Diana Carlisle's Public Library

"...French intelligence services helped convince the Americans that the bar codes were fake."

[troll heads a'splode]

"Back in Washington, few insiders in government knew where the intelligence was coming from. Aside from Tenet and a select few, no one was told about eTreppid’s Al Jazeera finds. Even veteran intelligence operatives within the CIA could only wonder. “These guys were trying to hide it like it was some little treasure,” one former counterterrorist official told me."

[Of course the "special" information had to be kept secret by a very small circle, like the torture memos]

The Duelfer report, the first detailed account of Saddam's strategy in the face of a likely US military assault, concludes that Saddam's instructions, repeated on at least three occasions, were a sign of his overall strategy to wear down the US forces over time, even if he did not directly co-ordinate the resistance in the eight months before he was captured in December 2003.

It said that from August 2002 to January 2003 Iraqi commanders were ordered to hide weapons in the country. Intelligence officials said that instead of reading up on tank warfare, Saddam and some of his top generals are said to have boned up on books by Vietnamese communists on guerilla tactics.

Fein and Nichols both blasted the current Democratic leadership of Congress for cowardice, lack of principle, and a basic failure to honor their oaths of office to uphold and defend the Constitution, in refusing to impeach the president. [read more...]

A Well-Orchestrated Media Blackout

In a secret strategy memo, the Pentagon outlined a tightly-woven plan to constrain and control journalists. A massive babysitting operation would ensure that no truly independent or uncensored reporting reached back to the US public. "News media representatives will be escorted at all times," the memo stated. "Repeat, at all times."

the paratroopers attended a mess hall prayer breakfast organized by a chaplain, Col. Pat Hash. It was titled "The Morality of War: Balancing Faith and Killing."

Though the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill," Hash said, killing is justified in a "righteous war" when a soldier is acting as "an agent of the state."

"War can be morally permissible," he said. "And there are times when it is morally, legally and ethically right to kill another human being."

Sometimes, the most innocent are the ones who perish the most quickly. And, we may soon come to realize, that, among these innocent are those who entertain us, enrich our lives to an immeasurable degree, and give tremendous light, meaning and love to our lives.

It is only when we lose them, that we recognize the power of their presence, and that we loved them dearly and will miss them for the remaining full breadth of our lives

Beginning with Clinton in the early 1990's under the .... , followed in 2002 with Bush's "Ownership Society" goals,

Bush touted the success of Home Ownership in his bid to win reelection in 2004. Democrats, who were part of the development of this problem failed to challenge Bush on it, and instead let themselves be distracted by attacks from the Swiftboaters.

as long as energy prices were cheap and the economy was growing, with real estate prices continuing to rise, this festerring problem went unnoticed and unchallenged. Neither party was willing to question the wisdom of enticing low income buyers with bad credit to buy homes they couldnt' afford. But as energy prices started to rise after the invasion of Iraq, real estate prices began to plummet.

I am forever amazed, as in WTF kind of amazement, at how the questions we should be asking never get asked. "Don't ask, don't" tell permeates the air. The noise machine goes into high geer every time the truth is about to emerge. It's as if the whole society has been conditioned to obey subliminal prompts and cues from cattle prodders who are pushing the herd inexorably toward a huge precipice.

It's as if cattle prodders are coralling a herd, made dossil by years of conditioning to obey sublte prompts and cues of punishment and reward. Only if you step away from the herd, as an individual, and obey your own instincts and conscience, can you see this happening. Only if you are self-directed can you pull back and push back to avoid the cliff.

I hate all those websites that pretends to help us to "socialize".

1. Learning

This could be rephrased as “figuring out what you are doing” and includes everything from learning how to build a website to learning more about your niche itself.

It includes the research that goes into creating a site or online presence of some kind, (starting with keyword research, choosing a domain name, etc) as well as study and research on Blogging, Internet Marketing, and all those millions of things that one can study and learn about (in millions of eBooks, blog posts, courses, etc.)

It includes the study of the technicalities – html, php, different types of software, and the like.

I’ve been shying away from social media, mostly because I can’t shake the thought that I am wasting time that could be invested in writing, researching, reading other relevant blogs, and commenting to share ideas.

Perhaps I need to rethink that belief. Thanks.