OpEdNews - Diary: David Swanson | Part 1: BUSH'S ESCALATION SPEECH

"David Swanson writes: "Idiots don't offend me as much as smart people following idiots do. The Washington Post printed Bush's speech for those who missed it, and then printed some analysis of it. But the analysis was provided by the White House,..."

::::::::

DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org David Swanson | Part 1: BUSH'S ESCALATION SPEECH http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607C.shtml David Swanson writes: "Idiots don't offend me as much as smart people following idiots do. The Washington Post printed Bush's speech for those who missed it, and then printed some analysis of it. But the analysis was provided by the White House, which published a glossy brochure that so-called reporters could plagiarize." --- George Lakoff | Framing, Death, and Democracy http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607F.shtml "The first duty of Congress is to be Congress, to provide a check on the executive through the power to hold hearings, write legislation, and tighten the purse strings," writes George Lakoff. "The central issue raised by the president's speech last Wednesday is not whether Iraq will have a democracy, but whether we will." --- Chris Hedges | War of Shadows http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607E.shtml Chris Hedges writes: "The plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq will be accompanied by a subtle but disastrous change in the way the war is fought - a change that will almost assuredly increase the monthly tallies of American dead and wounded." --- Iraq Edges Closer to Iran, With or Without the US http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607L.shtml The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even as the United States turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military forces to confront Tehran's influence in Iraq. --- Jason Leopold | Previewing Fitzgerald's Case Against Libby http://snipurl.com/17mmk --- Chris Floyd | Medical Breakthrough Could Change Global Politics http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011607HA.shtml Chris Floyd writes: "A quiet announcement at London's Hammersmith Hospital at the turning of the new year heralded a breakthrough that has the potential to be one of the most transformative developments ever seen in global affairs: a positive change on a par with - or even surpassing - the world-altering malignancies of war, greed and strife. But this boon could be strangled in its cradle by the vast corporate interests threatened by its radical new approach to both health care and business." --- Edwards Echoes King's Anti-War Message http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607K.shtml [snip] ... "Silence is betrayal, and I believe it is a betrayal not to speak out against the escalation of the war in Iraq," Edwards said to a sustained standing ovation. --- An Experiment and a Protest in Shantytown for Homeless http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607P.shtml With 16 huts cobbled together from plywood, discarded closet doors and cardboard, Umoja is a shantytown in the shadow of the biggest construction boom Miami has seen since the 1920s. Started in October by an advocate for low-income housing, it is part social protest and part social experiment, with nightly meetings where decisions on whether to evict people or how to split up chores are determined by consensus. --- Iran Gets Army Gear in Pentagon Sale http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607B.shtml --- Colorado GOP Senator Allard to Retire http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011607M.shtml Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) announced today he will not seek a third term in the Senate, setting up a high-profile race to replace him next year. --- Unlikely Allies Advocate Healthcare Overhaul http://snipurl.com/17mmw --- Steve Hammons | Vietnam, Iraq, Calls for Impeachment http://tinyurl.com/2qe6s4 --- William Fisher | In Praise of Professor Dreyfuss http://snipurl.com/17o5i --- Cutbacks Impede Climate Studies http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011607EB.shtml --- Banks Are Urged Not to Finance Coal Power http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011607EC.shtml A new front in the fight to slow down global warming follows trails of money, not wisps of polluting chemicals, straight to the doorsteps of banks. A coalition of environmental groups, including Boston-based Ceres, is demanding that banks reject loan requests for projects that emit high rates of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. --- Iraq: Disease Alert After Sewage System Collapses http://snipurl.com/17o5s --- 51 Percent of Women Are Living Without Spouse http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011607WA.shtml For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results. _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net WHITE HOUSE: CAN'T RULE OUT ATTACK ON IRAN

Stephen "Yellowcake" Hadley - this is the same guy who put the false "yellowcake uranium" claim in Bush's 2003 State of the Union Speech. What does it take to get fired from the Bush administration? Disagree with Zog policy? http://www.corvuswire.com/hadley.htm + http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/150107attack.htm ----- Condi "The Liar" Rice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJIQz0ncRfc _________________________________ [NEWSDISSECTOR] Measuring the "Gratitude" Level Written and Produced by Danny Schechter [snip] TICK ,TICK, TICK The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) will move the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" on January 17, 2007, the first such change to the Clock since February 2002. The major new step reflects growing concerns about a "Second Nuclear Age" marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing "launch-ready" status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks. SCREWING UP IRAQ | MOVING IN ON IRAN | DISCUSSING MEDIA REFORM CONF Well, well, well, funny isn't it that no sooner than President Bush announces the sending of more troops, he's out there provoking the Iranians in Iraq by arresting diplomats (Remember that many of the top anti-Saddam Shia leaders took refuge in Iran) and then is unable to get the Iraqis to buy into his new "plan" or should we say, facade because that's what it is. http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2007/01/16/measuring-the-gratitute-level/ _________________________________ BUSH BUMPER STICKER: 2004: Embarrassed 2005: Horrified 2006: Terrified _________________________________ The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed ... By Craig Unger http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060706N.shtml The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. As much of Washington knew, and the world soon learned, the charge was false. Worse, it appears to have been the cornerstone of a highly successful "black propaganda" campaign with links to the White House. _________________________________ Rice says Bush authorized raid on Iranians in Iraq: report Recent US raids against Iranian interests in Iraq were conducted under an order from President George W. Bush authorizing a military offensive against Iranian operatives in the country, The New York Times has reported, citing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. .......................snip....................... Until now, despite a series of raids in which Iranians have been seized by American forces in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq, administration officials have declined to say whether Bush ordered such actions, the paper said. Administration officials now describe Iran as the single greatest threat the United States faces in the Middle East, though some administration critics regard the talk about Iran as a diversion, one intended to shift attention away from the spiraling chaos in Iraq, the report said. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070113/1/45y4z.html _________________________________ http://www.antiwar.com Why Are We In Iraq? The invasion not only killed innocents and decimated the country, it also empowered tyrants so why are we still there? ......................snip..................... [snip] ... Iraqis had to die in this bitter war, and the answer is: to install sharia law in southern Iraq and deliver the country over to parties for whom the Ayatollah Khomeini is a hero. As the Post reports: "Since the formation of a government this spring, Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, has witnessed dozens of assassinations, which claimed members of the former ruling Ba'ath Party, Sunni political leaders, and officials of competing Shi'ite parties. Many have been carried out by uniformed men in police vehicles, according to political leaders and families of the victims, with some of the bullet-riddled bodies dumped at night in a trash-strewn parcel known as The Lot. The province's governor said in an interview that Shi'ite militias have penetrated the police force; an Iraqi official estimated that as many as 90 percent of officers were loyal to religious parties." The death of journalist Steven Vincent, the war supporter killed by Basra Shi'ite militiamen who have taken over the Basra police, brought the ugly reality of what U.S. intervention has wrought home to all but the most ideologically blinded of the Busheviks. Southern Iraq has become, in effect, Little Iran a result foreseen in this space years ago. Another consequence has been the unleashing of the Kurds, whose pro-U.S. stance belies their brutishness when it comes to dealing with those they perceive as political opponents: "Across northern Iraq, Kurdish parties have employed a previously undisclosed network of at least five detention facilities to incarcerate hundreds of Sunni Arabs, Turkmens, and other minorities abducted and secretly transferred from Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and from territories stretching to the Iranian border, according to political leaders and detainees' families. Nominally under the authority of the U.S.-backed Iraqi army, the militias have beaten up and threatened government officials and political leaders deemed to be working against Kurdish interests; one bloodied official was paraded through a town in a pickup truck, witnesses said." Read more >> http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7034 _________________________________ Note from Diane: MSNBC's Show, Hardball Even though I've heard most of it before, occasionally I'd appreciate hearing the end of what a guest, as opposed to the end of EVERYTHING Chris Matthews has to say over and above EVERY s i n g l e guest -- is immensely boring. 'Talk about a love affair with yourself ... Matthew's I's are way too close together. We're so brainwashed into accepting Bushwellian "War Is Peace," "Hate Is Love," "Freedom Is Slavery," so on, rage-radio, what's a little rudeness? No big deal, right? _________________________________ Missed? Dept By Timothy V. Gatto The Strangest Story I've EVER Written This is the oddest post I've ever written. I'm sure that some people know more than they are telling about what could be the biggest story of the century! http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_timothy__070115_the_strangest_story_.htm --- By Jane Stillwater Fashion Statements: Pink Is The New Black -- And Iraq Is The New Base Camp Bush and Cheney are at it again. First we had the Gulf War, using Saudi Arabia as a base camp. Then we had the War on Iraq, using Kuwait as a base camp. Guess what happens next? Iraq is now the new base camp for the attack on Iran. And guess what else? Pink is NOT the new black. We've been duped again. http://tinyurl.com/y5k4ou --- By By Glenn Ashton Flawed Science - Cloned Resistance To Mad Cow The article "Breeding breakthrough produces mad cow resistant cattle" reporting that scientists have genetically engineered cows to render them immune to mad cow disease - or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - notably overlooked the blindingly obvious. It has been clearly demonstrated that the most likely way that cows got BSE in the first place is from insane farming practices such as feeding sheep and cows to cows. http://snipurl.com/15p2o _________________________________ Idling Gets You Nowhere -- Excerpt: "... many people believe that idling is necessary or even beneficial-a false perception that has carried over from the 1970s and 1980s, when engines needed time to warm up (especially in colder temperatures). Fuel-injection vehicles, which have been the norm since the mid-1980s, can be restarted frequently without engine damage and need no more than 30 seconds to warm up even on winter days." Read more >> http://snipurl.com/17oab _________________________________ http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com | http://www.cursor.org/stories/binladenforgotten.htm _________________________________ AN EYE IN SPACE When my work takes its toll, I enjoy a short space trip. I especially like Hubble Site, which is dedicated to the Hubble Telescope. This site is a one-stop source for all things Hubble. It is hard to know where to start. You'll find photos, news, games, information and more. I found instructions on making a handheld Hubble. With a printer and craft supplies, you can make a realistic model. I'm sure Ian and I can have fun making one together. The only danger you will encounter is spending too much time on this site. I had a hard time breaking myself away from the videos. Before you return to earth, take a souvenir. A new wallpaper image is available to download every week. Each image features a detailed photo taken from the Hubble Telescope. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://hubblesite.org Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS How You Can Easily Speed Up Loading PDF Files - Ever wondered why Adobe http://snipurl.com/17hh5Acrobat Reader takes so long to load? Here's the solution. ----- Release Stressful Energy and Free Yourself of Your Money Worries - Stressful thoughts and attitudes about money can create negative energy and back trouble, but you can relieve it with this simple tip. http://snipurl.com/17hh1 ----- Hidden Costs of Ethanol Fuel: Not What it's Cracked Up to Be - Ethanol fuel may sound like a good idea, but wait until you hear why Illinois and Iowa water scientists are concerned. http://snipurl.com/17hh7 _________________________________ VIDEO: Rihanna :A Girl Like Me :'Unfaithful' t/e: 4:54 http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=2&pmmsid=1644234 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ The Brain - is wider than the Sky - For - put them side by side - The one the other will contain With ease - and You - beside.... The Brain is just the weight of God - For - Heft them - Pound for Pound - And they will differ - if they do - As Syllable from Sound. ~ Emily Dickinson _________________________________ Link to: Diane's News Clips http://www.opednews.com/author/author2300.html?entry=diary