Bush’s Torture Policy Architects Dodge Questions

Watch these men, considered the architects of the Bush Administration’s policy on torture, including the “legal” torturing of suspects’ children and the horrible act of being buried alive. Watch as they squirm and slither their way out of answering questions posed by a congressional committee. Truly awful human beings.

Bush White House Slammed by Insider

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan Slams Bush

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan tells all in his new memoir, including that President Bush often cast the truth aside in favor of relying on an aggressive “political propaganda campaign” in order to to sell the Iraq war to the American people. McClellan writes that the president relied on “propaganda” to sell the public on the Iraq war.

It is reported that Bush’s White House consciously made a “decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed” — at the critical time when the nation was knocking on the door of war. McClellan’s book is titled What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.

The manner in which Bush managed the Iraq debacle almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option. In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president’s advantage.

Scott McClellan
Former White House Press Secretary

Current Bush press secretary Dana Perino issued a statement that was highly critical of their former colleague. She and other White House aides seemed stunned by the revelations in the book.

“Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House,” she said. “For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad - this is not the Scott we knew.” The book provoked strong reactions from former staffers as well.

Another former counter-terrorism adviser who also came out with a book critical of administration policy, Richard Clarke, said he could understand McClellan’s thinking, however.

Iraq: A Serious Strategic Blunder

McClellan states that the Iraq war was and is a “serious strategic blunder,” and that “the Iraq war was not necessary”.

His criticisms are a quite harsh assessment from the man who was at that time the loyal public voice of the White House. McClellan admits that some of his own words from the podium in the White House briefing room turned out to be “badly misguided.” But he says he was sincere at the time. “I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be.” He calls the media “complicit enablers” in the White House campaign to manipulate public opinion toward the need for war. He harshly criticizes the press for going easy on the administration in the months leading up to the 2003 invasion.

Bush: “Lack of Inquisitiveness”

Of Bush as a boss, McClellan says he was charming and politically skilled, but unwilling to admit mistakes. He also faults Bush for a “lack of inquisitiveness.” Worse yet, Bush was susceptible to his own spin-doctoring. According to McClellan, Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment.” He also accuses President Bush of not being “open and forthright” about Iraq and of taking a “permanent campaign approach” to governing.

Hurricane Katrina: A Botch Job on Bush’s Watch

The former press secretary also blasted the handling of Hurricane Katrina, saying the White House “spent most of the first week in a state of denial” after the 2005 disaster. “Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term,” McClellan wrote.

The Outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame

The book also addresses the scandal involving the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. McClellan says Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior political adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff, weren’t honest with him about their roles in the case. McClellan said he defended Libby and Rove to the press after both men assured him that they weren’t involved in the leak. But testimony from Libby’s trial showed the pair had spoken to reporters about Plame. “I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood,” McClellan wrote.

What Happened:
Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.

On Sale June 1, 2008

Mission Accomplished, Oil-Man

A Miserable Failure in Business

But the Sweetheart of the Oil Industry

Who says that oil man Bush didn’t accomplish his mission? Obviously very short sighted people, that’s who.

GAO Reports Widespread Abuses in Gov’t Accounts

Your Tax Dollars Stolen By Gov’t Employees

Congressional auditors report that federal employees have used their government credit cards to charge millions of dollars for internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, expensive dinners and other questionable expenses over a 15-month period.

A report by the Government Accountability Office examined spending controls across the federal government following reports of credit-card abuse at various governmental departments including the Defense Department, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs.

The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41% of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure. Either the purchases were not properly authorized or they had not been signed for by an independent third party as required in federal rules to deter fraud.

For purchases over $2,500, nearly half (48%) were unauthorized or improperly handled.

$1.8M out of $2.7M Unaccounted For

With purchases totaling $2,700,000, the government could not account for hundreds of iPods, computers, and digital cameras. In one case, the U.S. Army could not say what happened to computer items making up 16 server configurations, each of which cost nearly $100,000.

Agencies often could not provide the required paperwork to justify questionable purchases. Investigators also found that federal employees sometimes double-billed or improperly expensed lavish meals and Internet dating for many months without question from supervisors; the charges were often noticed only after auditors or whistle-blowers raised questions.

Breakdowns in internal controls over the use of purchase cards leave the government highly vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse. The government-wide failure rate in enforcing controls is unacceptably high. This audit demonstrates that continued vigilance over purchase card use is necessary…

GAO Report

The report calls for the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget, both of which help oversee the government’s credit-card program, to improve accounting for purchased items, particularly small electronic equipment such as Palm Pilots, iPods and other items that could be easily stolen.

OMB and GSA were also urged to tighten controls over convenience checks, which are a part of the credit-card program, and to remind federal employees that they will be held responsible for any items if the purchases are later deemed improper.

In response, both OMB and GSA agreed with portions of the report. But GSA administrator Lurita Doan noted the vast majority of federal employees use their cards properly and that many oversight measures already are in place, though it is obvious that the entire system needs revamping. She acknowledged there is room for improvement but added that by using purchase cards the federal government saves about $1.8 billion in administrative costs each year. Which seems an odd thing to say, given the fact that all of the misappropriated funds add up

We agree that no level of abuse or misuse is acceptable

GSA administrator Lurita Doan

The GAO study comes amid increasing scrutiny of purchase cards, which are used by 300,000 federal employees and are directly payable by the U.S. government (i.e.: your tax dollars).

Last year, it is reported by the AP that Veterans Administration employees racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image. Government auditors have been investigating these and similar charges, citing past spending abuses.

Investigators did not seek to determine the extent of fraud or waste at each agency. They cited numerous cases of questionable spending, which they said represented what could be found government-wide, including the VA.

“The purchase card is a useful tool for the government, and in no way are we suggesting it shouldn’t continue to be used widely,” said Gregory D. Kutz, GAO’s managing director of forensic audits and special investigations, in a telephone interview. “However, I would say these cases once again show that lack of internal controls cost taxpayers millions of dollars and thus continued focus is needed on improving these controls.”

Among the expenditures cited in the GAO report:

• An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA’s inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower. The employee, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges, was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison and ordered to repay the money.
• U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.
• In the Internet dating case, a postmaster charged $1,100 over 15 months for two online services, including the Ashley Madison Agency. The expenses went unnoticed for more than a year even though he was under internal investigation for viewing pornography on a government computer. The postmaster was eventually told to repay the Internet charges but faced no disciplinary action.
• At the Pentagon, four employees purchased $77,700 in clothing and accessories at high-end clothing and sporting goods stores. The spending included more than $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and similar stores for tailor-made suits - $7,000 of which were purchased a week before Christmas. The credit-card holders said the items were for service members working at U.S. embassies with civilian attire. Pentagon rules allow purchases of civilian clothing when performing official duty, but generally only up to $860 per person.
• Justice Department and FBI employees charged $11,000 at a Ritz Carlton hotel for coffee and “light” refreshments for 50 to 70 attendees for four days, averaging about $50 per person. Seventy percent of the total conference cost of $15,000 was for the food and beverages, while audiovisual and other support services totaled only about $4,000, or 30 percent of the charges. It was not clear what action, if any, that Justice took in light of the conference expenses, which GAO deemed excessive.
• At the State Department, one credit-card holder bought $360 worth of women’s lingerie at Seduccion Boutique for use during jungle training by trainees of a drug enforcement program in Ecuador. One State Department official later agreed that the charge was questionable and stated that he would not have approved the purchase had he known about it.

Too many government employees have viewed purchase cards as their personal line of credit. When money that was intended to pay for critical infrastructure, education and homeland security is instead being spent on iPods, lingerie and socializing, we must immediately remedy the problem.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
Top Republican on Senate Homeland Security
subcommittee on investigations

“Although internal controls over government credit cards have improved, we still have a long way to go to stop the fraudulent use of these cards,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who chairs the investigations subcommittee.

Downsize DC Internet Radio Show

Today, Sunday March 30, on the Downsize DC Conference Call, Libertarian Jim Babka’s two-hour radio show, will air at at 3:06 PM Eastern (2:06 PM Central, 1:06 PM Mountain, and 12:06 PM Pacific). The focus of today’s show will be about the Real ID Act.

Not only does Mr. Babka contend that Real ID is not good for America, but he also believes it is anti-American. He is not alone. He’ll provide a great many details about what’s going on in the fight because we’re now at the point where we need to turn up the pressure at a national level. This will be a show featuring some good news.

For the last two years the battle has shifted to the states on this issue and he wants to hear from the activists working in the states. What’s happening in your state?

Please let him know at CALL at DOWNSIZEDC dot ORG (we ask that you type that address in as it sounds because if we provide a hyperlink, spam harvesting programs will snag the address, and make a headache out of it).

To call-in during the show the toll-free number is 1-800-259-9231.

And, by the way, if you want to send a message to Congress asking them to repeal the Real ID Act, you can do so at the website, DownsizeDC.org.

The best way to hear the program is on the Genesis Communications Network website.

And previous episodes are available as mp3 “attachments” to posts on our DownsizeDC.org blog.

Thank Forward Thinking Companies

Thank These Cool Businesses

If you’re looking for good news about global warming, look no further than World Wildlife Foundation’s Climate Savers companies. By 2010, these 15 major international companies will collectively cut their carbon emissions by some 13 million tons annually. It just about equivalent of taking over 3 million automobiles off the road every year.

Please sign the WWF’s petition to thank and encourage these businesses for leading the fight to stop global warming.

“Climate Savers” companies have voluntarily partnered with WWF to establish ambitious and attainable targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Participants include some of the biggest and best known companies on earth: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Nokia and Sony.

To become part of “Climate Savers”, a company must negotiate rigorous emission reduction targets with World Wildlife Foundation and independent technical experts who monitor and verify compliance with the agreement. The targets may involve the energy efficiency of products, energy efficiency in processes and facilities, energy-saving products, conversion to renewable energy, and other activities that curb carbon dioxide emissions.

Let these businesses know that you appreciate their outstanding leadership on climate change.

A lot of the companies have participated in the program for several years. Some have already exceeded emission reduction targets.

You help is greatly appreciated. Thank you. We can encourage industry and big business to play a leadership role in addressing the root causes of climate change and limiting its impact on our planet.

From the Reagan Diaries - A Satire

Good ‘ol boy Ronnie Regan knows a slacker when he sees one

A moment I’ve been dreading. George brought his ne’er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I’ll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they’ll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.

Ronald Wilson Reagan
40th President of the
United States of America

I’m not very much into religion, nor much of a conspiracy theorist, but I’ve always found it fun and interesting that each of Reagan’s names have six letters in them:

Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6)

Therefore:

Ronald + Wilson + Reagan = 666

That’s a biblical thing, is it not..?

From the REAGAN DIARIES:
this entry is dated May 17, 1986.

New World Order Endgame

For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning.

Dear Friends

I have mixed feelings about forwarding this, but feel it has enough important info in it to make it worth watching.

To me, Alex Jones is unnecessarily antagonistic, and what the elite are trying to pull off is at least somewhat consistent with nature’s pattern of evolution: recursively reducing unmanageable complexities to higher level simplicities. (Subatomic particles form atoms, which form molecules, which form cells, which form organs, which form organisms, such as humans, who form tribes, villages, counties, states, countries, unions of countries, and inevitably it seems, World Government).

On the other hand, I feel Jones has a valid outrage about the elite’s win-lose, domination and control through secrecy and stealth, agenda. I favor Buckminster Fuller’s prescription for social evolution, as expressed in the purpose of World Game: “To make the world work for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” He said the world will be changed by individuals of integrity freely joining in this effort. Instead, what we see happening appears to be an end run by the most powerful of the elite who are set on creating a world of super-privilege and ultra-longevity for their own offspring, with a dumbed-down servant class to provide their labor, and the elimination of everyone else as irrelevant.

W.

Alex Jones - Endgame

Watch the full-screen video here (will open in a new window or tab)

For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world’s population, while enabling the “elites” to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity’s extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite’s bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest wars—creating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

• Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world’s agenda and instigating World War III.
• Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.
• Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.
• View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Part of their motivation is probably due to foreseeing the effects of global warming. It seems likely that there will be extensive displacement of major populations within this century as coastal cities flood, and current temperate zones become desert, while new temperate zones are pushed toward the poles. The rate of polar ice melting is accelerating at continually astonishing speeds. Today, glaciers are retreating twice as fast as just five years ago. Greenland is covered by about 636,000 cubic miles of freshwater ice, which is now hemorrhaging into the sea at a rate of seven billion gallons an hour. That means every day it loses as much fresh water as New York City consumes in a year. We may also be reaching a tipping point, where melting sea ice (reflectance .75) reveals enough polar water (reflectance .25) for the water to absorb enough solar heat (that is otherwise reflected back to space) to heat the water enough to melt more ice to reveal more water, etc, in a runaway feedback loop. This would further speed the acceleration of Greenland’s melting. If Greenland loses its entire ice covering, oceans will rise by 23 feet. We lose New York at 10 feet, and most of Florida at less than that. Plus, warmer oceans breed stronger and more frequent hurricanes. Even at today’s ocean level, a hurricane could shut down New York with major flooding. Then there’s Antarctica . . . In other words, global warming is advancing rapidly, and is likely to produce severe consequences that the elite are making secret provisions for, which include hundreds of concentration camps already built in the U.S., and plans to eventually eliminate 80% of humanity to make the earth again sustainable.

Anyway, enjoy the movie – and have a nice day.

W.

“Endgame” is an interesting study

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists’ dark agenda. Endgame’s compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite’s program to dominate the earth and carry out the most wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite’s own words.

Worried About Your Government Spying on You?

Spies Like Us

I find it insane and outrageous the the Bush Administration continuously beats the drums of fear and mis-information in order to keep killing off democracy, stripping away civil liberties, while rampant large-scale corruption, big business cronyism, and the continued spying on ordinary U.S. citizens continues to blossom. Some democracy!

It’s for your own protection

We’re told that this nonsense is for our own protection. This is exactly the type of thing that was happening in Germany in the 1930’s when Hitler and his troop of deadly, lying pranksters were coming into power… It’s as if the Bush administration is using the Nazi play book, step by step. Painting by numbers, if you will… Painting it black.

More info on the ACLU website

Here’s a good article on the ACLU website that debunks Bush’s fear-mongering at his (final) State of the Union Address, where he keeps pushing for the gutting of current FISA laws in order to keep on illegaly wiretapping American phone lines. He must be stopped.

Contact Your Senators

They need to hear from you. Following this link will allow you to quickly, easily and securely send a message to your senators. Communicate with them. It does make a difference!

Arizona’s “Big Brother” Plans to Cash in on Speeders

Arizona’s Budget Will be Banking on Speeders

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano gives her State of the State address in the House Chamber of the State Capitol in Phoenix Arizona

I don’t know whether Arizonans want to be policed by cameras. It smacks of Big Brother to me.

Senate Transportation Chairman Ron Gould

Janet Napolitano, Arizona’s governor, insists that the deployment of new photo radar and ‘other’ speed enforcement technology on state highways is “all about public safety”. But her proposed state budget counts on the anticipated speeding fines to help disappear a projected revenue shortfall.

The proposed state budget anticipates $120 million in revenue the first year, which includes $90 million in net income from the statewide effort (that’s right…*net income* of $90 Million, after expenses are deducted). Larger dollar amounts are expected to continue in future years. And that’s sure a lot of money being bled off of the public just as that same public’s privacy standards dwindle ever closer to oblivion. Isn’t that thoughtful, they not only find ways to take our rights away, but we also get to pay them to do it. Crafty devils, they are.

The state faces a projected revenue shortfall of at least $1.2 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

While some states use photo radar and similar technology on a limited basis in areas such as construction zones, experts said Arizona intends to move toward widespread deployment of speed technology on the state’s highways.

All Those Camera Watching You, All the Time

Perhaps you’re going to feel like a star!

Which is just another way of watching *you*, Mr. and Ms. John Q. Public. Where ever you might go. Under the guise of public safety, yet another attempt to turn America into something that it is NOT. If we’re not careful, we’ll have a constantly monitored society, continuously under surveillance “for our own good”. And we will have handed it to them on a silver platter. One civil liberty at a time. A healthy dose of FEAR, propagated by those in power, chock-full of conflicts-of-interest, via the media they more or less control. Their job is to first *Spread the Fear* real or imagined, then once the fear has spread via the many tentacles of the corporate controlled media giant, then they can offer the worried masses protection and piece of mind. In its most base incarnation, this is the form, the basis of these public safety projects… however, the reality, the final result, is a palpable lessening of your privacy and freedom. That’s the soft white underbelly of this particular smelly beast.

Governor Napolitano said, “It wasn’t designated primarily for revenue generation but since we have it (and) it works, we want to move statewide. We made that decision before the whole budget issue arose. Now we take advantage of it and use it for law enforcement highway safety purposes.”

The governor’s budget aides could not provide details on assumptions used to project the revenue estimate, including the numbers of expected violations. Maybe they all have a healthy portfolio of stock options from the companies that make the speed-trap machines which will make the rest of our lives miserable. The more money that they can make from these photo-radar machines, the richer they get. So it’s in their best interest to make sure that those damn machines give out as many citations as possible. No matter if they are accurate or not. Most people are unlikely to make a stink and fight the ticket, even if they feel that they were wrongly cited. They are more likely just to pay the fine and be done with it. So you see, the people behind this proposal stand to prosper no matter what. There’s that word again: Conflict of Interest…

Gov. Napolitano’s plan needs approval by the Legislature, which is currently controlled by Republican leadership. There is at least one key lawmaker who has expressed immediate opposition.

Arizonans Might Not Want to be Policed by Camera

“I don’t know whether Arizonans want to be policed by cameras,” said Senate Transportation Chairman Ron Gould, adding that he plans legislation to require that voters decide the issue. “It smacks of Big Brother to me.”

Proposals calling for even limited use of cameras have run into opposition in some states.

Maryland’s transportation secretary on Tuesday told lawmakers that cameras in highway work zones would improve worker safety and reduce accidents, but lawmakers raised concerns on privacy, effectiveness and motive.

Arizona Automobile Association spokeswoman Linda Gorman said the 750,000-member group representing drivers supports photo radar as a way to improve traffic safety but not to help balance the state budget.

A year ago, Napolitano cited results from suburban Scottsdale’s use of fixed cameras on a stretch of state freeway when she directed the state Department of Public Safety to begin researching the possible use of new speed enforcement devices.

As for myself, I’ll just as soon drive *around* Arizona, then drive through it… if that’s the game they want to play. It’s not a problem to avoid the state entirely. Might even make for some exciting Arizona-less road trips.

An Arizona State University professor who studied the Scottsdale project found that it reduced speeding and accident rates. That system uses sensors embedded in the freeway to trigger cameras that snap photos of speeding vehicles. Motor vehicle records are checked to find the vehicles’ owners, ultimately leading to citations for identified drivers.

It’s also important to keep in mind that these photo-radar machines are owned and operated by independent 3rd parties who have an interest in the financial aspect of the photo-radar “industry”. So, they funds that are raised will not only go to help pay off Arizona state’s budget shortfalls, but those funds will also be used to line the pockets of the people and companies that the road authorities will be contracting with. This is a for-profit business, my friends. You and I are the unwilling “consumers” being forced to pay for a “product” we do not want nor need. It stinks of legalized extortion.

Think about that. And if you don’t already know the meaning of the phrase “Conflict of Interest”, I suggest you pick up a dictionary and look it up.