Blog Cabin: Crazy New Order Archives

November 09, 2006

Yeah Baby

I chose not to hold my breath before, during, or even after the elections. I find it almost as hard to believe that the Dems have total control of Congress as I do that, once in awhile still, George W. Bush is president. But now that George Allen has conceded, all I can say is "macaca ha ha."

The GOP hubris bubble has burst and its time for them to wipe those smiles off their faces, eat some humble pie...and start shredding documents faster than Kenneth Lay.

Posted by MJuhre at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)

Rumsfeld's Replacement's Connection to Electronic Voting Issue?

[Still no time for blogging myself, but forwarding of potentially useful info? Yes, on occasion. No idea how important it is that this former DCI who will become Sec. of Defense has ties to Bob Ney and the shadowy world of HAVA and black-box voting, but worth a look... ]

FORWARDED BY BLACKBOXVOTING.ORG

Rumsfield replacement (Robert Gates) was director of voting company
by Bev Harris

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfield will resign, reportedly to be replaced by former CIA director Robert Gates.

Gates was on the board of directors of VoteHere, a strange little company that was the biggest elections industry lobbyist for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). VoteHere spent more money than ES&S, Diebold, and Sequoia combined to help ram HAVA through. And HAVA, of course, was a bill sponsored by by convicted Abramoff pal Bob Ney and K-street lobbyist buddy Steny Hoyer. HAVA put electronic voting on steroids.

You can find copies of the VoteHere lobbying forms here: http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/m_opr_viewer.exe?DoFn=0

I can't get them to save to pdf, perhaps you can. Enter search terms in both "registrant" and "client" fields and put in terms "Rhoads" "Livingston" and "Votehere" (one at a time.). Then look at the gravy train while it was in the process of derailing American democracy.

I first became acquainted with VoteHere when I met a source, Dan Spillane, who is the wonderful guy that identified the Diebold source code modules for me after I found the Diebold files. He is the person who introduced me, and subsequently everyone else, to the odd role of The Election Center and R. Doug Lewis in the elections industry.

Spillane also filled me in on The Livingston Group, VoteHere lobbyists, run by Bob Livingston -- the fellow that Hustler publisher Larry Flynt outed during the Bill Clinton blow job days. Larry Flynt offered a million dollars to anyone who could locate a Republican congressman committing adultery, and out popped peccadilloes by Livingston.

Livingston couldn't live that one down, so he resigned his post as House Speaker-Elect and became a lobbyist -- but that's not all! He also launched a group called "Center for Democracy" which was going to "monitor elections." This group also featured several good old boys from the tobacco industry and some mining companies.

Former VoteHere test engineer Dan Spillane was looking into all this because he had been fired after he questioned the certification process on a touch-screen system in which he had identified 250 flaws. It was way back in November 2002 that Spillane told me, "The voting machine industry is a house of cards. And the certification and testing process is the bottom card in the house of cards."

BUT DON'T RUN OUT OF THE ROOM TO TAKE A SHOWER YET. There's more.

VoteHere was a company shilling cryptographic solutions and filled with NSA types (another director was Admiral Bill Owens, another crony of Rummy, Perle and Wolfowitz). For some reason this company claims it was unable to prevent itself from being hacked. In this alleged hack, VoteHere claims that someone stole their source code. Said source code was offered to me in October 2003, an obvious attempt at entrapment which I refused.

Nevertheless, VoteHere claimed to the media that its master security experts had supposedly "tracked" the hacker and had identified the hacker as an activist in the election reform community.

For some reason, it was decided that I should be investigated in connection with this "hack" of VoteHere -- nevermind that I can't remember how to change the password on my own laptop. Therefore I was interviewed by the Secret Service several times about this. Curiously, they never seemed to ask any questions about VoteHere, only my role in finding the Diebold files and publishing the Diebold memos.

This nonsense eventually culminated in a gag order and a letter from the U.S. Attorney to appear in front of a federal grand jury with information on all the visitors to the Black Box Voting Web site. (As if they couldn't get that in less dramatic ways in post-Patriot Act America). Attorney Lowell Finley (now with http://www.VoterAction.org ) went to bat for me on this. A reporter named George Howland from the Seattle Weekly also got wind of it. When it hit the press, and with Lowell Finley's help, their harassment of me stopped.

VoteHere never sold any voting machines that I can find, but apparently did set up some deals to embed its cryptography into some voting systems. We found memos in the Diebold trash about VoteHere's crypto-crap, and Maryland Director of Elections Linda Lamone shows up in VoteHere-related letters. Sequoia Voting Systems signed an agreement with VoteHere, but its not clear to me whether they ever did anything about it.

Robert Gates stepped away from VoteHere shortly before he showed up in Chapter 8 of my book, Black Box Voting, in a short bit about the VoteHere company history. You can read that here: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

I don't know about you, but I'd rather use a paper, pencil, and count by hand at the polling place than have former CIA director Robert Gates fooling around with my vote.

But that's just me.

-- Bev Harris
Founder, Black Box Voting

P.S. Since the HBO special, I have plenty of moral support, but even after the Secret Service interviews and all the rest of the nonsense my husband and I have had to put up with, there are others who have had it rougher.

I'd like you to take a moment to visit this Web site -- not affiliated with Black Box Voting -- to meet one of the heroic citizens in this movement who has faced the most brutal retaliation of all:
Stephen Heller. If you saw the HBO film "Hacking Democracy" you may remember a scene where I am chastising Diebold for lying about correcting problems with its product. I refer to "Release Notes." Those notes came from a source. Stephen Heller is being threatened with up to five years in prison for allegedly leaking me those documents. Kevin Shelley then decertified Diebold, and recommended criminal prosecution of Diebold. Diebold was never prosecuted, but Stephen Heller is being prosecuted RIGHT NOW. I hope you will donate to his defense. If not for citizens like him, where would your vote be now?

To contribute to Stephen Heller's defense fund:
http://www.hellerlegaldefensefund.com/

* * * * *

Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections watchdog group supported entirely by citizen donations. We refuse funds from any vendor or vested interest.

To support Black Box Voting: click to http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html or send to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98055

Posted by MJuhre at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2006

Turkey, Iran Team up to Attack the "Other" Iraq

As if there weren't enough going on in the Middle East already, the other, other, other war in the region may be heating up.

Who knew?

The Northern, Kurdish-controlled section Iraq, a region so relatively stable that it bills itself to tourists as "The Other Iraq", has been bombed by Turkey and Iran for at least four days without so much as a peep from the American press.

"Scores of Kurds have fled their homes in the northern frontier region after four days of shelling by the Iranian army. Local officials said Turkey had also fired a number of shells into Iraqi territory," writes the the UK's Guardian newspaper today.

Turkey, ostensibly United States's greatest ally in the Middle East, and Iran, ostensibly the United States's greatest enemy, have teamed up to shell the country that the United States is ostensibly trying to build and stabilize. Of more concern is that Turkey and Iran appear poised to cross the Iraqi border to attack the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) , according to reports filed by the Turkish Daily News.

"Citing a statement released on the official Web site of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the [private Doğan News Agency (DHA)] agency said that Turkish and Iranian artillery units have been firing on the mountainous area since Saturday. The statement said the Turkish and Iranian units have been firing simultaneously, alleging that both Turkish and Iranian troops might cross the Iraqi border -- an apparent reference to a cross-border operation on the PKK camps."

In an unrelated(?) event, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Güler and Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, met in Ankara Tuesday to discuss expanding natural gas exports and other energy contracts. (See The New Anatolian)

Posted by MJuhre at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2006

Bill Clinton Bitch-slaps Lieberman, As Key Republicans Cozy Up

After supporting Joe Lieberman (though not very visibly) in the Connecticut Democratic senatorial primary, Bill Clinton gave JoeMentum a good bitch slapping on ABC's Good Morning America yesterday, saying he is in League with Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.

Trancript:

JAKE TAPPER (ABC): Joe Lieberman said that this was basically liberals in the party purging moderates such as him and you out of the party, and that there needs to be a voice for more moderate national security voices.

CLINTON: Well, if I were Joe and I were running as an independent that’s what I’d say, too. But that’s not quite right. That is, there were almost no Democrats who agreed with his position, which was I want to attack Iraq whether or not they have weapons of mass destruction. And his position was the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld position.

Watch the video at Think Progress. (If link goes dead, hear an archived audio clip (sourced from the Rachel Maddow Show).

Bill must have felt some pleasure letting Lieberman hang out to dry. In the six years since Bush's black ops team kept him from the Vice President's office, Lieberman has not once criticized the Bush administration for its deceptions that led to the Iraq War, but back in 1998, he chastised Clinton, saying he was immoral and abused his office. Back then, Lieberman took Clinton to task over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, saying "such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral."

With a wink to Lieberman, Bush and RNC Chair refuse to endorse GOP candidate.

Clinton's cold shoulder to Lieberman comes as Republicans warm up to the senator by refusing to support the Republican challenger.

This week, White House Tony Snow tripped over himself attempting to explain why Bush is not endorsing the Republican Connecticut senatorial candidate, Alan Schlesinger, leading some to speculate that Lieberman might actually make a switch to the Republican party. (Audio clip sourced from the Rachel Maddow Show.

Last week on Chris Matthews's "Hardball" (MSNBC), Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mellman also refused to endorse the GOP candidate. (Audio clip sourced from the Rachel Maddow Show.

Posted by MJuhre at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2006

Surprise Suprise -- NYC’s only GOP Congressman is as Corrupt as the Rest

Vito Fossella Rep. (R- Bay Ridge and Staten Island) may picture himself as a kindly friend of children and Muppets.

But in reality, Fossello increasingly resembles so many of his Republican Congressional peers as multiple corruption scandals gain steam.

Yesterday, the Daily News reported Fossello changed his story regarding accusations he violated House rules by using more than $160,000 in taxpayer money for his reelection campaign. The "Muppetgate" allegations center around Fossella's using pictures of himself sitting with Sesame Street’s Elmo in conjunction with a direct-mail campaign promotion.

If misusing taxpayer money for a political campaign isn’t bad enough, The Brooklyn Papers recently reported that Fossella misused more than $52,000 of his campaign money for pleasure trips to Las Vegas and a skiing trip to Colorado, took $16,000 in gifts from political consultants and corporate sponsors for “fact-finding missions” to such places as the Turnberry Isle Resort in Florida.

One such political consultant, the now disgraced Jack Abramoff, hosted a $1000 per-ticket fundraiser for Fossella.

Democratic candidate Stephen Harrison hopes this fall to unseat Fossella, who thus far has refused to debate the challenger. I don’t know much about Harrison, but here’s hoping he is part of a 2006 Democratic Revolution that takes back the House and leaves New York City with 100% Democratic Congressional representation.

(Additional links to the above stories and more can be found at Harrison’s website).

Warrior Souls

I debated momentarily on whether to categorize this nod to Gawker.com as a "Light Hearted Crap" or "Crazy New Order" post. Its connotations a la The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire led me to choose the latter.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2006

Lieberman's Phone Call From the 'Architect' of Bush's 2004 Reelection

Yesterday, I began a post with "If Connecticut voters needed any more evidence that Joe Lieberman is not a 'true Democrat'..." Well, we didn't need more but we got it anyway.

Reuters reports that Chief GOP strategist Karl Rove (I know that's not his title anymore, but let's get real) called Lieberman on election day to "wish him well," though he denied offering Lieberman help from the White House.

Yesterday, ABC News's George Stephanopoulos wrote on his blog that source told him Rove called Lieberman and said "The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do."

----------------------------------
On the lighter side, Liebermania knows where it's at.

Posted by MJuhre at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)

Cheap Lieberman Website Not Hacked

Joe Lieberman’s accusation that Lamont supporters "hacked his site" may have been more than just a disingenuous, if ill-fated ploy to garner last-minute voter sympathy.

While no evidence has been produced to support the accusation, which still appears on Lieberman’s site as of today, Joe Lieberman might really believe his site fell victim to a vicious denial-of-service (DoS) attack.

But only because he doesn’t know anything about managing a website, bandwidth limitations or, for that matter, the difference between bloggers and hackers (the latter of whom, of course, should really be referred to as crackers -- and I ain’t talking about Pat Robertson -- but I digress ).

Investigators of the story point to evidence suggesting that the number of Internet requests to Joe2006.com simply exceeded the bandwidth allotted to the site, which was hosted on a $14.95/mo account at “myhostcamp.com.”

I suspect Joe and some members of his team have also made a fallacious mental connection between the buzz over their campaign being "blogged down" and activities performed by black hat hackers.

See: "Lieberman's 'hack' was no such thing"
"Joe Lieberman Website May Not Have Been Hacked - Report"

Posted by MJuhre at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2006

Shia Leaders Propose Dismantling of Iraq

Civil war? What civil war?

The Bush administration’s blind insistence that Iraq will not erupt in civil war received two major blows this week.

A political bloc of Shia Muslim leaders say that a plan to secede from the new Iraqi government and divide the country along religious lines is the only way to avert sustained sectarian violence. See article in the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, on August 7, General George Casey admitted to ABC news that Iraq is poised for civil war, saying “A countrywide, a threat of a countrywide civil war, I think that, I would say, that probably is the most significant threat right now.”

Posted by MJuhre at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

Joe Lieberman Needs to Step Aside

If Connecticut voters needed any more evidence that Joe Lieberman is not a "true Democrat," as many have exclaimed, or, at the very least, is not loyal to his party or his constituents, they got it when JoeMentum confirmed last night that he would run as an "Independent Democrat," against Ned Lamont and the Republican nominee to hold onto his Senate seat.

"For the sake of our state, our country, and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand," said Lieberman about his failed primary bid (emphasis mine).

Conventional wisdom says that Lieberman's move will split the Democratic vote and ensure a Republican victory. While the November election could prove the exception to the rule (since many Connecticut Republicans support Lieberman and, so far, the likely GOP nominee for the seat, Alan Schlesinger, isn't gathering much steam), Lieberman's willingness to risk a GOP victory in Connecticut and retention of the Senate in 2006 just proves that he cares more about himself than his party or his constituents.

Lieberman is calling himself an "Independent Democrat." There is no such thing.

Sadly, the political reality on the ground in the modern United States is that a candidate either represents a party or is an "Independent." Lieberman's "Independent Democrat" nomenclature is window dressing for the kicking and screaming child within.

Add this childishness to Lieberman's decision to support Bush's Iraq policy and you get what Lieberman himself ironically dubbed "JoeMentum" -- a downward spiral to political loss.

Many politicians cross party lines on an issue here and there, and are not tarred and feathered for it. Much has been made of Lieberman's unwavering support for Bush's Iraq policy and it is true that his support for a policy that is acutely unpopular with Democrats and, increasingly, with voters of all parties was, in the end, beyond the bounds of political safety.

But his real death knell, of course, came from the venom Dems felt over Joe Lieberman's complacent willingness to offer a reacharound to the same man who, in 2000, unapologetically reamed him out of his just claim to the vice presidency.

There's the rub. To many Democrats, Lieberman simply looks like a lapdog to the GOP. To appear as Bush's little Dem bitch in a time when the GOP's lockstep unity has marginalized anyone left of Dick Cheney, is unacceptable. The majority of Connecticut Democrats last night made it clear that they want their party and their representative to face the GOP head on, not prone. That the newcomer Ned Lamont better reflects their ideals, values, and interests than does Joe Lieberman.

But Lieberman just doesn't care. He is thinking not of his constituents, but of himself. He just wants to keep his Senate seat, probably to foster his delusion that one day he can still win the presidency, or at least the vice presidency.

Joe, if you want to prove to your accusers that they're wrong -- take one for the team. Bow out gracefully, go out with some dignity and complete your corrupt bargain with Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.

Posted by MJuhre at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2006

Goodbye US Bill of Rights -- Hello Sinclair Lewis

It can't happen here. "Or can it?" wondered writer Sinclair Lewis in 1935.

A Bush administration plan for special military courts would give Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld the power to make ANY crime committed by a US citizen fall under military jurisdiction.

Goodbye Amendments 5 and 6 to the US Constitution, which of course are two of the ten Amendments we call the Bill of Rights.

See the Washington Post article, "White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts."

------------------------
Amendment 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Posted by MJuhre at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2006

The War on Science: Researcher Tells Right Wing to Stop Misusing Study

"I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming," writes Peter Doran in today's New York Times. The associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago has an Op Ed piece telling right-wing, anti-science nuts to stop misusing his research and is name to support their incorrect assertion that the evidence of global warming is "bad science."

Doran's words are a welcome defensive salvo against the War on Science.

---- [excerpts] ----

"...[M]any news and opinion writers linked our study with another bit of polar research published that month... and erroneously concluded that the earth was not warming at all. 'Scientific findings run counter to theory of global warming,' said a headline on an editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune...

...Our results have been misused as 'evidence' against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel 'State of Fear' and by Ann Coulter in her latest book, 'Godless: The Church of Liberalism.' ...One recent Web column even put words in my mouth. I have never said that 'the unexpected colder climate in Antarctica may possibly be signaling a lessening of the current global warming cycle.' I have never thought such a thing either."

---- [end excerpt] ----

I have but one criticism. Doran waits until paragraph four to get to the point -- that his studies DO NOT refute global warming -- and instead opens with the background of his research. Personally, I would have led with the “stop misusing my research” angle and then given the background on the facts, if only because many readers skimming the paper might never make it to paragraph four before moving on and might come away with some vague notion about Antarctica being “warmer or cooler than it used to be” or something. But kudos, nonetheless.

Posted by MJuhre at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2006

Charles Barkley: “I Was a Republican Until They Lost Their Minds”

Does Barkley's rejection of the GOP suggest an overall turn of the tide in America? We can only hope.

Posted by MJuhre at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2006

I Want To See Ken Lay's Dead Body

It's been awhile -- I know. I've been off getting married and what not.

Y'know, for once I actually agree with the New York Post. Ken Lay surely had life insurance and, in this day and age, I don't know if I can believe he's dead until I see someone parades the photos of his body to the world, a la Abu Musab Al Zarqawi or Uday and Qusay Hussein.

"Lay’s death may save his family from ruin" - Financial Express

Posted by MJuhre at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)

June 08, 2006

Army Officer Calls Iraq War "Illegal" -- Refuses to Go

First Lieutenant Ehren Watada of Hawaii, described by the Honolulu Star Bulletin as a patriotic Eagle Scout who had hoped to make the Army his career, has become the first commissioned officer to refuse to fight in Iraq.

Watada said it was his duty not to serve in the Iraq war, calling it "morally wrong" and "illegal" (listen).

Watada, who is stationed at Fort Louis in Washington state, said that Bush administration claims over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction were exaggerated "to fit a policy that was already implemented prior to 9-11." He also called the "mistreatment of the Iraqi people a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare."

Watada does not claim to be a Conscientious Objector. He does not oppose all war, but said he would be willing to serve in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

"I wanted to be there for my fellow troops," he said, "but the best way was not to drop artillery and cause more death and destruction; it is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home."

Watada faces a possible Court Martial for desertion or missing troop movement.

Story links:

Newspapers:
Seattle Times

Honolulu Star Bulletin

Wires:
Associated Press

Al Jazeera

Blogs:

Seattlest

News Hounds (they watch FOX, so you don't have to!)

Posted by MJuhre at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)

Zarqawi Killed But Insurgent Bombings Continue

In case you only know the news that Zarqawi was killed...

CNN

Posted by MJuhre at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2006

666

June 6, 2006. George Bush knows what time it is! It may just be that he is the anti-Christ.

Posted by MJuhre at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2006

Bush Eliminates the SEC Disclosure Rules

Bush signed an "official memorandum" giving John Negroponte, who oversee the CIA and the NSA, the authority to waive SEC-required financial disclosures for companies that are working on secret projects for the government, Business Week reported Wednesday.

Now, I understand why the Bush administration wouldn't want its secret projects to become public via SEC filings, but um, generally a financial line item on an income statement does not disclose national security. What is concerning is, on the surface, this gives Negroponte (who, under Reagan, was heavily involved in America's covert and illegal war in Nicaragua) and by proxy (the financially savvy must forgive the pun), the Bush administration, the ability to authorize any company to withhold elements of its financials -- all they have to do is say that those items must remain secret for national security purposes. Can someone say Halliburton, for starters?

But this "official memorandum" baffles me. Forgive my lack of understanding of American civics, but what is this verses an "Executive Order" and what kind of power does it have? Is there any check against this administration.

Add this memo to the more than 750 Presidential signing statements Bush has tacked onto the laws passed by Congress (these statments basically say "I sign this law but am not bound to follow it") and you really have no Republic left. The American Empire has officially begun and has unofficially begun to fall.

I usually don't like simplistic visual parodies like this but these days we have no need for complex metaphors. It's finally most useful to aim low:

Posted by MJuhre at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2006

US Supplies 200,000 AK-47s to Terrorists

Approximately 200,000 AK-47 assault rifles that the US shipped to Iraqi security forces have disappeared and may have been smuggled to terrorists, The Daily Mirror has reported.

The four planeloads of weapons, which were to be secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia, have vanished. Though the weapons were supplied by the US Department of Defense, the delivery "was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders."

It just goes to show that private contractors really are more efficient than government beauracracies. In this case, it seems those contractors got paid by the US, and sold the weapons off on the side, perhaps to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "Al Qaeda in Iraq" group. Where can we buy stock in these contractors? An entity that knows how to double or triple the value of its own deals is an organization I want a piece of!

Posted by MJuhre at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

Fascism Finally Goes Mainstream

Okay, I'm not sure the headline for this blog post really works, but it's what popped into my head.

But this is very interesting to me. The fact that the NSA is trying "to create a database of every call ever made" in the United States doesn't really surprise me.

But who would guess that USA Today, the McDonald's of newspapers *, would have the scoop that the Bush adminstration has continually lied about its domestic spying program, let alone actually run the story?

Check it out here.

*[Anyone who thinks "the McDonald's of newspapers" is harsh or out of line should have seen the newspaper's "Mass Appeal" ad campaign, in which the news outlet compared itself to a hamburger...No I'm not kidding. USA Today! NSA Tomorrow! ... Okay that's just more nonsense]

Posted by MJuhre at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2006

Culture Freak Projected Terrorist Threat Calendar

It's starting! I made the above DHS threat-level prediction calendar on April 20, knowing it was only a matter of time before something would trigger me to post it.

Well, yesterday the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about terrorist surveillance of mass transit systems (aha, that's why there were so many cops around Penn Station yesterday -- I knew something was up!).

Why? Because people were arrested in Europe taking pictures at subway stations ... seven months ago.

The White House spin machine is gearing up for election year with a dirty-tricks rehearsal. Luckily, I don't think there is much that can keep their poll numbers from spinning out of its continual downward spiral. Oh. That is, unless someone in the administration gets the idea to nuke Los Angeles and blame Iran for it. Something like that doesn't altogether out of the question. (I'm glad the Houston Chronicle had the notion place the DHS warning under its "Political News" category (see image below), since clearly it is nothing more than political posturing.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke told the Associated Press Wednesday there was no specific or credible intelligence to indicate U.S. transit systems are being targeted, and he described the notice, sent Tuesday, as a routine reminder for transit authority operators, state security advisers and police to remain on guard.

Uh huh. Ya know what else happened yesterday? The United States lost its death penalty case against 9/11 plotter Zacharias Moussaoui. Moussaoui, the only person to be charged in connection with 9/11, received a life sentence instead.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2006

Bush Administration Plame Game Undermined Iran Intelligence

Yesterday on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Washington correspondent David Shuster confirmed rumors that Valerie Plame had been working on Iran nuclear proliferation intelligence before she was outed by the Bushies, and that there are now hints of a future Rove indictment.

See the video here at The Center for American Progress.

Posted by MJuhre at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

Colbert Coup Leaves Press Corps Cold

If you somehow missed Stephen Colbert tearing the ass out of George Bush and the press corps at this year's annual White House [Radio and Television] Correspondents Dinner, go to ThankYouStephenColbert.org to see Colbert's address in three parts (if you're pressed for time -- watch part 2).

The same group that, two years ago, laughed with George Bush at his outrageous joke ("Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere!"), now laughed at Bush as Colbert lampooned the president and his administration.

But when Colbert turned his jokes on the journalists themselves, their reaction was more muted. While you could always some laughter after each joke, much of Colbert's "praise" for the journalists didn't sit well.

"Over the last five years you people were so good over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, [and] the effects of global warming -- we Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out."

The press is still trying to figure out how to cover a roast that focused on them.

The Washington Post wrote that Bush and company were none amused by the Colbert's satirical, truth-to-power speech. It also said that Colbert "made no friends in the crowd when he advised them to remember the rules of covering the White House: 'The president makes decisions . . . the press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions.' In your spare time, he advised them, 'write that novel you got kicking around in your head -- you know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction.'"

Posted by MJuhre at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2006

New Film Focuses on Homeless Iraq War Vets

This is a theatrical trailer for "When I Came Home," an independent film about homeless Iraq War veterans
(there are now more than 500, according to the film maker). At least one of the men the filmmaker interviewed has since committed suicide.

I'm posting it just because I think it is an important issue that needs as much publicity as it can get.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2006

Snow Job

It's official.

Tony Snow, the journalist-turned-speechwriter and media affairs specialist for George Bush I, turned-Fox News personality, has turned his back on journalism once again, in order to face the White House press corp.

OK, that paragraph was a bit much. But it's the kind of crap that some editors I've worked for love. But anyway.

According to his Fox News bio, Snow has a more eclectic professional and personal background than one might imagine. He plays several musical instruments and is also an advocate for the mentally ill (which, I have to admit, is not typical of Republicans -- I'm guessing he has a personal connection to someone with a mental illness? That's usually the only thing that will make Republican's budge on social issues. But, I really don't know.)

A friend questioned whether this is the first time a broadcast journalist has been chosen as White House spokesman. I don't know the answer but will be seeking one.

I must say that this is the first time I've heard of someone going full circle twice: from hack to flack, back to hack, and then back flack again. And, of course, in a few years he'll probably be back at FOX as a pundit.

Good night and good luck.

Posted by MJuhre at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

Axis of Execution

The United States ranks fourth in the world in state-sponsored executions, following China, Iran, Saudi, according to a report released by Amnesy International.

(See Reuters article).

Posted by MJuhre at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

Today's Needless 'Cartoon'

Actually, last week's... but time is short these days.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2006

Former Asst. Attorney General Chastises Washington Post's Coverage of Bush Leak

Duke Law Professor and former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Walter Dellinger wrote a scathing rebuke to an April 9 Washington Post editorial entitled "A Good Leak," which defended George Bush's 'declassification' (leak) of portions of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, that bolstered the President's desire to attack that country.

"We don't know exactly what happened in this instance, and we don't know to what extent previous administrations engaged in similar behavior, but we should know this: No anonymous, one-sided release of misleadingly selective parts of a report deserves the accolade "A Good Leak."

Posted by MJuhre at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2006

Berating Bush

A North Carolina real estate broker criticized President Bush at a town-hall meeting at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte yesterday.

“While I hear you talk about freedom. I see you assert your right to tap my telephone. To arrest me and hold me without charges,” said Taylor.

To this, Bush simply responded, “yeah” and, a few seconds later, proceeded to interrupt Taylor with a joke to get laughs and claps from the crowd. He did let Taylor finish, however, and even told those booing Taylor to be quiet and let him speak.

Taylor when on to say “I have never felt more ashamed of nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington....I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself, inside yourself.”

To this Bush responded “would I apologize for that? The answer is absolutely not.”

Of course, none of this should be altogether surprising. But it is interesting that Bush doesn’t even need to feign humility. He can basically just say, “yeah I’ll tap your phone, bitch. Whatchoo gonna do?” and receive rounds of gleeful applause.

See the video here in WMV format or, if you can't view that format, go to BradBlog.com for a Flash version.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2006

Hammer Falls - Tom Delay to Resign Amid Scandal

Posted by MJuhre at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2006

Jack Abramoff's White Supremacist Ties

It just gets weirder. Yet, sadly, when I reflect on life in the 1980s, it all makes so much sense.

Back when he was a Hollywood producer, GOP slime lobbyist Jack Abramoff did all he could to to keep his films clean. An observant Orthodox Jew, Jack tried to insert good old American values into his final product.

For example, When he made the Reagan-era, anti-commie classic "Red Scorpion" starring Dolf Lundgren, Jack insisted that "obscenity and profanity" be barred from the screen.

Unfortunately for Jack's traditional values, "fuck-you-asshole" style dialogue was an accepted, and expected element of trashy 80s action flicks. The pressures of Abramoff's own beloved, free-market capitalism eventually forced him to cave.

Corporate obscenity and profanity prevailed, and in more ways than one.

Filmed in South Africa occupied Namibia, Red Scorpion spouted not only an an anti-Soviet message, but equated the Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and other members of the anti-Apartheid movement with a Russian plot against the good ... eh ... white-supremacist government of South Africa.

In fact, according to former South African spy Craig Williamson, Red Scorpion was funded by the South African military as part of an intelligence project designed to sway world opinion against the anti-apartheid movement. Abramoff, it turns out, was the South African government's right-hand man in Washington.

So let's recap quickly shall we? Jack Abramoff, the founder of the Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment, worked for Nazis. This must be those shameful Hollywood values that the right wing always decries.

Read more in the Raw Story and the Mail and Guardian.

Posted by MJuhre at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2006

White House Fraudster Allen's Existence Erased

The Bush administration has vaporized Claude A. Allen. Usually I'm reluctant to invoke Orwell analogies for fear of sounding cliche.

Lucky for me, the Bush administration occasionally provides the mandate to do so.

Until sometime very recently, the biography of disgraced Bush policy adviser Claude Allen’s could be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/leadership/bio_10.html. Today, visiting that link results in a 404 (“no file found”) error page. Funny, administration bios 9 and 11 are online, but as far as can be determined now from the White House’s Web site, Claude Allen might never have worked there.

Fine.

One could easily make the argument that, since Allen abruptly left his $161,000 position as domestic policy adviser to President Bush in February, one month after being charged with defrauding a Target retail store, his bio would be pulled since he is no longer a White House employee.

The only problem with this argument is that, while Allen’s “bio_10.html” file is gone, the active page “bio_9.html,” is the bio of former FEMA director Joe Allbaugh, who left office in March 2003 and has been succeeded twice.

So, as uninteresting as Allen’s White House bio may be (at least, compared Allen’s emerging profile as a man who defrauded at least 25 stores of more than $5000), here is our screen capture and cached version of that page.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Posted by MJuhre at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2006

Update to Yesterday's Post

If you read yesterday's post, U.S. Top Envoy to Iraq Hints at "Civil War", go back and see the update at the end. Today Borzou shed new light on the key question I raised, before I even had a chance to ask him (thanks Rachel Maddow!).

Posted by MJuhre at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006

U.S. Top Envoy to Iraq Hints at "Civil War"

Zalmay Khalilzad, the top U.S. envoy to Iraq and a former oil industry consultant who nine years ago "was chatting pleasantly over dinner with leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban regime about their shared enthusiasm for a proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline deal (Washington Post)," has finally dropped the bomb.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Khalilzad said "potential is there" for civil war in Iraq. (Why yes, I'd say Iraq has a LOT of potential for, and quite possibly an already kinetic, civil war.) "'We have opened the Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward?'" Khalilzad added.

"Khalilzad's central message that the United States cannot immediately pull out of Iraq jibed with Bush administration policy," writes Daragahi. "But he offered a far gloomier picture than assessments made in recent days by U.S. military spokesmen."

The question in my mind: Did Khalilzad here execute a slip of the tongue when faced with a skilled journalist? Or, has the Bush administration actually tapped "less visible" [to Joe America] executors of policy to create a slow leak of admission that Iraq is in a civil war (remember kids, "sectarian strife" is a synonym)?

Khalilzad has been a right-wing policy enforcer since the Reagan days and, as Daragahi notes, "is among the architects of the U.S. plan to reshape the political balance of the Middle East after the Sept. 11 attacks." (Here I'll read between the lines for you: Khalizad is a Neocon who, along with Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Willam Kristol, and others, sought the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as far back as 1997. FUN FACT: 1997 was the same year that Khalilzad, as a consultant for the American oil company Unocal, had dinner with Taliban leaders.)

Ahem. Anyway. Is the Bush administration on its way to "admitting" that Iraq is entering a civil war, in the only pussy ass way it can muster, by keeping mum while shielding itself with more vocal pawns of the policy arena?

I guess we will just have to keep our ears open to find out.

***UPDATE - March 8, 2006***

Today, Borzou was a guest on Rachel Maddow Show (which, if you haven't figured out by now, I listen to religiously). As though reading my mind, Rachel asked Borzou almost precisely my question above.

Maddow: [Citing recent comments from Donald Rumsfeld that the is media exaggerating the violence in Iraq and others who downplay the 'sectarian strife in Iraq] "Has the ambassador been toeing that sort of line that you've been hearing from other people in the administration until now?"

Daragahi: You know, actually the ambassador has not been. On the issue of a possible civil war in Iraq, he's been very frank from the very beginning of the latest crisis which broke out on the 22nd of February after the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samara. He's been quite open about the fact that the country was on the brink of a new level of conflict and that it had pulled back. So he's been very, very, very open about that.

Maddow: Do you sense that his assessment and his frankness about that -- about the risks in Iraq, and the level of violence there right now -- the fact that it does contrast so strongly with what we're hearing right now from Donald Rumsfeld and from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs [of Staff], do you sense that there's any political tension around that, around these two different lines coming from the administration?

Daragahi: Well I can only sort of speculate -- make an informed speculation -- but I think it is important to note that there are these upcoming discussions about ... whether it's possible to reduce troop levels this year, and I think there might be a little bit of worry on the part of certain people in the administration that, were the U.S. to reduce troops dramatically this year, that it might send the wrong message to Sunni arabs who are feeling increasingly besieged by the Shiite-controlled security ministies and might be inspired to form their own militias, which would be potentially another level of chaos and violence in this country -- that it would be an encouragement to the very very extremist Salafi insurgents such as Abu Musab Al Zarqawi who are looking for any signs of weakness in the U.S. And it might also be an encouragement to Tehran -- neighboring Iran definitely has plans on Iraq and its got a geopolitical vision that includes keeping strategic interest in Iraq -- so I'm sure there's a little bit of fear there.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

Reagan's Bartlett says Bush Doomed the GOP

"It is manifestly clear that Bush has not helped the Republican party politically and I think he is setting them up for a fall which we may see as early as the Congressional elections in November."

These are the words of conservative Bruce Bartlett, who worked in the Reagan White House and authored the 1981 bestseller Reaganomics. His new book, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, hit the shelves February 28.

Speaking today on Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow Show, Bartlett said Bush's poll numbers will take down some prominent Republicans in this year's elections.

"No Republican member of Congress is going to get reelected with those kinds of [Bush poll] numbers dragging them down, and I think its only a matter of time before the rats start deserting the sinking ship," he said.

The question, of course, is can those rats, who for six years have blindly and willfully stuck by their man Dubya, now shake themselves loose from the rat-trap that his his failed presidency? I sure hope not. That is neater and cleaner than I think is realistic.

Bartlett doesn't seem to think so either, though his book is designed to inspire debate among those in the right wing, in order to salvage the right's political gains and, he believes, the Reagan legacy, policy-wise.

Bush, said Bartlett, called Bush "a failure" and "just a partisan Republican" who "substituted partisan Republicanism -- that is, doing things to help his side, help his pals..." for real conservativism, based on "a desire for power." "But power for what purpose?" he asked. "For its own sake?"

Bartlett even had some strategic political advice for Democrats and said he'd take Bill Clinton over George W. any day:

Bartlett: In the last two election cycles they ran away from Bill Clinton which, whatever else you want to say about him, he was politically effective; he was politically popular, he won two national elections and he was the first Democrat to do that since Franklin D. Roosevelt. I think that getting back to what was good about Bill Clinton's policies might be the ticket for the Democrats to get back in power.

Maddow: At this point I feel, I almost feel like if Clinton could run again he'd win with about, you know, almost a Kim Jong Il proportion of the vote.

Bartlett: Well, if he was running against George W. Bush I'd vote for him.

Maddow: (laughing) I bet you never thought you'd say that before this predidency worked out this way.

Bartlett: (laughing) No I wouldn't!

Posted by MJuhre at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2006

Back To Reality

U.S. Says McCain Anti-torture Law does Not Apply at Gitmo

Washington Post

Posted by MJuhre at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2006

GOP Prepares Domestic Detention Centers

Abu Ghraib, U.S.A.?

Maybe. Is it any surprise that our Crazy New Order just gets crazier?

Consortiumnews.com, has pieced together two typical Bush-era slices of news that, together, illustrate a frightening (though perhaps not wholly unexpected) situation: the Republican-controlled U.S. government is making preparations to detain thousands of Americans at army bases across the country.

Crazy? Ten years ago...perhaps. Today? The possibility concerns me, but hardly seems inconceivable.

On February 6, Senator Lindsey Graham lent his support to Bush's illegal wiretapping program during a Senate Judiciary hearing (see partial transcript from the Washington Post, archived here if that link goes dead), telling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that he believed President Bush "has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements... I stand by this President’s ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that."

Fifth Column, the term for individuals working within a country to further an invading enemy's military and political aims, originated during the Spanish Civil War.

Of course, today, anyone who questions the actions of the Bush administration is labeled an Al Qaeda sympathizer.

So, add to this the news that, two weeks before Graham's statement, Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root unit announced it had landed a $385 million contract to build detention centers at unused U.S. military bases.

"The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs," reads a Halliburton press release (archived here, in case the link ever goes dead).

"New programs"? Uh...

"The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster. In the event of a natural disaster, the contractor could be tasked with providing housing for ICE personnel performing law enforcement functions in support of relief efforts."

Next Katrina, housing the homeless need not be a problem!

Keep your eyes and ears open.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2006

Rick Santorum's Questionable Bank Transaction

I've no time to conduct any substantial bloggery until at least another week (stay tuned for Culture Freak's March Madness). In the meantime, I suggest you read Will Bunch's investigative story on Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in The American Prospect.

***

With A Little Help From His Friends
Exclusive: An investigation into the private and public finances of Rick Santorum suggests that the Senate GOP might want to reconsider making him its ethics czar.

By Will Bunch

“In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to.”

-- U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good

***

Bunch took an honest look at Santorum's family and political budgets and discovered some things that could betray the Senator's dream to become the GOP's poster boy on ethics.

go to article

Posted by MJuhre at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

The Shot Heard Round the World and the One That Got Away

Cheney's Post-Traumatic Cocktail Disorder

February 16, 2006

Evil Dick: Trigger Happy Cheney Leaked Plame Name

First, read this (Then we connect the dots below):

Cheney's remark on leak may help Libby

By Pete Yost
Associated Press
Published February 16, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney disclosed Wednesday that he has the power to declassify sensitive government information, authority that could set up a criminal defense for his former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Cheney's disclosure comes a week after reports that Libby testified under oath that he was authorized by superiors in 2003 to disclose highly sensitive prewar information to reporters. The information, about Iraq and alleged weapons of mass destruction, was used by the Bush administration to bolster its case for invading Iraq.

When special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed Libby's assertions to a grand jury that he had been authorized by his superiors to spread sensitive information, the prosecutor did not specify which superiors.

But in an interview on Fox News, Cheney said there is an executive order that gives the vice president, along with the president, the authority to declassify information.

"I have participated in declassification decisions," Cheney said.

A legal expert, former Whitewater independent counsel Robert Ray, said Cheney's television appearance could foreshadow a Libby defense. He said Cheney's ex-chief of staff could point to authorization from his superiors as part of his strategy at trial.

On Oct. 28, Libby was indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about how he learned of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters about it.

A defense that Libby was authorized by superiors to leak sensitive data about Iraq would not appear to provide any help on the charge of making false statements.

But Ray noted that setting up defenses before a jury involves more than simply constructing legal arguments.

"You're trying to present a persuasive case that your client should not be found guilty," Ray said. "You're saying that even if my client did it, this is not a case that warrants conviction."

______________________________________________________________

Now Connect the dots:

1) Scooter Libby claimed under oath that he was authorized by superiors to leak classified information to reporters because:

2) Vice President Cheney (formerly Libby's boss) claims has "participated in declassifcation decisions" information in the past and that he has the authority to "declassify" information under an executive order by George Bush. In an exclusive interview with FOX News (duh), Britt Hume asked, "Have you ever done it ['declassify'] unilaterally?" Cheney responded "Uh, I don't wanna get into that." Ergo, Cheney's claim that he has authority to "declassify" is actually a claim that he has immunity to the crime of leaking classified information, since no official declassification procedures were followed when Cheney decided to "declassify" sensitive information to which he was privy.

3)This means Libby's lawyers are engineering a defense that Cheney gave the go ahead to leak Plame's name to reporters.

4) Ergo, Dick Cheney leaked Plame's name, and is ultimately responsible for deliberately exposing the non-official cover of a CIA officer (particularly heinous, perhaps, since it now appears that Plame had been working on Iran's nuclear proliferation issues, when Cheney outed her).

Yes, Cheney knew this was the perfect time to throw out his "I can declassify" claim. While the world is distracted by his having gone nuts with a shotgun ( after drinking beer -- remember he does have two DWI convictions under his belt, whereas Dubya only has one), hHis claim can now filter in, under the radar, to the back of the mind of the public consciousness, from which it might (might) later emerge with an air of legitimacy.

Had Cheney claimed "But I can declassify" two years ago, when Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame first went public and before the investigation that ultimately lead to Scooter Libby and Cheney's office, the American people might (might) have cried foul.

This will be interesting to watch...

Posted by MJuhre at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2006

Canadian Miners Rescued Thanks to Responsible "Refuge" Regulation

TORONTO (AP) - Seventy-two Canadian potash miners Monday walked away from an underground fire and toxic smoke on Monday after being locked down overnight in airtight chambers packed with enough oxygen, food and water for several days. (go to article).

Too bad their counterparts in West Virginia weren't so lucky.

Er, but it wasn't luck. In fact, Canada's trapped miners are alive and well because their government has regulations designed to protect miners from dying horrible deaths by requiring "refuge rooms" (see below)

Here in America, we know that business doesn't need to be told what to do by the government. So a few miners die here and there. There's always someone looking for a job in West Virginia.

Below are Canada's the "refuge room" regulations, (source: Canadian Legal Information Institute).

Refuge stations required
146 (1) An employer must construct, inspect, and maintain a refuge station every 300 m underground in an active working if a person has to travel more than 500 m to reach

(a) the mine exit; or

(b) if a shaft conveyance is used to reach the surface, a shaft station.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to those parts of a mine being developed by an adit or slope or during shaft development operations.

Construction and location of refuge stations
147 (1) An employer must ensure that a refuge station can be sealed to prevent the entry of gases and is constructed

(a) in competent, non-combustible rock;

(b) if it is a non-portable refuge station in a coal mine, of competent rock that may be coal, if there is an adequate non-combustible sealed barrier between the coal and the occupied space; or

(2) An employer must ensure that a refuge station has adequate drainage for liquid and gaseous waste.

(3) An employer must ensure that all parts of any compressed air lines, or water lines supplying the refuge station are made of non-combustible materials.

(4) An employer must ensure that a refuge station is located

(a) at least 100 m from a magazine, diesel fuel storage area, fuelling station or battery charging station; and

(b) where reasonably practicable, in intake air.

(5) An employer must ensure that a refuge station has on the outside of the refuge station, an audible signaling device and a sign identifying it as a refuge station.

Air supply in refuge station
148 An employer must ensure that a refuge station has an air supply that is adequate to sustain, for a minimum of 8 hours, the life of the maximum number of mine workers intended to be sheltered there, by ensuring that the refuge station is

(a) large enough to contain the required air supply; or

(b) equipped with a means of supplying the required air supply by way of compressed air or oxygen.

Equipment in refuge station
149 An employer must ensure that a refuge station is equipped with

(a) an oxygen and flammable gas detector;

(b) a manometer with a scale, mounted on the wall of the refuge station, capable of measuring the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the refuge station;

(c) an adequate supply of potable water that, if supplied in containers, is exchanged for fresh water at least once a month, or is kept until its expiry date if the supply is sealed and date- stamped by a water supplier.

(d) adequate toilet facilities, tables and benches;

(e) an adequate means of voice communication with the surface;

(f) adequate emergency lighting

(g) a Number 2 First Aid Kit as defined by the Occupational Health and Safety First Aid Regulations made under the Act;

(h) a basket-shaped stretcher with restraining straps;

(i) 2 blankets; and

(j) razors for shaving facial hair.

Requirement for refuge station procedures
150 An employer must ensure that procedures are prepared for the use of a refuge station during an emergency that include

(a) instructions for the conduct of persons in the refuge station;

(b) instructions for entering the refuge station in a manner that protects the health and safety of persons sheltered inside the refuge station; and

Procedures posted at refuge stations
151 An employer must ensure that the procedures required by Section 150 are posted in a conspicuous place on the inside and on the outside of each refuge station.

Permitted uses of refuge stations
152 An employer must ensure that a refuge station is not used for any purpose other than as a lunchroom, office, or storage area for first aid supplies and equipment, for the delivery of first aid, or as a place of refuge during an emergency.

Monthly inspection of refuge stations
153 At least once a month, an employer must ensure that a designated person at the mine inspects, maintains and re-supplies the refuge stations and prepares a report of the inspection and any maintenance performed.

Posted by MJuhre at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2006

Democracy on the March

George Bush and his merry band of Neocons should be proud.

Not only is democracy really taking hold in the Middle East (or "Southwest Asia, as the Pentagon would call it), but the newly empowered People of the region look set to vote in radical, right-wing theocracies that would make Pat Robertson proud (that is, of course, if that voting bloc weren't going to Hell for failing to recognize Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior).

Posted by MJuhre at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)

This is Why New York's Transit Workers Struck

--I aint got time to make this one pretty--

A speech by Republican NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg has vindicated suspicions raised by the Transit Workers Union Local 100.

" 'We must rein in health care and pension costs that have spiraled out of control,' said Bloomberg, calling on municipal unions to share the burden." (The New York Post)

The mayor says New York City's firefighters and policemen should have their healthcare benefits reduced to save the city money. Yes, those who the City and the Nation held up as heros during 9/11, many of whom now suffer serious illnesses from their exposure to burning toxins at the World Trade Center, are apparently a financial burden to the city. So now the Republicans say it's time to alleviate that burden (though perhaps not quite as drastically as Ford Motor Company did).

This is exactly what the TWU 100 said would happen. They knew that if the city reduced their pension and medical benefits, it would set a precedent that would leak into the lives of other city workers.

In addition, the union remembered, that the poor-mouthing Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) that wanted to reduce their benefits, is the same MTA that announced both a $1 billion-plus budget surplus and higher fare prices less than one year after it agreed to sell its Brooklyn real estate to the New York developer darling Forest City Ratner for $50 million, when other developers were offering three times as much.

I was silent last month on the transit strike, because I genuinely had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it totally sucked for me and many others who live or work in New York to suddenly have no transit service in the week leading up to Christmas. On the other, I grow weary of American corporations, and governments that are increasingly run by corporations, roll back the clock on employee rights. It's the nineteenth century again friends. More and more, employees are being squeezed to the poor house and the grave by billionaire Bloombergs, well-paid MTA managers, and filthy rich Fords.

The full reasons behind the strike were too complicated to get into here, and too complicated for me to say I fully supported TWU 100, or fully supported. Right or wrong, the TWU definitely lost the PR battle, as many New Yorkers screamed for their heads.

But to those who whine "those city workers have better benefits than me -- fuck them! -- I say this: so just because your job sucks, and you have to suck it up and eat it every day, so should everyone else? Should we all just suck it up and take it without a peep, until we're back to 14-hour days, 6 or 7 day weeks, and have no pension, no health benefits, and no job security? (Besides. Go land yourself a government job and then tell me you still whistle the same tune.)

Posted by MJuhre at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2006

Pentagon Rule Change Suggests Executions at Guantanamo

RULES COULD ALLOW GUANTÁNAMO EXECUTIONS (buried, but present in the Jan. 25, 2006 New York Times)

The Army has issued new regulations for carrying out military executions that could allow the death penalty to be administered at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 500 foreign terrorism suspects are being held. The regulations, issued last week, give the secretary of the Army authority to designate locations for military executions, replacing old rules that required them to take place at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. That could open the way for executions of detainees at Guantánamo, although none of the 10 prisoners there who have been charged with war crimes are facing capital punishment. A law signed by President Bush in December bars federal courts from hearing habeas corpus petitions from Guantánamo detainees challenging their confinement. Eugene Fidell, a Washington specialist in military law, said the Bush administration might have feared that bringing detainees to the United States for execution would allow them to challenge their sentences in federal court once they were no longer at Guantánamo. DAVID S. CLOUD (NYT)

Army may be preparing for execution (Houston Chronicle)

US army changes execution rules (BBC)

New US Army code hints executions at Guantanamo (Xinhua)

Posted by MJuhre at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2006

The Other Big Brother

It ain't just the NSA. Donald Rumsfeld's own Pentagon is spying on Americans, including a group exercising their Constitutional right of free assembly by protesting in front of Halliburton's headquarters.

Newsweek has the scoop.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2006

Feds Seek to Snoop on Google Searches

I still no time or quarter for real blogging, but if you missed this elsewhere, you won't miss it now. I can't even stop to consider the implications (except perhaps to say that maybe the Libertarians will finally abandon the GOP altogether?):

Google refuses White House search request
(The Guardian)

Google is resisting a White House subpoena to hand over the records of the searches internet users are asking it to perform, it has emerged. (continued)

More Articles:

BBC: Google data request fuels fears

San Jose Mercury News: Google is right to fight Justice Department

Americablog.com: Bush Justice Dept demands Google give feds EVERY search made in June and July 2005 on Google

Washington Post: Google Refuses Demand for Search Information

Posted by MJuhre at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2006

Trench Coat Mafia

or singing canary...

NEXT!

Posted by MJuhre at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2005

Hugo Chavez Welcomes Morales' Victory in Bolivia

Update to yesterday's post:

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez wrote Bolivia's new president, saying his victory represented "a real and true historical vindication" since it is the first time in 500 years that a native American (Morales is an Aymara) was the sovereign ruler of the area.

Check out the article at Venezuela Analysis.

Now it's time for me to join the rest of Manhattan in the walking commute. No time to blog about the transit strike. I have been ambivalent on the strike from the beginning and the more I read or hear about it, the more ambivalent I become. No doubt my feelings would be different if I had to walk two hours like some folks or, worse, be out of a job altogether.

Posted by MJuhre at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

As Fascism Rises in U.S., South Leans Further Left

Fostered by the popularity of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales's "Movement Toward Socialism" party appears to have captured the Bolivian presidency.

It has been a decade and a half since communism was supposedly defeated, many would argue, by the policies of the then most right-wing president ever, Ronald Reagan.

And yet, after a steady flirtation with capitalism throughout the Clinton 1990s, Latin America is going red again (and we ain't talking GOP red).

Curiously, this trend is a direct reaction to the policies of a U.S. president born again with fascist cravings that make Reagan look like FDR. The world has looked on for five years as Bush led his country, and thus the "free world" as they used to say (do we/can we still?), with a megolamaniacal hubris and disregard for democracy expected of Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin, but not a U.S. presisdent.

And so could it be that the domino effect the United States feared during the Cold War -- the idea that if one state fell to socialism (e.g. Venuzuela), nearby states might also fall, one after another (Boliva) unless America did drew lines in the sand (Guatamala - 1954, Chile - 1973, Nicaragua - 1980s) -- might now be a reality, and that the United States, of all actors, is actually to blame?

Perhaps in 20 years we can look back at history and make that determination. But shit, something major is happening. The "New World Order" of George Bush I has been amended a few times since it's product launch on March 6, 1991. Where it lands, nobody knows, but in the meantime, look for some good old fashioned coups and assasinations in Latin America (that is, if we can muster the resources, considering the current strain on our intelligence services).

Posted by MJuhre at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2005

Robert Novak Finally Flees to FOX, but Says Bush is a Liar

(Is it yet painfully clear that I've been too busy to do much paying attention to the world lately?)

So, on Dec. 14 Robert Novak said that Bush knows who the leaker is.

"I'm confident the president knows who the source is. I'd be amazed if he doesn't," Novak said at a Tuesday lunch address to the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh. "So I say, 'Don't bug me. Don't bug Bob Woodward. Bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is.'"

If this is the case, then Bush may be caught in yet another lie (sort of).

The following day, the White House team responded that they have no idea what Novak is talking about.

And then today, it is announced that Novak will leave CNN and go to FOX. So curious.

On the one hand, it's about time Novak officially joined GOP TV propaganda outlet known as FOX News. On the other, it is curious that Novak should end up joining Bush's cable-news mouthpiece just as he ends up on the Bushit list.

Posted by MJuhre at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2005

Reading Between the (Head)Lines

Quickly, there are two main points to absorb from today's The New York Times we learn the following points:

1) The dubious (and later disproven) claims by the United States of a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, which was used to justify the invasion of Iraq, was obtained by outsourcing the torture of a detainee to Egypt.

NYT: ("Qaeda-Iraq Link U.S. Cited Is Tied to Coercion Claim")

2) Democrats are seeking copies of drafts of two of President Bush's pre-Iraq war speeches to determine whether he commited an impeachable offense; that is, whether he deliberately lied in his 2003 State of the Union address, when he made the claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger (a claim that discredited Ambassador Joe Wilson as well as the CIA). The question is why did this claim appear in the 2003 State of the Union, but not in a high-profile October 2002 speech Bush gave in Cincinnati to outlined his case for invading Iraq? The Dems want drafts of the 2002 speech to find out if the Niger claim had been included in any drafts, but ultimately pulled out of the speech. If that is the case, it would be strong evidence that Bush knew the claim was false when he used it in his 2003 State of the Union speech. And lies by the president, as the right wing itself have insisted satisfy the criteria of "high crimes and misdemeanors," required to invoke articles of impeachment against the president.

NYT: ("Bid for Prewar Iraq Files Raises Political Heat")

Posted by MJuhre at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2005

Dead American Soldiers Haunt, and Hunt Bush

Tonight's one of those nights I wish I had more than basic cable. Those of you with Showtime, I could watch "Homecoming" the movie about dead American soldiers from the Iraq war who return as zombies to vote Bush out.

See Village Voice and Crooks and Liars stories.

Posted by MJuhre at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

FOX News and State Dept. Team up to Promote Patriotism

Fox News and USINFO, the State Department's public information wing, will upgrade their joint efforts advocate patriotism later this month.

On December 31, a third batch of USINFO's 66 demonstrative patriotism bases for patriotic education will be established to mark the 230th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Canada.

Between 2001 and 2005, USINFO set up a total of 200 national demonstrative patriotism bases for patriotic education. These bases have been an important place for Americans to learn the history of the American patriotism and enhance ethics and moral quality, Fox News said.

Local governments are urged to take the advantage of the bases as tourist spots to publicize patriotism to visitors, especially youngsters, it says.

Okay, I admit it. The above is all bunk. (Or is it?). In fact, it is just a creative rewrite of this below story, posted by China's Xinhua news agency.

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The People's Daily, China's leading newspaper, is to issue a commentary to advocate patriotism Monday.

A third batch of 66 demonstrative patriotism bases for patriotic education will be established to mark the 70th anniversary of the Long March of the Chinese Red Army and the 60th anniversary of China's victory in the War Against Japanese Aggression, it says.

In 1997 and 2001, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) set up a total of 200 national demonstrative patriotism bases for patriotic education. These bases have been an important place for Chinese to learn the history of the CPC and enhance ethics and moral quality, it says.

Local governments are urged to take the advantage of the bases as tourist spots to publicize patriotism to visitors, especially youngsters, as well as CPC members, it says.

Posted by MJuhre at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

South Africa's Civil Rights Trump Those in "Land of the Free"

For someone of my generation, or older, it is extremely difficult to fathom a world in which South African citizens enjoy greater civil rights than we do here in the United States.

Yet after little more than a decade since the end of apartheid, the white-minority imposed legal code that enforced a separation of the races in South Africa and denied the black majority's right to vote, South Africa's highest court ruled Thursday in support of same-sex marriages.

The Constitutional Court's ruling stated that the wording of section 30(1) of the country's Marriage Act was unconstitutional because it allowed only for marriages between men and women.

"The common law and Section 30 [1] of the Marriage Act are accordingly inconsistent with sections 9[1] [equality] and 9[3] [dignity] of the Constitution to the extent that they make no provision for same-sex couple to enjoy the status, entitlements and responsibilities they accord to heterosexual couples," Justice Albie Sachs Sachs said.

The ruling effectively legalizes same-sex marriages, though such unions may not be recognized for another 12 months. That is the court-imposed deadline by which parliament must amend the law to include the words or spouse after the words wife or husband.

The Independent (South Africa)

iafrica.com

Los Angeles Times

Posted by MJuhre at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

November 30, 2005

More Fake News From Bush Administration

Move over Jeff Gannon, make way for the Washington, D.C.-based Lincoln Group (LincolnGroup.com).

Not to be confused with "The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia," a not for profit group dedicated to the study of Abraham Lincoln (who's site is lincolngroup.org), the Lincoln Group is a PR firm.Hired by the Bush administration (and, therefore, the American taxpayer) the Lincoln Group translates stories written by U.S. "information operations" (PSYOPS) troops and then pays Iraqi news outlets to run them as news.

See story in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)

"Bulletproof" Brooks's Bat Mitzvah Bash is More Than Meets the Eye

Long island businessman David H. Brooks gave his daughter Elizabeth a $10 million bat mitzvah party last weekend, featuring performances by an odd array of artists, including 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley , Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, Kenny G.

While coverage of the event is relegated to the trivial "glamour and glitz" sections of most news organizations (see these stories: one two, three, four, five ), we at Culture Freak feel there is a more serious story here. (And, as is often the case, we have Rachel Maddow of Air America Radio to thank for alerting us to it.)

Daddy Brooks had the means to give Elizabeth this "Paris Hilton for a Day" coming-out party thanks to Bush's war in Iraq and the American taxpayer.

Brooks is the CEO of DHB Industries, which makes bulletproof vests for the U.S. armed forces.

With an annual salary of only $675,000 (plus an $87,500 bonus), a rather paltry sum compared with that of many other American CEOs, you might wonder how Brooks can afford such gaudy extravagance.

Well salary schmalary. Who needs direct cash compensation? In 2004 Brooks exercised DHB stock options worth almost $70 million and at year's end (Dec. 29, 2004), sold 5 million of his 11 million shares of common stock for a whopping $106.4 million.

I found it very curious that Brooks sold out almost half of his interest in the company just as the stock hit its all-time peak (it began to tumble in 2005, as shown in the chart below). And apparently I'm not the only one.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the matter, according to -- gulp -- FOXNews.com.

Never in my wildest imagination did I think that FOX would agree with me that there is a serious story here behind the People magazine schlock, let alone that it would actually be the news source totip me off to the SEC investigation into insider trading violations, and to the several class action lawsuits filed against DHB, including one that stems from a May 2005 recall by the Marine Corps of DHB-made 5,277 combat vests after some of them "failed a test to determine whether they could stop a bullet." (Two weeks ago, the Pentagon recalled 18,000 more.)

I'm rather taken aback, frankly, that FOX News has apparently investigated and reported much of what I planned to write here myself. If this post suddenly looks a bit disjointed, it's because I was just shocked out of my chair.

At any rate, the point I wish to stress is that Brooks's exploding wealth came thanks to DHB's 100 percent net income growth in 2004, according to Hoovers. DHB's defense contracts more than doubled each year 2001 and 2003 (the only years for which I have available figures).

(go to source)

In fact, so pervasive is DHB in the body armor industry, if you Google "body armor," the first, non-advertised site that appears is DHB's business unit, Point Blank Armor.

While the Pentagon has oft-stated that it did not have the funds to purchase enough body armor for its troops in Iraq, so much so that many soldiers had to buy their own, the CEO of the body armor contractor managed to make more than $100 million in one year, and spend ten percent of that on a party for his daughter the next.

It's just another, obscene example, of how the government-contracted private sector robs the American taxpayer and transfer our wealth to itself and ultimately, to folks as unlikely as Stevie Nicks and 50 Cent. (Another example and yet another.)

The FOX News story on Brooks is so good that I'm posting it in the continuation link below, in case the original disappears.

Rock Stars' Host Faces SEC Investigation

David H. Brooks, the man who laid out $10 million for his daughter's bat mitzvah celebration, has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission since last year.

Brooks gained notoriety in the last couple of weeks when it was revealed he had hired Aerosmith, the Eagles, Stevie Nicks, 50 Cent, Ciara, Kenny G and Tom Petty to play at a party for his 13-year-old daughter this past weekend. Brooks took over the two floors of the Rainbow Room for the event, installing hi-tech sound and light equipment.

Many of the acts are managed by Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman's powerful Los Angeles firm. But what reports of the lavish, over-the-top and some might say completely inappropriate party was who Brooks was, or what trouble he's been in. It's a lot.

He's under a major SEC investigation, as I will report in a moment. That's not all.

His company, DHB, as reported, is a defense contractor that makes bullet-proof vests for the Army. But what published stories did not report was that DHB is now and has been the subject of several class-action suits stemming from, among other things, a government recall of those bullet-proof vests.

In May, the Marine Corps recalled 5,277 combat vests made by a DHB's subsidiary issued to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti because of concerns that they failed a test to determine whether they could stop a bullet.

This occurred six months after DHB announced a $100 million contract with the Defense Department on Dec. 23, 2004. The contract, Brooks said at the time, could be worth as much as $500 million.

Coincidentally, Brooks and the insiders at his company sold off about $200 million worth of DHB stock between Nov. 29 and Dec. 29, 2004. Brooks, according to publicly available filings, sold about $186 million himself, not counting another $50 million in sales that had already been planned.

This seems curious to the outsider's eye. Today, DHB sells around $4 a share on the AMEX. Recently, DHB Industries reported it lost $41.7 million in the third quarter of 2005, the result of special charges, stock compensation and research and development costs.

But things were a lot different one year ago today. In fall 2004, the stock began a sudden climb out of the $11-$12 range toward a high of $20. That's where it was on Dec. 23, the same day as the press release announcing the $100 million contract. Brooks and co. had already begun a huge sell off a few days earlier culminating in an even bigger one on Dec. 27.

That's how he was able to bring in Aerosmith and friends for his daughter's party.

Ironically, though, the SEC investigation into DHB had already commenced before that. The company acknowledges being investigated at first for "certain related party transactions between the Company and affiliates of Mr. David H. Brooks (the Company's Chief Executive Officer)."

But they acknowledge that since then, the investigation has widened to matters relating to the Company's reporting and treatment of executive compensation (primarily relating to Brooks).
The SEC investigation also comes from investors learning that Brooks purchased parts for his products made by a company owned by his wife.

Meanwhile, Brooks has also been looking to become the Denise Rich of the Republican party. A quick check of political donations this year shows that Brooks contributed $25,000 this past June to the National Republican Senate Committee.

A spokesman for Brooks, Manuel Rubio, said the company did not comment on their stock price. As for the party, Rubio told me, "I prefer country music."

Posted by MJuhre at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2005

Republican Congressman Pleads Guilty to Bribery by Military Contractors

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif) cried like a little girl yesterday, when he announced he had resigned after pleading guilty to receiving $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors.

Cunningham, who was apparently already pretty well-to-do, and who represented a wealthy, conservative district near San Diego, faces up to 10 years in prison for charges of bribery and income tax evasion. (See LA Times story.)

Wow, who saw this coming? Not me, and I've been waiting with bated breath for a whole slew of Republican Congressmen to go down on bribery charges in an unrelated scandal.

I admit that, Prior to today, Cunningham had not hit my radar. But it is clear that whoever owns dukecunningham.org really dislikes him.

And for good reason: that Grand Old Party (GOP) consertative morality.

When Cunningham's "Flag Protection Amendment" legislation passed last June, the Congressman said "The passage of this legislation today is a victory for every American. The flag has been a bond that has held us together, providing each of us with a sense of common purpose and enabling us to endure when our freedoms were threatened. The American flag is the ultimate sym