Voici d'abord une vue du logiciel Google Earth, qui montre la courbe inhabituelle du chemin Keenan, ainsi qu'une partie dégagée, au nord-est de l'A-55.  Je n'ai pas pu prendre de photo, compte tenu de la distance requise pour avoir une vue d'ensemble, ainsi que de l'heure tardive, mais un court corridor est effectivement dégagé (lire dynamité), et les arbres qui s'y trouvent sont moins nombreux, et beaucoup plus jeunes que ceux situés de chaque côté du corridor.

C'est difficile à voir, de cet angle, mais la ligne blanche, qui délimite l'accotement de l'A-55, en direction sud, tourne légèrement vers la gauche, alors que le parapet du pont, et le garde-fou métallique, continuent en ligne droite.

Ici, on voit mieux l'accotement plus large, et l'asphalte, étendu de façon à donner naissance à une bretelle vers la droite, puis qui reprend la largeur d'un accotement normal.  C'est probablement à cet endroit qu'aurait été installé le panneau indiquant la fin de l'A-51.

Sur cette vue, prise en direction nord, on peut remarquer que le pont de la nouvelle chaussée est beaucoup plus court que celui de la première chaussée.  Je sais, il pleuvait, et on voit mal.  Attendez un peu.

Il s'agit de la même photo, mais sur celle-ci, j'ai fait des marques qui montrent la longueur des deux viaducs.  C'est beaucoup plus évident, n'est-ce pas?  Maintenant, allons voir cela d'en-dessous.

Voici, vu d'en-bas, le nouveau viaduc, qui a les dimensions d'une passe à chevreuils,...

...alors que le viaduc original est suffisamment large pour laisser passer beaucoup, beaucoup de chevreuils.  En fait, il a toute la largeur nécessaire pour faire un superbe échangeur.

J'ai remonté le sentier, à l'ouest de l'autoroute, pour tenter de prendre une pose des deux ponts.  C'est partiellement réussi; on voit l'empierrement du nouveau viaduc, par dessous l'ancien.  Encore chanceux, la photo n'est pas trop brouillée; je me faisais littéralement dévorer par les moustiques, à ce moment-là.

À voir les nombreuses pistes, sous l'ancien viaduc, c'est certain qu'il y passe des chevreuils, entre autres animaux.  C'est aussi à cet endroit que j'ai vécu le second épisode de la série "J'avais de belles chaussures".  Je vous garantis que je vais m'acheter des "bottes à vaches" dans un proche avenir.

Je suis sous l'ancien viaduc (en fait, je devrais plutôt dire le viaduc de la première chaussée, puisque les deux sont toujours fonctionnels), et j'ai pris cette photo, puis les deux suivantes, pour illustrer, "d'un angle différent", comme le disait si bien Gilles Tremblay, lors des belles années de la Soirée du hockey, à Radio-Canada, la différence de longueur des deux viaducs.  Je suis près du pilier sud de ce viaduc,...

...je me tourne d'une trentaine de degrés vers la droite, pour prendre le terrassement de la nouvelle chaussée, sur laquelle passe des véhicules,...

...puis à nouveau d'une trentaine de degrés, pour enfin prendre l'extrémité nord du viaduc de la nouvelle chaussée.

C'est la même vue qu'au début du billet, toujours signée Google Earth, mais cette fois, j'y ai ajouté la disposition des lieux si l'A-55 avait été construite selon les plans originaux.  En bleu, c'est le chemin Keenan actuel, avec sa courbe.  En rouge, c'est l'A-55 actuelle, et en blanc, l'A-55 selon ce qu'elle aurait dû être.  L'A-51 aurait alors été la partie en orange, située au nord-ouest de l'échangeur.  Malheureusement, même si les municipalités, situées le long du tracé original de l'A-55, en demandaient vigoureusement la construction, ça ne passerait pas comme une lettre à la poste,...

...parce que la Société de conservation du corridor naturel de la rivière au Saumon (SCCNRS) a décrété que tout le territoire situé entre le chemin Keenan et la rivière Saint-François, y compris l'espace sous les viaducs, était désormais une aire naturelle, protégée et gérée pour la conservation.  Même le sentier cyclable y est fermé!  Vous imaginez la guerre, qui se tiendrait en ces lieux, si l'on tentait de ressusciter le projet de l'A-55?

La question que je me pose, c'est qu'une fois que les chevreuils sont passés sous l'A-55, ils vont où?  Ils sont encerclés par le chemin Keenan.  Je présume qu'ils doivent le traverser, et que c'est beaucoup moins grave que s'ils traversaient l'autoroute, parce que ce chemin est somme toute peu utilisé.  Il n'en demeure pas moins que ma curiosité est allumée, maintenant.  Je devrai faire des recherches, auprès des municipalités de la région, afin de savoir si d'autres travaux ont été faits, en vue de construire l'A-55, entre Melbourne et Saint-Albert-de-Warwick.  Je pense particulièrement au boulevard du Conseil, à Asbestos, dont l'extrémité sud pointe presque directement les viaducs que vous venez de voir.

Je sens que je vais déterrer quelques squelettes, avec cette affaire...

Read Full Article Here

Think Progress
July 23, 2008

On yesterday’s edition of The 700 Club, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson sharply criticized the “moderate tone” the Bush administration has allegedly taken toward Iran and its nuclear weapons program. Robertson advocated that Israel look out for the “survival of its nation” and “make some kind of a strike” against Iranian nuclear facilities. He also predicted that it will likely happen before the 2008 elections:

Other members of the right wing have also been unifying around the idea of striking Iran before Bush leaves. Both John Bolton and Bill Kristol have made the same argument.

Kagan: ‘The only way’ to ‘force’ Iran to halt its nuclear program is an ‘attack.’

Think Progress
July 23, 2008

Appearing on MSNBC this afternoon, Iraq surge architect Fred Kagan criticized direct talks with Iran and made his case for attacking Iran, claiming it is the only means to “force” the country to halt its nuclear program:

Well, there’s nothing we can do short of an attack to force Iran to give up its nuclear program. … At the end of the day, the only way that you can make for sure that [a nuclear arm’s race] doesn’t happen is with an attack. There are a variety of things you can do short of an attack and hope that they will work, but hope is not a method here.

Top Israeli official: If nuclear talks fail, Bush will order Iran attack between November and January

DEBKAfile
July 19, 2008

This assessment was reported by Israeli national radio Saturday overnight quoting a high-placed “security-political” official.

The source predicted that President George W. Bush would order Iran attacked between the November 4 presidential election and his exit from the White House in January. The quote was aired shortly after the six-power talks with Iran in Geneva – with US official participation for the first time – failed, and just before Israel chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi set out for Washington. He is to spend a week there as guest of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

DEBKAfile’s political sources describe the disclosure as a step aimed at slowing down the collapse of Israel’s stated policy of relying on international diplomatic pressure to thwart Iran’s acquisition of nuclear arms. It is expected to raise a furious outcry from the powers spearheading the diplomatic effort and prompt extreme reactions from Tehran.

Read Full Article Here

Recent News:

Il s'agit d'un Jeep Cherokee Chief, dont la carrosserie semble plutôt propre, puisque c'est un modèle de 1987.

Arrangez ça comme vous voulez, mais il y a une attache de remorque... à l'avant!  Le sympathique propriétaire précédent, qui habite Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, m'a précisé qu'il se servait du véhicule principalement pour tirer son bateau.  Ceux qui manoeuvrent souvent des remorques savent bien que si une telle installation est plutôt inutile sur la route, elle est très pratique sur des terrains fermés,  car il est plus facile de déplacer une remorque sans avoir à constamment tourner la tête vers l'arrière.  Mais ne vous en faites pas; je lui trouverai bien une utilisation.  En passant, la flaque d'huile, sous le pare-chocs, est une gracieuseté de la pompe de servo-direction, qui a été remplacée depuis la prise de ces photos.

Le toit et le hayon arrière, ainsi que le capot, qui porte toujours les bandes décoratives propres à ce modèle, sont encore recouverts de la peinture d'origine, qui date de 21 ans.  Les côtés ont toutefois déjà été repeints.

Autre détail original, le lettrage, à l'arrière, qui montre bien qu'il s'agit d'un Cherokee Chief.  Évidemment, une autre attache de remorque est installée, au bon endroit, cette fois.

Si l'extérieur est encore très potable, l'intérieur accuse davantage le poids des années.

Voilà le secret de la longévité de sa carrosserie; il a été traité, pendant plusieurs années, à l'huile antirouille.

La blogue-mobile est équipée d'une boîte manuelle à 5 rapports.  On constate, une fois de plus, à la vue du soufflet du levier de transmission, qu'il reste beaucoup de petits détails à fignoler, du côté de la finition intérieure.

À défaut de proposer la climatisation, ce véhicule est toutefois muni d'une radio AM/FM de qualité, à façade détachable, de marque JVC, et doté d'une télécommande.  Elle lit également les CD, CD-RW et les MP3.

Parmi les trucs à fignoler, un compresseur à air, dont on voit ici la commande, qui permettra, une fois redevenu fonctionnel, l'installation d'amortisseurs pneumatiques.

Voici l'une des principales raisons pour laquelle j'ai choisi ce véhicule.  Il est doté d'une boîte de transfert Selec-Trac, qui permet le passage de 2 à 4 roues motrices à la volée.

Le tableau de bord est passablement complet, avec tous les indicateurs, que je préfère de beaucoup aux lampes-témoin qui, malheureusement, équipent encore beaucoup de véhicules américains.

Au prix où je l'ai payée, lequel comprend également quatre très bons pneus d'hiver, montés sur des jantes en acier, je ne suis pas sans me douter qu'il y aura des réparations à effectuer.  L'ancien propriétaire a été tout à fait honnête, et toutes les réparations effectuées à date concernent des problèmes qu'il m'avait révélé.  À date, j'ai remplacé la pompe de servo-direction, le radiateur, et le ventilateur du système de chauffage, le tout avec succès.  Présentement, elle est à Saint-Lin--Laurentides, où on procède à la rénovation du plancher, ainsi qu'à quelques trucs sur la carrosserie.  À son retour, j'aurai à remplacer un joint d'étanchéité au niveau de la boîte de direction, qui vient de commencer à fuir.  Ensuite, ce sera la tournée d'entretien; vidange d'huile à moteur, de transmission manuelle, des deux différentiels et de la boîte de transfert.  Bref, de quoi m'amuser pendant plusieurs week-ends.

Par contre, comme il s'agit pour moi d'un second véhicule (j'ai déjà une voiture sous-compacte), je n'ai pas de pression, au niveau de l'entretien et des réparations.  J'y vais en fonction de mon budget, et de mes temps libres.  J'ai toujours aimé "bizouner" la mécanique, et cette Jeep me permet de le faire, et ce sans le stress d'avoir à tout remonter rapidement, pour cause de nécessité.

Quant à la réserve de photos, elle commence à tirer à sa fin, ce qui veut dire que je devrai repartir à la chasse aux images.  Je ne vais pas vous révéler mes intentions en détails, de peur de me pas remplir mes engagements.  La chasse aux photos est souvent sujette aux tribulation de Dame Nature, dont la météo est plus incertaine que jamais, cette année.  Mais il me reste mon dernier coup de tête, incidemment sous la pluie, et en plein territoire des moustiques, soit cet échangeur en devenir, dont la vocation fut transformée, par la force des choses, en passe à chevreuils.  Un indice de plus?  C'est dans la région des Cantons-de-l'Est, tout près de celle du Centre-du-Québec.

Vous voulez plus de détails, encore?  Une seule façon de faire; restez branchés!

Infowars
July 17, 2008

Agence-France Presse reports:

Spain’s supreme court Thursday overturned the guilty verdicts on four of the 21 people convicted over the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in 2004.

It also upheld a lower court’s decision to acquit one of the alleged masterminds of the Al Qaeda-inspired attacks, Rabei Ousmane Sayed Ahmed, known as “Mohammed the Egyptian”.

And it handed down a four-year prison term to a Spaniard, Antonio Toro, who had been acquitted on charges of transporting explosives.

Note: the attack is no longer considered the direct handiwork of al-Qaeda but is rather an “al-Qaeda inspired attack.” Back in March, 2004, the corporate media resoundingly declared al-Qaeda to be responsible.

The supreme court Thursday overturned the convictions of Basel Ghalyoun and Mohamed Almallah Dabas, both condemned to 12 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group.

It also cleared Abdelilah El Fadual El Akil, condemned to nine years for collaborating with a terrorist group, as well as Raul Gonzalez Pena, who had received five years for supplying explosives.

In other words, according to Spain’s Supreme Court, these people did not belong to a terrorist group, at least not an Islamic terrorist group. Apparently, there was not enough evidence to stay the conviction of “Mohammed the Egyptian,” said to be the ringleader, and his conviction was thrown out as well.

The court in October had handed down the heaviest sentences to two Moroccans — Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui — and a Spaniard, Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras.

As it turns out, Trashorras and a compatriot, Antonio Toro, were government informants, a fact reported by the New York Times and the Times Online. Toro was recently handed a four-year prison for transporting explosives.

The History Commons on the Cooperative Research website notes the following:

It is revealed that the man accused of supplying the dynamite used in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings was an informant who had the private telephone number of the head of Spain’s Civil Guard bomb squad. Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a miner with access to explosives, as well as an associate named Rafa Zouhier both regularly informed for the Spanish police, telling them about drug shipments. Trashorras began working as an informant after being arrested for drug trafficking in July 2001, while Zouhier became an informant after being released from prison early in February 2002. Shortly after the Madrid bombings, investigators discover that Trashorras’ wife Carmen Toro has a piece of paper with the telephone number of Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano, head of Tedax, the Civil Guard bomb squad. She and her brother Antonio Toro are also informants.

In short, Trashorras and Toro are patsies and the evidence indicates the Spanish Civil Guard bomb squad was behind the bombing and a phantom “al-Qaeda inspired” terrorist group was simply a contrivance designed to feed public hysteria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE3eIdDRpLc

All of this is reminiscent of murderous Operation Gladio false flag operations carried out by the CIA, NATO, the P2 Masonic lodge, and their fascist allies in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, operations designed to be blamed on communists. “One of P-2’s specialties was the art of provocation. Leftist organizations like the Red Brigades were infiltrated, financed and / or created, and the resulting acts of terrorism, like the assassination of Italy’s premier in 1978 and the bombing of the railway station in Bologna in 1980, were blamed on the left. The goal of this ’strategy of tension’ was to convince Italian voters that the left was violent and dangerous-by helping make it so,” writes Mark Zepezauer.

It now appears obvious the Madrid bombing was a Gladio-like operation designed to frighten and stampede the Spanish public into supporting the bogus war against terror and, as well, re-elect as prime minister José María Aznar, the grandson of a prominent Franco fascist and a favorite of Bush and the neocons. Aznar, however, was roundly trounced in the elections.

Spain’s supreme court clears four convicted Madrid bombers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080717/ts_afp/spainattacksappeal

Bali Bomber Claims CIA/Mossad Involvement
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/03/09/bali-bomb..mossad-involvement/

[dailymotion id=xk7dp]

Video Clip : I Ain't The Nigga

Singer : Coup, The

By COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD.)

Monday, 23 June 2008.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—Liaqat Bagh to be renamed Benazir Bhutto Bagh, Murree Road to be renamed Benazir Bhutto Road, 27 December to be declared official holiday after Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, Lahore to be turned into Larkana, Presidency to be taken over by a PPP worker, the Prime Minister commutes all death sentences to life imprisonment as Benazir Bhutto’s birthday gift to the nation (read ‘gift to murderers’). All this, of course, without any authority.

The Co-Chairperson – not even an Member of National Assembly - being given full protocol and allowed the use of bullet proof SUV with tainted glasses (who says it violates the law?); the construction of Tarbela Dam abandoned at the whims of someone, anyone, without even being discussed in the Parliament, PM announcing publicly without any hesitation to restore the judges immediately on receipt of orders from Zardari (what a Prime Minister!), PM performing Umra with 80 plus guests and hangers-on, of course at your and my expense; and then BB death probe by U.N. – at what colossal costs and with what outcome - anybody’s guess, et al.

What is all this? Is it the democracy or the government of a person, for a person, by a person? Where is the Parliament, which unlike the previous ones is claimed not to be a rubber stamp? Are these acts democratic in nature and spirit? Or, is the present democracy yet another facet of the maadar pidar azaad Jiala jamhuriat? Jo jee mein aye karo, yahaan kaun poochhaney wala hai ?!!

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd) is based in Rawalpindi. His commentary is appears frequently in several national Pakistani dailies. He can be reached at jafri@rifiela.com

Just a week before Barack Obama's highly anticipated first tour of Europe and the Middle East as presidential candidate, CNN's Fareed Zakaria asked the Senator about the kinds of experiences that will inform his ability to occupy the most powerful foreign policy position on earth.

" ... what is your first memory of a foreign policy event that shaped you, shaped your life?" asked Zakaria. Obama invoked his childhood memories of Indonesia, where his mother worked for the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. And he did so with the poise that will ultimately vanquish the manufactured image of him as the Islamic garb-wearing threat depicted in political cartoons. With facial expressions and body language that made him look like the embodiment of sensitive, flexible yet tough cosmopolitanism, a very pensive and presidential-sounding Obama told Zakaria that he later learned that Indonesia fell victim to "an enormous coup, the military coup in which we learned later that over half-a-million people had probably died."

Most striking, Obama said, was how "the generals in Indonesia or members of Suharto's (who led the coup and ruled Indonesia for over 30 years) family were living in lavish mansions, and the sense that government wasn't always working for the people, but was working for insiders, -- not that that didn't happen in the United States," he added, "but at least the sense that there was a civil society and rules of law that had to be abided by." Obama's interview previewed the kind glamour and intelligence will help CNN reach American Idol in the ratings game while also positioning him to compete in the Great Game of geopolitics.

But as eloquent, smart and unMcCain-like as Obama sounded during the interview, his pre-foreign policy tour paean to U.S. civil society lacked any mention of how of the U.S. government was "working for the people" when its military aid paid for those Indonesian mansions in the late 1960's. Neither did his response to Zakaria mention what the U.S government did to enable one of the worst slaughters of the late 20th century: providing training to 1,200 of those generals and other Indonesian military officers and giving them the money, arms, intelligence and political support that caused catastrophic trauma. As a smart and sensitive boy who played soccer on Jakarta's dusty Haji Ramli Street, Obama surely felt this trauma among his friends and families devastated by state-sponsored terrorism and mass murder.

Nor did Obama mention in his interview the strategies in support of the military coup planned and executed out of the same embassy where his mother worked as an English teacher.

When asked by a reporter in 1990 about dissident lists prepared by the CIA and U.S. State Department and given to the Indonesian military during the coup, Robert J. Martens, a political attaché who worked at the embassy up until the year before Obama's mother did, replied: "It really was a big help to the (Indonesian) army. They probably killed a lot of people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that's not all bad."

While it's absurd to expect Obama to account for the violence and militarism of the U.S. government of his childhood, it is imperative that we hold him accountable to stopping the violence and militarism of the government he's preparing to lead as an adult.

Read the rest here

Ewen MacAskill
London Guardian
July 18, 2008

Read Full Article Here

Bush Sends Top Diplomat To Meet With Iran

AP
July 16, 2008

A top U.S. diplomat heading to Geneva has no plans to meet separately with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, but the mere presence of the Bush administration official at talks between the Iranian negotiator and representatives of other world powers will be a sharp break with past administration policy.

William Burns, America’s third highest-ranking diplomat, will attend talks with the Iranian envoy, Saeed Jalili, in Switzerland on Saturday. The talks are aimed at persuading Iran to halt activities that could lead to the development of atomic weapons. It will be the first time such a high-ranking U.S. official has attended such talks.

Official contacts between Iran and the United States are extremely rare and although Washington is part of a six-nation effort to get Iran to stop enriching and reprocessing uranium, the administration has shunned contacts with Tehran on the matter.

Read Full Article Here

Press TV
July 17, 2008

Read Full Article Here

July 18, 2008

Israeli transportation minister Shaul Mofaz has reiterated his previous threats against Iran, saying Israel must be ready to act.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post published late Thursday, Mofaz said sanctions were not effective in halting Iran’s nuclear program and "there will be no choice but to attack Iran to halt the Iranian nuclear program."

"Israel cannot let Iran get to the point of nuclearization," Mofaz said. "All options are on the table. If there won’t be a choice other than a nuclear Iran or a military option, it’s clear what our decision has to be."

"The strategy against Iran has not changed and it will continue to be led by the United States," Mofaz said, adding Israel could not let Iran ’threaten the entire world.’

Mofaz had told Yediot Aharonot on June 6 that Israel would attack Iran if it did not cease nuclear development.

Following his remarks in June, Israeli officials condemned his threats, calling them ’irresponsible’ and ’cynical.’

His new remarks against Tehran come as even the United States seems to have backed down on its demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment before entering talks on its nuclear program.

US diplomat William Burns is to be present at the negotiating table on Saturday in Geneva where Iran’s nuclear issue will be discussed.

John Bolton demands US support for Israeli strike on Iran

Telegraph
July 15, 2008

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has said that America should "facilitate" an Israeli attack on suspected nuclear facilities in Iran.

Read Full Article Here

Iran plans major air drills to boost deterrence

Press TV
July 15, 2008

Iran’s Air Force plans to stage a large-scale combat and defensive drills to beef up deterrence against threats from the US and Israel.

Air Force commander Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani said Tuesday that the armed forces would conduct a military exercise, dubbed Defenders of the Sky of Velayat, to enhance aerial capabilities.

The Iranian Air Force will prove its dominance by immediately crushing anyone who dares to try and penetrate Iran’s airspace, said Brig. Gen. Miqani.

The extensive air maneuvers will follow the six-day drills held by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) directed at demonstrating Iran’s defensive ballistic power.

The IRGC ended an extensive military exercise on Sunday during which Iran successfully test-fired various advanced shore-to-sea, surface-to-surface and sea-to-air missiles.

Iran also tested the upgraded Shahab-3 missile equipped with a one-ton conventional warhead and capable of hitting targets within a 2,000-kilometer range.

Read Full Article Here

Iran to target ‘32 US bases’ if attacked

AFP
July 13, 2008

Iran will target “32 US bases and the heart of Israel” if it is attacked, the Fars news agency quoted an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying on Saturday.

“If America and Israel shoot any bullets and missiles against our country, Iranian armed forces will target the heart of Israel and 32 US bases in the region before the dust from this attack has settled,” Mojtaba Zolnoor said.

Read Full Article Here

Les premières nouvelles, à ce sujet, montrent diverses variations sur un même thème.  Selon que l'on visite les sites de Corus Nouvelles (Info 690 AM, 98,5 FM), de Radio-Canada, ou encore de Cyberpresse, on parlera de dommages à des voitures qui ont roulé dans l'énorme nid-de-poule, ou qui ont reçu une pluie de béton.  Il n'en demeure pas moins que la chute de ces morceaux de l'une des bretelles illustre très bien l'état de décrépitude de l'échangeur en entier.  Au point où je me demande s'il va tenir le coup en attendant sa reconstruction, qui devrait être complétée en 2015.

Il s'agit de regarder, lorsque l'on arrive de l'autoroute Décarie, la bretelle qui mène vers l'autoroute Bonaventure (A-15 sud, A-20 est), vers le pont Champlain; les travées "font le rond", d'un pilier à l'autre, comme s'il s'agissait d'un vieux pont de bois!  Personne ne me convaincra que ces voies surélevées sont solides.  On roule là-dessus, mais c'est continuellement à nos risques et périls.  Autre point; je me demande si la partie qui s'est effondrée, ce matin, devait ou non être retenue, en principe, par ces fameux trellis métalliques, installés un peu partout sous les parties surélevées du réseau routier québécois.

La prochaine étape, ce sera quoi, selon vous?  La chute d'une partie de la Métropolitaine?

Barack Obama calls for tougher sanctions after Iran missile tests

Guardian
July 9, 2008

Those who think that the election of Barack Obama will save the nation from its many foreign-policy/civil-liberties woes got smashed and dashed with a cold dose of reality. Flip-flopping in the finest political tradition, Obama voted in favor of President Bush’s wiretap/immunity bill, after promising to filibuster it before he secured the Democratic Party nomination.


Presumably, Obama’s thinking goes like this: “Now that I’ve secured the nomination of my party, liberals will vote for me regardless because they won’t want John McCain in power. So, I can now flip flop and taken different positions on foreign policy and civil liberties so that John McCain won’t be able to tell people that I’m soft on terrorism.”


Reminding people of what happened in 2002, when the Democrats unconstitutionally and cowardly delegated the power to declare war on Iraq to President Bush because of fear that the president would accuse them of being soft on Saddam Hussein, congressional Democrats voted to give Bush everything he wanted plus more in the wiretap/immunity bill, including civil immunity to private telecom companies for apparent felony offenses committed against their customers.


For an excellent analysis of the cowardly and craven cave-in by Obama and his fellow Democrats, see Glenn Greenwald’s blog and Jonathan Turley’s television interview, which is included in Greenwald’s June 9 blog. (Both Greenwald and Turley delivered terrific speeches at our recent conference “Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.”)


Meanwhile, the president and his associates continue to threaten Iran with a military attack without even pretending that they’re going to first ask for a declaration of war from Congress, which the Constitution requires. Keep in mind that the Constitution is the law that we the people impose on the president and the Congress. That’s the law that the president feels that he can violate with impunity.


The fact is that Americans are living under a lawless regime, one in which the president feels that constitutional constraints are illegitimate during his “war on terrorism,” which he says will last indefinitely given that there are still so many terrorists and potential terrorists in the world. Never mind that the U.S. government’s own policies generate the terrorist threat against the United States, which is then used as the excuse for the president to operate in an omnipotent and extra-constitutional manner.


That’s what his signing statements, illegal wiretaps and other searches, enemy-combatant designations, torture and sex abuse camps, cancelation of habeas corpus, wars of aggression, indefinite detentions, and kangaroo military tribunals are all about — the power to ignore constitutional restraints — omnipotent power.


The battle over the wiretap/immunity bill demonstrates a critically important point, one that every lover of liberty must ultimately confront: It is not sufficient to fight every assault on civil liberties that comes down the pike. The infringements are endless. Even if one civil-liberties battle is won, there are always three more battles to wage.


Suppose, for example, that civil libertarians succeed in getting the Pentagon’s torture and sex abuse camp at Guantanamo Bay closed down. Would that end the torture and sex abuse? Of course not. They’ll simply start sending detainees to torture and sex abuse camps in Afghanistan or to friendly terrorist regimes, such as Syria (which they still claim they don’t talk to despite the fact that the CIA somehow or another made the arrangements with Syrian torturers to torture an innocent man on its behalf).


Thus, what every American who thirsts for the restoration of a normal, free society must recognize is that there is one — and only one — solution: the dismantling of America’s standing army, especially the military-industrial complex and the CIA, which are the center of the rot of the U.S. Empire. This is what should have been done when the Berlin Wall fell and it’s what should be done today.


That’s the root of the weed. That’s what needs to be pulled out of the ground. It’s not sufficient to simply continue trimming its branches.


That would mean the closing of every U.S. military base around the world — Europe, Asia, South America, and everywhere else. It would entail bringing all those troops home and discharging them into the private sector. It would entail closing the multitude of military bases all across the United States. It would entail the abolition of the CIA. It would include the repeal of the deadly and destructive war on drugs. It would entail the end of all foreign aid. It would mean the end of the U.S. government’s meddling in the affairs of other nations. It would entail the repeal of all the taxes that fund these people and their deadly, destructive, and nefarious operations.


Barack Obama’s cowardly flip flop should remind every American that the key to our future lies not in electing different people to public office. Instead, the key to our future lies in a shift in paradigms — from one of big government in foreign (and domestic) affairs to one of limited government in foreign (and domestic) affairs.


The time has come for the American people to do what Americans in 1787 were doing: reflecting upon the principles of liberty and limited government on which this nation should be based. The time has come to end the U.S. government’s role as the world’s policeman, intervener, interloper, aggressor, welfare provider, and sole remaining empire. The time has come for the American people to restore the principles of liberty and limited government that our ancestors bequeathed to us.


Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

Obama’s poll numbers plummet: Apparently betraying Americans does not pay

Newsweek
July 11, 2008

A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama’s glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month’s NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

Read Full Article Here

There's a great little piece in English language Andalucian newspaper The Olive Tree about Mark Thatcher facing eviction from his Spanish bolthole in the wake of Fighting Mann's EG coup trial:

MARK THATCHER is hiding out in a gated community on the Ronda-San Pedro road in fear of being kidnapped.

He fears an international snatch squad has been ordered to extradite him to Equatorial Guinea to face trial in an overthrow plot, he allegedly helped to fund.

This week fellow plot leader Simon Mann was found guilty and sentenced to 34 years in jail.

The son of former UK PM Margaret Thatcher rarely leaves his £3million bolthole in exclusive El Madronal, which has round-the-clock security.

He has installed a series of high-tech security systems in the home, that is owned by a former school friend Stephen Humberstone.

But now his days are numbered after Humberstone ordered him to leave the home he has rented since 2005 over unpaid bills.

Claiming he is three months in arrears to the tune of over 20,000 euros, Mr. Humberstone this week reportedly plans to serve court papers on him via the San Pedro courts.

“I want him off my property as soon as possible. If you see him, punch him in the face for me.

“I have absolutely no idea why a man as wealthy as him, who can still drive a Porsche, cannot pay his rent.

“All I can think is that he has no money. After talking to Mark I get the feeling he is receiving an allowance from his elderly mother.

“He always likes to pay in cash and even though the villa had maximum security he has fitted even more alarm systems. That shows how scared he is because he is a nasty piece of work and he is not liked.

“Despite all this he can still afford a driver and a cook – so why can he not pay his rent?”

Sir Mark, 54, who is estimated to be worth £64million, denies that he is behind in his rent and insists he has received nothing in writing from his landlord.

The piece goes on to talk about Scratcher's fears of being kidnapped and sent to Equatorial Guinea to face trial, a theme which TOP covers in salacious detail:

Alarmingly for Thatcher there are an estimated 120 international mafia gangs operating on the Costa del Sol, each capable of undertaking kidnap plots.

In 2005 there were a reported 50 plus kidnappings and “settling of accounts” on the coast.

In 2004 a Lithuanian gang kidnapped British businessman Frank Capa in broad daylight on the Ronda-San Pedro road.

The gang released him after nine days when the family paid a reported £1m
ransom.

A police source told the Olive Press: “There are quite a few groups of former soldiers from the Eastern Bloc, highly-trained with no money, and prepared to carry out these sort of crimes.

“There have been an alarming number of kidnappings over the last few years, most of them going unreported.”

Fret not, Scratcher! I'm sure you'll be fine!

EG coup blog posts:

• Fighting Mann's lawyer cries Guinea foul over coup extradition
• Fighting Mann: A "mere instrument" or a total tool?
• Fighting Mann drops Scratcher in the shit
• Fighting Mann earns 34 years
• Sugaring Spicer: the sensitive side of a professional gun

Demonstrations supporting the secular state have counted millions on the streets
AP Photo by MURAD SEZER

Turkish prosecutors have indicted 86 secular Turks on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government.

Aykut Cengiz Engin said the suspects, believed to include at least one former general and an opposition politician, were charged either with belonging to a terrorist organisation, or of provoking a military coup.

A court must now decide within two weeks whether to open the case.

The suspects accuse the government of eroding Turkey's secular laws and making too many concessions to Christian and Kurdish minorities as part of the nation's bid to join the European Union.

It doesn't get more complicated than this...

The indictment is seen as the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the government and secular groups supported by the military and other state institutions...

Forty-eight of the suspects have been jailed.

In another court case, Erdogan's government is facing possible closure by the constitutional court for alleged anti-secular activity.

The last thing democrats and others opposing a theocracy need is right-wing trigger-happy generals "showing them how to do it". On the other hand, this may be a phony "plot" concocted by the Erdogan government as a red herring.

Hopefully, the truth will play out in the courts.

July 8, 2008

Former Pakistan Army Chief General ’’Retd’’ Mirza Aslam Baig on Tuesday said that Iran and Pakistan are under siege of western conspiracies.
He said that intelligence agencies of allied forces are very active in Afghanistan and working against the interests of Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia.


"There are set-ups of United States in Jiwani and Kot Kalmat, in Balochistan province from where they carry out different operations in the area," he said.

He said that the United States is also providing training facilities to the people of Jundallah, in Balochistan so that these people could create unrest in the area and affect Iran-Pakistan relations.

General (Retd) Baig termed the act of the United States as a conspiracy and said that this should be stopped.

He lauded the decision of the Pakistan government for handing over the people of Jundallah to Iran and said that those who are working against the interests of both countries should be dealt with with iron fist.

He said that the activities of people of Jundallah should be stopped and for this Iran and Pakistan have to tighten the security at Pakistan-Iran border.

He believed that in past both Pakistan and Iran had made mistakes but now it is right time to look forward and build strong relations.

General (Retd) Baig said that Pakistan should have supported the stance of Iran during Iran-Iraq war.

He was of the view that Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan should have worked together after the withdrawal of Russian army from Afghanistan.

He stressed the need for making a comprehensive strategy to strengthen Iran-Pakistan relations.

"We should forget the past and make a strategy to guard our national interests," he said.

He said the richness of Balochistan in mineral resources is one of the attractions for the international powers but the strategic location of Balochistan is more important to the US and its allies.

General (Retd) Baig said that it is the responsibility of both countries to make the area free of danger and take the conspiracies as a challenge.

He said the American policy-makers are very much active in Balochistan since 2001 while India too has gained considerable influence in the province since then.

Former Pakistan General: U.S. Supports Jundullah Terrorists in Iran

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
July 10, 2008

In short, the U.S. is using al-Qaeda to attack and destabilize Iran. However, according to Bush and the neocons, Iran is supporting al-Qaeda. “President Bush yesterday accused Iran of harboring and aiding top al Qaeda terrorists, but he stopped short of charging that Tehran was directly involved in the September 11 attacks,” the Washington Times reported on July 20, 2004. Prior to this, the 9/11 whitewash commission accused al-Qaeda and Iran of collusion by way of Hezbollah, never mind that Hezbollah is a Shi’ite group and al-Qaeda Sunni, thus enemies.

Seymour Hersh: US Training Jondollah and MEK for Bombing preparation

CASMII
July 9, 2008

In an interview with NPR on his latest New Yorker Article, titled ‘Preparing the battlefield’, the renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reveals more striking details of his findings on the aim of the $400 million budgeted US covert operations inside Iran. He provides valuable information on US military preparations to strike the country, on the total expansion of the Bush Administration’s executive power, about the US recognition of Iran’s overall positive role in Iraq and on the US support for the anti-Iran terrorist organisations Jondollah, PJAK and MEK.

Hersh explains that the aim of the US covert operations inside Iran is to create a pretext for attack with the goal of regime change. “The strategic thinking behind this covert operation is to provoke enough trouble and chaos so that the Iranian government makes the mistake of taking aggressive action which will give the impression of a country in acute turmoil”, he said. “Then you have what the White House calls the ‘casus belli’, a reason to attack the country. That is the thinking and it is very crazy.”

Read Full Article Here

Barak In Washington To Lobby For Iran Attack

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
July 11, 2008

Israeli war minister Ehud Barak will visit Washington next week to meet with top U.S. government officials and President Bush in what some are suggesting will be the final planning session in anticipation of a military strike on Iran.

Read Full Article Here

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

“It’s really all down to the Israelis,” the Pentagon official added. “This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.”

The official added that Israel had not so far presented Bush with a convincing military proposal. “If there is no solid plan, the amber will never turn to green,” he said.

There was also resistance inside the Pentagon from officers concerned about Iranian retaliation. “The uniform people are opposed to the attack plans, mainly because they think it will endanger our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the source said.

Read Full Article Here

Hier quand nous sommes arrivés à la maison j’étais épuisée et je suis allée me coucher assez vite. Je dormais bien. Mais dans la nuit je ne sais pas à quoi j’ai rêvé mais j’ai commencé à donner des coups de genou à Drew.  Ça me réveillait à moitié, car j’entendais mon chum  me parler et sacrer.

J’aurais bien aimé me souvenir de mon rêve pour savoir pourquoi je devais donner des coups de genou.  À matin j’ai mal partout. Je ressemble à une mémé. On dirait que je n’ai pas dormit je suis autant fatigué que lorsque je me suis coucher. Avec la journée de pluie, il me semble que je resterais couchée.