Bush Admin’s Pentagon Spied on Americans for Peacefully Protesting Halliburton: Cheney’s Old Corporation that is Ripping off US Tax Payers

by Houston Global Awareness Jan 24, 2006

A Houston-based anti-Halliburton group was spied on by a top-secret Pentagon counter-intelligence agency in 2004, according to a report in Newsweek magazine. The peaceful protest, organized by Houston Global Awareness on June 29, 2004, was attended by approximately ten local peace activists. The Pentagon reports up to President Bush’s Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

The protest involved handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to employees of giant military contractor Halliburton to draw attention to allegations that the company deliberately over-charged US taxpayers for food it was supposed to serve our troops in Iraq.

The U.S. Army analysts at the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), created three years ago by Bush's Defense Department, said the peanut-butter protest was a potential threat to national security. I'm not making this up.

Yeah, I mean what if they didn’t use Halliburton’s Official Corporate Brand of Peanut Butter? Or their Official Brand of Jelly? This sounds like the kind of thing you’d read in The Onion or other comedy sources, but it is our tax dollars at work to spy on Americans for the lamest reasons.

A member of the group of American protestors, Maureen Haver, said "It's truly a sad day for our system of government when the Pentagon uses tax-payer funds to protect corporate interests by spying on its citizens engaged in peaceful protest."

WHAT?!!! AMERICAN CITIZENS THINKING THAT THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST A CORPORATION THAT IS STEALING FROM THE US TAX PAYERS?!!!! HOW DARE THEY!!!! WHAT DO THEY THINK THIS IS, A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY?!!!!! THE NERVE OF THOSE PEON NON-WEALTHY AMERICANS THINKING THAT THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST!!!!!

Well, not while George W. Bush is propped up as the puppet president with Tricky Dick Cheney pulling his strings and running this nation, I tell you!

Of course none of these Americans who were spied on had phoned terrorists or anyone in another country. They were just protesting a corrupt corporation lining the pockets of the Vice President. And for that they were spied on. Americans spied on for opposing a company that still pays the Vice President deferred salary and stock options while it takes our tax dollars for services it did not deliver to our troops.

Bush apologists keep claiming that his administration only spies on terrorists. Well, guess what? If you simply disagree with Bush you will be spied on. More and more stories come out every day detailing countless American citizens spied on for engaging in peaceful protest under the Bush Regime. Those are just the ones we know about. The Corrupt Corporate Mainstream Media yawns and says, “Oh, well, I’m sure they had a good reason,” and let it pass. A great reason as it turns out: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Excuse me? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are now a threat to national security according to the Bush Defense Department?!! Maybe they should have checked with the White House to find out which kinds of sandwiches are NOT a threat to national security. Bologna? Ham? Melted cheese? Give us a clue, George.

Though, something tells me that it wasn’t the sandwich, but the fact that they were criticizing Cheney’s company, Halliburton, that warranted the spying. Welcome to the USSR Part II. Bush’s idea of democracy is a totalitarian state where those who disagree with him or his Corporate Cronies are spied on and punished. Reminds me a lot of the USSR Part I. Just substitute borsht with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and you’ve got the sequel.

Read the Post Chronicle article here.

Read the Newsweek article here.

Bush White House Caught in Big Lie, Yet Again, This Time About a Meeting Paid for by Abramoff Clients

On May 9, 2001, President Bush met with 21 state legislators, Abramoff, and several of his tribal clients (including the Coushattas and the Kickapoos). Abramoff charged his clients $25,000 for arranging the meeting. The White House denied that Bush met with Abramoff or the Indians.

But TIME now has a photo from the May 9 meeting, in which “Bush appears with Abramoff and Raul Garza Sr., a Texan Abramoff represented who was then chairman of the Kickapoo Indians,” and records show that Abramoff went to the White House 200 times in the first 10 months of Bush’s first term alone. The attendees of the meeting attest to the fact that both Bush and Abramoff were in attendance at this meeting along with Abramoff’s clients who had to pay $25,000 to meet with the President.

Once again, the White House is caught in a lie. The White House keeps records of all meetings with the President. In the face of overwhelming evidence, the administration needs to give the public facts about the meetings Abramoff attended at the White House.

"The president does not know him, nor does the president recall ever meeting him," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said of Abramoff who was declared a Bush "pioneer" for raising at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney '04 re-election campaign. It is not known how much more than $100,000 he raised for Bush as the White House will not reveal that information.

Most of the Corrupt Corporate US Mainstream Media are ignoring this story, but at least one newspaper, the Texas Observer, has the courage to report this. The Texas Observer writes about issues ignored or underreported in the mainstream press. Do yourself a favor and read it.

The Herald reports that the Bush Administration is accused of spying on those who disagree with Bush policies. Countless other peace groups were spied on under Bush. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has an editorial stating that we have “a president [who] can do what he pleases in the name of national security, and neither Congress nor the judiciary can stop him. At the end of the day, that is the real threat to American democracy.”

From the rest of the Mainstream Media…silence. Our Democracy is under threat, our leaders are lying and the Corrupt Corporate US Mainstream Media fails to respond.

Alito as Supreme Court Justice Not a Done Deal

My friend Patty asked me to pass this along:

NOT A Done Deal, NOT A Done Deal

START WITH A NEW ACTION PAGE TO FILIBUSTER ALITO:

http://www.emailtocongress.com

NEWS FLASH: THE ALITO VOTE HAS BEEN DELAYED A WEEK. WE CAN WIN THIS!!!

CALL YOUR SENATORS RIGHT NOW at 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073.

We've noticed the most curious thing. Publicly Alito's supporters state pronouncements that his confirmation is a "done" deal. And yet behind the scenes they are stilly lobbying furiously for a vote as quickly as they can get it. What do we make of this?

It's con, folks. It's a great big honking corporate media lie. There is only one way the extreme right wing can win this one, and that is by discouraging the rest of us from speaking out. We'd have to be pretty stupid to go for that one, huh? We'd have to be total chumps, huh? Why else would anyone surrender a fight when they had the numbers to win?

And we do have the numbers. We are the majority. The president is back down to 39% approval rating and dropping again. And even if the majority did NOT oppose their radical dictator president agenda, and all we need are 41 votes to filibuster. We HAVE 41 votes. We HAVE 41 votes. We HAVE 41 votes. All we need to win is to exercise the power we have, the will to win!

We'll make you a deal. For the next two weeks, we all repeat these words as a mantra

ALITO IS NOT A DONE DEAL

If you just do that, ALL of you, repeat it in your minds until it drives out the negativity, until it drives out the defeatism, until it drives out the despair, until it drives out the insidious right wing talking point which the cable TV propagandists have planted in our own minds. Just do that one thing, and we promise that we will deliver the victory for you.

If you are listening to a progressive show, and you hear someone say that it is not worth fighting anymore, IMMEDIATELY call them and chew them out. Demand that they give out action links over the air. And to do it not in some "ain't gonna work anyway" tone of voice, but to do it with enthusiasm and the belief that it WILL work. Demand that they make

WE CAN STOP ALITO

a recurring theme of every one of their shows for the next two weeks. If they are not giving out action links periodically, demand to find out why. There are other good action pages besides our own but they should be giving out something. For the purpose of something to be given out over the air it should be something that is easy to say and remember like

http://www.emailtocongress.com

If you visit a progressive blog and you do not see links to action pages RIGHT AT THE TOP of the page as prominently displayed as possible, email them and demand to know why. We control an enormous amount of page space on the internet and it is NOT being used effectively to advocate for policy change. EVERY home page MUST have action links FEATURED on them now without exception.

Send the emails to the bloggers, post messages. Ask them, are you activists or are you not? Why are you not helping with the fight? Why are you not using you media prominence to help save our Supreme Court? What are you not acting? Why have you not dedicated space on your site to the cause? Why are you not contributing to the mental energy of believing we can prevail? Do you want to win or not?

If we all do just that, a magical thing will take place. People will begin to believe that we can win. People will believe that we can make a difference. People will believe that democracy can work. And it will work. And we will win. We promise. To get no more simply email to

no_more@emailtocongress.com

Other web sites with ways to contact Congress on this issue are:

http://www.SaveTheCourt.org/AlitoFax

and

http://www.nocrony.com/

CALL YOUR SENATORS RIGHT NOW at 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073.

Alito favors unlimited Presidential Power at the expense of the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Alito supports Corporations’ Rights at the expense of Regular Americans’ Rights. Our future—the Future of America is at stake. Call and send a fax via one or all of these links.

Patriotism is Indeed a Double-Edged Sword

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war
in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.

It both emboldens the blood,
just as it narrows the mind . . .

And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch
and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed,
the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry.

Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear
and blinded with patriotism,
will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.

How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar.

Julius Caesar used these tactics when he overthrew the Republic of Rome and turned it into the Roman Empire with Julius Caesar as its first dictator.

Soldiers Ordered to Shed Armor or Face Losing Benefits

Soldiers serving in Iraq whose families purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor have been told that if they don’t take the body armor off and leave it behind they will not receive their full life insurance payouts. Is it because that body armor is substandard? No it’s better than what the US Army provides when it does actually provide body armor.

“Currently nine US generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor.” But the lower ranks are told to leave their privately purchased body armor behind.

Right-Wing Commentator Calls Bill O’Reilly a Clown

Right-wing conservative commentator and wholesale Bush supporter David Brooks was interviewed recently on the Charlie Rose show and called Bill O’Reilly’s tirades about Christmas “Clownishness.”

O’Reilly responded, “I mean, funny like I'm a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I'm here to f***in' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?” OK so maybe that was Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, but it fit.

All Hail King George

In light of President Bush’s recent admission that he violated FISA law by tapping the phones of Americans without bothering to even apply for a warrant up to 72 hours (3 full days) afterwards, adding wording to a torture ban suggesting that he might do it anyway if he wanted to, and calling those who are critical of him and his decision to invade Iraq traitors. I offer this quote of our dear fearless leader from when he was first running for President:

''If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier — so long as I'm the dictator.''
-George W. Bush Dec 18 2000

He got his wish. Welcome to his dictatorship.

Bush Pulls McCarty Card – Calls Critics Traitors

Yesterday, President Bush pulled the McCarthy card and said that Democrats who criticize his policies in the Iraq War are giving aid and comfort to the enemy (that is committing treason). So it is traitorous to criticize the President’s War Policy. Let’s see what the other Republican Leaders said:

"You can support the troops but not the president"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"[The] President…is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years"
-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W. Bush

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem."
-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

These Republican Leaders were referring to President Clinton who had committed troops to Kosovo. This is how the Republicans “supported” our president and our troops during Clinton’s successful military intervention in the Balkans by criticizing the President’s war policy just as Democrats are today. Should these Republican Leaders, including Bush himself, be tried for treason for giving aid and comfort to the enemy? If we are to believe Bush today, then YES!

Joe

Marine’s Mom Buys Son Body Armor Since Bush Admin Won’t

When other mothers were starting their Christmas shopping, Elaine Brower was online buying $3,000 worth of body armor for the son who will be heading for Iraq with the Marines next month. This has happened all across the country since the Bush Admin began to send young men and women into harms way without adequate protection. A recent “Secret” Pentagon Study found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials. More on this available at this post.

In case you breezed through that last piece let's say it again: a Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

Think about that and remember what Bush said when asked about American men and women in uniform dying in Iraq? He said, “Bring ‘em on!”

He shortchanges the troops denying them the armor they want and need and then taunts the enemy by saying, “Bring ‘em on!” More than 2200 Americans died because they did just that.

Pentagon Study Shows 80% of Marines Killed in Iraq Would Have Lived if Bush Admin Provided Enough Body Armor

A Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

Back in 2004 Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why the Bush Administration hadn’t sent enough armor to service members serving in Iraq and why they had to weld scrap metal to their vehicles to protect them from roadside bombs. "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rumsfeld replied that, "You go to war with the Army you have," not the one you might want, and that any rate the Army was pushing manufacturers of vehicle armor to produce it as fast as humanly possible. The company that supplied that armor then announced that they could send a lot more, but the Bush Administration hadn’t asked them for more. Then a reporter claimed that he had gotten Army Spc. Wilson to ask the question. The media then ignored the original question and jumped on the bandwagon claiming that the reporter had planted the question so we should all just ignore it. Right? The only problem is that Army Spc. Wilson said that the question was his idea and the reporter tried to talk him out of asking it and into asking a less provocative question, but he refused. The Lapdog Corporate Mainstream Media didn’t bother reporting that the reporter had lied, and now a Pentagon Report shows that the service member’s question from way back then could have saved 80% of the more than 2200 US lives lost in Iraq if the media had pressed the issue instead of ignoring it as the Bush Administration asked them to. Therefore the Mainstream Media is indirectly responsible for 80% of the US deaths since that question was asked by one of our men in uniform of the Bush Administration official in charge of the US Military. Rumsfeld is directly responsible, but the Cowardly US Press is indirectly responsible for 80% of our dead. Let me repeat: the Lapdog Corporate US Mainstream Media is indirectly responsible for 80% of our dead in Iraq because they failed to press issues raised by our men and women in uniform.

The Pentagon has been collecting the data on wounds since the beginning of the war in part to determine the effectiveness of body armor. The military's medical examiner, Craig T. Mallak, told a military panel in 2003 that the information "screams to be published." But it would take nearly two years for the Bush Administration to do so, and currently the Pentagon report is “secret.” So we're not actually supposed to know about it. I'm sure Bush will call for a Congressional investigation to find out who leaked the fact that his administration could have saved 80% of the US troops killed in Iraq if they hadn't been so cheap with body armor.

The Bush Administration has spent more than $300 Billion on the Iraq War with much of it going to well-connected corporations like Vice President Cheney's old company Halliburton. Too bad they weren't as free spending of our tax dollars when it came to protecting our troops as they were lining the pockets of their corporate cronies.

Who's supporting the troops exactly? Bush? I don't think so!

Support the troops: Impeach Bush!

Leno gets it right

"President Bush is trying to put the best spin he can on this eavesdropping scandal, like he said today: 'This proves we have a government that listens to the people.'"
--Jay Leno

Sean Hannity Lies about FISA and Bush Wire Taps of American Citizens. Anyone surprised?

Crooks and Liars has this: Sean Hannity Lies about FISA. Anyone surprised?

Emailer William reported: Yesterday at approximity 3:25 Central, one of Sean Hannity's listeners asked him if the Democrats would make up something to get Bush impeached. After some almost true statements about Conyer's resolutions, Hannity made a totally false mischaracterization of the FISA regulations.

Hannity out-right lies on the air about the process of getting a FISA warrant. He must be very nervous about what will be revealed after we actually find out who is being monitored. I'm surprised they brought OBL into the talking point discussion at all, but I guess when in doubt-any reference to 9/11 is a good thing in Hannity's mind.

Hannity: If Osama Bin Laden calls the United States, they're saying we need to go spend 76 hours and get a court order before we can record that phone conversation-that's how asinine their logic is.

Audio-MP3

Hannity knows damn well that under FISA laws the Bush Administration could tap a phone bin Laden is calling immediately and only needs to notify the FISA courts within 72 hours afterwards. Under the law he eventually needs to notify the courts which will keep the information classified. The FISA courts have granted tens of thousands of search warrants for wire taps over the past 30 years, and almost never turns down the government’s request if there is the remotest chance that the information could help National Security. They've only denied four requests in 30 years. The fact that Bush wanted to tap American citizens’ phones without any documentation of whose phones he was tapping suggests that he knew that the extremely lenient FISA courts would object to tapping those Americans’ phones. Hannity knows this, and he has the balls to lie to his viewers about this deliberately misleading them into thinking that a wire tap of bin Laden would be delayed by even a minute under FISA laws let alone the ridiculous 76 hours he lied about. And in the same breath Hannity calls Democrats raising the issue of impeachment for Bush’s admitted breaking of the law, liars. This is what FOX News Channel is all about: ALL LIES ALL THE TIME 24x7.

Those Americans not misled by right-wing lies know that the government can record a call right away and wait up until 72 hours until they get the warrant, but I've heard many right-wingnuts lie about the law before, although they usually get the 72 hours part right. They just lie about the after part like Pat Buchanan did in the link above. The Lapdog Corporate Mainstream Media just smiles and lets the lies roll merrily on as dimwitted Katie Couric did in that link.

WHY ARE THESE LYING PIECES OF SHIT LIKE HANNITY AND BUCHANAN ALLOWED ON THE AIR TO FILL AMERICANS’ MINDS WITH FALSE INFORMATION DISGUISED AS NEWS? WHEN WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN DUPED BY LYING SCUM LIKE THESE ASSHOLES? WHEN WILL THE FEW REPUTABLE JOURNALISTS LEFT IN AMERICA START CALLING THESE LIARS ON CLAIMS THAT ARE SO CLEARLY FALSE?

How will we be able to face our children and grandchildren when they ask how stupid we could have been to let obvious lies go unchecked and unchallenged? Good question. How do the Germans who allowed the lies of Hitler’s Nazism to go unchallenged face their children and grandchildren? The fact is they are humiliated by their past and so will we be.