Being that it’s an election year, you knew it was bound to happen. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has written an open letter to US soldiers asking that they stay out of politics this election season. Of course, Mullen didn’t say don’t vote, just don’t talk about it… “As the nation prepares to elect a new president we would all do well to remember the promises we made: to obey civilian authority, to support and defend the Constitution and to ...More »

It’s no secret that former President Jimmy Carter has his detractors. His more recent attempts to confront the problems plaguing Israeli - Palestinian relations have drawn scorn from many quarters, with many labeling him anti-Israeli. And now, during remarks made at the recent Hay-on-Wye festival, he has done what no American President has ever dared to do – openly state that Israel possesses nuclear weapons. Despite the fact that within the international intelligence community it is widely known that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal that ...More »

Recently it was discovered that the Pentagon worked to place various retired military commanders at the disposal of various news networks as ‘analysts’. Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to such individuals as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates”, their role being to reinforce administration policy. It should also noted that the majority of them represent in excess of 150 military contractors as either lobbyists, consultants, board members, or senior executives. In a free society, the willful usurpation of the integrity of the fourth estate by the ...More »

Over at Tom Dispatch, Tom Engelhardt runs through 12 Answers To Questions No One Is Bothering To Ask About Iraq… “1. Yes, the war has morphed into the U.S. military's worst Iraq nightmare: Few now remember, but before George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, top administration and Pentagon officials had a single overriding nightmare -- not chemical, but urban, warfare. Saddam Hussein, they feared, would lure American forces into "Fortress Baghdad," as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld labeled it. There, they would ...More »

Today’s New York Times includes a crucial piece about US media manipulation entitled Behind Military Analysis, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand… “In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired ...More »

Yesterday, the Iranian government conceded the fact that it played a role in mediating the ceasefire between Iraqi forces and Shi’ite militias, that has, given events yesterday, seemingly crumbled. Despite this, US General David Patraeus is expected to include in his upcoming testimony before Congress that Iranian forces were directly involved in the recent unrest in Basra, operating at a tactical command level. The presentation of such information will, without question, be used to argue that US troop levels in Iraq remain at current strength, ...More »

This entry is part 1 in a series of entries exploring monetary systems with regards to public knowledge and awareness in the United States and Canada, its origins and history, and present day status. What better place to begin than with a video from George Carlin, about the state of affairs today... More »

Well, it doesn’t look like President Bush or Vice President Cheney will be visiting Brattleboro, Vermont, after they leave office. The residents of Brattleboro directed town officials to draft indictments against both Bush and Cheney for violating their oaths of office. A vote was then held, with 2012 citizens supporting the indictment and 1795 voting against it. The draft read… "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments ...More »

In a recent report released by the Pew Center on the States, America now has the largest prison population in its history, and the largest per capita incarceration rates worldwide. The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," the report said. More »

The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, summed it up rather astutely today, saying… “It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally.” HRW released its World Report for 2008 (.pdf) today, which includes the following… “In 2007 too many governments, including Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand, acted as if simply holding a vote is enough to prove a nation 'democratic', and Washington, Brussels and European capitals played along. The Bush ...More »