Angels For Truth Update

Goodling Broke Law in Some DOJ Hirings, Testimony Reveals
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307R.shtml
Monica Goodling, the former White House liaison for the Justice Department, testified Wednesday that she used a political litmus test in screening applicants for hire as Justice Department employees, in what appears to be a violation of numerous federal laws.

Feingold: "Congress Should Have Stood Strong"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307S.shtml

Failing to muster enough votes to override an ensured veto from President Bush, Democrats have decided to withdraw their bid to include a timetable in the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill.
David C. Iglesias | "Cowboy Up," Alberto Gonzales
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307T.shtml

"What happens in a presidential administration when loyalty, to borrow a phrase from 'Star Trek,' becomes the 'prime directive'? What happens when its all-encompassing fog obscures all other values - such as fealty to the Constitution, the rule of law or simple humanity?" asks David C. Iglesias.
William Fisher | Leading GOP Candidates Surge to Embrace Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307B.shtml

Despite the contention of scores of senior military intelligence officers that "torture doesn't work," the audience at last week's Republican presidential candidate debate broke into applause when leading candidates endorsed increased use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques.

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IE17Ak03.html

Commander's veto sank Gulf buildup
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - Admiral William Fallon, then US President George W Bush's nominee to head Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of aircraft-carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately that there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking.

Fallon's resistance to the proposed deployment of a third aircraft carrier was followed by a shift in the Bush administration's Iran policy in February and March away from increased military threats and toward diplomatic engagement with Iran. That shift, for which no credible explanation has been offered by administration officials, suggests that Fallon's resistance to a crucial deployment was a major factor in the intra-administration struggle over policy toward Iran.

The plan to add a third carrier strike group in the Gulf had been a key element in a broader strategy discussed at high levels to intimidate Iran by a series of military moves suggesting preparations for a military strike.

continued at link

Admiral William J. Fallon
Commander, U.S. Central Command
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=109

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NOT IN OUR NAME....
http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=29585
Stennis, Nimitz and Bonhomme Richard Enter the Persian Gulf
Story Number: NNS070523-03
Release Date: 5/23/2007 7:56:00 AM

From U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs Office
USS JOHN C. STENNIS, At Sea (NNS) -- The USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Groups and USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Expeditionary Strike Group entered the Persian Gulf May 23.

While operating in the Persian Gulf, the carriers and amphibious strike groups and their associated forces will conduct missions in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and will also perform Expeditionary Strike Force (ESF) training.

This marks the first time the Stennis (JCS), Nimitz (NIM) and Bonhomme Richard (BHR) strike groups have operated together in combined training while deployed to the U.S. Navyís 5th Fleet. In March, Stennis and the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group conducted a dual-carrier exercise in the Persian Gulf.

The ESF training demonstrates the importance of the strike groupsí ability to plan and conduct multi-task force operations as part of the U.S.ís long-standing commitment to maintaining maritime security and
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Officials Describe Interference by Former Gonzales Aide
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307C.shtml
Interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey A. Taylor, wanted to hire prosecutor Seth Adam Meinero. Monica M. Goodling, aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, stalled the hiring. The tussle over Meinero, who was eventually hired at Taylor's insistence, led to a Justice Department investigation of whether Goodling improperly weighed political affiliation when reviewing applicants for rank-and-file prosecutor jobs. Goodling is testifying today before the House Judiciary Committee about the US attorney firings under an offer of immunity.
US Surge Is Failing, Says UK's Iraq Envoy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307D.shtml
In a pessimistic assessment of the strategy designed to pull Iraq back from all-out civil war, Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attaché of the British embassy in Baghdad, claimed that extra US forces were not achieving the desired drop in violence.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2573312.ece
Peace talks on the brink of trade war
While America and China make noises about strengthening trade links, mutual suspicions refuse to go away. By Stephen Foley
Published: 23 May 2007
The drums are being beaten more insistently, the ominous sound of a march towards a trade war. As Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, stood with Wu Yi, the Vice-Premier of China, on a Washington stage draped in the flags of their countries, he warned that this historic economic summit would have to be more than a talking shop, if it is to lessen the protectionist pressures building in Congress.
"There is growing scepticism in each country about the others' intentions," Mr Paulson said. "Unfortunately, in America this is manifesting itself as anti-China sentiment as China becomes a symbol of the real and imagined downside of global competition. It is up to us, over these two days and the work that follows, to show that words are precursors to action."
continued
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GSA Chief Violated Hatch Act, OSC Report Finds
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307E.shtml
An Office of Special Counsel (OSC) report has found that General Services Administration (GSA) Chief Lurita Doan violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal officials from partisan political activity while on the job.
Six Nobel Prize Winners Urging Ban on Cluster Bombs
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307F.shtml
Jody Williams and five other female Nobel Prize laureates on Tuesday urged civilians to press for the elimination of cluster bombs, which cripple children and others long after the fighting has stopped.

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http://www.workers.org/2007/world/iran-0524/
From Abu Dhabi to Pakistan, Washington in trouble
By Sara Flounders
Published May 17, 2007 9:24 PM
May 15—The deteriorating global position of U.S. imperialism was starkly exposed in two very different recent visits to Abu Dhabi.
On Friday, May 11, Vice President Dick Cheney stood on the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf in front of the deadly firepower of five F-18 Super Hornet jets to deliver an ominous threat. Cheney declared: “With two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we’re sending a clear message to friends and adversaries alike. ... The United States will stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region.”
The next day Cheney quietly visited Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of a hasty trip to U.S.-controlled regimes, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to shore up Washington’s deteriorating position. (continued at link)
Summary:
May 12th, 'Cheney quietly visited Abu Dhabi in UAE.
One day later, Iranian President Ahmadinejad got red carpet welcome and
spoke to thousands in a soccer stadium.
CIA-orchestrated coup in 1953 overthrows democratically elected
government and dictatorship of the Shah began.
DID YOU KNOW?

It was Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, as officials in the Ford
administration, in 1976 that arranged the sale to Iran of nuclear power
plants and large quantities of plutonium and enriched uranium-THE VERY
TECHNOLOGY THAT BUSH AND CHENEY NOW SAY IRAN MUST BE PREVENTED FROM
ACQUIRING OR DEVELOPING.

In 1976, Cheney was White House chief of staff, Rumsfeld was secretary
of defense and Wolfowitz was responsible for non-proliferation issues at
the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Their view then was that Iran
should spend billions of dollars to purchase, from U.S. corporations,
over 20 nuclear reactors (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 25, 2005).
All this technological development was cut off after the 1979 Iranian
Revolution.
Iranian nuclear energy became a 'threat' as soon as U.S. oil
corporations no longer had unlimited access to Iran's oil wealth and as
soon as U.S. imperialism lost its Iranian police force in the region.
And don't forget (like the U.S. is doing in Iraq today by arming and
supporting every feuding faction) Washington tried to weaken the states
in the Gulf BY ARMING BOTH IRAN AND IRAQ DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR OF
1980 TO 1988!
The imperialist policies promoted by both heads (Republican & Democrat) of
the ruling MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL REGIME, just never seem to understand
that WHERE THERE IS OPPRESSION, THERE IS RESISTANCE!
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http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/bush_authorizes.html
Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
May 22, 2007 6:29 PM
Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.
A National Security Council spokesperson, Gordon Johndroe, said, "The White House does not comment on intelligence matters." A CIA spokesperson said, "As a matter of course, we do not comment on allegations of covert activity."
The sources say the CIA developed the covert plan over the last year and received approval from White House officials and other officials in the intelligence community.
Officials say the covert plan is designed to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program and end aid to insurgents in Iraq.
"There are some channels where the United States government may want to do things without its hand showing, and legally, therefore, the administration would, if it's doing that, need an intelligence finding and would need to tell the Congress," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official.

Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
"Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike," said former CIA official Riedel, "but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides."
The covert action plan comes as U.S. officials have confirmed Iran had dramatically increased its ability to produce nuclear weapons material, at a pace that experts said would give them the ability to build a nuclear bomb in two years.

continued at link

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d http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/

For Clinton:
http://www.democrats.com/clinton-impeachment-polls
Phase I: Aug-Sept 1998(Before Impeachment)
• Average support for impeachment and removal (10 polls): 26%
• Average support for hearings (6 polls): 36%
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Impeach Gonzales
http://impeachgonzales.org/

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US Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207T.shtml
Al Hurra television, the US government's $63 million-a-year effort at public broadcasting in the Middle East has recently been caught broadcasting terrorist messages, including an hourlong tirade on the importance of anti-Jewish violence, among other questionable pieces.

Nine US Warships Enter Gulf in Show of Force
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307K.shtml
Nine US warships carrying 17,000 personnel entered the Persian Gulf on Wednesday in a show of force off Iran's coast that Navy officials said was the largest daytime assembly of ships since the 2003 Iraq war began.
Defections Now Likely on Iraq Bill
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307L.shtml
Liberal Democrats who have reluctantly backed House leaders on the Iraq war spending bill may defect due to the leadership's decision to eliminate any timeline for withdrawal from the legislation. That could force the leadership to rely on Republican votes to pass the bill, which is expected to come to the floor as early as Thursday.

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_paul_leh_070522_fox_tv_expose_of_e_v.htm
By Paul Lehto
FOX Tv Expose Of E-Voting Official Corruption!!
We Present to you this 10 minute feature expose' on FOX TV in San Diego,to honor your corruption of the recounts in the 2004 presidential election,to give tribute to your secret vote counting software,to indict the entire electoral process in Ohio,to indict the entire electoral process in San Diego,to remember that thousands did not receive their ballots in Ohio,to condemn the loss of voter registrations,and to mamn sure...
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What to do.... What to do....
The stage has been set for Martial Law. Many Executive Orders have defined and guaranteed absolute dictatorial powers of Martial Law (refer to all orders gathered into Executive Order 12919). Practicing for this declaration has been an on-going process for several decades, with the paramilitary face in full view since 9-11. .....
http://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy89.htm
by Nancy Levant

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Evidence Shows Fraud at Federal Agency Cost Taxpayers Millions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307M.shtml
In February 2005, an auditor at the General Services Administration (GSA) presented evidence to agency leaders that one of the government's top technology contractors was overcharging taxpayers. GSA auditor James M. Corcoran reported that Sun Microsystems had billed the government millions more for computer software and technical support than it charged its commercial customers. If true, the allegation was grounds to terminate the contract and launch a fraud investigation. Instead, senior GSA officials pressed last summer to renew the contract.
Former Rove Aide Seeks Immunity Pact
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307N.shtml
A former top aide to Presidential Adviser Karl Rove told Congress she will invoke her right against self-incrimination unless granted immunity to answer investigators' questions about lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with administration officials. Abramoff-related probes, mainly limited until now to his dealings with lawmakers and federal agency officials, may be advancing into the White House. The former Rove aide, Susan Ralston, previously had served as a top aide to Mr. Abramoff as well.
Israel Hits Gaza With More Strikes, Seven Wounded
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307O.shtml
Israel launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants on Wednesday, wounding seven people. The Israeli army said about 150 rockets have been fired from Gaza in a week in which Hamas - which had been battling Abbas's Fatah faction - turned to attacks against Israel, accusing the Jewish state of aiding its rival.
Thousands Flee Battered Palestinian Camp
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052307P.shtml
People flooded out of a besieged Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday night, waving white flags, and telling of bodies lying in the streets and inside wrecked houses after three days of fighting between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants.

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Note: About the spending bill for the Iraq war, CONgress can give Bush anything they want, like the first bill which had a pull out date. Bush vetoed it so now he is at fault for not having funds. He shot himself in the foot. Congress does not have to give him another or bend to his will. This is the power of Congress.

They are just being spineless and playing a charade on the public. We the people should be more critical about what we are told by the media and government. The failed, unconstitutional and illegal Iraq war is all Bush's doing, they just need to shove the vetoed bill back into his face.

JQuest

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William Fisher | Whistleblowers Charge Retaliation; More Protections Sought
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207K.shtml
Career federal employees who report waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government agencies are routinely subjected to career-ending retaliation, humiliation and legal costs - despite laws that are supposed to protect them, and repeated assurances from the White House, many government agencies and Congress that there is zero tolerance for retaliation. Public interest groups are calling on Congress to strengthen legal protections for whistleblowers.
McKay Suggests Cover-Up in Prosecutor Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207L.shtml
Fired US Attorney John McKay believes the Justice Department is covering up the real reason for his ouster. Some Republicans were appalled that McKay didn't bring charges of "election fraud" in the Washington state election won by Democrat Chris Gregoire. "I still don't know if the 2004 governor's election was the principal reason I was asked to step down. If it was, I think it is an entirely improper and perhaps illegal reason for my termination," said McKay.
Retail Gasoline Prices Soar to Record Levels
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207M.shtml
US retail gasoline prices hit a record high for the second week in a row and matched the inflation-adjusted peak reached in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, as concern about low motor fuel supplies pushed up pump costs.

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Funny
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/21/open-thread-with-alberto-and-the-godfather/
Open thread with Alberto and The Godfather
By: John Amato on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 8:40 PM - PDT
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The New York Times | Macho Mistakes at Ground Zero
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207N.shtml
As more and more workers who inhaled the dust at the World Trade Center site fall ill, it has become increasingly clear that much of the problem can be traced to the Giuliani administration's failure to insist that all emergency personnel and construction workers at the site wear respirators.
Smithsonian Alters Climate Exhibition
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207O.shtml
The Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush administration, said Robert Sullivan, who was associate director in charge of exhibitions at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=10750§ionid=351020202
Amnesty accuses Israel of rights abuses
Wed, 23 May 2007 14:23:46
Amnesty International in its annual report has accused the Zionist regime of committing 'serious human rights abuses' against Palestinians.

The body, in its report released on Wednesday, said that not only Israeli soldiers but also Israeli settlers have violated human rights in Palestinian occupied lands in 2006, AFP reported.

"Israeli soldiers and settlers committed serious human rights abuses, including unlawful killings, against Palestinians, mostly with impunity," said the Amnesty report.

It also said civilians bore the brunt of rising violence last year between Israelis and Palestinians that saw a three-fold jump in Palestinians killed.

In the Palestinian territories, Israeli air and artillery strikes killed some 650 people, half of them unarmed civilians and including some 120 children [in 2006], "a threefold increase compared with 2005."

Amnesty International also blamed the regime for putting blockades and restrictions on Palestinian residents, saying, "Military blockades and increased restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of Palestinians and the confiscation by Israel of Palestinian custom duties caused a significant deterioration in living conditions for Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied territories, with poverty, food aid dependency, health problems and unemployment reaching crisis levels."

The Zionist regime began withholding taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority after Islamic Resistance Hamas democratically came to power in 2006.

The report referred to the 33-day war in Lebanon last summer, saying, "Israeli forces carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on a large scale".

It added, "Israeli forces also appear to have carried out direct attacks on civilian infrastructure intended to inflict a form of collective punishment on Lebanon's people."
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Congo Militia Threaten to Kill Rare Gorillas
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207P.shtml
Congolese militia are threatening to slaughter rare mountain gorillas in Congo's Virunga National Park after raiding the eastern reserve and killing a wildlife officer who had been gathering data for the World Wildlife Foundation.
US Secretly Launches Second Iraq Troop Surge
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207A.shtml
The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed on Monday.

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http://jkn.com/View?j=813104.451414622720
German authorities use scent tracking to keep tabs on G-8 protesters
May 22 2007, 16:04
BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are using scent tracking to keep tabs on possibly violent protesters against next month's Group of Eight summit - a tactic that is drawing comparisons with the methods of former East Germany's secret police.
Scent samples have been taken from an undisclosed number of people believed to be a possible danger to the upcoming summit so that police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported Tuesday.
Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, confirmed the report but would give no further details.
"This has happened to several suspects," he said.
The use of scent samples was widely known to be practiced in Germany by the East German secret police, the Stasi, who used the technique to track dissidents.
Petra Pau, a senior lawmaker with the opposition Left Party, a group that includes ex-communists, criticized the practice as "another step away from a democratic state of law toward a preventive security state."
"A state that adopts the methods of the East German Stasi, robs itself of every ... legitimacy," she said in a statement.
continued..
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"Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207C.shtml
It's a little known fact: The United States today imports more oil from Africa than from Saudi Arabia. More than $50 billion in foreign investment in African oil is expected over the next three years. Amy Goodman interviews John Ghazvinian, a journalist who has written for publications including Newsweek, The Nation and Time Out New York. His new book is called "Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil." The book compares the global competition for the continent's oil resources to the nineteenth century scramble for colonization.
Will Bunch | "Buying the War," Part II - Now It's Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207D.shtml
"You would think that after all the official and unofficial lies that came out of the Washington spin machine during the 2002-03 run-up to the war in Iraq, newspapers would be a little more skeptical about similarly unsupported, high-level, but anonymous and bellicose allegations about Iran (or anyone else)," writes Will Bunch. "You'd think ... but you would be wrong."
The Fraudulent Fraud Squad
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207E.shtml
The death of the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) says a lot about the Republican strategy of raising voter fraud as a crisis in American elections. Presidential Adviser Karl Rove and his allies, who have been ghostbusting illusory dead and fictional voters since the contested 2000 election, apparently mounted a two-pronged attack. One part of that attack is at the heart of the current Justice Department scandals. But the second prong may have proven more successful. This involved using ACVR to give "think tank" academic cachet to the unproven idea that voter fraud is a major problem in elections.
Bob Herbert | American Cities and the Great Divide
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052207H.shtml
"You want a gilded age?" asks Bob Herbert. "This is it. The elite of the Roaring Twenties would be stunned by the wealth of the current era."
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http://infowars.net/articles/may2007/220507debunkers.htm
Debunkers Deny Existence Of NAU, JFK Conspiracy
Attitude of blind denial and dismissal threatens future of America
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
A recent Seattle Times article that scoffs at the very thought of a North American Union being implemented and dismisses it as a conspiracy theory sums up the biggest threat to freedom in America today, blind ignorance in the face of troubling facts.
"Forget conspiracy theories about JFK's assassination, black helicopters, Sept. 11, 2001. This is the big one." writes Philip Dine
"We're talking about the secret plan to build a superhighway, a giant 10- to 12-lane production, from the Yucatán to the Yukon. This "SuperCorridor" would allow the really big part of the plan to take place: the merging of the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico. Say goodbye to the dollar, and maybe even the English language.
The rumor is sweeping the Internet, radio and magazines, spread by bloggers, broadcasters and writers who cite the "proof" in the writings of a respected American University professor, in a task force put together by the Council on Foreign Relations and in the workings of the Commerce Department. "
Dine goes on to surmise that the entire subject of the North American Union is an urban myth that "feeds on American fear of immigration and globalization".
The John Birch Societyhas an excellent response to Dine, which goes something along the lines of:
If the NAU is a myth why is it that...
• 18 states have introduced resolutions calling on their federal representatives to halt work on the North American Union (they include Virginia and South Carolina)
• 3 of these states (Idaho, Montana and Oklahoma) have passed their resolutions
• Oklahoma, which is in the path of the NAFTA superhighway component of the North American Union passed their resolution in the Senate 97-0. (see Basic Search Form link - top left - type in SCR10)
• 22 U.S. Congressmen, including NC's Virginia Foxx and Walter Jones, along with all three Republican Congressmen running for President, have signed on as co-sponsors of HCR40, which calls on the executive branch to end all work on the North American Union and NAFTA superhighway
• Even the Sierra Club of Canadais sounding the alarm against the North American Union
ends