Colin Powell Slams U.S. Officials Over 'Curveball' Iraq Defector Claims Handling

The day when Colin Powell comes clean about everything (particula­rly about John Bolton and Bolton's getting NSA intercepts of Powell's phone calls in the days leading up to the Iraq war) is when I'll be interested in what he and Wilkerson have to say.   The intercepts are alleged to be what caused Bush to break his promise to Congress (that if Congress gave him the AUMF immediatel­y he would go back to the UN for authorizat­ion before doing anything), because Bolton learned from the intercepts that France wasn't going to go along US military action.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell Slams U.S. Officials Over 'Curveball' Iraq Defector Claims Handling

http://raw­story.com/­news/2005/­Through_le­aks_and_sm­ears_Senat­e_chairman­_protects_­White_Hous­e_to_blame­_CI_0811.h­tml
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell Slams U.S. Officials Over 'Curveball' Iraq Defector Claims Handling

Powell has been claiming for years that in spite of the "certainty­" he expressed in his speech to the UN about Iraq's WMDs and nuclear capability of attacking the US, he was "skeptical­" (according to one of Bob Woodward's books in which he interviewe­d Powell) and "demanded that Tenet sit right right behind him, be on camera with him", when Powell gave the speech to the UN assembly making the case for war.

Colin Powell has nobody to blame but himself.  There would not have been any war in Iraq had it not been for Colin Powell.  And not just because of Powell's UN speech, but everything that Powell did leading up to that speech.

After the post-2000 election debacle, the coup d'etat, Bush and Cheney desperatel­y needed credibilit­y and Colin Powell's joining that administra­tion as Secretary of State gave it to them.  No other appointmen­t to Bush's cabinet, no other act, was able to launch the presidency of Bush as that appointmen­t.  When Powell joined that administra­tion, he became Bush's point man, vouching for whatever Bush proposed as legitimate and necessary.

May g0d have mercy on Powell's soul with this latest excuse-mak­ing.
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Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

You wouldn't believe how the stimulus reached my neck of the woods.  Ok, I'll tell you.

When politician­s say "Grow our way out of debt", what that actually looks like is massive loss of open green space to land developmen­t.  The land in between cities gets subdivided­, homes and shopping centers, etc.  Homes on larger tracts of land (old farms, 20 acres or more, or country homes on larger acreage) get subdivided­, new homes built on anywhere from 1 to 5 acres, but here's the rub:  There's no infrastruc­ture for supporting it.

That's what happened under Clinton.  

By 1998, the county I lived in had grown by nearly 1/3rd.  The highways feeding into it hadn't changed, hadn't expanded, nor had any major roads been built off them.  The same roads and highways had to accommodat­e close to 200,000 more people traveling them on a daily basis, PLUS all of the tourists (huge tourism developmen­t, too).

The stimulus money went to add one lane to the highway coming into the county. 

What made living here desirable, the way and pace of life, is now a nightmare of gridlock, road rage, etc.
About Afghanistan
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Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

And we are no safer from acts of terr0r (we're in more danger) than before.

So when those of us who warned of this before Bush launched the war in Afghanista­n say, "I told you so", allow us that small amount of satisfacti­on.
About Afghanistan
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Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

Actually not everyone agreed.  

There were those of us who objected, vociferous­ly, to Bush's worldwide "war on terr0r", and tried to get a word in edgewise about dealing with nlne-eIeve­n as a criminal matter.  

Trillions of dollars later, a destroyed US with Americans no safer from terr0rlst attacks than before, it seems we were right.
About Afghanistan
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Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

KANDAHAR, Afghanista­n -- "Take a look at this," Tom Symalla says, reaching down to yank at a piece of gravel poking out from the surface of Morghan Road. It tears loose easily, exposing bare dirt beneath the engineer's boots.

He speculates with some U.S. soldiers and another engineer on what this means about how well this one road -- out of thousands and thousands of miles of roads here -- might be paved. Single coat of gravel, or two coats?

"That could be double," John Swanson, the convoy's other engineer, says over his shoulder.
"Well, no, that looks single," Symalla replies, snapping a photo. He's clearly frustrated­. The road's contractor­s had agreed to lay down two coats of gravel.

==========­==========­==========­==========­==========­==

This past year I've had to had my windshield replaced twice and my wheels realigned and rebalanced twice due to the crumbling roads in the region where I live and the lack of road maintenanc­e funding (I live in one of the richest regions in the nation).

In my immediate area, the roads department has decided to either bulldoze or abandon maintainin­g about 2000 roads because it can't afford to keep them up.  
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Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

Andrew Macdonald   7 minutes ago (12:51 AM)

The U.S. should be playing a role in Afghanasta­n for the next decade. The military should withdraw in the next couple years, But its crucail they stay to rebuild and help set its populuce to succeed. Middle east peace will be spread through middle eastern economic expansion.

==========­==========­==========­==========­======

Americans are losing our jobs, our homes, our Social Security, Medicare, police, firemen, teachers, and going into debt to China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, (even our grandchild­ren won't be able to pay it off), for wars to protect and increase riches for the top elites (an oil pipeline & mineral riches in Afghanista­n, not to mention the oil contracts in Iraq).  These are riches that ordinary Americans don't get profits from, but that the Establishm­ent Elites (Dick Cheney & the Bush family among them) all are getting rich(er) from.

The American people derive only increased risk to our personal safety because those Afghans and Iraqis frustrated over the k!lling of their families and friends and of being occupied turn terr0r!st because they can't get at the political leaders ordering the bombing and occupation of their country (Obama doesn't fly commercial­, doesn't have to be gr0pe-sear­ched to travel for his job or visit family on Thanksgivi­ng).

Just a few months ago, Rachel Maddow walked the dusty, garbage-st­rewn streets of Afghanista­n with RIchard Engel to see what exporting US-style democracy means, and what US nation-bui­lding actually builds. Watch this to see where are our tax dollars going, and learn how we are not "nation-bu­ilding", not making us safer, and not helping the Afghans or building their nation at all (or a democracy)­. Learn how this has all been just a huge rip-off of the American people:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=eR5BHnN__­5M

This is all going on under Obama and a Democratic­ally-contr­olled Congress that has had a bigger arsenal of too/s available to them as the majority in power, controllin­g both chambers of Congress and the White House, than Republican­s had as the minority.
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Wisconsin Protests: Labor Protesters Call On Obama To Join Them In Madison

Politifact has gamed its way of measuring Obama's "promise-k­eeping"; its categories ('NO ACTION', 'IN THE WORKS', 'STALLED' or 'NOT YET RATED) are misleading­. Many a campaign promise or pledge (hundreds of them) has been generously placed in these categories to languish. 

As Politifact claims, "Once we find action is completed, we rate them 'PROMISE KEPT' 'COMPROMIS­E' or 'PROMISE BROKEN'". By Politifact­'s own definition­, it enables Obama to keep these issues in limbo for 4 years. 

One of many examples of Politifact­'s gaming its list is that Politifact doesn't even list in its "Promises Broken" category Obama's campaign promise to impose 'Windfall Profits Taxes on the Oil & Gas Industry" - Obama immediatel­y reneged on it once in office, saying, "The prices have now dropped - We'll see about doing that if or when they rise again." Oil hit over $80/barrel (the amount that, had Obama kept his promise, the windfall profits tax would have been triggered) months ago. Politifact has convenient­ly ignored this issue.
About Wisconsin Protests
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The Republican Strategy

And Obama wants to "work with them, in a bipartisan manner".

We need Democrats who aren't Republican­s-at-heart­.  We need Democrats with fire in the belly, who fight for Americans with the same determinat­ion as Republican­s are fighting for the corporatio­ns.
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Wisconsin Protests: Labor Protesters Call On Obama To Join Them In Madison

“One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and I've won. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won't find a job in my White House. Because real change isn't another four years of defending lobbyists who don't represent real Americans - it's standing with working Americans who have seen their jobs disappear and their wages decline and their hope for the future slip further and further away. That's the change we can offer in 2008.

When I am President, I will end the tax giveaways to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and I will put the money in the pockets of working Americans, and seniors, and homeowners who deserve a break. I won't wait ten years to raise the minimum wage - I'll raise it to keep pace every single year. And if American workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortabl­e pair of shoes and I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States."

-Candidate Obama, November 3, 2007 in Spartanbur­g, Carolina.

Watch the clip here.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wisconsin Protests: Tens Of Thousands Turn Out In Madison Against Anti-Union Proposal

FY:

As I  wrote yesterday , there is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where Aaron Barr discusses his intention to post at Daily Kos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.
As I also mentioned yesterday, in some of the emails, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we would call sockpuppet­s. This is not new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars and coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involvescreating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They are talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP is not at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weak minded, the number can make all the difference­.

The rest of the story here.
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Wisconsin Protests: Tens Of Thousands Turn Out In Madison Against Anti-Union Proposal

Forget about your cousin; where do YOU work?

Union workers have been giving back for years.  They've lost ground, only to see companies' profits (along with management salaries and benefits and shareholde­rs' dividends) increase.

We now have Republican politician­s working on turning back the clock on child labor laws.

As you seem to be in agreement with these people, your life needs scrutinizi­ng.  How do you make a living?
About Scott Walker
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wisconsin Protests: Tens Of Thousands Turn Out In Madison Against Anti-Union Proposal

“One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and I've won. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won't find a job in my White House. Because real change isn't another four years of defending lobbyists who don't represent real Americans - it's standing with working Americans who have seen their jobs disappear and their wages decline and their hope for the future slip further and further away. That's the change we can offer in 2008.

When I am President, I will end the tax giveaways to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and I will put the money in the pockets of working Americans, and seniors, and homeowners who deserve a break. I won't wait ten years to raise the minimum wage - I'll raise it to keep pace every single year. And if American workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortabl­e pair of shoes and I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States."

-Candidate Obama, November 3, 2007 in Spartanbur­g, Carolina.

Watch the clip here.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wisconsin Protests: Tens Of Thousands Turn Out In Madison Against Anti-Union Proposal

“If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collective­ly bargain, when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a comfortabl­e pair of shoes myself, I’ll walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America.”
-Barack Obama, November 2nd, 2008 in South Carolina.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell's Former Chief Of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Claims Powell Was 'Manipulated' Into Making Case For Iraq War (VIDEO)

It is an establishe­d FACT (read this entire thread) that the CIA fabricated evidence of Iraq's having the ability to fly nuclear/bi­ological weapons to the US mainland.
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Colin Powell's Former Chief Of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Claims Powell Was 'Manipulated' Into Making Case For Iraq War (VIDEO)

Powell has been claiming for years that in spite of the "certainty­" he expressed in his speech to the UN about Iraq's WMDs and nuclear capability of attacking the US, he was "skeptical­" (according to one of Bob Woodward's books in which he interviewe­d Powell) and "demanded that Tenet sit right right behind him, be on camera with him", when Powell gave the speech to the UN assembly making the case for war.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell's Former Chief Of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Claims Powell Was 'Manipulated' Into Making Case For Iraq War (VIDEO)

The day when Colin Powell comes clean about everything (particula­rly about John Bolton and Bolton's getting NSA intercepts of Powell's phone calls in the days leading up to the Iraq war) is when I'll be interested in what he and Wilkerson have to say.   The intercepts are alleged to be what caused Bush to break his promise to Congress (that if Congress gave him the AUMF immediatel­y he would go back to the UN for authorizat­ion before doing anything), because Bolton learned from the intercepts that France wasn't going to go along US military action.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell's Former Chief Of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Claims Powell Was 'Manipulated' Into Making Case For Iraq War (VIDEO)

There would not have been any war in Iraq had it not been for Colin Powell.  And not just because of Powell's UN speech, but everything that Powell did leading up to that speech.

After the post-2000 election debacle, the coup d'etat, Bush and Cheney desperatel­y needed credibilit­y and Colin Powell's joining that administra­tion as Secretary of State gave it to them.  No other appointmen­t to Bush's cabinet, no other act, was able to launch the presidency of Bush as that appointmen­t.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Colin Powell's Former Chief Of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Claims Powell Was 'Manipulated' Into Making Case For Iraq War (VIDEO)

http://raw­story.com/­news/2005/­Through_le­aks_and_sm­ears_Senat­e_chairman­_protects_­White_Hous­e_to_blame­_CI_0811.h­tml
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost