The Guerrilla Campaign

Spies Warn That Al Qaeda Aims for October Surprise Intercepted Messages Asking Local Cells To Be Prepared for Imminent Instructions By ELI LAKE, Staff Reporter of the Sun September 22, 2008 http://www.nysun.com/foreign/spies-warn-that-al-qaeda-aims-for-october-surprise/86326/ WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of two major terrorist attacks on Western targets, America's counterterrorism community is warning that Al Qaeda may launch more overseas operations to influence the presidential elections in November. A Pakistani army soldier stands guard by the devastated Marriott Hotel following an overnight suicide bombing at Islamabad on September 21, 2008. Call it Osama bin Laden's "October surprise." In late August, during the weekend between the Democratic and Republican conventions, America's military and intelligence agencies intercepted a series of messages from Al Qaeda's leadership to intermediate members of the organization asking local cells to be prepared for...

by Mary Pitt 9/21/08 (on behalf of all the poor and near-poor who "litter our streets") So Wall Street is in a panic! So the trillion-dollar corporations are in danger of going broke! So the big-time investors are in danger of losing their silk shirts! So what? We have been told for years that we must not be cry-babies who go bawling to the government for handouts to help us through the bad times; we must bear up under the load of "personal responsibility"; when our jobs disappear into the "global economy" we must "re-train", mechanical engineers need to become truck drivers, automobile designers to learn to put roofs on house, and secretaries and bookkeepers should go to school to "re-train" for jobs as motel maids! We are not moved by the plight of the moguls leaving broken corporations equipped with only their golden parachutes. We have been the victims of their business practices for a very long time and now that their unethical pra...

So. Once again the workers, you know, the people who actually produce things, have to bail out the financiers. That certainly explains why there isn’t any money to help people who are losing their homes, or have lost their jobs. Certainly explains why we can’t have universal health for every citizen, or why we can’t keep our infrastructure from collapsing, or our schools full of books. The bastards need every penny they can get their hands on to kill, and to bail out wall street and the banks, and the insurance companies. The very ones who have made it their mission to extract every bit of money they can from the workers through usurious interest rates, spurious fees, and just plain theft. Now, these are the same people who say that the people who have made bad decisions should just suffer the consequences. And that’s why the bankruptcy law needed to be changed. You know, people were taking advantage of the old law, and trying to hold onto their homes and cars, after being bankrupted t...

by Mary Pitt 9/13/08 This comment may seem to come from far left field but, when you stop to consider it, the perfect sense of it will become apparent. First, Senator John McCain was all set to prove his "bipartisanship" by naming his colleague and good buddy, Senator Joe Lieberman, as his running mate. His Republican advisors vetoed that idea and told him he needed to choose someone to bring around the religious right who had, to that time, been lukewarm about the prospect of voting for the secular McCain and would not be impressed by the addition of a Jew and a Democrat. Now, McCain was not overly impressed by Governor Mike Huckabee and the other possibilities might have expected to be asked to actually do something in the McCain administration if they won. I am a contemporary of John McCain, (actually a few years older), and I am familiar with his history throughout his adult life. He is a man who, while being happy to appear to be agreeable to a bipartisan approach to get...

War is Terrorism Too

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Atrocity in Azizabad: More Child Sacrifices on the Terror War Altar Chris Floyd Monday, 08 September 2008 http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1601/135/ Every day, the shame mounts, the lies grow more brazen and more brutal, and the dishonor spreads and deepens -- ineradicable, like a white garment soaked with blood. The atrocity in Azizabad , an Afghan village hit by an American airstrike on the night of August 22, is by no means the worst depredation of the so-called "War on Terror," which has left more than million innocent people dead in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia over the past seven years. But the mass death visited upon the sleeping, defenseless citizens of Azizabad encapsulates many of the essential elements of this global campaign of "unipolar domination" and war profiteering: the callous application of high-tech weaponry against unarmed civilians; the witless attack that alienates local supporters and empowers an ever-more violent and radical insurge...

In case you haven't been paying attention, tonight, mcsame is scheduled to give his acceptance speech. This is after Gustav played with the start of the convention. In case you haven't been paying attention, tonight, the New York Giants (the superbowl champions) are playing the Washington Redskins in the NFL season opener on ABC. Guess which one football fans will be watching.

Oscar came to live with us in February 2004. He came from a small dog rescue place after being abandoned in Texas. He died today of cancer. We buried him in the gazebo.

Sunday 31 August 2008 by William Rivers Pitt http://www.truthout.org/article/the-hollow-man Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking. - H. L. Mencken In this election, it is the character of the candidate that will matter the most. That, and pretty much that alone, has been the core campaign message Republican candidate John McCain has been peddling to all and sundry for nearly two years. His devotion to this particular talking point has come to resemble the kind of passionate zeal rarely seen beyond the compound walls of survivalist militia groups; and the slavish dedication he has displayed in tolerating the mindless monotony of such endless repetition is matched only by the muddy mooing of sacred cows along the shores of the Ganges River in India. Clearly, Mr. McCain has become deeply invested in trying to keep the entire presidential campaign conversation focused only on this mantra regarding "Character." To be sure, he has defi...

- by Stephen Lendman 8/18/08 From July 21 - 31, Joint Task Force (mostly US, but also UK, Brazil and Italy) "Operation Brimstone" large scale war games were conducted off the US East coast in the North Atlantic. Its purpose may have been to prepare for a naval blockade of Iran. Initial reports after its completion were that participating ships were deployed to Persian Gulf and Arabian and Red Sea locations to join up with the present American strike force in the region. The major media cover none of this, and US Navy sources deny it. So precise information is unclear. From what's known, however, redeployment may be planned, and a blockade may ensue. The situation remains tense and worrisome. Under international and US law, blockades are acts of war and variously defined as: -- surrounding a nation or objective with hostile forces; -- measures to isolate an enemy; -- encirclement and besieging; -- preventing the passage in or out of supplies, military forces or aid in time...

by Mary Pitt 8/15/08 This morning, August 18th, the news was blaring from CNN and MSNBC: Donald Trump Bails Out Ed McMahon! The story that followed told us that poor ole Ed had fallen ill, was having a hard time financially and was in danger of losing his home. Now, I do not lack for sympathy for this poor man who had such an illustrious and munificent career and who can, even now, be seen on commercial television hawking insurance for oldsters so that they will not be devastated by one of the lingering illnesses that we oldster are prone to develop. However, can we broaden our view a bit to take in the larger scene? It is all well for a "somebody" to have a friend like Mr. Trump who is able and will ride to the rescue. But this country is full of "nobodies", (like yours truly), who suffer long illnesses in our old age, who are willing to work as much as prospective employers will allow, and whose homes and very lives depend on our fiscal savvy and our ability to sc...

At 11:02 a.m., at an altitude of 1,650 feet, Fat Man exploded over Nagasaki.

John, do you know how long a person making minimum wage has to work to be able to afford a pair $520 Ferragamo Loafers like you wear? At $6.55 an hour, that’s more than 79 hours. Actually even more, because of the payroll taxes that would be taken out. And that’s only if that person has no other expenses except for wussy shoes like you wear. So, old man, except for the few males around who think it’s a great idea to gigolo off their wives like you do, who else would NOT be seeing you as just a bit elitist? Personally, I don’t find gigoloes very manly either. And I’m not all that sure one would have the cojones to do what’s necessary without first checking with the wife. Now that’s going to slow down our response time, which is probably not wise in these troubled times. Let’s face it, John. You’ve been sucking off the public teat your whole life. You really don’t have a clue about what working people are facing. You have even less of a clue about the needs and solutions of the poor amo...

Congress votes to immunize lawbreaking telecoms, legalize warrantless eavesdropping Glenn Greenwald Wednesday July 9, 2008 14:11 EDT http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa_vote/index.html The Democratic-led Congress this afternoon voted to put an end to the NSA spying scandal, as the Senate approved a bill -- approved last week by the House -- to immunize lawbreaking telecoms, terminate all pending lawsuits against them, and vest whole new warrantless eavesdropping powers in the President. The vote in favor of the new FISA bill was 69-28. Barack Obama joined every Senate Republican (and every House Republican other than one) by voting in favor of it, while his now-vanquished primary rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, voted against it. John McCain wasn't present for any of the votes, but shared Obama's support for the bill. The bill will now be sent to an extremely happy George Bush, who already announced that he enthusiastically supports it, and he will sign it into l...

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at the truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of di...

US Raid Sends Message on Iraq "Agreement" Sunday, 29 June 2008 Chris Floyd http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1549/135/ As we know from The Godfather -- that seminal work of American political philosophy which serves as the Bible for policy-making in the Bush Administration -- a horse's head in the bed can be highly effective tool in difficult contract negotiations. Last Friday, Bush went his fictional mentors one better in the "negotiations" over an agreement setting out the public terms of a de facto permanent American occupation of the conquered land: he laid the corpse of a kinsman on the doorstep of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. McClatchy Newspapers reports that U.S. Special Forces launched a deadly raid in al-Maliki's home province -- which has supposedly been returned to the full control of the Iraqi government. Without any warning to Iraqi forces, the American unit stormed the rural town of Janaja at dawn on Friday with 60 troops and i...

In 1977 , John N. Mitchell became the first former U.S. attorney general to go to prison as he began serving a sentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up. (He was released 19 months later.) 1981 Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to killing rock musician John Lennon. and, in 1970, President Richard Nixon signed a measure lowering the voting age to 18. So, VOTE. It’s your future we’re talking about here. The Real State of Iraq […] As for the Iraqis killed by Americans, like the 24 civilians in Haditha , the survivors are not going to be pro-American any time soon. The US can always find politicians to come out and say nice things on a visit to the Rose Garden. But the people. I don't think the people are saying nice things in Arabic behind our backs. The wars of Iraq-- the Iran-Iraq War, the repressions of the Kurds and the Shiites, the Gulf War, and the American Calamity, may have left behind as many as 3 million widows . Having lost their family's breadwinner, many are d...