A Radiant Cage Of Thunder

*FUTURECAST* OBAMA LANDSLIDE!!!

I just got back from the Re-election Victory celebration for Barack Obama (the "Last Trip Date" counter on my time machine reads 0012/06/2012/0020/003/3400).

That's November 6th, 2012... Barack Obama... re-election LANDSLIDE.... you heard it reported here FIRST!

Now I'm off to to November 4th, 1980 to see another historical Presidential election...

Catch ya later... er.. sooner?

- Professor Bendai

Posted at 05:02PM Oct 27, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

HOW REPUBLICANS STOPPED HELP TO MORTGAGE BORROWERS

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation.

Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a precarious position.

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

The writer is governor of New York.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

Posted at 10:36PM Oct 13, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[2]

REPUBLICAN (STEPFORD) WIVES

SAD BUT TRUE -

On the radio, I was listening to an interview with a woman who was attenting a Barack Obama Rally, listening to his speech and cheering him on because she BELIEVED in his message and BELIEVED in him as a leader... while, the NPR reporter got a flash of insight and asked, "So, it goes without saying you're going to vote for Obama this November then, huh?"

To which the lady hesitated and answered, "Well... no... my husband... my husband and I are card carrying Republicans. If I voted for Obama - he'd probably DIVORCE ME!"

The interviewer - too staggered by her clulessness to speak clearly choked, "But your husband would never have to know HOW you voted... it's a secret ballot, just you in private..."

To which she replied, "Yeah but... he'd ASK me who I voted for!!!" (implying the thought of lying to HIM to maintain her own personal identity NEVER EVEN OCCURRED TO HER.... OMFG... I wouldn't want a tropy Republican (Stepford) Wife like that if she came with a dowry of a hundred million dollars like John McCain's wife did.

*GAG*

- Doug

Posted at 10:45AM Oct 11, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

REPUBLICANS ARE NO BETTER THAN ISLAMIC MILITANTS

I was recently disgusted to hear the Republican crowd at (Insane in the Brain) McCain's pep rally today chanting "OFF WITH OBAMA's HEAD!"

It was certainly chiling to hear this sick and twisted Republican crowd referencing the the gruesome and all too recent scenes of Fundamentalist Islamic barbarians cutting people's heads off (like Daniel Pearle).

This just demonstrates that a great number of Republicans are cut from the same sadistic block of shit as these barbaric Islamic militants are. They are bloodthirsty and losing their collective sanity.

I'm sorry if you're a Republican and you feel offended by this - but now you know how I felt when I heard these sadistic Republican chants of "Off With OBAMA's HEAD!"

Oh, and I wasn't too impressed hearing McCain refer to Sen. Obama as "THAT ONE" last night during the debate - as though Sen Obama were some kind of sub-human non-entity that we should all fear and loathe, simply because he was RIGHT about the Iraq war being a total waste of time, money and lives.

How clueless McCain/Palin are... how perverted and twisted and just plain sickening their consituency are. McCain still lives in a fantasy world where he thinks our illegal invasion of Iraq was anything short of criminal. How out of touch with reality can you get?

And now today - there comes word that a special investigative task force is going to start looking into how Karl Rove used politics to make sure certain U.S. Attorney's got fired for refusing to harass Democratic leaders and Democratic voters and indict them on false charges just to scare them out of campaigning for and voting for Democratic candidates.

Although Rove thinks he himself invented this kind of sick, perverse political blackmail - he is totally unaware that it was first employed by Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany to great effect.

Hopefully, this sick, perverse abuse of authority by Republicans will be fully exposed and those responsible like Rove will be indicted and arrested for firing U.S. Attorneys who would not become slaves to Republican Party's morally bankrupt activities. My dream is to see Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Wolfowitz all end up in a FEDERAL PRISON, rotting away in the darkness they so love, serving out multiple life sentences for corruption and treason.

It has also been recently uncovered that Rove had a plan to illegally get ALL branches of Government empowered by Republicans so that there would no longer be onjective checks and balances and oversight - but he didn't count on whisteblowers who didn't appreciate that the Republicans actually wanted to set up a ONE PARTY system under CORPORATE RULE - which is just another way of saying an American Fascist Government.

Rove, sick bastard that he is - wanted all branches of the Government - Executive, Legislative, Judicial, the House, Senate, all the various departments (Interior, Education, Pentagon, etc.) ALL ruled exclusively AND PERMANENTLY by Republicans who would work together to make America a totalitarian theocratic Government(ruled by Republican Christian Fundamentalists which are just as sick and perverse as Islamic Fundamentalists). Under a hostile Republican take-over and subsequent monopoly of all branches and office, Rove argued this would prevent anyone from being able to investigate them and hold them accountable by insuring that Democrats could never have a majority in any branch or office or state ever again.

That's TREASON in my book - and TREASON is punishable by death - and so I think Karl Rove should be packing his bags real soon and fleeing to Argentina to hide out with all the other Nazi war criminals.

BOTTOM LINE - REPUBLICANS ARE CORRUPT AND CRIMINAL. IF YOU WANT MORE OF THE SAME - VOTE FOR MCCAIN. IF YOU WANT REAL CHANGE - VOTE OBAMA.

Hell, if you write in SATAN's name on the ballot - at least that's a better choice than any REPUBLICAN.

- Doug

p.s. Matt - you are certainly free to respond to this post - but you are so imbedded in the "Cult of Republicans" that you clearly don't have an objective persepective and everyone knows this but you. But go ahead and shoot yourself in the foot if you so please. Everything you say just reinforces my argument that most Neo-Republicans are nothing but arrogant, smug, self-righteous militant fascists motivated by GREED and in love with the idea of WAR.

(By the way - I am NOT a Democrat. I am an Independent and have voted Republican and Democrat in the past. In fact, my candidate of choice this year for President would have been a Republican - RON PAUL - but his own party knew how right and on target he was so they ostracized and shunned him like the perverse, sick bastards they are.

Posted at 06:42PM Oct 08, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

VOTE AGAINST REPUBLICAN FASCISM!

VOTE FOR YOUR RIGHTS AS GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION!

JUST SAY "NO" TO FASCISM!

Step 1: Sign the pledge
Step 2: Submit your photo

Our goal is to sign up 300,000 Constitution Voters by October 15th to demonstrate our power.

We will deliver your messages to candidates at all levels of government, all across the country. We must let our leaders know that when we step into the ballot box, the Constitution will be the first thing on our minds.

I Am a Constitution Voter

I believe that no one -- including the President -- is above the law.

I oppose all forms of torture, and I support both closing the Guantánamo Bay prison and ending indefinite detention.

I oppose warrantless spying.

I believe that government officials, no matter how high-ranking, should be held accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution.

I believe that the Constitution protects every person's rights equally -- no matter what they believe, how they live, where or if they worship, and whom they love.

I reject the notion that we have to tolerate violations of our most fundamental rights in the name of fighting terrorism.

I am deeply committed to the Constitution and expect our country's leaders to share and act on that commitment -- every day, without fail.

LET'S KEEP AMERICA FREE FROM FASCISM!!!

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=bumper_sticker&s_s=blogads"">CAST YOUR VOTE HERE!

Posted at 12:22AM Sep 23, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

HOW REPUBLICANS RIG ELECTIONS

This is how CROOKS rule our nation. - Douglas Bryenldson

How the GOP Wired Ohio's 2004 Vote Count for Bush to Win

By Steven Rosenfeld . Posted September 18, 2008.

An election whistleblower who is a Republican, a nationally known data security and computer architecture expert, and an Ohio resident has filed a sworn affidavit in federal court that describes how Republican Party consultants in 2004 built an electronic vote counting network in Ohio that could have stolen votes to re-elect the president.

The whistleblower, Stephen Spoonamore, who has run or held senior technology positions in six technology companies, and whose clients have included MasterCard, American Express, NBC-GE, and federal agencies including the State Department and the Navy, said Mike Connell, a longtime Republican Party computer networking contractor, "agrees that the electronic voting systems in the US are not secure" and told Spoonamore in 2007 "that he (Connell) is afraid some of the more ruthless partisans of the GOP may have exploited systems he in part worked on for this purpose."

"Mr. Connell builds front end applications, user interfaces and web sites," Spoonamore said in his September 17, 2008 affidavit. "Knowing his team and their skills I find it unlikely they would be the vote thieves directly. I believe however he knows who is doing that work, and has likely turned a blind eye to this activity. Mr. Connell is a devout Catholic. He has admitted to me that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections. He was clearly uncomfortable when I asked directly about Ohio 2004."

The affidavit, which goes onto describe how a statewide computer network and vote-counting system in part built by Connell's firms in 2004 could have been used to steal votes to re-elect George W. Bush in 2004's final battleground state. It was filed in a federal voting rights suit brought in 2006 that in part sought to preserve ballots from the 2004 presidential election.

After a federal judge ordered those records be preserved, Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio Secretary of State elected in November 2006, discovered that ballots and other records that could determine the accuracy of the 2004 vote count had been destroyed in 56 of Ohio's 88 counties. Brunner is a Democrat; her Republican predecessor, Ken Blackwell, was targeted in the lawsuit. Brunner has since sought to delay action in the case until after the 2008 presidential election.

The Ohio Southern District Court granted a stay, or delay, to the state. However lawyers for aggrieved 2004 voters who brought the lawsuit, filed Spoonamore's declaration to argue the stay be lifted for just Connell, so he can be questioned under oath about the digital vote counting network he build in 2004.

These lawyers, notably Cliff Arnebeck of Coumbus, Ohio, and Spoonamore, believe that Republican partisans could have tapped into a key node in vote-counting networks where county-level results are compiled into state results. At that point, they believe software was used that told the vote-counting mechanism to limit the votes awarded to the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, and to shift or add votes to the total for George W. Bush.

"I have followed with interest the security issues involved with electronic voting in United States," Spoonamore's affidavit said. "My understanding of the vulnerabilities of American elections to fraudulent manipulation is based upon conversations with professionals in election administration working within state governmental structures as well as information technology specialists working in private industry a contract basis for state governments."

On Election Night in 2004, the Ohio Secretary of State's website posting the official Ohio election results was hosted on Republican-controlled servers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which also were home to many other Republican websites. According to Spoonamore this set-up "modified" more typical electronic vote counting networks, where local precincts would record individual votes and then send them to county tabulators, which in turn would send the countywide counts to a statewide tabulator.

"The vote tabulation and reporting system, as modified at the direction of Mr. (Kenneth J.) Blackwell (Ohio's former Secretary of State, a Republican and co-chair of the president's re-election campaign in Ohio in 2004), allowed the introduction of a single computer in the middle of the pathway," he said. "This computer located at a company principally managing IT Systems for GOP campaign and political operations (Computer C) received all information from each county computer (Computer A) BEFORE it was sent onward to Computer B (Ohio's statewide vote count tabulator)."

Spoonamore's affidavit discusses several scenarios how data containing vote totals could have been intercepted and modified. However, he believes the vote counting server used by Ohio's former secretary of state to host the state's Election Night website was the most likely location where votes were held, reviewed and altered before presentation to the public and media. That conclusion is based on the fact that some counties were faxing their vote counts, which meant there was not uniformity in the counting process until the statewide tabulation stage.

"This centralized collection of all incoming statewide tabulations would make it extremely easy for a single operator, or a preprogrammed single 'force balancing computer' to change the results in any way desired by the team controlling Computer C -- in this case GOP partisan operatives," Spoonamore said. "Again, if this out of state system had ANY digital access to the Secretary of States system it would be cause for immediate investigation by any of my banking clients."

Spoonamore's declaration discusses how it is common in detecting electronic banking fraud to find the insertion of "man in the middle" attacks, where criminals insert a computer between a network's data transmission points. He further describes "force balancing," which he said is a feature of banking industry computers, such as ATMs, which balance sums in user's accounts after deposits and withdrawals. Spoonamore said Ohio's 2004 electronic voting tabulators, made by Diebold (now Premier Election Solutions), which also makes bank ATMs, contain software that add and subtract votes. He said the subtraction feature could only be used to delete votes.

"The Diebold system is riddled with exploitable errors," he said, citing a report on the Diebold's vote counting computers commissioned by former Maryland Gov. Robert Erlich, a Republican. "Many of these concerns are almost comical from the perspective of a computer architect. One example of this: The existence of negative fields being possible in some number fields. Voting machines as custom built computers which should be designed to begin at the number Zero, no votes, and advance only in increments of 1, one vote, until they max out at the most possible votes cast in one day … There is no possible legitimate reason that NEGATIVE votes should ever be entered. And yet these machines are capable of having negative numbers programmed in, injected, or preloaded."

If GOP cyber-partisans intercepted county vote totals and altered the statewide count reported to the public, Spoonamore said the hard drives in the county-level tabulators would contain records that would reveal that the statewide vote count was fraudulent.

"If this had happened, in order to cover up this fact, the hard drives of the county level tabulators would have to be pulled and destroyed, as they would have digital evidence of this hacking from Computer C," he said. "The efforts by the company in charge of these computers to pull out hard drives and destroy them in advance of the Green Party Recount from the 2004 election is a clear signal something was deliberately amiss with the county tabulators."

After the 2004 election, the Green and Libertarian Parties paid for a statewide recount where 3 percent of the vote in counties was to be examined. Green Party observers reported the company programming and servicing the county vote-count tabulators in 41 mostly rural Republican-majority counties, Triad Government Services, Inc., replaced hard drives before the recount was conducted. In Hocking County, when the Board of Election Deputy Director, Sherole Eaton questioned this and recounted the incident in sworn affidavits used in litigation, she subsequently was fired from her job.

David Cobb, the 2004 Green presidential candidate, raised hard disk incident when testifying at a congressional field hearing by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff in Ohio in December 2004. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who now chairs the committee, asked the FBI to investigate at that time, but nothing came of the investigation.

According to previous statements by Spoonamore, the family that controls Triad and related sister companies, the Rapp family of Xenia, Ohio, are evangelical Republicans and GOP donors. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Lincoln Bronzeville litigation have previously stated that the 2004 Ohio presidential results only had to be altered in three southeastern counties -- Warren, Cleremont and Butler -- to increase George W. Bush's margin to re-elect him to a second term.

One Rapp family firm, Rapp Systems Corporation, sells commemorative editions of the Palm Beach County Florida "butterfly ballot" that confused elderly Democratic voters in 2000 who mistakenly voted for Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore.

Apart from discussing the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, Spoonamore's affidavit also said that there is "no possible way" to make paperless electronic voting secure. That is because the voting systems are designed to mask the identity of voters, whereas in banking, each account holder is identified by several lawyers of secure authentication.

"In my opinion, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to make a secure touch screen voting system," Spoonamore said. "None. Secure systems are predicated on establishing securely the identity of every user of the system. Voting is predicated on being anonymous. It is impossible to have a system that does both. It is possible to design relatively secure optical scan machines, but even these can be hacked in even the best of cases. In the case of optical scan (systems where hand-marked paper ballots are scanned by computer counters) you have the ability to recount manually the paper ballot itself, and the ability to spot check the machines for errors against a sample of hand recounting."

In November 2008, approximately 30 percent of the country will be using paperless electronic voting machines, according to VerifiedVoting.org. However, the vote counting landscape in some battleground states will not be the same in 2008 as it was in 2004. Lawyers and other election protection experts -- inside the Democratic Party and in outside non-partisan groups -- are developing numerous checks and balances to attempt to monitor the accuracy of the various stages of tabulating the vote count. These efforts are much more extensive and informed than in 2004.

In Ohio, for instance, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, has forced some of the state's cities to transition from paperless voting to optical scan system, as one response to problems associated with paperless voting. And just this week Brunner decided to allow observers from minor political parties, such as the Greens, to be observers inside polling places and at tabulation rooms in county Boards of Elections. Those observers will be able to track whether local vote totals are being accurately tallied for county-wide counts, which is where they believe vote totals were altered in 2004.

In other 2008 battleground states using paperless voting systems, such as Pennsylvania, there appear to be less-developed plans to monitor the various layers of voting process, although election integrity activists have been pushing for precincts to be supplied with paper ballots if there are machine malfunctions. The Democratic National Committee has extensively surveyed the voting systems in every county in the U.S., which they did not do in 2004, but party officials do not comment on their election protection plans.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/99337?page=entire

Posted at 12:13AM Sep 23, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

HITTLE NEEDS TO GO!!!

I mean c'mon... really... what has MATT HITTLE ever done for YOU?

Posted at 04:20PM Sep 17, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[2]

REPUBLICANS IN SAINT PAUL - REMEMBER THE NAZI RALLIES AT NUREMBERG?

Why is it that whenever REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVES GATHER - it's like the NAZI GESTAPO is unleashed on American civilians???

Why do CONSERVATIVES have to act like it's 1930's BERLIN and everyone who's not on the same (moldy) page with them are considered vermin like Jews?

UPDATES
Posted by Coldsnap Legal Collective under RNC Live

Follow coldsnaplegal on Twitter for updates!

Houses, spaces raided throughout the Twin Cities
Five-year-old child handcuffed and terrorized; activists allege program of intimidation

MINNEAPOLIS — In an outrageous series of state-sanctioned actions, police raided an activist “Convergence Space” and several homes in the past 24 hours, detaining multiple people on extraordinarily flimsy pretenses, arresting several, confiscating computers and laptops, and even handcuffing a small child.

Beginning at 9:17 p.m. last night, with the raid on the St. Paul Convergence Space, and continuing throughout the day today, police harassment and brutality towards the local community has proceeded at an alarming pace. At least five separate raids have been reported throughout the Twin Cities, with the primary focus appearing to be the confiscation of computers and personal affects.

“These actions are clearly intended to have a chilling effect on dissent prior to the launch of the Republican National Convention,” said Natalia, a local activist and mother of two, who asked that her surname be withheld. “The message being conveyed is: ‘If need be, we will terrorize your children to dissuade you from voicing your opinion.’”

DISSENTION IS VERBOTEN!!!

Here are the facts as we know them:

• Last night, police raided an activist meeting location. All occupants, including a five year old child, were detained, handcuffed, and photographed. Computers were removed from the space, and some personal property (like notebooks) were seized;

• A private residence on 17th St. was raided this morning and had its door kicked in. The same five year old child was again terrorized by armed law enforcement. The police continue to threaten to board up the house unless minor code violations (like a broken door) are remedied;

• A private residence in St. Paul, occupied by local residents and out-of-town journalists, was raided on the basis of an identical search warrant to the one presented last night at the Convergence Space (it specified “bomb-making materials,” though nothing of the sort was apparently seized);

• A private residence on Harriet Ave. was raided and has been threatened with being boarding up.
Other, similar actions are being reported, but fuller details are not yet available.

Coldsnap Legal Collective and other groups stand opposed to this program of intimidation and terror. It is evident from all reports that there was no real concern about “bomb-making materials” or anything similar. On the contrary, these actions were taken to suppress dissent and detain activists. We call on all residents to contact their local elected officials, express their deep concern, and be prepared for the apparently draconian tactics the police seem to currently favor in their efforts to silence the voice the people in the run-up to the RNC.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

* More police raids on Saturday morning - same warrants used as last night

One Response to “UPDATES”

1. police state in action : Zine World Says:
August 31, 2008 at 9:41 pm

[...] Lots of articles, and regular updates from the Twin Cities IndyMedia Extensive articles — with lots of links, including to videos shot during or after the raids — at Salon.com: first article, second article Coverage by the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Independent and the New York Times News from the Coldsnap Legal Collective [...]

For more info on these chilling developments...

http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/houses-spaces-raided-throughout-the-twin-cities/

Posted at 10:15PM Aug 31, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

The Founder Fathers Were Liberals

I am having a lively debate with my life long friend (who is now an Army Chopper pilot serving in Afghanistan) on whether or not the Founding Fathers were Christian or not. Here's my take - I just wanted to share it with you and to get your opinions on this subject.

Of course, I've read much of their writings on the subject and from those studies I already know the Founding Fathers DEFINITELY were NOT CHRISTIANS by any means... It's almost humorous how GEORGE WASHINGTON privately DESPISED Christianity and was all but a closeted atheist.

Thomas Jefferson - being the founder of American liberal philosophy could barely stand to be in the same room with it.

And Benjamin Franklin doesn't know what to say about it. He doesn't want to offend anybody - but he certainly doesn't see that Christianity should have any bearing on American politics. THESE TWO THINGS DO NOT MIX! Is his strong admonition.

It's all VERY interesting....

___________________________________________________________

I think the game being played is far more complex than we care to
realize. I just don't trust the news media whatsoever and I
certainly don't trust my own Government because there are too many
classified agendas and behind the scenes players and events which
really determine the outcomes of major decisions.

Democracy CAN ONLY thrive WITH OPENNESS - not SECRECY.

Our GOVERNMENT has become FAR TOO SECRET - FAR TOO CONSERVATIVE with it's information and knowledge.

I
only know that I want a future in which ALL nations are allied together
in peace - and I think going out to explore the galaxy around us is
exactly the objective we need to focus on to make this happen.

We
should not be making stands and wasting time and mental energy about
trivial issues like abortion rights for women, gay and lesbian marriage
rights - who cares? Each to to his own... it's not our obligation or
duty to legislate or enforce some kind of religious morality...

I
could care less if a man wants to marry another man or a woman wants to
marry another woman - it's not my concern... I'm more concerned about
how are we going to get to the STARS? Who has the political vision to
take us (humanity) to the nearest stars in our LIFETIME?

Why
should we fight over this tiny little planet when there are thousands
of similar possibly uninhabited planets out there just waiting for us
to explore and colonize?

Liberalism is about PROGRESS... moving forward...

Conservatism is about keeping our ideas small and limiting our imagination... I hate to be the one to break this to you if you still believe this nation was founded by Christians - but our Founding Fathers were not pro-Christian as the very vocal Conservative pundits would have you believe.

They actually wanted a SECULAR nation where all religions could be recognized as
EQUAL - ISLAM - CHRISTIANITY - JUDAISM - HINDUISM - GNOSTICISM - all equal and protected under law. No religion was to be respected or given more authority and credence over any other in America.

The ONE THING they did NOT want to see established was a STATE RELIGION like the Roman Empire had with Christianity which turned it into the Holy Roman Empire and made it the most criminal, most corrupt, most diabolical theocracy on the planet.

Yet this is what CONSERVATIVES want - a STATE RELIGION - America as a
Christian Nation - which would make the Founding Father spin in their
graves.

The FOUNDING FATHERS - noble libertines who were also FREEMASONS - which is a philosophy of LIBERALISM - meaning ALL religions would receive EQUAL STATUS in AMERICA. No ONE religion would be held above any other - and the GOVERNMENT ITSELF would remain SECULAR, not favoring one religion over another....

And it MUST BE THIS WAY for AMERICA to continue to PROGRESS AND INSPIRE THE WORLD
to honor LIBERTY, independence and freedom as our guiding principles....

CONSERVATIVES want to establish a new CHRISTIAN EMPIRE - a resurrection of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE which is exactly what America was FOUNDED ON to RESISTS
AGAINST and TRANSCEND!!!

Don't believe for a minute if someone tells you that the Founding Fathers were Christians and weren't liberals!

Just listen to some of their own words!

THOMAS JEFFERSON:

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest
grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious
leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.

Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction
of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned;
yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective
and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into
it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with
the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right,
from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are
genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that
parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that
other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as
easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common
law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10,
1814

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus,
by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will
be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the
brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and
freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this
artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine
doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN:

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."
[Benjamin Franklin, in _Toward The Mystery_]

"Revealed religion has no weight with me."
[Benjamin Franklin]

GEORGE WASHINGTON: (Who was likely the first Atheist pretending to be a Deist politician in America)

Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate
and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the
enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would
at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that
we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a
pitch as to endanger the peace of society.

-- George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom, also James A Haught, 2000 Years of Disbelief

"Dr.Rush told me (he had it from Asa Green) that when the clergy addressed
General Washington, on his departure from the government, it was
observed in their consultation that he had never, on any occasion, said
a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian religion,
and they thought they should so pen their address as to force him at
length to disclose publicly whether he was a Christian or not. However,
he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every
article of their address particularly, except that, which he passed
over without notice."

-- Thomas Jefferson, quoted from Jefferson's Works,
Vol. iv., p. 572. (Asa Green "was probably the Reverend Ashbel Green,
who was chaplain to congress during Washington's administration." --
Farrell Till in "The Christian Nation Myth.")

"Unlike Thomas Jefferson -- and Thomas Paine, for that matter -- Washington
never even got around to recording his belief that Christ was a great
ethical teacher. His reticence on the subject was truly remarkable.
Washington frequently alluded to Providence in his private
correspondence. But the name of Christ, in any correspondence
whatsoever, does not appear anywhere in his many letters to friends and
associates throughout his life."

-- Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion (1963) pp. 74-75, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church." Had Washington been a pious Christian, he would have at least mentioned the name of Christ!

Posted at 07:41PM Aug 31, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

NEW GERMAN DOCUMENTARY ON THE LIES OF 9/11

Posted at 02:44PM Aug 24, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

RON PAUL DELEGATES ADVOCATE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

August 23, 2008

Ron Paul Delegates Advocate Civil Disobedience

Posted by Lew Rockwell at August 23, 2008 12:18 PM

Hardcore RP delegates to the Republican national convention hope to convince enough McCain delegates to abstain on the first ballot to deny the fascist neocon the nomination, with the hope of eventually nominating Ron. They rightly point out that, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, an unjust law is no law at all, so anyone with a conscience is not required to vote for McCain, no matter what their state government says; indeed, just the opposite.

Of course, the hardcores have absolutely no chance, since anyone the party chooses to be a McCain delegate is evil. Still, the RP guys and gals have worked their hearts out for many months, and spent lots of money they can't afford. Even though they are doomed to defeat, who can tell them not to do what they believe to be right?

Here is my only advice: the St. Paul convention, like the Denver one, is a key State-legitimizing event, with much of the power elite in attendance. They are funded by the taxpayers, and by the military-industrial-petro complex, in arrogant display. Since 9/11 especially, the conventions are totalitarian regimes in miniature (and examples of what they'd like the whole of America to look like). Their jackbooted thugs will not hesitate to gas you, tazer you, beat you into a bloody pulp, and then put you into one of their animal cages for years. Do not do anything that gives them even the slightest excuse.

UPDATE from Tim Swanson: "To add insult to injury, the $100 million security detail for both conventions is also being funded by taxpayers. Why not just hold the conventions on military bases?"

I'm with the RON PAUL advocates. John McCain has to be stopped at all costs to save America's legacy and prevent the TOTAL COLLAPSE OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY for the UNITED STATES. We cannot let the NEO-CONS win!!!!!!!!!!! - Doug B.

Posted at 02:36PM Aug 24, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

VINCENT BUGLIOSI TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ABOUT BUSH CRIMES

VINCENT BUGLIOSI says EVERYTHING I've said over the past five years - and with the same passionate intensity...

BUGLIOSI is RIGHT ON... and the intelligent - ethically sound and conscientious authentic half of American Citizens is behind him 100%.

(In my opinion, the other half are clueless podunk bootlickers of a murderous dictator and war profiteering criminal.)

:)

- Doug

Posted at 09:46AM Jul 26, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

The Prosecution of George W. Bush

I just listened to the entire nine hour audio book of this document. What a fine work of logic and law. This will be a classic in the annals of American History.

The Bush family is perhaps, the greatest Crime and the Greatest Criminal Family Network to ever exist... they were so good at deception and criminality that most people are STILL clueless as to what they did and how they did it.

A TRUE CLASSIC.
I wish I could teach this book as some part of my curriculum in college, but I'm sure others will.

Bugliosi: Bush Crime Gang Worse Than Manson Family A SEARING INDICTMENT Famed prosecutor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career. As a prosecutor dedicated to seeking justice, he delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines, based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.

“SOMEONE HAS TO PAY”

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting in Iraq. Watch this video interview to learn why he believes we must bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.

http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Hardcover) by Vincent Bugliosi (Author) Editorial Reviews Product Description Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career. In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world. As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity. A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office. Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. His goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice. About the Author Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi’s other books—And the Sea Will Tell and Outrage—also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, has been heralded as “epic” and “a book for the ages.” Bugliosi has uncommonly attained success in two separate and distinct fields, as an author and a lawyer. His excellence as a trial lawyer is best captured in the judgment of his peers. “Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was,” Alan Dershowitz says. F. Lee Bailey calls Bugliosi “the quintessential prosecutor.” “There is only one Vince Bugliosi. He’s the best,” says Robert Tanenbaum, for years the top homicide prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.’s office. Most telling is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a twenty-one-hour televised, scriptless “docu-trial” of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the Dallas jury returned a guilty verdict in Bugliosi’s favor, Spence said, “No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.” Bugliosi lives with his wife, Gail, in Los Angeles. And YES... he RECOMMENDS THE DEATH PENALTY FOR GEORGE W. BUSH...

http://www.amazon.com/Prosecution-George-W-Bush-Murder/dp/159315481X

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -Noam Chomsky

Posted at 02:17PM Jun 17, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[1]

The Denver Revelation: Authentic ET Evidence?

I have myself witnessed a physically manifested UFO in the air and even photographed it - so I am already a step forward towards believing that this could finally be the real thing.

We'll just have to wait and see until tomorrow!

- Doug

Phone home: Purported UFO video to be shown Friday
By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 03:15 p.m., May 28, 2008
Updated 07:01 p.m., May 28, 2008
Jeff Peckman

Jeff Peckman
More Local News

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

Jeff Peckman, who is pushing a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver to prepare the city for close encounters of the alien kind, said the video is authentic and convinced him that aliens exist.

"As impressive as it is, it's still one tiny portion in the context of a vast amount of peripheral evidence," he said Wednesday. "It's really the final visual confirmation of what you already know to be true having seen all the other evidence."

When Peckman went before city officials this month to discuss his proposed ET initiative, he promised to show the video.

Peckman said the general public will have to wait to see it because it's being included in a documentary by Stan Romanek.

"No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," he said.

But people won't have to wait too long to see it for themselves.

"There is an open, public meeting in about a month in Colorado Springs," Peckman said. "We'll hope to do one in Denver at some point, and then in a few months, there will be the documentary that anybody can have, and it'll have the footage."

An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.

Peckman, 54, said the video was among the reasons he was "compelled" to launch the proposed ballot initiative, which has generated news as far as South Africa.

"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.

In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too.

In 2003, Peckman authored an off-beat ballot initiative that would have required the city to implement stress-reduction techniques. The "Safety Through Peace" initiative failed, but garnered 32 percent of the vote.

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

Expert: Space alien tape no fake
By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 12:15 p.m., May 29, 2008
Updated 03:27 p.m., May 29, 2008
Related Links

The instructor at the Colorado Film School who analyzed a video that purportedly shows a living space alien swears the footage is real.

"There is no doubt in my mind that (Stan Romanek, a Colorado native who has reported UFO sightings) did not post-produce this material. In other words, it's not a trick done in special effects," Jerry Hofmann, a professional film editor with more than 30 years of experience, said in a telephone interview this morning.

"I have equipment that will test to see if that shot was recorded originally on that tape, which it was," he said.

However, Hofmann said there's no way for him to know whether or not the little gray alien, which was videotaped peeping through a window, is the real thing.

But Hofmann thinks it is.

"The chances are that we are not alone," he said. "That's the conclusion I've come to."

Hofmann, a Colorado Springs native who used to work in the Los Angeles film industry, mostly making commercials and industrial films, said Romanek doesn't have the resources to videotape something so elaborate.

"He kept the camera handy, and he saw this little gray (alien) running around his house. He saw it so he got the camera out," Hofmann said. "The thing is about 4 feet tall. The only thing that shows up in the video is his head. It pops up from underneath a window. But his eyes blink. His cheeks move. He turns his head side-to-side. This would be a very elaborate puppet."

Hofmann said people who work in Hollywood animatronics also have seen the video and said that such an elaborate puppet would cost around $50,000.

"The guy lives on a freaking government pension," Hofmann said, referring to Romanek. "He's got a wife and three kids. He doesn't have money. I just don't think he faked this. I think what we got here is the real thing."

Hofmann said he had never heard about Romanek until he was approached last July to analyze the video.

Hofmann, 57, who has been married for 35 years to his college sweetheart and has two grown children, said he used to be a skeptic about space aliens.

"My whole view has totally changed," he said. "There's something going on."

Posted at 08:41PM May 29, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]

BUSH PRESS SPOKESMAN - "It Was ALL Lies"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The spokesman who defended President Bush's policies through Hurricane Katrina and the early years of the Iraq war is now blasting his former employers, saying the Bush administration became mired in propaganda and political spin and at times played loose with the truth.

art.mcclellan.bush.gi.jpg

Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan blasts President Bush and advisers in a new book.

In excerpts from a 341-page book to be released Monday, Scott McClellan writes on Iraq that Bush "and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."

"[I]n this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security," McClellan wrote.

McClellan also sharply criticizes the administration on its handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

"One of the worst disasters in our nation's history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush's presidency," he wrote. "Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush's second term."

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said the White House would not comment Tuesday because they haven't seen the book.

Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to Bush, said advisers to the president should speak up when they have policy concerns.

"Scott never did that on any of these issues as best I can remember or as best as I know from any of my White House colleagues," said Townsend, now a CNN contributor. "For him to do this now strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional."

Fox News contributor and former White House adviser Karl Rove said on that network Tuesday that the excerpts from the book he's read sound more like they were written by a "left-wing blogger" than his former colleague.

In a brief phone conversation with CNN Tuesday evening, McClellan made clear that he stands behind the accuracy of his book. McClellan said he cannot give on-the-record quotes yet because of an agreement with his publisher. Video Watch further details emerge from McClellan's book »

Early in the book, which CNN obtained late Tuesday, McClellan wrote that he believes he told untruths on Bush's behalf in the case of CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose identity was leaked to the media.

Rove and fellow White House advisers Elliot Abrams and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were accused of leaking the name of Plame -- whose husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, had gone public with charges the Bush administration had "twisted" facts to justify the war in Iraq.

Libby was convicted last year of lying to a grand jury and federal agents investigating the leak. Bush commuted his 30-month prison term, calling it excessive. At the time, McClellan called the three "good individuals" and said he spoke to them before telling reporters they were not involved.

"I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood," he wrote. "It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively."

McClellan wrote he didn't realize what he said was untrue until reporters began digging up details of the case almost two years later.

A former spokesman for Bush when he was governor of Texas, McClellan was named White House press secretary in 2003, replacing Ari Fleischer. McClellan had previously been a deputy press secretary and was the traveling spokesman for the Bush campaign during the 2000 election.
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He announced he was resigning in April 2006 at a news conference with Bush.

"One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas talking about the good old days of his time as the press secretary," Bush said at that conference. "And I can assure you, I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done."

Scott McClellan's Confession
May 28, 2008 10:46 a.m.

Scott McClellan worked as a loyal press spokesman for George W. Bush for eight years, ultimately becoming White House Press Secretary . He resigned from that position in 2006, in the wake of the controversy over the Valerie Plame leak scandal.

In his new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," he offers a harshly critical portrait of the president and his administration. Going to war in Iraq was a mistake, he concludes. But an even more fundamental mistake was the administration's decision "to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed."

What follows are excerpts from his book:
[Image]

As press secretary, I spent countless hours defending the administration from the podium in the White House briefing room. Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided. In these pages, I've tried to come to grips with some of the truths that life inside the White House bubble obscured.

My friends and former colleagues who lived and worked or are still working inside that bubble may not be happy with the perspective I present here. Many of them, I'm sure, remain convinced that the Bush administration has been fundamentally correct in its most controversial policy judgments, and that the dis-esteem in which most Americans currently hold it is undeserved.

Only time will tell. But I've become genuinely convinced otherwise.
* * *

Most of our elected leaders in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, are good, decent people. Yet too many of them today have made a practice of shunning truth and the high level of openness and forthrightness required to discover it. Most of it is not willful or conscious. Rather, it is part of the modern Washington game that has become the accepted norm.

As I explain in this book, Washington has become the home of the permanent campaign, a game of endless politicking based on the manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the truth, and spin. Governing has become an appendage of politics rather than the other way around, with electoral victory and the control of power as the sole measures of success. That means shaping the narrative before it shapes you. Candor and honesty are pushed to the side in the battle to win the latest news cycle…

Ironically, much of Bush's campaign rhetoric (in 1999-200) had been aimed at distancing himself from the excesses of Clinton's permanent campaign style of governing. The implicit meaning of Bush's words was that he would bring an end to the perpetual politicking and deep partisan divisions it created. Although Washington could not get enough of the permanent campaign, voters were seemingly eager to move beyond it.

Bush emphasized this sentiment during the campaign. He would "change the tone in Washington." He would be "a uniter, not a divider." He would "restore honor and dignity to the White House." He would govern based on what was right, not what the polls said. He would, in short, replace the cynicism of the 1990s with a new era of civility, decency, and hope. There would be no more permanent campaign, or at least its excesses would be wiped away for good.

But the reality proved to be something quite different. Instead, the Bush team imitated some of the worst qualities of the Clinton White House and even took them to new depths.

Bush did not emulate Clinton on the policy front. Just the opposite – the mantra of the new administration was "anything but Clinton" when it came to policies. The Bush administration prided itself in focusing on big ideas, not playing small ball with worthy but essentially trivial policy ideas for a White House, like introducing school uniforms or going after deadbeat dads.

But a significant aspect of the Clinton presidency that George W. Bush and his advisers did embrace was the unprecedented pervasiveness of the permanent campaign and all its tactics. In hindsight, it is clear that the Bush White House was actually structured to emulate and extend this method of governing, albeit in its own way.

The most obvious evidence that the Bush White House embraced the permanent campaign is the expansive political operation that was put in place from day one. Chief political strategist Karl Rove was given an enormous center of influence within the white House from the outset. This was only strengthened by Rove's force of personality and closeness to the president.
* * *

The permanent campaign also ensnares the media, who become complicit enablers of its polarizing effects. They emphasize conflict, controversy and negativity, focusing not on the real-world impact of policies and their larger, underlying truths but on the horse race aspects of politics – who's winning, who's losing, and why…

The press amplifies the talking points of one or both parties in its coverage, thereby spreading distortions, half-truths, and occasionally outright lies in an effort to seize the limelight and have something or someone to pick on. And by overemphasizing conflict and controversy and by reducing complex and important issues to convenient, black-and-white story lines and seven-second sound bites the media exacerbate the problem, thereby making it incredibly hard even for well-intentioned leaders to clarify and correct the misunderstandings and oversimplifications that dominate the political conversation. Finally, it becomes much more difficult for the general public to decipher the more important truths amid all the conflict, controversy and negativity. For some partisans, that is fine because they believe they can maneuver better in such a highly politicized environment to accomplish their objectives. But the destructive potential of such excessively partisan warfare would later crystallize my thinking.
* * *

When Bush was making up his mind to pursue regime change in Iraq, it is clear that his national security team did little to slow him down, to help him fully understand the tinderbox he was opening and the potential risks in doing so. I know the president pretty well. I believe that, if he had been given a crystal ball in which he could have foreseen the costs of war – more than 4,000 American troops killed, 30,000 injured, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens dead – he would have never made the decision to invade, despite what he might say or feel he has to say publicly.

And though no one has a crystal ball, it's not asking too much that a well-considered understanding of the circumstances and history of Iraq and the Middle East should have been brought into the decision-making process. The responsibility to provide this understanding belonged to the president's advisers, and they failed to fulfill it. Secretary of State Colin Powell was apparently the only adviser who even tried to raise doubts about the wisdom of war. The rest of the foreign policy team seemed to be preoccupied with regime change or, in the case of Condi Rice, seemingly more interested in accommodating the president's instincts and ideas than in questioning them or educating him.

An even more fundamental problem was the way his advisers decided to pursue a political propaganda campaign to sell the war to the American people. It was all part of the way the White House operated and Washington functioned, and no one seemed to see any problem with using such an approach on an issue as grave as war. A pro-war campaign might have been more acceptable had it been accompanied by a high level of candor and honesty, but it was not. Most of the arguments used – especially those stated in prepared remarks by the president and in forums like Powell's presentation at the UN Security Council in February 2003 – were carefully vetted and capable of being substantiated. But as the campaign accelerated, caveats and qualifications were downplayed or dropped altogether. Contradictory intelligence was largely ignored or simply disregarded. Evidence based on high confidence from the intelligence community was lumped together with intelligence of lesser confidence. A nuclear threat was added to the biological and chemical threats to create a greater sense of gravity and urgency. Support for terrorism was given greater weight by playing up a dubious al Qaeda connection to Iraq. When it was all packaged together, the case constituted a "grave and gathering danger" that needed to be dealt with urgently.
* * *

To this day, the president seems unbothered by the disconnect between the chief rationale for the war and the driving motivation behind it, and unconcerned about how the case was packaged. The policy is the right one and history will judge it so, once a free Iraq is firmly in place and the Middle East begins to become more democratic.

Bush clung to the same belief during an interview with Tim Russert of NBC News in early February 2004. The Meet the Press host asked, "In light of not finding the weapons of mass destruction, do you believe the war in Iraq is a war of choice or a war of necessity? "

The president said, "That's an interesting question. Please elaborate on that a bit. A war of choice or a war of necessity? It's a war of necessity. In my judgment, we had no choice, when we look at the intelligence I looked at, that says the man was a threat."

I remember talking to the president about this question following the interview. He seemed puzzled and asked me what Russert was getting at with the question.

This, in turn, puzzled me. Surely this distinction between a necessary, unavoidable war and a war that the United States could have avoided but chose to wage was an obvious one that Bush must have thought about in the months before the invasion. Evidently it wasn't obvious to the president, nor did his national security team make sure it was. He set the policy early on and then his team focused his attention on how to sell it. It strikes me today as an indication of his lack of inquisitiveness and his detrimental resistance to reflection, something his advisers needed to compensate for better than they did.

Most objective observers today would say that in 2003 there was no urgent need to address the threat posed by Saddam with a large-scale invasion, and therefore the war was not necessary. But this is a question President Bush seems not to want to grapple with.
* * *

I still like and admire George W. Bush. I consider him a fundamentally decent person, and I do not believe he or his White House deliberately or consciously sought to deceive the American people. But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war. Had a high level of openness and forthrightness been embraced from the outset of his administration, I believe President Bush's public standing would be stronger today. His approval ratings have remained at historic lows for so long because both qualities have been lacking to this day. In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.

All the president can do today is hope that his vision of Iraq will ultimately come true, putting the Middle East on a new path and vindicating his decision to go to war. I would welcome such a development as good for America, good for Iraq, and good for the world. Bush knows that posterity has a way of rewarding success over candor and honesty. But as history moves to render its judgment in the coming years and decades, we can't gloss over the hard truths this book has sought to address and the lessons we can learn from understanding them better. Allowing the permanent campaign culture to remain in control may not take us into another unnecessary war, but it will continue to limit the opportunity for careful deliberation, bipartisan compromise, and meaningful solutions to the major problems all Americans want to see solved

Adapted from the book WHAT HAPPENED: INSIDE THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE AND WASHINGTON'S CULTURE OF DECEPTION by Scott McClellan. Copyright 2008 by Scott McClellan. Reprinted by arrangement with PublicAffairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group

Posted at 09:18AM May 28, 2008 by Douglas Lee Bryenldson in General  |  Comments[0]