OpEdNews Daily Newsletter 3/7/06

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Tue, 7 Mar 2006 19:23:17 -0500 (EST)

OpEdNews Daily Newsletter 3/7/06

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Newest Articles (Headlines)

 

By Jane Stillwater

Deal Or No Deal: If Bush Attacks Iran, America Stands To Lose It All

George Bush is hinting broadly that he is about to " open the suitcase "

and drop Shock and Awe on Iran. Deal or no deal? A war on Iran would

greatly up the odds in favor of a severe depression occurring as

America's economy continues to spiral hopelessly into debt because our

money is no longer backed up with equity. And Bush has already

mortgaged the farm. Deal or no deal?

 

By Carol Wolman

What Is James Baker Up To Now?

Bush crime family troubleshooter and dealmaker, heavy investor in

Carlyle, Baker engineered the deal with Dubai.

 

By Norma Sherry

These Are A Few Of My Scariest Things

If any business was run like the government of the United States it

would have been out of business long ago.

 

By Douglas Drenkow

One Less Bell To Answer

No sector of the economy is more vital to our Information Age than

communications. The announcement this weekend that AT & T has agreed to

buy BellSouth is not only newsworthy but also historic, in terms of

its sheer size (one of the largest deals ever) and of its social

impact. This article is a comprehensive review of the communications

industry, from telecoms and cable companies to content providers and

consumers.

 

By Allen L Roland

THE BIG, BIG LIE IS THE 9/11 COVERUP

The definitive video of 9/11 which answers all the questions and ties

together the big picture with extremely well researched footage is

Loose Change 2nd Edition by Korey Rowe, Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas.

 

By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers

Conservatives Are Jumping Ship: Bush Is Going Down

The criticism of Bush & Co. by fellow conservatives is scathing, both in

terms of policy and competency. And here are those recent

denunciations in all their glory.

 

By Missy Comley Beattie

Say No To War, Say No To George Bush

Iraqi women join in the " Say no to war " campaign.

 

By Allen Snyder

Why Al Gore Couldn't Lose In 2008

If the Democrats really want to win back The White House in the next

Presiedntial election, they'll need to persuade Al Gore to run.

 

By Sen. Russell Feingold

Misleading Testimony About NSA Domestic Spying

A Letter to Alberto Gonzales

 

By Evelyn Pringle

Psych Drugs Used To Manufacture Insanity

 

By Jon Korein

The Incompetence Excuse

Don't let incompetence serve as a cover for intentional acts

 

By Charles Sullivan

Whatever Happened To Courage?

One of the most valuable lessons taught by history is that from time

to time people rise up and fight back against horrible tyranny and

impossible odds. American labor history provides many instructive and

inspiring examples.

 

By David Swanson

" We Are Human, Like You "

A delegation of women from Iraq told stories last night in Washington,

D.C., unlike anything we've ever heard about this war from the media

in the United States. And the media was not there, so I'm going to

tell you what they said.

 

By Lynne Glasner

Luck And The Trifecta Of Politics

The public placed their bets on the `trust-me' president, who gambled

on long-shots with the country's future. Like lottery players all over

the country, they are still waiting for their lucky numbers to come in.

 

By Barbara Tutor

How Big Is The U.S. Appetite?

Have you ever pondered the question, " How big is your appetite? " It is

difficult to uncover insatiable cravings that never achieve

satisfaction? This condition is not limited to food, drink, or sex.

Nor is it simply a personal peculiarity. Gluttony can become a social

condition more contagious than bird flu.

 

By Robert Perry

Democrats Need Strong Message

Election 2006 -- and voter dissatisfaction with the Republicans --

offer hope for the Democrats to reclaim one or both houses of

Congress. But Democratic leaders have shown little understanding of

the potential for a powerful national message that targets George W.

Bush's trampling of constitutional principles .

 

By Doug Thompson

Telling The 'approved' Story

On an unspecified day last week an employee of a federal agency that

cannot be revealed delivered a document that cannot be identified to a

company that cannot be named seeking information that cannot be discussed.

 

By Jerry Politex

Parody: Penguin Protests Bush " Invasion Of Privacy " At Oscars

Despite the efforts of organizers, the specter of widespread sentiment

aginst President Bush's illegal spying on U.S. citizens hung over the

78th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood last night. (Satire)

 

By Coalition For Voting Integrity

The People's Filibuster To Save The Vote Continues: Come Join Us!

CVI members and other concerned citizens have been gathering for an

hour every weekday from noon to 1pm to remind passersby that we are

coming up on another County Commissioners' meeting and that now is the

time for our voices to be heard. We are continuing the filibuster

until the Commissioners' meeting on Wednesday, 3/15.

 

By Bob Burnett

Remembering Winston Churchill

If Churchill were alive today, undoubtedly he would deliver another

stirring oration warning of the desperate circumstances we find

ourselves in—the prospect of global Jihad.

 

By Walter Brasch

Compromising Americans' Civil Liberties

The people of more than 400 communities have opposed the

unconstitutional provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. Congress just

renewed it for anotehr four years.

 

By Mike Whitney

Bush's Bumpy Road To Iran

Bush's plans to bring Iran before the Security Council have

temporarily derailed. Iran's eleventh hour antics have made it harder

for Washington to get " international " support for its next preemptive

war. Expect the propaganda-campaign to kick into high-gear from this

point on.

 

By Allen L Roland

40 THINGS THAT ONLY HAPPEN IN THE MOVIES

In honor of the Oscars, here are 40 things that only happen in movies

~ and many of them happened in the best picture CRASH. Things such as

...... 1. It is always possible to find a parking spot directly outside

or opposite the building you are visiting.

 

By Jim Prues

Bush's " Integrity " - Never Again

This Internet thing is the elephant in the room. Its constant

transmutation and young age make predicting the Web's impact almost

impossible. But already we see greater transparency being forced on

our political and economic leaders, though it comes with them kicking

and screaming.

 

By Jim Bush

Osama, Where Are You?

 

By Allen L Roland

CLINTONS UP TO THEIR NECKS IN DUBAIGATE

The Financial Times and Newsmax share the gory details of how Arab

money has infected the moral integrity of our political leaders ~

Republicans and Democrats alike are feeding like pigs at the Arab trough.

 

By Teresa Simon-Noble

Thoughts On Supervisors Of Elections, Republican Strategies And Stolen

Elections

However, calling attention to the fact that our election system is

still rigged, might just get enough people to lift their voices, might

stop the further stealing of our votes by the Bush cabal, demand and

insist on accountability and recount-ability in our voting process,

and forever eradicate from our American Democracy any blueprint for

stealing our elections.

 

By Vickie Karp, Coalition For Visible Ballots

VoteRescue Acts To Save Vanishing Voting Rights With Hand-Counted

Paper Ballots In Citizens's Parallel Election

This project will familiarize voters with the concept of hand-counted

paper ballot elections. Though not 100% tamper-proof, hand-counted

paper ballot elections do not allow the opportunity for elections to

be " flipped " with one stroke on a computer keyboard or by deeply

embedded secret programs.

 

By JGideon

'Daily Voting News' For March 06, 2006

a run-down of the days elections/voting news from across the country

and overseas.

 

By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

An Insider's Guide To The NeoCon World: Get Ready To Meet The Wolves

Of Fate

They think they are Insiders in the NeoCon World which is presently

tightening the stranglehold on the lives, minds, and wallets of

Americans. The lavish salaries, the deference, the perks distract and

seduce them. They are wrong and eventually it will cost them.

 

By Mark S. Tucker

The Devil's New Dictionary - Part 8

Is it possible to out-smirk the business class? Here, the old college

try is put to the acid test.

 

By JGideon

'Daily Voting News' For March 05, 2006

a run-down of the days elections/voting news from across the country

and overseas.

 

By Allen L Roland

THOSE WHO WE LOVE DEEPLY BECOME PART OF US FOREVER

Since love is not only deepest within us but also connects us to

everyone and everything we see around us ~ how fortunate it is to know

that those who we love deeply do indeed become part of us forever.

 

By Mike Whitney

Dubai And The Straits Of Hormuz

Is the Dubai port deal a cover for " staging rights " for an attack on

Iran? Maybe. Washington has its eyes on the next " axis of evil " state

on the administration's hit-list. Better buckle up!

 

By Rev. Bill McGinnis

National Council Of Churches Calls For U.S. To Shut Down Guantanamo

Prison, Now Asks " Who Would Jesus Torture? "

Says, " this chapter in our nation's history is a moral disgrace and

must end. "

 

By Teresa Hommel

Action Alert: Keep Electronic Voting Out Of NYC! Pass Resolution 131 Now!

DREs have a history of failures during elections, cost overruns as

high as 1000%, loss of votes cast in minority languages, and reporting

more ballots than voters. DREs require privatization of elections

because DREs use secret software -- our Board of Elections would have

to turn over our elections to vendors because vendors are the only

ones who know how to service and program their own equipment.

 

By Stephen Crockett

Bush Republicanism: Anti-Conservatism In Action

Bush Republicanism is not Conservative in the traditional sense but

actually is radically anti-conservative. Bush Republicanism has

emerged as the dominant political ideology of the leadership of the

modern Republican Party.

 

By Stephen Soldz

Why Leave Iraq

The Irqi occupation has made life worse and more dangerous for Iraqis.

Polls show Iraqis want us out and US troops want to leave. It is time

to go.

 

By Charles Sullivan

Matewan Revisited

The history of America is the chronicle of class struggle. The current

fight is the same fight that working class people have always faced.

Events that occurred nearly a century ago in the small town of

Metawan, West Virigia, sheds considerable light on class struggle in

America. It also provides inspiration and hope through the courage of

one Sid Hatfield.

 

By Gene C. Gerard

Another Unsavory Judicial Nomination

President Bush has re-nominated Brent Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia. Democrats originally rejected

his nomination in 2003, and for good reasons. He has less legal

experience than all but one previous nominee in the last 35 years. And

his judicial integrity and ethics are questionable at best.

 

By Missy Comley Beattie

Electronic Voting Is A Slam Dunk For Republicans

Voter fraud is an issue all progressive writers need to address.

 

By Gerald E. Scorse

One Tax Tweak That's Worth Billions

Wages are reported to the IRS, but capital gains are not. It's time to

end this tax inequity, and gain billions for the Treasury in the bargain.

 

By Jim Bush

I Joined Up!

 

By Jim Bush

The Bodies Under The Floor

 

By Jim Bush

How Could Yeats Have Known?

 

By Jim Bush

In Some Amazing Way

 

By Jim Bush

The Truth Is Not Hidden

Poetry

 

By Barbara Tutor

Citizens For Outsourcing Political Jobs

Forget Impeachment. It will take too long to get a new Congress

elected. And besides, with Free Trade, Free Markets, Ports for Sale,

Open Borders, and Outsourcing in vogue; it's time to think outside the

box and outsource all political positions, both elected and appointed.

 

By Mark S. Tucker

American Rhetoric 101A - Part 1

Words are now bullets, and the gun is loaded, aimed straight for your

cerebellum, ready to deliver ideological poison. There is a

preventative, however.

 

By Jard DeVille

THE FAILED BUSH PRESIDENCY

The George Bush Presidency has failed...with his approval rating in

the cellar, wavering around thirty-six points, a great many Americans

evidently agree with me. As President Lincoln reputedly said; " You can

fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of

the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. "

 

 

 

Best News Links from the Web

 

Where's All The War Dough?

The hefty -- and growing --bill for the war efforts may be getting

some new auditors. Over the past three years, Congress has approved

$320 billion for military spending over and above the regular

Department of Defense budget, which itself has risen about 40% since

2001. But " oversight was lax, " contends Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of

Rhode Island, who sits on the Armed Services Committee. As Pentagon

officials head to Capitol Hill next week to start defending this

year's $70 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan, there's new

scrutiny of where all the cash is going. IAVA's Follow the Money Project

 

US Intelligence Chief Negroponte Spends 3 Hrs Daily At Private Club W/

Expensive Security Detail In Tow Say Aides

On many a workday lunchtime, the nominal boss of U.S. intelligence,

John D. Negroponte, can be found at a private club in downtown

Washington, getting a massage, taking a swim, and having lunch,

followed by a good cigar and a perusal of the daily papers in the

club's library. " He spends three hours there [every] Monday through

Friday, " gripes a senior counterterrorism official, noting that the

former ambassador has a security detail sitting outside all that time

in chase cars. Surely Negroponte needs a comfort zone, forced as he is

to spends hours in the witness chair in front of congressional

committees, fielding hot potatoes on subjects over which he has no

control — the NSA's warrantless surveillance, domestic spying by

secret military intelligence units, paying newspapers in Iraq to run

pro-U.S. stories. [Good work, if you can get it...]

 

Dubai Inc.

A controversial ports deal has raised new questions about the booming

Arab sheikdom. Inside one of the world's most modern, and yet

mysterious, monarchies.

 

What Goes Around Comes Around: E-vote Pioneer Will Return To Paper Ballots

After six years of electronic ballots, voters in Piedmont's municipal

elections will be marking their choices on paper ballots, and so far

that is the direction Alameda County is headed for the June primary.

Paperless touch-screen voting has fallen from favor after three years

of criticism from computer scientists and voting activists who say

fraud and errors on the machines can be virtually undetectable.

California and many other states now require that voters have some

form of paper printout to double-check their electronic vote and that

elections officials use that paper for recounts. But most voting

machine makers did not adapt their touch screens for printers intime

for use in elections this spring and early summer. So Piedmont is

headed back to plain paper ballots, and so probably is Alameda, at

least for the June elections.

 

HERBERT: Nuclear Madness

The times have changed and reality isn't what it used to be. As the

adviser explained, " We're an empire now, and when we act, we create

our own reality. " This mad-hatter thinking was on display again last

week. President Bush, who used specious claims about a nuclear threat

to launch his disastrous war in Iraq, agreed to a deal -- in blatant

violation of international accords and several decades of bipartisan

U.S. policy -- that would enable India to double or triple its annual

production of nuclear weapons. The president turned his back on the

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (dismissed, like reality-based

thinking, as passé) and moved the world a step closer to an

accelerated nuclear arms race in Asia and elsewhere. In the

president's empire-based, otherworldly way of thinking, this was a

good thing.

 

GA: " Shoot First " Would Legally Immunize Anyone Who Pulls A Gun

Georgians would be able to use deadly force to defend themselves in

public areas such as parking lots and sidewalks under a National Rifle

Association bill that passed the state Senate on Thursday.

 

America's Misguided Nuclear Strategy

Last week, President George W. Bush sealed a landmark nuclear deal

with India. This week, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board

of Governors meets to confront the Iranian nuclear program. At the

same time, Congress has been grappling with a raft of nuclear items in

the president's budget. And all the while, the nuclear standoff with

North Korea continues. This bursting nuclear agenda raises a question:

Does America need a nuclear weapons policy?

 

Air America Phoenix Hopes To Rise From The Ashes

They were abruptly removed from the air last week, and replaced with

yet another Christian radio station. This week, Air America Phoenix is

fighting back to rise from the ashes, perhaps as soon as April if you

can help with money and/or noise.

 

U.S. Faces Latest Trouble With Iraqi Forces: Loyalty

For much of the war in Iraq, U.S. military commanders have said their

most important mission here was to prepare Iraqi security forces to

take over the fight against the Sunni- led insurgency. But with the

threat of full-scale sectarian strife looming larger, they are

suddenly grappling with the possibility that they have been arming one

side in a prospective civil war.

 

Tom DeLay In Primary Battle Today, Election Machine Stolen Over The

Weekend

Over the weekend, an ES & S IVotronic touch-screen voting machine was

stolen from the house of an election judge. That, despite the

water-tight security that American Election Officials are known for

across the globe. (Just ask Linda Lamone in Maryland.) To be clear,

however, all four of the counties in DeLay's 22nd congressional

district, use Hart-Intercivic machines and not ES & S machines. It's

just an unfortunate coincidence that we can't help but think about Tom

DeLay, Elections, Voting Machines and Theft all at the same time. Oh,

well.

 

Good Night And Get Lost! Chris Matthews Exhumes McCarthy

When did Chris Matthews start channeling Ann Coulter?

 

Making Democracy Transparent By David Dill

Many of our current problems stem from a " quick-fix " attitude—leading

to fresh problems, such as the idea that new touch-screen machines

would solve all our election woes. To have the kind of elections we

need will take hard work and many years, and there will be setbacks

along the way. But if we follow a long-term plan, we'll see that each

election is better than the previous.

 

Rumors Fly About Harris's Faltering Senate Campaign After Cheney Fails

To Mention Her

The political buzz among several of those at Vice President Dick

Cheney's fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, was

more about how U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' Senate campaign may be

unraveling. Cheney even provided some fuel when he said he was looking

forward to swearing in a Republican replacement for Democratic U.S.

Sen. Bill Nelson -- but didn't mention Harris by name.

 

GOP Lawmakers Work To Limit Probe Of Domestic Spying Program

Washington - Republicans in Congress are trying to limit the scope of

any investigation into how President Bush's secret

domestic-surveillance program has operated. Some key lawmakers are

also working to legalize such spying on U.S. citizens in the future,

perhaps with some judicial restrictions. The dual-track effort is

designed to protect the Bush administration from an all-out

congressional inquiry into the secret program, while rejecting Bush's

argument that he already has full legal authority to order such

surveillance.

 

Digital Hype: A Dazzling Smokescreen? By Norman Solomon

A central paradox of the rapid advances in media technologies is that

the quantum leaps in computer hard drives and software have been

accompanied by an approximately zero boost in human mental capacity -

or in what we refer to with such words as " insight, " " wisdom " and

" compassion. " You can't visit a local mall or an online site and pull

out a credit card to purchase an upgrade in gray matter or human

connection. The momentum of digital communications has conveyed a

sense of inevitability. As last year's cutting-edge gizmos become old

hat, resistance appears to be futile. But the question is not whether

we're " pro " or " anti " technology. More pertinent are inquiries like:

What's the point of all this hyper-computerized stuff? How does it

relate to the most important meanings of life?

 

The Democrats' Real Problem

The Democrats' real problem is that they have failed to show how their

critique of the Republican status quo is the essential first step

toward the alternative program they will owe the voters in the

presidential year of 2008. This failure has made it easier for

Republicans to cast anti-Bush feeling (aka, " Bush hatred " ) as a

psychological disorder. The GOP shrewdly makes the president's critics

look crazed and suggests that opposition to Bush is of no more

significance than, say, the loathing that many watchers of " American

Idol " love to express toward Simon Cowell, the meanest of the show's

judges. The president's critics need to identify precisely why they

oppose him, not only so they can make clear that they are not psycho

basket cases but also to convey the idea that they know what needs to

be put right.

 

Texas Primary Primer

Texas is the first state to hold 2006 primaries today, kicking off a

series of intraparty contests between now and late September. While

Rep. Tom DeLay's ® legal troubles and battle for a 12th term have

dominated the political landscape for much of the last six months,

there are three other Texas races of import that could well be decided

today: the fight for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and

congressional primaries in the 17th and 28th congressional districts.

The polls in Texas close at 8 p.m. ET tonight. Tune into The Fix this

evening for results and additional analysis. Here are the races to watch:

 

Congress: Hold Bush Accountable On Failed Katrina Response

Hold hearings and get to the bottom of mistakes that were made in

preparing for, and responding to, this disaster. Should the

Administration continue cutting FEMA's mitigation programs, filling in

wetlands, and de-funding levee upgrade projects when the catastrophic

results are so very clear? Should a political insider be running FEMA?

What role does global warming have in making these hurricanes more

deadly? Why didn't the Louisiana National Guard have adequate

personnel and equipment for disaster response? * Call for shared

sacrifice. Further tax cuts for the wealthy -- such as permanent

repeal of the estate tax -- are morally repugnant and would likely

devastate the charitable giving that will be a key part of recovery

efforts.

 

Down With Dildos!

Two state legislators say no to sex toys

 

Support Rep. Wilson's Call For Full Congressional Inquiry On Wiretapping

Congresswoman Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican who chairs the

House Subcommittee overseeing the National Security Agency, has just

broken ranks with her party, defied Karl Rove, and called for a full

Congressional inquiry into the recently-disclosed domestic wiretapping

program. We couldn't agree more. Americans deserve to know the full

truth about the Administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Does

it violate the constitutional rights guaranteed to us by the Fourth

amendment? Has this program actually produced any useful information

for investigators, or just sent FBI agents on thousands of wild-goose

chases? Why did the Administration refuse to seek the warrants it

needed through expedited procedures explicitly spelled out in the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? Were Americans spied upon for

non-terrorism-related reasons? Only a full Congressional inquiry can

answer these questions and determine if the wiretapping program --

which is still ongoin! g -- is legal and constitutional, and whether

or not violations of the law occurred. Call to action Ask your

representative to support Congresswoman Wilson's call for a full

Congressional inquiry into the Bush Administration's warrantless

wiretapping program.

 

Iran Bombing Odds Are 2:1 By 2007

The odds of an American or Israeli airstrike on Iran by March 31, 2007

are 2:1, according to April editions of the Atlantic Magazine. The

magazine relies on online betting at tradesports.com, and provides a

few details of the circumstances in which each strike might take

place. The Atlantic is known for its predictions of future events, and

has held widely respected debates on military strikes on North Korea

and Iran. Neither scenarios resulted in a favorable position for the

United States. Excerpts follow...

 

" America Could Lose Its Army In Iraq "

Imagine this scenario, as described last week in Washington by defense

expert and former Senator Gary Hart. Overnight, Iraq has descended

into a full-scale civil war. Shiites and Sunnis are viciously killing

each other. Vying for supremacy, both groups come after American

troops--who are unable to take sides or quell the violence. Stuck in

urban centers, US soldiers are unable to safely flee in time. A

bloodbath ensues. " America could lose its Army in Iraq, " Hart told a

crowd of journalists and foreign policy junkies at the New America

Foundation last Thursday, repeating the warning twice. " See Black Hawk

Down and multiply it to the tenth power. Read the history of 1812.

Think of the image of US soldiers on helicopters [exiting] Saigon and

multiply it to the tenth power. "

 

Lawmaker Tries To Block Ports Deal

A U.S. lawmaker said on Tuesday he would try to block a controversial

deal for a Dubai company to manage facilities at U.S. ports by

attaching an amendment to a must-pass spending bill for the Iraq war

and hurricane relief.

 

BLUMENTHAL: Abramoff Splits The Christian Right

As the Jack Abramoff scandal unfolds, it is becoming increasingly

clear how extensively he collaborated with the Christian right to

advance his casino schemes. Ralph Reed was paid no less than $4

million by Abramoff and his Indian casino clients to serve as a

liasion to the Christian right.

 

Rice, Lavrov Expose Widening US-Russia Rift

The top diplomats from Russia and the United States exposed their

countries' widening rift on Tuesday, publicly airing disagreements

over how to curb Iran's nuclear programs and other issues, such as

trade and democracy.

 

Developments In Iraq, March 6

US soldier and 19 others dead in bombings/violence across Iraq

 

Gonzales Defends Conditions At Guantanamo

The U.S. government's leading lawyer defended the Guantanamo Bay

prison camp on Tuesday, saying detainees there were granted

state-of-the-art health care, good food and " unprecedented legal

protection " . Responding to complaints by the United Nations, human

rights groups, religious leaders and some national governments,

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the camp was entirely lawful

and essential to the protection of the United States.

 

Throwing Consumers To The Wolves

A federal bankruptcy judge says the new bankruptcy law is good for one

thing: allowing creditors to make more money off the backs of

debt-ridden consumers.

 

HUFFINGTON: How Money Is Clouding The Ports Deal Debate (

Lenin's fabled admonition that capitalists are so eager to make a buck

they'll sell you the rope with which to hang them is in need of an

update: they'll also lease you the ports through which terrorists can

sneak the dirty bomb with which to blow them up. The establishment's

full-throated support of the Dubai ports deal is an object lesson in

how huge amounts of money can cloud the thinking of people on both

sides of the political spectrum.

 

Conversations With Machiavelli's Ghost: Denials Mark Neoconservative's

Account Of Past And Present Scandal

Neoconservative Michael Ledeen is no stranger to intrigue.

 

Not So Fast, General

A bipartisan call by senators to halt the retirement of the major

general at the heart of the Abu Ghraib scandal suggests the abuse

inquiry finally has a pulse.

 

Tom DeLay Faces Primary Test

While DeLay is favored to prevail, it's less certain if he'll reach

the 50 percent mark needed to avoid an April 11 runoff. [Guess all

Texas politicans are criminals...one crook just as good as another? SAD

 

Were Sanctions Worth The Price?

As conflict with Iran looms, questions remain about the moral

implications of sanctions

 

IVINS: The Towering Solons Of Abortion

South Dakota is so rarely found on the leading edge of the far out,

the wiggy, the California-esque. But it has now staked its claim.

First to Outlaw Abortion This Century. The state legislature of South

Dakota, in all its wisdom and majesty, a legislature comprised of sons

and daughters of the soil from Aberdeen to Zell, have usurped the

right of the women of that state to decide whether or not to bear the

child of an unwanted pregnancy. They will decide. Women will do what

they decide.

 

How Congress Benefits From Corporate Flights

It was a busy weekend last November for the flight crew of BellSouth's

corporate jet. Over three days, they crisscrossed the Southeast,

ferrying six U.S. senators, two of their wives, a trio of political

consultants and two of the company's Washington lobbyists to

Republican and Democratic fundraising events.

 

Iraqi Government In Turmoil As Violence Persists

American Missing From Tape of Peace Activists Held Hostage

 

Shia Bloc Seeks Time To End Impasse

Iraq's Shia Alliance has said it will ask Jalal Talabani, the

president, to postpone the opening of parliament for a few days to

give them more time to break a deadlock delaying the formation of a

new government.

 

Bush's Last, Best Hope: The Democrats

A Popular Groundswell for Impeachment

 

Half A Trillion Dollars - It's An Awful Lot Of Money To Makes Us Less

Safe And Less Free

Ever since President Eisenhower's farewell address, there have been

sporadic warnings about the Military Industrial Complex. Over the last

couple of decades, critics like Ernest Fitzgerald and Chuck Spinney

have performed a valuable public service by uncovering the Pentagon's

lunatic potlatch schemes and dragging them before the bar of public

opinion. Lately, organizations such as the Project on Government

Oversight, the Center for Defense Information, and the Committee

against Government Waste have been in a continuous pother about the

riot of pork-barrel spending in the military budget.

 

House GOP To Include 527 Language In Its Bill

House Republican leaders have told their Senate counterparts that

legislation curtailing the activity of so-called 527 soft-money groups

will be included in the House lobbying-reform bill that leaders intend

for conference negotiations, according to knowledgeable sources.

 

`I Will Not Seek Reelection'

Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), the fiery chairman of the House Ways and

Means Committee, announced yesterday that he will not seek reelection

this year, ending the congressional tenure of one of Capitol Hill's

most polarizing but effective figures. Forced to relinquish the Ways

and Means gavel at the end of this Congress because of GOP term limits

on the post, Thomas announced the decision from his district office in

Bakersfield, Calif., with his wife, Sharon, at his side.

 

Post-9/11 Drive By Republicans To Attract Jewish Voters Stalls

Nearly five years ago, immediately after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks,

Republican strategists identified what they hoped would be a powerful

new engine of support. " September 12 Republicans " were Jewish

Democrats and independents who would switch their allegiance because

of their concern over national security and their appreciation of

President Bush's stalwart support of Israel.

 

Government Smart-Card Project Hits Snags On Fingerprints, Costs

The government's smart-card project appears at risk of falling behind

schedule. Federal agencies are supposed to begin issuing

government-wide identification cards that can vouch for the identity

of federal employees and most contractors in October, but the

Government Accountability Office warns that setting up and testing new

ID systems may not be completed within deadlines set by the Bush

administration.

 

New Model Predicts Severe Solar Activity

Sun-spawned cosmic storms that can play havoc with earthly power grids

and orbiting satellites could be 50 percent stronger in the next

11-year solar cycle than in the last one, scientists said yesterday.

Using a new model that takes into account the sun's subsurface

activity and data about previous solar cycles, astronomers offered a

long-range forecast for solar activity that could start as soon as

this year or as late as 2008.

 

Levee Fixes Falling Short, Experts Warn

The Army Corps of Engineers seems likely to fulfill a promise by

President Bush to rebuild New Orleans's toppled flood walls to their

original, pre-Katrina height by June 1, but two teams of independent

experts monitoring the $1.6 billion reconstruction project say large

sections of the rebuilt levee system will be substantially weaker than

before the hurricane hit. These experts say the Corps, racing to

rebuild 169 miles of levees destroyed or damaged by Katrina, is taking

shortcuts to compress what is usually a years-long construction

process into a few weeks. They say that weak, substandard materials

are being used in some levee walls, citing lab tests as evidence. And

they say the Corps is deferring repairs to flood walls that survived

Katrina but suffered structural damage that could cause them to topple

in a future storm.

 

FBI Knew Al-Qaeda Pilots Training In U.S.

A top FBI expert on the al-Qaeda terrorist network testified in court

today that the agency knew before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that the

group's leader, Osama bin Laden, had sent followers to an Oklahoma

flight school to train as pilots and was interested in hijacking

airplanes.

 

Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity

Amid GOP Troubles, No Unified Message

 

Fastow Says Skilling Wanted To `Juice' Enron Earnings

Enron Corp.'s former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow testified

today that his boss, Jeffrey Skilling, told him to use off-the-books

partnerships to ``give me all the juice you can'' on earnings.

Fastow's remarks, in response to prosecutors' questions, were the

first attempt to show Skilling, the former chief executive officer,

and former Chairman Kenneth Lay, were participants in an accounting

fraud that drove Enron into bankruptcy. Fastow, who pleaded guilty to

the fraud, said he interpreted Skilling's comment to mean he should

``juice the earnings so we could report the numbers we wanted to report.''

 

Envoy To Iraq Sees Threat Of Wider War

The top U.S. envoy to Iraq said Monday that the 2003 toppling of

Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a " Pandora's box " of volatile

ethnic and sectarian tensions that could engulf the region in all-out

war if America pulled out of the country too soon. In remarks that

were among the frankest and bleakest public assessments of the Iraq

situation by a high-level American official, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay

Khalilzad said the " potential is there " for sectarian violence to

become full-blown civil war.

 

New West Point Study Suggests Amnesty To Encourage Al-Qaida Defectors

New West Point study reports that by mining jihadi websites for

insights US can craft effective tactics to subvert terrorists. One

suggestion is to divide and conquer by offering amnesty for Al-Qaida

defectors.

 

Palestinians To Get $42 Mln World Bank Grant To Ease `Crisis'

The World Bank approved a $42 million grant to help ease the ``severe

fiscal crisis'' in the Palestinian Authority as the Islamic militant

group Hamas prepares to take over the government.

 

UK: Plan For New Nuclear Programme Approaches Meltdown After Report

Despite the Prime Minister's well-known support for the nuclear

industry, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) concluded that

a new nuclear programme was not the answer to the twin challenges of

climate change and security of supply. In a hard-hitting report, the

15-strong Commission identified five " major disadvantages " to nuclear

power:

 

Unrest Grows In Rural China Over Land Grabs

Her sorrow is in contrast to the jubilation in the village in April

last year, when 30,000 farmers stopped 1,500 police from entering

Huaxi and the farmers won the battle. Huaxi became famous among

activists in China, one of the first of many disturbances as rampant

industrialisation led to clashes between the authorities and those

left behind by development - the farmers and migrant workers who make

up two-thirds of China's 1.3 billion people.

 

Rumsfeld Pushes Gingrich Long War Strategy

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is circulating a strategy paper

by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, asking top deputies to

take another look at the QDR with it in mind. Former House Speaker

Gingrich wrote the paper, " Essential Strategic Changes in National

Security 2005-2007, " in October. Responses to Rumsfeld's questions

were due back last week.

 

The Coming Resource Wars

It's official: the era of resource wars is upon us. In a major London

address, British Defense Secretary John Reid warned that global

climate change and dwindling natural resources are combining to

increase the likelihood of violent conflict over land, water and

energy. Climate change, he indicated, " will make scarce resources,

clean water, viable agricultural land even scarcer " —and this will

" make the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely. "

Although not unprecedented, Reid's prediction of an upsurge in

resource conflict is significant both because of his senior rank and

the vehemence of his remarks. " The blunt truth is that the lack of

water and agricultural land is a significant contributory factor to

the tragic conflict we see unfolding in Darfur, " he declared. " We

should see this as a warning sign. "

 

Opium Cultivation Rising In Afghanistan

Cultivation of opium poppies has increased in large areas of

Afghanistan, raising fears there could be another bumper crop this

year, a government and U.N. survey said.

 

Two Democrats Vie To Unseat Texas Governor

Two Democrats vying to challenge GOP Gov. Rick Perry were busy with

last-minute campaigning Tuesday, while two independents hoped to

capitalize on low turnout in Texas' gubernatorial primary election.

 

CIA Fights Libby's Request For Information

The CIA signaled Tuesday it likely will fight the release of highly

classified presidential intelligence briefings that Vice President

Dick Cheney's former top aide wants to use in his defense against

perjury charges.

 

Israel 'could Target Hamas Leaders'

The Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, warned today that the

incoming Palestinian prime minister could be targeted for

assassination if Hamas resumed its campaign of violence. Speaking a

day after an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian children, Mr

Mofaz said the policy was effective and all Hamas leaders, including

the prime minister designate, Ismail Haniyeh, could be targeted.

 

'14,000 Detained Without Trial In Iraq'

US and UK forces in Iraq have detained thousands of people without

charge or trial for long periods and there is growing evidence of

Iraqi security forces torturing detainees, Amnesty International said

today.

 

RAIMONDO: Another War For Israel

The amen corner howls for war with Iran

 

Iraqi President Loses Call For Parliament

Iraq's president failed in a bid Monday to order parliament into

session by March 12, further delaying formation of a government and

raising questions whether the political process can withstand the

unrelenting violence or disintegrate into civil war.

 

Rumsfeld Says Potential Exists For Iraq Civil War

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday there has always

been a risk Iraq could slip into a civil war but he accused the news

media of exaggerating the severity of the current situation.

 

U.S. Firm Against Iran Nuclear Enrichment

The Bush administration told Iran on Tuesday that any enrichment of

nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable, as Russia appeared

to close ranks with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.

 

Ex-Enron CFO Says He Helped Hide Losses

Former Enron Corp. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow testified

Tuesday he ran partnerships designed to help the company mask as much

as hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

 

Iraqi Leader Won't Abandon Election Bid

Iraq's Shiite prime minister declared Tuesday he won't be blackmailed

into abandoning his bid for a second term, and the Kurdish president

bowed to Shiite pressure to delay calling parliament into session

until a deadlock is resolved over who should lead a unity government.

 

Cheney Says U.S. Won't Let Iran Get Nukes

Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that Iran will not be allowed

to have a nuclear weapon and warned " the United States is keeping all

options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the

regime. "

 

Poll: Cheney Less Popular Than OJ

" How low is 18 percent? " This was a headline in the Washington Post on

March 5. The 18 percent is the support rate of vice president Dick

Cheney from a public opinion survey conducted by CBS. The Washington

Post included the support rates of notoriously famous people to prove

how low 18% is. Michael Jackson, who was alleged of sexually harassing

an underage boy, and American football player O.J. Simpson, who caused

a huge clamor for being suspected of murdering his wife in 1994, each

maintained 25 percent and 29 percent favorable impression rates,

respectively.

 

Decades Later, Marines Hunt Vietnam-era Deserters

Forty years later, in the summer of 2005, Texiero — now known as

Gerome Conti — was taken into custody by police in Tarpon Springs,

Fla., after the Marine Corps tracked him down.

 

8,000 Desert During Iraq War

At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have

deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the

overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

 

Bechtel Contractor, Based In Dubai, Gets Lucrative U.S. Security Contracts

A British security firm headquartered in Dubai has won lucrative

contracts for U.S. security in Iraq and the United States, providing

security in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and training Iraqi port

security officers under the Coalition Provisional Authority. Don't

forget that they funded Neil Bush's new business to get " Every Child

Left as Road Kill " education contracts in FL & TX too. Money from

Dubai just pouring into Bush Family Fortunes and that of their cronies.

 

Chertoff Says Ports Deal Would Improve Homeland Security

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday said the

proposed takeover of terminal operations at five U.S. ports by a Dubai

company would give U.S. law enforcement a better handle on security at

U.S. terminal operations, the paid-restricted Wall Street Journal

reports Monday.

 

Several Explosions Rock Baghdad, Nearby Cities

At least 14 killed, 52 wounded; new parliament to meet on March 12

 

Middle Eastern Investment Up In U.S.

Proposed ports deal is just part of flood of oil wealth spilling ashore

 

Fastow Looms Large At Enron Trial

Former finance chief's testimony is highly anticipated

 

Dana Reeve Dies At 44 Of Lung Cancer

Widow of actor Christopher Reeve fought for paralysis cure

 

Hostages In Iraq Seen In Video

Three of four Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq were

shown in a video played on Al Jazeera television on Tuesday and looked

in good health.

 

Lavrov In US For Talks On Iran, Hamas

Growing U.S.-Russian tensions including differences over Iran and the

Palestinian militant group Hamas are expected to be aired in talks on

Tuesday between Russia's foreign minister and the Bush administration.

 

Israel's Olmert Says Will Reduce Settlement Funding

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed on Tuesday to reduce spending

on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after an Israeli

election his party is expected to win, underscoring plans to quit

isolated enclaves.

 

Four Killed In Blasts In Indian Holy City

At least four people were killed and over a dozen wounded in two

separate explosions on Tuesday in the Hindu pilgrimage town of

Varanasi in northern India, police said. Television reports said up to

12 may have died.

 

Russian Offer To Iran Ruffles West

Russia has offered to let Iran do some atomic research if it refrains

from enriching uranium on an industrial scale for 7 to 9 years,

diplomats said on Tuesday, cracking big-power unity on how to stop

Tehran getting the bomb.

 

US Asks Court To Drop Ex-detainees' Torture Suit

The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court on Monday to dismiss

a lawsuit charging that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears

responsibility for the torture of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

India Says To Complete Nuclear Separation By 2014

India will open 14 of its 22 nuclear plants for international

inspections by 2014 as part of a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation

deal with the United States, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on

Tuesday.

 

Most Americans See Iraq Civil War As Likely: Poll

Eight in 10 Americans believe that recent sectarian violence in Iraq

has made civil war likely, according to an ABC News/Washington Post

poll released on Monday.

 

South Dakota Bans Most Abortions

The Republican governor of South Dakota on Monday signed a law banning

nearly all abortions in the state, directly challenging the U.S.

Supreme Court's legalization of the practice 33 years ago.

 

'Specific' Info On NSA Eavesdropping?

A new lawsuit may have what other cases don't: official records about

those under surveillance.

 

America Anesthetized

For more than four years, the American people have been anesthetized

by a steady flow of propaganda that has influenced the public to

believe " facts " that aren't facts and to ignore ugly realities that

would otherwise shame the nation's conscience. Only recently have

Americans begun to shake themselves awake, but the Bush

administration's residual success in misshaping U.S. opinion was

underscored again when a poll found that 85 percent of American troops

in Iraq believed they were there to avenge the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

 

Cunningham's Corruption Connections

On Friday, former Rep. Randy " Duke " Cunningham (R-CA) was sentenced to

8 years and 4 months in federal prison for taking $2.4 million in

bribes in exchange for lucrative defense contracts, among other

crimes. It was the longest sentence ever meted out to a congressman.

While it's the last we'll hear from Cunningham for some time, the

larger scandal is just beginning to unfold.

 

Revised Patriot Act Targets Allergy, Cold Meds

Besides terrorism, the bill takes aim at the production of

methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that cannot be manufactured

without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines. The

bill would impose new limits next month for how much relief a person

can buy over the counter.

 

Election Official Hammered For Telling The Truth

''This is incredible how he (Sancho) has been treated,'' Wagner said

Monday. ``He's the leader everyone else in the nation has been

watching. Because of his investigation, we've been able to strengthen

security and protect the voters of California and Florida.'' Wagner

noted, instead of getting credit, Sancho has been savaged. One vendor

canceled his orders at the last minute, one refused to sell him

machines, the third won't return his phone calls. Salesmen are

suddenly too busy to sell him machines. The state, rather than react

to possible collusion, promptly canceled his grant and threatened to

sue him for failing to fulfill his official duties. A couple of Leon

County commissioners have joined the pummeling.

 

Tillman's Parents Deserve The Truth

Paging Mr. Orwell. In explaining why the Army was finally launching a

criminal investigation of the April 2004 friendly fire death of

NFL-star-turned-Army-Ranger Pat Tillman, the chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace sighed, " Although there is no evidence

there was criminal activity, the investigators did not specifically

look at whether there was criminal activity. " In other words, the

previous four investigations were flawless except for the fact that

they didn't investigate anything. Now the Army has committed publicly

to reexamining the circumstances around Pat Tillman's death as a

formal criminal probe.

 

Throwing Consumers To The Wolves

A federal bankruptcy judge says the new bankruptcy law is good for one

thing: allowing creditors to make more money off the backs of

debt-ridden consumers.

 

Irony And More ''1984'' - America's Children Are Becoming Orwell's

Children

Sean Allen, one of Bennish's students and a sophomore at Overland High

School, recorded his teacher's comments and brought them to a local

radio station. In Orwell's classic " Big Brother is watching you

novel, " children are taught by " Big Brother " and the Party's adherents

to inform upon society.

 

Open Source Election Systems Desirable, Unavailable

Rubin also highlights the need for more transparent testing and

certification of e-voting systems in the US, whether they come from

proprietary vendors or open source groups. " The Independent Testing

Authority testing process, for example, is totally non-transparent, "

he says. " Testing reports are private and not viewable by the public.

This is a disgrace. " Transparency, not only in functioning voting

machines, but also in the testing and certification, is key to

trustworthy e-voting, and has finally become a significant issue,

Rubin says.

 

Voting Today Isn't What It Used To Be

The problem with the new electronic voting machines is that they leave

no paper trail, no verification that the wires and chips inside the

contraption have recorded exactly what we wanted them to. Also, we

understand switches; we know how they work. But knowledge of computer

electronics is different. One election watchdog group reported that in

the 2004 presidential election, there were 100,000 cases of glitches,

malfunctions and deliberate tampering in the state of Florida alone. I

don't mean to dump on Florida, but since 2000, it has become the

standard for what can and does go wrong in elections. Computer

professionals can't argue with the fact that electronic voting systems

are vulnerable. It's easy for a programmer to make a computer tell us

one thing and do another. It's estimated this year, the year of the

HAVA deadline, 22.5 million voters will vote using the old lever

machine or push-card method. I miss the good old days of election

shenanigans that were ea! sier to understand.

 

PA: The Voting Machine Case; Force And Recklessness

So, millions of dollars are about to be spent on new voting machines

that received a cursory study and which counties will have to live

with for years to come. To force this outcome before counties -- and

voters -- are fully prepared would be reckless. The means by which

free citizens exercise a precious right must not be infringed.

Ensuring this right is upheld should not be compromised by a federal

deadline.

 

So, Sue Us!

In particular, our Legislature heeded the generous advice of the

voting-machine makers and, specifically, their lobbyists, and allowed

each individual county in New York to pick its own style of voting

machine. This was only fair, as the manufacturers spent more than $1

million lobbying state lawmakers to pick their machines. No one should

go home completely empty-handed. But this process had meant more

delays and more problems and . . . blah, blah, blah. Bottom line: New

York is " the worst, " Dan Seligson of Electionline, a national

nonprofit group that monitors elections, told our Albany bureau, " New

York is now farther away from complying with HAVA than any other state. "

 

GA Senate Approves (51-0) Study Of Voting Paper Trail

According to the plan, which passed 51-0, precincts in Bibb, Camden

and Cobb counties would be outfitted with the paper balloting for

November's general election. If all went well, the state could add the

receipts to all of its voting machines by the 2008 presidential

election, Stephens said.

 

Bush Declares War On Freedom Of The Press

" The significance of this cannot be overstated, " says prominent New

York litigator Glenn Greenwald. " In essence, while the President sits

in the White House undisturbed after proudly announcing that he has

been breaking the law and will continue to do so, his slavish

political appointees at the Justice Department are using the mammoth

law enforcement powers of the federal government to find and

criminally prosecute those who brought this illegal conduct to light.

" This flamboyant use of the forces of criminal prosecution to threaten

whistle-blowers and intimidate journalists are nothing more than the

naked tactics of street thugs and authoritarian juntas. "

 

Clinton On Dubai's Payroll, Bush In The Pits

" I have three points about that. First, when Bill Clinton tells us

this port deal is kosher, he ought to disclose that he's being paid by

the government. Secondly, he should register as an agent of a foreign

principal because he's giving public relations advice to a foreign

company. And thirdly, his wife should disclose how much Clinton is

being paid and when he's been paid, because it goes into a joint bank

account and this is in effect a payment to the husband of a senator.

Bush, he said, " has now dropped to a point where Republicans are

turning on him, the public is turning on him and all he's got is a

portion of the Republican base. And it is going to get worse - he's

going to get (crushed) in the election of '06, he'll probably have at

least one if not two houses (of Congress) controlled by Democrats

launching investigations, etc. This is not a pretty picture. He has

lost control over public opinion and he has only his own laziness to

blame. "

 

Action Alert: Senate Intelligence Committee Must Hold Hearing To

Investigate Illegal Wiretaps

On March 7, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a vote on

whether to investigate the domestic wiretaps that the president has

already admitted were performed in defiance of the FISA court. Bill

Frist has now threatened to restructure the Senate Intelligence

Committee itself to strip it of oversight responsibility if it even

dares to investigate the president's dictatorial violations of the

law. It is critically important that we speak out now to make sure

justice prevails in this very winnable fight. With the votes against

him three weeks ago, senator Roberts has already once unilaterally

blocked a vote on this matter. We must raise every voice to make sure

they know the people will not let them get away with it again.

 

Trust Bush? Yeah, Right

So it has finally come to this: Congressional Republicans, once a

compliant bunch, are now openly defiant. In some ways, it's not

surprising: The president is a lame duck, leading an increasingly

unpopular war in Iraq, and his personal popularity is at an all-time

low. After all, members of Congress are most loyal to themselves when

it comes to saving their jobs. And Republicans are worried that they

could actually lose control of the House in the upcoming midterm

elections. " It's not that we feel we now can [criticize the White

House], " says one nervous House Republican. " It's that we feel we

must. " Survival is a basic instinct. But something else is happening:

Republicans are truly miffed at a White House that they consider too

secretive, too arrogant, and too interested in extending its own

power. When the president threatened to veto legislation to block a

Dubai company from operating six American ports, that was too

much--even for some conservatives. " I think the ! administration has

looked at the legitimate power of the executive during a time of war

and taken it to extremes, " Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South

Carolina told me. " [it's] to the point that we'd lose constitutional

balance. Under their theory, there would be almost no role for the

Congress or the courts. " Mississippi's Sen. Trent Lott put it more

succinctly: " Don't put your fist in my face. "

 

Another State's Giant Step Backward For Women

" Compassionate conservatism. " I am sick of the phrase. It has lost all

meaning for me. I now dedicate myself to doing what I can for those

women caught in a legislative hell that has no interest in their

souls. We will not return to the back-alley, wire-hanger abortions.

 

Bush, Lies And Videotape

IF GEORGE W. BUSH were a character in a novel or a play, last week

might have been the turning point in the narrative. He was shown on

film being explicitly warned, just hours before Hurricane Katrina hit,

that the levees in New Orleans were vulnerable. But everyone knows

that after the levees broke, he denied having been warned that such a

thing was possible. The broadcast of the film amounted to a terrible

epiphany: The president seemed caught in a lie. Grave questions had

already been raised about his administration's manipulations of the

truth, especially in relation to the war in Iraq. Does the truth

matter in America any more?

 

Appointees Guarding The Henhouse

With George W. Bush—in case after case—hiring practices constitute a

blatant nose-thumbing at the public that put him into office. We saw

that most recently with FEMA, where Bush first appointed his campaign

manager, Joe Allbaugh, a man with no appropriate emergency or

management experience. He then installed as his successor Michael

Brown, a man who had never managed more than two people and whose

career pinnacle was investigating misconduct at horse shows. Here are

just a few of the more egregious examples from the Bush record:

 

The Great Bush Divide

When you add this Dubai Ports World deal to the 2005/6 Bush Greatest

Hits album--torture, Harriet Miers, Katrina, Shooter and Scooter,

illegal wiretappings and other PR disasters--it spells trouble for

incumbants like Bill Frist, Rick Santorum, Dennis Hastert and John

Boehner. I'm not sure who's been harder on him lately, them or

Democrats. It's safe to say, the lame duck just got even lamer.

 

The Politics Of Shoe Leather

Rudy Perkins is one of the founding members of a group called New

Hampshire Swing the Vote. Swing the Vote was founded in the run-up to

the 2004 Presidential election. The goals of the group were neither

grand nor epic in scope; their mission was not to stop the Iraq

occupation or impeach George W. Bush. They weren't looking to get

involved in the national push to get John Kerry elected president.

Their goal was singular and narrow, small and attainable, and entirely

local. Swing the Vote sought to flip Cheshire County, in the southwest

corner of New Hampshire, to the Democrats.

 

Cindy Sheehan Arrested At UN

Here is an update on the arrest of Cindy Sheehan and three other

activists at the UN today when they attempted to deliver a petition

with 72,000 signatures organized by womensaynotowar.org to the United

States mission. The four are being held now at Police Service Area 4,

8th Street and Avenue C, on their way to the DA's office. They are to

be charged with resisting arrest. Sheehan is apparently rather injured

from the arrest, according to Rev. Patti Ackerman who just called from

custody, with a wrenched arm and bruises on her torso and head from

being dropped on the pavement. After initially telling the activists

they could deliver the petitions to a receptionist at the US Mission,

where they had an appointment to do so, the New York police cited a

change of plan from " higher up " and moved in to prevent the delivery

and arrest the activists. In addition to rough handling of Ms.

Sheehan, one of the Iraqi women with the group was punched in the

stomach. This according t! o Rev. Ackerman on the phone. One broadcast

producer with whom I spoke who saw footage of the incident said the

police were " particularly nasty " in their handling of the women.

 

MD Repub Guv Demands Paperless Diebold Voting Machines Be Sent Back

For More Testing

Maryland's Republican Governor Ehrlich continues to face the music

about the Diebold voting machines that his state bought into hook,

line and sinker (emphasis on sinker). He's been had by Diebold's use

of the state as a " showcase " , but at least he now seems brave enough

to admit it, even while the Diebold dead-enders (like State Elections

Board Chairman Gilles W. Burger and Democratic Election Administrator

Linda H. Lamone who brokered the deal) are trying to hang on to the

very last.

 

MD House Committee Votes 20-3 To Scrap Diebold Touch-screens In State!

Signs are good in Maryland -- Diebold's original " showcase state " --

that the legislature there is finally wising up to the democracy

undermining problem that is Diebold. According to AP -- yes, again AP

-- the Democratic chaired House Ways and Means Committee " voted 20-3

on Friday to scrap the Diebold touchscreen machines for at least this

year and use paper ballots with an optical-scan system for the primary

and general elections. " The measure still has to move through the

Senate, though the Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich has previously

called for something very similar. So if the Senate moves, chances are

the Guv will sign on.

 

Max Cleland Calls Bush A Disaster

Cleland added that he also was concerned about the integrity of the

new voting systems, and questioned the accuracy of the Diebold systems

in use in Georgia and Ohio. In Ohio in 2004, he asserted " there was a

lot of funny business'' with the voting systems, such putting too few

machines in Democratic precincts. " It's insane for us to install

democracy in Iraq when we don't even have it in our own country.''

 

Always Having To Say He's Sorry

If there were a trapdoor that was somehow rigged to open beneath the

U.S. senators we really don't need, Conrad Burns of Montana would

surely fall right through it.

 

George The Unready By Paul Krugman

In short, our country is being run by people who assume that things

will turn out the way they want. And if someone warns of problems,

they shoot the messenger. Some commentators speak of the series of

disasters now afflicting the Bush administration -- there seems to be

a new one every week -- as if it were just a string of bad luck. But

it isn't. If good luck is what happens when preparation meets

opportunity, bad luck is what happens when lack of preparation meets a

challenge. And our leaders, who think they can govern through a mix of

wishful thinking and intimidation, are never, ever prepared.

 

Warm, Warmer, Warmest

" Historians of science will be brutal on us, " said Jerry Mahlman, a

climate expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. " We

are right now in a state of deep denial about how severe the problem

is. Political people are saying, 'Well, it's not on my watch.' They're

ducking for cover, because who's going to tell the American people? "

We know what to do: energy conservation, gas taxes and carbon taxes,

more renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, and new (and

safe) nuclear power plants. But our political system is paralyzed in

the face of what may be the single biggest challenge to our planet.

" Are we an intelligent species or not? " Dr. Mahlman asked. " Right now,

the evidence is against it. "

 

Pennsylvania: Dark Day For Democracy

hame on you, Governor Rendell and Secretary Cortés! Please take the

next step to protect our vote NOW -- call for public hearings on

Voter-Verified Paper Records (as recommended nearly a year ago by your

Governor's Task Force on Election Reform) and support the passage of

SB 977 / HB 2000 to protect our vote with voter-verified paper records

on all voting systems and routine audits of all elections.

 

Democracy Being Stolen

The Republican Party essentially owns voting machines in the USA. This

is not bad news for Democrats; it is a devastating blow to democracy.

Votes are not stolen from a political party ---- they can only be

taken away from their rightful owners, the American people. These

cavalier attitudes and the fact that elected officials generally act

with total disregard of the public will suggest that holding public

office is now a matter up to one ruling party. This week, approval

ratings for Bush plummeted to 34 percent; Cheney's fell to 18 percent.

They wantonly proceed with a materialistic and militaristic agenda

knowing there will be no election-day repercussions. Normally,

Democrats would be feeling giddy with such low ratings for the sitting

presidency before a midterm election, but don't be surprised when

Republicans maintain a marginal victory ---- into perpetuity.

 

Party Hacks: California Sinks Into The Bushiest Sea

Diebold: Mechanically De-Boned Democracy Empire Burlesque - Chris

Floyd - Two weeks ago, an obscure, unelected, Republican-appointed

official in California decided the future of the world. That future –

at least for the next several years – will be an accelerating

nightmare of war, corruption, repression, breakdown, atrocity and

terror. That's because the loyal apparatchik has, with the stroke of a

pen, guaranteed the perpetuation of the militarist Bush Faction in

power in 2008 and beyond.

 

Voting Machine Support Costs Cause Sticker Shock In Ohio

The full coverage plan offered by Diebold Election Systems to service

its touch-screen voting machines in Fairfield County, for example,

would cost $90,000 a year. Partial-coverage options are available at

$60,000 and $21,000 a year. " It just about blew our minds away, " said

Alice Nicolia, director of the county Board of Elections. In poorer

Perry County, a Diebold service contract is out of the question. " We

just do not have the money, " said Janie DePinto, elections board

director. Her board is considering hiring a cheaper consultant to

provide technical support at election times.

 

Ohio Company's Voting Machines Lead Election Issues In Maryland

But the biggest election issue, which cuts across party lines,

involves the electronic voting machines of Ohio-based Diebold that are

scheduled to be used by all Maryland voters this year. With doubts

growing about the reliability of the machines, a campaign to return to

the days of paper ballots, at least for one year, is gaining momentum

in the General Assembly. Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who approved

purchase of the Diebold Accuvote-TS voting system in 2003, now

questions the reliability of the touchscreen machines. " I no longer

have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct

fair and accurate elections in 2006, " the governor said in a letter

last month. Many members of the General Assembly share his concerns,

and voting rights activists are keeping up an attack on the system,

arguing that the machines are vulnerable to hackers who could

manipulate results and that fraud would be impossible to detect

because there are no paper records tha! t could be used for recounts

in disputed elections.

 

" NY Times As Justice Department Stooge " Or " Spin, Spin, Spin "

The New York Times, once again, delivers an article so utterly devoid

of information or context it is beyond amazing. Michael Cooper brings

to those once-august pages, the ineptly told story that the Justice

Department is suing the State of New York for failing to comply with

the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by the prescribed deadline. Many

states are not in compliance with this law, which, if violated,

results in the loss of millions of dollars in federal election

funding. But at no point in the two entire pages that comprises this

article, will one ever, ever learn why New York or other states have

not yet complied with HAVA. The article would simply make the reader

think that it is a typical state government bureaucracy snafu.

 

Stumbling In Afghanistan

Oblivious, Bush's Afghan trip takes him to spot he abandoned the

capture of Osama bin Laden in order to attack Iraq.

 

Right-wing Christian TV Empire, Trinity Broadcast, Savors A Tax

Blessing As A " church'

A ruling that means Sumner County and the city must refund the theme

park-like Trinity Broadcasting Network complex here more than $300,000

in taxes ends an 11-year skirmish and gives the colorful owners much

of what they've wanted — status as a church. [What these free-loading

bandits don't pay, you have to because GS Bush spends like there ain't

no tomorrow -- rapture happy!!]

 

Unprocessed Uranium Netted In Colombia Sting

Colombian authorities say they have seized 13.5 kilograms of natural,

unprocessed uranium in a sting operation. Brigadier General Gustavo

Matamoros told reporters a man and a woman were arrested in the

capital, Bogota, after they offered to sell the uranium to undercover

agents for $315 million.

 

Tens Of Thousands Rally Against Prophet Cartoons In Pakistan

At least 35,000 people have rallied in Pakistan's largest city,

Karachi, to protest controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet

Muhammad. Some protests in Pakistan have turned deadly and at least

five people died in rioting last month.

 

UN Food Agency: More Aid Needed For Starving Kenyans

UN officials estimate at least 11 million people are facing starvation

across East Africa

 

Iraq Civil War: Another Mosque Attack In Bagjdad

An attack Sunday on a Sunni mosque in Baghdad left three people dead.

Police say the attackers who stormed the al-Nour mosque wore military

uniforms.

 

Offical Number US Soldiers Dead In Iraq War: 2300

 

Heck Of A Job, Mr. President

The Bush administration has a substantial credibility problem. Things

it says turn out not to be true. Again and again. Two troubling

examples made the news last week, and they illustrate a serious

problem rooted in a combination of political arrogance, incompetence

and disdain for the audience. Often it seems the White House, or the

president himself, offers the American public an incredulous shrug to

punctuate the plea, " Who could have known? "

 

Emails Catch Ralph Reed In Lies

Reed's work to shut down two Indian casinos in Texas, and a third

proposed for Louisiana, in 2001 and 2002, cost the Coushatta tribe of

Louisiana, whose sole source of income is a casino, an estimated $4

million. The Coushattas were another Abramoff client. Reed maintained

through a spokeswoman that he didn't know who was financing those

efforts. But in e-mails made public last year, the funding was a topic

of open conversation. On June 5, 2001, Abramoff e-mailed Reed: " Not

sure I understand what this bill is all about. ... Please let me know

so I can discuss with the tribe. "

 

Nato May Help US Airstrikes On Iran

It was not US General's demonstration that raised eyebrows, but what

he said about Nato's possible involvement in any future military

strike against Iran. " We would be the first to be called up if the

Nato council decided we should be, " he said.

 

John Murtha: The 'Only People Who Want Us In Iraq' Are Iran, Al Qaeda,

And China - VIDEO

MURTHA: The public is way ahead of what's going on in Washington. They

no longer believe it. The troops themselves, 70 percent of the troops

said we want to come home within a year. The only solution to this is

to redeploy. Let me tell you, the only people who want us in Iraq is

Iran and al-Qaeda. I've talked to a top-level commander the other day,

it was about two weeks ago, and he said China wants us there also.

Why? Because we're depleting our resources, our troop resources and

our fiscal resources.

 

Zawahiri Urges Hamas To Fight On

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on the Palestinian

militant group Hamas not to recognise past peace deals with Israel.

 

Iran Issues New Nuclear Warning

Iran has threatened to press ahead with industrial-scale uranium

enrichment if its nuclear work is referred to the UN Security Council.

 

GA GOP Congressman's Creative PAC Circumvents Campaign Finance Laws

A recent article in the AJC highlighted a previously unpublicized PAC

that operates out of Speaker Richardson's law firm, called the MMV

Alliance Fund. The fund allows the Speaker to accept large donations

that would otherwise be illegal under campaign finance laws. Last

year's ethics bill originally contained bans on gifts from lobbyists

to legislators as well as enforcement measures on ethical behavior of

public officials. But both of these were removed from the bill - at

the direction of Speaker Richardson. They got it half right. The bill

effectively held lobbyists more accountable, but not legislators.

 

Dubai Funds Neil Bush's Company

Investors from the United Arab Emirates helped fund the $23 million

Neil Bush raised for Ignite!, the learning systems company that holds

lucrative No Child Left Behind Act contracts in Florida and Texas. The

" Cow " is an Ignite! portable computer designed to work in a classroom,

providing interactive instruction aimed at improving students' scores

on standardized tests. If you loved Billy Carter and " Billy Beer, "

you're certain to love Neil Bush and the " Ignite! Cow. " Neil Bush's

frequent travels to Dubai are documented by Datamatix, a Dubai-based

information technology company that has featured Neil Bush as a

speaker. The Datamatix website features several prominent photographs

of Neil Bush addressing a Dubai conference, identifying Neil Bush as

" the brother of U.S. President George Bush. "

 

Parents Demand Respect, Greater Say In Schools

NY - Parent leaders are also teaming up with friendly city council

members and raising money to get professional lobbyist training. And

some parent activists already are talking about ways to change the

schools' command structure.

 

Killing Of Al-Qaeda Suspects

OVER fifty militants are reported to have been killed in an operation

carried out by Pakistani security forces in North Waziristan. Those

killed include foreigners hailing from Central Asian Republics and

some Chechens. Incidentally the operation was launched on the eve of

the visit to Pakistan by American President Bush and therefore, some

circles may link it to the appeasement of the guest. However, it is a

fact that activities of these elements were bringing not only bad name

but also harm to Pakistan and no Government can allow use of the

country's soil to follow such an agenda. This is particularly so in

the present circumstances when Pakistan is facing multifarious

challenges. But the killing of a large number of people on account of

their being `suspects' is questionable. It is also obvious that in

such a large-scale operation collateral damage like loss of innocent

lives is unavoidable. In this backdrop, the said operation may further

establish the sincerity o! f President Pervez Musharraf to flush out

militants from Pakistani soil but it also destabilizes a sensitive area.

 

In South Dakota, I Am Disposable

Imagine this: One day you wake up and discover an entire state has

passed a law that declares you are worthless. You are no longer a

person. You are a package - a package for a potential person. Picture

the styrofoam Big Mac carton tumbling along the shoulder of the

interstate. Remember the discarded, dented Budweiser can you kicked

aside at the campground to pitch a tent. Recall the time you scraped a

month-old Popsicle wrapper from the side of your garbage can. That's

you. Or rather, that's me. I am a discard. I am debris. I am a useless

scrap of life, sacrificed.

 

Fire Stalls Search For Body At W.Va. Plant

Crews on Sunday waited for a smoldering fire to die out inside a

100-story-high power plant smokestack so they could search for the

body of a worker presumed dead inside.

 

Violence Prevents Formation Of Iraq Gov't.

Pressure mounted Sunday on Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to give

up his bid for a new term amid anger over a recent surge of sectarian

killing that has complicated already snarled negotiations on a new

Iraqi government. The delay forming a government has prevented the

parliament elected Dec. 15 from meeting since the vote was certified

last month. But Kurdish and some Shiite officials said Sunday it

should be ready to convene within days. The political turmoil has left

a dangerous leadership vacuum as Iraqi armed forces, backed by the

U.S. military, battle to contain the violence that pushed Iraq to the

brink of civil war.

 

GOP Lawmakers Vow To Change Ports Process

Two key GOP lawmakers pledged Sunday to overhaul the way the U.S.

reviews foreign acquisitions of companies involving national security,

saying that the Bush administration's handling of the Dubai ports deal

was flawed.

 

State Of Denial: US Top General: Iraq's Not On Verge Of Civil War

Iraq is not on the verge of civil war, the Pentagon's top general said

Sunday, though he acknowledged that ``anything can happen'' in the

beleaguered nation. Ending the insurgency depends not only on military

efforts but also on whether the Iraqi government can give the people

what they want, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace said.

``I do not believe it has deep roots,'' Pace said of the insurgency.

``I do not believe that they're on the verge of civil war.''

 

Indian Cult Kills Children For Goddess

'Holy men' blamed for inciting dozens of deaths

 

Iran's Own Eminem Raps For Islam

With his desire to purge Iranian culture of the un-Islamic influence

of 'decadent western music', President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad needs all

the allies he can get. But now he has support in the unlikely form of

Kiarash Alimi, a teenage Iranian musician who has taken up rap to

persuade fellow youth their tastes are misguided

 

Death Rules The Delta In Battle To Control Oil

Kidnappings and ethnic war in Nigeria have one root cause - oil. The

power struggles and corruption that flow from it have claimed

thousands of lives. Eleven years after his own father was killed

there, Ken Wiwa reports from the Niger Delta on the persistent

conflict that is tearing the country apart

 

UN Pleads For Food As Drought Grips Kenya

Western tourists are kept oblivious to the starvation threatened if

aid does not come in 10 days

 

Bush Signs Up To Terror Pact With Pakistan

Imran Khan is among hundreds arrested as Pakistan cracks down on

protests over visit

 

Gary Revel Teams With The Boston Boys On New Music Recording

Jongleur Music Label announces new music recording of a Gary Revel

Sony/ATV Milene Music song, SEASHELLS (Seashells Scattered in the

Sand) produced by Ralph Belmore with co-artist the Boston Boys

released on the Jongleur Music Label.

 

Food News Blues

Fat is bad, but good fat is good. What about fish? Wine? Nuts? A new

appetite for answers has put science on a collision course with the media.

 

Twilight's Last Gleaming

Who are these people? These people who line their pockets with the

lives of our loved ones? These gray men who lurk in shadows and kill

the sunshine of democracy? These people who wear morality like a cheap

suit pilfered from the collection plate of decency? Who are these

people who have turned America into their own personal ATM machine?

These are the people of the lie - Republicans.

 

Time For A Special Prosecutor - Bush's NSA Spying Program Violates The Law

The debate in Congress--and in the media--over the NSA surveillance

program has ranged over many specific subtopics, but in the end, it

comes down to one fundamental question: Did the President break the

law? In this column, I will analyze this question--and argue that,

indeed, he did.

 

The Dubai Ports Purchase: National Insecurity, Imported Or Homegrown?

Americans are in a fever about possible " Arab control " of mainland

ports along both coasts of the United States. The battle has followed

entirely predictable lines: on the one hand, those favoring the Dubai

Ports purchase point out that this is all part and parcel of being

part of the international world economy, and there's no evidence that

the transaction and the new owners might in any way compromise the

internal security of the U.S. mainland. On the other hand, foes of the

deal shout that the Arabs will be tightening their grip on the

nation's windpipe and legions of terrorists and terror weapons might

be stowed in the containers that land in America each day by the

hundreds of thousand

 

Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon

Most discussions of U.S. policy in Iraq assume that it should be

informed by the lessons of Vietnam. But the conflict in Iraq today is

a communal civil war, not a Maoist " people's war, " and so those

lessons are not valid. " Iraqization, " in particular, is likely to make

matters worse, not better.

 

US 'flying Gunships' Moving To Iraq

The US Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 aircraft - the

lethal " flying gunships " of the Vietnam War - to a base in Iraq as

commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance.

[Expect heavy 'collateral damage' to civilian population and Iraq

infrastructure]

 

US-India Deal 'undermines' Iran Case

The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control has said the US – India

nuclear pact undermines global efforts to convince Iran to give up its

nuclear activities.

 

UN Atomic Agency To Meet On Iran

The UN atomic watchdog is to open a meeting that is expected to clear

the way for the Security Council to consider acting against Iran over

fears that it seeks nuclear weapons.

 

China Congress Focuses On Rural Woes

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has opened the annual session of the

country's parliament with promises of massive new social spending to

placate the poor, restive countryside.

 

Dozens Dead In Pakistan Clashes

Fighting between pro-Taliban and security forces have died down in a

tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, where clashes have left at

least 46 militants and five soldiers dead.

 

Second Canadian Dies Of Afghan Injuries

A second Canadian soldier died on Sunday of injuries received when an

armored vehicle overturned in southern Afghanistan and another was in

serious condition following an ax attack during a meeting with tribal

elders.

 

Pakistan Battles Militants Near Afghan Border

Pakistani army helicopters pounded mountains near the Afghan border on

Sunday and troops exchanged gunfire with militants, a day after more

than 50 people were killed in clashes with pro-Taliban fighters. The

violence in the remote, semi-autonomous tribal region awash with

weapons underscores the problems President Pervez Musharraf faces on

his front in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

 

AT & T Near Deal To Buy BellSouth: Reports

U.S. telecoms group AT & T is planning to acquire No.3 U.S. regional

telephone company BellSouth, U.S. newspapers reported on Sunday,

adding a deal worth $65 billion could be announced as early as Monday.

 

UK, US To Withdraw Iraq Forces By Early '07: Papers

The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops

out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in

their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry

sources. The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an

acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops

in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace. " The British

government is understood to be the driving force behind the withdrawal

plan but all 24 coalition members are likely to welcome the move,

given the growing international unpopularity of the war, " the

Telegraph said. There are currently about 135,000 U.S. soldiers and

Marines and about 8,500 British troops in Iraq. The full U.S.-led

coalition numbers around 160,000. Italy, which has the fourth largest

contingent in Iraq, has said it plans to pull out this year.

 

The GOP's Order On The Court

Ken Mehlman has not had an easy time of it in his first year as

chairman of the Republican National Committee...But last week he could

watch as two politically important victories became likely in an arena

where Republicans still hold sway -- the Supreme Court.

 

What's Behind Those Bad Poll Numbers

The problem for President Bush is a growing perception that he simply

isn't competent. That's the story behind the polling numbers that have

declined -- bad week by bad week -- since February 2005 when the

president's approval rating stood at a respectable 52 percent.

 

In Guantanamo Bay Documents, Prisoners Plead For Release

U.S. Makes First Public Accounting Of Detainees

 

Life After Roe

For the first time in 14 years, legal abortion in the United States is

in serious jeopardy.

 

Warren Buffett's Company Chooses His Successor

Warren E. Buffett, the folksy multibillionaire whose business holdings

range from Geico insurance to Dairy Queen restaurants, announced

yesterday that his successor has been chosen. He just won't say who it is.

 

An Energy Pearl Harbor? A Near Miss In Saudi Arabia Hints At Future Shocks

Had the terrorists succeeded in penetrating the guarded facility and

detonating their bombs inside, they might have turned the complex into

an inferno, releasing toxic chemicals that could have killed and

sickened thousands of locals and expatriates, including many

Americans, who work and live nearby. The damage to the world economy

also would have been severe because the oil market today resembles a

car without shock absorbers: The tiniest bump on the road could send

consumers and prices bouncing off the ceiling.

 

Our Financial Failings - Family Savings Look Scary Across The Board

t has about $3,800 in the bank. No one has a retirement account, and

the neighbors who do only have about $35,000 in theirs. Mutual funds?

Stocks? Bonds? Nope. The house is worth $160,000, but the family owes

$95,000 on it to the bank. The breadwinners make more than $43,000 a

year but can't manage to pay off a $2,200 credit card balance. That is

the portrait of the median American household as painted by the

Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey, which

does not distinguish between sizes of families, nevertheless offers

the most detailed look available of the balance sheet of U.S. households.

 

As Crisis Brews, Iran Hits Bumps In Atomic Path

When Iran defiantly cut the locks and seals on its nuclear enrichment

plants in January and restarted its effort to manufacture atomic fuel,

it forced the world to confront a momentous question: How long will it

be before Tehran has the ability to produce a bomb that would alter

the balance of power in the Middle East?

 

A Muslim Leader In Brooklyn, Reconciling 2 Worlds

The questions are only a piece of the daily puzzle Mr. Shata must

solve as the imam of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, a thriving New

York mosque where several thousand Muslims worship.

 

Media Downplay New Bush Katrina Videotape, Dubai Port Deal Coverage

And Other Media 'play'

It's always been tempting to think that media pay less attention to

President Bush's lies about matters of life and death than they did to

President Clinton's lies about a personal relationship because there

existed videotape of a clear, concise lie by Clinton that could be

replayed over and over by the broadcast media and endlessly quoted by

their print counterparts. " I did not have sexual relations with that

woman, " the thought went, was a simple, direct, unambiguously false

statement -- so it lent itself to media coverage in a way that " The

British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought

significant quantities of uranium from Africa " did not. It's tempting

to believe that the media's disparate focus on presidential lies

during the last two administrations can be explained by these

superficial differences -- but it's increasingly obvious that this

explanation doesn't hold water.

 

Principles Defeat Politics At The U.N.

IN the global struggle for the advancement of human rights, the United

Nations has reached a defining moment. The president of the General

Assembly, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, has led five months of negotiations

to develop a proposal to reform the United Nations Commission on Human

Rights. Although the commission has accomplished many things,

including the adoption of human rights standards, treaties and

fact-finding mechanisms that measure the performance of governments,

it has become more of a political battleground than a meaningful force

for protecting victims of human rights violations, and it must be

reformed.

 

Bush: Iran's Best Friend

At the rate that President Bush is going, Iran will be a global

superpower before too long. For all of the axis-of-evil rhetoric that

has come out of the White House, the reality is that the Bush

administration has done more to empower Iran than its most ambitious

ayatollah could have dared to imagine. Tehran will be able to look

back at the Bush years as a golden era full of boosts from America,

its unlikely ally.

 

Army Ordered To Look Again At Battle Death

In a rare rebuke of military investigators, the Defense Department

inspector general has told the Army to open a criminal inquiry into

the shooting death of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former professional

football player whose enlistment in the Army drew national attention,

Pentagon officials said Saturday.

 

Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking On My Wireless

For a while, the wireless Internet connection Christine and Randy

Brodeur installed last year seemed perfect. They were able to sit in

their sunny Los Angeles backyard working on their laptop computers.

But they soon began noticing that their high-speed Internet access had

become as slow as rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway.

 

Torture And Death Of Jew Deepen Fears In France

Mr. Halimi, 23, died Feb. 13, shortly after he was found near a train

station 15 miles away by passers-by, after crawling out of the wooded

area where he was dumped. He was naked and bleeding from at least four

stab wounds to his throat, his hands bound and adhesive tape covering

his mouth and eyes. According to the initial autopsy report, burns,

apparently from the acid, covered 60 percent of his body.

 

U.S. Gives India Applause, Pakistan A Pat On The Back

President Bush leaves this region having declared India and Pakistan

strategic partners. But his declarations spoke just as loudly of the

shifting balance of power in the region, and the world.

 

White House Trains Efforts On Media Leaks

The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified

information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their

possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a

polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice

Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws. In

recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security

Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents

from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible

leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's

warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law

enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases.

 

`Brokeback' Wins Independent Spirit Award Lee also honored; Hoffman, Huffman capture top acting prizes

 

Military Denies Withdrawal Plan

The U.S. military in Iraq said on Sunday media reports that America

and Britain planned to pull all troops out of Iraq by spring 2007 were

" completely false, " reiterating that there was no timetable for

withdrawal.

 

Slicing Away Liberty: 1933 Germany, 2006 America

I must confess that I'm utterly baffled by the lack of sustained,

organized outrage and opposition from Democratic officials and

ordinary citizens at the Bush administration's never-ending scandals,

corruptions, war-initiations, and the amassing of more and more

police-state power into their hands. And so, facing little effective

opposition, the Bush juggernaut continues on its rampage. How to

explain this? Certainly, one could point to a deficient mass-media, to

the soporific drug of TV, to having to work so hard that for many

there's no time for activism, to education aimed at taking tests and

not how to think, to the residual fear-fallout from 9/11, to a

penchant for fantasy over reality, to the timid and unimaginative

Democratic leadership, to scandal-fatigue, etc. But I would suggest

that even more disturbing answers can be found by examining recent

history.

 

Bush Said To Be Looking At 30-60 Day Deadline For Iran

The United States, ahead of a key meeting on Iran on Monday, is

discussing a 30 to 60-day deadline for Tehran to halt its nuclear

program and cooperate with international inspectors or face

intensified pressure in the UN Security Council, according to a U.S.

official.

 

Pressure Grows For Iraq Spy Inquiry In Germany

Allegations about the role of German spies in Iraq appear set this

week to trigger an inquiry that could embarrass the intelligence

services and hamper Berlin's efforts to improve relations with

Washington. A steady drip of media reports since January has alleged

that two German agents in Baghdad in early 2003 fed information to the

United States to help it launch the invasion of Iraq which the Berlin

government had publicly opposed.

 

US Launches Drive To Plug Leaks

The Bush administration has launched several investigations to

discourage government employees from leaking classified information to

news reporters.

 

Who Benefits From An Attack On Saudi Arabia, And The World's Largest

Oil Facility?

Given exhaustive history, official documentation and extensive

(purposely ignored) independent reporting and analysis that al-Qaeda

was a creation of the CIA and that Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab

Al-Zarqawi, etc., continue to function as military-intelligence assets

for US and intelligence cutouts working on behalf of Anglo-American

interests, Washington's involvement and motives for further

destabilizing the Middle East, including any activities in Saudi

Arabia, must be seriously considered.

 

Olmert To Seek West Bank Pullout After Election

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans a unilateral

withdrawal from some settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins

a March 28 general election, Israeli officials said on Sunday. But

under the four-year plan, which Olmert will propose to the United

States, evacuated settlers would be relocated to major settlement

blocs, and Israel would not withdraw militarily from the land as it

did last year from the Gaza Strip.

 

Al Qaeda's Zawahri Calls For Strikes Against West

Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to attack

the West in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Saturday, urging

similar strikes as those against New York, London and Madrid in recent

years. In a video of his remarks aired by Al Jazeera television,

Zawahri also urged the Islamist militant group Hamas not to recognize

peace deals signed by the Palestinian Authority with Israel.

 

Anglican Leader Criticises Guantanamo, Terrorism

The leader of the world's Anglicans branded the U.S. prison camp at

Guantanamo Bay an " extraordinary legal anomaly " on Sunday and said it

set a dangerous precedent for dictators around the world.

 

France's Chirac Preaches Respect In Cartoon Row

French President Jacques Chirac on a trip to Saudi Arabia preached on

Sunday greater tolerance and respect after the publication of

satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad a month ago whipped up

protests around the world.

 

Even Fox News Reports Repubs Losing Ground

NEW YORK — Most Americans oppose allowing a Dubai company to run some

U.S. ports, even as a majority understands the U.S. would continue to

control port security, according to a new FOX News poll. One in four

sees the United Arab Emirates as a strong ally, but most either

disagree or are unsure. In addition, the poll shows Republicans have

lost ground on the issue of terrorism, and by a wide margin voters now

think it would be better for the country if Democrats win control of

Congress in this year's midterm election. For only the second time of

his presidency, the poll finds that President Bush's overall job

approval rating has fallen below 40 percent — today 39 percent of

Americans say they approve and a 54 percent majority disapproves. Late

last year the president's approval hit a record-low of 36 percent (8-9

November 2005). This is also one of only a handful of times that

Bush's approval has dropped below 80 percent among Republicans. Today

77 percent of Republ! icans approve, down from 82 percent in early

February.

 

US Central Command Pr Office Invites Blogs Aboard

Hmmm... What does this mean?

 

Alabama Judge Declares War On US Supreme Court

Parker's attack on the U.S. Supreme Court has had a concrete legal

effect. Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative,

which represents indigent defendants and prisoners in Alabama, says he

is aware of at least two cases in which Parker has been asked to step

aside in reviewing pending death sentences. Parker declined to say how

he will respond to the motions. " There is fear that he will not follow

Supreme Court precedents, " says Stevenson. " Judges express dissent or

disapproval all the time, but they apply decisions they do not agree

with. The idea that a judge can refuse to follow a decision he does

not like seems to be the very definition of the kind of judicial

activism he criticizes. "

 

 

For Rob who is on vacation,

Amanda Lang, News Editor