McCain Featured In Iran-Contra Group's Newsletter: "A newsletter from 1984 provides more embarrassing evidence of John McCain's relationship with the U.S. Council on World Freedom, a group that was involved in funding militant anti-communists and espoused some anti-Semitic views...."
If you run a tally, Obama's record over the last year shows a remarkable degree of foresight, even-tempered judgment, and a real willingness to make hard calls that aren't the politically popular flavor of the week. Indeed, almost every one of Obama's foreign policy positions has been vindicated....read more | digg story
Robert Scheer, Truthdig, reports: Just great! Nuclear-armed Pakistan is falling apart, Iran’s nuclear program is unchecked and congressional legislation on cooperation with the Russians on controlling nuclear proliferation is now dead in the water. Horrid news except for Sen. John McCain, who thrills to a repeat of the danger lines of the Cold War...read more | digg story
Washington's neocons are alive and well, advising both John McCain and President Bush. Now many are saying Bush should permit Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities after Election Day before the new president takes office. ANP investigates as we chase down John Bolton, Bill Kristol and Frank Gaffney to see how far ahead these hawks are thinking. And a new report says the whole plan could backfire.The Real News Network - Story
In the U.S., "hybrid" car is pretty much synonymous with the Toyota Prius and similar cars which can run on electricity or gasoline; "flex-fuel" is synonymous with cars that can run on either gasoline or what used to be called (I haven't seen the term in quite a while) "gasohol." But there's a different kind of hybrid car I'd never heard of, and one of the world leaders in its production is...Iran:Iranian companies have increased production of dual-fuel vehicles as part of the general plan to manufacture less gasoline-powered cars.For comparison, there are only 150,000 natural gas vehicles in the entire U.S., a country with more than four times the population of Iran.
“Iranian automakers have produced more than 120,000 vehicles that use natural gas and regular gasoline in the first quarter of the current (Iranian calendar) year (March 20-July 21),” Iranian Minister of Industries and Mines Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said on Sunday in Tehran.
“Hybrid car production rose to 429,000 last year from 20,000 two years ago,” Mehrabian said at Iran's first national conference on CNG, which was held in the capital from August 2 to 3.Hopefully the Administration and corporate media won't learn about this; I'm sure they'll figure out the nefarious motive behind it and call for additional sanctions.
Update: By the way, ever the stickler for the precise use of language, I note that the first sentence in the quoted article should read "fewer gasoline-powered cars," not "less."
Chris Hedges (Truthdig) reports:"An attack on Iran, which Israeli and Bush administration officials appear set to carry out if Iranian uranium enrichment is not halted, would ignite a regional war in the Middle East and lead to economic collapse and political upheaval in the United States...."Photo Credit: Iranian protesters burn a U.S flag in a demonstration marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. (Truthdig) (AP photo / Hasan Sarbakhshian)
"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. In his recent article "Preparing the Battlefield," Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist and famed author for The New Yorker, says that the leadership of the Democratic Party has authorized spending over $400 million in support of a presidential finding that greatly expands the use of secret operations inside Iran, including perhaps the use of lethal force. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. "This president has read it this way: anything that has to do with the military, even if it's intelligence collection by the military, is part of warfare, preparing the battlefield," Hersh tells The Real News Network. "And they don't have to tell Congress anything." In this three-part interview with Paul Jay, Hersh says that a Gallup poll suggests that most Americans would rather the nation talk to Iran rather than go to war, in light of the current conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The problem lies in getting more public support. "So one of the things the special operations troops are doing is trying to escalate the amount of incidents inside Iran, trying to get more stuff going, more terrorism, more bombings, more internal disturbances, and hopes, maybe, in the fantasy football world in the vice president's office, in hopes that the Iranian government would crack down on the minorities big time" which would not only mean bad press for them, but give America a vehicle for going in."
"This opinion piece (link below) discusses what is perhaps the most significant psychological mechanism acting to help make the Jewish community support Israel’s occupation: the fear of collective annihilation. Seth Freedman argues that a culture of fear like this has a life of its own, independent of whether it is grounded in something real, and, indeed, has a tendency to create objects of fear where there are none. Of course this psychology is very much in the interests of those who seek to perpetuate the occupation and who encourage this culture of fear. Thus, a people as victimized, oppressed, dispossessed and essentially powerless as the Palestinians under occupation is magnified into a monster that threatens the existence of a nuclear-armed state. This is a neat argument, and explains, for instance, the disproportionate hysteria over the Qassam rocket attacks.Must Read: Seth Freedman: Culture of fear | guardian.co.uk
While it is fairly easy to use blunt geopolitical reasoning explain the motivations behind the occupation, it is always more difficult to explain why so many Jews in Israel and around the world support such cruelty. Analyses such as this go a long way towards such an explanation."
"History has handed the Jewish people the fear of annihilation on a plate – but while the fear exists, what is feared may not..."Photo Credit: Israeli soldiers scuffle with Palestinian protestors during a demonstration. (AFP)
"It's crazy, but it's coming soon. The armed forces are working out details. Impeachment may be the only way to stop it...."
Read more.
"The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently...."
"Iran said on Sunday it might have to limit its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, criticizing the agency's report which said Tehran's alleged research into nuclear warheads was a matter of serious concern...."
"The Jerusalem Post broke the news this morning: George Bush intends to attack Iran in his final months in office.'The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.'1Congress has the power to stop him. There is a resolution already in the Senate called S. Res. 356. It's a straightforward and simple resolution that says, 'A resolution affirming that any offensive military action taken against Iran must be explicitly approved by Congress before such action may be initiated.'
Tell your Senator to support and fight for S. Res 356:
http://www.TrueMajority.org/dontbombiran
Today's story is just the latest to discuss the increasingly belligerent rhetoric of the Bush administration towards Iran. Just last week, President Bush compared anyone who seeks to negotiate with Iran to those who appeased the Nazis prior to World War II.
We only have a few months until our long national nightmare of the Bush Administration comes to an end. But, it is abundantly clear that they intend on going out with a bang. It's time for the Congress to embrace its role as a co-equal branch of government and stop them before it is too late.
Send a message to your Senator right now: http://www.TrueMajority.org/dontbombiran
Thanks for taking action to stop another war."
-- Ilya Sheyman, Online Organizer, TrueMajority.com
"Is there a resurgence by the remaining hawks in the Bush administration?"
"This isn't our present policy of keeping the military option on the table. It is, for all practical purposes, mandating the military option."
-Senator Jim Webb
Direct from Project Censored:
- #1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
- #2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
- # 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
- # 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
- #5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
- #6 Operation FALCON Raids
- #7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
- #8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
- #9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
- # 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
- # 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
- # 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
- # 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
- # 14 Impunity for US War Criminals
- # 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code”
- #16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
- # 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
- # 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
- # 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda
- # 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
- # 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
- # 22 North Invades Mexico
- # 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
- # 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
- # 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
"One of the most telling signs of the political naiveté of liberals and the Left in the United States has been their steadfast faith in much of the worldview that blankets the imperial state they call home. Nowhere has this critical failure been more evident than in their acceptance of the premise that there really is something called a 'war on terror' or 'terrorism'..."
"Life in Iraq, the Pentagon boasts, is returning to normal. But the truth is a very different story...."
"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a huge toll on the American military. Who says so? The nation’s military officers, who are in as good a position as anyone to know...."
"The Brownshirt Party
has chosen John “hundred year war” McCain as its presidential candidate. Except for Cheney, Norman Podhoretz, and billy kristol, McCain is America’s greatest warmonger...."
When Americans vote for "change," what they're really saying is, "Get us out of here!"
"While the right wing has been engaging in a shameful smear campaign against Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, the hard left has been slamming him for “kowtowing” to AIPAC...."
"We could expect more truth and transparency for starters...."
"...Clinton wouldn’t have as easy a time working the legislative bureaucracy as she’d have her supporters believe. And Obama — messy desk notwithstanding — might not do such a bad job of it."
"Bill Clinton invited Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining executive, to travel with him to Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan in September 2005. Apparently, they were not simply sight-seeing...."
"...Mandates are a sideshow, and fighting over them risks turning away voters from the main event...."
"Former UN chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter warns that another war is inevitable, unless we defy Bush's attempts to spin the facts about Iran...."
"As the presidential campaign narrows and its costs skyrocket, detailed disclosure of financial resources becomes ever more important. Of the leading contenders, so far, only Senator Barack Obama has released his full income-tax returns — a level of disclosure once routine for candidates after the political corruption of Watergate...."
In his controversial new book, Nick Davies argues that shadowy intelligence agencies are pumping out black propaganda to manipulate public opinion – and that the media simply swallow it wholesale.
"Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does—and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government..."
"In other words, Bush just gave himself the power to decide how the next Administration spends the taxpayers’ money...."
"President Bush’s excesses in the name of fighting terrorism are legion. To avoid accountability, his administration has repeatedly sought early dismissal of lawsuits that might finally expose government misconduct, brandishing flimsy claims that going forward would put national security secrets at risk...."
"I smell a rodent...."
"Find out how much you know about today's economy and the pressures facing middle-income Americans...."
"Why is it that, since Reagan came to Washington in 1981, "bipartisan unity" has always meant Democratic capitulation to Republicans?..."
"Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair is the third feature-length documentary produced by the Empowerment Project.
The shadow government of assassins, arms dealers, drug smugglers, former CIA operatives and top US military personnel who were running foreign policy unaccountable to the public, revealing the Reagan/Bush administration's plan to use FEMA to institute martial law and ultimately suspend the Constitution. Strikingly relevant to current events."
"In 1953, the United States violently intervened in Iran by ousting the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh and installing the shah's military regime. This backfired spectacularly in 1979 when religious militants gained power through a popular revolution and 52 U.S. diplomats were taken hostage.
Veteran New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer, retired General Robert Gard, Iranian-American scholar Trita Parsi, and USA Today reporter Barbara Slavin explain the need for the United States today to use real diplomacy instead of military force in its relationship with Iran."
AlterNet: ForeignPolicy: Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg: Bush Likely to Attack Iran, Impeachment a Must
Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea", new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S. commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats.
The new information that appears to contradict the original version of the incident includes the revelation that U.S. officials spliced the audio recording of an alleged Iranian threat onto to a videotape of the incident. That suggests that the threatening message may not have come in immediately after the initial warning to Iranian boats from a U.S. warship, as appears to do on the video.
Also unraveling the story is testimony from a former U.S. naval officer that non-official chatter is common on the channel used to communicate with the Iranian boats and testimony from the commander of the U.S. 5th fleet that the commanding officers of the U.S. warships involved in the incident never felt the need to warn the Iranians of a possible use of force against them.
Further undermining the U.S. version of the incident is a video released by Iran Thursday showing an Iranian naval officer on a small boat hailing one of three ships.
The Iranian commander is heard to say, "Coalition warship 73, this is Iranian navy patrol boat." He then requests the "side numbers" of the U.S. warships. A voice with a U.S. accent replies, "This is coalition warship 73. I am operating in international waters."
The dramatic version of the incident reported by U.S. news media throughout Tuesday and Wednesday suggested that Iranian speedboats, apparently belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy, had made moves to attack three U.S. warships entering the Strait and that the U.S. commander had been on the verge of firing at them when they broke off.
Typical of the network coverage was a story by ABC's Jonathan Karl quoting a Pentagon official as saying the Iranian boats "were a heartbeat from being blown up".
Bush administration officials seized on the incident to advance the portrayal of Iran as a threat and to strike a more threatening stance toward Iran. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley declared Wednesday that the incident "almost involved an exchange of fire between our forces and Iranian forces". President George W. Bush declared during his Mideast trip Wednesday that there would be "serious consequences" if Iran attacked U.S. ships and repeated his assertion that Iran is "a threat to world peace".
Central to the depiction of the incident as involving a threat to U.S. warships is a mysterious pair of messages that the sailor who heard them onboard immediately interpreted as saying, "I am coming at you...", and "You will explode after a few minutes." But the voice in the audio clearly said "I am coming to you," and the second message was much less clear.
Furthermore, as the New York Times noted Thursday, the recording carries no ambient noise, such as the sounds of a motor, the sea or wind, which should have been audible if the broadcast had been made from one of the five small Iranian boats....
Continue reading.
The majority of Americans continue to bury their heads in the sand, refusing to see the writing on the wall. "An interview with author Naomi Wolf, whose new book, 'The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot,' may confirm your worries about democracy in America...."
"The racial economic gap is growing, with whites moving ahead more quickly than Blacks. Even more damning to African American prospects, a new study shows that nearly half the children of the Black 'middle class' are worse off than their parents. Decades of accumulated, systemic assaults on Black upward mobility are definitively taking their toll, making a lie of the vaunted 'American Dream.' There is no mystery behind the disaster: 'If big business destroys entire industries that provide well paid employment, poverty is not far behind. If black people are targeted for prison, low marriage rates and lower incomes will be the result....'"
"Hold on a second here. The risk of Bush attacking Iran is not yet over. When the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran came out earlier this week, a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that Cheney and the hardliners have lost, and so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Well, I’m not exhaling at the moment. Because I still believe Bush and Cheney are going to do the deed...."
