Is Col. Wilkerson Defending Cheney With a Limited Hangout?

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Wednesday March 18, 2009 · 2:27 PM PDT

2009/03/18 · 14:27

Col. Wilkerson's article yesterday at The Washington Note, Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay is troubling to me, and causes me to question whether his seeming 'truth-telling' following his departure, along with Gen. Powell, from the State Department is real, or merely serving the purpose of a limited hangout for the Cheney regime.

Col. Wilkerson flogs the false incompetence meme throughout the piece, then closes with fearmongering, warning us that our "entire future as a free people is in jeopardy'" and "[h]ow we deal with the future attacks of [al-Qa'ida] and its cohorts could well seal our fate, for good or bad."

Rather than reveal what he knows, he asks questions from within the false frame of the previous eight years, including propelling outright propaganda that has already been debunked. If my interpretation of this piece is correct, and I'd like the kommunity's input, maybe Col. Wilkerson should have his credibility questioned.

Halcyon

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Friday February 20, 2009 · 3:16 PM PST

2009/02/20 · 15:16

Avenging Angel's UBS, the IRS and Phil Gramm is a must-read diary. It describes Phil Gramm's complicity in knee-capping the IRS' ability to collect taxes, especially from the über-wealthy. It has a time-line leading up to Gramm's tenure at UBS, and the creation of the phony Swiss bank accounts there that were used to avoid paying taxes.

The amount of $300 billion dollars in owed taxes has been bandied about, in reference to the UBS case, but PiRierran also posted a diary earlier today about the UBS numbers that questions that amount, and calculates that it is way too low: Regressive tax rate travesty hidden in UBS story: (U2)

PiRierran implies that the IRS is covering up for UBS/Phil Gramm (?), and gives background on the numbers.

Halcyon

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Wednesday February 18, 2009 · 7:52 PM PST

2009/02/18 · 19:52

The UN reported in January that drug money flowed through banks, in an effort to provide liquidity.

Now comes a report that UK soldiers have seized opium in Afghanistan. This is merely the most recent event in what may prove to be one of the motivations behind the war on Afghanistan. Some who follow drug war news believe that the economic crisis is behind this seizure, just as the war was intended to rev up opium production in Afghanistan (as well as control oil/gas distribution via pipelines).

As the economic crisis and the banks plunge into the abyss of insolvency, and despite Secretary Geithner’s attempts to promulgate rescue plans, there is also maneuvering behind the scenes. The drug trade has always been a part of the economy, whether in the ‘shadow economy’ or the real economy, at street level.

Halcyon

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Tuesday November 04, 2008 · 11:33 AM PST

2008/11/04 · 11:33

I took the ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC exit poll this morning.

We voted at our rural central PA polling place, arriving at 9AM, and waited 25 minutes, ten minutes longer than 2004. We’ve never seen such a crowd! The line was snaking off the porch, down the walkway, to the street. I’ve never seen it go past half the porch before.

We saw the exit-poll lady, wearing a cap that had all the logos on it, with two clipboards. We asked her what she was doing and when she said it was an exit poll I got excited. We asked her why our precinct was selected and she said it’s because ours is representative of central Pennsylvania! We asked how she selected people to participate in the poll. She picked alternate people as they exited. We noticed, though that there were two exit points, so that many people did not walk past her. Also, if people refused to participate she made a note (gender, age) but did not ask the next person, continuing to alternate. Since my husband and I were together we were assured of participation, and my husband deferred to me. There were four versions of the questionnaire. I was given version #3.

I was able to copy all of the questions onto the back of my sample ballot:

Poll

362 votes Show Results

Were you exit-polled today?

362 votes Vote Now!

Were you exit-polled today?

Yes

6 votes

291 votes

Pie

65 votes

The Next Surge: Chalabi Redux

Halcyon

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Sunday October 28, 2007 · 8:00 PM PDT

2007/10/28 · 20:00

General Petraeus is trotting out Ahmad Chalabi as the savior of Iraq. (What happened to Iyad/Ayad Allawi?) According to McClatchy Chalabi is back in action in Iraq.

Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.

His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those services without great success.

Halcyon

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Wednesday August 15, 2007 · 11:03 PM PDT

2007/08/15 · 23:03

Has anyone noticed that Daily Kos has been hacked?

Or is it just my browser?

Halcyon

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Monday February 05, 2007 · 12:07 PM PST

2007/02/05 · 12:07

(Hat tip to the Carpetbagger Report) TheStreet.com is reporting that Jeremy Grantham, Dick Cheney’s investment manager has sent a 4-page scathing indictment of U.S. energy policy to his clients:

Titled "While America Slept, 1982-2006: A Rant on Oil Dependency, Global Warming, and a Love of Feel-Good Data," Grantham's philippic adds up to an extraordinary critique of U.S. energy policy over the past two decades.

Halcyon

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Tuesday November 07, 2006 · 7:21 PM PST

2006/11/07 · 19:21

Did you just hear what I just heard? Rick Santorum just conceded to Bob Casey in the PA-Sen race, implying that Casey would only be representing the state of Pennsylvania for "the next coupl'a months." What didn't I get? As far as I know, Santorum will still be representing Pennsylvania as a lame duck for the nest two months. What was he telegraphing? Martial law? Cancellation of election results? Legal challenges to the election results? Read More

Iraq War Preparations Began in 2001: A Time Line

Halcyon

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Saturday November 12, 2005 · 6:45 AM PST

2005/11/12 · 06:45

Below is a time line of reports of military build-up and actions in the middle east in preparation for the Iraq War that I was able to glean from the internet during a week in June, 2005. Most of this is not on other time lines. Here it is, for what it's worth.

Timeline of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq: Build-Up of Forces and Materiel in Persian Gulf and `Spikes' of Bombing in Northern and Southern `No-Fly Zones', in Preparaton for 2003 Invasion of Iraq, Prior to Authorization by Congress Read More

Bolton Helped Pass Yellowcake Forgery to U.N.

Halcyon

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Monday May 16, 2005 · 10:54 AM PDT

2005/05/16 · 10:54

I was working on my letter to Senator Specter when Google brought me to a letter (warning:pdf) from Congressman Henry Waxman to Representative Christopher Shays in his capacity as chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform. Dated March 1, 2005, the 12-page letter is about the executive branch's over-classifying of documents, and gives five examples, one of which is:

"The State Department concealed unclassified information about the role of John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the creation of a fact sheet that falsely claimed that Iraq sought Uranium from Niger." Read More

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Iraq War Preparations Began in 2001: A Time Line

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