Joseph Lieberman Beats the Internet Activists. Senator more powerful than ever!

~~` Back after the Connecticut Democratic primary this year , the world -- or at least the press -- proclaimed "Internet, activists help topple prominent US Democrat".

Well at the time , I was not impressed . And now we have , once "Democratic" Sen. Joseph Lieberman,

as now INDEPENDENT Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

With just a one vote Majority in the senate the Democrats will have to quake every time Lieberman speaks his mind. Lieberman is now more powerful then ever, thanks to the Internet !?!?

If Internet "activist" are going to proclaim victories, they are also going to have to accept the lessons of this big defeat.

The lesson is , while the Internet is a great "tool" for political organizing, it is still only one "tool" among many, and alone it cannot win for you.

ABC News: Murtha: New Scandal Worse Than Abu Ghraib

~~ More bad news for Global opinion polls on

the American led war in Iraq.


I really think that no good

can come out

of these events.

Except for Justice. ~~~ TP
======================

ABC News: Murtha: New Scandal Worse Than Abu Ghraib:

"Rep. Murtha Says Fallout From Killing of Iraqi Civilians Will Turn
Out Worse Than Prison Scandal

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL

WASHINGTON May 28, 2006 (AP)

"This image taken from a videotape made by a Haditha, Iraq journalism student and obtained by Time Magazine via the Hammurabi Human Rights Group, shows a scene in what appears to be a morgue following an alleged fatal raid by United States forces which took place on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha, Iraq.

"The U.S. military is bracing for a major scandal over the alleged killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha - charges so serious that they could threaten President Bush's effort to rally support for an increasingly unpopular war. "

WASHINGTON May 28, 2006 (AP)

"Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest:" : washingtonpost.com

~ This Spy-gate thing is going to be serious news for a while. When both Democrats & Republican Senate leaders are expressing civil liberties concerns, all citizens should be concerned. Nixon -- and those Presidents before him -- walked over civil liberties regularly. No one wants to go back to those times , with Presidential Enemy lists , covert wire taps, & etc. The Bush Team must feel the Power of Checks and Balances here.
Hopefully Congress is up to the job ~~ TP
-----------------------------

"Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel"

By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A01

"A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources. U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation".

"Word of Robertson's resignation came as two Senate Republicans joined the call for congressional investigations into the National Security Agency's warrantless interception of telephone calls and e-mails to overseas locations by U.S. citizens suspected of links to terrorist groups. They questioned the legality of the operation and the extent to which the White House kept Congress informed."

"Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) echoed concerns raised by Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has promised hearings in the new year."

"Hagel and Snowe joined Democrats Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) in calling for a joint investigation by the Senate judiciary and intelligence panels into the classified program."

President Bush's Walkabout - New York Times

~ ~ Pretty heavy words from the NY Times editorial page.

I really do not like agreeing with NYT's editorials. Doing so often leaves me haunted that I may be mis-informed on the issue at hand.

But in this case, there is no mistake -- the Bush Presidency is a ticking time bomb of more disasters.

We are in a war that seems to have been engineered from even before Bush II took office. { I saw Jimmy Carter say that on TV , to promote his new book .}

A very serious change of both staff & policy is needed from the Oval Office before there are more wars & ill-handled natural disasters..

May G-d help America !!~~ ` TP
-----------------------------------------------------------

"After President Bush's disastrous visit to Latin America, it's unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three years to run."

"An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front.

But the rest of the world simply can't afford an American government this bad for that long."

========================================

from :

President Bush's Walkabout - New York Times:

"Published: November 8, 2005

"U.S. Sells the Most Weapons to Others" : Congressional Research Service: http://www.crs.gov

~~ Oh what a surprise.

I never would have guesed this one.

I would have guessed Texas.

{ Well Texas used to be a country.}
~` tp
--------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/30/AR2005083001353.html
"U.S. Sells the Most Weapons to Others"

"Developing countries are the weapons' primary buyers. And the U.S. has been the most active seller for the past eight years, resulting mainly from agreements made in the aftermath of the first Gulf War.

The U.S. was responsible for more than 42 percent of the deliveries to developing nations in 2004.

Russia, which ranks second, sells mostly to China and India, as well as a number of smaller, poorer countries.

The CRS study, which is done each year, was written by national defense specialist Richard Grimmett.

___

On the Net:

Congressional Research Service: http://www.crs.gov
===================

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy! By David Sarno

~~` Cute headline this morning at Slate.com .

~~ TP

------------------------

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy! By David Sarno: "today's papers A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy!
By David Sarno
Posted Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005, at 4:50 AM PT "

"Bush Denies U.S. Plans to Attack Iran " By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

Do you believe him? ~~~TP

Bush Denies U.S. Plans to Attack Iran
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium - President Bush said Tuesday that it is "simply ridiculous" to assume that the United States has plans to attack Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program after discussing the issue with European allies.
-------------------------------------------------

"The Bush administration suffered a legal setback over its conduct of the war on terror yesterday..." : Guardian www.guardian.co.uk ;;;

~~~ Below another example of how the Bush Team really does not understand to foundations of American Democracy. Dictatorships do detention without trial. In the USA , everyone --- no matter their legal or citizenship standing --is entitled to their day in PUBLIC courts when accused of a crime. ~` ~~~ ~` TP

Guantánamo tribunals ruled Illegal
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Tuesday February 1, 2005
Guardian / http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The Bush administration suffered a legal setback over its conduct of the war on terror yesterday when a US federal judge ruled that the special military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay were unlawful.
The judgment was seen as a victory for the 540 detainees in Guantánamo, and for civil rights organisations which have campaigned for three years for inmates to have the right to challenge their detentions in court.
"This means that these folks are actually going to get a hearing," said Barbara Olshansky, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights. "[The judge] is saying that the rule of law in this country cannot be disregarded by executive fiat - despite what this administration might want."
The judgment was highly critical of the Pentagon's military tribunals, set up in June last year to decide whether to continue holding the inmates at Guantánamo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------

Reuters: .."...but no WMD have been found in Iraq and U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer i...."

~~ Saddam Hussein while in power easily qualified as one of the worlds most dangerous men. He killed tens – if not hundreds – of THOUSANDS of his own country men every year, and Saddam was the major obstacle to the political & democratic stabilization of the Mid-East. But did that justify going in after him with the full force of the U.S military? Well maybe it did.
But the Bush administration did not think Saddam slaughtering his own people, nor his perpetual torturing the Kurdish nation, was a strong enough argument to justify toppling Saddam. So the Bush Administration exaggerated --and it seems even fabricated --the Weapons of Mass Destruction [WMD] threat, which today the CIA admitted never were there. ~~ tp

CIA Rectifying Prewar Estimates on Iraq WMD
Tue Feb 1, 2005 06:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA is publishing a series of classified reports revising its prewar intelligence assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, an intelligence official said on Tuesday.

A Jan. 18 report, titled "Iraq: No Large-Scale Chemical Warfare Efforts Since Early 1990s," concludes that Saddam Hussein abandoned major chemical weapons programs after the first Gulf War in 1991.

Former CIA Director George Tenet, who resigned last July, told Bush that finding WMD in Iraq would be a "slam dunk" according to journalist Bob Woodward's book "Plan of Attack."

But no WMD have been found in Iraq and U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer is expected this month to issue a final addendum to his September report concluding that prewar Iraq had no such stockpiles.

"The CIA has finally admitted that its WMD estimates were wrong," Rep. Jane Harman of California, ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said in a statement.

--------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------

Republicans Criticize Bush 'Mistakes' on Iraq

Republicans Criticize Bush 'Mistakes' on Iraq Sun Sep 19, 2004 01:10 PM ET By Randall Mikkelsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading members of President Bush's Republican Party on Sunday criticized mistakes and "incompetence" in his Iraq policy and called for an urgent ground offensive to retake insurgent sanctuaries. In appearances on news talk shows, Republican senators also urged Bush to be more open with the American public after the disclosure of a classified CIA report that gave a gloomy outlook for Iraq and raised the possibility of civil war. "The fact is, we're in deep trouble in Iraq ... and I think we're going to have to look at some recalibration of policy," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "We made serious mistakes," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has campaigned at Bush's side this year after patching up a bitter rivalry. McCain, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," cited as mistakes the toleration of looting after the successful U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and failures to secure Iraq's borders or prevent insurgents from establishing strongholds within the country. He said a ground offensive was urgently needed to retake areas held by insurgents, but a leading Democrat accused the administration of stalling for fear of hurting Bush's reelection chances. The criticisms came as Bush prepared this week to host Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and focus strongly on Iraq after stepped up attacks from Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry. After the CIA report was disclosed on Thursday, Kerry accused the president of living in a "fantasy world of spin" about Iraq and of not telling the truth about the growing chaos. McCain said Bush had been "perhaps not as straight as maybe we'd like to see." "I think the president is being clear. I would like to see him more clear," McCain said. He said Congress was expected to hold hearings on Iraq soon. Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also criticized the administration's handling of Iraq's reconstruction. Only $1 billion of $18.4 billion allocated by Congress for the task has been spent, Lugar said. "This is the incompetence in the administration," he said on ABC's "This Week." GROUND OFFENSIVE A ground offensive was essential to clearing insurgents out of strongholds such as Falluja, McCain said. He joined other lawmakers from both parties who said Iraqi elections scheduled for January would be impossible unless this were done. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the U.S. military intended to retake Falluja by the end of the year. "We've got to take out the sanctuaries. We're going to have to sustain, tragically, some more casualties. Airstrikes don't do it; artillery doesn't do it. Boots on the ground do it," McCain said. "And the longer we delay ...the more difficult the challenge is going to be and the more casualties we will incur," he said. Sen. John Kyl, like McCain an Arizona Republican, said, "Allowing the Iraqis to make the decisions not to go into some of these sanctuaries, I think, turns out to have not been a good decision, which we're going to have to correct now by going in with our Marines and Army divisions." Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, speaking on ABC, accused the administration of delaying an offensive out of concern it would hurt Bush's bid to win reelection on Nov. 2. "The only thing I can figure as to why they're not doing it with a sense of urgency is that they don't want to do it before the election and they want to make it seem like everything is status quo," Biden said. But Kyl said on CBS that time was also needed to train Iraqi troops to help secure areas recaptured from insurgents, and he disputed accusations Bush had not been open about the difficulties in Iraq. McCain also called for enlarging the U.S. Army by 70,000 soldiers and the Marines by 20,000 to 25,000. Kerry and other Democrats have said Bush plans to call up more part-time National Guard and Reserve troops after the November election to compensate for thinning ranks in the full-time military due to Iraq. The Bush campaign denied this. Biden said disappointment with Bush's policies was bipartisan. "Dick Lugar, Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, John McCain -- we are all on the same page. It is us and the administration. This has been incompetence so far," he said. (additional reporting by Sue Pleming)

© Copyright Reuters

By WILLIAM SAFIRE ; Rights of Terror Suspects

July 5, 2004

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Rights of Terror Suspects

By WILLIAM SAFIRE

ARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — "Misadvised by a frustrated and panic-stricken attorney general, a president of the United States has just assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or execute aliens."

So wrote a purpling libertarian kook on Nov. 15, 2001, the day after President Bush issued an executive order cracking down on suspected terrorist captives. "At a time when even liberals are debating the ethics of torture of suspects," this soft-on-terror wimp went on, "weighing the distaste for barbarism against the need to save innocent lives — it's time for conservative iconoclasts and card-carrying hard-liners to stand up for American values."

They did not, of course; hard-line commentators dismissed the wimp as a "professional hysteric" akin to "antebellum Southern belles suffering the vapors." Attorney General John Ashcroft said such diatribes "aid terrorists."

At the same time, most liberals — supposed advocates of the rights of the accused — did not want to appear to be insufficiently outraged at terrorists. Only two months after the shock of 9/11, with polls showing strong public approval of Bush's harsh measures to protect us, these liberals turned out to be civil liberty's summer soldiers. No senator from Massachusetts rose promptly to challenge Bush's draconian order, thereby to etch a profile in courage.

But one cabinet member reacted curiously. Despite the White House order to give enemy combatants no legal rights in what the vaporing wimp sniffled were "kangaroo courts," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld convened a panel of serious outside lawyers aware of the wartime mistakes of Lincoln, Wilson and F.D.R. They reshaped the Bush order to give accused noncitizens before military tribunals the rights to counsel, public trial, appellate review and other protections in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Then Ashcroft Justice dug in its heels and the system stalled for years. Military tribunals of aliens captured in Afghanistan were placed in abeyance while Justice claimed in court that the president has the authority to impose open-ended detention on citizens and noncitizens alike. Such wholesale denial of due process is what the soft-on-terror professional hysteric had called "the seizure of dictatorial power."

Last week the Supreme Court that helped put Bush in office intervened to prevent his abuse of it. "The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia in agreement with the majority, "has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the executive."

The right of a prisoner — even a noncitizen suspected of plotting to blow up a city — to take his case before some sort of judge has been reaffirmed. The panicked Ashcroft and the hapless White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, clearly misadvised the president; both should depart in a second term. Separation of powers lives, and we should extend habeas corpus to all four corners of the earth.

Though coverage of the Supreme Court's rulings led with "a state of war is not a blank check for the president," its decisions were also deferential. Provided that an accused combatant has a chance to rebut, there should be "a presumption in favor of the government's evidence"; hearsay might be allowed. With military tribunals now tilted toward the prosecution, we should stop delaying and start prosecuting.

Liberals, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and now with Supreme Court restraints on executive power, are piling on. It's safe; civil liberty is suddenly in vogue, at least until the next terror strike. That's why the bosoms of Bush critics are now heaving in hypocritical hyperventilation. But where were they on Nov. 15, 2001, when due process needed them? In spider holes all their own.

There's a lesson, too, for conservatives and other hard-liners: Libertarians are not to be despised even when infuriatingly contrarian. Remember our Jeremiah-like presence in your ranks on the privacy issue when you demand a national ID, or when you hamstring embryonic stem-cell research, or when you make a show of festooning the Constitution with a marriage amendment.

Why do I fear no libel suit from that wimpish professional hysteric, that antebellum Southern belle suffering the vapors, that aider of terrorists? Because I'm him. (It's uncool to say I told you so, but I have not had many chances to say it lately.)

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

The War on the Web Sites to see on the road to Baghdad.

Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2080407/
The War on the Web
Sites to see on the road to Baghdad.
By Avi Zenilman
Updated Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 3:05 PM PT

The Iraq invasion will be the first major war on the Web. When the bombs start dropping, millions of Americans will crowd the Internet to catch up on the latest news, see pictures, and send e-mail to loved ones in danger. After you've checked out Slate—your first stop, right?—here's where you should you go for updates, speculation, on-the-ground blogging, official statements, and even war comedy.

Mainstream Media
The special Iraq Web sites for the Washington Post, the New York Times, MSNBC, and CNN are all good sources for late-breaking news, streaming video, maps, and nifty interactive backgrounders.

If you find the American Iraq pages overwhelming, then jump across the Atlantic to England's Guardian newspaper's Special Report: Iraq. The page's efficient organization and solid reporting make it easier to use than the American news sites. Don't miss the Guardian's "Weblog," which is less a blog than a portal to the day's best journalism. Track the effects of the war on the global economy and on oil markets at Bloomberg's energy markets page.

Background Information
What exactly is a BLU-118 Thermobaric bomb? How about a GBU-16 Paveway II? Globalsecurity.org has an excellent encyclopedia of the weapons and vehicles the United States will use in the war. Its Target Iraq page is jam-packed with links and specific military information. The site also publishes U.N. documents and resolutions.

Defensetech.org is a blog that provides a boatload of information on new military technologies and national security. While not organized in any systematic way, it always has something new and interesting.

The Council on Foreign Relations runs a superb Iraq Resource Center with everything from a timeline to journal articles.

The Official Story
(Almost) daily State Department briefings can be found here. The White House posts free video of all presidential speeches and announcements (as well as Ari Fleischer's press briefings). Britain's official briefings are also available.

Also online is the Iraq News Agency, a mouthpiece for Saddam's positions and propaganda.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Iraq crisis section shows how the U.S. government is conveying the news to the people of the Middle East.

The United Nations' official Iraq page is hopelessly cluttered and often unresponsive (not unlike the organization itself), but if you can get it to work, it's a great clearinghouse.

Blogwar
Dear_raed is a must-read blog by a current Baghdad resident. Read his fascinating March 16 ramble about how he reluctantly supports the U.S. march to war and doubts the influence of fundamentalist Islamism in Iraq. It's not clear how the author manages to evade Saddamite censorship and scrutiny. We sent an e-mail asking how he does it. If he replies, we will tell you.

Www.kevinsites.net is a blog by Kevin Sites, a CNN correspondent stationed in northern Iraq. Sites' reporting is unvarnished, direct, and full of the nitty-gritty details of war reporting A March 17 post, "Whispers of War," is a window on the professional rivalries that persist, even a war zone.

The Middle-East Reaction
Arab News is an English-language, semiofficial Saudi media outlet. Although its reporting may not always be reliable, it suggests how this war is playing in Riyadh. Lebanon's Daily Star is more trustworthy but much less entertaining. For a quick digest of how the Middle-East media portrays the war, the World Press Review's Middle-East section is excellent.

Al Jazeera video is available at www.favo.tv, an English-language Web site that streams from various TV and radio stations worldwide. It is often unreliable, so if you understand Arabic, the official Al Jazeera site may be a better source for the broadcasts.

Ha'aretz's special Iraq section will be a valuable source of news if Saddam decides to attack Israel. For a more offbeat Israeli view of the war, check out the Iraq-centric ribbityfrog.blogspot.com.

If Chatterbox's Kurd Sellout Watch isn't enough, visit KurdMedia, a news site/portal for all things Kurdish.

Curiosities
We can't find any real-time satellite photographs on the Web that would help track the war, but Terraserver posts satellite images of nearly every world city, including Baghdad. It's hard to make out what exactly is going on in the pictures, but it's very cool nonetheless.

Should United States troops worry about sandstorms? Check out this Iraq weather map.

Who's going to lead Iraq after the war? What are the odds of capturing Osama Bin Laden by October? What will the terror alert level be in June 2003? At Tradesports you can now bet on international politics, with nothing at stake but fake money and bragging rights.

Humor
If you need a brief respite from the grim news, take a breather at Iraq Humor Central. Be sure not to miss the parody slide show. Also, check out the Saddam games section, where you can do everything from playing the role of a crazed U.N. weapons inspector to creating a goofy press conference.

Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2080407

Senate Remarks by Robert C. Byrd

Senate Remarks by Robert C. Byrd
	March 19, 2003 http://byrd.senate.gov/
	"The Arrogance of Power"
	I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength. But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned. Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination. Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of preemption which is understood by few and feared by many. We say that the United States has the right to turn its firepower on any corner of the globe which might be suspect in the war on terrorism. We assert that right without the sanction of any international body. As a result, the world has become a much more dangerous place. We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split. After war has ended, the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America's image around the globe. The case this Administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence. We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice. There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9/11. The twin towers fell because a world-wide terrorist group, Al Qaeda, with cells in over 60 nations, struck at our wealth and our influence by turning our own planes into missiles, one of which would likely have slammed into the dome of this beautiful Capitol except for the brave sacrifice of the passengers on board. The brutality seen on September 11th and in other terrorist attacks we have witnessed around the globe are the violent and desperate efforts by extremists to stop the daily encroachment of western values upon their cultures. That is what we fight. It is a force not confined to borders. It is a shadowy entity with many faces, many names, and many addresses. But, this Administration has directed all of the anger, fear, and grief which emerged from the ashes of the twin towers and the twisted metal of the Pentagon towards a tangible villain, one we can see and hate and attack. And villain he is. But, he is the wrong villain. And this is the wrong war. If we attack Saddam Hussein, we will probably drive him from power. But, the zeal of our friends to assist our global war on terrorism may have already taken flight. The general unease surrounding this war is not just due to "orange alert." There is a pervasive sense of rush and risk and too many questions unanswered. How long will we be in Iraq? What will be the cost? What is the ultimate mission? How great is the danger at home? A pall has fallen over the Senate Chamber. We avoid our solemn duty to debate the one topic on the minds of all Americans, even while scores of thousands of our sons and daughters faithfully do their duty in Iraq. What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our awesome military might? How can we abandon diplomatic efforts when the turmoil in the world cries out for diplomacy? Why can this President not seem to see that America's true power lies not in its will to intimidate, but in its ability to inspire? War appears inevitable. But, I continue to hope that the cloud will lift. Perhaps Saddam will yet turn tail and run. Perhaps reason will somehow still prevail. I along with millions of Americans will pray for the safety of our troops, for the innocent civilians in Iraq, and for the security of our homeland. May God continue to bless the United States of America in the troubled days ahead, and may we somehow recapture the vision which for the present eludes us. ###