Fear of Clowns

What does it mean? (archive) The first pic accompanies a link to a story about Bob Kerrey and Lee Hamilton leaving the 9-11 Commission's questioning of Bush and Cheney early, the second about alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. The prisoner pictured was supposedly told if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted.

// posted by Erik @ 4/29/2004 05:03:00 PM
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The move however is not a Bush flip-flop: The President never said "regime elimination", he said "regime change".

// posted by Erik @ 4/22/2004 02:24:00 PM
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Today is the 100th birthday of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. It's also the 54th anniversary of the first atomic explosion to be shown on live network television. Now we're supposed to feel afraid of the terra'sts, I suppose. John Adams seems to have been correct when he observed that "Fear is the foundation of most governments."

// posted by Erik @ 4/22/2004 08:48:00 AM
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Lots of coffins we're not supposed to be seeing.

// posted by Erik @ 4/22/2004 07:43:00 AM
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Zell Miller, March 1, 2001:

• In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington.

  Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.

  John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment.

Zell Miller, March 24, 2004:

• There are too many issues about which John Kerry and I disagree. And there are too few similarities between John Kerry and the great Democratic leaders I’ve known ...

  John Kerry is also out of step with our party’s greatest leaders on foreign policy ...

  Senator Kerry doesn’t make any secret of the fact that he wants to bring more money into Washington so that he can decide how to spend it ...

  John Kerry is also out of step with our party’s greatest leaders on foreign policy.

// posted by Erik @ 4/22/2004 12:49:00 AM
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"We must give notice to this president and other Presidents that deceit and deception over issues as grave as going to war and waging war cannot be tolerated in a constitutional democracy."
- Elizabeth Holtzman
Debate on Articles of Impeachment,
Hearings of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Reps.
93rd Congress, 2nd Session, p 494
1974

Another:

'Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose. If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, "I see no probability of the British invading us;" but he will say to you, "Be silent: I see it, if you don't."'
- Abraham Lincoln
Letter to William H. Herndon, February 15, 1848

// posted by Erik @ 4/19/2004 02:36:00 AM
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Speaking of the Israeli assassination of Abdelaziz Rantisi, Condoleezza Rice told FOX News Sunday's Chris Wallace, "This will strengthen the road map." Photos from Palestine today show a different opinion:

// posted by Erik @ 4/18/2004 12:44:00 PM
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Two months before 9-11, Phoenix FBI agent Kenneth Williams wrote a memo to FBI HQ, reading in part,

• "The purpose of this communication, is to advise the bureau and New York of the possibility of a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges ...

  "Phoenix believes that the FBI should accumulate a listing of civil aviation universities/colleges around the country. FBI field offices with these types of schools in their area should establish appropriate liaison. FBIHQ should discuss this matter with other elements of the U.S. intelligence community and task the community for any information that supports Phoenix’s suspicions. FBIHQ should consider seeking the necessary authority to obtain visa information from the USDOS on individuals obtaining visas to attend these types of schools and notify the appropriate FBI field office when these individuals are scheduled to arrive in their area of responsibility."

In the version of William's memo made public, most all names are blacked out: if any of the 19 hijacker's names were mentioned in this memo, it means that the FBI HQ knew the identities of terrorists who two months later would hijack four airplanes within the United States - and had been warned of the possibility of specific individuals who were feared to be at some point in the development of a plot to hijack airplanes.

On August 15, 2001, Minneapolis FBI agents took Zaccharias Moussaoui into custody . Here is Colleen Rowley's May 21, 2002 memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller concerning Moussaui: Rowley writes,

• "As the Minneapolis agents' reasonable suspicions quickly ripened into probable cause, which, at the latest, occurred within days of Moussaoui's arrest when the French Intelligence Service confirmed his affiliations with radical fundamentalist Islamic groups and activities connected to Osama Bin Laden, they became desperate to search the computer lap top that had been taken from Moussaoui as well as conduct a more thorough search of his personal effects. The agents in particular believed that Moussaoui signaled he had something to hide in the way he refused to allow them to search his computer."

Between these two events, President Bush received the now famous August 6 Presidential Daily Briefing which stated,

• "Nevertheless, FBI information since that time [1998] indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

Rather than point out absurdities such as Bush claiming that the memo "said nothing about an attack on America," I'll present the nutshell timeline:

• July 10, 2001: FBI agent in Phoenix warns of suspected terrorists taking flight training in the US with the intention of hijacking airplanes. It's possible the memo mentions 9-11 hijackers by name, we don't know.
• August 6, 2001: President Bush receives a memo warning of a long history of a desire by terrorists to hijack US flights and commit other acts of terrorism within the United States. It concludes by summarizing that there are ongoing activities "in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks."
• August 15, 2001: Accused 9-11 conspirator Zaccharias Moussaoui in custody, FBI field agents request for a search warrant on Moussaoui is denied.
• September 11, 2001: Four domestic flights hijacked by terrorists trained in US flight schools.

The significance of the August 6 memo reaches beyond the loose warnings it describes by establishing the intelligence failures reached all the way up to the Oval Office - the President was made aware that an al Qaeda plot to hijack airplanes may be in the works. Shortly before the President received the August 6 memo, an FBI agent had alerted FBI Headquarters of suspected terrorists taking flying lessons at US schools. Shortly after the President had definitively been made aware of al Qaeda's active desire to attack within the US, the FBI obtained definitive and specific information about Zaccharias Moussaoui - and indeed had him in custody. It's now the JD's contention that Moussaoui was the 20th hijacker, which is a reasonable assumption.

The August 6 brief means much more when looked at along side Kenneth Williams' memo and the arrest of Zaccharias Moussaoui. A presidential directive to vigorously pursue leads on suspected al Qaeda operatives within the US - particularly those suspected of planning a hijacking - could have turned over some rocks and shook some trees that were known of, but left unexamined until it was too late.

// posted by Erik @ 4/11/2004 09:21:00 PM
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Condi Rice: "I don't remember the al Qaeda cells being something that we were told we needed to do something about."

The National Security Advisor needed to be told that al Qaeda terrorist cells inside the US deserved attention? Is this really what she was saying? Who's job is it to advise the security advisor? Who was Rice trying to pass the buck to? Who?

Listening to the hearing, it seemed to me that everybody - including Condi - had concentrated on preparing messages to give instead of answers to find. For example, the "gotcha" moment about the title of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing had happened years ago ...

From the front page of the Sunday, May 19, 2002 Washington Post:

• Aug. Memo Focused On Attacks in U.S.
  Lack of Fresh Information Frustrated Bush
  
  By Bob Woodward and Dan Eggen
  Washington Post Staff Writers
  Sunday, May 19, 2002; Page A01
  

  The top-secret briefing memo presented to President Bush on Aug. 6 carried the headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," and was primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said.

  The document, known as the President's Daily Briefing, underscored that Osama bin Laden and his followers hoped to "bring the fight to America," in part as retaliation for U.S. missile strikes on al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998, according to knowledgeable sources.

  Bush had specifically asked for an intelligence analysis of possible al Qaeda attacks within the United States, because most of the information presented to him over the summer about al Qaeda focused on threats against U.S. targets overseas, sources said. But one source said the White House was disappointed because the analysis lacked focus and did not present fresh intelligence.

  New accounts yesterday of the controversial Aug. 6 memo provided a shift in portrayals of the document, which has set off a political firestorm because it suggested that bin Laden's followers might be planning to hijack U.S. airliners.

  In earlier comments this week, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other administration officials stressed that intelligence officials were focused primarily on threats to U.S. interests overseas. But sources made clear yesterday that the briefing presented to Bush focused on attacks within the United States, indicating that he and his aides were concerned about the risks.

I would rather have heard an answer to "Condi, why didn't you think terrorist cells in the US were something you should do something about?" But as nobody had anticipated Rice would offer such an ridiculous defense for the White House's involvement in the intelligence failures, the question was not asked ...

// posted by Erik @ 4/09/2004 01:37:00 AM
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Bush has trumpeted proposed increases in Pell Grants as the "cornerstone" of his higher education policy (although he hasn't completely followed through on his promises), yet when Kerry supports increasing Pell Grant funding, the Bush campaign lists it as an unconscionable increase in spending:

• Increasing Pell Grants is a great thing:
  "U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that the administration's fiscal year 2004 budget proposal would include a $1.9 billion increase for the Pell Grant program. This record request would increase Pell Grant funding to an all-time high of $12.7 billion and enable almost 4.9 million students to receive a Pell Grant--nearly one million more than when President Bush took office two years ago."
  - US Dept. of Education press release, February 1, 2003

• Really, it's a wonderful and responsible idea:
  "The cornerstone of the Administration's higher education policy is an additional $1 billion for Pell Grants, increasing the maximum award for all students to provide more need-based grant aid to low-income college students. Department of Education funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Graduate Institutions, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions would increase 6.4 percent over 2001 as the first installment toward the President's goal of increasing these programs 30 percent by 2005."
  - White House budget blueprint, "A Responsible Budget for America's Priorities", February 28, 2001

• But if Kerry suggests increasing Pell Grant funding, it's an unconscionable budget buster:
  "Fact Sheet: The Costs of John Kerry's Campaign Promises
  ... An updated analysis of Senator John Kerry’s campaign promises shows they would cost at least $977 billion over 5 years and $1.9 trillion over 10 years. This is new government spending on top of the President’s budget.
  ... Increase Federal Pell Grant Funding, $16 Billion Over 2 Years. (Kerry For President Website, "Working For African Americans," Accessed 1/20/04; Drew Johnson, "The Return Of Fuzzy Math And Risky Schemes: How Presidential Hopefuls Would Deepen Deficits," National Taxpayers Union Foundation, 1/19/04)"
  - Bush Campaign "Fact [sic] Sheet", Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Bonus prevarication: Neither of the two sources cited for Kerry's "$16 Billion" increase mention Pell Grants at all.

// posted by Erik @ 4/08/2004 10:11:00 AM
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Riffing on a theme by The Apostropher:

"There will be dancing in the streets throughout Iraq if we liberate that country." - Richard Perle
"I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk. Let me give simple, responsible reasons: (1) It was a cakewalk last time; (2) they've become much weaker; (3) we've become much stronger; and (4) now we're playing for keeps." - Ken Adelman
"Over and over, we hear reports of Iraqis here in the United States who manage to communicate with their friends and families in Iraq, and what they are hearing is amazing. Their friends and relatives want to know what is taking the Americans so long. When are you coming?" - Paul Wolfowitz
"We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." - Dick Cheney
"Mission Accomplished." - George W. Bush
	How anybody can believe that the same people who were so wrong can effectively deal with the mess they've created is beyond me.

// posted by Erik @ 4/05/2004 04:08:00 PM
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Harkening back to Richard Perle's assertion that "Democracies do not start aggressive wars", today, President Bush noted:

• "This is one person [Moqtada al Sadr] - this is a person, and followers, who are trying to say, we don't want democracy - as a matter of fact, we'll decide the course of democracy by the use of force. And that is the opposite of democracy."

Could have fooled me, my impression was that Bush was all for deciding the course of Iraq by use of force.

Another curious item is Bush's response to a reporter's question about the June 30th deadline for transfer of authority in Iraq: "The United Nations representative is there now to work on the -- on a -- on to whom we transfer sovereignty. I mean, in other words, it's one thing to decide to transfer. We're now in the process of deciding what the entity will look like to whom we will transfer sovereignty." So now we're thinking of transferring Iraqi "sovereignty" to the UN? Whaa?

// posted by Erik @ 4/05/2004 03:06:00 PM
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• Widening the White House’s growing credibility gap, a new report released today by John Kerry for President reveals that President Bush has proposed or passed $6 trillion in new, unpaid initiatives during the first three years of his administration.

I find it troubling I've read or heard nothing of this other than directly from Kerry's website. news.google.com produces one result for "6 trillion bush kerry" - a reposting of the press release on a Spanish website. I listened to the O'Franken Factor. No mention. Have looked at all the blogs I regularly look at. Have looked at CNN.com, NYTimes, WaPo. No mention of Bush the $6 Trillion Dollar Man. If the Bush Campaign had produced a press release this morning "reporting" on Kerry, Rush Limbaugh and every other right wing radio and TV host would be repeating it. Blogs would echo it endlessly. Then it would be a front page news item.

Why is nobody following Kerry's lead on this?

Update 5:15 pm: finally, a NY Times article. Maybe bloggers read that more than Kerry's own site.

// posted by Erik @ 4/05/2004 01:50:00 PM
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