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Hansen Global Warning * Neocon Iran Threats
26 June 2008
“Special interests have blocked transition to our renewable energy future.
Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil companies
choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies
discredited the smoking-cancer link. Methods are sophisticated,
including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of
global warming. CEOs of fossil energy companies know what
they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of
continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs
should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature."
-- James Hansen
Testimony before US Congress, 23 June 20081) Global Warming – James Hansen - Tipping Point - Congress- - James Hansen: Prosecute oil companies, top scientist says
- - Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near
- - Global Warming and Heavy Rainfall
2) Neocons Vow to Attack Iran Before/If Obama Wins- - Israel ‘Will Attack Iran’ Before New US President Sworn In, John Bolton Predicts
- - Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He 'Thinks Senator Obama’s Going To Win'
- - Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and USA Still Under A Threat
- - Feingold to Filibuster Warrantless Wiretapping Bill
- - Gore Endorses Obama as a Solver of Problems
- - Many States Turning to Paper Ballots for Fall
- - Bush, Cheney, Brown -- Compromised Over Settlements
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms
[of government] those entrusted with power have, in time,
and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
-- Thomas JeffersonEditor’s Notes:
This issue begins with a Congressional Testimony by James Hansen, twenty-years to the day when he first told Congress his concern regarding Global Warming. The last article in this issue is by Christopher Story on possible events regarding the global financial crisis. It is worth looking into. This issue covers Global Warming and quotes neocons predicting that Bush or Israel will attack Iran, if it looks like Barrack Obama would be elected as President. What in the world are John Bolton and Bill Kristol saying and how do we stop them? A meaningful step would be to elect Barack Obama for US President, but a bigger step would be to empower an independent investigation into the events of September 11. About 10,000 NYC voters have signed a petition for this. Even if the NYC 9/11 Ballot Initiative takes another year to be successful, it could be the most direct action for stopping the next false flag terror event and continued energy wars.
Emergency Official Witnessed Dead Bodies
In World Trade Center Building Number 7.
In video Barry Jennings discusses explosions
in Building 7 before collapse of twin towers
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Flyby News
will be tabling at
SolarFest
July 11, 12, and 13, 2008 - Forget-me-not Farm, VT
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Valley 9/11 Truth
PRESENTS
The Reflecting Pool
The first investigative drama to
challenge the official version of 9/11
Filmmakers will be joining us for Q & A
Media Education Foundation
Wednesday, July 23, 2008; 7:00 PM
1) Global Warming – James Hansen - Tipping Point - Congress- - James Hansen: Prosecute oil companies, top scientist says
- - Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near
- - Global Warming and Heavy Rainfall
- - James Hansen: Prosecute oil companies, top scientist saysPublished by Telegraph.co.uk - Last Updated: 23/06/2008
James Hansen, the leading climate change scientist who made a ground-breaking speech about global warming exactly 20 years ago, will today reprise his seminal address when he calls for fuel companies to be tried for crimes against humanity.
Dr Hansen, who is head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will accuse the heads of companies such as oil giant ExxonMobil and coal producer Peabody Energy of actively spreading disinformation about climate change.
His allegations against the fossil fuel giants are similar to those made against tobacco companies which denied the links between smoking and lung cancer.
On June 23, 1988, Dr Hansen addressed the US Congress, warning of climate change and saying radical steps needed to be taken to prevent its irreversible effects.
Truncated, for the complete article, see:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2177572/James-Hansen-Prosecute-oil-companies,-top-scientist-says.html- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related article published by the World Socialist Web Site:
“US scientist calls for prosecution of energy company CEOs for global warming Disinformation”= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points NearPosted by
WorldChanging on June 23, 2008 2:09 PM
By James Hansen
My presentation today is exactly 20 years after my June 23, 1988, testimony to Congress, which alerted the public that global warming was underway. There are striking similarities between then and now, but one big difference.
Again a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.
The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb. The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation.
Otherwise it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control.
Changes needed to preserve creation, the planet on which civilization developed, are clear. But the changes have been blocked by special interests, focused on short-term profits, who hold sway in Washington and other capitals. I argue that a path yielding energy independence and a healthier environment is, barely, still possible. It requires a transformative change of direction in Washington in the next year.
On June 23, 1988, I testified to a hearing, chaired by Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado, that the Earth had entered a long-term warming trend and that human-made greenhouse gases almost surely were responsible. I noted that global warming enhanced both extremes of the water cycle, meaning stronger droughts and forest fires, on the one hand, but also heavier rains and floods.
My testimony two decades ago was greeted with skepticism. But while skepticism is the lifeblood of science, it can confuse the public. As scientists examine a topic from all perspectives, it may appear that nothing is known with confidence. But from such broad open- minded study of all data, valid conclusions can be drawn.
My conclusions in 1988 were built on a wide range of inputs from basic physics, planetary studies, observations of on-going changes, and climate models. The evidence was strong enough that I could say it was time to “stop waffling”. I was sure that time would bring the scientific community to a similar consensus, as it has.
While international recognition of global warming was swift, actions have faltered. The United States refused to place limits on its emissions, and developing countries such as China and India rapidly increased their emissions.
What is at stake? Warming so far, about two degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, seems almost innocuous, being less than day-to-day weather fluctuations. But more warming is already “in-the-pipeline,” delayed only by the great inertia of the world ocean. And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled.
Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer.
More ominous tipping points loom. West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are vulnerable to even small additional warming. These two-mile-thick behemoths respond slowly at first, but if disintegration gets well underway it will become unstoppable. Debate among scientists is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date. In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive.
Animal and plant species are already stressed by climate change. Polar and alpine species will be pushed off the planet, if warming continues. Other species attempt to migrate, but as some are extinguished their interdependencies can cause ecosystem collapse. Mass extinctions, of more than half the species on the planet, have occurred several times when the Earth warmed as much as expected if greenhouse gases continue to increase. Biodiversity recovered, but it required hundreds of thousands of years.
The disturbing conclusion, documented in a paper I have written with several of the world’s leading climate experts, is that the safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 ppm (parts per million) and it may be less. Carbon dioxide amount is already 385 ppm and rising about 2 ppm per year. Stunning corollary: the oft-stated goal to keep global warming less than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) is a recipe for global disaster, not salvation.
These conclusions are based on paleoclimate data showing how the Earth responded to past levels of greenhouse gases and on observations showing how the world is responding to today’s carbon dioxide amount. The consequences of continued increase of greenhouse gases extend far beyond extermination of species and future sea level rise.
Arid subtropical climate zones are expanding poleward. Already an average expansion of about 250 miles has occurred, affecting the southern United States, the Mediterranean region, Australia and southern Africa. Forest fires and drying-up of lakes will increase further unless carbon dioxide growth is halted and reversed.
Mountain glaciers are the source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of people. These glaciers are receding world-wide, in the Himalayas, Andes and Rocky Mountains. They will disappear, leaving their rivers as trickles in late summer and fall, unless the growth of carbon dioxide is reversed.
Coral reefs, the rainforest of the ocean, are home for one-third of the species in the sea. Coral reefs are under stress for several reasons, including warming of the ocean, but especially because of ocean acidification, a direct effect of added carbon dioxide. Ocean life dependent on carbonate shells and skeletons is threatened by dissolution as the ocean becomes more acid.
Such phenomena, including the instability of Arctic sea ice and the great ice sheets at today’s carbon dioxide amount, show that we have already gone too far. We must draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide to preserve the planet we know. A level of no more than 350 ppm is
still feasible, with the help of reforestation and improved agricultural practices, but just barely – time is running out. Requirements to halt carbon dioxide growth follow from the size of fossil carbon reservoirs.
Coal towers over oil and gas. Phase out of coal use except where the carbon is captured and stored below ground is the primary requirement for solving global warming.
Oil is used in vehicles where it is impractical to capture the carbon. But oil is running out. To preserve our planet we must also ensure that the next mobile energy source is not obtained by squeezing oil from coal, tar shale or other fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel reservoirs are finite, which is the main reason that prices are rising. We must move beyond fossil fuels eventually. Solution of the climate problem requires that we move to carbon-free energy promptly.
Special interests have blocked transition to our renewable energy future. Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies discredited the smoking-cancer link. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming. CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.
Conviction of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal CEOs will be no consolation, if we pass on a runaway climate to our children. Humanity would be impoverished by ravages of continually shifting shorelines and intensification of regional climate extremes. Loss of countless species would leave a more desolate planet.
If politicians remain at loggerheads, citizens must lead. We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.
Moving from fossil fuels to clean energy is challenging, yet transformative in ways that will be welcomed. Cheap, subsidized fossil fuels engendered bad habits. We import food from halfway around the world, for example, even with healthier products available from nearby fields. Local produce would be competitive if not for fossil fuel subsidies and the fact that climate change damages and costs, due to fossil fuels, are also borne by the public.
A price on emissions that cause harm is essential. Yes, a carbon tax. Carbon tax with 100 percent dividend is needed to wean us off fossil fuel addiction. Tax and dividend allows the marketplace, not politicians, to make investment decisions.
Carbon tax on coal, oil and gas is simple, applied at the first point of sale or port of entry. The entire tax must be returned to the public, an equal amount to each adult, a half-share for children. This dividend can be deposited monthly in an individual’s bank account. Carbon tax with 100 percent dividend is non-regressive. On the contrary, you can bet that low and middle income people will find ways to limit their carbon tax and come out ahead.
Profligate energy users will have to pay for their excesses. Demand for low-carbon high-efficiency products will spur innovation, making our products more competitive on international markets. Carbon emissions will plummet as energy efficiency and renewable energies grow rapidly. Black soot, mercury and other fossil fuel emissions will decline. A brighter, cleaner future, with energy independence, is possible.Washington likes to spend our tax money line-by-line. Swarms of high-priced lobbyists in alligator shoes help Congress decide where to spend, and in turn the lobbyists’ clients provide “campaign” money.
The public must send a message to Washington. Preserve our planet, creation, for our children and grandchildren, but do not use that as an excuse for more tax-and-spend. Let this be our motto: “One hundred percent dividend or fight!”
The next President must make a national low-loss electric grid an imperative. It will allow dispersed renewable energies to supplant fossil fuels for power generation. Technology exists for direct-current high-voltage buried transmission lines. Trunk lines can be completed in less than a decade and expanded analogous to interstate highways.
Government must also change utility regulations so that profits do not depend on selling ever more energy, but instead increase with efficiency. Building code and vehicle efficiency requirements must be improved and put on a path toward carbon neutrality.
The fossil-industry maintains its strangle-hold on Washington via demagoguery, using China and other developing nations as scapegoats to rationalize inaction. In fact, we produced most of the excess carbon in the air today, and it is to our advantage as a nation to move smartly in developing ways to reduce emissions. As with the ozone problem, developing countries can be allowed limited extra time to reduce emissions. They will cooperate: they have much to lose from climate change and much to gain from clean air and reduced dependence on fossil fuels.
We must establish fair agreements with other countries. However, our own tax and dividend should start immediately. We have much to gain from it as a nation, and other countries will copy our success. If necessary, import duties on products from uncooperative countries can level the playing field, with the import tax added to the dividend pool.
Democracy works, but sometimes churns slowly. Time is short. The 2008 election is critical for the planet. If Americans turn out to pasture the most brontosaurian congressmen, if Washington adapts to address climate change, our children and grandchildren can still hold great expectations.
Dr. James E. Hansen, a physicist by training, directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a laboratory of the Goddard Space Flight Center and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute, but he speaks as a private citizen today at the National Press Club and at a Briefing to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming.
URL -
www.worldchanging.com/archives/008149.htmlRelated articles posted June 24, 2008 by The Toronto Star:
www.thestar.com/News/World/article/447808or
www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/24/9862/= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Global Warming and Heavy RainfallGlobal warming intensifies the "hydrological cycle" - the process in which water evaporates into the air, forms clouds, and then rains back down on the Earth.
Higher temperatures cause evaporation to occur more quickly. This can cause very dry conditions on land, even drought. But there's another side to it. The greater amount of water vapor that a warm atmosphere can hold causes wetter clouds to form, so the rain, when it comes, can be unusually heavy - heavy enough to cause flooding. This intensification of the hydrological cycle causes some seasons to be very wet while others are very dry.
We can't say for sure that global warming caused the unusually heavy rain in the Midwest - or any specific weather event. But we can say that the probability of torrential rainfall is increased due to global warming.
Source:
http://npat.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/24/1605770-global-warming-and-heavy-rainfallFor FN's resource page on this issue, see:
Mounting Evidence of Extreme Global Warming
2) Neocons Vow to Attack Iran Before/If Obama Wins- - Israel ‘Will Attack Iran’ Before New US President Sworn In, John Bolton Predicts
- - Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He 'Thinks Senator Obama’s Going To Win'
- - Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and USA Still Under A Threat
- - Feingold to Filibuster Warrantless Wiretapping Bill
- - Gore Endorses Obama as a Solver of Problems
- - Many States Turning to Paper Ballots for Fall
- - Bush, Cheney, Brown -- Compromised Over Settlements
- - Israel ‘Will Attack Iran’ Before New US President Sworn In, John Bolton PredictsPublished on June 24, 2008 by The Telegraph/UK
John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush’s successor is sworn in.
by Toby Harnden in Washington
The Arab world would be “pleased” by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.”It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there’ll be public denunciations but no action,” he said.
Mr Bolton, an unflinching hawk who proposes military action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, bemoaned what he sees as a lack of will by the Bush administration to itself contemplate military strikes.
“It’s clear that the administration has essentially given up that possibility,” he said. “I don’t think it’s serious any more. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said I thought it was a real possibility. I just don’t think it’s in the cards.”
Israel, however, still had a determination to prevent a nuclear Iran, he argued. The “optimal window” for strikes would be between the November 4 election and the inauguration on January 20, 2009.
“The Israelis have one eye on the calendar because of the pace at which the Iranians are proceeding both to develop their nuclear weapons capability and to do things like increase their defences by buying new Russian anti-aircraft systems and further harden the nuclear installations .
“They’re also obviously looking at the American election calendar. My judgement is they would not want to do anything before our election because there’s no telling what impact it could have on the election.”
But waiting for either Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, or his Republican opponent John McCain to be installed in the White House could preclude military action happening for the next four years or at least delay it.
“An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy,” said Mr Bolton, who was Mr Bush’s ambassador to the UN from 2005 to 2006.
“With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran’s side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development.”
The Iran policy of Mr McCain, whom Mr Bolton supports, was “much more realistic than the Bush administration’s stance”.
Mr Obama has said he will open high-level talks with Iran “without preconditions” while Mr McCain views attacking Iran as a lesser evil than allowing Iran to become a nuclear power.
William Kristol, a prominent neo-conservative, told Fox News on Sunday that an Obama victory could prompt Mr Bush to launch attacks against Iran. “If the president thought John McCain was going to be the next president, he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out,” he said.
Last week, Israeli jets carried out a long-range exercise over the Mediterranean that American intelligence officials concluded was practice for air strikes against Iran. Mohammad Ali Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said this was an act of “psychological warfare” that would be futile.
“They do not have the capacity to threaten the Islamic Republic of Iran. They [Israel] have a number of domestic crises and they want to extrapolate it to cover others. Sometimes they come up with these empty slogans.”
He added that Tehran would deliver a “devastating” response to any attack.
On Friday, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, said military action against Iran would turn the Middle East into a “fireball” and accelerate Iran’s nuclear programme.
Mr Bolton, however, dismissed such sentiments as scaremongering. “The key point would be for the Israelis to break Iran’s control over the nuclear fuel cycle and that could be accomplished for example by destroying the uranium conversion facility at Esfahan or the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.
“That doesn’t end the problem but it buys time during which a more permanent solution might be found…. How long? That would be hard to say. Depends on the extent of the destruction.”
Source:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/2182070/Israel-%27will-attack-Iran%27-before-new-US-president-sworn-in%2C-John-Bolton-predicts.htmlalso posted:
www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/24/9851/= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He 'Thinks Senator Obama’s Going To Win'Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He 'Thinks Senator Obama’s Going To Win'
Post@ 911truth.org Monday, June 23 2008
[EXCERPT]
On Fox News Sunday this morning, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said that President Bush is more likely to attack Iran if he believes Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is going to be elected.
However, “if the president thought John McCain was going to be the next president, he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out,” Kristol said, reinforcing the fact that McCain is offering a third Bush term on Iran.
“I do wonder with Senator Obama, if President Bush thinks Senator Obama’s going to win, does he somehow think — does he worry that Obama won’t follow through on that policy,” Kristol added. Host Chris Wallace then asked if Kristol was suggesting that Bush might “launch a military strike” before or after the election:
For the complete article, see:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20080623182428617= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and USA Still Under A ThreatShooting the Messenger
By William F. Jasper
2008-07-07
[EXCERPT]
For six years, Sibel Edmonds has been carrying out an heroic crusade to protect her adopted country from national security threats within the top levels of the American government. Hired as an FBI translator in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, Edmonds, a Turkish American, threw herself into the daunting task of translating thousands of hours of recordings of backlogged intercepts in Turkic, Farsi, and Azerbaijani. What she heard on the tapes was alarming: Turkish agents in the United States bribing high-level U.S. officials and obtaining our military and intelligence secrets. What she witnessed at the FBI was even more appalling: translators who were intentionally filing false translations and passing information to foreign powers; and, what’s even worse, FBI superiors who did nothing about it when these serious breaches were brought to their attention.
Unwilling to settle for the bureaucratic “don’t rock the boat” response she faced from immediate supervisors, Sibel Edmonds decided to take her concerns higher up the FBI chain of command. The result? She was fired, and those she tried to have investigated got off scot-free; some fled the country to avoid potential prosecution, while others continued their alleged criminal and treasonous activities. Some of the FBI colleagues who blocked her efforts were promoted.
How could this be, especially in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when “homeland security” was our number one concern? And especially since FBI Director Robert Mueller had expressly promised that the agency’s notorious penchant for punishing whistle-blowers was now a thing of the past.
A ray of hope seemed to appear in 2005 when Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) promised Edmonds that if the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, he would hold hearings on her case. “But you know what happened,” Edmonds told THE NEW AMERICAN in a recent interview, “the Democrats did win the House and Rep. Waxman did become chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. But nothing has changed; there has been no investigation.” Rep. Waxman seems to have developed selective amnesia, a common affliction on the Potomac. He has not responded to any of her calls or inquiries.
Bipartisan Obstruction
Late last year, Edmonds decided the stalling game had gone on long enough. In December 2007, she approached the British newspaper, the Sunday Times, which ran an explosive story, “For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets,” on January 6. Edmonds described for the paper how “foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.” She told how “one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.”
This same State Department official, she told the Times, “was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives.”
The above-mentioned official, whom Edmonds and the Times did not identify, was outed in an article in the American Conservative by retired CIA officer Philip Giraldi. According to Giraldi, the official in question is Marc Grossman, a career State Department bureaucrat, who served as ambassador to Turkey under Bill Clinton, and retired in 2006 after serving as Under Secretary of State (the Number 3 position at the State Department) for George Bush.
In retirement, Grossman has followed a familiar career trajectory, accepting a lucrative “consulting” position at The Cohen Group, the lobbying outfit set up by former Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen that counts Turkey as one of its chief clients.
Other former high officials who now openly ride the Turkey gravy train as paid lobbyists/consultants include former Democratic House Speaker Richard Gephardt and former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert, allegedly, is one of the officials identified in FBI intercepts as receiving multiple cash payoffs through the American Turkish Council.
“If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this case,” Edmonds told the Times, “you will see very high-level people going through criminal trials.” Perhaps that explains why top Republicans and Democrats would rather see Sibel Edmonds locked up with a permanent gag order.
For the complete article, see:
http://thenewamerican.com/node/8507Links:
[1]
http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://thenewamerican.com/node/8507&title=Shooting+the+Messenger[2]
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- - Feingold to Filibuster Warrantless Wiretapping BillPublished on June 25, 2008 by The Madison Capital Times
Feingold to Filibuster Warrantless Wiretapping Bill
by John Nichols
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., will take steps this week to filibuster a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform proposal that provides retroactive immunity to telecommunications corporations that violate the privacy rights of customers by sharing information with illegal spying programs.
Feingold and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd both longtime critics of the immunity provision indicated they would take steps to block the bill after members of groups such as TrueMajority.org on Tuesday urged senators to use all procedural strategies available to them to stall the rapid progress of Bush administration-backed legislation that would bar consumer lawsuits against telephone companies that are guilty of spying on Americans.
Truncated, for the complete article, see:
www.madison.com/tct/news/293161or
www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9884/= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Gore Endorses Obama as a Solver of ProblemsPublished by NYTimes.com June 17, 2008
Gore Endorses Obama as a Solver of Problems
By JEFF ZELENY
DETROIT Former Vice President Al Gore made his debut appearance in the presidential campaign here Monday evening, offering a vigorous endorsement of Senator Barack Obama and urging Democrats to keep in mind the consequences of not taking the general election with grave seriousness.
“Looking back over the last eight years, I can tell you that we have already learned one important fact since the year 2000,” Mr. Gore said. “Take it from me, elections matter. If you think the next appointments to the Supreme Court are important, you know that elections matter.”
“When I am president,” Mr. Obama said, “I will be counting on Al Gore to help me lead the fight for a clean energy future here in the United States and around the world.”
Since Mr. Obama opened his presidential bid in January 2007, the two have talked frequently, including in a meeting last fall at Mr. Gore’s home in Nashville. Mr. Obama said Monday that the former vice president had been helpful throughout the primaries, lending his ear and his thoughts, but always taking care to stay impartial.
Every few minutes, Mr. Obama referred to Mr. Gore’s prescient decisions and judgments, referring to Iraq as “a war that Al Gore understood should never have been authorized and never should have been waged.”
On climate change and energy, Mr. Obama said: “Al Gore has done more to educate the world about this problem than anyone. But I have to say, as extraordinary as Al Gore’s work has been, there’s nothing like $4 a gallon gas to get your attention.”
Earlier on Monday, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, called for lifting the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling for states that want to permit it. He said the impact of high fuel prices was hitting Americans not only at the pump but also in the form of rising food costs and threats of inflation, so he favored giving states incentives to allow exploration as well.
“We must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gases through the development of alternate energy sources,” Mr. McCain said at his campaign headquarters, adding that he still supported a summer gasoline tax holiday.
In the Senate, Mr. McCain has a mixed record on the issue of oil exploration. In 2001 and 2006, he voted in favor of offshore oil drilling in Florida, but in 2003 he voted against it in Florida and other states. Mr. McCain has consistently opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Daniel J. Weiss, a global warming expert at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group, said Mr. McCain’s call to lift the moratorium was a “partial capitulation” to the oil industry in that states that did not want to drill offshore would not have to.
“McCain is handing America’s coasts on a platter to the big oil companies the day before he goes to talk to them in Houston,” Mr. Weiss said.
Michael Falcone and Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Washington.
For the complete article, see:
Gore Endorses Obama as a Solver of Problems- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Note these related articles -
posted in FN April 3, 2008Will Al Gore Help Shut the Nuke Power Loophole?
by Harvey Wasserman
Published April 2, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/02/8035/and
Obama suggests cabinet post for Gore if elected U.S. president
People’s Daily Online - April 03, 2008
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6385955.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Many States Turning to Paper Ballots for FallTuesday 17 June 2008
by: Brian C. Mooney, The Boston Globe
At least 55 percent of American voters will use paper ballots in this fall's election. Use nearly doubles since 2000 uproar.
For complete article, see:
www.truthout.org/article/many-states-turning-paper-ballots-fall?print= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Bush, Cheney, Brown -- Compromised Over Settlements18TH JUNE Unlocked the Door to the Payments
By Christopher Story
[EXCERPT]
The 'happenings' that took place during the week ending 20th June 2008 finally triggered the Settlements payment process. They also reconfirmed that Bush, Cheney and the other criminalist operatives never had the slightest intention of paying out a single cent, while at the same time raiding the funds as often as they could for self-enrichment purposes, to restore the Bush Crime Family's decimated finances, and to sustain the spigot that is used to finance the World Revolution, and the secret financing of the world governance structures, and to finance the secret projects of the US Intelligence and Military Power apparats, as well as covert operations in Iraq and elsewhere by the oil corporations and their associates.
The most senior tier of payments, to the 160 countries, was completed on Saturday 21st June 2008. On Tuesday 24th June, a certain 'licensed' US information source mentioned that money was being pulled out of banks in New York City. Specifically, Wayne Madsen reported:
'[Our] United Nations sources report that there has been a sudden rush in requests for foreign exchange wire transfer requests from the New York City banks'.
'The sudden demand for transferring funds abroad has resulted in a 24-hour to 48-hour processing delay due to the sheer volume of requests'.
For the complete article, see:
http://worldreports.org/news/145_bush_cheney_brown_compromised_over_settlementsFor archives of articles on this topic by Christopher Story:
worldreports.org/news
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