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"Shane ... Shane ... come back!"

The film Shane famously ends with Shane riding off after he's been shot in the climactic gunfight.
We all joined little Joey in that sentiment..didn't we?
If only Shane could have stayed.
Think Al Gore.
Shot down by five felonious "justices".
Riding off into the sunset.
Shane...come back!

http://www.electgore04.com/

http://www.capcityfreepress.com/news

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"Truth and reality exist independent of man's mythological, religious, metaphysical and paranormal beliefs---"belief" does not necessarily equate to "truth". I believe that love, kindness, compassion, tolerance, and peace can be implanted in the psyche of man only when fear, paranormal illusion and ignorance are removed. We can then shift our attention more to matters of peace, rather than to matters of war. Man may then face the truth and reality of himself and his position in the universe and he can hope to realize that the meaning of life is dependent upon the unfolding of human powers to give life meaning. I believe it is in our power to achieve Peace on Earth, and I have hope that we will, with time, evolve the knowledge and wisdom to do so!"

http://www.religioustolerance.org/retz_01.htm

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"YEAH...RIGHT!" QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"As for the reaction of the Arab "street," the Middle East expert Professor Fouad Ajami predicts that after liberation, the streets in Basra and Baghdad are "sure to erupt in joy in the same way the throngs in Kabul greeted the Americans." Extremists in the region would have to rethink their strategy of Jihad."

Dick Cheney
In a Speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars
August 26, 2002

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IRAN DOESN'T BELIEVE THE US WILL ATTACK IT

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=3&click_id=3&art_id=qw1054390321665B265&set_id=1


"Berlin - Iran does not believe the United States will attack it although it does think Washington has demonised Tehran unjustly, Iranian Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi told a German magazine.
"Unlike Iraq under Saddam we are not a dictatorship, but a democracy. Furthermore we are not disregarding any international laws. So we are not
worried about being the next victim of a military strike," Kharrazi told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview released on Saturday."

HOW ABOUT YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE IT?

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/
052903Leopold/052903leopold.html

"Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary, said during his daily press briefing Tuesday that Iran hasn't taken the appropriate steps to round up al Qaeda
terrorists allegedly hiding out within its borders. Moreover, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons puts the U.S. in grave danger. Therefore, regime change is in order."

AND HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE REGIME CHANGE WILL BE ACHIEVED?

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=vn20030602104029850C952858&set_id=1

"The United States will not pursue deterrence or containment policies in its so-called war on terrorism but would instead seek to utterly destroy
its enemies, said US Vice-President Dick Cheney."

THE BIRTH OF THE ENABLING OF AMBITIONS
OF U.S. NEOCONSERVATIVE EMPIRE
WAS USHERED IN BY TERROR----
A TRIFECTA WAS "HIT"

"Cheney noted that the attacks of September 11, 2001, marked
the birth of the
"Bush doctrine" that any country supporting or harbouring terrorists was as guilty as the terrorists themselves."

DO YOU ACTUALLY DOUBT BUSH WILL GET A WAR ON WITH IRAN...AND SOON?

http://www.newamericancentury.org/foreignrelations-020702.htm

"The State of the Union address marked the maturation of the Bush Doctrine. This war, according to the president, has "two great objectives." The first is defeating terrorism. The second objective, marking the most significant declaration by an American president in almost 20 years, is an unequivocal rejection of the international status quo. "The United States of America," said President Bush, "will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
And President Bush singled out three regimes, North Korea, Iran and Iraq, as enemies; they constitute an "axis of evil" that poses "a grave and growing danger." Nor will he "stand by, as peril draws closer and closer." Time, he said, "is not on our side." The president is thus willing to act preemptively and, if need be, unilaterally. This is a matter of American self-defense.
The Bush Doctrine seeks to eliminate these weapons **UH-WHAT WEAPONS?** and the
dictatorial regimes that would use them **OH-LIKE SADDAM USED THEM IN THIS WAR?** ...."

"...The president also seeks to challenge tyranny in general. "No nation is exempt......"
William Kristol
2-7-2002

**TYRANNY IN GENERAL?! THIS IS A DOCTRINE, ALREADY?!**

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DORGAN PREDICTS CONGRESS WILL OVERTURN FCC DECISION TO LIFT OWNERSHIP LIMITS
He says FCC’s decision is “dumb” and “dangerous”

“This is the fastest, most complete cave-in to corporate interests I’ve ever seen by what is supposed to be a federal regulatory agency,” Dorgan said. “This decision advances big corporate interests, and does so at the expense of the public interest. It is a decision that chooses concentration over competition.”



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ATTEMPTING TO MAINTAIN A SEMBLANCE
OF CREDIBILITY, POWELL SAYS HE DEPENDED
UPON INTELLIGENCE re: WMDS

Blix report fuels doubts on weapons of mass destruction
Financial Times
By James Politi in Washington

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1054416347356&p=1012571727085

"Colin Powell, US secretary of state, said "it wasn't a figment of anyone's imagination" that Iraq possessed WMD. "There was no doubt in my mind as I went through the intelligence that the evidence was overwhelming," Mr Powell said in Rome, before heading to the Middle East."

"...The Senate Intelligence Committee is likely to hold a public hearing this month to examine the administration's use of intelligence..."

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WOULD YOU BELIEVE..

"Asked about their confidence in world leaders to do the right thing, Palestinians ranked bin Laden first. He came in second in Jordan, Morocco and Pakistan."

CANADIANS ARE EVEN STARTING TO SEE US NEGATIVELY.
YES..I SAID CANADIANS.

Jun. 3, 2003. 04:48 PM
World support for U.S. at new low, survey suggests
Percentage of Americans with a positive view of Canada dips to 65 per cent

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1052251726439&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037

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PLAYTIME:

GO HERE.
PULL STRING AND CLICK.
REPEAT.

http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/shockwave/bushisms.htm

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Transition to an empire
By Ignacio Ramonet
Le Monde Diplomatique

http://mondediplo.com/2003/05/01ramonet

"WHEN General Jay Garner landed in Iraq and arrived in bombed and looted Baghdad he declared: "This is a great day." As if his presence miraculously ended the thousand and one problems afflicting ancient Mesopotamia. What is astonishing is not the obscenity of the statement but the resignation and apathy with which the media covered the installation of the man who should really be called the proconsul of the United States. As if there were no longer international law..."

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A "cherry-picking" of scandalous and monumental proportion

U.S. Intelligence Insiders Say Iraq Intel Deliberately Skewed
Fri May 30, 7:18 PM
By Jim Wolf

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=6&u=/nm/iraq_intelligence_dc

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PENTAGON IN DENIAL

Ex-Army boss: Pentagon won't admit reality in Iraq
By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-02-white-usat_x.htm

"The former civilian head of the Army said Monday it is time for the Pentagon to admit that the military is in for a long occupation of Iraq that will require a major commitment of American troops.
Former Army secretary Thomas White said in an interview that senior Defense officials "are unwilling to come to grips" with the scale of the
postwar U.S. obligation in Iraq."

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DAVE BARRY FOR PRESIDENT!!

"Note to senior citizens: I'm not suggesting that your dental benefits are unimportant! As your president, I will take care of your teeth personally.
You can mail them to me at the White House."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/national/barry/story/6772115p-7722937c.html

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BERTRAND RUSSELL
FROM: "THE WORLD AS IT COULD BE MADE "

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=RusProp.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=8&division=div2

"A life lived in this spirit—the spirit that aims at creating rather than possessing—has a certain fundamental happiness, of which it cannot be wholly robbed by adverse circumstances. This is the way of life recommended in the Gospels, and by all the great teachers of the world. Those who have found it are freed from the tyranny of fear, since what they value most in their lives is not at the mercy of outside power. If all men could summon up the courage and the vision to live in this way in spite of obstacles and discouragement, there would be no need for the regeneration of the world to begin by political and economic reform: all that is needed in the way of reform would come automatically, without resistance, owing to the moral regeneration of individuals.

"Experience has proved that few are able to see through the apparent evils of an outcast’s life to the inner joy that comes of faith and creative hope. If the domination of fear is to be overcome, it is not enough, as regards the mass of men, to preach courage and indifference to misfortune: it is necessary to remove the causes of fear, to make a good life no longer an unsuccessful one in a worldly sense, and to diminish the harm that can be inflicted upon those who are not wary in self-defense."

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A MUSICAL BREAK :)

http://www.agatello.com/silvia.home/beeth_md.htm

*Sonata, Op. 53, No. 21 in Do
"Waldstein"*
*I love the second movement!*

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A STRONG ALLEGATION FROM BOB GRAHAM
IT'S FAR PAST THE TIME TO DEMAND
ANSWERS ABOUT 9-11

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/5993628.htm

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.....accused the Bush administration Sunday of overzealous editing of the public version of a report on the causes of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Citing proposed changes in several sections of the report -- which was based on the congressional investigation he helped oversee as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- the Florida senator said on CNN's Late Edition that the administration was trying to hide information submitted in open session and, in some cases, reported in the media.

''That's not being done for any legitimate national security reasons,'' Graham told CNN. ``It's being done because they don't want the American people to see a coherent narrative of what happened.''

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From Red Pepper:

Neo-conservatism and the politics of paranoia
Max Fraad Wolff
June 2003

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/

"Neo-cons offer a world remade. Media pundits and politicians share and feed off fear, offering neo-con foreign policy as the solution. But rival voices, most on the right, compete fiercely with the neo-cons; the latter do not sit alone at the tables of power. So, conservative Christian and business interests must be accommodated, thus convoluting and complicating policy.."

"Understandings of events and actions, particularly US actions, are increasingly divergent. The coverage of the war in Iraq is only the most glaring example. Where others see US failings, Americans hear of triumph. Neo-cons play a role in this process, but are not the only factor. US mass media offer a narrow range of opinion. Criticism is rare and tends to be dismissed or drowned out by the chorus of voices supporting official action and opinion. Critics are frightened – with increasingly good reason. The rise of an ideology of absolute good engaged in fierce combat with uncivilised and driven forces of evil is aiding the decline of internal debate. It remains to be seen how much further this process can run without provoking greater conflict."

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CONGESSIONAL DEMOCRATS---A WAKE-UP CALL!


"A long string of blatant misstatements"
Paul Krugman tells it like it is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/03/opinion/03KRUG.html?ex=1055611954&ei=1&en=41f31e1d053d1d43

"Yet few have made the same argument in this country, even though "spin" is far too mild a word for what the Bush administration does, all the time. Suggestions that the public was manipulated into supporting an Iraq war gain credibility from the fact that misrepresentation and deception are standard operating procedure for this administration, which — to an extent never before seen in U.S. history — systematically and brazenly distorts the facts."

"It's long past time for this administration to be held accountable. Over the last two years we've become accustomed to the pattern. Each time the administration comes up with another whopper, partisan supporters — a group that includes a large segment of the news media — obediently insist that black is white and up is down. Meanwhile the "liberal" media report only that some people say that black is black and up is up. And some Democratic politicians offer the administration invaluable cover by making excuses and playing down the extent of the lies."

"If that claim was fraudulent, the selling of the war is arguably the worst scandal in American political history — worse than Watergate, worse than Iran-contra. Indeed, the idea that we were deceived into war makes many commentators so uncomfortable that they refuse to admit the possibility.

"But here's the thought that should make those commentators really uncomfortable. Suppose that this administration did con us into war. And suppose that it is not held accountable for its deceptions, so Mr. Bush can fight what Mr. Hastings calls a "khaki election" next year. In that case, our political system has become utterly, and perhaps irrevocably, corrupted. "



WAKE UP, CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS!
SPEAK UP-- OR RISK POLITICAL OBSOLESCENCE!
THE AMERICAN PUBLIC IS PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF SEEING WHAT IS TRUE!
THE MORE GINGERLY YOU DANCE AROUND THE BUSH LIES, THE LESS RESPECT YOU ENGENDER.

So much for "free" speech:
Now we have to pay to participate in polls?!

http://www.potuspoll.com/index-GL.htm

Let's face it, public polling means a disproportional lot to those who govern. Not that I think it SHOULD. I don't think poll results should mean as much as
they do to the electorate who represent the people of this country. Polls can easily be manipulated to create a false-nation of opinion.
Poll-results are often exactly (and "miraculously") what potentially-biased pollsters were possibly hoping to "cook up".
At best, a poll is only a sampling of an extremely small segment of American society.
Consideration of the law of large numbers might well drown the accuracy of these poll results.

I gave the above-linked website a look today.
Perhaps I'm naive...but it appears we now have to PAY to voice our opinions so that they may be heard by the electorate as they foolishly govern by POLL.

When the basic democratic system fails...when a letter or call to your Congressperson seems to take a back seat to governing by polls,
the knowlege that expressing that dismally effective
poll-opinion is going to "set me back" economically is doubly disheartening news.

WHERE IS TRUE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?

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'Billmon' has collected a number of interesting direct quotes from members of the Bush administration.
(Re: those 'elusive' WMDs)...

http://billmon.org.v.sabren.com/archives/000172.html

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OH, YEAH, YOU GOT THAT SOMETHIN'..I THINK YOU UNDERSTAND.
WHEN I...
FEEL THAT SOMETHIN'....................

http://a.abcnews.com/images/autowirestory/AP/XDG107060306.jpeg