Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
1. You and What Army? Bush Legions Starting to "Unravel" (Opinion/Opinion)
Author : Chris Cook Is it possible the largest and most advanced military in the history of the universe is ready to bust? According to General Barry McCaffrey (ret.) the U.S. military machine is "stumbling toward the edge of a cliff."
Not exactly your nervous Nellie type, the former head of U.S. Southern
Command, McCaffrey says, given the current course of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, the army can't be sustained more than 24 months.
Citing growing tensions in Korea, or a possible conflict between China
and Taiwan, he warns, should "the other shoe drop" the military will be
unable to react.
The Democrats are in session, will they blow us all off or will they maintain our high?
“You’re blowin’ my high”
There are many of us who are familiar with that phrase of a few decades ago.For the uninitiated what it refers to in essence,is when a group of people getting “high” together have someone in the group commence a recitation – or verbalize a thought – of a negative nature.(I suppose I could draw a 21st century analogy here; think about a person on a message board thread suddenly going “off-topic.”)The response to that articulation generally went something like this:“Wow!Man you’re blowin’ my high here, give it a break.”
Right now I feel like I’m back there, passing the joint and just goofing along on the nonsensical.The absurdity, of course, being that I’m reading – and hearing – what the suddenly muscular Democrats are planning in their “first hundred hours.”I mean, like, we already knew that impeachment was “off the table,” is there a thinking human among us that truly thought impeachment would even make it to the table?So, in place of a main course of impeachment as well as side dishes of restoring our Constitutional Rights and making us secure in our homes and workplace, we will get fluff. No meat, no veggies and no dessert; just non-caloric fluff along with innumerable sound bytes.Like, this really is blowin’ my high, man.
The beefy Democrats are - rather than taking Amerika back from the plutocrats - going to puff up their respective chests, make a lot of noise about change and keep on keeping on.Shouldn’t that blow the post-euphoric high of the faithful herd that voted to make (as well as see) change? So that collective high felt by the dedicated flock– now that reality has seated itself in the chamber – has been blown all to hell and back.For the loyalists who expected Chateaubriand, once seated at the “all-inclusive” table they instead find themselves still “sitting below the salt.” Given that the overwhelming majority of voters who put the Democrats in power were all on the same page, you know, the message board thing; it appears that the Democrats have seriously gone “off-topic.”Now, doesn’t that just blow your high if you are one of the flock who was steadfast in your passing of the joint of change, high on the over the moon “good shit” you were hearing from the Democrats?
Earnest and well-intentioned ain't going to cut it in Iraq. Someone needs to get that message to the new U.S. ground commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno. You see, Odierno wants to fight Iraq with the Iraqis he wished existed rather than the sectarian groups who acutally exist. If he persists he believing in an Iraq that does not exist in reality he will fail. Just because you want to believe a circle is square does not mean you can square a circle.
While acknowledging in an interview yesterday at Camp Victory that the nature of the war and the tactics required to prevail had changed, his other comments to reporters reflect an alarming naiveté about the sectarian rifts in Iraq. According to the Los Angeles Times article by Solomon Moore:
Odierno said another reason for Iraqis' alienation was the tendency of many leaders to be more interested in sectarian interests than the national good of Iraq. "We thought they'd come together rather easily," he said. "We underestimated that…. We thought they'd think Iraq first, and that didn't occur. I think maybe it will occur over time, but it's not occurring now."
Jammers and creatives; today is our big moment in court. Ever since the first issue of Adbusters was published seventeen years ago we've been fighting to break the corporate monopoly on access to the airwaves.
After countless delays, and over $100,000 spent on legal fees, we've arrived at a critical juncture in the case. At issue is our freedom of speech on the most powerful social communications medium of our time, television.
Below is a copy of our press release as well as a sneak preview of an article that will appear in the upcoming issue of Adbusters (on newsstands February 18th). Please give us your support by getting the word out there.
If our lawsuit is successful in Canada, we'll try to raise the funds necessary to launch a suit in the United States as well. What's at stake here is a critical new human right for our information age, the right to communicate.
Executive Order: Now your children lose their property
by Richard Kastelein
This is similar to the one about Iraq the other day. However, in this order your spouse and children will lose their property as well. Like before, this also takes effect if you are only viewed as a "risk" of doing something violent, even if you haven't committed any act!
I wonder if any of us are viewed as a risk. Of course that is up to the "Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State" to decide. Oh, and you and your family won't be given ANY NOTICE either. As with the last one, anyone who assists you also loses their property.
A Tomdispatch Holiday One-Stop Shop from Hell
by Nick ("Tongue Firmly in Cheek") Turse It's that time of year, again. Time to wander the web searching for Holiday gifts for all those hard-to-buy-for folks, the usual cast of characters who make the holidays especially nerve-wracking.
Well, have no fear and wander no more.
This year Tomdispatch takes care of all the fuss and muss. We've scoured the web and assembled a one-stop-shop that will make your gift-buying a breeze. So forget about that already over-the-Hillary Clinton nutcracker or the Rudy Giuliani head that you affix to a tree so it appears the Republican front-runner is a stalker lurking in your yard -- both so last year -- and enjoy the Fifth Anniversary TomDispatch Holiday List from Hell. Because if you don't, the terrorists win.
The ressignation of Donald Rumsfeld doesn't change the problem of a President who is incompetent and malevolent, nor is it likely to bring about a significant change in the Iraq policy.
The forced resignation of Donald Rumsfeld the day after the midterm
elections says as much about the Secretary of Defense as it does about
the President of the
United States.
Almost seven months before the elections, six retired generals, including two who commanded divisions in
Iraq, called for Rumsfeld’s resignation. In response, President Bush said that Rumsfeld was “doing a fine job.”
Two months before the midterm elections, Josh Bolten, the President’s
chief of staff, told the Democratic leadership, who had demanded
Rumsfeld’s resignation, “We strongly disagree.” By the President’s
direction, he told the opposition party that Rumsfeld “is an honorable
and able public servant [who] retains the full confidence of the
President.”
One week before the midterm elections, President Bush said that
Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney “are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly
support them.” Lying through his ever-present smirk, he said he planned
to keep Rumsfeld until the end of his term; with Cheney, a
constitutionally-elected politician, he had no choice. The only comment
the President hadn’t made the previous few weeks was, “Rummy, you’re
doing a heckuva job.”
by William Bowles It was early in 2006 when the first stories about an ‘imminent’ hit on Iran surfaced with everybody from Seymour Hersh to Michel Chossudovsky wading in with the ‘inside dope’ on the impending attack.
So was it just their timing that was out?
Those of you who have read any of my ruminations on the topic will know how sceptical I felt, and still do feel about an ‘impending’ strike, not because it’s not on the cards, along no doubt with any other country that gets in the way of the US, but is this right time for it and, are other things afoot, and what if anything, can we do about it?
Here in the UK we are, according to the statistics anyway, the
fourth or fifth wealthiest nation on the planet at least in material
terms but according to the latest UNICEF report we are at the bottom of
the list of the twenty-one most developed nations when it comes to the
treatment of our children. Our unfortunate offspring are badly
educated, suicidal, drugged out, violent, have the highest rate of
sexually transmitted diseases in Europe, more teenage pregnancies and
above all, alienated (for the full report see ‘State of the World’s
Children’).
MidEast News 
Is it possible the largest and most advanced military in the history of the universe is ready to bust? According to General Barry McCaffrey (ret.) the U.S. military machine is "stumbling toward the edge of a cliff."
Earnest and well-intentioned ain't going to cut it in Iraq. Someone needs to get that message to the new U.S. ground commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno. You see, Odierno wants to fight Iraq with the Iraqis he wished existed rather than the sectarian groups who acutally exist. If he persists he believing in an Iraq that does not exist in reality he will fail. Just because you want to believe a circle is square does not mean you can square a circle.
This is similar to the one about Iraq the other day. However, in this order your spouse and children will lose their property as well. Like before, this also takes effect if you are only viewed as a "risk" of doing something violent, even if you haven't committed any act! 
The ressignation of Donald Rumsfeld doesn't change the problem of a President who is incompetent and malevolent, nor is it likely to bring about a significant change in the Iraq policy.
It was early in 2006 when the first stories about an ‘imminent’ hit on Iran surfaced with everybody from Seymour Hersh to Michel Chossudovsky wading in with the ‘inside dope’ on the impending attack. 
