White House Memo

GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain serves as front man for the billionaire Koch brothers in a way rarely, if ever, seen in modern times for a prominent U.S. major party candidate.

That relationship should be a huge campaign story. It’s arguably far more important in its implications for voters than the sex allegations raised against Cain two weeks ago that I’ve been covering in Washington, or last week’s Rick Perry “Oops” gaffe in a debate.

That’s because the secretive brothers are using Cain to sell their overall agenda to transform the United States in ways that could mean poverty resulting in premature death for many by destruction of the safety net along with support for the war culture.

Obama, Tell Netanyahu – Don’t Mess With Flotilla to Gaza

Ed. Note: The U.S. boat, “The Audacity of Hope,” will depart for Gaza next month with 50 on board, including Ray McGovern, who wrote this open letter to President Barack Obama after watching his speech Thursday on the Middle East. Speaking for passengers and crew, McGovern asks the President to serve notice on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday that Obama will hold him accountable for ensuring safe passage.

May 19, 2011

Dear Mr. President:

Your speech on the Middle East earlier today emboldens me to claim your protection as we set out to put flesh on your rhetoric. Fifty of your fellow citizens will be sailing on “The Audacity of Hope” to Gaza in June.

The intrepid journalists at ThisCantBeHappening! have obtained and exclusive: documentary proof from the White House that President Obama is actually a Democrat and has been since he turned 18. See the president's actual 1979 Democratic Party registration, at www.thiscantbehappening.net Finally we can put this canard to rest...

America's Stay-at-Home Ex-President

By Ray McGovern

As the news broke on Saturday that former President George W. Bush had abruptly canceled his scheduled appearance this week in Geneva to avoid the risk of arrest on a torture complaint, my first thought was — how humiliating, not only for Bush but, by extension, for all Americans.

However, those who might have expected Bush to be down in the mouth and sulk about the embarrassment were disabused of that notion as the TV cameras caught him and Condoleezza Rice -- his former national security adviser and Secretary of State -- in seats of honor at Sunday’s Super Bowl in Dallas.

Doomed to become America’s first better-stay-at-home former president, Bush could still take consolation in getting scarce tickets to big sports events – he also attended high-profile Texas Rangers baseball games last year – and he can expect to hear some folks cheer for him, so long as he stays in Texas.

The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and President George W. Bush. (Source: Department of Defense)

U.S. Sets "Decapitation of Government" As Early Goal of Combat

Talking Points for Rumsfeld-Franks Meeting in November 2001 Outline Policy Makers’ Aims for the Conflict and Postwar Rule of Iraq

Declassified Documents Show Bush Administration Diverting Attention and Resources to Iraq Less than Two Months after Launch of Afghanistan War

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 326

Posted - September 22, 2010

Powell Document

13 September 2010 - U.S. had "Absolutely No Inclination" to Negotiate with Taliban September 2001; Pakistan Disagreed, Claimed "Real Victory" Only Through Talks

Washington's Immediate 9/11 Demands to Islamabad

Net Neutrality Threatened - by Stephen Lendman

This article follows two previous ones, accessed through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/11/struggle-for-net-neutrality.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/07/under-threat-free-and-open-interne...

Free Press.net is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working for media reform through education, organizing and advocacy - Net Neutrality its defining issue, keeping it free and open, letting users access all content without restrictions, limitations, or discrimination, an online level playing field for everyone, the essence of democratic free speech. Without it, consumer choice will be lost, stolen by corporate predators, making the Internet look like cable TV, letting them decide what web sites, content and applications are available at what cost.

On August 4, New York Times writer Edward Wyatt headlined, "Google and Verizon Near Deal on Web Pay Tiers," saying:

America's "Houdini Recovery" Under IMF-Type Austerity
By Stephen Lendman

It's what economist David Rosenberg calls recovery given plenty of supportive evidence, including:

• over five million homeowners behind on their mortgage payments;
• at record levels, foreclosures are alarmingly high; moreover, "the foreclosure pipeline is enormous;"
• "housing, the quintessential leading indicator," turning lower again in starts, sales and prices;
• instead of a normal 5 - 6 months home supply, the market has a 21 month overhang, including shadow inventory from the foreclosure pipeline;
• mortgage applications for new home purchases down 13.9% on top of last year's 29.4%;
  

Leahy: Bush Era Memos Justified Torture
Senate Committee Says Harsh Interrogation Tactics Were "Means to an End"
Associated Press | CBS

"Mr. Margolis decided this matter without interference from the attorney general, the deputy attorney general or any other department official, and his decision represents the department's final action," Grindler told the committee. "No attorney general or deputy attorney general has ever overturned the conclusion of the career official in such circumstances."

Two lawyers in the Bush Justice Department were justifying torture when they approved harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Friday.

That advice "was designed to achieve an end," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said at a hearing where lawmakers for the first time received detailed testimony from a Justice official about a department inquiry that found the lawyers showed bad judgment but committed no misconduct.

Defending the investigation, acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler told the committee, "Although some may disagree with our conclusions, we are confident that the department followed an appropriate process." The No. 2 Justice official was the lone witness. Read more.

SEC suit: Bank of America failed to disclose ’staggering financial losses’ to shareholders
By Associate Press | Raw Story

Federal regulators sued Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday, accusing the company of failing to disclose "staggering financial losses" at Merrill Lynch before shareholders approved a combination of the companies.

The lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sought an order requiring Bank of America to pay a civil penalty for not telling shareholders it was losing $15.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Bank of America spokesman Robert Stickler called the charges "totally without merit."

He said the company believes it provided sufficient and appropriate disclosure to shareholders prior to their vote approving the combination.

"We look forward to presenting the facts in court," Stickler said. "What we would note is that there were no charges against individuals and no charges of fraud. We were pleased with that." Read more.

Bill Moyers Journal: The Good Soldier

As America prepares to observe Veterans Day and President Obama weighs sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL broadcasts a powerful documentary about the impact on soldiers of learning to kill – or be killed. THE GOOD SOLDIER follows four veterans – one from World War II, two from Vietnam, and the fourth from Iraq – as they reveal how the experiences of battle changed their lives. Watch a preview here.

"Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union," by David Swanson is due in stores September 1st, but the publisher has it now and you can get it straight from Seven Stories Press.

By Dave Lindorff

In December 2001, an appellate judicial panel in the state of New York ruled that Yonkers City Court Judge Edmund G. Fitzgerald had to step down from his bench and leave his position following his disbarment for allegedly “misusing” $9000 in a client’s account prior to his election as a judge. In 2007, the North Carolina courts faced something of a dilemma when state judge James Ethridge, who had been disbarred the prior October by the North Carolina State Bar for “swindling an older woman of her house and savings” as an attorney six years earlier, refused to quit his judicial position. Under state law in North Carolina, judges are required to be licensed lawyers, so Judge Ethridge was barred from holding court or signing court orders, but he continued to collect his salary. Only the state’s Judicial Standards Commission, or the state legislature, through an impeachment, could remove him from his job.

by Linda Milazzo

(Photo by Linda Milazzo)

There are adjectives that come to mind when describing famed former prosecutor and renowned author, Vincent Bugliosi, who for forty years has set the standard for prosecutorial skill in America. Some are intrepid, brave, independent, brilliant, driven, indomitable, respected, focused, relentless and confident. Each fits perfectly well. But after interviewing Mr. Bugliosi at his California home, and reading his latest book, "The Prosecution Of George W. Bush For Murder," I am compelled to add two more adjectives to that already formidable list: PATRIOTIC and ENRAGED. Beyond all other characterizations one may ascribe to Vincent Bugliosi, the principal descriptors TODAY for this inherently honorable man are PATRIOTIC and ENRAGED - emanating equally from his love for his nation.

Of course, there's another descriptor that has long been associated with Vincent Bugliosi. That descriptor is JUSTICE, to which Bugliosi has devoted his life. Yet not until now - not until George W. Bush caused the murders of over 4,000 Americans and countless innocent Iraqi men, women, children and babies, has JUSTICE assumed an even greater role for Bugliosi - arguably this nation's preeminent prosecutor. JUSTICE has morphed from a noun to a verb - enacted by Bugliosi with a vengeance - fueled by his intense love of nation, his profound knowledge of law, and his unparalleled ability to dispense it. Vincent Bugliosi is a man of action. While others speak of JUSTICE, Bugliosi creates the ways to achieve it - and he has done so in this book.

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April 08, 2006
By PHILIP C. RESTINO
COMMUNITY VOICES

On Monday, March 27, The New York Times ran a story on the "White House Memo" which detailed the two-hour meeting between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair held in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, where they discussed ways to mislead the public and government officials of their respective countries into supporting President Bush's pre-determined plan to invade Iraq.

Believing the evidence fell short, Bush discussed with Blair the possibility of inciting a conflict with Iraq, British author says.
By John Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times

LONDON — It was the end of January 2003. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was five days away from giving a critical speech at the U.N. Security Council, laying out the case that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction and posed a danger to world peace.

Peter Rothberg at the Nation has a blog about the White House Memo.

Democrats.com Offers $1,000 Reward to Any Reporter Who Will Ask Follow-Up Question to Bush

At a White House press conference on June 7, 2005, Steve Holland of Reuters asked President Bush and Prime Minister Blair the $1,000 question: (1)

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones, Prison Planet.com

This week's revelations that George W. Bush and Tony Blair considered staging a war provocation by painting a US spy plane in UN colors and flying it over Iraq, in the hope that Saddam would order it shot down, illustrates a desperate depth of criminality only rivaled by previous notorious historical examples.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/04/british-memos/

The Independent confirms a report by the Guardian on a newly-revealed British memo. The memo claims that Bush made the decision to attack Iraq two months prior to the war. Furthermore, the memo states that Bush was thinking about baiting Iraq into a breach of UN resolutions by “flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colors.

IRAQ: BUSH VOLEVA 'PROVOCARE' SADDAM PER SCATENARE LA GUERRA
LO RIVELA PHILIPPE SANDS NELLA NUOVA EDIZIONE DEL SUO 'LAWLESS WORLD'
Londra, 3 feb. (Adnkronos) - Il 31 gennaio 2003 George Bush, pronto a muovere guerra all'Iraq anche in assenza di una seconda risoluzione Onu, discusse con Tony Blair dell'ipotesi di 'fabbricare' il pretesto per attaccare Saddam facendo sorvolare ad un aereo da ricognizione U2 con i colori Onu il paese nella speranza che il dittatore iracheno lo abbattesse. A rivelarlo e' Philippe Sands, avvocato ed esperto di diritto, autore di una nuova edizione di 'Lawless World' in cui cita un Memorandum della Casa Bianca in cui si riferisce il contenuto del colloquio.

By Rosemary Bennett and Michael Evans, Times of London

PRESIDENT BUSH had plans to lure Saddam Hussein into war by flying an aircraft over Iraq painted in UN colours in the hope he would shoot it down, a book reveals.

Sampling of Extensive International and Alternative Coverage:

Channel 4 News Memo Extracts, Article, Video Report and Commentary; Guardian Article; Guardian Commentary; Guardian Timeline; BBC Article; AfterDowningStreet Commentary; David Corn's Commentary; The Australian Article; Telegraph Article; Mail and Guardian Article; Financial Times Article; Independent Article; Times of London Article; Another BBC Article; Scotsman Article; People's Daily Article (China); Journal of Turkish Weekly Article (Turkey); Mirror Article; Mirror Article 2; Herald Article
Democracy Now!

Complete US Corporate Media Coverage:

Associated Press Article; Associated Press Article 2; USA Today Marginalizes Story on a Blog, What about some coverage in the paper?; Christian Science Monitor Article; Olbermann on MSNBC; Feb. 11 Los Angeles Times;

By BBC

Tony Blair and George W Bush had already decided to invade Iraq in January 2003, a new book by a human rights lawyer has claimed.

The book - an updated edition of Lawless World by Philippe Sands - says the two leaders discussed going to war regardless of any United Nations view.

By: Gary Gibbon, http://www.channel4.com

Revealed: Bush and Blair discussed using American Spyplane in UN colours to lure Saddam into war.

Watch the report
Watch Menzies Campbell reaction
White House Meeting Memo Special Report

By David Swanson

The Guardian is reporting that Bush told Blair "that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of 'flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours'. Mr Bush added: 'If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]'."

By Oliver King and Paul Hamilos, Guardian (UK)

Tonight's revelations about Tony Blair and George Bush's White House meeting on January 31 2003 show that the prime minister was prepared to go to war in Iraq before he had tried to get a second UN resolution. Given that the attorney general and Foreign Office lawyers believed at this time that war would be illegal without one, the story throws further doubt on the legality of the conflict.

By Oliver King, Guardian (UK)

A Guardian exclusive tonight reveals that President Bush suggested to Tony Blair in January 2003 the idea of painting UN colours on American U2 spy planes in the hope that Saddam would shoot one down.