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___.COMPOSITION______In This Issue_______________________________
Anti-Bush Protests
AT LAST!!! 18 Months Late, the Bush Administration Admits the Florida Election Was
Criminal
After the Democrats.com Expose', Rove, Rumsfeld & Rice Scrub the Pentagon Planning
Page - and a Whole Government Web Site!
President Gore Would Have Heeded the Warning Signals that the Bush / Ashcroft Axis of
Incompetence Ignored
Heads Should Roll - Starting With John Ashcroft
Bush Incompetence Hides Behind a Veil of Executive Privilege
'No Warnings' - Bush's Unforgiveable Lie
Meria Heller Interviews Lt. Mike Vreeland, Who Warned About 911
FBI Bureaucrats Put Phoenix Memo Into the 'Circular File' - Let's Do the Same With
Their Careers!
Back in July 2001, Ashcroft Was Told to Fly Leased Aircraft for the Rest of His Term –
As a Result of an FBI Threat Assessment
How Low Can They Go? Laura Bush (R-Phony) Calls Us 'Ghouls' for Wanting Answers
Dire New Terror Warnings Are Part of a Two-Pronged Political Strategy to Cover Bush's
Butt
Is that a Yellow Dog Being Wagged -- or a Red / Green Dog?
Remember the OTHER Bush 911 Photo?
Madeleine Albright Says Team Bush Has 'Untreated Bipolar Disorder'
All Actions of Bush, Cheney, and Rice in 2001 were Driven by Oil
Bush Crony Capitalism Goes Global through the Carlyle Group
Hastert Vetted Murder and Torture in Columbia
Shrub's Latest Judicial Pick Would Scrap Miranda Rights!
Corporate Publishing Giant Rodale Seeks to Torpedo Freedom of Information on Internet
by Making Article Links Illegal
__Anti-Bush Protests
On 5/22, protest Bush in Berlin. On 5/24, protest Chief Injustice Rehnquist in
Milwaukee, WI. On 5/25, protest Bush's wars in San Francisco.
http://legitgov.org/action.html
__AT LAST!!! 18 Months Late, the Bush Administration Admits the Florida Election Was
Criminal
Washington Post's Tom Edsall reports, "The Justice Department disclosed yesterday it
will file suit in three Florida counties charging voting rights violations in the 2000
presidential election... [They] expect the counties and municipalities to admit
wrongdoing and agree to take steps to prevent recurrences of problems in the 2002
elections... Boyd said the allegations include improper purges of voter rolls,
'disparate' treatment of minorities in the voting process, failures to provide
required voter registration material in certain public places and inaccessible
balloting for disabled voters. Boyd's announcement is the first formal action taken by
the Bush administration to deal with the politically explosive controversies that
surrounded the 2000 election in Florida. The suits would not seek to overturn the
presidential election's results, which ultimately were decided by the U.S. Supreme
Court." We demand CRIMINAL prosecutions of the thieves who Stole the Presidency!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52089-2002May21.html
__After the Democrats.com Expose', Rove, Rumsfeld & Rice Scrub the Pentagon Planning
Page - and a Whole Government Web Site!
On 5-20-02, Democrats.com exposed Condi Rice's Big Lie that no one ever expected the
Pentagon to be hit by a civilian airliner. According to the official government Web
site of the Military District of Washington (www.mdw.army.mil), the Pentagon ITSELF
planned in detail how it would respond to just such a scenario from October 24-26
2000. And this was no low-level exercise, since it took place in the Office of the
Secretaries of Defense conference room! Folks, we must have found something REALLY
EXPLOSIVE - because not only did Rove & Rumsfeld & Rice scrub this article, they
scrubbed the whole Military District of Washington Web site! Luckily, we kept a copy
of the article (see below). Call your Representatives (202-224-3121) and the media and
demand the truth about the Pentagon's civilian airline crash exercise in October 2000!
http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=7382
__President Gore Would Have Heeded the Warning Signals that the Bush / Ashcroft Axis
of Incompetence Ignored
Aaron Marr Page wrote in January, "If Bush's advisers hadn't been so instinctively
dismissive of all things Clinton, they might have had a [terrorism policy within two
months] of Bush's inauguration. [But the] only Middle East issue that the Bush
administration apparently gave a damn about was Saddam Hussein... And here's where we
can easily imagine a Gore administration unhampered by these factors and capable of
intervening before disaster struck. Gore's foreign policy team would likely have been
manned by Richard Holbrooke as secretary of state and Leon Fuerth as national security
advisor. [Both would probably] have been immune to the two key factors which
distracted the Bush team from the Al Qaeda threat... whatever his flaws, Clinton
responded in kind to the Al Qaeda threat as it existed in his time. Yet Bush - when
U.S. embassies across the world were buzzing with word of an impending attack - did
not."
http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2002/01/page-a-01-23.html
__Heads Should Roll - Starting With John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft played "down the terrorist threat in the first months of the Bush
administration. [He accused] his critics of undermining the fight against terrorism.
But it is becoming clear that before September 11 he had little interest in
counter-terrorism, and diverted resources from measures to prevent terrorism... He
also sent a memorandum... stating his seven priorities. Counter-terrorism was not on
the list. He turned down an FBI request for hundreds more agents to be assigned to
tracking terrorist threats. Nevertheless, he began using a chartered private jet to
travel around the country, rather than take commercial airliners. [Ashcroft had a
showdown with FBI director Louis Freeh last spring on counter-terrorism. When] Mr
Freeh began to talk about his concern about the terrorist threat facing the country,
'Ashcroft didn't want to hear about it'... But even since September 11 Mr Ashcroft has
been accused of putting ideology before the battle against terrorism."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,719231,00.html
__Bush Incompetence Hides Behind a Veil of Executive Privilege
Robert Scheer writes, "Until Sept. 11, the Bush administration was simply too
distracted and/or incompetent to maintain the American pressure on Osama bin Laden
begun in 1998 under President Clinton. [Sandy Berger was totally preoccupied with the
prospect of domestic terror attack. He warned Condi Rice]: 'You will be spending more
time on this issue than on any other.' Problem was, she didn't. [She wasn't alone.
John Ashcroft also downshifted anti-terrorism efforts, and] Rumsfeld blocked an
attempt to move $800 million from his pet missile defense program into
counter-terrorism... We already know enough... to raise strong suspicions that
executive privilege is now being invoked to conceal enormous incompetence on the part
of the [Bushies. But] we as a nation have long believed that it is the truth--full,
complex and unsanitized--that shall make us free. We should continue to act
accordingly."
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0521-06.htm
__'No Warnings' - Bush's Unforgiveable Lie
Marie Cocco writes in Newsday, "In all the verbiage that has rained down since word
leaked that President [sic] Bush was warned that Osama bin Laden's crew might hijack a
plane and strike at the United States, two words count: 'No warnings.' That is what
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sept. 11.
He said it as the flames from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon lit the sky and
the office workers and firefighters and deli-counter men were buried beneath the
molten steel. It was a lie... Since word leaked about the infamous memo Bush received
on Aug. 6, the White House has spun another web of lies... Now there is an unnerving
shadow that will follow Bush through his presidency... Bush lied to us, and covered
up." Impeach Bush NOW!
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0521-02.htm
__Meria Heller Interviews Lt. Mike Vreeland, Who Warned About 911
"Mike is the whistleblower who was with the Office of Naval Intelligence for over 16
years who produced the note with the targets in the U.S. and the ominous words 'let
one happen, stop the rest' on it to the Canadian gov't on Aug 11th or 12th. Mike gave
warnings yet no one paid attention to him. He is currently hiding out for fear of his
life in Canada. The Navy has now stated he was NEVER in the service, when he has more
than enough proof of his lifetime career. When the gov't is done with you, you are
DONE. This interview proves that, and is quite shocking. Mike believes that they know
another event will happen so why not say where? Wow. This is heavy duty stuff. Will it
be 3 Mile Island? East Coast? Our water supply? Again Mike is talking and no one is
listening. He said he began his warnings as far back as December 6, 2000 to the CIA,
FBI, DOD, JAG and many more agencies. They chose to ignore them. Why? Money and Oil.
Power. The Bush family IS 'organized crime' according to Mike."
http://www.meria.net/Archives.html
__FBI Bureaucrats Put Phoenix Memo Into the 'Circular File' - Let's Do the Same With
Their Careers!
Washington Post's Dan Eggen reports, "A Phoenix FBI agent's request for a canvass of
U.S. flight schools for al Qaeda terrorists was formally rejected within several weeks
of his July 10 memo, after mid-level officials at FBI headquarters determined they did
not have the manpower to carry out the task, sources familiar with the memo said
yesterday. The request was forwarded to counterterrorism chiefs at FBI headquarters
and the New York field office, but one of the terrorism units in Washington decided by
early August that the document's suggestions were largely unworkable in the midst of
more immediate cases, sources said. 'Even to this day, no one seems to know who knew
what and where critical information went at FBI headquarters,' Sen. Charles E.
Grassley (R-Iowa) said after meeting with Mueller and Williams yesterday. 'They still
don't have answers to . . . why things fell apart before September 11.'" It's time for
some heads to roll at the FBI!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53054-2002May21.html
__Back in July 2001, Ashcroft Was Told to Fly Leased Aircraft for the Rest of His Term
– As a Result of an FBI Threat Assessment
"In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by
leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what
it called a 'threat assessment' by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to
travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term. 'There was a threat
assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines,' an FBI
spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify
what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it. A senior official at the CIA
said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft
himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat…The
Justice Department insists that it wasn't Ashcroft who wanted to fly leased aircraft.
That idea, they said, came strictly from Ashcroft's FBI security detail. The FBI had
no further comment." Note the date of this article, July 26, 2001.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml
__How Low Can They Go? Laura Bush (R-Phony) Calls Us 'Ghouls' for Wanting Answers
Richard Cohen writes "In the battle of first ladies - the former one and the current
one - Hillary Clinton won hands down. In a brief Senate speech the other day, she
pointed out that she, better than most, knew something about 'second-guessers and
Monday morning quarterbacks.' So she was not attempting 'to blame the president,' but
merely to ask what went wrong before Sept. 11 and what can be done to ensure 'that
9/11 never happens again.' Laura Bush's response was to call people like her ghouls."
Hey Laura - we are not ghouls, but your husband is a monster - AND a criminal. Impeach
Bush NOW!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47968-2002May20.html
__Dire New Terror Warnings Are Part of a Two-Pronged Political Strategy to Cover
Bush's Butt
Under fire for its bungling of 911 warnings, the Bush administration has adopted a new
strategy. According to AP writer John Lumpkin, a senior White House administration
official admitted that the blunt new warnings are designed to give Americans better
notice - and to protect Bush against second guessing in the event of another attack.
In addition, a top White House aide said last week's criticism has prompted a
two-pronged political response: Bush accuses Democrats of playing politics with the
issue, while his advisers remind voters that America is still a certain target. Hey
Ari! Would you care to remind us again about which party is politicizing this national
tragedy for the November elections?
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAA4WTUH1D.html
__Is that a Yellow Dog Being Wagged -- or a Red / Green Dog?
Timothy Noah writes in Chatterbox, "Is the White House exaggerating the imminent
danger? [It's curious] that while the national security adviser, the vice president,
and now FBI director Robert Mueller are doing their best to maximize Americans' sense
of danger, the... Office of Homeland Security is keeping the nation on a relatively
ho-hum yellow alert (Elevated: Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks), right smack in
the middle between green (Low Risk of Terrorist Attacks) and red (Severe Risk of
Terrorist Attacks). According to Homeland Security Presidential Directive Three, a
yellow alert should prompt consideration of [a number of responses, including
increasing surveillance & coordinating emergency plans. But nowhere on this list is]
'Spreading panic in order to stifle debate about the Bush administration's competence
during prior disasters.' But these guidelines are new, and no doubt susceptible to
broad interpretation." Youch!
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2066026
__Remember the OTHER Bush 911 Photo?
Mark Lawson writes in the Guardian UK, "The now-famous snap in which George Bush's
eyes pop as an aide whispers the events of September 11 into his ear had always seemed
to represent complete astonishment. It's now possible that his expression can be read
as horrified confirmation. Bush's political future may depend on whether this
rewritten caption becomes fixed in print... The revelations in Washington that the FBI
and White House had at least three strong hints that the plot was in progress - in
specific warnings of terrorists training at American flying schools for future hijacks
- removes the White House's consistent use of the Pearl Harbor parallel: unpredicted
surprise attack. If a fourth newspaper story is confirmed - that one warning mentioned
planes hitting the World Trade Center - then the president [sic] really will be
choking on his pretzels."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4416179,00.html
__Madeleine Albright Says Team Bush Has 'Untreated Bipolar Disorder'
"Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Sunday accused President [sic]
Bush 's foreign policy team of suffering from 'untreated bipolar disorder.' Albright
said the Bush administration is projecting contradictory messages on a broad range of
global conflicts, including the Middle East and Afghanistan .'They talk about the
importance of the rule of law, but seem allergic to treaties designed to strengthen
the rule of law in areas such as money-laundering, biological weapons, crimes against
humanity, and the environment,' Albright said in a commencement speech at Tufts
University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy." You go, Madeleine!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020520/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/albright_bush_6
__All Actions of Bush, Cheney, and Rice in 2001 were Driven by Oil
The people offering the most daring spin on the 9/11 coverup (daring as in risking the
consequences of bald-faced lies captured on tape for all time) are also those most
deeply staked in Central Asian Oil: Bush, Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice. Rice's old
company Chevron (where she has pals so close they named a tanker after her) is highly
involved in Kazakhstan (dubbed by some the "New Kuwait"). Chevron stood to benefit
HUGELY from the U.S. takeover of Afghanistan, which would ensure free "security"
(taxpayer-paid troops), total control over the landscape and new pipelines. On August
2, Taliban reps were meeting with US officials (including Christine Rocca, who served
as a glorified "gun runner" to the Mujadeen under Reagan) in Islamabad to discuss oil
company interests. Four days later, Bush elected NOT to act on the most serious
terrorism warning in decades.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2001/1119/wor8.htm
__Bush Crony Capitalism Goes Global through the Carlyle Group
Tim Shorrock writes that, "William Conway, managing director and co-founder of the
Carlyle Group, was talking recently about the media coverage of his bank and the cast
of ex-Presidents and former officials, including George H.W. Bush, James Baker III and
Frank Carlucci, on its payroll. 'One of the words that has recently cropped up as an
adjective around us--and I love this adjective--is the 'secretive' Carlyle Group,' he
said in an interview in his offices overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown
Washington. 'What's the secret? I don't think we have many secrets. The reality is,
we're a group of businessmen who have made an enormous amount of money for our
investors [that included the bin Laden family until they had to divest right after
911, because 'it looked BAAAD' as BushDaddy would say] by making good investments over
the past fifteen years.' " None better than the stolen election investment, eh
William?
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020401&s=shorrock
__Hastert Vetted Murder and Torture in Columbia
In 1997, a congressional delegation led by GOP Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) – currently
Speaker of the House of Representatives who was then chairman of the House
subcommittee on national security – secretly encouraged Colombian military officials
to ignore human rights conditions on U.S. aid. (See Documents 52, 54 and 55),
according to newly released FOIA documents. We demand a House Ethics Investigation!
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB69/part3.html#doc52
__Shrub's Latest Judicial Pick Would Scrap Miranda Rights!
The next time Shrub complains that Democrats in Congress aren't confirming his
judicial appointees fast enough, someone should point out that maybe he ought to stop
nominating unqualified, right-wing activist judges! Not to mention the fact that,
despite deep reservations from several senators, the Senate just confirmed his latest
distasteful nominee, Paul Cassell, to the U.S. District Court in Utah. Cassell is a
gem of a man who believes Miranda protections, which mandate that suspects be informed
of their right to an attorney and their "right to remain silent", should essentially
be scrapped. Like Shrub, Cassell has played the ostrich with his head in the sand bit
and denied that people are being wrongfully sent to death row, despite mounting
evidence to the contrary (sounds like Texecutioner Bush's adamant claims about.). Ted
Kennedy called him "intemperate and one-sided." Still, Shrub got his way and Cassell
was confirmed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000034114may14.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
__Corporate Publishing Giant Rodale Seeks to Torpedo Freedom of Information on
Internet by Making Article Links Illegal
Here is a beautiful example of corporate greed, hypocrisy and contempt for freedom of
information: Rodale Press is threatening to sue a website because the site linked
directly (deep link) to a printer-friendly version of a Rodale magazine article,
thereby bypassing the site's ad-intensive home page. Rodale wants to make this a
copyright case that would, if successful, torpedo the last bastion of direct, free
access to information: the Internet. The case would have implications for every site
that links directly to articles, Democrats.com included - just in time for the coming
elections in 2002 and 2004. No coincidence here! Call Rodale (610-967-5171) or e-mail
[EMAIL PROTECTED] to let them know what you think. Hmm... is that a Rodale boycott we
see just over the horizon?
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,52514,00.html
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