Congress, the Bush Administration and Continuity of Government Planning
In August 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the House that he and the rest of his Committee had been barred from reviewing parts of National Security Presidential Directive 51, the White House supersecret plans to implement so-called "Continuity of Government" in the event of a mass terror attack or natural disaster. (1)
Norm Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, commented, "I cannot think of one good reason" for denial. Ornstein added, "I find it inexplicable and probably reflective of the usual, knee-jerk overextension of executive power that we see from this White House." (2)
The story, ignored by the mainstream press, involved more than the usual tussle between the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. Government. What was at stake was a contest between Congress's constitutional powers of oversight, and a set of policy plans that could be used to suspend or modify the constitution.
There is nothing wrong with disaster planning per se. Like all governments, the U.S. government must develop plans for the worst contingencies. But Congress has a right to be concerned about Continuity of Government (COG) plans refined by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld over the past quarter century, which journalists have described as involving suspension of the constitution. (3)
When a Great Power Goes Mad
Robert Parry
An obvious reason why the mainstream US press can't handle the Iraq truth is that to do so would mean that President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, a host of other US officials and even some prominent journalists could be regarded as war criminals, says Robert Parry.
With the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War and the grim milestone of 4,000 US dead, the nation has been awash with news retrospectives on the war and speeches by politicians, mostly offering sanitized versions of what's transpired.
So, you have President George W. Bush, the chief author of this catastrophic war, declaring that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq" even as fighting rages across much of the country and rockets rain down on the highly fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.
Bush's comment invited comparisons to the acronym coined by U.S. Army soldiers during World War II: SNAFU for "situation normal, all f*cked up."
Five Things You Need to Know to Understand the Latest Violence in Iraq
Joshua Holland and Raed Jarrar
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:58 UTC
It's a relatively straightforward story: Iraq is ablaze today as a result of an attempt to impose Colombian-style democracy on the unstable country: Maliki's goal, shared by the like-minded allies among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities that dominate his administration, and with at least tacit U.S. approval, is to kill off the opposition and then hold a vote.
Egypt to replace Israel as Gaza's power supply
Egypt has agreed to replace Israel as the leading electricity supplier to the Gaza Strip.
The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has decided to increase electricity to the Hamas regime by nearly nine-fold in 2008. Officials said the agreement reflected weeks of negotiations that included Israel and the United States.
Is an International Financial Conspiracy Driving World Events?
Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:23 UTC
"They make a desolation and call it peace." -Tacitus
Was Alan Greenspan really as dumb as he looks in creating the late housing bubble that threatens to bring the entire Western debt-based economy crashing down?
Was something as easy to foresee as this really the trigger for a meltdown that could destroy the world's financial system? Or was it done, perhaps, "accidentally on purpose"?
And if so, why?
David Rockefeller at Harvard in 2006
Let's turn to the U.S. personage that conspiracy theorists most often mention as being at the epicenter of whatever elite plan is reputed to exist. This would be David Rockefeller, the 92-year-old multibillionaire godfather of the world's financial elite.
China's battle to police the web
Darren Waters
Web users in China are able to view the BBC News website for the first time in years. So how does the so-called great firewall of China work?
©AFP
The Chinese government oversees what people do online
China concern over U.S. nuclear parts mistake in Taiwan
Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:44 UTC
BEIJING - China expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the United States on Wednesday after the Pentagon said it mistakenly shipped four fuses for nuclear missiles to Taiwan in 2006.
Beijing had urged the United States to thoroughly investigate and report the details promptly to China so as to "eliminate the negative effect and severe consequences," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was quoted on a ministry Web site as saying.
Mubarak aims for Russian nuclear technology, arms: media
MOSCOW - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will seek to secure Russian nuclear technology during his current visit to Russia while Moscow is trying to revive lucrative arms sales to Cairo, newspapers said Tuesday.
Mubarak, who began the visit on Monday, voiced "full satisfaction with the level of international political consultations between Cairo and Moscow," in an interview with the state-owned newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
China Rips Pelosi
CARA ANNA
Accuses Her of Tibet 'SMEAR'
China yesterday berated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she is ignoring the truth about Tibet.
©N/A
'Human-rights police like Pelosi are habitually bad-tempered and ungenerous when it comes to China.' - China's official news agency, Xinhua, ripping Nancy Pelosi (above) for support of Tibetan independence
Postscript to "Spitzer taken down by Mossad?"
Jerry Mazza
In my March 14 article, Spitzer taken down by Mossad, I quoted veteran Beltway reporter Wayne Madsen who said, "Defenses sources have confirmed our March 11 report that Emperors Club VIP, the prostitution firm that entangled New York's outgoing Governor Eliot Spitzer in a call girl ring, is viewed by US intelligence as a front for Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad.
"The sources claim that Spitzer was 'outed' for his aggressiveness in attacking money launderers connected to Russian-Israeli organized crime syndicates and other Wall Street malfeasance."
Just eight days before that article, a federal judge in New York had ordered that Mark "Michael" Brener be held without bail after his March 6 arrest as the boss procurer in this politically weaponized prostitution scandal. What's more, a JTA Breaking News article, Israeli at center of Spitzer scandal tells us Mark Brener, a 62-year old Israeli of 29 years in the US had an Israeli passport and some $600,000 on hand. Where do they find these guys?
Seems to me to be a reasonable request. So a reasonable thing after hearing the judge would be to think, something doesn't add up here.