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Post by LS on Apr 16, 2004 13:22:29 GMT -5
Hmmm...this one for example seems fairly representative of what I've seen-Bush's Pipe Dream The President Searches For Right Word During Press ConferenceBy Richard Cohen The term of the moment in Washington is "the wall." This is the legal barrier that once separated the CIA from the FBI and which may have contributed to the confusion that enabled the attacks of 9/11. A more interesting wall, however, was on view Tuesday evening in President Bush's news conference. It's the one between him and reality. Never mind that even for Bush, this was a poor performance - answers that resembled a frantic scavenger hunt for the right (or any) word or, too often, a thought. Never mind that he really had very little to say - not, for example, an exit plan for Iraq, no second thoughts about 9/11, not even wonderment at the apparent disappearance of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and how that might have happened. Like a kid who has been told otherwise, Bush persists in believing in his own version of Santa Claus. The weapons are there, somewhere - in a North Pole of his mind. What matters more, is the phrase Bush used five times in one way or another: "We're changing the world." He used it always in reference to the war in Iraq and in ways that would make even Woodrow Wilson, that personification of naive morality, shake his head in bemusement. In Bush's rhetoric, a war to rid Saddam of his WMD, a war to ensure that Condoleezza Rice's "mushroom cloud" did not appear over an American city, has mutated into an effort to reorder the world. "I also know that there's a historic opportunity here to change the world," Bush said of the effort in Iraq. The next sentence was even more disquieting. "And it's very important for the loved ones of our troops to understand that the mission is an important, vital mission for the security of America and for the ability to change the world for the better." It is one thing to die to defend your country. It is quite another to do that for one man's impossible dream. What Bush wants is admirable. It is not, however, attainable. Several investigative commissions are now looking into intelligence failures - everything from the failure to detect and intercept the terrorist attack of 9/11 to the assertion that Iraq was armed to the teeth with all sort of awful stuff. But what really has to be examined is how a single man, the President, took the nation and part of the world to war because, as he essentially put it Tuesday night, he was "called" to do it. If that is the case, and it sure seems so at the moment, then this commission has to ask us all - and I don't exclude myself - how much of Congress and the press went to war with an air of juvenile glee. The Commission on Credulous Stupidity may call me as its first witness, but after that it has to examine how, despite our vaunted separation of powers, a barely elected President opted for a war that need not have been fought. This is Bush's cause, a noble but irrational effort much like the one that set off for Jerusalem in 1212. It was known as the Children's Crusade. ____________________________________________ And there's this stuff from some other articles that leads into describing the brain freeze parts-"But the president who spoke repeatedly about being on a war footing hardly seemed sure-footed, even on questions that could scarcely be seen as overly aggressive...""There were some weird moments in Tuesday night's presidential news conference. President George W. Bush, earnest and eager, was stopped flat when asked to name his single biggest mistake. You could see the shadows of thought pass across Bush's face before he said, "I'm sure something will pop into my head here." It didn't...""The initial scripted segment was far crisper than the question-and-answer portion, where Bush rambled at times and repeated himself frequently while fielding 15 media queries...""At times last night, he smoothly repeated statements about Iraq or terrorism that he has often made before. Yet at less guarded moments, he sounded like a leader searching himself for the right answers - and not always finding them - at a time when Americans are asking hard questions..."...And most papers did print the full transcript.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 2, 2004 17:05:56 GMT -5
First, see the amazing Predident Bush flip, and then, see him flop! Damn, all in the same day! Gee, I hope he doesn't spill any syrup on his feet and ruin his flip flops while he enjoys his waffles!
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Post by LS on Aug 4, 2004 0:46:00 GMT -5
And sooooooooo...here we go again with another farce alert!! Same game- different strategy...they got blasted after the last one about the election because as usual there wasn't any credible information- and people are now seeing it as being used as a political tactic instead of a real alert. So now they named specific targets...only how come it took them a week from the time the information was supposedly turned up to say anything?? And again- no dates, no timeframe. So why was the heavy security rolled out for Monday?? What about the day after- or next week or next month?? Or maybe it was old information from an old plot before they thought up the 9/11 airplane plot. We all asked since there was no date mentioned- how long was the heavy security gonna last?? And if this information was so credible and specific and they deemed there to be such a great danger...then how come they allowed Mrs. President and the First Twits to come here Monday?? Oh but wait- now it turns out one of our guesses was right!! Now they're saying the info was old and pre-dated 9/11!! They just found a new way to use it to play their political games. (I shoulda put this one under the 'I'm Shocked!' thread... ) We asked again today how long we'll be 'inconvenienced' by the tightened security...and now they're telling us probably until after the Garden Party...or maybe even the election!!
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Southbound
Full Member
Just a flesh wound!
Posts: 105
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Post by Southbound on Aug 4, 2004 21:34:52 GMT -5
We asked again today how long we'll be 'inconvenienced' by the tightened security...and now they're telling us probably until after the Garden Party...or maybe even the election!! Day 2 of heightened security Drivers Sit & Stew Checkpoints Tie Up B'klyn BY MELISSA GRACE and ADAM LISBERG August 4, 2004 Anti-terror roadblocks turned Brooklyn into a parking lot yesterday morning, pushing drivers to the breaking point and forcing police to retool their traffic strategy for today. Frustrated drivers got out of their cars and strolled on the pavement of a paralyzed Brooklyn-Queens Expressway orblared car horns on frozen local streets for hours. "I'm missing all my appointments, everything! Everybody is yelling at me like it's my fault!" said glass company owner Jerry Petalas, 33, whose usual 20-minute trip from Bay Ridge to the Manhattan Bridge took two hours yesterday. "You have bills and now you're losing jobs - it's no good!" The massive jams were caused by police restrictions and checkpoints designed to spot the truck bombs that authorities believe Al Qaeda terrorists want to detonate in New York, as well as in Newark and Washington. Police stopped trucks from using any bridge or tunnel into Manhattan below 34th St., except the Manhattan Bridge. That led to miserable delays on highways and local streets heading to the checkpoints at the bridge entrance. NYPD chief spokesman Paul Browne said cops will keep the restrictions in place but change how they handle traffic flow in time for this morning's rush. "The security presence will be as high, but I think we've worked out ways tomove trucks and traffic," Browne said. "It was the subject of some intense scrutiny today, so I think you'll see some improvement." That can't come soon enough for furious motorists such as Raymond Aleman. "This is ridiculous. You're on the BQE for three hours when you should be in Manhattan in 20 minutes," the delivery truck driver said. "Something else has got to be done." A Bushwick summer camp canceled a field trip to New Jersey after children spent 90 minutes in traffic without even getting a glimpse of the Manhattan Bridge. "We're on a school bus with no A/C and 20 hungry children," said Luis Pacheco, a counselor at Project Exito, as the bus sat on Park Ave. underneath the BQE. "We're trying to get the bus to turn back, but even that is a challenge." On Flatbush Ave., pedestrians walked faster than cars could move - and cash registers at local businesses were just as slow. "It was like a ghost town in here - no one could get in and no one could get out," said John Tsao, 35, manager of the Mobil gas station on Flatbush Ave. at Dean St. Pacific Express Car Service, on Fourth Ave. near Atlantic Ave., was forced to tell local customers they would have to wait 90 minutes before they could be picked up. "It's easier to walk to Manhattan!" said an angry Gabriel Khavasov, a 32-year-old driver. Today was day 3. Same sh-t, different day. How the F are we supposed to go about "business as usual" when we can't even get to our business?
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Roland
Full Member
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues
Posts: 235
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Post by Roland on Aug 4, 2004 22:25:17 GMT -5
I truly feel sorry for all of you who live in the New York City area. I don't really feel any of the effects here and my hat's off to you. I don't how you do it and keep your sanity.
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Post by LS on Aug 4, 2004 23:57:19 GMT -5
Liberty Thru Looking Glass by Michael Daly
August 4, 2004 The limit of our national resolve and confidence is now marked by a glass ceiling under the feet of the statue that stood so defiantly when the twin towers fell nearly three years ago.
Until that September morning in 2001, the Statue of Liberty was more than anything a symbol of welcome to those seeking freedom and a better life in America.
A moment came after the second tower fell and the air cleared and there was nobody alive to rescue when a cop gone ghostly with grey dust turned away from the burning ruins.
"Well, she's still there," he then said, choking on dust or emotion or both.
You looked and saw the cop was speaking of the Statue of Liberty. Thousands had perished and some of the very best people you knew were gone, but there she stood, Lady Liberty, unbeaten and unbowed. Her torch seemed raised not only in welcome, but in defiance.
Through all the heart-tearing days ahead, whenever you checked at the ruins to see if your friends had been found, each time you crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for another funeral, you had only to gaze out across the harbor to see Lady Liberty and her upraised torch.
At such moments, she looked invincible, but, of course, she was not. The fallen towers had been made of steel beams. Lady Liberty's copper skin was the thickness of two pennies. You could understand the decision to close Liberty Island during those first stunned weeks.
After three months, the island opened, but the statue remained closed and you began to wonder why we did not demonstrate some of Lady Liberty's defiance.
One whole year and then another passed and the most powerful nation in the history of the world did not dare to open its dearest symbol to visitors. The greatest shame was that almost nobody seemed to feel any.
That absence of shame persisted yesterday, when the government opened just the pedestal with great fanfare. Even this will be open only to people who secure tickets in advance.
The statue itself will remain closed. Visitors will have to be content to gaze up through a glass ceiling that affords what is termed "an insider's view" of the inner structure. What would catch any kid's eye is the winding staircase leading to the seven-pointed crown.
Millions of us, our own Mayor Bloomberg included, have childhood memories of scampering up those steps to gaze out a regal portal at the harbor and the Manhattan skyline.
Since 9/11, the most notable feature of the skyline has been a void. There could be no better place for a youngster to view that absence than from Lady's Liberty's crown.
"Well, she's still here," you could say.
Instead, you will have to explain why visitors can do no more than gaze though glass, why no one can venture beyond the Stump of Liberty.
This despite security that begins with magnometers before you board the ferry. A second checkpoint at the statue's base features a futuristic machine, the EntryScan3.
"Air puffers on," a digital voice announces when you step inside one.
From all directions come puffs of air. A kid would no doubt be interested to learn your body heat creates a "human convection plume" that causes the air to rise toward a spectrometer.
After a moment a red light goes green, signaling that the EntryScan3 has detected not even a molecular trace of explosives such as C-4, nitro, PETN, RDX, and Semtex.
"Enter," a voice commands.
You pass through a small courtyard ringed by a spiked black-steel fence and enter a pair of big bronze doors. Wall-mounted monitors on the way up flash a phrase often seen in the subways these days.
"If you see something ... Say Something."
At least yesterday's event went ahead despite the newest Al Qaeda scare. One saving grace every day is the park rangers who escort the tour groups up into the pedestal. Nobody could be more devoted to Lady Liberty and all she symbolizes.
Even so, you come to that glass ceiling and the question of why youngsters can no longer scamper up those steps. The answer is we are terrorized, which is what those killers wanted when they crashed into the twin towers almost three years ago.
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Post by LS on Aug 5, 2004 0:08:46 GMT -5
I truly feel sorry for all of you who live in the New York City area. I don't really feel any of the effects here and my hat's off to you. I don't how you do it and keep your sanity. It's wearing real thin...and we're gettin' real fed up with being used as DuHbya's political hat trick...a 'photo-op,' his 'excuse' for his hairbrained foreign policy and his personal automatic 'political heat deterrent.'
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 5, 2004 19:55:08 GMT -5
August 5, 2004 An American Debate: How Severe the Threat? By STEPHEN KINZER and TODD S. PURDUM KENOSHA, Wis., Aug. 4 - If the United States was in danger of a terrorist attack and faraway financial institutions were supposed to be on high alert, there was no evidence of it at Franks Diner, a 78-year-old Kenosha institution where senators mix with regular folk and the prospect of another attack seemed just part of the background noise of daily life. "I don't know who on earth to believe anymore," said Michael Schumacher, a 54-year-old writer who was eating a bratwurst for breakfast. "You feel you're being manipulated all the time." Some version of that view was echoed at almost every table here as many patrons questioned whether the Bush administration was trying to manipulate the terrorist threat for political advantage. Some, like John Gilmore, who owned Franks until a few years ago and still comes back to eat, said they had lost faith in the administration after American troops failed to find unconventional weapons in Iraq. "They messed that thing up so badly that at this point, I don't believe anything they tell us," Mr. Gilmore said. "There's always an ulterior motive somewhere." Others, like Chris De Santis, 55, a registered Democrat who is development director for a nature sanctuary, said the timing of the latest warning raised suspicions. "You hear that they found plans and computer discs, so you think maybe there's something to it,'' Mr. De Santis said. "Then a day later, it turns out that a lot of the information is three years old, five years old. So I get suspicious. Isn't it a convenient time to have a terror alert, right after the convention?" But Doug Thorne, a high school chemistry teacher from Kenosha, summed up another reaction that was heard in interviews in shopping malls, restaurants and street corners in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco. "In light of 9/11, you have to take it seriously," Mr. Thorne said. "I don't think it's a political play for votes. If they're going to do that, they'll do it in September or October." Versions of this debate flared across the country this week as people sought to digest what was by far the most explicit warning by government officials of a potential terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001. With polls showing public doubts on topics like President Bush's veracity on the war in Iraq and whether the country is safer from terrorism as a result of that invasion, people of diverse ages, income and political persuasion interviewed in eight states expressed a wary mix of skepticism and resignation about the orange alert that has dominated headlines, newscasts and talk radio for three days. Lauren Bakunas, a 23-year-old graduate student from Parsippany, N.J., gave voice to a powerlessness that seemed to be common. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen," she said. "I'm not going to change my life because someone wants to threaten the country." But with the election only a few months away, much of the conversation focused on politics. In Cleveland, Bryan Kupetz, a registered independent who operates a hot dog stand, echoed a view that might have seemed outlandish only a short time ago. "So much of the counterterrorism thing is political," Mr. Kupetz said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they caught Osama bin Laden two days before the election. Absolutely I think Bush is using the war on terrorism to his advantage.'' A few blocks away, Ron Greenspan, a lawyer who was taking a cigarette break in front of his office building, utterly rejected that view. "I think he has the greater good of the American people at heart," Mr. Greenspan said of President Bush. "The thought of a president using this for political gain is just disgusting, and I have a hard time believing that a man of his political stature would do that." People in Pensacola, Fla., a bastion of Bible Belt conservatism where President Bush crushed Al Gore by nearly 2 to 1 in the 2000 election, argued in similar terms. "I'm sure there's 10 terrorists willing to give up their lives to hit some of our huge churches or malls and really put fear and terror in the psyche of the public," Norm Hughes, a retired civil servant and a Republican, said as he waited for a friend outside the Coffee Cup, a popular restaurant. "I'm hoping George Bush and his people are doing their jobs to keep them from hitting here again. The Democrats want to say Bush is drumming this up for political reasons, but I don't think he would do that." While Mr. Bush has long benefited from his image as a straight talker, polls have shown an undercurrent of doubt about his veracity, beginning with his answers on the Enron scandal two years ago and continuing through to the Iraq war and the prisoner abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. When the public was asked in late June in a New York Times/CBS News poll whether or not Mr. Bush was telling the truth about the war in Iraq, only 18 percent of Americans said he was telling the entire truth, 59 percent said he was mostly telling the truth but was hiding something and 20 percent said he was mostly lying. Interviews around the country reflected those mixed views - and a relatively higher level of concern in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the places covered by the latest warning, than in the rest of the country. James Cooper, 51, a chemical company manager from Kingsport, Tenn., who was visiting Washington, said he believed the heightened threat level was justified, but he acknowledged that much of his reasoning was based on faith. "I don't think any of us have seen all of the pertinent documents that would support the elevated threat level," he said. "They're just not out there for the public. You just have to have a certain amount of trust in the government.'' Some New Yorkers who live or work near the financial buildings terrorists are said to have targeted were uncertain how seriously to take the latest warnings. "I can't imagine any politician playing with public safety to get votes, but it doesn't hurt their image either," said Teasha Duckworth, who works on the 19th floor of Citigroup Center, one of the buildings that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge mentioned as a possible target. "You have to hope it's true," Keith Kirlew, a broker assistant who also works in Citigroup Center, said of the warning. "If this is political, it's pretty sick, so I have to assume there's some truth to it." In Fort Lauderdale, Scott LaFortune, a model, said he believed government officials gather realistic intelligence, "but they can report it to us whenever they think it's necessary, or when they feel like hyping it." "As time goes on, it's like crying wolf," Mr. LaFortune said. "They say something's going to happen, but nothing happens. Eventually we're going to ignore it and go on with our life." In interviews this week, many people said they believed there was little they could do to prepare for an attack, and that they were resolved to carry on their lives as before. "To tell you the truth, I don't worry about these things," Sister Anna Cosgrave, 59, said as she waited for a train at the Amtrak station in Philadelphia. "What will be, will be." Not everyone in the terminal was so calm. Tammy Glass, a 35-year-old credit researcher from Lynchburg, Va., was visibly upset by the prospect of another attack. "I do worry about alerts, big time," Ms. Glass said. "I am scared to death to take trips. They didn't check my bags. When you board a train, you hand them a ticket and that's it. The terrorists are just waiting. They have it easy." In San Francisco, the same doubts troubled Edward Ross, a 37-year-old lawyer who is a registered independent. "As much as I believe the warning was not politically based, I do have a shadow of a doubt regarding the credibility of the administration," Mr. Ross said. "It comes down to credibility. You lose some faith in taking their statements at face value." Augustus Williams, a 38-year-old Seattle Democrat, said he had no doubt the terror warning was timed to help President Bush. "This is part of his campaign, I think," Mr. Williams said. "He's trying to get us to say, 'We still need Bush.' " Many voters who say they trust President Bush seem less convinced than those who mistrust him. In Seattle, Earl Hilberg, 59, who works in a drug store and described himself as an undecided voter, said that when officials in Washington warn of danger, "we have to assume that they're being honest about this until we find out otherwise." Another independent, Marcia Reed, 75, said, "I don't think we know enough about all this to know what's real or what's politically inspired." These things are really beginning to backfire on him!
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Post by LS on Aug 5, 2004 21:42:17 GMT -5
1,000 Soldiers Dead Since 9/11 Jimmy Breslin August 3, 2004
A rocket-propelled grenade came out of the hot afternoon in Iraq on July 7 and made Pfc. Samuel Bowen of Cleveland the 1,000th member of the U.S. military to die in battle since the World Trade Center attack.
The number of dead is carefully compiled by the Army Times newspaper, which carries the most news about the war. The others who know he is the 1,000th are those who fought where he died.
Bowen died at 38 in the afternoon of July 7 when his Ohio National Guard engineer convoy stopped because one of the trucks broke down. Bowen and a dozen Guardsmen protected the convoy while a mechanic tried to repair the truck. Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade that killed Bowen and wounded two others.
With a number of dead this high, an easily remembered figure that stands in the sky and accuses the nation, it was not surprising to have the government throw a little added tension into the steam and announce that huge New York financial buildings have been targeted by al-Qaida. There was an orange alert and cops and troops were all over.
Tom Ridge of Homeland Security made the announcement. Whenever I see Ridge, I feel he is another on the Republican campaign staff. It seems that whenever George Bush is in a little trouble, Ridge tells the public that we are going to be attacked.
George Bush is in some sort of tight situation. Yesterday, he had the figure of Sam Bowen, death number 1,000, and the report of the 9/11 Commission that he is hard-pressed to adopt. Bush the President said that we were in terrible danger and needed the alert.
The specific facts the government says it has include a study of inclines of underground parking garages. This took no breath away from anybody who remembers the Jersey City cab-driver bombers getting stuck behind a truck while trying to get out of the World Trade Center garage just before the 1993 explosion. They also had horrifying details about uniforms worn by building security people. The people who flew planes into the Trade Center needed no uniforms. I believe the forgotten bin Laden wants to bomb us tonight, if he can, but please don't try to frighten me with old details and much of the rest available on the Internet.
At the Citigroup Center on Lexington and 53rd, 18 police cars were parked. In a row, there were cars from the 112, 110, 114, 111, 112, 113, 109, 110 and 104 precincts. All pulled in from Queens. Don't ever say that Queens doesn't fight. Officer Neumann, from the 108 in Long Island City, was on duty in front of a clothes shop on the ground floor. "Is anybody left in Queens?" he was asked. He laughed and was smart enough not to say anything.
"The place is as empty as Sunday," a guy coming out of the building said. He said he was from Washington Heights and that was it. "I just came from a meeting of Boston Properties, we had 50 managers there. They were worried about shops on the ground floor. One of them wants a concrete barrier at the curb. One manager had a very good idea. He wanted to have NYPD cops as rent-a-cops. You hire them off-duty for your building security. In uniform."
Pfc. Sam Bowen, whose brave death caused Bush's people to spread fear, was coming out of a PX in Camp Anaconda in Iraq on June 16 with a friend, Ronald Eaton. They had bought soda. Suddenly, a rocket landed to Eaton's right. Shrapnel ripped his side. There was a second rocket. Shrapnel hit Bowen. Then Bowen was on his feet. He dragged Eaton out of the area. "He helped some others before he helped himself," Eaton was saying yesterday. "Then he drove two and a half hours to our base at Tikrit. He was a true hero."
Bowen was in the 112th Engineer Battalion of the Ohio National Guard. When he arrived in Iraq, they had him in the morale, welfare and recreation office. He got out of there in as hurry. He became a driver for a sergeant, Paul Brondhaver. "He drove me 2,000 miles of combat patrols," Brondhaver recalls.
On July 7, Bowen was driving Brondhaver in an unarmored humvee. They were last in the convoy that stopped. They got out to guard the others and the rocket took care of Bowen.
Ronald Eaton, his friend, who lives in Lakewood, was at the armory headquarters of their 112th Engineers for a party for a soldier retiring. Two officers from the unit took Eaton off to the side. They told him they just had come from telling Bowen's wife that he was dead in Iraq. Eaton would not allow this to sink in. He was dazed and resistant. Bowen was one side of his life.
Eaton yesterday was at Camp Atterbury in Indiana for medical treatment. His liver took shrapnel.
"He can't be dead," Eaton said. "I think he'll come home with the unit in February. Yes, sir, I do expect to see him."
He won't.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
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Remember The Moral Of The Story Jimmy Breslin August 5, 2004
This is the fable that George Bush had to read to his children a long time ago.
It is one of the two fables that Bush has recited. We print the first immediately below and thus prominently, and then the second immediately after it.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
There once was a shepherd boy who sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. He took a great breath and sang out: "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is threatening the sheep!"
The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill they found no wolf. The boy laughed to himself at the sight.
"Don't cry 'wolf,'" said the villagers, "when there's no wolf." They went down the hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is threatening the sheep!" He watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.
When the villagers saw no wolf, they sternly said, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there is NO wolf."
The boy just watched them go down the hill again.
Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, the boy leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!"
But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come.
The wolf, having no cause to fear, lacerated the sheep and caused the survivors to scatter. At sunset, everybody wondered why the shepherd hadn't returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.
"There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, 'Wolf!' Why didn't you come?"
And a wise old man of the village said:
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."
"The Boy That Cried Wolf" was so long ago that George Bush forgets it.
For here on Monday he was reading a second fable.
"Osama is coming!" he announced. Suddenly, the word "terror" ran the great city. Terrorism, terrorists, terrorist task force, anti-terrorist task force. Thomas Ridge, Bush's Homeland Security fake, said that for sure he was afraid they were coming. He had new intelligence that was horrifying:
Kerry could have been been doing the least bit better in polls.
Every time something like that happens, Bush stumbles or a 9/11 report comes out to make him look bad, he cries "terrorist." He has done this for over two years now.
This time, a great bin Laden target in New York was the Citigroup Center on Lexington Avenue. You could be incinerated if Osama gets at this building!
Right away in the morning, George Bush's wife and daughters rushed up from Washington to stand bravely in the front of all those cameras. It was not for the election. They truly wanted to stand with New Yorkers and be incinerated, the same as anybody else.
It probably was the one most fraudulent act we have had since the World Trade Center bombing, and at that time, Bush himself got up on a destroyed fire engine and pretended to be tough. While not saying that he froze during the attack.
Here is Bush's latest intelligence from his intelligence agents: George Bush tells us that once upon a time bin Laden measured our inclines in parking garages. Oh, Lord, call out the troops!
The terrorists had records of the inclines of underground garages in big New York buildings. The TV announcers read this with wide, fearful eyes.
And in 1993, one of the cab drivers from Jersey City, Salameh, had just put a light to a 15-foot rope that was going to sizzle into a truck full of fertilizer and blow up the Trade Center. Salameh was getting out of there in a car when in the exit incline was a truck that was stuck in the low ceiling. Salameh is terrorized. Finally, the truck gets moved and up the incline rush Salameh and crew. He is in prison forever. His incline story was told 1,500 times to American agents.
Bush also released the truly disturbing news that the terrorists are watching the uniforms worn by building security people. How chilling! How terrorizing!
Atta and the others wore polo shirts when they flew the planes into the World Trade Center buildings.
Nothing new was in the list of greatest danger that Bush released to the city in attempting to frighten everybody into believing that he should be re-elected. Here. Look at my soldiers in your streets.
And as you listen to George Bush telling his fable, if you listen carefully, you can hear in the background the faint but unmistakable cry of a wolf.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
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Roland
Full Member
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues
Posts: 235
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Post by Roland on Aug 7, 2004 9:26:50 GMT -5
There are a lot of things that disturb me about this lastest alert. The first is that it was made to sound like the danger was most urgent. So yes, my first question was if the situation were that urgent, why was Ridge and the First Family permitted to be anywhere in the immediate vicinity? I'd also read an article in the New York Times that stated that the alleged information they'd obtained "was written in perfect and meticulous English". I found that very strange since they know we have so few people who can translate Arabic, why would they risk leaving a trail that might be uncovered in English, which would for all intents and purposes, be handing it over on a silver platter? Then they finally admitted that most of the information pre-dates 9-11, but yesterday turn around and say the alert was prompted by allegedly new information that was added to a file about the building in Newark. But that information supposedly dates back to January of this year. So why such a public show of urgency now, and why were the alerts issued for the buildings in New York and D.C.? Their "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" methods in issuing these alerts before they're fully investigated and then having to renege on them has only aroused suspicion as to their validity and the motives behind them. They themselves are putting the American people in danger because if the day comes there is a very real cause for concern, no one's going to believe them.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 7, 2004 20:45:29 GMT -5
Sat Aug 7, 4:47 PM ET By Jeremy Pelofsky KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) warned Americans on Saturday last weekend's terrorism alert was another sign the country was still not safe but said he was taking steps to prevent future attacks. Alert levels were raised for specific locations in New York City, Washington and New Jersey after a top-level review of information that al Qaeda may be plotting to attack financial institutions including the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites), the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) and World Bank (news - web sites). "We're doing everything we can in our power to confront the danger," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "We're making good progress in protecting our people and bringing our enemies to account." The administration has been facing tough questions after it became known that some of the information that led to the elevated alert was three years old. Bush defended the new alerts, stating new information gleaned from arrests in Pakistan and other new intelligence suggested that al Qaeda had recently updated information on those potential targets. "We're still not safe," said Bush, who was spending the weekend at his family's oceanfront compound in Maine to attend the wedding of his nephew, George P. Bush, the son of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. He also found time to do some fishing with his twin daughters and father, former President George Bush. "We'll keep our focus, we'll keep our resolve, and we will do our duty to best secure our country," he said. TAKING STEPS Under political pressure, Bush said this week he would name a national intelligence director to coordinate information collected domestically and abroad, a key recommendation by the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush, initially cool to the idea of a new intelligence chief, overrode the advice of some top advisers in agreeing to appoint one, but decided to make the office independent of the White House, counter to commission's proposal. His opponent in the race for the White House, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), has urged quick adoption of the commission's recommendations and said Bush should call Congress back from its summer break to adopt the reforms. A Time Magazine survey of 758 likely voters released on Saturday showed Kerry slightly widening his lead over Bush, 48 percent to 43 percent, with independent Ralph Nader (news - web sites) receiving 4 percent. A majority of 53 percent said they wanted a new leader, versus 43 percent who said Bush deserved another four years. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 points. The magazine's poll before the Democratic National Convention had Kerry up 46 percent to 43 percent. Kerry has also criticized his opponent's policies, saying they have failed to make the United States as safe as it could be and potentially encouraging the recruitment of terrorists to the cause against the nation. His aides noted that the new Bush campaign line, "We're turning the corner and we're not turning back," failed to pass muster after lackluster employment gains in July reported on Friday, and the same was true for domestic security. "Now's he's telling us we're turning the corner on homeland security, but we have so much more to do to protect our ports, our rails and our chemical plants," said Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton. "America can do better." Refuting the criticism about the latest terrorist warning, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said it was irrelevant when al Qaeda had collected information on possible targets because such plots can take years to carry out. "If it takes years, they're prepared to wait for years to do it," he said at a town hall meeting in Minnesota on Friday. Boy, does this reasoning sound right out of 1984 or what? I've never seen such a blatant attempt by the Shrub himself to terrorize us. Before now it's always been those (nominally) under him. Think they're getting nervous?
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snizz
Full Member
I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Aug 7, 2004 22:41:31 GMT -5
Boy, does this reasoning sound right out of 1984 or what? I've never seen such a blatant attempt by the Shrub himself to terrorize us. Before now it's always been those (nominally) under him. Think they're getting nervous? And it looks like the moron never learns and is still pissing off the rest of the world for his own self-serving purposes. U.S. Rapped For Blowing Spy's Cover BY CORKY SIEMASZKO With News Wire Services August 7 A captured Al Qaeda computer whiz was E-mailing his comrades as part of a sting operation to nab other top terrorists when U.S. officials blew his cover, sources said yesterday. Within hours of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan's name being publicized Monday, British police launched lightning raids that netted a dozen suspected Al Qaeda terrorists, including one who was nabbed after a high-speed car chase. Among those taken into custody was Abu Eisa Al Hindi, whose scouting of the New York Stock Exchange, the Citigroup Center and other financial sites for possible attacks prompted the latest orange alert terror warnings. Now British and Pakistani intelligence officials are furious with the Americans for unmasking their super spy - apparently to justify the orange alert - and for naming the other captured terrorist suspects. Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat expressed dismay the trap they had hoped would lead to the capture of other top Al Qaeda leaders, possibly even Osama Bin Laden, was sprung too soon. "The network is still not finished," Hayyat said. It "remains a potent threat to Pakistan, and to civilized humanity." "It makes our job harder," a British security source said. British officials denied press reports yesterday that several suspects were able to escape the net. The series of events that led to the capture of Khan and other key operatives began June 10 with a botched hit on a Pakistani general in Karachi that left 10 bystanders dead. Police tracked down the stolen getaway van and the owner gave them a description of the thieves. Two days later, the Pakistanis raided a militant hideout along the Pakistani-Afghan border and nabbed nine people, including alleged ringleader Atta-ur Rahman and a young Pakistani named Shahzad Bajwa. Rahman and Bajwa quickly pointed the police one rung up the Al Qaeda ladder to Abu Musab Al Baluchi, also known as Masrab Aruchi. Baluchi, a nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was nabbed that same day in Karachi. On July 13, the Pakistanis nabbed Khan and seized his computers, which revealed that Al Qaeda was operating worldwide and had planned other Sept. 11-style attacks. "His arrest was kept secret and he was made to remain in touch with his contacts," a Pakistani government official told The Times of London. "During his detention, he regularly communicated through E-mail with the Al Qaeda operatives in Britain and other countries. That helped us to identify them." With Khan's help, the CIA and Pakistani intelligence officers were able to track down Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the deadly 1998 East African embassy bombings. Information from Khan and Ghailani's computers also was passed to the Brits, who laid traps for the Al Qaeda suspects in their midst. The traps were abruptly sprung Monday, when Khan's name appeared in print.
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Post by LS on Aug 10, 2004 2:02:48 GMT -5
Outing CIA operatives...now outing spies that might've finally led to Osama- all to cover up their political games. Roland- those same exact things have been really buggin' me too...and the more information that's coming out- the more ridiculous things are getting. So now it comes out that along with the bulidings in NYC, Newark and DC...the same sort of information was there about Disneyworld, Vegas and somewhere in LA...so how come no alerts were issued for any of those places?? Interesting...Interesting too- how after 3 years of nothing in regard to them- 'al-Qaeda' is suddenly the buzzword front and center...the election's looming (and if Spain hadn't been bombed at their election time- would it have even come up regarding ours?? ), Iraq's a disaster, oil prices keep going up, jobs are MIA and the economy's still in the toilet...I don't exactly trust Pakistan and the timing of all this is way too suspect for my taste...I do believe someone's playing politics with terrorism. And it's just now occuring to them there might be cells in this country?? Umm...DUH- we've only been saying that since 9/12/ 01!! And now there's information that they cased helicopters...so now they're gonna tighten security on them?? Shouldn't that have been already done- at least 3 years ago (when they supposedly tightened airline security)?? Oh yeah- and they considered using limos packed with explosives- so now they're gonna tighten security on those too. What if they find Chevys or Dodges or Toyotas- or baby carriages mentioned somewhere?? And because fertilizer bombs were mentioned- now they want to regulate and restrict the sale of fertilizer. Why now?? They used a fertilizer bomb back in '93 and McVeigh used one in '95 and they just caught that other American guy who was planning the same thing...They mentioned using divers- so are they gonna outlaw diving?? Are they saying that everything ever mentioned by al-Qaeda's gonna be banned, subject to tightened security or regulated till this winds up becoming a police state?? Uh-uh, sorry- that AIN'T America- and it's THIS administration that's letting the terrorists win!!
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 10, 2004 14:53:32 GMT -5
You know, all this talk of what they MIGHT do hasd been giving them ideas. I distinctly remember reading that they hadn't thought of the dirty bomb until it began appearing in the media. So is it possible that they hadn't thought small enough to try helicopters until now? Of course, now they do have to be watched extra carefully. Course, this would have been kept under wraps by Clinton as it should have been, rtather than used for political gain.
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Roland
Full Member
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues
Posts: 235
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Post by Roland on Aug 10, 2004 23:45:36 GMT -5
You know, all this talk of what they MIGHT do hasd been giving them ideas. I distinctly remember reading that they hadn't thought of the dirty bomb until it began appearing in the media. So is it possible that they hadn't thought small enough to try helicopters until now? Of course, now they do have to be watched extra carefully. Course, this would have been kept under wraps by Clinton as it should have been, rtather than used for political gain. I understand what LS is getting at. You have to take into consideration all this "information" dates back 3 and 4 years. These things are supposedly from information the al-Queda has already gathered and ideas they'd already kicked around. What's to say these weren't rough plans for the 9-11 attack that were abandoned after they'd arrived at their final plan of using airplanes? It's not that we're giving them ideas, although we're probably giving other people ideas by releasing it. It's the al-Queda enlightening the unenlightened about the countless places and ways they've already thought of as to how possible attacks ccould be carried out. You're talking a different story when our officials make stupid statements like the sudden lack of chatter could be a prelude to something about to happen. That would give them the idea to just keep quiet and watch the idiocy while they may not be planning any strike, or at least not one in the near future, at all. Do they really need to? They accomplished their goal. They planted the seed of paranoia and our government's doing the rest of the work all by themselves. And the statements on the lack of chatter as being a possible prelude to another attack coming soon contradicts all the information about the 9-11 attack. Yes, the two times we were attacked involved a few years of planning before they were carried out, but according to all the information before the 9-11 attack, there was an increase, not a decrease, in chatter during the few months preceding it. This is old information and they've turned up nothing in terms of a timeframe of another attack. But the administration keeps insisting an attack is being planned in order to disrupt the election and I have to wonder why. I agree with what LS is alluding to. If Madrid hadn't been bombed just before their election followed by the way this administration chose to spin it to their advantage, I doubt the thought would have ever come up. When Madrid was bombed, they'd gotten a whole new angle dropped in their laps to play with and they've picked it up and are shamelessly using it as a political ploy to instill fear in the American people.
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