the things I read...

what's wrong with this sentence?

2008-09-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

"We have people whose homes are totally and completely destroyed, all the way to the other end of the spectrum, to where your home is perfectly fine," city manager Steve LeBlanc said.

“This is a big package, because it was a big problem,” President Bush said...

equally so is it ms. or mrs. or speaker of the house?

Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would also insist on “enacting an economic recovery package that creates jobs and returns growth to our economy.”

FUCK YOU GOOGLE

2007-02-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

HEY BUSH AND YOUR BUDDY GOOGLE.....FUCK YOU. U FUCKING SCUM SUCKING MOTHER FUCKERS. YEAH I REALIZE THAT USING FOUL LANGUAGE ISN'T MY NORMAL THING NOR ARE ALL CAPS, BUT I AM ANGRY!!!!!!!!! TODAY I WASN'T EVEN AFFORDED THE CHOICE OF WHETHER I WANTED TO USE MY OLD BLOG OR TRY THE SO CALLED NEW BLOG. I WAS FORCED INTO THE GOOGLE SITE. FUCK GOOGLE AND THEIR WANTING TO COLLECT INFORMATION FOR BUSH & CO. I WILL TAKE OFF ALL MY INFORMATION, NOT THAT IT MATTERS NOW ANYWAY SINCE BUSH HAS ACCESS TO ALL OF OUR INFORMATION.

FUCK YOU GOOGLE AND YOUR 500.00 PER SAHRE FUCKING SELF. GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU FUCKING ARROGANT FUCKING ASSHOLES. REMEMBER THIS WHAT GOES UP...MUST COME DOWN.. AND WHEN YOU SLEEP WITH THE EVIL ONE, BE ASSURED THAT YOU'VE JUMPED IN THE WRONG BED, BUT BY THEN IT IS TOO LATE....DUMB FUCKERS..

IN AN ANGRY OUTBURST WHICH WAS CLEARLY MISDIRECTED I OPENLY ACCUSED GOOGLE OF SLEEPING WITH EVIL WHICH IS NOT TRUE. I HOPE THAT GOOGLE CONTINUES THEIR FIGHT AGAINST BUSH & CO. MY ISSUE IS AND REMAINS ABOUT 'CHOICE' GOOGLE TAKES CHOICE AWAY UNDER THE GUISE OF MAKING THE INTERNET EASIER. THEY'VE SINGLE HANDEDLY STRIPPED ME OF MY CHOICES, AND THIS IS A BUSINESS PRACTICE THAT I CANNOT ACCEPT.

SO FOR THIS BLOGGER IT IS BACK TO DOING BUSINESS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY BY USING MY OWN PERSONAL JOURNAL ON A REMOVABLE HARD DRIVE. I HAVE TO BID FAREWELL TO BLOGGING ON THE NET. THIS IS MY LAST POST. I'D LIKE TO SAY THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES GOOGLE, BUT THAT WOULD BE A LIE.

the forgotten war

2007-02-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 357

keeping count

2007-02-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 3121

amerika's most wanted mouth...

2007-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

White House adviser Karl Rove was overheard explaining the Bush amnesty immigration plan by saying, "I don't want my 17-year-old son to have to pick tomatoes or make beds in Las Vegas."

shifting blame

2007-02-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says

By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: February 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran.

on another note:

Deadliest bomb in Lebanon is Made by U.S. Israel says.

By TradeMan
Published: February 10, 2007

Somewhere, Feb. 10 –– The most lethal weapon directed against the Lebanese people during the recent Isreali-Hezbollah War was made by the U.S. This assertion comes through very reliable sources which at this present time request their names be withheld due to the highly sensitive nature of an ongoing investigation of the war continues.

will this hold true?

2007-02-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

BAGHDAD, Feb. 7 — With two more helicopter crashes near Baghdad, including a Marine transport crash on Wednesday that killed seven people, the number of helicopters that have gone down in Iraq over the past three weeks rose to six. American officials say the streak strongly suggests that insurgents have adapted their tactics and are now putting more effort into shooting down the aircraft...

...Historically, improved tactics in shooting down helicopters have proved to be important factors in conflicts in which guerrillas have achieved victories against major powers, including battles in Somalia, Afghanistan and Vietnam...

the forgotten war

2007-01-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 357

keeping count

2007-01-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 3081

deep thought of the day...

2007-01-31T09:08:00.000-08:00

With a Senate showdown just days away, No. 2 GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said he had concerns with each of a host of resolutions introduced so far on the war. If Republican leaders do not rally behind a single proposal, the party could avoid taking a clear, united stance on the widely unpopular Iraq war - a consequence Lott suggested he wouldn't mind.

"To herd the cat some times you have to let them stray," he said. "Think about that. Keeping them together by letting them stray."

keeping count

2007-01-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 3002

once an idiot

2006-12-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

Bush Warns of More U.S. Losses in Iraq
President Bush says he is inclined to believe that the United States needs to increase the size of the army and the Marines.

how is this a surprise?

2006-12-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

Researchers: US 'bribes' countries in order to 'sway' UN Security Council votes

RAW STORY
Published: Sunday December 17, 2006

The United States faces accusations of "bribing" countries in order to "sway" Security Council votes, after the publication of a report on foreign aid and bribery in the United Nations.

An article in Sunday's UK paper, The Observer, suggests that "in a detailed analysis of 50 years of data, Harvard University's Ilyana Kuziemko and Eric Werker provide the clearest evidence yet that money is used by the council's richest member to grease the wheels of diplomacy."

"The US uses its aid budget to bribe those countries which have a vote in the United Nations security council, giving them 59 per cent more cash in years when they have a seat, according to research by economists," The Observer's economics correspondent Heather Stewart writes.

the forgotten war

2006-12-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 356

keeping count

2006-12-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2946

sounds fishy to me...

2006-12-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

According to US secret services, however, Castro is believed to be close to death. He would succumb to his illness in the near future, US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an interview with the Washington Post on Friday.

"Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer ... months, not years," Negroponte was quoted as saying. The 67-year old diplomat has acted as the first US head of all secret services in the administration of US President George W Bush since 2005.

and [we] respect the saudis because?

2006-12-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq
By HELENE COOPER

Published: December 13, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that it might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according to American and Arab diplomats.

the forgotten war

2006-12-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 354

keeping count

2006-12-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2906

dumb quote of the day

2006-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

"People should understand these animals are out there not to attack people or humans. But they're out there to survive for themselves," said Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

keeping count

2006-11-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2872

pimp-slap this bitch

2006-11-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Nov 18, 7:56 AM (ET)

By KARIN LAUB

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israel should ignore moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, wipe out the Hamas leadership and walk away from the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel's new deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Saturday.

MEANWHILE:

Fri Nov 17, 2006
By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to deplore a deadly Israeli artillery attack in Gaza, six days after the United States vetoed a similar measure in the Security Council.

The assembly voted 156-7 with six abstentions to approve a resolution put forward by Arab states that also urged the Jewish state to immediately withdraw its troops from Gaza.

Voting "no" were the United States, Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. Abstaining were Canada, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the assembly resolution, like the one before the Security Council, was a "one-sided, unbalanced" text that raised questions about the world body's ability to confront global problems.

"We believe that the United Nations is ill-served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is little more than a self-serving and polemical attack against Israel or the United States," he said.

keeping count

2006-11-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2865

in bush amerika

2006-11-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

That 35 million people in this wealthy nation feel insecure about their next meal can be hard to believe, even in the highest circles. In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, then running for president, said he thought the annual USDA report -- which consistently finds his home state one of the hungriest in the nation -- was fabricated.

the forgotten war

2006-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 349

keeping count

2006-11-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2859

the 'unhappy' trio

2006-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

you add the caption

2006-11-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

knowing what many of us know now of bush and his fetishes i'll let many of you add the captions which best fit these photos.

keep these and matches away from children

2006-11-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

keeping count

2006-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2810

this is the most absurd pic. he needs a big thing in his mouth.

2006-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

someone slap this thing...

2006-10-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

you mean he can read...

2006-10-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bush claims Democratic Party's 'philosophical shift' began in Cold War era

Ron Brynaert
Published: Friday October 20, 2006

"It is interesting what's happened to the Democrat [sic] Party," said Bush. "You know, I'm reading a lot of history these days."

Bush praised Democratic Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy for understanding "the challenges of their time," their willingness "to confront those challenges with strong leadership," and their "great faith in the power of liberty and freedom."

"And then something began to change," Bush said.

"In 1972, the Democrats nominated a presidential candidate [George McGovern] who declared: I don't like communism, but I don't think we have any great obligation to save the world from it," the president continued. "In other words, there began a slow shift of philosophy in the Democrat [sic] Party."

Bush claimed that "at the height of the Cold War, a Democrat [sic] president told the country that America had gotten over, quote, 'inordinate fear of communism.'"

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter did use that phrase in a commencement speech, but it appears to have been a criticism of extremism taken out of context by Bush.

"Being confident of our own future, we are now free of that inordinate fear of communism which once led us to embrace any dictator who joined us in that fear," Carter said. "I’m glad that that’s being changed."

special thanks to cannonfire.blogspot.com

2006-10-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ever notice...?

In the stylized donkey image used by Democrats, the stars point upward. In the stylized elephant seen on all Republican web sites and campaign literature, the stars invariably point down.

The inversed pentacle is widely considered a symbol of black magic.

Who designed these symbols? I know that Thomas Nast came up with the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, but who came up with the widely-seen modern versions?

i guess he's talking to him right about...now

2006-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Top US General: The "Good Lord Tells" Rumsfeld What Is "Best For Our Country"...

something in south america stinks

2006-10-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

The US Military Descends on Paraguay
Written by Benjamin Dangl, The Nation
Monday, 17 July 2006

While hitchhiking across Paraguay a few years ago, I met welcoming farmers who let me camp in their backyards. I eventually arrived in Ciudad del Este, known for its black markets and loose borders. Now the city and farmers I met are caught in the crossfire of the US military's "war on terror."

On May 26, 2005, the Paraguayan Senate allowed US troops to train their Paraguayan counterparts until December 2006, when the Paraguayan Senate can vote to extend the troops' stay. The United States had threatened to cut off millions in aid to the country if Paraguay did not grant the troops entry. In July 2005 hundreds of US soldiers arrived with planes, weapons and ammunition. Washington's funding for counterterrorism efforts in Paraguay soon doubled, and protests against the military presence hit the streets.

Some activists, military analysts and politicians in the region believe the operations could be part of a plan to overthrow the left-leaning government of Evo Morales in neighboring Bolivia and take control of the area's vast gas and water reserves. Human rights reports from Paraguay suggest the US military presence is, at the very least, heightening tensions in the country.

Paraguay Revokes U.S. Military Immunity
Written by Jessica Weisberg and Benjamin T. Brown
Thursday, 05 October 2006

(Editor's note: Article updated, corrected on 10-13-06)

On October 2, the Paraguayan government announced its decision to revoke U.S. immunity as soon as their current contract expires in December 2006. The US military has carried out military exercises in Paraguay since July 2005. Since then the troops have enjoyed technical and administrative immunity, exempting them from trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that the US will not continue to provide military support without immunity for its soldiers. However, on October 3, 2006 President Bush signed a waiver allowing for military aid in countries that have refused to sign immunity agreements with the US military. The waiver affects 21 countries, including Paraguay.    Historically, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and President George W. Bush have enjoyed what Brazilian President Lula calls a "political matrimony." (quote from Ultimahora)  Paraguay´s decision represents a political alliance with the countries in the MercoSur trade block, which includes Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela.    Orlando Castillo, director of SERPAJ, a human rights organization based in Paraguay, stated that Frutos´decision does not necessarily represent an ideological shift of Paraguay´s center-right government. Castillo explained that regional solidarity would require major reforms in all sectors of the Paraguayan government. Furthermore, military representatives from the CIA, DEA, and FBI will continue to hold immunity in Paraguay.

Bush Family Residence in Paraguay?
Written by April Howard
Wednesday, 11 October 2006

The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor. Acosta said that some stories credited the land to the Fundación Patria, which Bush would be a member of. The spokespeople of the organization were not available to comment. Supposedly, Timothy Towell , the U.S. Ambassador in Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) is the present administrator of the land. First accounts signaled that Bush had acquired 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) in the Chaco zone of Fuerte Olimpo, near the Bolivian Border. A spark of the interest in this property may have been Jenna Bush's private visit to Paraguay with Unicef, which started Saturday, October 7, 2006. Supposedly Jenna will travel to the ranch to ''observe'' several indigenous villages are located on the property.

And there's more:

BREAKING, UPDATE, LITTLE SIREN GRAPHIC:

We’ve been directed to yet another parapolitical theory here at Rigorous Intuition, where it is reported that Rev. Moon bought 600,000 hectares — that’s 1,482,600 acres — in the same place: Chaco, Paraguay.

Another twist: The first story, from Paraguay, apparently refers to the senior George Bush as the owner of the 98.840 acres in Moon’s neighborhood.

Bush 41 was the first bigshot politician to go prancing around with Rev. Moon in public. Especially in South America:
“In the early stages of the Reagan Revolution that embraced the Washington Times and Moon’s anti-Communist movement, it was embarrassing to be caught at a Moon event,” wrote The Gadflyer last year. “Until George H.W. Bush appeared with Moon in 1996, thanking him for a newspaper that ‘brings sanity to Washington.’” That was while on an extended trip to South America in Moon’s company. A Reuters’ story of Nov 25 of that year describes the former president as “full of praise” for Moon at a banquet in Buenos Aires, toasting him as “the man with the vision.” (And Moon helped Bush out with his own vision thing, paying him $100,000 for the pleasure of his company.) Bush and Moon then traveled together to Uruguay, “to help him inaugurate a seminary in the capital, Montevideo, to train 4,200 young Japanese women to spread the word of his Church of Unification across Latin America.”
Isn’t that special?

Oh, and both the Moonie and Bush land is located at what Paraguay’s drug czar called an “enormously strategic point in both the narcotics and arms trades.” And it sits atop the one of the world’s largest fresh-water aquifers.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE GOOD PEOPLE AT WONKETTE AND CANNONFIRE FOR BRINGING THESE INTERESTING BITS OF UNREPORTED NEWS TO THE FOREFRONT.

willing to do whatever it took...

2006-10-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Karl Rove was willing to do whatever it took to get his man elected as far back as 1968, according to schoolmates at Olympus High School in Utah.

the new face for halloween

2006-10-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

keeping count

2006-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2782

the forgotten war

2006-10-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 340

keeping count

2006-10-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2737

how things will shape up around november

2006-10-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Joseph Stalin.

Cheney: GOP ‘will retain control’
(AP )Vice President Dick Cheney rejects predictions that the Democrats will take control of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections.

Bill Sammon, The Examiner
Oct 5, 2006

ABOARD AIR FORCE TWO - Vice President Dick Cheney said he “can’t tell” how a Republican sex scandal will impact next month’s elections, but insisted “it makes no sense” for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign.

In his first public remarks on the burgeoning scandal, Cheney told The Washington Examiner in an exclusive interview that fellow Republican Hastert, R-Ill., should reject Democratic calls for his resignation.

“I’m a huge Denny Hastert fan — I think he’s a great speaker,” Cheney said in his private cabin aboard Air Force Two. “And it makes no sense at all for him to think about stepping down.”

Cheney aides described the vice president as repulsed by allegations that former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent salacious e-mails and instant messages to teenage boys working as congressional pages. At the same time, Cheney is determined not to let the scandal overshadow campaign issues that he considers far more important — national security and the economy.

“I think we’ve got good stuff to work with,” he said during a flight from Houston to Washington. “The Foley thing, again, as to how that cuts, I can’t tell.”

Cheney flatly rejected predictions by pundits that Democrats will take control of the House and Senate in November.

“We will retain control of both houses,” he said.

If Cheney is wrong, some believe Democrats will spend the next two years investigating the Bush administration with subpoenas and hearings. Some Democrats have already called for Bush to be censured, while others have hinted at impeachment proceedings.

“I don’t think we fear investigations,” Cheney said. “I don’t think they [Democrats] would get much done, if that’s all they’ve got. And I don’t think there’s great enthusiasm on the part of the country for that.

“But I think the stronger argument is basic questions on the economy, tax policy on the one hand and national security on the other.”

As for national security, Cheney rejected the notion that Democrats will win the argument if they decouple the Iraq war from the broader war on terror.

“They are linked,” he said. “Democrats may not like that, but Osama bin Laden himself says Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. It just is.

“They may try to wish it away, but the bottom line is they don’t have a policy, they don’t have a strategy, they don’t really have an effective philosophy for battling the global war on terror. They still, left to their own devices, probably would do what John Kerry seemed to focus on, and that’s law enforcement. It’s got to be a lot more than law enforcement.”

Cheney said that even if the focus of the campaign remains on Iraq, as opposed to the larger war on terror, the debate redounds to the benefit of Republicans because Democrats such as Rep. John, D-Pa., Murtha want to withdraw U.S. forces.

“I don’t think the majority of the American people want to withdraw from Iraq,” Cheney said. “I think they’d prefer we complete the mission given to us.

“I also think it’s important, if you’re going to be responsible in this debate, that if you find things to criticize about Iraq — it’s taking too long, we underestimated the difficulties of the task — you have to consider the consequences of a withdrawal from Iraq on all the other things you’re doing in the global war on terror.”

For example, he said, it would adversely affect U.S. allies such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The United States is no longer a trusted ally if al-Qaida is right in its claim that the U.S. doesn’t have the stomach for the fight,” he said. “You’ll have a hard time ever getting more allies to assist in this long-term struggle against the Islamic extremists. It’s the worst possible thing you could do.”

Cheney was also forceful in his warnings that Democrats will raise taxes if they take control of Congress. He pointed out that Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., who would be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, recently said he “cannot think of one” tax cut from President Bush’s first term that should be extended.

“He doesn’t believe there’s a single tax cut that should be extended,” Cheney said. “If he simply doesn’t act, as chairman, those taxes are going up. And I think that has significance for every family in the country.”

As Cheney spoke, stock prices skated across a flat screen television on the wall that was displaying news coverage of the country’s economy.

“I’m sitting here watching — we’re up 122 points — a new all-time record high,” he said of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. “And unemployment’s down, inflation’s down, productivity’s up, gasoline prices have gone down significantly. If you look at the basic underlying fundamentals of how the country’s doing, it’s pretty damn well.”

Earlier in the day, Cheney had appeared with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to raise $196,000 for the Texas Republican’s would-be successor, write-in candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

It was Cheney’s 108th campaign event this season, bringing his haul for the cycle to $38.9 million, all of which will be used in the effort to elect Republicans.

“It is important to have a national perspective on a campaign,” he said. “It does have consequences — not just in terms of a selection of an individual to represent a particular district. There are major consequences that will flow from the collective decision the American people make on Nov. 7.”

so much for victory

2006-10-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

is mark foley a diversion?

2006-10-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

Last Updated:
10-04-06 at 3:14PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi authorities pulled a brigade of about 700 policemen out of service Wednesday in its biggest move ever to uproot troops linked to death squads, aiming to signal the government's seriousness in cleansing Baghdad of sectarian violence.

The government move came amid steadily mounting violence, particularly in the capital. A U.S. military spokesman said the past week had seen the highest number of car bombs and roadside bombs in Baghdad this year.

Four U.S. soldiers patrolling in Baghdad were killed by gunmen on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, also announcing the deaths of two other soldiers a day earlier in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk. The deaths brought to 21 the number of Americans killed in combat since Saturday.

the other face of stupidity

2006-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

he said, she said...

2006-09-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Clark: Bush 'derelict in his duty' 
Former NATO chief speaks at 'family day'

By Elisabeth J. Beardsley The Courier-Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Former NATO commander Wesley Clark told Kentucky Democrats yesterday that President Bush has been "derelict in his duty as commander in chief."

Speaking to a gathering at the Kentucky Democratic Party's second annual "family day" event in Frankfort, Clark said former President Bill Clinton warned Bush personally during the presidential transition about Osama bin Laden.

"For eight months, Bush did nothing -- nothing. No plan. No action. No diplomacy. No intelligence. No meetings," Clark said.

Clinton did not leave plans to fight al Qaeda: Rice
Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:12am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly disputed a claim by former President Bill Clinton that he left a comprehensive plan to fight al Qaeda when his term ended.

But Rice, who was national security advisor at the time of the September 11 attacks, strongly disagreed with Clinton's version of events during an interview on Monday with the New York Post.

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," Rice said in a transcript of her comments released by the State Department.

i doubt it's what the brits want

2006-09-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Blair Rival Makes Pitch to Lead Labor Party
By ALAN COWELL
Published: September 26, 2006

MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 25 — Projecting himself as passionate and private, magnanimous and modest — above all, a contender — Gordon Brown on Monday opened what could be the final chapter of his campaign to replace Tony Blair as Britain’s prime minister, promising a pro-American government with “soul.”

Is a pro-Amerikan government what the British people want or need?

dated today, but this story sounds too familiar

2006-09-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

For Bush, War Anguish Expressed Privately
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 25, 2006; A01

FALMOUTH, Maine -- They sat on two frayed chairs in a teacher's lounge, the president and the widow, just the two of them so close that their knees were almost touching.

She was talking about her husband, the soldier who died in a far-off war zone. Tears rolled down her face as she mentioned two children left fatherless. His eyes welled up, too. He hugged her, held her face, kissed her cheek. "I am so sorry for your loss," he kept repeating.

keeping count

2006-09-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2701

more missing computers..believe it or not...

2006-09-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Dept.
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A03

More than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001, including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers, federal officials said yesterday.

This disclosure by the department came in response to a request by the House Committee on Government Reform, which this summer asked 17 federal departments to detail any loss of computers holding sensitive personal information.

Of the 10 departments that have responded, the losses at Commerce are "by far the most egregious," said David Marin, staff director for the committee. He added that the silence of the remaining seven departments could reflect their reluctance to reveal problems of similar magnitude.

In a private briefing yesterday for three members of Congress, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez estimated that the disappearance of laptops from the Census Bureau could have compromised the personal information of about 6,200 households, Marin said. He said the department was still trying to determine the extent of the problem.

"We don't know exactly how many computers were lost or whether personal information was compromised," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who chairs the House Government Reform Committee and attended the briefing. "The secretary has assured me that getting that information is priority number one, and I'm confident he'll get his arms around the problem."

Commerce officials told the congressmen that the inventory of missing laptops had escalated rapidly in recent weeks as the department investigated the disappearances. Marin said the committee was concerned that that number could increase significantly as Commerce officials learn more about missing handheld computers, which are increasingly being used in the Census Bureau.

Commerce officials said in a statement that they knew of no instances in which information from the missing laptops had been improperly accessed, adding that all the equipment contained safeguards that would prevent a breach of personal data.

"The amount of missing computers is high, but fortunately, the vulnerability for data misuse is low," Gutierrez said in the statement.

With its disclosure, Commerce is the latest federal agency to admit in recent months that it had lost laptops with sensitive personal data. In May, an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs lost a laptop containing unencrypted information on about 26.5 million people. Three months later, Veterans Affairs acknowledged that a second computer, with information on about 38,000 hospital patients in Pennsylvania, was also missing.

The Federal Trade Commission has lost two laptops with files containing people's financial account numbers, and the Department of Agriculture announced that one of its laptops had disappeared along with personal information on about 350 employees.

Gutierrez and his staff told the congressmen that 1,137 laptops had been stolen, lost or otherwise vanished since 2001, mostly from the Census Bureau and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Of these, 249 contained personally identifiable information, nearly all from the Census Bureau. All were password-protected, a low-level safeguard. Only 107 of the computers were fully encrypted.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

more racism on the way...

2006-09-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Norwood Blasts Immigrants, Violates House Rules

Brian Beutler
Published: Friday September 22, 2006

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In what may have been a violation of ethics rules, Congressman Charlie Norwood (R-GA) issued a press release yesterday slamming pro-immigrant groups and their supporters in Congress, RAW STORY has learned.

In a letter dated yesterday and on official Senate letterhead, Norwood went so far as to call on voters to elect out of office any member of congress who failed to support a bill that would empower different law enforcement groups to work in concert to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

But House Administration rules prohibit congressmen and senators from using their legislative offices to conduct electioneering activities.

Members of the House Administration committee did not immediately respond to an email and call for comment.

The National Council of La Raza, (NCLR) the main group targeted by Norwood, issued a rejoinder demanding an apology and requesting that he reimburse the U.S. Treasury for any misused funds.

In yet another response today, Norwood issued a conditional apology, contingent upon a series of demands to NCLR--including renouncing any claims that any current U.S. territory rightfully belongs to Mexico.

Norwood's two letters on the matter are reprinted below:

#

U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood, Ninth District, Georgia For immediate release: September 20, 2006 La Raza Mounts Drive to Suppress US Law Enforcement Key Reformer Calls for American Voters to Fight Blitzkrieg by Radical Group

(Washington, DC) - The ability of state and local police to fight criminal illegal aliens will be undermined by legal intimidation if a mass lobbying campaign by the radical National Council of La Raza (NCLR) succeeds in blocking passage of a critical House immigration reform bill this week, according to U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), the leading proponent of supporting local officers in the fight against criminal aliens.

The House is scheduled to vote on HR 6089 containing key elements of Norwood's CLEAR Act, which would provide funding, training, and resources for state and local law enforcement agencies who voluntarily assist federal officers in apprehension and detention of criminal illegal aliens while in the course of their routine duties such as traffic stops and drug arrests.

NCLR, a pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland, has mounted an all-out campaign to prevent state and local police from voluntarily aiding critically undermanned federal authorities. Norwood says the bill does not target the majority of the 12-20 million illegal immigrants in America, but only serious felons.

"There are the equivalent of 3,000 federal agents trying to arrest 500,000 criminal illegal aliens, of whom 80,000 are violent felons," says Norwood. "That's impossible, and that's why we keep seeing convicted child molesters, rapists, and murderers turned back on our streets instead of being deported. HR 6089 simply reinforces the inherent authority of our 700,000 state and local police to help in this fight, and that's why this anti-American group is mounting a blitzkrieg against it - it evens the odds against these scumbags for the first time in decades."

Norwood called for all law-abiding American citizens to call their House member and demand a yes vote for the bill. "For those who haven't figured it out yet, the entire illegal immigration crisis we suffer is due 100% from our failure to enforce existing law. The other side - La Raza, MEChA, Aztlan - knows this very well, and knows that the continued suppression of US law enforcement efforts is essential to permanently destroying our borders."

"If Americans don't wake up now, they'll wake up one day soon to find their nation has been stolen by La Raza and pals," says Norwood. "Call your House member today to vote YES on HR 6089 - or throw them out of office November 7."

U.S. Rep. Charlie 2452 Rayburn Building, Washington, DC 20515 On the Web: http://www.house.gov/norwood Phone (202) 225-4101; Fax (202) 226-0776
Contact: John Stone; John.Stone@mail.house.gov

#

NEWS RELEASE

U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood, Ninth District, Georgia

For immediate release: September 20, 2006

Norwood Offers Conditioned Apology to La Raza

(Washington, DC) - U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood today offered to issue an apology to the National Council of La Raza for statements made in an earlier news release which accused the organization of association with and support of anti-American and racist groups, on the condition NCLR would agree in writing to the following seven points, and publish the seven points with unequivocal NCLR endorsement of the same prominently on their website:

Denounce and sever all ties with MEChA and any other organizations with which they are now or have ever been associated or funded which held to the racist doctrines published by MEChA.

Denounce the statement "For La Raza to do. Fuera de La Raza nada," as repugnant, racist, and totally incompatible with American society or citizenship.

Repudiate all claims that any current American territory rightfully belongs to Mexico.

Acknowledge the right of all Americans to live wherever they choose in the United States, and that no section or region of this country should be segregated by race or ethnic heritage.

Commit to sponsorship of nationwide educational programs to combat racism and anti-Semitism in the Hispanic community.

Seek neutral, third party supervision to ensure that all community and individual assistance programs offered by La Raza and groups supported by La Raza are accessible to all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity, and that participation in those programs is fully compliant with Equal Opportunity laws.

Acknowledge the internationally recognized borders of the United States, the right of the citizens of the United States to determine immigration policy through the democratic process, and the right of the United States to undertake any and all necessary steps including military action to effectively enforce immigration law and defend its borders against unauthorized entry.

Norwood further requested that NCLR immediately release records of how much of the organization's funds are being used to lobby Congress for specific legislative initiatives. NCLR mounted a nationwide lobbying drive this week in a failed attempt to block immigration reform in the House of Representatives. The organization is registered with the IRS as a 501c3 non-profit charity, which is strictly limited by IRS rules in their ability to lobby Congress or other legislative bodies, or conduct get-out-the-vote campaigns.

Skeleton sheds light on ape-man species

2006-09-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

and the church's that support bush & co.? umm

2006-09-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

IRS Investigating Liberal Calif. Church
LOS ANGELES, Sep. 16, 2006

(AP) The Internal Revenue Service has ordered a prominent liberal church to turn over documents and e-mails it produced during the 2004 election year that contain references to political candidates.

The IRS is investigating whether All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena violated the federal tax code when its former rector, Rev. George F. Regas, delivered an anti-war sermon on the eve of the last presidential election.

Tax-exempt organizations are barred from intervening in political campaigns and elections, and the church could lose its tax-exempt status.

Rev. Ed Bacon received a summons Thursday ordering the church to present any politically charged sermons, newsletters and electronic communications by Sept 29.

Bacon was ordered to testify before IRS officials Oct. 11. He said he will inform his roughly 3,500 congregants about the investigation at Sunday's services, and will seek their advice on whether to comply.

"There is a lot at stake here," Bacon said. "If the IRS prevails, it will have a chilling effect on the practice of religion in America."

An IRS spokesperson declined comment on the investigation.

In a sermon two days before the 2004 election, Regas did not urge parishioners to support President Bush or challenger John Kerry but was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts, Bacon said in an interview last November when the investigation was announced.

"He explicitly said, 'I am not telling you how to vote.' That is the golden boundary we did not cross," he said.

All Saints has a long history of social activism, dating back to World War II, when its rector spoke out against the internment of Japanese Americans. Regas, who headed the church for 28 years before retiring in 1995, was well-known for opposing the Vietnam War, championing female clergy and supporting gays and lesbians in the church.

The IRS has revoked a church's charitable designation at least once. A church in Binghamton, N.Y., lost its status after running advertisements against Bill Clinton's candidacy before the 1992 presidential election.

how smug...

2006-09-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

the forgotten war

2006-09-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 338

keeping count

2006-09-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2680

wonder what else they're giving the troops that we don't even know about

2006-09-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Experimental drug given to British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
· Troops could launch lawsuits, warns expert
· Veterans' groups criticise 'guinea pig' decision

James Randerson, science correspondent
Saturday September 16, 2006
The Guardian

Soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are being treated with an experimental blood-clotting drug that has not been fully tested.
Because randomised controlled trials have not yet been carried out into the drug's effectiveness, it is impossible to know whether it is doing more harm than good to patients.

Veterans' support groups have criticised the Ministry of Defence action. One trauma expert has said soldiers treated with the drug could sue the MoD if trials produce evidence it is harmful.

Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat MP who is chairman of the science and technology select committee, described the MoD's decision as "a dereliction of its duty of care that indicates a moral bankruptcy within the military".
The drug, called NovoSeven, was originally licensed in 1999 as a treatment to stem bleeding in haemophiliacs.

It is undergoing trials for use to stop bleeding in trauma patients with severe wounds and bleeding within the brains of patients with severe head injuries. But its effectiveness and safety as a blood-clotting agent in these circumstances has not been proven.

Inquiries by the Guardian have established that the MoD has authorised its use in battlefield trauma casualties.

Ian Roberts, an expert in trauma care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "The point is that it is hugely expensive. Like all treatments there is potential for harm and it is not licensed for use."

Professor Roberts wrote to the defence secretary, Des Browne, on August 8 to ask whether the MoD had approved NovoSeven - also called Recombinant Factor VIIa - for use on British servicemen and women. It is thought that the US and Israeli militaries are also using the drug.

"My concern is that the MoD may be wasting resources on expensive treatments that may do more harm than good when it could be investing in high quality research that has the potential to improve the care of combat casualties world-wide," he wrote.

Prof Roberts has not received a reply, but the MoD confirmed to the Guardian that the drug was being used in trauma patients injured on the battlefield.

Veterans' support groups were dismayed. "It seems to us wrong that the military would almost use soldiers as guinea pigs for drugs that have yet to have a proven safety record," said Andrew Burgin of Military Families Against the War, a group with 600 members.

Michael Shalmi, a scientist at Novo Nordisk, the Danish company that manufactures the drug, said: "It is far too early to say whether the benefits of NovoSeven in [the head trauma] context outweigh the risk on a definitive basis." He said a single dose of the drug would cost between £750 and £3,000 depending on the size, and confirmed that data from the drug's use by the MoD and US Department of Defence would not be fed into the company's randomised controlled trials of the drug.

In its response to the Guardian, the MoD said: "Use of Recombinant Factor VIIa in by the defence medical services (DMS) has been authorised after an extensive review of the current evidence. It is strictly controlled in the DMS and only authorised when conventional resuscitation measures have failed."

But Prof Roberts said that even the severely injured should not be given an experimental treatment. "Just because someone's at a high risk of death, it doesn't mean the treatment can't increase their risk of death." In his letter, he said the MoD might be open to legal challenges if clinical trials subsequently find the drug is harmful to trauma patients. But the MoD denies it is putting personnel at risk.

Martin Shalley, president of the British Association for Emergency Medicine, said it was not unprecedented for drugs to be used "off label," in situations where they have not been fully tested. Doctors sometimes had to take a pragmatic approach.

Neither Novo Nordisk nor the MoD could confirm how many patients have been treated with NovoSeven.

good for him

2006-09-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Bush's second choice for Vice President to assail GOP over Schiavo, gay rights

John Byrne
Published: Friday September 15, 2006

Exclusive: Republican shortlisted to be Bush's Vice President to lay out most explicit case for gay rights; Blasts Frist, GOP handling of Schiavo case

The former Missouri senator shortlisted to be then-Governor Bush's running mate in the 2000 presidential election -- said to have been second choice only to Vice President Cheney -- will come out vehemently against administration and Congressional Republican policy in a book to be published next week., according to an advance copy obtained by RAW STORY.

John Danforth, who retired in 1995 after four terms in the Senate, briefly served as Bush's ambassador to the United Nations but resigned after Condoleezza Rice was tapped to be Secretary of State. According to CNN, he was second on the list of Bush's potential vice presidential choices in 2000.

In Faith and Politics, to be released Tuesday, Danforth blasts the alignment of the Republican Party with the Christian right, lays out his most aggressive pro-gay stance to date and attacks the handling of the Terri Schiavo case.

Some people have asked me whether America is a Christian country. The answer must be no, for to call this a Christian country is to say that non-Christians are of some lesser order, not full fledged citizens of one nation." Danforth is himself an ordained Episcopal minister.
Danforth calls the Terri Schiavo case -- where Congress intervened to attempt to keep a severely brain-damaged woman from being taken off life support -- "Big Brotherism."

"That the federal government could intervene in the Schiavo case was a threat to all the families that had seen their loved ones suffer through terminal illness," he writes.

It was a threat to people who were terrified that their own lives might someday be artificially extended in nightmarish circumstances. It was a threat to some of our most heartfelt values. It was Big Brotherism in the extreme, an exercise of the raw and awesome power of the federal government.
"They intervened not in the name of principle, but at the expense of principle," Danforth avers. "They abandoned principle by deciding a medical question without any firsthand knowledge of what they were doing."

Congressional Republicans face specific criticism. An attack on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) derides the Republican Senate leader for attempting to diagnose Schiavo without seeing the patient.

One views with a degree of pathos the role of William Frist, MD, graduate of Harvard Medical School and potential presidential candidate, who diagnosed a medical condition without examining the patient.

The former Missouri senator also comes out swinging for gay rights -- a cause he has championed since his retirement from the Senate. But in Faith and Politics, he lays out his most ardent support to date. Despite having a gay daughter, Vice President Cheney has remained relatively mum on the issue -- except to say that he disagrees with Bush over a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Danforth goes further.

"I believe that homosexuality is a matter of sexual orientation rather than preference," he writes. "Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is, in my view, comparable to discrimination on other civil rights grounds. It is wrong, and it should be prohibited by law."

"I think that the only purpose served by the campaign for the amendment is the humiliation of gay Americans, advocated by the Christian right and eagerly supported by its suitors in the Republican Party," he adds. "In reality, it is gay bashing."

Danforth then goes even further, saying supporters' assertions that the amendment would protect marriage is ludicrous.

"America's divorce rate is now over 50 percent, and marriage is under attack from a number of quarters: finances, promiscuity, alcohol and drugs, the pressures of work, cultural acceptance of divorce, et cetera," he pens. "But it is incomprehensible that one of these threats is when someone else, whom we have never seen, in a place where we may have never been, has done something we don't like."

up to their tricks...

2006-09-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

NYT looks 'behind-the-scenes' at JAG signing in support of Bush's torture bill

RAW STORY
Published: Friday September 15, 2006

Saturday's New York Times looks "behind-the-scenes" at the signing of a letter in support of President Bush's torture bill by top military lawyers on the eve of a Senate Committee vote which the Administration ended up losing after four Republicans "revolted."

According to the JAG (judge advocates general) lawyers, they never changed their position, and the ensuing "political scuffle" that followed "has left at least some of the military lawyers embittered, and has stoked old tensions at the Pentagon between civilian leaders and uniformed military officers, who under Donald H. Rumsfeld have often found themselves privately at odds."

The Times article, credited to Mark Mazzetti, Neil A. Lewis and Tim Golden, comes on the heels of a letter written by Democratic Senators requesting a probe of the JAG meeting, after Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham claimed that the military lawyers had been "cajoled" by the White House to sign a pre-written statement.

"On Wednesday evening, the night before a crucial Senate vote on the Bush administration's plan for the interrogation and trial of terrorism suspects, William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon's general counsel, summoned the senior unformed lawyers from each military service to a meeting," begins the Times article.

"The lawyers, known as judge advocates general, had been pivotal players in years of debate over detention, interrogation and prosecution," the article continues. "They had repeatedly sparred behind the scenes with Haynes, the top civilian lawyer in the Defense Department."

"But at the meeting on Wednesday, Haynes sought to enlist the lawyers on the administration's side by asking whether any would object to signing a letter lending their support to aspects of the White House proposal over which they had voiced very little concern," the article continues. "The lawyers agreed, but only after hours of negotiating over specific words, so that they would not appear to be wholly endorsing the plan."

According to TPMmuckraker, "Haynes has a bad history with the JAGs -- and with the Senate."

"Nominated by President Bush for a federal judgeship, Haynes told a Senate panel that he had shown key drafts of the interrogation policy to the JAGs," wrote TPM's Justin Rood. "But the Air Force's judge advocate general, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, told the panel that it simply wasn't true."

"That ticked off several senators, including a number of Republicans," Rood adds, before noting that Haynes didn't end up being confirmed and was instead renominated in August.

Excerpts from Times article:

#

Early on Thursday morning, White House allies distributed the letter that the lawyers had signed, as evidence that the group, known as JAGs, now supported the administration plan. That prompted loud protests from Republican senators opposed to the plan, who dismissed the letter on grounds that the lawyers would only have signed it under pressure.

The truth lies somewhere in between, according to one of the senior lawyers and other current and former military officials familiar with their views.

"I didn't have any problem signing what I signed," said Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., the Air Force Deputy Judge Advocate General, in an interview on Friday. "How people use it and what they use it for I can't control." Dunlap represented his service at the meeting because the top-ranking lawyer was out of town.

tell fox to blow it out their ass

2006-09-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Video: FOX, CNN reports focus on Cuban billboards painting Bush as 'bloodsucking' vampire or Hitler

David Edwards and Ron Brynaert
Published: Friday September 15, 2006

While the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement or nations) presidential summit meets in Cuba, news reports on FOX and CNN spotlighted billboards which mock President George Bush.

One billboard shows Bush as an "assassin" with bloody, vampire teeth, while others compare the U.S. president to Adolph Hitler.

"More than 55 heads of state - including Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Manmohan Singh of India, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Aleksander Lukashenko of Belarus, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Evo Morales of Bolivia - have travelled to Havana, the self- proclaimed 'capital of the Third World' for the NAM summit," reports Deutsche Presse Agentur.

According to the FOX News anchor Jane Skinner, the summit was a "meeting of a who's who of world leaders who hate America." A graphic displayed during the FOX report announced that the "summit of world leaders who hate America kicks off in Cuba."

While CNN's segment entitled "Havana Hostility" focused on the billboards, FOX interspersed shots of the signs during a speech given by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in which he pledged support for Iran.

Michael E. Parmly, Chief of Mission-Designate for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, tells CNN that the billboards are undiplomatic, vulgar and "not worthy of the Cuban people." Although the U.S. doesn't have diplomatic relations with Cuba, Parmly is the "top US diplomat" stationed there.

they're comig to get you barbara.

2006-09-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Bush assails Powell remark, says terrorists 'are coming again'

RAW STORY
Published: Friday September 15, 2006

In a highly combative exchange with reporters, United States President George W. Bush has told reporters today that terrorists will strike the United States again, RAW STORY has learned.

In arguing for legislation that would define US interpretation of the Geneva Conventions in a way that many would argue would allow certain forms of torture, Bush said, "I wish I could tell the American people, 'don't worry about it.' They're not coming again. But they are coming again."

"Time is running out," the President concluded.

Bush also struck out at comments by former Secretary of State Colin Powell regarding the moral standing of the United States' war on terror.

"It's unacceptable," a visibly angered Bush told the press, "to think there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists, who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."

Bush also indicated that he will not be meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--even though the two will be in the same Manhattan building, at the same time, next week. "I'm not going to meet with him," Bush said flatly. "I have made it clear to the Iranian regime that we will sit down with the Iranians once they verifiably suspend their enrichment program. I meant what I said."

Bush's interaction with certain reporters also, at times, became unusually combative.

At one point, an angered Bush answered one reporter's request for a follow-up question with a sharp, "No, you can't."

One CNN commentator went so far as to call the President's behavior "belligerent" immediately after the conference.

repeating history...

2006-09-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

US warns Nicaraguans not to back Ortega
Updated: 8 minutes ago

The US ambassador to Nicaragua has issued a vigorous warning to this small Central American country's electors against supporting Daniel Ortega, the veteran leftwing Sandinista leader and the frontrunner in November's presidential election.

In a frank interview with the FT, Paul Trivelli said Mr Ortega was "undemocratic" and would roll back much of the advances made in recent years. And, underlining the concern felt in Washington about the regional influence of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, the ambassador said he had no doubt that Venezuela was playing an important role in the election.

"It's one thing to be truly democratic. It's another thing to do what the Sandinistas really have done, which is to distort and manipulate democracy for partisan and personal benefit," Mr Trivelli said. "The fact that [Mr Ortega] has been in charge of the Sandinista movement for 25 years or more gives you a clue about his democratic tendencies."

The ambassador said that an Ortega victory – while vague on many issues, the 60-year-old former rebel leader has talked of increasing the role of the state and renegotiating Cafta, the trade agreement between the US and Central America – would force Washington to "re-evaluate" relations.

"He has made it pretty clear what kind of model he would put in place. And I think that under those conditions . . . [bilateral relations] would definitely be re-examined – and not only by the executive or the State Department or the White House but by the US Congress."

The US has had a long and – in many cases – unfortunate history in Nicaragua. During the 1980s it earned international criticism for its illegal funding of the so-called Contra war against Mr Ortega's democratically elected administration.

But Mr Trivelli insisted the US was simply trying to "bring back that balance a bit" in a political landscape in which the Sandinista party had helped "hijack" Nicaragua's democratic institutions.

"If the electoral machinery worked well and if the political landscape were level, the US ambassador, any other country, would sit on the sidelines and say, 'may the best man win'. In a country like Nicaragua that is obviously not the case."

It is also no secret that the US is determined to prevent the spread of populist politics along the lines practised by Mr Chávez.

Mr Trivelli said he had no doubt that Venezuela under its radical leftwing president was playing a role in Nicaragua's elections, and that it was using social programmes and a controversial oil deal with the country's mayors' association to influence the vote in favour of Mr Ortega, who leads his closest rival by about six points, according to a recent opinion poll.

Mr Trivelli defended the pro-market policies adopted under Nicaragua's current centre-right president, Enrique Bolaños, and criticised the populist policies of Mr Chávez. "The model that has been chosen and the model that works is real democracy, market economies and security . . . The Venezuelan model is obviously different from that."

Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.

this just screams WTF? i mean what did they think her script was?

2006-09-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Thu Sep 14, 10:43 AM ET

LONDON - British author J.K. Rowling says she won an argument with airport security officials in New York to carry the manuscript of the final " Harry Potter" book as carryon baggage.

Had security agents not relented, she said on her Web site, she might not have flown, she said in a posting dated Wednesday.

"I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't — sailed home probably," she wrote.

The author had participated in a book reading for charity on Aug. 1 with fellow writers Stephen King and John Irving. Security was drastically tightened after Aug. 10 when British police said they had intercepted a plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.

"The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven.

"A large part of it is handwritten and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the U.S."

Eventually, she added, "They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands."

Rowling said she was still considering two possible titles for the last of the boy wizard's adventures.

"I was quite happy with one of them until the other one struck me while I was taking a shower in New York," she wrote.

"They would both be appropriate, so I think I'll have to wait until I'm further into the book to decide which one works best."

this is a little late in coming, but at least it isn't premature ejaculation

2006-09-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

World Cup Sex Rate Card

June 14, 2006 9:52 AM
Dana Hughes Reports:

Business is booming at the Artemis in Berlin, one of a number of "mega brothels" cashing in on the influx of World Cup soccer fans to Germany, where prostitution has been legal since 2002.

For an entrance fee of about $90, visitors to Artemis, just down the street from the main World Cup stadium, can enjoy a gym, a pool and a champagne bar, along with big screen televisions so men can keep up with the matches.

Patrons pay by the half-hour for sex with the brothel's young women. A half-hour including intercourse costs patrons $75 while oral sex is an additional $20.

The German Women's Council estimates that over 40,000 foreign women have been brought into Germany as sex workers for this type of "mega brothel."

"The commercial sex industry there nets about $18 billion per year. That's slightly more than the profits of the country's largest department store chain," says Katherine Chon of the Polaris Project, a Washington D.C.-based human rights group.

The owners of Artemis and other "mega-brothels" say the women working for them were recruited legally and are registered with the government, as provided by German law.

But Chon and other human rights groups say that the German government is looking the other way at reports that thousands of foreign women brought into these mega brothels are actually victims of illegal sex trafficking. "Some of the state officials are involved in building some of the brothels because it's legalized and regulated." Chon says. "It's not in Germany's interest to bring the issue to light."

Germany says it takes the issue very seriously and claims it's increasing police activity to help separate and combat illegal sex trafficking with legalized sex during the World Cup. The government plan includes interrogating women and asking them if they are working voluntarily in sex businesses.

Chon and others criticize the technique as "a band-aid approach" that makes the government look good but does little to combat the problem. "It isn't effective because traffickers often threaten the women with abuse," says Chon. "So the workers give the answers they're told to give."

i think this warrants further investigation...

2006-09-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sept. 14, 2006, 1:41PM
Lawyer says FCC ordered study destroyed

By JOHN DUNBAR Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.

The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. received a copy of the report "indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public," according to Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.

Adam Candeub, now a law professor at Michigan State University, said senior managers at the agency ordered that "every last piece" of the report be destroyed. "The whole project was just stopped _ end of discussion," he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC's Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said.

In a letter sent to Martin Wednesday, Boxer said she was "dismayed that this report, which was done at taxpayer expense more than two years ago, and which concluded that localism is beneficial to the public, was shoved in a drawer."

Martin said he was not aware of the existence of the report, nor was his staff. His office indicated it had not received Boxer's letter as of midafternoon Thursday.

In the letter, Boxer asked whether any other commissioners "past or present" knew of the report's existence and why it was never made public. She also asked whether it was "shelved because the outcome was not to the liking of some of the commissioners and/or any outside powerful interests?"

The report, written by two economists in the FCC's Media Bureau, analyzed a database of 4,078 individual news stories broadcast in 1998. The broadcasts were obtained from Danilo Yanich, a professor and researcher at the University of Delaware, and were originally gathered by the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The analysis showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of "on-location" news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. It was part of a broader decision liberalizing ownership rules.

At that time, the agency pointed to evidence that "commonly owned television stations are more likely to carry local news than other stations."

When considering whether to loosen rules on media ownership, the agency is required to examine the impact on localism, competition and diversity. The FCC generally defines localism as the level of responsiveness of a station to the needs of its community.

The 2003 action sparked a backlash among the public and within Congress. In June 2004, a federal appeals court rejected the agency's reasoning on most of the rules and ordered it to try again. The debate has since been reopened, and the FCC has scheduled a public hearing on the matter in Los Angeles on Oct. 3.

The report was begun after then-Chairman Michael Powell ordered the creation of a task force to study localism in broadcasting in August of 2003. Powell stepped down from the commission and was replaced by Martin in March 2005. Powell did not return a call seeking comment.

The authors of the report, Keith Brown and Peter Alexander, both declined to comment. Brown has left public service while Alexander is still at the FCC. Yanich confirmed the two men were the authors. Both have written extensively on media and telecommunications policy.

Yanich said the report was "extremely well done. It should have helped to inform policy."

Boxer's office said if she does not receive adequate answers to her questions, she will push for an investigation by the FCC inspector general.

that bitch with her prada shoes is at it again....

2006-09-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Last Updated: Thursday, 14 September 2006, 15:50 GMT 16:50 UK
Pope's speech stirs Muslim anger

The Pope's comments came on a visit to Germany

Muslim religious leaders have accused Pope Benedict XVI of quoting anti-Islamic remarks during a speech at a German university this week.

Questioning the concept of holy war, he quoted a 14th-Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.

A senior Pakistani Islamic scholar, Javed Ahmed Gamdi, said jihad was not about spreading Islam with the sword.

Turkey's top religious official asked for an apology for the "hostile" words.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, police seized copies of newspapers which reported the Pope's comments to prevent any tension.

A Vatican spokesman, Father Frederico Lombardi, said he did not believe the Pope's comments were meant as a harsh criticism of Islam.

'Abhorrent'

In his speech at Regensburg University, the German-born pontiff explored the historical and philosophical differences between Islam and Christianity and the relationship between violence and faith.

Stressing that they were not his own words, he quoted Emperor Manual II Paleologos of Byzantine, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The emperors words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Benedict said "I quote" twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

The Pope is due to visit Turkey in November and the Turkish response was swift and strong, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Istanbul.

Religious leader Ali Bardakoglu said the Pope's comments represented what he called an "abhorrent, hostile and prejudiced point of view".

Whilst Muslims might express their criticism of Islam and of Christianity, he argued, they would never defame the Holy Bible or Jesus Christ.

He said he hoped the Pope's speech did not reflect "hatred in his heart" against Islam.

Many Turks see Benedict as a Turkophobe and commentators call his words just before the holy month of Ramadan "ill-timed and ill-conceived", our correspondent adds.

interesting ad given the current and pending political climate.

2006-09-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

so now what? will this stop bush & co. from doing what they think needs to be done? i think NOT

2006-09-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last update - 13:40 14/09/2006

IAEA: U.S. report on Iran's nuclear plan 'outrageous and dishonest'

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters

VIENNA - UN inspectors have protested to the U.S. government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter obtained by Reuters.

The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own intelligence assessments have determined.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "We felt obliged to put the record straight with regard to the facts on what we have reported on Iran. It's a matter of the integrity of the IAEA."

The letter said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at its pilot centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas IAEA inspectors had made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.

The U.S. has also said that mass quantities of uranium gas await enrichment, which would ultimately be used for the construction of some 40 nuclear bombs.

"Furthermore, the IAEA Secretariat takes strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion" that the IAEA opted to remove a senior safeguards inspector for supposedly concluding the purpose of Iran's programme was to build weapons, it said.

The letter said the congressional report contained "an outrageous and dishonest suggestion" that the inspector was dumped for having not adhered to an alleged IAEA policy barring its "officials from telling the whole truth" about Iran.

The letter recalled clashes between the IAEA and the Bush administration before the 2003 Iraq war over findings cited by Washington about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that proved false, and underlined continued tensions over Iran's dossier.

"This (committee report) is deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period where the facts are being maligned and attempts are being made to ruin the integrity of IAEA inspectors," said a Western diplomat familiar with the agency and IAEA-U.S. relations.

Sent to the head of the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Intelligence by a senior aide to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the letter said an Aug. 23 committee report contained serious distortions of IAEA findings on Iran's activity.

Diplomats say the inspector remains IAEA Iran section head.

The IAEA has been inspecting Iran's nuclear program since 2003. Although it has found no hard evidence that Iran is working on atomic weapons, it has uncovered many previously concealed activities linked to uranium enrichment, a process of purifying fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons.

this can't be good...

2006-09-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

Bush Tells Group He Sees a 'Third Awakening'
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; A05

President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."

Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people "who saw life in terms of good and evil" and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms.

"A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me," Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. "There was a stark change between the culture of the '50s and the '60s -- boom -- and I think there's change happening here," he added. "It seems to me that there's a Third Awakening."

The First Great Awakening refers to a wave of Christian fervor in the American colonies from about 1730 to 1760, while the Second Great Awakening is generally believed to have occurred from 1800 to 1830.

Some scholars and writers have debated for years whether a Third Awakening has been taking place, although some identify other awakenings in U.S. history. Bush aides, including Karl Rove, have read Robert William Fogel's "The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism."

Bush has been careful discussing the battle with terrorists in religious terms since he had to apologize for using the word "crusade" in 2001. He often stresses that the war is not against Islam but against those who corrupt it. In his comments yesterday, aides said Bush was not casting the war as a religious struggle but was describing American cultural changes in a time of war.

"He's drawing a parallel in terms of a resurgence, in dangerous times, of people going back to their religion," said one aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was not open to other journalists. "This is not 'God is on our side' or anything like that."

The White House did not release a transcript of Bush's remarks, but National Review posted highlights on its Web site. On another topic, Bush rejected sending more troops to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas to find Osama bin Laden. "One hundred thousand troops there in Pakistan is not the answer. It's someone saying 'Guess what' and then the kinetic action begins," he said, meaning an informer disclosing bin Laden's location.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

the photo seen around the world

2006-09-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

not the first time this idiot's trampled on the u.s. in one form or another

well don't say it wasn't heard here first...this man is a freak!!!!!!

2006-09-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs
POSTED: 7:56 p.m. EDT, September 12, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.

Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.

the face of deception

2006-09-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 — Bush used the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Monday to tell Americans that they were engaged in “a struggle for civilization” that would be determined in part by the course of the war in Iraq.

“The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad,” Bush said.

“If we do not defeat these enemies now,” Bush said, “we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons.”

“I’m often asked why we’re in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks,” Bush said, that Mr. Hussein was a threat nonetheless, that needed to be confronted and that the world was safer with him in captivity.

Bush reprised some of his tougher talk against Osama bin Laden, delivering a message to him and other terrorists, “America will find you, and we will bring you to justice.”

Bush alluded to Democratic calls for a timetable to withdraw from Iraq, saying, “Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone.”

the forgotten war

2006-09-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 333

keeping count

2006-09-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

American Military Deaths in Iraq
Since war began (3/19/03): 2666

oil execs tell world 'guzzle up' there's lots more where that came from

2006-09-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Oil not running out, expert says

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Monday September 11, 2006

Sydney- We are only one-third through the world's oil reserves, a gathering of petroleum industry experts in Australia was told Monday. Exxon Mobil chief executive Mark Nolan told delegates to the Asia-Pacific Oil and Gas Conference in Adelaide that there was no evidence that the world would begin running out of oil in 20 years.

Nolan said that 1 trillion barrels of oil had been used, leaving 2 trillion barrels of oil left in the ground.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur

more fear tactics...be afraid amerika very afraid..

2006-09-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Al Qaeda threatens attacks in US-allies Gulf, Israel
Mon Sep 11, 2006 04:07 PM ET
By Miral Fahmy

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda used the fifth anniversary of September 11 to urge Muslims to hit Western interests and said U.S. allies Israel and the Gulf Arab states would be the next targets in a campaign to seal the West's economic doom.

"The strongest way to aid our Muslim brothers ... is to strike the interests of Jews and Crusaders and those who cooperate with them," deputy al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video posted on a Web site used by Islamist militants.

"There must be a focus on their economic interests and in particular on stopping the theft of Muslims' plundered petroleum," he said.

In remarks apparently addressed to Western leaders, Zawahri said it was not worth defending forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan because they were doomed to failure.

"You have to bolster your defenses in two areas ... the first is the Gulf, from which you will be evicted, God willing, after your defeat in Iraq and then your economic doom will be achieved," he said in the video broadcast in part on the Arabic al-Jazeera television channel.

"And the next (target) is Israel. The current of holy war is closing on it and your end there will put an end to the Zionist-crusader supremacy."

He also condemned United Nations forces in Lebanon as "enemies of Islam," the first implicit threat against the international peacekeeping force deployed to oversee a ceasefire that ended a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

NEW EVENTS

Zawahri's warning of attacks in the Gulf, the world's top oil exporting region, follows previous calls by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to target oil facilities to cripple the West.

In February, al Qaeda militants conducted a failed attack on the world's largest oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia and then vowed to carry out more attacks.

Gulf Arab leaders all have strong ties with Washington and Saudi-born bin Laden has in the past singled out the Saudi royal family for censure.

In the video, Zawahri warned of "new events" and said the policies of Western countries were giving militants a "legitimate excuse" to fight them.

Excerpts of the same video -- which showed Zawahri dressed in white and sitting in front of a bookcase -- were also aired by the CNN television network.

U.S. officials had yet to authenticate the videotape but believed it to be genuine.

"Basically, what we have is a propaganda tape -- obviously timed to reach the media around 9/11 -- from a brutal and duplicitous organization that primarily kills fellow Muslims and wreaks havoc in the Muslim world," said a U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

how many times will they [bush & co.] unleash this kind of fear? every election and sometimes in between just to keep us fearing.

look what a good cash crop buys these days...

2006-09-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

25-million-dollar Coca-Cola plant opened in Afghanistan
Sun Sep 10, 4:29 PM ET

KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai formally opened a 25-million-dollar Coca-Cola bottling plant, one of the most significant investments in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban five years ago.

Karzai said it was an endorsement of the government's efforts to push ahead with reconstruction of the war-damaged country.

The plant had its first products, which will compete with imports from Pakistan and Iran, on the streets of the capital in January.

Its initial formal opening was postponed in May after riots in which hordes of men rampaged through the city, setting fire to buildings and vehicles after a deadly traffic accident involving a US military vehicle.

The investment by a Dubai-based Afghan family is one of the biggest in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Mobile telecommunications network Roshan has spent about 180 million dollars setting up here.

The Afghan government is trying to attract foreign investment to spur an economy ruined by three decades of war.

But the country faces considerable odds, including a resurgent Taliban, widespread corruption and a shattered infrastructure, with even the capital only getting a sporadic supply of electricity.

the man can spin till the cows come home, it doesn't change the facts: they LIED

2006-09-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Cheney’s Power No Longer Goes Unquestioned
By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: September 10, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 — From those first moments five years ago when Secret Service agents burst into Vice President Dick Cheney’s office on Sept. 11, lifted him off his feet and propelled him to the underground Presidential Emergency Operations Center, the man who had returned to Washington that year to remake the powers of the presidency seemed unstoppable.

Within minutes, Mr. Cheney was directing the government’s response to an attack that was still under way. Within weeks, he was overseeing the surveillance program that tracked suspected terrorist communications into and out of the United States without warrants. Within months, he and his staff, guided by a loyal aide, David S. Addington, were championing the reinterpretation of the rules of war so that they could detain “enemy combatants” and interrogate them at secret detention facilities run by the C.I.A. around the world.

It was Mr. Cheney and his staff who helped shape the rules under which members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda were denied some of the core rights of the Geneva Conventions and would be tried by “military commissions” at Guantánamo Bay — if they faced trial at all.

“I believe in a strong, robust executive authority, and I think that the world we live in demands it,” Mr. Cheney said in December on a flight from Pakistan to Oman. “You know,” he added, “it’s not an accident that we haven’t been hit in four years.”

keep this in mind bush & co. you can run for now, but you cannot hide forever...

2006-09-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

Former dictator Pinochet loses immunity
By EDUARDO GALLARDO,
Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 8, 7:46 PM ET

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile's Supreme Court on Friday stripped former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution for alleged abuses at one of his regime's most notorious detention centers — where the current president and her mother were tortured — a court official said.

The case, which involves 59 cases of torture and kidnapping at Villa Grimaldi, is the first time torture has been specifically mentioned in one of the numerous legal cases brought against the 90-year-old former dictator.

Villa Grimaldi, a sprawling house in southeast Santiago, has been turned into a memorial park to honor the victims.

A court official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told the Associated Press that an announcement will not be made until Monday or Tuesday but a vote took place and the immunity was lifted.

The decision, which cannot be appealed, paves the way for the judge handling the case, Alejandro Madrid, to indict Pinochet in the Villa Grimaldi case. Villa Grimaldi was used by Pinochet's secret police for torture and even executions, according to court documents.

Pinochet already is under indictment for human rights violations and tax evasion. Previous attempts to try him have failed after the courts dropped the cases based on Pinochet's poor health. He has been diagnosed with mild dementia, diabetes and arthritis, and he has a pacemaker. The latest tests by court-appointed doctors show Pinochet is fit to stand trial.

Current president Michelle Bachelet, then a 22-year-old medical student, and her mother Angela Jeria were arrested months after the 1973 coup led by Pinochet and taken to Villa Grimaldi. Both have acknowledged they were tortured, though they are not among those named in the case.

Bachelet's mother once told a Santiago newspaper that Villa Grimaldi was "one of the worst houses of torture," where "I was kept for a week in a box, blindfolded, tied up, without food."

he peeks out from behind the blinds..at the world he created.

2006-09-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Bush wants to renew Social Security push after vote
Sat Sep 9, 2006 2:59pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush hopes to revive his plan to overhaul the U.S. Social Security retirement program if his Republican party keeps control of the Congress in the November midterm elections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Despite polls suggesting Democrats have their best chance in years to regain control of the House of Representatives, Bush told the newspaper in an interview he was confident a power shift was "not going to happen."

Despite polls suggesting Democrats have their best chance in years to regain control of the House of Representatives, Bush told the newspaper in an interview he was confident a power shift was "not going to happen."

Despite polls suggesting Democrats have their best chance in years to regain control of the House of Representatives, Bush told the newspaper in an interview he was confident a power shift was "not going to happen."

Despite polls suggesting Democrats have their best chance in years to regain control of the House of Representatives, Bush told the newspaper in an interview he was confident a power shift was "not going to happen."

Despite polls suggesting Democrats have their best chance in years to regain control of the House of Representatives, Bush told the newspaper in an interview he was confident a power shift was "not going to happen."

HERR BUSH KNOWS QUITE WELL THAT WITH FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES (I.E. DIEBOLD) ANOTHER ELECTION COUP D E TAT IS WITHOUT QUESTION. THE THUGS WILL REMAIN IN POWER UNTIL SOMETHING DRASTIC HAPPENS.

could she be bolton's replacement?

2006-09-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Paula J. Dobriansky
Under Secretary, Democracy and Global Affairs
Term of Appointment: 05/01/2001 to present

Paula J. Dobriansky was nominated by President Bush on March 12, 2001, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 26, and on May 1, sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. On July 29, 2005, she became Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. In this capacity, she is responsible for a broad range of foreign policy issues, including democracy, human rights, labor, refugee and humanitarian relief matters, and environmental/science issues. She has also been designated as the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

Prior to her appointment, Dr. Dobriansky served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was responsible for managing the Council's office and operations in D.C. and for leading Council meetings, study groups, and seminars that served over 1,000 area members. She was also the Council's first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Previously, Dr. Dobriansky served as Senior International Affairs and Trade Advisor at the law firm of Hunton & Williams, and also as Co-Chair of the International TV Council at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her government appointments include Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the 1985 U.N. Decade for Women Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House.

Dr. Dobriansky received a B.S.F.S. summa cum laude in International Politics from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University. She is a Fulbright-Hays scholar, Ford and Rotary Foundation Fellow, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of various honors, including Georgetown University's Annual Alumni Achievement Award, the State Department's Superior Honor Award, Dialogue on Diversity’s International Award 2001, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Democracy Service Medal, Poland's Highest Medal of Merit, Grand Cross of Commander of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Westminster College, Roger Williams University and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Flagler College.

Dr. Dobriansky has served on various boards, including the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, National Endowment for Democracy (Vice Chairman), Freedom House, American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the American Bar Association Central/East European Law Initiative, and the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. She has a working knowledge of French, Russian Italian and Dutch.

Dr. Dobriansky has lectured and published articles, book chapters and op-ed pieces on foreign affairs-related topics, ranging from U.S. human rights policy to East European foreign and defense policies, public diplomacy, democracy promotion strategies, Russia and Ukraine. For three years, she hosted Freedom's Challenge and co-hosted Worldwise, the international affairs programs on National Empowerment Television. Additionally, she has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN Headline News, CNN & Company, Fox Morning News, John McLaughlin's One-on-One, The McLaughlin Group, C-SPAN, MSNBC, PBS, National Public Radio, and has testified often before the Senate Foreign Relations and House International Relations Committees.

I MEAN WITH HER CURRENT POSITION SHE IS DOING A BANG UP JOB, SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PROMOTED AGES AGO. SEND HER STRAIGHT TO? WELL YOU GET THE PICTURE.

this is interesting...apparently amerika is not done rearranging the middle east to suit it's needs

2006-09-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

An article by retired US Major Ralph Peters titled "Blood borders" published in the Armed Forces Journal last month has given Pakistan some food for thought over manipulating the geopolitical game on its own terms and conditions.

Peters, formerly assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, where he was responsible for future warfare, argues that borders in the Middle East and Africa are "the most arbitrary and distorted" in the world and need restructuring.

Four countries - Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are singled out for major readjustments. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are also defined as "unnatural states".

Though the US State Department was quick to deny that such ideas had anything to do with US policymaking, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey read much between the lines of talk of restructuring their boundaries.

Among Peters' proposals was the need to establish "an independent Kurdish state" that would "stretch from Diyarbakir [eastern Turkey] through Tabriz [Iran], which would be the most pro-Western state between Bulgaria and Japan".

this is criminal...this is a holocaust in its own right. israel is way out of line and needs to be stopped.

2006-09-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Gaza is a jail. Nobody is allowed to leave. We are all starving now'
By Patrick Cockburn in Gaza
Published: 08 September 2006

Gaza is dying. The Israeli siege of the Palestinian enclave is so tight that its people are on the edge of starvation. Here on the shores of the Mediterranean a great tragedy is taking place that is being ignored because the world's attention has been diverted by wars in Lebanon and Iraq.

A whole society is being destroyed. There are 1.5 million Palestinians imprisoned in the most heavily populated area in the world. Israel has stopped all trade. It has even forbidden fishermen to go far from the shore so they wade into the surf to try vainly to catch fish with hand-thrown nets.

you go Bill

2006-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

BUBBA GOES BALLISTIC ON ABC ABOUT ITS DAMNING 9/11 MOVIE
By IAN BISHOP Post Correspondent

September 7, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A furious Bill Clinton is warning ABC that its mini-series "The Path to 9/11" grossly misrepresents his pursuit of Osama bin Laden - and he is demanding the network "pull the drama" if changes aren't made.

Clinton pointedly refuted several fictionalized scenes that he claims insinuate he was too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal to care about bin Laden and that a top adviser pulled the plug on CIA operatives who were just moments away from bagging the terror master, according to a letter to ABC boss Bob Iger obtained by The Post.

The former president also disputed the portrayal of then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as having tipped off Pakistani officials that a strike was coming, giving bin Laden a chance to flee.

"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," the four-page letter said.

The movie is set to air on Sunday and Monday nights. Monday is the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Based on the 9/11 commission's report, the miniseries is also being provided to high schools as a teaching aid - although ABC admits key scenes are dramatizations.

The letter, written by Bruce Lindsey, head of the Clinton Foundation, and Douglas Bond, a top lawyer in Clinton's office, accuses the ABC drama of "bias" and a "fictitious rewriting of history that will be misinterpreted by millions of Americans."

Clinton, whose aides first learned from a TV trailer about a week ago that the miniseries would slam his administration, was "surprised" and "incredulous" when told about the film's slant, sources said.

Albright and former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger also dashed off letters to Iger, accusing the network of lying in the miniseries and demanding changes.

ABC spokesman Jonathan Hogan last night defended the miniseries as a "dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published materials and personal interviews."

"Many of the people who have expressed opinions about the film have yet to see it in its entirety or in its final broadcast form," he said. "We hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast before forming their own opinion."

Executive producer Marc Platt told The Washington Post that he worked "very hard to be fair. If individuals feel they're wrongly portrayed, that's obviously of concern. We've portrayed the essence of the truth of these events. Our intention was not in any way to be political or present a point of view."

The miniseries' creator and the 9/11 panel's former co-chairman, Tom Kean, who was a paid adviser on the film, said some scenes are made up and plan to include a statement at the show's beginning.

In the movie, FBI anti-terror agent John O'Neill, played by Harvey Keitel, and a composite CIA operative named Kirk grouse about bureaucratic red tape following a meeting with Berger and Albright.

"How do you win a law-and-orderly war?" Kirk asks.

"You don't," O'Neill snaps.

The movie then cuts immediately to a newsreel close-up of Clinton insisting he did "not have sex with that woman" - Monica Lewinsky.

Although the movie thrust Lewinsky into the mix as a White House distraction, the 9/11 commission's report found Clinton was "deeply concerned about bin Laden" and that he received daily reports "on bin Laden's reported location," Clinton's letter notes.

In another scene, CIA operatives working with Afghani anti-al Qaeda fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance who was assassinated by bin Laden days before 9/11, gather on a hill near bin Laden's residence at Tarnak Farms - the terror thug easily in their grasp.

"It's perfect for us," says Kirk, a composite character played by Donnie Wahlberg. But the team aborts the mission when an actor portraying Berger tells them he can't authorize a strike.

"I don't have that authority," the Berger character says.

"Are there any men in Washington," Massoud asks Kirk later in the film, "or are they all cowards?"

The reps for an outraged Clinton wrote to Iger that "no such episode ever occurred - nor did anything like it."

The 9/11 commission report echoes his denial, and found that Clinton's Cabinet gave "its blessing" for a CIA plan to capture bin Laden and determined that ex-CIA Director George Tenet squashed the plan.

The third contested scene focuses on Albright, who is depicted alerting Pakistani officials in advance of a 1998 U.S. missile strike against bin Laden in Afghanistan - over the objections of the Pentagon. The movie claims the tip-off allowed bin Laden to escape.

But the 9/11 commission reported that it was a member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff - not Albright - who met with a senior Pakistani Army official prior to the strike to "assure him the missiles were not coming from India."

IF MR. CLINTON WAS BOGGED DOWN WITH THE SEX SCANDAL IT'S BECAUSE OF THE REPUBLICANS TRIED THEIR DAMNEDEST TO GET THIS MAN IMPEACHED OVER THEIR OBSESSION WITH SEX. YES, HE LIED ABOUT HIS AFFAIR!!!!!!!!! WAS THAT WRONG? YES. WAS IT AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE? NO. BUT THAT DIDN'T STOP THE REPUBLICAN NEO-CON MACHINE FROM HITTING BELOW THE BELT. TRYING TO GET AMERIKA TO JOIN WITH THEM IN THEIR OBSESSIONS. BUT THE IMPEACHMENT COURT SAW THROUGH THE SCAM, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR DISTRACTING THE GOVERNMENT FROM DOING IT'S JOB, AND FOR MAKING A MOCKERY OF THE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS.

paving the way for the november sweeps

2006-09-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

Court rules against voters supervising elections, attorney tells Raw
Miriam Raftery
Published: Wednesday September 6, 2006

A judge has dismissed a challenge filed to California’s hotly contested 50th Congressional race, in which the House seated Republican Brian Bilbray just 7 days after the election -- before the race was certified and before all votes were counted. RAW STORY has followed the case in earlier reports.

According to the official count, Bilbray nosed out Democrat Francine Busby in the special election to fill a vacancy left by disgraced Republican Duke Cunningham, who was convicted of bribery and other charges.

For the controversial ruling, Judge Yuri Hofmann relied on arguments brought by attorneys representing Bilbray and San Diego’s Registrar of Voters to dismiss the case, relying on Article 1, section 5 of the Constitution to find that only the House of Representatives has jurisdiction over its members' races.

Now a Nevada court has extended House powers even further, ruling on Friday that citizens and courts have no power to object in a Republican primary election – even though neither candidate is an incumbent currently serving in Congress.

pre-electon surprise number three

2006-09-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sept. 7, 2006, 12:19PM
Al-Zarqawi successor said to record tape

© 2006 The Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Jazeera TV broadcast an audiotape Thursday that was said to be the first released by the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, who succeeded the militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In the tape, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer said he was confident that victory will be achieved and called on all mujahedeen to unite on the battlefield, the station reported.

It played a brief excerpt from the tape, in which the speaker said, "Our enemy has unified its ranks against us. Isn't it time to get together, worshippers of God?"

Al-Muhajer, a previously unknown militant, became the leader of Iraq's most feared insurgent group after al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June. U.S. officials say they believe al-Muhajer is an Egyptian.

the second pre-election surprise.

2006-09-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Tape said to show Qaeda leaders planning 9/11 attacks

RAW STORY
Published: Thursday September 7, 2006

According to a report written in Arabic at al Jazeera's Website, the television station has obtained a video which shows al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden meeting with the planner and two of the nineteen hijackers who participated in the 9/11 attacks five years ago.

"The video showed bin Laden sitting with his former lieutenant Mohammed Atef and Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspected planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings," reports the Associated Press.

"In the video, bin Laden was wearing a dark robe and white headgear walking in a mountainous area," the AP article continues. "He smiled as he greeted several men, which the tape said were Sept. 11 hijackers."

Only yesterday, Ramzi bin al-Shibh was tranferred by President Bush to the prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, along with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and twelve other "high profile" detainees whom had previously been held by the CIA in "secret prisons" across the world.

"Bin al-Shibh was said to have been a would-be 9/11 hijacker who was foiled by his inability to obtain a US visa," reported The Guardian earlier today. "He was said to have fled Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001 and headed to Karachi."

"There, he and Mohammed worked on 'follow-on plots against the west, particularly the Heathrow plot'...before his capture in 2002," reported the British newspaper.

so they do have bin laden? of course NOT. because he had nothing to do with 9/11

2006-09-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Herr [sic] Bush Moves 14 Held in Secret to Guantanamo
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: September 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — Herr [sic] Bush said Wednesday that 14 high-profile terror suspects held secretly until now by the Central Intelligence Agency — including the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks — had been transferred to the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to face military tribunals if Congress approves.

THIS MAKES NO SENSE, BUT THEN ONE HAS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHO IS SPEAKING HERE. THAT ASIDE, WHAT IF CONGRESS DOESN'T APPROVE? THEN WHAT? ANY CONTINGENCY PLANS? YEAH, HOLD'EM FOREVER....

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY THE FIRST OF MANY PRE-ELECTION SURPRISES THE REPUGS WILL PULL OUT OF THEIR HATS.

the fear factor works...just ask native new yorkers...

2006-09-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

9/11 Polls Find Lingering Fears in New York
By ROBIN TONER and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: September 7, 2006

Five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, two-thirds of New Yorkers say they are still “very concerned” about another attack on their city, a level of apprehension only slightly reduced from the fall of 2001, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News polls of the nation and New York City.

Nearly a third of New Yorkers said they thought about Sept. 11 every day. Nearly a third said that they had not gone back to pre-Sept. 11 routines and that they were still dealing with changes caused by the attacks...

...New Yorkers were more likely to say that they felt uneasy about the prospect of terrorist attacks...

...Nearly 6 in 10 New Yorkers said they would not be willing to work on a high floor in a new building at the World Trade Center site. Forty percent said they still felt nervous and edgy because of the attacks.

...“I don’t feel safe,” said Elizabeth Vinas, 43, a receptionist from Brooklyn, interviewed in a follow-up to the poll. “I don’t know when there will be another attack, I just think they will try again.”

Gwendolyn Branch, 50, a Manhattan homemaker, said, “I just have a feeling that something is going to happen.”...

...The surveys found Americans almost resigned to the continuing struggle against terrorism. The proportion of those who said they thought a terrorist attack on the United States in the next few months was “very” or “somewhat” likely has dropped substantially in the past five years, but it still amounted to more than half in the national survey.

In New York, 69 percent said they were “very concerned” about another attack there, compared with 74 percent in October 2001.

Nationally, 4 in 10 thought the threat of terrorism against the United States had, if anything, increased since 2001, and 81 percent said they thought Americans would always have to live with the threat.

...83 percent of the Republicans said they thought the United States’ campaign against terrorism was going “very” or “somewhat” well... 43 percent of the Democrats... 55 percent of the independents.

When asked if the government had done “all it could reasonably be expected to do” to protect the nation against another attack, 56 percent of Republicans said yes; nearly two-thirds of the Democrats and independents said no.

challenge this herr bush...no president can bypass the law(s) which so govern him unless by claiming dictatorial power.

2006-09-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

A Challenge From Bush to Congress
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: September 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 — In calling for public war-crime trials at Guantánamo Bay, President Bush is calculating that with a critical election just nine weeks away, neither angry Democrats nor nervous Republicans will dare deny him the power to detain, interrogate and try suspects his way.

For years now, Guantánamo has been a political liability, regarded primarily as a way station for outcasts. By transforming Guantánamo instead into the new home of 14 Qaeda leaders who rank among the most notorious terror suspects, Mr. Bush is challenging Congress to restore to him the authority to put the United States’ worst enemies on trial on terms he has defined.

the changing face of latin american politics

2006-09-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

you can run bush, but you can't hide FOREVER...

2006-09-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Argentine Judge Overturns 'Dirty War' Pardons
By VOA News
05 September 2006

An Argentine judge has overturned presidential pardons granted to two top ministers from the 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship.

The judge Monday ruled as unconstitutional the pardons granted by President Carlos Menem in 1989 and 1990 to Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz, a former economy minister, and former Interior Minister Albano Harguindeguy.

The two ministers were investigated for their alleged role in the abductions of textile businessman Federico Gutheim and his son, Miguel, in the late 1970s. Authorities say the motive was to pressure the Gutheims into accepting an export contract that would have benefited the Economy Ministry.

Last year, Argentina's Supreme Court overturned amnesty laws protecting military and police officials from prosecution for human rights violations during the country's so-called "Dirty War."

Officials say that under Argentina's military dictatorship, about 13,000 people died or disappeared during the crackdown on dissidents or political enemies. Human rights groups estimate nearly 30,000 people were killed.

LET THIS BE A LESSON TO BUSH & CO. THAT REGARDLESS ONE DAY NO MATTER HOW MANY WAYS THEY TRY TO AVOID BEING TRIED FOR 'WAR CRIMES' IT CAN HAPPEN AND MUST HAPPEN, AND BETTER YET, IT WILL HAPPEN.

here's to another 71 years of single party rule... with close ties to amerika

2006-09-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

September 5th, 2006 at 08:15:07
Mexican court: Calderón wins

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Felipe Calderon became president-elect of Mexico on Tuesday, two months after disputed elections, when the nation's top electoral court voted unanimously to reject allegations of fraud and certify his narrow victory.

Chief judge Leonel Castillo's recommended that Calderon should be certified as winning the ballot by 233,831 votes out of 41.6 million cast, down slightly from his earlier lead of 240,000.

i think i've seen this guy at a local leather bar...

2006-09-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

regardless what you might think of this man, he's kind of sexy....

wait there's more....

2006-09-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Iranian President Wants to Purge Profs
Sep 5, 8:25 AM (ET)

By NASSER KARIMI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Tuesday for a purge of liberal and secular teachers from the country's universities, urging students to return to 1980s-style radicalism.

"Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a meeting with a group of students.

BEFORE WE START SLAMMING IRAN FOR THEIR STANCE TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT BUSH'S BUDGET WHICH CUTS FUNING FOR THE ARTS AND THEIR POLICY WHICH PROHIBITS FOREIGN SCHOLARS TO COME TO THE U.S. BECAUSE THEY MIGHT HAVE DIFFERING OPINIONS.

FOR EXAMPLE:

When US bars its door to foreign scholars
November 23, 2005 edition

The Christian Science Monitor : When US bars its door to foreign scholars; A lawsuit wants the Bush administration to explain why it denied entry to intellectuals who've criticized US policy

NEW YORK – Concern is mounting that the US government is using antiterror laws - namely, the Patriot Act - to revive a now-discredited practice common during the cold war: the prevention of foreign intellectuals who are critical of administration policies from entering the country and sharing their views with Americans.

The practice, called ideological exclusion, became illegal in 1990. But a recent lawsuit - brought by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the PEN American Center under the Freedom of Information Act - is asking the Bush administration to explain its decisions to revoke or deny visas to several foreign scholars, and why they don't violate free-speech protections.

Bush's new economic plan cuts funding for arts, education
Aaron Kraft
Staff Writer
February 26, 2003

Yet another victim of the Bush economic plan, funding for the arts in education has been cut considerably. Because of Bush's unfair tax cuts for the wealthy, the United States is now forced to make up for the large deficit by slashing various programs. Although he ran on a platform that emphasized education, President Bush sadly sees the arts as an expendable part of a child's learning process.

Ignoring experts who have repeatedly justified their value in education, Bush has cut funding for the arts by $30 million for fiscal year 2003. Bush's education funding proposal remains the lowest annual increase since 1996, asking for only a 2.8 percent increase compared to a 15.9 percent increase last year. In fact, he is calling for a total cut of $1.8 billion, cutting 57 valuable educational programs in the process. With so many programs frozen with last year's funding, schools in fact have less money with which to work.

preparing children for the police state by way of...

2006-09-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Kids Buy Lunches With Scans of Fingers
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; 7:11 AM

ROME, Ga. -- The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers.

Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers.

"The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School.

The new system speeds lunch lines, said city administrators. It's being phased in to Rome High School, Rome Middle School and all the city's elementary schools. The city hopes to have the system in use next month system-wide.

Some parents are uneasy with having their children's fingerprints scanned, and wonder about how well the information is secured.

"It may be perfectly secure, but my daughter is a minor and I understand that supposedly the kids have the option to not have their prints scanned, but that's not being articulated to my daughter," said Hal Storey, who's daughter is a 10th grader at Rome High.

so another possible 9/11 could happen....right?

2006-09-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

(AP Photo) Bush demonsrates a technique he claims to have discovered that would propel man into air, and perhaps save lives.

White House: U.S. safer but not yet safe
By MERRILL HARTSON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration proclaimed significant progress in the war on terror Tuesday but said the enemy has adjusted to U.S. defenses and that "America is safer but we are not yet safe."

...The updated strategy came in the wake of the release of a new al-Qaida video over the weekend that raised concerns about the possibility of another attack as the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches. The tape featured an American — believed by the FBI to have attended al-Qaida training camps — calling for his countrymen to convert to Islam.

Asked about this Tuesday, Fran Townsend, a special assistant to President Bush for homeland security and counterterrorism, said she did not think the tape suggested another strike.

"We've seen tapes before. We've seen these sort of releases right near Sept. 11," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"There are no plans to raise the threat (terror) threat level," Townsend said....

...One particular problem, it noted, is an "increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet and media" by terrorists and would-be terrorists, saying these tactics have allowed enemies of the United States to "rally support, proselytize and spread their propaganda without risking personal contact."

It also maintains that terrorism "is not simply a result of hostility to U.S. policy in Iraq."

"The United States was attacked on September 11 and many years earlier, well before we toppled the Saddam Hussein regime," it said. "Moreover, countries that did not participate in coalition efforts in Iraq have not been spared from terror attacks."

"There will continue to be challenges ahead, but along with our partners, we will attack terrorism and its ideology and bring hope and freedom to the people of the world," the policy statement said.

"This is how we will win the war on terror."

one step closer to a police state

2006-09-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

US toughens passport rules, required for entry from Canada, Mexico

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday September 5, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security and Congress have moved to make entering the United States more restrictive by requiring passports to be used for travel from the Caribbean to the US, Todya's Wall Street Journal reports.

The new rules begin January 8th, when citizens entering the US from the Caribbean by air or sea will be required to hold US passports. In January 2008, the same requirement will be put in place for travellers entering the United States by car from Canada or Mexico.

Excerpts from The Journal's registration-restricted article follow:

#

Congress and the Department of Homeland Security are tightening border procedures for both U.S. citizens and foreign travelers entering the U.S. By Jan. 8, passports will be required for most everyone entering the U.S. from the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico through airports and seaports, instead of just a birth certificate and driver's license. Land borders will adopt the same requirement Jan. 1, 2008.

The travel industry and several border-state governors and senators have been pushing for a delay in the new rules, fearing confusion and long delays for travelers that could hurt the cruise industry in particular. Only 25% of Americans have passports, and many could be left high and dry if they don't get one before they head off to an island cruise.

As requirements tighten, more people have been applying. Last year, the State Department issued 10.1 million passports, up 15% from 2004. This year is on pace for about a 16% increase.

One pitfall for travelers to watch out for: All children, including babies, will need passports. Since July 2001, the government has required both parents to apply together for a child's passport, if the child is 14 or under. This is to make sure one parent isn't trying to take a child out of the country without the other's permission. It can be a hassle for single parents who have to prove they have sole authority or need to get notarized consent from the other parent.

remember national 'coming' out day is not national 'outing' day.

2006-09-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Oct. 11

don't ask, don't tell... has doonesbury gone over the edge?

2006-09-04T15:10:00.000-07:00