OpEdNews - Diary: Gonzales Taps BUSH SUPPORTERS to Fill US Attorney Vacancies

The nine recent appointees identified by McClatchy Newspapers held high-level White House or Justice Department jobs, and most of them were handpicked by Gonzales under a little-noticed, provision (translate: Congress not doing their job, ) of the Patriot Act that became law in March.

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> NOTE from Diane: Check out the 2 to 1 ratio of Republican over Democrat guests on this morning's talk shows. -- There's nothing like hitting the nail squarely on the thumb, is there? Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org FOCUS | Gonzales Taps Bush Supporters to Fill US Attorney Vacancies http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707Y.shtml

Flag design: http://truth_to_power2006@yahoo.com Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is transforming the ranks of the nation's top federal prosecutors by firing some and appointing conservative loyalists from the Bush administration's inner circle who critics say are unlikely to buck Washington. The nine recent appointees identified by McClatchy Newspapers held high-level White House or Justice Department jobs, and most of them were handpicked by Gonzales under a little-noticed provision of the Patriot Act that became law in March. --- President's Actions Could Lead to Impeachment http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707G.shtml Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) accused the White House of mounting a media blitz to prepare the US public for an eventual attack on Iran. "The White House is up to its old tricks again: Providing information by anonymous sources and portraying Iran as an aggressor in Iraq," Kucinich said. --- Robert Parry | Who's Helping the Terrorists? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707F.shtml Robert Parry writes: "Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Liz was given prime space on the Washington Post's Op-Ed page to question the wisdom and the patriotism of Americans who disagree with George W. Bush's long war against Muslim militants. To Liz Cheney, who surely qualified on merit for her former job as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, there's only one option - to stay the course in Iraq and to remain firmly in line behind President Bush." --- Dems May Try to Revise Authority House Gave Bush on Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707B.shtml Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the House majority leader, said Friday that Congress might consider legislation revising the authorization it gave President Bush in 2002 to use military force in Iraq. --- Chris Floyd | Radar Love: Robbing the Cradle to Pay War Profiteers http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707D.shtml Another day, yet another scandal involving the saintly Tony Blair and highly connected Anglo-American arms peddlers. The British prime minister, who, like George W. Bush, has made his sleeve-worn Christianity a major component of his political persona, is knee-deep in a corruption probe once again, just weeks after peremptorily quashing an official investigation into bribes, kickbacks and influence-peddling allegations involving his government, his corporate cronies and the Saudi royals. --- Tom Engelhardt | The Forgotten American Dead http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707C.shtml "Just over 3,000 Americans have died in Iraq. If the US population is 300 million, then that's just 0.001% of it. Add into this the fact that the American dead come disproportionately from the most forgotten, least attended to parts of our country, from places that often have lost their job bases. Given that we have an all-volunteer military (so that not even the threat of a draft touches other young Americans), you could certainly say that the President's war in Iraq - and its harm - has been disproportionately felt. No wonder it's been easy for so many Americans to ignore such a catastrophic war," says Tom Engelhardt. --- FOCUS | Karl Rove Subpoenaed to Testify in CIA Leak Trial http://snipurl.com/18i4y _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net Israeli Knesset passes law to revoke citizenship of 'unpatriotic' Israelis Wednesday January 10, 2007 23:12 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - 1 of IMEMC Editorial Group http://saed@imemc.org A new law passed Wednesday will allow the Israeli government to revoke the citizenship of citizens considered unpatriotic to the Jewish state of Israel. The law is expected to be applied especially to the 20% of Israeli citizens who are of Palestinian origin. Passage of the controversial law comes just as a torrent of criticism was launched by Knesset member Ahmed Tibi against the Knesset for alleged discrimination against its Arab members. Tibi accused the Knesset of discriminatory practices, in which Arab members are required to ask permission, even to use the bathroom, while Jewish members of the Knesset are not. The new law, passed despite a recommendation against it by the Israeli Attorney General, allows for the deportation and revocation of citizenship of Israelis for a wide range of offenses, including "visiting enemy nations" and "encouraging terror against Israel", with the latter being so open to interpretation that many Palestinians with Israeli citizenship fear that simply being Palestinian will be reason enough for Israeli officials to revoke their citizenship.The Israeli Attorney General called the law, "a drastic and extreme move that harms civil liberties." He also stated that the new law violates international law. http://www.imemc.org/article/46504 ----- ZNet: Herman & Peterson: Setting Up the Next U.S.-Israeli Target | Iran "These media failures are closely related to the power of the pro-Israel Lobby in the United States, which has paralyzed the Democratic Party and made it into an ally of Bush administration hardliners pushing for an attack on Iran. Israeli leaders want a war with Iran, preferably with the United States doing the fighting, and this translates into Lobby pressures and hence Democratic leaders jumping on the war bandwagon, often trying to outdo the Republicans." [An excellent article which leaves one with the feeling that an attack on Iran is inevitable. Given the current anti-Bush climate on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, however, I think that it will be Israel who will launch the attack, if there is one, because it would be loudly applauded and 'understood' by both parties and both whorehouses of Congress, whereas they would be obliged to criticize Bush if he were to launch it on the heels of his unpopular ziocon scripted escalation in Iraq. If Israel does it, they will clap like trained seals when Bush formally announces that "US forces have joined those of Israel to prevent a second Holocaust," when Iran fires back. - JB] ZNet | Iran

Hegemony and Appeasement: Setting Up the Next U.S.-Israeli Target (Iran) For Another "Supreme International Crime" 1 (Kafka Era Studies Number 4) by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson ; January 27, 2007 Excerpt: The ease with which a supposedly independent media in a supposedly democratic society like the United States can demonize enemies and convert third- and fourth-rate official targets into major threats is almost beyond belief. And the collective amnesia of the establishment media enables them to do the same thing over and over again; they never learn, and most important never have to learn, because the collective amnesia they help instill in the society protects them against correction-an unending series of victories over memory in the exercise of "reality-control" (Orwell). This enables the media to serve as de facto propaganda agents of their state while still claiming to be independent watchdogs. Less than three years ago, in 2004, the New York Times and Washington Post were hardly alone in offering partial mea culpas for having swallowed and regurgitated Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell-Rice lies about Saddam Hussein's menacing weapons of mass destruction (WMD),2 thereby making a major contribution to the criminal and costly quagmire they now bemoan (but, along with Bush, still declining to urge any quick exit or meaningful withdrawal.) And yet they had barely gotten out their apologies before they eagerly climbed aboard the Bush-Cheney-Rice-Olmert bandwagon on the Iran menace and urgent need to do something about that grave threat. Full article: http://snipurl.com/18jg8 ----- Herzliya Conference: In a word: Iran ... Haviv Rettig, THE JERUSALEM POST If there is an attack on Iran, will those same folks who insist that the war in Iraq is not for Israel, say that the war on Iran is not for Israel, as well? - JB >> "If this year's Herzliya Conference is any indication, the Israeli establishment, though reeling from one political scandal to another, has only one thing on its mind: Iran." http://snipurl.com/18i5e ----- Lantos Promises New Message For Iraq "I asked Congressman Lantos how his committee will be different from the previous one. He said it will be radically more engaged in America's foreign policy." At best, this is an example of sloppy journalism. Lantos was one of the major hawks for the invasion of Iraq as he was for the attack on Iraq in 1991. And, of course, the pro-Israel Congress has been extremely active and influential in shaping US policies towards the Israel-Palestine conflict, as well as the entire region for years. Lantos also has been of the leading hawks towards both Syria and Iran, but in this interview in his home area of San Francisco he is given a free ride, and not only by the media but by the 'leadership' of the 'anti-war movement' as well. Lantos, as the Jerusalem Post has reported, has also served as a diplomatic representative for Israel in countries with Israel has no formal diplomatic relations. His 'history' as a holocaust survivor has evolved over the years and it is only in recent years that he has claimed to have been a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance in Hungary, which conflicts with his story that he was given a Swedish passport and a safe place to live by Raoul Wallenberg, but telling the truth has never been Lantos' strong suit. He was the instigator of the phony incubator story which was the issue that ended getting Congress to approve the 1991 attack on Iraq instead of using diplomacy to get Iraqi troops to withdraw from Iraq - JB. >> http://snipurl.com/18jfd Lantos Promises New Message For Iraq ... Heads House Foreign Affairs Committee KGO By Mark Matthews http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=bios&id=3281989 ----- Is There A Kosher Way to Criticize the Israel Lobby? http://snipurl.com/18i6e _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://onlinejournal.com "Congressional approval" and other Democratic Party deceptions By Larry Chin | Online Journal Contributing Writer Washington's top Democrats, led by House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, issued a "warning" to President Bush "not to start a war with Iran without the approval of Congress." http://snipurl.com/18i7n --- Criticisms of Jimmy Carter and Pacifica Forum have tragic parallels By George Beres | Online Journal Guest Writer When conflict arises -- be it in Eugene, Ore., or in Plains, Ga.-- hopes for easing it depend on understanding and a willingness to listen. The link between the two communities grows when anger over alleged anti-Semitism of Eugene's Pacifica Forum at the University of Oregon finds a parallel in criticism leveled at the most famous citizen of Plains, former president, Jimmy Carter. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1663.shtml --- Looking for a Gulf of Tonkin-like iincident By Rodrigue Tremblay | Online Journal Guest Writer Obviously, President George W. Bush is busily looking for a Gulf of Tonkin-like incident in order to further escalate the war in Iraq and to start a fresh one with Iran. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1662.shtml --- Do new Ohio recount prosecutions indicate unraveling of 2004 election theft cover-up? ... By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman | Online Journal Guest Writers Three criminal prosecutions in Ohio's biggest county have opened with strong indications that the cover-up of the theft of the 2004 presidential election is starting to unravel. Prosecutors say these cases involve "rigging" the recount in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), where tens of thousands of votes were shifted from John Kerry to George W. Bush, or else never counted. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1661.shtml _________________________________

The Moon is a Harsh Witness ... NASA Science News In this story, planetary geologist Paul Spudis discusses some of the mysteries of Earth that might be solved by returning to the Moon. FULL STORY at http://snipurl.com/18i7s Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml! _________________________________ * http://www.nature.com * http://www.sacredcow.com * http://www.kurtnimmo.com _________________________________ * Please write your Representative to let them know how you feel about the US support for colonization and occupation in Iraq and Palestine (House and Senate): http://www.house.gov/writerep/ & Senate: http://snipurl.com/ze9 _________________________________ *********** Are you a scholar? ************ Google has lofty goals. The search giant's mission is to index all the information in the world. It's done a good job of indexing Web sites and information on your computer. And its mapping software even makes it easy to find physical locations. But what about scholarly information? Well, Google has a site dedicated specifically to academic work. Just type in a search phrase. You'll find articles, criticism and entire books on the subject. This site is great for students and teachers. In most cases, you can read the articles online. But, if the actual text isn't in Google's index, you'll find links to help you track down the work at your local library. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://scholar.google.com 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 Type 2 Diabetes Erases 15 Years From Your Life - If you live in the U.S., one in four of you reading this have a diabetic condition and one in three of you don't even know it. Why is this important? Because by avoiding this easily treatable disease you are knocking 15 years from your lifespan. http://snipurl.com/18gu2 ----- Debate About Dangers of High-Fructose Corn Syrup - Why are top nutritional scientists having second thoughts on how dangerous this highly processed sugar is? http://snipurl.com/18gu3 ----- How to Petition Your Angels, Part III - You can easily call upon the powers of angels to help you create a beautiful, prosperous life. http://snipurl.com/18gu6 _________________________________ VIDEO: Edarotag ((( Warning Mature Content / Mature Language ))) 11:23 Bill is unwillingly dragged out to a club by his eccentric friend, Arbol, to help take his mind off his recent break-up. Bill quickly learns that this is no ordinary club. http://www.pawky.com/video/40C1D7FAB8E3 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ Submitted by: http://eddiestinson@gmail.com

A George Carlin New Rule for 2007 Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done. _________________________________ Link to: http://Diane's News Clips http://www.opednews.com/author/author2300.html?entry=diary