carapace – Not your father's america

The No-Asshole Rule

Building a civilized workplace and surviving one that isn’t

Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D.
The American Lawyer
February 20, 2007

The first time that I ever heard about a book on assholes was more than 30 years ago. It happened at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco called Little Joe’s, where customers sat behind a long counter that faced an open kitchen. Most of us came to see the flamboyant chef, who sang, joked with customers and employees, and entertained us by igniting dramatic flames with olive oil as he cooked. Employees wore T-shirts that said “Rain or shine, there is always a line,” and waiting for a seat was good fun because of the constant banter and clowning around.

One day, I waited behind an especially rude customer who was sitting at the counter. He made crude comments, tried to grab the waitress, complained about how his veal parmigiana tasted, and insulted customers who told him to pipe down.

This creep kept spewing his venom until a fellow customer approached him and asked (in a loud voice), “You are just an amazing person. I’ve been looking everywhere for a person like you. I love how you act. Can you give me your name?” He looked flustered for a moment, but then seemed flattered, offered thanks for the compliment, and provided his name.

Without missing a beat, his questioner wrote it down and said, “Thanks. I appreciate it. You see, I am writing a book on assholes … and you are absolutely perfect for Chapter 13.” The entire place roared, and the asshole looked humiliated, shut his trap, and soon slithered out — and the waitress beamed with delight.

This story is more than a sweet and funny memory. That incident at Little Joe’s reflects seven key lessons about the no-asshole rule.

…

From the book “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t,” by Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D. Copyright © 2007 by Robert Sutton. Reprinted by permission of Warner Books, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1171620180188&rss=newswire

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[Dallas Fed] Volatile Oil and Natural Gas Prices

Volatile Oil and Natural Gas Prices”
In Depth
February 2007
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

This article takes a look at the roller coaster ride energy prices have taken since the first of the year.

http://dallasfed.org/research/indepth/2007/id0701.html

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Leaked Iraqi Oil Law

The New York Times reported this week: “A draft version of the long-awaited law that would govern the development of Iraqi oil fields and the distribution of oil revenues has been submitted to Iraq’s cabinet, the first step toward approving the legislation, two members of a senior negotiating committee said this weekend.”

A leaked copy of the 29-page proposed oil law has just been translated by Raed Jarrar, a D.C.-based Iraqi analyst who is in close contact with Iraqi parliamentarians.

RAED JARRAR, jarrar.raed@gmail.com,

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/20/1523250

Jarrar is Iraq Project director for Global Exchange. A translated opy of the proposed oil law is at:

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com   — his web page.

He said today: “Financially, the proposed law legalizes very unfair ypes of contracts that may freeze Iraq into very long-term contracts hat can go up to 35 years and cause the loss of hundreds of billions of ollars from Iraqis.

“The proposed law undermines Iraq’s sovereignty since Iraq would not be capable of controlling the levels of production, which threatens Iraq’s membership in OPEC. And Iraq will have this very complicated institution called the Federal Oil and Gas Council, that will have representatives from the foreign oil companies on the board of it. So representatives from companies like ExxonMobil and Shell and British Petroleum will be on the federal board of Iraq approving their own contracts.

“Finally, the law gives regional authorities final say in dealing with the oil, instead of giving this final say to a central federal government. So it opens the door for splitting Iraq into three regions or possibly even three states in the near future.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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THE REAL IRAQ BY UK’S CHANNEL 4 [VIDEO]

By Evan Derkacz

48 Minute doc explores the truth on the ground…

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/48225/

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Iran: Claims and Context

DAVID LINDORFF, dlindorff@yahoo.com,

http://www.ThisCantBeHappening.net

Lindorff wrote the piece “A word of caution on U.S. claims of Iranian weapons killing GIs.” He said today: “Why do those bombs that they displayed as ‘evidence’ of Iranian perfidy have U.S. English words and dates on them? … Newspapers were reporting as much as two years ago that insurgents had figured out how to make such devices themselves (the technology was invented by a U.S. naval engineer in 1888!). The BBC reported in 2005: ‘According to defense sources, basic armor-piercing weapons are easy to manufacture, drawing on principles discovered more than a century ago and in use since World War Two.’”

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/051010-shaped-bombs.htm

Lindorff is co-author of the book “The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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ROVE SAID TO HAVE RECEIVED IRANIAN PROPOSAL IN 2003

By Gareth Porter, IPS News

Who else in the Bush administration was aware of the secret
proposal?

At:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/48238/

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Former NSC Official Contradicts Rice on Iran Peace Offer

GARETH PORTER, garethporter@rcn.com,

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11539

Porter wrote a recent piece titled “Burnt Offering: How a 2003 ecret overture from Tehran might have led to a deal on Iran’s nuclear capacity — if the Bush administration hadn’t rebuffed it.”

The Washington Post Wednesday published online a fax about the peace proposal. Porter said today: “The document just published by the Washington Post online effectively refutes the claims by Rice and other present and former administration officials that they didn’t know if the Iranian proposal for a framework for negotiating with the United States in 2003 was endorsed by Iran’s top leaders. It reveals the details of the Swiss ambassador’s discussions with a key figure with close ties to both the Iranian foreign minister and the supreme leader, who had gotten approval for the initiative from the highest levels of the Iranian government.”

PDF of the document is at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/documents/us_iran_1roadmap.pdf

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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LEAVING IRAQ: APOCALYPSE NOT

By Robert Dreyfuss, Washington Monthly

Much of Washington assumes that withdrawing from Iraq will lead to a bigger bloodbath. We need to question that assumption.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/48186/

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Terrorist attacks in Iran and Iraq point to the involvement of the U.S. and Britain

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Global Research, February 19, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca – 2007-02-18

“The US and Britain, which allege to be pioneers in the campaign against terrorism, are themselves actually defending the terrorists, training them and providing them with the needed media and financial supports and facilities.” (Soltan-Ali Mir, Iranian Interior Ministry)

Both the Iranian government and provincial officials in southeastern Iran have accused the United States and Britain of attempting to create instability in Iran and the Middle East. Since the invasion of Iraq by the United States and Britain, Iran has experienced an increasing number of explosions (or “terrorist attacks”) in Iranian border provinces and areas.

These provinces, which are subject to a new waves of attacks by previously unknown groups, border Anglo-American occupied Iraq to the West and Pakistan and Afghanistan in the East.

Pakistan is within the Anglo-American orbit and has close intelligence links with the United States and Britain, while Afghanistan is under military occupation, and Iraq has had cases where Coalition troops have been caught red handed attempting to commit acts of terrorism which have been portrayed by the media as sectarian Iraqi violence or the work of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The Pakistani ambassador in Iran has also been summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry in regards to the attacks in Zahedan, southeastern Iran—attacks which do not seem possible without the cooperation or knowledge of the Pakistani government and Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).

The methodology of terror attacks in the Middle East and around the world is beginning to show a disturbing trend and pattern which is closely related to Anglo-American interests. These “terrorist attacks” directly serve the interests of the U.S., Britain and Israel. The pattern of terrorist attacks in Iraq, Iran, and even Lebanon, are remarkably similar.

A study of terrorist incidents and their political outcomes and results will show that on the home front, the United States and its partners have benefited domestically from public outrage which in turn has justified and legitimized their policies. In the Middle East, the incitement of violence and acts of carnage has allowed the United States and Britain to linger in their internationally illegal occupation of Iraq, while spreading sedition amongst the peoples of Iraq and the Middle East.

Creating divisions amongst the different sectarian, religious, and ethno-cultural groups of the Middle East is part of the Anglo-American strategy to balkanize and control the region. The violence in Iraq and the tensions in Lebanon are the direct work of the United States and its partners, which aim to redraw the map of the Middle East in various aspects and ways.

While a link is evident that Iran, under the Khatami Administration, helped the United States and Britain in establishing the puppet Iraqi government during the questionabe Iraqi elections, it is apparent that Washington D.C. and Tehran are no longer on the same wave length in regard to Iraq and clearly no longer cooperating with each other.

At first sight,  the Iranian charges of U.S. and British involvement and weaponry seems like a symmetric move that parallels the U.S. charge that Iran and Syria are arming and supporting anti-American militias in Iraq with Iranian weaponry to kill Coalition troops.

Deeper examination suggests that Iran has been accusing the United States and Britain since 2003 for trying to destabilize Iranian border zones.  The charge of U.S. and British weaponry is most likely a possible political rebuttal to the U.S. claims of Iranian weaponry targeting Coalition troops, but the events in question seem to bear the fingerprints of the Anglo-American alliance, as documented by several press reports.
…

URL of the complete article:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070218&articleId=4841

From:

www.GlobalResearch.ca

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three to see

M.e Cohen: you surge with the body armor you have…

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/31222/

Dwayne Booth, Mr. Fish: wipe feet before entering oval office

http://cagle.com/working/070218/booth.jpg

David Horsey: somewhere in iowa

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070220/cartoon20070220.gif

X-RAY VISION

Brown University researchers are creating a technology that will allow doctors and scientists to see inside living humans and animals, and watch their bones move in 3D as they run, fly, jump, swim, and slither. This high-resolution, high-speed imaging system will contribute to better treatments for knee, shoulder, wrist, and back injuries, and help scientists understand the evolution of complex movements.

Dubbed CTX, the system will combine the 3D capability of CT scanners and the real-time movement tracking of cinefluoroscopy. The technology is expected to deliver images with exceptional precision and detail. Researchers will be able to track 3D skeletal movements with 0.1 millimeter accuracy and see the equivalent of 1,000 CT images per second.

Read the full story at:

http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20070215A2

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CNN’s O’Brien failed to identify Luntz as Republican

On the February 15 edition of CNN’s American Morning, co-host Soledad O’Brien introduced Republican pollster Frank Luntz as a “well-known political pollster” without noting Luntz’s Republican Party affiliation at any point during the segment. The on-screen text alternated between identifying Luntz as a “political pollster” and “author, ‘Words That Work.’ ”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200702160004?src=other

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ON IRAN ALLEGATIONS, CONSIDER THE SOURCE

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5744

On February 10, the New York Times ran a story about “an increasing body of evidence” suggesting “an Iranian role” in supplying the “deadliest weapon aimed at American troops in Iraq.” Editor & Publisher’s Greg Mitchell wants readers to consider the source. The sources cited are “civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies,” almost all anonymous. And the author of the piece is Michael R. Gordon, who “on his own, or with Judith Miller, wrote some of the key, and badly misleading or downright inaccurate, articles about Iraqi WMDs in the run-up to the 2003 invasion,” including the infamous “aluminum tubes” story. In other Iran news, the Washington Post reports that Vice-President Cheney’s national security adviser, John Hannah, called 2007 “the year of Iran.” President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said the U.S. has “no intention of attacking Iran.”

SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, February 10, 2007

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Our Money: War dollars wasted

(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

19 Feb 2007 Who knew Iraq had so much in common with the Bermuda Triangle. Things just keep disappearing there. Like $36 million in armor and communications gear. Like $12 billion in shrink-wrapped cash. Like $10 billion in aid. Like any notion of accountability. Three top federal investigators warned a House committee that of their review of $57 billion spent on Iraq contracts, about $10 billion was squandered on overpriced, questionable or just straight-up undocumented expenditures, with $2.7 billion of that to Halliburton.

At:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/304035_audited.html

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Former NSC Official Contradicts Rice on Iran Peace Offer

Reuters reports today — in a piece headlined “Ex-aide says Rice misledCongress on Iran” — that “Controversy over a possible missed U.S. opportunity for rapprochement with Iran grew on Wednesday as former aide accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of misleading Congress on the issue.

“Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, said a proposal vetted by Tehran’s most senior leaders was sent to the United States in May 2003 and was akin to the 1972 U.S. opening to China.

“Speaking at a conference on Capitol Hill, Leverett said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but ‘the administration rejected the overture.’”

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN1433692720070215

TRITA PARSI, tp@tritaparsi.com,

 

http://www.tritaparsi.com

Parsi is head of the National Iranian American Council. An adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, Parsi saw the peace offer in 2003 and interviewed Iranian officials about it in 2004. He said today: “It shows the desperation of this administration that they would make such contradictory statements. We know from Leverett and from [former Powell Chief of Staff Lawrence] Wilkerson that the offer was received and discussed in the administration, that Powell tried and failed to sell it. The administration says it wants to avoid war and conflict, but at every point, the administration has done everything it could not to negotiate with Iran.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Accused Terrorist Is Big GOP Donor

19 Feb 2007

 

Justin Hood reports: The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won’t say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier. Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari gave $15,250 to the NRCC since 2002, according to FEC records published on the Web site opensecrets.org… The indictment against Alishtari unsealed in Manhattan federal court Friday charges him with providing material support to terrorists by transferring $152,000 between banks to allegedly be used to purchase night-vision goggles and other equipment needed for a terrorist training camp.

At:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/accused_terrori.html

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Iran: Claims and Context

DAVID BARSAMIAN, barsamian@riseup.net,

http://www.alternativeradio.org

Barsamian has just returned from Iran and is author of the forthcoming book “Targeting Iran.” He said today: “Virtually everything the Bush administration has done has made things more difficult for Iranian reformers. The moderate Khatami government helped the U.S. oust the Taliban in 2001; in return Bush called Iran part of the ‘axis of evil.’ Khatami’s 2003 offer to negotiate all differences between the two countries was rebuffed, setting the stage for Ahmadinejad becoming president. Virtually every Iranian I met with is embarrassed by his actions, especially the ‘holocaust conference.’ … Now, the U.S. has two aircraft carrier groups near Iran and the threat of an attack looms.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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US-Iraq-Contracts

After many denials, US Army confirms private security contract in Iraq 07 Feb 2007 After numerous denials, the Pentagon has confirmed that a North Carolina company provided armed security guards in Iraq under a subcontract that was buried so deeply the government could not find it. The secretary of the Army on Tuesday wrote two Democratic lawmakers that the Blackwater USA contract was part of a huge military support operation by run by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. Several times last year, Pentagon officials told inquiring lawmakers they could find no evidence of the Blackwater contract.

At:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/07/america/NA-GEN-US-Iraq-Contracts.php

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Asymmetrical Threats and Homeland Security Policy: Is America Ready for an Attack on its Telecommunications Networks?

With the expenditure in excess of $17 billion spent on Homeland Defense since 11 September 2001, is the U.S. critical infrastructure truly secure? The asymmetrical threat is ever mounting and has significantly increased against the U.S. Perhaps the U.S. is experiencing the quiet before the storm. Given that no other country or nation-state on earth can match our armed forces, common sense drives sophisticated enemies such as Osama bin Laden and others to attack through means other than force on force. The U.S. leadership has identified 13 critical infrastructures and four Key Asset areas. Critical infrastructures range from telecommunications, economics … electrical power to transportation systems. I propose to take a critical look at the nation's readiness of telecommunications networks against terrorist attacks since the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security. This study will review the nation's posture, including national policy, plan procedures, vulnerabilities, and it will make recommendations, where, necessary regarding critical telecommunications infrastructures. The premise of this study is that the U.S. is significantly deficient in its ability to protect against such attacks….

Download Paper

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/ksil60.pdf

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three to see

This Modern World: The great right wing brain glitch of 2007

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW022107.jpg

Nick Anderson: non-binding resolution

http://www.uclick.com/feature/07/02/16/wpnan070216.gif

Tony Auth: neocon bible

http://www.uclick.com/feature/07/02/11/ta070211.gif

Hack lets intruders sneak into home routers

By Joris Evers, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: February 15, 2007

ZDNet Tags: Routing/switching, Security threats, Symantec Corp Cisco Systems Inc
If you haven’t changed the default password on your home router, let this recent threat serve as a reminder.

Attackers could change the configuration of home routers using JavaScript code, security researchers at Indiana University and Symantec have discovered. The researchers first published their work in December, but Symantec publicized the findings on Thursday.

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/techreports/TRNNN.cgi?trnum=TR641

The researchers found that it is possible to change the DNS, or Domain Name System, settings of a router if the owner uses a connected PC to view a Web page with the JavaScript code. This DNS change lets the attacker divert all the Net traffic going through the router. For example, if the victim types in “www.mybank.com,” the request could be sent to a similar-looking fake page created to steal sensitive data.

“I have been able to get this to work on Linksys, D-Link and Netgear routers,” Symantec researcher Zulfikar Ramzan said. “You can create one Web site that is able to attack all routers. My feeling is that it is just a matter of time before phishers start using this.”

…

Complete article at:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6159938.html?tag=nl.e550

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In reporting GOP retraction of false attack on Pelosi, AP recycled jet, minimum wage smears

In a February 16 article on the Republican Study Committee’s retraction of a news release that falsely “accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] of violating copyrights of C-SPAN,” the Associated Press repeated the recent Republican smear that Pelosi supports a minimum wage bill that exempts American Samoa because the exemption would help a company headquartered in her district. The article also mentioned that Pelosi “has come under criticism by Republicans over how big a plane the government should provide for her use” without noting that those Republican attacks are misleading and unsubstantiated. From the Associated Press:

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200702170001?src=other

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MANIPULATION OF IRAQ INTELLIGENCE “INAPPROPRIATE BUT NOT ILLEGAL”

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5740

An investigation by the Defense Department’s Inspector General — called “very damning” by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Carl Levin — found “inappropriate but not illegal” manipulation of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War. The investigation focused on the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, headed by Douglas Feith. Feith called the Inspector General’s report “quibbling” and “bizarre,” adding, “The policy office has been smeared for years by allegations that its pre-Iraq-war work was somehow ‘unlawful’ or ‘unauthorized’ and that some information it gave to congressional committees was deceptive or misleading.” One particular claim of Feith’s office was that U.S. intelligence agencies were ignoring or downplaying links between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein’s government. No such links have been substantiated. The Senate Intelligence Committee is also expected to report on the Office of Special Plans, as part of its ongoing “investigation into the prewar intelligence on Iraq.”

SOURCE: Associated Press, February 9, 2007

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Dick Cheney’s Dangerous Son-in-Law –

Philip Perry and the politics of chemical security. By Art Levine March 2007 The basic elements of the legislation were simple: the EPA would get authority to regulate the security of chemical sites, and, as a first step, plants would submit plans for lowering their risks… No one present was prepared for what came next: the late arrival of an unexpected visitor, Philip Perry, general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)… The Bush administration was not going to support granting regulatory authority over chemical security to the EPA. “If you send up this legislation,” he told the gathering, “it will be dead on arrival on the Hill.”

Complete article:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0703.levine.html

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New Industry Formed to Handle Arguments with Insurance Companies

Doctors, clinics, and hospitals are increasingly hiring firms that dig through past claims in search of shortchanged payments and tussle with insurers over rejected charges.  “Tug-of-wars over the health-care money pot” have spawned a booming industry of intermediaries called “denial management,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.  Approximately 30 percent of physicians’ claims are denied the first time around.  Insurance companies often deny claims automatically and take the chance the doctor will not question it.  In fighting back, one such company, Athenahealth, takes an average 5% cut of the revenues it helps doctors collect.  A success story is Peggy Encinia of Houston, who was visiting her daughter near Port Arthur, Texas last July when chest pains woke her in the middle of the night.  She was rushed by ambulance to the nearby Medical Center of Southeast Texas, which did not have a contract with Mrs. Encinia’s insurer, UnitedHealth’s PacifiCare.  The bill from her 12-day stint in the hospital and treatment for heart failure came to more than $104,000.  But PacifiCare paid only $4,100 at first, explaining that because the hospital was not in its network, its policy was to pay only the standard Medicare rate.  Instead of going after Mrs. Encinia for the balance, the medical center hired its claims auditing service, PPO Check Ltd. of Houston, to fight the insurer.  PPO Check successfully argued that Mrs. Encinia’s policy specifically states how out-of-network claims should be calculated for payment.  After several rounds of appeals, PacifiCare agreed to pay an additional $70,000.

Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!

Join the Alliance:

www.retiredamericans.org/join

From:

http://www.suddenlysenior.com

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United States Strategy for Mexico

The security and stability of Mexico is of national interest to the United States, and a strong, effective alliance between the two countries is pivotal to our national defense strategy and economic prosperity. Mexico is slowly transforming to a democratic society but has many challenges to overcome within their present governmental and societal systems before transformation is complete. The U.S. strategy toward Mexico is outdated and requires significant improvements. This Strategic Research Project will provide a brief discussion of the challenges that face Mexico in combating insurgencies, as well as governmental, economic and social reforms. It will then identify recent reform efforts by the Fox government aimed at improving the country's political and economic systems as a hedge against future instability. After reviewing these current measures, the SRP will propose a strategy for strengthening U.S.-Mexican relations, thereby protecting the southern border, fostering mutual prosperity, and promoting democracy. This strategy will provide the desired goals (ends), how to achieve these goals (ways), and the programs best suited to achieve these goals (means) for each of the four focus areas….

Download Paper

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/ksil102.pdf

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FIGHTING THE RIGHT WING SMEAR MACHINES

By Paul Waldman, TomPaine.com

Obama and Edwards have already been slimed by right wing smear campaigns. But we’re learning to fight back.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/48052/

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Exxon, AEI and Climate Change

TOM JACKSON, joepublicfilms@yahoo.com,

http://www.worldoutofbalance.org

Jackson is the director-writer of the new documentary film “Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change”. He said today: “While reporting another record year of earnings, ExxonMobil has also recently started its own media blitz, attempting to convince the public that they have changed their ways with regard to climate change. In the past few weeks, through mainstream media outlets like MSNBC, ExxonMobil has implied that they aren’t funding climate change skeptics anymore, but they actually only specify the Competitive Enterprise Institute — they’ve funded many more organizations than that.

“Barely a week later, it was revealed that ExxonMobil attempted to pay off climate scientists to downplay the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Clearly ExxonMobil is only out to change its image, not its ways.”

Background:

The British newspaper The Guardian recently reported: “Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world’s largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

“Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute, an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasize the shortcomings of a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …

“The AEI has received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI’s board of trustees.”

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2004397,00.html

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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OMB Watch Fiscal Policy Prog

LETTER EXPLAINS WHY HOUSE REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO DEBATE IRAQ WAR

By Joshua Holland

Joshua Holland: They prefer Islamophobic cries of BOO!

Download Paper

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48020/

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three to see

By Khalil: chef’s surprise … refried beans

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2007/february/small/2-17-Iran-with-an-N.jpg

Steve Benson: elephant graveyard

http://www.azcentral.com/sshow/News/Benson/4481_77641.jpg

Dan Wasserman: new policy – support the war not the troops

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Graphic/2007/02/13/1171423117_6348.gif

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (13 February 2007)

New Features:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/

* Remote River Reconnaissance

  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/HydroSHEDS/

Elevation data collected from the space shuttle help map Earth’s rivers in remote regions.

In the News:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:

2006 Fifth-Warmest Year on Record

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17553

Chambeshi River Floods, Zambia

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17552

Erg Oriental, Algeria

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17551

Bermuda

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17550

Madre de Dios Watershed

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17549

Haze over Korea

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17548

Sea of Okhotsk

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17547

Tropical Cyclone Dora

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17546

* NASA News

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/

- NASA Study Finds Warmer Future Could Bring Droughts
- 2006 Was Earth’s Fifth Warmest Year

* Media Alerts

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- Adaptation to Global Climate Change is an Essential Response to a Warming Planet
- Study Shows Largest North America Climate Change in 65 Million Years
- Human’s Ecological Footprint in 2015 and Amazonia Revealed
- Methane Bubbling Through Seafloor Creates Undersea Hills
- World’s Oldest Rocks Show Earth May Have Dodged Frozen Fate of Mars
- Methane Bubbling Through Seafloor Creates Undersea Hills

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/

- Sea Creatures to Be Tracked Electronically
- The Fate of Greenland’s Glaciers
- Village May Set New York State Record for Snowfall
- Warming Threatens Double Trouble in Peru
- Tokyo Gets Snowless Winter
- Japan Uses Satellites to Track Disasters
- Jakarta Residents Survey Flood Damage
- Work Starts on Arctic Seed Vault
- Greenhouse Gas Ocean Burial Can Start
- Last Year Earth’s Fifth Warmest Year
- Global Warming to Require More Robust Disaster Monitoring
- El Nino Weakened, But Outlook Cloudy Beyond May
- ‘Green’ Concrete Could Reduce Carbon Dioxide
- Carbon Dioxide Can Be Stored in Aquifers for Years: Study
- Debate Storms on Possible Warming-Hurricane Link
- Global Warming to Hit Poor Worst, Says U.N.
- 2006 Was Earth’s Fifth Warmest Year
- 2006 Was Earth’s Fifth Warmest Year

* New Research Highlights

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

                          ==========

Healy appeared on Beck, despite NY Times’ ethics policy

On February 14, New York Times reporter Patrick Healy appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, as previously documented by Media Matters for America — despite a “guideline” set out in the Times ethics handbook, which states: “Staff members should avoid strident, theatrical forums that emphasize punditry and reckless opinion-mongering.” Media Matters has documented a host of “strident” and “reckless” “opinion-mongering” comments on Glenn Beck, as well as inflammatory and controversial comments by the regular host of the program, Glenn Beck, on his CNN Headline News show, his syndicated radio show, and elsewhere.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200702160011?src=other

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LOBBYIST BUSINESS BOOMS AS OVERSIGHT HEARINGS START

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5736

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding hearings on “waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars”; topics include Iraq reconstruction, Homeland Security contracting, and prescription drug pricing. Companies called to testify are “scrambling to hire lobbyists with Democratic ties,” reports Bloomberg. Among pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer hired Glover Park Group, AstraZeneca hired Venable, and Roche hired William Clyburn, the “cousin of the House’s third-ranking Democrat, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.” The biotech firm Amgen hired the Duberstein Group and Lent, Scrivner & Roth. Among military contractors, Halliburton hired Patton Boggs and Halliburton unit KBR hired Akin Gump Strauss, “whose partners include Democratic former House Speaker Thomas Foley.” And “two former Justice Department officials who have formed their own lobbying firm,” Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock, are advising Blackwater USA, as well as “oil and drug companies.”

SOURCE: Bloomberg, January 31, 2007

                          ==========

President Bush: Caught Telling the Truth?

President Bush unwittingly came out in favor of the government negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs when he released his budget earlier this month.  On page 59 of his FY 2008 Budget, the Bush administration called for allowing states “to use private sector management techniques to leverage greater discounts through negotiations with drug manufacturers” for Medicaid pharmacies.  The text is in direct contradiction to his January 11, 2007 statement of Administration policy, which asserted, “Government interference impedes competition, limits access to life-saving drugs, reduces convenience for beneficiaries, and ultimately increases costs to taxpayers, beneficiaries and all American citizens alike.”  The contradiction, which appeared in the Center for American Progress’ The Progress Report, did not go unnoticed by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, who said that what is good enough for states should be good enough for the federal government.  “The President can’t have it both ways,” echoed Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.  “He can’t say price negotiation doesn’t work, and then save money with it when he rolls out his budget.”

From: Frank Kaiser frank@suddenlysenior.com

http://www.suddenlysenior.com

                          ==========

Exxon, AEI and Climate Change

BRENDA EKWURZEL, via Aaron Huertas, ahuertas@ucsusa.org,

http://www.ucsusa.org

Ekwurzel is a climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, which recently released a report titled “Smoke, Mirrors and Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to ‘Manufacture Uncertainty’ on Climate Change.” The report states: “ExxonMobil has funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.”

Background:

The British newspaper The Guardian recently reported: “Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world’s largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

“Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute, an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasize the shortcomings of a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …

“The AEI has received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI’s board of trustees.”

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2004397,00.html

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

National Security Archive Update, February 14, 2007

House Subcommittee Asks Archive for FOIA Reform Advice

Archive General Counsel Testifies that Congress Should Mandate Solutions;
Cites 17 Year Delays, Lost Requests, and Agency Obstruction of FOIA

For more information contact:
Meredith Fuchs – 202/994-7000

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington, DC, February 14, 2007 – National Security Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs today told the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that, “problems [with the Freedom of Information Act system] will not be solved unless Congress mandates solutions.”

Ms. Fuchs recommended that Congress reform the FOIA to require better annual reporting and tracking of FOIA requests, citing examples of processing delays as long as 17 years and agency mismanagement or obstruction of requests causing delay. She also called on Congress to stop agencies from playing litigation games that cost requesters and taxpayers money and waste judicial resources. She referenced examples of agencies that fail to take responsible legal positions until after a requester has filed a lawsuit and then suddenly reverse course when it becomes clear that a court will likely rule against the agency. She advocated revision of the FOIA’s attorneys’ fees provision as a solution. Ms. Fuchs explained that, “Despite many outstanding people administering FOIA programs throughout the government – and they deserve praise for their work – there are far too many FOIA offices that fail to live up to the expectations of the law and the needs of the taxpaying public.”

Ms. Fuchs testified on a panel that included Clark Hoyt, former Washington Editor for Knight Ridder, who testified on behalf of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, and Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. In addition, representatives of the General Accounting Office and the Department of Justice testified.

The Archive has been at the forefront of organizations using and assessing the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive has completed five government-wide audits of FOIA administration (supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation). Recommendations from the Archive’s reports on those audits have been adopted in President Bush’s Executive Order 13,392 (“Improving Agency Disclosure of Information”), included in FOIA legislation introduced in earlier Congresses by Senators Cornyn and Leahy, and Congressmen Smith and Waxman, and included as goals in many of the 91 agency FOIA Improvement Plans developed under the Executive Order.

                          ==========

Insurgents push north out of Baghdad, making fight more deadly for U.S. forces

16 Feb 2007

Iraqi ‘insurgents’ have been streaming out of Baghdad to escape the security crackdown, carrying the fight to neighbouring Diyala province where direct attacks on Americans have nearly doubled since last summer, U.S. soldiers said.

Complete article at:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=c52d497b-87fe-4f3c-b3eb-50c2ad5ddffe

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Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army’s Top Medical Facility

By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 18, 2007; A01

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan’s room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely — a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them — the majority soldiers, with some Marines — have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.

They suffer from brain injuries, severed arms and legs, organ and back damage, and various degrees of post-traumatic stress. Their legions have grown so exponentially — they outnumber hospital patients at Walter Reed 17 to 1 — that they take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army. The average stay is 10 months, but some have been stuck there for as long as two years.

Not all of the quarters are as bleak as Duncan’s, but the despair of Building 18 symbolizes a larger problem in Walter Reed’s treatment of the wounded, according to dozens of soldiers, family members, veterans aid groups, and current and former Walter Reed staff members interviewed by two Washington Post reporters, who spent more than four months visiting the outpatient world without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials. Many agreed to be quoted by name; others said they feared Army retribution if they complained publicly.

While the hospital is a place of scrubbed-down order and daily miracles, with medical advances saving more soldiers than ever, the outpatients in the Other Walter Reed encounter a messy bureaucratic battlefield nearly as chaotic as the real battlefields they faced overseas.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070218/NATION/702180305/1020

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BERNSTEIN: WILLINGNESS OF BUSH WHITE HOUSE TO LIE IS UNPRECEDENTED

By Evan Derkacz

And lo, Bush lies on Iran… only to blame it on a “briefer”…

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48092/

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three to see

Monte Wolverton: Neocon Death Throes

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/30601/

Mike Keefe: Cooked Intel.

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2007/KeefeM20070216.jpg

Mike Peters: bird flu virus is spreading

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2007/MP0217.gif

Bishop Richard Malone’s statement regarding priests accused of … and more

KeepMEcurrent.com – Scarborough,ME,USA

Later, he requested to minister in Maine. In 1989, he was accused of sexual abuse of a minor involving an incident in Baltimore. He was sent for treatment …

http://www.keepmecurrent.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=31792

Documents Show Church Knew About Abuse

WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee,WI,USA

MILWAUKEE – Stunning new details in secret court documents tell a chilling story of a local priest who was allowed to molest young boys again and again. …

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/5798026.html

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Dumbing down evolution to kill it

On Darwin’s birthday, vocal opponents of his theory fundamentally misunderstand what they don’t believe in.

By Edward Humes, EDWARD HUMES is the author, most recently, of “Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion and the Battle for America’s Soul.”

February 12, 2007

WHEN I FIRST arrived at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., for what was billed as the second coming of the Scopes “monkey trial,” a man mingling with the media gaggle handed me an invitation to a lecture titled “Why Evolution Is Stupid.” The fellow advised me to come hear the truth about Charles Darwin’s dangerous idea. Then he jerked a thumb toward the courtroom and said, “You’re sure not going to hear it in there.”

I had gone to Harrisburg just over a year ago to research a book, expecting cutting-edge arguments for the theory of evolution pitted against an upstart movement called “intelligent design,” which claims there is evidence of a master designer inside living cells. And hear them I did, in frequently riveting (and occasionally stupefying) detail, as the judge considered whether teaching intelligent design in public schools breached the wall separating church and state.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-humes12feb12,0,5129052.story?track=tothtml

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three to see

Matt Bors: gay therapy survival guide

http://www.mattbors.com/strips/244.gif

Wondermark: sacred beliefs

http://www.wondermark.com/comics/274.gif

Tom the Dancing Bug: charley the australopithecine

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/td/2007/td070210.gif

New Budget Fact Sheet:

Administration Contradicts Itself on Tax Cuts

A report by the Department of Treasury belies recent claims by the Bush administration on taxes. Get the full story here.

At:

http://ga6.org/ct/lp_Ut311Qum0/

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On Glenn Beck, NY Times’ Healy relayed Giuliani spin that he “will not backtrack” on abortion — but he already has

On the February 14 edition of CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck, discussing former Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R-MA) change in position on abortion and gay rights, guest host Michael Smerconish said, “I would have more respect for a candidate … who had a viewpoint with which I disagree but who stood his or stood her ground.” New York Times reporter Patrick Healy responded that “that’s what” former New York City Mayor Rudy’s Giuiliani’s (R) “people are saying. … [T]hey’re insisting that Rudy will not backtrack on his support for abortion rights. But if he did that, he’d be killed.” However, as Media Matters for America has documented, Giuliani has already “backtrack[ed] on his support for abortion rights” while denying that he has done so, which The New York Times itself has reported.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200702150013?src=other

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World Net Daily never fails to disappoint,

uses troubled astronaut’s example to demonstrate that women shouldn’t be in high-stress jobs or permitted to work around men

At:

http://tinyurl.com/3c6hfj

From: Poacnewsletter

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Auditors say billions of dollars wasted in Iraq –

House testimony focuses on $10 billion wasted or poorly tracked 15 Feb 2007 The U.S. government is at risk of squandering significantly more money in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has already wasted or otherwise overcharged taxpayers billions of dollars, federal investigators said Thursday. Of the $10 billion in overpriced contracts or undocumented costs, more than $2.7 billion were charged by Halliburton Co..

Complete article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17168266/

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Escalating Truth

As the U.S. House of Representatives debates a non-binding resolution this week opposing President Bush’s decision to send more troops to Iraq, the Rockridge Institute published a new article entitled “Escalating Truth.”

Complete article at:

http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=123389870&u=1186797

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BUSH AND IRAN — DEJA WAR ALL OVER AGAIN?

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5752

Craig Unger reports in Vanity Fair magazine that “The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactic  — alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on WMD  — to push for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet?  …  Whatever
the administration’s master plan may be, parts of it are already under way.  …  According to Sam Gardiner, by the end of February the United States will have enough forces in place to mount an assault on Iran. That, in the words of former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, would be ‘an act of political folly’ so severe that ‘the era of American preponderance could come to a premature end.’ ”

SOURCE: Vanity Fair magazine, March, 2007

                          ==========

Scrutinizing Claims on Iran

STEPHEN ZUNES, zunes@usfca.edu,

http://www.stephenzunes.org

Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, Zunes said today: “Displays of a few bomb fragments hardly prove the Bush administration’s contention that 170 Americans [and allies] have been killed with weapons sent by the highest levels of the Iranian government. For one thing, the Iranians back Shiite militias in Iraq allied with the U.S.-backed government, not insurgents attacking American and Iraqi government forces.

“Secondly, there is a huge black market in various explosive devices, so it would not be surprising to find components from any number of countries. Thirdly, EFPs [explosively formed penetrators] like those shown by U.S. officials have been used by the Irish Republican Army and other insurgent groups for decades and can therefore hardly be treated as a nefarious Iranian invention designed to attack American troops. Even the Iraqi government didn’t buy these latest charges by the Bush administration.” Zunes is author of the book “Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism” and is Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

Insurgents — they buy American

The administration’s latest memory lapse is remembering where our enemies in Iraq got their weapons.

Rosa Brooks

February 16, 2007

ACCORDING TO the defense lawyers at his trial, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby didn’t lie to investigators about his role in outing covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. He was just so darn busy with pressing national security matters that he kept forgetting the chummy chats about Plame he’d had with NBC’s Tim Russert and Time magazine’s Matt Cooper — not to mention his two-hour lunch on the same subject with Judith Miller (late of the New York Times).

The ladies and gentlemen of the press appear skeptical about Libby’s “bad memory” defense. But, personally, I find his claim entirely credible.

After all, in the run-up to the Iraq war, President Bush was so busy with pressing national security matters that he completely forgot to ask any questions about the gaping holes in the intelligence presented to him. Condoleezza Rice was so busy with pressing national security matters that she forgot to take false information about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction out of Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address, even though the CIA told her that it was false. Dick Cheney was so busy with pressing national security matters (water-boarding prisoners; shooting small animals) that he totally forgot you’re not supposed to pressure people to come up with bogus intelligence in the first place.

And the easily forgettable journalists mentioned above were so busy enjoying their access to administration national security officials that they forgot that journalists are supposed to actually investigate stuff, instead of just breathlessly repeating what an “anonymous source” told them over lunch.

Given all the forgetting that was going on back in 2003, why shouldn’t we believe that Scooter had a faulty memory too?

Astute observers will have noticed that there’s still an awful lot of national security-related forgetting going on today. The Bush administration, for instance, has already forgotten that relying on questionable intelligence can lead to disaster and has taken to announcing direct Iranian involvement in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq as if it were incontrovertible fact.

According to some anonymous U.S. officials at a very secret, no-recording-or-photography-allowed session in Baghdad on Sunday, U.S. forces have discovered Iranian-made components in some of the bombs used by Iraqi insurgents. Naturally (having forgotten that there might be no war in Iraq at all if it hadn’t been for excessive media respect for anonymous sources), every U.S. media outlet dutifully played along and reported the claims. Of course, those claims are hard to verify because both the evidence and the identity of the officials are secret.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks16feb16,0,7275698.story?track=tothtml

rbrooks@latimescolumnists.com

                          ==========

Borowitz Report – Pre-war Intelligence Shocker

Pre-war Intelligence Came From Magic 8-Ball

New Documents Reveal Ball’s Influence in White House

Much of the pre-war intelligence that led to President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 came from the popular fortune-telling toy known as the Magic 8-Ball, according to documents released today.

As Congress debates the war in Iraq, scrutinizing the pre-war roles of such former administration figures as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, the news that a small plastic ball shaped the decision to go to war came as nothing less than a bombshell.

But transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing conversations between Messrs. Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and the Magic 8-Ball make it clear that the ball had the deciding vote when it came to the administration’s pre-war planning.

At one point of the transcripts, Mr. Bush asks the Magic 8-Ball flat out, “Does Saddam Hussein have weapons of mass destruction.”

The ball responded equivocally – “Reply hazy, try again” – prompting the president to repeat his question.

Once Mr. Bush asked the question again moments later, the Magic 8-Ball was more definitive: “Signs point to yes.”

At the White House today, spokesman Tony Snow defended the Magic 8-Ball’s role in gathering pre-war intelligence but said that the ball had left the administration in 2004 to spend more time with its family.

But in response to a reporter’s question about whether the United States planned to go to war with Iran, Mr. Snow raised eyebrows by responding, “Better not tell you now.”

Elsewhere, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to teach evolution in public schools, with the six human members of the board outvoting the four monkeys.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

David Horsey: who said this?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070214/Cartoon20070214.gif

Minimum Security: Committed to peace

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sm021407.jpg

Bad Reporter(Don Asmussen): blaine falls short of record in jetblue

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/02/16/950×315-badreporter.gif