There is More to Dick Cheney Than Even He Realizes, Part 1;.

This is By Politicus.us – WE ARE Mirroring His Post Today.

This is the sixth post in a series, posted on conjunction with BadGalsRadio on the subject of accountability of the Bush 43 administration and in support of Senator Patrick Leahy’s “commission of inquiry”.  Links to our previous articles are at the bottom.
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It can be argued just how much power Dick Cheney had within the Bush administration. But virtually all would agree that he was the most powerful vice president in American history.

No other vice president has in effect picked himself for the position, as Cheney did being the head of George W. Bush’s vice-presidential search in the 2000 campaign. And none has ever arrived at the White House as the most experienced member of the presidential team. In January 2001 Cheney’s only rival in knowledge of arcane Washington’s ways was his closest ally in the Bush cabinet, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In the administration’s early days, Dick Cheney was put in charge of developing energy policy, one of Mr. Bush’s top priorities. Hence the “Cheney energy task force”, whose proceedings and decisions remain secret to this day. His real dominance was established after the September 11 attacks. On that day, it was he who took charge at the White House and directed the first response.

Legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh talked about new alleged instances of domestic spying by the CIA, and about an ongoing covert military operation that he called an “executive assassination ring.”

Hersh says: “Right now, today, there was a story in the New York Times that if you read it carefully mentioned something known as the Joint Special Operations Command – JSOC it’s called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him…

Take a look at this video for more information:

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in turn has aired this “Unauthorized Bio of Dick Cheney.”

And here is part two of the “Unauthorized Bio of Dick Cheney”:

And now part three:

As we know, Mr. Cheney is still active on the television circuit and you can be sure that he is still very active indeed in the back channels of his political world and recently has even stated in an interview with CNN that in fact Obama’s decisions are putting the country at risk.

Here was President Obama’s response to those accusations on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

You be the judge whose words are more believable.

In any case, considering the fact that Dick Cheney has suffered four heart attacks – the first at age 37 – and that he has a pacemaker implanted in his chest, the man has proven to be a durable player in U.S. and neocon politics.

Personally we would advise the former veep to take it easy and go fishing and hunting, take care of his ailing heart and finally leave us alone.

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See our other posts in this series:

Fun and Games With Georgie, Dick and Condie
Government-Sponsored Torture, a Stain on America’s Honor
Americans Say ‘Dig Up Those Skeletons, Leahy’
Would You Like To Help Prosecute Bush and Chaney ?
Mr Holder, do you care about the Military Rapes sanctioned by Bush Co ?

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We’ve started this series knowing that it would be bloody and hard to write. that’s partially why we decided to just do it. so many of us political and human rights bloggers are talking about the problem of the Special Prosecutor – that well, we just decided somebody has to “bring a BIG LOOK AT The Pain” to Mr Holder to get his attention.

so why not us

Good Americans Stand Up For THEIRS, and We Are GOOD AMERICANS Who Want Right and Truth, The Real American Way.

Mr Holder – Read This,

On Tuesday Politicus wrote this :

Government-Sponsored Torture, a Stain on America’s Honor

We have all seen the disgusting photos of American soldiers playing with and abusing prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. The photos of the terrified, terrorized men and as it turns out women as well have circled the globe and have in fact become something of a symbol of George W. Bush’s and the neocons’ “war on terror”.

When those photos surfaced, the entire focus on the previous 9/11 issues, Iraq’s supposed stocks of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein, along with Osama bin-Laden and al-Qaida, paled. The world’s media has switched their investigative focus to reports of prisoner abuse, CIA’s “extraordinary renditions”, and the violations of the Geneva Conventions in many ways and forms.

The Abu Ghraib abuse orgies were committed by personnel of the 372nd Military Police Company of the United States Army together with additional US governmental agencies. These additional agencies have been referred to as the OGA (Other Government Agencies), which is an often-used euphemism for the Central Intelligence Agency.

As it turns out, these were only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Information about CIA’s so-called black prisons and interrogation centers has begun to surface.

Allegations and reports about unmarked planes transporting prisoners through a number of countries, on the way to prisons, interrogation/torture centers in countries with either a “friendly” disposition towards the U.S. “war on terror”, or ones who wanted to punish, or extract information from their own citizens, who might have been perceived as enemies of the ruling regime, or simply those, who did it for the money that the CIA was paying for such “services”.
Journalist Mark Danner in his book Torture and TruthAmerica, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror has published the latest revelations.
Here’s a video interview with Mark Danner:

The author and the reviewers at the New York Review of Books ask the question: “Did they [the Abu Ghraib abuse] depict the rogue behavior of ‘a few bad apples’? Or did they in fact reveal that the US government had decided to use brutal tactics in the “war on terror?”

The documents in the book include secret government memos, some never before published, that portray a fierce argument within the Bush administration over whether al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were protected by the Geneva Conventions and how far the U.S. could go in interrogating them. There are also official reports on abuses at Abu Ghraib by the International Committee of the Red Cross, by U.S. Army investigators, and by an independent panel chaired by former defense secretary James R. Schlesinger. In sifting this evidence, Danner traces the path by which harsh methods of interrogation approved for suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Guantánamo “migrated” to Iraq as resistance to the U.S. occupation grew and US casualties mounted.

According to the confidential (up to the point of getting leaked into the hands of Danner) International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report:” The detainee would be photographed, both clothed and naked prior to and again after transfer. A body cavity check (rectal examination) would be carried out and some detainees alleged that a suppository (the type and the effect of such suppositories was unknown by the detainees), was also administered at that moment.

The detainee would be made to wear a diaper and dressed in a tracksuit. Earphones would be placed over his ears, through which music would sometimes be played. He would be blindfolded with at least a cloth tied around the head and black goggles. In addition, some detainees alleged that cotton wool was also taped over their eyes prior to the blindfold and goggles being applied….

The detainee would be shackled by [the] hands and feet and transported to the airport by road and loaded onto a plane. He would usually be transported in a reclined sitting position with his hands shackled in front. The journey times…ranged from one hour to over 24 to 30 hours. The detainee was not allowed to go to the toilet and if necessary was obliged to urinate and defecate into the diaper.”

Abu Zubaydah, a senior member of Al Qaeda was captured in a raid in Pakistan in March 2002.
After being treated for his wounds – he had been shot in the stomach, leg and groin during his capture – Abu Zubaydah was brought to one of the black sites, probably in Thailand, and placed in the white room described below.

“I woke up, naked, strapped to a bed, in a very white room. The room measured approximately 4 meters by 4 meters. The room had three solid walls, with the fourth wall consisting of metal bars separating it from a larger room. I am not sure how long I remained in the bed. After some time, I think it was several days, but can’t remember exactly, I was transferred to a chair where I was kept, shackled by hands and feet for what I think was the next two to three weeks. During this time I developed blisters on the underside of my legs due to the constant sitting. I was only allowed to get up from the chair to go [to] the toilet, which consisted of a bucket.

“I was given no solid food during the first two or three weeks, while sitting on the chair. I was only given Ensure and water to drink. At first the Ensure made me vomit, but this became less with time.

“The cell and room were air-conditioned and were very cold. Very loud, shouting-type music was constantly playing. It kept repeating about every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day. Sometimes the music stopped and was replaced by a loud hissing or crackling noise.

“The guards were American, but wore masks to conceal their faces. My interrogators did not wear masks.”
It is important to note that Abu Zubaydah was not alone with his interrogators and that everyone in that white room – guards, interrogators, doctor – was in fact linked directly, and almost constantly, to senior intelligence officials on the other side of the world. “It wasn’t up to individual interrogators to decide, ‘Well, I’m going to slap him. Or I’m going to shake him,’” said John Kiriakou, a CIA officer who helped capture Abu Zubaydah, in an interview with ABC News.

Every one of the steps taken with regard to Abu Zubaydah “had to have the approval of the deputy director for operations. So before you laid a hand on him, you had to send in the cable saying, ‘He’s uncooperative. Request permission to do X.’”

He went on: “The cable traffic back and forth was extremely specific…. No one wanted to get in trouble by going overboard.”

Shortly after Abu Zubaydah was captured, CIA officers briefed the National Security Council’s principals committee, including Vice President Dick Cheney, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and Attorney General John Ashcroft, in detail on the interrogation plans for the prisoner. As the interrogations proceeded, so did the briefings, with George Tenet, the CIA director, bringing to senior officials almost daily reports of the techniques applied.

At the time, the spring and summer of 2002, Justice Department officials, led by John Yoo, were working on a memorandum, now known informally as “the torture memo,” which claimed that for an “alternative procedure” to be considered torture, and thus illegal, it would have to cause pain of the sort “that would be associated with serious physical injury so severe that death, organ failure, or permanent damage resulting in a loss of significant body function will likely result.” The memo was approved in August 2002, thus serving as a legal “green light” for interrogators to apply the most aggressive techniques to Abu Zubaydah:

“I was taken out of my cell and one of the interrogators wrapped a towel around my neck; they then used it to swing me around and smash me repeatedly against the hard walls of the room.”

The prisoner was then put in a coffin-like black box, about 4 feet by 3 feet and 6 feet high, “for what I think was about one and a half to two hours.” He added: The box was totally black on the inside as well as the outside…. They put a cloth or cover over the outside of the box to cut out the light and restrict my air supply. It was difficult to breathe. When I was let out of the box I saw that one of the walls of the room had been covered with plywood sheeting. From now on it was against this wall that I was then smashed with the towel around my neck. I think that the plywood was put there to provide some absorption of the impact of my body. The interrogators realized that smashing me against the hard wall would probably quickly result in physical injury.”

After this beating, Abu Zubaydah was placed in a small box approximately three feet tall. “They placed a cloth or cover over the box to cut out all light and restrict my air supply. As it was not high enough even to sit upright, I had to crouch down. It was very difficult because of my wounds. The stress on my legs held in this position meant my wounds both in the leg and stomach became very painful. I think this occurred about three months after my last operation. It was always cold in the room, but when the cover was placed over the box it made it hot and sweaty inside. The wound on my leg began to open and started to bleed. I don’t know how long I remained in the small box; I think I may have slept or maybe fainted.

“I was then dragged from the small box, unable to walk properly, and put on what looked like a hospital bed, and strapped down very tightly with belts. A black cloth was then placed over my face and the interrogators used a mineral water bottle to pour water on the cloth so that I could not breathe. After a few minutes the cloth was removed and the bed was rotated into an upright position. The pressure of the straps on my wounds was very painful. I vomited.

“The bed was then again lowered to horizontal position and the same torture carried out again with the black cloth over my face and water poured on from a bottle. On this occasion my head was in a more backward, downwards position and the water was poured on for a longer time. I struggled against the straps, trying to breathe, but it was hopeless.”

After being placed again in the tall box, Abu Zubaydah “was then taken out and again a towel was wrapped around my neck and I was smashed into the wall with the plywood covering and repeatedly slapped in the face by the same two interrogators as before.

“I was then made to sit on the floor with a black hood over my head until the next session of torture began. The room was always kept very cold.

This went on for approximately one week.”

There are other, similar horror stories in Mark Danner’s book. And remember that most of these facts and accounts are based on the ICRC report. It is hard to imagine that the ICRC – which didn’t release the report, because it wanted to remain neutral and retain access to such prisoners – would document events in a biased way.

This is not to say that we support Abu Zubaydah’s actions, affiliations, or loyalties. Nothing could be further from the truth. His experience simply illustrates the inner workings of the Bush administration during their “war on terror”. And what basically interests us and should interest both the U.S. Government and the American people is the fact that these methods have violated our principles, the Geneva Conventions and the military Uniform Code of Military Justice. These policies, even when used against the most distasteful of “enemy combatants” are definitely contrary to what the United States of America has always stood for. Let’s not forget that the members of our armed forces could just as easily be designated as “enemy combatants” by practically any country and entity, which might consider us to be their enemy. That’s just one of the reasons why we should scrupulously abide by the Geneva Conventions.

In short: this is definitely another serious issue which should be investigated by Senator Patrick Leahy’s “commission of inquiry”. It is to be hoped that the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the rest of President Barack Obama’s administration will be supportive in this endeavor.

See our earlier posts on the subject:

Americans Say ‘Dig Up Those Skeletons, Leahy’

Would You Like To Help Prosecute Bush and Chaney ?

Mr Holder, do you care about the Military Rapes sanctioned by Bush Co ?

Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it, about it, and subscribe to this blog RSS feed.

Patrick Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman called for the establishment of a non-partisan “commission of inquiry” to investigate allegations of wrongdoing against former Bush administration officials in their prosecution of the so-called war on terror.

We think that this is a commendable initiative. The problem is that the idea hasn’t seemed to catch on for some reason.

The Right calls it a witch-hunt, the Left seems to consider it a cop-out and President Obama appears to wish that it would just go away, saying that he is “more interested in looking forward than in looking back.”

We are posting this new series of reports in conjunction with our friends at BadGalsRadio, who are just as interested as we are in finding the many unanswered questions in this issue.

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For the next week, we will focus on the Truth and how we may be forced to get it, from Dick and Dumber.  We’ve thrown our support behind the movement for a special prosecutor and it’s our humble opinion that we need to act now.

In Essence, to wait will be a national mistake. The crimes are still fresh, and in the minds of the people who were the victims, globally. The blood and reputation of America was spilled in the name of game; so why not see if Game Recognizes Game on the battlefield; of a Truth Commission.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has come up with an agenda and hopes to get the much-needed support of the U.S. citizens; in forming this court and investigating commission.  It is the right of the American people to have the truth about why these two liars could walk away; from such a huge mess.

President Obama must put his support behind Atty Gen Eric Holder’s formation of such a commission; in order to give it the credibility that it will need to remove the years of lies blockading the facts.

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What the hell is going on here? There’s a whole gallery of neocons that begs to be very thoroughly investigated. There are crimes galore to be probed. Unconstitutional and anti-American, not to mention anti-human rights peccadilloes to be probed, uncovered and to hopefully eventually end up as criminal indictments. If we are to continue being a country based on laws, this kind of an investigation is absolutely mandatory.

Senator Leahy, in turn told Time Magazine “It’s a lot easier to look forward if you know what happened in the past.”

As Leahy envisions it, the Truth Commission’s priorities would be to investigate the politicization of prosecution in the Justice Department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the wiretapping of U.S. citizens, the flawed and often manufactured intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq, and the use of torture at Guantanamo and so-called black sites abroad. The commission is to be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. The panel would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges. The South African commission also allowed those testifying to seek immunity from prosecution. That’s kind of too bad, as there are some, who definitively should be prosecuted.

The changing of long-standing policies and having the White House legal office issue de-facto permission for using torture, staining, to say the least the honor of the United States as a whole and so very unfortunately the honor of our armed forces, certainly deserves a thorough inquiry. There is little doubt that the enlisted men and women, who have become almost household names after the photos from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse orgies have surfaced, are not the only ones who should have been punished. How about the members of the Federalist Society – an association of mainly far-right attorneys who gained top positions in the Bush administration, particularly in the Justice Department and were instrumental in producing memos, that in fact changed the entire U.S. Government’s outlook on the Geneva Conventions and paved the way for the use of torture and the disgraceful at times treatment of prisoners, detainees and others labeled with the newly-invented “enemy combatant” category, but also high-ranking military and CIA officers, who have actually embraced those directives?

Remember the Nazi scumbags, who during the Nuremberg trials tried to excuse themselves by saying that “they were ordered to do it”? As we all remember those excuses didn’t work. Why should then somebody else use a similar excuse for the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo excesses, or for outrages committed during the so-called extraordinary renditions?

That’s just one side of the coin, though. The manipulated “intelligence findings”, which allowed the U.S. to invade Iraq are another issue worthy of a thorough investigation.

Let’s not forget the quick, in the-middle-of-the-night approval of the voluminous Patriot Act, the illegal wiretaps and other kinds of domestic spying and on and on.

It certainly does seem like there is a whole lot worth investigating and clearing up here. Why is it then that there seems to be so little interest among the executive branch, Congress and the Justice Department? Why isn’t our new Attorney General Eric Holder lending support to Senator Leahy’s quest?

BadGalsRadio says:

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The Iraq War was not an American conflict - yet we are still paying for it as we live and breathe this moment. President Obama says that his goal is to bring the troops out of Iraq in 16 months, but why should he then move them into Afghanistan?  When will there be enough of this sectarian violence for oil?

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Could it be that the people in power are afraid that a thorough digging through this mess might uncover some very messy skeletons?

Let’s take this issue a bit further. All the way back to September 11, 2001 as a matter of fact.

There are probably more conspiracy theories about 9/11 by now than about the Kennedy assassination and about Area 51, aliens and whether Britney Spears is wearing panties on a given day all put together.

Some are of course total crap, but others make at least some sense. If you have time, watch this video, which I have posted a few weeks ago. I’m sure that some of those arguments don’t hold much water, but others seem at the very least plausible and certainly intriguing. Just make sure you are comfortable, as it is almost 1.5 hours long.

Let’s get back to the lack of interest and the seeming resistance to support Senator Leahy’s plans to create a commission of inquiry. Could it be that the people in high positions are either afraid to stir the hornet’s nest, or simply don’t want to see some of the details of what really happened on 9/11 to see the light of day?

All we know at this point is what was in the official version of the events. Namely, that Osama bin-Laden’s al-Qaida boys have planned and executed the attacks, using four hijacked airliners. Is that true, or false? And who are we to believe? We will abstain from quoting the numerous theories, suspicions, suppositions and presumptions that are floating around the world – the video alone should give you enough food for thought.

What we would like to finally see is for the U.S. as a country to come clean and discover (if it hasn’t been discovered already) what really and truly happened before, during and after that fateful day in September of 2001. And that is why we support Senator Patrick Leahy’s efforts to conduct an in-depth investigation of what has transpired during the past eight years. We owe it to ourselves, to the troops who have put their lives on the line in the name of the “war on terror”, to their families, to those who have vanished on September 11th and to their families as well.

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Click To Listen to This Episode of EntrePod – 03/06/09

We’re not giving you any clues because we know you love the suspense..

This episode features :

• Margie and Edna’s Hugs
• Peregrination 100 Thousand EC Photo Contest
• Dark Novels – A Goth Writer Explored
• SpicyBugz World – What’s going on with the Bugz this week
• Politicus Gives us the Rush Off
• EntRevolution or Censorship ?
• Chester the Jester Kidnapped – SLF Claims Responsibility
• Harley of Daisy the Curley Cat  Implicated in the Chet Napping ?
• Robs Not Safe For Work Blog
• EntrePod Shouts to 15 of our EntreFriends

This is an update from Politicus, which holds true for BGR:

it has come to our attention that EuroYank has had some rather unpleasant exchanges with other Entrecard members, and possibly – but this is unconfirmed – with the management of Entrecard.

That hasn’t been our experience, but we think that it is worth noting in the context of this whole issue.

This episode we serve you a dub based soundtrack. is a Dubmix from the tables of Mama ASID and BadGalsRadio. it includes :

• Adam and Eve Dub -          Dub Syndicate
• Kingston 14 -                         Dub Syndicate
• Fire Burning Dub -              Dub Syndicate
• Burnin Dread Dub -            Dubmatix
• Sub Dub -                                Dubmatix
• Dub in Mi Hand -                 Dubmatix
• Uplifting -                               Dub Syndicate

Duration : 28:20 / 64 k at 44.1 mhz Digital Mastering

Produced By : RE Ausetkmt / Mama ASID for EntrePod; a member of BadGalsRadio Sunshine Shop; 03/06/09

Copyrights : All Copyrights to Original Owners for Music; BadGalsRadio and EntrePod for Podcast and Vocals – RE Ausetkmt. Copyright 03/06/09 All Rights Reserved to Original Copyright Owners; BadGalsRadio and ASID Hi-Power SoundSystem.

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Today we turn the Pulpit over to the esteemed “Barack Obama”

2/14/09: Your Weekly Address from White House on Vimeo.

The Presidents’ address is filled with good clear instruction. he doesn’t throw pie up in the sky and expect you to jump all will nilly up and grab it, San Souci. No Sir Ree Bob. He’s saying in no uncertain terms that America has to change, and it’s up to the American people to demand change.

it’s obvious that this haggling with the senate and congress has put him again with his best allies and workers – the American people.

This past week I watched a video at Politicus.US on the last new deal under Roosevelt; it’s amazing the way they twisted the facts upside down.

Can You Believe they said Inflation was GOOD for the Country and Economy ? WTF Politicus.us ?  is this one of  FDR’s Personal Vids..

Watch how the learned professor draws a chart of the decreasing purchasing power of the dollar, the rising cost of commodities and the consequent rise in the stock market index. Amazing that some people would actually believe this crud. At the same time, see how similar the scenario of 1933 is to our present debacle.

Rising debt, ever-rising cost of almost everything and of course, since we got off the gold standard in 1933 – no real value to the dollar. Now the government (read the Federal Reserve) can print as many nearly worthless dollars as they want and nobody is even going to question them about it.

Am I back in the fricken classroom at msu ? still trying to wrap my short attention span around macro economics.. Geez Louise..
Anyway this is apparently the way the Repiglicans had been playing it for the past 8 years. Yeah, this is what they were doing, running a skrate lottry with the people’s dem ducats. ASSES (with all capitals intended).

So Now How do we Take the Lipstick Off of This Mess ?

do we need to get the help of Vegas odds makers to bet on if or not we get any control of the robber banks who are attempting to bankrupt us ? apparently that deal is still in the works. we sure hope they hurry that change along – before any further disbursements occur.

just to think they wanted to put the UAW in a chokehold; and then handed the robberbanks billions on luxe platters; totally untethered. Now The Robberbanks are completely unfettered about the repayment scheme. it’s all a nightmare – how do you get billions back from the folks who flush that down the golden toilet daily ?

It’s ALLLLL A Scheme  Margie – Yes Edna,  A Scheme is right.

Nobody ever emerges from bankruptcy and pays the Fed Back for the Bailout - I Challenge anyone to Name One Company Who Did ..

Exactly as I said.

The legislators are a buncha cheapasshoes, who don’t do anything but get Higher on the Exchange.

We Applaud President Obama’s Tenacity, in getting this done – Finally.

Barack Obama has warned that it will take time to turn around the economy

US President Barack Obama has welcomed Congress’s approval of his $787bn (£548bn) economic stimulus package.

He described it as a “historic step” and “major milestone on our road to recovery”, and is expected to sign the bill into law early next week.

The Senate approved the measure with just three Republican votes, hours after the House of Representatives backed it without Republican support.

Mr Obama has said the plan will “save or create more than 3.5 million jobs”.

Republicans argue the tax cuts are insufficient, and that the economy will be saddled with debt for years to come.

Members of both houses of Congress reached a deal over the content of the stimulus package on Wednesday.

This historic step won’t be the end of what we do President Obama Battle exposes partisan rifts Send us your comments

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Washington says the first set-piece drama of the Obama era ended in a comfortable but not entirely unqualified victory for the president, who had hoped for more bipartisan support.

All 176 Republicans and seven Democrats voted against the revised package in the House. It was backed by 246 House Democrats.

The three rebel votes in the Senate were enough under Congress rules to stop the Republican Party using blocking tactics to delay the stimulus plan, and it passed 60-38.

‘Immediate investments’

In his weekly address, President Obama described his economy recovery package as “an ambitious plan at a time we badly need it”.

“This is a major milestone on our road to recovery, and I want to thank the members of Congress who came together in common purpose to make it happen,” he said.

“I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we’ll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done.

“This historic step won’t be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but the beginning.”

The approved version of the plan is split into 36% for tax cuts and 64% percent in spending and money for social programmes.

STIMULUS PACKAGE $240bn in tax breaks for individuals and businesses $140bn for health care $100bn for education $48bn for transportation projects Source: Associated Press

Running to more than 1,000 pages, it includes new road building, cash to pay police in hard-up cities, and tax breaks for consumers buying houses and cars.

The package also imposes new limits on cash bonuses and other incentive compensation for executives on Wall Street, which are much tougher than those proposed by the Obama administration last week.

The provision, inserted by Senate Democrats, targets senior executives at financial institutions receiving government bail-out funds.

The colossal package is all to be funded with borrowed money.

Republicans had insisted on larger tax cuts instead of big spending programmes.

Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said: “This isn’t Monopoly money. It’s real. It adds up, and it has to be paid back, by our children and by their children.”

The Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, praised the three Republicans who had voted for the bill and said it was the most important piece of legislation he had worked on.

“The country is in trouble and we’re so fortunate we were able to get it passed,” he said.

“It’s going to give this country a shot in the arm.”

Earlier, Mr Obama had said that in the longer term the government needed to rein in spending, and that “we are going to have to once again live within our means”.

The president told members of the Business Council in Washington that the package was “only the beginning of what I think all of you understand is going to be a long and difficult process of turning our economy around.”

Presidential pressure

“We have a once-in-a-generation chance to act boldly, and turn adversity into opportunity, and to use this crisis as a chance to transform our economy for the twenty-first century,” Mr Obama said.

Among the measures in the approved package is a “Buy American” clause that had caused alarm among US trading partners.

The EU and Canada said that provisions favouring American-produced materials for government projects risked provoking retaliatory protectionist measures.

In the face of this reaction, the clause was softened to a version requiring the government not to violate trade agreements.

Last week, the House had approved an earlier $825bn version of the package without any Republican support.

The Senate voted to approve a different $838bn version on Tuesday, with few Republicans opting to back it.

The two versions had to be reconciled in a joint House-Senate committee before facing final votes in the two chambers.

These next two BBC stories only serve to show their international plans being revealed – because they are in cahoots, globally.

Leading industrial countries have pledged to avoid protectionism as they battle the global economic crisis.

Finance ministers at a G7 meeting in Italy said raising barriers to free trade would make the downturn worse.

Hours earlier, the US Congress approved an $787bn economic recovery plan that includes a ‘Buy American’ clause.

G7 ministers said stabilising the world economy and financial markets was their priority. They said they would work together to support growth and jobs.

The ‘Buy American’ clause has raised fears that protectionism could be growing in the world’s largest economy.

The world-wide downturn means many Chinese workers are also seeking jobs

But in a statement after the meeting, new US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dismissed such concerns.

“All countries need to sustain a commitment to open trade and investment policies which are essential to economic growth and prosperity,” he said.

Ministers also called for urgent reform to the International Monetary Fund, saying the crisis had shown weaknesses in the world financial system.

“We agree that a reformed IMF, endowed with additional resources, is crucial to respond effectively and and flexibly to the current crisis,” the ministers’ statement said.

Other points included:

• Praise for recent economic moves by China;
• Help for banks; and
• The need for a speedy end to the Doha talks on world trade

The G7 comprises the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada.

The BBC’s correspondent at the meeting says it was billed as a meeting to discuss the broad issues of the economic crisis, not to decide major policy initiatives – and that’s what it was.

Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer (Finance Minister), Alistair Darling, said it was a stepping stone to a meeting in London in April of the G20 group, which also includes big emerging economies such as China and India.

Lloyds insists it is right to offer financial rewards to staff who hit targets

Lloyds Banking Group has defended plans to reward retail and commercial staff with bonuses, worth a reported £120m.

Its subsidiary HBOS – bought with government backing last year – is to record a loss of nearly £11bn, raising concerns it may need more state help.

But Lloyds, already 43% taxpayer-owned, said its employees deserved “financial recognition” for hitting targets.

Shadow business secretary Ken Clarke has accused ministers of overseeing a “shotgun marriage” of the two banks.

In most cases staff bonuses would amount to £1,000 or less for employees earning about £17,000 per year, the bank said.

The report comes amid speculation that the government – which has already poured £17bn into the group - may be forced to take a majority stake in Lloyds, or even nationalise it.

We have stretching performance targets and if they are met we believe it is right that colleagues receive some financial recognition Lloyds Banking Group statement

Mr Clarke accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of forcing through the tie-up between Lloyds and HBOS, which resulted in “disaster”.

“They should never have been allowed to merge. Lloyds TSB was a boring bank, it was a steady bank, it hadn’t done silly things,” he said.

Former chancellor Lord Lamont also criticised the government for “infecting” a good bank, calling the merger an “absolute scandal”.

However, Labour MP and former Treasury minister Geoffrey Robinson said: “The reality is – and everybody knows this – that we’ve got to get the banks operating again.

“We’ve re-capitalised them and now it’s up to them. I believe that they will do this because if not we shall have to take further measures.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling has insisted the government was forced to act quickly to save the entire banking system from collapse.

While he has not ruled out further taxpayer support for Lloyds, he has stressed that ministers feel banks are “best run in the commercial sector and privately owned”.

Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable has said it looks “increasingly as if Lloyds HBOS will now go into majority public ownership, followed inevitably by nationalisation”.

‘Financial recognition’

Lloyds’ share price plummeted on Friday, after chief executive Eric Daniels revealed the extent of HBOS’s expected losses.

However, the Sunday Telegraph claims Lloyds is still planning to hand over £120m in bonuses to staff.

It said the bank was in talks over the bonuses with UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the Government-owned body which oversees the taxpayer’s stake.

A UKFI spokesman refused to comment on the report.

A Lloyds spokesman said: “We are a retail and commercial bank where most colleagues earn approximately £17,000 a year.

“We have stretching performance targets and if they are met we believe it is right that colleagues receive some financial recognition.

“In most cases this means an annual bonus of £1,000 or less.”

Last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said he was “very angry” about proposed bank bonuses and wanted bankers to consider waiving their right to them.

He was speaking after reports suggested taxpayer-saved RBS group was to pay out £1bn in bonuses.

When the Government bought shares in Lloyds/HBOS and RBS last October it secured agreements that there would be no cash bonuses for board members this year.

However, no ban was imposed on payouts for staff below this level.

Unlike the plans being considered by RBS, Lloyds is not believed to be planning payouts for significant numbers of highly-paid City traders.

It is understood any bonus package would be smaller than last year’s reported £150m total.

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