Civilianism News for July 9th

News from Civilianism for July 9

• Do your hotdogs taste funny? – “On the other side of the world; some third graders are reading to the American President while the bored press takes pictures. The chief of staff bursts in and whispers in the President’s ear; NORAD is tracking a single Russian missile headed for the ABM site in Alaska. The Russians are on the red phone; should he patch them through? Some of the children have noticed the fear on the faces of the adults, but the President smiles and indicates no to the call; the children are reassured and go back to reading. President Palin is smiling because God has spoken to her. ” This short short story is worth reading.
• House Democrats say CIA lied – CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials have concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, the chairman and other members of the House Intelligence Committee said in letters revealed Wednesday.” Well of course they did. This is the CIA — they deceive, they lie, they pretend. That’s what they do. Lie to Congress – of course! Hardly a news flash. Watch the Republicans fall all over themselves defending the indefensible, again and again and again. That’s what THEY do.
• More web attacks likely, North Korea suspected – A fresh wave of cyber attacks that slowed U.S. and South Korean websites this week could come later on Thursday, a web security firm said, while the South’s spy agency has said the hacking may be linked to North Korea. I suppose this is an “act of war”. Kim Jong Il is even dumber and more petty than I thought.
• Defense Department Personnel Policy To Regard Lawful Protests As “Low-Level Terrorism” – Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course, the DoD asks the following: “Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?” To answer correctly, the examinee must select “protests.” No kidding.
• Livni: Netanyahu support for two-state solution is hypocrisy – She also accusing Netanyahu of paying lip service to the public and his government of doing things “only for appearances.”
  “Everything this government does is superficial,” Livni said (Hmmm, not surprising.)
• Netanyahu’s paranoia extends to ’self-hating Jews’ Emanuel and Axelrod – Haaretz – Israel News – “But despite the unified front they tried to present, it is clear that all of Netanyahu’s aides dislike each other: They are constantly badmouthing each other and blaming each other for leaks.” It sounds even worse than the Bush administration.
• Ancient Israeli Myths Deter Peace – “God’s purported covenant with Moses instructing the ancient Israelites to conquer the land, the injustice of the Roman-era Diaspora that supposedly removed them centuries later, and the brutal persecution of European Jews in the Holocaust.” Israel and the U.S.: God and Godder. God told us this, God hates them, God loves us, God has chosen us, etc. Odd how humans decide so often what it is God says and who God favors. One of these days God is going to really pissed off about all of this.
• Is Texas Harboring Torture Decider? – Seldom does a crime scene have so clear a smoking gun. A two-page presidential memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, leaves no room for uncertainty regarding the “decider” on torture. His broad-stroke signature made torture official policy.” Ray McGovern was rejected by Texas Newspapers recently, as the ex-Decider memorializes the era of U.S. torture and fascism (his 8 years in office) with his new hobby: scrapbooking. It’s an activity he and Laura can enjoy together until his Library of Lies is built.