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Monday, June 9, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
- - Thomas Paine
JUNE 9th IN HISTORY:
1983 -- Poland: Following General Jaruzelski's declaration of martial law, aimed at suppressing independent labor union activity, people in the city of Lodz demonstrate their disgust for the lies propagated by the official government television news by taking a daily promenade timed to coincide exactly with the broadcast, wearing their hats backwards. Soon, much of the town has joined them. When the authorities shift the hours of the Lodz curfew to make protest illegal, residents take their televisions to the window at precisely the time the news begins & blast out the newscast at full volume, into empty streets & at the patrolling authorities.
RHINO HERE:
In spite of last weeks FCC vote handing even more power over to the profit minded corporate owned media, it seems there are scandals busting out all over Washington & London. Today's blog provides a sampling of news reports on these tell tale events of the shrub gang's thus far unchecked arrogance.
Unfortunately, even these potentially damning challenges to their power, nor the American & Iraqi lives lost in Iraq, have stopped the gang from moving forward on new war fronts. Case in point: the armed Iranian exile group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), listed as a terrorist organization by the USA & European Union, is being eyed by the shrubies who are suggesting renaming them & providing clandestine help to them to foster regime change in Iran. Future source of political blow back? Not if we force a regime change here at home.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=558876
Pentagon's Intelligence Service Reported No Reliable Evidence of Iraqi Weapons Last September
AP reports: "The Pentagon's intelligence service reported last September that it had no reliable evidence that Iraq had chemical agents in weaponized form, officials said today. The time frame is notable because it coincided with Bush administration efforts to mount a public case for the urgency of disarming Iraq, by force if necessary. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others argued that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical, biological and other weapons and was hiding them."
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/060603_news_intel.shtml
John Dean: Bush Lying about WMD's 'Could Make Watergate Pale by Comparison'
"Krugman is right to suggest a possible comparison to Watergate. In the three decades since Watergate, this is the first potential scandal I have seen that could make Watergate pale by comparison. If the Bush Administration intentionally manipulated or misrepresented intelligence to get Congress to authorize, and the public to support, military action to take control of Iraq, then that would be a monstrous misdeed. As I remarked in an earlier column, this Administration may be due for a scandal. While Bush narrowly escaped being dragged into Enron, which was not, in any event, his doing. But the war in Iraq is all Bush's doing, and it is appropriate that he be held accountable. To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html
Blix Attacks Blair Warnings over Iraqi Weapons
The UK Guardian reports: "Tony Blair suffered a damaging blow yesterday when the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, launched a point-by-point attack on Anglo-American warnings about Iraq's banned weapons. As George Bush promised to 'reveal the truth' about the weapons, Mr Blix criticised Britain for 'jumping to conclusions' that Iraq posed a serious threat to world security. In a valedictory appearance before the UN security council before his retirement this month, Mr Blix said: 'It is not justified to jump to the conclusion that something exists just because it is unaccounted for'... As a UN official, Mr Blix did not name Britain and the US. But there was no doubt who he had in mind when he said there was no evidence that Saddam had continued with his banned weapons programme after the 1991 Gulf war. This contradicted Mr Blair's warning last year that Iraq's banned weapons programme was 'active, detailed and growing'."
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,971577,00.html
DeLay, Tauzin, Shelby & Barton implicated in Congressional Bribery Scandal.
Terry McAuliffe asked the AG, John Ashcroft, on Friday to seize records of leading GOP lawmakers, Tom DeLay, Richard Shelby, Joe Barton & Billy Tauzin regarding Westar Energy's political donations seeking favorable treatment from Congress. The request followed news reports Thursday of Westar Energy's internal documents about campaign donations and the company's desire to get "a seat at the table" of a House-Senate conference committee on the Bush administration's energy plan. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean also urged an investigation of the four members of Congress, saying that if DeLay and other lawmakers did agree to sell political access "they should be prosecuted for violating bribery laws."
Seize GOP Records
Records Inquiry on TexasGate Widens
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau writes: "The controversy about records compiled and destroyed during the hunt for the AWOL House Democrats last month played out on two fronts and in two cities Thursday. In Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety moved to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at stopping any ongoing destruction of documents. Both sides say the record-shredding has stopped, but there is disagreement about whether illegal document destruction ever occurred. In Washington, meanwhile, several Democrats in Congress sought to compel the Department of Homeland Security to release records about its role in the search for the quorum-busting 'Killer D's.' Members of the House Government Reform Committee signed a 'seven member letter' seeking tapes, transcripts and other documents related to the search on May 12 and 13. They said the letter allows them to obtain information not provided to other committees" http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/legislature/6027955.htm
Environmental Groups Seek Special Counsel to Investigate No. 2 Official at Interior Dept.
AP reports: "Environmental and other advocacy groups asked the Justice Department on Tuesday to have a special prosecutor investigate the No. 2 official at the Interior Department, a former lobbyist, to determine if he violated conflict of interest laws or lied to Congress. A former independent counsel called for a criminal investigation. The groups also sued the Bush administration for withholding records about more than $1 million being paid to the official, J. Steven Griles, by his former lobbying firm over a four-year span. The organizations want to know whether Griles made decisions at the Interior Department that helped his former lobbying clients."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Interior-Conflict.html
RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE today is a recent issue of Weasel Tracks, an irregularly published column by the Rhino's Blog reader & infamous investigative journalist known only as "the weasel hunter", whose mission statement reads: "In the interests of public safety, the weasel hunter will follow the weasel, George W. Bush, Jr., his regime, and the path of its coup d'etat with Weasel Tracks, periodic dispatches from the field."
7:42:03 AM 
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RHINOS BOTTOM LINE
BushCo: The Equal Opportunity Un-Employer
-the weasel hunter, Weasel Tracks: Day 839
The Bush administration (let us call it BushCo) can be identified with a reasonable amount of accuracy as a corporation. The Bush people are not politicians, they are former heads of corporations. Their advisors are not politicians, either. Few have ever run for office. They are mostly academicians or former execs at other corporations.
George W. Bush, Jr, the CEO of BushCo was not elected. He was appointed to his position by the U.S. Supreme Court, acting as BushCo's board of directors. It's possible they felt compelled. Several of them were appointed by BushCo's former CEO, George Bush the Kinder, Gentler.
As with any well-run corporation, care has been taken that BushCo's stockholders (the American voters) may bear witness to corporate proceedings, but all major decisions remain in the hands of the firm's executive officers. Gee. Seen through the prism of this corporate metaphor, the war in Iraq might be viewed as a hostile takeover.
What does a corporation do when it takes over another company? It downsizes. Today, BushCo reinforced its corporate image by laying off 500,000 Iraqi workers. According to the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. reconstruction officials will soon hand out pink slips to nearly half a million Iraqi military and civilian personnel..." Reconstruction? http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-econ3jun03,0,1223877.story
What does that mean? According to The Times, "the layoffs will mean the loss of a government paycheck for roughly 1 in 10 Iraqi workers." BushCo promised Iraq democracy. Instead, they got 500,000 layoffs, directly affecting two million Iraqis in a nation of 24 million.
But wait a minute! BushCo promised Americans prosperity, right here at home. Instead, American workers have lost 2.6 million private-sector jobs, reflecting the worst record on job creation of any President in nearly 60 years. In its first term, BushCo may preside over the loss of 5 million jobs.
Democracy. Do you think Iraqi citizens would have voted to have 1 in 10 jobs cut in their nation? Prosperity. Do you think American citizens will vote to have BushCo preside over the loss of 5 million more jobs? Hard to predict. Who knows? Perhaps they will be marginalized in the next election as all good stockholders are.
Iraq. America. Two nations. Two corporate assets. Disconcerting. Perhaps BushCo can take comfort in the fact that it is an equal opportunity UN-employer.
"Outfox him, ferret him out, and hound him 'til he drops."
-the weasel hunter
For comments, suggestions, or to SUBSCRIBE to Weasel Tracks, e-mail weaselhunter@earthlink.net and write SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
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6:34:27 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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