A Very Cheney Valentine's Day

~


Former Vice President—and hopeless romantic—Dick Cheney.

Valentine’s Day and Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney and Valentine’s Day. Think of one and you’ll inevitably think of the other.

So who better to explain to us the true meaning of Valentine’s Day than Cheney’s paramour, Lynne Cheney? Campus Progress scored an exclusive interview with Mrs. Cheney.

LYNNE CHENEY: I’ll always remember the first Valentine’s Day after I met Dick. That’s when he “made his move,” as young people say today.

So it’s Valentine’s Day of 1968—a Friday, I think—and I’m alone at the bus stop near my house. A few minutes before the bus is supposed to arrive, a truck rolls up.

A split second later, three men in all-black outfits and ski masks are wrestling me to the ground, duct-taping my limbs together, tying a sack over my head, and throwing me into the back of the truck.

The truck started driving around like crazy! I couldn’t see where I was going because of the sack, but luckily I was chained to the floor so I didn’t flop around too much—just a few nicks and scrapes and a broken collarbone. I was terrified, of course.

Why were these people kidnapping me? But in the back of my mind a little voice said, “Lynne, you do remember it’s Valentine’s Day, right?”

Then I thought of Dick, and despite the fact that I had just been kidnapped and was in a van careening off to heck-knows-where, a smile crept across my face—or it would have, if they hadn’t gagged me.

Several hours later we arrived at our location, and when they pulled off the sack I found myself in a small cellar filled with cold water up to my knees.

There was a single chair to sit in, but I could barely see it because the room was so dark. I sat there for a few hours and thought about how I could escape, but the door was big and metallic and wasn’t about to budge.

A couple hours later, a song came on some sort of PA system: “Love Letters In The Sand” by Pat Boone! It had come out the previous year and was one of my favorites. This was when I started to suspect that the whole thing had been orchestrated not by a heartless psychopath, but by Dick.

I still wasn’t sure, though. What I did know was that whoever was responsible knew how much I loved that song, because they played it non-stop, at a very high volume, for a very long period of time.

I didn’t have a watch and lost all sense of how long it had been, but it was somewhere in the range of 48 or 72 hours, give or take. I slept when I could and occasionally someone would open a little peephole in the door and drop a bag of dog biscuits into the water. I ate them ravenously.

~

Friends and foes brace for Bush

~

When George W. Bush makes one of his first post White House speeches in Calgary, the 43rd president of the United States will be greeted by a special welcoming committee--protesters determined to voice their displeasure with his eight-year reign and the subsequent fallout.

Indeed, whether you like him or hate him, Bush is a polarizing figure who knows how to draw a crowd and a reaction.

And that will hold true in Calgary, when he arrives to speak to an audience of around 1,500 at a private gathering March 17 at the Telus Convention Centre.

~

Obama urged to publish torture documents

~

A group of MPs and human rights activists have written to president Barack Obama calling on him to publish details of secret documents allegedly containing details of UK complicity in torture.

~

Not even a little torture

~

Some Obama officials are sending disturbingly mixed messages about the treatment of terrorism suspects.

Has Barack Obama retreated on his promise to end the Bush administration's lawless and sometimes cruel treatment of suspected terrorists? By no means, but some of his actions -- and comments from some of his key appointees -- are sending a mixed message.

First, the encouraging news: Unlike their predecessors, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta have said that waterboarding is torture.

President Bush mused that it would be nice to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center; President Obama has ordered that it be closed within a year.

The Bush administration transported suspects to other countries to be interrogated by the CIA at secret prisons; the new administration will close such "black sites."

The Bush administration allowed the CIA to use harsh interrogation tactics off-limits to the military; Obama has abandoned that policy.

The president's promises of change, however, come with equivocating asterisks, most recently an acceptance of the Bush administration's use of the "state secrets" doctrine to thwart a lawsuit over alleged torture as part of the CIA's so-called extraordinary rendition program.

~

PHOTO ESSAY ~~ NEW YORK JEWS TAKE TO THE STREETS IN SUPPORT OF GAZA

~

I have always maintained on this Blog and elsewhere that there is a difference between Jews and zionists.

The following photos are proof of that.

Over 1,000 New York Jews demonstrated in front of the Word zionist Organisation and Jewish Agency against Israel’s policies in Gaza.

It was a 24 hour long demonstration (still going on as I write this).

~

9/11 widow killed in crash

~


The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, the type of plane that crashed outside Buffalo, is favored by regional airlines for its low fuel and maintenance costs.
(The Canadian Press, via AP)

One of the victims of the Buffalo plane crash was the widow of a man who died in the September 11 attacks, according to reports.

**************************

(Sept. 11th Widow
did NOT accept
cash settlement;
she sued the
government instead.
Also, as a co-founder
of the group "Voices of Sept. 11"
she pushed for an
Investigative Commission
and US. govt. intelligence reforms.- WRH)

~

Leaked Pages Of Bush First Post-White House Speech To Be Given In Canada

~

Satire by Chimpplanet

Former President George W. Bush will give his first speaking engagement since leaving the White House next month in Canada, according to the CTV. A couple of pages of his speech were leaked to the press.

The event will be a private affair, dubbed "a conversation with George W. Bush," on March 17 in Calgary, Alberta. About 1,500 are expected to attend.

The few pages of the former president’s discussion of his "eight momentous years in the Oval Office" read as follows:

“Dear Canucks. This word sounds so much like my Nookoolar word. Like meaning Canadian Nukes. They tell me you call one of your hockey teams, the Nucks. It’s nice to be here with some friendly faces. They couldn’t find anywhere in the US for me to give a talk. The liberal commies hate me and the conservatives blame me for their loss to Osama, I mean Obama.

I just hope that International court has no jurisdiction in Canada. I’d hate to be the cause of an international incident by being dragged into a Canuck jail.

I had lots of fun during my 8 years as dictator, I mean president of the US of A. I took care of the rich school kids that will run our country by giving those schools more money and made sure the poor kids would succeed in part-time jobs at Walmart.

I made sure that all the oil in Iraq and Afghanistan would be under the sane control of the US. God told me that he had goofed when he put all that oil under the smelly feet of those ragheads. He meant to put it all in Texas, under my Crawford ranch.

I had some good talks with God, although he sure sounded a lot like Dicky Cheney. That Dicky was always a laugh-a-minute. We had some fun talks when he told me how he (oops!) shot his lawyer friend in the face. He really meant to shoot him in the butt. They had so much fun that day, doing Johnnie Walker shots in the limo and then getting out to shoot a bunch of dumb birds.

The biggest laugh we had is when he told me that he was getting bored hiding in the bunkers during 9/11 and he finally made believe he was me and had a hijacked plane shot down over Pennsylvania.”

The above was the extent of the pages leaked. If we get anymore, we’ll print them here.

~

New Details on Torture Deaths

~

In December 2002 – as the Bush administration was ratcheting up its harsh questioning of detainees – several captives died from “abusive” treatment at the hands of U.S. military interrogators in Afghanistan, according to newly declassified Defense Department documents.

~

Poll: Americans want Bush prosecuted

~

A majority of Americans say George Bush should face trial for his misdeeds, as US lawmakers are moving to probe into a raft of his illegal actions.

~

Stimulus: How it may affect your wallet

~

Congress has finalized the economic recovery plan. Here's a look at some of the provisions geared at financial relief for individuals.

Making Work Pay Credit: The bill provides a $400 credit per worker and a $800 credit per dual-earner couple. The full credit would be paid to people making $75,000 or less ($150,000 per dual-earner couple).

The credit would also be refundable, which means that even very low-income families who don't make enough to owe income tax would be able to claim it.

For most working individuals, the credit will be paid over time at roughly $15 per period, assuming 26 pay periods in a year. Estimated cost: $116 billion.

One-time payments to those who don't work: For retirees, disabled individuals and others who don't work, the bill provides a one-time $250 payment. Estimated cost: $14.2 billion.

~

Microsoft bounty for worm creator

~

A reward of $250,000 (£172,000) has been offered by Microsoft to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus.

Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of computers worldwide.

~

US judges admit taking kickbacks

~


The judges face sentences of more than seven years

Two US judges charged with taking more than $2m (£1.4m) in kickbacks from a privately-run detention centre have pleaded guilty to fraud.

Prosecutors say Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took the money in return for giving young offenders long sentences to serve in the centre.

The deal allowed PA Child Care LLC and a sister company to receive extra government funds, they say.

~

Declassified DoD Documents Suggest Detainees Were Tortured to Death

~

Newly declassified Defense Department documents describe a pattern of “abusive” behavior by U.S. military interrogators that appears to have caused the deaths of several suspected terrorists imprisoned at a detention center in Afghanistan in December 2002, just two days after former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques against prisoners in that country.

The previously secret pages were part of a wide-ranging report into detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay known as the Church Report, named after Vice Admiral Albert T. Church, the former Naval inspector general, who conducted the investigation at the request of Rumsfeld. That 360-page report, delivered to Congress in March 2004, said there was "no policy that condoned or authorized either abuse or torture," which critics of the Bush administration believed was a cover-up.

~

ISRAELIS were 9-11 short sale stock buyers, betting on WTC terror strikes, story killed...

~

Between August 26 and September 11, 2001, a group of speculators, identified by the American Securities and Exchange Commission as Israeli citizens, sold "short" a list of 38 stocks that could reasonably be expected to fall in value as a result of the pending attacks.

These speculators operated out of the Toronto, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany, stock exchanges and their profits were specifically stated to be "in the millions of dollars."

*************************

(A reader asked a cogent question of how it was possible to know that Bernie Madoff's wife withdrew $15 million days before he confessed to his ponzi scheme, yet nobody ever found out who shorted the stocks of the airlines involved with 9-11.

So I dug this out in reply, and especially in light of Bernie Madoff's scam-capades, decided to relink it here to the front page. - WRH)

***********************

The most important question is HOW DID THESE ISRAELIS KNOW THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS GOING TO BE ATTACKED WITHIN A MONTH?)

~

Q+A-Who is running Israel?

~

WHY WAS THE ELECTION HELD IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Israeli parliaments can last four years and the outgoing one could have kept sitting until 2010. But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert quit last year over a corruption scandal.

LIVNI WON THE MOST SEATS, SHOULDN'T SHE BE PRIME MINISTER?

Not so fast. True, in Israel's 60-year history, the leader of the biggest parliamentary party has always been nominated prime minister, at least immediately after an election. But there is nothing in writing -- Israel has no formal constitution -- that obliges President Shimon Peres to ask Livni to forge a coalition.

SO WHEN WILL WE KNOW WHO IS PRIME MINISTER?

Peres is likely to take his time, consulting all parties, before nominating someone to try and form a government.

AND WILL PERES'S CHOICE THEN BE PRIME MINISTER?

Peres's choice will have 42 days to form a government.
In the meantime, Olmert will remain as caretaker prime minister.

DOES IT MATTER THAT THERE'S NO NEW PRIME MINISTER?

Yes and no. Some issues, such as negotiating a longer-term truce with Hamas after last month's war in the Gaza Strip seem likely to be dealt with by the outgoing administration.

~

Halliburton’s Army comes to Iraq

~

Author tells how well-connected Texas oil company revolutionized way America makes war.

AMY GOODMAN:

The private military contractor KBR was awarded a $35 million contract for electrical work in Iraq by the Army Corps of Engineers last week. The former Halliburton subsidiary got the Pentagon contract even though it’s under criminal investigation for the deaths of at least two American soldiers in Iraq caused by improperly installed or maintained electrical equipment.

Separately, the US government charged KBR on Friday with criminal bribery charges for promising and paying tens of millions of dollars to Nigerian officials in exchange for four lucrative contracts between 1995 and 2004. Last month, Halliburton said it would pay $559 million to end the investigation if the government approved a settlement.

Another lawsuit filed last week accused Halliburton and KBR of the wrongful death of a truck driver they had employed. He was killed two years ago by US soldiers who allegedly mistook him for an insurgent at a checkpoint near Baghdad. The lawsuit accuses Halliburton and KBR of negligence.

~

Halliburton, KBR Plead Guilty to Cheney-Era Bribery Charges

~

Halliburton and its former subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), pleaded guilty Wednesday to five-counts of violating federal bribery laws and will pay the federal government $402 million to settle a decade-long criminal investigation into claims the company paid off intermediaries of the notoriously corrupt Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and some of his subordinates to win a lucrative construction contract for a natural gas liquefaction plant while former Vice President Dick Cheney headed the corporation, the Justice Department announced.

~

Cheney aide joins pro-Israel think tank

~

A top aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney rejoined a pro-Israel think tank.

John Hannah, Cheney's national security adviser, will direct a new initiative on U.S. strategy in the Middle East, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said this week in a release.


Hannah's wife, Laura, is also employed by the Washington Institute in an administrative capacity.

~

Bush Supporter Investigated for Obama Inaugural Fraud

~

I wonder if Bush holdovers in the federal government and elsewhere will continue to cause issues like this going forward, or if Obama's presidency will somehow disinfect the corruption from the former Child King.

Only time will tell, but while we're waiting let's nail every criminal we can, especially creeps like this guy.

~

US 'lost track of Afghan weapons'

~

It found that, in the four years up to June 2008, the US military failed to keep complete records on some 222,000 weapons entering the country.

According to these sources, the report says:

US military officials failed to keep proper records on about 87,000 rifles, pistols, mortars and other weapons sent to Afghanistan between December 2004 and June 2008 - about a third of all the weapons sent

There was a similar lack of management of a further 135,000 light weapons donated to Afghan forces via the US military by 21 countries

The military failed even to record the serial numbers of some 46,000 weapons, making it impossible to confirm receipt of weapons or identify any which had fallen into the hands of militants

The serial numbers of 41,000 weapons were recorded, but US military officials still had no idea where they were

~

ISRAELIS were 9-11 short sale stock buyers, betting on WTC terror strikes, story killed...

~

Between August 26 and September 11, 2001, a group of speculators, identified by the American Securities and Exchange Commission as Israeli citizens, sold "short" a list of 38 stocks that could reasonably be expected to fall in value as a result of the pending attacks.

These speculators operated out of the Toronto, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany, stock exchanges and their profits were specifically stated to be "in the millions of dollars."

*************************

(A reader asked a cogent question of how it was possible to know that Bernie Madoff's wife withdrew $15 million days before he confessed to his ponzi scheme, yet nobody ever found out who shorted the stocks of the airlines involved with 9-11.

So I dug this out in reply, and especially in light of Bernie Madoff's scam-capades, decided to relink it here to the front page. - WRH)

***********************

The most important question is HOW DID THESE ISRAELIS KNOW THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS GOING TO BE ATTACKED WITHIN A MONTH?)

~

9 Humiliating Ways Cell Phones Injure People

~

1. Bumping Into Inanimate Objects

2. Falling

3. Walking into traffic

4. Road Accidents

5. Battery Explosion

6. Carpel Tunnel

7. Cell phone up your bottom

8. Swallowing a cell phone

9. Cancer

~

Obama's First Press Conference: Repeating Old Lies, Dodging Old Truths

~

In the past few years, newspapers and broadcast media around the world have print and aired details of a lawless US government policy of kidnapping civilians and flying them abroad for indefinite detention and torture at the hands of client governments or its own military and civilian officials.

Called “extraordinary rendition,” by the Bush Administration, which inherited it from its Democratic predecessor, this illegal practice has been the subject of a number of books reconstructing the flight plans and naming many of the so-called “black sites” which were the illegal jailings and tortures took place.

Despite the wealth of publicly available detail on these criminal practices, the Bush administration claimed that to be answerable in court for this illegal conduct would compromise “state secrets,” and found federal judges to agree with this ridiculous claim.

On his first full day in office, President Obama renewed his pledge to close the “black sites” without of course naming them and giving himself a full year to do so, and declared that the US government would observe legal norms from this point onward.

~

Internment Camps Readied For Mass Illegal Alien Influx?

~

The news that Texas officials are working on contingency plans to deal with a sudden influx of illegal aliens following a collapse of the Mexican government has sparked fears that FEMA detention camps, the expansion of which is the subject of current legislation in Congress, are being readied to detain thousands of illegals as well as American citizens.

~

Ari Fleischer on "the grid in front of" the President

~

Daily Kos' Meteor Blades points to a rare moment of television candor last night, as Ari Fleischer explained to Bill O'Reilly how and why the White House determined which reporters were allowed to ask questions at Press Conferences (i.e.: only establishment journalists seated by Fleischer "in the grid in front of" the President -- not "dot coms and other oddballs who come in there"):

Indeed. It was extremely important to the White House that only "reporters" such as NBC's David Gregory, CNN's John King, Fox's Jim Angle and friends be allowed to ask questions -- because they could be relied upon to stay within the approved White House script. And that's exactly what they always did.

**************************

(Everything about the Bush Administration was especially "packaged" for American consumption. Most of it was fake. The White House press conferences were fake and non-journalists were even allowed into the press room to ask pre-arranged questions of Mr. Bush. The Bush town hall meetings and his video conferences with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were pre-arranged with rehearsals of questions to ask. Bush even had a fake town built in Iraq so they could show the press how safe it had become. - Chimp)
~