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Ex Spook Director: Cheney is "Vice President For Torture"

In an interview on England's ITV news yesterday, former CIA Director Stansfield Turner said the U.S. vice president was damaging America by overseeing policies tha encourage torture of possible terrorist suspects. The former head spook (under President Carter) went on to call Cheney the "vice president for torture."

Stansfield said that torture is condoned and even approved by the Bush government. The American Senate says torture should be banned - whatever the justification. But President Bush has threatened to veto their ruling.

Replying to claims that the US does not use torture, Admiral Turner, who ran the CIA from 1977 to 1981, said: "I do not believe him".

Admiral Turner claims secret CIA prisons used for torture are known as 'black sites.'

Terrorists are picked up in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan and flown in CIA-controlled private aircraft to countries where there are secret interrogation centres, operating outside any country's jurisdiction. The Mihail-Kogalniceanu military airbase in Romania is believed to be a torture center.

Senator John McCain is having fits about all of this, of course. McCain was tortured by the North Vietnamese in Vietnam while he was a prisoner of war.

I wonder what former CIA Director/ex-President George H.W. Bush can tell us about this?
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Betty Brummet Goes To War With The Republican Party For Her Right To Vote

Last week, Betty E. Brummet received a letter informing her the Republican Party had challenged her voter registration. A challenge was filed by Lori D. Sotelo. . .apparently a Republican hack or wardheeler. The letter told Betty that if she did not defend herself against this challenge, her vote in the November 8th election would be thrown out, and she would be unable to vote in the future.

Betty is 82 years old, and has lived at the same address in Kent, Washington since 1953. She has been a faithful and diligent voter for 60 years. The Republicans strongarmed elections officials into telling her they would no longer allow her to vote!

Betty Brummet (my mother) worked a rivetgun at Boeing in the early years of World War II. She WAS Rosie The Riveter (a well-known and powerful patriotic icon). Riveting was not enough for the war effort for Betty. She enlisted in the Marine Corps and served for the duration of the war. She was widowed very early in life, went it alone, and raised three (quite outstanding) children on her own.

Her reward from the G.O.P. for her military service, and for being a taxpayer funding many of their dingbat initiatives and unilateral adventures over the years, was complete and total disenfranchisement. In their anger over losing the governor's house, and the recent string of Republican political disasters--up to, and including, the disintegration of The White House itself--the Republicans decided to go on a voter jihad, and challenged nearly 2,000 voter's registrations, including hundreds of completely legitimate voters.

The Republicans wrongly guessed that at least some of the people they challenged would throw in the towel. They picked the wrong woman this time. She knew what had happened in Florida in 2000!

Betty rolled into action, writing letters and calling friends in the community. She even enlisted the noted Seattle attorney Keelin Curran into her cause. They began a campaign to get back her vote, contacting: Norm Maleng, and the King County Assistant Prosecutor that had been assigned the voter challenge case; The Seattle Times; Attorneys for the Republican Party; Chris Vance, the jackbooted Republican thug who masterminded this sloppy effort; and The American Civil Liberties Union.

Ms. Curran and Betty Brummet heard today from the Republicans that, well, maybe they were a bit hasty and would be dropping this particular challenge. According to a reporter from The Seattle Times, "There's a business called Stronghold Self Storage" with an address somewhat similar to Betty's. He went on to say "I suspect [Betty] got caught in the same kind of address snafu I described in my story this morning. The Republicans thought they were challenging the registrations of voters who had registered illegally at private mailbox businesses and self-storage businesses, but, as Chris Vance said yesterday, they didn't check the cities or geographic designations of the addresses they challenged. "

Betty Brummet is about to get her vote back. They're going to have a hearing and make it official on Monday. And The G.O.P. are about to settle back into the hole from which they crawled. As it turns out, hundreds of their challenges are every bit as bogus as the one against Betty Brummet. They should be ashamed.
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All This Is That: Another Poster

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One Year Of Blogging::::All This Is That Turns One Year Old Today

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Bush Family Is Split

From The Drudge Report today. It sounds like Nixon's last year in the White House!

Tue Nov 15 2005 11:23:51 ET - Drudgereport.com. President Bush feels betrayed by several of his most senior aides and advisors and has severely restricted access to the Oval Office, INSIGHT magazine claims in a new report.

The president’s reclusiveness in the face of relentless public scrutiny of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and White House leaks regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame has become so extreme that Mr. Bush has also reduced contact with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, administration sources said on the condition of anonymity.

“The atmosphere in the Oval Office has become unbearable,” a source said. “Even the family is split.”

INSIGHT:
Sources close to the White House say that Mr. Bush has become isolated and feels betrayed by key officials in the wake of plunging domestic support, the continued insurgency in Iraq and the CIA-leak investigation that has resulted in the indictment and resignation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.

The sources said Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes. The sources also say that Mr. Bush has stopped talking with his father, except on family occasions.
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The G.O.P. Speech Machine

Click image to enlarge. . .
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Women's Panties Against The President

http://www.axisofeve.org/ has been offering anti-Bush panties for some time now. Not bush, Bush! It's an interesting approach, certainly.

Move<--->Countermove::::The White House Fights Back On Iraq

...Click the painting of POTUS to enlarge...


57% of the country now believes that President Bush misled people on Iraq's weapons programs to sell the war. Demos on Capitol Hill are beating the drum for an investigation into the faulty, or non-existent, pre-war intelligence. So what does the White House do? They fight back. The President nearly accuses his critics of giving comfort to the enemy.

President Bush is going to Asia today with high hopes to improve his stature. But before he did, he accused the Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy." Haven't we heard this gambit before?

"That is irresponsible," The President said in remarks to U.S. forces during a refueling stop in Alaska. Excerpts from the remarks were released by the White House as Bush flew to Elemendorf Air Force Base on his eight-day journey to Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia.

He said pretty much the same thing last Friday in a speech on Veteran's Day, when he also said:

"it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began"

"When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support."

In fact, the October 2002 Joint Resolution authorized the use of force in Iraq, but did not mention removing Hussein.
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Doug Forrester Blames President Bush For His Spanking In Jersey

Doug Forrester, in a follow-up interview about the election with New Jersey's Star-Ledger, directly blamed The President for his loss in the governor's race.

Forrester told a reporter that Bush's rapidly declining popularity made it impossible for his campaign to overcome the "built-in advantage Democrats have" in a blue state like New Jersey.

"If Bush's numbers were where they were . . .even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday," Forrester said. "Katrina was the tipping point."

The President did all this from a distance. President Bush was one of the very few high-profile Republicans that were not asked to campaign for Forrester.

OK. I'm perfectly willing to slag POTUS with this one. But come on, Dougie. . .you lost this on your own. Sure the Prez cost you some votes, but don't let that convince you that you didn't suck out on the hustings or that Senator Corzine didn't whip your ass fair and square!
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Alien Lore No. 43 - Timeline Of The Big Ufo Events 1,500 B.C.-1969

Here is a timeline of some UFO/Alien events from ancient times up to 1969. Later this week, we will publish a timelines of events from the last 35 years.

1,500 BC - Pharaoh Thutmose III: "In the year 22, in the 3rd month of winter, at the 6th hour of the day... the scribes from the House of Life saw a circle of fire appear in the sky... it had no head and its breath was fetid. Its body was the length and width of a stake. It had no voice. As the scribes were confused by this thing, they threw themselves to the ground.. they went to the pharaoh... to tell him."

"His Majesty ordered... and henceforth everything was recorded in the rolls of papyrus. His Majesty meditated on and thought about this event. Hence, after a few days, these things appeared even more numerous in the sky. They shined in the sky, brighter than the sun, and extended to the limits of the four pillars in the sky... The position of the circles of fire was powerful. The Pharaoh's army contemplated them."

"His Majesty stood in the middle. It was at supper time. Then these circles of fire rose higher in the sky and towards the South. Fish and poultry fell from the sky. A marvel never before observed since the foundation of the nation. And the Pharaoh had incense brought, which was burned in order to bring peace to the foyer... And these events were inscribed on the Pharaoh's orders in the annals of the House of Life... so that they would never be forgotten."

600 BC - Ezekiel - Do you remember the series of books by Eric Von Daniken from the 70s with titles like Chariots of the Gods? In The Bible, the prophet Ezekiel reported on those chariots:

"I looked and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud and a fire unfolding itself, and a brightness were about it, and out of the mist thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. "

"As for their wings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their wings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the Earth the wheels were lifted up. "


800 AD - Peru: Some UFO scholars allege that there were aerial "landing strips" built in the Peruvian Andes sometime in the 9th century. Frank Zappa seems to be referring to this notion in his song "Incan Roads":

Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Just to land in the Andes?
Was it round
And did it have
A motor
Or was it
Something Different?

and:

Or did someone
Build a place
To leave a space
For such a thing to land?

January, 1878 (And June 1947) - "Flying Saucers": The term "saucer" was used by a Texan farmer, John Martin, to describe an object seen over his farm. Later, a Seattle reporter coined the term when Kenneth Arnold saw a formation of objects over the Cascade Mountains of Washington State and described them as moving "like a saucer would if you skipped it across water." This image inspired a local reporter to coin the term "flying saucer." Arnold always maintained he never called them saucers, but in any case, the name stuck. The Arnold sightings are universally credited as launching modern interest in aliens and UFOs.

June, 1908 - Siberia: A fireball exploded over Siberia, creating shock waves felt miles away and setting 1,200 acres on fire. Much later (1927), scientists visited the blast site. They found no UFOs, meteorite fragments, or Greys, but did find high levels of radioactivity in the soil. UFOlogists guess the spacecraft's nuclear reactor exploded on impact. This incident is thought to be the first modern crash by Hive spacecraft.

August, 1915 - Hill 60: During World War I, a regiment of the British Army, the 1st 4th Norfolk, disappeared in an attempt to take Hill 60 near Gallipoli. In front of dozens of witnesses, a regiment of over 800 men marched into a cloud formation and was never seen again. After the war, Britain demanded the return of the regiment, but the Turks denied any knowledge of the regiment's existence. No trace of the regiment has ever been found.

1947 - The Roswell Incident: (see article in All This Is That ) After a loud explosion, William "Mac" Brazel discovered wreckage on his ranch. He reported the debris to the local sheriff, George Wilcox, who informed Roswell Army Air Base. Brazel was held by order of Major Jesse Marcel while debris collected from the ranch was flown to Wright Patterson Air Force Base. On July 8, 1947, Public Relations Officer Lt. Walter Haut issued the following press release on order from the base commander:

"The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of 509th Bomb Group of the Eight Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County. The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Marcel to higher headquarters. "

Later, the Army's position changed to claim that the material recovered was the wreckage of a weather balloon. Major Marcel said the material he had seen was thin and foil-like but would not dent and that there was also a material similar to balsa wood which would not burn. He described hieroglyphics on some debris, but denied seeing alien bodies. Other reports say that four Greys were on the flying disc. Three of the Greys were D.O.A., but the fourth was kept alive briefly at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. No one was ever able to communicate with the Grey survivor.

August, 1947 - Majestic 12: (See article in All This Is That). "Majestic 12 is established by special classified executive order of President Truman. "

January 1950 - The Air Force issues The Grudge Report. Of 273 sightings investigated, it concluded 23% were "unexplained."

1951 -The flying saucer movie The Day the Earth Stood Still is released. This film features an anti-grey. . . a friendly alien come to warn us about what can happen to earth. . .

July, 1952 - Veronica, Argentina - Hundreds of residents see six discs circle above the town, and disappear into the night sky. This sighting was within hours of a very similar report from Captain Paul Carpenter near Denver. Carpenter reported the craft was traveling at 3,000 miles per hour, making it possible for the saucer to have appeared in both locations.

1955 - General Douglas MacArthur - MacArthur was involved in establishing the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU), to investigate crashed flying saucers. In 1955 MacArthur stated:

"The nations of the world will have to unite for the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of the Earth must some day make a common front against attack by people from other planets."

This statement led many to believe the IPU uncovered more facts about UFOs than has ever been revealed.

April, 1956 - Capt. Raymond E. Ryan: Capt. Ryan and his first officer William Neff were flying from Albany, New York to Syracuse. At a height of 6,000 feet, the two observed a brilliant white light like an approaching aircraft with landing lights on. Ryan estimated that the object was moving at at approximately 1,000 miles per hour -- faster than any object of the day. The UFO glowed orange in front of them. Ryan and Neff reported the encounter to Griffiss Air Force Base. The base confirmed that they also could see an orange object nearby. This sighting lasted over twenty minutes and was also witnessed by the flight attendant, Phyllis Reynolds.

August, 1956 - Bentwaters/Lakenheath, England: The Royal and United States Aire Forces in Bentwater/Lakenheath in Suffolk made radar contact with a UFO using three ground-based radar systems. An aerial radar confirmation on a Venom night fighter and visual sightings from the ground and the air make this case one the most celebrated (and witnessed) contacts ever. Radar showed that the objects were moving up at 4,000 miles per hour -- higher speeds than any aircraft of the time.

September, 1957 - Ubatuba, Brazil: A crashed flying saucer reportedly yielded magnesium so pure that it could not have been manufactured on Earth. Several other UFOs have been reported to have been constructed of pure magnesium. Fragments of the Ubatuba saucer have been lost. One of the most troubling aspects of gathering evidence of alien contact and UFOs is the lack of evidence--from implants, to Alien/EBE bodies, to artifacts, to any physical evidence at all.

May, 1960 - Francis Gary Powers: The U-2 plane piloted by Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev announced his country shot down a spy plane. Powers pleads guilty to spy charges in a Moscow trial and is sentenced to ten years. UFOlogists belkieve that Powers was in pursuit of a UFO and was given permission by Majestic-12 to overfly the Soviet Union. During pursuit, the UFO shoots down Powers' plane. To facilitate the cover-up, the United States is willing to accept blame and let the Soviets take credit for downing Powers. In 1962, Powers was released in an American/Soviet spy trade.

September, 1961 - Betty and Barney Hill: Driving to their home in New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill notice a bright light in the sky (see All This Is That). Radar reports at the nearby Pease Air Force Base also recorded something in the air. The Hills examined the light through binoculars, and saw an object with flashing lights. Barney walked across a field for a closer look, and saw beings looking back at him. Frightened, he and Betty drive home, but arrived two hours later than expected. They could not account for the missing time (a common phenomenon among abductees) until they underwent regression hypnosis. The couple described being stopped by the UFO and taken aboard the saucer for medical examination. Due to the impressive documentation and the confirming radar trace from Pease Air Force Base, the Hill case is one of the most famous on record, and had kept traction for nearly fifty years.

April 24 1964. Deputy Lonnie Zamora has a close encounter near Socorro, New Mexio. (See All This Is That article). Lonnie Zamora was a sergeant in the Socorro Police Department. On April 24, 1964, he witnessed the Socorro landing in New Mexico. The investigation of the Socorro case was lead by Dr J. Allen Hynek with the FBI. The report on the case ended up in the Air Force Project Blue Book report "There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora's reliability. He is a serious officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. This is the best documented case on record."

November, 1965 - The Great Northeast Blackout: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont all lost power in this power failure. Although a faulty automatic relay device at a plant near Niagara Falls is blamed, there is evidence that UFOs can cause power failures in the national electricity grid systems, although this may only be a side effect rather than an intentional act. According to the Dark Skies version of events, this power failure was triggered by the Hive to prevent the airing of documentary evidence on national television. In December of the same year, the grid systems failed in New Mexico and Texas following UFO sightings in those areas.

1969 - The Air Force Project Blue Book is shut down following the highly skeptical and critical Condon report.
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Poem: Camouflage

My rogue and rococo thoughts
Skitter sideways
Like a sideshuffling crab

Following evasive tactics
In case anyone locks on
And attempts to impose

A framework
Of coherence and congruence
On these fitfully nuanced palabra

If you actually begin to understand
What I am writing
We have all missed the point

Sometimes I don't know
What it means
Until someone else tells me

Sometimes I don't know
If it's better to pull your leg
Or my own

I don't know which is better
The variations and detours
Or the thing itself
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