by StarmanSkye » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:50 pm
Sadly, I think you're right Nomo. Only three senators stood-up to the Brownshirt Legislation. Revisions forced by last year's bipartisan opposition to the Act's overly-broad provisions galvinized around Wisconson Feingold's stand resulted in essentially cosmetic changes.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13897205.htm">www.mercurynews.com/mld/m...897205.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>--excerpt--<br>Thursday's vote clears the way for final congressional approval, which seems assured once Congress returns after next week's Presidents Day recess.<br>The Patriot Act bill would renew most provisions. Last year, the Senate blocked renewal after Democrats and a few Republicans argued that more protections were needed against government intrusion.<br>Last week, the White House and Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, the law's leading Republican critic, reached a deal that adds three new civil liberties provisions:<br>• Libraries that function as traditional book lenders and offer Internet access will not be subject to so-called ``national security letters,'' which are essentially subpoenas for business records that the FBI can issue in terrorism investigations without warrants.<br>• Appeals will be allowed of gag orders placed on recipients of national security letters. Appeals could occur one year after receiving the letters.<br>• A requirement that a recipient of a national security letter must provide the FBI with the name of any attorney consulted about the search has been removed.<br>Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said the changes amounted to cosmetics and that the bill remained flawed. He said it still would allow ``government fishing expeditions.''<br>Only Sens. Jim Jeffords, an independent from Vermont, and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., supported Feingold on Thursday's vote.<br><br>****<br>Re: Whittington released:<br>How pathetic and perverse: Whittington apologizing for causing Cheney so much 'trouble'?<br><br>Oy Mh Dog ...<br>I dunno, I got the feeling that Whittington's doctors might have succumbed to pressure to release him ASAP, in order to kill the media's embarrassing attention and questions about the many irregularities and inconsistencies. Most Americans who weren't waylaid by press reports that ignored the fact that Cheney was protected by Ranch security from seeing a deputy that same saturday evening couldn't help but reflect on this demonstration of elitist above-the-law privelege -- and wondering WHY Cheney stayed-low and incommunicado for as long as it would take for alcohol to leave his system.<br>Hmmm ...<br><br>Also: The claimed distance-of-shooting just plain doesn't jive <br>-- the injury is consistent with a 15 to 30 foot near point-blank shot of a 7 1/2 load @ 28 guage.<br><br>And Karen Armstrong's claimed witnessing the accident at 100 yards is contradicted by her additional statements that the first she knew Whittington was shot was when she saw SS agents running towards Cheney, thinking he had suffered a heart attack. So her comment about Whittington 'not announcing' himself is BS, something she couldn't have first-person knowledge of -- NOT that it would absolve Cheney of sole responsibility even IF Whittington didn't say, 'Hey, here I am' -- Cheney turned and shot without making sure it was safe to do so.<br><br>This whole incident is a classic example of what's wrong with the whole incestuous bunch of arrogant fatcat turds -- they think they're special and untouchable, when they're really nothing but repugnant criminal thugs.<br><br>Also -- another coupla suspicious oddities gleaned among many noteable items posted on Democratic Underground:<br>--quote--<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x417384#446969">www.democraticunderground...384#446969</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The REAL Cheney-Fuddgate Scandal: Lobbying, Iraq contracts, Greed <br> Edited on Tue Feb-14-06 03:22 PM by HamdenRice<br>The NYT's coverage of the fallout from Dick Cheney's shooting accident was subtly snarky, especially when it comes to the business connections among those in the "shooting party."<br><br>The owner of the ranch is identified in news reports merely as Ann Armstrong, a "prominent Republican supporter and whose family ranch is a familiar destination for Republican politicans." Katharine Armstrong, the hostess of the party, and the distraught lady who was tasked with providing information to the local press, is identified merely as a lobbyist, "with a limited list of lobbying clients in Texas and in Washington" and who said, "I don't believe I've ever lobbied the vice president." Just for good measure, the NYT quotes Katharine, the daughter, as saying none of her clients "that I know of" are involved in Iraq.<br><br>But the connections between the Armstrongs, the Bushes, Cheney and Texas royalty are twisted and deep. Maybe the best way of making this intricate web of relationships clearest is by dilineating each family connection.<br><br>Ann Armstrong, the "prominent Republican supporter" is actually a prominent Republican functionary, a corporate businesswoman of astonishing breadth and Texas royalty. <br><br>Ann Armstrong, the mother, was the first woman appointed counsellor to the president with Cabinet rank by Presidents Nixon and Ford (1973-1974). After a stint as US ambassador to the Court of Saint James (ie ambassador to Britain), she became chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1981 to 1990, that is, under Reagan and Bush I, where one of her jobs involved approving covert actions (and given the timing, this would presumably include Contra activities in Central America supervised by George HW Bush). One suspects that Ann knows quite a bit about Bush the elder's adventures in El Salvador and Nicaragua, which have always been suspected of involving cocaine trafficking, if not in Iran, as well. She also is a member of the Seven Revolutions Global Strategy Institute, which tries to project out the structure of the future until 2025 in areas like population, resources, geo-political conflict and economics.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://7revs.csis.org">7revs.csis.org</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> /<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://7revs.csis.org/AdvisoryCommittee/b_armstrong.htm">7revs.csis.org/AdvisoryCo...strong.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>In later years, mother Anne has been a member of the boards of directors of many major corporations, including American Express Company, Boise Cascade, General Motors, and Halliburton Company at the time that it hired Dick Cheney as CEO. <br><br>In Texas, it seems corporate profits are never enough for the rich, and they must dine at the trough of the public sector, as well. Gov. George W. Bush appointed Ann Armstrong as a regent of Texas A&M University System in 1997 and she is chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees at the Iraq War friendly Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. The trusteeships of Texas public universities and other public boards are infamous as rewards for campaign contributions:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/2000/10/reports/appointments/bo...">www.tpj.org/docs/2000/10/...ents/bo...</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>Ann is married to Texas royalty Tobin Armstrong, and the couple were "Pioneers" for Bush, meaning that they donated at least $100,000 to the 2000 Bush campaign. It is through this marriage to Tobin that Anne is part owner of the gigantic Armstrong Ranch where the shooting incident occurred. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers//pioneers_view.jsp?id=...">www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers...jsp?id=...</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>An earlier marriage in the 1940s, between an elder brother of Tobin and the Tex-Mex Fausto Yturria clan, brought together the Armstrong Ranch owners and the family of owners of the super-gigantic King Ranch. The Yturria family's various real estate holdings, including the 150,000 acre King ranch make them the 58th largest landowners in the United States -- and this does not include their connection to the 50,000 acre Armstrong Ranch.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers//pioneers_view.jsp?id=...">www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers...jsp?id=...</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>Katharine, the distraught hostess, is a former investment banker turned lobbyist. She is also the heir apparent of both the Armstrong and King ranches, making her potentially one of the biggest landowners in the country when Mom, Dad and uncle Fausto finally kick the bucket. <br><br>Katharine is co-listed with her parents as Pioneers, and this was just around the time that she had been appointed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission by Gov. George W. Bush in 1999. She turned lobbyist in 2004 claiming a need to make a living to support her children after a divorce. Among Katharine Armstrong' clients are Parson, an engineering company with contracts in Iraq. She also represents Lockheed Martin the military aircraft behemoth, and Baker Botts, the law firm of super lawyer and Bush family consigliere James Baker, who oversaw the Bush family 2000 Florida election "strategy."<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers/pioneers_view.jsp?id=6...">www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers...sp?id=6...</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>Now here's the big question. Just what do you think that Katharine Armstrong, representing both aircraft military contractors and Iraq engineering contractors, might have been discussing with Dick Cheney -- despite her claims that she had never formally lobbied Cheney. <br><br>Perhaps this is just the way business is done in Texas. After all, long before the shooting, in 2000, father Tobin had acknowledged of his hunting trips with Cheney, “We go out when the dew is still on the grass, and then hunt until we shoot our limit,” ... “Then we pick a fine spot and have a wild game picnic lunch.” If you represent James Baker as a lobbyist, do you really need to "lobby" George W. Bush or Dick Cheney? <br><br>Do you really need to "lobby" Dick Cheney when your mother hired him as CEO of Halliburton, which made him a multimilionare? I'm sure that his gratitude is worth millions. It's not lobbying -- just pleasant conversation among long time family friends about current events, developments and opportunities while shooting quail.<br><br>Could the cover-up of the shooting have as much to do with the embarrassment of poor marksmanship as the embarrassment of disclosure of how business is done among the Bushes, Cheneys, Armstrongs and other well-connected western royalty?<br>*<br>Maybe there is a simple answer to this, but if so, it escapes me. Why does Kenedy County have a Sheriff and why is it a county?<br><br>More than 22 million people live in Texas. According to the Census Bureau, the population of Kenedy County is 407 persons. There are approximately 138 households. There are 4 non-farm privately owned businesses with employees.<br><br>But it has received 1,441 federal grants. Here are more statistics.<br><br>Did the ranchers buy themselves a county government? It sure looks like it. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://talkleft.com/new_archives/014023.html">talkleft.com/new_archives/014023.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br>--unquote--<br><br>More <eck!> wierdness than you can shake a stick at.<br>Starman <p></p><i></i>
