Sarah Palin shamelessly uses the tragic events of 9-11 to fund raise.

Image borrowed from Sarah Palin's Facebook page.

Courtesy of shameless attention whore's Facebook page:

Never forget. 

Never forget what? To send money to your PAC so that you can buy more botox or ugly ass wigs?

You know I have to admit that when I first saw this image I thought, just maybe, that Palin had skipped putting the SarahPAC logo on it.

But then I saw it hidden in the corner at the bottom, blended in so it would not be so obvious, but there nonetheless.

3,000 Americans dies that day, and over 5,000 have died in the two wars that the attacks inspired.

Those people did NOT die so that Sarah Palin could use the heartbreaking event to line her own pockets!

If we remember what the LAST Republican presidency was like, perhaps we will be patriotic enough to avoid another one.

You may, or may not, be a fan of Christopher Hitchens, but he , unlike other journalists, had the courage to undergo waterboarding to determine if it was indeed torture. It was.

This video is from 2008, when Hitch decided to undergo water-boarding to determine if it was torture.

You may perhaps remember that in 2009, Sean Hannity said that HE was willing to be water-boarded for charity, but despite an offer from Keith Olbermann to pay $1,000.00 a minute to his named charity if he went through with it, Hannity simply did not have the guts.

"For every second you last, a thousand dollars -- live or on tape, provided other networks' cameras are there. A thousand dollars a second, Sean, because this is no game. This is serious stuff. Put your money where your mouth is, and your nose. Oh, and I'll double it when you admit you feared for your life, when you admit the horrible truth -- waterboarding, the symbol of the last administration, is torture."

After seeing how quickly Hitch succumbed to panic during his waterboarding, imagine how it must have felt for the so-called "Mastermind of 9-11," Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to undergo that same process 183 times.

Somehow I think he would have admitted to just about anything.

President Obama receives standing ovation from BOTH Democratic and Republican leaders for bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice.

Let this serve as an example to certain right wing radio talk show hosts, Fox News commentators, and inconsequential half-term Governors.  THIS is how patriots respond when the leader of their country does the job that he promised to do when he was elected.

Sarah Palin's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. (Well two days actually.) Update!

Boy this last 24 to 48 hours have not been very kind to poor Sarah Palin.

Just imagine if you were her for a moment.

First you learn that the President, who you have been aggressively attacking and accusing of not knowing how to do his job in the hopes that perhaps YOU can take that job from him, orchestrates the killing of the most dangerous terrorist on the planet essentially assuring his victory in 2012.

Then you send out a bitter, and clearly insincere tweet (and follow up Facebook post), in which you thank the troops for killing Osama Bin Laden while denying any credit to the Commander in Chief, which once again identifies you as a hateful, immature attention whore, and which receives richly deserved  condemnation from all over the blogosphere.

And just when you believed that things could NOT get any worse, somebody posts a picture of you on the Internet with food stains (At least we hope they're food stains!) ALL over your expensive outfit.

Here is closer look.

Okay I don't want to start any unnecessary rumors, but exactly what was on the menu at that Vanity Fair after party?

Oh well Sarah, don't forget that tomorrow is another day!

And the mind reels to imagine how badly you will fuck up THAT day!

Update: What? And she wore clown shoes that night too?

Okay can we just pretend that this woman did not come from Alaska? Please, just this once?

Make no mistake the death of Osama Bin Laden will become the defining moment in President Obama's presidency.

Today there is a lot of talk about how this news will affect Obama's presidency, and the devastating impact it will have on the Republicans who were hoping to recapture the White House in 2012.

Here is just a sampliing.

From the Time's Mark Halperin:

The President's speech to the nation, announcing that Osama bin Laden has been killed by an American team in Pakistan, was strong, proud and passionate, and proved once again that Obama is capable of reaching the highest levels of gravitas and consequence his job demands.

From one end of the American political spectrum to the other, there will be absolute consensus that the Obama administration's elimination of bin Laden is a huge victory for the president. It will reinforce the notion that Barack Obama will be very tough to beat for re-election.

Fox News reports how the news has, at least for now, created a non-partisan atmosphere of joy and unity in Washington:

Nothing has united Washington like the killing of Usama bin Laden since the very attacks he orchestrated nearly a decade ago.

Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives are all toasting the strike by a 40-man Navy SEAL team that swooped in on the terror master’s compound, killing bid Laden and one of his adult sons. Relief and exultation at the end of the manhunt that began on Sep. 11, 2001 runs the political gamut from Pelosi to Paul.

So universal was the desire for bin Laden’s death and so effective was the mission to kill him – from authorization to head shot to burial at sea in about 8 hours -- that Congress can skip the usual gamesmanship and chin pulling that follows a major military or intelligence operation.

Even Dick Cheney had to grudgingly give the President credit:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney -- a vocal critic of President Obama's anti-terror policy since the end of the Bush administration -- extended his congratulations to the White House after the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. forces. Cheney called the killing of bin Laden "a tremendous achievement for the military and intelligence professionals who carried out this important mission."

"I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team," Cheney said.

All across the country jubilant Americans gathered to celebrate the death of America's own personal bogeyman, and to give well deserved credit to our President.



But for me I felt it was Keith Olbermann over at Fok News who summed it up best. (For obvious reasons.)

You can say all you want about unity and non-politicization of this event, but that ship sailed – and in the other direction – in 2002 and 2004. The GOP claimed all the credit in the world for anything that happened and anything that didn’t. President Obama was attacked before during and after his election for supposedly “weak” national security credentials. In point of fact, as of tonight his national security/counter-terrorism credentials probably jumped to Number 4 on the all-time Presidential list, just behind Lincoln, FDR, and Madison.

To that end, please join us in saying goodbye to Sarah Palin, whose career ended tonight. She sealed it by tweeting congratulations only to the military. Not a word about Intelligence personnel, and certainly not a word about Obama. Speaking of intelligence, rationalizing the death of Bin Laden under a Democratic president is going to test the limit of hers. Which ain’t gonna take long.

Could not have said it better myself.

Video of the President's speech about the death of Bin Laden last night.

You can find the text here.

Rep. Ellison's testimony during Congressman Peter King's hearing to investigate those who worship differently than he does, was very moving. Update!

Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05)

Testimony Before The House Homeland Security Committee

The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response

March 10, 2011

Thank you Chairman King for allowing me to testify today. Though the Chairman and I sometimes disagree, including on the premise of this hearing, I appreciate his willingness to engage in this dialogue. I also thank Ranking Member Bennie Thompson for his commitment to homeland security and civil rights for all. It's a challenge to protect both security and liberty, but Congressman Thompson strikes the right balance.

I would like to introduce Talat Hamdani, who is with us today. She is the brave mother of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a first responder who died trying to rescue fellow Americans on 9/11.

I will make three points today. First, violent extremism is a serious concern to all Americans, and is the legitimate business of this Committee. Second, this Committee's approach to violent extremism is contrary to American values, and threatens our security. Finally, we need increased understanding and engagement with Muslim American communities to keep America safe.

I want to elaborate on the first point.

Understanding the roots of domestic terrorism is the legitimate business of the House Homeland Security Committee. I share the Chairman's concerns about violent extremism. I voted for The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 authored by Representative Jane Harman. This bill is a common sense approach to studying violent extremism in the United States. I plan to introduce a companion bill in the future.

I recently made a presentation, sponsored by the Center for American Progress, called "Strengthening America's Security: Identifying, Preventing and Responding to Domestic Terrorism." My presentation addressed causes of violent extremism and solutions for prevention and intervention.

The safety of our families and communities is at stake in our discussion today. We should apply the utmost intellectual rigor to this issue--which leads to my second point. We need to conduct a thorough, fair analysis and do no harm. The approach of today's hearing, unfortunately, does not meet these standards.

Today's hearing is entitled, "The extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's response."

It is true that specific individuals, including some who are Muslims, are violent extremists. However, these are individuals - but not entire communities. Individuals like Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Faisel Shazad, and Nidal Hasan do not represent the Muslim American community. When their violent actions are associated with an entire community, then blame is assigned to a whole group. This is the very heart of stereotyping and scapegoating, which is counter-productive.

This point is at the heart of my testimony today. Ascribing the evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong; it is ineffective; and it risks making our country less secure.

Solutions to the scourge of domestic terrorism often emerge from individuals within the Muslim community--a point I address later in my testimony. However, demanding a "community response" (as the title of this hearing suggests) asserts that the entire community bears responsibility for the violent acts of individuals. Targeting the Muslim American community for the actions of a few is unjust. Actually all of us--all communities--are responsible for combating violent extremism. Singling out one community focuses our analysis in the wrong direction.

Throughout human history, individuals from all communities and faiths have used religion and political ideology to justify violence. Let's think about the KKK, America's oldest terrorist organization; the Oklahoma City bombing; the shooting at the Holocaust Museum by James von Brunn; and bombings at Planned Parenthood clinics. Did Congress focus on the ethnic group and religion of these agents of violence as a matter of public policy? The answer is no.

Stoking fears about entire groups for a political agenda is also not new in American history. During World War II the US government interned Japanese Americans and spied on German Americans. During John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, his opponents portrayed a dire future for an America with a Catholic president. We now view these events of our past as a breach of our treasured American values.

Let's talk about facts rather than stereotypes. In fact, the Muslim American community rejects violent ideology. The RAND Corporation, a highly respected research organization, released a report last year that states the following:

given the low rate of would-be violent extremists [only 100 amongst an estimated 3 million American Muslims "...suggest[s] an American Muslim population that remains hostile to jihadist ideology and its exhortations to violence."

The RAND report concludes that a mistrust of Muslim Americans by other Americans is misplaced.

The Muslim American community across this country actively works with law enforcement officials--from dialogues with Attorney General Eric Holder to community meetings with local police officers in Minneapolis. Recently, tips from the Muslim American community foiled two domestic terror plots including the case of the Times Square Bomber and the Northern Virginia Five. Law enforcement officials depend upon these relationships.

A recent report from the Muslim Public Affairs Council stated that information provided by Muslim Americans has helped foil seven of the last 11 domestic terror plots and 40 percent of all plots since 9/11. A 2011 study from the Duke University Triangle Center on Terrorism reiterated that 40 percent of domestic terror plots have been prevented with the aid of the Muslim American community .

This cooperation with law enforcement is rooted in relationships and trust--relationships that we should nurture. A witness at today's hearing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, testified before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee last year:

To effectively detect and manage extremists, police need to have the trust and understanding of the Muslim communities who live within and outside the United States... Simply, police need public participation.

Sheriff Baca recently commented on important cooperation between his office and the Muslim American community. He stated:

We have as much cooperation as we are capable of acquiring through public trust relationships [with the American Muslim community]. Muslim Americans in the county of Los Angeles have been overwhelmingly astounded by terrorist attacks--like everyone else--and overwhelmingly concerned about a non-repeat performance of that kind--and are willing to get involved and help.

As policy leaders, we need to be rigorous about our analysis of violent extremism. Our responsibility includes doing no harm. I am concerned that the focus of today's hearing may increase suspicion of the Muslim American community, ultimately making all of us less safe.

We have seen the consequences of anti-Muslim sentiment - from the backlash against the Park51 Muslim Community Center to the hostilities against an Islamic Center in Mursfreesboro, Tennessee, to the threatened Quran burning in Gainesville, Florida. Zoning boards in communities like Dupage County, Illinois are denying permits to build new mosques.

At the height of the Park51 controversy a man asked a cabbie whether he was Muslim. When the cabbie said, "As-Salaam Alekum", a common Muslim greeting that means "peace be unto you", the individual stabbed him. According to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups in the U.S. now number more than 1,000, an "all-time high," and the threat of domestic terrorism from elements of the radical right is very real and growing. These are only a few examples of the danger of a hateful climate that results when communities are stereotyped inaccurately.

Denis McDonough, the President's Deputy National Security Advisor, recently spoke at the ADAMS Center, the Dulles American Muslim Society. Mr. McDonough noted that al-Qaeda's core recruiting argument is that the West is at war with Islam. A chief goal of our national security policy is to undermine this argument. This requires active engagement with the Muslim American community at home and throughout the world. As President Obama said in his Cairo speech, "Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism--it is an important part of promoting peace".

This brings me to my third point. What should we be doing to address violent extremism and keep America safe?

The best defense against extremist ideologies is social inclusion and civic engagement. FBI Agent Ralph Boelter, head of the Minneapolis FBI, illustrates my point. He led a large scale probe into counterterrorism involving local Somali-Americans heading overseas to fight with a terrorist organization. He is now coming to D.C. to become the Agency's deputy assistant director in charge of counterterrorism.

Boelter's strategy: To fight extremism, the Agency needs to establish sincere relationships with the community. "We had to be able to show people they could trust me, trust us," Boelter said of the local community.

FBI Agent Boelter "showed a side to the FBI that people don't see," said Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan. "They needed that. They needed a little more to make their case. And it paid off because of the connections he made. People came forward. He became somebody that they were willing to go to."

Unfortunately, some leaders continue to misrepresent events in my own community of Minneapolis. For example, this week the Chairman was on the Morning Joe TV show and said, "how about the number of young Somali men who went to Somalia and the Imams and the leaders in the Minneapolis Muslim community refused to cooperate [with them] at all. They were denying for a long time that they even left."

This sweeping statement regarding the community I represent is simply not true. More importantly, why weren't these law enforcement officials invited to testify before this committee about effective counterterrorism through engagement with the Muslim American community?

In January, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties convened a youth summit with Somali-American youth and law enforcement agencies in Minneapolis. The event attracted over 100 people including the U.S. Attorney, three of Minneapolis' Somali-American police officers, myself, and several law enforcement and security agencies.

The meeting provided an opportunity for Somali youth groups to learn more about the various roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and discuss community issues and concerns with government representatives. Meeting participants discussed ways in which Somali youth and government entities can improve communication and build trust in a variety of ways, from convening regular youth summits to supporting and participating in youth sporting activities.

Muslim Americans have been a part of America since the nation's founding. A little known fact is that Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is home to the oldest mosque in America. The Muslim American community is just like the rest of us. Muslims serve our nation as doctors, lawyers, teachers, business owners, factory workers, cab drivers, law enforcement officers, professors, firefighters, and members of the armed forces. Muslim Americans live in every community in America--they are our neighbors. In short, they are us. (Americans)

Every American, including Muslim Americans, suffered on 9/11.

29 Muslims died at the World Trade Center;

3 Muslims died in the hijacked planes (United Flight 175 and American Flight 11).

Muslims stood with the rest of America united in grief, in their resolve to protect America. Along with Americans of all faiths, Muslim Americans rushed in to save and rescue victims of Al-Quaeda's terrorism.

Let me close with a story, but remember that it's only one of many American stories that could be told. Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a 23-year-old paramedic, a New York City police cadet and a Muslim American. He was one of those brave first responders who tragically lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago. As The New York Times eulogized, "He wanted to be seen as an all-American kid. He wore No. 79 on the high school football team in Bayside, Queens, where he lived, and he was called Sal by his friends... He became a research assistant at Rockefeller University and drove an ambulance part-time. One Christmas, he sang in Handel's Messiah in Queens. He saw all the Star Wars movies, and it was well known that his new Honda was the one with "Yung Jedi" license plates.

Mr. Hamdani bravely sacrificed his life to try and help others on 9/11. After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character solely because of his Islamic faith. Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim. It was only when his remains were identified that these lies were fully exposed.

Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be defined as a member of an ethnic group or a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow citizens.

Mohammed Salman Hamdani is us. He is every American. He is our neighbor. If we make him the problem, we all lose. If we engage him in the solution, America and the world will be a more vibrant, safer place for us and our children.

(Courtesy of the Atlantic.)

Rep. Ellison struggled several times during his testimony, and at the end was so overcome with emotion he could barely get the words out.  I saw several of those in attendance wiping away tears as well and believe it was one of the most raw and honest testimonies that Congress has heard in quite a long time.

As one would expect Rep. Peter King was left unmoved.

Update: Here is video of the last, and most moving portion, of Rep. Ellison's testimony.



You know I am not a Muslim, nor do I live in Wisconsin, but I cannot be the only one who feels that these attacks on our fellow Americans by these out of control Republicans, are also attacks on the very foundation of this country.

There is nothing "Patriotic" or "American" about how these arrogant politicians are conducting themselves. In fact I believe that their actions will go down in history, like the McCarthy hearings, the interment of the Japanese during World War 2, and the Bush V Gore Supreme Cour ruling, as black marks on the history of this country, that will no doubt cause shame and bewilderment in the minds of our children and grandchildren in the decades to come.

I thought I was the only one who believed this.

I admit that I became quite paranoid during the Bush administration, as I think many Americans did, but I always felt this was probably very close to the truth.

What do you think?

Long suppressed CIA report to be released on Monday.

A long-suppressed report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general to be released next week reveals that CIA interrogators staged mock executions as part of the agency's post-9/11 program to detain and question terror suspects, NEWSWEEK has learned.

According to two sources—one who has read a draft of the paper and one who was briefed on it—the report describes how one detainee, suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was threatened with a gun and a power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. According to the sources, who like others quoted in this article asked not to be named while discussing sensitive information, Nashiri's interrogators brandished the gun in an effort to convince him that he was going to be shot. Interrogators also turned on a power drill and held it near him. "The purpose was to scare him into giving [information] up," said one of the sources. A federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with "imminent death."

The report also says, according to the sources, that a mock execution was staged in a room next to a detainee, during which a gunshot was fired in an effort to make the suspect believe that another prisoner had been killed. The inspector general's report alludes to more than one mock execution.

Do you remember when the United States of America was the gold standard for humane treatment of its prisoners? Well if you do then you have undoubtedly received your education about America at war from John Wayne movies. We have never been quite that squeaky clean.

Don't forget we were the country that rounded up its own citizens and placed them into internment camps during World War 2 because they spoke Japanese, and since we did not understand them that was proof positive that they were spies. Okay well SOME of them did not even speak Japanese. But they LOOKED Japanese, and in a time of war that is good enough for the United States of America. Love it, or by God, leave it.

So anyhow we have not been exactly perfect. But compared to most of the other nations in the world we look pretty damn good. Until now that is.

What the Bush administration did in our name has damaged our reputation for generations to come.

Here is Rachel Maddow's take on the report:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(BTW clicking the title will take you to the Michael Isikoff Newsweek story that Rachel references.)


This is just the latest piece of evidence that demonstrates the criminality of the Bush administration and the lawlessness that prevailed during their reign.

We have already seen how they ignored good intelligence in favor of the bad to convince Americans to go into an illegal war.

We have seen how they used Terror Alerts to scare Americans into voting for George Bush.

And we now know that they used the U.S. Attorneys office to target Democrats for prosecution on trumped up voter fraud cases for their political gain.

I am sorry, what am I missing here? Is there not enough evidence to launch a full and comprehensive investigation against that criminal regime? What laws did they NOT break, or attempt to break?

I am tired of hearing how hard it will be, or how many scabs it will tear off, or how it will split the country in two. (In case you have not noticed, the country is already split in two.) Those excuses ultimately do not matter. What matters is that our country was treated like an innocent Sorority girl at her first college party. It was lied to, manipulated, verbally abused, horribly violated, stripped of its dignity, and left on the floor of some fraternity surrounded by empty bottles of Jagermiester.

In order for America to reclaim its virtue it MUST bring those that abused it to justice. If we cannot even manage to do that then we certainly do not deserve to call ourselves the greatest country in the world.

The United States of America waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in one month!

According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury memo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

I am absolutely stunned by this revelation.

I knew we had used torture on these "enemy combatants", but this is so extreme that it seems pathologically sadistic. This is not interrogation, this is punishment! The mind set that allowed this to happen was one of "you hurt us and now we are going to punish you for it".

That is not justice. That is the same mindset that allows the worst dictators in the world to punish everybody who dares to disagree with them.

And how can we possibly trust ANY information that we attained using these techniques? I don't know about you but after 183 times I would confess that I assassinated John F. Kennedy, and I was only three years old at the time.

I am so ashamed of my country over this that it hurts my heart.

We must punish the people that did this! The Obama administration simply cannot let this slide!

I am sorry but if we do not send a message to the world that America is against this type of behavior, and that those who engage in it are punished, than we simply cannot hope to earn back the trust of the rest of world.

Or for that matter the trust of our own citizens.

They now make video episodes of "Get Your War On". And that is awesome!

Okay if you are easily offended then don't watch this video, because it requires a pretty well rounded and possibly sick sense of humor.

But if you don't have one of those then how did you get to this blog in the first place?

And if you like it and want to read the comic that inspired it go here.

Are there 1 million terrorists on the TSA watch list?

A watch list of suspected and known terrorists, compiled by the US authorities, has ballooned and contains more than one million names, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday.

The ACLU said it derived that figure from a Justice Department report on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, which consolidates terrorist watch list information.

The Center "had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month," according to a report by the Justice Department Inspector General, the rights group said.

"By those numbers, the list now has over one million names on it," the ACLU said in a statement.

Among those on the watch list are deceased people, such as former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was hanged in 2005, decorated war veterans, and US Senator Ted Kennedy, the ACLU said.

Nobel Peace Prize winner, former South African president Nelson Mandela, was also on the list until an act of Congress removed his name -- the only way, according to the ACLU, to get off the list.

"The watchlist is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with the administration's approach to terrorism: it's unfair, out of control, incompetently administered, a waste of resources, and is a very real impediment in the lives of billions of travelers," the director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program, Barry Steinhardt, told reporters in Washington.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) flatly denied the allegation that the list contained one million names.

"Assumptions about the list are just plain wrong," the TSA said in a posting on its website, estimating that there were less than 450,000 people on the watch list.

You know I am not sure that 450,000 terrorists is all that much better then 1,00,000 terrorists. I mean yes it is only half as many, but it means that according to the TSA there are still almost a half of a million people in the world who want to kill us. Including the always dangerous Senator Ted Kennedy, who must only be pretending to battle brain cancer to throw the TSA off his trail. The list is a joke and should be shit canned until the Obama administration takes over and someone with half a brain can put together an accurate list of scary bad guys.

On a personal note when I went to visit my sister last Christmas, which was the first time I had flown since 9-11, I half expected to be on some sort to watch list due to my constant berating of the President on this blog and in my local newspaper.

At first I was very relieved to have no problem clearing the security checkpoints but then later I was kind of let down. I know of a few outspoken critics that HAVE made the list and it pains me to know that the administration does not take my venomous criticisms to be sufficiently damaging enough to get me labeled as dangerous.

It totally screws with my self esteem.

Us terror list includes dangerous insurgent and Nobel Prize winner Nelson Mandela.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation "embarrassing," and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and '80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country's ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit.

Yeah I can see how the man who stood up to an oppressive regime and managed to attract the attention of the world to horrible human rights violations being visited upon his people might frighten the Bush Fourth Reich.

I actually think the Bushies are more afraid of intelligent people who have experience fighting oppressive regimes visiting this country then they are of a terrorist bomber showing up at the airport.

Your government is keeping you safe from suicide bombing Orcs and insurgent Night elves.

Be careful who you frag. Having eliminated all terrorism in the real world, the U.S. intelligence community is working to develop software that will detect violent extremists infiltrating World of Warcraft and other massive multiplayer games, according to a data-mining report from the Director of National Intelligence.

The Reynard project will begin by profiling online gaming behavior, then potentially move on to its ultimate goal of "automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world."

You have got to be kidding me!

I will admit that I have in fact played this game a few years ago.

My brother was a huge fan (he even met "women" on line that he flirted with), and he talked me into setting up an account. I did not last very long because much of the game, though sort of fun, requires that you cooperate with other maladjusted basement dwellers to accomplish several time wasting goals. I am not really that much of a team player, especially when members of the team have to sign off in the middle of a battle because their mom wants to check her e-mail.

But I do have to agree that WOW is rife with terrorists. There are "terrorists" that use cheat codes to make themselves virtually invincible. "Terrorists" that stand by a spawning point killing your character repeatedly to build their experience points at your expense. And "terrorists" who will use "magic" to take away half of your energy while you are serving as a tank leaving your party vulnerable and causing your team to fail.

However I also believe that these "terrorists" are mostly pimply faced fourteen year olds who sit for hours in front of a computer developing hunched shoulders and eyestrain while devouring snack foods and sugary soft drinks. They are really much too busy fantasizing that they are powerful sorcerers and unbeatable paladins while only signing out to empty their bladders or masturbate to the latest Hannah Montana video to be of any danger to the United States of America.

Olbermann shows us the Bush Nexus of Politics and Terror.

Keith once agian reminds of tht he may be one of the few real newsmen left in the MSM.

Britain first to return to sanity.

The words "war on terror" will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country's chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."
London is not a battlefield, he said.

"The people who were murdered on July 7 were not the victims of war. The men who killed them were not soldiers," Macdonald said. "They were fantasists, narcissists, murderers and criminals and need to be responded to in that way."

His remarks signal a change in emphasis across Whitehall, where the "war on terror" language has officially been ditched.

The term "war on terror" is a contrivance of the Bush administration and has ABSOLUTELY no facts to back it up.

The fact that they have successfully bullied, seduced, and paid other nations to adopt it is one of the most sickening things I have ever witnessed in my entire life.

If we were attacked by terrorists on 9-11, and I feel I must use the word "if" since there is just so much about that incident that does not ring true to me, then we were attacked by a patchwork of angry individuals who have grown to hate us for our meddling in the affairs of their country. We were not attacked by a country, therefore we cannot declare war. You cannot declare war on an organization, or a problem. You can only declare war on another sovereign nation that in some way threatens you.

But like I said I am not at all sure of what truly happened on 9-11 except for the fact that thousands of Americans were killed, and in response we sent many thousands more to die in the sands of Afghanistan and Iraq.

So you keep this in mind as you watch the candidates talk about why we should vote for them. If they use the words "war on terror" then you will know that they are promoting a falsehood, either in ignorance or to continue trying to keep us cowering in our beds. Whatever the reason you should know they do NOT deserve your vote.

Your vote is your voice. And your voice needs to be loud, and strong, and unfettered by fear or uncertainty. Learn as much as you can. Listen to their words. And choose the leader that YOU want to lead your country out of the shadows of secrecy, and torture, and the destruction of human rights. Choose a leader who will allow you to again be proud of being an American.

Raise your head up and let your voice be heard.

You don't have to agree with me, just don't be fooled by them.

Another of the Bush administration's attempts to keep us frightened does not stand up to legal scrutiny.

One of seven men accused of conspiring to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower was acquitted Thursday, and a federal jury in Miami failed to reach a verdict on six others arrested in the alleged terror plot.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that the six whose cases ended in mistrials would be retried starting on January 7.

Lyglenson Lemorin, who also goes by the name Brother Levi, was acquitted in the "Liberty City 7" trial, U.S. District Judge Joan Leonard's office told CNN.

The men were arrested in June 2006 and charged with a homegrown terror plot that officials said may have targeted not only the 110-story Chicago tower -- the tallest building in North America -- but also the FBI's Miami offices and other sites.

At the time, sources told CNN that the suspects were dealing with a man they believed was an al Qaeda operative but who was actually a government informant. Senior federal sources told CNN that the men were "not related to al Qaeda" but "possibly" were al Qaeda wannabes.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that ALL of the people who have been accused of planning terrorists activities in this country will have to be released due to insufficient evidence or verdicts of not guilty. With the exception of Richard Reed the "shoe bomber", who was clearly not quite right in the head.

I have serious doubts that there has ever been a real organized plot to attack America, beyond possibly a few malcontents and lunatics who are most likely working alone or have some loose affiliation with poorly organized groups that just want to make a name for themselves.

And no I have not forgotten about 9-11. But I have serious doubts about just what happened on 9-11 and who was actually involved. I will predict that when, and if, the whole story ever comes out we will discover that it is nothing like the official version.

Newt Gingrich calls the War on Terror "phony". My brain cannot even absorb this information.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.

A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.

"None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives.

I just looked out my window expecting to see pigs flying by. No pigs. I will next be trying to get a reading of what the temperature is in hell.

I have to imagine that Gingrich has realized that no Republican can hope to be elected in 2008, so he is going to run as an Independent. Or he is just simply responding to some truth serum that somebody slipped into his drink.

Well whatever the cause I just do not trust this guy and have a feeling he is up to something.

Edwards calls war on terror a "bumper sticker".

The U.S.-led war on terrorism is "a bumper sticker, not a plan" that has weakened Washington's global standing, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said on Wednesday as he unveiled his defense policy plans.

In an address to the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards urged the U.S. Congress to use its funding power to force an immediate pullout of up to 50,000 U.S. combat troops from Iraq, then a full withdrawal within a year.


Edwards, who was the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in 2004, said as president he would close the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, restore the ability of detainees to take legal action against unlawful imprisonment and ban torture.

"The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan," Edwards said. "It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world."


"By framing this as a 'war,' we have walked straight into the trap that the terrorists have set -- that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war against Islam," said the former senator from North Carolina.

Finally some straight talk from Edwards about this war! I am hungry for some honest debate on what Bush and company have done to our country and how they have sold this bullshit war by playing on the damaged emotions of our population after 9-11.

I want Edwards, Feinstein, and Murtha to bring the fight to these Republicans and spineless Democrats and tell it like it really is.

America wants out of the war!

There is no debate about that.

And for the Democrats in the Senate and the House to be too worried about their political futures to make the hard choices is a betrayal to the voters that sent them there. They need to do whatever they have to to get us out! Now!