Where's the outrage!? Enron, Cheney's Energy Panel, 9/11, lies about

[Flying_Pig]

the Iraq invasion, the Wilson affair?

Let's see now, here they are in order:

1. Enron. For months, not a word from the DOJ/Ashcroft about Enron, or the prosecution of former Enron CEO, Ken Lay. A few prosecutions down in Texas, where the perps, with a couple of exceptions, are paying fines of 10 cents on the dollar, and walking. There's a few pending cases, but Lay continues to live like a king, obviously protected by his friends, Bush and Ashcroft. It's called, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE! The media has abandoned this story entirely.

2. The Cheney Energy Panel papers. Thus far, Cheney has lost several motions, but then immediately appeals to higher, and more "administration friendly" courts. Looks like they'll be able to tie this up until after the 04' elections. Where's the outrage, that Cheney is hiding this information from the American people, who are his employers? It's called, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE! Again, the press has abandoned this one entirely.

3. 9/11. 9/11 Commission chairman, Thomas Kean, made some noises last week, because the administration has been stonewalling, and refuses to hand over requested information. It's called OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, which is a crime! Bush states he will cooperate. The story goes down to a simmer, and then this week disappears entirely from the media. Why aren't the survivors and the families of those killed on 9/11 not marching on the White House demanding the evidence? Why is the media choosing to bury this story, ...again?

4. Iraq. Yesterday, Senate committee Chairman Sen. Roberts (R-Kansas), states that the White House said it will hand over papers they have requested. Roberts states things are OK now, despite a month of stalling, and the fact that no papers have yet been handed over to the committee. Committee co-chairmen, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. VA), was not told of Roberts' communications with the White House, and has been kept in the dark. Roberts basically says, "nothing to see here, move along". Again, this regime engages in OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, and is allowed to get away with it through the duplicity of a passive and servile Congress! And the media, forgetaboutit! The story is now relegated to the back pages, if it appears at all.

5. The Wilson Affair. A hot story a few weeks ago, now buried. With the investigation handed off to what is the "black hole" of Ashcroft's DOJ, and the administration refusing to cooperate, it has become a non-story. Despite the fact someone at the highest levels of the White House did indeed violate the law, Bush is ignoring it, and the media lap-dogs back off entirely. It's called, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE! Apparently, this administration is allowed to endanger government employees, violate federal law, and compromise our national security, all with impunity. Who gives them this impunity? We can thank the media, and Congress,....again.

4. Halliburton and Bechtel. There were a few cries from Congress, and a few articles, about the crooked no-bid deals between these companies and the administration. Can you imagine if this same thing happened while Clinton was in office? Investigations and impeachment proceedings would have begun the very next day! Again, the Congress is enabling this regime to commit, "OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, by not investigating, and the media falls right in line.

The bottom line to this, is that all of these cases are excellent examples of the conspiracy by and between this administration, Congress (and this includes a number of Democrats), and the media, to defraud the American people, and commit OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. The fact this administration is allowed to get away with these, and numerous other crimes, is proof that our democratic republic no longer exists.

We are indeed, now living under an Orwellian fascist oligarchy, where those who try to expose the truth are hounded, falsely dis-credited, beaten, and even murdered. The administration counters with "good news" offensives, that are as transparent as they are disgusting, and the "sheeple" lap it up.

Until we see justice being meted out in these matters, we can be confident, ....the United States of America, as we knew it, no longer exists.

[Q]

1. If you're looking for 'outrage'...

...don't look toward the Democratic party. I could count the number of 'loyal' Dems in the houses on one hand. They're the only ones showing any kind of outrage at the Bush* junta.

- The rest of the party is flat out chickenshits...or have actually joined WITH the other side in order to share the spotlight and profits.

[rucky]

3. Even worse is when they do act outraged

and then vote the other way.

Get in that sound byte...constituents never check voting records.

[Flying_Pig]

6. Agreed.

n/t

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Aren't all those things under cover ban?

Personally, I don't think it was necessary. Even before they ban coverage of things, there never is much outrage.

The voting class is pleased with the Crusade, they are loyal to the regime.

[DemLikr]

4. I figure I live in a country predominated by Willfully Ignorant Hypocrites

...who don't care enough to learn the facts, and even if they did, would be too ashamed by their past positions to admit their error, and who thus sit in their own shit and smell it sweet.

And who are titillated by sexual scandal of any kind; but left flaccid by war.

I am in a small minority in the U.S.A...and since I've begun working on accepting that, I feel quite a bit better.

[MuseRider]

5. I agree

and I think we are looking at our last chance to fix this. I am not encouraged because even with a Dem as president we will need Congress as well. Without the media giving us fair, investigative news it is up to us and as hard as we are working all folks have to do is listen to the radio or the news at night to hear the counter to what we are saying. I am not encouraged when there is no outrage. There should be outrage in this country no matter who is in governance, if not you know something is terribly, terribly wrong. I guess we have to just keep up what we are doing. My hope is that it is working but how will we ever know until we have a fair election?

[Flying_Pig]

7. The key, is the media. They made Bush, and they have enabled him

to conduct, and get away with, all of the crimes listed above.

The "Fourth Estate" envisioned by our founding Fathers, is no more. Without a free and open media (impossible under the current conditions of major corporate control and consolidation), there can be no democracy. A free and unbiased media is essential to supporting a democracy. Not having it, is like missing a leg on a table. Eventually, the table will tip over.

More than any other issue, we need to focus on why and how the media is doing this, and how to remedy it.

I think the reasons are fairly obvious. As Joe Conason and many others have pointed out, the media is under the control of conservative Republican owners and managers. That's one part.

The other, is that there are many "friends of Israel", among media managers and owners. They support Bush (and the PNAC neonazicon's plans), because Sharon loves him, and he is willing to follow Israeli dictates when it comes to foreign policy (Israel lobbied heavily for the Iraq invasion, as it is now lobbying for invasions of Syria and Iran). In fact, Sharon said, and I quote, Israel has never had a better friend in the White House, than George Bush." Pro-Israel PACs like AIPAC, which are heavily supported by many in the media elite, are also supporting Bush's "re-election".

So how to remedy this? Here's how:

1. Upon election, the new Dem president should, as one of his very first acts, sign an Executive Order re-instating the "Fairness Doctrine". This will have the immediate effect of democratizing our airwaves again. No longer will people like Limbaugh and Hannity be able to spew their biased crap without allowing rebuttal. Similar statutes should be passed to apply to the print media as well.

2. Steps must be taken to invoke the RICO statutes against media conglomerates. Additionally, anti-trust suits should be undertaken, and laws passed, to break up media conglomerates. Media reform, and election reform, must be undertaken by the Congress, which is why it is just as important for us to take back Congress from the Republicans, as it is to win the presidency

[livinontheedge]

8. Because people don't know what to be outraged about.

You cite obstruction and/or cover-up. Your implication is that there is something really bad behind those cover-ups. If and when that bad stuff comes to light, then you'll see outrage and Bush's ass will be tossed to the curb. As long has he can hide the bad stuff from the public, no one is going to get outraged.

[Flying_Pig]

9. The media is allowing Bush to hide. If the media kept these issues

on their front pages day after day, you can bet your butt that Bush would have to deal with them. As it is, the media facilitates the obstruction.

Then, there is the complete lack of investigative reporting going on (ala Woodward and Bernstein). Why is Greg Palast seemingly the only reporter doing investigative stories these days? I'll tell you. It's because the owners and managers of of these operations are not allowing investigative reports to be undertaken or published.

[MuseRider]

10. There has been plenty

to be outraged about. The media will occasionally give us a hint about it then they drop it. I suppose it is a ruse to appear they are not totally derilect in their duty. Still, when that happens we still get people who say that Bush* is a god guy, he meant to do the right thing, he is a good Christian man etc. I don't know anymore if getting the outrage out in the open will really change things. Too many people are still afraid of the "killers" out there to really have the courage to explore any further, they just want to be protected. This paternalistic bunch has given them the impression that they are safe as long as "daddy" is there to look out for their best interests. They buy it and to think otherwise might disrupt their comfort.

[spanone]

11. Americans are numb

I think that "Americans" are shell shocked. We were aboard as the compassionate conservatives dragged Clinton through eight years of legal shit. Then Florida, without time to revive came 911. The raping of this country financially. A war in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. Our kids being shipped home dead, with little or no thanks from their federal government... I truly have to believe this, otherwise we're a nation of dumbfucks.

[Stephanie]

12. The Bush Administration: SECRETS and LIES

What about the maps of Iraq and the list of "suitors" in the documents Larry Klayman received in the energy suit? Where's the rest? - SECRET

What about the 28 pages? -- SECRET

What about the August 6 briefing? -- SECRET

Bannergate -- LIES

Pre-war Iraq "intelligence" -- LIES

American war dead -- SECRET

Iraqi war dead -- SECRET

Bush environmental policy, including 9/11 & lower Manhattan -- LIES

Bush Adminsitration SECRETS & LIES - how long a list can we make?

[Stephanie]

13. Here are DU's Top Stories from July

Here is a post I made on July 26, when the top story of the day was the killing of Uday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=75967

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1004773,00.html
Don't blame September 11 on spy failures, says report
Gary Younge in New York
Thursday July 24, 2003
The Guardian

Nothing could have been done to stop the terrorist attacks on September 11 even though an FBI informant had contact with two of the suicide hijackers a year before they were carried out, according to a congressional report into intelligence lapses preceding the destruction of the twin towers, to be published today.

But despite objections from some senators a crucial 28 pages of the 900-page report, which criticises Saudi Arabia for its lack of interest in clamping down on Islamist extremists, has been removed from the final document.

Saudi Arabia was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers yet remains a close and important ally of America in the region. The omission of criticism of Saudi Arabia was condemned by the Democratic senator and presidential hopeful, Bob Graham, a former chairman of the joint house and Senate intelligence committee.

"I start from the premise that in a democracy, the people should know as much as the government knows unless there is a very compelling case that the information threatens American security interests," he said. <more>



http://www.msnbc.com/news/943558.asp?cp1=1
E-voting flaws risk ballot fraud
Scientists warn of big security holes in version of software
Johns Hopkins researchers Adam Stubblefield, Avi Rubin and Yoshi Kohno were involved in the e-voting software analysis, along with Rice University computer scientist Dan Wallach (not pictured).

By Alan Boyle
MSNBC

July 24 — Some versions of electronic voting software could allow for ballot fraud on a massive scale, computer security researchers reported Thursday. The researchers made their claim based on an analysis of computer code that was purportedly taken from one of the country’s top suppliers of voting equipment. But the supplier, Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems, said it believed the software was “outdated and never was used in an actual election.”

THE SOURCE CODE was analyzed over the past couple of weeks by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice University, and their findings were posted Wednesday on the Web as an Adobe Acrobat file.

“Common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal,” they contended.

The code that the researchers analyzed came from a New Zealand-based Web site, with the claim that it was downloaded via the Internet from an unprotected Diebold site. <more>



http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html?ex=1060064323&ei=1&en=c93f29ce
Computer Voting Is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say
By JOHN SCHWARTZ

The software that runs many high-tech voting machines contains serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected, computer security researchers said yesterday.

"We found some stunning, stunning flaws," said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States.

The systems, in which voters are given computer-chip-bearing smart cards to operate the machines, could be tricked by anyone with $100 worth of computer equipment, said Adam Stubblefield, a co-author of the paper.

"With what we found, practically anyone in the country — from a teenager on up — could produce these smart cards that could allow someone to vote as many times as they like," Mr. Stubblefield said.<more>



http://www.nynewsday.com/news/ny-uscia0722,0,2289800.story?coll=nyc-topnews-short-navigation
Columnist Names CIA Iraq Operative
By Timothy M. Phelps and Knut Royce
Washington Bureau
July 21, 2003, 9:48 PM EDT

Washington -- The identity of an undercover CIA officer whose husband started the Iraq uranium intelligence controversy has been publicly revealed by a conservative Washington columnist citing "two senior administration officials."

Intelligence officials confirmed to Newsday Monday that Valerie Plame, wife of retired Ambassador Joseph Wilson, works at the agency on weapons of mass destruction issues in an undercover capacity -- at least she was undercover until last week when she was named by columnist Robert Novak.

Wilson, while refusing to confirm his wife's employment, said the release to the press of her relationship to him and even her maiden name was an attempt to intimidate others like him from talking about Bush administration intelligence failures.

"It's a shot across the bow to these people, that if you talk we'll take your family and drag them through the mud as well," he said in an interview.<more>



http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999737,00.html
The spies who pushed for war
Julian Borger reports on the shadow rightwing intelligence network set up in Washington to second-guess the CIA and deliver a justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force
Thursday July 17, 2003
The Guardian

As the CIA director, George Tenet, arrived at the Senate yesterday to give secret testimony on the Niger uranium affair, it was becoming increasingly clear in Washington that the scandal was only a small, well-documented symptom of a complete breakdown in US intelligence that helped steer America into war.

It represents the Bush administration's second catastrophic intelligence failure. But the CIA and FBI's inability to prevent the September 11 attacks was largely due to internal institutional weaknesses.

This time the implications are far more damaging for the White House, which stands accused of politicising and contaminating its own source of intelligence.

According to former Bush officials, all defence and intelligence sources, senior administration figures created a shadow agency of Pentagon analysts staffed mainly by ideological amateurs to compete with the CIA and its military counterpart, the Defence Intelligence Agency. <more>



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92372,00.html
Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Detail Iraqi Oil Industry
Friday, July 18, 2003

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force appeared to have some interest in early 2001 in Iraq's oil industry, including which foreign companies were pursuing business there, according to documents released Friday by a private watchdog group.

Judicial Watch (search), a conservative legal group, obtained a batch of task force-related Commerce Department papers that included a detailed map of Iraq's oil fields, terminals and pipelines as well as a list entitled "Foreign Suitors of Iraqi Oilfield Contracts."

The papers also included a detailed map of oil fields and pipelines in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates and a list of oil and gas development projects in those two countries.

The papers were dated early March 2001, about two months before the Cheney energy task force completed and announced its report on the administration's energy needs and future energy agenda.<more>



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3079927.stm
Blair under pressure over Kelly death
Last Updated: Saturday, 19 July, 2003, 13:12 GMT 14:12 UK

Prime Minister Tony Blair has faced intense questioning over the death of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly, but says judgment must wait until an inquiry is complete.
He was asked if he had "blood on his hands" during a press conference in Tokyo, where he was meeting his Japanese counterpart on the first leg of a tour of the Far East.

Mr Blair said an independent judicial inquiry into the affair was due to be held and "we should make our judgement after we get the facts".

He called for "respect and restraint" until the full circumstances were known.

Police confirmed on Saturday that a body found at an Oxfordshire beauty spot on Friday is that of Dr Kelly, a Ministry of Defence adviser. <more>



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=2&u=/ap/20030722/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq_criticism
Bush Adviser Apologizes Over Iraq Claim
Tue Jul 22, 7:50 PM ET
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Stephen Hadley, President Bush (news - web sites)'s deputy national security adviser, on Tuesday became the second administration official to apologize for a role in allowing a tainted intelligence report on Iraq (news - web sites)'s nuclear ambitions to find its way into Bush's State of the Union address.

Hadley, in a rare on-the-record session with reporters, said that he had received two memos from the CIA (news - web sites) and a phone call from agency Director George Tenet last October raising objections to an allegation that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium ore from Africa to use in building nuclear weapons.

As a result, Hadley said the offending passage was excised from a speech on Iraq the president gave in Cincinnati last Oct. 7. But Hadley suggested that details from the memos and phone call had slipped from his attention as the State of the Union was being put together.

"The high standards the president set were not met," Hadley said. He said he apologized to the president on Monday. <more>

[Flying_Pig]

19. Nearly every one of these stories, lasted only a couple of days.

They were then relgated to the back pages, and buried. Move along, nothing to see here. The mere fact that we see these stories once in a while, certainly isn't proof of the meida doing its job. If they were doing their job, they would stay on these stories like a pit-bull on a pant leg. But they don't, and we have to ask why they don't.

[Cocoa]

14. regarding the vicitms' families...

they have actually expressed plenty of outrage, and they've gone beyond that and actually influenced how the investigations were conducted.

I realize the media hasn't been giving them a lot of attention, but if you're on DU you have no excuse for ignoring people like Kristin Breitweiser and Stephen Push.

You should also not ignore Henry Waxman, who has been a bulldog on Cheney and the energy papers,`and other people who are doing similar things.

You should restrict who the targets are of your criticism, otherwise you're part of the problem. In a way, you're leveraging the media's ignoring of these people.

[Flying_Pig]

18. I'm not quite sure how to take your post....

As far as the 9/11 families go, if I were one of them, and Bush were withholding information and obstructing the investigation, I would be picketing the White House everyday, whether the other families wanted to join in or not. I know they've done a lot in the past, but this is now, and Bush is impeding this investigation.

My points about the media still stand, regardless of your opinions. One of the reasons why, for instance, is the Kristin Breitweiser story. It was carried by the European and Canadian media first, but not by any major media outlet here!! Why? If there was ever proof of U.S. media complicity, there's a fine example.

As far as Henry Waxman goes, he done some great work. Problem is, his fellow Dems (with a few exceptions), don't back him up, and then the media buries his activities by relegating them to the back pages, if they're carried at all! He's like a lone voice in the wilderness. Exactly why aren't his fellow Dems backing him up, especially on issues like the no-bid Halliburton/Bechtel contracts? That's the question we should be asking.

What's notable about your response, is how few examples you posted. That speaks for itself, and confirms my premise. If we took examples of those who have spoken out on the issues noted, from the officer at the Monterey military school, to Wilson, to Waxman, to Breitweiser, and on, and on, and then did a work up that showed what happened to them and their stories, and how they were treated by the media, and the Congress, we would see a definite pattern of obstruction, deceit, and abandonment by the media, Congress, and those governmental entities in charge of investigating these things.

So what the hell are you talking about, that I am part of the problem, for pointing out these patterns of complicity?

[smirkymonkey]

15. Why can't our candidates

bring this out into the open?? You can hammer home the failures of the administration without going on the dreaded personal attack. Why the F can't they just state these simple truths over and over and over again. There is soooooooooo much ammo, I can't believe it's not being used.

What a bunch of wussy-assed cowards - I am so uninspired - I can't contemplate another 4 years of this shite.

:grr:

[Flying_Pig]

16. I think this will happen after the primaries, and a candidate is

chosen. the candidate can then totally focus on Bush, and go after him, fully focused. It could change things.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

17. I apologize, I've been hoarding the outrage

I have enough for everyone, trust me!

[dutchdemocrat]

20. Here's another one to add to your list

What happened to this one? Yes, it is Worldnetdaily but Paul Sperry, who voted for Bush hates him.

Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.com. He is author of "Crude Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism" (WND Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson Publishers)


Yes, Bush lied

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com


WASHINGTON – A year ago, on Oct. 1, one of the most important documents in U.S. history was published and couriered over to the White House.

The 90-page, top-secret report, drafted by the National Intelligence Council at Langley, included an executive summary for President Bush known as the "key judgments." It summed up the findings of the U.S. intelligence community regarding the threat posed by Iraq, findings the president says formed the foundation for his decision to preemptively invade Iraq without provocation. The report "was good, sound intelligence," Bush has remarked.

Most of it deals with alleged weapons of mass destruction.

But page 4 of the report, called the National Intelligence Estimate, deals with terrorism, and draws conclusions that would come as a shock to most Americans, judging from recent polls on Iraq. The CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and the other U.S. spy agencies unanimously agreed that Baghdad:



had not sponsored past terrorist attacks against America,

was not operating in concert with al-Qaida,

and was not a terrorist threat to America.

"We have no specific intelligence information that Saddam's regime has directed attacks against U.S. territory," the report stated.

SNIP

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34930

[info being]

21. Hard to be outraged when you're not surprised

"Outrage" is a phase...and adjustment phase during which what you thought was true no longer is. I was outraged at times during the past few years, but I'm no longer outraged because I'm no longer surprised.

We don't need more outrage...we need hope. So, I say, "where's the hope?"