We hope you're ready for tomorrow's presidential candidates forum on health care. We're making last minute arrangements now and excitement is building.
Sign up for an email reminder and we'll let you know when the event's about to start.
Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:15 p.m. EST (9:15 a.m. PST)
Faiz Shakir Research Director, ThinkProgress.org Center for American Progress Action Fund
Sounds like a great opportunity to flood the candidates with demands for TRUE Universal Healthcare... You know? The single payer kind that they never seem to be talking about when they abuse the words "Universal Healthcare".
Enough with "reforming" the broken "for profit" system. We need single payer, government funded, true Universal Healthcare.
As a side note: Thinkprogress said in a seperate Email that they invited all of the Preidential candidates to participate in this...
The Progress Report is traveling to Las Vegas today to participate in Saturday's New Leadership on Health Care presidential forum, featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM). (All the presidential candidates were invited to attend.) The Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are co-hosting the forum. Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent for Time magazine, will moderate the forum and ask the candidates about their plans to address our nation's health care crisis. If you happen to be in Las Vegas this weekend and would like to attend the presidential forum in person, we have some seats for you. RSVP here.
I wonder if that invitation included the republican neocon-wet-set? heh
"Today is the final day of our Let Sibel Edmonds Speak campaign where we have been asking people to call Henry Waxman's office (202-225-3976, Capitol switchboard 800-828-0498) to demand *public* hearings into the case of former FBI translator and whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds.
Sibel guarantees that if we have public hearings, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman, and Dennis Hastert will go to prison for a long time. If any of that appeals to you, for any reason, call Waxman today. Please."
Check out his site and maybe, JUST MAYBE, you'll want to give Waxman a call?
I know this story has grown quite a bit since this was originally posted... But today is the day that Ken Krayeske (and freedom of speech, political association, THE LIST, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, and other privacy issues) gets a day in court.
OK. He has worked on the Green party campaign for the Governor, the Lamont campaign for Senate, and does a lot of Blogging and work as an indie Journalist. Apparently he is perceived as a serious enough threat to our paranoid Governor Jodi Rell that he was arrested at her innaugural prade.
"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell's security detail only watched when a woman left the sidewalk and quickly walked toward Rell during the inaugural parade Wednesday. The woman shook Rell's hand and melted into the crowd.
But a slightly built man who jumped off a mountain bike and ran into the parade route ahead of Rell was intercepted by a state trooper and arrested by a Hartford police officer.
One difference in the way the two incursions were handled: A state police intelligence unit had previously identified the man, Ken Krayeske, as a political activist and potential threat.
A potential threat? What was so threatening about Krayeske that the Trooper had to step in and grab him? And why, and how, had they identified him?(MUCH more below)
Hartford Det. Jeff Antuna wrote in his report that Krayeske hp/2007/01/0drew his attention by rapidly riding up to the parade route near Bushnell Park, dumping his bike and running to a position in front of Rell.
"I immediately recognized the accused as Kenneth Krayeske from the photograph provided by the state police," Antuna wrote.
A state police detective intercepted Krayeske. When Antuna grabbed his arm, police said, Krayeske pulled away.
Photograph provided by State Police? Huh??? According to the Hartford police officers report the State had given the local Hartford police photographs of activists that might be considered threats to "Her Excellency" Governor Jodi Rell.
His lawyer says Krayeske apparently came to the attention of state police by heckling Rell during a campaign stop in Glastonbury last year over her refusal to debate his candidate, Clifford Thornton.
"Are there little circles of law-enforcement officers who have lists of who is naughty and who is nice?" asked Krayeske's lawyer, Norm Pattis. "What is the criteria for inclusion?"
Speaking on behalf of the state police, Lt. J. Paul Vance had nothing to say about how Kreyeske came to the State Police intelligence unit's OR the Connecticut Intelligence Centers attention. He did admit that these unit's do share information and intelligence. Speaking on behalf of Nutmeggers... I knew they shared information, but I had no clue so many agencies were watching all of us?
As for the list:
Nancy Mulroy, a Hartford police spokeswoman, played down the list, saying Krayeske was arrested for his actions.
Pay no attention to the McCarthy inspired list! Just move along to the dangerous actions of Krayeske... OK, Let's do that for the moment. Situation, according to the Hartford police:
"List or no list, if you rush off a bike and start charging toward the governor during a processional parade, you are going to be arrested," Mulroy said. "In this day and age, when security is a very serious matter, you cannot expect to act like that and not have to face the consequences. Our job was to protect the governor, and we took it seriously."
According to The Courant article there was a witness to back up the police version of the arrest. Eliot Streim:
Streim, a Hartford lawyer who was watching the parade with a colleague, said police did not intercept Krayeske as he ran into the parade route. On the contrary, Krayeske photographed the governor without incident and was detained by police only after Rell had passed by, Streim said.
Well? He did back them up against the wall. Straim's version seems to leave a lot of doubt about the police version of the arrest.
OK... Someone is lying, and the only one I can see with nothing to gain or lose here is the Lawyer/witness. Can Krayeske shed any light on what he was doing at the parade? Take a look:
He was taking pictures! That was a photo taken by Krayeske shortly before he was arrested. Does that look like a photo that someone charging at Granny Paranoia might be able to take? Half of my pictures come out blurry even when I am standing as still as I can. That is a damned good picture considering the subject. (FYI: Krayeske is having a caption contest for the photo to poke fun at inauguRellgate, and celebrate the glorious circumstances of his arrest and 13 hours in jail)
It is bad enough that this guy got arrested for taking pictures, but what is a really scary thought is that Connecticut now has a "LIST" of potential dangegerously threatening people that seems to include peaceful activists like Bloggers, Journalists, campaign volunteers, and obviously photographers.
So now we have a "List", an apparently ginned up arrest, spying on peaceful political activists... And yes he is your typical peaceful activist. Ctnewsjunkie fills in some of Kreyeske's info:
Krayeske was working as a freelance photojournalist at the time of the arrest Wednesday. He also runs a Web site The 40 Year Plan. He was previously arrested in 2003 for demonstrating against the war. In 2004 Krayeske worked on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign and in 2005 he traveled to Syria to report on the war. He has also contributed stories and photos to ctnewsjunkie.com
Atalbot at MLN can give you a little more background on Krayeske.
Now to the last little part in this story: What helped to get all of Connectucut's various secret and not so secret policing efforts and attention and put him on the "LIST". According to Maura at MLN:
Whose going to protest the inaugural ball Jan. 3 with me? No need to make nice after watching this documentary about CJTS
Paz hasn't yet connected this comment to the aspect of this whole outrage that I think is nearly as interesting as the revelation that CTIC has a list of political activists deemed troublesome to Rell -- the fact that the bond for Krayeske was set at the absurdly high level of $75,000.
Since Ken couldn't make this bond, he was kept in lockup all afternoon and night...and then mysteriously sprung without having to make bond at all, simply on promise to appear, at 1:00 AM.
Rell's inaugural ball, which Ken commented at CLP that he'd like to protest, ended at 1:00 AM.
Krayeske is a freelance writer and photographer and his only intention was to photograph "Her Excellency" Governor Jodi Rell. They arrested him on ginned up charges, and held him until after that Rell's ball ended. You have seen most of the the evidence. Do I raelly need to tell you what to make of this?
Pattis called the police department's version "ridiculous," accusing them of "lying and making it up as they go along."
Equally important, he said, is the question of the surveillance and whether Krayeske and other political activists and freelance journalists are being investigated and monitored.
The number of other people on the list and their identities were not available Friday.
"It's not a crime in this country to be a political activist, at least not yet," Pattis said. "It's not apparent that Mr. Krayeske broke any law, it's not apparent that he did anything that any of the rest of us are not allowed to do. This is sort of, police state run riot."
A spokesman for the governor's office declined to comment Friday.
CT police and not so secret police (not secret anymore) have stepped in it big time, and all for the benefit of our paranoid GOP Governor Jodi Rell. They have crossed way over the line of what their stated purposes are. Just check Colin McEnroe's site to see the proof of that:
I am trying to stay with this story as I do the show. I now have the police report on the arrest of Ken Krayeske. The information about him seems to have come, at least partly, from the Connecticut Intelligence Center, a creature of Homeland Security.
Here is its stated purpose. I fail to see how it includes monitoring members of the Green Party:
* Connecticut Intelligence Center
The DEMHS Statewide Anti-Terrorism Task Force is now co-located with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, in an effort to streamline investigations and response to terrorism-related allegations and incidents. A key component of this investigative and law enforcement asset created in 2005 is the Connecticut Intelligence Center ("CTIC"), a multi-agency collaborative operation that includes representatives of the FBI, DEMHS, Connecticut State Police, municipal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard.
CTIC collects, analyzes and disseminates both criminal and terrorism related intelligence to all law enforcement agencies in Connecticut. Serving as a statewide central resource to affect intelligence sharing, CTIC also acts to identify emerging threats and trends. CTIC produces a number of intelligence reports and bulletins, including the CTIC Weekly Briefing and has conducted three seminars for state and local law enforcement professionals. The seminars have helped increase the knowledge of local law enforcement professionals in dealing with terrorist prevention and incidents.
And like the typical GOP low-life she personifies Jodi Rell will likely do nothing and say nothing about this until everyone dogpiles on her. She would prefer to just try and sweep it under the rug. What she didn't count on was that not only has the Blogosphere latched on to this, BUT the MSM has grabbed this one early and has done a lot of digging as well.
Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven) and CO-Chair of the Judiciary Committee had this to say (Courtesy of Spazeboy.net) at a Capitol briefing: Part 1 (Length 09:00):
Lawlor is correct:
"This type of conduct, which I guess you could categorize as "bushist" for a want of a better expression in this day and age will not be tolerated in this state."
Part 2 (Length (09:54):
"That, to me, reeks of secret police..."
Part 3 (Length (08:50):
"This is clearly an attempt to intimidate a journalist"..."This is the result of the emergence Bloggers on the political scene"..."This not traditional journalism, its different, slightly more in your face, and appropriately so, because a lot of people can't get away with what they used to in the good old days, not the politicians, not the police, and a lot of other people, and I think this is healthy for the process."..."I think this motivated more by politics than law enforcement"
"It begs the question: "Who else is on that list?"" And also a reference to this snippet from a post as supposed reasoning for Krayeske's outrageous treatment:
I scoped the area because I hoped to snap some photos of Rell during the inaug. I want file shots so when I report on her governance, I can have fresh images for the loyal viewing audience. Unfortunately, according to Mr. Harris, I won't have much access:
Shocking! He was planning to take Photographs!
Part 4 (Length 09:12):
Q: "Are you going to ask for copies of thet list and are you going to make it public?"
A: "Absolutely. We will get to the bottom of this and we will do it publicly."
Also, there is a reference to The letter (Via ctblogger) from Jodi Rell that is about a dollar short and a few days too late for me to believe that she is doing anything but spinning:
Colin McEnroe just posted this on his blog. Seems like the events surrounding the arrest of Ken Krayeske is going to turn into a full-scale investigation. McEnroe just posted this letter Gov. Rell sent to
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle.
January 8, 2007
Commissioner Leonard Boyle
Department of Public Safety
1111 Country Club Road Middletown, Connecticut 06457
Dear Commissioner Boyle:
I am writing with regard to the incident last week involving Kenneth Krayeske which led to his arrest by the Hartford Police Department.
I recognize that security assessments are by necessity comprehensive, and I understand that our State and local law enforcement agencies must work together and share information. Law enforcement agencies also have the difficult job of assessing the information they receive. Nonetheless, I was disturbed to read in media reports allegations regarding the existence of a “list� of individuals.
It is my expectation that all State Police information is maintained in strict compliance with federal law. In this environment of heightened security, the use of information must be balanced with the individual rights of our citizens. In providing security and protection, we cannot permit the rights of individuals to be trampled.
The parade was a public event, and moreover an event at which public participation was invited. People also have a right to protest â€" and that right is one of the fundamental freedoms of our state and nation.
Most importantly, security procedures must be uniform and consistent in order to safeguard both the people and places of Connecticut as well as our basic freedoms.
Accordingly, I am requesting that you review the circumstances of this incident. Specifically, I would like to know how this individual came to the attention of State Police and the circumstances under which his name and photo were provided to the Hartford Police Department.
In addition, I am requesting that you evaluate existing procedures to ensure that information gathered by the State Police is reliable and reported to other law enforcement agencies in a responsible manner.
Sincerely,
M Jodi Rell
GOVERNOR
The events surrounding freelance journalist Ken Krayeske's arrest is getting stranger by the second as the outrage mounts.
The letter came out shortly before the planned press conference by Lawlor. Can you get any more "spin reactionary" than that?
As you can see... Lawlor and the other members of the press conference are truly shocked about this and are taking this all very seriously as far as it being a serious abuse of Krayeske's rights and the rights of any other "innocent victims" of the list.
I'll close this out with a humoorous interview by Ct Bob (with Maura) of Krayeske at the Branford BRRRoadwater "polar bear swim": (length 05:18)
You don't know who I am BUT you are welcome! :) There are many people that will do what we can to support you.
There is an appeal for funds to help cover his legal costs if you want to help a fellow Blogger/Activist/Journalist/Photographer/Citizen!
There is an appeal for funds to help cover his legal costs if you want to help a fellow Blogger/Activist/Journalist/Photographer/Citizen!
Update II: This one's major. It turns out that Krayeske's application for a grant from the SPJ's Legal Defense Fund was published without his knowledge or consent. I feel like a rube for re-posting an excerpt, but I did so only because I know that many of us are interested in contributing toward the payment of his legal bills. All that's left of this post is the info below, which is the only legit way to contribute to Ken Krayeske's legal defense.
if you wish to promote liberty, protect freedom of speech and stop false arrests of journalists and/or political activists, please help me out. You can make out checks to "Law Offices of Norman A. Pattis," and in the memo line write "Ken Krayeske Legal Defense Fund." Send the checks to
Ken Krayeske Legal Defense Fund c/o Law Offices of Norman Pattis 649 Amity Road Bethany, CT 06524
I repeat that this is the one and only certified way to contribute to my legal defense at this point and time. Thank you all in advance for your assistance, and I am humbled by the amount of emotional support I have received to this point.
This morning brought good news for Ken Krayeske, reports Jon Lender at the Courant:
Prosecutors at first offered only to nolle the charges of breach of peace and interfering with police -- that is, to not prosecute them but reserve the right to reopen the case for about a year -- on the grounds that Hartford police were in a "no-win" situation because they would have been strongly criticized if something happened to Rell.
But Krayeske's lawyer, Norman Pattis, pushed for an outright dismissal, saying it was Krayeske who was in the "no-win" situation because he was a nonviolent citizen exercising his First Amendment right by taking pictures of Rell for his website, www.the40yearplan.com.
[...]
Prosecutors then agreed to the dismissal, which did not involve any waiving by Krayeske of his right to bring a wrongful arrest suit in federal court.
Norm Pattis did a tremendous job with this case. Congratulations, Ken!
It is, very likely, only the minority of loony far-right-wingnuts that still support incompetent-extraordinaire bush that would want their neocon traitor given the IOKIYAR treatment.
As you may know, a jury found Libby guilty on four out of five criminal counts. Do you think George W. Bush should or should not issue a presidential pardon for Lewis "Scooter" Libby?
Yes, should 21%
No, should not 67%
No opinion 12%
There is just no wiggle-room left for right-wing-nuttyness on this issue. If you lie, mislead, obfuscate, etc., and all in an effort to throw sand in the eyes of the umpire, err, prosecutor, you go to jail.
About that cloud over cheney? You know? The one that Fitzgerald was talking about when he discussed why he nailed Scooter. I hear he has suddenly taken ill... I wonder if there will be a resignation in cheney's near future?
"What is wrong with Dick Cheney?" asks Michelle Cottle in the inaugural issue of the newly relaunched New Republic. She then spends the next 2,000 words marshaling evidence suggesting that his cardiac disease has left him demented and mentally disordered.
The charming part of this not-to-be-missed article (titled "Heart of Darkness," no less) is that it is framed as an exercise in compassion. Since she knows that the only way for her New Republic readers to understand Cheney is that he is evil--"next time you see Cheney behaving oddly, don't automatically assume that he's a bad man," she advises--surely the generous thing for a liberal to do is write him off as simply nuts. In the wonderland of liberalism, Cottle is trying to make the case for Cheney by offering him the insanity defense.
She doesn't seem to understand that showing how circulatory problems can affect the brain proves nothing unless you first show the existence of a psychiatric disorder. Yet Cottle offers nothing in Cheney's presenting symptoms or behavior to justify a psychiatric diagnosis of any kind, let alone dementia.
Those loony republicans. They just can't seem to recognize the symptoms of GUILT... "I am too sick from scooterliedus fitzmas to finish out my term..."
Sorry for the lack of posts... We had to get to Tennessee in a hurry for a funeral and I didn't really have time to follow anything political in the last ten days anyways.
We got back last night, tired, and I think a couple of us even picked up a bug while down there. The worst week an'a'half we have had in a long while for our family. :(
"Those regulations, which are discussed on the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/pardon, would seem to make a Libby pardon a nonstarter in George W. Bush’s White House. They “require a petitioner to wait a period of at least five years after conviction or release from confinement (whichever is later) before filing a pardon application,” according to the Justice Web site.
snip
“You know, I get asked about pardons on a lot of different cases. And there’s a procedure in place,” he said at first. When Bush added that he has been telling members of Congress who have contacted him about the matter to “look at the facts in the case,” Cavuto followed up: “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying … there is a process in any case for a president to make a pardon decisions. In other words, there is a series of steps that are followed, so that the pardon process is, you know, a rational process,” the president answered."
Get ready for prison now, Scooter... You have plenty of time before sentencing to get your affairs in order NOW, so there should be no reasons to delay your entering the system as soon as the sentence is pronounced.
As a side note on this: How strained must the relationship between bush and cheney be, when cheney has to make his plea for a pardon on the national news? Since when do Republicans take their "inner business dirty dealings" public like that? They usually do that stuff behind closed doors.
I am registered for my VA benefits BUT I don't use them because I am one of the few with a better plan (through my wife's job). I can still safely say that the Canadian system is far better than the private insurance we, personally, have here.
Why? Because we are not rich.
I have lived under both healthcare systems (Canadian and US), and I can't for the life of me figure out how you have let the insurance industry and government treat Americans this way?
America can and should do better.
I could sit here and explain all of the ways the Canadian system is better but that would be a waste of time since there are still those of you that have never lived under both systems and I, too often, hear the mantra of the American system is the best. As CT Blue put it:
"a peculiarly American disease: the belief that America is number one in everything because -well, just because. We are the richest, we have more freedom, we have the best healthcare, we have the best athletes, we have the best of everything. It doesn't matter that most of it's not true, it's an article of faith so we don't question it."
I question it from experience. American healthcare #1? It isn't. It is actually a horrible system of healthcare, especially considering the amount of money we pay for this piss-poor service, and it is not even near the top ten in the world. If you cannot figure this out just from the fact that Americans go to Canada to buy their drugs, and are going to Mexico to seek treatments, then you are completely blind to the failures of the American system.
Rank Country 1 France 2 Italy 3 San Marino 4 Andorra 5 Malta 6 Singapore 7 Spain 8 Oman 9 Austria 10 Japan 11 Norway 12 Portugal 13 Monaco 14 Greece 15 Iceland 16 Luxembourg 17 Netherlands 18 United Kingdom 19 Ireland 20 Switzerland 21 Belgium 22 Colombia 23 Sweden 24 Cyprus 25 Germany 26 Saudi Arabia 27 United Arab Emirates 28 Israel 29 Morocco 30 Canada 31 Finland 32 Australia 33 Chile 34 Denmark 35 Dominica 36 Costa Rica 37 United States of America 38 Slovenia 39 Cuba 40 Brunei 41 New Zealand 42 Bahrain 43 Croatia 44 Qatar 45 Kuwait
#37???
Right down around some South American, Dictatorship, and Middle Eastern countries. The richest nation in the world and we are #37 in providing healthcare to our citizens.
Are you proud?
Just another sign that the "The Great Republican Experiment" has failed completely in their drive to privatize, and all it has done is enrich the insurance companies at our healths' expense. And, just like the war in Iraq, some faux patriotic mantra or slapping a flag or a bumprsticker somewhere isn't going to help a bit.
The Black Commentator has been running a great series on healthcare, and today their topic is "Pull the Plug on the Private Healthcare Industry". Here is some unusually large excerpts from this piece but I encourage you to read the entire series at The Black Commentator:
Every year since 1994, the year in which the Clinton Administration failed to reform the health system in the United States (leaving in place the private health insurance industry dominating the healthcare-delivery system), actual healthcare coverage for people in the United States has continued to shrink. Real costs for private health insurance companies and their profits have skyrocketed. Higher co-pays, premiums and deductibles for the Medicare program have been mandated by the prerogatives of the private health insurance industry.
This is the sleazy side of the healthcare crisis in the United States: private health insurance companies charge more for less coverage and benefit shamelessly from the sheer desperation of people who have no other options. In addition, their inordinate impact on the healthcare system in the United States has prevented the publicly funded healthcare system from fulfilling its potential.
As a result of the dominance of the private health insurance industry, people become impoverished, making some eligible for the deficient Medicaid program, or they live with the extreme anxiety of healthcare insecurity until some become old enough or disabled enough to qualify for the deficient Medicare program, and/or they suffer and they die prematurely from no healthcare at all. Remember, 47 million remain uninsured and another 60 million remain anxiously underinsured. These horrible numbers are increasing every year.
snip
The American people can no longer bear this reality. Nearly 70% of the US citizens want a federally financed (single-payer) national healthcare system. The overwhelming majority of physicians are also demanding the single-payer solution to the healthcare crisis in this country. An impressive number of hospital CEOs want it. They are all demanding that the private health insurance industry must no longer have a choke hold on the healthcare system in the United States.
But where are the presidential candidates? With the exception of Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), all want to keep the private health insurance industry in business keeping people sick, economically desperate, and profiting off the people’s misery. The Republican Party candidates are actively attempting to expand the role of the private health insurance industry. What are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards doing?
Well, none of them is advocating single-payer because it challenges the prerogatives of corporate America, a major source of their campaign contributions. When Clinton, Obama, and Edwards speak of the single-payer solution not being politically feasible, they are not referring to the democratic will of the American people. We have spoken through the polls and in the 2006 elections. They should listen and take action. Rather, they are actually talking only about their political careers and their need to remain in the good graces of their financial backers. Wherever we encounter these and other presidential candidates, through banners and letters and phone calls to their headquarters, we need to make perfectly clear to each of them that we want a single payer national healthcare system.
snip
Not only are solid majorities in support of single-payer and against the criminal war in Iraq, the American people now understand the relationship between the anti-war movement and the single-payer national healthcare movement. As a result, the political energy of the people is qualitatively higher than it has ever been since ordinary people dismantled Jim Crow segregation and ended the criminal Viet Nam war.
History is now on our side. But, we can not rest. You can help. Demand that Congress now hold full Congressional Hearings on the Health Crisis in the United States.
Specifically, urge speaker of the House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Congressman, Charles Rangel D-NY); and Congressman, Pete Stark (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Health Committee, during April, the anniversary month of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; to hold full Congressional Hearings on an Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Residents in the United States (HR 676).
Also contact Healthcare-Now or call us at 1-800-453-1305 so that you can learn of ways in which you can directly support and participate in the historic national human rights movement to guarantee that all residents in the United States have comprehensive world class healthcare and healthcare insurance coverage from cradle to grave.
This is our time in history. Let’s seize it.
Here’s how: For an inspirational 7 minutes, see this little video of Congressman John Conyers talking about how we can win single payer.
About the author: Mr. Sankofa is a human rights public policy specialist and community organizer. He is a national organizer for Healthcare-Now. He is also the strategic planning consultant for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, Legal Defense, Research, and Education Fund. As a former trial attorney, specializing in complex institutional reform litigation, Mr. Sankofa, directed the AIDS Project of the National Prison Project of the ACLU Foundation. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine and the Antioch School of Law. Raised in Washington, DC, Mr. Sankofa now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Click here to contact Ajamu K. Sankofa, Esq. and Healthcare-NOW.
Here are the links to the previous articles in this series, all of which are must reads:
to chug bleach, who deconstructs dinesh d'souza's assigning of blame for the sexual deviancy of abu ghraib to liberal america:
after that one 'will and grace' episode where will forces all those naked muslim guys to get into a pile and deny islam, i think it'd be almost hard to deny what a completely not stupid argument d'souza has come up with.
i also think dinesh d'souza spends a lot of time thinking about all male domination orgies, but i have no other context for that except the fact that he's devoted his life to talking about them.
It's not torture! It's a sex ring. Republican Representative Chris Shays said so:
Shays: "Then the next question is, well what has the US done? Well it has been accused of doing torture. That's what it's been accused of. Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture, it was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."
Oh yes! Shays did say that... And I have the video to prove it. I am certain that dinesh d'souza would agree 100% with Shay's comments and the pleasure that those pictures they got to keep from that sex-ring brought them both.
Let's not forget this from Ellen Tauscher and her friends:
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert Speaker U.S. House of Representatives H-232, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Speaker:
We write to encourage you to bring bankruptcy reform legislation to the House floor as soon as the Senate completes its consideration of the bill. The New Democrat Coalition has backed common sense bankruptcy reform in the past and helped in passing the bankruptcy reform bill by overwhelming margins in the House of Representatives during the 108th Congress.
Over the last several years, we have worked to advance reasonable and balanced legislation that would require individuals who have the ability to repay their debts to do so, while preserving the important safety net of bankruptcy under Chapter 7 for those who truly need it. We believe that responsible bankruptcy reform embodies the New Democrat principle of personal responsibility, while at the same time adding important new consumer protections such as requiring enhanced credit card disclosure information and encouraging participation in consumer credit counseling.
It is our hope that the House of Representatives will consider this important piece of legislation in an expedited manner. We stand ready to work with you and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass bankruptcy reform into law.
Sincerely,
Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher Rep. Adam Smith Rep. Ron Kind Rep. Artur Davis Rep. Carolyn McCarthy Rep. John Larson<<<< Rep. Stephanie Herseth Rep. Dennis Moore Rep. Mike McIntyre Rep. Joe Crowley Rep. Jay Israel Rep. David Wu Rep. Diane Hooley Rep. Melissa Bean Rep. Jim Davis Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr. Rep Ed Case Rep. Jay Inslee Rep. Shelley Berkeley Rep. Gregory W. Meeks
When we criticized this crowd, they whined and cried that they were being attacked for being "centrists", refusing to explain how gifting the credit card industry in this manner was "centrist".
That's because the legislation wasn't "centrist". It was corporatist at the expense of American consumers.
Well, Representative Larson... Are you proud of this? Sirota was right, and you and your money party friends selling out Americans to the credit card industry were all wrong. There is a long list of right wingers up there.
Watcha gonna do about it? Did anyone in the Democratic party really think Lieberman would be the end of it?
In CT there is one DLC Democrat in the House (Larson). But for those of you who live in "safe" districts, there are any number of other DLC and Blue Dog Democrats for you to consider helping when a progressive Democrat comes along to challenge them.
The interactive map was fun to make and I hope that everyone likes the way it works.
As always, any input that anyone from MLN has is always welcome.
Also, the power of this type of campaign is the power of you telling others about it. Since I personally hate the psuedo-spam from "tell a friend" pages, I have begged in my tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show member progressive Democrat way that you help by letting others know about the site and what we are trying to accomplish.
Before we can help Dr. Dean and his 50-State effort, we have to clean up our own house so we can have a chance to really help the working men and women of America.
I am not a Democratic party member, but this is a better idea than the status quo...
"Wow, who knew a little award and a couple of pictures would get me all this attention? Death threats, hate mail and plenty of people who want to be my "friend"--and it's not even 4 pm!!!" - CPL Matt Sanchez, CPAC honoree
What is the problem?
Is it Matt's service in the Marines?
Nope. He can still be proud of that, regardless of what the right wing will now say about him (and until the military gives him the boot, AND THEY WILL. Even from the Reserves.)
Is it because both Hannity and O'Reilly championed Matt's cause at Columbia Universtiy?
Nope. But this is partly why CPAC made him a TOP honoree last week.
Michelle Malkin is on top of the story after learning the truth about her former hero, and even answers her own question before asking it:
It's only a matter of time before the MSM goes nuts with the story. Report on the everyday progress in Iraq? Forget it. Sex, homosexuals, and the GOP? Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage a la Foley, Gannon, and Haggard.
Should CPAC organizers be embarrassed if the rumors about his alleged porn star past are true? Well, yes. Next time, they should do more extensive background research before handing out an honor with Jeane Kirkpatrick's name on it.
snip
I guess we'll see who the real bigots--on both sides of the aisle--are now. (You can find the link for the bigot Malkin here...)
Here is the problem Matt Sanchez: It doesn't take her more than a few paragraphs to say something really, really stupid and hypocritical. Malkin has Matt going from hero to zero, and all because Malkin and most of her, and Coulter's, CPAC ilk are bigots.
As for Malkin's reports on progress in Iraq?
Here it is: More bombs are going off, more bullets are flying, and more Americans and Iraqis are needlessly dying today because of what semi-epsilon-moron-minuses like Malkin call progress.
Face the facts. At least I wish the MSM would. Arthur Silber at Once Upon a Time:
Greg Mitchell discusses the recent coverage of administration claims about Iran's purported actions in Iraq, and then notes this development:
This made made me reflect on one night last month, just after the Gordon and Baghdad briefing articles, when an e-mailed memo arrived in my inbox. At least one news editor had seen enough.
That night, the first part of the PBS Frontline series on the media was aired, with distressing reminders of newspapers' complicity in the Iraq invasion. It showed Bob Woodward on Larry King's CNN show back then saying there was "almost zero" chance WMD would not be found in Iraq. In a new interview, Judith Miller said she did nothing wrong in her reporting back then, even if the reporting itself was wrong.
A few minutes after that, the e-mail landed in my "new messages" box.
It came from KSFR, a public radio station in Santa Fe, N.M. I don't know anything about the station, although I have been to Santa Fe a couple of times. It seems that the surge in "unnamed officials" had finally pushed News Director Bill Dupuy to take action. He wrote that "until further notice, it is the policy of KSFR's news department to ignore and not repeat any wire service or nationally published story" about Iran, North Korea, and other sensitive foreign areas if it quotes an "unnamed" U.S. official.
"What we have suspected and talked about at length before is now becoming clear. 'High administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity,' 'Usually reliable Washington sources,' and others of the like were behind the publicity that added credibility to the need to go to war against Afghanistan and Iraq.
"This is a small news department with a small reach. We cannot research these stories ourselves. But we can take steps not to compromise our integrity. We should not dutifully parrot whatever comes out of Washington, on the wire or by whatever means, no matter how intriguing and urgent it sounds, when the source is unnamed. I am also calling on our colleagues in other local news departments -- broadcast and print -- to take the same professional approach."
Very, very well done, Mr. Dupuy. Exceptionally well done, and please allow me to extend my deep gratitude.
And that, my friends, is how you fight the bastards.
I second that well done! All those in favour of media credibility say "Aye!"
Something like this would not solve all of the problems that are currently embeded in much of the MSM's chronically sycophantic stucture, but it would leave them with articles that are more honestly sourced and less likely to be filled with propaganda. (H/T C&L)
Too bad that more smaller papers don't just tune out those unconfirmed sources on Iran forwarded by the press services. The world would likely be a better and safer place if they did.
Fitzgerald has asked for a couple of minutes with Ted Wells.
We will not know anything about potential appeals until after sentencing in June."
As far as appeals? There is nothing appealing about a Neocon, nevermind a guilty Neocon. (Aren't all Neocons guilty anyways?)
And if bush wants to pardon this guilty, lying, sack of dirty neocon trash, just be sure he knows that he was part of the treasonous cabal that outed an entire NETWORK of CIA spies working on nucular counter-proliferation duties.
Bush is already the WORST PRESIDENT EVER... Does he really want to add "Friend of the traitors" to his list of failures too? He might want to think twice about giving a pardon to scooter. It just won't look too good in his presidential library, IF he can ever find somewhere that is willing to stoop so low as to host one for him.
Just an update on doing the time:
Scooter faces up to 30 years in prison for his crimes.
update deux:
News Corpse (Via CT Bob) has Fox spinning a doozy of a lie on the guilty verdict...
In a previously unreported action, the Internal Revenue Service has revoked the DLC's tax exemption on the grounds that it primarily benefited a private group-Democrats, and particularly 'New Democrats' running for or holding office-rather than the community at large. The DLC has sued in federal court to overturn the decision..."
CT Bob and Spazeboy have another CT Blogging media original reporting effort up today. Go check out their exclusive interview with Ned Lamont:
Via CT Bob:
"Here's the entire in-depth interview with Ned from last Friday. Spazeboy and I ask questions about the campaign, about the current administration, and about the future. The interview runs about 33 minutes, and concludes with a unique "free association" session."
While you out surfing you might also want to check out ctblogger's video on the Bloggers forum held in Hartford. Connecticut Bloggers are pioneering in real media efforts, ESPECIALLY in the area of video Blogging.
You would think that he would take preparedness for disasters a little more seriously considering how many he has presided over and created, but a quick look at the National Guard foretells the probablity of more failure:
Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.
Considering the National Guard are our traditional frontline providers, and lifeline, in national emergencies you can understand why all Americans should be concerned with this. There wasn't enough available personel and equipment to provide releif during the tragic Katrinadisaster , but if there is a disaster down there right now it will be only worse:
From Virginia and the District of Columbia to Indiana and New Mexico, National Guard units lack thousands of trucks, Humvees, generators, radios, night-vision goggles and other gear that would be critical for responding to a major disaster, terrorist attack or other domestic emergency, according to state Guard officials.
The equipment shortage extends to Gulf Coast states such as Louisiana and Mississippi -- devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina -- where Guard units have only a fraction of what they would need to respond to another large-scale disaster.
The Louisiana Guard, its gear depleted by Iraq and Katrina, is short of Humvees and trucks such as high-water vehicles critical for a major evacuation. "We are really concerned about vehicles," said Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, a spokesman for the Louisiana Guard. "We would have enough for a small-scale issue . . . maybe a Category 1 tropical storm we could handle -- an event that doesn't involve massive flooding or massive search and rescue," he said. But for bigger disasters, Louisiana would need help from other states.
Last time Louisiana needed help and there just wasn't enough soldiers and equipment to provide relief. Not to mention that Bush just didn't show any of that compassionate conservatism he lies about all the time. Bush just didn't give a fuck about certain people in need. And things are only going to get worse and worse as long as we continue to follow Bush's failed policies.
Impeachment isn't harsh enough punishment for Bush and his failed policies...
The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.
Your main and immidiate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the propper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ethical Senate leader.
(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Instute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.
(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positons, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.
The White House was told twice to redo the Powerpoint presentation purporting Iranian ties to American deaths. According to The National Journal the intelligence community demanded that the presentation be rewritten and washed of overstated claims:
At least twice in the past month, the White House has delayed a PowerPoint presentation initially prepared by the military to detail evidence of suspected Iranian materiel and financial support for militants in Iraq. The presentation was to have been made at a press conference in Baghdad in the first week of February. Officials have set no new date, but they say it could be any day.
Even as U.S. officials in Baghdad were ready to make the case, administration principals in Washington who were charged with vetting the PowerPoint dossier bowed to pressure from the intelligence community and ordered that it be scrubbed again.
This still wasn't enough scrubbing top get the facts straight and so some of the misinformation still persists. The NewsTimes provides one of the many arguments to support Murtha's plan to require fully trained and EQUIPED American soldiers before they can be deployed in theater:
News Times Live Editorial: "Almost four years later, the armor problems remain. It's not a matter of money; it's a matter of planning.
This week, the Pentagon admitted that there is a shortage of armor to protect troops involved in the president's so-called 'surge' that will add more than 20,000 American military personnel to the Iraq war.
The president spent part of Wednesday's news conference alleging that Iran is supplying new deadly weapons to Iraqi insurgents. But what is he doing to require that American troops have the armor they need to protect themselves against these new weapons?
Known as 'explosively formed penetrators,' these weapons are now inflicting 70 percent of the American casualties in Iraq."
Yes the armor problems still remain, but so does the misinformation campaign that the lying Bush administartion intended to seed in the news. There are two major problems with the "evidence" supplied by the military and the Bush administration.
1. About 170 out of the over 3000 American deaths are POSSIBLY attributable to the Iranian supported Shia militias. Why? Because that is the total number killed by all shite in that time. A drop in the bucket. And certainly not all of the US forces killed by Shia insurgents are not all linked to Iran. A drop in the bucket. The vast MAJORITYof the IED's and other weapons used to kill Americans are planted or used by the Sunnis. A group that Iran does not support. However, Saudi Arabia sends truckloads full of money to the Sunnis is Iraq, the Sunnis that are largely responsible for the most deaths and injuries of American soldiers in Iraq. I don't think the Sunnis are buying cakes and cookies with that Saudi money.
2. Some of the weapons that the military showed as evidence of being supplied by Iran had markings written in English. Iranians mark weapons they manufacture in Farsi, although, Pakistan manufactures the same/similar weapons and marks them in English. Other weapons, like EFPs, that are purported to be too sophisticated to have been made by the Shia or the Sunnis, and therefore "must be coming from Iran", are similar to weapons that many other groups like Hezbollah and the IRA have made in the past, according to Middle East expert Juan Cole. (Scroll down, click on the Juan Cole video)
The Danbury NewsTimes bit on the EFPs lie, and blaming Iran. As noble as the real thrust of the Editorial may be, it is still perpetuating Bush propaganda.
The evidence clearly points to countries that are known supporters and financiers of the Sunnis (IE: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc.) and/or just the easy spreading of information on typically used weapons amongst terrorism groups everywhere. And just whose name pops up to reenforce this manipulation of inteligence?
U.S. military commanders in Iraq have shown members of Congress explosive devices that bear Iranian markings as evidence Tehran is supplying Iraqi militants with bombs, a senior U.S. government official said Saturday.
One of the lawmakers, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, said he has seen some of the evidence, though he would not be specific. “I’m convinced from what I’ve seen that the Iranians are supplying and are giving assistance to the people in Iraq who are killing American soldiers,” said Lieberman, who was attending an international security conference in Munich.
Against the inference that this all comes from Iran is the concept that Iraqis themselves would be capable of copying a design and therefore do not need to get bombs from Iran.
And there have been a number of news reports over the last year expressing scepticism, even among military personnel, about the link to Iran.
The Washington Post reported last October that British troops in the south doubted the claim.
A year ago, the London Times said that British officers in Basra had stopped making any such claim, saying only that the technology matched bomb-making found elsewhere in the Middle East, including Lebanon and Syria.
While reporters and news agencies across the country are starting to catch whiffs of Bush Neocon propaganda, and pointing out some of the stinkers, they are still missing some of the really BIG lies. And most of them relate to the Drumbeat for War with Iran that is just a repeat of Iraq lies all over again:
Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today.
The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was defying a UN security council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear programme.
That report, delivered to the security council by the IAEA director general, Mohammed ElBaradei, sets the stage for a fierce international debate on the imposition of stricter sanctions on Iran and raises the possibility that the US could resort to military action against Iranian nuclear sites.
I'm just waiting for the fictitious mushroom clouds to start to reappear...
I am almost ashamed to say that I missed KO last night, I watch him almost every night, since Countdown had a little something in it I would have gotten a kick out of according to ctblogger:
Here's where it all started. My favorite town drunk from New Milford picked up on an interesting story on a big-time Republican donor who was slapped with terrorism charges...well, I'll let him tell the story.
Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.
But would you really believe me if I told you he was a Republican?
CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.
Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."
The Republican party needs to be placed on "The List" of terrorist related organizations and watched very carefully.
It is pretty apparent that the FBI and Homeland Security are wasting their time watching us liberal/peacenik/Quaker/progressive/etc. types. Just ask Ken Krayeske...
The blogger does a follow-up on how the conservative media covered the story.
Late Update: Funny. TPM Reader B points out that the New York Post chose a rather different way of reporting this story. Their lede: "A Westchester businessman and purported peace activist was nabbed by the feds for allegedly plotting to funnel more than $150,000 to terrorists at training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
No mention of Republican ties. Let me know when they follow up ...
Don't' hold your breath, it's the New York Post.
Over the last 48 hours, that particular blog posting from received a great deal of attention from such national blogs as Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, and Raw Story, which in turn gave this New York Story a great deal of national attention. Last night, Keith Olbermann grabbed the ball and gives this blog posting new legs. Take a look.
Make no mistake about it, the blogs pushed this story hard and it all started from a blogger from New Milford. As we approach the 2007 and 2008 elecitons, you'll see more blog postings from progressive blogs popping into the mainstream media. If the 2006 elections told bloggers anything, it's that if blogs generate loud enough of a buzz, the mainstream media will take notice.
Once again, People Powered Media strikes again...I'm buying that drunk a shot!
I highly doubt KO read it here, or even knows my Blog exists for that matter, but I am glad this story got some national attention before the cobbwebs and dust could settle on it in the bush-spin-world media.
And ctblogger is 100% dead on that all together we can make enough noise on some things and make them pay attention to what is going on. The thing is, in order to get them to notice, we have to be paying enough attention to catch these little things, and we really have to shout it out everywhere.
The NRCC did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday about whether it would return the donations.
snip
Alishtari was detained pending a court appearance this week. Prosecutors said he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Well, no kidding... If the last decade has proven one thing: All Republicans are dangers to their communities. Unfortunately for us, they are our communities too.
Josh Marshall has a press release:
Here at the right you see the man himself. And if you click this link you'll see the 'press release' the Republican National Committee sent out when Mr. Alishtari was appointed to the NRCC's 'Business Advisory Council'.
Alishtari had the document posted on his company's website GlobalProtector.Net.
His site also apparently had copies of signed photos from President Bush as well as a note from President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush thanking Alishtari for contributing to the Republican party.
And over at at TPM Muckraker they have the NRCC's latest statement on donations they put out:
the National Republican Congressional Committee has released a statement to CNN about the $15,000 in contributions it got from Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, the man indicted last week for financing terrorists in Afghanistan:
"We are extremely concerned and disturbed by these charges but we need to be careful not to rush to judgment as the judicial process moves forward. If the individual in question is actually found guilty of a crime, it is our intent to donate the money to charity."
Just because you're the subject of a federal indictment, in other words, doesn't mean your money's not good enough for the NRCC. That's no surprise from the group that has refused to return the money contributed by ex-Reps. Mark Foley (R-FL) and Bob Ney (R-OH).
[update]A little time with Google found a few references to him being a Shaikh/Sheik/Sheikh:
Toronto Kicks Off; "Moon" Deal; Palm Springs Picks Shorts & More Shaikh Abdul Taw'ala Ibn Ali Alishtari of GlobalProtector.net founded the festival. CROWDS HIT CANADA: The Toronto International Film Festival officially ...
It is a rare occasion, indeed, when any statement coming from the Secretary of State shows some common sense.
Think Progress » Rice Admits To U.S. Troops: ‘Your Honor and Your Sacrifice’ Is ‘Appreciated’ By Iraq War Critics: "And the final thing I want to say is I know that a lot’s going on in Washington and that you’re hearing it. A lot’s going on because we are a great democracy. And people have their views and they’re going to express them. And some do not think that this was the right war to fight, and others think that we in the Administration haven’t fought this war quite right. By the way, all of them know that the sacrifice and the labor of our men and women here has been honorable.
And so when you hear the criticism of the war or the criticism of the President or of me or of anybody else, I do want you to know that to a person at home, your honor and your sacrifice and your labor is appreciated. People know what you’re doing and it’s appreciated across the board. I don’t care what people think of the policies; it’s appreciated across the board."
For all of those that would like to close the debate being pushed for by the Democratic party... Well, the soldiers expect PATRIOTIC debate on Iraq now.
Are some Republicans afraid of real patriotism being shown on the floor of the Senate? Apparently just enough to fillibuster what is their responsibility and duty to talk about.
"Oops! Building on my last post on the NRCC's bogus Business Advisory Council and 'Businessman of the Year' program, it turns out that Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari isn't the first member of the council to be indicted on charges of supporting terrorism.
Yasith Chhun, the head of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was indicted in May of 2005 for charges of plotting to overthrow the Cambodian government. He was also, The Los Angeles Times reported, a member of the NRCC's Business Advisory Council:"
Chhun is set to go to trial next month and has been indicted for "attempting to kill the prime minister, attack government buildings and launch small-scale attacks on karaoke bars and fuel depots in an effort to galvanize opposition to the Phnom Penh government," according to the La Times.
Attacking Kareoke bars? Some might argue that he was doing a public service there. (JK)
If it isn't enough that Iraq is in a Civil War tailspin, and the Taliban have been regrouping in Afghanistan... Aren't you happy to know that we are doing so well on this whole global "War on Terror" thingie with the help of our great allies in Pakistan:
“Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border,”
snip
“American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda.”
As Joshua Xalpharis pointed out in the comments section there after learning that fact: "They've stomped their clumsy-assed feet all over everything else. The only upside to this story is Republicans are likely to ruin terrorism.. like everything else they touch."
And there is the plan... Get as many of the GOP to join Al Qa'eda as possible, and other terrorist groups as well, and they will destroy the terrorist networks with their complete lack of ethics, morals, logic and fiscal responsibility in the same way that they seemingly have been hell bent on ruining the USA. heh
Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.
But would you really believe me if I told you he was a Republican?
CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.
Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."
Late Update: Funny. TPM Reader B points out that the New York Post chose a rather different way of reporting this story. Their lede: "A Westchester businessman and purported peace activist was nabbed by the feds for allegedly plotting to funnel more than $150,000 to terrorists at training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
No mention of Republican ties. Let me know when they follow up ...
Later Update: In fairness, the Daily News ran it pretty much the same way. Never too Late for this Story Update: Oh that's interesting. Cunning Realist found this CV purportedly posted by Mr. Alishtari. In addition to other GOP donor awards, Alishtari says that he was appointed to something called the "White House Business Advisory Committee" in 2003. And CR ends with this point, referencing Alishtari's CV: "Note the entrepreneurial business background with a focus on technology/security. Have any of those businesses ever received government contracts or funds? Any direct or indirect contact in the past with anyone from the Bush administration or Congress?"
Click on for more at TPM... Once their "group" of Blogs and readers gets a hold of a story they usually don't let go of it till it is completely exposed.
66.34 % (808)
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