In These Times
by Kristian Williams

11/28/05

The national debate on torture reached a new level in October when the Senate voted 90 to nine to restrict Defense Department interrogation techniques and prohibit the 'cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment' of anyone in U.S. custody. The vote came as a major rebuke to President George Bush, who threatened to veto the military spending bill if the proposals were included. Bush responded to the vote by publicly defending the United States’ existing practices. During his Latin American tour in early November, he said, 'We are gathering information about where the terrorists may be hiding. We are trying to disrupt their plots and plans. Anything we do … in this effort, any activity we conduct is within the law. We do not torture.' Yet earlier that very week, Vice President Dick Cheney pleaded with Republican senators in a closed door meeting to exempt the CIA from the cruelty ban. The administration clearly does not like having its bluff called...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2414/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Mike Whitney

11/28/05

All of these changes in the law have taken place below the radar of public attention and all of them correspond to a 'nutcase' conspiracy by the CFR to transform Canada, Mexico and the US into one, integrated 'free trade' nation in 5 years time. (I'm not making this up) See: Trilateral Task Force Recommendations,) The only thing that makes this bizarre specter of a 'capitalist police state' seem believable is that Bush has already carried out most of the basic recommendations of that other wacky conspiracy theory; The Project for the New American Century. The US has extended its military presence throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, curtailed civil liberties at home, greatly enhanced the power of the president, militarized space, passed legislation for Missile Defense 'Star Wars,' and reinvigorated the bio-chemical weapons industry. All of these were outlined in the PNAC. Sometimes 'conspiracy theories' come to fruition despite our unwillingness to give them credence...

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney11282005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Gary Alan Scott

11/28/05

I am an ex-patriot living and working in Belgium. I have traveled widely over the last 30 years and have lived in three countries besides my native America. I am presently the Director of an International Residence House. One of my students asked me the other day whether I consider myself 'proud' to be an American. I responded by saying that I love my country's founding values, its natural beauty and so, so many people in it, but that I can no longer say that I am proud to be an American. Here are ten reasons why...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1128-33.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Toledo Blade
by staff

11/28/05

The FBI is behaving like Big Brother again, conducting surveillance on U.S. citizens without regard to the guidelines it is supposed to follow to keep its operations above board. What's worse is that once these breaches were pointed out, the agency brushed them off as if they were no big deal. Newly released classified documents reveal that the FBI has secretly shadowed citizens for as long as 18 months, and that it did so without the proper legal permission or oversight. It also kept tabs on another target for five years, but didn't bother to tell the Justice Department the person had moved from New York to Detroit. That is a clear violation of rules, and also ominously evokes the bad old days when J. Edgar Hoover presided over an agency that too often ran amok...

http://tinyurl.com/c2w7g


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Bruce Bartlett

11/29/05

I believe that the root of the current wave of scandal involving Republicans is that the party's governing element in Washington has completely lost sight of the reason they were elected in the first place. Grass-roots Republicans support the party because it is the party of small government. Those who like big government, who always want Washington to do more and take on more responsibility, vote Democratic. So when Republicans begin to ape the Democrats by proposing endless pork-barrel projects and lavish new drug benefits for the elderly, while not even pretending to care about the budget deficit, it makes rank-and-file Republicans wonder why they should remain in a party that has little meaningful difference from the Democrats. Many are going to stay home on Election Day next year, I predict...

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=10553


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Spectator
by Jay D. Homnick

11/29/05

"If you ask Republicans why our forces are still on the ground in Iraq, they will explain: 'Because of our great success in defeating Saddam, we need to midwife the emergence of a historic new democracy. Because of our great success in luring the terrorists out of their hidey-holes, we now get a chance to mow them down far from our home turf.' Ask a Democrat that question, he will aver: 'Because of our great failure in mistaking a tinpot kvetch for a fearsome tyrant, we're stuck babysitting the various corrupt and violent elements of a provincial society. Because of our great failure in waking a sleeping giant, we have spawned a new generation of terrorists that would not otherwise have existed.' Whether this originated in sincere ideology or partisan one-upmanship, the fact is that we are witnessing a radical divergence of worldviews; to be honest, the chasm between the two positions looks to be unbridgeable. And yet, startlingly enough, neither side is comfortable mentioning the name of Zarqawi...

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9075


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cincinnati Enquirer

11/28/05

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that 'the president of the United States is all-powerful' and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant. In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was 'too aloof, too distant from the details' of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said...

http://tinyurl.com/83ayf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

11/28/05

Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, an eight-term congressman and hotshot Vietnam War fighter jock, pleaded guilty to graft and tearfully resigned Monday, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes mostly from defense contractors in exchange for government business and other favors. 'The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office,' the 63-year-old Republican said at a news conference. 'I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, most importantly, the trust of my friends and family'...

http://tinyurl.com/7kbfg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3696/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the President of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/112905Z.shtml