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2003-03-03 - 9:12 a.m.

:::Recent News and Commentary:::

Well now, isn't it convenient that good ole Bushie boy and his CIA thugs nabbed one of the master minds of Al Qaeda just when Bushie boy's ratings were in the tanker? And according to the latest report from CBSNews, this guy was plotting more terrorist attacks on NY City. Here is the full article:

Did Terror Bust Derail Attack Plot?

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Hmmmm. I wonder if Bushie boy is jealous that Saddam is worth more money than he is? I mean, afterall, Saddam is a BILLIONAIRE and from what I have heard about Bushie Boy, he is only a MILLIONAIRE. Poor Bushie Boy, he wants to be the Top Dog Dictator worth more than anyone else! Maybe someone should be doing an extensive check on our pResident in office. I mean those of us in the KNOW know all about his dirty deals, his dad's dirty deals and their family history of trading with the enemy. It would just be grand though to see it displayed all over the "liberal" press! Check out the following story about Saddam's finances:

Tracking Saddam's Billions

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I really can't say I blame Saddam on this one. I mean, afterall he is complying with every demand Bush tosses his way, which I am sure is pissing Bushie Boy off to no end. Check out this article, an excerpt is below:

Iraq Hedges On Missile Destruction

CBS reports: Iraq was dismantling seven more outlawed Al Samoud 2 missiles Monday and promised to hand over a report showing how it destroyed deadly anthrax and VX nerve agent.

But a top Iraqi official also said Sunday that Iraq may stop destroying the missiles, banned because they fly farther than allowed by the United Nations, if it believes Washington is determined to go to war anyway.

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So, how does a news anchorman like Dan Rather get such an exclusive interview with Saddam? Maybe it is because Dan Rather is a trusted member of the Bilderberg gang. They know he will only ask what they want him to ask. Check out the interview with Saddam here:

Interview with Saddam - transcript

You can even listen to it on CBS by clicking on the link on the right side of the page.

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While Bushie Boy is off playing chess with Saddam, N. Korea is coming in trying to checkmate Bush and spoil the game! Check out this link:

N. Korea Says Weapons Are Its Right

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Finally! there is a country out there that is saying NO to Bushie's war machine! Way to go Turkey!! I think it is wonderful that Turkey is listening to its millions of citizens who do not want to allow Bush to deploy troops from their country. Bush needs to realize that this war is NOT in the best interest of the world and to stop playing commando in his war room like a kid playing with his toy soldiers. Here is the story about Turkey:

Turkey Snub A Harsh Blow To U.S.

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This just in from MSNBC:

U.S. not giving up on Turkish bases

Come on Bushie! Why don't you just admit it to yourself and the rest of the world: Your war is not wanted, not needed and you should just give it up! I am so sick of Bushie and his chickenhawks constantly beating their war drums when popular support is AGAINST THEM! If I had the money, I would commission millions of people from all over the world to go to Iraq and act as human shields. If Bush wants to have millions of deaths on his hands, then he can have another million from peace activists around the world on his hands too. This warmonger needs to be STOPPED!!!

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No War On Iraq

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Enron: Under Cover of Dark and the War

By Matt Bivens

The Daily Times Pakistan

There's not much doubt left today that the California energy crisis was an Enron esque game. Just 10 days ago, a fifth former Enron exec entered a federal guilty plea

The Enron scandal has all but disappeared from view. Let's check in on it, shall we?

You remember Enron: It claimed to be making and holding onto lots more money than it really was; it suckered people, including its own employees, into believing it was a success; its top executives paid themselves lavishly and then, when the pyramid shuddered, cashed out early.

That's the usual chronology, but the 800-pound gorilla it omits is the summer of 2001 in California when "energy traders'' like Enron created a phony "energy crisis'' in which, for the third summer in a row, they could ransom their energy for eye-poppingly outrageous sums.

There's not much doubt left today that the California energy crisis was an Enron esque game. Just 10 days ago, a fifth former Enron exec entered a federal guilty plea. He admits he and his colleagues intentionally defrauded Californians intentionally brought about those lucrative power outages.

Enron, of course, wasn't alone. Traders over at Reliant Energy (just renamed Center point) have been caught on tape laughing about being the cause of power failures across the West Coast, and then under cover of dark sneaking away with the public's hard-earned money it was "cool'' and "fun.''

So, game over, right? There's a consensus that 55 million Californians were ripped off by the Fraudster 500; now it's just a matter of doling out the jail time and the public shame, collecting what money can be recovered, and ordering regulators to prevent it recurring, right?

Uh, no. For starters, Americans have forgotten Enron. We're too busy duct-taping our windows shut against the possibility of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack. The press derides the new government civil defence advice as "duct and cover'' a joking reference to the old "duck-and-cover'' Cold War drills, in which school kids would hide under their desks from Comrade Stalin but that hasn't stopped hoarders from buying up all the flashlights and bottled water in my hometown.

With no one watching, it's back to business as usual and the Bush administration is eager to do the bidding of the oligarchy sorry, wrong country, of its favourite "campaign contributors.'' So those Reliant traders who thought themselves so "cool'' earned their company a playful wrist slap: Their $13.8 million fine equals 0.03 percent of Reliant's (rape-of-California) 2001 revenues of $40.8 billion. If Reliant had jacked a Mercedes, this would be equivalent to a judge ordering it to keep the car but return any change found behind the seat.

The fine was set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC and for anyone who missed the point, the White House just appointed a new FERC commissioner: Joseph Kelliher, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Kelliher was the Enron go-to guy he was once handed Enron's "dream list'' of government policies and dutifully relayed it to Boss Cheney.

Meanwhile, the man who used to run Enron's corrupt energy trading division is not only not in trouble, he's secretary of the US Army that, incredibly, makes him the man in charge of the Army budget. Ken Lay, the former Enron chief, is also doing well. He's having a day in court soon because he's suing the US government. He and his wife think the US tax authorities owe them $130,000 from the mid-1980s.

So this is why they say the first casualty of war is truth. --The Moscow Times

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It Would Be Easier If I Was Dictator

by Gary Cobb

February 22, 2003

So far, it ranks as one of the most scary statements Bush has made. That and, "I'm the one who gets to decide". Chilling isn't it?

I've been pushing for the clinical psychology community to speak up regarding the possible mental-emotional problems Bush, Cheney (whom we see so little of), Rumsfeld and others in his cabinet are exhibiting. Behavior analysts should be able to have a field day with Bush's body language and facial expressions. Believe me, this man is seriously afflicted. That's why he is so disliked and even hated by so much of the world community. They pick up on this behavior although they may not be able to explain exactly why they don't like him. Like one French commentator explained, "I don't like what he does with his chin".

Bush is definitely not trustworthy. He is arrogant and views others as fools who are easily duped and taken advantage of. His reputation as a "good 'ol boy" who likes to touch people and give them nick names is a psychological ploy to suck them in and give them a warm fuzzy feeling, to line them up so he can screw them. I've seen this predatory behavior "big time" (as Cheney is fond of saying) in the upper echelons of corporate management.

Without knowing I can almost assure you that Bush uses another favorite tactic from the corporate playbook. After meeting with someone or being introduced to someone they wait until the person is walking away but still within earshot and remark to someone nearby, "Isn't he/she a wonderful and intelligent person? I really like them.", or some other overblown compliment, stating it loud enough that the intended target can hear them but acting as if he was just remarking confidentially to a friend or associate. It's a scam artist's trick.

Bush throws compliments around strategically and expects them to pay dividends. Who doesn't like to be complimented and how many of us have been duped because of our vanity? "I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit. The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.", the preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes 1, verses 13,14.

Remember when Bush tried to suck Putin in by stating that he looked into Putin's eyes and could see into Putin's soul and saw that he was a wonderful, trustworthy man and a friend? This is part of the corporate shark's book of rules which uses a person's vanity and also subscribes to the mantra, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Putin is no fool. He didn't buy it. He simply has been humoring Bush.

The largest portion of the corporate management element in this country and the world are so morally corrupt and evil they represent the single biggest threat to world survival. They are both directly and indirectly responsible for all the major problems involving human rights violations, oppression of the working class, circumvention of justice, destruction of the environment and health problems for people around the world, wars and atrocities including murder and genocide in countries where they have commercial interests in natural resources and cheap labor, financial loss and economic turmoil in developing nations, and on and on. Armies are deployed on their behalf to protect their interests more than for any other reason. The military and CIA in our country and the militaries and secret service/intelligence operations in other countries are equally or more for the protection of corporate economic interests as they are for national security. Our own CIA is staffed by corporate representatives from the major players in the military arms, aircraft, heavy manufacturing, big oil, chemical and financial industries. Political uprisings and wars are planned and fomented by this agency to facilitate corporations through installation of puppet regimes that are bought and paid for by the corporate machine which controls how our tax dollars are spent.

Much of the Bush administration's corporate honed tactics are outlined in "THE ART OF WAR"' by Sun Tzu, a Chinese philosopher from around 400 BC. To give you a flavor, here are some telling excerpts from The Art Of War as used by the corporate leaders who make up the Bush administration and the power element within the Republican party. These are similar to tactics used in their campaigns to destroy their opponents and in all their dealings with other nations and business competitors.

From Sun Tzu's guide to war:

* All warfare is based on deception. (We have all been deceived over and over by Bush and his administration, by the corporate media and corporate interests.)

* Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. ( This forage will be Iraq's oil)

* With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue. (The cost of war on the American people. Hundreds of billions of tax dollars that could have been sent on healthcare, education, social security, infrastructure, etc.)

* Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store. (Steal from the designated enemy what is rightfully theirs.)

* Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards. (The rewards will go to big oil and military/industrial corporate investors.)

* Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept. (Iraq will become a US colony. We have never left Korea, or Germany, the Philippines, Japan, etc. etc. )

* Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver. There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways. As many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labor. (The current cost of the impending war is reported at $42 MM per hour at this point. Our state governments and individuals citizens will suffer the cost while wealthy corporate executives and investors will reap a windfall.)

* Hence it is that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved. (Corporate CIA operatives and military insiders will profit handsomely.)

* Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. (Business! Enough said.)

But Sun Tzu also offers warnings that Bush is not heeding:

* Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished. (Americans will suffer as a result of money diverted to war that could have been used for healthcare, education and domestic issues. Most of this money will end up in corporate executive's personal bank accounts.)

* On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away. (The faltering economy)

* When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions. (Huge national deficit as a result of financing the war and poorly advised tax cuts.)

* Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril. (This war, pursued in this unilateral manner will exacerbate the terrorist problem and put us even more at risk.)

* Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. (More Inspectors for as long as necessary. UN forces on Iraqi soil, defanging Saddam and forcing his demise through increased international pressure without bombs, without combat.)

* Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. (If Saddam's army entrenches itself in Bhagdad it will become a city under siege.)

And the biggest warning to Bush:

* Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. (Bush doesn't know himself much less his enemy. If this war turns out successful in any way it will be a stroke of providence, God's mercy revealed, not as a result of the cleverness of Bush and his administration.)

Corporate Corruption Threatens World Survival

There is becoming a huge underground industry of private military contractors that operate around the world supposedly in the interest of US security. Our military and our "national security" is being slowly privatized under the radar of most citizen watchdog groups because of their ability to operate under the guise of "national security" when in truth they are just another tentacle of corporate America. These are secretive, covert operations that can operate outside the law and are only loosely managed by the Pentagon. Billions of our tax dollars are being bled off by these private contractors that operate more on behalf of themselves and the corporations they serve. The Pentagon's annual budget is unable to account for billions of dollars each year. How can a government be that inefficient in recordkeeping when the average citizen can't even fudge on their taxes without being caught? American citizens are being hosed by corporate America.

During his 2000 campaign for president, Bush criticized his opponent, Al Gore, and then President Clinton, for overextending U.S. military forces by intervening in places where vital U.S. security interests were not at stake. Yet a recent Pentagon paper identifies vital American security interests in almost every part of the globe from Central and South America to Israel to the Gulf, more than 200,000 U.S. military personnel (and who knows how many "contractors") are out there worldwide. Since the waning days of the Cold War, the number has declined by about half. Yet about 90 percent of the cuts occurred as a result of reductions in European- based forces, mostly in Germany. In most places outside Europe, there have been significant increases in the US underground presence.

While it is true that economic interests have always been at the core of national interests and was a driving force behind the formation of our republic, it seems those interests have been allowed to supplant the true reasons this country came into existence and what Americans have come to believe this country stands for. The power of the land has been wrestled away from the people and now rests in corporate boardrooms and Washington, DC corridors. Will we ever get it back or will this nation become just another totalitarian fascist state, the victim of a few men's unrestrained greed and lust for wealth and power.

This nation should have become alarmed when George W Bush said, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.", but instead most citizens preferred to ignore him and concentrated on national sports, outdoing each other, buying bigger SUV's, electronic gadgets and gorging on junk food. Never mind they didn't even bother to vote in the last two elections or that the 2002 election could be the last free election this country will ever know. The idea that "it's never too late" might well the most dangerous assumption of which the American people have ever been guilty.

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~Did You Miss These?~

Just a Reminder - Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2003
Ravyne Is Moving - Friday, Oct. 17, 2003
The Mission - Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003
Siege Heil - Thursday, Oct. 09, 2003
Litany Of Lies - Wednesday, Oct. 08, 2003
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