Greg Palast, GregPalast.com, November 14, 2007 Lago Agrio, Ecuador - Before The Lord spoke unto Pat Robertson and told him to endorse Rudy Giuliani, family man, for President, the Reverend got a message that higher powers wanted him to arrange a hit on another President: "Hugo Chavez thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." Robertson has a tough time separating Church and Hate. But when the vicious vicar declared it was time to take out the President of Venezuela, he was simply channeling the wishes of the Supreme Authority, Dick Cheney. I'm asking you to see the story they don't want you to see in the USA: from the original investigations filmed for BBC Television, "The Assassination of Hugo" - a special DVD documentary by myself and Rick Rowley. NOT for general release - ONLY available as a gift to donors to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund. Why must they kill Chavez? With the help of guerrila cameraman Rick Rowley ("Fourth World War"), I flew to Caracas to get the answer - from Chavez himself. I also talked to the guy who took Chavez hostage in 2002. (I had to wear a wire for that one.) Read More Here

I never thought I would say this but, I would really like former President Bill Clinton to shut up. Over the last week Bill has been whining left and right about how the other Democratic candidates for president and a certain debate moderator have been treating his wife Hillary.

Bill has whined that Hillary was swift boated over her views on the governor of New York's driver's license plan for illegal immigrants. Well, if Bill thinks that Tim Russert the moderator at the debate was swift boating poor Hillary in some way then he really didn't pay much attention to the 2004 presidential race. Hillary Clinton had said at an earlier time that she supported New York Governor Switzer's plan to give licenses to illegal immigrants. At the last debate she refused to give that answer or any answer when asked about it by moderator Tim Russert, who kept after he for an answer. Any politician should understand that if you say something one day then a few days refuse to say it again or give a completely different answer, those actions are open to scrutiny. Scrutiny can be a little tough during a presidential race and Bill Clinton of all people should know that.

Then there was the comment by Bill Clinton that the boys were ganging up on the girl (Hillary). Well again Bill should know that when you are the front runner the rest of the candidates are going to come after you and there attacks certainly have nothing to do with gender. The other candidates were doing exactly what they should be doing, trying to put holes in the front runner's sails.

I must say I am truly disappointed in Bill. I understand he yearns to return to the White House even as First Gentleman but this kind of stuff is embarrassing. Does Bill think that Hillary is not tough enough to withstand the attacks? If that is the case then Hillary and Bill should pack up and go home because the Republicans are certainly going to be a lot tougher in the general election with her if she is the nominee than her Democratic rivals are now.

  Dan, November 14, 2007 I was watching a program on the Pentagon Channel, which is basically reruns of old US propaganda films. It was amusing until they were disparaging Hitler for holding trials where the defendants were refused representation, witnesses, evidence or any other form of defense. I thought, it is so great that we went to war to stop this sort of mad dictatorship from spreading around the world. Then I remembered Bush. Of course there are many other similarities between the two fascists: Nazis demonized the Jews. The Republicans are going after Hispanics. Hitler ignored all international treaties. Bush does likewise. Hitler used the Reichstag to institute a massive right wing drive to take complete control of Germany and turn it into a one party dictatorial government. Bush uses the World Trade Center. Hitler instituted a massive propaganda campaign to frighten Germans with the idea that Germany was in danger. Bush, dittos, Hitler launched a murderous invasion of Czechoslovakia, Bush slaughtered tens of thousands in Iraq. Hitler went after Poland, Finland, Denmark and Holland. Bush sets his sights on Iran and Syria. The rest of the Middle East to follow? Hitler placed the the Gestapo above the law and turned it into a wing of the Nazi party. Bush is doing the same with the FBI and the CIA. Hitler had the SS. Bush has Blackwater. Hitler set up brutal concentration camps. Bush opens Guantanamo. Hitler opens secret prisons where he gleefully tortures his perceived enemies. Bush clicks his heels in unison. Hitler was very smart. Uh oh. Bush is a moron sock puppet for Cheney, the Dick. Wow! It was getting scary there for awhile. Thank goodness that we have a strong opposition party to stop this madness in the bud. Oh fuck!

BartCop.com Volume 2071 - Bemused Bloodlettings In Today's Tequila Treehouse...

	Why We Write
	The Cheney Threat
	Musharraf - Bush clone
	Cheney likes to kill
	Syphlitic chimps
	Obama's moment
	Why I hate Hillary...
	Vet Suicides Way Up
	Kelly Ripa-licious

CBS News, November 13, 2007 WASHINGTON - (AP) A judge who lost a $54 million lawsuit against his dry cleaner over a pair of missing pants has lost his job, District of Columbia officials confirmed. Roy Pearson's term as an administrative law judge expired May 2 and the D.C. Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges has voted not to reappoint him, Lisa Coleman, the city's general counsel, wrote Nov. 8 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press. Pearson was one of about 30 judges who worked in the Office of Administrative Hearings, which handles disputes involving city agencies. He had held his position for two years. The Washington Post and The Washington Examiner, citing sources familiar with the case, reported the commission's decision last month. Coleman refused to release a copy of a letter to Pearson informing him of the decision, saying it is considered a personnel matter. Pearson's lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court claimed Custom Cleaners, owned by South Korean immigrants, did not live up to Pearson's expectations of "Satisfaction Guaranteed," as advertised in store windows. Read More Here

  Steve Bensen, The Carpetbagger Report, November 14, 2007 Following up an item from last week, Georgia is in the midst of an awful drought, and state officials are running out of ideas to deal with the area's water shortage. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) responded by organizing a multi-denominational prayer service, in which state officials and clergy would collectively ask The Man Upstairs to turn on the water works. Bowing his head outside the Georgia Capitol on Tuesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue cut a newly repentant figure as he publicly prayed for rain to end the region's historic drought. "Oh father, we acknowledge our wastefulness," Perdue said. "But we're doing better. And I thought it was time to acknowledge that to the creator, the provider of water and land, and to tell him that we will do better." Yes, in the 21st century, we have a state's chief executive bargaining with God for rain. (The governor didn't say, "If you give us rain, we'll be good," but he came close.) Perdue implicitly conceded that the state has been negligent in its conservation efforts - his administration saw this coming, but decided not to pursue more stringent conservation measures - but apparently wants God to give Georgia another chance. Perdue said after the event that Georgians have not done "all we could do in conservation" and that the drought was an attempt by God to "get our attention." Read More Here

Sidney Blumenthal, Salon, November 15, 2007 Editor's note: Sidney Blumenthal is joining the Hillary Clinton campaign as a senior advisor, and this is his last column for Salon. Under crisis conditions of an extraordinary magnitude political leadership of the highest level will be required in the next presidency. The damage is broad, deep and spreading, apparent not only in international disorder and violence, the unprecedented decline of U.S. prestige, and the flouting of our security and economic interests but also in the hollowing out of the federal government's departments and agencies, and their growing incapacity to fulfill their functions, from FEMA to the Department of Justice. The more rigid the current president is in responding to the chaos he has fostered, the more the Republicans still supporting him rally around him as a pillar of strength. His flat learning curve, refusal to admit error and redoubling of mistakes are regarded as tests of his strong character. Whatever his low poll ratings of the moment, his stubborn adherence to failure is admired as evidence of his potency. The patently perverse notion that weakness is strength is the basis of Bush's remaining credibility within his party. His abuse of presidential power is seen as his great asset rather than understood as his enduring weakness. But when the president assumes all the responsibility, he also receives all the blame, which becomes unitary and unilateral. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson stated the constitutional principle in the 1952 Youngstown Steel case: "When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb. Presidential claim to a power at once so conclusive and preclusive must be scrutinized with caution, for what is at stake is the equilibrium established by our constitutional system." In his waning year, Bush is pointedly indifferent to the predictable consequences of his collapse. According to those who have met with him recently, he envisions himself as a noble idealist having made moral decisions that will vindicate him generations from now. Despite the obvious shortcomings of his policies, he has startlingly succeeded in reshaping the executive into an unaccountable imperial presidency. And Bush's presidency is now accepted as the only acceptable version for major Republican candidates who aspire to succeed him. All of them have pledged to extend its arbitrary powers. Their embrace of the imperial presidency makes the 2008 election a turning point in constitutional government. Read More Here

LAS VEGAS -- On the eve of the Nevada Presidential Debate, Hillary has racked up the public endorsement of some of the state's most influential gambling industry executives and advocates. The Clinton campaign has unveiled the formation of the Nevada Business Leadership Council led by Jan Jones, a former Las Vegas Mayor and a current top executive of and lobbyist for national gambling mega-corporation Harrah's Entertainment. Harrah's operates more than two dozen casinos nationwide, including the landmark Rio in Las Vegas. Also prominent among the new pro-Hillary business group is Phil Satre, former chairman and CEO of Harrah's and a veteran leader in the Vegas gambling industry. Vegas.com CEO Howard Lefkowitz, Henry Terry, Executive Director of Human Resources of Playlv Gaming Operations, and Punam Mather, a Senior Vice President at the casino-owning MGM Mirage Corp. MGM Mirage operates and own a series of mega-resort casinos including the Bellagio, Mirage and the MGM Grand. There was a time when gambling money could taint a political campaign, Las Vegas-based historian Michael Green told the HuffPost. But those days are long gone. 'It was former Senator Paul Laxalt who once quipped that in Nevada turning down money from the gambling industry would be like refusing support from GM in Detroit." "The larger gaming corporations are enormous industries that provide not only huge infusions of campaign cash but also votes," Green said. "Their money buys you TV ads, campaign staff, and direct mail and while I don't want to suggest a direct connection, let's just say that thousands of casino employees suddenly become very aware of who their bosses would like you to support in the ballot box." Clinton's high-visibility foray into the gaming-dominated Nevada business community pairs up with the significant stack of endorsements she has already collected from the state's Democratic political establishment. Her statewide campaign is led by Rory Reid, son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and current chair of the powerful Clark County Commission which encompasses the greater Las Vegas metropolitan area. The announcement of the new surge of gaming support for Clinton while significant doesn't represent a necessarily unified view of the industry. The larger casino corporations have a tradition of spreading around their political contributions, effectively hedging their bets. Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire proprietor of The Venetian hotel and casino is a major supporter and funder of GOP causes and candidates. Elaine Wynn, wife of gambling mogul Steve Wynn and Director of the sparkling Wynn casino, joined the Barack Obama campaign last summer. In 1996, the gambling industry gave so much cash to Republican candidate Bob Dole that he became known as "Vegas Bob." No question, however, that Senator Clinton is escalating her efforts to line up key support groups here in the Silver State whose January 19 caucuses will be among the first three in the nation. "Business has been a cornerstone of the Clinton campaign, and Senator Clinton has been remarkable in terms of finding the balance between supporting organized labor and still recongnizing the importance of building a strong business community," Harrah's exec Jones told reporters in a conference call announcing the formation of the business council. Endorsement of organized labor, representing nearly 15% of Nevada workers, has also been zealously sought by the rival Democratic candidates. But to date, the two most powerful unions -- the Culinary Workers and the Service Employees-- have yet to give the nod to any single candidate,

Left his post because the army could not treat his PTSD.  November 15, 2007

Army Arrests Sergeant Who Went AWOL

By FERNANDA SANTOS A soldier who left his post at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y., without leave more than a year ago to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder was arrested yesterday at a cafe eight miles from the base as he was preparing to surrender, his lawyer said. The soldier, Brad Gaskins, an Army sergeant who had served two tours in Iraq, was speaking with a television reporter at the cafe when two officers from the fort entered with two local police officers, who took him away, his lawyer, Tod Ensign, said. The officers returned Sergeant Gaskins to his unit, the Second Brigade Combat Team. Whether he will face military prosecution will be up to the unit’s commanders, said Benjamin Abel, a spokesman at Fort Drum. Sergeant Gaskins, 25, was transferred to Fort Drum after he returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq in February 2006. Six months later, he went home to East Orange, N.J., on leave and did not return. Mr. Ensign, who is the director of Citizen Soldier, a veterans’ advocacy group in Manhattan, said the sergeant felt the Army was not giving him adequate treatment. “They just don’t have the resources to handle it, but that’s not my fault,” Sergeant Gaskins said at a news conference in Syracuse, just hours before his arrest, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Abel said that soldiers who are absent without leave — or AWOL — for 30 days are classified as deserters and a federal warrant is issued for their arrest. Mr. Ensign said he had been negotiating Sergeant Gaskins’s surrender with a military prosecutor over the phone when the police officers arrived. Mr. Abel said, however, that the Army does not negotiate the surrender of a soldier who is AWOL. “It’s the soldier’s responsibility to report to his place of duty,” Mr. Abel said. Sergeant Gaskins faces several options, Mr. Abel said. He could be referred for medical treatment, discharged from the Army or court-martialed. Sergeant Gaskins enlisted in the Army in 1999 and took part in a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo before being deployed to Iraq in 2003. He returned for a second tour in 2005, and part of his job was to find roadside improvised explosive devices. Mr. Ensign said that the sergeant’s unit was ambushed many times and that he witnessed the aftermath of several suicide bombings, which compounded the emotional difficulties that had already started to flare up. He has suffered from night terrors, flashbacks and insomnia, and he has had suicidal thoughts, Mr. Ensign said. Once, after his wife came home late and startled him awake, Sergeant Gaskins grabbed a knife and chased her around the house, unaware of his actions, he said at the news conference. After the incident, the couple separated and his wife obtained a temporary order of protection against him, Mr. Ensign said. During his time at home, Sergeant Gaskins was allowed only supervised visits with his 3-year-old son and his 9-year-old stepdaughter.