I found these on line and thought how refreshing they were. These would be so much better for our secular society than the religious versions currently being pushed into the public sphere:
First Commandment: Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
Second Commandment: In all things, strive to cause no harm.
Third Commandment: Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
Fourth Commandment: Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
Fifth Commandment: Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
Sixth Commandment: Always seek to be learning something new.
Seventh Commandment: Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
Eighth Commandment: Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
Ninth Commandment: Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
Tenth Commandment: Question everything.
I'm going to let these sink in a little bit and may offer my commentary on them in the future.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
This Just In !!!
Al-Qaida plots new attacks on U.S. soil
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida is using its growing strength in Pakistan and Iraq to plot attacks on U.S. soil, heightening the terror threat facing the United States over the next few years, intelligence agencies concluded in a report unveiled Tuesday.
[Kier: This is one of those stories that Washington throws out there every now and then to see if we're still awake and too keep the gullible in fear.
The fact of the matter, and everyone knows it, is that Al-Quaida has always been planning attacks against the US. They always will until the US gets itself out of the middle-east which is never.]
In the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush and other top policymakers, analysts laid out a range of dangers — from al-Qaida to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups — that pose a "persistent and evolving threat" to the country over the next three years.
[Kier: Blah, blah, blah. Nothing new here. No evidence, just general anxiety building BS.]
The findings focused most heavily on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which was judged to remain the most serious threat to the United States. The group's affiliate in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could do just that, the report concluded. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in a Web statement last September.
[Kier: Good job Bush. You took a place where there were no terrorists and it's now a real-world, hands-on training ground. To me that sounds like he has not only made the world a more dangerous place but he also made the US a more dangerous place.]
The findings focused most heavily on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which was judged to remain the most serious threat to the United States. The group's affiliate in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could do just that, the report concluded. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in a Web statement last September.
[Kier: Sounds like we're setting up Pakistan. It wouldn't surprise me after we unilaterally recognized India as a nuclear power and have been supplying them with technology. We always support you until you piss us off, just ask Saddam.]
Analysts — who concluded the U.S. now faces a "heightened threat environment" — painted an increasingly familiar picture of al-Qaida: A group focused on high-profile attacks against political, economic and infrastructure targets, while striving to cause mass casualties and dramatic destruction.
[Kier: The recent attack attempts in Britain were against none of the above. This analysis tends to give the would-be terrorists far more credit than they deserve. With few exceptions groups that were detected being involved in some kind of terror plot were incompetent idiots. The people caught outside the US involved in terror activities were apprehended by good police-work and a bit of luck.]
FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said the bureau does not know of any al-Qaida cells in the United States, although his agents continue investigating such questions. The estimate said international counterterrorism efforts since 2001 have hampered al-Qaida's ability to attack the United States again, while also convincing terror groups that U.S. soil is a tougher target.
[Kier: The FBI director doesn't know of any cells in the US??? So what's with the scare tactics?]
Charles Allen, the Department of Homeland Security's top intelligence official, said the department isn't changing the nation's threat level, which remains at yellow, or "elevated" — the middle of a five-point scale. Airlines remain one step higher, at orange.
[Kier: No threat change either. Sounds like the equivelent of Chertoff's recent "gut feeling".]
The Bush administration also brushed off critics who say the administration released the intelligence estimate now to help its case as the Senate debates whether to withdraw troops from Iraq. White House press secretary Tony Snow said critics are "engaged in a little selective hearing ... to shape the story in their own political ways."
[Kier: Bush has a well-earned reputation for doing this. Of course he would say that is not the case, but we all know it's true. The intelligence community has tarnished it's reputation as being solely about finding the truth to being just another political tool to be wielded to support whatever policy that the President comes up with.]
Bottom line: I just don't believe anything from this administration anymore.
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida is using its growing strength in Pakistan and Iraq to plot attacks on U.S. soil, heightening the terror threat facing the United States over the next few years, intelligence agencies concluded in a report unveiled Tuesday.
[Kier: This is one of those stories that Washington throws out there every now and then to see if we're still awake and too keep the gullible in fear.
The fact of the matter, and everyone knows it, is that Al-Quaida has always been planning attacks against the US. They always will until the US gets itself out of the middle-east which is never.]
In the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush and other top policymakers, analysts laid out a range of dangers — from al-Qaida to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups — that pose a "persistent and evolving threat" to the country over the next three years.
[Kier: Blah, blah, blah. Nothing new here. No evidence, just general anxiety building BS.]
The findings focused most heavily on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which was judged to remain the most serious threat to the United States. The group's affiliate in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could do just that, the report concluded. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in a Web statement last September.
[Kier: Good job Bush. You took a place where there were no terrorists and it's now a real-world, hands-on training ground. To me that sounds like he has not only made the world a more dangerous place but he also made the US a more dangerous place.]
The findings focused most heavily on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which was judged to remain the most serious threat to the United States. The group's affiliate in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could do just that, the report concluded. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in a Web statement last September.
[Kier: Sounds like we're setting up Pakistan. It wouldn't surprise me after we unilaterally recognized India as a nuclear power and have been supplying them with technology. We always support you until you piss us off, just ask Saddam.]
Analysts — who concluded the U.S. now faces a "heightened threat environment" — painted an increasingly familiar picture of al-Qaida: A group focused on high-profile attacks against political, economic and infrastructure targets, while striving to cause mass casualties and dramatic destruction.
[Kier: The recent attack attempts in Britain were against none of the above. This analysis tends to give the would-be terrorists far more credit than they deserve. With few exceptions groups that were detected being involved in some kind of terror plot were incompetent idiots. The people caught outside the US involved in terror activities were apprehended by good police-work and a bit of luck.]
FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said the bureau does not know of any al-Qaida cells in the United States, although his agents continue investigating such questions. The estimate said international counterterrorism efforts since 2001 have hampered al-Qaida's ability to attack the United States again, while also convincing terror groups that U.S. soil is a tougher target.
[Kier: The FBI director doesn't know of any cells in the US??? So what's with the scare tactics?]
Charles Allen, the Department of Homeland Security's top intelligence official, said the department isn't changing the nation's threat level, which remains at yellow, or "elevated" — the middle of a five-point scale. Airlines remain one step higher, at orange.
[Kier: No threat change either. Sounds like the equivelent of Chertoff's recent "gut feeling".]
The Bush administration also brushed off critics who say the administration released the intelligence estimate now to help its case as the Senate debates whether to withdraw troops from Iraq. White House press secretary Tony Snow said critics are "engaged in a little selective hearing ... to shape the story in their own political ways."
[Kier: Bush has a well-earned reputation for doing this. Of course he would say that is not the case, but we all know it's true. The intelligence community has tarnished it's reputation as being solely about finding the truth to being just another political tool to be wielded to support whatever policy that the President comes up with.]
Bottom line: I just don't believe anything from this administration anymore.
Blood for Oil - It's starting to seep out
About 300 oil industry workers gathered in Iraq’s main oil port of Basra yesterday to protest a draft law that they said would allow foreigners to pillage the country’s wealth.
Let's face it, Iraq has only one asset and that is it's oil. Current estimates give Iraq the 2nd largest oil reserves on the planet.
This super-secret bill's provisions, that Bush has been not-so-quietly pushing for, is starting to seep out to the public. Not only the public of Iraq but also America.
If there was any question before regarding whether this war was about the oil then it can pretty much be laid to rest now.
This law, in fact destroys the achievements of the Iraqi masses and especially the Law number 80 of 1961 and the nationalisation of 1973.
The law from 1961, part of a bundle of socialist reforms issued by then-Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim, sharply limited foreign involvement in the oil sector.
The new law explicitly states that the oil industry be privatized. What I've heard lately is that the US will be given a 30 year lease to develop all oil fields that are not currently developed. The Iraqi oil workers are concerned that when the US oil companies come in then they will be out of jobs.
So what about all the promises that the oil belonged to the Iraqi's? I guess it technically still will but how much revenue from their oil that they receive will be up to us. Current estimates are that we'll get 80% and they'll get 20% which they get to split three ways.
Even stallwart Democrat Dennis Kucinich was taken aback by how his own party is capitulating to the GOP's push to steal the oil. Here is what he said recently, "We have the Democratic Congress promoting President Bush’s bill that provides for the privatization of Iraq’s oil under the guise of a reconciliation program, that tells the Iraq government that unless they agree to privatize their oil, that we’re going to pull our troops out and not put replacement troops and peacekeepers in.
You see, this doesn’t represent what America is about. No way. This isn’t who we are.
"
I'm sorry Dennis, apparently it is.
Let's face it, Iraq has only one asset and that is it's oil. Current estimates give Iraq the 2nd largest oil reserves on the planet.
This super-secret bill's provisions, that Bush has been not-so-quietly pushing for, is starting to seep out to the public. Not only the public of Iraq but also America.
If there was any question before regarding whether this war was about the oil then it can pretty much be laid to rest now.
This law, in fact destroys the achievements of the Iraqi masses and especially the Law number 80 of 1961 and the nationalisation of 1973.
The law from 1961, part of a bundle of socialist reforms issued by then-Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim, sharply limited foreign involvement in the oil sector.
The new law explicitly states that the oil industry be privatized. What I've heard lately is that the US will be given a 30 year lease to develop all oil fields that are not currently developed. The Iraqi oil workers are concerned that when the US oil companies come in then they will be out of jobs.
So what about all the promises that the oil belonged to the Iraqi's? I guess it technically still will but how much revenue from their oil that they receive will be up to us. Current estimates are that we'll get 80% and they'll get 20% which they get to split three ways.
Even stallwart Democrat Dennis Kucinich was taken aback by how his own party is capitulating to the GOP's push to steal the oil. Here is what he said recently, "We have the Democratic Congress promoting President Bush’s bill that provides for the privatization of Iraq’s oil under the guise of a reconciliation program, that tells the Iraq government that unless they agree to privatize their oil, that we’re going to pull our troops out and not put replacement troops and peacekeepers in.
You see, this doesn’t represent what America is about. No way. This isn’t who we are.
"
I'm sorry Dennis, apparently it is.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Bush - Master of Diplomacy ... NOT
Something interesting has unfolded recently that the mainstream media seems oblivious to.
President Bush had a summit meeting with Vladamir Putin on July 1-2 up at Bush's fathers residence in Maine.
Not much was said of the outcome of that meeting and now it may be clearer why.
Over the weekend the Kremlin announced that Mr. Putin had signed a decree to cease the country's fulfilment of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which was signed at the end of the Cold War and limits the deployment of military forces in Europe. Hmmm, very interesting.
He cited U.S. plans to install elements of an anti-missile shield in central Europe and NATO members' failure to ratify an updated version of the treaty as justifications for the suspension.
Former Soviet premier Gorbachev said, "It would have been completely incomprehensible if Russia was to continue fulfilling the treaty when the other sides had not even ratified it,"
I can only imagine a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum from his highness King George at the meeting in Maine prompted this.
Then today we hear that Russia rejected the latest U.N. draft resolution on Kosovo's future Monday, calling it a hidden attempt to achieve independence for the Serbian province despite vehement opposition from its Serb minority.
Moscow, which has strong cultural ties to Serbia and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin all but said Moscow would veto the resolution if the sponsors call for a vote, saying the chances of its adoption "are zero."
The sponsors of the bill were the US and the EU. If Bush and Putin were really chummy I'm sure they could have worked this out behind the scenes.
All indications seem to point to Bush's cowboy personna alienating another world figure. He has a knack for it.
President Bush had a summit meeting with Vladamir Putin on July 1-2 up at Bush's fathers residence in Maine.
Not much was said of the outcome of that meeting and now it may be clearer why.
Over the weekend the Kremlin announced that Mr. Putin had signed a decree to cease the country's fulfilment of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which was signed at the end of the Cold War and limits the deployment of military forces in Europe. Hmmm, very interesting.
He cited U.S. plans to install elements of an anti-missile shield in central Europe and NATO members' failure to ratify an updated version of the treaty as justifications for the suspension.
Former Soviet premier Gorbachev said, "It would have been completely incomprehensible if Russia was to continue fulfilling the treaty when the other sides had not even ratified it,"
I can only imagine a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum from his highness King George at the meeting in Maine prompted this.
Then today we hear that Russia rejected the latest U.N. draft resolution on Kosovo's future Monday, calling it a hidden attempt to achieve independence for the Serbian province despite vehement opposition from its Serb minority.
Moscow, which has strong cultural ties to Serbia and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin all but said Moscow would veto the resolution if the sponsors call for a vote, saying the chances of its adoption "are zero."
The sponsors of the bill were the US and the EU. If Bush and Putin were really chummy I'm sure they could have worked this out behind the scenes.
All indications seem to point to Bush's cowboy personna alienating another world figure. He has a knack for it.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Real Iraq Plan
Mark my words. As surely as day follows night this is what will happen in Iraq...
The US is biding it's time to complete the embassy and it's permenent bases in Iraq. We will of course work out cerimonial deals with Iraq as we did with Cuba to host those bases with no intention of leaving.
We will then slowly pull back our troops to those bases and re-deploy other forces back to the US. Remember that most of the forces there are Guard and Reserve troops that are only supposed to be used in emergencies and have (or had) full time jobs and careers in the US.
We will also secure a very lengthy development contract that gives US oil companies a monopoly on developing the oil reserves in the country.
By the time the monopoly runs out so will the oil and we'll say so long to that God forsaken piece of shit country.
The US is biding it's time to complete the embassy and it's permenent bases in Iraq. We will of course work out cerimonial deals with Iraq as we did with Cuba to host those bases with no intention of leaving.
We will then slowly pull back our troops to those bases and re-deploy other forces back to the US. Remember that most of the forces there are Guard and Reserve troops that are only supposed to be used in emergencies and have (or had) full time jobs and careers in the US.
We will also secure a very lengthy development contract that gives US oil companies a monopoly on developing the oil reserves in the country.
By the time the monopoly runs out so will the oil and we'll say so long to that God forsaken piece of shit country.
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