http://www.drudge.com/user/bani New links and comments. en-us http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Wordzilla/0.58 10 http://www.drudge.com/news/115469/j-street-cannot-take-aipac-and http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/11/i-said-earlier-this-week-that-i-was-going-to-get-to-jeremy-ben-amis-comments-at-the-jewish-antiwar-conference-last-sunday-be.html Then what are we to do? If the majority of the Jews, who do not support the tactics of the neocons, who espouse preemptive war, the evisceration of the state, serial lying, murder, the ends justify the means; who view the Israeli government as corrupt and do not support the apartheid state that has destroyed what was once Palestine will not stand with us against these monsters, then what are we to do? Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:17:30 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115469/j-street-cannot-take-aipac-and#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115469 discussion, 115469 http://www.drudge.com/news/115423/legal-obama-name-clinton http://whatreallyhappened.com/ Well? Article One, Section Six of the U.S. Constitution says: <p>No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. <p>Essentially, you cannot take a job if the salary was increased during your current congressional term. And the salary for cabinet officials has gone up in the past year. Even if it is lowered back down, constitutional scholars say that may not be enough to fix the problem. <p>The question is whether this would be an issue at confirmation - if Clinton is nominated to the post - and who would raise it. Senators traditionally grant their colleagues some deference and it could be considered politics at its worst if Republicans try to block her nomination with this argument. But senators may be loathe to vote for something scholars tell them is unconstitutional. <p>M.R. of WRH Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:34:59 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115423/legal-obama-name-clinton#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115423 discussion, 115423 http://www.drudge.com/news/115397/nato-merging-afghan-press-psy-ops http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081129/wl_nm/us_afghan_nato_1 The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with Psy Ops, which deals with propaganda, a move rebuked by Germany. "This will totally undermine the credibility of the information released to the press and the public," said one unnamed official. Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:30:24 -0500 bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115397/nato-merging-afghan-press-psy-ops#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115397 news, 115397 http://www.drudge.com/news/115398/free-lakota-bank-preliminary-assessment http://www.breakthematrix.com/node/30054 "With the launch of the Free Lakota Bank, The Free & Independent Nation of Lakota has launched a frontal assault on Wall Street, The Fed, and International Bankers." The Free Lakota Bank has well-baited its hook by the sheer elegance of their banking model, some features being <p>1. Only Gold or Silver Holdings, but with a preliminary period where they will accept Federal Reserve Notes and convert them to metal. <p>2. Completely Anonymous No names or Social Security Numbers attached to accounts. <p>3. Two-Tiered Security SSL Online username, using a strong keystroke encryption program; followed by an automatic phone call for the user to enter a PIN number. <p>4. An incredibly inexpensive monthly fee for account maintenance (0.00005 service fee or 5 cents per thousand when calculated at present silver spot). <p>5. A "General Investment Fund;" which allows a waiver of investors' maintenance fees and earns a current annual rate of return for the Fund of 7.24%. <p>6. A lending philosophy that is a blend of classic Muslim banking and the largely unexploited market of "Micro-loans." Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:26:58 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115398/free-lakota-bank-preliminary-assessment#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115398 discussion, 115398 http://www.drudge.com/news/115358/senate-recount-franken-loses-bid-add http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/35126884.html But Franken will go to Washington, DC if necessary to get the rejected absentee ballots in US Senate Recount.<p> Coleman's people on borrowed time? Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:40:03 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115358/senate-recount-franken-loses-bid-add#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115358 discussion, 115358 http://www.drudge.com/news/115355/best-flying-all-time-amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yST3YrJ6Sv0 Zat/Data/God at the stick? Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:08:47 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115355/best-flying-all-time-amazing#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115355 discussion, 115355 http://www.drudge.com/news/115101/baer-bin-ladens-either-dead-irrelevant http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081118/wl_time/httpwwwtimecomtimeworldarticle08599185935400htmlxidfeedyahoofullworld Robert Baer: I asked a half dozen of my former CIA colleagues who have been on bin Laden's trail since 9/11. What surprised me was that none would say for certain whether he is alive or dead. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:20:58 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115101/baer-bin-ladens-either-dead-irrelevant#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115101 news, 115101 http://www.drudge.com/news/115100/urgent-international-push-pollards http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128444 "If Bush pardons this traitor to his country, it will rank as one of the most despicable, vile acts he has ever done, and that is saying something" M.R. of WRH As reported at: <p>http://jya.com/traitor.htm This is what the American Journalist, Seymour Hersh, had to say: <p>"In the course of my own interviews for this account, the officials who knew the most about Jonathan Pollard made it clear that they were talking because they no longer had confidence that President Clinton would do what they believed was the right thing -- keep Pollard locked up. Pollard, these officials told me, had done far more damage to American national security than was ever made known to the public; for example, he betrayed elements of four major American intelligence systems. In their eyes, there is no distinction between betraying secrets to an enemy, such as the Soviet Union, and betraying secrets to an ally. Officials are loath to talk publicly about it, but spying on allies is a fact of life: the United States invests billions annually to monitor the communications of its friends. Many American embassies around the world contain a clandestine intercept facility that targets diplomatic communications. The goal is not only to know the military and diplomatic plans of our friends but also to learn what intelligence they may be receiving and with whom they share information. "If a friendly state has friends that we don't see as friends," one senior official explained, sensitive intelligence that it should not possess -- such as that supplied by Pollard -- "can spread to others." Many officials said they were convinced that information Pollard sold to the Israelis had ultimately wound up in the hands of the Soviet Union." Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:50:23 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115100/urgent-international-push-pollards#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115100 discussion, 115100 http://www.drudge.com/news/115016/barack-obama-links-israel-peace-plan-1967 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5162537.ece What's Obama trying to do here!?! JFK would have loved this!<p> Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America's president-elect. <p>Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:03:24 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/115016/barack-obama-links-israel-peace-plan-1967#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.115016 discussion, 115016 http://www.drudge.com/news/114681/lieberman-taken-woodshed http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20081106/pl_cq_politics/politics2983881 Sen. Joe Lieberman, whose future with Senate Democrats is in doubt, met for several hours Thursday with Majority Leader Harry Reid. Lieberman, elected as an independent in 2006 after losing a Democratic primary, is in trouble with Democrats after he campaigned for John McCain and spoke at the Republican National Convention. Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:57:12 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114681/lieberman-taken-woodshed#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114681 news, 114681 http://www.drudge.com/news/114599/we-voted-israel-launches-deadly http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/04/gaza.violence/ Story HighlightsFour killed in the airstrike on southern Gaza<p>Airstrike follows clashes with Hamas militants in central Gaza<p>Earlier fighting between Israeli IDF and Hamas kills one militant and injures three<p>Israeli IDF said it exchanged fire in operation after tunnel found near security fence Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:46:07 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114599/we-voted-israel-launches-deadly#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114599 discussion, 114599 http://www.drudge.com/news/114455/previously-unseen-wtc7-collapse-video-no http://www.americanjourneyblog.com/2008/11/previously-unseen-wtc7-collapse-video.html Here's what I can tell from viewing this video:1. The building is tan in color.2. The building is not engulfed in flames.3. The building falls straight down just like a building imploded via controlled demolition. November Surprise?:>) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:05:19 -0500 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114455/previously-unseen-wtc7-collapse-video-no#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114455 discussion, 114455 http://www.drudge.com/news/114422/doctor-believes-hes-reincarnated-john-adams http://www.newsweek.com/id/165678 A <i>Newsweek</i> article on belief in the paranormal profiles Walter Semkiw, a California doctor who believes that he was U.S. president John Adams in a past life. It wasn't immediately obvious to Walter Semkiw that he was the reincarnation of John Adams. Adams was a lawyer and rabble-rouser who helped overthrow a government; Semkiw is a doctor who has never so much as challenged a parking ticket. The second president was balding and wore a powdered wig; Semkiw has a full head of hair. But in 1984, a psychic told the then medical resident and psychiatrist-in-training that he is the reincarnation of a major figure of the Revolution, possibly Adams. Once Semkiw got over his skepticism -- as a student of the human mind, he was of course familiar with "how people get misled and believe something that might not be true," he recalls -- he wasn't going to let superficial dissimilarities dissuade him so easily. As he researched Adams's life, Semkiw began finding many tantalizing details. For instance, Adams described his handwriting as "tight-fisted and concise" "just like mine," Semkiw realized. He also saw an echo of himself in Adams's dedication to the cause of independence from England. "I can be very passionate," Semkiw says. The details accumulated and, after much deliberation, Semkiw went with his scientific side, dismissing the reincarnation idea. <p>But one day in 1995, when Semkiw was the medical director for Unocal 76, the oil company, he heard a voice in his head intoning, "Study the life of Adams!" Now he found details much more telling than those silly coincidences he had learned a dozen years earlier. He looked quite a bit like the second president, Semkiw realized. Adams's description of parishioners in church pews as resembling rows of cabbages was "something I would have said," Semkiw realized. "We are both very visual." And surely it was telling that Unocal's slogan was "the spirit of '76." It was all so persuasive, thought Semkiw, who is now a doctor at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in California, that as a man of science and reason whose work requires him to critically evaluate empirical evidence, he had to accept that he was Adams reincarnated. <p>Perhaps you don't believe that Semkiw is the reincarnation of John Adams. Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:32:45 -0400 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114422/doctor-believes-hes-reincarnated-john-adams#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114422 news, 114422 http://www.drudge.com/news/114338/lies-big-lies-and-norm-coleman-go-al http://www.southsidepride.com/2008/10/articles/coleman.html Coleman and corruption<p>by Ed Felienpublished October 6, 08 <p>The biggest lies are sometimes not the things said, but, rather, the things left unsaid. For most of his time in the U. S. Senate, Norm Coleman has been chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. <p>Harry Truman was chair of that committee at the outbreak of World War II. He investigated war profiteering and saved the taxpayers millions of dollars. He also investigated businesses that were helping the Nazis, and he closed them down. In 1942, he closed down Union Bank for selling bonds to re-arm Germany. He closed down a shipping line that was shipping American made guns to Germany, and he closed down an American owned Silesian mine that was supplying war materials to Germany and using concentration camp labor. All three of these enterprises were owned and operated by Prescott BushGeorge W. Bush's grandfather. Prescott Bush was unfazed by Truman's actions. Once the war began, he simply began selling arms to the Allies. <p>One of Prescott's other businesses was Dresser Industries. One of the many things Dresser Industries did was manufacture oil drilling equipment. As chair of the Subcommittee on Investigations, Coleman determined which subjects would be investigated. He investigated Kofi Annan's son for trading with Saddam Hussein and Iraq (Kofi Annan was Secretary General of the United Nations at the time, and Coleman called for his resignation). He investigated the Oil for Food U. N. program, alleging that the director, George Galloway, was collaborating with Saddam Hussein and violating U. N. sanctions. George Galloway called Coleman a "common drool on your tie fool," and then came to Washington, D. C., and appeared before the subcommittee and proved that the greatest violators of the sanctions against Saddam Hussein were U. S. oil companies that had given at least $37 million in bribes to Hussein. One American company that never acknowledged the sanctions and continued to trade with Iraq before, during and after both Iraq wars was Dresser Industries. <p>But, by 1998, Dresser Industries ceased to exist. George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. took Dick Cheney, then CEO of Halliburton, on a hunting trip and sold him on the idea of Halliburton buying Dresser. Cheney called it a "win-win." The stock market thought otherwise and the stock plummeted. It was a stock transfer. Halliburton bought Dresser for $7.7 billion when Halliburton was worth only $8 billion at the time. What that means is that the Bush family ended up owning controlling interest in Halliburton. <p>When Cheney quit Halliburton to become Bush's vice president he continued to receive a deferred salary of around $200,000 a year from Halliburton and his stock options grew from about $250,000 to $8 million in 2005. <p>Senator Frank Lautenberg served on Coleman's subcommittee: "I was eager to get to the bottom of the serious allegations against Halliburton and other contractorspotentially the biggest wartime rip-off in our country's history. But Norm Coleman and the Republican leadership of the committee simply refused to investigate. Even after multiple requests from me and my colleagues to get the committee to do its job and get to the bottom of itthey refused. As an Army veteran, the committee's failures were infuriating, especially because it was undermining the well-being of our troops in Iraq. By turning a blind eye to Halliburton's transgressions in Iraq, Norm Coleman refused to protect billions in taxpayer dollars. And the reason he refused is tragic: merely to protect Vice President Cheney from embarrassment. <p>"While Norm Coleman sat on the sidelines, Halliburton and the Bush Administration committed a series of outrageous transgressions: The Bush-Cheney Administra-tion gave Halliburton a no-bid contract to run Iraq's oil fields. Halliburton eventually charged taxpayers two-point-four (2.4) billion dollars under that sweetheart deal. No hearing or investigation. Halliburton billed the taxpayers one-point-four (1.4) billion dollars in what the Defense Department's auditors deemed to be questionable charges. No hearing or investigation. <p>There were credible allegations that Halliburton charged taxpayers for meals it never served the troops. No hearing or investigation. <p>Halliburton burned new trucks on the side of the road because they didn't have the right wrench to change a tire. No hearing or investigation. The Army Corps of Engineer's top contracting official is demoted after blowing the whistle on improper Halliburton contracts. No hearing or investigation. "The list goes on and on. <p>"Even after I wrote nine letters to the committee leadership, no action was takennot by Committee Chairman Susan Collins nor Subcommittee Chairman Norm Coleman. <p>"When it was time to choose between protecting taxpayer dollars and our troops or protecting Dick Cheney from embarrassment, Norm Coleman chose Dick Cheney." <p>Any Minnesotan with a memory reaching back six years knows why Coleman is indebted to Dick Cheney. When Tim Pawlenty was considering a run for the U. S. Senate six years ago, Cheney called him up and talked him out of it. Coleman owes his Senate seat to Cheney and the tragic plane crash that killed Paul Wellstone. <p>Norm Coleman had an opportunity to expose the corruption and cronyism of Washington, D. C., but, instead, he chose to be part of it. He could have spoken out about the corruption of Halliburton, Cheney and Bush, but he remained silent. And that silence became a lie, and that lie became a violation of his oath of office and the trust of the people of Minnesota. <p> <p> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:47:16 -0400 bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114338/lies-big-lies-and-norm-coleman-go-al#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114338 discussion, 114338 http://www.drudge.com/news/114282/im-not-voting-4-muslim-keith-elison-im http://ibnn.org/?cat=181 Minnesota's Star Tribune Newspaper and its "Gate-Keeping Journalism" Excludes Republican and Independent Party CandidatesOctober 13, 2008 Filed Under 5th Congressional District, Barb Davis White, Nothing Changes at ST, Unfair Reporting, William McGaughey Comment This letter was received by IBNN from Minnesota 5th Congressional District Independent candidate William McGaughey. With less than 23 days before the November 4, 2008 elections, the same frustrations are voiced as it pertains to the Star Tribunes "communist", "DFL Skewed" and unfair reporting practices. Be fair and let the "People" decide! The success of democracy depends on informed voters. Their information comes mainly from the media. Voters depend on the media to present reasonably fair and balanced pictures of the candidates for public office, their experience, stance on issues, etc. But suppose the media decline to report on particular campaigns? Voters are then inclined to vote for known candidates, the incumbents, and ignore others on the ballot. <p> <p>Such a situation describes what is happening in the race for Congress in Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, comprising Minneapolis and its suburbs. The Star Tribune, headquartered in Minneapolis, is the city's only daily commercial newspaper. The local electronic media draw many of their news stories from it. <p> <p> The filing deadline for political candidates in Minnesota was July 15th. Since then, the Star Tribune has not published a single article about the 5th District Congressional race. It did not report the names of candidates who had filed for this office. Unlike previous years, it did not publish a Voter's Guide for the primary. It did not report the votes received by each candidate in the primary. There were three: DFL incumbent, Keith Ellison; Republican, Barb Davis White; and me, of the Independence Party. <p> <p>Rep. Ellison has been named and quoted in dozens of Star Tribune articles in the three months following the filing deadline. Barb Davis White and I have been named twice - once before and once after the primary - to the effect that we were running unopposed in our respective party primaries. Both were single-sentence statements of that fact. <p> <p>Meanwhile, the Star Tribune has given extensive coverage to other Congressional races, notably in the 3rd and 6th District races. Granted, one involves an open seat vacated by Jim Ramstad, and other a seat occupied by Michele Bachmann. The 5th District, in contrast, is considered a safe seat for any DFL candidate running for reelection. I find it interesting, however, that while the Independence Party candidate in the 3rd District has received ample coverage in the Star Tribune; I actually got more votes than he did in the primary. (This information comes from the Minnesota Secretary of State's website, not the Star Tribune.) <p> <p>The Star Tribune has a reputation of favoring DFL candidates, both in its editorials and news reporting. When I ran in the Independence Party primary for U.S. Senate in 2002, the Star Tribune did not mention me in any of its pre-primary articles. It did not report the primary results even though I finished second with 8,400 votes, or 31% of the total, in a three-person race. When I attempted to place a paid ad, the Star Tribune "legal department" insisted that I change the wording. I did not use crude or insulting language or incite violence. The newspaper simply did not like my political views. <p> <p>I call this "gate keeping journalism": a tendency to decide what candidates and what positions are respectable and to defeat the disfavored candidates and views through silence - withholding the oxygen of information that voters need to cast intelligent votes. For decades now, the Star Tribune has been a prime practitioner of this art. In my view, this newspaper has aspired to shape the political news as well as report it. And, with a paid circulation of a half-million readers on Sunday, it has largely succeeded. <p> <p>The Star Tribune and its editors - like some political parties, need a good "house-cleaning!" <p>Tags: Barb Davis White, Keith Ellison, Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, Star Tribune Newspaper, Unfair Journalism, William McGaughey, Wright County Republican <p>William McGaughey, IP Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:23:01 -0400 Bani http://www.drudge.com/news/114282/im-not-voting-4-muslim-keith-elison-im#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.114282 discussion, 114282