in the news ...the sinking Us greenback ...the michael vick and scooter libby cases...

michael vick goes to jail. no surprise here...


Iran abandons dollar in oil deals
PRESS TV - IRAN

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:40:51

Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil deals in dollar fallowing the OPEC proposal to trade crude in non-dollar currencies.

"The dollar is no longer a reliable currency, considering its devaluation and the loss suffered by oil exporters," said Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari.

"Iran proposed in the last OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) summit that member states use a reliable currency in their oil transactions to prevent further losses," he said, adding that the organization will come to a decision on the issue in the Vienna meeting on February 2.

Meanwhile, the organization decided to keep oil output unchanged at the Abu Dhabi summit on December 5, arguing that there was enough oil in the market to meet winter fuel demand.

while back in the USA , 12-10-07 --former atlanta falcons quarterback Michael Vick gets sentenced to 23 months in jail for personally killing 8 dogs and bankrolling a dog fighting enterprise .

vick also loses as well , about $100 million dollars in salary and commercial endorsements ...while ALSO in today's news , scooter libby drops his appeal concerning his own conviction involving perjury in the bush administration's deliberate leak of valerie plame's covert cia identity .

hmm... pardon my blatant alliteration , but does something seem slightly askew here ?

according to the news , the federal sentencing guidelines for the crime vick pled guilty to was 12 to 18 months . He got almost twice the minimum --no doubt he will serve his time . he clearly deserves some type of punishment for cruelty to animals .

but scooter libby gets off...no surprise here either...



good old boy scooter libby had his sentence commuted by george dubya --And even with a felony conviction on his record there is no doubt that he will continue to make good money --probably give speeches , write books and articles --perhaps even become a media personality and minor celebrity--ala watergate burglar g. gordon liddy or admitted central american drug lord and murderer oliver north .

vick killed dogs and deserves punishment --BUT scooter helped cover up what can only honestly be described as an act of treason on part of the whitehouse--the outting of a covert intelligence agent in time of war --done in a revenge campaign against ms plame directly AND SOLELY because her husband , ambassador joe wilson wrote a new york times piece that shot holes in the pre-iraq war spin bubbles (lies) told by the bush administration about saddam hussein seeking yellow cake uranium from niger .

anyone besides deskRat remember that line of shit for attacking iraq spouted repeatedly by dubya , cheney and lying ass condoleezza about iraq's make believe nuclear weapons program ?

"WE DON"T WANT THE SMOKING GUN TO BE A MUSHROOM CLOUD !"

remember that one ?

scooter got 30 months for lying to protect the bush-cheney administration --bush commuted the sentence so scooter wouldn't do hard time --the good old boy network will insure that old scooter doesn't suffer too much economically --the reasoning being the humiliation he's suffered is already punishment enough --according to bush ,anyway.

but think about it : vick killed dogs---outting plame may have killed people.

according to an article by ex nsa officer and bush administration critic wayne madsen --when plame was outted her covert network was rolled up and even people she casually met overseas were arrested as spies--some were believed killed --plame's network was gathering intel on illegal weapons of mass destruction programs .

so killing 8 dogs is more serious than committing treason by revealing classified national security secrets IN A TIME OF WAR , ratting out people and getting some of them imprisoned or killed in the process--all as part of a dirty policy to get the whitehouse's political enemies --enemies who were enemies SOLELY FOR A SMACK DOWN THEY GAVE TO THE ADMINISTRATION'S LIES TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ? ? ?

is something backwards going on here when sports stars are held to a higher standard of conduct than the people running the whitehouse ?


valerie plame and husband joe wilson--case against bush whitehouse thrown out of court by bush appointed judge...sounds like the election of 2000...any surprise ???



7-19-07
Judge tosses out ex-spy's lawsuit against Cheney in CIA leak case

Story Highlights

Ex-spy had accused members of Bush administration of leaking her identity

Judge tosses out lawsuit from Valerie Plame, husband Joseph Wilson

Bush-appointed judge said couple failed to show case belongs in federal court

Plame's identity as a CIA operative was exposed in July 2003

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by outed spy Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Dick Cheney and other top Bush administration officials.

Plame had accused members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity. To knowingly disclose classified information to unauthorized recipients is a crime, and Plame's position was classified.U.S. District Judge John Bates said the lawsuit raises "important questions relating to the propriety of actions undertaken by our highest government officials." But in a 41-page decision, he found Plame and her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, failed to show the case belongs in federal court.

Plame's identity as a CIA operative was exposed in July 2003 after Wilson publicly challenged a key argument in the Bush administration's case for the invasion of Iraq. The couple argued the disclosure destroyed her career and was done to retaliate against Wilson, who said the administration had "twisted" the evidence used to justify the invasion.

Bates, a Bush appointee, agreed with defense arguments that federal law protects Cheney and the other top administration officials from being sued for actions taken as part of their official duties.

The way the defendants handled criticism from Joseph Wilson "may have been highly unsavory," the judge wrote, but "there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism ... by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level executive branch officials."

Valerie Plame's exposure ignited a criminal probe that led to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction in March on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal agents investigating the leak. President Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison term earlier this month, calling it "excessive," but let the verdicts stand.Melanie Sloan, the Wilsons' lawyer, said the couple plans to appeal Thursday's ruling.

"While we are obviously very disappointed by today's decision, we have always expected that this case would ultimately be decided by a higher court. ... We disagree with the court's holding and intend to pursue this case vigorously to protect all Americans from vindictive government officials who abuse their power for their own political ends," she said in a statement.

Joseph Wilson said the decision was "just the first step in what we have always known would be a long legal battle."

"This case is not just about what top government officials did to Valerie and me," he said in a statement issued to reporters. "We brought this suit because we strongly believe that politicizing intelligence ultimately serves only to undermine the security of our nation."

Lea Ann McBride, Cheney's spokeswoman, said "the vice president is pleased that the court has dismissed the lawsuit."

The Libby defense team declined to comment. Libby, with his appeal still pending, has deferred to defense attorney Ted Wells to speak for the Libby family. Barbara Comstock, a spokeswoman, told CNN "there will be no statement."

In addition to Libby and Cheney, the lawsuit also named former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser.

During the course of the leak probe, Rove and Armitage were found to have been the two "senior administration officials" columnist and former CNN contributor Robert Novak cited in identifying Plame as a CIA operative. Both cooperated with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation, and neither was charged with a crime.