the/diseased/republik

01/06/2009: "If they all knew..." § 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States this is treason...? If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor. why the hell didn't they do something?! Now that we have intelligence experts, the military community, present and former administration, a Senator, and the media saying that they all knew the evidence was bullshit. Durbin's excuse is that he was sworn to secrecy. I don't know about Dick, I was...

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

"Fortunately, I'm adhering to a very strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber..."

Mr. Gates our present Sec of Defence cut his teeth on this little number -- it was called the -- Iran-Contra Affair . Arms transaction The Iran-Contra report found that the sales of arms to Iran violated United States Government policy; it also violated the Arms Export Control Act . [2] Overall, if the releasing of hostages was the purpose of arms sales to Iran, the plan was a failure as only three of the 30 hostages were released. [9] First arms sale Michael Ledeen , a consultant of Robert McFarlane , asked Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres for help in the sale of arms to Iran. [11] The general idea behind the plan was for Israel to ship weapons to Iran, then the US would reimburse Israel with the same weapons. The Israeli government required that the sale of arms meet high level approval from the United States government, and when Robert McFarlane convinced them that the U.S. government approved the sale, Israel obliged by agreeing to sell the arms. [11] Reagan approved M...

Ex-Taleban media leader defects By Charles Haviland BBC News , Kabul The former head of broadcast media for the Taleban has arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and is likely to join the Western-backed government there. There has been no immediate comment from the government. The Taleban and a former mujahideen commander who brokered the deal have confirmed the defection. ...

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The defendant in a Tampa, Florida, case, UMG v. Del Cid, has filed counterclaims accusing the RIAA record labels of conspiracy and extortion . The counterclaims (pdf) are for Trespass, Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030), Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201), Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523), and Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. 559.72 et seq."

It looks like Bush is abandoning what's left of his conservative base before they abandon him. Bush told the group, "This is a fine organization and it's an important organization. It's rallying businesses and non-governmental organizations and faith-based and community and civic organizations across our country to advance a noble cause, ensuring that the United States leads the world in spreading hope and opportunity." Another part of this " legacy building " is his decision to seek ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a dangerous document that transfers control of the oceans and much of the land area of the world as well to a U.N. bureaucracy. It finances its activities with a global tax. The pact is endorsed by some of the same groups and individuals involved in the Global Leadership Campaign. UNCLOS charges American corporations a "fee" for exploiting ocean resources for the benefit of America and threatens...

The CIA has dismissed a Council of Europe report alleging that it ran secret jails for terror suspects in Europe after the 11 September attacks. A CIA spokesman said the report was biased and distorted, and that the agency had operated lawfully. Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who wrote the report, said secret CIA prisons "did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania". The charge was denied by both Polish and Romanian officials. Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who served from 1995 to 2005, said on Friday: "There were no secret prisons in Poland." Romanian senator Norica Nicolai, who headed an investigation into the allegations, also denied his country's involvement. The report says Romania "was developed into a site to which more detainees were transferred only as the HVD programme expanded". "The secret detention facilities in Europe were run directly and exclusively by the CIA," the report says. But i...

Canadian Omar Khadr was accused of killing a US soldier The Pentagon is to ask US military judges to reconsider a decision earlier this week to throw out charges against two Guantanamo Bay detainees. This week charges against Canadian Omar Khadr and Yemeni Salim Ahmed Hamdan, were dropped, casting fresh doubt on efforts to try foreign terror suspects. Both cases collapsed because military authorities had failed to designate the men as "unlawful" enemy combatants. The Pentagon will be filing a motion for reconsideration, a spokesman said. Salim Ahmed Hamdan has been accused of being al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's driver and bodyguard. Canadian Omar Khadr was accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan with a grenade.

The Articles of Confederation Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781. Preamble To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Article I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America." Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and gene...

In a move that stunned most of the world, Putin proffered want amounts to a NATO/EASTERN-BLOC Defence Force! FTA: Putin proposes joint US-Russian base to overcome missile crisis Published: 6/7/2007 HEILIGENDAMM - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered to set up a joint Russian-US anti-missile base to end a crisis between the two countries as Group of Eight leaders agreed a face-saving compromise on climate change. Putin made the startling proposal for a base to be located in Azerbaijan during talks with US President George W. Bush aimed at rescuing relations between the two countries from a post-Cold War low. The two met on the sidelines of the G8 summit in the German resort of Heiligendamm where police arrested another 300 demonstrators and police vessels rammed two Greenpeace boats that entered a maritime exclusion zone around the summit venue. Russia angrily opposes a US proposal to set up a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and Putin had previously threa...

Proof by assertion is a logical fallacy in which a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction. Sometimes this may be repeated until challenges dry up, at which point it is asserted as fact due to it not being contradicted (argumentum ad nauseam). In other cases its repetition may be cited as evidence of its truth, in a variant of the appeal to authority or appeal to belief fallacies. This logical fallacy is sometimes used as a form of rhetoric by politicians. In its extreme form, it can also be a form of brainwashing. Modern politics contains many examples of proof by assertions. This practice can be observed in the use of political slogans, and the distribution of "talking points," which are collections of short phrases that are issued to members of modern political parties for recitation to achieve maximum message repetition. The technique is also sometimes used in advertising. The technique is described in a saying, often attributed to Lenin, as "A...

John Hanson, American Patriot and First President of the United States (1715-1783) George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States. He was the first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today. And the first seven Presidents are forgotten in history. John Hanson, American Patriot and First President of the United States (1715-1783) Six other presidents were elected after him - Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) - all prior to Washington taking office. Why don't we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United States? It's quite simple - The Articles of Confederation didn't work well. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to be written - something we know as the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one...

Removal from office Article II of the Constitution provides that the president may be removed from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors " through impeachment and subsequent conviction. Article I gives the power of impeachment to a majority of the House of Representatives and conviction to two-thirds of the Senate . Two presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, have been impeached. Neither was subsequently convicted by the Senate; however, Johnson was acquitted by just one vote. By Act of Congress, the president may resign if his written resignation is delivered to the Secretary of State . [9] The only president to resign was Richard Nixon , on August 9 , 1974 , facing articles of impeachment being reported on favorably by the House Judiciary Committee and probable subsequent Senate conviction. If the office of President becomes vacant, whether through death, impeachment, or resignation of the sitting president, or throu...

Speaker: Putin, Wladimir W. Funktion: President, Russian Federation Nation/ Organisation: Russian Federation Speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy 02/10/2007 (The speech was held in Russian. Find the English translation below.) Thank you very much dear Madam Federal Chancellor, Mr Teltschik, ladies and gentlemen! I am truly grateful to be invited to such a representative conference that has assembled politicians, military officials, entrepreneurs and experts from more than 40 nations. This conference’s structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness and the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms. This conference’s format will allow me to say what I really think about international security problems. And if my comments seem unduly polemical, pointed or inexact to our colleagues, then I would ask you not to get angry with me. After all, this is only a conference. And I hope that after the first two or three minutes of my speech Mr Teltschik w...

o the rot within… the time of american hegemony is over. the fractured state of american society and bilateral disfunction of the political apparatus are the main contributing factors. collective guilt, bankrupt corporate ethics and the lack of personal accountability fuel the disease that is killing the amerikan republik. the global neighborhood has caught a whiff of the decay and the buzzards are starting to circle. the potential for increased societal control of a mistrustful and mutually fearing population already divided by class and economics is at hand. fears are carefully and repeatedly created and fed by a mass media who wishes to create a culture of fear, often through the manipulation of words, facts, sources or data, in order to induce certain personal behaviors, justify governmental actions or policies (at home or abroad). a few techniques the fearmonger uses to distract the public’s attention from allegedly more urgent social issues like: * careful selection and omission ...

FTA -- Federal authorities said a plot by a suspected Muslim terrorist cell to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, its fuel tanks and a jet fuel artery could have caused “unthinkable” devastation. But while pipeline and security experts agreed that such an attack would have crippled America’s economy, particularly the airline industry, they said it probably would not have led to significant loss of life as intended. Despite their efforts, the men never obtained any explosives, authorities said. “Pulling off any bombing of this magnitude would not be easy in today’s environment,” former U.S. State Department counterterrorism expert Fred Burton said, but added it was difficult to determine without knowing all the facts of the case. The pipeline, owned by Buckeye Pipeline Co., takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. Fourth suspect in JFK airport plot surrenders PORT...

'That's important, because Nigeria earns 86 percent of its export revenue from oil, focusing its new leaders on the challenge of pacifying the country's oil-rich Niger Delta region. In coming months, the new leadership will likely restore the flow of substantial amounts of Nigeria's crude by approaching local militia leaders, who are only too glad to be rid of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo, with a mix of carrots and sticks. Obasanjo spent more of Nigeria's resources on fighting the rebels than on investments in new infrastructure. But the rebels have good reasons to cut a deal with his successor. (Slate Magazine article ). Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The president faces the daunting task of rebuilding a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and... more ... Economy GDP: $125.7 billion Economy De...

A few years ago, I heard someone call into a right-wing radio show to rail against the feminists, the homosexuals, the atheists, and other usual suspects. The host enthusiastically agreed. The caller then voiced the hope that the host would join him in supporting the establishment of Islamic law in America, a twist that left the host sputtering incoherently. 'These days, the idea of conservative Christians aligning themselves with radical Muslims is not a prank caller's gag but the subject of heated debate on the right. Dinesh D'Souza sparked the argument with his controversial book The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 (Random House).' (Reason article ).

WASHINGTON, DC—In the latest in a long series of ominous public pronouncements, the Department of Evil released a statement Monday demanding that all residents of the United States must die. "There shall soon come an accounting in which all will fall before the Grim Reaper as wheat in winter, as lambs under the knife..." said a spokesman... read more | digg story