Clipmarks | papananook's 'lies' clips

interactive guide: Who in the Bush administration broke the law, and who could be prosecuted

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:31:29 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Each scandal is represented by a colored circle that encompasses the people who are implicated. As it's easy to see, many of the players here are mixed up in two, three, or more of the alleged crimes. Hence all the overlapping circles (Venn-diagram heaven!).

The best way to make sense of this legal tangle is to mouse over the title of an individual scandal, which will highlight everyone implicated. For example, the wiretapping bubble ensnares George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, David Addington, John Ashcroft, John Yoo, and Alberto Gonzales. At the same time, Ashcroft and Gonzales fall into the overlapping circle for monkey business related to DoJ hiring. Mouse over a person's name for information on how each person is involved. Mouse over the title of each circle for specifics about the particular scandal.

And if all else fails, fall back on this golden rule of wrongdoing in the White House: All roads lead to Gonzales.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

The recent release of Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side revealed that a secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross determined "categorically" that the CIA used torture, as defined by American and international law, in questioning al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah. The question of criminal liability for Bush-administration officials has since been in the news. It's also getting play because retired Gen. Antonio Taguba, lead Army investigator of the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib, wrote in a recent report, "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes."

One response to such conclusions is Nuremberg-style war-crime prosecutions. The opposite pole is blanket immunity for all lawbreakers in advance. Somewhere in the middle lies a truth-and-reconciliation commission that would try to ferret out the truth.

, you might ask which Bush administration officials did what and which could actually be prosecuted. Slate has answers.

I’m a Modern Man--CLASSIC GEORGE CARLIN

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:47:25 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I'm in the moment, on the edge, over the top, but under the radar.

A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary.

A street-wise smart bomb. A top-gun bottom-feeder.

I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps, I run victory laps.

I'm a totally ongoing, big-foot, slam-dunk rainmaker with a pro-active outreach.

A raging workaholic, a working rageaholic; out of rehab and in denial.

I've got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant, and a personal agenda.

You can't shut me up; you can't dumb me down. 'Cause I'm tireless, and I'm wireless. I'm an alpha-male on beta-blockers.

I'm a non-believer, I'm an over-achiever; Laid-back and fashion-forward. Up-front, down-home; low-rent, high-maintenance.

I'm super-sized, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready and built to last.

A hands-on, footloose, knee-jerk head case; prematurely post-traumatic, and I have a love child who sends me hate-mail.

But I'm

Clip Source: www.mindfully.org

I'm a modern man, digital and smoke-free; a man for the millennium.

A diversified, multi-cultural, post-modern deconstructionist; politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.

I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.

I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.

I interface with my database; my database is in cyberspace; so I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive, and from time to time I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin' the wave, dodgin' the bullet, pushin' the envelope.

I'm on point, on task, on message, and off drugs.

I've got no need for coke and speed; I've got no urge to binge and purge.

See this on YouTube

Both Democrats and Republicans are in service to the War System

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:49:12 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Mr. Obama is another Democrat who will continue in this tradition--if the war is sellable--sell it under the name of Nation Security and keep the economy rolling. Fuckin' lies are just bouncing around out there.

Clip Source: www.questionwar.com

This War is consistent with centuries of wars waged for profit and domination. It should be obvious that Iraq is merely the continuation of standard US foreign policy. Wars are forced upon naturally peace-seeking peoples with deceptive and coercive tactics by a small minority ruling class. The lies of today follow the same time-tested formula used by governments to gain support from the people to pay for and die for greed-driven agendas that run completely counter to claims of security, freedom, democracy, humanitarian intervention etc. George Bush is only the latest in a string of presidents to cloak aggression in idealistic rhetoric. Killing in the name of democracy has a long and terrible history...

It is critical that we see the larger agenda beyond the current conflict so that peace activism does not continue to protest one war after another without addressing the fundamental and systemic causes that have persisted unchallenged for a very long time.

Some Interesting quotes from... NAZIS??!

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:44:06 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: And from George Orwell, visionary writer: "To see what is in front of ones nose requires a constant struggle.

Clip Source: www.questionwar.com

Naturally, the common people don't want war ... it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.
– Hermann Goering

The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of the nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one.
– Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Worries About War Crimes Heat up in the White House

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:07:26 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: They all oughta be sweatin' big time.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Top Bush hands are starting to get sweaty about where they left their fingerprints on U.S. torture policies.

We know what a criminal White House looks like from "The Final Days," Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's classic account of Richard Nixon's unraveling. The cauldron of lies, paranoia and illegal surveillance boiled over, until it was finally every man for himself as desperate courtiers scrambled to save their reputations and, in a few patriotic instances, their country.

Some of "The Dark Side" seems right out of "The Final Days," minus Nixon's operatic boozing and weeping. We learn, for instance, that in 2004 two conservative Republican Justice Department officials had become "so paranoid" that "they actually thought they might be in physical danger." The fear of being wiretapped by their own peers drove them to speak in code.

"The Dark Side" is scarier than "The Final Days" because these final days aren't over yet and because the stakes are much higher.

The earth lies unreclaimed.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:26:56 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: reminds me of the mountain tops being blown up by the coal industry. The woods, streams and animals being destroyed for our greed.

Clip Source: www.propeace.net

Here is the Jeff Chapman-Crane poem that is engraved in the base of his "The Agony of Gaia" sculpture.

Only
the clarion cry of woodland bird
the trickling song of mountain stream
should fill the silence here
Stately oaks
should crown this noble queen.
Here sleek fox and graceful doe
should raise their young
squirrel and chipmunk find a home
Only the dance of dying leaf
the burgeoning thrust of budding tree
should mark time’s passage here.
But no.
Lust would never have it so.
The deadly drone of diesel engine,
steel machines to cut and slash,
assail this fertile mother land
leave behind no unturned stone.
Stripped to the bone and ripped apart
she grieves,
her heart is left to die alone.
Only the flesh of fallen trees,
the bone-gray mounds of granite stones,
Only the stagnant blood of
mud-choked mountain streams,
to tell the tale remain.
But know.
Her seeds are left for us to sow.
The earth lies unreclaimed.

Our Genocidal track record

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:38:19 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I know, y'all think I hate America...Not so, but I despise what the people of the USA has done in so many instances of genocidal hypocrisy...I cannot celebrate our Independence without seeing all the death and destruction we have brouht to the brown, red and yellow segments of Mankind. I'm thoroughly disgusted with 'Murrika today and especially of the last 8 years. Our collective karma is disastrous and the Empire will fall, just like all Empires do. The "Noble Experiment" in Democracy gets a big FAIL. Despite all the good we have done, the USA is a racist, war-loving, greedy, Earth-polluting, voracious nation. Pretty sad when you think about it, neh?

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

I just watched that excellent documentary, The Revolution, on PBS yesterday to see if they would come close to the truth, and they did. I was especially impressed with the segment on how Gen.George Washington wrote especially virulently racist orders to commit genocide on the Iroqouis nation during the fight vs. the British...The order was to obliterate every man, woman and child, and burn the villages of the Natives--a scorched earth policy that was carried out.
This is how our country began and despite the Constitution and all our high ideals, we have committed genocide all thru the 227 yr. history of the USA and before, from the first colonists all the way until Iraq. In the name of "Freedom", "Christian values" and all the other lies the USA brainwashes us with, the white power structure has hated people of color all along. What a sham. Happy 4th of July, fellow'Murrikans!

White House accuses Senate Democrats of slacking off

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:44:38 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Given the role the White House and Senate Republicans have played in slowing legislation, Manley said, “it takes a lot of chutzpah” for Fratto to accuse the Democrats of inaction.

It's more than chutzpah...it's insanity and lies--both are so cosmically incompetent and the posturing is disgusting!

Clip Source: www.politico.com

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Tuesday that Senate Democrats “put off a lot of work” when they left town last week without passing several pending bills.

“They've been in session for a long time, and some very critical pieces of legislation got put off for yet another recess,” Fratto said. “And now this last session is getting pretty close to the August recess. So the Senate is running out of time to get work done.”

Democrats were livid at the charge. Jim Manley, the spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said Fratto was guilty of “Orwellian doublespeak trending toward flat-out delusional.”

In a press briefing aboard Air Force One, Fratto pointed to unfinished business on a housing bill, an update to the nation’s electronic surveillance laws, a Medicare bill and a long-stalled free trade agreement with Colombia as examples of bills the Senate could have completed before adjourning for the Fourth of July recess.

McCain's Long Strange Trip South of the Border

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:08:54 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: To see more of his lies on video, see site link

Clip Source: ourfuture.org

The McCain campaign gets ... stranger.

The American economy has been battered on multiple fronts, including the loss of 3.4 million manufacturing jobs. The current trade strategy has not only contributed to the offshoring of jobs, but helped harm the lives of workers abroad. NAFTA in particular has disrupted the agricultural economy in Mexico, displacing peasant labor and driving illegal immigration. Even the pro-NAFTA Heritage Foundation concedes that stark inequality still plagues Mexico.

In turn, public anger with trade agreements written by and for multinationals, protecting the interests of corporations but not workers, is on the rise.

And McCain decides to campaign ... across the border, where the jobs are being sent.

And he releases a new ad, standing by the delusion that the current strategy is creating good jobs for everyone.

But NAFTA didn't work. Period.

This is a question about what makes a smart global economic strategy

9/11 leader Mohamed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:47:33 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Amazing the lies we've been told, neh?

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

[Video]

What the US government doesn't want you to know about the "terror pilots" and their friends

Who were the 9/11 pilots?

The FBI doesn't seem to want to know.

And the US news media has been very cooperative in not seeking or reporting the facts.

Far from being a devout Muslim or diligent military intelligence operative, "Mohamed Atta" was a scotch-drinking, coke-snorting, strip-club-attending loud mouth who was widely known in Venice, FL for his anti-social behavior.

Daniel Hopsicker's well researched book "Mohamed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus" indicates that Atta looks a whole lot more like a government protected drug pilot than anything else.

But don't tell the FBI or any other US law enforcement agency. They clearly don't want to know - and they don't want you to know either.

The source of this remarkable video is: Daniel Hopsicker's investigative journalism web site

The Amerikkan Beast Still Lives

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:07:38 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: A significant number of soldiers are screaming that something is terribly wrong with the leadership and judgement of those who pushed us into this war — the false reasons for starting it; the slipshod manner in which it was begun; the lack of support for those on the ground; and the lies to the soldiers; not to mention the broken promises that Iraqis have suffered. And we at home are lied to when we are told that the US has "turned this war around." While hostilities have reduced, it is quite far from being turned around.

Clip Source: www.mindfully.org

Considering what this county has done to Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places in the past few years, it will take many generations before the dignity and purpose of this nation returns. The USA had previously been synonymous with freedom — at least with people who could overlook its annihilation of Native Americans and the brutal kidnapping and commodification through slavery of hundreds of thousands of African-Americans. To those people who could overlook such history, it had seemed a force of good — the myth of America. But, hark, the beast still lives! And, we might add, it still thinks it can get away with its vile acts.

One would have to live cloistered away in a basement, totally hidden from any sense of reality to hold onto that old view of Truth, Justice and The American Way. The illusion is gone and only the debt remains. It seems today that the US can do no good. The blame for this mess goes directly on those at top levels — from the president down.

McCain is lying already...

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:19:54 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: John McCain claims "I've supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the [Katrina] tragedy."

This is a lie.

As we reported on 14 September 2005 in this thread above.
Got that? In a straight party-line vote, John "Straightalk" McCain backed up his buddy George W. Bush in an attempt to avoid investigating the mess. Today, with New Orleans still a mess, Ol' Straightalk lies about it.

Oh, yeah, to prove it wasn't a fluke the first time he also voted against an independent investigation in February, 2006.

Clip Source: syndicated.livejournal.com

Senate kills bid for Katrina commission
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina.
The New York Democrat's bid to establish the panel — which would have also made recommendations on how to improve the government's disaster response apparatus — failed to win the two-thirds majority needed to overcome procedural hurdles. Clinton got only 44 votes, all from Democrats and independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Fifty-four Republicans all voted no.
"Just as with 9/11, we did not get to the point where we believed we understood what happened until an independent investigation was conducted," Clinton said.

Bush Leacy threatened by Israeli Intransigence

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:40:44 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I wonder how Dana Perino keeps track of the lies?

Clip Source: www.japantoday.com

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced a chorus of international criticism over his government’s plans to expand Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem on Monday as he prepared for a U.S. visit.

Olmert held talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas ahead of his departure for Washington but they were overshadowed by Palestinian anger at the settlement expansion plans, announced ahead of the 41st anniversary on Monday of Israel’s occupation of the city’s eastern sector.

Even key ally Washington criticized the plans to build 884 new homes in two east Jerusalem settlements.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: “We don’t believe that any more settlements should be built” because “it exacerbates the tensions when it comes to the negotiations with the Palestinians.”

“We want to reach a peace agreement before the end of 2008 but there is this continuing Israeli contradiction between pursuing the peace process and imposing facts on the ground.”

John McCain--Liar and Space Cadet

Tue, 20 May 2008 15:12:25 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: If he gets elected, we're even more doomed than we already are, if you can understand that.

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

John McCain - Lost in Space

The US media: "No problem"

Why?

[Video]

It's pretty clear that John McCain is being groomed by the government/corporate media to be the next president of the United States.

Obviously, this is bad news.

The man is half-deranged and can't even get his lies straight. He's worse than what most of us hoped would be the worst president of the last 100 years.

Why do the controllers want this guy?

Because he will be easy to manage.

He'll be their guy.

Brave New Films has generated over 2 million views of its McCain reality check videos so far.

Impressive when you consider that "Crossfire" the bogus right/left discussion program on CNN had only 100,000 viewers.

Contractor Atrocity--It's Lying ... and It's Murder: How KBR Electrocuted US Troops

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:32:47 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: "... and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. These deaths did not come while the soldiers were on patrol or by unexpected encounters with downed "hot" wires. These "accidents" happened in facilities used as base camps for U.S. units, camps that were to have been completely refurbished - including the wiring - under terms of a $30 billion no-bid contract awarded to the one-time Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg-Brown-Root).

The deaths reportedly all were the result of shoddy workmanship in the grounding of electrical sources, both in permanent structures and in machinery when in use. The problem is not new: in 2004, Army units in theatre were alerted concerning the potential for accidental electrocution. American electricians working for KBR in the war zone observed and notified KBR and even the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), the office that monitors contractor performance, of numerous instances of poor workmanship by undertrained and underpaid Iraqi and Afghan "e

Clip Source: www.smirkingchimp.com

One segment of the May 4th edition of CBS television's 60 Minutes provided an update on the struggle of Mary Tillman, mother of NFL star-turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman, to get the full story of the circumstances of her son's death while in action April 22, 2004 in Afghanistan. (May 3rd was the anniversary of Tillman's funeral that the Pentagon so shamelessly exploited through the media, including the posthumous award of the Silver Star, the second highest military decoration for bravery in the face of enemy fire.)

Given that first reports are invariably wrong, when Tillman's spouse and parents were informed of his death, a simple "we are still investigating" should have been the "explanation" proffered - especially to the media. But even today, Mary Tillman believes the Pentagon still has not told the whole truth about her son's death.

Sunday's New York Times carried another story of lies, deception, and fraud that resulted in death by electrocution of at least twelve soldiers