Opposition to a strike in Syria is mounting.
By Thom Hartmann A...
According to top administration official, President Obama will not strike Syria without Congressional approval. During an interview on NPR, Deputy National Security Adviser Blinken said, “the president has the authority to act,” even without congressional approval, but added, “it's neither his desire nor intention to use that authority absent [of] Congress backing him.” And, that approval is looking less and less likely.
The Think Progress Blog did an analysis of public statements given by Representatives in the House, and found that only 44 said they will definitely vote to approve military action. More than 200 members of Congress say they will definitely vote against the strike, or that it's highly unlikely that they would support it. Even those senators who support some type of action are looking for an alternative. Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp are circulating a resolution to delay action, and resolve the conflict using diplomatic means.
In addition, it's not only the U.S. Congress that opposes a military strike in Syria. United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon warned that “ill-considered” military action in Syria could have “tragic consequences” for the Syrian people. President Obama, and those who support the strike, now stand in opposition to the U.N., Russia, China, and some European nations – not to mention a vast majority of the American people.
When President Obama was asked Friday about acting without congressional approval, he refused to speculate on how he might act. Perhaps the weight of an international push back, combined with the vocal opposition of Americans, will keep our nation from triggering a potential world war.
Comments
#2
Good afternoon.
I called in yesterday asking about the correlation between the European countries who "help" us brutalize other countries and whether or not those countries were, in fact, former colonies of the Europeans. France gobbled up Syria after the Ottomans relinquished it according the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 (where England and France divided the Middle East). Britain helped the U.S. with Iraq (their former "colony" or mandate) but won't help with Syria. France is doing the exact opposite. It just seems like the U.S. is being used by other countries to help do their dirty work in their former colonies.
And more importantly, why are we helping in this war? I understand that chemical warfare is horrible, but so are bombs. Killing people with fire because they killed people with gas seems like we're flooding a town to kill an arson. Ridiculous. If the rest of the world (besides France) is trying to find alternative means of handling this atrocious circumstance, then the U.S. needs to be with them. This is not the Old West and we are not Sherriff. The U.S. helped create and champions the idea of a United Nations…so why are we going against their decision? We shouldn’t go against the U.N. and bomb Syria because Syria went against the U.N. first. This isn’t a school playground and we can’t meet Syria behind the flagpole for some fist-a-cuffs. Two wrongs never made a right.
#3
US officials: attack on Syria may lead to war with Iran. Additionally, Russia has pledged support to Syria in the event of an attack and is sending warships to the Syrian coast. I watched Ambassador Powers' "Remarks on Syria", which did not include any followup questions and answers between her and the press. This endeavor seems really hasty, naive and dangerous to me.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/09/06/us-officials-attack-on-syria-may-...
#4
I can see why Obama has pursued limited military action and why he is cagey about what he might do if Congress refuses. UN action isn't going well because of Russian obstruction. He's holding out the threat of US and, if not US Congressional his own action, to attempt to force Assad into renouncing his chemical weapons. You don't put all your cards on the table. I hope he is successful in persuading them, but it may be remote. Meanwhile Assad dares not use them. Now is not the time for us to renounce taking action. BTW I think it far more likely that Assad has attempted to make it appear as if the rebels did the attack than that the rebels actually did it. Remember, we haven't seen all the confidential info.
#5
This is splendid news indeed. I certainly hope we can thwart this ill conceived plan of overt imperialism. This idea of invading seven sovereign nations in five years would have made Hitler and Mussolini blush. Just who do some of us think we are. I hope we can put an end to this nonsense without any more innocent bloodshed.
Either way this sickness ends here. We either stop the tyrants in their tracks or we let them bomb and let Russia and China stop them in their tracks. Either way we win. The only thing I fear, is that they may simply back off temporarily... Just long enough for the American people and the international community to become complacent again. If they are not made to answer for the war crimes they have already committed, it is only a matter of time till they try again. Meantime, we will all suffer the domestic plan of Austerity.
There is no way that a country whose leaders demonstrates disinterest in caring for it's own citizens is going to have any serious interest in the humanitarian issues of the citizens of any other country. These liars and thugs need their day of reckoning; and, if they don't get it, WWIII is only going to be postponed and not averted. We could have ended this 40 years ago by not allowing President Richard Nixon to be pardoned. That failure has lead to all these petty wars and domestic problems. If we fail to act again it will only get worse and cause even greater problems in the future for our children.
Call for an international war crimes tribunal to investigate the United States Government for crimes against humanity, NOW!!! The United Nations must act now or the World War that is coming will be their fault!
#6
If lead he must I'd prefer it be with an open hand for those who have voted with their feet rather than the mailed fist of those who have voted with their purses.
How does violence beget peace, particularly amongst the Wahhabi/Sunni and the Alawite/Shia?
#7
Reprinted from yesterday for your amusement.
Quote Palindromedary:Does it make you wonder why the US is doing about the same thing they did in Afghanistan after the Russians were kicked out...supplying war lords (and now Al Qaida) with lots of weapons (even WMD..chemical weapons) that could soon be used as yet another psyops threat against the US? It just keeps going on and on, doesn't it? The creation of enemies to keep the masses scared and distracted from who our real enemies are.
Palindromedary ~ I supposed you saw that video I linked to in it's entirety. It had an interesting conclusion whereas it restated President Bush's comment "...another attack that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Hard to tell with that giant smirk on his face whether that was a warning or a threat. Certainly the video was implying that it was a threat. 'Don't try to stop us or we'll kill you.' 'You're either with us or against us.'
Interesting Bush quotesQuote President George W. Bush:43. "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th." --Washington, D.C., July 12, 2007Quote President George W. Bush:44. "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006Quote President George W. Bush:3. "You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." --to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005 (Listen to audio clip)Quote President George W. Bush:4. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Watch video clip)Quote President George W. Bush:8. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." --Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000 (Listen to audio clip)Quote President George W. Bush:20. "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001Quote President George W. Bush:19. "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." --Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002Quote President George W. Bush:18. "So what?" –President Bush, responding to a an ABC News correspondent who pointed out that Al Qaeda wasn't a threat in Iraq until after the U.S. invaded, Dec. 14, 2008Quote President George W. Bush:22. "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." --in parting words to world leaders at his final G-8 Summit, punching the air and grinning widely as those present looked on in shock, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008Quote President George W. Bush:11. "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/bushquotes/a/dumbbushquotes.htm
I once wrote a song that would echo the testimony of this crime regime where they ever pulled in to testify in court.
The Facist's Testimony Song
(as sung to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands")
Please don't ask me or I'll tell you I don't know!
Please don't ask me or I'll tell you I don't know!
I don't know and I don't care...
And I can prove I'm not all there!
Please don't ask me or I'll tell you I don't know!
#8
The evidence isn't conclusive and bombing won't stop the use of these weapons if they were, in fact, used. Even if used by Assad, the course of action would be to indict him in the ICC or the World Court. As to the U.S., if Obama were to take action without Congressional approval, that would be an impeachable offense. If he gets Congressional approval and takes action without U.N. approval, then it's a war crime. If we want others to follow the law, we must also.
Unfortunately, we do not have much moral credibilty due to our hypocrisy and some of our actions that might be considered war crimes. We've overthrown governments, including Iraq and others, some of which were democratically elected. We've supported and, in some cases, installed, repressive regimes. Specifically related to chemical weapons, we supported Hussein when he gassed the Iranians and the Kurds.
We should stay out of this for moral and legal reasons. In addtion, we don't even know who we'll be helping. We may even end up helping Al Qaeda.
#9
I'm usually in sync with the liberal point-of-view but not this time. If we do nothing the international prohibition against the use of biological is meaningless. The Russians and the Chinese want to do it through the UN because that is where they have power. Economic sanctions haven't stopped Iran and North Korea and they wont stop Assad. This hesitancy is just more dithering. The message to dictaors is clear, Do what you want because because the International bans have no teeth. No wonder the Israelis go their own way in the world. They know more than anyone the
world can get wobbly and leave you twisting in the wind.
#10
edayres: Yes, and we haven't even tried to sanction Israel for their war crimes against the Palestinians, and in Gaza, for using chemical weapons against them.
Quote policymic.com:
1. The U.S. Military Dumped 20 Million Gallons of Chemicals on Vietnam from 1962 - 1971
2. Israel Attacked Palestinian Civilians with White Phosphorus in 2008 - 2009
3. Washington Attacked Iraqi Civilians with White Phosphorus in 2004
4. The CIA Helped Saddam Hussein Massacre Iranians and Kurds with Chemical Weapons in 1988
5. The Army Tested Chemicals on Residents of Poor, Black St. Louis Neighborhoods in The 1950s
6. Police Fired Tear Gas at Occupy Protesters in 2011
7. The FBI Attacked Men, Women, and Children With Tear Gas in Waco in 1993
8. The U.S. Military Littered Iraq with Toxic Depleted Uranium in 2003
9. The U.S. Military Killed Hundreds of Thousands of Japanese Civilians with Napalm from 1944 - 1945
10. The U.S. Government Dropped Nuclear Bombs on Two Japanese Cities in 1945
And while you might scoff at a couple of these because you may not consider Tear Gas such a big deal...you might think that the use of White Phosphorus is particularly horrendous:
Quote polymic.com:
White phosphorus is a horrific incendiary chemical weapon that melts human flesh right down to the bone.
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In Iraq, the U.S. military has littered the environment with thousands of tons of munitions made from depleted uranium, a toxic and radioactive nuclear waste product. As a result, more than half of babies born in Fallujah from 2007 - 2010 were born with birth defects.
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Napalm is a sticky and highly flammable gel which has been used as a weapon of terror by the U.S. military. In 1980, the UN declared the use of napalm on swaths of civilian population a war crime.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/62023/10-chemical-weapons-attacks-wash...
And in 2009:
Quote TheGuardian:Israel's military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/25/israel-white-phosphorus-gaza
#11
Vegasman56: I agree! We'll only end up killing more civilians!
#12
Well, we could just stick our thumbs in our ass and hope it goes away, but this is 'weapons of mass destruction' we are talking about. And I guess all those dead women and kids don't mean anything either. So let's just send a big signal that 'it's OK to kill your people with gas that has been banned for almost 100 years. Oh, by the way, nobody's asking for a war, but just take out the gas munitions. I bet when that shit starts jumpin' off here at home, you'll damned sure wish you'd of 'nipped it in the bud' when you had the chance. After all, it was OK when Hitler used it.
#13
This previous chemical attack happened back in March in Aleppo, Syria and there is evidence, then, that the rebels did the chemical attack. This story posted yesterday, 9/5/13:
Ret. Gen. Leslie Clark contributed to this report from St. Petersburg:
Quote mcclatchydc.com:Russia gave UN 100-page report in July blaming Syrian rebels for Aleppo sarin attackAccording to the statement, the report said the shell “was not regular Syrian army ammunition but was an artisan-type similar to unguided rocket projectiles produced in the north of Syria by the so-called gang ‘Bashair An-Nasr.’”
The Russian analysis found soil and shell samples contained a sarin gas “not synthesized in an industrial environment,” the statement said. The report said the chemical mix did not appear to be a modern version of the deadly agent but was closer to those “used by Western states for producing chemical weapons during World War II.”
The statement said the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team had examined Syrian soldiers injured in the March attack and said that no reaction to the more recent alleged chemical account should be considered without also considering that the rebels, too, have used chemical weapons.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/05/201268/russia-releases-100-page-re...
#14
dglsdxn: But you are obviously convinced that it was Assad that was responsible for the chemical attack on Aug 21!
Not only is there other evidence that the rebels have done a sarin chemical attack in Aleppo back in March of this year but there is other evidence that the Aug 21 chemical attack was most likely caused by the rebels as well. It would have been really stupid for Assad to have done the Aug 21 chemical attack for many reasons..and Assad is not a stupid man. Evil maybe...but not stupid.
The Obama administration's claim of "irrefutable evidence", that Assad did it, is certainly not any more convincing than the "absolute proof" of the "WMD" lies that the Bush administration used to rush us into war. You didn't fall for that one too did you? I didn't believe Bush at all, then! And I certainly don't believe Obama, now!
The President and Congress are flunky puppets being manipulated by the real powers behind them. Although, I must say I am quite surprised that Congress seems to be smart enough (but only after the whole world...Britain and almost everyone else except, perhaps, France has voted against attacking Syria)... to be against an invasion. It's about time they finally found some courage to buck their wealthy puppet masters. But Obama is still the gutless wonder who is pushing for war....rather, another attack on a relatively defenseless country much smaller and weaker than the US. The US is good at that!
But this time, we might be talking about something that may get out of control and start WWIII...nuclear exchange...now wouldn't that be fun. (Maybe Obama thinks he is going to copy JFK in the Russian/Cuba blockade?) An all out nuclear war would make Assad's arsenal of chemical weapons very unimportant!
The real powers want domination, or absolute control, over all the oil and they want world domination. The President and Congress people are merely Howdy Dooty puppets..we have just a facade of democracy...a rigged game....to keep us busy with false hope for change..while the behind the scenes powers continue pressing for world domination.
Oh, and if we just "take out their gas munitions" how many innocent civilians will we kill? We sure didn't seem very discerning in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan and Yemen...we murdered hundreds of thousands...maybe millions of innocent civilians with our "smart bombs" and "intelligent" weapons. The depleted uranium, we used in Iraq, has caused thousands of abortions and mutations. And that stuff takes hundreds of years to deactivate because of the long half life of the uranium.
The US has been terribly irresponsible and criminal in their illegal wars and occupations. In fact, they have even used banned chemical weapons themselves. In Iraq in 2004, they used White Phosphorus that melts the skin to the bone. A shower of White Phosphorus from the air down upon a population isn't discriminating as to whose skin will melt to the bone. Men, women, children, pets! A very terrible weapon. And the Israelis used it against civilians in Gaza.
Hitler had his gas chambers and ovens on the ground but the US and Israel have mobilized theirs in the air... using air strikes. Not really much difference! Seig Heil!
#15
When AT&T UVerse makes the switch, in your areas, to fiber-optics it knocks out DSL. You are forced to switch to their services because they make hardware and software changes at the Central Offices. Your current DSL modem/router won't work. You are forced to use the AT&T Uverse modem/router that they provide. Some people have claimed that they were left without internet service for months after the switch because of AT&T UVerse problems. I was thinking that it would be a great way of knocking someone off the internet for months and silencing them especially if they were critical of the administration. Naw! They wouldn't do that would they?
I also found that AT&T UVerse doesn't have Free Speech TV (FSTV), or LinkTV, or Russia Today(RT)..no more Thom Hartmann on TV channels anyway if you get AT&T UVerse TV. They have plenty of Fox channels, though...Yuk!
Oh, and that first year of service may seem about equal to what you paid for DSL but wait till the second year...I understand the rates go up quite a bit....and you are stuck...unless you go cable or satellite.
Also, you most likely will not get your copper wires replaced with fiber optics...the fiber optics will likely only go to the Central Office...then copper wires to your home..very much like current DSL. But they'll sell you on the idea you are getting high speed fiber-optics into your home which you might if you get the package deal (18Mb internet , phone, HDTV)..but not if you get a single service or a slow 3Mb or 6Mb internet. I understand that AT&T has had, for a long time, not very good service...lots of complaints...and it has only been until Google started fiber-optics in certain test locations in Kansas that AT&T began trying to modernize and jumped on the bandwagon to provide fiber-optic.
I also read that AT&T carrier retains your telephone and internet records longer than any other carrier.
Another thing...something about not being able to call 911 with AT&T UVerse...if your power goes out. Probably because everything has to go through that UVerse modem/router...no power...no phone...no 911.
Lots of people think AT&T UVerse is nothing but trouble...bad service...but a few others swear by it...they like it. Maybe I'll just get cable.
#16
Please do not be brow beaten into supporting another phoney humanitarian intervention by your corporate Media and lying politicians. Some of the most active liberals on the planet support fake wars on humanitarian intervention. Tony Blair, New Labour, the Guardian Newspaper and the BBC (all bastions of so-called liberalism) helped sell the WMD lies to get us into that conflict. Being a liberal does not make you immune to supporting wars of aggression - quite the opposite it seems.
You need to know when you are being played. The evidence from other sources outside of the MSM strongly points to rebel involvement in the gas attacks. Firstly, Kerry's evidence is no more credible than Colin Powell's risible Iraqi WMD evidence - "intercepted communications" by Western intelligence agencies. From the very countries that have wanted regime change in Syria for over a decade now. Kerry also has twitter feeds and youtube videos, posted the day before the attack supposedly took place. Very dubious.
Secondly, it is totally illogical for Assad to use chemical weapons when he knows it will open the door for Western intervention, especially when his forces are winning on the ground. And why drop some chemical weapons on Damascus just as the UN inspectors arrive? Thirdly, why is the US so keen to support Al Qaeda and affiliated groups in Syria - the very forces the War on Terror is supposed to be fighting against? These Islamist forces have now taken over an ancient Christian site in Syria, the Pope has called out against intervention but you don't see our supposedly Christian leaders complaining about that. Damaging Assad's forces will unleash Al Qaeda in Syria.
Fourthly, how does killing even more Syrian civilians with Tomahawks send out a message about killing Syrian civilians? Another idiotic justification for war. Fifthly, why run the risk of igniting a regional war as Syria, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Jordan and others start fighting each other? Sixthly, why is Russia and China's asking for credible evidence "blocking" the UN Security Council? Why is asking for a proper UN mandate blocking anything? Is the UN supposed to be a rubber stamp for wars of aggression. Seventhly, the wars of intervention have really worked in the past haven't they ;-) Libya is a militia and Islamist hellhole; Iraq is on the brink of breaking up. Eigthly, if the US and the West gave a darn about chemical weapons then why do they still use them? Why did they help supply such weapons to Saddam? Why did they not intervene when Saddam used them.
I could go on about the dubious start of the Syrian conflict and the snipers who killed protesters and civilians alike in order to destabilize the country. About how the US, UK, Israel and Saudi Arabia armed and sent in Islamist fighters to continue the destabilization. The US and Saudi Arabia wants regime change in Syria - simple as that.
But your liberal conscience is suddenly pricked when Obama says we gotta save the Syrian children, no matter that the evidence points to Islamists being responsible; that 100,000 people have already been killed in the fighting. No, you think we should react based on a very convenient attack that screams at all of us - REMEMBER IRAQ. In my opinion, you are suffering from double-think and cannot fathom that Obama and Kerry are lying. Well they are. I'm sorry.
PS if you want links to reports, interviews and videos to back up my arguments I'll supply them.
#17
The only thing we have to do, is to look at our history, we helped Osama bin Laden to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, we helped Saddam Hussein fight Iran, today where are we with these people we helped. And now they are our enemies. Are the rebels fighting against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad government any different. These people have been fight each other over there for hundreds of years. The small air strike, what will it do, not a God damn thing, with the possibility of collateral damage, the young children and elderly will be the victims, so do you really want to get involved in another war. I think the two wars we’ve been in the past 10 years is good enough, it’s something to think about. Call your United States senators, call your U.S. House of Representatives and tell them War, No more, No More Trouble.
War/No More Trouble | Playing for Change | Song Around The World
#18
Flopot: lots of very good points! And very well said!
Vegasman: Very good points, as well! Well said!
#19
"Perhaps the weight of an international push back, combined with the vocal opposition of Americans, will keep our nation from triggering a potential world war. "
It would not be our nation that would trigger a potential world war, it would be one man, Obama.
Whatever the reality of his personal agenda, it does reflect the American people and with the oft spoken of risk of a potential world wide conflagration, based upon his plan to bomb Syria, how does whatever he perceives as the positive consequences of his military strike on Syria, outweigh that risk of a worldwide inferno?
#20
It's odd that the US news media is, just today, showing all kinds of very shocking and disturbing videos and photos of the chemical attack/(accident?*) in Syria.
I guess when it serves their interests, they have no qualms about "protecting" Americans from seeing such things! They sure didn't show any of those videos (unless they were highly vignetted) of the horror that our military did in the Middle East. And the US military murdered way, way more than all of the people who have died in Syria.
Watching and comparing what the US main stream news media showed compared to what Al Jazeera, LinkTV, FSTV, and RT showed one would think everyone was just having a picnic over there in the Middle East. The US media didn't show "very disturbing" scenes then; but now, they seem it is in their interests to do so. Even though the media repeatedly said that these scenes show that Sarin chemicals was used it didn't show who used them. Yeah, right, very unbiased, huh? The fact that the idea has already been pounded into American's minds that Assad did these things it is most likely that many people, after seeing such horrors on their TV sets, will just switch off any critical thinking and automatically accept the US government's claims that Assad did it. Many, who have only been exposed to main stream media news, will already have been brain washed and really have no ability to critically think about the alternative evidence.
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* There is some evidence that it may have been just an accident of mishandling, by the rebels, of trying to store the chemical weapons they just acquired.
#21
Just how murderously corrupt can a nation get? A couple of days ago, Flopot posted a link to an article that showed how the mega-criminals, who dress themselves up in legitimate sounding institutions..like "Wachovia" end up stealing big time from all of us...never mind it assisted, indirectly perhaps, in the murder of 30,000 people (a mere pittance compared to what the US military did in the Middle East, of course). And they are so big and powerful they have Congress wrapped around their little fingers....or maybe...other little appendages as well...no offense Congressman Anthony Weiner (and no pun intended..well..maybe!). None of them actually go to jail...and in fact go on to live lavish lives of the rich and famous...despite the fact that the organizations get slapped for a relatively tiny fine ($160 million total*) compared to the amount that was laundered ($378.4 billion)...which is usually paid for out of tax payers or savers pockets anyway. And then the "corporation" gets sold to another big corporation...like Wells Fargo. The top execs, of the now defunct criminal corporation, are living quite well on all the profits of laundering criminal drug money that they made off with. What a racket!
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*"Yet the total fine was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3bn profit for 2009."
#22
Palindromedary ~ Good one! However you forgot that infamous recent story about using military grade pepper spray against protesting student by campus police. That was one of the worst cases of chemical warfare used against civilians domestically in recent history that got a lot of media coverage and public response. Yet how soon we forget.
#23
DAnneMarc: That's true...you're correct! Only thing is that while one could call pepper spray or tear gas chemical weapons, of a sort, they are not really lethal. So when I included those in the quote I was a bit tempted to leave them out because it might detract from the real horrors of lethal chemical weapons. Yeah, I know they have some really bad weapons of crowd control...like ear piercing high frequency audio guns and even microwave guns that cause excruciating pain but don't usually kill people. Might give them cancer in a few years...who knows?
#24
Quote Huffington Post article of 1/23/13--ATT U-verse Is a Copper-Based PSTN Service: Lawmakers and the Media Were Duped.: "... according to multiple sources, 90 percent or more of U-verse households are copper-based -- PSTN-based wire service. U-verse is only fiber-to-the-home when there is "new construction," and considering the current housing slowdown throughout America over the last few years, U-verse, then, is copper-based.AT&T has essentially deceived every state and federal regulator, lawmaker, the press and even the public.
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Call for Immediate Stoppage of ALL 'Closing of the PSTN' Proceedings and an investigation of AT&T and ALEC for Deceptive Practices.The implications of this verbal bait-and switch are enormous and need to be investigated at the FCC, Congress and in every state where AT&T received deregulation claiming that the laws should be changed because of innovation and the next generation of the Internet, including using VOIP.
It is now clear that the PSTN can handle VOIP; the transition isn't to fiber optics but to remain on copper and U-verse is based on the very networks AT&T claims are too old and need to be retired.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kushnick/att-uverse-copper_b_2522703...
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Most of the problems that most people experience with the current PSTN (which AT&T renamed to POTS (plain old telephone system) ) copper based system is on the copper-based local loop lines and connections to the SAI (Serving Area Interface)...ie: the grey metal boxes on the sidewalk down the street from you. That SAI usually contains a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplier) and a number of Aggregator cards (each of which normally have about 24 ports for each local-loop, twisted pair, copper wires that run to each house). The normal fiber optic configuration will run a fiber optics line to these boxes...unless they only run them to the CO (central office) and run copper wire to the SAI boxes on the sidewalk which increases the possibility of slower speeds and noise.
#25
And it's not just AT&T...it's also Verizon as well. They're both trying to monopolize under the guise of replacing the nations copper wire to fiber optics. Fiber optics would be great if they were truly fiber optics all the way to each and every house...but 99% what they call successfully transitioned to Fiber Optics is a lie because the 50-60 year old copper lines still go to the premises and not fiber optics.
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Quote Bruce Kushnick..Huffington Post:
AT&T and the telcos keep talking about free markets and competition, when, in fact, one of the goals of this transition is to close down the rights of all competitors currently using the networks. In fact, AT&T's plan has been to get the government to protect their business by writing laws to block competitors.In August, 2012, AT&T wrote that the FCC should eliminate any requirements or obligations on AT&T and the local phone companies and remove the rights of competitors to rent the networks at wholesale rates.
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AT&T's own words clearly show that this plot is deep and disturbing as it a massive state and federal campaign to shut down America's utilities. And it's clear that neither the FCC nor the state commissions are capable of protecting the public interest.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kushnick/att-alec-fcc-part-2-the-a_b...
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And after they make those changes, if you have a power outage, you will lose your ability to use your phones to call 911 during that power outage unless you have some kind of power back up or a cell phone.
#26
ALEC & Your Communications: Part 1: How AT&T, ALEC and the Other Communications Companies Created Model State Legislation to Harm You
Quote Huffington Post:On July 13, 2011, Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a massive collection of leaked documents from the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC) --- hundreds of model bills and resolutions that were previously voted on by ALEC corporate members and ALEC member politicians behind closed doors.The group has created a model bill for every occasion - from blocking municipalities' ability to offer competitive services even when the incumbent is a no show, or blocking net neutrality, where the companies can interfere in some way with the customers' broadband and Internet service. Many of these pieces of legislation have been around for six years or more.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kushnick/alec-your-communications-_b...
#27
Jack Nicholson summed it up:
http://www.movieclips.com/i2KU-easy-rider-movie-you-represent-freedom/
#28
blueshaman: Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper...two of my favorite actors! Thanks for that link. And you're right Nicholson summed it up quite well. Or, did Janis Joplin sum it up too? "Freedom's just another word for nothing else to loose?" As I'm not a very deep thinker, I'm not sure exactly what that means. As for me, I'd rather have everything than nothing and pretend it's freedom. Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet...what a character, eh? Jack Nicholson in The Shining...wow! Great movies. Great Actors!
I can't believe that I've never actually watched the whole Easy Rider movie...guess I should sometime.
#29
Palindromedary ~ That use of military grade pepper spray on students WAS just as bad as Sarin gas. It was public torture of dissidents. Children at that. Oh, wouldn't we love to have footage of Assad spraying that highly potent extract of the Ghost Pepper in the eyes of his own people's children. You want to see some real outrage? It's one thing to see a bunch of corpses lying around; and, it is quite another thing to see a bunch of unarmed kids being tortured on camera. It's so much easier to get upset at "the other guy's" government when you don't have to do anything about it yourself.
Besides what about other uses of diabolical chemical warfare by the USA. What about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment?
Quote Wikipedia:The Tuskegee syphilis experiment[1] was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment
How about the Guatemala syphilis experiment?
Quote Wikipedia:The syphilis experiments in Guatemala were United States-led human experiments conducted in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948, during the administration of President Trumanand President Juan José Arévalo with the cooperation of some Guatemalan health ministries and officials.[1] Doctors infected soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and mental patientswith syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases, without the informed consent of the subjects, and treated most subjects with antibiotics. This resulted in at least 83 deaths.[2] In October 2010, the U.S. formally apologized to Guatemala for conducting these experiments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala_syphilis_experiment
Oh and lets not forget the infamous project MKUltra where we used powerful psychoactive drugs on college students to see what affect they had.
Quote wikipedia:Project MKUltra is the code name of a U.S. government covert human research operation experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans (mind control) through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973.[1] The program engaged in many illegal activities;[2][3][4] in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.[2](p74)[5][6][7] MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals,hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.[8]The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies.[9] The CIA operated through these institutions using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[10] As the Supreme Court later noted, MKULTRA was:
"concerned with "the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior." The program consisted of some 149 subprojects which the Agency contracted out to various universities, research foundations, and similar institutions. At least 80 institutions and 185 private researchers participated. Because the Agency funded MKULTRA indirectly, many of the participating individuals were unaware that they were dealing with the Agency."[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
How about allowing the sale and distribution of a drug linked to the annual deaths of over 350,000 people. A product with over 70 known carcinogens including, Arsenic, Formaldehyde, Lead, Benzene, and Vinyl Chloride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cigarette_smoke_carcinogens
This is just the publicly known cases. The tip of the iceberg. The government and members responsible have never had to owe up to what they have done. There has never been an official international investigation. Certianly some day there will be; however, till then we are all kept in the dark about how our own government experiments and conducts covert warfare against its own citizens.
PS This list doesn't even include the fluoridation of water or chem trails. Not enough is know about these topics to make any solid statements yet.
#30
DAnneMarc: Thanks for those links...I have actually, over the years, read a lot of books and articles about MKULTRA and Manchurian Candidate mind control project conducted by our government on many, many unwitting victims around the world and in the US.
Here's another one where victims in Canada have actually successfully sued the CIA...this artcle was from 2007:
Quote article:CIA's Bourne identity plotMORE than 250 people who claim they are “brainwashing” victims of America’s Central Intelligence Agency are set to win a multimillion-dollar legal battle for compensation.
As in the new follow-up film The Bourne Ultimatum, they claim that they were guinea pigs in a series of bizarre experiments to erase their memories and reprogramme them.
Nine have already each received $67,000 (£33,500) compensation from the spy agency, which has admitted setting-up an operation codenamed MK-Ultra during the Cold War.
Many of the chilling details of the top-secret operation have come to light in an investigation by former US State Department officer John Marks for his book The Search For The Manchurian Candidate.
In CIA-speak, a “Manchurian Candidate” is the name given to an unwitting assassin who is mentally “programmed” to kill. The phrase refers to the 1964 movie of the same name starring Frank Sinatra as a brainwashed US prisoner-of-war.
Using documents released under America’s Freedom of Information laws, Marks ascertained that the CIA recruited renowned Scottish psychiatrist Donald Cameron to mastermind MK-Ultra.
Cameron, an ex-president of the World Psychiatric Association, chose Montreal’s Allen Memorial Institute to conduct potentially lethal experiments on non-US citizens.
Documents reveal he used thousands of unwitting as well as voluntary subjects to test paralytic drugs, hallucinogens including LSD and electro-convulsive therapy at 30 to 40 times normal power. Cameron, who died in 1967, also put many “guinea pigs” into comas for months on end while playing tapes of repetitive statements in a bid to discover if he could erase memories, then rebuild them with new information.
During an agonising legal battle which has raged since 1988, when the CIA paid nine of Cameron’s Canadian victims $67,000 each, Canada’s government has stonewalled hundreds of claims.
Up to last week, it had paid $100,000 (£49,700) each to 77 victims whose cases were so extreme that they were reduced to permanent childlike states.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/12781/CIA-s-Bourne-identity-plot
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I think that not enough people in the US are very much aware of how sinister and criminal our "hallowed" institutions have been. Institutions that we have all been brainwashed into believing protect us from evils are actually the very institutions that are evil and doing harmful things against us.
Perhaps if they all realized these things they wouldn't be so willing to accept our government's 9/11 conspiracy theory....and see the evidence that points to powerful elements within our government that actually planned, engineered, and carried out what happened on 9/11.
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I don't think, however, that the scenes of students being sprayed with pepper spray...especially if you noticed that none of them seemed to be very much affected by it at the time...maybe later right after the video stopped...maybe they were all choking and rubbing their eyes...or whatever...but in the video..they just sat there with no immediate reaction even after they got sprayed.
But it sure doesn't compare to the videos of the Syrian chemical scenes of people either lying dead or sprawled out and twitching. Most people will not be convinced that the pepper spray on the students was anywhere close to what happened in Syria. The pepper spraying of the students was, of course, a terrible and criminal thing for sure. It would have been way more of a horrible thing if that pepper spray was Sarin gas. I know how bad tear gas is from my experience in the military...while in training...we had to go into a room full of tear gas with masks on...then ordered to remove our masks for a few seconds..that was enough to convince me that it is a form of torture..but it doesn't kill you.
Maybe all those protestors being sprayed by pepper spray, while on camera..had their eyes closed tight and were holding their breath. And since the video lasted only a few seconds it didn't catch the scenes when the protestors began to breathe again..which might have shown on video a more realistic picture. Or, perhaps they did have that on video but cut out the part where the protestors may have been displaying signs of extreme discomfort. That may very well be the case. Keep the viewers thinking that it was no big deal. I don't know. That's what our news media has done in it's "coverage" of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan...cut out the bad parts to keep the viewers from knowing the truth.
#31
Quote article:In the nuclear arms race, government doctors and scientists brainwashed the public into believing low dose radiation was not harmful. Some officials even tried to convince people that “a little radiation is good for you.” Totally ignored was the knowledge that the radiation from nuclear fallout could lead to an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, immune system disease, reproductive abnormalities, sterility, birth defects, and genetic mutations which could be passed on from generation to generation. The full extent of this radiation damage to the American public during the Cold War years will never be known.A secret AEC document, dated 17 April 1947, reveals that physicians were aware of these radiation hazards but simply ignored them. Under the title “Medical Experiments in Humans,” the memorandum read: “It is desired that no document be released which refers to experiments with humans that might have an adverse effect on public opinion or result in legal suits. Documents covering such field work should be classified ‘Secret’.”
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Only recently, with the forced release of Top Secret documents, have details been revealed about the unethical and inhumane radiation studies conducted during the Cold War years from 1944 to 1974. The initial story broke in November 1993 in a series of articles in the Albuquerque Tribune which identified the names of 18 Americans secretly injected with plutonium, a key ingredient of the atomic bomb and one of the most toxic substances known to man.
#32
Quote article:Some of the classified government experiments included:* Exposing more than 100 Alaskan villagers to radioactive iodine during the 1960s.
* Feeding 49 retarded and institutionalised teenagers radioactive iron and calcium in their cereal during the years 1946-1954.
* Exposing about 800 pregnant women in the late 1940s to radioactive iron to determine the effect on the fetus.
* Injecting 7 newborns (six were Black) with radioactive iodine.
* Exposing the testicles of more than 100 prisoners to cancer-causing doses of radiation. This experimentation continued into the early 1970s.
* Exposing almost 200 cancer patients to high levels of radiation from cesium and cobalt. The AEC finally stopped this experiment in 1974.
* Administering radioactive material to psychiatric patients in San Francisco and to prisoners in San Quentin.
* Administering massive doses of full body radiation to cancer patients hospitalised at the General Hospital in Cincinnati, Baylor College in Houston, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, and the US Naval Hospital in Bethesda, during the 1950s and 1960s. The experiment provided data to the military concerning how a nuclear attack might affect its troops.
* Exposing 29 patients, some with rheumatoid arthritis, to total body irradiation (100-300 rad dose) to obtain data for the military. This was conducted at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco.
#33
In fact, Hitler's Eugenics movement sprang from the one already in progress in the US.
#34
Report: China Sends Warships To Coast of Syria by Joseph Watson Sept 5, 2013Quote Article:The Global Times, a newspaper described by Foreign Policy Magazine as “hyper nationalistic” and an “angry Chinese government mouthpiece, also published an editorial yesterday which slammed Obama for failing to prove that last month’s chemical weapons attack was the work of the Syrian government, charging that Washington’s “geopolitical interests” in the region were behind the military build-up.The editorial, which also complains of the total lack of media coverage in America concerning reports that Syrian rebels admitted responsibility for last month’s chemical weapons attack, accuses the White House of “ignoring logic as it beats war drums.”
Quote Article:Five U.S. destroyers and an amphibious ship are currently positioned in the eastern Mediterranean awaiting strike orders. The USS Nimitz and three other warships are also stationed in the nearby Red Sea.Quote Article:Yesterday it was reported that Russia was sending three more ships – two destroyers and a missile cruiser – to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster its forces which already include three other warships dispatched over the last two weeks.Quote Article:According to the Russian news outlet Telegrafist.org, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched the Jinggangshan amphibious dock landing ship and the vessel was seen passing through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt that leads to the Mediterranean Sea and waters off the coast of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.According to the report, the ship has not been sent to engage in any aggressive actions but is merely there to “observe” the actions of Russian and US warships. However, the Jinggangshan is equipped for combat, has conventional armaments and secondary cannons, and was utilized as part of a “show of force” in maneuvers aimed at defending the South China Sea earlier this year.
The report states that additional PLA warships have also been sent to the region but that their identity is unknown.
Exclusive: Syrians in Ghouta Claim Saudi Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack by Dave Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh August 29, 2013Quote Article:Dale Gavlak assisted in the research and writing process of this article, but was not on the ground in Syria. Reporter Yahya Ababneh, with whom the report was written in collaboration, was the correspondent on the ground in Ghouta who spoke directly with the rebels, their family members, victims of the chemical weapons attacks and local residents.Gavlak is a MintPress News Middle East correspondent who has been freelancing for the AP as a Amman, Jordan correspondent for nearly a decade. This report is not an Associated Press article; rather it is exclusive to MintPress News.
Quote Article:The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry sayingMonday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.
http://www.infowars.com/report-china-sends-warships-to-coast-of-syria/
#35
Palindromedary ~ Thank you for those most helpful links. I think between the two of us we've made a sound argument. Thanks again!
#36
There's a new US $100 bill with new counterfeiting detection added.
3-D Security Ribbon:
Tilt the note back and forth while focusing on the blue ribbon. You will see the bells change
to 100s as they move. The ribbon is woven into the paper, not printed on it.
Bell in the Inkwell:
Tilt the note to see the color-shifting bell in the copper inkwell change from copper to green.
#37
Palindromedary ~ That was a great article you posted. Here are some more clips from it.
THE HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTSHow scientists secretly used US citizens as guinea pigs
during the Cold WarQuote Dr. Cantwell M.D.:Current Secret Biomedical ExperimentationThe US has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. However, few people are aware of the covert biowarfare experiments conducted by various government agencies, particularly the military and the CIA.
For example, in August 1977 the CIA admitted to no less than 149 subprojects, including experiments to determine the effects of different drugs on human behaviour; work on lie-detectors, hypnosis, and electric shock; and the surreptitious delivery of drug-related materials. Forty-four colleges and universities were involved, along with fifteen research foundations, twelve hospitals or clinics, and three penal institutions. In the infamous MKULTRA mind-altering experiments, the victims were lured to hotel rooms for sexual encounters with prostitutes and were then drugged and monitored by CIA agents.
Military biowarfare attacks against unsuspecting Americans in the 1950s and 60s are a documented reality. The most notorious was a six-day US military bioattack on San Francisco in which clouds of potentially harmful bacteria were sprayed over the city. Twelve people developed pneumonia due to these infectious microbes, and one elderly man died from the bioattack.
In other secret attacks, bacteria were sprayed into New York City subway tunnels; into crowds at a Washington, D.C. airport; and onto highways in Pennsylvania. Biowarfare testing also took place in military bases in Virginia, in Key West, Florida, and off the coasts of California and Hawaii.
Quote Dr. Cantwell M.D.:To this day there are no adequate safeguards to protect people from secret government experimentation. Since the mid-1970s we have witnessed the spectacular rise of genetic engineering and molecular biology, as well as the concomitant outbreak of new and mysterious diseases like AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, the peculiar “Four Corners” lung disease discovered on Navajo land, and the appearance of unprecedented “emerging” viruses never before seen on the planet.Investigators linking the possible origin of these diseases to the dangerous engineering of new microbes are often dismissed as paranoids and crackpots. The mysterious Persian Gulf War syndrome is yet another recent illness clouded in military and biologic secrecy, with the origin and cause still debated and the medical records of sick veterans often “lost” or otherwise unavailable. Not surprisingly, the same government institutions that funded the radiation experiments now largely control the research, the funding, and the cover stories pertaining to all these new diseases and viruses.
Quote Dr. Cantwell M.D.:How can we stop these nuclear and biological horrors, which have condemned thousands of innocent people to disease and death? Why must decades of government-sanctioned medical abuse be kept secret and covered-up by scientists and physicians who claim to be concerned about the health of the public?One way to prevent abuse might be to bring the physician-scientist perpetrators of these experiments to justice in a court of law. However, unless the public is aroused, this is unlikely to happen.
Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, Geoffrey Sea notes: “A startling fact about the experiments is that, despite the documentation of hundreds of cases of unethical conduct resulting in lasting damage to thousands of people, not a single physician or nurse, scientist or technician, policy maker or administrator has yet come forward to admit wrongdoing.”
For over twenty years the law allowed the US Department of Defense (DoD) to use Americans as “guinea pigs.” This law (the US code annotated Title 50, Chapter 32, Section 1520, dated 30 July, 1977) remained on the books until it was repealed under public pressure in 1998. The new and revised bill prohibits the DoD from conducting tests and experiments on humans, but allows “exceptions.” One of the exceptions is that a test or experiment can be carried out for “any peaceful purpose that is related to a medical, therapeutic, pharmaceutical, agricultural, industrial, or research activity.” Thus, the 1998 law has obvious loopholes which allow secret testing to continue. For details on the restrictions (and exceptions) for human testing for chemical and biological agents, consult the Gulf War Vets website at http//www.gulfwarvets.com/1520a.htm.
Unethical and dangerous experimentation undoubtedly continues in secret up to the present time, ostensibly under the guise of “national security.” Thus, it would seem prudent for patients to think twice before signing-up for government-sponsored medical studies, particularly at leading medical institutions. Enlightened patients might also view doctors (and scientists) with a healthy dose of skepticism, and a touch of paranoia.
As weird as all this sounds, it could save your life!
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#38
DAnneMarc: And it looks like we are all about to get royally Fukushima-ed ...Fuked for short!
#39
Palindromedary ~ "Fuked?" Thats a "nice" way of putting it. Just when I was really starting to dig sushi, and even considered moving to Maui. You know, here today gone to Maui. Pun intended of course.
Seriously, this IS the issue that our leaders at the G20 summit need to be talking about. Not this important nonsense in Syria. It's like arguing about who should be doing the bailing in a sinking boat.
We're "Fuked" alright! We're "Syria-sly Fuked!" At this rate there won't be anyone left to place or take the blame. There won't be anyone left to bury the bodies. What a carrion feast for the Vultures!
#40
I already miss seafood. I miss oysters, tuna, salmon, bass, sturgeon, halibut, swordfish, octopus, clams, shrimp, crab, and lobster. No, no, no! Not anymore. Now I'm a steak and chicken man. Anyone got any good steak and chicken recipes to share?
Unless, of course, this Syria thing hits the fan. Then we might as well kiss those sources of food goodbye too.
Well, at least we can all still eat each other. Seems I remember that was quite a lot of fun in my younger days. Not very nutritious if memory serves. But very satisfying.
#41
Back to the Syrian disaster... I almost feel sorry for President Obama. There is no way he can win. He put his foot into his mouth so far that now it is hopelessly stuck. If he attacks he risks the lives of billions of people in a war between the USA, China, Russia, and Iran. If he does the right thing and backs off waiting for a UN decision he risks upsetting his wealth puppet masters here in the US; and, a potential assassination for disobedience. I hope he is man enough to do this one thing the right way and face the music than compromise the security and future of the planet and all of mankind through cowardice. The clock is ticking and soon we will all know just what kind of man he really is. Keep your fingers crossed folks!
#42
"Fuked" is literary genius.
#43
Looks like California Sea Lions have had a spike in the number of sick and dying ones since Fukushima.
See this "2013 California Sea Lion Unusual Mortality Event in California" report and look at the graph of the number of "Admits to Rehabilitation"
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/health/mmume/californiasealions2013.htm
I have friends in California that have said that they have noticed a remarkable decrease in the number of Sea Lions in ports where they had, years past, seen lots of them fighting for spots on piers.
Don't eat the fish!!!
Quote aljazeera:...in April 2012, fish caught more than 120 miles from Fukushima showed extremely high levels of contamination with radioactive cesium traceable to the failed nuclear plant. That same month, a report from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution showed cesium-137 in ocean eddies 180 miles from Fukushima at levels hundreds to thousands of times higher than expected to occur naturally.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/3/japan-to-fund-icewalltost...
#44
Syria ~ The Latest News September 8, 2013Quote The Telegraph Article:An American strike on Syria would be heavier than originally planned because President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been given time to disperse its forces, officials have briefed the US press.
Quote The Telegraph Article:The White House has responded by asking the Pentagon for an expanded target list. The latest plans provide for an initial strike, following by mopping up operations to destroy any surviving targets, with the whole campaign to be finished within 72 hours.More forces would be used than first planned. Five US destroyers, presently deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, are likely to be used to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles. In addition, the air force may employ B2 bombers armed with stand-off weapons.
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Yeah! It looks like we are all doomed. By the way, it was nice knowing all of you. A pleasure! See you on the other side!!
#45
Quote DAnneMarc:here today gone to Maui.
That's a good one! Utah...no, me short. ;-}
Quote Flopot:"Fuked" is literary genius.
Thanx, Flopot! :-}
Quote DAnneMarc:The Telegraph Article wrote:An American strike on Syria would be heavier than originally planned because President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been given time to disperse its forces, officials have briefed the US press.
Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume, however, that since Obama had already warned Assad, many months before, not to step over the "red line" by using chemical weapons that if he really was responsible for that chemical attack then he must have, surely, already dispersed his forces in preparation for an attack from the US? And the delayed attack argument, giving Assad "time to disperse its forces", is just a logical fallacy on the part of those who would have wanted an immediate attack?
#46
Quote Palindromedary:Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume, however, that since Obama had already warned Assad, many months before, not to step over the "red line" by using chemical weapons that if he really was responsible for that chemical attack then he must have, surely, already dispersed his forces in preparation for an attack from the US? And the delayed attack argument, giving Assad "time to disperse its forces", is just a logical fallacy on the part of those who would have wanted an immediate attack?
Palindromedary ~ Of course, my friend. I agree!!
#47
Looks like there may be a massive internet attack (on Israel?..the US?) by "Muslim" hackers anonymous called OpIsraelReborn in 3 days...on 9/11/13.
#48
A couple of days ago, Max Keiser was on Breaking the Set with Abby Martin and he said that he believes that the US, within 6 to 12 months, do what Cyprus did and outright steal 20% of everyone's banking accounts. A dire emergency will be announced by Obama ...some economic catastrophe (what, like a WWIII caused by his invasion of Syria, maybe?) that he will say can only be prevented by stealing 20% of our savings. They'll have some stupid name attached to it...like "OPT-in" or something else. The reality will be that the only people that will be able to "opt-out" will be the rich people who, like in Cyprus, get wind of it before everyone else does and pulls their money out of their banks.
#49
Quote Palindromedary:A couple of days ago, Max Keiser was on Breaking the Set with Abby Martin and he said that he believes that the US, within 6 to 12 months, do what Cyprus did and outright steal 20% of everyone's banking accounts.
Palindromedary ~ I'm not too surprised. It seems as though the powers that be don't really care if there is a tomorrow. Maybe there won't be a tomorrow for the powers that be? Whooda thunk it? LOL!!!
#50
Ok! For what it is worth, here it is again for hope and prosperity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WninWFtO0Gg
Good luck to us all!!
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
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Looks like its been a LONG time since the ole "The Buck Stops Here" sign has been situated on the famous presidential desk in the oval office.
If you ask me, that's most definately for the best.