Sir,
I would like to point out some numbers that no media folks (at least not to my knowledge) have mentioned to the American people. About 1,200 soldiers died and another 12,000 has been been permanently disabled. Which means that they no longer can go back to the army but many of whom will be deprived from living a normal life like you and me. Now please add the numbers 1,200 (and still counting) + 12,000 (and still counting)=13,200 (and still counting).

With the current deployed troops (140,000) in Iraq our Military has lost 9.4% of thier troops permanently only in Iraq. Why are we still in a state of disillussion that President Bush and his 'boss' Dick Cheney is claiming that the Iraq war is going great.

I guess it is better to do the 'stop loss' when you have lost 10% of your deployed troops than having to do the same thing at 20% another year and half later.

Aye, there's a good article on CounterPunch about that.

Gearing up for a draft?

And let's not forget the. . .

Pretty interesting numbers in the following CNN Article. Apparently, 1 in 5 people think the election was fraudulent. Apparently.

http://edition.cnn.com/2...CS/12/20/poll/index.html

Poll: Rumsfeld losing public's support

A recent poll indicates falling confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

WASHINGTON (CNN) --- Fifty-two percent of respondents to a new poll think Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign amid recent criticism in Congress over his handling of the war in Iraq.

Thirty-six percent of respondents to the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll said Rumsfeld should not step down, and the remainder had no opinion. The margin of error for the question was 4.5 percentage points among the 1,002 Americans surveyed by telephone between Friday and Sunday.

The defense secretary was recently chided for telling U.S. soldiers headed for Iraq that "you go to war with the Army you have ... not the Army you might want or wish you had."(Full story)

In addition, Rumsfeld's wartime performance has been criticized by many Democratic and some Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Trent Lott of Mississippi and John McCain of Arizona. (Full story)

Despite the criticism, President Bush strongly came out in support of his Pentagon chief during a news conference Monday. (Full story)

The secretary's approval rating has fallen from 71 percent in April 2003 at the height of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to 41 percent in the new survey.

As for Bush, 49 percent of respondents said they approved of the job the president is doing. That number is down from his November approval rating of 55 percent. Bush is the first incumbent president to have an approval rating below 50 percent one month after winning re-election. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Although some groups have questioned the validity of voting in Ohio and other states, a large majority --- 77 percent --- of poll respondents indicated they thought the overall presidential election was fair. Nineteen percent said they thought incidents of fraud aided Bush's re-election.

Iraq is scheduled to hold elections for a transitional national assembly January 30, though with violence continuing in the country, some Iraqi officials and political figures have suggested delaying the voting until security is improved.

The poll suggested that most Americans think the United States will have to maintain a troop presence in Iraq after the voting. Forty-one percent polled said the elections would not lead to a stable government, and 40 percent said even if a stable government were voted in, U.S. troops would have to stay. Only 15 percent believed U.S. troops could be withdrawn within a year of the election. This question had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

When asked how the United States has handled Iraq during the past year, 47 percent said things have gotten worse. Twenty percent said the situation has improved and 32 percent said it is about the same. The differences fell outside the question's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Americans polled were much more optimistic about the future of the economy in the United States.

Asked how well the economy will be doing in December 2005, 60 percent of respondents said well, and 39 percent said poorly. About 53 percent of those surveyed said the economy was good now. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

One of the top items on the president's second-term agenda is making tax cuts passed during his first term permanent. Just over half --- 52 percent --- of respondents said Congress should side with the president, while 40 percent said the cuts should be rolled back. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

A large majority of respondents said the U.S. tax code needs to be fixed, though they varied when asked by how much. Although 11 percent said the system is fine, the 89 percent of those who did not broke down into those who said a complete overhaul is needed (24 percent), major changes are needed (35 percent) and only minor changes are needed (29 percent). The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, and answer percentages were rounded.

On another of Bush's hot-button issues, Social Security, the respondents were divided (48-48) on whether workers should be allowed to set aside some of their earnings in private stock or bond accounts. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

When broken down by age group, younger respondents indicated greater support for the concept. About 62 percent of those between 18 and 29 said they agreed with the idea, while only 35 percent of those surveyed in the 65 and older category concurred. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

nice picture of the two turkeys!

The CNN poll numbers reported by *J* serve once again to demonstrate that most Americans have no idea what they are talking about. How sad!

I remember when CNN was a reliable source of news. Nowadays it seems to be mostly a source of opinion. Not informed or educated opinion, either. Just plain opinion. How sad!

For instance, CNN reports that 60% of Americans think the economy will be doing well a year from now, and 39% think it will be doing poorly. The FACT is that NOBODY KNOWS how the economy will be doing a year from now. Or next month, for that matter.

We would all be much better served if CNN would leave the opinions alone and go back to reporting the FACTS. But of course that is exactly what they will not do. Because then they would have to start covering actual news stories like:

"Fresh allegations of serious abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo emerge in newly released US documents." --- as reported this morning by the BBC, and

"US warplanes have launched air strikes on the Iraqi town of Hiyt, west of the capital, killing six Iraqi civilians and wounding nine others." --- as reported this morning by Aljazeera.

Talk about sad!

I have completely given up on the McMainstream news. The last election cycle has proven without a doubt that they are all lap dogs to the mega-dollar corporate interests and therefore to the GOPhers as well. It is like de-programming from being in a cult or something. I have a small amount of sanity again.

I have to give thanks for places like Bradblog. I get more and better information from places like this.

Thanks Brad.

capt

BTW as far as numbers go, it is 19,000 not 12,000.

Check the "New Yorker" article:

THE BELIEVER

"Since the start of the global war on terror, nineteen thousand people had been admitted, many of them within twelve hours of being wounded in Iraq"

Oop’s I guess they let that one slip into the record. It does match an earlier estimate of 1,000 per month from the administrator from the same hospital.

capt

An FBI agent wrote:

"We have also instructed our personnel not to participate in interrogations by military personnel which might include techniques authorized by **EXECUTIVE ORDER** but beyond the bounds of FBI practices..."

(http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/10462815.htm , emphasis added).

Should a president issue an executive order that advocates torture?

Should a president deny (lie about) such directives if they were in fact issued?

Should a president nominate for Attorney General (the highest law official in the administration) a person who advocated torture in faithfulness to the president?

OR, should the FBI agent be reprimanded for disobeying an order of the Commander In Chief?

Only americans can answer those questions!

question... would a physical, hand recount of all ballots in Ohio fully reveal the depth of anomolies, and provide irrefutable probability of computer based malfeasance?

How soon will we be able to do an FOIA Request to GET those ballots in Ohio and elsewhere? Can we do it now, take a number (I'm sure there is a line) for when the counting is over? I think they will kill to keep this from happening, personally. That is the SINGULAR reason for the illegal BS in Ohio. They are acting lawlessly because they believe they are not only above the law... they think they ARE the law.

The defiance of the Ohio BOE is the greatest evidence of wrong doing I've seen (well, almost).

Anyone is welcome to answer this one.

WOOHOO! Brad's back.

Regarding the Bush legacy, now come on Brad. Compared to *other* wars, that's nothing. You morbid pessimist, you.

Bush should have been siting down to eat with the troop today in Mosul, along with Tony Blair. They might have had a wake-up call about the realities of their war.

Seattle_Dan;

We need only look to your state, Washington, as the best example for an answer to your question. Yes. A full Ohio recount would show the truth. In Washington, the vote difference is now 7 between Rossi and Gregoire, with King Count left to report.

How did the vote go from Rossi leading Gregoire by 261, to leading Gregoire by 7? The mandatory machine recount reduced Rossi's lead to 42. The requested and purchased hand recount, with 40% of the vote remaining (King County) to be counted reduced this number to the current 7 vote separation.

It took three counts of the vote to determine the current numbers. The hand recount shows the error that machines have made. Each candidate has received over 500 ADDITIONAL votes from the process, not one loss of votes recorded in the 38 counties reporting so far.

Even if the Washington Supreme Court votes against state law and dissallows the disputed 723 ballots, Gregoire may yet prevail in the hand recount.

OHIO MUST BE completely recounted!

I'm in the only Washington County that has touch screen voting machines. It's the most populous borderline Republican county in the state.

Yes, I'm following VERY closely here and I concur, that even without a favorable SC decision tomorrow, Gregoire and the Dems may prevail.

What my question is about, is in states where electronic tabulation was used, but a ballot paper trail exists. It seems that, short of having source code access, the only sure way to determine E-Fraud is with a full hand recount. In that case, if there were fraud, the disparity would be so glaring that even the GOP would have to admit problems.

I think this is why they are blatantly breaking the law to undermine the process in Ohio. It must be done.

I imagine that's the Greens' next step, to litigate for a full hand recount based upon dirty tricks in the 3% hand count. THIS, John Kerry should back 100%. If not, he's thrown us to the dogs.

MHO... thanks for the response.

one more thing.... New Mexico may come through, providing us with all the documentation we need to justify a multi state investigation... that is IF the Greens get a favorable SC decision AND can scare up that huge sum... This, even if Ohio bogs down. That race was so close a full hand recount is justifiable, if not legally mandated.

I'm still looking for that "smokin gun" to make even the staunchest opponent take notice.

Hi, seattle_dan:

If I'm reading this whole sorry 'election' correctly, there isn't going to be any one single 'smoking gun'. The 'smoke' can best be seen by looking at 'the big picture'.

That picture adds up to widespread, systematic and targeted fraud, all over the country. A few thousand votes here, ten thousand there, another hundred thousand over someplace else, and pretty soon you have your three million vote margin, and your electoral college squeaker. It's everywhere, Dan. Really. Even in the non-swing states.

[I wish I lived closer to Seattle. I'd love to join you for a coffee. And I don't even drink coffee! Take good care and please continue to contribute.]

Brad,
I noted the comment about not counting amoung the dead those soldiers that die after being evacuated from Iraq. A couple of months ago a Navy Masterchief friend (who had just returned from assignment with an army unit in Iraq where he saw several soldiers killed during an attack) whispered to me at work one day that DOD was not counting the soldiers who died at anytime after leaving Irag airspace. I dismissed it as sensationalism, but now seeing it in your blog brings it back to mind. Can this diabolical thing be true??
Don

Don: it most certainly could be true. It would be far from the most outrageous lie being told about this war.

Seattle_Dan,

Hey Bud, hang in there, I agree that the next revelation will come from New Mexico. It's Gregoire by 10 in WA St., officially reported by King County this evening (Dec 22). WA State Supreme Court went with the law and voted unanimously to include the now 735 erroneously discarded and/or misplaced ballots, with support from Secretary of State Sam Reed (R). I predict Gregoire by about 420 votes after these are counted.

Paper ballots are read optically by scan machines that are easily hacked, yes. But they ARE a paper trail that can be recounted by hand.

Let's support the NM recount now! The near 6,000 votes that Bush "won" by are ridiculously pale in the light of day.

Brad & all,

Let's not forget the tens of thousands still yet to die and become maimed or ill, not only from battle, but from our use of depleted uranium bullets, bombs, shells, and missiles! And not only Iraqi's, but US soldiers. Thank you Reagan, Bush & Family for all the radioactive dust and poisoning you have contributed to our people, our wildlife, and our planet! We won't forget!

Program on the emergence of civilization.

"14 species of large animals capable of domesitcation in the history of mankind.
13 from Europe, Asia and northern Africa.
None from the sub-Saharan African continent. "
Favor.
And disfavor.

They point out Africans’ failed attempts to domesticate the elephant and zebra, the latter being an animal they illustrate that had utmost importance for it's applicability in transformation from a hunting/gathering to agrarian-based civilization.

The roots of racism are not of this earth.

Austrailia, aboriginals:::No domesticable animals.

The North American continent had none. Now 99% of that population is gone.

AIDS in Africa.

Organizational Heirarchy/Levels of positioning.
Heirarchical order, from top to bottom:

1. MUCK - perhaps have experienced multiple universal contractions (have seen multiple big bangs), creator of the artificial intelligence humans ignorantly refer to as "god"
2. Perhaps some mid-level alien management
3. Evil/disfavored aliens - runs day-to-day operations here and perhaps elsewhere

Terrestrial management/positioning:

4. Chinese/egyptians - this may be separated into the eastern and western worlds
5. Romans - The seamless transition between Cleopatra and Julius Ceasar may be a clue alluding to a partnership.
6. Mafia - the real-world 20th century interface that constantly turns over generationally so as to reinforce the widely-held notion of mortality
7. Jews, corporation, women, politician - Evidence exisits to suggest mafia management over all these groups.

Movies foreshadowing catastrophy
1985 James Bond View to a Kill 1989 San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake.

Our society gives clues to the system in place. We all have heard the saying "He has more money than god." There is also an episode of the Simpsons where god meets Homer and says "I'm too old and rich for this."

This is the system on earth because this is the system everywhere.

20 cent/hour Chinese labor, 50 cents for material.
An $80 sweater costs less than a dollar; homage, tribute kicked upstairs vindicates the creative accounting.

I don't want to suggest the upper eschelons are evil and good is the fringe. But these individuals become wealthy exploiting those they hurt.

They have made it abundantly clear that doing business with evil (disfavored) won't help people. They say only good would have the ear, since evil is struggling for survival, and therefore only the favored could help.

The clues are there which companies are favored and which are disfavored, but they conceal it very hard because it is so crucial.

I offer an example of historical proportions:::

People point to Walmart and cry "anti-union".
Unions enable disfavored people to live satisfactorly without addressing their disfavor. This way their family's problems are never resolved. Without the union they would have to accept the heirarchy, their own inferiority.
Unions serve to empower.
Walmart is anti-union because they are good. They try to help people address and resolve their problems by creating an enviornment where there are fewer hurdles.

Media ridicule and lawsuits are creations to reinforce people's belief that Walmart is evil in a subsegment of the indistry dominated by the middle and lower classes.
Low-cost disfavored Chinese labor is utilized by corporate america to maximize margins. They all do it. Only WalMart gets fingered because they are the ones who help, and those who seek to create confusion in the marketplace want to eliminate the vast middle class who have a real chance and instead stick with lower classes who may not work otherwise. So they dirty him up while allowing the others to appear clean.

The middle class is being deceived. They are being misled into the unfavored, and subsequently will have no assistance from their purchases with corporate america.

I believe the coining of the term "Uncle Sam" was a clue alluding to just this::Sam Walton and WalMart is one of few saviors of the peasant class.

Amercia is a country of castoffs, rejects. Italy sent its criminals, malcontents.
Between the thrones, the klans and kindred, they "decided" who they didn't want and acted, creating discontent and/or starvation.
The u.s. is full of disfavored rejects. It is the reason for the myriad of problems not found in European countries. As far as the Rockafellers and other industrialists of the 19th century go, I suspect these aren't their real names. I suspect they were chosen to go and head this new empire.

Royalty is the right way to organize a society. Dictatorships and monarchies are a reflection of the antient's hierarchical organization.
Positions go to those who have favor with the rulers, as opposed to being elected.
Elections bring a false sense of how the world is. Democracy misleads people.
Which is why the disfavored rejects were sent to the shores of America::To keep them on the wrong path.

Jews maim the body formed in the image of "god", and inflicted circumsision upon all other white people, as well as the evil that is Jesus Christ.
I think about how Jews (were used to) created homosexuality among Slavics, retribution for the Holocaust.
Then I think of the Catholic Church and its troubles.
What connection is here between Jews and the Catholic church???
If it is their sinister motives that’s behind the evil that is Jesus Christ are they being used at all?
Perhaps it is them who are pulling strings.
Their centuries of slavery in Egypt proves their disfavor.
The Jew leaders decided to prey on the up-and-coming Europeans to try to fix their problems with the ruling elite, a recurring aspect of the elite's methodology.
Jews were ostracised for a reason.

Jesus Christ is a religious figure of evil. The seperatist churches formed so they could still capture the rest of the white people, keeping them worshipping the wrong god.
And now they do it to people of color, Latinos and Asians, after centuries of preying upon them.

Since Buddism doesn't recongnize a god, the calls are never heard, and Chinese representation is instead selected by the thrones.
Budda was the Asian's Jesus Christ::: bad for the people. "They came up at the same time for a reason."

Simpson's foreshadowing::Helloween IV special, Flanders is Satan. "Last one you ever suspect."
"You'll see lots of nuns where you're going:::hell!!!" St. Wigham, Helloween VI, missionary work, destroying cultures.
Over and over, the Simpsons was a source of education and enlightenment, a target of ridicule by the system which wishes to conceal its secrets.

The advent of the modern Christmas was a brilliant move. It creates a vested interest among those who would prefer the Church of Evil be destroyed::::
As goes the Catholic Church so goes the majority of annual retail sales.
The similarity between the names "Santa" and "Satan" is no coincidence.

I believe Islam is the one true religion, and those misled christians who attack "god"'s most favored people will pay dearly one day.