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Charlie Wilson's War (critical review)
From: RayClose@aol.com To: RayClose@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 11:33:10 EST Subject: Charlie Wilson's War (critical review) Friends: Inside the ranks of the CIA's career service there has always been a fundamental conflict between (1) those who believe that the primary mission of the Agency should be the clandestine collection of accurate information, objectively evaluated and resolutely unbiased, in support of national foreign and security policy ( i.e. Intelligence); and (2) those who have preferred to think of the Agency as a convenient instrument for the waging of secret underground war against America's enemies as perceived by the incumbent political administration ( i.e. Covert Action). This has always been, and certainly remains today, primarily a deep cultural divide more than simply a difference of operational policy and procedure. This movie ("Charlie Wilson's War") should be viewed and evaluated with that underlying reality very much in mind. As entertainment, apply your own artistic judgment. However, as an illustration of how U.S. national policy is conceived and implemented, it is an absolute horror show by any standards. My fear is that the movie, already reaping Oscar nominations by the dozen, will in effect become just one more instance, of which there has been a flood recently, where the macho culture of killing enemies is glorified and celebrated at the expense of the much higher values of accurate and objective intelligence collection and analysis, disciplined by professional and intellectual integrity. I strongly recommend, incidentally, that everyone see this movie. It should not be missed! Ray Close (CIA Clandestine Service, 1951-1977) Tom Hank's Charlie Wilson Movie: An Imperialist Comedy Reviewed by Chalmers Johnson [published at Tomdispatch.com] I have some personal knowledge of Congressmen like Charlie Wilson (D-2nd District, Texas, 1973-1996) because, for close to twenty years, my representative in the 50th Congressional District of California was Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now serving an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence for soliciting and receiving bribes from defense contractors. Wilson and Cunningham held exactly the same plummy committee assignments in the House of Representatives -- the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee plus the Intelligence Oversight Committee -- from which they could dole out large sums of public money with little or no input from their colleagues or constituents. Both men flagrantly abused their positions -- but with radically different consequences. Cunningham went to jail because he was too stupid to know how to game the system -- retire and become a lobbyist -- whereas Wilson received the Central Intelligence Agency Clandestine Service's first "honored colleague" award ever given to an outsider and went on to become a $360,000 per annum lobbyist for Pakistan. ( Read more... ) |
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Intervention with rheumatoid arthritis
Lori, You have mistaken my organization for the Sensational TV show ...interventiontv.com (http://interventiontv.com) My Website is http://Intervention.org Most Families are in denial, are enablers and just as co-addicted as the addict themselves. Most addicts never get clean. The disease progresses to pain misery and death. I saw the show you are referring too ( some acting involved) and we dont get the full picture ..because its produced. I know from my own experience that any addict can get clean, find freedom and live a happy productive life. Someone who requires pain medication ... is like a food addict recovering in Overearters Anonymous they must stick to a regimine of controlled intake and lots of spirituality. God Bless Lori McBride writes: To Whom It May Concern: My husband watches your show every week. Last night (January 7th) on A & E, your show was about a woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis who her family said she was a drug addict. This particular episode of "Intervention" both disgusted and enraged me on many different levels. I was disgusted by the way the family was so ready to make an outcast of the young women because her illness was inconvenient for them. Did anyone of those self righteous twits ever consider the fact that their daughter/sister pain was so intense that she had to medicate herself to the point that she did? Apparently, not they were to busy worrying about themselves and how they wanted "their sister/daughter" back. and if they don't get her back they want nothing to do with the "addict". I can only Thank God that my family and friends are more loving and caring then that family is. I was born with bilateral congental hip displasia, for the first 15 years of my life I had a surgery on one of my hips or both, sometimes more then one surgery. Thanks to the loving care of my family and the dedication of my orthopedic surgeon I have been able to enjoy the simple act of walking, running, giving birth to my three children. However, in my late thirties I started to develop degenerative arthritis in my left hip. The hip that my surgeon had to make a socket to insert my femur into. The pain from just that one joint was enough for me to wish that I couldn't feel from the waist down even if it meant never being able to walk again. I had a tens unit and arthritis medicine which I used constantly and the pain still endured. Finally, in September 1999, I had a total hip replacement on the left side. I am now starting to develop arthritis on my right side it's not to bad right now but on rainy or cold days it feels like I have a shard of glass buried in my hip socket. So when I saw how that "loving" family treated that young woman it pissed me off. She wasn't using drugs to get high she was trying to cope with the pain. Which apparently, didn't really matter to the people in that family, they were just worried about how it affected them. If I had been the young woman after my family basically forced me to do what they wanted. I would have made one demand. That would have been that everyone except for the young woman suffering from arthritis been taken outside and hit with a 2 by 4 up and down their body for approximately 1 minute. After the crash case of arthritis they would then have to walk, run, bend down, stand, sit and all without the benefit of painkillers. Then they might have understood the AGONY that this woman lives with by the minute, hour, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Day in and day out with no relief in sight. Do not tell me they had her best interest at heart, if they had they wouldn't have been so quick to kick her out of the hospital room or boot her out of the bridal party. When they told her that "Hon, I'm sorry but I'm not gonna change my mind." That was when they showed how much they trully cared! Sincerely, Lori McBride |
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Running the Numbers
Running the Numbers http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.p An American Self-Portrait |
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A woman who overdosed on crystal methamphetamine in rural Saskatchewan has successfully sued the man
A woman who overdosed on crystal methamphetamine in rural Saskatchewan has successfully sued the man who gave her the drug, likely making it the first court win of its kind in the country.
http://jul3z.livejournal.com/profile "It was frustrating not having anything done through the criminal system," said 23-year-old Sandy Bergen, who has been drug and alcohol-free since the incident in her hometown of Biggar in 2004. "Financially, I'm not really going to gain from it. But it's a way of holding him responsible." Bergen and her parents, Stan and Georgina, launched the negligence suit against Clinton Davey in 2005, asking for more than $50,000 in medical costs and other damages. ( Read more... ) |
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Bush Arrives in Israel to Begin Mideast Tour
Bush Arrives in Israel to Begin Mideast TourMeanwhile President Bush arrived in Israel today where he begins his week-long Middle East tour. It’s Bush’s first visit to Israel and the Occupied Territories during his time in the White House. Bush says he’s come to the region to help revive peace talks launched out of November’s U.S.-brokered summit in Annapolis. Bush is expected to visit the West Bank tomorrow. His tour won’t include the Gaza Strip, now under control of Hamas. On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza to protest Bush’s visit. Israel has launched a series of attacks on Gaza over the past week. One man, Hamdan Fayyad, lost his wife and two children to Israeli gunfire. Peace Group: Israel Seeking to Bar Release of Settlement ReportOn the eve of Bush’s arrival, Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced they’ve authorized a new round of talks on key final-status issues. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the talks will include the status of Jerusalem and the Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.
Bush’s trip comes amidst news the Israeli government is trying to block the publication of a key report detailing its expanding settlement activity in the West Bank. According to the Israeli group Peace Now, the confidential 2006 report provides the Israeli government’s most comprehensive analysis to date of settlement activity beyond its internationally-recognized borders. The report is said to detail widespread expansion in dozens of settlements, which Israel vowed to stop under the U.S.-backed Road Map. |
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kiwinavega
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La fotografia di Ryan Robinson
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Zone Zero... José Luis Cuevas: The Smelly One (26 black & wite photographs). "...Its official name i
Zone Zero... José Luis Cuevas: The Smelly One (26 black & wite photographs). "... http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotogra http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotogra |
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addiction to Ecstasy, a synthetic stimulant, is rare. But it can induce euphoria, hallucinations, me
addiction to Ecstasy, a synthetic stimulant, is rare. But it can induce euphoria, hallucinations, memory loss, elevated body temperature and increased heart rate. Methamphetamine, also a synthetic stimulant that can reduce sexual inhibitions, is highly addictive, these experts say, with a half life of 8 to 12 hours, versus an hour or two for Ecstasy alone. In combination, these experts say, the dangers of each drug could be magnified. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/us/09m Rise Seen in Trafficking of Enhanced Ecstasy Methamphetamine-laced Ecstasy is flowing across the Canadian border into the United States, according to a warning last week from the federal government to public health and local law enforcement officials. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that seizures of Ecstasy at the northern border increased tenfold from 2003 to 2006, with more than half of the contraband tablets containing methamphetamine, a vastly more addicting drug. This matches findings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The development comes after an uptick in Ecstasy use after years of waning popularity for the club drug and just as the supply of methamphetamine is being strangled at the Mexican border. Some law enforcement and treatment experts hypothesize that the turbocharged combination is an effort by traffickers to reverse trends unfavorable to their business by marketing a new product at a new point of entry. Ecstasy, which gained popularity in the 1990s rave culture, had been in steep decline since 2001, but began to creep upward in 2005 and 2006, when first-time users increased by 40 percent, a third of them under the age of 18, according to a variety of studies. ( Read more... ) |
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A West Bank struggle rooted in land
TO: Distinguished Recipients FM: John Whitbeck Transmitted below is a fine piece of real-world reporting, published in the LOS ANGELES TIMES.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/w From the Los Angeles Times A West Bank struggle rooted in land A Palestinian fights in court for a hill his family has held since 1916. But Jewish neighbors say the farm should be theirs. By Richard Boudreaux Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 27, 2007
NAHALIN, WEST BANK — From his hilltop farm, Daoud Nassar can see the sun rise over the Jordan Valley and set in the Mediterranean, an arc that spans the territorial breadth of his people's conflict with Israel.
He also can see the neighbors whose rival claim has drawn the idyllic 100-acre plot deeply into that fight.
The only large Palestinian property to occupy high ground in this part of the West Bank, it is ringed by expanding Jewish settlements and coveted by the one perched on the nearest hill, 800 yards away.
For nearly a generation, Nassar and his family have stood their ground, unarmed, against pistol-toting settlers who have barricaded the farm's dirt lanes, uprooted its olive groves, tried to bulldoze their own roads and disabled a tractor and a rooftop water tank.
( Read more... ) |
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