U.S. Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Indicted

Scooter Libby was Indicted on 5 separate accounts today including, Obstruction of justice, giving false statements, perjury after being investigated for compromising the status of a CIA agent. The wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame . (see story "George Bush's War! Part 2 - Karl Rove." below)


Digby's Blog
Digby has written an excellent article about this. (scroll down a bit on the page to find the story "The Big Picture")

If the Republican leadership of congress weren't spineless Bush toadies and insane religious fanatics they would do their job and investigate this honestly for the good of the country. But they won't. They are nothing more than braindead fatcats gorging at the pork barrel with a fistfull of C-notes in one hand and a bible in the other. (If you want to read a purely political document, spend a little time with the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraq.)

If they care to do it, this case is a way for the media to save its soul after its outrageous conduct helping the administration make its case for war on lies. It is the responsibility of the NY Times and the Washington Post and NBC and all the rest to revisit what this administration has done ever since 1999 when the national press overlooked its sleazy and dangerous behaviour. If they care to salvage their reputations they have the chance right here, right now.

**********************************************

This is serious stuff, and I hope the American Public sees it for what it is. This is not playing around with an intern (for which former President Bill Clinton was Indicted for) These people broke the law in a very serious way and then perjured themselves attempting to cover it up.

Words of Wisdom

Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless and corrupt.
Mahatma Gandhi -



I just hope this doesn't mean I'll get locked up with trial for Sedition (see post below)

Howard Goverment and it's Anti-Terrorism Bill.

Article Here.

A leaked copy of an “in-confidence” draft of the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 has confirmed the police-state character of the measures being drawn up by the federal Howard government, with support from the Australian state and territory chief ministers. Under the guise of combating terrorism, the legislation will introduce unprecedented and draconian police and intelligence powers.

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Chief Minister Jon Stanhope posted the document on his official web site last Friday, provoking furious denunciations by Prime Minister John Howard and other ministers, who had planned to keep the legislation under wraps until November 1. Their intention was to push it through both houses of parliament in just two weeks, without any serious debate by MPs, let alone genuine public scrutiny and discussion.

First and foremost, the legislation provides for extensive detention without charge or trial, on the flimsiest of pretexts. With no notice or legal hearing, any person can be thrown into secret “preventative detention” or placed, by a “control order,” in isolation under house arrest.

In order to evade the Constitution, which bars the federal government from imposing “punishment” on Australian citizens without trial, preventative detention by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) will be limited to 48 hours, but the states and territories have agreed to extend this to 14 days for their respective police forces.

All conversations, including with their lawyer, are monitored, violating the principle of lawyer-client confidentiality. “Prohibited contact orders” can also prohibit contact with their own lawyer, and the police can prevent them from speaking to any lawyer who does not have an ASIO security clearance.

Shoot to Kill.
from Yahoo News.
The shoot-to-kill prevision was revealed in confidential draft legislation leaked Friday to the annoyance of Prime Minister John Howard, who insisted the laws should be implemented quickly in the interest of national security.

Law Council of Australia president John North said the government was attempting to prevent the legal fallout experienced by British anti-terrorism police who shot dead Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in a London subway station last July after mistaking him for a suicide bomber.

There is controversy over whether de Menezes was given a chance to surrender before being shot seven times in the head as officers held him down, leading to reports the commander of the British operation could be charged with manslaughter.

Sedition.
The draft legislation leaked by Stanhope includes seven-year jail terms for sedition, described as "promoting feelings of ill-will or hostility between groups" that threaten public order or "urging a person to assist the enemy".

********************************

The Government plans to introduce the anti-terrorism laws on Melbourne Cup day, and when a Government feels the need to try and pass legislation at times such as Melbourne Cup Day (or as in the case of the States massive MP pay increases a couple of years ago where it was passed a Midnight Christmas eve), you know, all they're doing is trying to avoid scrutiny of the legislation.

The very least the Government should do is have open and honest debate about the current crop of restrictions. If we need the new laws so much, then why try to pass them in such a cynical and underhanded manner?


More from SBS

Harriet Miers Withdraws Nomination

On Thursday, Harriet Miers, withdrew her nomination to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for a seat on the Bench of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Her decision was accepted with reluctance by the embattled President Bush.

Dallas News

"It's an astonishing spectacle," said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way. "President Bush's complete capitulation to the far-right interest groups is astounding."

The Bush administration tried hard to sell Ms. Miers to its conservatives supporters – to the point that they had been accused of making improper assurances that, if confirmed, Ms. Miers would vote to their liking.
Both the White House and Ms. Miers denied making any such assurances, and, in absence of judicial experience, almost nothing seemed to convince conservatives that Ms. Miers was a nominee they could support wholeheartedly.

Yet, the confirmation process was still moving forward Wednesday. Just before midnight – hours after Ms. Miers' call to the president – the White House delivered eight boxes of requested documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee had asked Ms. Miers to resubmit her answers to questions concerning constitutional law, presidential power and potential conflicts of interest regarding her relationship to the president. The request was made by the committee, both Republicans and Democrats, who found her original answers unrevealing or incomplete.

The unusual request was emblematic of her ill-fated nomination, one that was criticized most heartily by some of the president's own supporters as ill-considered cronyism.

from The New York Times

President Bush finally dug himself out yesterday from the political rubble he created by choosing a Supreme Court nominee whose only known qualifications were his personal comfort with her and her personal loyalty to him.
A good nominee would understand the court's role in protecting rights and have a judicial approach within the broad mainstream on issues like the balance of federal and state powers, civil liberties, and the role of government - and be capable of filling out the Senate's questionnaire without a do-over.

*********************************

It will be interesting to see who the President selects for the next Nomination (or any High End position in the Government for that matter). Will he continue with his arrogance and indifference and continue with this cronyism or will he actually select a person with the right qualifications for the job?

Both the Articles were good reads, I especially liked the New York Times Op-Ed. piece. The (unnamed) author certainly didn't hold back. So, why did they go soft on so much previously? Surely they couldn't have believed all the previous lies? Have they finally had enough or was it that Harriet Mies was an easy and/or perhaps selected target? A deception of sorts?

I just hope that some of the Journalists in our respective country's grow some spine and start to point out such crimes and Misdemeanours.
Politicians and Governments get away with far to much and it needs to be said, not grudgingly accepted.

US Military Deaths Officially Reach 2000

Story from Bloomberg.com
Oct. 25 - U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 2,000 amid rising debate over whether the benefits of the two and one-half year conflict outweigh the casualties and cost.

A majority of Americans for the first time said the U.S. military's effort in Iraq isn't going well, a poll by the Washington-based Pew Centre showed this month. And, also for the first time, a majority of Americans in a Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll said going to war in Iraq was a mistake, the Journal reported today.

The war has been costly in terms of money. With Senate passage of the fiscal 2006 budget earlier this month, Congress has approved a total of $361 billion for military operations, reconstruction and other expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a report Oct. 3 by Congressional Research Service.

President Bush said;

``Our commitment is clear,'' Bush said in a speech to the wives of military officers at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. ``We will not relent until the organised international terrorist networks are exposed and broken, and their leaders are held to account for their murder.''

But the C.I.A. completely contradicts the spin from the White House;

A Central Intelligence Agency assessment in June said Iraq had become a more potent breeding ground for Islamic terrorists than Afghanistan was in the 1980s.

Meanwhile the Civilian death toll in Iraq between 26700 and 30100
Iraq Body Count

Oh No...

I spent a couple of hours writing a piece today but unfortunately it was lost in Cyber space when I clicked "Publish".
My apologies to the readers of this blog ...

... both of you. ;-)

I'll write and publish a similar article tomorrow.

Harriet Miers Integrity Under Question

Harriet Miers is George Bush's latest Nomination as a Judge to sit on the bench of the US Supreme Court. Harriet Miers also just happens to be the Presidents former personal Lawyer!
Unfortunately Harriet Miers has perhaps a little less integrity than what Shrub would have us believe.
These incidents take on added significance because – since Miers doesn’t have any judicial experience – Bush is selling Miers’s nomination to the court, in large part, on her “character.”


Story from Think Progress
When President Bush announced the nomination of Harriet Miers on October 3, he called her “a leader of unquestioned integrity.” Much of what we’ve learned since then hasn’t supported Bush’s claim.

To review:

• Miers was suspended from the DC Bar for failure to pay dues.
• Miers was also suspended from the Texas bar for non-payment of dues.
• Miers repeatedly had tax liens placed on property she owned in Texas for non-payment of fines and fees.
• Miers received 10 times the market value for a small piece of land she controlled from the state of Texas, awarded by a panel stacked with friends and allies. A mediator ordered Miers to repay $26,000 but she has failed to do so.
  
  

Miers, in a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said her Texas Bar license was "administratively suspended" for several weeks in 1989 due to late payment of her Bar Association dues

In her letter to Leahy, she also said she neglected to list her affiliation with two entities, specifically, she was a director and shareholder of Priority Enterprises from 1983 to 2000, which she descried as a "for-profit consulting and personnel placement firm" in Farmers Branch, Tex.

Don't you just love cronyism when it blows up in their respective faces?

Words of Wisdom

Each Friday I'll be posting up a few Words of Wisdom. A Quotation from some famous bod or another.
Today's Quotation is from Julius Caesar, and is one of my favourites, and particularly relevant in the current climate.

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather,the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism,will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.
How do I know this? For this, is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."

Find out about the man here

Historical Timeline

Howard Government Industrial Relations Advertising Campaign

I've noticed an awful lot of advertising being done by the Australian Government recently (awful being the qualifying adjective!).

This is being done to try and convince the Australian public that the Industrial Relations reforms the Government is trying to implement is needed and that it is indeed Fair.
I hope, (but am not overly confidant), that the Australian Public will not fall for this deceit.


Article from The Australian

THE federal Government has spent nearly $15 million of taxpayers' money on advertising in the first two weeks of its industrial relations reform campaign, according to a survey to be released today.
The mammoth ad budget has already put the IR campaign on track to become the biggest advertising spending spree in Australian history. With no end in sight to the Government's bid to swing the public behind the IR changes, observers predict it will easily outstrip the GST campaign in 2000, which cost $100 million.

John Sintras, chief executive of Starcom and head of the Media Federation of Australia,

said the campaign and the "staggering" number of ads had been a significant talking point in the industry. "There is a fine line between effective reach and overkill and they have crossed it," he said. "I'm stuffed if I can think of someone who has launched with that kind of weight; $7million is what most people spend in a year. Not even Telstra or Coles spends at that rate."

Now, before I go on I would like to re-affirm my thoughts and standing on the subject of Industrial Relations Reform. It is an ever changing situation, so Reform is an area that needs to be discussed openly. Dialogue between the major parties, IE, the Workers and their bosses and the Governing parties which includes the State and Federal Governments and the respective Unions should happen. Jobs change, as is the way people are employed.
But these Individual Contracts that the vast majority of Workers Do Not want or need are a backward step and has no other purpose than to make more money out of the workers of this country.

The current crop of Taxpayer funded Commercials that have been playing on the TV just recently, (and I mean a seriously lot of air time) bang on about how Workers will still have these rights "by Law" IE, that a Women who becomes pregnant cannot be sacked for that reason etc...But, and this is a very big BUT, all the points made in the Commercials are specifically the rights that employees have by law if they are employed under the Award! Which, incidentally, is the EXACT thing that the Howard Government is trying to get rid of!
That is to have Employees sign Individual Workers Contracts and do away with all the Rights, Benefits and Conditions that were fought so hard, for so many years.
They conveniently omitted that vital piece of information from the advertisements though.


More Here...

Information from the ACTU here...

We ould also lose all our Public Holidays

Wal-Mart employee Hands School Student's Bush Poster to the Police

By Matthew Rothschild / The Progressive

Selina Jarvis had assigned her senior civics and economics class “to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights,” she says. One student “had taken a photo of George Bush out of a magazine and tacked the picture to a wall with a red thumb tack through his head. Then he made a thumb’s down sign with his own hand next to the President’s picture, and he had a photo taken of that, and he pasted it on a poster.”
But over at the Kitty Hawk Wal-Mart, where the student took his film to be developed, this right is evidently suspect.

An employee in that Wal-Mart photo department called the Kitty Hawk police on the student. And the Kitty Hawk police turned the matter over to the Secret Service.

On Tuesday, September 20, the Secret Service came to Currituck High.“At 1:35, the student came to me and told me that the Secret Service had taken his poster,” Jarvis says. “I didn’t believe him at first. But they had come into my room when I wasn’t there and had taken his poster, which was in a stack with all the others.”

I've just read about this on a Bulletin Board, and I want one!!
I want one of the Posters on my wall. I want a copy of one on a T-Shirt (front and back) and I would like a nice small sized one for my Wallet. The student should be at the printers right now making his or her fortune! He/She will sell thousands!

International Terrorism is on the Rise

U.S. Figures Show Sharp Global Rise In Terrorism, State Dept. Will Not Put Data in Report .


Story from the Washington Post

The number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled last year, according to U.S. government figures, a sharp upswing in deadly attacks that the State Department has decided not to make public in its annual report on terrorism due to Congress this week.
Overall, the number of what the U.S. government considers "significant" attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides who were briefed on statistics covering incidents including the bloody school seizure in Russia and violence related to the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir.

...and then we have the US Government trying to hide the Stats from the Public.

The State Department announced last week that it was breaking with tradition in withholding the statistics on terrorist attacks from its congressionally mandated annual report. Critics said the move was designed to shield the government from questions about the success of its effort to combat terrorism by eliminating what amounted to the only year-to-year benchmark of progress.

The controversy comes a year after the State Department retracted its annual terrorism report and admitted that its initial version vastly understated the number of incidents. That became an election-year issue, as Democrats said the Bush administration tried to inflate its success in curbing global terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

What can one say? They lied. They acted illegally and dishonourably, and innocent people all over the world are paying the ultimate price for the personal greed of only a few.

George Bush's War! Part 3 - Lies & Deception

I found this wonderful little tidbit while over at Crooks and Liars (one of my favourite Blogs) it led me too digbys blog and from there, was a link to a News Article and a very interesting article put together by a retired Air Force Colonel.
It follows on from the previous article on this blog regarding Karl Rove and his mates in the White House.

Read this (pdf) report called "Truth from These Podia: Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II," written by Colonel Sam Gardiner who identified 50 false news stories created and leaked by a secretive White House propaganda apparatus. Here's a news story about it:

According to Gardiner, "It was not bad intelligence" that lead to the quagmire in Iraq, "It was an orchestrated effort [that] began before the war" that was designed to mislead the public and the world. Gardiner's research lead him to conclude that the US and Britain had conspired at the highest levels to plant "stories of strategic influence" that were known to be false.

The Times of London described the $200-million-plus US operation as a "meticulously planned strategy to persuade the public, the Congress, and the allies of the need to confront the threat from Saddam Hussein."

The multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign run out of the White House and Defence Department was, in Gardiner's final assessment "irresponsible in parts" and "might have been illegal."

"Washington and London did not trust the peoples of their democracies to come to the right decisions," Gardiner explains. Consequently, "Truth became a casualty. When truth is a casualty, democracy receives collateral damage." For the first time in US history, "we allowed strategic psychological operations to become part of public affairs... [W]hat has happened is that information warfare, strategic influence, [and] strategic psychological operations pushed their way into the important process of informing the peoples of our two democracies."

It was this story that the White House didn't want exposed and when Joe Wilson started making noises about Dick Cheney and yellowcake, they got very nervous. After all, the WMD's weren't turning up in Iraq. And this is when the Traitors in the White House decided to release the name of Joe Wilson's wife to the New York Times. (read previous Karl Rove article)

The Text Article here.
Excerpt from the published paper.
By Gar Smith / The-Edge
November 7, 2003

Part One

A Strategy of Lies: How the White House Fed the Public a Steady Diet of Falsehoods

Colonel Sam Gardiner (USAF, Ret.) has identified 50 false news stories created and leaked by a secretive White House propaganda apparatus. Bush administration officials are probably having second thoughts about their decision to play hardball with former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Joe Wilson is a contender. When you play hardball with Joe, you better be prepared to deal with some serious rebound.

Gar Smith is Editor Emeritus of Earth Island Journal, Roving Editor at The-Edge (www.the-edge.org) and co-founder of Environmentalists Against War(www.envirosagainstwar.org).


The Article is a very interesting read and although it comes as no surprise it's always satisfying to know ones suspicions are on the money.

Gardiner's findings have not yet received due attention from the US media and with good cause. Gardiner's investigation revealed that the mainstream media not only failed to stand up to the government and insist on the truth, they all too often submitted in complicit cooperation with the government.
Even in peacetime, the corporate media is an "embedded" media.

Gardiner has some hard questions for America's press barons:

"How was it that the Washington Post took classified information on the
Jessica Lynch story and published it just the way the individual leaking it
in the Pentagon wanted?"

"Why did the New York Times let itself be used by 'intelligence officials'
on stories?"

"Why did the Washington Times never seem to question a leak they were
given?"

I have a question of my own, If the War in Iraq (read Invasion to plunder their resources) was such a Noble and Glorious Deed, then why did the White House feel the need to tell so many lies?

I suppose I'll never understand why people accept such behaviour or why the General Public are so gullible in believing such obvious misleading falsehoods and misrepresentations from the very people they VOTED for.
I hope every single person involved in orchestrating this War is held accountable for their actions (and all the actions associated with it), if not from the Judicial process then by the God that George Bush so often conveniently uses the name of.

Cronyism in the White House? Surely Not.

from Talk Left
The Bush Administration continues its policy of handing out top Administration jobs based on cronyism. Did it not learn from Michael Brown? Apparently, not.

The latest: A 36 year old Administration lawyer named Julie Myers, who has no immigration experience, has been nominated to head up ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Let's look at Ms. Myers' credentials - the last paragraph is key:

After working as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., for two years, Myers held a variety of jobs over the past four years at the White House and at the departments of Commerce, Justice and Treasury, though none involved managing a large bureaucracy. Myers worked briefly as chief of staff to Michael Chertoff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division before he became Homeland Security secretary.
Myers also was an associate under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for about 16 months and has most recently served as a special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues.
Her uncle is Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She married Chertoff's current chief of staff, John F. Wood, on Saturday.

More form the Washington Post.

Unlike most political appointments, the head of ICE is required by statute to have at least five years of experience in both law enforcement and management.
Many immigration advocates, ICE employee representatives and homeland security experts said they were troubled by the nomination of Myers to take over an agency with so many problems.

"It appears she's got a tremendous amount of experience in money laundering, in banking and the financial areas," said Charles Showalter, president of the National Homeland Security Council, a union that represents 7,800 ICE agents, officers and support staff. "My question is: Who the hell is going to enforce the immigration laws?"

This type of Political appointment depresses me. Are the people in the White House so absolutely morally corrupt and incompetent, or is it that they just do not care? It seems at times that they place more importance in milking this thing for all it's worth rather than actually running the country properly and efficiency.

Howard Forces Workers onto Independent Work contracts.

It's alright for those people who are earning a Salary, the ones who make all the money. But for the vast majority of us who are on wages, these new Independent Employee Contracts are not a good thing, and thats probably the most polite way I could have written it.

People are going to work at a job with no job security, holiday's when the boss tells them to take time off (without pay). They will receive no pay for Public Holidays and when they leave their job, they will leave with nothing. No Long Service Leave or Superannuation and No Redundancy payments.

Eventually we are going to have have very few people on Permanent, fully entitled employment. We will have Casual, Full Time Casual, Part time Casual employees all without the benefits and Conditions our Fathers and Grandfathers worked so hard for.

Below are just some of the Benefits that people will be throwing away bit by bit, piece by peice...

• Long Service Leave
• Redundancy payments
• Accumulative Sick Leave
• Sick Leave and Sickness benefits
• Superannuation (unless you pay it out of your own pocket of course)
• Holiday Pay and Holiday Leave Loading
• Public Holiday's
• Penalty Rates for working Overtime and working Sunday's and weekends

And these are only the Award Wage Benefits I can think of just off the top of my head. I haven't even started on Work place Safety, Working Conditions or even Unfair Dismissal.

Quotes from ACTU News

The Prime Minister would have us believe that industrial relations is the most pressing economic issue facing the nation. He argues that the changes will create more jobs, lift productivity and boost wages. This is an exceptionally feeble argument, lacking substance and credibility.

Australia is currently in its 14th consecutive year of economic growth - a historically significant period of economic expansion, low inflation,
productivity growth and low unemployment.

Employers are not going to let their workers keep all these Benefits, not when they don't have too. And why would they when they can just as easily get someone else to do the job?

In the USA, the richest Nation in the world they don't get Four weeks holiday a year like we do in Australia, they are lucky if they get Two!! Let alone a extra couple of hundred for Holiday Leave Loading. In fact the whole culture of Tipping in the US is because the Minimum Federal wage is so low that people have to rely on Tips if they want to live anywhere above a mere subsistence level! ...

The current advertising campaign undertaken by the Unions is to make people aware of just how unfair and how much of a backward step these new Independent Employee Contracts are. It will reduce the average living Standard of the Lower Income bracket substantially.

But of Course the Howard Government will try to tell the public different. With it's spending over 20 million dollars of the Taxpayers money to Advertise, (read spin) and sell, these Draconian and completely unfair Laws. Which in itself is a disgrace, imagine what 20 million dollars could do if it were invested into Schools or Hospitals rather than Advertising Executives pockets. Like John Singleton hasn't got enough money.

Here's the thing, if you want to be an Independent Contractor then good for you, it can be a good thing. But it should not be up to our Government to Force all the lower Wage earners in our country into situations where they have no Rights, No Benefits and no bloody money in their pockets.

George Bush's War! Part 2 - Karl Rove.

If there were a single thing that exemplifies the way the current White House Administration operates, it would be the case of Karl Rove and how he leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative to the media.

This was done because her Husband had the courage to tell the truth about the Lies that were being told to the public so that the current President could wage his War.
This cowardly act of betrayal put her life and the lives of many of the people she worked with in danger.
Make no mistake, this is the work of those that sit in the highest offices of the White House. Every single step in this rancid tale is morally and many cases Legally, wrong.

In short this is what happened. As we all know, the President has his eye on the vast Oil supply's of the Middle East. In particular, Iraq, the Second largest known Oil supply in the world.
After 911 the President saw the perfect opportunity to invade Iraq and have a permanent foot in the door, and to cause enough damage to the country that they would be forever paying for reconstruction. Reconstruction by a Construction company that the Vice President was the CEO of incidentally, and with the only other Tenders allowed being from the other invading country's, this in itself is a multi Billion dollar coup.
A war, which I was certain before of, but of which we now know as fact, was started on a series of Lies.

While telling the the American public and the rest of the world that Saddam played an important part in 911,and that he had Biological and Chemical WMD's (not to mention his advanced stage of building Nuclear weaponry) all ready to go. One of his Ambassadors, a Mister Joseph Wilson actually told the truth and said that Bush had exaggerated the Nuclear capabilities of Iraq...Bloody cheek said the White House staff, so one of the Presidents top advisers sought to discredit Joe Wilson, and I suspect to bully and to quite possibly, out right blackmail him.
The main suspect, Karl Rove, did this by telling, New York Times reporter Judith Miller that Joe Wilson's wife was an undercover CIA operative. A Spy.

More from Yahoo News

The leak investigation stems from a July 2003 syndicated column by Robert Novak identifying Plame as a CIA operative. Plame is married to former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who says his wife's identity was disclosed to discredit his assertions that the Bush administration exaggerated Iraq's nuclear capabilities to build the case for war.

As far as I'm concerned this is one of the most dishonourable actions a man could possibly do. Joe Wilson's Wife was doing a dangerous and a most patriotic job for the US. She was putting her life on the line each day for her country and what did she get in return? Not a Thank You but a complete betrayal by the very people who most likely talked her into spying for them in the first place. As soon as it was convenient they just shafted her. Considering the fact that she had nothing to do with what her husband was doing at the time it was an absolute despicable and completely cowardly act.

I've no doubt whatsoever ever that Bush knew what was happening. but of course, they want the Oil, and damm anyone and anyones Family that may even think of getting in the way.

It's a National disgrace and will be even more so if Karl Rove and his flunky Vice President Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby do not go to Jail for a long time.

Tom DeLay.

Republican caught with hand in the cookie jar.

It really should come as no surprise to anyone that a high ranking Politician has been caught diverting funds. I mean, it's what these people do. They are there to make as much money as they possibly can, while they can. And if they gotta bend a few rules on the way, well, hey, you can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs.

DeLay, who represents a Houston area district, had been House majority leader from 2002 until last week's indictment.
DeLay stepped down from his House leadership position last week after a different Travis County grand jury indicted him on conspiracy charges in connection with the illegal funnelling of corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. Because of House Republican rules, he quit the leadership post.
He was able to keep his congressional seat Texas law prohibits corporate political contributions.

The latest indictment, from a grand jury whose term began Monday, came just hours after DeLay's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the original case.

Quotes and Picture from Yellow Dog Blog.
More on the Story from Reuters.uk

The question arises, why do we, the Voting Public, put up with dishonesty from our Elected Officials?

Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine?....What is it?
It's Magic Water, Pyramid healing, Alternative Medicines, Faith healing, Homoeopathic Medicine, Magnets and a lot of the Herbs, Miracles and Cure alls that flood the market these days. Some good, some bad and some completely outrageous

On a Forum based in England I used to post on quite regularly, there were several people who would defend this malarkey to the end. Not once could they provide any evidence what so ever that it worked, but they still got quite annoyed and defensive if anyone ever even hinted at the fact that it may not work, let alone call it an out and out scam.

Here's a quick out line of what Homoeopathic Medicine is and how it is made.

The preparation of homoeopathic medicines consists of repeated dilution and shaking called 'potentisation'. Homoeopaths believe this process renders the remedies capable of stimulating the body's natural healing forces. After the 12th dilution, there is no discernible chemical trace of the original substance left in the medicine. Scientists question how this highly diluted substance could retain a biological effect, but homoeopaths believe the preparation retains the qualities of the original substance.
Although a precise mechanism for how homoeopathy works has not yet been scientifically established, there have been some studies that support the efficacy of homoeopathy, while others have not been able to confirm its effectiveness for any specific medical condition.

Quotes from this page.

So, what they are saying here is that the original element has been diluted to such a degree that there is nothing left of it!...But apparently the water or substance that contains the medicine some how retains the memory or the original substance!

Homoeopathic products are made from minerals, botanical substances, and several other sources. If the original substance is soluble, one part is diluted with either nine or ninety-nine parts of distilled water and/or alcohol and shaken vigorously (succussed); if insoluble, it is finely ground and pulverised in similar proportions with powdered lactose (milk sugar). One part of the diluted medicine is then further diluted, and the process is repeated until the desired concentration is reached. Dilutions of 1 to 10 are designated by the Roman numeral X (1X = 1/10, 3X = 1/1,000, 6X = 1/1,000,000). Similarly, dilutions of 1 to 100 are designated by the Roman numeral C (1C = 1/100, 3C = 1/1,000,000, and so on). Most remedies today range from 6X to 30X, but products of 30C or more are marketed.

The bottom line of the above quote will give some perspective on the amounts of the substance in the "Medicine" we are referring too... A 30X dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times!


Quack Watch.org

I have no idea why people spend large amounts of money on some of these "Cure Alls" but having said that, I have no doubt that in some case they do work. Even if only as a Placebo. But the thing is, the people that peddle the wares are Liars and Hypocrites, make no mistake, they have your wallet in mind...Not your good health.

Bali Bombing

As an Australian, and one who has lived in Newcastle NSW for many years and several generations I just wanted to send my sincere condolences and Sympathy's to any friends and Family that may have either lost a loved one or who has had a friend or relative injured during the recent blast.

On Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is an attorney, who has turned into a professional political commentator for the conservative Christian Right. She is a syndicated columnist, and has written a couple of political commentary books. Anne is quite the viscous Right Winger, who's view of the world is one of hate (and ignorance). She appears frequently on TV in the US.

The day after the World Trade Centre and Pentagon were attacked Anne wrote in her column "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." A week later, Coulter was at it again: "Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from Arabic countries leave".

To be honest, I think she is a hate filled ignoramus. I remember watching a clip off the net a few months ago where Anne said that the Canadians had gone to Vietnam and when corrected on this outstanding mistake she argued with the presenter!
Everyone makes mistakes, but it really shows your true colours when you cannot accept that you may be wrong.
Ann Coulter appears to be so full of reactionary hate that I believe she would choose "A" for the sole reason that "B" may be popular with the Left. She would make the choice irrespective of whether it would be the correct choice to make or not.
Her political view is blinded by hate.

anticoulter

An Analysis of Anne Coulters writing

Video of Anne Arguing Canada was in Vietnam War (scroll down page to find it)