Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is moved today from Gitmo to NY - soon he's going to have a trial. He must be one of the 'bad guys,' who we have evidence and charges filed against him.

And he only had to spend three years in a prison noted for torture, abuse, sexual and other humiliations before having his day in court.

Now the States whines about compassion for Ling & Lee.

For More Torture Facts, Info & Links, see:
www.americancitizenstogether.org/ACT/TopIssuesFactSheet.html

citizenbfk, commenting on Press Release, below


Yesterday A.C.T. (American Citizens Together) published online in it’s weekly Political Action News the accusation that ISIS (Institute for Science and International Security

Last week's report by ISIS about Iran WMD and it's testimony at the Foreign Affairs Committee killed the truth and falsely spread lies and fear.

Also a report revealing the sources of a prime piece of false intel used to falsely justify the Iraq War was put online, revealing who from the Bush era Office of the Secretary of Defense and who from within the U.S. intelligence community created and planted the Niger uranium forgeries -- the forged documents claiming that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.


See report at: http://www.americancitizenstogether.org/ACT/thesmokinggun/thesmokinggun.html

Maybe not realizing they suffered a substantial repudiation to their policies Republicans have been criticizing President Obama in these first two weeks of his new administration as if we cared. And the mainstream media has continued to cover such criticisms as if either they were news or they were valid.

But Obama scored a victory for his Economic Stimulus Bill in the Senate today. A version passed the House last week. Here are the words that really mean something:



“It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work, Americans, did not want to turn back to the same tried and failed approaches that were rejected in the last election.”

This site has been put up by the Obama campaign: http://www.keatingeconomics.com/



This site, above, tells the truth and gives facts about the last banking scandal -- in which John McCain was involved. The guy at the center of the scandal went to jail. McCain got officially censored by the Senate.

The public paid the bill for $128,000,000.00 (More or less).



Yet now, today, McCain starts his campaign to slander Obama with false guilt by casual association, trying to link Obama to the actions and ideas of a Sixties anti-Vietnam radical. Obama was eight years old at the time of this radical's actions.

It's thus nonsense to make such an association! It should also be clear that Obama has not been advocating bombing anything or revolutionary thoughts: Instead he's been doing the right thing of advocating voter registration, adherence to the Constitution and diplomacy before starting pre-emptive unnecessary wars.



Bush & Cheney ARE War Criminals (doing torture, alone, makes that true). The Republican Party led the way into the black hole of the Middle East Wars. The Republican Party sold us all out to special interest.

So, let's get real. We can't let these warmongers and liars continue to rule our country. We need to DEFEAT REPUBLICANS!
Defeat them now, defeat them in the next elections, defeat them till their party doesn't exist anymore.



No phony 'guilt by association,' is needed to link McCain to the last banking scandal -- it's documented; it's real.

McCain's policies of de-regulation and eliminations of watchdogs was key to allowing the banks get away with this current scam.

We can't let this dirty politics go down. In truth, it's worse than the bank scams -- it's a scam and mockery of our politics.

What's Was the bad, Bad News With The Defeated Bank Bailout Bill?


There were things in this bill that were deceptive, dangerous and clearly favored banks that went bust rather than the people who were sold scammed mortgages. The bill was defeated due to the tremendous outcry of the American public, as reflected in the info in the pic, above.

I'm not an economic's major but you don't have to be one to see a scam.

Starting off clearly neutral, from the report of the Congressional Budget Office (click link on title, above), it reports that the government would have started to pay interest on deposits they have from banks. 

Rather amazing, the government prints the money, gives it to the banks, the bank puts it on deposit with the government and then the government pays the banks interest!?

Another feature against the people's interest and in favor of the banks was the refusal to empower bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgages on primary residences for people in foreclosure, but the judges can only do this for people on their second or third homes, etc.

This keeps a benefit for those who own two or more homes and unfairly makes it harder for those who only own the one home they live in. This benefits the rich as the expense of the poor.

Change the tax laws allowing banks to deduct losses from investments in the bad mortgages of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thus not only is it $700-billion but $700-billion plus ongoing tax benefits to banks.

(The Republicans also want MORE tax benefits for the SuperRich, a reduction in the capital gains tax that folks pay on stock market gains)

Money would not only be handed out to banks (who caused all these problems) but money also given out to county and city governments.

Incredibly, also, Section 112 allows the Treasury Dept. to use taxpayers money to bail out foreign banks !?

Although the Treasury Dept is "allowed," to modify troubled loans there are no standards set for this and he is not "obligated to do anything at all.

In fact there is a provision that makes it clear there are no standards, all previous laws and standards do not apply provision: Section 135.

The Treasury Dept. is also "allowed," to not purchase the bad loans outright, but instead offer to insure them, for a fee from the banks. This was one provision often boasted about, i.e. the government wasn't necessarily going to give money away but instead sell insurance to back up the bad loans.

But what would you or anyone do if they were trying to sell a crippled car? Sell it, or pay insurance claiming to maintain it's value (note: it's crippled value).

There is also the big question of how much does the government pay for these bad loans: 100% of their alleged value? 80-cents on the dollar? What?  

Not only can the Treasury Dept. pay any amount it wants but even pay MORE for these bank loans than the banks paid themselves! -- Assets that some banks acquired in a merger or buyout from companies that have filed for bankruptcy, like JPMorgan Chase & Co., can sell these 'toxic debts,' for a higher price than they paid for them.

Another pretense is that the government could ask for warrants that would mean the banks would have to pay up some money if these toxic loans went south, loss even more value than they have already.

But if such warrants were required the banks could add the cost of such warrants to the price of the bad debts it sells the government, like if you buy a car you pay something, but if you buy a car with comprehensive insurance for all damages, you pay more.

So talking about how these warrants make everything ok is deceptive, but sounds good.

Perhaps the clearest attempt to deceive is Congress claiming that half the money would not be given over "subject to their disapproval."

Subject to their disapproval? Who ever heard of such a thing? Normally actions Congress wants to control are said to be "subject to Congressional approval.

What the difference? The difference is Bush can spend the money. Congress may get around to express their disapproval. Problem One: The money may already be spent by the time Congress gets around to doing this. Problem Two: Bush could simply Veto the Congressional act of disapproval.

Subject to disapproval!? Means nothing but sounds good, as if Congress was providing oversight and control.

Also note: Administrative costs are not included in the $700 billion bailout.

Also note: The normal procedure for dealing with this, the lowering of interest rates by the Fed, are not being tried.

Also note: While the claim is that this is only for $700-billion nearly $500-billion has already been spent previously to deal with this to no positive results: Things just kept getting worse.

Also note: The bill would have raised the Debt Ceiling by 1.5 trillion dollars, more than twice as much needed to print the money to pay for this bill; so the debt to the American people would become twice as great.

All this information I believe is accurate and true. 

Now...here's just one wild and crazy idea: The government started this bill asking for all this money be given to banks that made bad investments (and also note, the FBI is investigation already 47 cases of bank fraud that may be involved in this.)

That's a wild and crazy idea. (And against the very principles of capitalism: no government interference in business)

So, here the second wild and crazy idea: Let's give all this money to the people.

(See how wild and crazy this all sounds now? Both of these suggestions)

But consider, if people got all this money, they could pay off some or all of their debts, pay off their credit cards, pay off some of the mortgages that have gone bad --- in this way the people would be helped out AND the banks would get cash for these debts, making all these loans less toxic.

Of course, maybe the people would rush out and buy ice cream and cake, cars, or go on trips to Disneyland.

Of course, maybe the banks would do the same thing: They are obligated to do Absolutely Nothing for this cash, meaning all these big bucks handed out have no guarantee of doing anything at all .

I'm not celebrating.

In fact I'm beginning to ask some tough questions about our nation sucked into a black hole of Middle East Wars and talk of Eternal Global Wars. I'm beginning to wonder about the current bank failures and scams.


Here's the tough question: Are strong Jewish forces pushing these wars and are they involved in this disastrous economic failures?

I don't want to encourage racism but I'm growing more and more disgusted every day about these ATIONS!

I also don't want to talk in generalizations or conspiracy theories made out of hot air...so I've made a list of NAMES, of specific people and groups who have done specific things to encourage our black hole of wars and also those who are making the most profit from the bank failures and Government Bailout.

> Richard Perle's Pentagon advisory group to the Pentagon.

> Former deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz, now head of The International Monetary Fund.

> Elliot Abrams

> Kenneth Adelman

> Douglas Feith

> William (Bill) Kristol - Irving Kristol

> American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

> Project for the New American Century (PNAC)

> The Heritage Foundation

> Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).

>American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

> American Israel Public Affairs Committee

Below are Chairman or CEO's of the Major Big Bank failures in the USA (

> Lloyd Blankfein: Chairman & CEO of Goldman Sachs Here.

> Stephen Roach: Managing Director & Economist of Morgan Stanley Here.

> Martin Feldstein: Director of American International Group (AIG) Here.

> Alan Fishman: CEO of Washington Mutual (WaMu)

Like most of us we've heard such accusations throughout history: divided loyality, pushing nations into war, and fleecing the banking system. Well...is it true?

I read this today:
As Congress prepares to act speedily on the grant of power to the Treasury Secretary to buy up $700 billion worth of bundles of bad mortage loans, the Supreme Court may watch in fascination, but it would have no power to second-guess the “bailout,”
according to the draft, “decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

And I thought:

Can these guys in the Bush White House actually get away with this?

_______________________________________________________________________

As if this latest Grand Larceny of the Bush Administration, paying off the banks and their lobbyist with $700 billion or more in debt that will strangle American's prospects and it's people for decades -- now they propose avoiding one of the clearest know principles of the U.S. Constitution: "Checks & Balances."

Checks & Balances means that the division of power in the United States is legally divided (or suppose to be legally divided) between three sources: The President, Congress and the Courts.

Bush has already *ucked this over but this is the first time I've actually seen it spelled out, in print, in a proposed piece of legislation that the Bush White House wants to ram down our throats in the next four days.

So, they're saying: "We need $700-billion MORE, and we need it in four days, and nobody can review or question what we do."

This is Exactly want Checks & Balances is intended to prevent; rip offs.

Bush's last act in the White House will probably be to steal the lightbulbs as he walks out the door.

It could wear out one's fingers to type respond to all the Bush and Republican and US warmongering lies.

If we're the "angry left," then, in truth, he's part of the "rabid right."

The outbreak of serious conflict in Georgia clearly shows what all these wars are about: OIL.


In Summary: Bush has handled all this as well as FEMA handled New Orleans.



In Summary: This is another chapter -- a big chapter -- in The Oil Wars.


For the details, read on.



Russia wants to get back it's control of the Caspian Sea Oil. This means stopping it going from Azerbaijan to Georgia and shipped across the Black Sea and it means stopping the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (from Azerbaijan to Georgia, across Turkey to the Mediterranean.



On a scale of 1 to 10 this is a 10. Russia has no intention of backing down, this is not a temporary issue, it's more like China crossing the Yalu River to kick America back from it's border, during the Korean War. (In the USA we don't hear much about that because it was a big defeat.)



Or, to stretch the comparison further back into history, this is as dramatic as Caesar crossing the Rubicon and it means: "The die is cast," and we're in deep *hit.



Of course we can think that it's all about spreading Freedom and Democracy...especially (speaking sarcastically) freedom and democracy along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. But it's all about OIL, and Natural gas. Just like our USA war in Iraq.



The oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea is estimated to be approx. $ 12 Trillion dollars (USD).



With the successful Cold War breakup of the Soviet Union the West has been able to stick it's straw into the Caspian Sea and start sucking.



The pipeline goes from the post-Soviet "pro-Western," republic of Azerbaijan and the post-Soviet "pro-Western," republic of Georgia.



"Pro-Western," in this case means we have been able to swing their elections our way with lots of cash and buy their politicians.



When Azerbaijan became a nation in the early 1990's, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, almost immediately it was recognized as a nation by the United States and Turkey-- the same with Georgia.



The older oil and gas pipeline -- The Baku-Novorossisk pipeline is under Russian control so now the project is to build a Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, started in April 2007, and intended, as mentioned, take the oil from the Caspian Sea and ship it from Azerbaijan to Georgia and across Turkey down to the Mediterranean Sea. From there it will ship to Europe and a pipeline will be built to go across Lebanon to Israel. Because of the capital cities it goes through this is known as the BTC pipeline.





USA policies since World War II have been very misguided, IMO: Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, Iraq, and these Caucasus States.



(Of course, there is the joke, this is the only way Americans learn geography).



It seems -- if one was to speak like a university professor -- you'd say things like: The USA trying to pick up the old pieces of post-WWII colonialism --- French colonialism in Vietnam and Japanese colonialism in Korea.



Or one could talk about The New Imperialism.



Trying to be colonialist and imperialist is a tragic twist for my country, I believe. It doesn't really suit our founding principles in fact it is drastically opposed to everything that started the American Revolution...a revolution against colonialism and imperialism.



I'll point out too that the USA, the West trying to get Caspian Sea oil would be like Russia doing offshore drilling in the Mediterranean or like Russia doing offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico....and like the USA plans for offshore drilling in Nigeria.



Nigeria (sarcastically) is another place where the U.S. is beginning to talk about it's concerns for Freedom and Democracy. That's not working out too well though, so it appears the small island off the coast of Nigeria and Cameroon, Malabo,



Last month the U.S. warship visited Malabo (which had previous centuries of British and Spanish colonialism) as part of an "International-African," Security Pact...this is another of the prime time ploys of Old and New Imperialism..."helping people."



Helping people fight drugs, slavery, piracy, environmental degradation and all sorts of other good-sound things....like demands for religious freedom in China today and in China a hundred, two hundred years ago.



Ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing...willing to tell any lie, wave any flag, spout off supposed faith in self-centered and self-serving ideas of God....it's a pity.



Moscow's long-term objective in Georgia is probably to install a friendly government in Tbilisi (it has tried more than once to do that since Georgian independence),

• to keep Georgia out of NATO,
• stop the arms flow into Chechnya,
• take control of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
• indicate it's not bluffing with it's concerns over missile bases on its border in Poland (a concern that the USA and others have brushed off)
  
  

This is an another failure, an utter failure, of Bush's foreign policies. Eventually it will all tumble down like a house of cards.



With the USA invasion of Iraq for proven false reasons and with the use of deliberately fabricated lies and with constant USA and Israeli threats of attacks against Iran, no one in the world takes seriously the U.S. A's plaintive and hypocritical calls to "stop aggression."



With the documentation of U.S.A. torture at Abu Ghraib, the approval of torture and secret CIA prisons in 2006, the growing revelations of more kidnappings and indefinite detentions without trial, the military mockery of justice at Guantánamo Bay, no one in the world take seriously the U.S.A's plaintive and hypocritical calls for "human rights."



The problem is Bush, warmongering Republicans, and Zionist neocon extremist want to continue and exaggerate the confrontational world view of " We're All Perfect," and everyone else (including the French, who successful negotiated an end of current Russian military advances in Georgia) are all a bunch of second-class fools...as if we're all perfect and do nothing wrong and everyone else is evil and bad.


This won't work anymore. Russia is taking back the Caucasus. We're dug ourselves into a no-win hole in Iraq. South America is more anti-American now than ever. Bush's plans to put nuke missiles on Russia's border in Poland (calling them defensive missiles) -- all this has re-ignited the Cold War with Russia threatening to land nuclear armed planned in Cuba -- another situation Bush will not be able to handle, another thing Bush & his incompetent warmongers and fools think they can just "brush off."



Bush has handled all these wars like FEMA took care of New Orleans. Wall Street and the economy is the same way. We're being screwed left and right and Bush-Cheney and his gang of cohorts still want us to wave the flag and shout: "Go USA."



The recent splitting off of Kosovo from Serbia, with USA active support may have been the straw that broke the camels back. Most of us don't know Kosovo from Knot's Farm and could care less. It's worth nothing to us. Yet, for this nothing, we deeply offended the Russians and triggered issues and unrest that goes back hundreds of years.



For winning 2-cents in Kosovo we just lost million dollar deals in the Caucasus states. Deals that might have worked with cooperation but have now failed miserably.


The solutions are not in the past. The solution is more like Obama's call for a War for New Energy.



We need this now: A War for Energy Independence. A War for New Energy Sources.



We need to put our heads and our hearts into becoming energy independent of both Middle East and Caucasus' oil. That's the real and permanent victory and we have to engage it, push it with all the energy and resources we've been putting into these wasted wars and plans in the Middle East and former Soviet republics.



It's going to be real difficult. Even Obama has to do the war-dance or fears he won't get elected unless he appears tough in challenging Russian, Iran, etc. and the Zionist extremist, neocons, warmongering Republicans and the Bush White House continue to try to play the same old propaganda games: We're all right and everybody else is all wrong.



If you want to start a 'reality check,' on that, BTW, click here, for a composite of photos from Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib 'Reality Check,' Photos



http://www.americancitizenstogether.org/ACT/Pictures/ABuBush.jpg



This is serious enought to say: Try new solutions or else we'll continue to stick our heads in the sand, waving an American flag from our butt, and the charade and house of cards of our American Dreamland will tumble down.



There is some satisfaction, at least, in knowing that venal, greedy, two-faced corrupt liars can't get away with their crimes and pretensions forever.

There is some satisfaction knowing that without some degree of good faith, integrity, and constructive effort you can't build a better world or make a better nation.