dvtv live broadcast 10.11.07

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dvtv live broadcast 9.20.07

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some football thug goes to jail, out on bail, makes no difference to my life - makes no difference to yours. to know that an all-white jury can sentence a teenager in Louisiana to 22 years just because he’s black, that makes a difference to me. that’s real.

boom

just weeks ago Bush was speaking of a "holocaust" due to Iran's nuclear ambitions. but the day before he made that speech

The International Atomic Energy Agency...reported "significant" cooperation from Iran with its nuclear probe...
IAEA Deputy Director-General Olli Heinonen highlighted the importance of Tehran's increased readiness to answer questions about former nuclear activities...
"We have an important step for the first time," he said. "We have been able to agree ... on how to resolve the outstanding issues...This is not an open-ended timeline."
VIENNA, Austria (AP)

so, if the rationale for bombing Iran is fading, no worries, find another one: Iran is helping Iraq - lets bomb them anyway.

ITEM: "The Pentagon is preparing to build a military base near the Iraq-Iran border to try to curtail the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in its online edition."
Reuters.com

ITEM: U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan-Fox News
"...according to a well-placed Bush administration source, "everyone in town" is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections."

ITEM: Lieberman to Petraeus yesterday: "Is it time to give you authority, in pursuit of your mission in Iraq, to pursue those Iranian Quds Force operations in Iranian territory, in order to protect Americas troops in Iraq?" Petraeus didn't exactly say no: "...any kinds of operations outside the borders of Iraq would rightly be overseen by the Central Command."

ITEM: the British troops that you heard were withdrawing from Basra - they're headed for the Iran border:
"British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war".
In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier." - The independent (UK)

ITEM: "Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it's either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on the IRGC, maybe within the next six months. And they think that as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities." - Robert Baer, Time.com

the democrat majority in congress has pussied out on any real troop withdrawal in Iraq. they have been dazzled by the shiny objects on the general's coat and are merely racking up sound-bites for future use in primary ads. Bush will throw them a bone tomorrow night and announce a possible troop cut - but the most optimistic estimates put the number of troops in Iraq in January, 2009 at 135,000 - the same number that we started with. (estimates of the number of non-uniform mercenaries there add another 100,000.)
now, a third war is brewing, hawks like Lieberman and McCain are fanning the flames, and the dems are barely awake.
want more bad news?
"Dollar hits fresh 15-year low" - Financial Times
and this:

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday...
The statement reflected the Kremlin's efforts to restore Russia's global clout and rebuild the nation's military might while the ties with Washington have been strained over U.S. criticism of Russia's backsliding on democracy, Moscow's vociferous protests of U.S. missile defense plans, and rifts over global crises.
The U.S. Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs, is a large-yield satellite-guided, air-delivered bomb described as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history.
Booming oil prices have allowed Russia to steadily increase military spending in recent years, and the Kremlin has taken a more assertive posture in global affairs.
Last month, President Vladimir Putin said he ordered the resumption of regular patrols of strategic bombers, which were suspended after the 1991 Soviet breakup.

didn't i tell you that the dvtv astrologer is usually right?

does he ... or doesn't he?

you can bet that there's something fishy in D.C. when the news about the latest bin Laden tape is not that he's alive...ALIVE, not that he's still at large, not that this is the first verifiable sighting of the world's most wanted man in three years, but that he's discovered - Just For Men!?!?

of course it gets worse. now the wingnuts are attempting to link OBL's statements to Democrats and "lefties".

first, on Friday's NewsHour on PBS, NYT columnist David Brooks says:

"[I]t’s like he’s been sitting around reading lefty blogs, and he’s one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom the page, you know, Noam Chomsky and all this stuff."

of course, Fox's Sean Hannity picks up on this, and after comments on his dye-job, states that bin Laden

"...seemed to adopt the very same language that is being used by the hard left in this country...very, very specific language.”

Hannity even suggests that the term "civil war" when applied to Iraq is the "language of the hard left". Hannity and Colmes' guest was former WH Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Colmes asked Card how al Qaeda and the Taliban have been allowed to regroup, and asked Card about Bush's incredible 2002 statement that Bush was "not that concerned" about bin Laden. Card gives a lame answer, claiming, "we are definitely winning the War on Terror". Colmes presses him for evidence of "winning". then comes...the threat: fighting the war on terror, he says, may last "for generations...we cannot let our guard down. They want to attack us." oh and he claimed that there’s "lots of evidence" that we're winning, but neglected to mention any.

later in the 'cast, Fox News Military Analyst Bill Cowan, after comments on OBL's black beard, continues with the fear mongering, insisting that the U.S. will be attacked by "somebody...[a]n attack is going to occur at some point."

News Hounds has more on this, and Think Progress links some "rightie" blogs that claim much the same as above.

UPDATE: the NY Post too: "...vast sections of rambling rhetoric indistinguishable from the latest "netroots" rant."

oh and Fred Thompson tries to have it both ways, saying bin Laden is "more symbolism than anything else. I think it demonstrates to people once again that we're in a global war." but later that same day, following criticism from John Edwards and others, Thompson told a crowd: "He ought to be caught and killed." Thompson also claimed, incredibly, that "[w]e are finally on the right track in Iraq and we're making progress.” and that public support for the war - is increasing(!)

other lame repug reactions to the OBL tape came from Rudy ("a very, very important objective to capture him and take him out.") and from John McCain: "My presidency will be al-Qaida's worst nightmare...Osama bin Laden and his henchmen must be hunted down — and as president, I will." just what this country needs - four more years of that shit.

now, just in case Osama bin Laden happens to be reading this "leftie blog", i have a very, very important question for you: who does your hair?

UPDATE II: he ain't no cave dweller, niether....

smokin' in the boy's room

the Senator Larry Craig saga just keeps getting better.

the toe-tapping congressional sex scandal threatens to obscure any repugnican hopes of reframing the failed but ever-ongoing war on terror, September 11th flag-waving we're-at-war: no-questions-asked mandatory patriotism, and of course, the much-anticipated General Petraeus report that the General will not author. then again, maybe that's what the scandal is supposed to do.while others on the weblog circuit (no links - find them yourself) are suggesting a presidential pardon in the works, that won't happen (not now or even in January 2009, which would be way too late for Craig's critical-condition political career).

Craig wants to "clear his name" (fat chance), not be pardoned for his actions that he claims never happened.

more likely (though still a long shot, considering he plead guilty over seven weeks ago) is a Minnesota judge overturning his plea. what do you suppose the quid-pro-quo would be for that ambitious judge - a promise of an appointment to a cushy seat in some federal district court perhaps? Senator Arlen Specter - who has come as close as anybody to supporting Craig's claim of innocence and was until earlier this year the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee - may have some clout in this department, but that's probably even less likely.

perhaps Specter feels - as i do - that Craig fell victim to a dispicable and useless sting operation by over-zealous and underworked cops. don't these airport cops have water bottles to confiscate?

for far more perspective on the Senator who-is-not-gay, catch tonight's broadcast of Gay USA, seen at 11:00pm in Manhattan on channel 34 and simulcast on the web at mnn.org (click on channel 34 icon); airing nationally starting Friday on the Free Speech TV Network (schedule here) and on Dish Network channel 9415; or listen to the podcast anytime here or at the iTunes store. (full disclosure - i'm the studio director of that broadcast.)

btw - there's no dvtv live broadcast tonight because our MNN studios are being renovated (unless something dire happens, in which case you will see me actually seated(!) in a very small, bright studio). we should be back on the air with an all-new dvtv live next thursday eve, which will be posted here next friday.

oops? OOPS?!

when i first heard the reports of a B-52 Stratofortress that 'accidentally' carried five 150-kiloton nuclear-armed cruise missiles earlier today i was suspicious. now i'm concerned.

a post on Larry Johnson's blog sheds some light and offers some possible explanation.

Johnson is ex-CIA and has worked with U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, and now heads an anti-terror consulting firm that "works with US military commands in scripting terrorism exercises", according to his bio.

his post contains some inside perspective on this unusual incident:

"(H)ow does someone watching a B-52 land identify the cruise missiles as nukes? It just does not make sense.

So I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him...My buddy...reminded me that the only times you put weapons on a plane is when they are on alert or if you are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.

Then he told me something I had not heard before.

Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?

various comments on this blog back up the notion that cruise missiles don't just get strapped on a B-52's wing by accident.

"There is no way the weapons would have moved without a top-level...directive to do so, because of treaty obligations dating to the Cold War, because of the potential for really big problems in the wrong hands or if there’s a crash during transport."

"Pilots (or anyone else) are not supposed to just fly off with nuclear bombs, and base commanders are not supposed to tell them to do so unless so ordered by higher command."

"...violates multiple layers of command and control systems and also four decades of policy. What are the odds?"

"‘no way, they know d*mned well those are armed."

"The controls on weapons and nuclear fuel is insanely tight.. This story just CAN’T happen."

therefore, if not an accident, two distinct possibilities emerge: preparation for use in Iran; or an attempt to intimidate Tehran.

oops my ass.

more good news

as a follow-up to last week's pessimistic post (see below: 'now it begins') i asked Pamela Gia, the official dvtv live astrologer, for some specifics.
with the permanent war dragging on, everyone from Rudy to French President Nicholas Sarkozy ("the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran") to the New York Post (carrying this article from the Sunday Times of London: ‘Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran’) dwelling on Tehran (whose claim of "3000 centrifuges" can't help) and with the sixth anniversary of a certain terror attack next week, there's plenty to fret over.
Ms. Gia reminds us that "Mars, the red Warrior planet, is closer to Earth than it has been in nearly two thousand years." sound ominous? how's this:
"Saturn, Planet of form, restriction, manifestation, time… has just moved from the constellation Leo into Virgo" and now aspects Neptune "in a transit that hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years."
as for that sixth anniversary?
a solar eclipse on - that's right - September 11th - will create "dynamic aspects that haven’t been seen at these exact degrees in many generations" and she speculates that "the turmoil, anxiety, high energy (or lack thereof) that everyone is feeling is due to these unusual events.
“The concern centers around the 9th of September through the 13th when the range of ecliptic energy meets with the T square aspects creating a battlefield in the sky.
“If there is terrorist activity during this time the occasions for OUR government, in particular, to make mistakes are high (because of United States’ aspects chart).
“If the U.S. doesn’t make quick, acute decisions around this time, we could find ourselves in a long, extremely destructive, fiery conflict."
what troubles me: she’s usually right.
you should know, however, that our dvtv live astrologer is a persistent optimist. i am duty-bound to pass on Ms. Gia’s personal advice to you for this potentially volatile period:
“This is an excellent time to use imagination for manifestation. Keep idealistic thoughts and visions in your minds. Deliberately create scenes in your minds eye that are bright, light, froth with laughter, Beauty, high spirits which invoke pictures that expand the heart feelings and rise above all things of lower nature.
"Do not dwell on fearful ideas but rather put that energy into fun activity or throwing things away, or dancing, singing even if it’s momentary - on the spot in your living room, car, or on the street. Cheer.”
if only I could add the above to Dick Cheney’s daily agenda.

dvtv live broadcast 8.30.07

Bush is shedding top aides - like ballast.

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i don’t care how many top aides resign, i don’t care how he reframes the current wars or how he palns to start a new one, i don’t care how many troops he pulls out, i don’t care if he captures Osama Bin Laden and puts his head on a stake on the White House Lawn, i don’t care if Bush tackles Cheney and takes a difribulator to his testicles, i say throw the lying bastards out – impeach them both – they deserve nothing less than to be humiliated, hogtied, stripped naked, tarred and feathered and then put on trial. impeach these deranged psychpaths before they start World War III.