Hot Potato Mash

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: 'UNVEILED' Author Deborah Kanafani

Deborah Kanafani is the author of the 2008 autobiography, "Unveiled: How An American Woman Found Her Way Through Politics, Love and Obedience in the Middle East," which details her marriage to Marwan Kanafani, a senior advisor and spokesperson for Yasser Arafat. Deborah also documents the stories of many of the courageous woman she encountered, including Queen Dina of Jordan and Yasser Arafat's wife Suha, while living in the Middle East.

Last Thursday in Los Angeles Deborah spoke about her book and her experiences...

Part 1 - Introduction (3:59)

Deborah opened by talking about her engagement and marriage to the "charming and dashing" Palestinian Marwan whom she met at the United Nations. But Deborah quickly discovered that she "lived with somebody that really had a very secret life" and that she had failed to understand his "connection to the Palestinian 'Cause.'"

After they were married the couple moved to Washington, D.C. where Marwan became the Arab League representative and Palestinian Ambassador. In the nation's capitol Deborah's life became very isolated because, "the world that those people live in -- not only diplomatic world but within the Palestinian political community -- is not a world where they like to let outsiders in."

Despite the isolation and some horrible circumstances of her marriage (see below), Deborah was able to find some positives in her situation: "The one good thing that happened, beside my two children, during the marriage was that I got to meet many fascinating women who were married to Arabic leaders. And these women just impressed me so much. They were strong, they were leaders in their own right. They were rebelling against the fundamentalism in their countries. They were fighting for women's rights. They were doing remarkable things."

"Unveiled" is the story of these women as well as Deborah's own journey.

Part 2 - Yasser and Suha Arafat (8:42)

Despite talking to Yasser Arafat many times over the phone, Deborah did not meet the PLO leader until his first trip to the U.S. in 1993 to sign the Declaration of Principles with Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin which paved the way for limited Palestinian self-government in Gaza and the West Bank.

Upon meeting Arafat Deborah was sure that, "he knew that he had something that [she] would never have -- [her] husband's complete devotion."

Much of this segment, however, is dedicated to telling a couple of interesting stories about Suha Arafat who did not accompany her husband on his historic trip to the delight of Arafat's advisors who universally "hated" her. Much to their chagrin, however, Suha was still able to steal the spotlight during the signing statement from "her living room in Tunisia."

Deborah also reveals how Arafat's marriage to Suha was leaked to the press by Suha's mother who was worried about public perception of the relationship between Arafat and her daughter.

Part 3 - Baha Kikhia (2:07)

In Part 3 Deborah briefly tells the story of Baha Kikhia whose husband Mansour was the Libyan Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United Nations. Mansour eventually resigned from his posts in protest of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's human rights violations. The couple then started a human rights organization for the Libyan people. Three years later Mansour was kidnapped in Cairo, Egypt.

Baha's subsequent search for her husband eventually led her to a surreal meeting in the middle of the Libyan desert with Gadhafi (excerpted from page 115 of "Unveiled"):

"You know, I love Mansour very much," Gadhafi said.

"Me, too," Baha answered again. They laughed despite her tears.

"You know what I think? I think it was the CIA that took him. Mansour wasn't the opposition. He was my friend."

"No, let's speak honestly. We know he was a leader in the opposition, but there is nothing wrong with that. Opposition means, they disagree with your thoughts. It means being against certain ideas, not against you, there is nothing wrong with that. He always said you were his friend, but he disagrees with you. Remember, Mansour didn't like to fight with anyone."

Despite Baha's heroic efforts Mansour was never found. The CIA would eventually give Baha a piece of paper with two lines written on it saying that her husband was executed but she refuses to accept it as valid.

Part 4 - Spying on Hamas and Kidnapped Children (9:53)

Like Baha, Deborah has also found herself in the middle of some rather scary situations. At one point the United States government tried to leverage her 70-year-old father's freedom and assets to get Deborah to spy on Hamas.

"The FBI started contacting me and asking me to meet them at this airport hangar in Santa Monica. So I went a few times and basically they were saying to me, 'if you go spy on Hamas we'll let your father go'. So they were holding him like a pawn," Deborah stated. But she refused the Agency's offer stating, "I don't know anything about Hamas and I would never risk my life or my children's life and I refused to do it."

Because of her father's burdensome legal troubles Deborah made the fateful decision to send her children to visit their father in the West Bank city of Ramallah. When Deborah later followed them to the Middle East she was informed by her ex-husband that their children would remain with him, that she no longer had any rights to them, that he would not provide her with any financial support and that she should return to the United States.

"The next day I started to call the consulate, the embassy, I called the state department in America, I called this woman that my children had given me the phone number of who was with the World Bank and basically everyone told me the same thing -- you no longer have any rights to your children. You are under Islamic law. There are no reciprocal agreements. There is absolutely nothing you can do."

With few options other than trying to kidnap her children back, Deborah met with Yasser Arafat who, limited by Islamic law, offered her a job so that she could obtain a visa from the Israelis and remain near her children.

Part 5 - Queen Dina of Jordan and Toujan al-Faisal (6:59)

Two other woman whose stories are told in Unveiled are Queen Dina of Jordan and Toujan al-Faisal who was Jordan's first female Member of Parliament.

Queen Dina became the first of King Hussein's four wives when they married in 1955. When they divorced two years later she became known as Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Abdul-Hamid of Jordan. Queen Dina eventually fell in love with the King's enemy - a Palestinian guerilla leader - which resulted in thousands of people dying when the King declared war against the Palestinians in what is now referred to as Black September. Queen Dina is also remembered for secretly arranging one of the largest prisoner exchanges ever.

Toujan al-Faisal was accused of apostasy and there were calls for her execution when she stood up to religious fundamentalism in Jordan. The court eventually dismissed her case and she was elected to Parliament in 1993 where she served until 1997. During their time together Toujan explained how Deborah could help Jordanians:

"People in the Middle East are either born as an oppressor or they were born to be oppressed. The only way to make change was to embarrass her country and its laws. The only way to change our laws is through retention from outsiders. Now that they know outsiders are watching Jordan wants to appear progressive. That's why I wanted to meet you [Deborah] so that you can be our messenger."

Part 6 - Return of her Children (9:10)

After three years of living in the West Bank in order to be close to her children, Deborah took a trip to the U.S. Shortly thereafter the Second Intifada occurred and her children were evacuated to Jordan by her ex-husband's current wife. Scared herself, the American born current wife was amenable to sending Deborah's children back to the U.S. but needed to get them passports since her husband had sent them to Jordan with Palestinian documents.

With the help of her cousin Donna Shalala, who was Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Clinton, Deborah got her children passports overnight. And her children, then 13 and 15, were put on a plane out of Jordan just as her ex-husband was returning to get them.

Deborah was quick to point out that it was not quite the Hollywood ending her book publisher was looking for as her children went through difficult adjustment periods. However, she did end the talk on an extremely positive note:

"One of the great thrills of being there was meeting these incredible Palestinians and Israelis who wanted to work together for peace. And I don't mean a few, I mean a lot... and there is just a huge grassroots civil movement going on and unfortunately it is not shown on the news. The news would rather show the war that is going on. But I tell you that these peacemakers are out there and they are strong and the people have a big desire to work together."

"Unveiled: How an American Woman Found Her Way Through Politics, Love, and Obedience in the Middle East" (Deborah Kanafani)

VINCENT BUGLIOSI BOOK FACING MEDIA BLACKOUT

Above, CNN covers the mainstream media blackout of Vincent Bugliosi's new book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder".

Of course, there is no such blackout on Hot Potato Mash. You can view my video exclusive of Bugliosi giving a 50-minute talk about his new book here. Also see my video exclusive of Bugliosi calling for the compassionate release of Manson Family member Susan Atkins who is suffering from brain cancer.

"The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" (Vincent Bugliosi)

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: VINCENT BUGLIOSI: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

On Wednesday, famed Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi spoke to a packed and enthusiastic crowd of more than 350 Angelinos about his new book, “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” While Bugliosi’s talk will eventually appear on C-SPAN, you can view it first in its entirety below…

Part 1 (19:45)

In my book, “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,” I present evidence that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that George Bush took this nation to war on a lie, under false pretenses, and therefore under the law is guilty of murder for the deaths of over 4,000 young American soldiers who died so far in this war.

Bugliosi began the evening by explaining to the Los Angeles audience that George W. Bush is guilty of murder, according to the law, if he brought the country to war under false pretenses. And Bugliosi emphasized the legal aspect of the case in order to fend off likely attackers:

So although Bush supporters can argue that Bush should not be prosecuted because they don’t think he did anything wrong, they cannot legitimately say that he should not be prosecuted if he has done what I say he did. To say that is to admit that you have no respect for our American system of justice and democracy and that you would prefer that presidents have the same rights as tyrannical dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein.

Bugliosi had a similar answer for those who simply believe it is impossible to prosecute Bush for murder:

There’s this sense out there among many that prosecuting Bush for murder can’t be done. Which is the equivalent of saying what - that he is above the law. That ordinary laws simply don’t apply to him.

Bugliosi also had some special words for the American Right Wing which has expressed its disapproval with his book:

The third group of people responding to my book is the nation’s right wing. And they of course have contempt for me and my book. But whatever contempt they have for me, I can assure them and I can assure you I have much much much more contempt for them. There are no more repugnant, hypocritical and un-American – and that’s the word I want to emphasize – un-American people in our society today than the right wing.

Bugliosi, however, made clear that this book was not political for him and even said he would have written the same book had Bush been a Democrat. So fair is Bugliosi that he even offers up some mitigating evidence for Bush and his co-conspirators:

And there is one thing that I should probably say in partial defense of these people that goes in mitigation, arguably reduces their moral culpability. And what I’m talking about is that many of these people are incredibly stupid. And they make up for their stupidity by being extremely ignorant. And when you combine stupidity with ignorance that’s a toxic combination.

Finally, Part 1 ends with the law:

If a conspirator, or anyone for that matter, deliberately sets in motion a chain of events which he knows will cause – that’s the key word – cause a third party innocent agent to commit an act, the defendant is criminally responsible for that act. Bush, in invading Iraq, caused Iraqis to kill American soldiers in much the same fashion that a person causes a gun to fire a bullet that kills someone by pulling the trigger.

Part 2 (17:54)

Part 2 begins with Bugliosi explaining the only way Bush might be innocent of murder:

Bush can only wash his hands of culpability if he did not take this nation to war under false pretenses. If he did, which the evidence overwhelmingly shows, he is criminally responsible for the deaths of all those American soldiers who have died fighting his war in Iraq.

The main issue would be whether or not George Bush went to war, as he always claimed, in self-defense – the so-called pre-emptive strike. Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, alleged as so, therefore he was an imminent threat to the security of this country so Bush had to strike first in self-defense. If the war was not in self-defense but one that the prosecutor can prove Bush took us to under false pretenses than all of the killings of American soldiers in Iraq become unlawful killings and therefore murder.

While Bugliosi's animus was mostly reserved for Bush and his co-conspirators, he did find time to also criticize Ken Starr, The New York Times and the Supreme Court:

I seem to be getting more angry and acerbic and caustic and that’s because I am always in a state of rage. How can I help but be -- the monstrous, grotesque, obscene Ken Starr almost destroyed the Clinton presidency over absolutely nothing while being totally and completely supported and funded by the federal government. They funded his seven year, seventy million dollar effort, the federal government. And the so-called liberal media, The New York Times savaged Clinton on a day to day basis, supported this monstrous, grotesque, obscene figure – one of the most reprehensible figures in American history – Ken Starr.

The US Supreme Court 2000, stopping the recount in Florida which was specifically authorized by Florida law, taking the election away from the American people and appointing George Bush president, one of the biggest crimes in American history.

The heart of Part 2, however, is reserved for Bugliosi's evidence against George W. Bush. And first on the list was Bush's lies to the country that were contrary to the National Intelligence Estimate:

In George Bush’s first speech to the nation on Hussein and Iraq, October 7, 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bush told Americans that Saddam Hussein was a great danger to this nation either by his attacking us with the so-called weapons of mass destruction or by giving these weapons to a terrorist group to attack us. And Bush said that this attack could happen, ‘on any given day,’ meaning what, that the threat was imminent.

The only big problem for George Bush is that on October the first, six days earlier, the CIA sent Bush its 2002 National Intelligence Estimate – a classified top secret report that represented the consensus opinion of all 16 US federal intelligence agencies on the issue of whether or not Hussein was an imminent threat to the security of this country and on page 8 of that 91 page report it clearly and unequivocally says – and by the way what I’m about to tell you to my knowledge has never been said or never been written or never appeared in any major newspaper or magazine in America – page 8 clearly says that Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country. That he would only be a threat if he feared we were about to attack him.

So we know then, not think but know, that when George Bush told the nation on the evening of October 7th, Cincinnati, Ohio, that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the security of this country, he was telling millions of unsuspecting Americans the exact opposite of what his own CIA was telling him. Now if we had nothing else at all, and there is so much more, that alone shows what, that George Bush took this nation to war on a terrible terrible lie. Therefore all the killings in Iraq became unlawful killings and murder.

But it gets worse! In fact, it gets evil, perverse, sick and criminal:

But it gets worse. It gets worse. October 4th, three days later, Bush and his people had the CIA release an unclassified summary version of the October 1st classified report so that this October 4th unclassified version could be released to the American public and to Congress. This unclassified version came to be known as the White Paper. And in this White Paper that was shown to the American people and to Congress, in which contained the opinion of 16 US intelligence agencies that Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country, that conclusion was completely deleted, completely eliminated. Every single one of these all important words, the most important conclusion in that classified document, was completely deleted from the White Paper. And the question I have of you, is how evil, how perverse, how sick, how criminal can George Bush and his people be?

The next piece of ever damning evidence, according to Bugliosi, is the January 31, 2003, Manning Memo written by Tony Blair's chief foreign policy advisor after a top level meeting in the Oval Office less than two months before the invasion.

He says that George Bush was so worried about the failure of the UN inspectors to find weapons of mass destruction that Bush started to talk about three ways to ‘provoke a confrontation’ with Saddam Hussein. One of which he said was to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft over Iraq falsely painted in United Nations colors and he said if Saddam fires on those planes it would be a violation of UN resolutions and therefore justify our going to war. So here is George Bush telling Americans, telling the world, that Hussein is an imminent threat to the security of this country, but behind closed doors this very small human being was talking about how to provoke Hussein into a war.

Part 3 (15:50)

Part 3 begins with another piece of evidence against Bush. Mainly, how Bush responded to the ever positive testimony of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix on March 7, 2003, by throwing him and his team out of the country and quickly invading Iraq. Blix had told the UN Security Counsel that the inspectors were getting proactive cooperation from Saddam Hussein and that their investigation would be completed in a few months:

Blix and his people became Bush’s biggest adversaries because if Blix and his people confirm that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that would rob Bush of his main argument for war – a war that he wanted to fight at all costs.

The bulk of Part 3, however, does not concentrate on evidence of Bush's guilt but rather Bush's state of mind. Bugliosi takes great offense to the fact that Bush has often described his days as perfect and that he proclaims himself to be so happy:

Even if George Bush was only guilty of making an innocent mistake in taking this nation to war in Iraq, not murder as I firmly believe, with all of the death, horror and suffering he has caused, what type of a monstrous individual is it who could be happy with his life? What type of a human monster is George Bush?

If I ever killed one person in my life, even accidentally – a car accident – I’d never have another perfect day as long as I lived. George Bush is responsible for the horrible deaths of thousands of human beings and he is talking about having a perfect day. Bush’s plans to have a perfect day right in the middle of all the death and horror in Iraq goes so far beyond acceptable human conduct that no moral telescope can discern its shape, form and nature.

Bugliosi concludes by telling the audience that he will not rest or be satisfied until George W. Bush is prosecuted for first degree murder:

I don’t like to see anyone get away with murder, even one murder. [O.J.] Simpson got away with two murders and I got so angry that I wrote a book - Outrage, the Five Reasons O.J. Simpson got away with murder. If I can get so angry about someone getting away with one or two murders you can imagine how I feel about George Bush who has gotten away with over 100,000 murders and has been smiling and enjoying himself throughout the whole period. It may sound presumptuous of me but I can tell you that while I may not succeed, I’m not going to be satisfied until I see George Bush in an American courtroom being prosecuted for first degree murder.

The first degree murder of over 4,000 American soldiers:

If justice means anything at all in America, if we are not going to forget about those 4,000 young American soldiers who came back from Bush’s war in a box, I say we have no choice but to bring murder charges against the son of privilege from Crawford, Texas.

"The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" (Vincent Bugliosi)

George W. Bush, Ken Starr, Manning Memo, Murder, NIE, Right Wing, Saddam Hussein, Supreme Court, video, Vincent Bugliosi

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Dr. William Pepper on James Earl Ray's Innocence, Sirhan Sirhan's Innocence, 9/11 Truth and Prosecuting War Crimes

Dr. William F. Pepper is an internationally acclaimed lawyer who defended James Earl Ray in a 1999 civil trial (supported by Martin Luther King's family) where the jury found Ray not responsible for the MLK assassination. Now Pepper is defending Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a case he says is “an easier one than the assassination of Martin King and the innocence of James Earl Ray”.

Last Wednesday Pepper spoke about all of his projects, including 9/11 truth and prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes, to a packed celebrity filled house in Los Angeles. Among those in attendance were Ed Asner, Gina Belafonte, Judd Nelson and 9/11 author Professor David Ray Griffin. Videos of his talk follow below... 

Part 1 (6:21) - Introduction 

In Part 1 Pepper talks about his background, childhood and motivation. He also speaks about the time he spent in Cuba playing baseball where he got to know Fidel Castro. According to Pepper, Castro foresaw much of what is happening in the United States today:

“When, in that massive country to the north, the masses of the people ever understand what it is that their ruling class has done to them and is doing to them, there will be such a torrent of opposition. They will rise like never before and then there will be the world’s greatest social revolution, the American second revolution.”

The video concludes with Pepper explaining how he came to work for Robert F. Kennedy and Martin King: 

 

Part 2 (5:36) - Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination/James Earl Ray Innocence 

“Took me ten years to convince myself that [James Earl Ray] was an absolute patsy” - Dr. William Pepper 

In Part 2 Pepper begins with the Martin King assassination and explains how he became involved with James Earl Ray's defense some nine years later. He also goes into detail about the 30 day civil trial against Loyd Jowers, et al, where a jury found Ray not responsible for King's assassination after listening to 70 witnesses under oath. 

Pepper believes that Ray's civil trial should serve as a template for getting out the truth in a wide range of cover-ups including the Robert F. Kennedy assassination and 9/11. He thinks using the courts is an effective way to get the truth into the public record despite the efforts by the mainstream media to prevent its dissemination to the public.

 

Part 3 (9:56) - Robert F. Kennedy Assassination/Sirhan Sirhan Innocence 

“I found from just a preliminary examination of the record that [the Sirhan Sirhan case] on the law, on the facts of the case, was an easier one than the assassination of Martin King and the innocence of James Earl Ray” - Dr. William Pepper 

In the first half of Part 3 Pepper details the startling evidence that necessitates a second shooter in the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. For starters the medical examiner states that Kennedy was shot four times from the rear including one shot about an inch behind his right ear which conflicts with all the witness testimony that Sirhan was always three to five feet in front of the likely Democratic presidential nominee.

Secondly, the analysis of audio recordings from the assassination with formerly unavailable new technology has led to the determination that 13 shots were fired at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan's gun only held 8 bullets. In other words: 

“There had to be a second shooter there” - Dr. William Pepper

In the second half of Part 3 Pepper details the efforts taken by the prison and the Department of Corrections to prevent his legal team from psychoanalyzing Sirhan Sirhan.

Part 4 (4:59) - Robert F. Kennedy Assassination (Continued) 

In Part 4 Pepper continues the RFK assassination discussion and his efforts to clear Sirhan Sirhan whom he says is innocent:

“The problem we face is if we get our client clearly innocent of the killing of Bob Kennedy – which he is, clearly innocent of that killing – he has five other counts of attempted murder” - Dr. William Pepper

In addition to the belief in Sirhan's innocence Pepper believes the case is important because it is representative of a larger problem facing the country:

“Each of the things I’m talking about are symptomatic of a pervasive sickness in this country. This is not the country we were all led to believe it was or should have been. This is what has emerged because we have had a small group of criminals grab power over a period of time following the orders of the people in the shadows who really do dominate life and justice and the injustices that exist in the society.” - Dr. William Pepper

Part 5 (8:36) - 9/11 

“The 9/11 matter is, in my lifetime, the most traumatic assault on democracy and the safety of this Republic.” - Dr. William Pepper

Part 5 is dedicated to finding out the truth about 9/11. Pepper supports two different ways for accomplishing this goal. First, he backs an effort to create a new commission to investigate 9/11 by New York state referendum. Volunteers are currently trying to get the necessary 30,000 signatures from registered New York voters to get the measure on the ballot.

The second approach is to once again file a lawsuit in the courts. Pepper is leading this effort on behalf of the Jersey Girls and plans to sue, among others, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is widely believed to have sent $100,000 to lead 9/11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta.

Part 6 (8:03) - War Crimes 

“I’m determined that what I saw in Vietnam and what is happening in Iraq will not go unpunished. Absolutely determined that that’s the case. What that means is this entire gang of war criminals in Washington are going to have to be prosecuted” - Dr. William Pepper

Part 6 covers what Pepper believes is his most important project -- the prosecution of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, David Addington, Doug Feith and Richard Pearl, et al, for war crimes.

Pepper plans to accomplish this monumental task by following the precedent set in the case of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet. In that case, a Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant for Pinochet whose charges including 94 counts of torture.

Ultimately Pepper hopes for a conviction in absentia of the American war criminals which would prevent the guilty from ever stepping foot outside of the United States.

NOTE: To order a DVD of the night's entire programming, which includes a lively Q & A session with Dr. William Pepper and a talk by Professor David Ray Griffin on new 9/11 evidence, please contact Kathleen at quantumysticKFR@gmail.com to request a copy.

“An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King, New and Updated Edition” (William F. Pepper)

“Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr” (William F. Pepper)

Technorati Tags: 11, administration, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Dr. WIlliam Pepper, Fidel Castro, George W. Bush, iraq, James Earl Ray, Jersey Girls, Martin Luther King Jr., puppy, Robert F. Kennedy, september11, Sirhan Sirhan, torture, war crimes

THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER

Famed Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi says George W. Bush should be prosecuted for murder.

"The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" (Vincent Bugliosi)

George W. Bush, Vincent Bugliosi, Murder

John Wayne: White Supremacist, McCarthyite, Draft-Dodging, Republican Icon

The first chapter from Glenn Greenwald's new book, "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics", is all about John Wayne, or as Greenwald calls him, the "Pioneer of the Great American Hypocrite". And while the "Duke" was unquestionably a conservative Republican and a hypocrite, what really stands out is what a deplorable human being he was. A few shocking excerpts:

John Wayne in a 1971 Playboy interview:

"We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership to irresponsible people."

Wayne was also an anti-communist McCarthyite in the 1950's who regularly accused Hollywood figures of being communist. But even worse, Wayne held his despicable views long after the "Red Scare" ended. In 1969 he told a Time reporter the following:

"I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia. They'd have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they'd take care of -- after me."

And despite being a draft-dodger during WWII when almost everyone served in the military -- including fellow actors James Stewart, Clark Gable and Henry Fonda -- Wayne called teenagers who fled for Canada or Europe during the Vietnam War "cowards," "traitors," and "Communists."

Is there any question that Wayne would be a perfect fit in today's Republican Party?

"Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics" (Glenn Greenwald)

Technorati Tags: Conservative, Glenn Greenwald, Hypocrite, John Wayne, McCarthyism, Racist, Republican, White Supremacy

The Great Derangement

Matt Taibbi, for my money, is up there with Glenn Greenwald as the best young political commentators in the country. He is also wicked funny. Check out a couple samplings of his work that I have previously posted here and here and then buy his new book linked below!

“The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire” (Matt Taibbi)

Technorati Tags: Matt Taibbi, The Great Derangement, puppy

IT DOES HAPPEN IN AMERICA: The Political Trial Of Don Siegelman

Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, has perhaps the best summation to date of the malicious prosecution of Don Siegelman:

Don Siegelman, a popular Democratic governor of Alabama, a Republican state, was framed in a crooked trial, convicted on June 29, 2006, and sent to Federal prison by the corrupt and immoral Bush administration.

The frame-up of Siegelman and businessman Richard Scrushy is so crystal clear and blatant that 52 former state attorney generals from across America, both Republicans and Democrats, have urged the US Congress to investigate the Bush administration's use of the US Department of Justice to rid themselves of a Democratic governor who “they could not beat fair and square,” according to Grant Woods, former Republican Attorney General of Arizona and co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee. Woods says that he has never seen a case with so “many red flags pointing to injustice.”

The abuse of American justice by the Bush administration in order to ruin Siegelman is so crystal clear that even the corporate media organization CBS allowed “60 Minutes” to broadcast on February 24, 2008, a damning indictment of the railroading of Siegelman. Extremely coincidental “technical difficulties” caused WHNT, the CBS station covering the populous northern third of Alabama, to go black during the broadcast. The station initially offered a lame excuse of network difficulties that CBS in New York denied. The Republican-owned print media in Alabama seemed to have the inside track on every aspect of the prosecution's case against Siegelman. You just have to look at their editorials and articles following the 60 Minutes broadcast to get a taste of what counts for “objective journalism” in their mind.

The injustice done by the US Department of Justice (sic) to Siegelman is so crystal clear that a participant in Karl Rove's plan to destroy Siegelman can't live with her conscience. Jill Simpson, a Republican lawyer who did opposition research for Rove, testified under oath to the House Judiciary Committee and went public on “60 Minutes.” Simpson said she was told by Bill Canary, the most important GOP campaign advisor in Alabama, that “my girls can take care of Siegelman.”

Read the rest at Counter Punch. And pick up Paul Craig Roberts' new book below:

“The Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice” (Paul Craig Roberts, Lawrence M. Stratton)

Also see my exclusive video with Karl Rove.

Real Time With Bill Maher: Hillary's Personalities And Christopher Hitchens Mashup

Hillary's Personalities (2:02)

Christopher Hitchens Mashup (6:48)

“It Takes a Village” (Hillary Rodham Clinton)

“The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever” (Da Capo Press)

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, bill maher, christianity, Hillary Clinton, christopher hitchens

VIDEO MASHUP: Conservative Pundits Jonah Goldberg & Matthew Dowd Clueless On 'Real Time'

Matthew Dowd was the chief strategist of the George W. Bush 2004 presidential election campaign and is currently an ABC News political contributor. Jonah Goldberg is a nationally syndicated conservative columnist, founding editor of “National Review Online” and author of Liberal Fascism. Neither of them know who is the current Director of National Intelligence.

“Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning” (Jonah Goldberg)

“Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community” (Ron Fournier, Douglas B. Sosnik, Matthew J. Dowd)

Full of Bull

Former Wall Street Analyst, Stephen McClellan, tells Fox Business “News” that investors “can't trust Wall Street”. Hell, as he points out, “if the major financial firms can't even assess their own risks to the degree that they are obviously losing tens of billions of dollars, how can they advise individual investors on the risks they're taking with the stock recommendations.” Good point.

“Full of Bull: Do What Wall Street Does, Not What It Says, To Make Money in the Market” (Stephen T. McClellan)

Disclosure: McClellan is the father of a friend.

Can Barack Obama Overcome Karl Rove, Republicans, Hillary, CNN, Wolf, ABC, George And The Mainstream Media?

Karl Rove is the ultimate partisan operative who guided a career underachiever with a checkered past to the White House. He is credited with keeping the 2000 election close enough, through dirty campaigning and still dirtier election engineering and fraud, to allow the Supreme Court to step in and gift wrap the presidency for his boss. Suffice to say no one uses dirty tricks more effectively or more often than Karl Rove. As such, many Americans who care about the Constitution, Democracy, the rule of law and plain decency, long ago concluded that Karl Rove sucks. 

But winning the White House was not enough for Rove who “dreamed of creating a 'permanent Republican majority'”. Such a partisan is Rove that he played a central role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and the firing of eight US Attorney's who refused to help him illegally create his permanent majority.

In part because of Rove's despicable tactics, the Republican party enjoyed years of success and Rove earned labels like...

 

  “Boy Genius: Karl Rove, The Architect Of George W. Bush's Remarkable Political Triumphs” (Carl M. Cannon, Lou Dubose, Jan Reid)

“Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential” (James Moore, Wayne Slater)

“The Architect” (James Moore, Wayne Slater)

Rove loved the praise bestowed upon him from his friends and foes alike. But then everything came crashing down around him and now his “genius” moniker is in serious need of repair. In an astonishing turn of events, Republicans lost both the House and the Senate in 2006 despite Rove's repeated assurances to the contrary:

“I’m looking at all of these [races] and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I’m entitled to the math” - Karl Rove (10/24/06)

Meanwhile, George W. Bush's approval ratings have been on a steady decline and now rest at 30%, 1% above their all time low. 

 

It is hardly surprising that all of the GOP presidential candidates continue to distance themselves from Bush's body. Worse, Rove's permanent majority has been replaced by a public that favors the Democratic Party over the GOP by a whopping 50% to 35% margin. And independents favored Democrats in 2006 by an even larger 57% to 39% margin. It seems that the politics of hate, racism, division, war, war-mongering, propaganda, cheating, lying and stealing can only take a party so far. 

But Rove will not go down without a fight. And thankfully propaganda rags like the ridiculous Newsweek magazine have given Rove a platform to win back his genius (In Newsweek's defense, it is not Time magazine). Despite the new gig, Rove proved to be every bit the partisan with his first column: “How to Beat Hillary (Next) November”:

“And so the question to John McCain from a woman at a town hall in South Carolina last Monday was tasteless, but key: ”How do we beat the [rhymes with witch]?“ Right now, Republicans are focusing much of their fire on Senator Clinton. Criticizing her unites the party, stirs up the unsettled feelings many swing voters have toward her and allows each candidate to say why he is best able to beat her.

For now, that's enough. But when a GOP nominee emerges, he needs to remember no Republican is as well known as Hillary. The Republican has room to grow in the polls as voters get a better sense of who he is and what animates him. Here's what he needs to do.”

The truth is that Karl Rove and the entire Republican Party are salivating at the opportunity to face off against Hillary Clinton and her “high negatives”. And why not, in a Zogby Poll released last week, Hillary now loses in the general election to all five GOP frontrunners while Barack Obama handily defeats the same five:

With this backdrop it seems clear as day that one should take Rove's latest piece in the Financial Times, “Memo to Obama: win Iowa or lose the race”, with many grains of salt:

“Not that you have asked for advice, but here it is anyway: Iowa is your chance to best her. If you do not do it there, odds are you never will anywhere.”

And Rove's stellar advice:

First, stop acting like a vitamin-deficient Adlai Stevenson. Striking a pose of being high-minded and too pure will not work. Americans want to see you scrapping and fighting for the job, not in a mean or ugly way but in a forceful and straightforward way.   

Hillary may come over as calculating and shifty but she looks in control. You, on the other hand, often come over as weak and ineffectual. In some debates, you do not even look at her when disagreeing with her, making it look as if you are afraid of her. She offers you openings time and again but you do not take advantage of them. Sharpen your attacks and make them more precise.

Please! Could Rove give any worse advice than to turn the nice-guy, above the fray, uniter that is Obama into, well, Karl Rove? All can plainly see that Rove is rightfully scared of Obama whom he admits has “the buzz” and could very well win the nomination and upset Rove's plans to keep the White House in GOP hands. And as Frank Rich so ably points out, facing off against Obama would be a far more difficult task than defeating Hillary:

But much like the Clinton campaign itself, the Republicans have fallen into a trap by continuing to cling to the Hillary-is-inevitable trope. They have not allowed themselves to think the unthinkable — that they might need a Plan B to go up against a candidate who is not she. It’s far from clear that they would remotely know how to construct a Plan B to counter Mr. Obama. The repeated attempts to fan “rumors” that he is a madrassa-indoctrinated Muslim — whether on Fox News or in The Washington Post, where they resurfaced scurrilously on the front page on Thursday — are too demonstrably false to survive endless reruns even in the Swift-boating era.   

Part of the Republicans’ difficulty in countering Mr. Obama, should they have to, is their own cynical racial politics. For the most part, race has been the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign despite the (largely) white press’s endless fretting about whether the Illinois senator is too white for black voters and too black for white voters. Most Americans aren’t racist, most Republicans included. (Those who are won’t vote for the Democratic presidential candidate even if it’s not Mr. Obama.) But the G.O.P., by its own doing, is nonetheless saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca” and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000 and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.   

As the Republican leadership knows, this record is an albatross, driving away not just black voters but crucial white swing voters, too. Ken Mehlman, the former G.O.P. chairman, and Mr. Rove, as recently as in that Newsweek column, have implored their party to reach out to minorities. So have Newt Gingrich and Jack Kemp. But not even conservative leaders of this stature could persuade their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders to show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University.

So the polls emphatically prove that Hillary would be far easier prey for Republicans in the general election than Obama. And if statistics aren't your thing, commonsense clearly dictates the same. And finally, just about every political pundit from Karl Rove to Frank Rich have written as much. So what does Wolf Blitzer of the Clinton News Network wonder about Karl Rove's latest advice column?:

OMG! He is actually taking Rove's words at face value! LOL! Could Wolf really believe that Rove has forsaken his legacy as the greatest partisan political operative of the last 20 year in order to go legit and is now an uninterested, outsider, merely commenting on the political landscape? ROTFL! Yeah, that's the ticket, Rove couldn't possibly have ulterior motives. 

The way I see it, there are two possible explanations for Wolf's comments: 1) he is an imbecile, or 2) he wants Hillary to get the nomination. Either way, he should be laughed out of his job. Of course, this is nothing new from Wolf or the Clinton News Network which showed its true colors at the last democratic debate in Nevada:

To be fair to Wolf and CNN, avid Clintonites like George Stephanopoulos, who formerly helped Bill Clinton get elected President and served as his communications director before moving on to become Chief Washington Correspondent for ABC News and host of his own Sunday morning show, also spew the same nonsense:

All of which makes Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency all the more remarkable. He continues to rise in the polls and threatens to win Hillary's “inevitable” nomination despite having to fight against Karl Rove, the entire Republican Party, the Clinton machine, CNN, Wolf, ABC, George and most of the mainstream media.

If the Illinois Senator can overcome those long odds he certainly has what it takes to lead the country.

  “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” (Barack Obama)

“Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” (Barack Obama)

 

“Barack Obama in His Own Words” (Barack Obama)

VIDEO INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE: Scott Gant, Author Of 'We're All Journalists Now'

Cross-posted at BRAD BLOG

Are bloggers journalists? More importantly, should bloggers receive the same privileges the government bestows upon “professional” journalists including, in most states, protection from the forced disclosure of confidential sources of information by way of shield laws?

These are some of the questions congress has been considering over the last month as part of the “Free Flow of Information Act of 2007” and which BRAD BLOG, which often relies on confidential and whistleblower sources, has been tracking closely.

With this backdrop, BRAD BLOG jumped at the opportunity to interview the guy who literally wrote the book on the subject -- D.C. constitutional law attorney Scott Gant. Released in June, “We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age” (Scott Gant), has enjoyed favorable reviews and led to appearances by Gant on BookTV and  on The McLaughlin Group, where the host commented that the book was “a great read, an easy read and it breaks new ground, quite groundbreaking.”

Part 1 (7:32) of the interview above covers all things related to the shield law.

 

Part 2 (8:30) of the interview above concentrates on access privileges and other benefits that journalists receive from the government that may be important to bloggers.

“We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age” (Scott Gant)

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Professor Steve Freeman About The Stolen 2004 Election

Cross-posted at BRAD BLOG.

University of Pennsylvania professor Steve Freeman, author of the important book, “Was The 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count”, sat down with BRAD BLOG at the 2nd Annual National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles on Friday. Below is our interview broken down into five easy viewing segments.

Who won the 2004 presidential election?

The short answer is John Kerry. Professor Freeman explains that while the official vote count gave George W. Bush a narrow margin of victory in Ohio of 120,000 votes and a slim electoral win, exit poll data indicates that Kerry actually won Ohio by 500,000 votes and won the national vote by a 6 million vote margin.

What is the significance of the November 2004 Ukraine exit polls and the 1992 presidential election exit polls?

Professor Freeman: “The incredible irony is that at the same time members of the administration were saying the exit polls indicate fraud in the Ukraine -- undersecretary of state John Tefft was giving testimony saying that exit polls are one of the few reliable measures for showing mass scale election fraud. At the same time, Ed Gillespie, the head of the Republican National Committee, was speaking before the press conference saying that the press should abandon exit polls, they don't work anymore.”

As a professor of business management, did you have any interest in election integrity issues prior to 2004? And what can individuals do to learn about election integrity issues?

Professor Freeman: “It wasn't until 2004 when I really investigated the system and just, absolutely stunned. At first I thought I must not understand this. I looked at electronic voting and I said, well there has to be some safeguard, it can't be this easy to corrupt. But it is. Even worse. If you haven't looked into this it is worse than you can possibly imagine.”

Why do we have voting machines and is there a solution to our election problems?

Professor Freeman: “It is funny to hear myself speak like radical on this issue. I've spent my life starting businesses and teaching in such radical institutions as Harvard Business School system and Wharton. Running businesses, starting businesses and teaching business school students. But when you are talking about privatizing elections you are really giving up the security we have that elections are unfettered and free.”

What can individuals do to help ensure fair elections?

Professor Freeman: “The key fact is that this is not a hypothetical threat. It has happened. Elections have been stolen. Read my book, Read Fitrakis's book, read BRAD BLOG and learn what is happening.”

“Was The 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count” (Steve Freeman, Joel Bleifuss)

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE by Alfonso Cuaron & Naomi Klein

Alfonso Cuaron, director of “Children of Men” - one of the best movies I've ever seen, applies his trade to a video short based on Naomi Klein's upcoming book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”. It's eye opening to say the least. Watch it, watch Cuaron's great film and read Klein's new book!

“Children of Men (Widescreen Edition)” (Alfonso Cuarón)

“The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” (Naomi Klein)

(h/t Bhc, who is finally back in the saddle after a short hiatus)