the art of war

Start the day with a smile:

http://www.citizensforethics.org/execcorruption/

all the juicy shit that you just cant make up

FRANK FIGUEROA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: On October 25, 2005, Mr. Figueroa was arrested for exposing himself and masturbating in front of a 16-year-old girl at the food court of an Orlando, Florida mall.

Claude A. Allen, assistant to the president for domestic policy:
A Target video captured Mr. Allen purchasing a Bose theatre system for $525 and a Kodak printer for $237, leaving the store and re-entering the store moments later without the merchandise. Mr. Allen then selected the same theatre system and printer, brought them to the counter and had a sales clerk refund the items to his credit card, even though the merchandise he originally purchased remained in his car.

ROBERT T. SCHOFIELD, U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
In June 2006, Mr. Schofield was arrested and charged with illegally granting residency
and issuing naturalization certificates to more than 100 unqualified immigrants as part of an
eight-year long scam run out of his Fairfax, Virginia office.

BRIAN J. DOYLE, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: charged with seven counts of using a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmitting harmful materials to a minor.

JOSE M. MIRANDA, Broadcasting Board of Governors:
Mr. Miranda claimed that he had no income other than his $103,000 government salary 6 when, in fact, he was receiving over $100,000 in kickbacks.

these are just some of the backdoor beauties in the top 25.

now back to the long war

With Willie Brigitte on trial in France for possessing a copy of The Art of War, a subversive tome if ever one was written in the 6th C BC, we have the hub of nearly all terrorism charges in australia on show. Once again, make it big, but dont back it up with evidence:

French investigators claim he was planning a large-scale terrorist. Judge Jacqueline Rebeyrotte said that an al-Qaeda member under questioning had said that a large-scale attack in Australia, possibly involving the Sydney Opera House, had been planned.

A sidelight on the last sentence is important, because the unknown Alqueda operative never said that Brigitte was involved, still just saying it condemns, like Saddam and 9/11. Hearsay as non-evidence masquerading as evidence in the headlines.

Why is that so many terrorist cases stink of a poor rehash of Minority Report. Or are slowly revealed to be a right load of old bollocks only after a thousand headlines have scared the living bejesus out of anyone who reads a newspaper or switches on a televison or radio. Like:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2245696.ece

In a statement after their release from Coventry's Chace Avenue police station in the early hours of today, the men said there had been no mention to them by police of a plot to kidnap or behead any soldier.
Their solicitor Gareth Peirce said: "They have left the police station without any better understanding of why they were there than when they first arrived seven days ago.
"Not a word was ever mentioned to either of them about a plot to kidnap or the grizzly suggestion of a beheading or even of a soldier at all.
"Both have been met with a consistent refusal over seven days for any explanation for their arrest.
"They are convinced that others in the police station must be as innocent as they and urge that they also be swiftly released."

We have days of headlines repeating outrageous claim after claim that we are all about to die some horrible death unless these people are arrested, then when charges have to be laid at the end of their "interviews", its all revealed to be bullshit. The case that these raids are all about covering over the myriad scandals rocking the Blair Government grows stronger, as do the Bush and Howard "terrorist plots".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2005667,00.html

Sami Al-Arian has been in prison for the past four years. The Palestinian professor and activist was found not guilty over a year ago of 17 charges against him yet he remains in jail and the US government seems unwilling to release him.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1546227

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Good to see Tim Flannery getting a good run on the media at the moment, especially as the essential subtext of his message is the Howard Government has wasted the last ten years in office (always a good one to get out in an election year).

His Lateline appearance followed two ultra conservative nights to open the year, one with Little Johny, the other with US uber-sleaze bag and smear merchant, Dick Morris. Morris has one claim to fame in the political arena which allows him to be seen on Fox network as a neutral by stander, he worked on Bill Clintons 1996 election campaign before his "tenure on that campaign was cut short two months before the election, when it was revealed that he had had an extramarital affair with a prostitute (named Sherry Rowlands) and allowed her to listen in on conversations with the President."(wikipedia)

http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/search_results?qstring=dick+morris

each and every smear Tony Jones allowed the scum bag to utter has been refuted a dozen times over, yet his only critisism was to say "well we know what the republican talking points will be during the election". To grant this factually challenged, republican talking head a minute of my ABC's time is an insult to any viewers intelligence. Almost as much as the PM's utterances.
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The soy eating set gets clever and takes the gay bashers at their word, listen up ACT Government and make it so, wedge that baby good:

An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled.

Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage.

Under the initiative, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriage would be subject to annulment.

All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in those marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_020507WABinitiative957SW.546c6a4d.html#

Here is what the Bush Regimes $US15 billion of AIDS funding in Africa is being spent on:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070207/D8N4L6LG0.html