Secret Service Shows Up At Texas Mom's Door...
Posted By: sm on 2008-10-20
In Reply to:
|
Quote: |
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up. |
Quote: |
Last week, here in America, they came for Jessica Hughes, and I will not be silent. I will not turn away, hoping, in the end, they will not come for me.
Jessica Hughes of Lufkin, Texas, former Marine, mother of three, answered her cell phone in the car, coming home from the emergency room. Her 9-year-old had suffered a mild concussion, but was OK.
The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.
Jessica replied, "No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." Then Jessica hung up.
The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service agents stated that the Obama campaign had complained of a death threat. They had quoted Jessica as saying, "I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."
Jessica's husband had heard Jessica's side of the original phone call and verified the actual quote. To which the female agent replied, "Oh? Well why would she (the Obama volunteer) make that up?"
Jessica replied that the Obama volunteer was probably unhappy about what Jessica had said about her candidate. The female agent then said "That's right, you were rude!"
The male agent then displayed a file with Jessica's full name prominently printed on it and asked her how she felt about Obama. At this point, the former Marine told the agent "in no uncertain terms" (as she later recounted) that this was America and that the last time she checked, she was allowed to think whatever she wanted without being questioned by the Secret Service. And was being "rude" a federal crime now too?
The agents then admitted they had no tape of the conversation, just the quote from the Obama campaign.
Responding to Jessica's questions, the agents would not identify themselves by name, nor reveal the name of the Obama volunteer who had made the complaint. The agents did indicate that Jessica was not in a court of law yet, and that they were trying to not embarrass her "by going to all her family and neighbors."
To these implied threats, Jessica invited the agents to speak to whomever they wanted, and stated she would happily go to court since she had done nothing wrong.
Jessica asked the agents, "Look, someone calls me unsolicited on my cell phone to ask me to support their candidate, and I can't tell them why I don't?"
The Secret Service left Jessica that day, but she could not get the "visit" out of her mind. |
Source:http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77825 |
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Should be the Secret Service! nm
CIA, Secret Service, etc.
Fact: Obama wouldn't pass a background check for either of these organizations based on his associations alone (Wright, Ayers, Dohrn, etc.), yet somehow it's different to be President?
Don't waste your time arguing the point. Look it up for yourselves and start paying attention to plain facts.
As a side item, none of us would qualify based on associations like these.
According to the secret service
those statements weren't made at her meeting or whatever.
Personally I think it could have been some Obama supporters there doing it just to start things. It may have not been endorsed by the Obama campaign but it could happen. In the same sense, she could have not heard it being up on stage if her supporters were saying it. I was talking to my husband about this (he's been in a couple of bands) and you know how sometime the band members will talk with the audience? Well they have done that before and he said he could never figure out what the crowd was yelling back when they all got going and after awhile you just tune it out. Could have been the same deal. Now if she was up there saying "we need to kill the terrorist" I would have to question her...
The mud is being slung from both sides ya'll, gotta dig deep to find the truth. Stop believing what's on the surface.
According to the Secret Service...
who yelled "kill him" when Barack Obama's name was mentioned during a Sarah Palin rally?
After investigating the claim, the Secret Service concluded that no one actually heard the comment that was widely reported in the media
I am sure the Secret Service all love
piling into that Ford Focus everyday....lol Methinks he probably has a limo or two, just not in his name...
The Secret Service is idiotic?
Secret service has said "yes" they do have these weapons...
I agree, the U.S. should nEVER stick their nose in any country's business as far as I am concerned; however, with Obama, it is no secret he has never stayed silent with the asian countries but has bowed his way through the muslim countries.... O lovers can think what they want but O is Muslim, will always be Muslim, and that's that....don't really care what anyone else thinks...his silence speaks volumes. O says he wants to "reach out" to the muslim world... well folks, this is his chance to just say something. He doesn't have to interfere and shouldn't.
Don't worry about your precious Obama..... he has no power whatsoever. He is nothing more than a little puppet being pulled by very elite people.... how else do you think he was elected? Sure as heck not because he's qualified!!!
Mousavi is like choosing between bad and evil.... either way, those folks are screwed!! BTW, we should NEVER be involved with the UN. We don't need other countries to decide for us what we should and should not do....
And when you're paying through your nose in Obama's taxes for your wonderful government controlled life, see how much you love him then! And, yes, he will screw you over too!
Secret Service to investigate hate speech
Now that campaign is a real class act.
Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over
Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.
The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.
So how many threats on Palin's life is the Secret Service
THAT'S what!
Bush first ex-prez to face limit on Secret Service protection
By Maria Recio McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense.
However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.
"He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.
The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home — not paid for by taxpayers — on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
"We're working on a conceptual design for the building," said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation. The president will help develop the $300 million structure, which will include a library, museum and policy institute.
Fundraising is just beginning, Langdale said. Once the project is finished in 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration will take over the operation of the library and museum, at federal expense. Construction will be paid for with private funds, and Bush is expected to be involved in organizing the fundraising drive.
"He is enthusiastic about spending a lot of his time and effort working on the programs of the institute," Langdale said.
Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.
Bush's pension, which is tied to the base pay of the most senior government executives and increases with federal cost-of-living adjustments, will be about half the $400,000 annual presidential salary. He and Vice President Dick Cheney will receive transition expenses as well for seven months — one month before the inauguration and six months afterward — "to facilitate their transition to private life," according to the Congressional Research Service.
The GSA also covers travel expenses for any official activities attended by a former president, as well as two staff members. Former President Bill Clinton was allocated $50,000 for travel in fiscal year 2008 and former President George H.W. Bush, $56,000.
Former presidents and their families are entitled to health care in military hospitals, although they have to pay a reimbursement rate set by the Office of Management and Budget.
Bush will receive a state funeral upon his death, with full military honors for the former commander in chief.
This happened while walking door to door
His true colors are coming through bright and clear. "Spread the wealth" came out of his own lips. He didn't even need an advisor for this one. Yea, he is going back to redo his economic plan which means all those who like being led by a nose ring and singing the praises of Obama's economic plan will now have to watch for a new and NOT improved plan. Same old, same old. Only the next one will be bigger taxes, more programs, more freebies and their little paychecks will be getting even smaller.
Thought crimes, secret formulas, secret votes, motherload databases, "no lists?"
don't let the door hit you on the way out. The silence from the peanut gallery speaks volumes.
Community service and CIVIL service - not the same thing nm
x
...and all this before most of the $$ are even out the door.
This has nothing to do with Hannity. If you can't look past the messenger and get to the message, you'll miss the point. The dollars being wasted here are not conservative or liberal dollars - they're everyone's dollars.
And, it's probably much worse than this because none of this addresses the fraud and corruption that inevitably follow massive government spending that it can't really control. This was just about the stupidity of the projects themselves - not the other problems that can confidently be expected to follow. And it assumed that these projects really will cost the dollars cited, when we can also predict that there will be massive cost overruns in many of them.
Given the fact that we don't even know where a lot of the money is going (there's NO transparency here), I think it would be a pretty safe bet that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Sociopath Next Door
White House Diary of a Sociopath
August 16, 2005 As we read the marketing copy for The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us by Martha Stout, Ph.D (Broadway Books, March, 2006), we were reminded of an essay last year that the author E.L. Doctorow wrote on Bush. It included the following sentence: He [Bush] cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves. But is there more to what ails Bush from a mental health stand point? Maybe the forthcoming book, The Sociopath Next Door, can help explore that question. Here is how the Broadway Books (a Division of Random House) catalogue describes the content: We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, clinical psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people have an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. They can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. One of their chief characteristics is a charisma that makes them more charming or interesting than other people, and tricky to identify. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others' suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win. We all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. To arm us against them, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she warns, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. Ah yes, it appears, as Cindy Sheehan and countless others who have been on the receiving end of a sympathize publicly and smear privately Bush campaign know, this is a man who is truly disassociated from honest grief, pity or sympathy. He sees no relationship to his errant, narcissistic actions and their impact on people. So we looked further into the issue and found out that the contemporary clinical term for being a sociopath is called APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder.) One can appear to be the most gregarious person in the world, but still be detached from sincere concern for the plight of others. Just examine some of the essential characteristics of the APD/sociopath: It is under the DSM-IVÂT Associated Features and Disorders [scale] that individuals with APD are described as lacking empathy and being callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and suffering of others. They may have an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal, display a glib, superficial charm and The fondest APD image of self reflects unrealistic notions of superiority. When they encounter evidence that they are only human, they will attempt to restore self-esteem by exerting power. Individuals with APD have learned that they can, or should be able to, ignore the needs of others, do whatever feels compelling, and seduce or bully others to avoid adverse consequences. Although not every possible characteristic of the APD/sociopath may apply to George W. Bush, some ring so true, you feel your head is clanging inside a bell: These individuals are untroubled by guilt or loyalty and may develop a talent for pathological lying. Individuals with APD place their personal desires against those of others; they believe that they alone deserve every advantage and become adroit at feigning innocent victimization to absolve themselves from blame. We might add that the emotional/interpersonal scale for assessing APD/sociopathology looks for indications of: glibness and superficiality egocentricity and grandiosity lack of remorse or guilt, lack of empathy deceitfulness and manipulativeness shallow emotions It is always nothing more than speculation to be an armchair psychoanalyst, but sometimes you just got to go with the evidence at hand. Bush is a guy who is packaged as the compassionate conservative, but acts like the mob boss who sends out his minions to stick shivs in the backs of anyone who crosses him, even if they are doing it in the service of America, of which he is supposed to be the leader. Yes, there are sociopaths among us. One of them, it would appear, has weaseled his way, twice, into the presidency. Afternote: Of course, APD/sociopathic behavior lacks subtlety, depth, and modulation. Individuals with severe APD appear to live in a presocialized emotional world; feelings are experienced in relation to self but not to others. Such individuals are unable to experience emotions such as gratitude, empathy, sympathy, affection, guilt, or mutual eroticism that depend on the perception of others as whole, real, and meaningful. Dominant emotions are anger, sensitivity to humiliation, envy, boredom, contempt, exhilaration, and pleasure through dominance. I think we've brung' em on and found our man's true nature. As for the rebellious side against the status quo that sometimes manifests itself in an APD/sociopathic personality, one need only remember that the mission of the Bush Administration, as one insider told the New York Times, is to mold reality to the will of the Bush/Cheney worldview through the use of unrestrained power. They don't accept reality; they seek to alter it as they wish. Furthermore, Bush's contempt for working with the world community is an indication of sociopathic behavior on an international level. His disregard for the standard conventions, courtesies and rules of governance is also an indication of rebellion against existing institutions and organizational precedents. Finally, his unrelenting willingness to descend into the gutter and embrace the treasonous and slanderous activity of Karl Rove is a clear indication that he is among the 4% of Americans who hide their sociopathic pathology behind a thin veneer of cordiality and amiability. Just remember how he sneered and smirked every time he put someone to death in Texas. This guy gets high off of having the power to send people to die, and even higher off of using it.
They're not only next door,
they're on these boards, too, sans the charm that was described in the article you posted.
I was particularly struck by the following and how it applies to so many on these boards:
...the mission of the Bush Administration, as one insider told the New York Times, is to mold reality to the will of the Bush/Cheney worldview through the use of unrestrained power. They don't accept reality; they seek to alter it as they wish.
Again, I'm holding up three fingers, visible to the entire world. Thankfully, most people are reasonable-thinking, intelligent, non-delusional people who see what is there: THREE FINGERS.
The people we really have to fear are the ones who only see one finger, the bad finger, and they invent a reality of their own, and then accuse and attack based on their twisted reality of that one finger that they KNOW is aimed at them in a negative way.
They're not only next door. They're among us right here.
Dont let the door hit ya on the way out!
Well, sweetie pie, if this liberal posting on a liberal board is bothering you..why dont you just mosey on back to the conservative board and then I wont be disturbing you? No one is forcing you to come over here. The disturbing thing, however, is that I fight back and debate and will not let the neocon gang of three bully me. Maybe it bothers you that you have met your match and that quite a few liberals are standing up to your nonsense..Getting to ya, huh? Goooooooood..
You were just shown the door
by the weakest link...
If Bush were the guy next door I'd probably
I can see your point about him being personable to some people - I just don't think he is a good leader. He doesn't seem to focus on the issues that mean the most to my family and myself, and therefore I will never support him. I also heard he was a C student or something, and I think Presidents should be more intelligent than that.
I also heard he got 2 DUIs - I think only a selfish person would drive drunk and put other peoples' lives in danger. I just don't trust the man in my gut. Simple as that. If he were my dopey neighbor next door who made corny, insensitive jokes I would probably like the man well enough, but I definitely don't like him representing America.
Bush opened the door to socialism...
I'll admit that.
And your Obama will take full advantage of it.
You're the one that can't understand, and it's useless to even talk to you at all about it.
Won't even try anymore, just let you go merrily on your way down the socialist path Obama has you on, and he has you right where he wants you.
Ignorant of what he's going to do.
Bridger, only a cult would knock on your door.
x
YEAH!! You tell it girlfriend. My grammer police are at the door until Monday morning!
nm
With the President meeting with the Republicans in closed door talks to come to agreements,.....sm
find middle ground, listen to their concerns, and try to modify where needed? Condemn and Condemn, has a Republican come forward with an alternative package? George was handing out money o the banking pirates before he left office, remember?
Built into this plan, which is very complex, are social programs for schools, which are going down fast, health aid, food stamps for those who have lost their jobs and need to eat while looking for new jobs that Obama is tring to create, funds to build companies to work with alternative energy and green solutions to get us less dependent on foreign oil and stop poisoning our earth.....
There is no quick fix!!! Just like the Great Depression, it is going to take time to reap all the benefits from this package, but they are meant to be real, lasting jobs and benefits to our society, not a quick boo-boo bandaide,which is all that Bush could provide with his quickie tax rebates!!!! Take off the jaundiced glasses and blinders, forget party lines and affiliations, and just go to MSN or CNN and read the copious outlines there.
I do. Leaves the door wide open for blatant health care fraud..
They came to Texas, too. SM
My Vietnam veteran brothers and I and a bunch of the rest of us were there to meet and greet them. Needless to say, they didn't get anywhere near the funeral procession.
Only in Texas :)........ sm
 Hunting blind - only in Texas
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Dec 12, 2006
House Bill 308 would allow Texans who are blind to go hunting. With guns. With real bullets...
Perhaps Dick Cheney's hunting performance inspired the bill. Cheney is apparently blind and he is permitted to hunt birds in Texas.
80R1572 SGA-F
By: Kuempel H.B. No. 308
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use of laser sighting devices by hunters who are legally blind.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 62.005, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 62.005. HUNTING WITH LIGHT. Except as provided by Section 62.0055, no [No] person may hunt a game animal or bird protected by this code with the aid of an artificial light that casts or reflects a beam of light onto or otherwise illuminates the game animal or bird, including the headlights of a motor vehicle.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 62, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended by adding Section 62.0055 to read as follows:
Sec. 62.0055. HUNTING WITH LASER SIGHTING DEVICE BY LEGALLY BLIND HUNTER. (a) In this section, legally blind has the meaning assigned by Section 62.104, Government Code.
(b) A legally blind hunter may use a laser sighting device during regular hunting hours when assisted by a person who is not legally blind.
(c) The legally blind hunter must carry proof of being legally blind.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than January 1, 2008, the Parks and Wildlife Commission shall adopt rules that prescribe what is acceptable as proof of being legally blind under Section 62.0055, Parks and Wildlife Code, as added by this Act.
(b) The Parks and Wildlife Department may not enforce Section 62.0055(c), Parks and Wildlife Code, as added by this Act, until the rules adopted under Subsection (a) of this section take effect.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
Texas, etc
I think it is like the old saying; you can take the person out of Texas but you can't take Texas out of the person. LOL I miss the BBQ most I think.
We must be in the same age group, 'm.........arg.........65. Unfortunately I didn't know a lot about my family, didn't get interested in genealogy until most of the older members of my family had passed, small family to begin with. I only remember bits and pieces of stories they told. I found it interesting that my G-G-grandfather freed his slaves before the War, yet my G-grandfather fought and died to preserve the rights of slave owners. One can find out some interesting things. I go back to one G-G-grandfather who was born in VA and then moved to TN before moving to AR in 1830. Everyone searching that family branch comes to a dead end with him. It is said that there was some kind of family scandal about the time of his birth but either no one knows or they aren't sharing what the scandal was. He doesn't match DNA with any of the other branches of the family. Strange indeed.
Maybe we should continue this discussion in email? I've taken us way off topic haven't I?
Of course they were. Being from Texas, I can
tell you Dubya is not a Texan/cowboy/regular guy. He's a rich spoiled yuppie from Connecticut who easily fooled those who are easily fooled. And it would be wonderful if that's the worst thing he's done in the last 8 years. They just announced on the news we have the highest unemployment rate SINCE 1974. Thanks W...
and they can HAVE Texas!
Texas. Probably Obama most
prevalent. Can't help but think what 150 mil could do just in Galveston and Port Bolivar right now after Ike. These people are not getting all the fine help others have gotten, probably those in Iowa understand completely what I am saying. Voted yesterday by the way. Certify I am living, breathing, just voted one time and in only one voting place!
4 bucks? We pay 6 in Texas.
x
texas seceding
I hope Texas does secede -- I'd leave this sinking ship in a heartbeat, right ahead of the rats.
my dog ate my secret
memo - what is the "IST" word we are throwing at the democrats today? Yesterday was "elitist" -- we need to keep switching them around to keep fresh. "Socialist" and "communist" were used recently. How bout "polygamist" - we haven't used that one in a while.
I heard they moved to Texas already. nm
dopeypeople
Uhh...no...Bush would still be in Crawford Texas
We would still have weeks, if not months, of hillbilly wrangling before we tried to "talk" the pirates out of releasing the captain.
It just sucks that you people have to admit that Obama did a good job. It really sucks eating crow.
Right on Texas - you rock! I want to move there
Now I understand the true meaning of "Don't Mess with Texas"
http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2009/04/perry_says_texa.html
In Iraq, what you do is best kept secret...sm
This is rather lengthy, but paints a picture of Iraq from an Iraqi point of view. This just goes to show there are two sides to every story. Listening to the government and Fox News reporters you would think the good guy was in control in Iraq. According to this article, it would appear the insurgents hold a greater power over the people :(
World News
In Iraq, what you do is best kept secret
Sunnis pose as Shiites, rich people pose as poor, and no one says where they work. Telling the truth could bring a death sentence.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
By Megan K. Stack, Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- You don't want to draw attention, so you keep a battered car even if you can afford a fancier model. You don't wash it; better to let dust smear the windows. Night falls, curfew clamps down, and all those dirty old cars wend their way back to the homes of the capital. The eyes of neighbors slide after them.
Where are the drivers coming from? Some work for the government. Some fight with insurgents or death squads. Some are employed by Americans. No one asks, and no one tells; nobody knows who's who.
Bloodshed has turned Iraq into a country defined by disguise and bluff. Violence in the streets has begun to defy logic, and this is part of the fallout: A lively city where people used to butt gleefully into one another's business has degenerated into a labyrinth of disguises, a place where neighbors brush silently past one another like dancers in a macabre costume ball.
Everything is hidden among Iraqis; people are very suspicious of one another, said 66-year-old Hayawi Mahdi Abaasi, a successful lawyer who says he won't repair his tumble-down house or replace his 1982 Toyota for fear the wrong people would notice.
Why should I call the attention of terrorists to me? I try to be very common like everyone else, he said.
Rich people hide their jewelry and dig frayed clothes from the back of their closets to evade ransom-seeking kidnappers. Muslims claim to be Sunni or Shiite, depending on circumstance. Christians pose as Muslims. Lying about employment is de rigueur. Street police wrap their faces in masks so nobody will recognize them.
Everybody, it seems, is pretending to be somebody else, adopting a fake identity in the terrified hope of staying safe. Baghdad residents reason that no matter who you are, you're probably on somebody's hit list.
It's not a matter of lying or not lying, said Ali Abdullah. It's a matter of life or death.
Mr. Abdullah is a 31-year-old Sunni with dark skin, a strapping build and a bushy strip of mustache. Like most people in Baghdad, he is a man of secrets.
He was trained as an engineer in Saddam Hussein's Iraq but now works for an American nonprofit organization. His life has been threatened and his wife begs him to quit, but he says he can't -- the money is too good, and they have a 3-year-old son to think about.
Abdullah takes a taxi to work so his car won't be recognized. He uses different streets each time and changes his telephone number every few months.
He splurged on a $100 Swatch watch in neighboring Jordan, but now he's afraid to wear it in public. When people ask about his job, he lies and says he owns a computer shop.
Rule No. 1, he says: Never, under any circumstance, intimate to the neighbors on his predominantly Sunni street that he's sold out to the foreigners.
This is a killer, if my neighbors find out where I work, he said. This is the first thing that must be maintained, that my neighbors can't know what I do.
For Mr. Abdullah and his family, that has meant isolation. He shrinks from possible conversations, taking care not to linger in his doorway, make eye contact or trade small talk. When he caught sight of an old college friend across a crowded restaurant recently, he turned on his heels and rushed away to avoid conversation.
When they talk about the loss of intimacy, many Iraqis are mournful. Like members of most Middle Eastern societies, Iraqis have traditionally prized warmth and valued social interchange over what Westerners might regard as personal privacy. In the old Iraq, it was better to err on the side of nosiness than to appear cold or distant. It was perfectly normal to grill strangers on their marital status and the price of their possessions.
Little by little, that warmth has been bled away by war. Tension pulls on the city now. The atmosphere is thick with intrigue; it feels film noir, cloak-and-dagger. Except it is real -- and deadly.
Behavior has changed from rational behavior into instinctive, animalistic behavior, said Ehsan Mohammed Hassan, one of Iraq's leading sociologists and a professor at Baghdad University. The individual is not safe from the others. He has to hide. He doesn't want people to see him because he thinks the people are evil.
Amid the fear and loathing, a long-standing tribal tradition has disappeared. Etiquette used to require men to ask one another about their jobs; it was a way of showing concern for a friend's livelihood and to demonstrate willingness to help a man if he had fallen on hard times.
These days, though, to ask about jobs is impolite -- perhaps even dangerous. Instead, men find themselves throwing out other questions: How are you? What are you doing here?
A lot of people are killed for no reason. So what do you think they'll do if you work for the Americans? Mr. Abdullah asked. That's it. You're a traitor.
Working for the Iraqi government is no better -- everybody from university professors to national athletes to traffic police has been slaughtered by insurgents determined to bludgeon civic and social life to a standstill.
Iraq may be the only country in the world where militia members and anti-government insurgents walk the streets with bare faces while government workers, soldiers and cops cower behind masks.
I wear a mask because I don't want people to know I'm working for the police, a 34-year-old officer named Ahmed Ali said on a recent afternoon. It was lunch hour, and he and some of his colleagues had driven across Baghdad through the 110-degree heat to gobble down lamb kebabs in a neighborhood where they knew fewer people.
The men are stationed in the volatile Dora area, south of downtown and one of Baghdad's bloodiest sectarian battlefields. Clad in matching blue button-downs and navy trousers, their pistols holstered on their waists, they admitted they didn't dare bring their badges or uniforms home, not even to launder them.
They described slipping from the house in civilian clothes, creeping into the station and changing hurriedly into their uniforms.
Amid the fear, some profit. The document forger, for one.
Assad Kheldoun, a 29-year-old who operates out of the religiously mixed neighborhood of Shaab, grinds out fake identity cards for about $30 apiece. Exactly like the original, he boasts. But with one difference: A false name.
He's not selling to hustlers or mischief makers. Most of his clients are bus drivers, highway workers or car repairmen -- people forced to make their livings in Iraq's mean streets.
Last names are sectarian giveaways in Iraq, often deriving from tribes commonly known to be either Sunni or Shiite. Jaabour or Dulaimi, for instance, mean Sunni to Iraqis; so does the first name Omar.
People are getting killed because of their names, Kheldoun said. In the past few months, everybody is asking for a false identity card. It's a phenomenon now. The people are scared.
There's a 100% guaranteed secret to
A simple exercise:
1. Place both hands on the edge of the table.
2. Lift both feet.
3. Push chair away from table.
4. Get up and leave.
I'm pretty concerned about the Texas crooks s/m
You know everything is bigger and better in Texas. Bush/Cheney have pretty much proved to my satisfaction that crooks even grow bigger in Texas. Chicago crooks will have to get up pretty early to beat 'em.
FYI, Halliburton and KBR are headquartered in Houston Texas
the "ties" between the Bush Family and Halliburton and KBR are legendary down in the Lone Star and go back generations. W's Uncle Prescott was director at Dresser Industries, which is now part of Halliburton. HW Bush worked there as well 1948-1951. KBR was embroiled in the W administration controversy surrounding the cimcumvention of normal contractor hiring protocol for Iraq. You must have a really short attention span.
Being from Texas, I've had an extra 5 years
Don't believe in all that phoney outrage. I've done my time and prefer to call a spade a spade.
Oh yeah, Texas is the right place for the likes of him sm
Family oriented? He produced 2 drunken daughters. His wife is nice but the rest of them are pathetic entitled spoiled rotten human beings.
Oh yeah, Texas is the right place for the likes of him sm
Family oriented? He produced 2 drunken daughters. His wife is nice but the rest of them are pathetic entitled spoiled rotten human beings.
What land in Texas is even worth 'grabbing'?
nm
McCain's secret plan
He keeps saying he knows how to find BinLaden and will do that after he is elected. Why isn't he sharing his secret fool-proof plan to capture him with the current administration? He is dangling that promise over our heads. If he actually does have a fantastic plan, he is allowing the whole country to be vulnerable UNTIL he gets what he wants - the presidency. Thumbs down on you, grandpa.
Shhhh! That's supposed to be a secret.
Do you know how much it costs, in today's economy, to snooker one billion people?
Their messiah hasn't spent all those millions and millions of dollars on advertising for nothing.
If they know he's a blowhard fluke with a goose egg for experience, how will he win the election?
It's best just to keep them in the dark. Like cattle lining up to have a bolt shoved through their brains.
Secret meetings, bribes of
high power positions, media cartels, dead rabbits . . . kin I play the lead in your mind-movie?
One thing the secret ballot does
is keep employees from being fired because they vote for unionization.
Secret Assassination Squad?
Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney
![](http://www.rawstory.com/images/new/specialops.jpg") Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dik Cheney.
The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.
Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."
Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."
"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."
Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most skeptical."
Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.
As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.
However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.
Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.
Secret Assassination Squad?
Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dik Cheney.
The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.
Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."
Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."
"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."
Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most skeptical."
Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.
As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.
However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.
Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.
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