July 19, 2007 -- Arthur Blank, Atlanta Falcons owner, has not yet suspended Michael Vick, charged in federal indictment for dog fighting.

Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Home Depot, is under pressure to suspend Falcons' star quarterback Michael Vick, federally indicted for operating a dog fighting operation that involved grotesquely inhumane treatment of dogs. However, Blank has yet to suspend Vick and seems inclined to wait until the resolution of the case against him.

Although Blank appears reluctant at this time to suspend Vick, pressure can be brought to bear on the political recipients of Blank's campaign donations to return the money to Blank (and cut off political access for him) if Vick is not suspended immediately by the Falcons.

During the 2004, 2006, and 2008 campaign cycles, Blank has given generously to four Democratic opponents of former Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney: former Rep. Denise Majette ($2000), Liane Levitan ($2000), Cathy Woolard ($2000), and current Rep. Hank Johnson ($2100).

Other Democrats who have received money from Blank are Georgia Rep. John Lewis ($4200), John Kerry ($2000), John Edwards ($2000), Erskine Bowles ($4000), Rep. Mark Udall ($4100), the Georgia Democratic Federal Elections Committee ($40,000), and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ($19,500)

Other recipients of Blank's money include Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman ($4200), Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ($2100), and Georgia Republican Senator Johnny Isakson ($6000).

July 20-22, 2007 -- U.S. uses fake "Al Qaeda" leader in Iraq

Yet more evidence that the "war in Iraq" is nothing more than a perception management campaign designed to justify a continued U.S. military occupation of the country has surfaced in regard to a supposed "Al Qaeda"-affiliated "Islamic State in Iraq" leader named Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi.

In May, Iraqi government officials claimed al-Baghdadi had been killed in an attack. Other reports said the guerrilla leader had escaped unharmed.

The International Herald Tribune reported yesterday that al-Baghdadi never existed. Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a National Security Council official who was sent to Iraq to oversee the Bush administration's "Wag the Dog"-inspired perception management propaganda campaign, said that al-Baghdadi was a fictional character invented by the rebels to dub audio tapes. Bergner said al-Baghdadi was actually an elderly Iraqi actor named Abu Abdulla al-Naima.

From the con artist named "Curveball" to "Iraqi WMDs" and Saddam being found in a spider hole to the lies proffered by scam artist Ahmad Chalabi and his neocon and feather merchant friends in the United States, the entire Iraq war has been nothing more than a string of lies concocted by perception managers and offered up to a hungry corporate media.

July 19, 2007 -- Bush amassing dictatorial powers in his "Unitary Executive"

On May 15, 2007, President Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 51/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20, which authorized the dispersal of "leadership, staff, and infrastructure" across the country in the event of a "decapitating" terrorist attack in Washington, DC.

With a single stroke, Bush took the powers usually assigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for continuity of operations planning and shifted them to the White House. Essentially, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney now command a secret government that is ready to assume total executive, legislative, and judicial powers upon the declaration of a national emergency.

Neither Congress nor the courts were consulted before this omnibus order was signed by Bush.

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