Feds "Scooping" Up Leftover NeoCon Dirt?

Feds "Scooping" Up Leftover NeoCon Dirt?

Get this:

Remember Douglas Feith, who was the No. 3 official in the Defense Department but surprised many by abruptly quitting "to spend more time with his family"?

It seems that some DOD/CIA types are frantically trying to cover someone's tracks over something or other (who knows what?). Now, I could be on the wrong track here, and I will say that clearly before I begin to talk about real and meaningful issues that don't make me look like a fan of conspiracy theories.

A team of five federal agents ( from CIA, DoD, and DoE ) showed up at the University of Washington to search through the archival papers of the late Washington Sen. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson.

Where does "Scoop" Jackson come in? Feith's mentor was former Pentagon official and influential conservative policy advisor Richard Perle. And from 1969 to 1980 Perle was a member of Jackson's staff and at times his most influential advisor, dubbed by some "the Prince of Darkness" during that era. Perle is so close to the Jackson legacy that he remains a member of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation that the senator established.

from Campaign Extra

Background:

When Perle was working for Senator Scoop Jackson, he was investigated by the Justice Department and found to have violated US policies relating to unlawful transmission of sensitive classified US information to Israel.

"Jackson's influence is more powerful now than when he was alive," said Charles Horner, who worked beside Mr Perle on the senator's staff, in his "bunker" - Room 135 in the Senate office building, from where they fought against detente and the peaceniks in their own party."

It's interesting to consider that Robert Novak (who outed Valerie Plame) found "common cause" with someone suspected of espionage.

At Kos, Dem in Knoxville wonders:

"He [Scoop Jackson] was in the senate from 1953 until his death in 1983. Towards the end he was on the committee for Energy and Natural Resources - would this include Atomic Energy Commission / DOE type stuff? Maybe he knew something about nuclear technology transfer? Tie in with North Korea/Iran/Pakistan? I'm just making wild ass guesses - but why now? It might tie in with something that just happened?"

Eliot Abrams (who is son-in-law of NeoCon gurus Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz) has been tapped to be head of President George W. Bush's Global Democracy Strategy. Abrams worked for Scoop Jackson. I wonder what might be lurking in Scoop's drawers that Abrams might have to hide?

Please understand these are only out-loud thoughts, but I can't help but wonder how we American citizens can go on with our everyday lives and not care that, deep within our White House, lies the seed of misguided idealism sprouted by those who have been accused of espionage. Worse yet, this cult has gotten us into an unnecessary war and is clearly still favored by our President.

Allow me to say that this could have something to do with the Hanford nuclear site in eastern Washington state. A Seattle newspaper had an advance story on the archive search'n purge.

Still, I suspect our government of assisting an ascending NeoCon to erase his past with another stained NeoCon who's about to walk the plank. Perhaps some of those documents will simply have to disappear.

_________________

"First and foremost, we must bring down the terror regimes, beginning with the Big Three: Iran, Iraq, and Syria. And then we have to come to grips with Saudi Arabia. … Once the tyrants in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia have been brought down, we will remain engaged. …We have to ensure the fulfillment of the democratic revolution. … Stability is an unworthy American mission, and a misleading concept to boot. We do not want stability in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and even Saudi Arabia; we want things to change. The real issue is not whether, but how to destabilize."

The NeoCon creed. You can look at up on Google and see which one said it. They're all alike. Either they're incredibly naive, or they're out for endless war. You decide.

And remember, it's your kids who will go to this war-without-end and die for these ideal-zealots. Come on, America. Your own child's blood must be worth at least the small amount of time it would take for you to look into this.

Try stepping away from Reality TV for a few moments.

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

In the LA Times today, from a story titled
"No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players-Netizen's late-night post questioning CBS claims about Bush's service spreads at warp speed.":

"It was amazing Thursday to watch the documents story go from FreeRepublic.com, a bastion of right-wing lunacy, to Drudge to the mainstream media in less than 12 hours. That's not to say the documents didn't deserve examination. But apparently the entire thing was cooked up by a couple of amateurs on Free Republic. The speed with which it moved was breathtaking."

--Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent Democratic groups opposed to Bush

When we speak of the right wing "conspiracy", we can clearly see it's no conspiracy at all. As a matter of fact, mainstream media plays directly into the steamroller we tend to mislabel as the "right wing conspiracy".

Last week when the CBS forgery story was sprung, I visited one of my favorite blogs called The Moderate Voice, which is written by veteran journalist Joe Gandelman. (Joe also writes for Dean's World).

Joe had quoted the NY Post's house-neocon John Podhoretz as saying:

"THE populist revolution against the so-called mainstream media continues. Yesterday, the citizen journalists who produce blogs on the Internet — and their engaged readers — engaged in the wholesale exposure of what appears to be a presidential-year dirty trick against George W. Bush."

My thoughts at the time were:

I think he's mainly talking about the infamous squeaky wheel known as Matt Drudge (who gets his "tips" from God-knows where, but it's surely steeped in rightwing poop).

While I do not begrudge Drudge (bad pun intended), I think the marvelous "populist revolution" of which Podhoretz speaks is not worth much more than the gossip-mill that spits it out.
Drudge is the new Paul Revere, except he runs through the wires screaming "The lefties are coming! The lefties are coming!"

The thing that is most troubling is the emphasis and weight placed on Drudge's gossip-train by our mainstream media.

How low have we sunk in American journalism?
Have our journalists become as incurious as Bush himself?

This chain-of-events is all too familiar.
The left dares to speak out against King George.
Suddenly, a major story pops up on the Drudge report and it's suddenly scandal!

Key word: "suddenly".

Mainstream media, in their race to keep up with the gossip train, falls incredibly short of fairness, balance, and truth.
For instance, ask yourself why this forgery story is on the front pages instead of the real issues facing America at this moment?
Perhaps it's a story as old as time. Sensationalism sells.
Sensationalism isn't going to unite America, though. Nor will it create an opportunity for Americans to make serious choices.
The only "revolution" I see is the right getting one step closer to making America a nation ruled by one party.
Ben Franklin would spin in his grave like chicken rotisserie if he could hear Podhoretz ramble on.

My point?
Until the mainstream media learns it cannot compete with gossip generated by bloggers, they will be considered just another arm of the right wing.

The mainstream media cheapens America. Journalists and editors all over America serve to dumb down the public by allowing the right wing mouth-machine to hijack the great American discussion.

David Broder recently wrote about the fact that neither Bush nor Kerry are presenting a vision of the future in this presidential campaign of distortion. It has been nearly impossible for John Kerry to talk about America's future when the Bush campaign, the right wing mouth-machine, and the mainstream media facilitate a tornado of diversion.

Outside of narrow talking points, I have not seen the mainstream television media give voice to Kerry or Edwards' bigger ideas. It's as if the executives of mainstream media are intentionally and heavy-handedly keeping those ideas from reaching Americans.

The devil is in the details, in this particular case- a "th" on a typewriter. How easily Americans are being distracted from the most serious issues they've ever faced by the media's hyperfocus on Dan Rather.

Newsmax, a right wing media haven, is saying today in their headlines that the CBS flap will be the factor that causes Kerry to lose the November election.

If an election is lost upon the predication that there's a dubious chance that a document may be fake as opposed to a President's lies being responsible for sending over 1000 troops to unnecessary death, then God help America.

I am happy to say that I am a blogger who speaks to the bigger picture and the realistic issues, and I always will. If visionary bloggers never get a second glance from the LA Times or the NY Post, it's their loss. Suffering from a cultural attention-deficit-disorder as we do, believe it's also America's loss.

To date, Syracuse.com has been the only mainstream media outlet who has appreciated some of my thoughts. I am grateful to them for the opportunity to get my message out.

If anyone is asking "Where is the 'Drudge' of moderate-to-left America?", my answer is the same as yours. The mainstream media loves Drudge. They've loved him since the Clinton scandal.

In the words of James Wolcott:

Unlike Bush, Kerry can't delegate his aggression to Cheney, Fox News, and a yapping band of attack poodles; the Democratic party doesn't have that same threshing infrastructure. He has to go it almost alone and run the risk of being too forceful and coming across as "unlikeable" in the eyes of gardening clubs like The Capital Gang. Pundits prefer their Democrats soft and emasculated, it makes them so much easier to fillet.

I know there are serious and intelligent voices out there. So does the mainstream media. It's obvious that they don't care. They've been Drudged-down and they're taking American trust down the toilet of mainstream journalism along with them.

I thank the LA Times and Peter Wallsten for this story. I think they've done a good job of telling it like it is. They remain one of my favorites for their fine writing and editorial staff.

A Moral Course? NeoCons Willing to Overlook Terror

A Moral Course?
NeoCons Are Willing to
Overlook Terror

At TomPaine.com, Robert Dreyfuss details an incredibly hypocritical statement from semi-retired NeoCon Richard Pipes and a Guardian article pointing to the "American Committee for Peace in Chechnya" (ACPC), whose members include Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Midge Decter, Frank Gaffney, Bruce Jackson, Michael Ledeen, James Woolsey, etc.

In both articles, we see Bush's Manichaean war of great moral consistency fall flat as a pancake.

In their rush to do as much damage as they can to Russia, these NeoCons are perfectly willing to look past the terror that killed hundreds of Beslan's babies last week. They're the blame-Russia-first crowd.

While it is a worthy cause to support liberty for the decent people of Chechnya, it is politically devastating to Bush's moral cause to use a double standard. After the past week's terror attacks on Russia, we can no longer look past the fact that their innocent people are being targeted by the same terror that is being practiced throughout the Middle East.

If we are Americans are a truly moral people, we will stand behind Putin in his time of weakness rather than proclaiming to the world that we wish to beat him down to nothing as everyday Russian citizens face the fiery trials of terror.

That would make us the most immoral poopyheads in the world.
That may be what the NeoCons want to be, but I don't think they are working in America's best interest, anyhow.

Allow me to say it loud and clear.
They are working in Israel's best interests.

We need to get them the hell out of OUR White House.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Wolcott's new blog is a joy to read.
I'm so glad he's become a blogger:

"Podhoretz and his fellow neocons will not be satisfied until there are as many world wars as Police Academy sequels."

Mr. Wolcott's witty commentary on American culture and a Canadian NeoCon who plots wars for those tacky U.S. hominids:

"[David]Frum, Canadian, has little understanding of the manicured grasp [Kitty]Kelley has on the sordid imagination of America. He has spent too much time with his coauthor Richard Perle plotting to grease America into neverending war to understand what a destructive dynamo in a bouffant is Ms. Kelley.

A Good Article on the Political Effects of Temporary Upswing in Economy


Bottom line, it's mostly about public perception.
People are easily swayed to believe all is suddenly rosy wth our economy.
Most people do not have a good understanding of the economy and rely upon Greenspan, Buffet,
brokers and talking CNBC heads to drive their opinions.
I heard Ron Brownstein on CNN yesterday chatting manically about the latest news as if we hadn't lost
2.7 million jobs in the last two years and that the news of 126,000 jobs (mostly McJob quality) was the ticket for a Bush reelection in 2004. (That's 126,000 jobs nation-wide..there are 50 states..58 counties in California alone..average out 126,000 jobs amongst 50 states and then by county).
Brownstein's a professional...he should know better than to mislead CNN viewers.
How disappointing.

Most people do not understand what this huge defecit will eventually mean for them personally if we do not turn things around.

From the article:

"...The train wreck that has been arranged for the day when the government's ravenous appetite for IOUs to finance unheard of red ink collides with both the capital needs of a recovering economy and the huge cost of my generation's impending retirement will come after next year's election. It will come, but deficits do not matter politically the way they mattered in 1992 when they were an obvious factor in the stagnation that hurt Bush's dad.."

"...There is not going to be a repeat of the third quarter performance. The latest round of tax cuts has been mostly spent, imports will go back up, there is a much smaller volume of mortgage refinancing to provide extra cash, and states and localities have only just begun slashing services and jobs.

Nonetheless there has been an unprecedented amount of budgetary and monetary stimulus applied to the US economy over the last 30 months and at some point it is going to respond. The political question is partly how much, but it also involves whether the output recovery is perceived by people as actually improving their standard of living.

For the perception question to be answered favorably for Bush, there have to be a lot more jobs producing more after-tax, after-inflation income for people who live off their paychecks and pension checks..."

~~~~~~~~

Another note on the subject.

Check out the headline:

DISASTER FOR DEMS
By JOHN PODHORETZ
NY Post

I would imagine "Great News for Americans" would be a healthy title...even though I don't
agree that the news is all that great.
I don't believe that Podhoretz considers Democrats to be "American".

There was a word I used to like to use as a kid to describe the attitude of people like those at the NY Post..
the word was "skeevy".

I looked the word up..it was actually in the dictionary.
It said:

Skeevy:
Adjective; Personal attributes that may arouse nausea an another.

Used in a sentence: "From a distance he's suave and debonair; but when he gets close, you can see he's all skeevy with his greasy hair, unshaven face, and mix of body odor and cheap cologne."

I suppose that sums up the way I view the NY Post. The cover looks inviting,
but when you get close, they're pretty skeevy.

Here's the line Skeevy Podhoetz used to end his ninth-grade-reading-level column:

"That's pretty impressive, even before you think about the 7.2 percent growth figure. The dark lining in this silver cloud is, of course, the loss of 2 million jobs - but that will be ending. Even if growth slows down to a less sizzling pace of 4 percent or so, there will be sustained job creation throughout 2004.
And if that does happen, it's almost a certainty that one person will be keeping his job: George W. Bush"

Wait until growth comes down to a fizzling pace.

I shake my head increduously and wonder how people can be so gullible.