Kingdom of Fear author is dead

Hunter S. Thompson interview from 2003.

The Hunter S. Thompson Interview

NY Times on Bush Social Security scam

Paul Krugman gets it right again on Social Security. No wonder the Bushies hate him! On the subject of the book "What's the Matter With Kansas?" by Thomas Frank.

"Privatizers are even having a hard time pretending that they want to strengthen Social Security, not dismantle it. At one of Senator Rick Santorum's recent town-hall meetings promoting privatization, college Republicans began chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, Social Security's got to go."

But before the anti-privatization forces assume that winning the rational arguments is enough, they need to read Mr. Frank.

The message of Mr. Frank's book is that the right has been able to win elections, despite the fact that its economic policies hurt workers, by portraying itself as the defender of mainstream values against a malevolent cultural elite. The right "mobilizes voters with explosive social issues, summoning public outrage ... which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is marshaled to achieve economic ends."

In Mr. Frank's view, this is a confidence trick: politicians like Mr. Santorum trumpet their defense of traditional values, but their true loyalty is to elitist economic policies. "Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. ... Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization." But it keeps working"

New York Times 2/24/05

Barney the Whitehouse dog videos

If you're like me you really enjoy George Bush's brightest ally, Barney the Scottish Terrier. I haven't made up my mind on what to say about the forced attempts at humor and stiff acting in these videos from the likes of head propagandist Karl Rove or toture memo author Alberto Gonzales, but Barney the dog is great and a natural on camera! I guess I'm speechless.

President Bush's dog, Barney. The White House Video library

Bush's gay hooker "reporter" video

Jeff Gannon retrospective in Video.

This is the guy that has been attending to the White House Press meetings since at least February 2003. Who is Jeff Gannon sleeping with?

Video link here: Use Windows Media Player for Mac or Windows.

Compilation of Jeff Gannon news stories

San Francisco BART subway for Chinatown & SOMA

San Francisco Central Subway has received a huge boost in Federal funding. The Municipal Railway stands to reap a windfall that could total more than $500 million for its planned Central Subway, thanks to Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi who got a special provision for San Francisco inserted into the $820 billion appropriations bill the House passed this week.

A 1.7-mile extension of the Third Street light rail transit line, which is currently under construction. The completed projects will provide a continuous 7.1-mile light rail line connecting the heavily transit-dependent communities along the eastern edge of the city with downtown, the financial district and Chinatown, and would restore a continuous transportation link that was lost when the Embarcadero Freeway was destroyed by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  By 2025, the line will serve 61,000 weekday passengers.

Project details at www.dot.gov

Future plans for San Francisco rapid transit

The Muni X Plan
The transit agency's long-term plan would transform San Francisco
No, the "X" in Muni's X-Plan is not short for "extreme." It stands for "expansion," as in service expansion. The plan is, however, extremely ambitious — hence its official name, "A Vision for Rapid Transit in San Francisco."

Who are the MEK? (Mujahedeen-e Khalq )

I have been working on a timeline addition with the Center For Cooperative Research on the subject of Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a militant Iranian political organization formed in the 1960's. MEK are an interesting group and appear to have the ear of the neoconservatives in Washington- all the while being branded as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Dept. Many believe they are more like a cult and there may be parallels between the build of the Iraq invasion and the build up to a future confrontation with Iran in respect to the U.S being delivered false intelligence information. Stay tuned. We will publish the timeline soon for MEK.

The Center For Cooperative Research published the famous 9/11 Terror Timeline book last year.


cooperativeresearch.org

Iran to be attacked by U.S in June 2005?

SCOTT RITTER SAYS U.S. PLANS JUNE ATTACK ON IRAN, ‘COOKED’ JAN. 30 IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS
By Mark Jensen

United for Peace of Pierce County (WA)
February 19, 2005

Scott Ritter, appearing with journalist Dahr Jamail yesterday in Washington State, dropped two shocking bombshells in a talk delivered to a packed house in Olympia’s Capitol Theater. The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector said that George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and claimed the U.S. manipulated the results of the recent Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

Full story
Feb 19th ufppc link