The Rag Blog

HARTFORD, Conn. –Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday repeated his pledge to caucus with Senate Democrats when the 110th Congress convenes in January, but refused to slam the door on possibly moving to the Republican side of the aisle.

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he might follow the example of Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republicans in 2001 and became an independent, ending Republican control of the U.S. Senate, Lieberman refused to discount the possibility.

Tony Blair has opened the prospect of a new partnership with Iran and Syria tonight as he insisted that the “answer to Iraq” lay in the wider Middle East.

But, while setting out a strategy to resolve tensions across the whole region, the Prime Minister said his top priority was to end the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

In a major foreign policy speech, Mr Blair implored Tehran to assist the Middle East peace process and stop supporting terrorism in Iraq and Lebanon.

He also urged the rogue state to abide by its international obligations on nuclear non-proliferation.

A lecture given in October, 1987

Part I

John Stockwell is the highest-ranking CIA official ever to leave the agency and go public. He ran a CIA intelligence-gathering post in Vietnam, was the task-force commander of the CIA’s secret war in Angola in 1975 and 1976, and was awarded the Medal of Merit before he resigned. Stockwell’s book In Search of Enemies, published by W.W. Norton 1978, is an international best-seller.

“I did 13 years in the CIA altogether. I sat on a subcommittee of the NSC, so I was like a chief of staff, with the GS-18s (like 3-star generals) Henry Kissinger, Bill Colby (the CIA director), the GS-18s and the CIA, making the important decisions and my job was to put it all together and make it happen and run it, an interesting place from which to watch a covert action being done…

I testified for days before the Congress, giving them chapter and verse, date and detail, proving specific lies. They were asking if we had to do with S. Africa, that was fighting in the country. In fact we were coordinating this operation so closely that our airplanes, full of arms from the states, would meet their airplanes in Kinshasa and they would take our arms into Angola to distribute to our forces for us….

LONDON (Reuters) – Elton John has said organized religion should be banned because it promotes homophobia and turns some people into “hateful lemmings.”

“I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it,” the British singer said in an interview with the Observer newspaper on Sunday.

“Religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it is not really compassionate.”

The singer, who tied the knot with long-term partner David Furnish in a civil ceremony last year, said he admired the teachings of Jesus Christ, but disliked religious bodies.

WASHINGTON: Congressional Democrats say they will press new legislation next week to restore the power of a federal agency in charge of ferreting out waste and corruption in Iraq and greatly increase its investigative reach.

Following the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. commanders are preparing proposals for a strategy change in Iraq.

The U.S. General Staff, which appointed a working group comprised of strategists and military officers charged with coming up with new approaches on Iraq, expects a comprehensive review and assessment within a month.

When someone as distinguished as Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the Director of MI5, warns of a multitude of Islamist terrorist plots in the United Kingdom, we have to sit up and take notice. This is no scaremonger, this is the highly professional Head of an effective Intelligence Agency.

The question which then comes to mind is why this dangerous situation has come about, and we have to accept that it is not a matter of chance but has its roots in errors made by successive British governments. Britain, like France, has a large Muslim population, the vast majority of whose members are hard-working and law-abiding, but there exist on both sides of the Channel a great number of prejudices against those who are seen as a foreign community which has difficulty in integrating.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”

“No problem, just let me in,” says the man.

“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”

“Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the senator.

“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

“Now it’s time to visit heaven.”

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

“Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: “Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.”

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. “I don’t understand,” stammers the senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”

Brooklyn is teeming with terrorists – but you’ll never hear about it in the mainstream media.

Why?

Because they’re ‘good’ terrorists.

“[They’re] not your problem – Palestinians are your problem.”

“I have a business,” Goldberg said, somewhat embarrassed . . . “I rent out inflatables that kids jump on — moon bouncers.

Fortunately it’s seasonal work. I’m busy in the spring and summer and then in the winter I’m free to be a Jewish terrorist.”

Goldberg was being sarcastic . . . Kahane’s followers [believe] that they are wrongly persecuted as “terrorists” for their simple devotion to Torah and Israel,

Is that clear, boys and girls?

Arrogant and obssessed with a promised land – Good terrorist.

Humble and born on the wrong land – Bad terrorist.

A post-election rant…

At 8:30 this morning, during a 5-mile walk with Dallas, I found myself staring at this ad poster on the front of a gas station mini-mart.

It reminded me of television, of Capitalism and economic growth, of corporate mind-control, of the recent elections, and, of the colossal failure the human species faces.

As I stood there dwelling on thoughts of colossal import, pondering the species known as Homo sapiens, I remembered sociologist William R. Catton’s term for our species as it exists today, Homo colossus.

Catton wrote, in his groundbreaking 1980 book, ‘Overshoot-The Ecological Basis For Revolutionary Change’;