I'd rather trust AT&T given only those choices.  But the question insinuates itself into practically every policy issue that we face at home or abroad.

Should New Orleans trust Bush? Should the EU? China? Iran? Iraq? Should Americans trust Bush?

Most don't and the number grows with good reason

Ex-WMD Inspector: Politics Quashed Facts

A year after Bush administration claims about Iraqi "bioweapons trailers" were discredited by American experts, U.S. officials were still suppressing the findings, says a senior member of the CIA-led Iraq inspection team.


At one point, former U.N. arms inspector Rod Barton says, a CIA officer told him it was "politically not possible" to report that the White House claims were untrue. In the end, Barton says, he felt "complicit in deceit."

Barton, an Australian biological weapons specialist, discusses the 2004 events in "The Weapons Detective," a memoir of his years as an arms inspector, being published Monday in Australia by Black Inc. Agenda

 USA TODAY Editorial: NSA has your phone records; 'trust us' isn't good enough

The government is secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans.

Stop and think for a moment about the meaning of that simple, startling fact, exposed Thursday in a remarkable report by USA TODAY's Leslie Cauley.

In the narrowest interpretation, of course, it is benign. Possibly even helpful. It means that the National Security Agency (NSA) — the Pentagon-run spy agency that monitors communications — is using a new tool to hunt terrorists: Monitor phone traffic to identify threats and stop them.

This is all it means, President Bush told the public Thursday in a brief appearance aimed at quelling the instant outrage provoked by the story. He assured Americans that their civil liberties were being "fiercely protected" and that the government was "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans."

In other words, never mind appearances. Trust us.

Well, that is not all it means. ....

Creating a huge, secret database of Americans' phone records does far more than threaten terrorists. It is a deeply troubling act that undermines U.S. freedoms and threatens us all.

The White House declined to provide an opposing view to this editorial.

Bushies logging all, repeat ALL, telephone calls...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans and Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a government spy agency secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country.

 

Get mad and do something.

Howard Beale

Mad as Hell

With his reckless adventure in Iraq, George W. Bush has brought this country the Greatest Strategic Disaster in its history, a history which most certainly has not ended but has only just entered a period of sharp decline in the country's post-war world hegemony.  At the center of this decline stands the hyper-kinetic perpetual war strategy of the Bush regime, a policy which, predictably, has brought a return to balance of power international politics.

The world system is balancing comrade Wolf.

Russia Aims to Counter U.S. With Bigger Arsenal

Putin speech compares America to a wolf that 'swallows without listening to anyone.'

What is "Fourth Generation Warfare"?  William Lind's manual on the subject was reportedly found in Al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan.

4/27/06 An audio interview with William S. Lind, October 4, 2004 from The Weekend Interview Show with Scott Horton.

And as we teeter on the brink of BushWar III, let's not forget

5/09/06 On War #164: The Other War, by William S. Lind

The following is the full text of Ahmadinejad's letter to George Bush:

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,

Mr George Bush,
President of the United States of America,
For sometime now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena -- which are being constantly debated, especially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hope that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.

Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (PBUH), the great Messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism as a civilization model, announce one’s opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, make “War on Terror” his slogan, and finally, work towards the establishment of a unified international community – a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked. The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy (are) set ablaze.

Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around one hundred thousand people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps fifty years. At what price? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries and tens of thousands of young men and women – as occupation troops – put in harms way, taken away from family and loved ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that everyday some commit suicide and those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of ailments; while some are killed and their bodies handed to their families.

You'd think the media would be wise to their scams by now, Christ almighty - think again

Bush Setting up Attack on Iran

Now that the mission - whatever it was - has not been accomplished in Iraq, Bush is setting up a potentially bigger disaster in Iran. Last month, Seymour Hersh revealed that the US military is making preparations for an attack on Iran. Recent events confirm Hersh's report.

Bush isn't any more interested in the bomb Iran doesn't have than he was in the WMD, nukes and terrorist ties that IraQ didn't have.

Now he is telling us Bush: US Must Ensure Israel's Security

And the Lobbyist claque has been dutifully joining the chorus for months now - a case study confirming the Mearsheimer/Walt thesis is unfolding right before our eyes.

PS from Juan Cole

Mearsheimer and Walt Reply
Mearsheimer and Walt reply to criticisms of their paper, "The Israel Lobby and American Foreign Policy."
We're still accepting signatures of post-secondary teachers on our petition defending Mearsheimer and Walt of ridiculous charges that they are anti-Semites, i.e. racists.
Not an academic? Tell your academic friends!

 The Battle to Shut Down the CoverUP Congress

A recent mailing by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warned that Democrats "will call for endless congressional investigations and possibly call for the impeachment of President Bush!"

You got dat right. More oversight, less coverup and corruption please. We've HAD ENOUGH!


Confident Democrats Expecting to Seize Control of Congress Lay Out Agenda Party Lay Plans Probes Of Bush Administration

Now if they could just get a leetle more backbone - a little more than "investigate" the Greatest Strategic Disaster, they'd nationalize the election and take 20-25 seats plus the USS.

And to get Iraq on the ballot doesn't require a detailed party plan for sucess but can easily accomodate MOST views of those running for office and the American people - ie any course other than "stay the course" is most welcome (including those of the Bill's Hill crowd for "more troops" if they dare) Silence is Bush and not acceptable.