We the human race have so much potential yet we waste it on insignificant things, we need to put our difference aside and focus on some common ground..
We do not need a biblical apocalypse, for we are slowly and meticulously created one ourselves through violence, greed and war. ~alexiuss
WOG out.
Here is the article from the Guardian Unlimited:
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave “any time they want,” though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when pressure in the U.S. Congress is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political reforms it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Moreover, the Pentagon on Friday conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi battalions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.
In new violence in Baghdad on Saturday, a car bomb leveled a two-story apartment building, and a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a line of cars at a gas station in new attacks in Baghdad that killed at least eight people.
Al-Maliki made his first public comments on Thursday’s White House report on the reforms, saying his government needed time to enact the political benchmarks that Washington seeks. He insisted it was “fairly natural” that progress would be difficult considering the violence in Iraq and the deep divisions among its leaders.
“We need time and effort, particularly since the political process is facing security, economic and services pressures, as well as regional and international interference,” he told reporters at a Baghdad news conference, without giving a timeframe.
“These difficulties can be read as a big success, not negative points, when they are viewed under the shadow of the big challenges. That is what should be understood in the White House report,” al-Maliki said.
The report fueled calls among congressional critics of the Iraqi policy for a change in strategy, including a withdrawal of American forces. The White House insists it is too early to call its strategy a failure.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned earlier this week of the collapse of the government if the Americans leave. But al-Maliki told reporters Saturday, “We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want.”
But he added that Iraqi forces are “still in need of more weapons and rehabilitation” to be ready in the case of a withdrawal.
In the White House strategy, beefed-up American forces have been waging intensified security crackdowns in Baghdad and areas to the north and south for nearly a month. The goal is to bring quiet to the capital while al-Maliki enacts the political reforms, intended to give Sunni Arabs a greater role in the government and political process, lessening support for the insurgency.
But the benchmarks have been blocked by divisions among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds within al-Maliki’s Cabinet. In August, the parliament is taking a one month vacation – a shorter break than the usual two months, but still enough to anger some in Congress who say lawmakers should push through reforms.
The divisions within al-Maliki’s coalition are not only over the substance of the reforms, but also over separate disputes that have stalled even debate over such legislation as a draft bill to fairly distribute control over and profits from the vital oil sector.
Al-Maliki said some members of his coalition have not formed a “positive partnership” with the others. Al-Maliki has been talking for months of a Cabinet reshuffle that would shed Sunni and Shiite parties seen as obstructionist to form a “coalition of moderates” – though there’s been no sign a change was imminent.
Also Saturday, the U.S. military said it captured an alleged high-level al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader at Baghdad’s international airport. The suspect, believed to have organized mortar and roadside bomb attacks in the capital and nearby area, surrendered “without a struggle,” the military said in a statement.
It did not give details on the suspect or say whether he was traveling in or out of the country when seized.
In the latest violence, a suicide bomber hit cars lined up at a gas station in the southeastern district of Rashin Camp around 11:30 a.m., setting seven vehicles on fire and damaging nearby shops, a police official said. The blast killed seven civilians and wounded 15 others, the official said.
Shortages force Iraqis to stay in line for hours to fill their vehicles or buy fuel for generators they rely on for power amid the capital’s frequent electricity outages.
Hours earlier, a parked car bomb detonated in the western neighborhood of Amil, reducing one apartment building to rubble and heavily damaging a second, another police official said. The 7:30 a.m. blast killed at least one person and wounded five others, and authorities were searching the wreckage for more victims, the official said.
After the blast, several nearby cars were left damaged, and a metal crutch lay in the street next to a pool of blood, according to AP Television news footage of the scene.
Both police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorize to release details of the attacks.
Am adviser to al-Maliki said a fierce gunbattle on Friday between U.S. troops and Iraqi police that killed six policemen was the result of a misunderstanding. U.S. troops had seized a police lieutenant accused of links to Iranian-backed Shiite militants when it came under fire.
Hassan al-Suneid, a legislator close to the prime minister, said American troops did not know a police checkpoint was nearby and “thought they were terrorists.” He said Iraqi soldiers with the Americans also fired on the police.
The U.S. military said Friday that it was the police at the checkpoint who opened fire on the Americans first, along with gunmen on nearby rooftops and at a church. U.S. troops called in warplanes for ground strikes, and six policemen and seven gunmen were killed.
The raid captured the lieutenant, who the military said was helping Iran organize Shiite militants and led a cell involved in bomb and mortar attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops. The military did not specify that the police who fired on the Americans were linked to militias as well but said the police maintained “heavy and accurate fire” on the U.S. troops.
The battle underscored the deep infiltration of Shiite militiamen in the police force. Purging the force is one of the benchmarks, and Thursday’s report acknowledged progress in it has been “unsatisfactory.”
The US forces need to leave some high ranking soldiers to train the Iraqies, leave a shit load of weapons and get that fuck out now……
Mr. Dubya are not wanted any more in Iraq so now he can leave….
WOG out.
I´m building up quite a negative feeling here so I thought I´d lighten it up a little with some porn news. 
Here is the article:
Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organisation have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Thursday.
NAN said its reporter had seen pornographic images stored on several of the children’s laptops.
“Efforts to promote learning with laptops in a primary school in Abuja have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials,” NAN said.
A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters.
WOG out.
First of all look at the flash video here.
Now the the fourteen characteristics again with some more information on each point.:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
The article was written by Lawrence W. Britt.
I´m real scared for anyone who lives in the US right now and I hope this will pass when you vote for your new president..
Much more information here, I suggest you read up on the subject.
WOG out.
I couldn´t agree more with this article it´s really scary that the corporate media is screwing with the mind of the American public to that extent that they truly believe the bush administrations lies , the people of the United States of America need to act now before you “has ass in jam*”.
Now get reading.
From Online Journal:
Forget Osama and the bin Laden family friends of the Bushes. The real names of the terrorists are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and company, plus a complicit Congress that, thus far, refuses to use its constitutional powers to impeach and remove these criminals.
Yet, it’s “al Qaeda,” “al Qaeda,” “al Qaeda,” according to the corporate media parrots who spew it 24/7. “Al Qaeda” is responsible for every act of resistance to outright criminality in this world — from fighting the US occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan to attempting to cause mayhem with vehicular Molotov cocktails in London and Glasgow (erroneously called “car bombs” by the corporate media).
To hear them tell it, “al Qaeda” is now a franchise operation and one will be opened near you tomorrow. Do you want fries with your bomb?
In Arabic “al Qaeda” means “the base.” Scary, huh? But it has an exotic ring to the Western ear and is blamed for all manner of horrors perpetrated by the Bush administration, which scare the bejeezus out of people.
If you think 9/11, cooked up by the Bushies’ friends at the Project for the New American Century, who said a “new Pearl Harbor” was needed, was bad enough, now you have Michael Dual Citizenship (US and Israeli) Chertoff saying he feels in his “gut” that another 9/11 is coming to the US this summer.
And the corporate media ate that one, too, along with the dessert served up by the latest National Intelligence Estimate that “the base” (“al Qaeda”) is reconstituted and stronger than ever. Wow!
Meanwhile, the wannabe presidential candidates in both wings of the Corpocratic Party, with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Ron Paul (all written off by the corporate media as “can’t win” third tier candidates), are flexing their jaw muscles about what they will do to those “al Qaeda terrorists” — from bombing Iran to flattening what is left of Afghanistan — if they become the next occupants of the White House. Also, bear in mind that, with the exception of the aforementioned three, all are salivating over the prospect of exercising the power Bush has granted to himself as the “unitary executive” and “the decider,” which is why they aren’t calling for Cheney and Bush’s impeachment.
What is completely ignored by both the corporate media and the wannabe presidents is that if the Bushies pull off their next 9/11, George W. will have his “catastrophic emergency” in order to invoke his National Security and Homeland Security Directive, thereby making himself and Cheney dictators for life. In that event, will all those who stuffed the campaign coffers of the 2008 hopefuls want a refund?
One might have thought Bush and Cheney would wait until next summer or early next fall to play their trump card, but with the disastrous Bush/Cheney ship severely listing, the people’s call for their impeachment growing louder and their desire to nuke Iran before they go down, they’ve had to move to Plan B by setting the stage for the next attack lest Congress finally listens to the people and begins impeachment proceedings — first against Cheney, then Bush.
We have had six and a half years of madness and mayhem during which we have lost most of our freedoms, hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been killed, millions have been displaced and their countries destroyed. We can barely afford another day of this murderous regime, much less hope these terrorists will be gone in 18 months without causing more death and destruction. Unless Cheney and Bush are impeached, tried, convicted and removed from office, we will have nothing. And if they pull off Plan B, we will have less than nothing.
*= “Man who sits in marmelade, has ass in jam…” ~Wang, famous shadow warrior
WOG out.
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