There's no such thing as al Qaeda, or al Qaida, or however you want
to spell it. It's a fraud perpetrated on the American people by our
own government to scare us into submission. This is a clip from the
excellent three-part BBC documentary "The Power of Nightmares".
You can watch the whole thing on Google Video or download it at scholarsfor911truth.org.
http://www.youtube.com/v/1X294kEynFA
President Bush said Friday the United States does not torture prisoners, commenting after Vice President Dick Cheney embraced the suggestion that a dunk in water might be useful to get terrorist suspects to talk.
Human rights groups complained that Cheney's words amounted to an endorsement of a torture technique known as "water boarding," in which the victim believes he is about to drown. The White House insisted Cheney was not talking about water boarding, but would not explain what he meant.
Less than two weeks before midterm congressional elections, the White House was put on the defensive as news of Cheney's remark spread. Bush was asked about it at a White House photo opportunity with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow was pelted with questions at two briefings with reporters.
Democrats also pointed to Cheney's statement.
"Is the White House that was for torture before it was against it, now for torture again?" tweaked Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Kerry, in his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency, had been skewered by Bush for saying he had voted for war funds before he voted against them.
Cheney triggered the flap in an interview Tuesday by radio broadcaster Scott Hennen of WDAY in Fargo, N.D. Hennen said callers had told him, "Please, let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves lives."
"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Hennen asked.
"Well, it's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture," Cheney said. "We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
At his photo op, Bush said, "This country doesn't torture, we're not going to torture. We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country."
Snow, at a morning meeting with reporters, tried to brush off the controversy.
"You know as a matter of common sense that the vice president of the United States is not going to be talking about water boarding. Never would, never does, never will," Snow said. "You think Dick Cheney's going to slip up on something like this? No, come on."
Snow said Cheney did not interpret the question as referring to water boarding and the vice president did not make any comments about water boarding. He said the question put to Cheney was loosely worded.
The administration has repeatedly refused to say which techniques it believes are permitted under a new law. Asked to define a dunk in water, Snow said, "It's a dunk in the water."
At a televised briefing later, the questions turned tougher and more pointed.
"The vice president says he was talking in general terms about a questioning program that is legal to save American lives, and he was not referring to water boarding," Snow said.
Yet, the spokesman conceded, "I can understand that people will look at this and draw the conclusions that you're trying to draw."
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement, "What's really a no-brainer is that no U.S. official, much less a vice president, should champion torture. Vice President Cheney's advocacy of water boarding sets a new human rights low at a time when human rights is already scraping the bottom of the Bush administration barrel."
Human Rights Watch said Cheney's remarks were "the Bush administration's first clear endorsement" of water boarding.
A new Army manual, released last month, bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, explicitly barring water boarding and other procedures."
In the town of Farmington, Maine, a new state of affairs will soon exist which the world has never seen before. This change will occur on June 6, 2006.
Thereafter, there will be no death and no illness (except the remnants of earlier illnesses which will go away in three days or less) within the municipal limits of Farmington. Nor will there be any crime or bad behavior. You will be safe in Farmington; nothing will harm you here. The rest of the world is still the way it has been for millennia, so if you go outside the borders of Farmington you will not be protected in this particular way, though you will be no worse off than before.
Farmington will, of course, remain as free as any other American town. You may stay or leave as you choose. Nobody will try to make you stay or make you leave. Nor will anyone in Farmington try to keep anyone out. Do whatever God leads you to do.
There will be public meetings every week or so to discuss new questions that may come up because of this drastic change in the nature of Farmington. Anyone may attend them. The first such meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Meetinghouse Park, weather permitting.
There will be an information center for visitors and newcomers, probably at Thoughtbridge, 1 Bridge St. New information will also be posted as it becomes available at:
Q. How long will the new state of affairs in Farmington last?
A. The abolition of death and other evils will last forever.
Q. Will this happen in other parts of the world?
A. Some day the new order will be worldwide. It is not known when that day will be. Until that day, Farmington will be the only place changed.
Q. Won't Farmington become overcrowded and lose its small-town character that residents love so much?
A. Farmington will never be overcrowded in the way that many cities are now crowded. The population will increase, but there is plenty of open space in Farmington to accommodate many more citizens. If more space is needed this will be accomplished by annexing another town to Farmington, though this will not be necessary for the next several years. Also, since people will live in harmony with one another, the problems that attend overcrowded places - crime, filth, etc., will never be problems in Farmington.
Q. What will happen if I leave Farmington? Will old diseases that I have been healed of here come back?
A. Nothing that has been healed in Farmington will come back. I.e., if you had cancer, and it goes away, that cancer will not return when you leave the town. But new diseases can start outside Farmington as has always been the case.
Q. What will cause this amazing change?
A. God will cause it by his own will.
Q. Why has Farmington been chosen?
A. I do not know.
Q. What Scripture foretells the new order?
A. Revelation 21:2-4 (the New Jerusalem). The name "Farmington" is not in the Bible, since no town by that name existed when John wrote. The location of the New Jerusalem was revealed directly to me by Christ."
...Pretty ludicrous.
