUGHT MIGHT BE NEEDED.

THE DEFENSE SECRETARY SAID IN EXASPERATION THAT HE DID NOT SEE WHY MORE THAN 125,000 TROOPS WOULD BE REQUIRED AND EVEN THAT WAS PROBABLY TOO MANY.

RUMSFELD'S REACTION WAS DUTIFULLY PASSED ON TO THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND.

"My regret is at that at the time I did not say, 'Mr. Secretary, if you try to put a number on a mission like this you may cause enormous mistakes,' " Newbold later recalled.

"Give the military the task, give the military what you would like to see them do, and then let them come up with it."

"I WAS THE JUNIOR MILITARY MAN IN THE ROOM, BUT I REGRET NOT SAYING IT."

The 1003 plan was ripe for review and was based on the assumption that it would be Iraq that would start the fight.

Nonetheless, the plan, which had been regularly exercised in war games, reflected long-standing military principles about the force levels that were needed to defeat Iraq, control a population fo more than 24 million, and secure a nation the size of California with porous borders.

RUMSFELD'S NUMBERS, IN CONTRAST, SEEMED TO BE PULLED OUT OF THIN AIR.

HE HAD DISMISSED ONE OF THE MILITARY'S LONG-STANDING PLANS AND SUGGESTED HIS OWN FORCE LEVEL WITHOUT ANY OF THE GENERALS RAISING A CAUTIONARY FLAG.

- pages 3-5, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor ......

And as George W. Bush's IRAQ FISACO continues to boil and swirl around his head .....

And that of his cronies and sycophants ....

Who got OUR America into this mess ....

Which was entirely predictable .....

And predicted .....

BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH GAVE THE ORDER TO GO .....

We have the BUSHCOS .....

BACK ON THE ATTACK, AGAIN ....

Attacking us, of course .....

For being able to see through the smokescreen of lies ...

Half-truths ...

Distortions ....

And evasions .....

That have been the "stock-in-trade" of this BUSHCO crowd .....

Since before Day One .....

And for not buying into .....

The load of pure BULL **** ......

That this BUSHCO crowd deludes itself with ....

And so ....

"Bush Team Casts Foes as Defeatist - Blunt Rhetoric Signals a New Thrust"

By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 31, 2006; Page A01

President Bush and his surrogates are launching a new campaign intended to rebuild support for the war in Iraq by accusing the opposition of aiming to appease terrorists and cut off funding for troops on the battlefield, charges that many Democrats say distort their stated positions.

With an appearance before the American Legion in Salt Lake City today, Bush will begin a series of speeches over 20 days centered on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But he and his top lieutenants have foreshadowed in recent days the thrust of the effort to put Democrats on the defensive with rhetoric that has further inflamed an already emotional debate.

Bush suggested last week that Democrats are promising voters to block additional money for continuing the war.

Vice President Cheney this week said critics "claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone."

And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing passivity toward Nazi Germany before World War II, said that "many have still not learned history's lessons" and "believe that somehow vicious extremists can be appeased."

Pressed to support these allegations, the White House yesterday could cite no major Democrat who has proposed cutting off funds or suggested that withdrawing from Iraq would persuade terrorists to leave Americans alone.

But White House and Republican officials said those are logical interpretations of the most common Democratic position favoring a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"A lot of the people who say we need to withdraw from Iraq say we'll be safer, and I don't think that's accurate," said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, a key architect of the party's strategy heading into the fall congressional campaign.

Mehlman noted that al-Qaeda leaders and other Islamic radicals have said they want to drive Americans out of Iraq and use it as a base.

"We ought to not ignore when they say they're going to do that."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said it is reasonable for Bush to presume that Democrats will try to cut off funding for the war if they take over Congress, noting that 54 House Democrats voted against a spending bill for military operations last year.

"How would they force the president to withdraw troops?" she asked.

"Yell?"

Democrats contended that the statements went too far.

"Maybe there are some people in America who do not want to fight the war on terror, but I do not know them," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said yesterday.

"We Democrats want to fight a very strong war on terror."

"No one has talked about appeasement."

The White House strategy of equating Democratic dissent with defeatism worked during the 2002 and 2004 elections, but it could prove more difficult this time.

Some Republicans, such as Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), line up with Democrats in seeking a timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq.

When Bush and his allies accuse those favoring such a timetable of "self-defeating pessimism," as Cheney put it this week, they risk spraying friendly fire on some of their own candidates.

In an interview yesterday, Shays said the charges by Cheney and Rumsfeld are "over the top" and unhelpful.

"The president should be trying to bring the country together and not trying to divide us," he said.

Shays, a longtime supporter of the war who just returned from his 14th trip to Iraq and faces a tough reelection battle, said he plans to outline next month a deadline for replacing U.S. troops doing police-style patrols with Iraqi forces.

But he fears the Bush administration might not be supportive.

Other GOP incumbents, such as Reps. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.) and Michael G. Fitzpatrick (Pa.), are also raising serious concerns about Bush's Iraq policy.

But many embattled Republicans remain reluctant to break with the administration's current approach.

Rep. Rob Simmons, another Connecticut Republican facing a difficult campaign in a Democratic-leaning district, said he will oppose any effort by Shays to establish a pullout deadline.

"I don't think that is a good idea," Simmons said.

Instead, Simmons highlights his military service and initial objections to invading Iraq three years ago.

"I am a Connecticut Republican, and the environment in which I operate is quite different from elsewhere in the country," Simmons said.

As for the emerging Bush political strategy on terrorism and the war, it "is hard to judge whether it helps or hurts," he said.

"It may help candidates elsewhere in the country more than it helps me."

While no Democrat has the powerful platform that the White House affords Bush and Cheney, the complaints about the mischaracterizing of positions on the war flow in both directions.

Many Democrats accuse the president of advocating "stay the course" in Iraq, but the White House rejects the phrase and regularly emphasizes that it is adapting tactics to changing circumstances, such as moving more U.S. troops into Baghdad recently after a previous security strategy appeared to fail.

"Strategically, we are staying committed to the fact that this is an important mission and one that should be accomplished," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Democrats, this adviser said, say "we're 'doing the same thing over and over' when that's not the case."

The intensity of the exchanges underscores the power of the issue.

Although memories of Hurricane Katrina and disputes over the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast generated heated debate in recent days, strategists in both parties believe that the coming congressional elections will turn in large part on the Iraq war and whether voters believe it is part of the global battle against terrorism or a distraction from it.

Bush advisers hope that the legacy of Sept. 11 will rally the public back to the unpopular president and his party, while Democrats are trying to tap into broad discontent with the Iraq war.

Republicans plan to load the congressional agenda with national security issues, including votes on spending for the military, terrorism-fighting measures and symbolic bills supporting U.S. troops.

Democrats plan to force votes on providing more equipment to U.S. troops, implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission and condemning Bush's Iraq policy.

Bush's speech to the American Legion this morning will launch his third intensive campaign in the past year to address public anxiety over the war.

Aides said he will tackle the perception that the world is in chaos and tie together the conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and elsewhere into the common ideological thread of fighting "Islamic fascism."

The effort will continue with other speeches in Washington and around the country, followed by a whirlwind tour of the Sept. 11 attack sites and a Sept. 19 address to the U.N. General Assembly.

During a campaign stop in Arkansas yesterday, Bush denied that the efforts are connected to the election campaign.

"They're not political speeches," he said.

"They're speeches about the future of this country, and they're speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation would become even more in jeopardy."

"These are important times, and I seriously hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I'm going to talk about."

The Democratic strategy for the next few weeks is twofold: First, punch back every time Republicans challenge their commitment to national security.

Yesterday, for instance, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was among the half-dozen leading Democrats to strike back at Rumsfeld by noontime.

"Secretary Rumsfeld's efforts to smear critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy are a pathetic attempt to shift the public's attention from his repeated failure to manage the conduct of the war competently," she said.

At the same time, Democrats plan a series of events in which to condemn Bush's Iraq policy and amplify their charge that Iraq is not a central front in the campaign against terrorism.

In a late-morning conference call, Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the Democrats' leading spokesman on national security issues, said only a small minority of those involved in the bloodshed in Iraq are the kind of international terrorists the United States should be hunting down.

Unlike in the past two elections, it is not clear which party benefits most from these debates.

Most polls show that the public is essentially split over which party will keep the United States safe from terrorists.

Both sides anticipate that Bush and other Republicans will get a slight bump from the Sept. 11 anniversary and the public's renewed focus on terrorism on that day, but that will not end the focus.

"Over the next 69 days," Mehlman said, "there will be an important discussion in America over what it takes to make America safe."

end quotes

AS THEY ONCE AGAIN USE 9-11 TO THEIR PARTISAN POLITICAL ADVANTAGE .....

AS IF 9-11 WERE A "MEDIA EVENT" CUSTOM-MADE FOR THEM ....

A THOUGHT THAT JUST GETS HARDER AND HARDER TO REFUTE .....

THE MORE THE REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO MAKE POLITICAL HAY OUT OF 9-11 .....

WHICH HAS BEEN TERMED "THE REPUBLICAN'S REICHSTAG FIRE" ....

WHICH HAS ENABLED REPUBLO-FASCISM .....

TO GAIN A VERY STRONG FOOTHOLD .....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

AT THE EXPENSE ....

OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY ....

AND OUR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS ....

George W. Bush and his crowd of sycophantic BUSHCOS .....

Are going to now try .....

TO RAM ....

His ideas .....

DOWN OUR THROATS .....

WITH FORCE .....

RIGHT HERE .......

IN OUR OWN COUNTRY OF AMERICA ......

The same way that the INCREDIBLY INEPT BUSHCOS .....

TRIED TO RAM DEMOCRACY ....

DOWN THE THROATS .....

OF THE PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ....

"CLUB THEM INTO COMPLIANCE ..."

"WITH THE DICTATES ..."

"OF THE LEADER OF THE WORLD, GEORGE W. BUSH ..."

As if George W. Bush .....

Proclaiming himself "LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD" .....

Had any meaning .....

Or substance ......

To anyone at all ....

Outside the Washington, D.C. BELTWAY .....

Which is a BOUNDARY LINE .....

Between DELUSION within ....

And REALITY without .....

And so ....

"George, bring a lunch ..."

Is my thought .....

And my advice .....

IF YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN RAM YOUR IDEAS .....

DOWN OUR THROATS ....

WITH YOUR FLAILING FISTS .....

AS THOUGH WE WERE NOTHING BUT YOUR COMPLIANT SLAVES .....

AS OPPOSED TO A FREE PEOPLE ...

WITH A CONSTITUTION ...

IN OUR HANDS ...

THAT PROTECTS .....

AND DEFENDS US ...

FROM TYRANTS LIKE YOU ....

AND YOURS ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And for those of you out there who are following the efforts of Tom Suozzi .....

To be the next Governor of the State of New York .....

Be sure to watch Tom tonight on News 12 live at 7PM.

It will be broadcast on Long Island, Westchester, The Bronx and Brooklyn on News 12.

Including last night's Town Hall on NY1, this will be Tom's forth live television appearance this week.

Tonight will be his third debate of the week, all of which Eliot Spitzer has declined to appear to debate the issues and discuss his plans.

Be sure to tune in at 7PM to watch Tom!

[Livyjr]

"THE WEST IS BEING RUN, MORE OR LESS, BY THE MOST INCOMPETENT GENERATION OF MIDDLE AGED WHITE MEN SINCE THE 6TH CENTURY."

--Commentator Tony Blankley; in his 'The Bacteria of Stupidity' (Washington Times, August 30)

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...29-091620-7859r

And as George W. Bush's IRAQ FISACO continues to boil and swirl around his head .....

And that of his cronies and sycophants ....

Who got OUR America into this mess ....

Which was entirely predictable .....

And predicted .....

BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH GAVE THE ORDER TO GO .....

We have the BUSHCOS .....

BACK ON THE ATTACK, AGAIN ....

Attacking us, of course .....

For being able to see through the smokescreen of lies ...

Half-truths ...

Distortions ....

And evasions .....

That have been the "stock-in-trade" of this BUSHCO crowd .....

Since before Day One .....

And for not buying into .....

The load of pure BULL **** ......

That this BUSHCO crowd deludes itself with ....

And so ....

"Bush Team Casts Foes as Defeatist - Blunt Rhetoric Signals a New Thrust"

By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 31, 2006; Page A01

President Bush and his surrogates are launching a new campaign intended to rebuild support for the war in Iraq by accusing the opposition of aiming to appease terrorists and cut off funding for troops on the battlefield, charges that many Democrats say distort their stated positions.

With an appearance before the American Legion in Salt Lake City today, Bush will begin a series of speeches over 20 days centered on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But he and his top lieutenants have foreshadowed in recent days the thrust of the effort to put Democrats on the defensive with rhetoric that has further inflamed an already emotional debate.

Vice President Cheney this week said critics "claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone."

And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing passivity toward Nazi Germany before World War II, said that "many have still not learned history's lessons" and "believe that somehow vicious extremists can be appeased."

Pressed to support these allegations, the White House yesterday could cite no major Democrat who has proposed cutting off funds or suggested that withdrawing from Iraq would persuade terrorists to leave Americans alone.

But White House and Republican officials said those are logical interpretations of the most common Democratic position favoring a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"A lot of the people who say we need to withdraw from Iraq say we'll be safer, and I don't think that's accurate," said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, a key architect of the party's strategy heading into the fall congressional campaign.

Mehlman noted that al-Qaeda leaders and other Islamic radicals have said they want to drive Americans out of Iraq and use it as a base.

"We ought to not ignore when they say they're going to do that."

When Bush and his allies accuse those favoring such a timetable of "self-defeating pessimism," as Cheney put it this week, they risk spraying friendly fire on some of their own candidates.

In an interview yesterday, Shays said the charges by Cheney and Rumsfeld are "over the top" and unhelpful.

"The president should be trying to bring the country together and not trying to divide us," he said.

Bush's speech to the American Legion this morning will launch his third intensive campaign in the past year to address public anxiety over the war.

Aides said he will tackle the perception that the world is in chaos and tie together the conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and elsewhere into the common ideological thread of fighting "Islamic fascism."

During a campaign stop in Arkansas yesterday, Bush denied that the efforts are connected to the election campaign.

"They're not political speeches," he said.

"They're speeches about the future of this country, and they're speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation would become even more in jeopardy."

"These are important times, and I seriously hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I'm going to talk about."

end quotes

AS THEY ONCE AGAIN USE 9-11 TO THEIR PARTISAN POLITICAL ADVANTAGE .....

AS IF 9-11 WERE A "MEDIA EVENT" CUSTOM-MADE FOR THEM ....

A THOUGHT THAT JUST GETS HARDER AND HARDER TO REFUTE .....

THE MORE THE REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO MAKE POLITICAL HAY OUT OF 9-11 .....

WHICH HAS BEEN TERMED "THE REPUBLICAN'S REICHSTAG FIRE" ....

WHICH HAS ENABLED REPUBLO-FASCISM .....

TO GAIN A VERY STRONG FOOTHOLD .....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

AT THE EXPENSE ....

OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY ....

AND OUR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS ....

George W. Bush and his crowd of sycophantic BUSHCOS .....

Are going to now try .....

TO RAM ....

His ideas .....

DOWN OUR THROATS .....

WITH FORCE .....

RIGHT HERE .......

IN OUR OWN COUNTRY OF AMERICA ......

The same way that the INCREDIBLY INEPT BUSHCOS .....

TRIED TO RAM DEMOCRACY ....

DOWN THE THROATS .....

OF THE PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ....

"CLUB THEM INTO COMPLIANCE ..."

"WITH THE DICTATES ..."

"OF THE LEADER OF THE WORLD, GEORGE W. BUSH ..."

As if George W. Bush .....

Proclaiming himself "LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD" .....

Had any meaning .....

Or substance ......

To anyone at all ....

Outside the Washington, D.C. BELTWAY .....

Which is a BOUNDARY LINE .....

Between DELUSION within ....

And REALITY without .....

And so ....

"George, bring a lunch ..."

Is my thought .....

And my advice .....

IF YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN RAM YOUR IDEAS .....

DOWN OUR THROATS ....

WITH YOUR FLAILING FISTS .....

AS THOUGH WE WERE NOTHING BUT YOUR COMPLIANT SLAVES .....

AS OPPOSED TO A FREE PEOPLE ...

WITH A CONSTITUTION ...

IN OUR HANDS ...

THAT PROTECTS .....

AND DEFENDS US ...

FROM TYRANTS LIKE YOU ....

AND YOURS ....

And so ....

I wonder how many times a week ....

This Mehlman the REPUBLICAN .....

Talks to al-Qaida ....

That he knows ....

All about their alleged plans .....

For IRAQINAMISTAN ...

And the world .....

Quite a bit, is what it sounds like to me ....

Or could it just be .....

That this Mehlman the REPUBLICAN ....

Is just blowing us a lot of smoke ...

That he don't know DOODLY-SQUAT .....

About what this alleged al-Qaida might be thinking .....

If they are thinking at all ...

And so ...

ISLAMO-FASCISM vs. REPUBLO-FASCISM ....

And which ideology will win?

Or are they even any different from each other .....

That we could ever tell who "won" .....

"Bush says U.S. in 'ideological struggle'"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

Last updated: 1:46 p.m., Thursday, August 31, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- President Bush on Thursday predicted victory in the war on terror at a time of increasing public anxiety at home, likening the struggle against Islamic fundamentalism with the fight against Nazis and communists.

With just over two months until Election Day, Bush said opponents of the war in Iraq who are calling for a plan to bring home troops would create a disaster in the Middle East.

"Many of these folks are sincere and they're patriotic but they could be -- they could not be more wrong," the president said.

"If America were to pull out before Iraq could defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable, and absolutely disastrous."

"We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies -- Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al-Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban."

The president chose a friendly audience in one of America's most conservative states to begin his pre-election series of speeches defending his war strategy.

The three-week campaign is tied to the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," Bush told thousands of veterans at the American Legion convention.

"It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."

Only a third of Americans say they approve of Bush's handling of the war or his leadership overall -- a figure that worries Republicans who are hoping they have enough support to keep control of Congress in elections just over two months away.

Democrats said Bush's speeches don't change his failed Iraq policy.

"The American people know that five years after September 11th, we are not as safe as we should and could be," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"Iraq is in crisis, our military is stretched thin, and terrorist groups and extremist regimes have been strengthened and emboldened across the Middle East and the world."

A majority of Americans approved of the way Bush responded to the Sept. 11 attacks nearly five years ago, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that came out Thursday, and the president was trying to remind them of that as the anniversary approaches.

Bush described the current violence in the Middle East and the recently thwarted attack to blow up planes over the Atlantic Ocean as part of the same movement that resulted in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"As veterans you have seen this kind of enemy before," Bush said.

"They are successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century."

"And history shows what the outcome will be.

"This war will be difficult."

"This war will be long."

"And this war will end in the defeat of the terrorists," Bush said.

He acknowledged the unsettling times -- marked by sectarian violence in Iraq, war along the Israel-Lebanon border and terrorists allegedly plotting to blow up planes between Britain and the United States.

Bush's series of speeches are to continue Tuesday, with remarks in Washington before the Military Officers Association of America and members of the diplomatic corps.

It is to continue through Sept. 19, when the president is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The president said rising insurgency in Afghanistan would ultimately fail.

He said international peacekeepers sent in to quell the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah would succeed in stopping the militant Islamic group from "acting as a state within a state."

He disputed claims that Iraq had descended into civil war, saying U.S. diplomats and military officials in Iraq say only a small fraction of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence.

And Bush accused Syria of sponsoring terrorism and said Iran was interfering in Iraq and pursuing nuclear weapons.

The president spoke on the deadline the U.N. Security Council set for Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used in civilian nuclear reactions or -- at greater purity -- in an atomic warhead.

"There must be consequences for Iran's defiance and we must not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said.

He said America's enemies include radical Sunnis who pledge allegiance to al-Qaida and militant Shiias who join groups like Hezbollah and take guidance from state sponsors like Syria and Iran.

Yet, despite their differences, Bush said, they all subscribe to the same ideology that free societies are a threat to their "twisted view of Islam."

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," the president said.

"It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."

"On one side are those who believe in the values of freedom and moderation ... and on the other side are those driven by the values of tyranny and extremism," the president said.

"As veterans, you have seen this kind of enemy before," he said.

"They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century."

"And history shows what the outcome will be: This war will be difficult; this war will be long; and this war will end in the defeat of the terrorists and totalitarians, and a victory for the cause of freedom and liberty."

end quotes

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," Bush told thousands of veterans at the American Legion convention.

"It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century?"

Well ......

HHHHhhhhhmmmm ......

At last count .....

The 21st Century .....

Was but six years old ...

With ninety-four more years yet to come .....

And so ...

WHAT'S WITH THIS CLAIM, NOW?

And what about this government that George W. Bush has in place over there in Iraq right now .....

From what he is saying ....

This crowd that he has in power over there right now is nothing but a pack of OUR worst enemies ......

Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al-Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban .....

If we were to leave over there tomarrow .....

And so .....

That sure is something to think about now .....

After being bogged down in that QUAGMIRE over there ....

For more years than it took to defeat Hitler .....

In WWII .....

All this time and money ....

And American lives wasted ....

And all George W. Bush has to show us .....

For his efforts .....

Is a country in chaos ....

That is run by America's WORST ENEMIES .....

To include Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al-Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban ....

If we were to leave over there tomarrow ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And while George W. Bush ....

And Mehlman the REPUBLICAN ....

Continue their attempt .....

To force the ideology ....

Of REPUBLO-FASCISM .....

Down the throats ....

Of the peoples of the world .....

Including us .....

Here in OUR own country ....

What is Mother Nature up to, out there?

"Ernesto strengthens, aims at Carolinas"

By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:55 p.m., Thursday, August 31, 2006

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Tropical Storm Ernesto picked up steam with surprising speed in the warm waters of the Atlantic and built toward hurricane strength Thursday as it swirled toward the Carolinas, forcing the closing of ports and campgrounds.

Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency and hundreds of National Guardsmen were activated there and in the Carolinas.

Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the northern half of the South Carolina coast and the southern portion of the North Carolina shore.

Ernesto was expected to come ashore late Thursday near the South Carolina-North Carolina line.

By midafternoon, its northern edge brought rain to the states' eastern counties, and its winds were 70 mph, just short of the 74 mph threshold for a hurricane.

Its winds increased steadily through the day from around 40 mph overnight as the storm drew energy from the warm water.

"In the world of meteorology, it's just one surprise after another," said Tom Matheson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

Just a day earlier, Ernesto had been downgraded to a tropical depression, not even making the grade as a tropical storm.

Ernesto's wind was less a concern than the threat of flooding.

Parts of North Carolina were already drenched by thunderstorms that began Wednesday.

Ernesto was expected to bring half a foot of rain to some areas.

"We need some rain around here -- just not all at once," said Jean Evans, a convenience store worker on North Carolina's Holden Beach.

The National Hurricane Center also warned of a storm surge of 3 feet to 5 feet in the Carolinas.

The National Park Service closed some facilities on the Outer Banks, including two campgrounds near Cape Hatteras.

The Coast Guard closed ports at Wilmington and Morehead City in anticipation of gale-force wind.

Ernesto briefly reached hurricane strength on Sunday, but lost much of its punch crossing mountainous eastern Cuba and was a tropical storm of about 45 mph by the time it blew ashore in Florida on Tuesday night.

It weakened further as it moved over the state.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Ernesto was centered about 120 miles south-southwest of Wilmington and about 75 miles east of Charleston, S.C.

It was moving north-northeast near 17 mph.

No immediate evacuations were ordered in the Carolinas, though both states urged residents to keep abreast of forecasts and obey any instructions to get out of danger.

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine declared a state emergency, putting 200 National Guardsmen on duty and opening the state's Emergency Operations Center in suburban Richmond.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley activated 200 National Guard troops and had other emergency teams on standby.

Flash floods were being reported in some coastal cities by midafternoon.

Sean Gainer was driving down a street in Wilmington when his car suddenly stalled in two feet of water.

By the time he and others pushed it to safety, the water in the road had receded.

"I've driven in hurricanes and I've seen worse than this."

"That kind of luck just happens," he said.

------

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

[Livyjr]

And while Donald "GASBAG" Rumsfeld ...

And Dick Cheney ....

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" (KILLER) Rice .....

Keep trying to load our heads up .....

With a bunch of pure BULL **** .....

About where threats of violence to us up here are coming from ....

And as Dick Cheney tells us that ....

“And every retreat by civilized nations is an invitation to further violence against us ......"

I personally have to wonder .....

Exactly where it is that these alleged civilized nations are retreating from .....

That invites this further violence ....

AGAINST US ....

BECAUSE IT SURE DOES SEEM .....

THAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT RIGHT HERE ....

WHERE I AM ......

WHERE THE ALBANY POLICE .....

TAKE THEIR LIVES IN THEIR OWN HANDS .....

AS SOON AS THEY STEP OUT ONTO THE VIOLENT STREETS .....

OF REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI'S CAPITAL CITY OF ALBANY, NEW YORK ...

And so ....

With George W. Bush finally coming clean above here ......

To let us know, candidly .....

That this new government .....

That he and "CON-JOB CONNIE" (KILLER) Rice ......

Have put into place over there in Iraq ....

Is nothing but a pack of OUR America's worst enemies ......

Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al-Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban .....

If we were to leave over there tomarrow .....

We here in the vicinity of REPUBLICAN George Pataki's CORRUPT CAPITAL CITY .....

Of Albany, New York .....

Have to wonder .....

About the future of that city ....

As Jimmie Tuffey ....

The beleaguered police chief .....

Of Pataki's CORRUPT CAPITAL .....

Seems to be losing control ....

Of more and more areas of the city .....

That are becoming like cheap versions .....

Of the slum areas of Baghdad ....

Complete with guns ....

And rampant violence .....

And drugs, of course ....

In the case of Pataki's CORRUPT CAPITAL .....

And so ......

Thanks to the REPUBLICANS .....

We are not only losing in Iraq ....

We are losing right here in OUR own home towns as well ....

As civilization continues to recede up here .....

Giving way as it is .....

To the forces of violence ....

That seem to accompany the REPUBLICANS ....

Wherever they go ....

And so ....

"Man charged with shooting at Albany cop - South End residents say incident shows problems with new police proposal"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, August 31, 2006

ALBANY -- A 26-year-old parolee who allegedly opened fire on a city police officer during a South End foot chase was being held without bail late Wednesday, charged with attempted murder.

Neither the police officer nor shooting suspect Terrance Anthony of Yates Street were seriously hurt in the incident, though both were treated and released at Albany Medical Center Hospital for minor injuries.

The officer, William Van Amburgh, was injured when Anthony allegedly punched him in the head during a scuffle that led to the chase.

Anthony was treated later after investigators discovered he had a minor, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the right leg -- apparently an accident, said Detective James Miller, a department spokesman.

The brazen shooting, not far from where police Lt. John Finn was shot and mortally wounded in December 2003, underscored the danger some see in a new plan to reassign neighborhood beat officers -- making the department more faceless when anonymity is the enemy.

Tuesday's incident began when Van Amburgh approached Anthony and another man, believing they were acting suspiciously just before 11:30 p.m. in a doorway on Clinton Street.

When the officer, who has been with the department for 12 years, patted Anthony down he felt what he believed to be a gun beneath his shirt, Miller said.

Anthony then allegedly punched the officer in the left side of the head and ran down Clinton toward Schuyler Street.

As Van Amburgh rounded the corner onto Schuyler, he saw Anthony turn and fire, Miller said.

"Based on the officer's account, when he rounded that corner he saw the muzzle flash up near (the shooter's) chest," the detective said.

The shot missed, and the gun has not been recovered.

It is not clear how many times Anthony allegedly fired.

Van Amburgh kept chasing the suspect before losing him near a vacant lot on Broad Street.

Drawn to nearby Mount Zion Church by a silent alarm triggered by two broken windows, officers eventually found Anthony in an alleyway next to 88 Schuyler St., Miller said.

It appears Anthony tried to escape through the church, police said.

The second man remained at large late Wednesday.

No description was immediately available.

One prominent resident sought to emphasize that violent lawlessness is not simply accepted in the city's South End.

"Ninety-nine percent of our people down here will tell you it's a stupid thing to do."

"There's nothing to be gained from it in terms of respect."

"There's nothing romantic about it," said John U. Miller, pastor of Evangelical Protestant Church of Christ on Clinton Street.

Miller, the pastor, said the shooting only highlights how he fears that a plan to reorganize the police department might make the situation in the neighborhood more volatile.

The plan, unveiled last week by Police Chief James Tuffey, would close two police stations in Arbor Hill and the Pine Bush.

Officers would move from regular patrols to a flexible unit that could respond more easily to neighborhoods where they are needed.

But some fear that moving beat officers, who often have direct contact with residents that can lead to positive relationships, will be a step toward a more anonymous, intimidating police force.

"The beat officers that deal with quality-of-life issues put a face on the city," said Miller, the pastor.

"I'm not interested in whether it saves money or not."

In the neighborhood, residents spoke passionately -- and sometimes defiantly -- Wednesday about attitudes toward police and the city's leaders.

Several expressed confidence in Tuffey, who has been highly visible since he was hired in December, and even more so in District Attorney David Soares, who was propelled into office by a commitment to drug law reform.

Residents also praised the efforts of some officers -- generally older and more seasoned -- whom they said treat them with respect and make an effort to listen to their concerns.

Longtime resident Alvin Wimbush recounted how several officers who knew him intervened recently when others had ordered him to the ground, suspecting him of brandishing a knife.

"No, he's a good guy," Wimbush, 44, recalled the friendly officers saying.

But Wimbush's view of Mayor Jerry Jennings and other city politicians was more dim.

He pointed toward the intersection of Broad and Schuyler streets, where a 6-year-old boy, Lameik Weeks, was struck and killed by a county truck in March of 2005.

Neighbors wanted improvements to make the intersection safer, he said, but nothing was done.

Miller counts Van Amburgh among the well-meaning officers.

Neighbors call the officer "Nanaman" -- short for Bananaman -- possibly because of the officer's bald head, Miller said, referring to the officer by his first name.

"He treats people with respect whenever I'm around," the pastor said.

But residents -- young and old -- angrily recounted what they call harassment by typically younger, more aggressive officers whom they say hassle people for no apparent reason.

"You be walking down the street and they just hop out on you," said David Jones, 17.

Others were more angry.

Pointing down Broad Street toward nearby South Station, a 45-year-old man who would only give his first name, Willie, said, "They're lucky they don't put a bomb in that (expletive)."

Mike Millner, 39, who has lived in Albany for 18 months after spending much of his life in North Carolina, said if the city could do more to help residents find good jobs, their kids would spend less time on the street and find the lure of the criminal life there weaker.

It's on those streets that many youths build antagonistic relationships with police, he said.

"Nobody is going to hate a police officer for nothing."

"There's got to be a reason," Millner said.

"They're good at what they do, they just need some training dealing with people -- people of a different race."

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail at jcarleo-evangelist@ timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Man charged with shooting at Albany cop - South End residents say incident shows problems with new police proposal" 
 
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, August 31, 2006

Pointing down Broad Street toward nearby South Station, a 45-year-old man who would only give his first name, Willie, said, "They're lucky they don't put a bomb in that (expletive)."

And while we are on the subject of the rampant violence .....

Right here on the streets .....

Of REPUBLICAN George Pataki's ....

CORRUPT CAPITAL ....

Of Albany, New York ....

We have ....

"Albany man held without bail for firing shots - Rudolph Gause, 18, allegedly fired gun three times before hiding in house Wednesday morning"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:00 p.m., Thursday, August 31, 2006

ALBANY - An 18-year-old Southern Boulevard man was being held without bail this morning after police say he fired three gunshots down Madison Avenue mid-morning Wednesday.

No one was reported shot, and no weapon has been recovered.

Rudolph Gause, of 36 Southern Blvd., was arrested after the police Emergency Services -- or SWAT -- Team surrounded a house on nearby Dana Avenue in Park South, where witnesses reported seeing the young man flee after allegedly firing the shots around 10:15 a.m.

Police said it is not clear whether Gause was shooting at anyone.

According to witness accounts, Gause, who was on a bicycle, was riding west on Madison near Willett Street when he turned and fired east, police said.

Witnesses then reported seeing Gause flee down Knox street and then enter 34 Dana Avenue.

It is not clear why Gause, who spoke little to investigators afterward, went to that house, police said.

Police said he did not break in.

He was on the second floor, and police said he left without incident when officers evacuated other residents from the home.

Gause has been charged with felony reckless endangerment.

end quotes

If you want to be innocent ....

And get killed for it ....

Save yourself some money .....

And don't go to the trouble .....

Of making your way to Iraq .....

Just come up here ....

To REPUBLICAN George Pataki's CORRUPT CAPITAL ....

Of Albany, New York .....

And ....

Basically, just stand there ....

Because the bullets fly everywhere up here ....

And so ...

Baghdad, Iraq ....

Don't have nothing .....

On George Pataki's Albany, New York ....

As far as street violence goes ....

And so ....

[Snuffysmith]

Liv - It could be worse. Try life in Iraq: This is from an email I received:

readers may be interested in the following account of a doctor's life in Baghdad. Names have been excised.

"Dear XXXXXXX

Please let me first know if your computer can read Arabic, I prefer to write to you in our mother tongue, I don't mind if the reply was in English. I am ok, and was happy to recieve from you. I met XXXXXX in Amman, just by accident. I was staying with my niece and stayed for few days to get an interview in the US embassy to visit US in November to attend a congress in Washington DC, but I am not sure if I will realy go, although the girl in the Embassy told me that I was SUCCESSFUL!!! in getting the visa, Thanks to God she didn't send me to Guantanamo for terrorism!!!

I have a big family. you may not know .............................................................. My eldest two are already dentists and both abroad. I have one daughter just married one month ago. so I am not yet a grand pa.

Although I have a perfect job satisfaction, Full Professor, with MRCP,FRCP and a Couple more degrees from London and France, but things are so unhappy here in Baghdad, there is no quality of life at all. There are no services, we are loaded with garbage, as it is not collected more than once every so many weeks, garbage collectors are also afraid of being killed. We have almost no electricity . no fuel , bad water supply , and whats more you could get killed whether you are shiite or sunnite if you fall in the wrong hands!!! I nearly got killed at several occasions, I cannot count the sheep sacrified for my safety till now

As to our colleagues , nearly none is with me from our class , all have left the country. The last one was ............. two monthes ago to Oman. The only one left with me is XXXXX , he is a physician in the department of Medicine

It is not a miserable life, if there is a grade more than miserable, then it will be ours!!!

we work no more than three days a week in the university, medical city, the one which was elegant and beautiful is now surrounded by garbage and barbwires and concrete blocks from all directions. we don't spend more than three hours maximum at work , so that totals to nine hours a week!!! this is the maximum that anyone is working. In the afternoons most of my colleagues say that they have completely stopped going to their private clinics, for fear of death or abduction. I do no more than one hour and a half hours in the afternoon, I have to feed my big family!!. I come back rushing to my house after that, we lock our doors and not leave at all


What about shopping ???what shopping ??you must be joking!!!! it is called Marathon Buying, for I try to spend no more than ten minutes getting all the needed vegetables, fruits and food items , this is on my way back from university, ie three times a week. I also spend another ten minutes in the afternoon on my way back from clinic buying gas (benzine, car fuel) for my home electric generator, it is all black market reaching four to five times the official price. If I need to get it official, I have to spend overnight in line in front of the gas station, people bring their blankets, water, food, and sleep in the street in front of the gas stations. Of course sometimes I speak nicely to the guard of the gas station, presenting my id and my buisness card and ask them if I could fill my car off-line, sometimes they kick me out, othertimes I would be lucky and the guard has some rheumatic complaints, back pain or knees pains and !!bingo !! I can fill my car off-line, with a promise to bring him medicines to where he is, of course without any physical exam or investigations, if I was too lucky, and the stars where on my side that day, then I may even be allowed to get an extra 20 litres of gas for my generator

a month ago , there were militia men with their guns, storming the dormitories of resident doctors in the medical city. They were particularly looking for doctors from Mosul or Anbaar. there was a big fuss , and target doctors went into hidings, none was caught. Next day, two of them were Rheumatology post-graduates under my supervision, asked me to give them leave to go to their hometowns and not be back except for their exams, and that even their trainning and teaching be taken there. I agreed, because they were leaving anyway. they would have been killed if they were caught, not because they have done any crime, but just because they are sunni from Mosul and Anbaar. I believe that many doctors from southern parts of Iraq, who were shiites, also left the dormitory in that day, because they feared that they are not safe anymore, and that it will be their turn, with maybe sunni militia gunmen will come sooner or later, so everyone left!!!! actually in that week I had prepared a lecture for post grad doctors in the medical city, no one appeard , as all resident doctors have left!!!!! Of course many have come back again, but are terrified, yet still life has to go on

The same applies for other hospitals, services are almost not existant now. I was in Yarmouk hospital two days ago. the resident doctor whom I was visiting was living in a place in the hospital with broken dusty furniture, wood and metal scattered all over, doors and windows broken, it lookd like an animal barn. I was requesting a death certificate for a colleague, I went with him to the morgue where he kept the death registry, outside the morgue there were bodies of two young men both shot in the head, laid on stretchers in the open air. The hospital barricaded behind huge cement walls, the hospital itself was targeted several times by car bombs. Few monthes ago doctors in this hospitals declared a one day strike because they were beaten and wounded by officers of the National guard. The hospitals are frequently raided by militia men who would pull the wounded out of their hospital beds and drag them to where they will be executed.

Attendance of patients to hospitals have dropped tremendously. We used to see an avrerage of 100 one hundred patients in our consutation clinic of Rheumatology every single day, before 2003. We don't see more than twenty nowadays. Don't ask me where did the patients disappear?? many are scared to leave their homes and go to the hospitals. The hospital used to provide medicines for the chronically ill, diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, used to have a monthly blood checking followed by a month supply of DMRDs. these supplies are now so infrequent, blood checking is not done, because services are so irregular, most patients got fed up and decided it is no more worth it to attend hospitals. Even simple NSAIDs most of the times are not available to patients coming for acute complaints. Many who used to come from towns and cities away from Baghdad, for better treatment in the capital city, now think it is too risky and dangerous to travel to Baghdad for follow up. Patients would stop their therapy altogether, or depend on local facilities and whatever simple resources they get where they are, regardless whether efficient or not. The financial situation of most families in Baghdad has gone so much down, that many find it is a luxury to treat chronic illnesses, priority is for food, fuel and staying alive.

this is a small summary of what and how we are living!!!,

yours

XXXXXX"

[Snuffysmith]

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Speaks Truth to Power

Must watch 7 minute video

"The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and
shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H.
Rumsfeld is not a prophet."

Click to watch. Windows Media
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14765.htm

[jeffmoskin]

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Speaks Truth to Power

Must watch 7 minute video

"The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and
shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H.
Rumsfeld is not a prophet."

Click to watch. Windows Media
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14765.htm

A good piece by a good man.

How many people saw it?

Compared to FauxNews?