February 4, 2008
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February 18, 2008
February 25, 2008
Recent statements coming from one of Russia's highest-ranking military commanders indicate that America and Israel plan to go ahead with war on Iran despite the release of the National Intelligence Estimate late last year.
Russia's military chief of staff General Yuri Baluyevsky threatened the use of nuclear weapons in case of a major threat. He said that, although they have no plans of attacking anyone, they nevertheless "consider it necessary for everyone around the world community to clearly understand, that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including, preventively, the use of nuclear weapons."
His statements (which can only have been made in concert with the overall policies established by his boss President Vladimir Putin) come a week after George Bush's visit to the Persian Gulf, in which he attempted to rally the nations in that region around U.S. and Israeli plans of "confronting Iran's nuclear program before it is too late."
Baluyevsky's statement, despite the stark and apocalyptic themes pervading it, comes as no surprise. Over the course of the past year, Russia has taken on an increasingly aggressive defensive posture with regard to the West as a result of what it sees as an overall plan of encircling her with NATO forces that threaten her existence.
Russia has resumed long-range bomber patrols (halted with the fall of the Soviet Union), sometimes coming within inches of NATO airspace. She has pulled out of several treaties with the West limiting the size of Russian military forces on Europe's eastern flank. Incensed at the U.S. plan of using new NATO member nations in Eastern Europe as a staging area for missile defense systems (said to be a necessary defense against Iran), Russia has developed and successfully test fired new missiles—both land- and sea-launched. Russia claims they are sophisticated enough to trump any U.S. missile shield.
Beginning in December (after the release of the NIE), Russia began delivering the nuclear fuel supplies promised to Iran according to their agreement. As of this moment, four shipments have been made totaling 45 tons of the estimated 80 tons necessary for the Bushehr facility to begin refinement.
Israel is furious, as evidenced by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's recent meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov where she called the fuel deliveries "inconceivable."
What is of particular importance in General Baluyevsky's statement is his mention of "defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of, not just Russia, but her "allies" as well. Russia has not, as of this moment, signed formal mutual defense agreements with nations such as Iran and Syria.
Both are on Israel and America's list of countries targeted for destruction. Both are important trading partners occupying Russia's peripheries and therefore a first-line defense of Russian territory.
Throughout this nightmare in the Middle East, Russia has demonstrated a sane and rational character. By contrast, Israel and the United States under the administration of George Bush, have been irrational and unpredictable. Iraq and Afghanistan are unmitigated disasters and the fact that neither the U.S. nor Israel has learned from these disasters proves they are dangerous to all nations seen as uncooperative in the drive for U.S. and Israeli world hegemony.
Indeed, Putin recently compared Bush to a "maniac running around threatening everyone with a razor."
A former schoolteacher fluent in several languages, Mark Glenn spoke at the AFP-TBR conference on the Middle East panel. He is a prolific writer whose provocative essays have been published worldwide. He and his wife Vicki and their eight children maintain a ranch in northern Idaho. His book, No Beauty in the Beast, can be ordered from TBR BOOK CLUB (1-877-773-9077) for $28 ppd.
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As if the Middle East was not already armed to the teeth, President Bush on his recent trip to the region agreed to provide additional military aid to Israel and to Arab nations friendly to the U.S.
He even offered the Saudis a gift of U.S. smart bombs and told them they were free to buy $20 billion worth of weapons from U.S. arms manufacturers.
The pretext for the president's generosity, which also included economic aid, was that he wanted to counter Iranian influence. The president first dispensed largesse in Israel where he guaranteed the government there that any weapons he gave its Arab neighbors would not be as technologically advanced as the ones Israel would get.
Israel is the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid and receives billions of dollars annually, some of it earmarked for military spending. Unlike other countries that receive money for weapons, Israel is not expected to spend it with U.S. weapons manufacturers. It uses the money to boost its own large arms industry, which frequently competes with U.S. companies in the global arms market.
In addition to money, the Israeli military regularly gets military hardware, bombs and missiles from the U.S. Israel also borrows heavily from the U.S. and, though it claims that it has never defaulted on those debts, Congress has often written off Israel's debts.
In recent years, Tel Aviv has managed to extract even more money from Washington by complaining that the U.S. has been much too generous to its Arab neighbors, citing Egypt as an example. Egypt gets billions of dollars annually in military and economic aid in return for not opposing the U.S. occupation of Iraq and refusing to side with Iran.
Egypt also refrains from being overly critical of Israel. Economic aid to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars flows yearly into the government coffers in Cairo. In 2007, Egypt and Jordan complained to Washington that Israel was getting four times the combined aid given to six Arab nations in the region. The administration responded by promising the Arabs $20 billion in order to offset the image of Israel being America's spoiled "child" in the Middle East.
Israel learned of the move and angrily demanded an increase in its financial aid package. Washington responded by promising to increase the Israel aid package to $30 billion.
During his trip, President Bush trumpeted the spread of democracy in the Gulf though there was little evidence of it in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. In each of those places, he linked his generosity with his professed strategy that economic aid and guns were essential weapons in his plan to deter Iranian aggression. Some observers remarked that what he was really doing was arming countries that were already bristling with weapons, particularly Israel with its nuclear arsenal and Saudi Arabia, which has been spending a large percentage of its oil wealth on military hardware.
In a move that displeased the Israelis, the president offered the Saudis a gift of $123 million in smart bombs, an offer the Saudis did not turn down. He also promised there would be U.S.-funded upgrades to their navy, air force and early warning detections systems.
At the same time, he sealed the $20 billion arms deal with them. However, he made no mention of the fact that Washington had known for some time that the Saudis were shopping for weapons on the international market and if the Bush White House had not agreed to the deal, American arms manufacturers would have lost out to Russian, French or British competitors.
There was also no reaction from the White House to rumors that Israel had expressed serious concerns about the gift of smart weapons. One report claimed that Israel demanded and got an assurance from the president that when the weapons were handed over to the Saudi military, they would not be positioned within range of Israel's territory. Israel has never been happy about the U.S. supplying any of its Arab neighbors with advanced military hardware but Washington has ignored Israeli objections when they have related to Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon had always taken the view that it is vital to ensure that the Saudis, who are sitting on top of the world's biggest oil reserves, have more than adequate means to defend their territory from a possible attack by Iran.
Some Democrats in Congress, among them Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), were puzzled by the president's gift to the Saudis. Weiner warned that Congress might revisit the issue because the Saudis have not cooperated fully in the war on terror and the majority of 9-11 suicide bombers were Saudis. He neglected to mention that, since the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Pentagon has been secretly pressuring the Saudis to stop funding Sunni insurgents, given that many of them have been involved in attacks on U.S. troops.
Weiner made no reference to a promise to Israel of a 25% increase in military aid for the next decade to give it an added military advantage in the region.
Richard Walker is the nom de plume of a former mainstream news producer who now writes for AFP so he can expose the kinds of subjects that he was forbidden to cover in the controlled press.
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Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), an obstetrician who has delivered more than 4,000 babies, told a rally on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade that the abortion issue is a "moral crisis"
"All life begins at conception," the presidential candidate said as tens of thousands of abortion foes filled the Mall in Washington and listened intently. "You cannot defend liberty without defending life."
Paul's supporters had a large turnout, carrying signs supporting him and opposing abortions. Young men and women were heavily represented among abortion foes.
Since the Roe ruling, "nearly 50 million of our peers have been aborted," said Amanda McClone of National Teens for Life. "They are not just a terrible statistic. They were our brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews. They were our friends and even future spouses."
She called for change that will:
• "Enable young women to boldly choose life for their children regardless of pressure from those who seek their own interests;
• "Empower communities to support women through unplanned pregnancies rather than contribute to the destruction of their children"; and
• "Restore to our nation the basic respect for human life that protects the most vulnerable members of our society."
"It's illegal to kill someone walking down the street, so it should be illegal to kill someone in the womb," said Topher Boehm, 17, of Dallas. "This is the social justice issue of our era, and I want to do something about it."
"I think abortion is wrong," said Michelle Caulder, 17, of Indianapolis.
"People have reasons why they think it's right, but it's wrong all the time." James Lomuscio, 18, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, said the huge turnout was a "testament to all of these people's faith."
"I literally can't see where this crowd begins or ends," he said.
Barbara Faid brought her daughter, Deanna, 14, from Glyndon, Md. "I came here about 20 years ago with my mom, and now I'm here with my daughter," she said. "It's about passing the torch of what our core values are."
Paul Buede, of Keedysville, Md., was marching with his wife and four children, ranging in age from 1 to 10. Andrew, 4, carried a sign that showed a baby's face and the slogan, "Face It: Abortion Kills."
"I'm hoping they grow up with a strong appreciation for life and for the importance of civil disobedience in our society," Buede said.
AFP correspondent James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent many years as a member of the "elite" media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on the scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary: One Man's 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker's experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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Self-styled Republican "reformer" John McCain is right now positioned as one of the top figures in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. But one thing about McCain that the mass media chooses not to report is his family connection to the organized crime-connected interests that have run the state of Arizona (through both major political parties) since at least the 1940s.
To understand McCain - in particular his devotion to the interests of Israel - it is necessary to recognize the little-known fact that the powerful Bronfman family empire, based on its Seagram's liquor fortune and its controlling influence over the Time-Warner media conglomerate, has been the primary behind-the-scenes force dominating Arizona politics.
While the Bronfman family first came to power in Montreal in the 1920s under sam Bronfman, a foremost partner of U.S.-based organized crime chieftain Meyer Lansky whose so-called "Mafia" henchmen peddled Bronfman liquor in the United States during Prohibition, the current head of the family, Edgar Bronfman, spent many years as president of the powerful World Jewish Congress.
The Bronfmans, along with the Rothschilds of Europe, the Oppenheimers of South Africa, and Armand Hammer of the United States - all patrons of Israel and the Global Zionist network - constituted what has been dubbed the "Billionaire Gang of Four." But the Bronfman family has emerged as the virtual royal family of American Zionism, and their tentacles reach far and wide throughout the United States through a vast array of holdings little known to the public.
One particularly famous Texas-based mob functionary, nightclub keeper Jack Ruby, for example, is known to have actually been a lieutenant of the Bronfman family (a point tat has often been lost or suppressed in the legends surrounding ruby's ties to organized crime). And it is known - although again mot mentioned by most JFK assassination "researchers" - that Ruby was a key player in a Texas-based network smuggling arms (stolen from U.S. military installations) to Israel, the Bronfman empire's favorite foreign nation.
Aside from that historical digression, the fact (relevant to our review of John McCain) is that McCain's home state of Arizona has long been under Bronfman control.
While most Americans perceive Arizona as a paradise of cowboys, cacti and wide-open spaces and a conservative stronghold independent of the corruption and intrigue found in the big cities like New York, Miami Chicago and Los Angeles, Arizona ranks right up alongside the great crime capitals. That status can be traced directly to the influence of the Bronfmans.
The Bronfmans are the "godfathers" behind the political career of John McCain.
In 1976 a crusading Phoenix reporter, Don Bolles, was murdered by a car bomb after writing a series of stories exposing the organized crime connections of a wide-ranging number of well-known figures in Arizona, including one Jim Hensley. Five years later "Honest John" McCain arrived in Arizona as the new husband of Hensley's daughter, Cindy. "From the moment McCain landed in Phoenix," according to Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, "the Hensleys were key sponsors of his political career." But the people behind the Hensley fortune are even more controversial.
McCain's late father-in-law was the owner of the biggest Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship in Arizona - one of the largest beer distributors in the nation. But the mainstream media has had nothing to say about the origins of the Hensley fortune that financed McCain's rise to power. The Hensley fortune is a regional offshoot of the big-time bootlegging and rackets empire of the Bronfman dynasty.
McCain's father-in-law got his start as a top henchman for Kemper Marley, who for 40 years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician. In fact, he was also the Lansky crime syndicate's top man in Arizona, the protege of a Lansky lieutenant, Phoenix gambler Gus Greenbaum.
In 1941 Greenbaum had set up the Transamerica Publishing and News Service, which operated a national wire for bookmakers. In 1946 Greenbaum turned over the day-to-day operations to Marley while Greenbaum focused on building up Lansky-run casinos in Las Vegas, commuting there from his home in Phoenix. Greenbaum, in fact, was so integral to the Lansky empire that he was the one who took command of Lansky's Las Vegas interests in 1947 after Lansky ordered the execution of his own longtime friend, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, for skimming mob profits from the new Flamingo casino.
Greenbaum and his wife were murdered in a mob "hit" in 1948, their throats cut. The murder set off a series of gangland wars in Phoenix, but Marley survived and prospered.
During this time Marley was building up a liquor distribution monopoly in Arizona. According to Marley's longtime public relations man, Al Lizanitz, it was the Bronfman family that set Marley up in the liquor business. In 1948, 52 of Marley's employees (including Jim Hensley) went to jail for federal liquor violations - but not Marley.
The story in Arizona is that Hensley took the fall for Marley and, upon his release from prison, Marley paid back Hensley's loyalty by setting him up in the beer distribution business. That beer company today said to be worth $200 million, is what largely financed John McCain's political career. The support from the Bronfman-Marley-Hensley network was integral to McCain's rise to power.
The attorney who handled Hensley's legal defense, forging the deal that set in motion Hensley's windfall (that now benefits McCain), was William Rehnquist, who later became chief justice of the United States, later to be joined on the court by one of his own former girlfriends from Arizona, Sandra Day O'Connor. The one-vote margin on the Supreme Court that handed the presidency to George W. Bush following the 2000 election debacle might be considered a product of the "Bronfman bloc."
McCain's father-in-law had also dabbled in the dog racing business and he expanded his family fortune further by selling his dog racing track to an individual connected to the Emprise Corp., run by the Buffalo-based Jacobs family.
The Jacobs family was the leading distributor for Bronfman liquor smuggled into the United states during Prohibition and controlled the "spigot" of Bronfman liquor pouring into the casks of local gangs that were part of the Lansky syndicate. Expanding over the years. Buying up horse and dog racing tracks and developing food and drink concessions at sports stadiums, the Jacobs family's enterprises were once described as being "probably the biggest quasi-legitimate cover for organized crime's money-laundering in the United States."
While John McCain himself cannot be held personally responsible for the sins of his father-in-law, the fact is that this "reformer" owes his political and financial fortunes to the good graces of the biggest names in organized crime. Today, the Las Vegas gambling industry is among McCain's primary financial benefactors. This brief overview is just the tip of the iceberg but it does say much about McCain and the political milieu that spawned him, particularly in the light of McCain's front-line position as one of Israel's leading congressional water-carriers.
Doing Israel's bidding is a McCain family tradition. Following
Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, resulting in the
murder of 34 Americans, McCain's father, Adm. John McCain, was
one of the key players inside the U.S. Navy helping cover up the
deliberate nature of Israel's savage attack. "Like father,
like son" clearly means something when it comes to the McCains.
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One lie in a civil deposition about consensual sex caused the Republicans (with Democratic help) to impeach Bill Clinton. Nine-hundred and thirty-five Bush administration lies leading the nation to a terrible war shattering the lives of millions have not even merited a congressional investigation. Only after seven years has it finally brought a mention from the establishment media and is still mostly suppressed.
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations has found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study was posted on the web site of the Center for Public Integrity on January 22. CPI had worked on the project with the Fund for Independence in Journalism. The report counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them, or had links to al-Qaeda, or both.
The report also breaks down who told how many lies:
Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaeda. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaeda.
The groups concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.
When questioned about this at a university speech after the story broke, Powell, still waffling, quickly dismissed the question, stating that it was the intelligence that was wrong—"not us."
The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study when questioned but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat. No one asked whether the world community views Bush and Cheney as threats.
"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.
But according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading Smith, staff members of the Fund for Independence in Journalism and instrumental in the writing of the study, the fact that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or had any meaningful ties to al-Qaeda, "is beyond dispute, and in short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated, which then culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."
"The cumulative effect of these false statements—amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts—was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.
"Some journalists—indeed, even some entire news organizations—have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, ‘independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.
While the administration plays the lead role in this report, the propaganda machine posing as "news media" is the delivery vehicle of these lies, and they were delivered without any challenge.
It's time for Congress to ask serious questions to members of the administration—past and present. The sacrificed lives of almost 4,000 soldiers deserve that little bit of sacrifice from our so-called leaders.
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John McCain's Hispanic outreach director, Juan Hernandez, has become an issue in the Republican presidential campaign because he has served in the Mexican government, The Washington Times reports.
The week of the Florida campaign, McCain was asked about the situation but managed to "tap dance" his way out of answering directly.
After Mexican President Vicente Fox was elected in 2000, he named the U.S.-born dual citizen Hernandez, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, to head the newly created, cabinet-level Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad. This, in effect, made him Fox's and Mexico's American outreach director.
The influential American began doing public relations work among the Mexicans living in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. But the situation borders on explosive when the same man, a fellow supporter of amnesty and mass immigration, assumes an equivalent position in McCain's campaign.
And why does McCain need a Hispanic outreach director, unless it is to lure the Hispanic vote? The association alone trumpets again McCain's favorable tilt toward the NWO's North American Union and the Super Highway from Mexico to Canada through the heart of America.
Why haven't you seen this in your mainstream press? Because McCain is currently the "anointed" Republican, a sense reinforced with the late January endorsement by The New York Times. He will continue to be as protected as President Bush has been.
Nothing controversial affecting their own will be introduced to the public by the media, and anything uncovered by other candidates, the Internet or AFP, will be either ignored or disparaged.
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ALSO ON THE ENERGY FRONT, some congressmen are fighting a plan by the Bush administration to issue permits for oil drilling in the Alaskan part of the Chukchi Sea, saying polar bears would suffer. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said the lease sales must be stopped to "protect the polar bear, and the rest of us, from global warming."
He introduced a bill to block the drilling. The lease sale is the culmination of a five-year study that was approved by Congress last year. The polar bear has no natural predator and there has been no significant loss of population. A Republican aide said Democrats are using the polar bear to stop drilling in Alaska "just like they used the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest to shut down the timber industry."
"This could be a severe threat to our domestic energy production effort and national energy security," said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. Republicans said Markey's bill would block production of 15 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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More significant than President Bush's words in his recent State ofthe Union speech are the topics he ducked or failed to address. These range from criminal warfare to destroying the nation economically.
Bush, who never operated a business profitably, inherited a country with a $236 billion surplus. He engaged in seven years of deficit spending that will leave America with more than $3.5 trillion in new debt.
Bush was welcomed by a middle class whose annual incomes had increased more than $6,000 in the Clinton years. Median incomes have dropped by more than $1,000 a year since bush took office in an economy where some staples cost twice as much as a decade ago. Health-care insurance premiums have doubled to $800 or more a month per family during his administration. The jury is still out on exactly how high fuel for cars and homes will escalate before he goes back to Texas.
Bush inherited a nation that was respected on the international state; he will leave behind one pilloried by many others around the world. One poll found that in 2001, 58% viewed America favorably; today, that number is 39% and sinking.
Even our allies are pointing an accusing finger at America. Canada has dared admit what other U.S. allies will not: America is a terrorist state that tortures prisoners and violates international law.
A Canadian Foreign Affairs Department training manual, Torture Awareness Workshop Reference Materials, defines torture and lists Guantanamo Bay and the United States, along with Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as nations that torture prisoners and abuse human rights.
Canada has, in effect, called America what it has become: a terrorist nation. Sadly, their assessment is true. And the most dangerous terrorist of all lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
When Bush hit town, the military could boast that it had all active duty Army divisions rated at the highest readiness levels and was capable of fighting a two-front war. Today that military faces the worst readiness crisis in a generation, without a single active duty or reserve brigade "fully combat ready" at home.
The Iraqi economy, because of the misery inflicted upon it by the current administration, may be the only one on Earth to have suffered more than that of the U.S. Seven years of Bush have seen U.S. household debt double. The Fed long ago admitted that it had lost track of how cash was actually "out there." Nevertheless, the printing presses never stopped, and it doesn't take an Oxford-educated economist to understand the simple basic of "the more buck you print, the less each becomes worth."
Paul Craig Roberts, a former assistant secretary of the treasury, wrote in AFP: "This massive Keynesian stimulus produced pitiful economic results. Median real income has declined. The labor force participation rate has declined. Job growth has been pathetic, with 28% of the new jobs being in the government sector. All the new private sector jobs are accounted for by private education and health care bureaucracies, bars and restaurants. Three and a quarter million manufacturing jobs and a half million supervisory jobs were lost. The number of manufacturing jobs has fallen to the level of 65 years ago. This is the profile of a Third World economy."
Not content with spying on other countries, the National Security Agency (NSA) will now turn on the U.S.'s own government agencies, thanks to a fresh directive from bush. Under the new guidelines, the NSA and other intelligence agencies can bore into the Internet networks and snoop on all the others. This potential for abuse will threaten Americans for years.
In addition to the 935 lies that effectively applied the stamp of cachet to the human slaughter in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration is lying about troop withdrawals from Iraq, lying about clashes with Iran and lying about its continued criminal actions both at home and on the international stage.
Bush was the beneficiary of vote fraud - first in Florida in 2000 and again in Ohio in 2004. Last September, when a law student queried Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) following a speech at the University of Florida, he went a little too far and got tasered by the cops and was dragged from the auditorium.
The student's question was lengthy and touched on the blatant vote fraud in Ohio in 2004 before chiding Kerry for not challenging the fraud and demanding a recount. He then asked if the reason Kerry did not challenge was that both he and George bush had been members of Skull & Bones at Yale University, the inference being that S&B members, after undergoing a disgusting initiation ritual, pledge a lifetime of beneficence to one another. This was when the security force got the nod from Kerry or somebody and began its attack that soon led to the tasering of the law student.
Such it is with secret organizations. Prior to the 2000 election when Bush was asked about his membership, he replied that yes,he was a member but that the group was "so secret" that he couldn't say any more.
H.L., Mencken predicted his "election" 88 years ago, when he warned:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents,
more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward
a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks
of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
House will be adorned by a downright moron" -H.L. Mencken.
Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920.
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AUSTIN, Tex.—The Ron Paul Liberty Ball held here showed that the spirited supporters of the Texas congressman will not entertain the notion of giving up, despite the dominant media's obvious attempts to pretend Paul does not exist and predetermine winners and losers with poll results that bear little resemblance to reality.
Just three Republicans are still in the race—Paul, John McCain and Mike Huckabee. However, the television news media now give Huckabee and McCain exalted status. Even as Huckabee loses steam, Paul is rarely mentioned. News commentators often say things like "Huckabee is a distant third" right after Romney and McCain are lauded. And Paul's name is left out, as the media slyly deceives its viewers.
"They know that the jig is up," a young man at the Liberty Ball told AFP, saying that more and more people are seeing through the big media's stage managed news, thanks to Paul's freedom message and the way it inspires people to actively seek the truth about the state of the nation, instead of passively digesting the media's "info-tainment" that masquerades as substantive news.
AFP covered the Liberty Ball while circulating its special Ron Paul Revolution report to hundreds of supporters who packed the popular Ruta Maya Coffee House in south Austin on January 31 to hear speeches, watch video clips and welcome live bands that celebrated Paul's bold run for the presidency.
The congressman's eldest son, Ronnie, attended the Liberty Ball with his wife and children. Ronnie, proudly noting that his mom and dad were about to celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary, said that a fund-raising boost of $5.1 million in observance of this milestone looked very promising (Ron and Carol Welles were married Feb. 1, 1957).
Ronnie also observed, like Thomas Jefferson said long ago, that one's private character is a good indication of how one serves in public. He believes his dad's private character as a husband and father says a great deal about how he would perform as president—not to mention his solid record as a congressman.
As Ronnie told AFP, his father, a physician, chose to go in and out of public office, having served as a congressman in the latter 1970s and early 1980s, and then again from 1996 to the present. To do so, he beat incumbents three times, even one supported by former Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Ronnie agreed with AFP that this puts Fox News' sarcastic question Jan. 10 at the South Carolina GOP debate—on whether Ron Paul is "electible"—into clear perspective.
"Ron Paul for the long haul!" was shouted several times by the young audience at the trendy coffee house. A number of supporters proclaimed they're tired of "Bushes and Clintons and Clintons and Bushes."
Meanwhile, The American Conservative magazine endorsed Dr. Paul, saying in part: "By speaking about the benefits of smaller government and limited executive power, he has introduced a generation of young Americans to a more traditional and true style of conservatism. . . . Ron Paul has been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise desultory Republican campaign. Long may he run."
Paul also has been endorsed by legendary American folk singer Arlo Guthrie.
A number of others at the Liberty Ball spoke briefly about Paul's candidacy and their approaches to making the most out of what they see as history in the making.
"We can reach five million people in four weeks," said one supporter, referring to billboards planned along busy Interstate 35 in Texas, in advance of the March 4 state primary. For more, see ronpaulbillboards.com.
Others concerned about the integrity of the election process referred to the website ronpaulvotecount.com for the latest on caucus and primary irregularities.
Also, a number of supporters plan to stand outside Fort Hood near Waco, Tex. February 20 to greet returning soldiers with Paul's message of a noninterventionist foreign policy Rob Morrow, a Paul fan, urged supporters to get involved at the precinct level to run as a delegate and closely monitor the election process to guard against vote fraud—an important matter given concerns raised by the Paul campaign regarding the handling of the Nevada and Louisiana caucuses.
Vote-honesty activists still are not finished in New Hampshire, where they maintain vote fraud was rampant.
Morrow urged everyone to take "Paul-itics" seriously and do exit polls in their home communities to compare with the final "official" count. Well-known area radio host Jack Youngblood added that Americans need Paul because he would go so far as to "legalize freedom" in a nation where freedom of speech, privacy, the electoral process, and Second and Fourth Amendment protections are under assault, among other infringements.
Paul has often said he would stay in the race as long as his supporters don't give up. Given the mood at the Liberty Ball and other events, he's destined to stay in the running.
Mark Anderson is the author of The Ron Paul Revolution, AFP's special report we are encouraging everyone to distribute. For more on how you can help Ron Paul get elected, click here.
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With the mortgage crisis reaching critical mass, it's time for Americans to see past the media reports that are keeping them in the dark. Take Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Foreclosures have emptied most of the houses. This town was "ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States," stated a typical mainstream news report.
Many former residents were "evicted for non-payment of their mortgages," some left in search of new jobs "after the factories shut down."
This report represents the usual shallow, worn-out "explanation" of the crisis. If people were not given so much worthless information, they might understand what is happening. The media blathers about careless lenders that gave mortgages to risky recipients who didn't keep up their payments. But the real story is that the destruction of middle-class jobs, especially in the manufacturing realm, is destroying the ability of Americans to earn, save, invest, pay taxes, reduce personal debts etc.
Gainfully employed people earn money and can buy homes; people with money can make large down payments to obtain smaller mortgage payments; people with money can pay cash for their car so they don't have vehicle payments; people with money can avoid too much or any borrowing in the first place.
Unless one is born into wealth, one must work. And the types of jobs people need to be secure homeowners are disappearing. These jobs left the nation aboard the "free trade express."
The Clinton-Bush dynasties gave us these poisons in nearly lethal doses. NAFTA, approved by Bush the Elder, was signed by Bill Clinton and protected by Dubya, who pushed through CAFTA. Congress has aided and abetted the whole process, perhaps believing in the fool's gold of free trade.
Free traders may believe that just being able to buy stuff for cheap—with nothing else taken into consideration—is the source of prosperity, and that it does not matter where things are made. This is premised on the "consumer is king" nonsense that Americans have been taught. As former General Motors executive Gus Stelzer noted many times, production is the key. But notice how often the media invokes the word "consumer" when referring to Americans. Never do they seriously talk about the vital process of production. Why?
Production consists of taking the Earth's raw materials and forging them into useful products. This value-added process lays the groundwork for an economy to function. Back when Americans were producing most of the things they needed—from shoes and clothes to cars and electronics—they were paid well; their purchases would help the very companies for which they worked. Imports usually cost more back then because they were supposed to (any item shipped long distances ought to cost more, for travel expenses alone).
There was a time when one could graduate from high school, skip college, go right to a company and work for decades, with a decent retirement. America was so productive that surpluses were exported. We were the world's leading creditor nation, with no trade deficit.
Look at us now. It is the height of absurdity to believe that a national economy can function without production. But, under the thrall of the free traders, we close factories, outsource what used to be American production jobs to overseas locales, and then we build retail outlets here for selling the merchandise. Working at retail outlets does not generally enable one to buy a home (unless you're in management), and every item made somewhere else and shipped here further injures the U.S. economy.We're sinking in quicksand.
Nor can we just employ people in tax-eating government jobs. As people slip down the job ladder and face eviction from their homes, they are even less able to pay taxes to support the mushrooming number of government jobs. And the pressure to spend more tax dollars and enact new taxes to cover the increased government employment eats away at the ability of remaining businesses and private individuals to keep their stores and homes (and home-based businesses) afloat. When they lose their grip, they become unemployment and welfare statistics.
It means nothing when the media reports the unemployment rate and talks about jobs in abstract quantities with no consideration of the quality of jobs lost. And those whose unemployment benefits have stopped are no longer included in the statistics.
"Based on a very conservative 4-to-1 ripple effect, if the goods represented by America's current yearly trade deficit were produced in the United States, they would generate $2 trillion in added national income, equal to about $16,600 per household," said Stelzer.
An immediate need is to put sizable tariffs on all imports, particularly those from China, to offset the advantage of having things made overseas for dirt cheap, and to create a strong incentive to make things in America. From there, all levels of government must be cut back so taxes can be lowered, regulations relaxed and a good business climate re-installed in the U.S.
And as presidential candidate Ron Paul says—no more policing the world (and the trillions of dollars it requires).
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According to Federal Election Commission reports, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) received more campaign contributions from Montana in 2007 than any other presidential candidate—Republican or Democrat.
"Montana contributions received by Ron Paul in 2007 were $88,883, double that of the nearest Republican, Mitt Romney, who received just $41,495. John McCain came in third at $29,094 followed by Mike Huckabee coming in fourth at $8,816," noted a summary in the Centre Daily Times.
While Montana's caucuses were Feb. 5, its open primary is not
until June 3. Small individual donors through grassroots efforts
are raising money in record amounts for Paul across the country.
Corporate deep-pocket financing is not part of the picture. Nationally,
most of Paul's donations are
under $200. He ended the last quarter of 2007 with more cash on
hand than any other remaining Republican candidate.
The Times quoted Paul's Montana state coordinator, David Hart, as saying, "Paul's success in fundraising stands in stark contrast to who the media says are our ‘top tier' candidates."
Paul is also the choice of the military—again. Another search of the FEC database reveals that Dr. Paul has received 1,160 donations from military donors, nearly triple that of John McCain, and more than McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee combined.
This is striking, considering the big media's strong tendency to crown McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran, as the "strong military leader" while he boasts that he's willing to keep troops in Iraq virtually forever.
According to the FEC, the quantity and dollar amount of military contributions so far is: Paul, 1,160 donors, $249,000; McCain, 438 donors, $83,000; Mike Huckabee, 126 donors, $37,000; Mitt Romney: 126 donors, $24,000; Barack Obama: 443 donors, $76,000 and Hillary Clinton, 154 donors, $41,000.
In fact, Paul was the most successful fundraiser nationally among Republican presidential candidates in the last three months of 2007. Paul brought in $19.7 million—compared to $9.9 million for Mitt Romney, $6.8 million for John McCain and $6.6 million for Mike Huckabee.
People give money to candidates they plan to vote for. Yet, the media act as if there's no connection. Paul is known for fighting hard for veterans and their health care—which is no small issue when soldiers are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with strange illnesses that are hard to diagnose, let alone treat or cure (assuming that the military and the Veterans Administration will even help them).
Mark Anderson is the author of The Ron Paul Revolution, AFP's special report we are encouraging everyone to distribute. For more on how you can help Ron Paul get elected, click here.
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Negative information written over the years about John McCain by those who know him best is immense, and it all is surfacing again with his run for the White House. Many of his peers, [particularly POWs from the "Hanoi Hilton" (Hoa Loa Prison) and current fellow senators, are repulsed by the idea of a McCain presidency.
Senators say he's nuts, and former POWs call him a traitor, and the evidence is mounting that both may be right.
Most fellow senators discuss his shortcomings only in private, of course, but a large number believe him to be psychologically unstable. Some, such as former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Sens. Him Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Dick Shelby (R-Ala.) have related the times McCain screamed four-letter obscenities in their faces in the Senate cloakroom.
"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," said Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). Another who preferred to remain unnamed said, "The man is unhinged. He is frighteningly unfit to be commander-in-chief."
Jack Wheeler is a Republican insider described as "extremely well connected and a fascinationg geopolitical analyst credited with being one of the architects of the Reagan Doctrine." Wheeler has reported that the Clinton's have discovered "a deep and dark skeletal secret in McCain's glorified past" and some Republicans fear it will be used to blackmail him.
The Clinton's have been talking with a former Soviet translator who was present at interrogations at several North Vietnam prisons because his father was in charge of the Hanoi Hilton, under the direction of the Soviet armed forces. One of these prisoners was McCain, shot down, wounded and captured on Oct. 26, 1967. The following July, McCain's father, Adm. J. S. McCain, was made commander of all military forces in the Vietnam theater. Upon learning this, the Vietnamese offered to release the younger McCain.
McCain has always claimed he refused, demanding that all American POWs captured before him be released first. He thus remained a prisoner when he could have gone home, and was subjected to constant brutal beatings and torture for years. That is McCain's story, which is supported by some fellow prisoners.
Yet the offer of release would have to have been approved by the Soviet overseers of the North Vietnamese, and the translator does not recall any such offer being made. McCain's rejection of early release may have caused the offer to be dropped before high level discussions.
According to the translator, McCain made an "accommodation" with his captors, and, in exchange, the translator's father saw to it that he was provided with an apartment in Hanoi and the services of two prostitutes. Upon returning to his prison cell, he would say he had been held in solitary confinement.
"That may be why so many of his fellow prisoners said later they saw so little of him at Hoa Loa Prison," Wheeler suggested.
The interrogations themselves were conducted and translated by Vietnamese who spoke some English. After each interrogation session, which for many prisoners included torture, the Vietnamese interrogator would write a report of the session in Vietnamese, according to Wheeler.
"These reports had to be translated into Russian," he says, "and the bright teenager living in the compound in Hanoi had become fluent in Vietnamese, and ended up translating many of the reports and interrogator's notes."
He says the translator's records still exist and are held by the CIA, and this is how life-long DIA asset Bill Clinton learned of them."
"The release of such evidence would destroy McCain. The Threat of its release could force McCain to take a fall, blow the election and lose on purpose," Wheeler said.
The small group of senators and congressmen who have been briefed on this have been unable to confirm with the CIA any details of its document swap with the GRU beyond an admission that such a swap "may have happened." They are nervous about pursuing the matter any further.
Meanwhile, the Clintons are not nervous. "They are utterly ruthless, and have buddies at Langley all too happy to help them," Says Wheeler.
Dennis Johnson, a graduate of Officer Candidate School, was brought into Hanoi with a broken leg that was never treated. He saw McCain only a few times but heard much about his clean clothes, being showered and clean shaven and always with a few NVA officers during his stint at the "Hilton."
"He received special treatment and was sent to the hospital days after he arrived because he agreed to cooperate, and yes, he did give radio broadcasts for the NVA, not only to North Vietnam but broadcast over the camp speakers," Johnson said. "None of the other prisoners wanted anything to do with him because of these issues. It makes me sick to hear him called a war hero. He was worse than Fonda, for she was just an idiot, but McCain was supposed to be one of us."
McCain was kept at the Hanoi Hilton from December 1969 until his release, along with all the remaining POWs, in March of 1973. During this time, the young teenager translated all the Vietnamese interrogator's notes and reports regarding McCain.
In November of 1991, when Tracy Usry, the former chief investigator for the minority staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, testified before the Select Committee, he said the Soviets interrogated U.S. Prisoners of war in Vietnam. McCain, incensed, rudely interrupted Usry several times, yelling that "none of the returned U.S. POWs released by Vietnam was ever interrogated by the Soviets." However, the evidence shows that McCain was lying and had first-hand knowledge that the charge was true, unless he had been programmed to forget it. If this were the case, he can honestly wear the title of "Manchurian Candidate" bestowed upon him by other POWs.
Col. Bui Tin, a former senior colonel in the North Vietnamese army, testified, after Usry, that because of his high position in the communist Party during the war, he had the authority to read all documents and secret telegrams from the politburo pertaining to American prisoners of war. He said that not only did the Soviets interrogate some American prisoners of war, but that they treated the Americans very badly.
Bui Tin also offered the committee his own records concerning his personal interrogations of American POWs, making McCain look foolish. Undaunted, McCain then stunned onlookers by moving to the witness table and warmly embracing an enemy official responsible for the torture of American POWs.
McCain's fellow POWs were aghast at this display and one wondered if the gesture was not really saying to Tin, "Please don't give them my records."
Shortly thereafter, Usry, a distinguished Vietnam veteran,
and all the other members of the minority staff that had participated
in POW/MIA investigations, were abruptly fired. Wheeler said it
was at McCain's urging.
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A single undersea fiber-optic cable carrying Internet traffic accidentally being cut one in a year's time is believable. Five of them in only a few days, resulting in most of the Middle east being left in the informational dark ages, cannot be mere chance - the odds are too extreme. It has to be a deliberate act of sabotage, particularly when Israel and U.S.-occupied Iraq are unaffected.
Five Internet cables - buried deep beneath the sea floor to prevent them being accidentally dredged up by an anchor - have been cut, preventing most of the Middle East from having Internet access. The cables link 90% of the region's Internet service and the countries affected most are Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. Service has since been re-routed to older, lines and satellites, but overall Internet service is slow now, and in some cases - particularly Iran - there is no Internet service whatsoever.
The lines - originating in southern Europe and snaking their was southward to North Africa and then eastward through the Suez Canal and then on to India - are the communication, commerce and technology lifelines for these nations. In a world where everything is dependent upon the Internet, from government operations to financial markets, this disruption is devastating.
The media hinted that an anchor from a ship might be the cause. However, Egypt released a statement saying that video footage of the area where the cuts took place showed no surface ship activity for the previous 12 hours. These particular lanes are closed to maritime traffic to avoid damaging cables, it said.
None of the stories on this event mentioned the words "foul play," and this in an age where everything from global warming to bad breath is blamed on Osama bin Laden and is merry band of Islamic militants.
Telephone communications have been severely disrupted and financial markets have had as much as a 70% loss in trading activity. It is estimated that the earliest the problem will be fixed is the end of the second week in February, as it takes several days for repair ships to reach the areas where the cuts took place.
But by magical coincidence Israel and U.S.-occupied Iraq have not been affected.
There are strategic reasons for "interested parties" to celebrate such an event. The countries most affected are all major players in the events taking place in the Middle East where the U.Sl and Israel are up to their eyeballs in skullduggery. The Persain Gulf countries were recently visited by President Bush, who tried to win support for renewed pressure on a recalcitrant Iran, only to be laughed out of the region. In addition, when asked recently by the U.S. to increase oil output in order to lighten the effects of a downward-spiraling economy, the OPEC nations (some of whom were affected by the cable cut) refused.
The Gulf countries are heavily involved with Iran in banking issues at a time when Israel and America are trying through sanctions and other pressures to isolate and economically strangle the Islamic republic by preventing other nations from doing business with her. The gulf countries are getting nervous about a steadily declining dollar to which their own economies are directly linked. They are now openly talking about following other nations that have linked their own currencies to something less troublesome such as the euro. Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed Muslim country, recently gave a resounding "no" to U.S. troops operating on its soil.
The deliberate cutting of the Internet cables can be seen as a shot across the bow by the U.S.-Israeli hydra, a form of low-intensity, covert warfare aimed at destabilizing them and making things uncomfortable, as well as reminding them that if they don't play ball according to the dictates of the New World Order "accidents" can happen.
There are other possibilities. Since the Jewish state plans on eventually absorbing as much of the oil-rich land in that region to fulfill the idea of "Greater Israel," the cutting of the cables could have been a dry tun in monitoring the affected nations and seeing where their weaknesses lie in the event of war. Communications is as vital to fighting a war as is the eyesight of a boxer, and if sand is thrown in his eyes he can easily be defeated by someone half his size. Tiny Israel would gain an enormous advantage in disabling the communication abilities of nations she plans to destroy in the same way she destroyed the communications equipment aboard the USS Liberty when she began her murderous attack in 1967.
Just as President Franklin Roosevelt said, "In politics
nothing happens by accident. If it happens it was planned in that
way."
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is charting a new path in foreign affairs, but no one should construe that to be the end of the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain. It simply mirrors Brown's private statements and conviction that, as the Bush era comes to an end, he must respond to a resounding global clamor for change.
He also wants to distance himself from his predecessor, Tony Blair, who was so closely linked to the Bush White House and the war in Iraq that when he left office in 2007 he was very unpopular. His closeness to President Bush has caused leaders to oppose Blair for first president of the European Union. Blair's opponents come from both ends of the political spectrum, with both supporters of a strong EU and Euro skeptics denouncing his proposed candidacy.
Both the new PM and Blair admire the United States and its people. Brown often holidays in Cape Cod and is known to have good relations with leading Democrats. He has more than once declared that he will not radically alter the historic relationship between Britain and America.
Nevertheless, he has also expressed a desire to manage his foreign policy in a way that places greater emphasis on diplomacy and less on the need to use force, or the threat of force, which he believes has defined the Bush White House.
On issues like Guantanamo and the rendition of terror suspects to secret prisons, or to intelligence services in countries like Syria, Morocco and Egypt, Brown has distanced himself from Bush. And, when it comes to relations with the UN, the new PM has been supportive rather than confrontational, arguing that it is the most important diplomatic body on the globe. He is more pro-European than Blair and believes Britain needs to form better relations with its European partners.
With respect to Iraq, he is eager to get British troops out. He angered the White House by not discussing troop withdrawals with General David Petraeus. Instead, he announced plans for troop withdrawals from Basra when it suited him. On the matter of Afghanistan, he has not seen eye to eye with the U.S., believing, as he does about most conflicts, that economic aid and major reconstruction policies should be at the top of the agenda for defeating terrorism. In particular, he has placed greater emphasis on British troops in Afghanistan forging better links with the locals and where necessary arming militias to fight the Taliban.
His Afghan policy has led to tough exchanges between London and Washington. Brown approaches many international issues with the eye of an economist—a position that has not endeared him to those who think he needs to be tougher in projecting military options. Some defense experts think he is oblivious to the need for Britain to spend more of its GDP on its military and on counter-terrorism agencies.
Those same experts warn that his tendency to see the war on terror through the prism of economics could be his undoing and could have dangerous consequences. They also argue that he lacks serious foreign policy experience and could find it hard to respond to a major international crisis in the Middle East.
Brown is difficult to read. As Britain's longest serving chancellor of the exchequer under Blair, he and Blair had a rocky relationship. Their private disagreements were often tabloid fodder. Former Conservative PM John Major is on record saying he is not one of the only six people in the world who really know Brown. While Brown may be dour compared with the ever smiling Blair, he can be ruthless in his pursuit of what he wants. He has a formidable intellect and has little time for the cult of celebrity that Blair embraced. His energies are singularly devoted to his job, thereby allowing for few distractions.
There is a perception in some circles that when Blair was PM, Brown cleverly kept his fingerprints off the Iraq issue by never confronting his boss when there were major disputes in 10 Downing Street and even resignations by cabinet colleagues. Brown tended to concentrate on economic issues. Brown has begun to separate his foreign policy from that of the Bush White House. His supporters say he is merely waiting on the arrival of a new U.S. president to jump-start the London-Washington relationship and put it back in shape.
In the meantime, most observers say he will do nothing to undermine the U.S. or to fracture the alliance. His posture will be more of a wait-and-see strategy.
He has lost no time demonstrating that he intends to build better relations in Asia, especially with India and China. He has talked of restructuring the UN rather than attacking it, which was a familiar tactic of the Bush White House. On a recent trip he promised India that he would urge expansion of the UN Security Council's Permanent Five of Britain, Russia, France, the U.S. and China to include India, Brazil, Japan, Germany and at least one African nation. He made it clear however that any expansion of the Permanent Five would not accord any new members veto powers.
He said it was also vital to include India in the G8 and to add other nations like Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and China.
Brown's professed admiration for American history and its people, as well as his close links with leading U.S. politicians, will never take him too far from the "special relationship." But between now and the arrival of a new president, he may go it alone on many foreign policy issues. In general, his style was always going to be different from that of Blair, but, he recognizes, as did the British leaders before him, that the alliance with the U.S. is one of Britain's strengths, no matter how close Britain moves towards an ever-expanding Europe.
Richard Walker is the nom de plume of a former mainstream news producer who now writes for AFP.
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The Senate's attempt to confirm BATFE appointee Michael Sullivan as its new director, already approved by the Judiciary Committee (AFP December 17, 2007), may hit new snags as more evidence of corrupt tactics surface.
Boston Magazine recently referred to Sullivan as "Maximum Mike, the man who covered up the evidence," and reminded readers that Federal Judge William Young had hammered Sullivan's office for evincing ". . . a moral code more suited to the alleys of Baghdad than the streets of Boston."
Retired FBI Special Agent John Connolly, 67, currently spending his retirement years in solitary confinement and about to stand trial for murder in Miami, agrees.
Sullivan put him there with perjured evidence in 2004. Connolly's defense team recovered a letter, dated May 6, 2002, and unreported until now, to Rep. Dan Burton Rind.), then chairman of the Committee on Government Reform, making a formal request to postpone the testimony of a former assistant U.S. attorney, Jeremiah O'Sullivan "to limit the adverse publicity." Unaware of the real impact of this testimony, Burton complied. When O'Sullivan did testify half a year later, his testimony was enough to have convinced a jury to say "not guilty" to Connolly.
Connolly's trial had already begun when the letter was written, and the elusive O'Sullivan was slated to be a defense witness at the trial but disappeared before being served. Sullivan's office claimed he had "heart trouble," and was too sick to appear. Connolly, retired for 12-years, was tried and convicted of obstruction of justice and racketeering but charged with even more serious counts that his jury rejected (AFP, May 27, 2002).
However, the stench from the false testimony in that trial is beginning to permeate the air around the federal courthouse in Boston and further taint the chances of U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan heading the BATFE. The most serious charge leveled against Connolly was that he had tipped off mobster James "Whitey" Bulger of an impending indictment in 1994—an indictment on multiple felony charges that, following trial and probable conviction, would have put Bulger away for the rest of his life.
Instead, he fled and has been missing ever since. However, Connolly maintained throughout his federal trial that his longtime relationship with Bulger existed only on a professional basis. Bulger had been a secret top echelon informant (TEI) since the late 1970s, and Jeremiah O'Sullivan would have testified to that.
As the former head of the Organized Crime Task Force assigned only to the TEI cases, his testimony would have exonerated Connolly. Instead, Connolly was convicted by the testimony of two mobsters—thoroughly coached by Sullivan's assistant prosecutors—who were doing time for murder.
Connolly became the fall guy and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for doing his assigned job 20 years earlier.
One of the witnesses against him was John Martorano, a mob hitman serving time for 20 murders at the time. However, Martorano found his ticket to freedom, thanks to Sullivan, with his testimony against Connolly and walks the streets today a free man—having served a mere seven months for each murder conviction.
The other mobster witness was Frankie Salemme, boss of the New England Mafia. Since his testimony at Connolly's trial, he has been in prison awaiting trial on perjury. He had been released as part of the deal he cut with the government to testify against Connolly, but then was re-arrested for lying. Such is the corruption bringing into question the Boston federal prosecutions for which Sullivan has attained recent notoriety.
Connolly's Miami murder rap stems from a 1982 mob hit that happened only weeks after he had returned to FBI duty following a year of study obtaining his masters degree at The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
"It was a vindictive prosecution," say Connolly's lawyers, "and it never would have come down had we not filed our motion for a new trial in John's 2002 conviction that had been based on perjured testimony obtained from coaching of witnesses by Sullivan and his assistants—testimony from murderers."
The day after Connolly's team filed for a new trial for the 2002 conviction, Sullivan's assistant, Fred Wyshak, flew to Florida to file the conspiracy to murder and first degree murder charges that Connolly must now face in June in state court.
In December 2002, six months after Connolly's federal trial, the government used an FBI error-laden report at the congressional hearing. This was not known when it was used against Connolly at his trial. Jeremiah O'Sullivan finally testified before the Burton hearings that he knew in 1979 that Bulger and Flemmi were informants and murderers, and that he exercised his "prosecutorial discretion" not to indict them in a case at that time. He also admitted that the FBI report used by the prosecution at Connolly's trial was "full of errors."
This was the same former prosecutor who had hidden out in order to avoid testifying for the defense in the Connolly trial six months earlier.
Connolly was portrayed by prosecutors as a "rogue agent" who had given his murderous informants permission to commit crimes, without authority from higher up. O'Sullivan now admits that this was not true, and not only did he (O'Sullivan) know what was going on, but so did everybody else up the ladder at the FBI and Department of Justice in Washington. This is the evidence that would have completely exonerated Connolly.
Pat Shannan is the associate editor at American Free Press. He has been writing professionally for four decades. See more from Pat at www.patshannan.com.
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New ‘CleanWater RestorationAct' gives federal government unfettered control over almost every puddle of water in the United States—including your back yard
LURKING IN BOTH HOUSES of Congress is chilling legislation that would allow federal bureaucrats to enter your yard and order you to enlarge, fill-in or otherwise deal with a puddle, creek, lake or any bit of water.
Consider the language in the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would effectively amend the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2002 by replacing the words "navigable waters' with "waters of the United States."
This would give the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over everything from "bathtubs to baptismal fonts," according to the American Land Rights Association. The association said the act defines waters of the United States "with such breathtaking scope" that federal agencies would be required to regulate every liquid square inch of the country.
This is the exact definition as proposed: "The term ‘waters of the United States'means all waters subject to ebb and flow of the tides, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mud flats, sand flats, wetland, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes [a flat, dried-up area, especially a desert basin], natural ponds and all impoundment of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution." (Did they overlook anything?)
The legislation (S 1870) is pending before the Senate Environmental and Pubic Works Committee (phone 202-224-8832) and before the House (HR 2421) Natural Resources Committee (phone 202-225-6065).
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Arlington, Va. - Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul issued the following statement regarding the results of the republican contests on Feb 9:
"As the results of this weekend have made clear, many Republican voters are not satisfied with our party's likely candidate for president, John McCain.
"Voters rejected him in Kansas and Louisiana. Even in Washington State, where McCain appears to have won a plurality, over 70% of voters felt another candidate better represented them, including 21% who caucused for me.
"This is why my run for the Republican nomination will not end. The principles I stand for - limited government, non-interventionism, respect for individual rights, and strict adherence to the constitution - have a long and proud tradition in the GOOP."As long as my supporters continue to support my campaign, I will not leave Republicans who have yet to vote without the ability to choose a candidate who holds these fundamental Republican values.
Every day Ron Paul remains in the race give him another opportunity
to reach out to and educate more and more americans. And that's
a victory.
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Houston - As His campaign forges ahead - amid media reports that try to list him in the political "obituaries" column - Ron Paul has accepted an invitation to a major presidential summit-debate in Texas, dispelling rumors that he has dropped out of the race.
Paul campaign spokesman Patrick Semmens confirmed on Feb. 11 that Paul is still a presidential candidate. He dismissed media reports that, because Paul also is running to retain his Texas congressional seat as a contingency plan, he will quit the presidential campaign.
Paul has said he will remain in the contest through the Republican convention but will not run as an independent. Throngs of patriots are urging him to run as a third-party candidate, if denied the nomination, so millions more Americans can be educated on the Constitution.
"With (Mitt) Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero," Paul said, "But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention, for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But, with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not need so big a national campaign staff." So, Paul said, he would beef up his staff for his House re-election campaign.
"As long as there is still enthusiasm and more support and donations, he plans on sticking with it," Semmens told AFP. Paul does not want to leave Republican voters without a constitutionalist presidential candidate, he said. AFP was in Austin, where hundreds vowed "Ron Paul for the Long Haul."Paul's eldest son, Ronnie was there. He showed no sign of retreat.
More than 2,000 people jammed a Lake Jackson, Tex. Rally Feb. 10 attended by Paul himself, according to Chad Creighton, a member of a large Houston Ron Paul Meetup group, who told AFP that the Lake Jackson was "standing room only."
Creighton and his Meetup associates will be out in force between now and the day of the summit/debate, when they will converge on the debate location in downtown Houston to make sure the media know that Paul's supporters are more determined than ever.
Meanwhile, early voting is taking place, starting feb. 19, in precincts across Texas in anticipation of the important March 4, open primary.
On Feb. 28, MSNBC will conduct a nationally televised "Presidential Summit" at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Separate debates between candidates from both parties will be moderated by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and Meet the Press host Tim Russert. The Greater Houston Partnership is hosting the event.
On the Republican side, all three remaining candidates - Paul, Sen. John McCain and former arkansas gov. Mike Huckabee - have been invited. The two remaining Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were also invited.
An AFP writer will cover the debate and ask reporters from around the world their views on how the American media is handling this unusual presidential race. Virtually no questions have been asked of Mrs. Clinton about her illegal health care task force held behind closed doors when she was First Lady, among other serious scandals that sprang up during her husband Bill's reign. Nor have the big American media asked McCain about his record - such as the McCain-Feingold campaign finaance reform bill that critics insist infringes on freedom of political speech during elections.
Rep. Paul - dubbed the "long shot" and "underdog" by a media that often tries to predetermine his status rather than report it - is expected to fight hared in his home state at this critical juncture. Starting at 10 a.m. and running all day on feb. 28, there is a forum at the Convention Center on energy issues that includes a number of oil company executives.
Accordingly, the debate will focus on energy issues and how they tie into national security. This is important in an oil town like Houston.
AFP will work with those who monitor voting in Texas, focusing
on at least one precinct to look for irregularities. Early voting
here runs feb. 19-29. There are 140 delegates at stake in Texas.
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Ron Paul, in a new video release on his campaign website called "Going the Distance," offers a cautiously optimistic assessment of his presidential run, despite a hostile or dismissive media and other challenges.
The video culminates in a new call for a big march on Washington by Paul's existing and new supporters. "I'm at the point where we need to make a stand," he says on the You Tube video, linked through ronpaul 2008.com. "We are at a crossroads.
He concludes: "Thee is no reason in the world we should back off. This is the time we should march forward." He said the Washington march should be in 3-4 months. A march could bring Paul major publicity.
He noted that the GOP presidential field has dropped form 11 candidates to just three Paul, Sen. McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
"The reason we can't write his campaign off is that we haven't had a convention, and surprises do occur. And with Romney dropping out, all fo a sudden things change," he says. "Certainly after March 4 (the Texas primary) we're still going to be active in these participating states that still have their primaries."
The media, he says, like to offer the people "a declaration of a so-called winner ... but it's not over until it's over."
Paul says damaging information could come out on the other two GOP candidates "that could alter this campaign completely and totally, " although he was not specific.
AFP reported (Feb. 18, 2008) that McCain's legislative peers see min as psychologically unstable and unfit for the presidency, with former POWs calling him a turncoat due to his strongly suspected cooperation with communist at the infamous Hanoi Hilton in North Vietnam during the war, when McCain, a former Navy pilot, was captured after being downed in 1967.
Meanwhile, Huckabee (AFP, Dec. 31, 2007) takes his foreign policy leads from liberal New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and neoconservative power broker Frank Gaffney, meaning that he's a hard-liner in favor of continued military intervention abroad on the "war on terror." Paul's stand is just the opposite.
Paul said his GOP opponents are allying themselves with Ted Kennedy on border protection, with Tom Daschle on tax reform and with Al Gore on global warming, proving they are counterfeit conservatives.
AFP got a call the morning of Feb. 12 during Virginia's open primary from a Morfolk man, Jonathan Gilmore, who said there were no Paul campaign signs in front of the polling location in this major city and no Paul supporters with literature present. He added that the lack of media coverage on Paul in Virginia is disgusting.
"I've gotten zero help from Paul's office in Arlington," he told AFP. Asked about this, a Paul campaign spokesman at the Arlington office said it's been hard to keep up with high demand for literature and signage. Norfolk Ron Paul Meetup leader Terri Kurowski agreed, saying that a lot of materials were used up leading up to Super Tuesday Feb. 5. But she says the campaign sometimes does a poor job of enticing the media to cover Paul's candidacy. Paul's recent Liberty University speech, while successful, perhaps should have been at a military installation since so many troops like his message, she said.
Still, Paul assures supporters that their continued participation
means his efforts will continue. "If we drop the ball now
... all of the work and effort we have done in this past year
could be lost. That's why I believe we need to stay in the race,
do what we can, and adjust on a daily basis.
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