During the week of August 20 – 24, 2007, a military exercise known as operation Noble Resolve will be taking place in and around the city of Portland, Oregon, involving the scenario of a nuclear attack on the city.

Bloggers are pointing out that large scale “terrorist” attacks for some reason always seem to occur during precisely this type of exercise. The exact same scenario, at the exact same time and in the exact same place.

“If I lived anywhere NEAR Oregon I’d be really nervous right about now,” one blogger says. “I for one will be paying close attention to operation Noble Resolve this month.”

On the morning of September 11, 2001, NORAD and the US Air Force were conducting several “war games” exercises in the north-eastern U.S., including operations Vigilant Guardian, Vigilant Warrior, Northern Guardian and Northern Vigilance. One of these exercises involved the scenario of a hijacked airliner being flown into a building. During this training operation, 4 commercial airliners were actually hijacked; 3 of them were flown into buildings and the 4th crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

On the morning of July 7, 2005, Scotland Yard’s Anti-terrorist Branch was running an exercise based on simultaneous bombs going off at railway stations in London. While this exercise was happening, “terrorists” bombed the London subway system. Simultaneous bombs went off precisely at the railway stations where the exercises were happening – at the exact same time.

You DO NOT want to be in Portland, Oregon this summer

The question is, who is behind these attacks? Is al Qaeda a rogue CIA front organization with connections to defense contracters in Alabama? Stay tuned…

Karl Rove, President Bush’s close friend and chief political strategist, said Monday he plans to leave the White House at the end of August in a teary-eyed press conference.

Download and cutout Halloween mask here

He joins a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration, according to the Associated Press.

On board with Bush since the beginning of his political career in Texas, Rove was nicknamed “the architect” and “boy genius” by the president for designing the strategy that twice won him the White House. The president also called him “Turd Blossom,” while critics call Rove “Bush’s brain.”

A criminal investigation put Rove under scrutiny for months during the investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s name but he was never charged with any crime. In a more recent controversy, Rove, citing executive privilege, has refused to testify before Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys.

An ongoing investigation into the conviction and jailing of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman reveals that Rove played a role in pressuring the Bush Justice Department to bring the case against Siegelman for political reasons. And while the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas of Rove and others in that investigation, which is expected to pick back up in September, the White House and Rove have defied Congress and refused to testify.

Rove, his wife and their son were to accompany Bush on Air Force One later Monday when the president flies to Texas for his August vacation.

Rove to Resign from White House at End of August
Rove, Bush Have Long History

The other day one of my friends said that he “was fed up with politics and all those blowhards in Washington, it has nothing to do with me” when the subject of the Congress passing a Bush request about surveillance came up, along with the fact that Congress not only hadn’t discussed or debated the matter, but had not even read the bill.

It certainly was not the first time that I had heard those sentiments expressed, nor was he the first person to express them, but this time I decided to challenge him on his apparent disgust for politics. I brought up the subject of the bridge collapsing in Minnesota, and said that the bridge collapsed because of politics, and that those people killed were dead because of politics. To which he, and several others around the table replied, “bullshit”. The following is my explanation of why he should not be fed up with politics and its blowhard practicioners.

That bridge failed for lack of proper inspection and proper maintenance. A political decision, or perhaps more than one, was made at state house level and at the federal government level about how many civil engineers would be hired for the purpose of inspecting bridges, and also how much money would be allocated for that purpose. Some engineers thought that it would be better to repair that bridge, and many others, sooner rather than later, and also that more detailed inspections should be made.

But the politicians decided that the taxpayers money could be better spent on other things with perhaps more positive exposure for politicians, such as a new baseball or football stadium for the city, or a brand new bridge to a sparsely populated island. The voters are mightily pleased with new entertainment facilities or brand new bridges, and the campaign-generous contractors that build them are even more pleased. Repairing old bridges is not nearly so exciting. This scenario is not unusual by a longshot – in fact such political decisions which risk lives are quite common. In this case, it has generally been known for years that a great number of bridges needed repairs, but politicians correctly perceived that it would be more popular for them to spend the money on glitz projects even though they were risking lives. The politicos also correctly perceived that it would not be politically expedient to raise taxes to make said repairs.

A couple of weeks ago, a steam tunnel under a street in New York City exploded, causing quite a bit of excitement as steam and concrete shot into the air. Now it has been known for years that the infrastructure of NY City, and other large cities, is very old and in need of repairs. But instead of raising taxes and budgeting for prudent repairs, the city fathers decided to put the money into a new Yankee Stadium and other glitzy projects to appeal to tourists. And federal help has not been forthcoming, as the federal politicos have chosen war and earmarks such as the new bridge to nowhere instead.

The most glaring recent example of deadly political choices is, of course, the levees of New Orleans. I have read that money was requested over the years to improve the levees but the politicos in Washington decided that taxpayer money could be better spend elsewhere, mainly on wars and tax cuts. Again these decisions were made several times over a period of years. So our political leaders at least are consistent in their assessment of the relative value of the lives of the citizens of New Orleans as against the bank accounts of their influential friends.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of this type of life and death decision are made by politicians at the state and federal level every year. Some result in unnecessary deaths. It is a good thing to pay attention.

Politics do matter – in fact it’s a matter of life and death.

Eggy
eggroll3344@yahoo.com