a mom against the einsteins enabling slaughter

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SHE ROCKS.

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I don't even want to think about this.

There was ample coverage of the loss of a US F-15 fighter jet over Libya Tuesday, and it always came with reassurances that the crew was safe. Less safe, however, were a group of Libyan civilians who came to the aid of one of the crew.

That’s because the civilians who met the plane’s weapons officer and offered him fruit juice while he waited to be rescued were attacked by US Marines during the brief ground incursion meant to rescue the crew. Some of the reports suggest the Marines arrived in a V-22 Osprey attack helicopter and opened fire on the crowd with it.

Six Libyan civilians were shot in the attack, including a young boy who local hospital officials say may lose his leg because of the attack. The weapons officer had been found in a sheep field and was met by the civilians, who were backers of the anti-Gadhafi rebellion.

The incident is news not just for the tragic outcome, but because despite the explicit UN prohibition on “occupation troops” being spun as a broad prohibition on ground troops, US Marines were indeed on the ground, in Libya, in a field full of sheep.

The pilot was initially picked up by rebel soldiers, who the Marines reported treated him “with dignity and respect” before handing him over to the troops. It does not appear there was any incident with regards to him. The Marines have yet to comment on the shootings in the recovery of the weapons officer.

The F-15 was flying out of Italy at the time of the crash, and officials are blaming a system malfunction. It is the first aircraft reported lost since the US and France started the Libyan War on Saturday. An F-15E Strike Eagle costs approximately $31 million.

I want a BATH in a REAL tub and I want it NOW.

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love, 99
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the einsteins at PNAC are at it again

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This has heavily to do with why I'm trying mightily not to obsess on the pushbutton revolutions in full swing right now.

In a distinct echo of the tactics they pursued to encourage US intervention in the Balkans and Iraq, a familiar clutch of neo-conservatives appealed Friday for the United States and NATO to "immediately" prepare military action to help bring down the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and end the violence that is believed to have killed well over a thousand people in the past week.

The appeal, which came in the form of a letter signed by 40 policy analysts, including more than a dozen former senior officials who served under President George W. Bush, was organised and released by the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a two-year-old neo-conservative group that is widely seen as the successor to the more-famous – or infamous – Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

Warning that Libya stood "on the threshold of a moral and humanitarian catastrophe", the letter, which was addressed to President Barack Obama, called for specific immediate steps involving military action, in addition to the imposition of a number of diplomatic and economic sanctions to bring "an end to the murderous Libyan regime".

In particular, it called for Washington to press NATO to "develop operational plans to urgently deploy warplanes to prevent the regime from using fighter jets and helicopter gunships against civilians and carry out other missions as required; (and) move naval assets into Libyan waters" to "aid evacuation efforts and prepare for possible contingencies;" as well as "(e)stablish the capability to disable Libyan naval vessels used to attack civilians."

I know the place of their birth and it ain't in the GORGEOUS courage and transcendent love of the people rising and being slaughtered for it. No, no, no it ain't. I'm trying not to talk about it too much because I think I might go postal from more people reporting as though this were a sporting event and more citizens waxing so smugly confused about it all.

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love, 99
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it's all over the place

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And it upsets me too much. So I'm avoiding all but the most cursory looks, but, within this piece about the Friday protests all over the Middle East is this bit about Egypt, and that could use an update here.

Egypt's new military rulers, promising to guard against "counter-revolution", faced political pressure on Friday to purge the cabinet of ministers appointed by Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president, as thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo.

On the eve of the rally that will also celebrate two weeks since Mubarak's removal, the military, which has promised
elections within six months, assured Egyptians there would be "no return to the past" of the Mubarak era.

At a gathering at Tahrir Square, which was also to remind the military of the people power that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule, activists urged the military to overhaul the newly appointed cabinet and install a fresh team of technocrats.

Protesters want Mubarak to be put on trial and for Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik to be fired.

"Friday is another day of protest to bring together Egyptians who bravely ousted Mubarak but still struggle as
remnants of the old regime try to hang on and ruin the revolution," Sameha Metwali, an activist, said.

And shine on you crazy diamond.

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love, 99
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i've been worrying about this for at least a week

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Notwithstanding the outrage over F. William Engdahl daring to suggest such a thing, this is a real possibility. I'm not getting over having been duped by the so-called Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It reminds me of when my horse kicked me in the head. She was trying to kick another horse, but got me instead, and for many years after my stomach would start trying to trade places with my liver every time I was in a corral with a loose horse. No, just because you've been kicked in the head five or six times by color and flower revolutions doesn't mean every one of them has been incited by our covert ops, but we do have to keep asking that goddam question we learned was key when we got kicked in the head in 2001. I might not have even mentioned this, because I truly am in visceral solidarity with the Egyptians and Tunisians and Yemenis and all those rising up around the world, except for my reaction to seeing ElBaradei's name keep popping up in news accounts of the Egyptian uprising.

We have been hearing about him for Mubarak's post ever since he left the IAEA. Just like we kept hearing Hillary's name for president since the day after Clinton left office. She was going to be president until they realized a black president would be even harder to dis whilst bringing hardcore fascism down around us. You know that's so. THE MEDIA ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS. Their function is to keep us in a specially-crafted consensus trance, they didn't change their tune about Hillary until their bosses decided on Obama, and then we got a veritable cosmic symphony of celebration of Martin's Dream while the McCain/Palin circus kept the bubbas busy... so we DO need to be suspicious as hell right now.

The United States DOES have armies of black ops in every country of strategic interest. That's been shown over and over and over. JSOC has been busily hiring since the advent of Genghis Ponzi Yoo's administration, so think. Find links. Pray The Guardian starts hitting the Cairo cables hard... or at least one of the sites trying to help wade through them.

... and ... just as I was about to mention my worry about whether we should not now suspect Anonymous too, I see THIS... which has made me more suspicious. Mindfuckers Rule the World. We need our own global news operation. We couldn't get it, no matter what, because they would infiltrate it and coöpt it. This. Is. NO. Fun.

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love, 99
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do it for yemen

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Or do it because we can't afford it, but do it. Don't just read the cables, report on them....

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love, 99
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yemenis vastly smarter than americans

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Al-Qa'eda IS a myth, and this poor guy is nothing more than their latest excuse to buy more drones. And, of course, once the drones are bought, they have to kill people or it would just look wrong, now wouldn't it? We have been screaming about Genghis Ponzi Yoo claiming the right to murder this guy without a trial for a long time now, and, er, if his purpose was to murder him for real, do you think it would have taken this long? No? Well, then, THINK! The guy is good for trillions of dollars in "defense" spending. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh-the-fuck-yeah. Mean-looking bastard, ain't he?

No, man, dig it, put it together, do the math, and MOURN over the claptrap coming via al-Jazeera. Jesus.

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love, 99
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you might ask yourself, what do we want with yemen?

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Okay? If you were unclear on the concept of why on earth they'd be making such a hairy stink about Yemen suddenly, just look at the map. All will become perfectly crystal clear very swiftly.

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For any of you unfortunate enough to have looked at my "election night" post already, I was drunk, and I messed up the perfect link Old Uncle Dave sent. I fixed it now that I'm only dying of the toxins I so merrily sipped with a bar full of energized Rotarians last night.

Yes, I've even decided to stop being a bitch about Rotarians now.

I'm a goddam woman of the people... all of you... you fuckers.

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OBL's grave found in Yemen...?

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love, 99
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guess who's going to dinner

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Perfect. Perfect.

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love, 99
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this vilify yemen nonsense is going over like a lead balloon

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Or so it would seem by the comments starting to pile up under the laureate's zombie announcement, but I'm so out of touch, they tell me... so maybe not.

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love, 99
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all this bullshit going down

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Fine moment I pick to look at the headlines....

Terror plot thwarted as US-bound explosives seized
By EILEEN SULLIVAN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press – 5 mins ago

WASHINGTON — Authorities on three continents thwarted multiple terrorist attacks aimed at the United States from Yemen on Friday, seizing two explosive packages addressed to Chicago-area synagogues and packed aboard cargo jets. The plot triggered worldwide fears that al-Qaida was launching a major new terror campaign.

President Barack Obama called the coordinated attacks a "credible terrorist threat," and U.S. officials said they were increasingly confident that al-Qaida's Yemen branch, the group responsible for the failed Detroit airliner bombing last Christmas, was responsible.

Parts of the plot might remain undetected, Obama's counterterror chief warned. "The United States is not assuming that the attacks were disrupted and is remaining vigilant," John Brennan said at the White House.

One of the packages was found aboard a cargo plane in Dubai, the other in England. Preliminary tests indicated the packages contained the powerful industrial explosive PETN, the same chemical used in the Christmas attack, U.S. officials said. The tests had not been confirmed.

In the U.S., cargo planes were searched up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and an Emirates Airlines passenger jet was escorted down the coast to New York by American fighter jets.

No explosives were found aboard those planes, though the investigation was continuing on at least two.

Obama's sobering assessment, delivered from the White House podium, unfolded four days before national elections in which discussion of terrorism has played almost no role. The president went ahead with weekend campaign appearances.

The terrorist efforts "underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism," the president said. While he said both packages that contained explosives originated in Yemen, he did not explicitly assign blame to al-Qaida, which is active in that Arab country and long has made clear its goal of launching new attacks on the United States.

Authorities in Dubai intercepted one explosive device. The second package was aboard a plane searched in East Midlands, north of London, and officials said it contained a printer toner cartridge with wires and powder. Brennan said the devices were in packages about the size of a breadbox.

While Obama didn't specifically accuse Yemen's al-Qaida branch, Brennan called it the most active al-Qaida franchise and said anyone associated with the group was a subject of concern.

The radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who now is in hiding in Yemen, is believed to have helped inspire recent attacks including the Fort Hood shooting, the Times Square bombing attempt and the failed Detroit airliner bombing last Christmas Day. Another American hiding in Yemen, Samir Khan, has declared himself a traitor and has helped produce al-Qaida propaganda.

Most of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation.

Brennan later told reporters that the explosives "were in a form that was designed to try to carry out some type of attack," but he provided no further details.

"The forensic analysis is under way," he said, adding, "Clearly from the initial observation, the initial analysis that was done, the materials that were found in the device that was uncovered was intended to do harm."

Intelligence personnel had been monitoring a suspected plot for days, officials said. The packages in England and Dubai were discovered after Saudi Arabian intelligence picked up information related to Yemen and passed it on to the U.S., one official said.

U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists hoped to mail chemical and biological materials as part of an attack on America and other Western countries using the mail. The alert came in a Sept. 23 bulletin from the Homeland Security Department and obtained by The Associated Press.

In the hours following the discoveries, Yemeni officials and Scotland Yard were investigating and the U.S. issued a 72-hour ban on all cargo from Yemen.

"As a precaution, DHS has taken a number of steps to enhance security," the agency said in a statement. "Some of these security measures will be visible while others will not."

U.S. authorities conducted searches of aircraft in Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York City.

Since the failed Christmas bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner, Yemen has been a focus for U.S. counterterrorism officials. Before that attack, the U.S. regarded al-Qaida's branch in Yemen as primarily a threat in the region, not to the United States.

The Yemen branch known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has since become a leading source of terrorist propaganda and recruiting. Authorities believe about 300 al-Qaida members or cells operate in Yemen.

The Yemeni government has stepped up counterterrorism operations, with help from the U.S. military and intelligence officials. Mohammed Shayba, general-director of the state airline's cargo department, said the government is conducting an investigation.

"Those in charge are in constant meetings and they are investigating and taking the issue seriously," he told The Associated Press.

Would it stop if I quit looking?

FIGHT THE POWER

Old hat....

No Cargo Planes Even Left Yemen in Last 48 Hours....

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love, 99
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obama's not doing this; he's just letting it happen

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I was very busy dreaming this morning. About a second after I my dream self yelled that the phone was going to ring, the phone rang... which is good because I hit the hay early last night and would have kept sleeping right into my sleep-most-of-the-day-and-stay-up-most-of-the-night thing. I don't think this is going to turn it around, but you never know with me, you just never know. I only ever slept and woke on cue when 86 took it upon himself to tell me to do it. I don't know how to get that power.

Anyway, I decided to use the happy phone call at such an unhappy hour as an opportunity to get up and face the day. I was greeted almost immediately by a news report on the volcano in Indonesia erupting, which was closely followed by the news of Walking Eagle's return from vacation. The hairdo who was reporting said we could expect the economy to be front and center now that he has returned, but proceeded to show us all the campaign appearances he's been making instead. He isn't the president. Dubya wasn't the president. I think Bubba was our last APPROXIMATION of a president, and he was a bad one. I might only think this because I was not paying nearly as much attention. I was very busy reading ten books a week and planting thousands and thousands of trees and bringing down some Wall Street thugs and dealing with 86's insanity.

Anyway, this pig in the White House is even less inclined to get himself assassinated than the last pig in the White House. The only difference is that he very calmly and quietly presides over even more effective outrages against the Constitution where Dubya stood up and made a bunch of petulant excuses for it. I swear, much as I loath Dubya, I preferred his approach.

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even as i sing praises to my coffee kettle

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I take in the glories of a not-guilty plea of the not-a-lap-bomber, and the rightness of the not-terrorist exhortations of a Yemeni cleric against an American occupation of Yemen.

Because you are too afraid to cut yourself from the herd of slaves to the sociopathically-aggressive plutocrats to stick up for our legal system, and for Yemeni rights, to storm news outlets demanding they stop bullhorning this vicious war drumming, to storm DC to demand the same, how many people are dying horribly? And for what?

Not so you can pull up to the pump with ease, not even for that filthy excuse. No. It's much worse than that. It's so that the sociopathically-aggressive fucks can get richer still and stay richer still until the end of time. Not only that! But also that the end of time comes a lot sooner than it has to.

ARE YOU CRAZY?

Yes, yes, you are.
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globe-trotting plus full-time lying is really, really hard on a girl

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Yes, yes it is.
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mild mannered and thoughtful not a lap bomber

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They're talking about the Sana'a Institute in the video, and the kid they're talking about seems most likely to have been interested in a Sufi School in Hadramaout than looking for bin Laden roots... but I haven't gotten to the bottom of that one.
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this stuff just leaves me spluttering

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Hillary Mann-Leverett, a former US diplomat who worked at the national security council, told Al Jazeera that Yemen had long been a troubled state plagued by poverty and violence.

"The most important thing here for geopolitics globally and within the region, is that Yemen has been a fractured, desperately poor and deeply fractitious country that all the countries in the region and the superpowers have used as a battleground," she said.

But Mann-Leverett also said that the Obama administration's policies towards the region were partially to blame for threats against Washington and its allies.

"We have given the Saudis a green light to militarily intervene in Yemen and to characterise what is happening in Yemen as a Sunni-Shia war [with] the Saudis there to defend the Sunnis against craven Shia," she said.

"We're paying the price today of outsourcing our policy to the Saudis."

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just in case you were hoping that was a mirage last night

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It wasn't. And, just in case you think I enjoy being a bitch about Obama's dickless impersonation of a president, I don't. Further, I remind you, that I don't even think he wants to be this way. He's just too afraid they will kill him if he doesn't go this route. It may seem harsh, but, well, that's no goddam excuse. When you are so all-fired avid to be president, THIS is what you sign on for. Period. Full stop. No shit. Sorry, bub. You keep your oath and if they kill you for it, that's none of your lookout.

And it's getting more familiar by the minute....

If you have not yet heard what witness Haskell has to say about the Lap Bomber, click in to the blog and it's right near the top of my sidebar. About a half an hour run time and there won't be part of a doubt left in your mind that this was a false flag to whip up support for our aggression in Yemen... which... heavy sigh... is almost certainly about whipping up Saudi aggression toward Iran, so, well, LISTEN TO THAT INTERVIEW AND START SCREAMING!
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ridiculously transparent

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This is just entirely too convenient for the kind of people we've been trying to subdue since 9/11 and, of course, I'm not talking Muslims here. I'm talking plutocrats and corrupt capitalist pigs... the kinds of guys Obama is eager to please.
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we're bombing yemen too

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No. Really.
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