yeah, or ignoring warnings from dozens of other countries intelligence agencies about terrorists hijacking airplanes. or ignoring fbi agents who warned of al-queda taking flight lessons in the united states. or by instituting a "visa express program", which allowed saudi nationals to get a visa thru their travel agent rather than a consulate - a program which 3 of the 9/11 hijackers took advantage of. wait a minute...that was all bush! under whose watch did they develop nuclear weapons? in case you cant remember, it was the same person under whose watch 9/11 happened.
right. everything was bush's fault and the world was perfect before bush. do you even remeber the 90's? where do you think all of these schemes hatched? do you really believe that they were only planned after bush's entry into the whitehouse? Like OBL was watching the inauguration on CNN, waiting for those final few words. Yes! he's finally in office...now lets plan something. Yeah...im sure it went down something like that.
i never said that - i just find it sad that people like you are more than happy to assign blame to clinton (and rightfully so in some cases), yet totally ignore all the failings of bush. it seems that in your mind everything was clintons fault and 9/11 happened on clintons watch. again, clinton was not president when dozens of other countries intelligence agencies were warning our government about terrorists hijacking airliners. clinton was not the president who received the pdb entitled "bin laden determined to strike in u.s." in august 2001. clinton was not the one who ignored fbi agents warnings about al-queda taking flight lessons. clinton was not the one who authorized the visa express, which allowed saudis to get a visa thru their travel agent - 3 of the 9/11 hijackers took advantage of this program. the biggest beneficiaries of 9/11 have been corporate interests and mostly the ones aligned w/ this administration. convenient, isnt it? especially in light of the fact that the project for a new american century had written about how we needed a "catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor" clinton and bush are both tools of the globalists, who dont give a crap about this country. i am not defending clinton - he should have been impeached. but for you to act like it is all on clinton reeks of partisanship.
Intellectual dishonesty... ain't it nice. If the W administration has taught the world anything its how not to engage in a direct and honest argument and how to not concede a point.
dude, you are preaching to the choir. try talking to jomama and you will soon learn why i dont bother much anymore besides give him a hard time everynow and then
cat got your tongue? i guess you dont have much to say in light of the fact that your president bush failed the country and even facilitated the attacks of 9/11. but it was all clintons fault, wasnt it? wow!
How did President Bush facilitate the 9/11 attacks?...please make sure to include a non-cross referenced article, without specific evidence,...and for icing on the cake,...ensure specific names are omitted... Thanks!
I am a lib-pig...and I LOVED Clinton. But if I could have made Baby Bush a one term president and the trade off was that his father beat Bill Clinton in 92' I would make that trade in a millisecond. Baby Bush is THAT bad.
Just don't put another "Kerry type" as your nomination...the good news is the Democrats have much better frontrunners than last time...(the only Republican I honestly feel great about is Thompson) If the left side will just put away the antagonism towards the 2nd admendment,...your best bet is Hillary. Massive direct/indirect experience...(this is very important considering intel must be top notch with the war on terror) Even smarter than Bill... Great healthcare plan... In addition, I sense a greater willingness to be engaged in the war on terror... She will gain appeal from more countries... Her downside is less charisma....who cares...
AMEN TO THAT!!! I never understood how soo many people blindly trusted this guy! The first time he was elected is understood but WHAT THE HELL WERE AMERICANS THINKING THE SECOND TIME AROUND! (I not only blame Bush for the damage he has done but also the American people who are so naive and are not capable of thinking on their own except for what the media/administration feeds them)
You're broadening your mind, ROX, and I'm glad to see it. No one was more disappointed in Kerry at the head of the ticket than I was. Didn't vote for the chump in the primary, but still believe he was clearly better than Bush. (an argument I don't want to rehash) Kerry had to run a world class BAD campaign to lose that election, and now we're stuck for decades with a couple of goofuses on the SC that'll torment the nation by mucking around with long established law, because they are just what Bush wanted. Guys as hypocritical as he is. Said whatever would get them confirmed, just as Bush said whatever would get him elected. (or to get approval to invade and occupy Iraq, as another example) That was always my #1 reason for those who usually stay home, or felt that the fear factor was enough to excuse Bush's overall incompetence, and figured it didn't make that big a difference if he was reelected. All those lifetime appointments to the Federal bench will haunt this country long after Bush is in the ground. And ROX? If you are concerned about your gun rights, ponder this... these Bush appointees clearly have no problem tossing established law of decades standing (like Brown versus the Board of Education), and they will have no qualms about tossing out OTHER established law. Through the Patriot Act, and a host of other actions, the Bush Administration has done a major whack job on our civil rights. Now the SC is doing the same thing because of the men he placed there. I'm asking you this... why on earth do you think they won't hesitate to toss the 2nd Amendment in the trash, if it happens to come up under the right circumstances before the court? You guys just don't get it. I don't know how many times I've heard otherwise intelligent people say they are going to vote GOP simply because of gun rights, just like some say the same about Choice. One issue voters, who don't see the big picture. You are more likely to lose your rights under the 2nd Amendment, IMO, from the current court and the Bush appointees, than from the previous courts. Look at it this way. We had what was considered moderate/liberal judges on the SC back in the day, appointed, many of them, by Democratic Presidents. Did they toss away your 2nd Amendment rights? No, they did not. I grew up with a host of Democrats who were and are avid hunters and gun owners, some collectors, and they never saw the phony relationship spun from the Bush/Cheney/Rove propaganda machine as having the least basis in reality. They were moderate and liberal, and liked to spend those magical times in the quiet of the countryside on a hunt... the experience, away from civilization, if only for a day or two, into the peacefulness of nature, with that underlying, joyous tension of stalking your prey, so rewarding, whether you were successful, or not. Time to toss the stereotypes and face reality. This is not your father's GOP. It is some b*stard creation by a small group of people and special interests, who will do and say anything to maintain power. They will be long gone, sooner, rather than later, but these judges will be making laws for longer than bears thinking about. And I predict that you will discover that they don't think as much like you as you may believe. Far from it. D&D. Replicant Ponderings.
Deckard, I don't like to repeat long posts. However, very well written and argued. I do agree that the current S. Ct. could care less about "precedent", "strict constructionism", "states rights" ,"legistating from the bench" or whatevber bs they feed the public. They are busy enacting the conservative agenda. Legal realism: "What is Constitutional is whatever the current S. Ct. says it is." You can see this in action despite years of bellyaching about the slogans above.
Thanks. It has always been a bit strange to me how the conservatives in this country assumed, and assume still, that who Bush appoints to Federal benches, including the SC, will represent their interests, especially in the broad sense, as opposed to just one or two issues. In my opinion, they just don't see the "Big Picture." Supposedly, conservatives are pro small government, pro balance the budget, pro individual rights, pro states rights, and on and on. Yet this government has produced a gigantic increase in the size of government, the size of the budget deficit, continued to reduce the power of the states, instigated the greatest attack on American civil rights in many decades, and a host of other actions opposed to what I've always considered a conservative agenda, ala Everett Dirksen and Ronald Reagan. No wonder members of the Republican Party are leaving the GOP in droves. I think many are finally waking up from their fantasy, and our nightmare. D&D. Replicant Dreams.
are you saying you didnt know about the visa express program? or the fact that dozens of intelligence agencies warned about imminent attacks on u.s. soil? or that bush recieved a pdb entitled "bin laden determined to strike in us"? or that fbi agents warned of al-queda taking flight lessons? really? is this all news to you? for someone as opinionated as you are, you sure are ignorant on alot of key issues. but as the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss... http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/terror/articles/visa011212.htm Three of the hijackers in the September 11 terrorist attacks obtained visas in Saudi Arabia through a brand-new program designed to make it easier for qualified visa applicants to visit the United States, an American government official said tonight. The Visa Express program, put in place just four months before the attacks, allowed the three hijackers to arrange their visas through a State Department-designated travel agency, the official says. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers obtained their U.S. travel visas in Saudi Arabia. None of the three men, the American government official says, was ever questioned by U.S. consular officers in Saudi Arabia. Each took his travel papers and passport to a commercial travel agency, which submitted the applications to the State Department. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53065,00.html The White House again Friday denied it had advance knowledge that a Sept. 11-style attack was coming, though it acknowledged it knew Usama bin Laden was bent on attacking the United States. "The president was aware that bin Laden, of course, as previous administrations have well known, that bin Laden was determined to strike the United States. In fact, the label on the president's (presidential daily briefing) was 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike the United States,'" White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Friday. Indeed, Fox News has reported many examples of "missed leads" that the Bush administration was given prior to Sept. 11. Among those examples: – The Italian government shared "general" information of possible attacks in March 2001 based on bugs in apartments in Milan. – An Iranian in custody in New York City told local police last May of a plot to attack the World Trade Center. – German intelligence alerted the Central Intelligence Agency, Britain's MI-6 intelligence service, Israel's Mossad in June 2001 that Middle Eastern terrorists were training for hijackings and targeting American and Israeli interests. – Pakistanis were taken into custody June 4 in the Cayman Islands after they were overheard discussing hijacking attacks in New York City; they were questioned and released, and the information was forwarded to U.S. intelligence. – Indian intelligence shared "general" information in July 2001. – In July and August, British intelligence shared "general" information that it had learned through surveillance of Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi Arabian dissident who has publicly acknowledged being a bin Laden operative. Fawwaz, suspected of participating in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Kenya, was arrested after Sept. 11. – Based on its own intelligence, the Israeli government provided "general" information to the United States in the second week of August that an Al Qaeda attack was imminent. – French intelligence echoed the "general" information in the final week of August. – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said publicly that he ordered his intelligence agencies to alert the United States last summer that suicide pilots were training for attacks on U.S. targets. – Millennium bomber Ahmad Ressam testified in closed and open court trials relating to his Dec. 1999 arrest for trying to bring bomb-making materials across the Canadian border that attack plans, including hijackings and attacks on New York City targets, were ongoing. – An Islamic terrorist conspiracy was uncovered in 1996 in the Philippines to hijack a dozen airplanes and fly them into CIA headquarters and other buildings. Among the discoveries was a plot for a "bojinka" – a big bang. The information was discovered on a computer and noted in the 1997 trial of Ramzi Yousef, one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. – U.S. investigators confirmed in October that a 29-year-old Iranian in custody in Germany's Langenhagen prison last year made phone calls to U.S. police from his deportation cell that an attack on the World Trade Center was imminent in "the days before the attack." The warning was considered the threat of a madman. – In October, U.S. government officials confirmed that India's intelligence agency had information before the attacks that two Islamist radicals with ties to Usama bin Laden were discussing an attack on the White House. India's information was not provided to U.S. intelligence until Sept. 13. – In February and April of 2001, the world's most extreme Islamic terror groups held meetings in Beirut and Tehran, respectively, to set aside their differences and unite for jihad (holy war) against Israel and the United States. The two unprecedented meetings had over 400 militants in attendance. They called it "the Jerusalem Conference," aimed at uniting behind the Palestinians and winning total Arab control over Jerusalem. Sources say the group agreed on a document and the creation of an actual organization now known as "the Jerusalem Project." The document included the statement: "The only decisive option to achieve this strategy is the option of jihad in all its forms and resistance … America today is a second Israel." The participants included leaders of Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror group, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Qatar, Yemen, the Sudan and Algeria. Sources say at least one participant went to the conference from the United States and returned to the country afterward. U.S. intelligence sources have identified two leaders of the Beirut-based Jerusalem Project. Sources have also told Fox News that the memo from the FBI Phoenix office about Arabs training in U.S. flight schools never reached headquarters because FBI counterterrorism officials were overwhelmed by the bombing of the USS Cole. The memo ended up "sitting on a shelf," according to sources. The sources also said officials were too overwhelmed with intelligence information to tap Zaccarias Moussaoui, who was taken into custody in August, after a Minnesota flight school reported that the alleged 20th hijacker of Sept.11 was interested in learning how to fly, but not take-off and land. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, experts have predicted that the next worldwide scourge would be terrorism. There are literally dozens of reports, studies and court cases in which hijackings, including those that would end up with crashes into buildings were discussed. In 1999, the Federal Research Division at the Library of Congress published its own report entitled "The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?" which described that "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to Al Qaeda's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, or the White House." Former CIA Deputy Director John Gannon, who was chairman of the National Intelligence Council for whom the report was written, said that in 1999, "It became such a rich threat environment that it was almost too much for Congress and the administration to absorb," he said. "They couldn't prioritize what was the most significant threat." Gannon said it is "egregiously unfair" to blame the president for failing to act to prevent Sept. 11 since there was no "actionable intelligence." http://foi.missouri.edu/terrorismfoi/fbipigeonholed.html A Phoenix FBI agent's request for a canvass of U.S. flight schools for al Qaeda terrorists was formally rejected within several weeks of his July 10 memo, after mid-level officials at FBI headquarters determined they did not have the manpower to carry out the task, sources familiar with the memo said yesterday. The request was forwarded to counterterrorism chiefs at FBI headquarters and the New York field office, but one of the terrorism units in Washington decided by early August that the document's suggestions were largely unworkable in the midst of more immediate cases, sources said. Officials had previously been unclear about when and how the suggestion was abandoned. But officials now acknowledge that the request was quickly marked "closed," and plans to pursue it were postponed indefinitely. The abrupt halt underscores the low priority that FBI officials assigned to thefive-page memo from Phoenix agent Kenneth Williams, which was not distributed beyond FBI middle management prior to the Sept. 11 terror attacks and was viewed as largely speculative by those who reviewed it. The Phoenix memo is now at the center of heated debate on Capitol Hill about whether the government misread warning signs about the intentions of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/05/27/inv.moussaoui.phoenixmemo.fbi/index.html The July memo from a Phoenix, Arizona, FBI agent talking about Middle Eastern men taking flying lessons and the information about Zacarias Moussaoui arrested in August went to the same FBI task force at headquarters, according to an official. FBI and Justice Department officials still do not know, however, if both the memo and the Moussaoui information was seen by the same person or persons within the Radical Fundamentalist Unit task force, according to the official. The Phoenix memo, written by agent Kenneth Williams, actually went to two task forces at FBI headquarters: the Radical Fundamentalist Unit and one dedicated to Osama bin Laden, but no action was taken on its recommendation for a nationwide survey of Arab-American students attending flight schools. Agent Coleen Rowley, in her letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller last week, says an unidentified FBI supervisory special agent "seemed to have been consistently, almost deliberately thwarting the Minneapolis FBI agents' efforts" to push the Moussaoui investigation. She does not say where this agent worked within headquarters. "HQ (headquarters) personnel never disclosed to the Minneapolis agents that the Phoenix Division had, only approximately three weeks earlier, warned of al Qaeda operatives in flight schools seeking flight training for terrorist purposes," Rowley wrote in her letter. After Moussaoui's arrest, headquarters staff refused to push the request by the Minneapolis field office to either get a criminal search warrant or a special national security warrant to authorize a search of the suspect's computer. Rowley also alleges in her letter this unidentified agent did not add information he had promised to put in and made "several changes in the wording" of the application asking for permission to seek the special national security warrant. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/05/19/cheney.terrorism/ Cheney told NBC he opposes a request by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, for a copy of a memo from an FBI agent in Arizona who warned last July that Middle Eastern students, possibly with links to bin Laden, could be taking flight classes in the United States.
bob barr, former republican congressman and nra board member says bush is more anti-gun than clinton. "it's my impression to be honest with you, and this is confirmed by a lot of folks who are involved very heavily in regulatory matters involving firearms, that it is more difficult dealing with this administration than it was dealing with the prior administration."
