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

[Snuffysmith]

Bush won't rule out nuclear strike on Iran By Edmund Blair

President Bush refused on Tuesday to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060418/wl_nm/nuclear_iran_dc

===
Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

Should Republicans on the Hill take the high road and save themselves come November?

By Carl Bernstein

There was understandable reluctance in the Congress to begin a serious investigation of the Nixon presidency. Then there came a time when it was unavoidable. That time in the Bush presidency has arrived.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12776.htm

===
President Bush Now Caught In The Tangled Web He Spun

By Bill Gallagher

President George W. Bush's character is diseased. Serial lies spew from his forked tongue as the result of a damaged mind and personality that will not permit him to face the truth. He lies about leaks and leaks about lies.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12783.htm

[Livyjr]

"OK, OK ....."

"Let's break it up here ...."

"Everybody just go back to your homes ..."

"Get back down in your basements ..."

"Keep your faces averted ..."

"There IS NO GLOBAL WARMING!"

"Any attempts by responsible scientists to say that there is such a thing are just lies ..."

"Lies intended to make George W. Boosh look bad, at a time when America is in a war for its very existence ..."

A nation of 294 MILLION people who are about to be overrun and destroyed by twenty or thirty nomads riding on camels ....

Who everybody knows ...

Can spit some really nasty stuff in your eye ...

At twenty paces ...

And so ....

"Climate change cause for concern, disclaimer - NASA scientist at center of controversy speaks at Albany Law School"

By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, April 19, 2006

ALBANY -- In the midst of a gripping presentation at Albany Law School about the implications of a rapidly warming planet, James Hansen, NASA's chief climate change scientist stopped, and muttered "Oh."

"Everything that I'm saying today is my personal opinion," said Hansen, who created a major stir in December when he revealed that White House officials were trying to keep him from talking frankly about global warming.

"If there are policy implications to what I say," Hansen continued, as many of the nearly 200 people in the audience laughed, "I'll let those speak for themselves."

Hansen was greeted as a folk hero Tuesday as he kicked off the symposium on "Catastrophic Climate Change" for researchers, law professors and others discussing ways to address global warming.

More than a dozen panelists talked about the impact of climate change and legal strategies to address them.

But the star of the show was Hansen, 63, a physicist who directs the Manhattan-based NASA Institute for Space Studies, which specializes in climate modeling.

The institute runs complex computer programs that predict what will happen as increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, warm the atmosphere.

After Hansen gave a speech in December about the dire need for more efficient fuel standards for cars and trucks, NASA's public affairs staff warned him he needed to submit all his speeches and papers for review.

Other researchers from agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey reported they, too, had been warned to be careful how they wrote and spoke about climate change.

One USGS hydrologist even told The Washington Post that a press release about a study he did on how warming might affect the nation's water supply was edited to remove the phrases "global warming" and "climate change."

The Bush administration was widely accused of muzzling science.

In response, new guidelines were issued, which Hansen said are reasonable:

He has to let his audiences know, as he did Tuesday, that there's a distinction between his opinion and NASA policy.

"I don't feel any constraints," Hansen said Tuesday in an interview after his remarks.

Hansen was one of the first researchers to warn about global warming.

He co-wrote a 1981 article in the journal Science that predicted a warming of "almost unprecedented magnitude" for the 21st century.

The science behind those predictions has since become much stronger, and scientists have advanced beyond debating whether or how the earth is warming.

Speakers on Tuesday made clear the scope of the impacts that are already visible -- and staggering.

Glaciers and polar ice are melting, leaving parts of the Arctic without ice for the first time on record.

The permanent ice cap is 40 percent smaller today: a loss equivalent to an area equal to Texas, California and Maryland combined.

Those changes are threatening 184 Alaskan villages, where natives are battling collapsing earth, massive storms and widespread erosion.

A morning panel at the law school looked at one strategy Inuit people have employed to fight back.

Last year, they petitioned the Organization of American States, accusing the U.S. government of violating their human rights by not reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

At least one community is planning to move, and many others are threatened.

It will cost an estimated $100-$400 million to move just one, according to Donald Goldberg, an attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law.

"I doubt the Inuit, all together, have enough money to move one village," he said.

Matt Pacenza can be reached at 454-5533 or by e-mail at mpacenza@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

Wow .....

Hey, everybody ...

Look at this will you ....

Looks like we won't have Scottie McClellan to kick around in here anymore ....

And so ...

"McClellan Out as White House Press Secretary - Karl Rove Gives Up Policy Oversight to Focus on 2006 Elections"

By Fred Barbash, Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 19, 2006; 12:42 PM

Karl Rove, the president's most influential adviser and a dominant force in the Bush administration since its beginning, surrendered key policy responsibilities today while press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation.

Both moves were part of the makeover promised earlier this week by a White House seeking to reverse sagging public opinion ratings.

After serving almost three years as White House press secretary, Scott McClellan announced his resignation on April 19, 2006.

"I have given it my all sir...," McClellan told President Bush during an appearance at the White House.

Rove will remain deputy chief of staff to President Bush, but he will drop his portfolio as policy coordinator -- a job he assumed a year ago -- and once again concentrate his focus on broader strategy and politics as the 2006 mid-term elections approach, the White House announced.

The Bush administration's standing in the polls has plummeted to new lows in recent weeks as the war in Iraq has dragged on with little visible progress toward the formation of a new government in Baghdad.

The Republican Party's standing has suffered as well, according to polling, at the worst possible time.

With elections just seven months away, Republicans are being buffeted by ethics scandals and general dissatisfaction with the incumbent party's capacity to govern.

Much of the pressure for a shakeup has come from congressional Republicans.

The moves followed a declaration Monday by Joshua B. Bolten, the new chief of staff, that any administration official considering leaving should do so sooner rather than later.

Further change is expected shortly with most attention focused on replacing Treasury Secretary John W. Snow.

Bolten will replace Rove with Joel Kaplan, a trusted aide from the Office of Management and Budget, which Bolten headed until a few days ago.

Bush yesterday announced Rob Portman's nomination as OMB chief.

Joseph W Hagin, the other deputy chief of staff, also turns over his policy management duties to Kaplan but remains deputy for operations.

"Karl will continue to serve as the deputy chief of staff and senior adviser," said deputy White House press secretary Ken Lisaius.

"What's going to happen is Joel will come in to manage the daily policy process and that will leave Karl more time to focus on truly strategic planning at a critical time for the presidency."

McClellan is the most visible face of the White House after the president himself since he presides over the increasingly contentious daily briefings that have become common fare not only on C-SPAN but on the late night humor shows.

Since the perjury indictment of vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the briefings have featured many more angry questions from some reporters who feel they were misled by McClellan on White House involvement in a series of leaks on pre-war evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

McClellan's resignation was not unexpected.

Bush stood next to McClellan, a long time Texas associate, as the resignation was announced on the White House South Lawn just before the president left for a trip to Alabama.

"I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity," the president said.

"It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it."

"One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days."

McClellan told Bush: "I have given it my all, sir, and I have given you my all, sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary."

No replacement has been named yet for McClellan.

Earlier today, Bush returned to the vexing situation in Iraq, saying he was concerned about a dangerous "vacuum" there.

He prodded once again Iraq's political leadership to put a "government in place" soon.

"We fully recognize that the Iraqis must step up and form a unity government, so that those who went to the polls to vote recognize that a government will be in place to respond to their needs."

". . . "We also recognize that vacuums in the political process create opportunity for malfeasance and harm," he said.

Bush commented after meeting with four governors who recently returned from a trip to Iraq.

The governors included Jeb Bush, Republican of Florida and the president's brother; Tom Vilsack, Democrat of Iowa; Mitch Daniels, Republican of Indiana and former director of the White House budget office; and Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia.

Four months of haggling among Iraqi politicians have now passed since the country went to the polls to choose elected representatives, who were, in turn, supposed to choose a government.

The 275-member assembly had been scheduled to meet Monday but agreed to a delay so that Shiites could resolve the continuing dispute over who will be prime minister.

Staff writer Bill Brubaker contributed to this story .

Most of what is wrong with this pathetic BUSHCO operation ....

Can be traced directly to Karl Rove ....

In my estimation ...

And Scottie "BOY" McClellan ....

While perhaps a nice, polite person ...

HAS NO CREDIBILITY .....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

"McClellan Out as White House Press Secretary - Karl Rove Gives Up Policy Oversight to Focus on 2006 Elections"

By Fred Barbash, Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 19, 2006; 12:42 PM

The Bush administration's standing in the polls has plummeted to new lows in recent weeks as the war in Iraq has dragged on with little visible progress toward the formation of a new government in Baghdad.

The Republican Party's standing has suffered as well, according to polling, at the worst possible time.

With elections just seven months away, Republicans are being buffeted by ethics scandals and general dissatisfaction with the incumbent party's capacity to govern.

Further change is expected shortly with most attention focused on replacing Treasury Secretary John W. Snow.

And while we are on the subject of the economy up here where I am taking a real nose dive ....

As people simply stop driving ....

As I have .....

So they no longer stop at the bogger market further down the road for anything ....

Because they are conserving gas .....

And it can be gotten closer to home ...

If necessary ...

And so ...

Everything up here from the heydays of driving long distances to get to some mall .....

Maybe is going to make some readjustment ....

And so .....

It'll be interesting to see if the housing market begins to collapse first .....

As it did back in 1974 .....

When people could no longer afford to live out in the country ...

And make the payments for subdivision living .....

With the cost of the commute ...

Added on ...

And things were much cheaper then ...

And so ....

Run them oil prices right on up, there, boys .....

And let's just see what happens ....

This ...

To me ...

Is like a game of Russian Roulette ....

And America has allowed these oil companies ....

To put the gun to its head ...

And so ....

How did that Harrison Beaudain fellow in the movies say it?

"Stupid is as stupid does?"

Or was that Forrest Gump, now that I think on it?

Something like that, anyway ....

And so ....

"Oil Prices Settle Above $72 a Barrel"

By BRAD FOSS, AP Business Writer

2 hours, 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Oil prices leapt above $72 a barrel Wednesday, settling at a record high for the third straight day after a government report showed shrinking U.S. gasoline supplies and traders focused on nuclear tensions between Iran and the international community.

Supply constraints in Iraq, Nigeria and the Gulf of Mexico are also pushing oil prices higher, and analysts are predicting more pain at the pump for motorists, who so far appear to be only lightly tapping the brakes on demand.

Light sweet crude for May delivery climbed as high as $72.40 a barrel, before settling at $72.17 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, an increase of 82 cents from the previous day.

The contract had risen as high as $71.60 on Tuesday.

Oil futures contracts through July 2009 are now trading above $70 a barrel.

"In effect, the market is saying this is going to be with us for a while," said A.G. Edwards & Sons commodity analyst Bill O'Grady.

In its weekly report, the U.S. Energy Department said the nation's supply of gasoline shrank by 5.4 million barrels last week to 202.5 million barrels, or 4.6 percent below year ago levels.

Gasoline inventories typically decrease this time of year as refiners shut down their plants to perform maintenance ahead of the summer driving season.

And oil traders typically point to the decreases as reason for concern about summertime supplies, a routine that, more often than not, sends futures prices higher.

That said, there is additional worry about summer gasoline supplies because of the prospect of tight supplies of ethanol, which is needed in increasing amounts as refiners phase out their use of methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which has been found to contaminate drinking water.

Oil analyst John Kilduff of Fimat USA in New York said there would be a "painful runup" in gasoline prices as summer approaches, and he said oil prices could rise as high as $80 a barrel by the end of June.

Purchased today, crude for June delivery costs $74 a barrel.

[Livyjr]

"President Bush Now Caught In The Tangled Web He Spun"

By Bill Gallagher

The sad truth is, however ...

That George W. Bush ...

Is caught in nothing at all ...

Nor is Dick Cheney ...

Since that pair is UNACCOUNTABLE for the mess that they have made of things .....

Out there in the world ...

As a result ...

Of their short-sightedness ......

And gross ignorance .....

And incompetence ...

And yes ....

Their lies .......

Who is really caught hard ....

Right by the ***s ....

In this tangled web that George W. Bush has spun ...

IS OUR AMERICA ......

And the sooner that it realizes this .....

The sooner it can begin to extricate itself .....

And so .....

This is why I disagree with this strategy put forth by John Kerry in a letter to myself that is posted just above here .....

Where John Kerry is asking people ....

To endorse a course of action ....

Setting a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq .....

That is unrealistic ...

And thus .....

Will never fly ...

And so ...

It is foolish to expend energy on losing causes ...

And that would be one ...

Because it is DEVISIVE .....

It would push away the very people who are needed at this time in a uniform coalition .....

That can get America back on track ...

And that is the disaffected Republicans, themselves .....

Who will view setting an arbitrary withdrawal date as detrimental to OUR America's interests ...

And as a veteran myself, I must say ...

That I agree with them on this issue ...

And so ...

Please, Senator Kerry ....

Consider the end result of what your present course of action might be ...

And so ....

[jeffmoskin]

Who will view setting an arbitrary withdrawal date as detrimental to OUR America's interests ...

And as a veteran myself, I must say ...

That I agree with them on this issue ...

And so ...

Please, Senator Kerry ....

Consider the end result of what your present course of action might be ...

And so ....

General Livyjr: As a combat veteran who knows the dread of death, the terror of the unknown, the fear of accidentally mowing down innocents - - -

What is YOUR plan for Iraqniam?

[Livyjr]

General Livyjr: As a combat veteran who knows the dread of death, the terror of the unknown, the fear of accidentally mowing down innocents - - -

What is YOUR plan for Iraqinam?

Well, jeffmoskin ...

Quite personally .....

As a combat veteran ...

Who never really desired to breathe the "rare air" that generals get to breathe .....

But chose to be a grunt, instead ....

The "tip of the spear" ...

Rather than the ham hands that push the spear forward ...

In the case of this present incumbent ...

I ....

Quite frankly ...

See us "***ed" in IRAQINAM ..........

Which is a technical term that grunts use .....

When they know that they are in the **** .....

Because some fool of a general ...

Or incompetent Commander-in-Chief .....

Got them there ...

And that they are going to die as a result ...

And so ...

My admission .....

Like Custer's likely would have been ...

Had he been interviewed .....

Just before becoming a pin cushion ....

Is that ...

"Wah, wah, wah, I don't have a plan ...."

Just a lot of thoughts swirling around right now ...

Based upon a knowledge of history ....

And observations of reality as they continue to filter out of IRAQINAM ...

And so .....

And let me tell you, jeffmoskin ...

That I consider you a serious person in here ...

And so ...

I consider your question to be an important one ...

And I am glad that you have asked it ...

BECAUSE AMERICA REALLY NEEDS PEOPLE LIKE YOU RIGHT NOW ...

Asking these questions ...

Much more than it needs a bunch more lies from some politician .....

And so .....

I am an infantryman by nature ...

Which means that I do not believe is just expending ordinance needlessly .....

As I believe this John Kerry measure under consideration to be ....

And so .....

There is a difference between believing an approach is the wrong one ...

As I believe the present one proposed by John Kerry to be ....

And not knowing ...

AS OF THAT MOMENT ....

What the RIGHT ONE might be ...

Especially now that we are so far in to the QUAGMIRE ...

And there are many factors now at play ....

And so ...

Live ...

Late-breaking, as always ...

And developments as they happen .....

And what else can I say right now ...

But that I AM NOT THE FOOL WHO CAUSED THIS MESS ....

NOR DID I ELECT THE FOOL ...

NOR DID I EVER ENCOURAGE THE FOOL ...

OR ACCEPT THAT THE FOOL WAS EVER IN CONTROL OF WHAT HE WAS GOING TO UNLEASH .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And speaking of "developments" .....

This just in ....

"Off the wire" ....

And so ....

"Al-Jaafari clears way for his replacement"

Associated Press
Last updated: 7:16 a.m., Thursday, April 20, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Embattled Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari cleared the way Thursday for Shiite leaders to withdraw his nomination for a second term, a step that could break a months-long standoff that is blocking the formation of a new government.

Shiite lawmakers planned to meet Saturday to decide whether to replace al-Jaafari, who faced fierce opposition from Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties.

"The alliance is leaning toward changing (the nomination)."

"The majority opinion is in favor of this," said Bassem Sharif, a lawmaker in the seven-party Shiite coalition.

The move represents the first sign that al-Jaafari has abandoned his quest to keep the prime minister's post, only a day after he had repeated his steadfast refusal to step down.

The United States had put strong pressure on the Shiites to resolve the standoff quickly so they could form a government able to stabilize Iraq amid increasing sectarian violence.

The dramatic announcement was made shortly before a planned session of the Iraqi parliament to try to jump-start formation of a new government.

The Shiites asked that the session be postponed until Saturday or Sunday, after they resolve the issue of al-Jaafari's nomination, said Shiite official Ridha Jawad Taqi.

But the deputy parliament speaker, Aref Tayfour, told reporters the session would be held Thursday, though it would likely be brief.

"It is almost certain that it will adjourn and be held at the beginning of the next week, most probably Sunday," he said.

[jeffmoskin]

What is YOUR plan for Iraqniam?

I think BushCo's plan is to stay in Iraqnam until about 2050 when the oil runs out. To make that possible, they have constructed 14 "enduring bases." each one larger than any other foreign base. Each base can accomodate over 10,000 personnel, and have Stateside features like Pizza Hut and Burger King.

If they would only stop driving patrols, and stay inside the green zone, they could eliminate all deaths from IEDs.

I wonder why they are not smart enough to figure this out.

[Snuffysmith]

Don't think for a moment that things are going to change in the Bush White House., just because rearranging the deck chairs is going on:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2141786,00.html

Analysis: Rove still at heart of Bush team after shake-up

Tom Baldwin, Washington Correspondent of The Times, explains the latest moves in the White House shake-up and why they are so badly needed

"Karl Rove has not been sidelined or demoted. He quite clearly remains absolutely at the heart of the Bush Administration as the most trusted and influential adviser to the President.

"What appears to have happened is that he has returned to the role he has traditionally played with Mr Bush, rather than the aggrandized role he was given after the 2004 election. Essentially, he will be less involved in overseeing policy and more involved in what he is really good at, which is directing the general political strategy of the administration.

"He may now be taking a slightly lower profile. This may be politically convenient, as Mr Rove is potentially in some trouble after he was named as a subject of the Fitzgerald investigation (a special prosecutor who is investigating the alleged leak of a CIA agent's name by the White House).

"The change in Mr Rove's role is also designed to fit in with the larger shake-up going on at the White House. It is part of the fine-tuning involved in the five-year service of the Administration, where some parts - like Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary - are being discarded, and others are being polished up.

"Mr McClellan's departure is not unexpected. He has become a living symbol of the problems that this administration has been having in communicating its message. He has been an extraordinarily ham-fisted, wooden, apologetic, disaster-area of a spokesman. He sits there, just taking body blow after body blow, sweating and getting pink in the face.

"There will be further changes. Most people think that John Snow, the Treasury Secretary, will be among those to go.

"It is all about trying to reinvigorate an Administration which is looking tired, if not actually dead. They have two and a half years to go, but they look exhausted, politically and physically. They have lost their touch and their political antennae.

"They can't see trouble coming, and it hits them smack in the face. They can't get up off the floor. They used to just keep winning, but now they have been on a very long losing streak, from Hurricane Katrina to the Dubai ports deal, via corruption among Republicans in Congress and the "Scooter" Libby affair. It is looking very, very shaky.

"This is what politicians do when they are having a bad time - they reshuffle their team."

[Snuffysmith]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/print?id=1864733

Republicans Say They're Happy About Rove
Karl Rove Will Now Focus on Elections Instead of Policy
April 20, 2006 — - Bush adviser Karl Rove's duties have changed.

His day-to-day control over domestic policy issues have been handed over to another deputy chief of staff , but his friends say that his legendary influence remains.

Republican strategist Mary Matalin said she wouldn't characterize it as Rove's duties being reduced or lessened.

"I'd say it's a reassignment," she said. "Karl has been and will be the MVP. We need him back on the pitcher's mound. This is a critical midterm election. Karl made history in the last midterm election, and we need him again."

"If we lose control of either chamber, it will be nothing but chaos for the final two years of the presidency," she said.

Mark McKinnon, a media consultant who was an adviser on Bush's presidential campaigns, agreed with Matalin.

"Karl has more bandwidth than anybody on the planet, but there's only so much that he can do and now adding the responsibility of the midterm elections he had to give up something," McKinnon said.

Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh applauded the move.

"That's probably a net positive in terms of trying to secure Republican success at the polls this November," Limbaugh said on his radio show Wednesday.

The Rove move was a surprise, and a way for the new White House chief of staff to make a very public statement that big changes were ahead. In his years crafting the political career of President Bush, Rove and his power has never been checked -- until now.

Insiders say the move is not just window dressing. They say that Rove's role in the CIA leak investigation may have also triggered the move, and that Rove has not proven as adept at the nuts and bolts of policy as he is at political strategy, citing the failure of Social Security reform and the lack of a compelling domestic policy agenda.

Matalin says, however, that Rove is not taking the fall for these political problems because the president has not been failing politically.

"There will be Social Security reform, and it will be remembered that this president stepped up to the plate to reform not only this, but Medicare," Matalin said. "And we also have a good economy, and we're making progress on the global war on terror."

Rove's change in responsibility is still bound to be a disappointment to him. Years ago, he was frustrated at being known only as a political wizard.




Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

[Livyjr]

I think BushCo's plan is to stay in Iraqnam until about 2050 when the oil runs out.

To make that possible, they have constructed 14 "enduring bases," each one larger than any other foreign base.

Each base can accomodate over 10,000 personnel, and have Stateside features like Pizza Hut and Burger King.

If they would only stop driving patrols, and stay inside the green zone, they could eliminate all deaths from IEDs.

I wonder why they are not smart enough to figure this out.

And here is a part of the reason why I am not in agreement with John Kerry's plan to call for an immediate withdrawal of our troops from IRAQINAM .....

And that is because NONE OF US here in OUR OWN COUNTRY have the slightest idea of why we still have troops in IRAQINAM .....

Or what their real mission is ...

And as far as I am concerned ...

OUR United States Senate should be DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILTY from George W. Bush on that question ...

But since OUR United States Senate is already complicit in this fiasco .....

It is unlikely that any demands from the American people at this time are going to produce any tangible results ....

And so ...

My thought is that since the Congressional elections are to be held later this year ....

That the Congressional elections really should serve as a plebiscite on the question of IRAQINAM ....

Because if America leaves the REPUBLICANS in charge of OUR CONGRESS ...

There will be no change forthcoming ...

And so ....

Why waste wind right now on demanding anything from George W. Bush ...

Who has no control over the situation in IRAQINAM anymore ...

Since he never knew what he was doing over there ...

Right from the get-go ...

And so .....

[jeffmoskin]

Why waste wind right now on demanding anything from George W. Bush ...

Who has no control over the situation in IRAQINAM anymore ...

Since he never knew what he was doing over there ...

Right from the get-go ...

And so .....

Au contraire.

I think that PNAC spelled it all out in 1992: With the demise of the USSR, America should go for world domination. That means control of all the oil within reach. That means dollar hegemony. That means perpetual war to support the MIC Ike warned us about. Only now it's the Military Industrial FINANCIAL Complex.

Don't forget, America has now become a "service economy". We make deals. The stuff is made in China, and the call centers are in India.

Oil is the new gold standard. Control the oil. Make everyone pay with dollars. Block the dreaded Euro.

No, Livyjr, I think the cabal in power knew EXACTLY what they were doing by attacking Iraqniam. Of course, they didn't listen to any professional soldiers, but even if they had, we would still be there.

We will always be there.

Until the oil is gone.

[jeffmoskin]

x

This post has been edited by jeffmoskin: Apr 20 2006, 06:55 PM

[Snuffysmith]

And don't forget the oil in Iran:

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp...6&Cat=4&Num=018

Bush pushes for next generation of nuclear weapons

MERCURY, Nev. ( USA TODAY) — If the Bush administration succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here.

The nuclear-weapons test areas are now a wasteland that is home mostly to lizards and coyotes. Throughout the Nevada Test Site, the ground is strewn with mangled buildings and pockmarked with craters, the ghostly evidence of the 928 nuclear tests the government conducted here from 1951 to 1992.

A concrete tower designed to hold the bomb for what would have been the 929th test still looms over the desert floor.

But "Icecap," the test of a bomb 10 times the size of the one that devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, was halted when the first President Bush placed a moratorium on U.S. nuclear tests in October 1992. The voluntary test ban came two years after Russia stopped its nuclear tests.

In the 11 years since, the United States has worked to halt the spread of nuclear weapons around the world and has often touted its own self-imposed restraint as a model for other nations.

But the Bush administration has now taken a decidedly different approach, one that has touched off a passionate debate in Washington. Last year the White House released, to little publicity, the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review. That policy paper embraces the use of nuclear weapons in a first strike and on the battlefield; it also says a return to nuclear testing may soon be necessary. It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them.

Last November, months before the invasion of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld casually told reporters during a flight to Chile that military strategists were examining ways to neutralize Iraq's chemical and biological weapons. Among options studied were bunker-busting bombs that might have nuclear payloads.

Bunker-busters are heavy, missile-like bombs with hardened noses that penetrate the ground before exploding. No nuclear bunker-busters were employed in Iraq, although their use was considered there and in Afghanistan.

But the matter-of-fact way in which Rumsfeld suggested their possible role was a rare public sign of a growing effort by the administration to end the decade-long ban on developing and testing new nuclear bombs.

The main reason offered by the Pentagon is that "rogue" nations such as North Korea, Iran and Libya have gone deep, building elaborate bunkers hundreds of feet underground where their leaders and weapons could ride out an attack by the biggest conventional weapons U.S. forces could throw at them. U.S. officials also theorize that the vaporizing blast of a nuclear bomb might be the only way to safely destroy an enemy's chemical or biological weapons.

The Pentagon says developing new nuclear weapons makes sense in a dangerous world. "Without having the ability to hold those targets at risk, we essentially provide sanctuary," J.D. Crouch, an assistant secretary of Defense, told reporters earlier this year.

But others argue that moving toward a new generation of nuclear weapons, instead of improving conventional and non-nuclear ways to attack deep targets or chemical weapons sites, is fraught with danger. "They are opening the door to a new era of a global nuclear arms competition," says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C.

"As we try to turn the tide of nuclear proliferation, the last thing we should suggest is that nuclear weapons have a role in the battlefield, and these weapons are battlefield weapons. This is a serious step in the wrong direction."

Kimball and others say research would eventually lead to testing. If Congress approves the White House requests, the first live tests of any new nuclear weapon could come as early as 2005. Since 1992, weapons have been tested only in non-nuclear experiments 963 feet below the ground at the test site and in computer simulations here and in labs. Congress has mostly gone along with the new approach and has green-lighted most of the Bush administration proposals. This spring, the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed to spend $15.5 million to develop a nuclear bunker-buster called the "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator."

They also agreed to spend money to make changes to the Nevada Test Site, shortening to as little as 18-24 months the time it would take to resume nuclear tests. (It would take 24-36 months now.)

Congress is hung up on just one element of the Bush plan: a ban on researching and developing a nuclear bomb with a payload of 5 kilotons or less. (A kiloton is equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT.) The Senate voted to end the ban, while the House voted to keep it; the two sides are expected to settle their differences in a House-Senate conference committee by August.

[Snuffysmith]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12390631/site/newsweek/

'Compassionate Colonialism'
As Iraq fractures along multiple religious and ethnic lines, only one force seems to be holding it together: American involvement. So what might this future look like?

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 2:13 p.m. ET April 19, 2006
April 19, 2006 - When most Americans look at Iraq, they see a frightening faraway chaos, howling on the horizon like a desert dust storm. But U.S. Army Spc. Rocio Lucero has been in the eye of the storm, and she knows its nature as well as anyone. As we sit in an Iraqi police station in the Bab al Sheikh district of Baghdad, she looks around and notes casually, without a smidgeon of nostalgia, that this dingy office was her home for a year. From the beginning of the invasion in March 2003 until March of the following year, her military police unit was based here 24-7, ducking mortars and regularly taking fire.

Now her platoon comes here to check on things every few days. Their mission has been narrowed to backing up Iraqi police patrols that drive out in front, 100 yards ahead, while trying to persuade the locals that their own government, not Washington, now supplies their guns and uniforms. The insurgents and the Shiite death squads still grip many neighborhoods, but in between bombings and shootings, the throngs on Palestine Street—a main boulevard through Baghdad—continue to crowd into well-stocked shops that are open late into the evening. It's a far cry from Lucero's early days, when there were no police at all. "It's coming along," she says.

Yes, America's remaking of Iraq is a mess. But it's a mess with a slight forward motion; nothing about it is pretty or safe. To get to the Bab al Sheikh police station—this little patch of order surrounded by concrete chicanes—our convoy wends a crooked path through several "hot" zones, nerves on hair-trigger alert. At one point Staff Sgt. Ruben Diaz, looking to me very much like a fearless lion tamer entering a cage full of man-killers, gets out and leads the convoy on foot through a large Iraqi crowd. This is Diaz's fourth overseas deployment, beginning with Kosovo. When we get back to the Green Zone the veneer of courage-under-fire gives way to hoots of relief. Another day, another reprieve from death or maiming. "Whoooo!" Diaz shouts. "It's like Russian roulette, every day." As we pass through the well-lit checkpoint, Lucero says, "The lights of hope.”

What's clear to me after two weeks here is that despite some success at handing off matters to the Iraqis, progress is so frustratingly slow that we Americans may never be able to leave. The new Iraq is growing up around our presence and is as dependent as a child. Nothing illustrates this better than the endless bickering over the new Iraqi government. This is what the Americans and British have been calling for, agitating for, and banking all their hopes on. If only the Iraqis would "get governing," President Bush said recently, then the U.S. withdrawal timetable and hopes for a Mideast model could still be borne out.

Yet the more the parliamentary stalemate drags on—and make no mistake, even if a new prime minister is announced soon, the haggling will continue over myriad cabinet posts—the more it becomes clear the center may not hold in Iraq without a long-term American presence. Not necessarily the 140,000 troops we have now, but at least a core force that's left behind. Why? Because the centrifugal forces that are tearing the country apart are moving faster than our laggard efforts to keep up. On the ground here, you can feel this society fissuring every day, as you watch the Americans desperately try to paper over the cracks. And what the American people need to understand is that there is really only one dominant cohering force left in the country: the American presence.

We need to adjust our expectations accordingly. After a four-month political vacuum, what we're seeing is no longer just "sectarian war"—the catchword of the day—between Shiites and Sunnis, with the Kurds sitting it out for the moment. The new emerging issue (it's always something) is tensions within the sects, among Shiite groups and Sunni groups, or intra-sectarian war. Hence the badly misnamed United Iraqi Alliance, the group of Shiite parties that won nearly half the votes in last December's election, has been at each other's throats for months, unable to agree on a prime minister. The Sunni community too is engaged in vicious infighting (and in some cases actual firefights) over support for the insurgency. The different government ministries are devolving into mini-fiefdoms, each protected by its own mysterious Facilities Protection Service, a guard force that the Americans intended to be about 4,000 in number but has mushroomed on its own to an estimated 150,000.

Arab commentators typically raise fears of the "Lebanonization" of Iraq, or prolonged civil war. But that's not quite what is happening here. The difference is that Lebanon, like Bosnia, was a small space, and each group fought over the same tract of land. Iraq has a large space into which there's plenty of room for separation (except for Baghdad itself, which could in fact come to resemble Beirut). What may be a bigger fear than Lebanonization—groups fighting for the same space—is atomization, a breakdown to the warlord and fief level. "You could have Iraq 1914," says a U.S. military analyst, referring to the old Mesopotamia that was organized around three major cities, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, before the British created Iraq out of whole cloth in the aftermath of World War I. "But you could also have Somalia in the 1990s." The danger in other words is that Iraq's devolution into "regionalization" doesn't stop there but keeps on going, breaking up slowly like fractured glass.

The logical conclusion is that Iraq may no longer be able to exist, as Iraq, without the glue of American involvement—in politics, in security, in Iraq's very sense of national identity. This is especially true considering that any new unity government is virtually doomed to be weak. The prime ministerial candidate, a compromise choice, is certain to be hamstrung as well by the vested interests that chose him. Only if he were a charismatic figure with extraordinary persuasive powers could he transcend that fate. But no one currently in the running for the job fits that description.

So perhaps this isn't going to be a model of democracy after all. Instead it's more likely to be—if it works out—a model for post-colonial imperialism. It's a new kind of colonialism, in other words, one that dare not speak its name. But let's give it one anyway: "compassionate colonialism." Perhaps this is the inevitable evolution of Bush's world view from a stay-at-home "compassionate conservative"—which is how he began his presidency—to a change-the-world neocon convert.

How does compassionate colonialism work? First, you create an Iraqi army that will never be able to stand on its own (the postwar Japan and Germany model)—an army as addicted to U.S. logistical support and know-how as any junkie on heroin. Washington just recently awarded humvees to the Iraqi Army as its "heavy armor." But forget about tanks ("[The Iraqis] shoot at everything and anything," says a frustrated Sgt. Diaz). American helicopters and planes rule the skies here, and that's not going to change for many years. Then, you insist on a friendly government, while letting the Iraqis think it is they who are deciding to be friendly (though this "good will" is driven by the always hovering threat of a withdrawal of support). And finally, you give your companies an inside track on long-term oil contracts—again by noting that their presence in Iraq guarantees U.S. support—without actually expropriating the oil.

It is an interesting, but too little noted, fact that Iraq's borders were always defined by oil—today more than ever. (Some geologists now say the biggest potential fields may not lie in the oil-producing south and north but in the Sunni middle). After World War I, the British, French and Russians were all scrambling to grab the land where the stuff was thought to exist. Kurdistan, especially, was on the verge of being granted independence by the British after World War I. But as historian William R. Polk writes in his fine 2005 primer, "Understanding Iraq," "What would ultimately decide the fate of Kurdistan had little to do with Kurds; it would be decided by the fact that a huge deposit of oil was known to exist in what might have become a separate Kurdish state." As a result, the British at the last minute simply lumped Kurdistan into British-controlled Iraq. "Oil made Kurdistan Iraqi," Polk writes. And oil, while it was not the reason for this latest war (or perhaps only a small part of the reason), may end up being the reason we too decide to stay and force Iraq to remain Iraq. That's OK with me, I guess, as long as it's OK with Spc. Lucero and Staff Sgt. Diaz and the others who are putting their lives on the line for this cause.

© 2006 Newsweek, Inc. | Subscribe to Newsweek

[Livyjr]

Oil is the new gold standard.

Control the oil.

Make everyone pay with dollars.

Block the dreaded Euro.

No, Livyjr, I think the cabal in power knew EXACTLY what they were doing by attacking Iraqinam.

Of course, they didn't listen to any professional soldiers, but even if they had, we would still be there.

We will always be there.

Until the oil is gone.

As you have said ...

Some time ago now, jeffmoskin ....

In one of our earliest "conversations" in here .....

There is a game that children play ...

And it is called "KING ON THE MOUNTAIN" .....

And as you said back then .....

Or alluded to, anyway .....

The GOAL of that game ...

Is to pull down someone ...

So that you can rise up to their place instead of them ...

And so ...

A metaphor for life ...

AMONG ADULTS ....

When you yourself grow up to become one ...

And so ....

That is the DARWINIAN view of things that is taught over here ...

And people suck that DARWINISM up .....

AS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE ...

At least in this present-day version of what America has become ...

Where we have people with MBA's .....

Masters of Business Adminstration .....

Calling themselves MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE .....

Because they have learned how to "FIDDLE" AND "COOK" THE BOOKS ....

Of these CORPORATIONS that now control the WORLD .....

As their personal TOY ....

And so ....

They see life as a continual food chain .....

And they see the goal of life ...

As rising to the top of the food chain ....

And so ....

They do ...

And they have ....

And that is what has gotten us into IRAQINAM ....

Just as you have said ...

But me, jeffmoskin .....

I am possessed of a ROGUE CONSCIOUSNESS ....

At least as far as what are called MY FELLOW AMERICANS are concerned ...

Because of my own experiences in the mud and jungles of Viet Nam ....

Where the soft and weak and ignorant of America now lie .....

Their blood enriching the jungle soil .....

And their names .....

And lives ...

Long since forgotten ....

By those who sent them there ..

FOR THE SAKE OF PROFITS ...

Just as GREAT BRITAIN sent OPIUM into China .....

TO ENRICH ITSELF ....

At the meager cost of a few Chinese lives ....

And so ....

The wheel turns ....

And nothing really new comes up as it does ...

Just a lot of old **** revitalized in a new wrapper ....

And so ...

I see this DARWINISTIC FOOD CHAIN CRAP as a bunch of BULL ****, quite frankly ....

And so ...

I live my own life accordingly ....

In relative simplicity .....

And so ...

And you and I have been down here on this earth of OURS for sufficiently long now, jeffmoskin .....

To have seen some things ...

And to have heard some things ...

And to have considered some things ...

And so ...

You and I are capable of musing in here ...

And while your musings go in one direction ...

Mine sometimes go in another ....

And so ....

Here indeed is a case in hand .....

Where I knew about this invasion of IRAQINAM ....

Way back in 1980 or so ...

When it was first being openly discussed .....

As a matter of necessity ....

For the survival of those in America .....

WHO ARE THE ACQUISITORS .....

And so ...

I started preparing myself ...

Way back then ..

For what was to come ...

Which is now ...

And so .....

The INVASION of IRAQINAM which was already being planned back in 1980 has now come to pass ....

And the **** has hit the fan ...

And now ...

As **** does when hitting a moving fan ...

It is flying back out in all directions ...

Sullying all and sundry ...

With its stink .....

And foulness ....

At least to us country folk ....

Simpletons that we are ....

And so .....

WE ARE NOT MOVING "OUT OF SOMETHING" .....

So much as we are moving into something entirely different .....

And so .....

In 1969 .....

I was in Viet Nam ...

And I saw what a lawless place really did look like ....

And I personally was able to survive in that .....

Although I did not like it .....

And so .....

I know how to survive .....

Which is what life up here in the cold country is going to consist of, more and more ...

Notwithstanding all this EURO stuff .....

And twaddle about the IRANIAN BOURSE .....

And all of that .....

Which is really ...

At this point ....

Like focusing in on the behavior of bilge rats .....

On board the Titanic ....

In the final fateful moments ....

Between the time the iceberg was struck ....

And the ship finally went down ....

With some rats still on board, perhaps ...

And the others?

WHO really knows .....

When I was young .....

In a lot of ways ....

Gasoline and oil were novelties .....

And we did not really need them to survive ....

And so we did .....

Then ....

Later on ....

In the sixties .....

We let oil and gasoline come further into our lives ...

And life became soft, as a result ....

And easy, by comparison ....

To what it had been before ....

And all supposedly was right with the world ....

EXCEPT ....

As you and I both know ...

It was not at all ....

BECAUSE ....

For us to have this soft, easy life over here .....

Most of the other people in the world had to endure hardships ....

Which was supposed to be their lot in life ...

Suffering ....

Misery ....

Insecurity ....

BECAUSE .....

Well, let us be frank .....

As AMERICA was with me back then .....

These people are not Americans .....

They are lesser human beings than the American human beings ....

And so ....

GOD ...

The GOD WHO ONLY LOVES AMERICA .....

Invented DuPont ....

And through DuPont ....

GOD INVENTED NAPALM ....

And NAPALM fried these lesser human beings into CRISPY CRITTERS ...

And the fatness of America grew by leaps and bounds as a result ....

And if you excluded most of the rest of the world at that time ....

Well ...

Some people considered that GOD's natural order ....

And so it was .....

BUT WAS IT, REALLY?

The nagging question, eh?

But not for CONSERVATIVES ...

Just women-men LIBRAWLS .....

And so ....

And here ...

I think of the Vietnamese ....

Who had their way of life and country torn to pieces .....

By GREEDY, AVARICIOUS AMERICA ....

Because of OIL .....

And so ....

Anyone back then with a lick of sense should have been able to look ahead to where we are right now ....

And to have seen this all coming ....

And so ....

To me, jeffmoskin ....

In addition to KING ON THE MOUNTAIN ...

There is another children's game called musical chairs .....

Which maybe has been banned ...

Or outlawed .....

Here in OUR America ...

Because it teaches you to think about FUTURE CONSEQUENCES of PRESENT ACTIONS .....

And so ....

In a consumer-oriented society .....

Where you are supposed to be just like a pig with its snout in the slop in the trough .....

Slurping away ...

While being fattened up for a feast on someone else's table .....

Thinking about the future consequences there ....

At least for the pigs ...

Is verbotten .....

And so ...

But notwithstanding ....

In musical chairs ...

While the music is distracting you from the reality of what is happening around you ...

The chairs are being removed ....

And so ...

If you are in the crowd when the music stops ..

You likely will find your own *** hitting the floor quite hard when you try and sit down ....

And there will be a pile on top of you as well .....

And so .....

Don't get involved in musical chairs ....

Is my thought .....

Especially when these self-proclaimed MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ....

People like George W. Bush .....

And Dick Cheney ....

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice ....

And Donald Rumsfeld are playing the game .....

And yet ...

THAT IS EXACTLY WHERE AVARICE AND CONSUMING GREED in this place that now calls itself America has gotten itself to ...

A great big game of musical chairs ....

And so ....

Us country folk have turned OUR BACKS on that America ...

Because it is not something that we recognize anymore as OURS ....

And so .....

Whether Karl Rove is in charge of this or that .....

Or whether George W. Bush can tie his shoes or not ....

Let alone manage the affairs of what is now laughingly called a SUPERPOWER ....

Becomes more and more immaterial to us on a daily basis now .....

Because while the SLIDE may not yet be happening where you are ...

It has long since begun up here ....

And so ....

To us ...

Anyone up here who believes that tomarrow ....

Life will go back to being what it was the day before ....

When you could be fat and happy ....

With no thoughts for the rest of the world around you .....

Are simply fools .....

And so .....

We are accepting that in our old age ....

We are going to be back living like the peasants did at the time of this nation's birth ....

And like I lived when I was a child ...

And so .....

My thoughts, anyway ....

This fine morning up here ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And so ....

Why waste wind right now on demanding anything from George W. Bush ...

Who has no control over the situation in IRAQINAM anymore ...

Since he never knew what he was doing over there ...

Right from the get-go ...

And so .....

And here, jeffmoskin ....

We have apples and oranges .....

Of course, this SYNDICATE that runs George W. Bush as their own private race horse knew WHAT they wanted when they had George invade IRAQINAM .........

WITH OUR MILITARY ....

USING OUR NATIONAL TREASURY ....

To finance ...

And further their BID-NESS plans .....

That has never been in dispute ...

My point ....

Is that George W. Bush ....

Like the fool George Armstrong Custer before him ...

Who had all those Indians right where he wanted them .....

For a brief moment in time ....

NOW HAS ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL ....

Over the outcome of his actions ....

Just as Custer had no control ...

Over all those Indians ....

And all those arrows ....

ONCE HE DID THEM THE FAVOR OF WALKING RIGHT ON IN ....

To the other end of the trajectory of those flying piercing projectiles .....

And just as we had no control over the DANCE OF DEATH in Viet Nam .....

Since the DANCE is always in REAL TIME ....

Which means that you are always learning about it ....

As it is happening ....

As the bullets shred your flesh ....

As the explosives blow you to flinders .....

And so .....

To look back to 2003 ....

And to say that George W. Bush was in control of anything ....

Even at that point in time ....

Is an exercise in futility ....

Because while any fool can get into trouble .....

Generally ...

And here Custer ...

And Xerxes ....

And Adolph Hitler ....

All come to mind ...

Along with George the INCREDIBLE BUSH .....

Fools generally can't find their way back to home again, afterwards .....

And so .....

When Custer went after all those Indians ....

HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING ....

And maybe even why ...

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT COUNTS ....

Because he really had no idea what all those Indians were going to do ...

And so ...

He and his men all died .....

Which to me is a real American story ....

To heed in this present day and age ....

Of cowboys in charge of America ...

And the world ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Control the oil.

Make everyone pay with dollars.

Except you can never do that ...

Make people pay ....

And that is where this scheme is going to blow up in the faces of all these CORPORATE FAT ***ES .....

We're not paying anymore ....

And we don't have to ...

And many are no longer able to afford to, even right now .....

Because oil has become the new gold ....

And when you are starving ...

Or freezing ....

What the HELL use is gold to you?

It is heavy ...

It is cold ...

It is lifeless ....

Ir does nothing to nourish one ....

It is too soft to be of much use around the place ....

And we don't need the glitter ....

Since we already have the blue of the sky around us for color ....

And so ...

Gold maybe has value in a city somewhere ....

But that don't mean nothing to us ...

And so ....

The game will indeed go on for some longer ...

But it is not our game ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Gas up here has jumped up to about $3.20 a gallon for 89-octane .....

That's $.30 cents in a week ......