President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela made two remarkable speeches at the United Nations just four days apart on September 16th and 20th.  In the typical fashion of the mainstream media most every substantive point that Chavez made was ignored, which comprised most of his speaking itinerary, focusing on global economics and how to correct the increasing appalling gap between rich and poor internationally.

In the typical fashion of the tepid "excuse me" current Democratic Party, where the style favored by Joe Lieberman along with Fox pundits Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity is preferred to that of heretics such as Jim Hightower and Al Franken, two leading figures of what sadly passes these days for Republican Party opposition surfaced to denounce Hugo Chavez in conveying a warped interpretation of U.S. unity.

Perhaps it was understandable why Congressman Charles Rangel of New York City and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco sharply denounced certain Chavez remarks.  

They should have been greatly embarrassed since it took a leader of a South American nation to make the case that certain bona fide Democratic Party progressives used to make in what looms as an increasingly distant and scarcely observable past.

George W. Bush during a busy week following the Karl Rove strategy of dominating television land in an election cycle announced his latest spiritual quest.  He insisted that this new awakening is burgeoning and that a campaign is under way to achieve a triumph on behalf of the forces of good and defeat evil in the process.

While Bush lines up as self-proclaimed leader of the forces for good some mixed messages have been observed on the international scene.  They were not in evidence in the mainstream media during a week when Katie Couric made her well-publicized CBS anchor review and interviewed drug-addicted Rush Limbaugh.

Meanwhile, in the real world, away from the submissive Limbaugh Dittoheads and Fox Zombies, it was reported that the UN nuclear watchdog protested to the U.S. government over a report on Iran's nuclear program, which counted as major news and was duly reported by Britain's BBC.  

In a letter signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director at the International Atomic Energy Agency that was sent to Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, the charge was leveled that a congressional report contained serious distortions of the IAEA's own findings on Iran's nuclear activity.  

"Today, President Bush said the United States is still under the threat of attack, and will continue to be right up until Election Day."

-- Jay Leno 8/29/2006

Once again, Republicans have defined the debate for the upcoming elections -- and it's one we've seen before.

Republicans: "The Iraq war is central to the greater fight against terrorism."

And the Democrats latch on: "The Iraq war detracts from the greater fight against terrorism."

So there you go. Iraq and the fight against terrorism -- together once again. And the only thing the American people will hear over and over and over again is: "Iraq and the war on terror... Iraq and the war on terror... Iraq and the war on terror..." The details are easily clouded and thus relatively inconsequential.

This plays perfectly into the overall issue of 'fighting terrorism', the falsely perceived strength of Republicans. And it will be the defining debate for this election cycle. More importantly, Monsieur Rove will continue with his long-time, frightfully successful strategy of taking his opponent's strength (in this case, the Republican's failure in Iraq) and driving it straight through their political heart (In this case, reframing the Iraq War as the central beam supporting the greater "War on Terror".)

And the Democrats are obliging them by jumping right on board. Of course Dems think they're setting the stage by attacking the Republican's weak spot (Iraq) but instead, they are highlighting and accentuating the Republican frame that the United States is in 'constant peril' and a 'critical state of danger' from various, innumerable, faceless, international 'Islamo-facist' bedevilers.

In short, the Dems are supporting the frame that makes the Republican fear-mongering so damn effective in coercing the American electorate.

Writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on July 18, guest columnist John T. McBride summed up the current war in the Middle East succinctly and wisely:

"Food is primary.  Air is really primary.  Water.  Shelter.  Procreation.  Sleep.  Recreation.  Not religion.  So, in the pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial ages we poison the air, pollute the water, work too long hours, don't get enough rest or exercise, and eat questionable diets.  But we kill each other over religion.  By the millions we kill each other."

How can you make sense out of the horrifying death, destruction, and billons spent on killing people, indeed of helping them?  Pollution generates greenhouse gases, which heat up oceans, spawn hurricanes, melt the Alaskan icebergs, and send temperatures skyrocketing over 100 degrees.

All the while people are suffering.  But the polluters are delighted.  The Bush Republican Administration does nothing while Americans sizzle.  

Even the British are being made to answer for their version of Edgewood Arsenal, it is called Porton Downs, the difference is in Britian the  public did not learn of the testing until six years ago, they have compensated one family and know they have to compensate hundreds more.

How does this differ from the tests the American Governmnet did at Edgewood Arsenal Maryland, nothing except the amount of men used, the British used 700 men from 1939 thru 1989 The American government used 7120 men from 1952 thru 1975 in the Cold War experiments and another approximate 4000 men in the WW2 era experiments.

Jim Corbett of Seattle wrote an eye-opener letter to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that was published in its June 28 issue:

"So President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are bent out of shape because The New York Times reported that the Administration has been secretly digging into private bank records of U.S. citizens, a stark violation of the Constitution (without proper warrants).  Hatred toward America has been increased tenfold because of their reckless war ... Bush and Cheney are the real threat to America."

Let us look at the track record of the gang that couldn't fight a legitimate war against U.S. enemies.  Instead they launched the Iraq War on the basis of false charges and documents.  As the so-called smart bombs blasted Iraq, often killing innocent civilians, while the U.S. ignoramuses cheered the U.S. troops on.  

Bush, the proud leader of this nightmare war, early on jumped aboard a U.S. carrier near San Diego, proudly proclaiming, while costumed in military uniform, "The war is over!"

Reacting to an article in the June 21 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that was headlined, "Killing of GI's Barbaric," reader David Hooper of Seattle wrote an interesting letter to the editors that ran in response to this assertion:

"Indeed, Iraqi insurgents brag about their barbaric deeds.  Americans in contrast, torture and kill suspects in secret prisons, then lie about it.  We bomb babies and cover it up.  We've invaded a little country to get its oil, all the while pretending to bring freedom and democracy.

"We are all barbaric.  Who is better, the braggart or the liar?"

That blunt viewpoint might send a stirring message if the Republican Administration has the courage and fairness to honestly and objectively to stop think about what David Hooper wrote.

This isn't the first time.

The Bush Administration and supportive Republicans have been lying about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction since time began. Amazingly, numerous bloggers were able to find and highlight these lies many months before a single U.S. troop hit the ground in Iraq.

But truth seems not to matter in politics -- only perceptions matter. And Rove, Santorum, Hoekstra, and the rest of the Republican jihadists are always quick to exploit that fact.

Their latest lie enlists the ongoing deception and betrayal of the American people birthed by this administration years ago.

As Fox News reports, "Top administration officials said today that chemical and biological weapons have indeed been found in Iraq and they now worry what this could suggest about other hidden weapons there and the possible dangers to US troops." US intelligence officials "believe the weapons were made prior to the Gulf War in 1991 and officials say they have seriously degraded over time. But the declassified report says they are still lethal and Secretary Rumsfeld said that is a concern for all those in Iraq."

The fact is that these relics of pre-'Desert Storm' history were lost to the sands of time and for Republicans to pretend these are somehow related to or justification for Bush's lie-pressed war is total and complete hokum. Even so, they can keep a straight face -- clearly desperate people in desperate times scraping for the justification of unjustifiable acts.

We have all heard the White House's many statements of the separation of Vice President Dick Cheney and his contacts with Halliburton were severed when he became the Vice President.

We have been told that all he receives is deferred compensation from monies previously earned. We were told that his office played NO role in the award of the Halliburton contracts in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in 2003.

That he has not benefited financially because of the war.  The following documents and information obtained thru FOIA suits by Judicial Watch have uncovered documents showing the lies, and the links to the VP's office and the Corps of Engineer's thru the Pentagon.  Links after the jump.

One of the interesting U.S. Senate candidacies of the 2006 primary season along with Ned Lamont's challenge against Senator Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut is that of James Webb in Virginia.  Should Webb win the Democratic primary his opponent would be Senator George Allen, a Cheney-Bush Republican currently seeking to run away from his roots, given Bush's recent dismal polling numbers.

If one Democrat of all those seeking office at this stage of the 2006 political sweepstakes could be selected who would typify everything that strategist Karl Rove fears as a candidate it would figure to be James Webb.  

An even cursory analysis of Webb's personal and political biography reveals why Rove and the Republican attack machine would have significant reason to worry in the face of a Webb candidacy in the fall election.

James Webb is a Naval Academy graduate who fought in the Vietnam War and won medals for courage and valor.  Webb served with the 5th Marine Regiment in Vietnam as a rifle platoon and company commander, receiving the Navy Cross, the second highest award in the Navy, along with the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts.  

This was posted today at Kos, dealing with PTSD and how DOD, the VA and Congress is failing in their obligation to care for the active duty service members and veterans they are creating in the new WW3 as dumya calls it  the rest of us call it PNAC's war.

The Iraq War PTSD Epidemic

The Bush White House and the Rubber-Stamp GOP-controlled Congress have launched so many assaults against the American people that I have lost count. But perhaps the most offensive of these assaults are against the military, military families and veterans.  President Bush saw fit to send our soldiers into an unnecessary war, using misleading intelligence. He then refused to properly protect the them in battle, provide the necessary medical care when they were redeployed homeward, and finally denied them and their families the financial security they have earned fighting for our nation.

When Senator John McCain spoke at Liberty University yesterday, he made an urgent appeal for Republicans to unite.

Unite over what?  Should Republicans unite over conducting the Iraq War, which has morphed into a civil war any way you look at it?

Could it be that McCain wanted Republicans to unite over those big tax cuts for the rich while the costs of conducting the Iraq War are skyrocketing?  Perhaps some students of economics at Liberty University can see the foolishness of this, if they consider future generations paying off the debt, which is now reaching around $10 trillion?

Does McCain want the Republicans to unite over bringing in immigrant labor so millions more can eventually wind up on Social Security and Medicaid along with Medicare, which is already overburdened?

Hey!  At last trapped by his own words, words recorded on TV interviews prior to the Iraq War debacle.

Oh!  You can chase around he country trying to polish your tarnished image.  But Rummy, it won't work.

One dissatisfied individual in Atlanta challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld point blank at a public forum, "You said you know where the weapons of mass destruction were located!"  

But the record is clear, no matter how many times Rumsfeld denies making his dramatic declaration.

Surely the far right Republicans who have dominated so much of this Republican-dominated Administration know the Biblical admonition that if you "sew to the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."

In almost every area where they have had voting power they have "sown to the wind".  They rushed to war when the war machine went into high gear with forged documents and lying advisors providing false information about Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction".  A series of generals who totally miscalculated what the cost of going into the Iraq War would cost.

They apparently had no idea how resistant the Iraqis would be to taking over.  Perhaps the U.S. track record of its conduct in the Middle East had taught them a lesson regarding letting Americans control their destinies.

It was the much-heralded Republican Ronald Reagan, a so-called "foreign policy expert", who left office with the scorching scandal of the Iran Contra arms deals, breaking international law.  The notorious Oliver North dared to run for office and we can thank God that Nancy Reagan stepped in with the voice of reason, cautioning Virginia voters against voting for North.  

When U.S. and British forces first invaded Iraq, they were quick to infiltrate the oil fields and seemingly indifferent to the ancient artifacts that defined the rise of man in the cradle of civilization. Many historically invaluable objects were looted and stolen from museums and archaeological sites as city streets provided the path to anarchy.

Now, our presence is being felt once again as the destroyer of human history.

For three long years, U.S. troops have wrecked what little remained of the ancient city of Babylon.

They've built roads over the 5,000-year-old walls, poured a concrete helicopter landing pad over an archaeological site, filled sandbags with "soil rich with precious artifacts" and dug trenches through temples.

At least those sins were done for military reasons. There's no such excuse for the graffiti left by American Marines ("Cruz chillen' in Saddam's spot") or the thousands of precious objects the troops sifted from the sand to take home as souvenirs. Looted cuneiform tablets from Babylonian museums have already shown up on eBay.