BushCo messing up Iran's leadership covertly....

From Information Clearing House:

The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.

By Seymour M. Hersh

Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20203.htm

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Say what? Suicide? You're kidding...

From Levine's Breaking News:

REPORTS: MODEL DIES IN APPARENT NYC SUICIDE DIVE:

A European Vogue cover model fell to her death from her Manhattan apartment building Saturday in an apparent suicide, published reports said. Ruslana Korshunova, 20, died around 2:30 p.m. in a fall from a building on Water Street, in Manhattan's Financial District, The New York Post, the Daily News and Newsday reported. The newspapers cited unnamed officials and police.

Wrap...

BushCo's Iraq war debt breaks the dollar's back....

From Levine Breaking News:

OPEC LEADER KHELIL SAYS DOLLAR WILL DRIVE OIL TO $170:

OPEC President Chakib Khelil predicted that the price of oil will climb to $170 a barrel before the end of the year, citing the dollar's decline and political conflicts. "Oil prices are expected to reach $170 as demand for fuel is growing in the U.S. during the summer period and the dollar continues to weaken against the euro," Khelil said today in a telephone interview.

The leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also serves as Algeria's oil minister.

UP 46% THIS YEAR!:

Oil has climbed 46 percent this year as the U.S. dollar declined against the euro and the MSCI World Index of global equity markets dropped 12 percent. Oil may extend gains if the European Central Bank boosts rates on July 3, further weakening the U.S.

Wrap....

Diane Feinstein: Why she voted for this FISA bill...

From Sen. Diane Feinstein:

I write this in response to your communication indicating your concerns on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) now before the Senate. This bill has passed the House of Representatives.

This legislation contains multiple sections, including one that deals specifically with liability for telecommunications companies. However, the primary intent to this new bill is to modernize our intelligence gathering capacity. The technology and communications industries have seen vast changes in the past thirty years since FISA was first written in 1978. This has changed the way surveillance is conducted, and the original law cannot adequately address these procedures. This is precisely why FISA needs to be modernized.

It is important to understand the consequences if the Senate does not pass this bill. We would either have to extend the temporary surveillance bill passed last August - which should not happen - or allow surveillance on certain foreign targets to expire which would lay the Nation bare and decrease our ability to identify and protect against terrorist threats. Neither of these options is acceptable.

I strongly believe that this bill is substantially better than the version the Senate passed in February 2008, which I opposed. It is also a major improvement from the Protect America Act that passed in August 2007, which had few privacy protections and was never intended to be a permanent solution. This bill:

oIncludes provisions I authored that make clear that FISA is the exclusive (or only) authority for conducting surveillance inside the United States. This is crucial as it requires that all future Presidents must act only within the law. FISA would be the only legal authority for conducting surveillance on Americans for intelligence purposes, and only legislation that specifically provides wiretapping authority in the future would be an exception to FISA.

oRequires the government to obtain a warrant before surveillance can begin. This applies to all Americans - anywhere in the world. The Protect America Act allowed surveillance for up to six months before getting a warrant. This bill ends all warrantless surveillance of U.S. persons. In this sense it is precedent setting.

oBans reverse targeting, which was a concern under the Protect America Act. Reverse targeting would allow the government to collect the contents of telephone calls and e-mails of an American by conducting surveillance on the people with whom they communicate. This is prohibited in this bill.

oRequires that the government implement procedures approved by the Court for minimization. If an American's communication is incidentally caught up in electronic surveillance while the Government is targeting someone else, minimization protects that person's private information. This has been a hallmark of FISA for 30 years, but court review and approval of minimization procedures was not included in the Protect America Act. It is here.

oRequires the government to receive a warrant to conduct surveillance on an American outside of the United States. This means that Americans' privacy rights are protected everywhere around the world. A court warrant has never been required outside the United States before; this would be the strongest protection ever.

I understand your concern regarding Title II of this bill, which creates a process that may result in immunity for telecommunications companies that are alleged to have provided assistance to the Government. I agree that this is not the best approach to the current legal challenges to these companies. Earlier this year, I authored an amendment that would require court review of the legality of these companies' alleged actions. Under my proposal, cases against the companies would only be dismissed if the Court found that they acted legally. I continue to believe this is the right approach. I have joined as a co-sponsor on an amendment which accomplishes this, and will vote for it when it is able to come to the floor.

There may be amendments offered to the FISA legislation to strip or modify the telecom immunity provisions. Know that I will support any that I believe improve the current bill.

Bottom line: this FISA legislation, while not perfect, would bring intelligence activities back under U.S. law. It provides significant improvement in oversight and accountability of our intelligence collection programs while still giving the intelligence community the tools needed to keep our Nation safe. And, it provides the strongest privacy protections to U.S. persons in history.

In conclusion, I have served on the Intelligence Committee for seven years and I take the responsibility extremely seriously. If there is no bill, our Nation goes bare in mid-August, unless the Protect America Act, which does not offer, even remotely, the privacy protections for U.S. persons that are included in this bill, is extended. Additionally, the President - any President - cannot enact a program outside of this law in the future.

I hope this helps you understand my concerns. Attached to this letter, you will find my statement on the Senate floor from June 25, 2008.


Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein
FISA Amendments Act of 2008
June 25, 2008

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Mr. President, I begin my remarks by thanking the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator ...

http://feinstein.senate.gov

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

YAAAYYYYYY for Senator Feingold!!!

From Democracy Now!

Senator Feingold Will Filibuster FISA

http://www.truthout.org/article/senator-feingold-will-filibuster-fisa

On Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviews "Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), who has been the leading Congressional voice against the Bush administration's warrantless spy program since it was exposed nearly three years ago."

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

VBS.tv on Immigration....

From Rory Ahern:

VBS.tv is currently running a video series that I thought your readers might be interested in. We all know that illegal immigration is a gigantic ticking time bomb issue here in the States. There are no easy answers to the problem and at VBS.tv we were not interested in trying to give em. What we were interested in and what we think has been lost in the hysteria, are the humans behind the issue. Whether they be pro or con immigration or just a bystander to it, we wanted to hear their take.

So we want out to LA, the flash point for illegal immigration, to put a face to the issue not to water down the complexities or come up with some easy peasy answer that does not exist. You may not agree with what the characters have to say, but you do get to at least hear their point of view, minus all the yelling and shouting.

Here are the list of characters in this tale:

Jim Gilchrist - Founder and President of the Minuetmen Project - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gilchrist

Walter Wheeler - One of the founders of the Crips gang and now outspoken anti immigrant activist

Dov Charney - CEO of American Apparel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dov_Charney
Oscar, Kiko, Sesai, Eddy, Johnson + friends - A group of young illegal immigrant skater kids from South Central LA

Illegal LA on VBS.tv

Part 1 - 5 are up now on VBS.tv - http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1606785959

To follow the series, see photos and other info check out the Illegal LA showpage: http://www.vbs.tv/shows/illegal-la/the-immigration-plight-in-los-angeles/

Thanks for watching, love to know what you think,

Rory Ahearn
VICE/VBS.tv
97 North 10th St
Suite 204
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718-233-3684
rory@viceland.com
AIM - roedood

Wrap...

San Diego braces for ComicCon Int'l 2008...

From http://blog.discoversd.com/san-diego-entertainment-blog/discover-whats-new-at-2008-comic-con-in-san-diego.html

Discover What's New at 2008 Comic-Con in San Diego
Published : 6/23/2008 by Jon Smith

Prepare yourself: San Diego Comic-Con 2008 is ever approaching. In just over a month, this town will be over run with excited fans from all over the world. The streets surrounding the Convention Center will be flooded with eight-year-old Peter Parkers, overweight, middle-aged Luke Skywalkers, and everyone and everything in between.

Forget Sundance and E3, Comic-Con is the epicenter for entertainment premieres. Teaser trailers and excerpts from some of the most anticipated films and video games have been revealed at Comic-Con. During the 2007 Comic-Con in San Diego, J.J. Abrams not only hosted a Q&A panel with cast members of LOST, he also surprised audiences by premiering the teaser trailer for his then-secret project, the Star Trek prequel.

One quizzical aspect of Comic-Con is the hush-hush attitude toward the expected guests. Last year, half of the guests and panels were not announced until days before the event started, when the official schedule was released to the public.

Little has been said about what major projects will be announced this year at Comic-Con. Many have speculated that Stephen Sommers, director of The Mummy films and Van Helsing, will be giving the audience something to scream for by disclosing a trailer for the upcoming children's show turned live-action film G.I. Joe. Fans are also hoping to be wowed when they attend the Q&A panel for the highly anticipated character spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

So freshen up on your Klingon and make sure to break in those new combat boots you purchased for your Punisher costume. Comic-Con is almost here, and only one thing is for sure: it will be awesome.

Wrap...

More on Bush's "Executive Privilage"....

From American Progress:

ADMINISTRATION
Bush's Executive Priviilege

As the Bush era winds down, the President is asserting executive privilege to impede congressional oversight of his administration. With a contempt of Congress vote looming by Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, President Bush asserted executive privilege last Friday morning, blocking the committee's subpoenas for documents relating to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to reject California's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to override scientific recommendations on ozone standards.

Waxman found Bush's action on Friday "extraordinary," especially since EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson "has repeatedly insisted he reached his decisions on California's petition and the new ozone standard on his own."

n a separate case, lawyers for Congress tried yesterday to convince a federal judge to take the "unprecedented step" and compel the administration to obey subpoenas related to the U.S. Attorneys scandal -- the first lawsuit ever "filed by either chamber of Congress seeking to force the executive branch to comply with a subpoena." Bush had cited executive privilege to prevent former White House counsel Harriet Miers from testifying and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten from turning over documents.

As with President Nixon's attempts to block the Watergate investigation and President Reagan's efforts to hide the EPA dioxin scandal, Bush appears to be using his assertion of executive privilege as a tool to cover up his administration's illegal actions.

'ABOVE THE LAW':

Bush's assertion of executive privilege on Friday put a halt to the contempt vote that Waxman's committee had scheduled for Johnson and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulatory administrator Susan Dudley.

Despite the White House's complaint that such a vote represented a "sudden, significant escalation," Waxman was investigating the EPA's decisions for months. His committee's investigations have revealed that Johnson's decision to reject California's waiver petition was made only after discussions with the White House.

Similarly, the Washington Post reported that Bush personally intervened in a between Dudley's office and the EPA, prompting the EPA to reject scientific recommendations for smog standards. What is being withheld is Bush's legal justification for his actions -- important because the Clean Air Act strictly defines permissible considerations for air quality standards and waivers. The documents withheld from Congress include 1,956 OMB documents regarding Bush's ozone decision, 25 EPA documents on the California waiver, and 71 more that are being turned over with the "identities of the meeting participants" redacted.

On May 20, Johnson and Dudley appeared before the committee without the subpoenaed documents and refused to answer questions about Bush's involvement. At the hearing, Waxman sharply criticized Bush's role, saying, "The president does not have absolute power, and he is not above the law."


WHAT'S NEXT:

Following Bush's executive privilege claim, Waxman declared that he would "talk with my colleagues on both sides about this new development and consider all our options before deciding how we should proceed." Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said the "committee should approve a contempt resolution immediately," and "reiterated his call to impeach the president" to hold the administration accountable.

The courts are reluctant to get involved, as Judge John D. Bates said in Monday's hearing on congressional subpoeanas: "Whether I rule for the executive branch or I rule for the legislative branch, I'm going to disrupt the balance."

The House counsel asked the court to "order Miers to testify and allow her to invoke executive privilege only on a question-by-question basis" and for Bolten "to provide a log of White House documents and to explain why each was being withheld." Lawyers for the administration argued top advisers deserve "absolute immunity" and Congress should use political tools instead of the courts, such as "withholding funds for the Justice Department or stalling presidential appointments."

When asked in March if Congress would continue the U.S. attorneys investigation if it continues into the next administration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "Absolutely. ... [W]e might as well just shred the Constitution and forget about taking the oath of office if we’re just going to do it for a Republican President and not a Democratic President."


RARE 'PRIVILEGE':

The invocation of executive privilege, needed to protect presidential confidentiality to preserve separation of powers, is relatively rare. Nixon and Reagan claimed it in three cases; Ford, Carter, and George H. W. Bush each once. President Clinton invoked executive privilege repeatedly during the investigations of the White House during his second term.

Friday's assertion of executive privilege marks Bush's fourth case. Bush invoked the privilege in the U.S. Attorneys scandal to prevent Josh Bolten from turning over documents, and to protect Harriet Miers, Sara Taylor, Karl Rove, and Scott Jennings from being forced to testify.

This February, the House voted to hold Miers and Bolten in contempt of Congress. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, however, declined to investigate the issue, spurring the civil lawsuit. In May 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the documents were not covered by executive privilege.

Although the administration has resisted turning over documents relating to several other cases, such as the Pat Tillman and Energy Task Force investigations, executive privilege was not explicitly asserted. Instead, the White House has used what the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press dubbed "quasi-executive privilege," invoking phrases like "Executive Branch confidentiality interests" and the "constitutional duties of the Executive Branch."

Wrap...

Bush: Executive Privilage covers law-breaking...

From American Progress:

ETHICS -- WHITE HOUSE TO ARGUE IT IS IMMUNE TO SUBPOENAS:

Today, the refusal Bush administration's to honor House Judiciary Committee subpoenas compelling White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers to testify, will be considered today in federal court.

The committee is seeking information into the 2006 dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys, but the White House claims that executive privilege allows the White House to ignore subpoenas, asserting that the executive branch has "absolute immunity" to congressional subpoenas.

The House will argue that the Bush administration "is seeking to expand presidential power in a dramatic fashion, one that cannot go unchallenged by Congress."

An array of "former U.S. attorneys, watchdog groups, congressional experts, and current and former lawmakers" have filed briefs supporting the House's position. The lawsuit came after Attorney General Michael Mukasey ordered the Department of Justice to ignore the House's contempt citations.

Oral arguments today come just two days after Bush again asserted executive privilege, this time in refusing to hand over documents related to an investigation into whether the administration has "pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken decisions on smog and greenhouse."

Wrap...

Lara Logan threatens with an RPG....

From NY Times via truthout.org:

Reporters Say Networks Block War Reports

http://www.truthout.org/article/reporters-say-networks-block-war-reports

Brian Stelter, of The New York Times, reports: "Getting a story on the evening news isn't easy for any correspondent. And for reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is especially hard, according to Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News. So she has devised a solution when she is talking to the network.

'Generally what I say is, "I'm holding the armor-piercing R.P.G.,"' she said last week in an appearance on 'The Daily Show,' referring to the initials for rocket-propelled grenade. '"It's aimed at the bureau chief, and if you don't put my story on the air, I'm going to pull the trigger."'

Ms. Logan let a sly just-kidding smile sneak through as she spoke, but her point was serious. Five years into the war in Iraq and nearly seven years into the war in Afghanistan, getting news of the conflicts onto television is harder than ever."

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Versace compliments Obama...

From Levine Breaking News:

BARACK OBAMA INSPIRES MILAN MEN'S RUNWAY STYLES :

The latest "first" for Barack Obama comes off the Milan runway. Calling the U.S. presidential hopeful "the man of the moment," Donatella Versace dedicated her Spring-Summer 2009 collection presented Saturday evening to Obama, creating a style she said was designed for "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power."

Wrap...

Fireworks to ComicCon....

Right now I'm listening to fireworks going off at SeaWorld. Sounds as tho we're being bombed...especially with the guy next door cheering something. Must be watching television. And the fan in my office here is just whirring away.

So I'm wondering who invented electric fans. Man, he/she did a priceless thing. Probably got the idea from people fanning themselves with whatever was handy.

I'd bet that most people who live in houses or older apartments in San Diego don't have air conditioning. Just don't need it with the ocean breezes and our normal temps. Sure is good to walk into a place that does have it when the weather gets as hot as it's been the last couple of days.

But tomorrow morn, I'll be having breakfast on a sidewalk type patio, high up on a hill in Old Town, where I can see across the harbor to Pt Loma, and if there's even the slightest breeze, it's gonna be coming down that patio. Have to wear 3 or 4 layers of shirts in colder weather, plus get the guys to turn on the portable patio heater next to my table.

Won't be long now till ComicCon International hits the Conv. Ctr. Somewhere around 130,000 people at least. Every hotel and motel room in town will be full to the rafters, and the trolleys as well. To say it's an experience is an understatement. Been there, done that. Enjoyed.

Wrap...

1st day of summer...& it was HOT!!!

Man, I thought I was gonna perish in the heat here today and I'm in San Diego only about 5 miles from the coast. It had to be in the 80's. Don't laugh. For us, that's just entirely too warm and I don't care if it is the first day of summer. Perfect temp, as far as I'm concerned is somewhere between 68 and 72 degrees. No more, no less.

The thing I love most about San Diego is that no matter how hot the day, at sundown it begins to cool down. Temp just drops and drops when the marine layer of low clouds comes in...and stays in, usually, until mid-morning.

I suspect the beaches were jam-packed today. Most people don't linger too long in the Pacific unless they're surfers...or gluttons for punishment. The Pacific is not a friendly ocean.

I once asked a Navy SEAL how he felt about it. Seemed to me that since he'd volunteered to be a SEAL, he probably loved the ocean since SEALs spend a lot of time in the water. Know what he said when I asked him what his first thoughts were about the Pacific?

"Cold. Dark. Dangerous."

Which it truly is unless you're in Hawaai. Even then it's dark and dangerous. Always dangerous.

But the cool breezes that come ashore after a hot summer day like today are worth their weight in platinum.

Wrap...

Hah! Lou Dobbs wants Bush impeached...

From

Lou Dobbs: Bush Should Be Impeached for Salmonella Outbreak

CNN host says leadership in 'sorry condition' and inability to 'protect the American consumer' is 'sufficient reason to impeach a president.'

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080620123425.aspx

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Mystery: 5 left feet, 1 right foot, in tennis shoes..washed up on beaches...

From DailyMail.co.uk :

Six feet washed up on the same shore in ten months. Freak coincidence, or something far more sinister?

Sandra Malone was working at her morning chores at the coastal caravan park she owns when she heard the first cry of distress. She looked up to see a beachcomber, a woman, hurrying towards her with shock in her eyes.
'
Oh my God,' the woman stammered. 'I've found one of those feet.'

There was no need to explain what she meant. For what the woman had stumbled on was simply the latest in a series of gruesome discoveries that have come to haunt this scenic stretch of the west coast of Canada.

Curious coincidence or something more sinister? So far six feet have washed up on on the shores around Vancouver

Since August last year, no fewer than six individual feet have washed up from the deep - all wearing rubber-soled training shoes. Only this week, two have been found poking from the seaweed, the latest on Tyee Spit beach near Vancouver.

As we shall see, there may be more to this latest find than first seemed the case, but whatever the truth behind Wednesday's discovery, what seemed, at first, a curious coincidence has become the subject of a major investigation, with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and British Columbia's coroner's office still baffled as to where the feet could have come from.

Are they from people who have died at sea or fallen into the swollen rivers that flow into the Pacific? Could they be from the victims of a local plane crash three years ago, in which five men died? Could it, in fact, all be part of a twisted prank? Or is there a more sinister explanation - perhaps even a serial killer on the loose?

That is the fear, as the local community around Fraser River come to terms with the latest discovery on their shoreline.

The woman who found the foot on Wednesday had been searching for decorative stones along the tide line when she stumbled on what appeared to be a man's shoe and stopped to take a closer look. It didn't take long for her to suspect what she had found.

'You could see two leg bones sticking up out of it,' says Sandra Malone, who joined the woman at the scene. 'They were sticking up about three to four inches. You could make out the remains of the foot inside the sneaker, like a skeleton, with no flesh or anything attached. It was the grisliest thing I have ever seen.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1027839/Six-feet-washed-shore-months-Freak-coincidence-far-sinister.html

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

All credit transactions to be reported to BushCo....

From Information Clearing House:

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government:

Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America's small businesses.

http://tinyurl.com/5s8bow

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Cheney refuses to hand over his secrets...

From Secrecy News:

COST OF SECRECY SYSTEM REACHES RECORD HIGH

The cost of implementing the national security classification system in government and industry reached an all-time high of $9.91 billion last year, according to the latest annual report from the InformationSecurity Oversight Office (ISOO).

http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/2007rpt.pdf

The 2007 classification cost figure, which includes physical security, computer security and other aspects of classified information security, was a 4.6 percent increase over the year before and is the highest amount ever reported by the ISOO.

Is that too much? Not enough? The right amount? The new report doesn't venture an opinion. Instead, it suggests that "the annual rate of growth for total security costs is declining."

That is not strictly true, since the rate of growth actually increased from 2006 to 2007, though it is now lower than it was in the immediate post-2001 period.

The ISOO annual report each year presents a unique snapshot of classification and declassification activity throughout the executive branch, though the data provided are often of uncertain significance and are cited with exaggerated precision.

The number of new secrets ("original classification decisions") increased by 1% in 2007 to 233,639, ISOO reported. Meanwhile,"derivative" classification decisions, referring to the restatement of previously classified information in a new form or a new document, increased sharply by 12.5 percent for a combined total of 23,102,257 classification actions (original and derivative) in 2007.

Again, no judgment on the quality or propriety of these classifications is offered. Of 59.7 million pages reviewed for declassification last year, 37.2 million pages were declassified government-wide, a decrease both in the number reviewed and the number declassified but an increase in the rate of declassification. (At the Central Intelligence Agency, the situation was reversed: There was a 138 percent increase in the number of pages reviewed and a slight increase in the number declassified, but "a significant decrease" in the proportion of reviewed pages that were declassified.)

The Department of Transportation reviewed 380,000 pages but declassified none of them because they all had to be referred to other agencies for further processing. The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (recently renamed the President's Intelligence Advisory Board) reviewed 130 pages and declassified 40 of them.

ISOO reported uneven compliance with basic classification system rules and regulations at several agencies. "Disappointingly, we continued to find deficiencies at multiple agencies relating to basic requirements concerning implementing regulations, security education and training, self-inspections, classification, and document markings," the report stated.

One interesting data point that does not appear in the report is the number of classification challenges filed by authorized holders of particular information who believe that it is improperly classified. (Section 1.8 of Executive Order 12958, as amended, authorizes and encourages such classification challenges.)

In response to an inquiry from Secrecy News, ISOO indicated that there were 275 classification challenges filed by cleared personnel in FY2007. The number of challenges that were actually accepted or approved by the originating agencies was not available.

The "2007 Report to the President" from the Information Security Oversight Office, which is the first issued by the new ISOO directorWilliam J. Bosanko, was transmitted to the White House on May 30 and made public today.

The new report makes no mention of the Office of the Vice President(OVP) and its continuing refusal to cooperate with ISOO's reporting requirements on classification and declassification activity. That refusal, highlighted by a complaint filed by the Federation of American Scientists in 2006, led to a confrontation between the OVP and ISOO's former director J. William Leonard last year, and the issue remains technically unresolved.

Wrap...

US General says: Prosecute Bush Admin for War Crimes...

From Truthout.org:

US General Accuses Bush Administration of War Crimes

http://www.truthout.org/article/us-general-accuses-bush-administration-war-crimes

Truthout's Matt Renner and Maya Schenwar report: "Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (now retired) served as the deputy commanding general for support for the Third Army for ten months in Kuwait during the early days of the Iraq occupation. In a statement released today, he bluntly accuses the Bush administration of war crimes and lays down a challenge for prosecution."

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Spec Forces, SERE, and torture....

From The Washington Independent via truthout.org:

Roadmap to Torture

http://www.truthout.org/article/roadmap-torture

Spencer Ackerman, for The Washington Independent, reports on Tuesday's Senate Armed Services Committee's release of numerous classified documents: "In a marathon hearing spanning eight hours and three separate panels, the committee revealed, in painstaking detail, how senior Pentagon officials transformed a program for Special Forces troops to resist torture -- known as Survival Evasion Resistance Escape, or SERE -- into a blueprint for torturing terrorism detainees."

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...

Vets are guinea pigs for pharms...SICK!!!!

From ABC News via truthout.org:

"Disposable Heroes": Suicide-Linked Drugs Tested on Veterans

http://www.truthout.org/article/disposable-heroes-veterans-used-test-suicide-linked-drugs

Brian Ross and Vic Walter, ABC News, say that "Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found."

[Use link above to continue reading]

Wrap...