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...

Set in the year 2022, Soylent Green depicts a dystopia , a Malthusian catastrophe that occurs because humanity has failed to pursue sustainable development and has not halted uncontrolled population growth ; New York City 's population is 40,000,000, with more than half of it unemployed. Global warming , air and water pollution have produced a year-round heatwave and a thin, yellow, daytime smog . Food and fuel are scarce resources, because of animal and plant decimation, housing is dilapidated and overcrowded, and widespread government-sponsored euthanasia is encouraged to control and reduce overpopulation. Meat, bread, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and even alcoholic beverages are scarce and extremely expensive; for example, a six- ounce jar of strawberry jam is 150 "Ds" ( US Dollars ). Like the soylent food factories, the farms producing foodstuffs are heavily guarded and off-limits to civilians. For most of the populace, natural foods are a rarely, if ever, enjoy...

The operation was launched early in the morning Troops in Pakistan's city of Islamabad have stormed the Red Mosque, after talks with radicals broke down. "It is a final push to clear the place of armed militants," said military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad. The army said at 20 militants were killed in the operation, as loud explosions and gunfire were heard. Twenty children escaped from the mosque, where women are also being held. Three soldiers are reported killed and some 20 others injured. The military operation began at about 0400 (2300 GMT Monday). The troops entered the compound and exchanged fire with the militants holed up inside. It is an anxious wait for those with relatives inside the mosque The army said 20 militants were killed and another 15 injured. Local medical officials said 20 government troops were injured, and three had died of their ...

US President George W Bush has invoked executive privilege to deny requests by Congress for the testimony of two aides over the firing of federal prosecutors. The row hinges on whether the attorneys were sacked for political motives. Democratic leaders say they could go to court to challenge Mr Bush's move. He invoked the same little-used power last month to withhold subpoenaed documents. The White House says Mr Bush is acting in good faith and has offered to let the aides do off-the-record interviews. The pair in question are Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, and Sara Taylor, former political director for the White House. Ms Miers has been summoned to appear under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and Ms Taylor to testify before the House Judiciary Committee the next day. 'Unreasonable' demands The Democratic heads of the two judiciary committees had set a deadline of Monday for the White House to explain the first invocation of p...

'In his remarkable book, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore does a service by focusing on the intimacies of power. In his detailed, highly readable account of Joseph Stalin's entourage, Montefiore shows how power is often a byproduct of informal interaction, a thing of the dinner table, the hunting expedition, the boudoir. 'But Montefiore also poses another question, one more specific to the Soviet leader. Why is it that the experienced, ruthless, conceited men and women around Stalin could so easily fall under his ruinous power, to the extent that some remained loyal even after the murder or imprisonment of members of their families? The answer is deceptively simple: There was no sovereign rule of law to mediate the relation. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Stalin himself became the law, replacing the hard but more egalitarian conventions of the Communist Party. The absolute leader destroyed a system and replaced it with his own absolute ego. 'Ob...

AP via Yahoo: The 53-38 vote to move the resolution to full debate fell seven short of the 60 required. In bringing the matter up, Democrats dared Republicans to vote their true feelings about an attorney general who has alienated even the White House’s strongest defenders by bungling the firings of federal prosecutors and claiming not to recall the details. Republicans did not defend him, but most voted against moving the resolution ahead. Monday’s vote was not the end of scrutiny for Gonzales and his management of the Justice Department—more congressional hearings are scheduled and an internal department investigation continues. Read more

Democrats Monday aim to stick the knife into President George W. Bush's besieged Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, with a rare Senate "no confidence" vote sparked by a row over fired federal prosecutors. The debate is the culmination of an intense Democratic campaign for the scalp of Gonzales, one of Bush's closest political allies, who has also faced calls to resign from some senior Republicans. Bush Monday vigorously defended Gonzales, following up White House accusations that the symbolic and non-binding Senate vote is simply political mischief drummed up by Democrats to appease grass roots supporters. "They can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to determine who serves in my government," Bush told reporters in Bulgaria before flying back to Washington after a tour of Europe. An afternoon of debate was scheduled on a simple resolution stating that Gonzales "no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the America...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - With the 4-month-old "surge" in U.S. troops showing only modest success in curbing insurgent attacks, U.S. commanders are turning to another strategy they acknowledge is fraught with risk: arming Sunni Arab groups that have promised to fight Al-Qaida-linked militants who have been their allies in the past. U.S. officials who have engaged in what they call "outreach" to the Sunni groups say the groups are mostly ones with links to Al-Qaida, but disillusioned with Al-Qaida's extremist tactics, particularly suicide bombings that have killed thousands of Iraqi civilians. In exchange for U.S. backing, these officials say, the Sunni groups have agreed to fight Al-Qaida and halt attacks on U.S. units. Commanders who have undertaken these negotiations say that in some cases Sunni groups have agreed to alert U.S. troops to the location of roadside bombs and other lethal booby traps. U.S. commanders have successfully tested the strategy in Al-Anbar pro...

it is about time Congress has started using the 'no-confidence' vote. better yet, the people of this Republik should rise up and start using it... "The Senate plans to take up a no-confidence vote against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday, a sponsor of the measure announced Friday. "If all senators who have actually lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales voted their conscience, this vote would be unanimous," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement announcing the vote. "However, the President will certainly exert pressure to support the Attorney General, his longtime friend. We will soon see where people's loyalties lie." Gonzales has faced myriad calls for his resignation from lawmakers in both parties, but Republicans have so far been hesitant to endorse the no confidence vote. The measure would be non-binding and would not force Gonzales to leave his post as the nation's top law enforcement officer. But the politi...

Iraq has made an official protest to Turkey, accusing it of shelling Kurdish areas in northern Iraq this week. A protest letter by the Iraqi foreign ministry said the shelling caused widespread damage in northern Iraq. Turkey has not confirmed any such shelling but it has been building up forces along the border with Iraq. Speculation grows that Ankara could mount a raid in Iraq on PKK rebels sheltering there who it blames for recent attacks in Turkey. The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned Turkey's charge d'affaires to voice its protest. The letter said that said the shelling took place over several hours on Wednesday and early Thursday, starting large fires and causing serious damage. It said such actions "undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship". However, it added that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a base or a springboard for action against neighbours and any PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party) presence...

Posted on Jun 5, 2007 Police killed 21 members of the banned Mungiki sect in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday in retaliation for alleged attacks by the outlaw group in recent weeks. The Kenyan government recently instituted a shoot-to-kill policy for the sect, according to the BBC. BBC: The security forces in Kenya have spent the past three months trying to crack down on criminal elements in the Mungiki—a sect which it is claimed runs an extensive extortion operation and is reported to have connections high up in Kenya politics. The police have blamed them for the beheading of six people last month in central Kenya. Read more

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them just pick themselves up and hurry off, as if nothing had ever happened" - Winston Churchill "If someone can make you believe absurdities, they can make you commit atrocities". - Voltaire And was Churchill and Voltaire absolutely on target. The first Bush action was to create a reason to get some of those pesky Constitutional laws out of the way. You know the ones - Rights of the citizen, Restraint of Abuse of Authority, Habeas Corpus - i.e. "The Rule of Law". Immediately after the Towers were down, even before the smoke cleared, the assault of our Rule of Law began. The Rationale presented was "It's necessary to fight off the enemies of America". Or "we'll fight them over there instead of over here." But why did this Administration bring their assault on the Constitution to full fury? The reason is clear for all but the Ignorant to understand and those inept people took...

how the government is outsourcing its intelligence functions to private companies, thus avoiding congressional and taxpayer oversight, and enriching friends of the administration. "It appears that more and more of the data collection sanctioned by the US government is passed through the hands of private enterprise, Salon reports. 'Because of the cloak of secrecy thrown over the intelligence budgets, there is no way for the American public, or even much of Congress, to know how those contractors are getting the money, what they are doing with it, or how effectively they are using it. The explosion in outsourcing has taken place against a backdrop of intelligence failures for which the Bush administration has been hammered by critics, from Saddam Hussein's fictional weapons of mass destruction to abusive interrogations that have involved employees of private contractors operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Aftergood and other experts also warn that the la...

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...

Download the original attachment Israel and Jordan: The Samu Incident On 12 November, 1966 an Israeli border patrol hit a mine, killing three soldiers and injuring six others. The Israelis believed the mine had been planted by terrorists from Es Samu on the West Bank. Early on the morning 13 November, King Hussein, who had been having secret meetings with Abba Eban and Golda Meir for three years concerning peace and secure borders, received an unsolicited message from his Israeli contacts stating that Israel had no intention of attacking Jordan.[6] However, at 5:30 a.m. in what Hussein described as an action carried out "under the pretext of 'reprisals against the terrorist activities of the P.L.O.' Israeli forces attacked Es Samu, a village in Jordanian-occupied West Bank of 4,000 inhabitants, all of them Palestinian refugees whom the Israelis accused of harboring terrorists from Syria".[7] In "Operation Shredder", Israel's largest military operation si...

A total of 10 people are in custody in California, accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Laos. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, the alleged plotters include a former Laotian general and a retired US military officer. A six-month undercover investigation, dubbed "Operation Tarnished Eagle," led to charges against nine people Monday, with charges pending against a tenth. Investigators say the accused met in hotel rooms and restaurants in California's Central Valley, where they plotted to buy hundreds of automatic rifles, antitank missiles, rockets, mines, C-4 explosive and smoke grenades. Authorities say the conspirators were planning to ship the arms by way of safe houses and drop zones in Thailand and Laos. Mercenaries would retrieve the weapons, then blow up government buildings and assassinate officials in Laos in an attempt to overthrow the country's communist government. The accused include Vang Pao, 77, a former Laotian general who is...

The strike had an immediate effect. By the end of February, all smelters in Colorado were either closed or running part-time. At the beginning of March, the Gold King and Granite mines gave in and resumed the eight-hour day.[ 5 ] Mine owners still holding out for the 10-hour day soon attempted to re-open their mines. On March 14, they obtained a court injunction ordering the miners not to interfere with the operation of their mines. A limited number of strikebreakers were brought in. The WFM initially attempted to persuade these men to join the union and strike. When they were unsuccessful, the WFM resorted to threats and violence. The strikebreakers were so intimidated that few of them reported for work.[ 6 ] An event on March 16 changed the nature of the strike. An armed group of miners ambushed and captured six sheriff's deputies en route to the Victor mine. Shots were fired, and the miners and deputies engaged in a fistfight. Two of the deputies received minor injuries. An Alt...

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 ...

Beginning January 2006, a movement to revive the SDS took shape. A small group of SDS veterans (Robert Alan Haber, Tom Good, Paul Buhle) have joined with high school students, Jessica Rapchick and Pat Korte, to call for a new formation of SDS in to build a multi-issue organization that could re-envision a student movement in the United States. Several chapters at various colleges were subsequently formed. On Martin Luther King Day of 2006, these chapters banded together to issue a press release that stated their intentions to reform the national SDS organization.[4] In the press release, the SDS called for the organization's first national convention since 1969 to be held in the summer of 2006 and to have it preceded by a series of regional conferences occurring during the Memorial Day weekend. These regional conferences would not also be the first of their kind to be held since 1969, however, as on April 23, 2006, the SDS held a northeast regional conference at Brown University. F...

An analysis released by a Democratic senator found that Vice President Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options have risen 3,281 percent in the last year, RAW STORY can reveal. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) asserts that Cheney's options -- worth $241,498 a year ago -- are now valued at more than $8 million. The former CEO of the oil and gas services juggernaut, Cheney has pledged to give proceeds to charity. “Halliburton has already raked in more than $20 billion from the Bush-Cheney Administration for work in Iraq, and they were awarded some of the first Katrina contracts," Lautenberg said in a statement. "It is unseemly for the Vice President to continue to benefit from this company at the same time his Administration funnels billions of dollars to it. The Vice President should sever his financial ties to Halliburton once and for all.” Cheney continues to hold 433,333 Halliburton stock options. The company has been criticized by auditors for its handling of a no-bid ...