Friday, June 28, 2013
Retired US general, James Cartwright, is the target of a Justice Department investigation into the leaking of secret information about the Stuxnet virus attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing unidentified legal sources.
HERE IS BACKGROUND FROM AN IRANIAN REPORT OF THE MALICIOUS US CYBER ASSAULT ON IRAN:
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Ever heard of letting the genie out of the bottle? Not in the George W. Obama Administration.
ReplyDeleteWhat would have happened if the virus would have caused a nuclear accident?
If nothing else, watch the lat minute of the video and ask yourself the same question.
DeleteWhat is going to happen when Iran gets the "bomb"?
DeleteJoy fun and Sharia...
From the Christian Science Monitor:
ReplyDeleteThe control systems of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant have been penetrated by a computer worm unleashed last year, according to a foreign intelligence report that warns of a possible Chernobyl-like disaster once the site becomes fully operational.
Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, also has raised the specter of the 1986 reactor explosion in Ukraine, but suggested last week that the danger had passed.
The report, drawn up by a nation closely monitoring Iran's nuclear program and obtained by The Associated Press, said such conclusions were premature and based on the "casual assessment" of Russian and Iranian scientists at Bushehr.
With control systems disabled by the virus, the reactor would have the force of a "small nuclear bomb," it said.
"The minimum possible damage would be a meltdown of the reactor," it says. "However, external damage and massive environmental destruction could also occur ... similar to the Chernobyl disaster."
The virus, known as Stuxnet, has the ability to send centrifuges spinning out of control and temporarily crippled Iran's uranium enrichment program. Some computer experts believe Stuxnet was the work of Israel or the United States, two nations convinced that Iran wants to turn nuclear fuel into weapons-grade uranium.
Iran has acknowledged that the malware — malicious software designed to infiltrate computer systems — hit the laptops of technicians working at Bushehr, but has denied that the plant was affected or that Stuxnet was responsible for delays in the startup of the Russian-built reactor.
The Islamic Republic is reluctant to acknowledge setbacks to its nuclear activities, which it says are aimed at generating energy but are under U.N. sanctions because of concerns they could be channeled toward making weapons. Only after outside revelations that its enrichment program was temporarily disrupted late last year by the mysterious virus did Iranian officials acknowledge the incident.
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ReplyDeleteAli Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief representative to the IAEA, cut short attempts by AP to seek comment on possible damage by Stuxnet at Bushehr.
But Rogozin, the Russian envoy, described how engineers at Bushehr "saw on their screens that the systems were functioning normally, when in fact they were running out of control," conjuring up a frightening dimension to the potential fallout from the virus.
"The virus which is very toxic, very dangerous, could have had very serious implications," Rogozin told reporters, adding it "could have led to a new Chernobyl."
Experts are split on how powerful the Stuxnet virus might prove.
Olli Heinonen, who retired last year as head of investigations of Iran's nuclear programs at the International Atomic Energy Agency, believes it could have infected control systems at Bushehr, or elsewhere, causing "a lot of havoc."
Bur German cybersecurity researcher Ralph Langner says that, while the virus has infested the reactor's computers, "Stuxnet cannot technically mess with the systems in Bushehr.
"Bottom line: A thermonuclear explosion cannot be triggered by something like Stuxnet," said Langner, who has led research into Stuxnet's effects on the Siemens equipment running Iran's nuclear programs.
A spokeswoman for Atomstroyexport, the Russian company in charge of construction at Bushehr, also cast doubt on there being major damage at the plant, saying its control system is fully autonomous and virus-proof.
The IAEA — the U.N. agency that monitors Iran's nuclear activities — declined comment on damage at Bushehr. But officials, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue, have said the agency is unhappy with safety and operating standards at the reactor.
Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded in 1986, spewing radiation over a large stretch of northern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people were resettled from areas contaminated with radiation fallout in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Related health problems still persist.
Langner, the German expert, told AP it could take about a year to clear the worm out of Bushehr's systems. Western intelligence officials believe the site could be operational in coming months.
Bushehr has been hit by numerous setbacks.
It was scheduled to be in use by 1999 but was delayed by construction and supply glitches. Moscow also may have stalled the project in attempts to pressure Tehran to compromise on its nuclear program.
Under a deal signed in 2005, Russia will provide nuclear fuel to Iran, then take back the spent fuel — a step meant as a safeguard to ensure it cannot be diverted into a weapons program. Iran has also agreed to allow the IAEA to monitor Bushehr and the fuel deliveries.
What will happen when the inevitable blowback occurs back against the US? This was an act of war, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteSyria won’t be Iran’s quagmire
ReplyDeleteBy Vance Serchuk, Published: June 27
Vance Serchuk is a Council on Foreign Relations-Hitachi international affairs fellow, based in Tokyo at the Canon Institute for Global Studies. He writes a monthly column for The Post.
Over the past two years, Syria’s descent into civil war has provoked alarm and horror in Washington. While officials have argued over the extent to which the United States can and should intervene, everyone agrees that the conflict poses a humanitarian catastrophe and a threat to U.S. interests across the Middle East, including to the stability of allies, the struggle against Islamist extremism and the effort to keep weapons of mass destruction out of terrorist hands.
Lately, however, another argument has crept into the debate: the idea that, while unquestionably tragic, Syria’s slow-motion unraveling might not be an unmitigated calamity for the United States. Rather, it could carry a Machiavellian upside by embroiling Iran, our foremost enemy in the region, in a costly, protracted struggle with al-Qaeda. Syria, the theory holds, could be for Iran what the Iraq war was for the United States.
For the Obama administration, under fire for its handling of the crisis, this could be an appealing notion — and a convenient rationalization for not attempting more decisive intervention that might stop the spiral of violence.
But there’s good reason — beyond its ugly moral calculus — that this argument is mostly whispered on the margins. Under scrutiny, it withers.
For starters, the argument presumes that the Syrian conflict is bogging down the Iranians, sapping their strength and distracting them from more vital interests. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that as Tehran has been riding to the rescue of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, it has made disturbing inroads elsewhere, including Yemen and Iraq.
That’s because the instability the Syrian conflict is fueling across the Middle East is largely good for Iran: Sectarian polarization is driving anxious Shiite populations closer to Tehran, while refugee flows are weakening key U.S. allies such as Jordan and Turkey.
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ReplyDeleteIran, meanwhile, is suffering no meaningful blow-back for its deadly interference in Syria. On the contrary, protracted bloodshed there fosters regional conditions in which Iranian power is likely to thrive.
Involvement in Syria also hasn’t done — and won’t do — anything to set back Iran’s strategic trump card: its nuclear program. In the two years since the uprising against Assad began, Tehran has made steady progress toward weapons capability.It has expanded its stockpile of enriched uranium, installed next-generation centrifuges and moved forward with a heavy-water reactor that will provide an alternative path to a bomb.
Nor does Iran’s aid to Assad seem likely to exhaust the Islamic Republic. Although surely an unwelcome burden at a time when the regime is battling economic sanctions, Tehran’s approach to the conflict has not been an Iraq-style commitment of hundreds of thousands of ground troops. Rather, it’s pursuing a “light footprint” more akin to the Obama administration’s preferred approach to the war against terrorism by relying on a small number of its version of special-operations forces, the Quds Force, who are bolstering local proxies.
Of course, there is another aspect of the Iraq war the Obama administration might consider before wishing a similar experience on Iran: namely that, in the end, the United States prevailed.
When President Obama took office in 2009, the back of the al-Qaeda-linked insurgency had been broken, Iranian-affiliated militias in southern Iraq had been routed, and the framework was in place for a long-term partnership between Washington and Baghdad.
What might an analogous outcome for Syria look like? We’ve had a preview of that future over the past month, as a surge of support from Iran and Hezbollah enabled Assad to make significant battlefield gains against the rebels.
The Iraq war was devastating for the United States largely because, until the 2007 surge, we were losing. No one in the Middle East watching the recent developments in Syria would say that of Iran.
The Obama administration has reportedly decided to send light weapons and ammunition to the opposition. But even if this starts to reverse the momentum of Assad and the Iranians — an optimistic assumption — a return to a bloody stalemate is still a win for Tehran.
That’s because Assad doesn’t need to reconquer all of Syria for the Iranians to emerge successful. Every day that Assad stays in power thanks to Iranian help, Tehran shows that it can prevent the Obama administration from achieving its stated goal — Assad’s ouster — and that Iran, not the United States, is the relevant power in the region.
And the longer the fighting drags on, the more radicalized Syrian society becomes and the deeper the Iranians can entrench themselves.
This suggests a final flaw in likening the U.S. experience in Iraq to Iran’s intervention in Syria. After turning the corner in Iraq, the United States under the Obama administration walked away. You can bet that in Syria, Iran’s leaders won’t make the same mistake.
Report to : C Deuce
ReplyDeleteSubject: Vegas Odds, Zimmerman
After deep consultation via email with my Vegas Sources, one a retired Marine and the other retired Concierge of the legitimate type to Frank Sinatra and creator of Concierge of America, Desert Inn, I can advise don't bet on anything here. The odds are so heavily in favor of a 'hung jury' that the wager isn't worth the risk.
The 'word on the street' is that the whole Farce is political/racial and no charges should ever have been filed.
When I break down the racial/religious mix of my Sources it is 1/3rd Jew, 1/3rd Protestant, 1/3rd Unknown.
No one of my Sources has any racial 'skin in the game' but are glad no 'cracker' is involved.
End of Report
bpos
Addendum:
DeleteBoth live in a racially mixed 'gated community' in multi-racial/cultural Vegas.
Together even.
bpos
Who cares?
DeleteNo one.
DeleteNot even racist crackers.
bpos
Did General Cartwright leak the story because he was horrified at the unintended consequences of such a reckless, illegal and utterly stupid attack on a sovereign nation?
ReplyDeleteDid anyone really know if this thing could have spun out of control?
When the shit hits the fan, remember who started it.
Fuck the Empire
Which Empire?
DeleteMy niece would be living in a mud hut north of Mumbai right now instead of working at the Max Planck Institute of Brain Research, Hamburg, German without the British Empire.
Just the common language alone has unified her country beyond imagination. It is their language now. And given her a 'gateway to the world' and my bank account.
Think before you write.
bpos
It has turned out that McCain, Graham and now even Rubio are no better than Reid.
DeleteI have friends who still gripe ( doctors) that they had no choice in 2008 because of Sarah Palin but to vote for Obama. Yes, Biden is such a MENSA member. And John Edwards? Meh.
Now that their careers are ruined, they cry. Waaahh.
At some point we need to break up. We can no longer get along. Sorry but my uber lib friends and Inlaws no longer are coherent, nor can they remember the last talking point to the next talking point. They instead get mad because I have the gift of a nearly photographic memory of what they said. We do not get along. At. All.
It's my fault of course.
Lets turn the White House into a duplex and split the country. They live under Odingos Carbon taxes and we let Ted Cruz into the other side to be our Preezy.
Excuse me Mr. President---- a real one that Jay-Z wouldn't want to hang out with.
One of the first minted US coins in 1776 was partially designed by Benjamin Franklin.
ReplyDeleteCare to guess the motto that Franklin put on that coin?
"Bueller? ...Bueller? …Bueller?…Anyone”
The answer is:
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
“…the highest duty of a patriot is to protect his countrymen from their government." - Thomas Paine
ReplyDeleteI LOVE dumb simple slogans.
DeleteMy niece in now researching in her own way in our now common language the workings of your very brain with others in Hamburg, Germany whose language and means of communication is English.
Maybe she will help save your fading sight someday!
Why does everyone here speak in 'perch', puff puff.
bpos
We all know/love Paine, good writer, but more is going on than he realized.
Deletebpos
The United States plans to give Israel weapons that would enable it to send ground forces against Iranian nuclear facilities that it can’t penetrate from the air.
ReplyDeleteThe deal includes air-refueling aircraft, advanced radars for F-15 fighter jets, and up to eight V-22 Ospreys, an aircraft that can land like a helicopter and carry two dozen special operations forces with their gear over long distances at aircraft speeds.
The Osprey "is the ideal platform for sending Israeli special forces into Iran," says Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA analyst now at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
The aircraft could help solve Israel's inability to breach Iran's uranium enrichment facility buried under a granite mountain at Fordow. It might be impregnable to even the heaviest conventional bunker-busting munitions in the U.S. arsenal, Pollack said. Israeli military planners have been brainstorming how to conduct an effective operation, Pollack said, citing conversations with senior Israeli military officers.
"One of the possibilities is (Israel) would use special forces to assault the Fordow facility and blow it up," Pollack said.
The weapons deal would be part of a military aid package for Israel that includes $1 billion for up to eight V-22 tilt-rotors; $500 million to retrofit radars into F-15 fighters and another $1 billion for a variety of air-to-ground weapons. Additional details about the U.S.-financed deal were revealed during a visit to Washington by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on June 15.
The State Department said discussions of the arms deal are ongoing.
Arms deals, know as gifts, are always ongoing with Israel.
ReplyDeleteWho cares?
DeleteDeuceFri Jun 28, 01:42:00 AM EDT
Who cares?
Also with Egypt, Saudi, endless, this way and that.
But your description of them as 'gifts' is totally wrong.
Deuce you are slipping and beginning to miss what little meaning their is in life.
bpos
there is in life
Deletebpos
Deuce - Your new born hope that we or anyone can just disengage in the world is so lame I know you will just be disappointed. The world will after all just reengage with us or anyone in some other manner.
I see no beginnings even of a program. Other than a draft, which you suggested, which is the libertarian way, I guess, of trying to discourage American Youth from engaging in the world. Not easy questions, not easy answers.
The Hopi tried disengagement.
They are now under the authority of the Bureau of Native American Indian Affairs.
Try rather the liberation of heart.
And an Imperialism that at least speaks a common tongue with some judicial common law behind it.
bpos
>>>Arms deals, know as gifts, are always ongoing with Israel.<<<
DeleteMaybe but the implication is non sense. Since Camp David, for what, fifty years, we have been selling weapons to Egypt as well. We have sold weapons to Saudi for longer than that. Many other places.
That statement above is a perfect example of your monofocal glasses.
The guy General Rufus voted for may be about to give/sell weapons to the jihadis.
The first step is to put at least a sane Republican back in the White House.
Then try to go from there.
bpos
DeleteSo under Obama we will soon be selling weapons to Egypt, Israel, Saudi, the jihadis in Syria, others.
This is of course insane. But General Rufus voted for the man.
But if we disengage the Russians or Chinese will of course be selling weapons to same.
I suggest we at least try to take the side of the societies that have the better domestic policies over there, that at least give a nod to women's rights and such.
Israel comes to mind.
bpos
.
ReplyDeleteWith the escalating number of scandals we see today, the office of the IG is more important than ever.
IN JANUARY, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) sent a letter to the White House co-signed by 14 other senators that urged President Obama to fill the vacant inspector general positions at six government agencies: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor and State. Some positions, such as State’s, have been vacant for as long as five years.
“Inspectors General are an essential component of government oversight” and “occupy a unique role,” the senators noted. They specifically pointed to the IGs’ authority for “speaking truth to power” in addition to their “dual reporting obligations to their agency head and to Congress.”
The president has taken some action in the months since the letter arrived: Inspector general appointees for both the USAID and the Defense Department are pending Senate confirmation. The White House also announced on Thursday its plans to nominate a supervisor for the State Department, the subject of a June 25 letter from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) threatening to hold up its other nominees in the continued absence of a watchdog. These appointments are already overdue, and any further delays translate into more waste, fraud and abuse that might be prevented with proper oversight...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-should-appoint-agency-watchdogs-now/2013/06/27/18e9a2be-dea7-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html?hpid=z3
.
If you cannot see the corruption in our involvement in the ME, when have you ever seen such a story as this?
ReplyDeletePresident Obama made it clear on Thursday that he has bigger things to worry about than some “29-year-old hacker,” but he may be slightly more interested in the latest leak allegations, as they involve the man Bob Woodward described as "Obama's favorite general." Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, who was the second ranking officer in the U.S. military before his retirement in 2011, is the target of an investigation into the leak of classified information about a U.S. cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear program.
As NBC News notes, few people were more familiar with the program, as Cartwright “conceived and ran the cyber operation, called Olympic Games, under Presidents Bush and Obama."
A senior Obama administration official told the Washington Post that the former deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is being investigated by the Justice Department for allegedly leaking information about the computer virus Stuxnet, which was part of the Olympic Games campaign. In a front page story in June 2012, The New York Times revealed that the joint U.S.-Israeli effort was accelerated by Obama, and set Iran’s nuclear program back by up to two years.
Cartwright's potential motives are unclear. He was part of Obama's inner circle of national security matters, and was believed to be one of the leading candidates for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, he was passed over for the promotion in 2011, reportedly because he didn't get along with the Pentagon brass. After the Times report appeared, members of Congress demanded a criminal probe. While Obama said he had “zero tolerance" for "these kinds of leaks," Republicans accused White House officials of leaking the details to beef up the president's national security credentials before the election.
Two sources told NBC that prosecutors managed to track down Cartwright without subpoenaing the phone records of Times reporters. The Times tucked this note into its story on the Justice Department's investigation into its reporting: "Asked about the NBC News report, Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times, said, 'We don’t comment on our confidential sources.'"
The above comment is in response to this:
ReplyDeleteSo under Obama we will soon be selling weapons to Egypt, Israel, Saudi, the jihadis in Syria, others.
This is of course insane. But General Rufus voted for the man.
But if we disengage the Russians or Chinese will of course be selling weapons to same.
I suggest we at least try to take the side of the societies that have the better domestic policies over there, that at least give a nod to women's rights and such.
Israel comes to mind.
bpos
The Israeli government has condoned, sanctioned and paid for the murder of 20,000 Jews in 2012.
DeleteThis was reported by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
This is the polity that anoni tells us that at least give a nod to women's rights and such.
The murder of 20,000 Jews, in Israel, is excused as a ... nod to women's rights ...
Trying to square a circle, and failing, miserably.
The story at hand began under George W. Bush. The Israelis were involved in it and it is anyone’s guess to what degree. Who knows, their mouth piece and arm twister Aipac is crowing that they can get the staff of every member of Congress together for snacks and drinks.
ReplyDeleteWe had the video of Wesley Clark, right after 911, saying that top people in the Pentagon were saying that Bush and the Neocons were taking us to war with half the Middle East.
You are correct about one thing:
Israel comes to mind.
bpos
Indeed it does.
And anoni ignores the murder of 20,000 Jews, in Israel, in 2012 alone.
DeleteOver a quarter of a million Jews murdered in Israel, in the 21st century.
Inconvenient truths for a propagandist are ignored.
The previous post begins with this:
ReplyDeleteHow the Israelis smuggled nuclear triggers out of the US from a front company where Bibi Netanyahu worked. The same Netanyahu that wants the US to attack Iran for their nuclear ambitions. The US Government isn’t talking. They are too busy trying to find Edward Snowden, “Enemy of the State.”
How on earth can you say:
I suggest we at least try to take the side of the societies that have the better domestic policies over there, that at least give a nod to women's rights and such.
Israel comes to mind.
Since Israel attacked and killed the US servicemen of the USS Liberty with napalm, strafing and torpedoes, the US has had nothing but continuous, waste, misery, deaths and war with this absurd needless relationship. It is insanity.
You lying sack of shit. It was Israel that killed those Americans. Deliberate murder.
DeleteHad the US military not been called down by DC, they would have shown Israel what it was like to taste war. They would not have come back for seconds.
DeleteThe US special relationship with the Israeli ship of state is like an annual Mediterranean cruise on the Costa Concordia.
ReplyDeleteIsola di Giglio, here we come.
ReplyDeleteGood God, if that means what I think it means you have truly lost your mind.
DeleteAnd it must mean what I think it means.
But I am not going to look it up.
It's odd, my niece could not think of such a thing. I am going to ask her one day if there are any Israelis or Jews of any kind at the Institute where she works who speak English and are working with her on the program. I bet there are and she knows some by now.
What is your guess?
Will report back to you.
bpos
The Costa Concordia wrecked on the rocks off Isola di Giglio.
Delete:-)
DeleteBob needs you as his guide-on-bearer especially when it comes to the always difficult “Right Oblique” maneuver.
Delete:)
DeleteHow about it if I just stick to the 'Left Bank' Paree and Hemingway and Pauline and Harry's New York Bar where I placed a Joe Vandal pennant and got the hell out of there?
Then I know where I am.
bpos
You can’t make this shit up. Read it again:
ReplyDeleteThe four-star general who headed the reported cyber-attack by American and Israeli hackers on an Iranian nuclear site is under a DoJ investigation over leaking the details of the operation to the press, reports NBC News.
Retired Marine Gen. James ‘Hoss’ Cartwright, who was deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2007 and 2011, was the one responsible for the ‘Olympic Games’, a massive attack on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities conducted under the Bush and the Obama administrations, the New York Times reported last July.
At the time the newspaper broke details of the top secret operation, including collaboration of Israeli hackers in development of the Stuxnet computer worm, which was used to infect Iranian computer networks and damage hundreds of centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility.
The leak caused outrage in the Congress, as some Republican politicians alleged that it was sanctioned high in the Obama administration to bolster his national security record ahead of the 2012 election campaign.
Legal sources told NBC News that the FBI investigating the leak zeroed on Cartwright, once the second-highest ranking officer in the Pentagon, as the source that provided the newspaper with the sensitive information. Agents identified the former general without resorting to a secret subpoena of the phone records of New York Times reporters, the report says.
Cartwright, 63, received a target letter informing him that he’s under the investigation, but so far the DoJ hasn’t made a final decision on whether to charge him, according to the sources.
Cartwright and his lawyer did not comment to NBC.
If indicted, Cartwright would join Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and six others charged under the 1917 Espionage Act by the Obama administration. The current US government has invoked the law more than all previous administrations combined.
No, no, you are suggesting one incident of which the facts are very unclear, truly unclear, means something about a society's daily life then so many years later.
ReplyDeletePlease state clearly: what war has Israel led us into?
Did Israel lead us into Iraq, (one Israeli General I recall from Fox warned us against it: you may regret this), Afghanistan, Libya, maybe Syria?
I will turn against Israel when they hang queers on cranes and stone women in the streets.
Meanwhile I got a good email from my niece who is working on humanity's vision problems. It's a tough transition for her, India, US of A, Germany. I couldn't do it. Not even with the help of the British Empire and the English language.
She seems not to care much what happens in the middle east. She has expressed some concerns regarding Pakistan.
bpos
My takeaway is that the Stuxnet program was "Hoss" Cartwright's baby (he sold it to Obama,) and he couldn't resist bragging about it when it worked.
ReplyDeleteJust another Mensa-master of the Lifer, variety.
DeleteRemember the famous Bill Casey/Ronald Reagan Russian Gas Pipeline Caper?
Delete.
DeleteSpeculation, but you could be right.
Remember, Deep Throat was just a po'd FBI guy who got passed over.
.
Meanwhile from Jihad Watch there is this -
ReplyDelete>>>>Mark Steyn on banning of Spencer and Geller from UK: "Freedom of speech is dead in England...No good will come from this."
Jun 27, 2013 10:49 am | Robert
Steyn is right. May claims to be working for the public good and trying to quell violence, but by closing off legitimate debate about jihad and Islamic supremacism, she is inciting violence: the jihadists will see that they can act with impunity, and frustration will increase among those few who...<<<<
I would answer freedom of speech never even existed in the Mississippi that I have come to know as it is all profanity and death threats. It is like Caliban, a gift given of speech and cursed back at the giver.
bpos
Racist Crackers have always had "freedom of speech" in Mississippi.
DeleteNot on this blog.
DeleteRufie has complete freedom of speech here.
DeleteHe has never been deleted, profanity include, to my knowledge.
I have even changed my name to bob piece of shit to accommodate.
But then Rufie is only half cracker.
I have no Cherokee.
A disadvantage in these 'racist' days.
bpos
.
ReplyDeleteWH tours have been cancelled and little Skippy and his school group have been told to pound sand when requesting access, however,
From Fox News:
A Muslim scholar whose group has ties to the MB and supports Hamas, who has urged the U.N. to criminalize blasphemy and who is the deputy of an Egyptian cleric banned from the U.S. over his radical statements condemning the U.S. and Israel and supporting suicide bombing was able to secure a visit at the White House earlier this month for himself and his group.
A report from The Investigative Project on Terrorism uncovered a statement on the website of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah claiming he met June 13 with Obama administration officials in Washington.
It's a strange and wondrous world we live in.
.
You know, it's worth noting that the most accommodative, and least aggressively anti-Western/anti-Israeli candidate in the Iranian elections won in a Landslide.
ReplyDeleteJes sayin'
Howling lessons
ReplyDeleteAmerica is the richest country on Earth. We have the most millionaires, the most billionaires and our wealthiest citizens have garnered more of the planet's riches than any other group in the world. We even have hedge fund managers who make in one hour as much as the average family makes in 21 years!
ReplyDeleteThis opulence is supposed to trickle down to the rest of us, improving the lives of everyday Americans. At least that's what free-market cheerleaders repeatedly promise us.
Unfortunately, it's a lie, one of the biggest ever perpetrated on the American people.
Our middle class is falling further and further behind in comparison to the rest of the world. We keep hearing that America is number one. Well, when it comes to middle-class wealth, we're number 27.
The most telling comparative measurement is median wealth (per adult). It describes the amount of wealth accumulated by the person precisely in the middle of the wealth distribution -- fifty percent of the adult population has more wealth, while fifty percent has less. You can't get more middle than that.
DeleteWealth is measured by the total sum of all our assets (homes, bank accounts, stocks, bonds etc) minus our liabilities (outstanding loans and other debts). It the best indicator we have for individual and family prosperity. While the never-ending accumulation of wealth may be wrecking the planet, wealth also provides basic security, especially in a country like ours with such skimpy social programs. Wealth allows us to survive periods of economic turmoil. Wealth allows our children to go to college without incurring crippling debts, or to get help for the down-payment on their first homes. As Bill Holiday sings, "God bless the child that's got his own."
Well, it's a sad song. As the chart below shows, there are 26 other countries with a median wealth higher than ours, (and the relative reduction of U.S. median wealth has done nothing to make our economy more sustainable.)
Why?
DeleteHere's a starter list:
•We don't have real universal health care. We pay more and still have poorer health outcomes than all other industrialized countries. Should a serious illness strike, we also can become impoverished.
•Weak labor laws undermine unions and give large corporations more power to keep wages and benefits down. Unions now represent less than 7 percent of all private sector workers, the lowest ever recorded.
•Our minimum wage is pathetic, especially in comparison to other developed nations. (We're # 13). Nobody can live decently on $7.25 an hour. Our poverty-level minimum wage puts downward pressure on the wages of all working people. Also while we secure important victories for a few unpaid sick days, most other developed nations provide a month of guaranteed paid vacations as well as many paid sick days.
•Wall Street is out of control. Once deregulation started 30 years ago, money has gushed to the top as Wall Street was free to find more and more unethical ways to fleece us.
•Higher education puts our kids into debt. In most other countries higher education is practically tuition free. Indebted students are not likely to accumulate wealth anytime soon.
Delete•It's hard to improve your station in life if you're in prison, often due to drug-related charges that don't even exist in other developed nations. In fact, we have the largest prison population in the entire world, and we have the highest percentage of minorities imprisoned. "In major cities across the country, 80 percent of young African Americans now have criminal records." (See Alexander, Michelle (2010), The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, The New Press. p. 7. as cited in Wikipedia.)
•Our tax structures favor the rich and their corporations who no longer pay their fair share. They move money to foreign tax havens, they create and use tax loopholes, and they fight to make sure the source of most of their wealth -- capital gains -- is taxed at low rates. Meanwhile the rest of us are pressed to make up the difference or suffer deteriorating public services.
•The wealthy dominate politics. Nowhere else in the developed world are the rich and their corporations able to buy elections with such impunity.
•Big Money dominates the media. The real story about how we're getting ripped off is hidden in a blizzard of BS that comes from all the major media outlets... brought to you by...
•America encourages globalization of production so that workers here are in constant competition with the lower wage workers all over the world as well as with highly automated technologies.
Is there one cause of the middle-class collapse that rises above all others?
Yes. The International Labor organization produced a remarkable study, (Global Wage Report 2012-13) that sorts out the causes of why wages have remained stagnant while elite incomes have soared. The report compares key causal explanations like declining bargaining power of unions, porous social safety nets, globalization, new technologies and financialization.
Guess which one had the biggest impact on . . . . . . . . .
We're 27th, We're 27th, We're 27th
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DeleteTrue, but then, anyone who reads the news knows that.
What I found more interesting was the video on the side panel and that Martha Stewart admits sexting, threesomes, and being able to roll the perfect joint.
You go girl.
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George Carlin discusses "The Sanctity of Life"
ReplyDelete.
DeletePure bullshit.
IMO, of course.
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How things will be different for Cartwright:
ReplyDeleteAnother cautionary tale about NSA warrantless surveillance and Stuxnet is that the program shows how the US government is now a criminal enterprise and entirely willing to take risks that harm ordinary Americans. In 2010 the US government programmers made an error in Stuxnet that allowed it to escape from Iran’s Natanz computers out onto the internet, where it became a pest, infecting ordinary business and home computers around the world, including inside the US. By August, 2010, the worm had infected 100,000 computers in 115 countries in the world. Obama decided not to shut Stuxnet down even after it had caused all this damage. The ordinary consumers and businesses affected ought to sue the US government.
If we can’t trust them not to infect us with worms, why in the world should we trust them with all of our personal information?
Since Cartwright is a member of the inside-the-Beltway elite, you can bet that the courtier press will not treat him the way they have Edward Snowden, even if he proves guilty. Here will be the differences:
1. No one will obsess about the exercise habits of Gen. Cartwright’s wife.
2. Gen. Cartwright will not be characterized as “a 63-year-old hacker.”
3. Gen. Cartwright will not be described as “nerdy” or “flaky.”
4. David Gregory will not ask that David Sanger be prosecuted for espionage because he aided and abetted Cartwright’s leaking.
5. We won’t get stories every day about where in McLean, Virginia, Gen. Cartwright is living.
6. Gen. Cartwright won’t be accused of being a spy for Iran.
7. No lurid stories will be rehearsed on the Sunday afternoon shows about Cartwright’s allegedly overly familiar relationship with a young female aide in 2009, with heavy innuendo as to what the episode said about his reckless character.
8. No FBI informants will be placed inside the elite Alfalfa Club in DC that Cartwright was known to attend.
9. Cartwright’s loyalty to the United States won’t be impugned by anchors or congressmen.
10. Dirt won’t be dug up on David Sanger’s private life in an attempt to discredit his reporting on Cartwright’s Stuxnet.
It’s not what is done. It is who does it that matters in Washington. Even past closeness to power covers a multitude of sins.
Since you have an ongoing reading comprehension problem, allow me to help.
DeleteToday's New York Times adapted a portion of David Sanger's forthcoming "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power," which reveals that the United States has secretly conducted cyberattacks against Iran for several years. Indiana University Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research Fellow and Maurer School of Law Professor David P. Fidler said the article raises important questions. His commentary follows:
David Sanger’s article in today’s New York Times confirms what many suspected: The U.S. and Israel crafted the Stuxnet computer worm to attack Iran’s uranium enrichment program. The operation, code-named "Olympic Games," began under the George W. Bush administration with Israeli participation and was sustained by President Barack Obama. Sanger’s reporting solves the attribution question concerning Stuxnet, but his revelations raise troubling issues about the future of cybersecurity, the Internet and cyberspace.
Now for some simple logic, knowing what we do about the US Conga line and Aipac. If there is an exercise against Iran by the US and Israel, who do you think instigated it?
DeleteDo you think the Pentagon said , “We cannot do this without Israeli help, let’s see if we can twist Bibi’s arm and get his help.”
Would the US and Israel try this against any other power?
Delete.
DeleteEven past closeness to power covers a multitude of sins.
Or does it?
Committee chairmanships are reached through seniority. And with a divided Senate and House we could expect a wide spectrum of views on issues like domestic surveillance, the constitution, privacy, etc. based on political affilitation and backgrounds. However, what we see is a uniform stance taken by the chairs of the various congressional intelligence committees.
Does it make sense that everyone chairing the various intelligence committees in the House and Senate would all act as cheerleaders for the current administration policies, that they would carry the water for the spooks, that they would abet policies that create concerns for collegues and large portion of the public alike, by lobbing softballs to the heads of the various intelligence agencies during hearings and then willfully accepting McNamara style responses in reply?
Does it make sense that ALL of them, given the paucity of info they are provided, are willing to go along with the government's arguments about 'Secrets' and 'national security'?
Or, are they all merely credulous buffoons, or are they, perhaps, just willing to go along to get along?
Or,is there something more?
Can you imagine the wet dreams J. Edgar Hoover would have had contemplating the capabilities for constructing files on people that would have been availible to him today?
It's said everyone has secrets, things that they regret or are ashamed of, things that might be illegal or at a minimum embarrassing, things that could affect public perceptions.
Wonder what secrets Mike Rogers or Dianne Feinstein have?
Or, take it further? We know the U.S. is spying on other countries. Is there blackmail going on between states, between states and people (domestic or foreign)? Is the U.S. using info to blackmail officials in Jordon or the U.K.? In Israel? And we know the two companies supplying the hardware for the U.S. surveillance programs have ties to Israel and the Mossad. Does that info find it's way to Israel? Is Israel blackmailing individuals in the US?
So many questions yet so little info. Because, it's all so secret dontcha know. National security.
But heck, why worry when we are all so contented and comfortable. And safe. :)
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James E. Cartwright personal relations:
ReplyDelete-Aspen Strategy Group – member
-Atlantic Council of the United States – director
-Center for Strategic and International Studies – Harold Brown Chair in Defense Policy Studies
-Defense Policy Board – member
-Raytheon Company – director
James E. Cartwright past relationships:
-Joint Chiefs of Staff – vice chairman
-U.S. Strategic Command – commander
-White House state dinner (11/24/2009) – invited guest
-White House state dinner (6/7/11) – invited guest
AIPAC POLICY CONFERENCE 2013
ReplyDeleteLOBBYING AGENDA
On Tuesday, March 5, AIPAC delegates went to Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress about key legislation and initiatives AIPAC is supporting. Here is a summary of their agenda:
1. House: Nuclear Iran Prevention Act (H.R. 850)
AIPAC delegates urged House members to co-sponsor the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013 (H.R. 850). The measure — co-authored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) — would strengthen enforcement of current U.S. sanctions on Iran, expand sanctions targeting Iran’s human rights violations, and, for the first time, specifically authorize the president to impose sanctions on any entity that maintains significant commercial ties to Iran. (See list of current cosponsors below.)
2. Senate: Resolution Backing Israel against Iran (S. Res. 65)
AIPAC delegates urged senators to co-sponsor a resolution (S. Res. 65) — led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) — declaring that prevention of an Iranian nuclear weapon remains American policy and that the United States will stand by Israel should the Jewish state feel compelled to take military action in its own defense against Iran. (See list of current cosponsors below.)
3. House & Senate: U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act (H.R. 938 & S. 462)
AIPAC delegates urged House and Senate members to co-sponsor the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013 (H.R. 938 and S. 462). The legislation — authored by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) in the House and by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) in the Senate — would enhance cooperation between the United States and Israel and designate the Jewish state a “major strategic partner." (See list of current cosponsors below.)
4. House & Senate: U.S. Security Assistance to Israel
AIPAC delegates urged House and Senate members to support the full $3.1 billion in security assistance the United States committed to Israel for fiscal years 2013 and 2014, as well as the $211 million in additional funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system. Delegates also urged support for a robust overall foreign aid budget to ensure America’s continued leadership in the world.
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DeleteS 462, the bill that would allow discrimination against Americans entering Israel while waiving any reciprocity on visas for Israelis entering the U.S. yet we are told AIPAC works for the benefit of both America and Israel.
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DeleteIsrael doesnt want them to have free access to Israel.
Cant you understand basics?
Once again, the Israili-centric view as voiced by an AIPAC member.
Reverse that statement. Why should the US allow a hard core Israeli settler into the US sans the visa requirement?
I would have to dig it out but I saw a listing of terrorist events as listed by the FBI referred to in an article a few years back. It showed that over the last thirty or forty years there has been more Jewish related terrorist events percentage-wise in the US than there have been Islamist generated events.
The key point is you don't ask your 'bestest ally' in the world to do something without offering reciprocity.
What possible good does it do the US to allow Israelis to come to the US without going through the visa process?
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DeleteAnd don't ask me to read the details, asshole, I did.
Admittedly, I might not be quite as familiar with them as you since it was you and your AIPAC cronies that wrote them.
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DeleteTo quote another genius here, "can't you understand basics"?
We have been told AIPAC is strictly for the betterment of U.S./Israeli relations and that everything they do is for the benefit of both countries. I see the advantages for Israel in them being allowed to discriminate againsat Americans. Now, quit the McNamara style responses and explain to me the question I asked, "what possible good does it do the US to allow Israelis to come to the US without going through the visa process?"
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DeleteWhat happened to WiO's post, the middle one in this string, to which my last two were addressed.
I hope it was Google that deleated it otherwise this is starting to get ridiculous.
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Boil it all down and Aipac will not rest until the US goes to a hot war with Iran.
ReplyDeleteThe total cost of the disastrous US involvement in the Middle East since 911 including future costs is between $4.5-5.5Trillion.
ReplyDeleteThere are over 60,000 US deaths and seriously wounded. Who knows how many with serious mental issues.
That is not enough? Syria now and Iran next? Read Aipac’s own agenda and you will get your answer.
It's not AIPAC that caused those deaths.
DeleteStop blaming the Jews.
Read again you lying skunk
DeleteJune 8 marked the 46th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The USS Liberty was a U.S. Navy signals intelligence collection ship that Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked for more than an hour in international waters off Egypt in an attempt to sink it. It was the first such attack on a U.S. naval vessel since World War II.What do you think?
U.S. Sixth Fleet Rear Adm. Lawrence Geis launched two rescue attempts from U.S. aircraft carriers nearby, but Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered that the aircraft be returned to the carrier both times.
Geis later told the Liberty’s senior Naval Security Group officer, Lt. Cmdr. David Lewis, that after McNamara ordered the aircraft be returned to the carrier the second time, he requested confirmation of the order and the reason for it. This time President Johnson took the phone and ordered the recall with the comment that he did not care if the ship sank, but that he would not embarrass an ally.
Thirty-four American servicemen were killed and 174 wounded — more than two-thirds of the Liberty’s crew of 294. Ironically, the first vessel to offer the stricken Liberty assistance was a Soviet destroyer. The offer of assistance was declined.
PROBE RESTRICTED
Adm. John McCain Jr., the commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and father of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chose Adm. Isaac Kidd Jr. to preside over a formal Court of Inquiry. Participants, however, claim that the court was charged only to determine whether any shortcomings on the part of the Liberty’s crew had contributed to the injuries and deaths that resulted from the attack, not to assign culpability, and that Navy investigators refused to allow testimony showing that the attack was deliberate or that Israel’s explanation was untrue. Although Kidd and Navy Capt. Ward Boston, the inquiry’s counsel, had estimated that a thorough inquiry would take six months, McCain gave them only a week … .
Crew members were ordered to remain silent and threatened with court-martial if they talked. They were dispersed on separate assignments, no two together. After President Johnson died, their silence ended when Liberty survivor Lt. Cmdr. James M. Ennes Jr., published his book, Assault on the Liberty, in 1980.
COURT WAS ‘SHAM’
The Israeli government and the American Jewish Anti-Defamation League have insisted since 1967 that the attack was a case of mistaken identity. They claim that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) had mistaken the Liberty for the smaller Egyptian El Quseir, a mercantile type built in 1929.
Liberty survivors of the Israeli attack insist that the circumstances were such that Israel had to have known that it was attacking an American signals collection ship and killing American servicemen.
In 2002, Boston told the Navy Times that the naval court was a politicized sham with conclusions preordained to exonerate Israel. In 2004, he signed an affidavit stating he knew from personal conversations he had with Kidd that President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara had ordered Kidd to conclude that the attack was a case of “mistaken identity” despite “overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”
You really are a scurrilous weasel. The dead and mutilated Americans, at the hands of the Israelis, blame the Americans. The humiliated and ghettoized Palestinians, blame the Palestinians. You are nothing more than a merchant of deceit:
Delete…” I don’t see very much hope, and most Palestinians don’t see much hope, from the so-called peace process that the U.S. is supposedly trying to resurrect. The thrust of every peace process before has been talk, talk, talk, expand the settlements, nothing happens, blame the Palestinians.
Like, that's how it always tends to go. So they kind of already have seen this movie, and they're not really hopeful about a different ending this time. What can they do? I mean, for one thing there's a massive movement of non-violent resistance in Palestine that just recently was featured in the New York Times Magazine, finally, after years of being ignored. It's finally starting to be recognized and mentioned in main-stream U.S. news sources. And the article is called "Will the Third Intifada Start Here?" and it's online and well-worth the read.
So, definitely that is helping, little by little, to change American public opinion. You know, I hope my book can also help, or at least allow people to engage with the conflict from a more realistic perspective, as opposed to the narrative we get here. It's not very realistic. It's not very closely aligned with actual reality. We would actually very often... We'd be in Palestine watching something happen, and then we'd go home, turn on CNN, and watch the coverage of that thing and be like "What are they talking about? This has nothing to do with what we just witnessed." Or they missed the point, or they missed the larger story and just focused on one small thing. So I’m hoping that, at least in this one arena where there’s still a democracy of ideas more and more because of blogs and Palestinian writers and movies like Five Broken Cameras and hopefully books like mine, that at least in that sense we can start changing American public opinion and maybe eventually have an impact on U.S. foreign policy.
- Oklahoma’s Pamela Olson Describes The Hidden Realities Of Life In The Palestinian Territories
Every time I read one of your comments, I do another check and almost without fail, I find another outrage, another lie, another distortion, as yet unrecognized by the American people because of the propaganda and manipulation and total lack of integrity in the US media and DC, but little by little, step by step, you will lose. Your fraud will be exposed and for a very basic reason. There are enough good people in Israel, ableit a minority that recognize your lies and the debasement of integrity.
DeleteYou are on the losing side. It is only a matter of time.
Aipac and the US media already have 70% of the US population convinced that Iran already has nuclear weapons. I have to hand it you, your campaign is a wonderment of marketing. The consequences to the US, a total disaster.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteNo, I repeat the claims of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and their take on Judaic Law.
DeleteThis is not the law in the United States, is not the Law of the secular state of Israel, where the Rabbinate claims the murder of Jews is common place. 20,000 murders of Jews each year, the Chief Rabbinate is concerned with.
I merely am discussing the activities, in Israel, as reported by the Chief Rabbinate of that state.
Is the Chief Rabbinate lying?
There have been 60 million abortions in the US, since 1975. I do believe that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel would consider those murders, the United States does not.
Should those abortions be considered murder, I'm not sure ...
... but I am not an authority on Judaic Law, as the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is.
It is obvious, though, that the state of Israel is sanctioning and condoning, even financing what the Chief Rabbinate of Israel considers the murder of Jews, over a quarter of a million in the 21st century.
The Iranians have not killed one half of one percent of that number, of Jews, in the past fifty years. On a comparative basis the Iranians are much less a threat to Jews and Judaism than is the secular state of Israel.
The Iranians have not financed a coup de etat in the United States, while the United States did finance the removal of the democratic government of Iran. The US did support the autocratic replacement of the elected government, after the coup de etat.
The United States attacked the political structure of Iran, Iran has never attacked the United States.
In Iraq, the elected government that the US installed after the invasion of Iraq, well, it has come to the conclusion that the Iranians are better allies of the Iraqi people than the US was or would be.
The Iranians would be fully within the letter and spirit of the NPT if they remain one screwdriver turn away from a nuclear weapon capability, just as the Japanese and South Koreans are.
The current threat posed to the world by the Iranians, no more of a threat than that of the Japanese nuking up.
Remember the "Rape of Nanking", there is no similar incident in the 19th or 20th centuries with regards Iran. Iran has been the target of "Western" aggression, to which it has never responded to in a military manner.
Japan has a history of military aggression and use of military force to invade and occupy their region of the world, the Iranians, not so much.
There is no movement in the Congress to impose sanctions upon Japan, even after their nuclear capabilities have poisoned the US.
The United Nations predicted that the initial radiation plume from the stricken Japanese reactors would reach the United States by 18 March. Health and nuclear experts emphasized that radiation in the plume would be diluted as it traveled and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States. A simulation by the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy indicated that trace amounts of radioactivity would reach California and Mexico around 19 March. These predictions were tested by a worldwide network of highly sensitive radiative isotope measuring equipment, with the resulting data used to assess any potential impact to human health as well as the status of the reactors in Japan. Consequently, by 18 March radioactive fallout including isotopes of iodine-131, iodine-132, tellurium-132, iodine-133, caesium-134 and caesium-137 was detected in air filters at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA - Wiki
There is no greater threat to the live of Jews, than the state of Israel.
DeleteThe state of Israel has sanction, condoned and financed the murder of a quarter of a million Jews, in the 21st century ... If the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is a credible source.
The government of the United States did not finance those 60 million million abortions, in the US.
The secular state of Israel, with its state financed health care system did finance the murder of a quarter of a million Jews, in Israel. If the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is a credible authority on Judaic law and anti-Semitic behaviors.
What actions are more anti-Semitic than financing the murder of 20,000 Jewish babies each year?
So you are now arguing against a woman's right to choose and against a national health system.
Delete.
DeleteCut it out. He is on a roll and those type of questions confuse the rat.
:)
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Yes, I do oppose a single payer National Health Care system.
DeleteI do not think that a woman has a "Right" to choose to terminate a pregnancy. I do believe the Federal government does not allow states to regulate abortion, but I do not believe that there is a Constitutional "Right" to it. I do believe that the Roe v Wade decision was wrongly decided.
I have read the Fourth Amendment and if that Amendment provides that the "Right" to privacy allows abortion, it would allow a "Right" to prostitution, as well.
The "Watch List", aye, under what name?
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel tells the world that the state of Israel has murdered 20,000 Jews. The state of Israel paid the doctors for each heart that was stopped. Dr Mengele did not kill so many Jews, in his entire career, as the state of Israel pay to kill each year.
Over a quarter of a million Jews murdered, as defined by Judaic Law, paid for by the secular government of the state of Israel.
The most anti-Semitic government on the planet.
Killing Jews by the hundreds of thousands, in the 21st century.
Little wonder that Haaratz told the world of Hitler's Jewish connection, the Jews have been murdering their own since before David was their king and Herod was Great. Seems that some modern Jews not only do not deny it, but, like the Chief Rabbinate of Israel work to end the slaughter.
Our own Israeli embraces the murder of baby Jews, by the state of Israel, even attempts to justify those murders by calling me names.
Sweet.
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DeleteYou confuse morality with legality, rat.
I happen to agree with the Chief Rabbi but that means shit since it is the state not the Rabbi that makes the laws.
You talk about 20,000 killed in Israel but you ignore the 1.2 million killed here every year. It merely looks like your opposition to Israel is driving your argments not logic or the facts.
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No, Q, I do not ignore the toll in the United States, it is a travesty and a shame that so many lives are ended, so prematurely. I fully understand the difference between law and morality, it does not confuse me.
DeleteI understand that the law in the state of Israel is not Judaic Law, but secular law.
Just as I understand that criticism of Israel is not criticism of Judaism, but of a secular polity in a portion of Palestine. A secular polity that garners 1.5% of its GDP from US aid.
Israel is not to be conflated with Judaism, to do so, Goebbels style propaganda.
The "Big Lie".
But no one here holds the US up as the world's moral authority, as some do with regards Israel.
If you or Deuce or boobie were to hold the US up as the world's moral authority, I would bring up the 55 to 60 million deaths due to abortion, since 1975. But no one here holds the US up, as an example of global righteousness.
Nor does anyone here describe portions of our countrymen as SAVAGES, as the Israeli does his fellow Palestinians. This description of the Arabs, while the Israeli portion of Palestine is described as civilized flies in the face of the reality of those quarter of a million Jews murdered by the Israeli government. Murdered not under the secular law of Israel, but the Judaic Law of the authentic, original tribes of Israel.
If I were a believer in the New Testament, in the prophecy of John as foretold in the Book of Revelations, I would say that the United States well portrays "The Beast".
But none of us, here, hold the US to the level our Israeli and boobie attempt to elevate Israel, without cause.
In fact it was boobie, today, that held Israel up as the protector of women's rights, which is ludicrous, as half of those 20,000 murdered by the Israeli government, in 2012, were female, sure as shootin'.
As I said, it is the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that calls those 20,000 deaths murder, under Judaic Law. I assume they know Judaic Law, or they'd not be the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
If the murder of 20,000 Jews in Israel, murder as described by the Chief Rabbinate under Judaic Law, are not anti-Semitic then nothing is. If those murders are not a threat to Judaism then nothing the Arabs do could be described as a serious threat either.
The numbers do not lie, and the Chief Rabbinate does not lie about Judaic Law, either.
I am, at least I think I am because I signed their form, a member of the notorious AIPAC, and as of yet I have not received one communication from them, neither email nor written.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever do I will pass it on.
I still want to know exactly what war Israel gotten us into?
Afghanistan? you got to be kidding
Iraq? Naw, it was first the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and then the younger Bush went back
Libya? No
Syria? No
Which war?
Iran hasn't happened and I doubt it will with Obama.
So, which war has Israel gotten us into?
Name it.
bpos
And if Iran happens it is hard to see exactly how Israel would have caused that either.
Deletebpos
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DeleteI am, at least I think I am because I signed their form, a member of the notorious AIPAC, and as of yet I have not received one communication from them, neither email nor written.
Sounds like you got taken.
If you go to the website, it will ask you if you want to receive updates from them. I assume that is free.
THIMK!
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I will try to THIMK! better in the future.
DeleteThanks.
I probably failed to click the update form request.
bpos
I THIMK Therefore I AMK.
Deletebpos
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ReplyDeleteI've made the point that failing to appoint Inspector Generals for some of the most important federal agencies (State, Homeland Security, etc) is unconscionable. We see more proof of their importance today.
The IG for the Interior Dept put out a scathing review on the Parks Police stating that they have lost control of thousands of guns (handguns, rifles, shotguns), that they have inadequate controls in place to keep track of them, that hundreds that have been designated for destruction are still sitting around in storage, and that the honchos in charge when confronted with the info were surly and uncooperative. When the news broke the Interior Department apologized. Lordy, how many times before we get apology fatigue? Will anyone be fired or even disiplined? You gots to be kidding.
The IG for procurement in Afghanistan put out a scathing report on issues there.
The Pentagon is spending more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to buy Russian-made helicopters and other aircraft for an Afghan aviation unit that lacks the troops and expertise to operate and maintain the equipment, a government watchdog warned.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a report Friday these shortcomings mean the helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft destined for the Afghan Special Mission Wing "could be left sitting on runways in Afghanistan, rather than supporting critical missions, resulting in waste of U.S. funds." The report recommended putting the purchases on hold until the Afghans develop the capacity to support the aircraft...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57591471/watchdog-pentagon-wasting-$772m-on-aircraft-for-afghans/
This is in addition to the $7-$8 billion in equipment the U.S. was planning on leaving behind in the first place.
Who wants to bet that a good portion of those helicopters won't be put to good use by the drug cartels shipping opium?
Heck, how can you blame these guys? It's not their money that they are wasting.
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Median wealth in:
ReplyDeleteAustralia - $193,653.00
Japan - $141,410.00
Italy - $123,710.00
Spain - $53,292.00
U.S. - $38,786.00
Oh yeah,
DeleteCanada - $81,610.00
Yeah, that's right; the Canadians are twice as rich as we are.
The Aussies? well shit. Not Quite 5 Times.
We're 27, We're 27, We're 27!
We're assholes.
More countries of people smarter than us:
DeleteWealthiest Countries
and us.
Let's have another fucking war; okay?
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ReplyDeleteThe DOD looks out for 'network hygiene'.
The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country.
A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve "network hygiene" and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.
The confirmation follows reports in the Monterey Herald that staff at the Presidio military base south of San Francisco had complained of not being able to access the Guardian's UK site at all, and had only partial access to the US site, following publication of leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access
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ReplyDeleteAnother IG report.
Could anyone who witnessed the full mobilization in Boston and the imposition of what amounted to marshall law when the entire city was shut down doubt that this could happen?
Campaigners for greater accountability at New York's powerful police force have seized on a report that details for the first time the extent of the collaboration between the CIA and the NYPD in the years after 9/11.
The formerly classified inspector-general's report also raises new questions over whether the spy agency's partnership with the nation's largest police department amounted to unofficial cover for CIA officers to operate in the US in ways that could otherwise be deemed unlawful.
The 12-page document, first described in a New York Times article published on Wednesday night, contains the December 2011 findings of an investigation into the CIA's training and support of the NYPD that included embedding four officers in the department in the decade following the September 11 attacks.
According to the report, one of the individuals engaged in surveillance operations on US soil and believed there were "no limitations" on his activities. The report said another officer was given "unfiltered" access to police reports that had nothing to do with foreign intelligence...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/nypd-cia-collaboration-surveillance
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