October surprise?

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Third and Final Act

The third and final act in the national tragedy that is the Bush administration may soon play itself out. The Okhrana reports increasing indications of "something big" happening between the election and Christmas. That could be the long-planned attack on Iran. That this would constitute folly piled on top of folly is no deterrent to the Bush administration. Like the French Bourbons, it forgets nothing and it learns nothing. It takes pride in not adapting.

America's Adrianople

An attack on Iran will not be an invasion with ground troops. We don't have enough of those left to invade Ruritania. It will be a "package" of air and missile strikes, by U.S. forces or Israel. If Israel does it, there is a possibility of nuclear weapons being employed. But Israel would prefer the U.S. to do the dirty work.

Bush on a Dem Victory: "The Terrorists Win and America Loses"
On Monday President Bush said that the terrorists will win if the Democrats succeed in next week's election. At a campaign rally in Georgia, Bush said "The Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses. That's what's at stake in this election."
That's quite a soundbite. I don't remember hearing any Democrats say that.
Actually, the Democrats will win and Bush loses.

Cheney Warns Iraq Terrorists Trying to Sway U.S. Election
FOX news reports that Vice President Dick Cheney has claimed that anti-U.S. forces in Iraq have increased their attacks in order to influence the result of the election. The Vice President offered no evidence to back up his assertion.
Uh, yeah, right.

Spotted on 10/19, by an eagle-eyed Wonkette reader: The Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services truck making its way up to the Cheney compound at the Naval Observatory.
Fun fact: Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services has been contracted by the Secret Service for our Executive Branch’s record-not-keeping needs.

Last night Stephen Colbert dedicated his word to defending Rush Limbaugh against "people exploiting their diseases to find cures for their diseases".

In a new CNN poll, MJ Fox has a 75% approval rating while Limbaugh is at 26%.

Under Fire, Soldiers Kill Blogs
Milblogs offer one of the last direct witnesses to the Iraq war from the point of view of front line soldiers -- a sharp reversal from three years ago, when the U.S.-led invasion was among the most closely-watched military attacks in history. According to Editor and Publisher, the number of reporters embedded in military units has dropped from 770 at the height of the conflict to just nine today.

Active Duty Troops Appeal for Redress up to 713:
Corporate Media Desperate to Discredit Growing Movement
It appears that the Corporate media is afraid of the growing movement to truly support the troops by bringing them home, so they are attempting to discredit the 'appeal for redress' website and active duty troops on the growing list with their recent article "Activists can't validate soldiers' names."

81 People Die in Iraq
Meanwhile the bloodshed continues in Iraq. At least 81 people died across the country on Monday. The death toll from the massive bombing in Sadr City has increased to 33. Shiite militants called for a general strike in Sadr City which has been under a U.S. siege for almost a week. This comes as the United States is increasing the number of troops on the ground. There are now 150,000 troops inside Iraq – the largest number since January.

You Get What You Pay For, and in Iraq We Paid for Death Squads
Exactly who is James Steele and what role did he play in training paramilitary forces and commandos in Iraq? What relationship did he have with John Negroponte, former US ambassador to Honduras during the Reagan presidency, former ambassador to Iraq under President Bush, and current Director of National Intelligence? Here are some excerpts from articles and other sources which mention Steele, Negroponte and their role in developing Iraq's death squads.

The New Yorker, May 5, 2004 issue:

... I had met Steele in El Salvador, two decades earlier. He was an Army colonel then, a tall, rangy Vietnam veteran from Texas, in his late thirties. He was in El Salvador from 1984 to 1986 as the chief of a team of military advisers who had been dispatched by the Reagan Administration to assist the Salvadoran government in the campaign against the Marxist guerrillas of the F.M.L.N. Steele was a personable man, and he gave the impression of being a straight-arrow type. In the late eighties, during the Iran-Contra investigation, he testified before a Senate committee about his involvement with Oliver North's program to supply arms to the Nicaraguan contras through the Salvadoran Air Force base at Ilopango. He worked with the Panamanian police after the U.S. invasion that toppled Manuel Noriega, and, in 1990, he helped put down an attempted armed revolt by Panamanian security forces. He left the Army as a highly decorated soldier and later worked for Enron and several other private companies.
When Steele arrived in Baghdad last May, however, in the chaotic aftermath of the war, and reported for duty to Jay Garner, who initially had the job of leading the postwar reconstruction, he was put in charge of training policemen."Garner knew of my work with security forces," Steele said. "That's what I did in Cambodia and El Salvador and Panama, and so it was fine by me." He went home in September, but returned to Iraq because “I think we’re on the side of the angels here."
Steele advocates robust military action, "combined with the right political moves," to quell the insurgencies. "In Fallujah, a heavy hand makes sense," he said. "That's the only thing some of those guys will understand. Down south, too. We can't be seen as weak. Otherwise, this kind of thing can happen everywhere."

From Dahr Jamail's report on death squads for IPS, dated October 16, 2006:

A UN human rights report released September last year held interior ministry forces responsible for an organised campaign of detentions, torture and killings. It reported that special police commando units accused of carrying out the killings were recruited from Shia Badr and Mehdi militias, and trained by U.S. forces. Retired Col. James Steele, who served as advisor on Iraqi security forces to then U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte supervised the training of these forces. Steele was commander of the U.S. military advisor group in El Salvador 1984-86, while Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to nearby Honduras 1981-85.
Negroponte was accused of widespread human rights violations by the Honduras Commission on Human Rights in 1994. The Commission reported the torture and disappearance of at least 184 political workers. The violations Negroponte oversaw in Honduras were carried out by operatives trained by the CIA, according to a CIA working group set up in 1996 to look into the U.S. role in Honduras. The CIA records document that his "special intelligence units," better known as "death squads," comprised CIA-trained Honduran armed units which kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of people suspected of supporting leftist guerrillas.

Ex-Hussein political adviser claims Iraq accepted Bush's ultimatum before invasion

Report: U.S. Predator Drone Carried Out Airstrike in Pakistan
In Pakistan a mass funeral was held on Monday for up 80 people that were killed in an airstrike at a religious school near the Afghan border. The Pakistani government has said its own military helicopters carried out the attack but ABC News is reporting the bombing was actually carried out by a U.S. Predator drone. Sources tell ABC that Al Qaeda’s Ayman al Zawahiri was the intended target. Pakistan is denying the ABC report but it has admitted it relied on U.S. intelligence to carry out the bombing.
Either with us or against us?

Augusto Pinochet Put Under House Arrest
In Chile, a federal judge has placed the former dictator Augusto Pinochet under house arrest. This comes three days after torture and kidnapping charges were filed against him.
Too bad this wasn't done a few decades ago.

Iran Says Israel is Preventing a Nuke-Free Middle East
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the United Nations not to impose sanctions over its disputed nuclear program. He said Iran would respond with a "appropriate and firm response" to any U.N. sanctions. Iran’s deputy UN ambassador, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, criticized the international community for its stance on Israel and its secret nuclear weapons program.

• Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi: "The Israeli regime is allowed to acquire a large stockpile of nuclear weapons in the volatile Middle East region and defy the will of all regional states and the international community to turn the Middle East into a zone free from nuclear weapons. Emboldened by few powers irresponsible approach, the Israeli regime has also become so audacious to lead a masquerade of lies and deception against Iran's peaceful nuclear program."

UN Official: New U.S. Military Commissions Act Violates Int'l Treaties
A top United Nations expert on human rights says the new U.S. Military Commissions Act violates international treaties protecting detainees. The official, Martin Scheinin, said one of the most serious aspects of the law is the power of the president to declare anyone, including U.S. citizens, without charge as an "unlawful enemy combatant." Scheinin also deplored the denial of the habeas corpus rights of foreigners - including legal, permanent U.S. residents - to challenge the legality of their detention. He said this is in contradiction with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty the U.S. ratified in 1992.

10,000 Protest In Oaxaca; Zapatistas Back People's Movement
In Mexico, over 10,000 protesters demonstrated in Oaxaca on Monday calling for the removal of federal police from the city and the resignation of Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz. Over the weekend, Mexican president Vicente Fox sent in thousands of special police into the city but the non-violent resistance movement remains in control of much of Oaxaca. The Zapatistas have called for roadblocks on Wednesday throughout Chiapas to show solidarity with the people of Oaxaca. They also encouraged others to stage roadblocks throughout Mexico and the United States. In addition, the Zapatistas called for a nation-wide shut down on November 20th. Meanwhile Mexico's Senate and House have urged Ruiz to resign. Javier Gonzalez Garza, Mexican Congress member: "The House of Representatives urges the governor of the State of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, to resign in the interest of re-establishing governability, judicial order and peace in the state."

State Dept: U.S. Won't Press Mexico Over Death of Brad Will
In Washington the State Department has indicated it is not going to press the Mexican government over the murder of American journalist Brad Will. He was shot dead on Friday by Mexican gunmen tied to the government. He died with his video camera in his hand. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack was asked whether the Bush administration would demand the Mexican government investigate who is responsibility for the murder of Will. McCormack claimed the State Department is not aware that anyone linked to Will's death has been identified. However the Mexican press has published a photograph taken at the scene showing the armed men. They have been identified as Juan Carlos Soriano, Manuel Aguilar, Abel Santiago Zarate and Pedro Caramona. All four men are connected to the local government. They are reportedly now in custody.

Hundreds Blockade Mexican Consulate in NYC
In New York, hundreds of friends and supporters of the slain journalist Brad Will blockaded the entrance to the Mexican Consulate for over an hour on Monday. 12 people were arrested including a Reuters photographer. Nine of them were held overnight. Brad Will’s former roommate and fellow Indymedia journalist Brandon Jourdan was arrested after he laid down in the street while wearing a shirt covered in red ink – depicting where Brad was shot.

Two kicked out of Bush event win court order
Two people ejected from a speech by President Bush in Denver in 2005, allegedly because of an anti-war bumper sticker on a car they drove to the event, won a court order Monday they hope will uncover who gave the order to kick them out.

British Gov’t Warns of Disastrous Consequences of Global Warming
In Britain, Tony Blair’s government has launched a new initiative to fight global warming. The British government issued a major report on Monday that said global warming would have a cataclysmic effect on the global economy.

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "The scientific evidence of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is overwhelming. It is not in doubt that if the science is right the consequences for our planet are literally disastrous and this disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime."

Meanwhile a new report from the United Nations has found that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialized world is growing again, despite the Kyoto Protocol.

Maine TV Stations Stops Covering Global Warming
In media news, journalists at two TV stations in Maine have been ordered not to cover stories related to global warming. The policy affects both the ABC and Fox affiliates in Bangor Maine. Michael Palmer, the general manager of the stations said in a memo when "Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories… Until then no more." Palmer said that he placed global warming stories in the same category as 'the killer African bee scare' from the 1970s or, the Y2K scare.

Israeli Cabinet Approves Far-Right Member
The Israeli cabinet approved by a large majority Monday the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman to become deputy prime minister and strategic threats minister. Lieberman is a far-right wing politician who has called for Arabs living in Israel to be transferred to the Palestinian territories. Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian member of the Knesset, criticized the move.

• Ahmed Tibi: "We are talking about a black day for the Israeli democracy. Lieberman - fascist number one of the Israeli society of Israel, the parallel of (French far right-wing leader) Jean-Marie Le Pen and (Austrian right-wing leader) Jorg Heider is being upgraded to the degree of deputy prime minister. It's a message sent by Mr. Olmert to the Arab minority, to the region, about his direction, about his feelings towards the Arab citizens of the state of Israel. Lieberman is calling for deportation of the Arab minority and for assassination of the Arab members of the Knesset. He is the wrong appointment in the wrong day by the right government to do exactly this fascist action."

Report: U.S. Training Fatah Guards in West Bank
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting the Bush administration has undertaken efforts to arm and train the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to prepare it for a potential violent confrontation with Hamas. Palestinian sources say that the training started in August, under the guidance of an American military instructor. The training is occurring at a compound in Jericho where reporters were recently barred access.
Get ready to find Hamas people in mass executions...

Israeli planes stage mock raids over Hezbollah strongholds

EU to Israel: Mock raids could encourage cease-fire violations
The European Union on Tuesday called on Israel to respect Lebanon's borders, with several diplomats warning its mock air raids over Beirut could encourage Syria and others to violate the UN resolution that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Bolivia Reaches Agreement With Foreign Energy Companies
And in Bolivia, President Evo Morales has a secured a major victory after foreign energy companies agreed to stay in the country and share a larger share of their profits with the state. Morales campaigned for president on a platform of partially nationalizing Bolivia's energy resources.'
The greedy oil companies can be defeated.

Puberty Hitting Girls as Young as 4 Years Old

The problem is that hormones pumped into food animals to make them grow more quickly and mature faster are getting into consumers via meat and dairy products, and triggering similar responses in humans. Of course, as the Fox News lawsuit proved, pointing the finger at chemicals used in agriculture can get you fired and sued, hence the rather banal and generic "environment and genetics" cited as the cause in this article.

Spiritual leader of Muslims dies in Nigerian plane crash
ABUJA -- A Nigerian airliner carrying 104 people, including the man regarded as a spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria, crashed in a storm yesterday after taking off from the airport in Abuja. Most of those on board were feared dead, but at least six people survived. The Sunni leader was among the dead, local radio reported.
State radio reported the Boeing 727 was en route to the northwestern city of Sokoto when it crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport in Abuja during a storm.
The sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Maccido, was among those on board, according to Mustapha Shehu, spokesperson for the Sokoto state government. Maccido is the head of the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, which announces when Muslim fasts should begin and end and decides policy issues for Nigeria's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims. Shehu said the sultan's son, Muhammed Maccido, a senator, also was on the flight, along with Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former Nigerian president Shehu Shagari, who was in office between 1979 and 1983.
About half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims. The country is the most populous in Africa and the continent's leading oil exporter.

The Great Pumpkin

Thousands march in California against Iraq war
Several hundred people also marched in San Francisco, a bastion of liberal anti-war sentiment, local news media reported. In Chicago, a group of anti-war demonstrators fanned out across the city with bull horns, banners, leaflets and petitions. More standard chants included “US out of Iraq” and “Endless war means endless profits." Speakers at the event included anti-war activists Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, and Ron Kovic, a Vietnam war veteran whose story was immortalized on the screen by actor Tom Cruise in the movie 'Born on the Fourth of July.'

Operation enduring chaos: The retreat of the coalition & rise of the militias
The message to the Baghdad morgue was simple - they could do what they liked with the plastic handcuffs, but the metal ones were expensive and needed to be returned. Such is the murderous state of affairs in Iraq at the moment that the demand, made by a militia gunman who is also believed to be a member of the Special Police Commandos, hardly caused a stir.
There was a similar lack of shock when a dozen bodies were brought in with identification cards showing that each had the name Omar. The catch here was that Omar is a Sunni name, and this fact was enough to seal their fate at Shia checkpoints.
Yet, ironically, the death squads are the result of US policy. At the beginning of last year, with no end to the Sunni insurgency in sight, the Pentagon was reported to have decided to train Shia and Kurdish fighters to carry out "irregular missions".
The policy, exposed in the US media, was called the "Salvador Option" after the American-backed counter-insurgency in Latin America more than 20 years ago, which led to 70,000 deaths and countless instances of human rights abuse.

'Star Wars' becomes reality as US unveils laser-equipped 747

Iran says U.S., Israel ordered September 11 attacks

“The events of September 11 were ordered by U.S. [officials] and Mossad so that they could carry out their strategy of pre-emption and warmongering and unipolarisation in order to dominate the Middle East”, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi told military commanders on Tuesday. His comments were reported by the state-run news agency ISNA.

NO TAXES UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION

The Times's David Cay Johnston reported yesterday that on Oct. 10, the I.R.S. commissioner Mark Everson told his troops to delay tax enforcement in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina -- until after the midterm elections...

Hussein Verdict: News at 11

Media Should be Asking How and Why Saddam Verdict Was Set for Two Days Before Midterm Elections.

GAO chief warns economic disaster looms
David M. Walker sure talks like he's running for office. "This is about the future of our country, our kids and grandkids," the comptroller general of the United States warns a packed hall at Austin's historic Driskill Hotel. "We the people have to rise up to make sure things get changed."
Walker is the nation's accountant-in-chief. And the accountant-in-chief's professional opinion is that the American public needs to tell Washington it's time to steer the nation off the path to financial ruin.

A Superpower in Decline: America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser
Make no mistake about it: at the start of the new century, the United States is still a superpower. But it is a superpower that faces tough competition from outside and difficulties within. The feedback effects involved in globalization are especially intense for the US economy -- so much so that large parts of the US workforce are now standing with their backs against the wall.The rise of Asia has only led to a relative decline of the US national economy. At least so far. But for many blue- and white-collar workers, this decline is already absolute because they have less of everything than they used to.

Bush’s Martial Law Act of 2007
Bush’s Martial Law Act of 2007 modifies the Insurrection Act and deals yet another blow to the Posse Comitatus Act.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bush demanded Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco yield to him the command over any National Guard troops sent to the area. "Bush wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed him to take control over all armed forces deployed, including Louisiana’s National Guard troops. But under the terms of the act, he had to get the assent of the legislature or the governor of the state. The legislature was not in session and Blanco refused," writes Deirdre Griswold.
As of September 11, 2005, Griswold notes, citing the Los Angeles Times, "Bush has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act, but his administration is still discussing how to make it easier for the federal government to override local authorities in the future."

"Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, ‘Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies,'" explains Morales. "Section 333, 'Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law' states that ‘the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ('refuse' or 'fail' in) maintaining public order, 'in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.'"

For the current President, 'enforcement of the laws to restore public order' means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against 'disorderly' citizenry—protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.
The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called 'illegal aliens,' 'potential terrorists' and other 'undesirables' for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up 'immigration emergency' and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

Back in January, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers at undisclosed locations in the United States. As usual, the New York Times either missed over glossed over the significance of this development, characterizing it instead as a waste of taxpayer money. Peter Dale Scott, however, hit the nail right on the head.
"For those who follow covert government operations abroad and at home, the contract evoked ominous memories of Oliver North's controversial Rex-84 'readiness exercise' in 1984. This called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to round up and detain 400,000 imaginary 'refugees,' in the context of 'uncontrolled population movements' over the Mexican border into the United States. North's activities raised civil liberties concerns in both Congress and the Justice Department. The concerns persist."

As Scott notes, plans for detention camps are nothing new, and indeed "have a long history, going back to fears in the 1970s of a national uprising by black militants. As Alonzo Chardy reported in the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987, an executive order for continuity of government (COG) had been drafted in 1982 by FEMA head Louis Giuffrida. The order called for 'suspension of the Constitution' and 'declaration of martial law.' The martial law portions of the plan were outlined in a memo by Giuffrida’s deputy, John Brinkerhoff."

Giuffrida was the Reagan administration's first director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1981 to 1985 and was the head of then-Governor Reagan’s California Specialized Training Institute, a National Guard school. In "1970 he had written a paper for the Army War College in which he called for martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants. Among his ideas were 'assembly centers or relocation camps' for at least 21 million 'American Negroes,'" writes Sam Smith. "During 1968 and 1972, Reagan ran a series of war games in California called Cable Splicer, which involved the Guard, state and local police, and the US Sixth Army. Cable Splicer, it turned out, was a training exercise for martial law. The man in charge was none other than Edwin Meese, then Reagan's executive secretary. At one point, Meese told the Cable Splicer combatants: "This is an operation, this is an exercise, this is an objective which is going forward because in the long run … it is the only way that will be able to prevail [against anti-war protests.]"

Howard J. Ruff noted: "The only thing standing between us and a dictatorship is the good character of the President and the lack of a crisis severe enough that the public would stand still for it."

Not only is Bush’s lack of "good character" obvious, he also considers himself our unitary decider with the power to ignore over 750 laws. "Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, 'whistle-blower' protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research," the Boston Globe reported in April.

Why Nancy Pelosi is Wrong
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in an interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS News, said impeachment would be "off the table" if Democrats take over the House of Representatives in November, calling it a "waste of time." She couldn't be more wrong, and most Americans know it.
Some of this administration's crimes include:

* Bush's role in attacking, and then covering up the attack on former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his CIA agent wife, Valerie Plame--a crime that was committed to discredit Wilson and discourage reporters from probing more deeply into his revelation that the documents used to claim Iraq was trying to buy uranium ore from Niger were obvious forgeries, and into who was behind those forgeries in the first place.

* Bush's authorization of torture as a policy for captives in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the nebulous, endless and borderless "War" on Terror. The president, in an act of desperation, has gotten the currently Republican Congress to ram through a bill granting retroactive immunity to all those, including himself, who authorized or engaged in torture, but this should not deter a Democratic Congress from seeking impeachment for an action that remains a violation of international law, that places American troops at greater risk, and that has destroyed America's image around the globe.

* Bush's criminally negligent handling of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

* The rot of corruption in the administration, highlighted by the Abramoff lobbying scandals, which clearly reach right into the Oval Office, despite the president's initial lie that he didn't know Jack Abramoff.

* Bush's refusal to testify under oath and on the record before the 9-11 Commission, and his refusal to provide officials and documents demanded by the commission regarding what the administration knew before the attacks and how it responded to what it knew. This obstructionism by the White House has been called close to an act of treason by former Sen. Bob Graham, who until the end of 2002 was the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and who has said if he were currently in the House would be the subject of a bill of impeachment.

Rep. Pelosi may think Americans don't want impeachment, but the congresswoman will find a resolution on impeachment on her own ballot when she goes home to San Francisco to vote this November (a resolution that is likely to pass handily). Meanwhile, a new Newsweek magazine poll finds that fully 51 percent of all Americans believe that the president should be impeached--more than half of them saying this should be a priority. That same poll finds that 20 percent of Republicans think the president should be impeached, with one in four of those saying it should be a priority for the next Congress.
These are astonishing figures when you consider that support for impeachment of President Bill Clinton never got higher than 36 percent, even at the height of his impeachment process.

Ethics Rules Send NIH Scientists Packing
Nearly 40 percent of the scientists conducting hands-on research at the National Institutes of Health say they are looking for other jobs or are considering doing so to escape new ethics rules that have curtailed their opportunity to earn outside income. The tightened rules were put in place last year after NIH found dozens of scientists had ran afoul of existing restrictions on private consulting deals that had enriched them with money from drug and biotechnology companies.

Poison Pill
How Abramoff's cronies sold the Medicare drug bill.

Forest Gate suspect cleared of porn charges

The threat of prosecution on child pornography charges has been lifted from the Muslim man who was shot during the bungled anti-terrorist raid in Forest Gate.

Airport screeners fail to see most test bombs

Screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the starting points for the Sept. 11 hijackers, failed 20 of 22 security tests conducted by undercover U.S. agents last week, missing concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the major air hub's three terminals, according to federal security officials.

Anti-Terror terror

Bush's Absolute Power Grab

Many Americans are in denial about what is happening to the United States. They don't want to believe that a totalitarian structure could be put in place in their own country. They don't want to view the various pieces of George W. Bush's "anti-terror" system in that broad a context. They hope that someone or something -- the Supreme Court maybe -- will strike down the excesses of the Republican-controlled Congress and the Executive Branch. Though there are still obstacles that stand in Bush's way -- the Nov. 7 elections, for instance -- America's march down a road to a new-age totalitarianism has advanced farther than many understand, as freelance reporter Carla Binion argues in this disturbing guest essay.

Antonin Scalia holds you and me in contempt

"You talk about independence as though it is unquestionably and unqualifiably a good thing," Scalia said. "It may not be. It depends on what your courts are doing....The more your courts become policy-makers, the less sense it makes to have them entirely independent." Scalia expressed disdain for the news media and the general reading public and suggested that together they condone inaccurate portrayals of federal judges and courts. "The press is never going to report judicial opinions accurately," he said.

US warned of ballot box chaos as elections near

More Republican Candidates Distance Themselves From Bush on War

Sweeney is one of a growing number of Republicans distancing themselves from President George W. Bush on Iraq. They include Representatives Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Nancy Johnson of Connecticut and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; and Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, George Allen of Virginia and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. The result is that, less than two weeks before the Nov. 7 elections,

Republicans are being forced to alter their plans to paint Democrats as wavering and indecisive on Iraq.

Bush Among Friends
Bush says, for example, that Gen. John Abizaid ("one of the really great thinkers") was the one who "came up with" the recent construct about the enemy in Iraq, "If we leave, they will follow us here." Bush then explains that this is what makes the Iraq struggle "really different from other wars we've been in."
This completely overlooks the official U.S. line in trying to halt the communists in Vietnam and Korea, not to mention the Nazis and the Japanese in World War II.
"I'm not a good faker," Bush declares elsewhere, which some may disagree with. Another revealing moment comes when Bush flatly declares that only "25% or so" of Americans want the U.S. out of Iraq. In fact, a Gallup poll released this week shows that the number is actually 54% who want us out quickly -- within a year at most.
Bush also mischaracterizes the war opponents, saying they "just don't believe in war," as if they are all pacifists. Then he goes on: "I believe when you get attacked and somebody declares war on you, you fight back. And that's what we're doing." Of course, this ignores the fact that Iraq did not declare war on us -- but it's been so long now, maybe he's just forgotten.

Carlyle Group buying newspapers?

Cheney endorses simulated drowning

The use of a form of torture known as waterboarding to gain information is a "no-brainer", the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, told a radio interviewer, it was reported today.

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding

Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called "water-boarding," which creates a sensation of drowning. Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview.

White House Denies Cheney OK'd Torture

The White House said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney was not talking about a torture technique known as "water boarding" when he said dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a "no-brainer."

Tribal chiefs call for return of Saddam while Kurds eye a new federal state

Iraqis Were Better Off Under Saddam, Says Former Weapons Inspector

Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday described the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as a "pure failure" that had left the country worse off than under the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein.

Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing
NBC refuses ads for Dixie Chicks movie

NBC and the CW Television Network refuse to air ads for a documentary focusing on freedom of speech.

THEY HATE OUR FREEDOM.

Rumsfeld tells war critics to 'back off'

Skull scandal 'disgusts' Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed disgust Wednesday at photos that appeared to show German troops in Afghanistan posing with a human skull and pledged that any soldiers found to be involved would be punished severely. The uniformed men were seen holding up the skull and posing with it on a jeep; one is seen exposing himself with the skull.
Bild's headline declared: "German soldiers desecrate a dead person."

U.S. troops on active duty call for Iraq withdrawal

More than 200 active duty U.S. armed service members, fed up with the war in Iraq, have joined an unusual protest calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, organizers said on Wednesday. The campaign, called the Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq, is the first of its kind in the Iraq war and takes advantage of Defense Department rules allowing active duty troops to express personal opinions to members of Congress without fear of retaliation, organizers said.

Bolton: sanctions ‘help regime change’
No hidden agenda.

Bush Warns Syria And Iran Against Creating Instability In Iraq, Lebanon

American President George W. Bush has warned Iran and Syria against creating instability in Iraq and Lebanon. President Bush urged the two nations to support the governments of Iraq and Syria.

That's hysterical: Bush says this -- it's as though the US and Israel are completely free from blame for the instability, misery, and deatth they have caused in the Middle East, with wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel's campaign in Lebanon.

The Military Commissions Act - Question And Answers

Could American citizens be held as "enemy combatants" or as "unlawful enemy combatants?

What New Powers does the Military Commissions Act give to the President? What other objectionable provisions does it include?

· It authorizes the suspension of habeas corpus for non-citizens, including legal permanent residents, in U.S. custody · It authorizes the President to detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, without charge by designating them enemy combatants or unlawful enemy combatants · It authorizes the President to determine what constitutes torture. · It authorizes the use of evidence obtained by coercion · It authorizes the use of hearsay · It authorizes retroactive immunity for U.S military and intelligence officials for abuses that occurred at sites such as, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Bagram and secret CIA facilities. · The definitions of rape and sexual assault are narrower than under international law and have higher thresholds for proof.

How does the Military Commissions Act violate the law?

· It violates the Suspension Clause of the Constitution by denying non-citizens any meaningful opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention · It violates the 6th Amendment by allowing classified evidence which the accused can only see in summary · It violates the 4th Amendment by allowing evidence obtained by coercion or without a warrant or probable cause · It violates the Geneva Conventions by watering down humanitarian law protections of Common Article 3 and by effectively granting a retroactive amnesty to U.S. officials who have tortured detainees

What is the Writ of Habeas Corpus?

· Habeas Corpus, which has it origins in the Magna Carta of 1215, is the "Great Writ" that protects people from arbitrary arrest, disappearance and indefinite detention without charge. The cornerstone of Western justice, it is essential to the idea that laws-not individuals, be they Presidents or kings-govern a land.

Could American citizens be held as "enemy combatants" or as "unlawful enemy combatants?

Yes. The MCA includes language that states that persons who "materially support" hostilities against the U.S. can be labeled and held as 'unlawful enemy combatants.' This might include, for instance, someone who donates money to a charity in Afghanistan that turns out to have some connection to the Taliban or Al Qaeda, or even the organizer of an anti-war rally, without regard to actual hostilities. The definition also presumptively includes members of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or "associated forces." · The definition allows Bush or Rumsfeld to establish new secret procedures to detain anyone they themselves deem legally and appropriately classified an enemy combatant.

What happens if the Democrats regain control of Congress? Is there any chance they will revisit the MCA?

If the Democrats regain control of both houses, we hope they will repeal one of the most egregious pieces of legislation since the Alien and Sedition Acts, which now serve as a stain on Congress and our nation's history.

Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
Frank Morales

October 26, 2006

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ("refuse" or "fail" in) maintaining public order, "in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."

For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

An article on "recent contract awards" in a recent issue of the slick, insider "Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International" reported that "global engineering and technical services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency." "With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five year term," the report notes, "the contract is to be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," "for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." The report points out that "KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton." (3) So, in addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, including a $70-billion "supplemental provision" which covers the cost of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an "emergency managed" and seemingly willfully gullible public as a "global war on terrorism."

Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, an executive intent on using force to enforce its will.

Unfortunately, this past week, the president dealt posse comitatus, along with American democracy, a near fatal blow. Consequently, it will take an aroused citizenry to undo the damage wrought by this horrendous act, part and parcel, as we have seen, of a long train of abuses and outrages perpetrated by this authoritarian administration.

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation's governors."

Senator Leahy went on to stress that, "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders."

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

Senator Leahy's final ruminations: "Since hearing word a couple of weeks ago that this outcome was likely, I have wondered how Congress could have gotten to this point. It seems the changes to the Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and the White House want it."

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

The Pentagon, as one might expect, plays an even more direct role in martial law operations. Title XIV of the new law, entitled, "Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Legislative Provisions," authorizes "the Secretary of Defense to create a Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Consortium to improve the effectiveness of the Department of Defense (DOD) processes for identifying and deploying relevant DOD technology to federal, State, and local first responders."

In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.(4)

It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator.

America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser

There are essentially three exclusive characteristics whose simultaneous development have served as the foundations of the United States's success up until now -- and they only appear in this particular combination in America. They are not only the country's biggest strengths, but also its greatest weaknesses. It's worth scrutinizing them more closely.

The Bottled Water Lie

Of the hundreds of people who have participated in the Tap Water Challenge in cities including Austin, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, few of them were able to identify all the samples correctly, says Gigi Kellett, who is doling out water samples this afternoon. "It's usually those who are the most die-hard or committed to a certain brand who are most surprised when they realize they can't tell the difference," she says.

China insists on diplomatic settlement of Iran's nuclear case

With Russia and China vetoing sanctions against Iran, the US will never get what it wants from the US.
Any bets on just how soon the UN will begin to become "irrelevant" once more?

Russia may abandon WTO talks with US, newspaper says

The United States is the last major economy to give its blessing to the former communist nation's accession to the organization, which draws up rules for international trade and resolves disputes between members.

Warships deploy to protect Arab oil facilities

Coalition naval forces in the Persian Gulf have been deployed to counter possible seaborne threats to an oil refinery in Bahrain and to Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura terminal, which is the world’s biggest offshore oil facility, Britain's Royal Navy said on Friday.

"The Case Against Depleted Uranium"

"The Case Against Depleted Uranium"
Depleted uranium remains a nagging problem for the US Army, which extensively used such munitions during fighting in Gulf War I, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
DU is a chemically toxic, radioactive element with a half-life of 4.5 billion years that damages the kidneys and lungs, causes genetic mutations and cancer, and is associated with a number of medical problems.
"Under international law, depleted uranium meets the definition of WMD and violates US military law as well as the Geneva and Hague conventions," says Moret. "There has been a cover-up by three administrations including Bush Senior, Clinton and Bush the younger because reparations, which the countries attacked are entitled to, would bankrupt the US."

The Pentagon asserts that DU "is only mildly radioactive" and a White House website stated that reports of health problems and cancers caused by DU are propaganda.
The US nuclear industry has produced 1.2 billion pounds of DU waste as a by-product of nuclear energy and weapons production. This nuclear waste is being recycled into DU munition which many believe were given to Israel in the form of armor piercing shells for use in the 1973 Sinai war. Since then, DU has been tested, manufactured and sold to a number of countries by US arms manufacturers.
Considered highly-effective in penetrating armor, uranium munitions are used by the main US Abrams battle tanks, Bradley Fighting vehicles, A-10 attack aircraft and a host of other ammunition, including bunker busters.
Upon impact, DU munitions burn at 3000 to 6000 degrees Centigrade and combust into a radioactive gas of fine particles of uranium oxide dust, which remain suspended in the air and, once inhaled, become a chronic source of uranium heavy metal and contact radiation poisoning. Estimates vary on the total tonnage of DU used by the US and include: during the US bombing of Yugoslavia, 34 tons of DU; in Gulf War I, up to 375 tons; in Afghanistan in 2001, 1,000 tons; and in Gulf War II in 2003, up to 2,200 tons.

Militarism
According to the Federation of American Scientists, since the beginning of WW II, America has used military force in other nations, 201 times, and in most cases we were the instigator of the use of force. We have never succeeded in creating a single democratic institution in any of these forays. This leads the rest of the world to believe that we are an imperialist power, a new Rome, an out of control military society, fully determined to dominate the rest of the world.

Iraqi Interior Minister: Mercenaries committing executions, not insurgents
With the Iraqi bloodbath against civilians and policemen continuing, it is interesting to note the comments made by the the Iraqi Interior Minister about the parties that he claims are principally responsible for the massacres.
Jawad al-Bolani, in a Friday press conference in Baghdad, rejected neo-con Bush administration claims that most of the deaths in Iraq are caused by insurgents who infiltrated the military and police. al-Bolani laid responsibility for the deaths, including gruesome beheadings of civilians, at the feet of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)-inspired Facilities Protection Service (FPS), an unregulated force of 150,000 foreign and Iraqi private security contractors.
14,000 of the Iraqi security personnel are from the Iraqi Free Forces, a militia loyal to neocon Iraqi shill Ahmad Chalabi. The remainder are drawn from paramilitary forces with some of the worst human rights records in the world: South Africa's apartheid regime security forces; Colombian, Salvadoran, and Chilean anti-guerrilla paramilitaries; and other special forces from the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, Nepal, Fiji, and the Philippines.
Beheadings, such as those seen in Iraq, are a hallmark of the Nepalese Gurkhas, some of whom are working as private contractors in Iraq.



Scientific Poll: 84% Reject Official 9/11 Story
Americans Question Bush on 9/11 Intelligence

Many adults in the United States believe the current federal government has not been completely forthcoming on the issue of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 53 per cent of respondents think the Bush administration is hiding something.


Bush Is Said to Have No Plan if GOP Loses
Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7 –- a concern aggravated by the president's news conference this week.



GOP Giving Up DeWine in Ohio
Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year's fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said. Republicans are now pinning their hopes of holding the Senate on three states — Missouri, Tennessee and, with Ohio off the table, probably Virginia — while trying to hold on to the House by pouring money into districts where Republicans have a strong historical or registration advantage, party officials said Sunday.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman May Have Illegally Accepted U2 Tickets from Jack Abramoff while in Bush's White House
Abramoff's mass bribery may land Ken Mehlman - the current chairman of the RNC - in legal trouble.A former top Bush official, Mehlman's name came up numerous times in the 91-page report, and evidence from among the thousands of emails recovered from Abramoff's firm indicate that Mehlman was given tickets for a U2 concert in Abramoff's private suit. The gift was not indicated on Mehlman's annual income disclosure.

FBI investigates GOP Rep. Curt Weldon
The FBI is investigating Republican Congressman Curt Weldon to determine whether he illegally helped his daughter's company win over one million dollars in contracts from foreign clients. The FBI has been investigating the Pennsylvania Republican for months but it only came to light over the weekend after the FBI referred the matter to the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section.



GOP Rep. Bob Ney Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case
Republican Congressman Bob Ney has pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy and making false statements in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Despite the guilty plea, Ney remains a member of Congress but he said he would resign in the next few weeks.
Ney faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Low-Key Democrat Leads High-Stakes Senate Race
Social Conservative Bob Casey Is an Unlikely Party Hero
READING, Pa. -- For Bob Casey Jr., it was one of the good days in his campaign to send Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) into political obscurity. Morning brought word of a new poll showing him with a 12-point lead over Santorum, who is the third most powerful Republican in the Senate, and evening brought an adoring audience to a fundraiser here in a private home, where Casey said with growing confidence, "I really believe this race is about America."

Even Esquire Magazine Calls for a Democratic Senate

Investigation:
Kentucky GOP Senator McConnell master of "thuggish" "shakedown" practices
A six-month examination of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's career by the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, based on thousands of documents and scores of interviews, "shows the nexus between his actions and his donors' agendas," the paper concludes in a major report today. "He pushes the government to help cigarette makers, Las Vegas casinos, the pharmaceutical industry, credit card lenders, coal mine owners and others.
The massive report is titled "Price Tap Poltics." It features quotes referring to McConnell's allegedly "thuggish" and "shakedown" practices.
In one example, from 1998, it notes that McConnell helped to kill a proposal to curb youth smoking. About four months later, he called lobbyists at R.J. Reynolds Co. and asked for $200,000 in corporate "soft money" that he could pass to Republican senators in elections. In an e-mail exchange, published today, the lobbyists settled on "doing an additional 100,000 to him immediately and then seeing what we have left at end of next week."



FOX News Hides Unfavorable Poll Results About Bush And Iraq
A FOX News poll conducted October 10-11 shows some seriously bad news for President Bush:
49% think Bush intentionally misled the country about WMD's in Iraq; 66% think Republicans try to make the war in Iraq seem like it's going better than it really is; 73% think it's time Iraqis take on the burden of securing their own country and let the US troops start coming home; 41% think we should end involvement in Iraq, as opposed to 39% who think it should be continued.

Iraq cancels reconciliation summit as scores more die in sectarian strife
Who WANTS the peace summit to fail? Who WANTS Iraq broken up into smaller states? Who gets what they want by all these killings?

Rumsfeld Allies Launch Smear Campaign Against NATO General
Jones now finds himself the target of a smear campaign at the hands of Rumsfeld's allies. Before the war, Jones criticized Rumsfeld's plan to topple Saddam Hussein by using special forces in a repetition of the tactics that succeeded in Afghanistan. "It would be foolish, if you were ever committed to going into Iraq, to think that the principles that were successful in Afghanistan would necessarily be successful in Iraq. In my opinion, they would not."
Now, Rumsfeld and his allies are determined to ruin the reputation of a general whose assessments have been proven correct.

U.S. Marine Charged in Hamdania Killing
A U.S. Marine was charged on Friday with murdering and kidnapping an Iraqi man. Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Junior is one of eight servicemen accused of kidnapping and killing an Iraqi civilian in the village of Hamdania. He has been ordered to remain in a Camp Pendleton brig until his trial in February.

Soldiers take citizenship oath before deploying to Iraq
An international group of U.S. Army troops took an oath to become American citizens just in time for some of them to deploy to Iraq. Forty soldiers from 20 countries participated in a citizenship ceremony Thursday at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss. U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez gave the soldiers the oath of allegiance and signed the court order making them U.S. citizens.

Saddam verdict due 2 days before US election
What happens if Saddam Hussein is acquitted?

One, if Saddam is found guilty and given a death sentence there will be hell to pay in the streets of Tikrit. Two, if he's found innocent, then our excuse for occupying Iraq after finding no weapons of mass destruction goes up in smoke.




Scott Ritter on "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change”
"The path that the United States is currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we made in Iraq pale by comparison."

Former Weapons Inspector, Experts Warn Against Military Action Toward Iran

Experts are urging the Bush administration to use patience and caution in its approach to Iran over its nuclear ambitions. The comments by former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay and others at an event on Capitol Hill Wednesday came as President Bush and other officials reiterated a call for Iran to end its uranium enrichment efforts and reach a peaceful and negotiated solution.

Nuclear Strike on Iran Is Still on the Agenda

In the case of Iraq, our adversary was so weak that there was no way the use of nuclear weapons could have been justified in the eyes of the world. Iran is different: it possesses missiles that could strike U.S. forces in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, as well as Israeli cities. Iran also has a large conventional army. The 150,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq will be at great risk if there is a war with Iran, and Americans will support a nuclear strike on Iran once the administration creates a situation where it can argue that such action will save a large number of American lives.

Muslims are the new Jews
Especially since July 7, it has become acceptable to say the most ignorant, degrading things about Islam. And then we all sit around wondering why young Muslim men appear to be getting angrier and more politicised.

Details Of The UK Police State - The Model For America
How much more are the British people going to take? Is it a case of mass sado-masochism, where suffering is welcomed and desired?

Blair forced to claim Dannatt's criticisms are 'absolutely right'
Britain's top soldier was vindicated as Tony Blair was forced to claim he agreed with every word of his devastating assessment of British policy in Iraq.

Blair devastated as Army chief savages his approach to Iraq
Within hours of his comments being made public, the Army's unofficial website was packed with hundreds of blogs from troops voicing their support.
The messages included: "Can Tony Blair recover from this and justify British presence in Iraq, without using the words 'I was wrong ...?'"
Another said: "Dannatt gets my vote! Anyone care to disagree with him? We were lied to when it all started and we are still lied to today!"

Tycoon held in carousel fraud investigation

One of the world's most enigmatic multi-millionaires was behind bars last night after being arrested during an investigation into carousel fraud, the sophisticated swindle which costs European taxpayers billions of pounds a year.

Nobel prize links poverty reduction to peace

Attack the causes of poverty and you remove the roots of conflict -- that is the message the Nobel Committee wanted to send out by awarding its Peace Prize to the creator of a micro-credit scheme which benefits millions, analysts said on Friday. Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, the so-called "Banker to the Poor", and the Grameen Bank he founded three decades ago were the surprise winners of the award for pioneering a system of small-scale loans that has helped 6.6 million people escape the grind of poverty.

TSA Screener Faces Theft Charge
A screener with the Transportation Security Administration was arrested after a passenger reported that she took money from the passenger's wallet.

Airport to tag passengers

Airport security chiefs and efficiency geeks will be able to keep close tabs on airport passengers by tagging them with a high powered radio chip developed at the University of Central London. People will be told to wear radio tags round their necks when they get to the airport. The tag would notify a computer system of their identity and whereabouts. The system would then track their activities in the airport using a network of high definition cameras.

Armenian genocide monument destroyed in France

A bronze monument near Paris commemorating the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks has been destroyed just two days after France's parliament passed a bill that would make it a crime to deny the genocide.

Police accuse Israeli president of rape
JERUSALEM - Israel said today its police force had acquired evidence suggesting President Moshe Katsav had raped and molested women who worked for him.
In a joint statement capping weeks of investigations, Israel's Justice Ministry and national police said:
"There is prima facie evidence of a number of incidents in which several women who worked under his authority were involved, that the president carried out sex crimes of rape, sexual molestation by force and without consent."
Katsav was also suspected of "a violation of a law against eavesdropping" and involvement in fraud, it said, summing up findings presented by a team of police investigators. A police source said Katsav was suspected of installing bugging devices to hear employees' phone conversations.
"The president must resign," Education Minister Yuli Tamir said on Israeli television. "If he doesn't do so, I believe a process will be launched to force him to resign."

Israeli obstacles to free movement in Palestinian territories mount, UN reports

Not only has there not been any significant improvement in Palestinian movement in recent months but the number of Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles has actually increased, hindering access to essential services, according to the latest United Nations update published today.


Hundreds of Palestinians riot over Temple Mount restrictions

Hundreds of Palestinians rioted outside Jerusalem on Friday morning to protest restrictions on Palestinian entry to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

IDF sets up detention center near Gaza

The army said soldiers have been instructed to treat the detainees in a humane manner and stressed that most men are released after undergoing interrogation.

The Great Experiment
Is it possible to force a whole people to submit to foreign occupation by starving it? That is, certainly, an interesting question. So interesting, indeed, that the governments of Israel and the United States, in close cooperation with Europe, are now engaged in a rigorous scientific experiment in order to obtain a definitive answer. The laboratory for the experiment is the Gaza Strip, and the guinea pigs are the million and a quarter Palestinians living there.
That's how they got the poor inhabitants of New Orleans to get on buses and leave....

Anti-Bush teen questioned by Feds

U.S. agents question teen: Girl ran anti-Bush page on MySpace
"It's a cautionary tale for kids who are on MySpace that putting something on MySpace like 'Kill the President' is not the same as saying it on e-mail or over the phone," Scheer said. "The government is not systematically listening to all phone calls or going through e-mails, but it probably does search the Internet."

Julia Wilson, 14, got a surprise visit from two Secret Service agents Wednesday at McClatchy High after the words "Kill Bush" appeared on MySpace.com. Her mom, Kirstie Wilson, says she should have been present when her daughter was questioned. The Secret Service refused to answer questions about the case or even confirm an investigation. Eric Zahren, a Secret Service spokesman, said the agency does not discuss its work "due to the sensitivity of our mission." But Julia's mother, Kirstie Wilson, and an assistant principal at McClatchy High said two agents showed them badges stating they were with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Federal law prohibits making serious threats against the president, and Julia and her parents say what she did was wrong.

Pentagon shows anti-war database's scope
Internal military documents released Thursday provided new details about the Defense Department's collection of information on nationwide demonstrations last year by students, Quakers and others opposed to the Iraq war. The documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, show, for instance, that military officials labeled as "potential terrorist activity" events like a "Stop the War Now" rally in Akron, Ohio, in March 2005.


Fraud, misconduct at EPA water quality analysis labs has 'put all of us at risk'
Increasing fraud and other misconduct at Environmental Protection Agency water quality analysis labs has put all of us at risk for contaminants and disease outbreaks. However, since the scope and risk cannot be measured, EPA is downplaying the findings.
A Sept. 21 report issued by the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found hundreds of weaknesses—missing data, no log books, falsified measurements—not noted by EPA. The office had found many of the same problems in 1999, and they were identified again by EPA in 2002. EPA did nothing, the report said. Drinking water and wastewater fraud investigations comprise more than half of all OIG investigations.
One consequence of fraud might be outbreaks of waterborne diseases. No cases have been tied to fraud, but this is because outbreaks are never traced all the way back to lab procedures and notes, the report said. However, his is the reason given by EPA in the report for its reluctance to follow all of OIG's 10-point recommendation plan -- that because fraud has never been tied to any cases of disease, it doesn’t justify all the protective measures.
EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water declined to comment and cited the report for its statement.


Abramoff fallout: Ney to resign;
Prosecutors seek 30 to 37 months for ex-Bush aide Safavian

The fallout from the Abramoff lobbying scandal continues, as Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney pleads guilty in federal court to conspiracy charges and prepares to resign from Congress, at the same time as a former Bush Administration official faces a possible two-and-a-half year prison sentence.

Breaking: Sensational Statement by UK Head of Army
UK troops worsen problems in Iraq: army head
Chief UK Military Leader Calls for Iraq Withdrawal
The head of the British military says foreign occupation is worsening the situation in Iraq and should come to an end. In an interview with the British newspaper the Daily Mail, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said: "I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them. We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time." Dannat's statement made front-page headlines around Britain.

Canada troops battle 10-ft Afghan marijuana plants
General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.
"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa. "We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

KING MIDAS IN REVERSE
Even the most uninformed nitwit realizes the mess going on in Iraq. Bush's prediction of U.S. soldiers being welcomed as liberators was far off the mark and Iraq is in shambles. A current statement now in vogue in Iraq about the embargo years is, "Those were the golden years."

Report: Iraq Study Group Sees No US Victory in Iraq
The Congressional commission established to assess the Iraq war has ruled out the prospect of a US victory. According to the New York Sun, the two main strategies considered by the Iraq Study Group both contradict President Bush's rhetorical vow to establish a democracy in Iraq. In another rebuke to the administration's policies, both strategies would encourage the US to hold talks with Syria and Iran. The commission's findings will not be released until after mid-term elections next month.

Iraq Law OKs Autonomous Regions
The Iraqi parliament has passed a law that would allow the creation of separate autonomous regions. The vote passed over the objection of Sunnis who say it will lead to the break-up of Iraq. In a concession to Sunni concerns, the law says the regions cannot be formed for at least eighteen months.

Ex-UK Home Secretary Advised Bombing Al-Jazeera
A former top British official has admitted he advised Prime Minister Tony Blair to bomb the Arabic television network Al Jazeera during the opening months of the Iraq war. Two weeks after Blunkett recommended the attack, the US military bombed Al Jazeera's office in Baghdad, killing correspondent Tareq Ayoub.
On Thursday, Al Jazeera editor-in-chief Ahmed Al-Sheikh said: "This adds to the growing number of evidence that will one day prove that the attack on Aljazeera was premeditated... at the highest levels. Aljazeera was being targeted at the time because the people who were waging war on Iraq didn't like what it was showing. We talk about terrorism, this is pure terrorism."

Bush Confounded by the 'Unacceptable'
Using such a categorical term is not that surprising after a policy setback, according to Steven Kull, a political psychologist who directs the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes. Some people deal with failures, Kull said, "by intensifying an authoritarian posture and insisting that their preferences are equivalent to a moral imperative."

Bush Predicts GOP Victories in November

Man files suit over Cheney encounter
Initially, Hurlbert said Tuesday, "We had information that . . . he had pushed the vice president. That was our original information. Later on, it appeared it was just essentially his disagreeing with the vice president's policies. That's not harassment."

Gov't workers got fake diplomas
135 federal bureaucrats -- including NSA spooks, diplomats in the Middle East and somebody in the White House -- bought phony university degrees from a diploma mill. Some of those who paid thousands of dollars for phony diplomas include a senior State Department employee in Kuwait and a Dept. of Justice employee in Spokane, defense lawyer Peter Schweda said Wednesday. The bogus degrees purchases by the federal workers were revealed Wednesday during a U.S. District Court status conference for five defendants in the case against the mill, The Spokesman-Review reported Thursday.

Massive Outing Coming Soon!
U.S. prosecutors have charged eight people with running the apparently illegal operation and laundering about $2 million. The lawyers say they’ll reveal all the names during the trial. In other words, in all likelihood you won’t even have a job after November, so don’t worry about the fake diploma thing. And because everyone involved with the federal government is a pedophile, the diploma mill’s boss was also (allegedly) caught with the usual 10,000 child-porn pictures on his computer.

Shays: Abu Ghraib abuses were sex ring
Republican Rep. Christopher Shays said Friday the Abu Ghraib prison abuses were more about pornography than torture. The congressman, who is in a tough re-election fight, said a National Guard unit was primarily responsible for the abuses.
"It was a National Guard unit run amok," Shays said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It was torture because sex abuse is torture. It was gross and despicable. This is more about pornography than torture."
In fact, the 372nd Military Police Company from Cresaptown, Md., is an Army Reserve unit not National Guard.
The lawmaker's comments were in a transcript of the debate provided by his opponent, Diane Farrell. Shays' campaign, contacted Friday, did not dispute the comments. Shays said Friday he wished he had more fully explained his views at the debate. Shays is waging a bruising re-election fight against Farrell.
"I was maybe not as expansive as I needed to be," he said. "Of course, the degrading of anyone is torture. We need to deal with it. Naked Iraqis, naked Americans, Americans having sex ... gross and despicable pictures."
"Once again, Chris is trying to back away from an earlier statement because it's politically expedient," opponent Diane Farrell said Friday. "It's typical Chris."
Shays stirred controversy recently when he defended House Speaker Dennis Hastert's handling of a congressional page scandal, saying no one died like at Chappaquiddick in 1969 when Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy was involved.

Freed Prisoners Describe Gitmo Abuse
In other news, the US military has released seventeen new prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoners – sixteen Afghans and one Iranian -- all arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday. At a news conference in Kabul, the newly-freed Dr. Khan Jan described his ordeal.

Dr. Khan Jan: "They were treating us like animals, they were not treating us as human beings, they were too cruel, their behavior was not imaginable, they were punishing us very badly like animals."

Another prisoner, twenty-year old Habib Rahman, said he was tortured as recently as four months ago. He said: "They were kicking us all the time, beating us with their hands." On one occasion, Rahman said he was interrogated for thirty-eight hours without sleep.

The freed prisoners' comments come as a US Marine Sergeant has come forward with new allegations of abuse at Guantanamo Bay. In an interview with ABC News, Marine Corps Sergeant Heather Cerveny said she was told of the abuse over drinks with several of the soldiers who carried it out. Sgt. Cerveny said one sailor recounted taking a prisoner by the head and smashing him into a cell door. Another said he punched a prisoner in the face because the prisoner irritated him. Sgt. Cerveny said the soldiers laughed when she asked them about the consequences of the abuse.The Pentagon says it's investigating.
Meanwhile, Britain is continuing to push for the closure of the Guantanamo prison. On Thursday, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the indefinite detention of Guantanano prisoners is "unacceptable" and "ineffective in terms of counter-terrorism."

UN Security Council Nears Agreement on North Korea Response
At the United Nations, the Security Council appears close to agreeing on a response to North Korea’s announced nuclear test. The Bush administration has reportedly dropped language threatening wide-ranging sanctions and the possibility of military force. A vote is expected by Saturday.

Overflights by Israel Said to Violate Truce
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora warned Wednesday that Israeli military flights over his country's territory were endangering a nearly two-month-old truce that ended this summer's war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

25 Days and even The Crickets are Quiet
Olmert is jumping up and down and screaming about Iran; Iran needs to be destroyed now before they start dropping nuclear fueled ski-resorts on Tel Aviv. The weird thing is that Iran doesn't pose any kind of a nuclear threat so it's got to be something else. Also, this has been in operation since before the Afghan and Iraq incursions, which were all about making an Iranian Sandwich; lots of Ketchup, hold the mayo …so maybe it has to do with oil or something. Lucky North Korea, they don't have any oil.

Foreign Ministry slams Israeli Ambassador's racist comments

The Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned remarks by the Israeli ambassador to Australia in which he told Haaretz that the two countries are white sisters amid "the yellow race" of Asia.

Gaza sliding into civil war
Economic crisis worsens clashes between Hamas and Fatah.

UNICEF: Palestinian Child Toll Nearly Double 2005
United Nations Children's Fund says the number of Palestinian children killed this year is nearly double the number for all of 2005. Thirtreen-year-old Suhaib Kadiah became the 92nd Palestinian child this year Thursday when she was shot during an Israeli attack on Gaza. Overall, Israel has killed more than eight hundred Palestinian children since the beginning of the second intifada six years ago.


Adam Gadahn has been charged with "perhaps the most serious offense for which any person can be tried under our Constitution": treason
Adam Gadahn Is First To Be Charged With Treason Since WWII
This is a HOAX. Adam Gadahn's real name is Adam Pearlman, and he is the grandson of an Anti-Defamation League board member. He is another fake Al Qaeda.

China's Foreign Currency Reserves Surge to Almost $1 Trillion
China's foreign-currency reserves surged to almost $1 trillion, the most ever held by a single country, driven by a record trade surplus that U.S. critics blame on an artificially undervalued yuan.
China's record holdings exceed the output of every economy in the world bar the eight largest. They reflect a global imbalance that's mirrored in the $805 billion U.S. current-account deficit, itself fueled by demand from the nation's consumers for cheap Chinese imports.

Wal Mart Loses Suit Alleging Labor Violations
In Pennsylvania, the retail giant Wal-Mart has lost a class action lawsuit that says it violated a series of state labor laws. On Thursday, a jury ruled Wal Mart illegally forced employees to work through rest breaks and during time not counted on the clock. Lawyers are seeking at least $62 million dollars for close to one hundred and ninety thousand current and former employees. The jury is expected to decide on damages later today. Analysts say the case could have a major impact on several similar lawsuits against Wal Mart across the United States.

Telegraph | News | US 'unlawfully killed' ITN journalist
The widow of the ITN reporter Terry Lloyd has called for a murder trial after a coroner ruled that he was unlawfully killed by US troops. Andrew Walker, Oxfordshire's assistant deputy coroner, said he would write to the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice".

Russian Newspaper Publishes Politkovskaya's Unfinished Article
In Russia, the newspaper of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has published the unfinished article she was writing at the time of her murder. Politkovskaya was killed Saturday as she returned home to her apartment. She was one of Russia's leading journalist and human rights advocates. The unfinished article is a detailed account of brutal torture committed by Russian-backed Chechen officials. Many believe Politkovskaya was killed because of her outspoken criticism of President Vladimir Putin, the Chechen war – and possibly the unfinished article itself.

London Man Pleads Guilty to Plotting UK, US Attacks
In Britain, a London resident has pleaded guilty to plotting terrorist attacks on Britain and the United States. Thirty-four year old Dhiren Barot said he planned to use a radioactive dirty bomb in Britain. He also admitted to planning attacks on the Washington headquarters of the IMF and World Bank, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Prudential buildings in Newark, New Jersey. Prosecutors say the plot never reached an advanced stage and that Barot had no funding or bomb-making equipment.

France Outlaws Denial of Armenian Holocaust
In France, lawmakers have passed a bill that criminalizes denial of the Armenian holocaust. The bill was passed over the fierce lobbying of the Turkish government. Turkey continues to deny it killed some 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War.

2 Albany Muslims Convicted on Terror Charges
In Albany, New York, two Muslim immigrants have been convicted on terrorism charges in a case that raised major questions over the conduct of government officials. The men, Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, were convicted of aiding a government informant in a fake plot to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat. The men's attorneys say their clients had no violent history and are the victims of government entrapment. Earlier this year, defense lawyers failed to have the case dismissed on the grounds it came out of the Bush administration’s warrantless spy program.

Enormous death toll of Iraq invasion revealed Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi Deaths Defends Research in the Face of White House Dismissal The White House is dismissing the findings of a medical study that says 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion. The study was conducted by American and Iraqi researchers and published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet. President Bush: "No, I don't consider it a credible report. Neither does General Casey and neither do Iraqi officials. I do -- I do know that a lot of innocent people have died, and that troubles me. And it grieves me." Bush went on to say he stands by the figure of 30,000 dead Iraqis that he cited last year. The President also said Iraqis are willing to "tolerate" the country's ongoing violence because they yearn to be free. Meanwhile, one of the nation's leading pollsters is backing the study's findings. In an interview with CNN, John Zogby of Zogby International said he believes the researchers' methodology is sound and their conclusions accurate.

Did VA Hide Figures Showing 1 in 4 US Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Disabled From Service? Newly released documents reveal that more than 150,000 soldiers who left the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have been at least partly disabled as a result of service - this translates to one in four veterans. What’s more, it appears the Department of Veterans' Affairs was trying to hide the figures. We speak with Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America. Data Suggests Vast Costs Loom in Disability Claims Nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan has been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by a Washington research group. The number of veterans granted disability compensation, more than 100,000 to date, suggests that taxpayers have only begun to pay the long-term financial cost of the two conflicts. About 567,000 of the 1.5 million American troops who have served so far have been discharged.

New Jersey Prisoners Threaten Hunger Over "Abu-Ghraib-like" Conditions As many as fourteen hundred prisoners at New Jersey State Prison are threatening to begin a hunger strike today to protest prison conditions. Last week the prisoners complained in a letter that conditions inside were "reminiscent of Abu Ghraib." Padilla Accuses Jailers of Torture, Drugging In Florida, the former enemy combatant Jose Padilla is accusing military jailers of torturing and drugging him. Padilla was arrested four years ago amid accusations he plotted to set off a dirty bomb. He was kept in jail without charge for more than three years and finally charged with several lesser offenses. In a motion filed last week, Padilla's attorneys allege military officials threatened to kill him, cut him with a knife and pour alcohol on his wounds. They also allege Padilla was administered drugs against his will, including some form of both LSD and PCP. Habeas Corpus: The Lynchpin of Freedom In the recently enacted Military Commissions Act, Congress acceded to President Bush's request to remove the power of federal courts to consider petitions for writ of habeas by foreign citizens held by U.S. officials on suspicion of having committed acts of terrorism. While it might be tempting to conclude that the writ of habeas corpus is some minor legal procedural device that the president and the Congress have now canceled, nothing could be further from the truth. The writ of habeas corpus is actually the lynchpin of a free society. Take away this great writ and all other rights – such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, gun ownership, due process, trial by jury, and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures and cruel and unusual punishments – become meaningless.

Abu Ghraib at Home: New Human Rights Watch Report Says US Using Dogs to Terrify Prisoners A new report from Human Rights Watch reveals that five U.S. state prison systems-- Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota, and Utah -- authorize the use of large unmuzzled dogs to terrify and even attack prisoners to extract them from their cells. According to Human Rights Watch, no other country in the world authorizes the use of dogs to attack prisoners who will not voluntarily leave their cells.

Censored Stories

The mainstream news media's fascination with unimportant news isn't anything new. Professor Carl Jensen, a disenchanted journalist who entered advertising only to walk away in greater disgust and become a sociologist, says the media's preoccupation with "junk-food news" inspired him to found a media-research project at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif., 30 years ago to publicize the Top 25 big stories the media had censored, ignored or underreported in the previous year. That was the beginning of Project Censored, the longest-running media censorship project in the nation--and it drew plenty of criticism from editors and publishers.


Foley Case Snags Another House Incumbent in Ohio
Ms. Pryce always thought she would have a difficult re-election campaign this year in a state raked by Republican scandals. But since Mr. Foley quit, she said in an interview on a tense day of campaigning here, her own internal polls have measured a steady drop in support under the weight of attacks by Mary Jo Kilroy, her Democratic opponent.

Political consultant sentenced for imprisoning students
A veteran GOP consultant was sentenced today to 5 to 10 years in prison for luring two male college students into his home on separate occasions, holding them captive in his spartan apartment and threatening them with Mafia retaliation if they contacted their friends or family.
A jury convicted Leon Abramovitz, of Shadyside, in July on charges of theft, coercion, false imprisonment, unauthorized practice of law, simple assault, indecent assault and making terroristic threats. His victims, 24-year-old and 22-year-old University of Pittsburgh students, were lured into his home with the promise of jobs tailored to their career goals. He had pleaded guilty to coercing a teenage boy and a 27-year-old and holding them captive in 1999 and 2000.



Army: Troops to Stay in Iraq Until 2010
The Pentagon has announced it will maintain its current troop level in Iraq for at least another four years. Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker said Wednesday at least 120,000 US soldiers will stay in Iraq through the year 2010.

11 Killed in Raid on Iraq TV Station
At least eleven people are dead after masked gunmen attacked an Iraqi television network in Baghdad. The network, Shaabiya, went on the air earlier this year. The raid marks one of the largest single attacks on Iraqi journalists on record.

Media Rights Group Calls on Iraq to Release Detained Journalist
In other Iraq news, the Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on the Iraq government to release a female journalist who has been detained for three weeks. Kalshan al-Bayati, an Iraqi correspondent for the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, was detained in Tikrit when she went to retrieve a personal computer that had been seized during a police raid on her home. She has not been charged with a crime.

Major powers fail to agree on Iran sanctions, send dossier to UN

Olmert urges action against Iran
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stressed Thursday that the North Korean nuclear test illustrates the need for the international community to deal in an urgent, determined, courageous and united manner with the nuclear issue.

Trade Deficit Hits New Record High
The trade deficit is on track to set a record for a fifth consecutive year, running at an annual rate through August of $784.2 billion, 9.4 percent higher than last year's $716.7 billion record.
It would be great if the US made things other than its weaponry that people actually wanted to buy.

Bush Admin Rejects North Korea Direct Talks
The Bush administration is facing growing calls to engage in direct talks with North Korea. In the nation's capital, President Bush said his administration would continue with six-party talks but rejected direct negotiations.

5 Killed in Israeli Raid on Gaza Strip
This news from the Occupied Territories -- at least five Palestinians are dead following an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip earlier today. The victims included a thirteen-year old bystander.

Report: Israel Used Dangerous Experimental Weapon in Gaza Attacks
Meanwhile, the Israeli military is facing accusations its used an experimental weapon during recent attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. The Italian television station RAI reports the weapons have led to abnormally serious physical injuries, including amputated limbs and severe burns. The report was produced by the same journalists that exposed the US used phosphorous as an offensive weapon during attacks on Fallujah. The weapon is believed to be similar to the US-made Dense Inert Metal Explosive, or DIME. In addition to inflicting major shrapnel wounds, the weapon is believed to be highly carcinogenic and harmful to the environment.

Los Alamos Missing Plutonium for 150 Nuclear Bombs
The beleaguered Los Alamos National Laboratory is unable to account for 765 kilograms of plutonium -- enough to make 150 nuclear weapons -- according to a letter from nuclear watchdog groups to LANL Director G. Peter Nanos.

The IgnoramUS | BaltimoreChronicle.com
Most Americans don’t know that the U.S. gives $15,139,178 per day to the Israeli government and military and $232,290 per day to Palestinian NGOs, and that the Israeli unemployment rate is 8.9%, while the Palestinian unemployment is estimated at 25-31%.

UN: Israeli Checkpoints Increase 40% in West Bank
In the West Bank, a UN aid agency is reporting Israeli military checkpoints around Palestinian towns have grown by nearly forty percent over the past year. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there are now more than five hundred and twenty checkpoints and obstacles around the West Bank, causing severe disruption to Palestinian life. The news comes on the heels of recent developments showing Israel is also expanding its settlements. Last month, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert authorized the construction of nearly 700 new homes in settlements on the West Bank.

Congress Members 'furious' at FBI for 'blackout' of 2001 anthrax attacks probe
"The FBI has completely shut Congress out of its now five-year investigation into anthrax attacks on Capitol Hill and around the nation, with accusations flying up and down Pennsylvania Avenue about the probe into the worst biochemical attacks in U.S. history," Paul Kane writes.
Of course the FBI has shut the Congress out. If the Congress knew the facts that we all know, they would understand that the FBI has had a real suspect all along. Congress would then ask the question all America has been asking; why did the FBI focus on Stephen Hatfill, for whom no evidence existed of guilt, while pointedly avoiding Dr. Philip Zack, who was actually caught entering the storage area where the Anthrax used in the letters was kept, without authorization and after being fired from his job over a racially-motivated attack on an Egyptian co-worker.


Anthrax suspect remains as elusive as bin Laden
No he doesn't.



Images from official FBI wanted poster for terrorist Adam Yahiye Gadahn
The FBI lists Gadahn's aliases as Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, and Yayah. But Adam Pearlmen is his REAL name!
Adam is the grandson of the late Carl K. Pearlman; a prominent Jewish urologist in Orange County. Carl was also a member of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, which was caught spying on Americans for Israel in 1993, much as AIPAC has been caught up in the more recent spy scandal.
US Citizen Charged With Treason Over Al-Qaeda Ties
A California-born man has become the first American charged with treason since the Second World War. Adam Gadahn, a fugitive believed to be in Pakistan, was charged over his appearance in five al-Qaeda videos over the last two years.

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty: "Mr. Gadahn is being added to the FBI most wanted terrorist list and a reward is being issued for any information leading to his arrest."

Gadahn's charges carry a maximum sentence of the death penalty. Justice Department officials are denying accusations the case has been timed to deflect attention from the Mark Foley scandal ahead of the November elections.
Welcome the new Boogie-man!

Al-Qaeda cleric exposed as an MI5 double agent
ONE of al-Qaeda's most dangerous figures has been revealed as a double agent working for MI5, raising criticism from European governments, which repeatedly called for his arrest.

'Al-Qaeda In Palestine' Makes Its Presence Felt
Right. "Al Qaeda" is killing Palestinians. Sounds like THESE "Al Qaeda" (nudge nudge wink wink).

Mossad agents arrested by the PA for attempting to set up phony 'al Qaeda' cells in the Gaza Strip.


A "Palestinian Terrorist" Wearing the Star of David

Leading Economists Call for Minimum Wage Hike
On Capital Hill, hundreds of the nation's leading economists are urging Congress to increase the minimum wage. In a statement released by the Economic Policy Institute, the economists call for an increase of up to two dollars and fifty cents per hour. The minimum wage has remained at five dollars and fifteen cents for a decade.


5,100 voters get flawed absentee ballots
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections reported Monday that the errors - mostly misspellings and omitted words - appear on ballots for more than a dozen local issues and will require corrected ballots to be sent to voters.
FOX News Exposes Princeton / Diebold Vote-Reversal

Poll: only 30% of African Americans Confident Votes Will be Counted
In electoral news, a new poll says African Americans are expressing record levels of concern their votes won’t be counted in next month's mid-term elections. According to the Pew Research Center/Associated Press survey, just thirty percent of African Americans say they're very confident their votes will be counted, down from almost fifty percent two years ago.

Suspect voter registration cards are found
St. Louis Election Board officials say they've discovered at least 1,492 "potentially fraudulent" voter registration cards - including three from dead people and one from a 16-year-old - among the thousands pouring in before today's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election.


Christianity is the best image
Remember the Jack Abramoff emails which demonstrated how top-level Republican insiders really feel about their evangelical base? Remember when Abramoff referred to co-conspirator Ralph Reed as "crazy, like other folks in the Christian Coalition"? You'd think that these revelations would've clued in the Jesus
BELLAMY CLAIMS 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB
MUSE frontman MATT BELLAMY has sensationally claimed 9/11 was an "inside job", insisting the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon was orchestrated to give America a perfect an excuse to invade Iraq. Bellamy is convinced the US government knows more information surrounding the attack on their country in September 2001 than the public is aware of.
The outspoken singer says, "September 11 is clearly an inside job, there's massive evidence that suggests that it was either allowed to happen or even worse, deliberately made to happen. There was a document called PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICA CENTURY which was made by neo-Con (right wing) writers in the 90s who supplied most of the agenda that (GEORGE W) BUSH is putting into place now, which clearly says, 'We need a Pearl Harbor-level of event so we can have an excuse to invade the Middle East.'"
Bellamy's outbursts are sure to find him causing controversy with the band's US fans, but the outspoken singer refuses to be silenced, insisting he wouldn't be surprised if he was being monitored by the FBI. He says, "With the world we live in I think with the books I've ordered off Amazon I'll already be on lists."

South Park Episode Equates 9/11 Truth with Anti-Semitism, Numerology and Cartman
The popular cartoon South Park launched a 9/11 hit piece, claiming that the "one-fourth" of Americans who believe the attacks were an inside job are "retards." The episode equates the 9/11 truth movement with anti-semitism, a pointless and insignificant investigation into the misuse of a bathroom, numerology, and the selfish, racist, spoiled and more-or-less evil show character Cartman, who frequently attacks the character Kyle for transgressions he blames on

Bush Admin Tightens Enforcement of Cuban Embargo
The Bush administration has announced a new task force to tighten enforcement of the embargo on Cuba. The Cuban Sanctions Enforcement Task Force will be based out of the US attorney's office in Miami. It will include units with the FBI and the Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce departments. Critics of the task force say relations with Cuba are already so criminalized that new measures are unnecessary and amount to political posturing.
Justice Dept. Approves AT&T-BellSouth Merger
And in business news, the Justice Department has approved telecom giant AT&T's purchase of BellSouth. The seventy-eight billion dollar deal would create the nation's largest provider of phone and internet services. The merger awaits a vote by the Federal Communications Commission before it can go into effect. Critics say the merger echoes the telecom monopolies that were broken up two decades ago. Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington, said: "Big Brother just blessed Big Telecom Oligopoly… [The Bush administration] has surrendered the rights of the public to have a competitive and democratic broadband media system."

Drugs Slip Past FDA, Sell Unapproved by the Millions
Almost 2 percent of U.S. prescriptions dispensed last year, or as many as 73 million, were for unapproved medicines such as Balamine, the FDA estimates.

Dubya-expelled Aussie receives top science award
AFTER receiving a second major international award in three weeks, a Hobart-born scientist is considered a contender for a future Nobel Prize. Elizabeth Blackburn, dumped by a George W. Bush advisory committee for her support of stem-cell research, has been awarded the US Gruber Genetics Prize. Dr Blackburn, 57, who grew up in Tasmania with her doctor parents and six siblings, was dismissed from Bush's Council on Bioethics last year, amid controversy over her support for embryonic stem-cell research.


Visitors view the art on a galleries stand at the Frieze Art Fair in Regent's Park in London October 11, 2006.

World War W

World War W

George W. Bush's presidency is deeply unpopular in America, and it is disastrously unpopular throughout the rest of the world. Faced with the probability that Bush will lose power through the midterm elections, the Republicans have been grasping at straws in pursuit of their neoconservative vision of a muscular and aggressive America on a permanent war footing in hot pursuit of the dreams of full-blooded military glory of PNAC. These Republican neoconservatives have a fifth column of support inside the Democratic Party. Headed by Al From, a man who is at once a confirmed neocon and a zealous Zionist, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) supports the policy agenda of PNAC hook, line and sinker.
It doesn't matter if democrats or republicans win this mid-term: it's the same pro-war agenda folks, bolstered by the same contributors, with the same agenda. The only way the American people can derail this is to vote out all incumbents on November 7th, and take a serious look at all the pro-peace, anti-war candidates out there.


NYTimes/CBS poll: Bush has 34% approval;
83% think he's "hiding something or mostly lying" about Iraq

Study: 655,000 Iraqis Dead Since US-led Invasion
A new medical study says the number of Iraqi deaths since the US-led invasion has reached more than 655,000. The study was carried out by many of the same researchers behind the Johns Hopkins University survey that put the death toll at 100,000 two years ago. Researchers based their findings on interviews with a random sampling of households taken in clusters across Iraq. The newest survey yielded the same estimate of immediate post-invasion deaths as the first one.
Attacks from US-led coalition forces accounted for thirty percent of the reported deaths. The actual number of dead could be higher. The 655,000 figure represents an estimate of "excess deaths" – people who wouldn't have died had the US not invaded.
The study is already coming under criticism. Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic & International Studies said the researchers were playing politics ahead of the November mid-term elections. In response, University of Michigan professor and Middle East scholar Juan Cole wrote: "Is he saying that 18,000 households from all over Iraq conspired to lie to Johns Hopkins University researchers for the purpose of defeating Republicans in US elections this November?"

Americans Still Peeved at Iraq WMD Reports

Many adults in the United States remain disappointed with their federal government's rationale for launching military action in Iraq, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates released by Newsweek. 61 per cent of respondents believe the Bush administration misinterpreted or misanalyzed the intelligence reports they said indicated Iraq had banned weapons.In addition, 58 per cent of respondents think the federal government purposely misled the public about evidence that Iraq had banned weapons in order to build support for war.

Ailing war vet dies after VA hospital calls 911 for help

A Spokane veteran of three wars died after collapsing in the parking lot of a veterans hospital where staffers called 911 instead of helping the man.

1 in 4 Veterans of the war on terror claim disability.

One in four veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are filing disability claims, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) under the Freedom of Information Act after nine months of denying their existence and posted today on the National Security Archive Web site.

Elections in the USA: Justice and Perversion and the Perversion of Justice

Millions of fundamentalist Christians, who blindly supported the Republican Congress' deadly War on Terror are in revolt against their Party because of its tolerance toward a single pervert -- overlooking the torture at Abu Ghraib, Israel's massive bombing of Lebanon and the Bush Administration's criminal abandonment of the hundreds of thousands of poor (mostly black) citizens in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Why do US Congress members and the mass media go into a political feeding frenzy over personal sexual transgressions like Congressman Foley's nasty e-mail flirtations with teenage boys or former President Clinton's office adventures in extramarital sex with a White House intern and not over issues of great consequence for peace or war, democracy or authoritarianism, torture or human rights?
Hey, whatever it takes to open people's eyes. Maybe once their belief systems are challenged, they'll start to look objectively at the other issues too.

Vicious Attacks on Anti-Bush Demonstrators in Portland

I have been to many protests, witnessed countless acts of police brutality, but none compare to what I saw today. Bean bag guns, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and billy clubs; all of them used to attack peaceful protestors. Friends of mine were trampled by horses, beaten by billy clubs, and peppersprayed severely. All in an disgusting display of extreme police brutality. My hands are still shaking and my eye still hurts from pepper spray so I will try to write this as best as I can...

Wars and propaganda machines

Before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the neocon propaganda machine in the media, led by Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News (News Corp), assisted by ABC (Disney), NBC (GE), CBS (Viacom), TBS (Time Warner), CNN (Time Warner), MTV (Viacom), plus the Weekly Standard (News Corp), the National Review, the New Republic, the Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones), the New York Post (News Corp), the New York Sun, the Washington Times (Sun Myung Moon), etc., initiated an all-out propaganda campaign to persuade the American people that Saddam Hussein was really the villain behind the 9/11 attacks, not the Taliban of Afghanistan or bin Laden's alleged al Qaeda terrorist network. They succeeded so well in this endeavor that many Americans believed the fabricated fable and swallowed the bait -- hook, line, and sinker.

American Traitor?

For the first time in more than 50 years, federal prosecutors are preparing to charge an American citizen with treason. Barring any last-minute complications, the charges will be filed today against Adam Gadahn, the American who has appeared in at least four al-Qaida videos, the most recent one in September.
This is a hoax. Adam Gadahn's REAL name is Adam Pearlman, and he is a grandson of a board member of the ADL. This is a media hoax, no different that when the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador pretended to be a nurse to accuse Iraq of stealing Kuwait incubators and leaving babies to die on the floor. No doubt, "Gadahn's" trial will be filled with lurid confessions about the threat of "Internal Toilets".
Also a great chance to test the new "no habeas corpus" law on an American citizen.

Army: Troops to Stay in Iraq Until 2010

The U.S. Army has plans to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday, a later date than any Bush administration or Pentagon officials have mentioned thus far. The Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, cautioned against reading too much into the planning, saying it is easier to pull back forces than to prepare and deploy units at the last minute.

Gitmo Laywer Accuses Pentagon of Covering Up Detainee Abuse
A US military lawyer is accusing the Pentagon of a massive cover-up in an investigation that cleared soldiers of abusing the Guantanamo detainee David Hicks. Hicks is an Australian citizen who was captured in Afghanistan over four years ago. His attorney, Major Michael Mori, says investigators ignored evidence including corroborating testimony from four Guantanamo prisoners. Hicks has alleged he was regularly beaten by guards at the prison and by US soldiers in Afghanistan.

UK: Rocket launcher 'found at dentist’s house'

A RETIRED Grange dentist is accused of being part of a bomb plot after a record number of explosives were seized in a Lancashire town.
Note that because neither suspect is Arab, this story was basically ignored by the major media.

Strike Leaders, Government Reach Tentative Agreement in Oaxaca Standoff
In Mexico, leaders of a group of striking teachers say they've reached a tentative agreement that could end a lengthy standoff with the government. Under the deal, the state would remove blockades from Oaxaca's downtown and raise teacher’s salaries for the first time in six years. The protesters have reportedly dropped a key demand for the immediate resignation of state Governor Ulises Ruiz. A spokesperson for the teachers said they'll continue to seek Ruiz's departure even if his resignation does not come as part of an agreement.

Dobbs: Middle class needs to fight back now

Our country's middle class is not just collateral damage in what has become all-out class warfare. Political, business and academic elites are waging an outright war on working men and women and their families, and there is no chance the American middle class will survive this assault if the dominant forces unleashed over the past five years continue unchecked.

Iraqi parliament passes federalism bill

The Shiite-dominated parliament Wednesday passed a law allowing the formation of federal regions in Iraq, despite opposition from Sunni lawmakers and some Shiites who say it will dismember the country and fuel sectarian violence. Sunni Arabs deeply oppose the federalism measures, fearing it will divide Iraq into sectarian mini-states, giving Shiite and Kurds control over oil riches in the south and north, and leaving Sunnis in an impoverished central zone without resources. Some Shiite parties — including the faction of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — also oppose the measures for nationalist reasons.

Court Upholds $13K Fine on Humanitarian Visitor to Iraq
In Seattle, a US appeals court has upheld the fining of a man who delivered medicines to Iraq while it was under a US-led embargo. On Tuesday, the court ruled the government was right to fine Bertram Sacks more than thirteen thousand dollars for making the trips. Sacks visited Iraq nine times starting in 1996, delivering medicines banned under sanctions overseen by Britain and the United States.

Smart operator Kim working to a plan

Kim Jong-Il is neither insane nor stupid. From the CIA's psychological profilers to his many biographers, experts who have studied the North Korean leader believe that beneath the glaring eccentricities - the bouffant hair and oddball Mao Zedong suits - there is a shrewd operator at work.

"In the eyes of the North Korean leaders, this [nuclear test] was very calculated and rationale behaviour," said Paik Hak-soon, a political scientist at South Korea's Sejong Institute. "Nobody invades a nuclear power. People respect nuclear power."

All Nine Nuclear Powers Are Violating Non-Proliferation Treaty

Pyongyang 1, Bush 0

With such a miserable track record in inducing behavior change, why has the United States continued to speak loudly and wield a big stick against a hornet's nest like North Korea? It might be, like North Korea's recent test, a fundamental miscalculation. The Bush administration, after all, has shown a pathological inability to learn from its mistakes. Or there might be a deeper, more malign intent at work?

For some in the Bush administration, the nuclear test is cause for celebration. The coterie around Dick Cheney rejoices at the growing divide between North Korea and China, the more aggressive military and foreign policy of Japan, and the compromised efforts of South Korea to engage the North. The nuclear test is the most effective argument the Cheney crowd can use to defeat calls for diplomacy. An amplified North Korean threat works wonders on Capitol Hill and with our allies to push missile defense, more military spending, and the like.

This is another foreign policy disaster for this administration. But remember: clear-thinking, coherent foreign policy means less need for weapon systems when we're generally not ticking off the entire world. This always annoys defense contractors who have invested a ton of money on both sides of the isle in Congress: they want a good return on their investment.

Rice says US will not invade North Korea

US secretary of state says her country will not attack North Korea, refuting suggestion that Pyongyang's nuclear program was aimed at staving off American invasion. Rice also rejects direct talks with Koreans.

The Dear Leader vs. the War President

One thing is clear: money, lots of it, not war, is the most effective way of keeping North Korea on somewhat good behavior. Bribery is always far, far cheaper than war.

McAfee CEO, chairman retires after probe

Santa Clara-based McAfee disclosed in June that securities regulators had opened a formal investigation into the possible manipulation of the company's stock options It is one of many companies to run into problems by backdating options to days when the company's stock price was lower, thus boosting executive payouts. At least 130 companies have disclosed SEC, Department of Justice or internal investigations into options practices, according to a review by The Associated Press.
If computer security executives are willing to play "Enron" with their own companies, then we can no longer dismiss out of hand the theory that they also create and release many of the very viruses which force consumers to buy their products. Because there are way too many viruses out there to be explained away solely as pimply-faced teenagers in garages playing games.

The Republic's Nemesis: 2-Party Addiction

If you want "it" to go away, stop voting, lobbying for, and participating in the 2-Party masquerade. Just stop it and quit pretending that your "old" party exists and operates according to your personal beliefs. Stop BS-ing yourselves. Your nation is dying because of you. Then count the total number of "representatives" in this nation in both the Federal and State legislatures – all state governors included.
Ask yourselves why this country has all but dissolved under their influence, legislation, and missions. Then ask yourselves why the American people have done nothing – NOTHING – to stop these anti-American creatures that we the people pay to destroy FREEDOM. And finally, ask yourselves how you became emotionally glued to political ideologies that currently exist to destroy your country and your freedom. What happened to your intellect that you were so easily manipulated into a staunch worker for the cause of eliminating your nation, American heritage, and the rights of your families?

Four top (Israeli) doctors arrested over illegal human experimentation

Four senior doctors at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot and Hartzfeld Geriatric Hospital in Gedera suspected of illegally experimenting on humans were arrested Monday.
According to a report issued by the investigations department of the Health Ministry and exposed by Haaretz, the hospitals in Gedera and Rehovot conducted illegal and unethical testing on thousands of elderly patients for years.

Italian probe: Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip

An investigative report to be aired on Italian television Wednesday raises the possibility that Israel has used an experimental weapon in the Gaza Strip in recent months, causing especially serious physical injuries, such as amputated limbs and severe burns.The weapon is similar to one developed by the U.S. military, known as DIME, which causes a powerful and lethal blast, but only within a relatively small radius.

The Italian investigative team raised the possibility that the IDF is making use of a weapon similar in character to DIME - Dense Inert Metal Explosive - developed for the U.S. military. According to the official website of a U.S. air force laboratory, it is a "focused lethality" weapon, which aims to accurately destroy the target while causing minimum damage to the surrounding.

Olmert: Syria peace overtures are a ploy

Israel has brushed off the Syrian president's recent calls to restart peace talks as a ploy by Bashar Assad to deflect international pressure from his increasingly isolated regime. But some in Israel say that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may be making a major mistake in ignoring even a slim chance to pursue peace with one of his country's most implacable enemies.
"Olmert could have gone down in history as Menachem Begin, who gave Sinai back to Egypt," journalist Tom Segev wrote in the Haaretz daily Tuesday. "Instead, he is reacting to Syria's offers of peace with contempt, loathing and threats."
Fire the warmongers. Everywhere.



Fox News Makes Another "Mistake"

I just got tipped from our friends at Crooks and Liars that Fox News has once again identified a Republican as a Democrat and vice-versa.
That's a strategy that won't be helping the Republicans they're trying to protect.

Foley was ready to leave House until he was talked into running again

Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley had two excellent job offers in the private sector this year when Rep. Tom Reynolds, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, talked him into seeking a seventh term.
Now Reynolds is "sorry" he assumed others were "taking action" about Foley. You bet he's sorry.

FOLEY AFFAIR MAY BE WATERLOO FOR REYNOLDS, REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS

We have to start three years ago, when the House leadership became aware Rep. Mark A. Foley, himself a promising Republican congressman from Florida who made his money selling West Palm Beach real estate, was sending inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to House pages in their teens.

Hastert Backs Out of Pa. Fundraiser

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and another Republican leader criticized for his role in the congressional page scandal will not be appearing at fundraisers on behalf of a Pennsylvania congressman who has admitted to an extramarital affair.

India Enacts New Law Against Child Labor
In India, a new law barring child labor has gone into effect. The law bans children from working in restaurants, hotels, resorts and private homes. The official number of child laborers in India is twelve million but it's estimated to be as high as sixty million. Critics of the law say it will not solve the problem of child labor and want the government to take a more active role in reducing poverty.

Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off Democracy Now! Debate With Columbia Student Organizer The anti-immigration group the Minuteman Project announced yesterday that they are seeking to strip Columbia University of federal funding for what they say are violations of their civil rights. Last week, student demonstrators disrupted a speech by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist who was invited to the school by the College Republicans. Gilchrist and student organizer Karina Garcia joins us for a debate that ends when Gilchrist abruptly pulls the plug.

Cable News Confidential: FAIR Founder Jeff Cohen on his misadventures in corporate media Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) founder, media critic and pundit Jeff Cohen has written a new book. Cohen dissects the cable news channels and finds serious failures in how they cover the most urgent issues of the day. He joins us in our firehouse studio.

Police 'exaggerated evidence' against British 9/11 suspect

Police 'exaggerated evidence' against British 9/11 suspect
POLICE and prosecutors are facing allegations that they misled a judge and grossly exaggerated evidence against the only man to be detained in Britain over September 11, The Times has learnt. There is renewed scrutiny on two fronts of the role played by Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service in making unfounded claims that Lotfi Raissi trained the 9/11 hijackers.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has opened an investigation into the conduct of the Anti-Terrorist Branch detectives who arrested Mr Raissi in 2001 and prepared the evidence against him. In a separate move, Mr Raissi will go to the High Court tomorrow to seek an apology and compensation from the Home Office as a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Lotfi Raissi, who is seeking compensation, with wife, Sonja

Mr Raissi, 32, an Algerian pilot, was the first person to be arrested in connection with 9/11 when armed police raided his West London home at 3am on September 21, 2001. He was held for five months in Belmarsh high-security prison before a judge declared that there was no evidence that he was involved in terrorism.
The Times understands that the IPCC inquiry is focused on an address book which, prosecution lawyers claimed before a district judge in 2001, showed a link between Mr Raissi and a senior al-Qaeda terrorist. The courts were told that the address book belonged to Abu Doha, who is currently in prison in Britain, and contained a telephone number for Mr Raissi’s former flatmate in Arizona. The alleged link to a known terrorist was relied upon by CPS lawyers to oppose Mr Raissi's bail application as he fought attempts to extradite him to the United States. It later emerged, however, that the address book was the property of Abdelaziz Kermani, who has never been arrested, questioned or charged in connection with any terrorist offence.
The book had been in the possession of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch since February 2001 -- seven months before Mr Raissi's arrest. It was discovered in a North London flat used by Abu Doha in a locked briefcase containing Mr Kermani's identity documents. It was clearly marked with his name and Home Office asylum application reference number. But police did not trace and interview Mr Kermani until January 2002, after Mr Raissi's lawyers vehemently denied links to Abu Doha. Speaking from Algiers, Mr Kermani said: "That was my address book, no question."
The alleged terrorist link was one of a number of false allegations made against Mr Raissi. Prosecutors claimed in court that he was the 'lead instructor' for the main hijackers who crashed aircraft into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The FBI was said to have video material showing him in the company of Hani Hanjour, one of the hijack pilots. However, all the evidence was shown to be unsubstantiated and, in February 2002, District Judge Timothy Workman ordered Mr Raissi's release. The judge said that the young pilot 'has appeared before me on several occasions where allegations of involvement in terrorism have been made. I have received no evidence to support that contention.'
Mr Raissi has since made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain an official apology from the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police for his treatment. Successive Home Secretaries have resisted his request for an acknowledgment that he was wrongfully arrested. Scotland Yard has also been silent even after The Times revealed last year that Mr Raissi had been arrested amid widespread publicity despite the FBI specifically requesting a 'background investigation' to be carried out 'discreetly'.
Mr Raissi said: "My life has been ruined. I lost my freedom, my reputation and my career. The courts have said I am innocent -- why does the Home Secretary not accept this?"
Jules Carey, Mr Raissi's solicitor, said the Home Secretary's decision (to refuse compensation) was "morally wrong. We hope to establish that his decision is also legally wrong."
Neither Mr Carey nor Mr Raissi would comment on the ongoing IPCC inquiry.

Anna Politkovskaya, Prominent Russian Journalist, Putin Critic and Human Rights Activist, Murdered in Moscow
On Saturday, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead at her apartment in Moscow. Anna was a correspondent for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper and was an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and its policies in Chechnya. Her reporting on the second Chechen war, torture, mass executions and kidnappings by Russian soldiers made her into one of the country’s most prominent human rights advocates.

Police Shoot Protesters With Tasers at Pittsburgh Demo Against Jeb Bush & Sen. Rick Santorum Florida governor Jeb Bush was confronted by protesters on the streets of Pittsburgh on Friday. Police responded by ushering Bush into a closet and tasering two of the protesters. The Florida governor was in Pittsburgh to attend a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Rove's Top Aide Resigns Over Ties To Abramoff



Karl Rove's top aide has resigned after it was revealed she helped Jack Abramoff lobby the White House. The aide, Susan Ralston, served as Karl Rove's executive assistant.
She formerly worked for Abramoff and got her White House job on Abramoff's recommendation. Ralston performed similar duties for the Don of K Street -- that is until Abramoff realized she'd be far more useful embedded in the West Wing. (Ralston had also previous worked for Abramoff and Rove's fellow College Republican crony Ralph Reed.)
Installing his top assistant as Rove's gatekeeper appeared to pay dividends. In 2003, Abramoff was hired by scandal-ridden Tyco to help the corporation secure lucrative federal contracts despite its being incorporated -- for tax-evasion purposes -- in Bermuda. According to the Washington Post, Abramoff later bragged that he'd been able to lobby Rove directly on the issue. The article targets Ralston as the only likely conduit. Of course, such Abramoffian entanglements are now radioactive. According to Time, Bush has ordered his aides to round up all pictures of him and Abramoff to head off any bad press. Perhaps Bush should instruct them to widen the search to include photos like this buddy-buddy pic of him with Ralston.


Ralston's resignation came just a week after the House Government Reform Committee documented 485 lobbying contacts between White House officials and Abramoff and his associates. Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman accused the White House of trying to make Ralston a scapegoat. Waxman said the links between the White House's former political director Ken Mehlman and Abramoff deserve more scrutiny. Mehlman is now chairman of the Republican National Committee. Last week's report indicated Mehlman was offered tickets to a rock concert and helped an Indian tribe represented by Abramoff secure $16 million for a jail despite resistance from Justice Department officials.


U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban

Destined for American kitchens, planks of birch and poplar plywood are stacked to the ceiling of a cavernous port warehouse. The wood, which arrived in California via a cargo ship, carries two labels: One proclaims "Made in China," while the other warns that it contains formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical. Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is illegal to sell in many countries -- even the one where it originated, China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

Preacher says GOP delaying 2nd coming

Voters should oust congressional Republican leaders because U.S. foreign policy is delaying the second coming of Jesus Christ, according to a evangelical preacher trying to influence closely contested political races.
Are you sure about that, Father?

U.S. project could start atomic war, experts warn

A Pentagon project to modify its deadliest nuclear missile for use as a conventional weapon against targets such as North Korea and Iran could unwittingly spark an atomic war, two weapons experts warned Thursday.

Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence
This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan. In recent months the Taliban has seized control of entire regions of the country. The security situation has worsened as suicide bombings are up 600 percent this year. Opium and poppy cultivation are at record highs. NATO forces are suffering their highest casualty rate in five years. We speak with Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls, authors of the new book, "Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence."


FLASHBACK: Rumsfeld sold North Korea 2 nuclear power plants

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rarely keeps his opinions to himself. He tends not to compromise with his enemies. And he clearly disdains the communist regime in North Korea. So it's surprising that there is no clear public record of his views on the controversial 1994 deal in which the U.S. agreed to provide North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for Pyongyang ending its nuclear weapons program. What's even more surprising about Rumsfeld's silence is that he sat on the board of the company that won a $200 million contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors.

Bushies 'used' Colin, wife sez

DeYoung also writes that Powell believes Bush sees the Palestinian/Israeli struggle in "black and white" terms and called Rumsfeld's team "the JINSA crowd," a reference to the neoconservative Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

1,400 Prisoners in New Jersey Threaten Hunger Strike
In New Jersey, fourteen hundred prisoners are threatening to begin a hunger strike on Wednesday if their living conditions are not improved. Last week the prisoners issued a series of demands saying they were being treated in a way "reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.” During a recent lockdown, the prisoners said they were stripped to their underwear and forced to walk by barking, lunging dogs. The prisoners also complained about losing recreation time and a new ban on hardcover books.

Canadian PM Asks Bush to Come Clean About Maher Arar
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has asked President Bush to 'come clean' about how the United States inappropriately treated Maher Arar. Arar is the Canadian citizen who was abducted by the United States after he had a layover at JFK airport in New York. He was first jailed at an immigration facility in the United States and then transported to Syria against his wishes. He was jailed in Syria for almost a year and was repeatedly tortured. Last month a Canadian government report exonerated Arar and criticized the U.S. for its actions.

Germany Accused of Housing Secret U.S. Prison
The British human rights group Reprieve has accused the Bush administration of using a U.S. air base in Germany as a secret prison. Repreive's legal director Clive Stafford Smith called on the German government to investigate the claims. He said "No democracy should be taking part in crimes."

Journalists Secretly Helped Bush Shape 9/11 Response
It has been revealed that two prominent journalists took part in a secret meeting with the Bush administration in 2001 to help shape the country's response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz organized the meeting in order to produce a report for President Bush outlining a strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11. The journalists attending the meeting were Fareed Zakaria and Robert Kaplan. Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International and a Newsweek columnist. Kaplan is a writer for the Atlantic Monthly. They both signed confidentiality agreements not to discuss what happened at the secret meeting. Their role in the meeting was disclosed by Bob Woodward in his new book. Kaplan said his editor gave him permission to take part in the meeting. Kaplan defended his decision by saying that at the time "everybody was in a patriotic fervor."

Wolfowitz Visited Abu Ghraib from TOMPAINE.COM
From the March edition of The Utah Sheriff, a quarterly newsletter for the Utah Sheriffs' Association.

On page 6 of the newsletter, a photograph appears depicting Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz touring the Abu Ghraib prison with Lane McCotter, Gary DeLand and Bridadier General Janis Karpinski. The exact date on the picture is unknown, however The New York Times reports that Mr. McCotter left Iraq on October 1, 2003, to return to the states. The newsletter implies that it was taken during the summer of 2003.
I'm not sure what to make of this photo, or what it says about the Deputy Defense Secretary's involvement at Abu Ghraib. It's certainly possible this is simply what it shows--a senior Pentagon official touring a detention facility. Additionally, Abu Ghraib was where the Hussein regime committed many of its worst human rights abuses, so it does make sense as a stop for the DepSecDef. But it sure raises some questions, doesn't it? Here are a few I'd like to see answered:

• What exactly was Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz doing at Abu Ghraib in summer 2003? Was he involved with the prison at all, or was this just tourism like the photo caption says?
• Does this picture help corroborate the latest Sy Hersh story, namely, that the chain of command for the special-access program "Copper Green" ran straight from Abu Ghraib's personnel to the Pentagon?
• What was BG Karpinski's role in all of this, and why hasn't she been prosecuted yet? This photo may undercut her assertion that she was cut out of the loop.

GOP aide busted for fake blog posts on liberal sites

Liberal bloggers have uncovered a staff member to Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) using government computers to make fake posts on liberal blogs in New Hampshire, today's ROLL CALL reports.

Iraq's Partition

A few days ago, Middle East expert Col. Pat Lang has called this inevitable:
Iraq is going to be partitioned. This may be either de facto or de jure but it will be partitioned. The process of disintegration launched by the United States in eliminating the mechanisms of state integrity has progressed so far that effective dissolution of the old Iraq is inevitable. The recent frustrated desperation evident in the statements of the US command in Baghdad, and the ridiculous futility of Dr. Rice's latest trip are unmistakable signs of disintegration. Indeed, the partition is now underway."

James Baker Considers Carving Up Iraq
In Washington, there are reports that former Secretary of State James Baker will soon recommend that Iraq be carved up into three highly autonomous regions – to create Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni areas. Baker heads the Iraq Study Group which was set up by Congress.
Baker also works for THE CARLYLE GROUP.

GOP Lawmaker Warned Foley in 2000

The report in the Washington Post pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress acknowledges learning of the Florida Republican's questionable behavior toward pages.

Report: Rep. Kolbe Knew of Foley Problems in 2001
The Washington Post is reporting that at least one Republican member of Congress knew six years ago that Foley was sending inappropriate Internet messages to teenage boys who worked as pages on Capitol Hill. A spokesperson for Republican Jim Kolbe confirmed that the Congressman first learned about Foley’s actions in 2000. Meanwhile one former House page has admitted he had sex with Foley. The former page was 21 at the time. The House Ethics Commission begins interviews on its inquiry into the Foley scandal today.

DC Gays Say Hastert Had Sex With Young 'Men For Hire'?

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com

The rumors about another top GOP member of the House being involved in sexual encounters with young "men for hire" are confirmed to WMR by well-placed sources in Washington's gay community. The member in question is House Speaker Dennis Hastert, whose "alternate" life style is the primary reason for him and his staff covering up the scandal involving ex-Florida GOP Rep. Mark Foley and his lewd messages sent to underage male congressional pages.
WMR reported on old charges that swirled around Hastert when he was a high school wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Illinois. Hastert decided to enter politics in 1980 after rumors surfaced about inappropriate contact with male high school students.
WMR has also learned that Republicans will soon mount an effort to discredit a senior House Democratic member with a sex scandal of a rather different nature. The member is aware of the plans and is circling the political wagons if the GOP launches their expected attack.

Israel Accused of Blocking Lebanon's Access to Food & Water
Israel's actions during its attack on Lebanon continue to come under scrutiny. A top United Nations human rights expert says the International Criminal Court should investigate whether Israel is guilty of war crimes for a bombing campaign in Lebanon that blocked access to food and water. Jean Ziegler, the UN Human Rights Council's special envoy on the "right to food," said the presence of unexploded cluster bombs could affect the ability of the Lebanese people to access food and water for years.

Blair more hated than Thatcher

'Committed' Blair stuns defence chiefs with Sudan troops plan A senior military source last night said the military option was a "very real prospect", as Blair attempts to force the hands of the European Union and the United Nations. He added: "This has been on the boards at Northwood for several months. The planners have told the prime minister that Britain cannot spare the troops easily, but he is committed to it.

100,000 Protest in Argentina Over Disappearance of Dirty War Victim
In Argentina, as many as 100,000 protesters marched in Buenos Aires on Friday demanding the release of an elderly man who vanished after his testimony helped convict a former police officer. Jorge Julio Lopez has been missing since September 18, a day before former police commissioner Miguel Etchecolatz was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, torture and kidnapping of six people during Argentina's Dirty War. It is widely feared that he may have been abducted and killed in an attempt to intimidate other witnesses from coming forward to talk about being tortured during the Dirty War. One of the protesters on Friday was Tati Almeida -- Her 20-year-old son, Alejandro disappeared in 1975 at the hands of the Argentine military.

• Tati Almeida: "We're searching for the truth. We're searching for Justice. We're searching for Julio, for the 30,000 detained disappeared, who are in our presence now and forever."

Not the first time...

Rabbit Hole Of Elitist Perversion Far Deeper Than Foley
From scattered reports, a picture is starting to emerge. It is reported that Jack Abramoff operated a "sex ring" out of several DC hotels, providing male and female prostitutes, some underage, to leading politicians. Overtly a part of his lobbying activity, reports are that these politicians were later subject to blackmail with photos/videos of their trysts, and that THIS may have been the real secret of Abramoff's success.


Click on the enlargements to read the 1989 Washington Times expose.
On June 29 1989, the Washington Times' Paul M. Rodriguez and George Archibald reported on a Washington D.C. prostitution ring that had intimate connections with the White House all the way up to President George H.W. Bush.
Male prostitutes had been given access to the White House and the article also cited evidence of "abduction and use of minors for sexual perversion."
In July 1990 a Nebraska Grand Jury was convened to hear allegations that Lawrence "Larry" King, then manager of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union and a rising Republican party star, along with Washington lobbyists, had set up a child prostitution ring in which minors were transported around the country and forced to have sex with King, other top officials, and according to victims who some allege were later harassed into recanting, then-Vice-President Bush.
The Grand Jury dismissed the case as a hoax but former Nebraska State Senator John DeCamp later investigated the claims and was horrified to learn that they were indeed legitimate.

Connections between male prostitutes and the White House emerged again in early 2005, when James Dale Guckert, working under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon, was given privileged access to the White House despite his lack of suitable press credentials. Gannon first came under scrutiny when he repeatedly gave President Bush softball questions during press conferences - leading many to charge Gannon was a White House plant. Photos emerged of Bush embracing Gannon and appearing very affectionate towards him during meetings. It later came out that Gannon had previously placed ads on homosexual escort service websites.



Who is Scott Palmer?
If Fordham did warn Palmer about Foley a long time ago, what are the odds that Palmer did not tell Hastert? As close to zero as you can get. Many chiefs of staff are close, very close, to their bosses on Capitol Hill. But none are closer than Scott Palmer is to Denny Hastert. They don't just work together all day, they live together.
Rove aide quits -- she took gifts, gave Abramoff inside information
White House Aide to Rove Resigns
A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove resigned Friday in the wake of congressional report that listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.

Predators in Congress? More than one

Sleaze row engulfs Republican hopefuls
They did not let up yesterday as the Democrats used one of their congressional candidates, Patty Wetterling, to launch an attack on Republicans over Foley. Wetterling, who is running in Minnesota, lost her son when he was abducted 17 years ago. She directly linked the Republicans to the issue of child sexual predation. 'We need a new direction in Congress because our children need strong voices. We need to stop the sexual exploitation of children across the country, and in Washington we must hold accountable all those complicit in allowing this victimisation to happen,' Wetterling said.

Internal Poll Suggests Hastert Could Devastate GOP


The gay problem in the Congress
If this has a familiar ring, look in the Catholic Church for the bell. Republican leadership was acting like the Catholic hierarchy, which played shell games with men accused of sexually abusing children. And there's a good reason for the similarity. The inability to deal straightforwardly with gay people leads to other kinds of truth--avoidance when things go south. But that's what comes from not wanting to know something, and going out of your way to remain ignorant.

Voters Say Scandals will Affect their Vote in Midterm Elections
Congressional Republicans, already struggling against negative public perceptions of Congress, now face voters who say new scandals will significantly influence their vote in November.

NEWSWEEK GOP IN MELTDOWN ! Poll Voters for Dems 51% V. Rep. 39%
For instance, for the first time in the NEWSWEEK poll, a majority of Americans now believe the Bush administration knowingly misled the American people in building its case for war against Saddam Hussein: 58 percent vs. 36 percent who believe it didn't.

Russian war critic writer murdered
A Russian journalist known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya was shot to death Saturday in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow, in a killing prosecutors believe could be connected to her investigative work.

The Emerging Russian Giant Plays its Cards Strategically
The September 2006 summit in Paris between Russia's Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, underscored the re-emerging of Russia as a major global power. The new Russia is gaining in influence through a series of strategic moves revolving around its geopolitical assets in energy--most notably its oil and natural gas.
It's doing so by shrewdly taking advantage of the strategic follies and major political blunders of Washington. The new Russia also realizes that if it does not act decisively, it soon will be encircled and trumped by a military rival, USA, for which it has little defenses left. The battle, largely unspoken, is the highest stakes battle in world politics today. Iran and Syria are seen by Washington strategists as mere steps to this great Russian End Game.

Moscow Says Force Against Iran Unacceptable
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Alekseev says Russia and China agree that it is unacceptable to threaten to use force against Iran in the standoff over its nuclear program.
Experts warn of an accidental atomic war
Nuclear missile modified for conventional attack on Iran could set off alarm in Russia



America's cardboard army of Flat Daddies boosts families


Thousands Wrongly on Terror List
Maher Arar, a Canadian software engineer, was detained at New York's Kennedy Airport in 2002 because Canadian officials had asked that he be placed on a watch list. The U.S. transferred him without court approval to Syria where he was tortured and imprisoned for a year. A Canadian inquiry found that Arar should not have been on the list because he didn't do anything wrong.

How the NY Times Misreports
While arguing that paying attention to international law would contribute to a better editorial policy at the Times that in turn would produce better journalism, we present a number of case studies to argue the point, including to some degree Judith Miller's reporting on Iraqi WMD. Though her reporting had little to do with international law per se, her news pieces on Iraq's WMD helped to demonstrate that the Times' journalistic standards as applied to Iraq from 2002-03 were very poor, and that such standards could be improved by invoking international law where appropriate. One effect in the case of Iraq would have been to show that, even if Iraq had WMD as the Bush administration asserted and had violated UN Security Council resolutions as a result, these would not have been grounds under international law to invade Iraq under the circumstances.

Bush: "You Can't Kick 12,000,000 People Out Of Your Country"
Secret Papers Could Halt CIA Case
The danger for prosecutors is that the sheer volume and sensitivity of the classified information Libby wants to introduce could scuttle the trial. Once the judge identifies classified information Libby is entitled to present, U.S. intelligence agencies must rule on whether the secrets can be declassified. The trial would collapse if the intelligence agencies refuse to declassify the information.

Guantanamo defense lawyer forced out of Navy
The Navy lawyer who took the Guantanamo case of Osama bin Laden's driver to the U.S. Supreme Court -- and won -- has been passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military. Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, said last week he received word he had been denied a promotion to full-blown commander this summer, "about two weeks after" the Supreme Court sided against the White House and with his client, a Yemeni captive at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.
So this is how our military treats its people who have actually done the job they were supposed to do for alleged 'enemy combatant's. What a great message that sends to others preparing to defend these folks at their upcoming tribunals: tell the truth, do the job, and get kicked out!

Guards describe Guantanamo prisoner abuse
"Examples of this abuse included hitting detainees, denying them water, and removal of privileges for no reason," the Marine Corps sergeant stated in a sworn affidavit sent to the Pentagon's inspector general's office for investigation.

Hidden victims of a brutal conflict: Iraq's women
Iraqis do not like to talk about it much, but there is an understanding of what is going on these days. If a young woman is abducted and murdered without a ransom demand, she has been kidnapped to be raped. Even those raped and released are not necessarily safe: the response of some families to finding that a woman has been raped has been to kill her.

FDA Announces New E. Coli Recall; 5,226 Pounds Of Ground Beef Across 7 States
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Jim's Market and Locker, Inc. a Harlan, Iowa, firm, are recalling an estimated 5,226 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli.

On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide
Indian farmers started using Monsanto's GM seeds, then were hit with drought that ruined their crops. The final kicker; the seeds saved from those withered crops won't reproduce, made sterile by the "Terminator Gene" Monsanto builds into them. The farmers have nothing with which to try to rebuild their farms next season.

Israeli agents want disguises to testify at Miami trial
Undercover agents want to wear wigs, fake facial hair and makeup so they can testify without revealing their true identities at the upcoming trial of Israeli underworld kingpin Zeev Rosenstein, charged with running a worldwide Ecstasy distribution ring.


Cheney Back Delivering the Grim Campaign Speech
Vice President Cheney sometimes starts speeches with a Ronald Reagan quotation about a "happy" nation needing "hope and faith." But not much happy talk follows. Not a lot of hope, either. He does, though, talk about the prospect of "mass death in the United States." But the message is carefully targeted. More than half of Cheney's fundraisers in this two-year cycle have been behind closed doors. Even at a lunchtime speech to Wisconsin Republican donors that was open to reporters, gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mark Green did not stand on stage, ensuring no pictures of the two together on the news, and some other Republican candidates did not attend at all.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Don't Worry, Democrats Won't Impeach Bush, Democrat Says
Weiner (who also worked for the Clinton White House) says Conyers "has told me directly: 'I'm not going to conduct an impeachment. That would take all of our time. I would not want to bring an impeachment investigation because that would drain time and energy from the work that needs to be done, and it would take away the country's attention from issues that need to be addressed.'"

America ponders cutting Iraq in three
AN independent commission set up by Congress with the approval of President George W Bush may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions, according to well informed sources.
"The Kurds already effectively have their own area," said a source close to the group. "The federalisation of Iraq is going to take place one way or another. The challenge for the Iraqis is how to work that through."

Taliban Back, Using Iraq-Style Violence
The prospect of a second downward spiral - though so far Afghanistan isn't nearly as violent as Iraq - has experts worried that Western militaries don't have an effective strategy for these irregular wars.
"One Iraq is bad enough," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert at Georgetown University. "Given that our two main theaters of operations aren't going well, one has to question how well the U.S. understands counterinsurgency."

Assad: Syrian military preparing for war with Israel
In an interview widely quoted by Syrian news agencies, Assad said Israel could attack Syria "at any moment. We must remain ready at all times. We have begun preparations within the framework of our options." Assad also said he believes Israel has abandonded the peace process.

Panama recalls medicine after mystery deaths
Health Minister Camilo Alleyne said officials were recalling Lisinopril tablets from pharmacies, hospitals and private clinics across the Central American country as scientists tested the drug for toxic agents that may have poisoned 30 people.

UK Troops 'spread superbug' - Newspaper Edition - Times Online
WOUNDED troops returning from Iraq have been linked by government scientists to outbreaks of a deadly superbug in National Health Service hospitals. Injured soldiers flown back to be treated on the NHS have been infected with a rare strain of Acinetobacter baumannii, a superbug resistant to antibiotics. At one hospital in Birmingham in 2003 the bacteria went on to infect 93 people, 91 of whom were civilians. Thirty-five died, although the hospital has not been able to establish whether the superbug was a contributory factor.
If doctors in the UK knew that this bacteria can spread like wildfire, why were't these soldiers isolated to protect the rest of their patients? And why were't the dead patients infected with this autopsied to determine if the contributory factor in their deaths? Is this "superbug" spreading through Iraq too?

White terrorists don't make news in the UK
If this was a muslim man, half of Burnley would have been cordoned off, and it would have been all over our media for days.But in this case... silence.
This is like the cases here in the US of Irv Rubin (who was arrested for plotting to blow up a US Congressman) and Dr. Robert Goldstein (caught with maps to 30 Mosques and enough explosives to destroy most of them), neither of which were ever referred to as "terrorists" in those very few US media stories that even bothered to report the arrests.

Britain's Prince Harry banned from fighting in Afghanistan
Harry, third in line to the throne, reportedly threatened to quit the British Army if he was blocked from active service due to safety fears and any such decision is likely to infuriate the 22-year-old.

A Rush to Medicate Young Minds
I have been treating, educating and caring for children for more than 30 years, half of that time as a child psychiatrist, and the changes I have seen in the practice of child psychiatry are shocking. Psychiatrists are now misdiagnosing and overmedicating children for ordinary defiance and misbehavior. The temper tantrums of belligerent children are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses.
Some psychiatrists speculate that this stunning increase in childhood psychiatric disease is entirely due to improved diagnostic techniques. But setting aside the children with legitimate mental illnesses who must have psychiatric medications to function normally, much of the increase in prescribing such medications to kids is due to the widespread use of psychiatric diagnoses to explain away the results of poor parenting practices.

Military recruiters work hard to leave no child off their lists
The military recruiting requirement of NCLB has forced many schools to overturn longstanding policies on protecting student records from prying eyes. My local high school, like most in the country, carefully guards its student-directory information from the countless organizations, businesses and special-interest groups that are itching to tempt impressionable teens. Now, parents and schools are being shoved aside, and the military is being given carte blanche access to our kids. Not surprisingly, abuse has followed closely behind.
My daughter just started high school. This milestone was marked by the arrival in our home of a ream of paperwork. Along with the usual bureaucratic permissions, I found tucked into this package a seemingly innocuous form that carries extraordinary consequences: Failing to fill it out might result in my daughter being harassed, assaulted, or being fast-tracked to fight in Iraq.

Marine Scientists Report Massive "Dead Zones"
Rising tides of untreated sewage and plastic debris are seriously threatening marine life and habitat around the globe, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned in a report Wednesday. The number of ocean "dead zones" has grown from 150 in 2004 to about 200 today, said Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesperson.

Six Flags over Neo-Nuremberg:
Bush, Oprah, the San Diego Chicken and a proto-fascist panopticon of the mind
Many believe fascism will come to the United States of America resembling contrived spectacles such as the Super Bowl, the Academy Awards, and American Idol, with the proceedings intercut with teary, yet ultimately triumphant, Oprahesque tales of how redemption can be gained through the renunciation of one's rights and liberties, as well as, the dutiful turning in of one's subversive neighbors.
Don't reach for that remote, folks: It's already here.

Jeb Bush chased out of Pittsburgh by steelworkers Friday

The Iraq videos banned from YouTube

U.S. general says thousands of Iraqi police wounded, killed

Existence of "Al-Qaeda" Is Crap; Quite Literally
You have heard before that "Al-Qaeda" roughly translates into "the base," but were you aware that "Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is arabic colloquial for "I'm going to the toilet"?
Would hardened terrorists hell bent on the destruction of the west name their organization after a euphemism for taking a shit?

What Hitler knew

Bush asserts right to edit Homeland Security privacy reports

President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists. In the law Bush signed Wednesday, Congress stated no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on Homeland Security department activities that affect privacy, including complaints. But Bush, in a signing statement attached to the agency's 2007 spending bill, said he will interpret that section "in a manner consistent with the President’s constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

Bush cites authority to bypass FEMA law

President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and "not less than five years of executive leadership."
Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.
The law, Bush wrote, "purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."
The homeland-security bill contained measures covering a range of topics, including terrorism, disaster preparedness, and illegal immigration. One provision calls for authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border.

Students Disrupt Speech Minutemen Founder Jim Gilchrist
In New York, student demonstrators at Columbia University disrupted a speech by Jim Gilchrist – founder of the anti-immigrant group the Minutemen Project. Over 20 students stormed the stage after Gilchrist came to the microphone. Two students unfurled a banner reading "No human being is illegal." Backers of Gilchrist also proceeded up to the stage setting off a brief brawl.
Sweet.

Israelis Win Contract To Secure US Borders

When Chertoff was asked why DHS had chosen the Boeing-led group he declined to comment. The reason for Chertoff's silence, however, is telling: the Boeing team includes an Israeli military subcontractor which will play a key role in "securing" the U.S. border.
The Boeing team, which will implement the DHS program called the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) along the northern and southern borders of the United States, includes a Merrimack, N.H.-based surveillance technology firm called Kollsman Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd. of Haifa, Israel.

Israel-Firster Cheryl Halpern Named Head Of Corporation for Public Broadcasting

At her 2002 confirmation hearing for a position on the CPB board of directors, Halpern suggested that journalists in public broadcasting need to be punished for editorializing in programs.

Study: Guests on NewsHour Largely White, Male and Republican
A new study has criticized PBS's flagship news program, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, for having relying too much on white, male Republican sources. The study, conducted by the media watchdog group FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, found that NewsHour interviewed four times as many male sources as women. People of color made up only 15 percent of U.S. sources. Among partisan sources, Republicans outnumbered Democrats on the NewsHour by a two to one ratio. On the issue of Iraq, the show interviewed five times as many guests who advocated staying the course over withdrawing troops. According to FAIR, no peace activists were interviewed on Iraq during the study's six-month period.
I can hardly wait to read their assessment of NPR.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert Refuses to Resign
Here in this country, House Speaker Dennis Hastert refused to resign on Thursday over his handling of the Mark Foley scandal. Hastert's office knew for months that Foley was sending inappropriate Internet messages to underage boys but the House Speaker allowed Foley to stay on as co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. During a press conference on Thursday, Hastert denied that he had done anything wrong.

• Dennis Hastert: "Well, ultimately, any time that a person has to, as a leader, be on the hot seat and he is a detriment to the party, you know, there ought to be a change. I became speaker in a situation like that. I don't think that's the case. I said I haven't done anything wrong, obviously. And we need to come back. What we need to do is start talking about the issues."

The House ethics committee has announced it will investigate how Congress handled early warnings that Foley had inappropriate relationships with underage boys working on Capitol Hill.

Sudan Warns Against Deployment of UN Peacekeepers
In news from Africa – the Sudanese government warned on Thursday that it will view the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to Darfur as a hostile act and a prelude to an invasion. Sudan issued the warning in a letter to African and Arab nations. In response, the United States called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

• US ambassador John Bolton: "This is an unprecedented assertion by a government that's about to be the beneficiary of an extended U.N. peacekeeping mission, attempting to intimidate potential troop-contributing countries and to assert that a humanitarian mission to prevent genocide in Darfur is the prelude to an invasion of the country. So, this is a direct challenge to the authority of the Security Council in its efforts to alleviate the tragedy in Darfur and clearly requires a strong response by the Security Council."

Annals of Liberation: The End of Education in Iraq

Ignorance, extremism, fear, death, ruin -- and oodles and oodles of bribes and war profits for the cronies, the crooks, and the cranks...yes, Iraq is definitely the wave of the future! After all, it's the first nation in the world where the Bush Agenda has been applied in its purest, most unfettered form. If you want to know what the future holds for America at the hands of the Bush Faction (in whatever permutation it replicates itself after 2008), then just cast your beady eyes to Baghad and environs.

Shiite Groups Target Palestinians In Iraq
Human Rights Watch has revealed that armed Shiite groups in Iraq have threatened to kill Palestinian refugees living in Baghdad if they do not leave Iraq within 72 hours. Virtually all Palestinians in Iraq are Sunni Muslim. Human Rights Watch said it has obtained flyers from a Shiite group that state there is no place for Palestinians in Iraq. Trucks with loudspeakers have been broadcasting similar messages in parts of Baghdad.
Divide and conquer.

California lab meltdown in 1959 may have caused cancer, hurt ground and water

A 1959 nuclear reactor meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory may have caused hundreds of cases of cancer in the community, and chemicals threaten to contaminate ground and water, according to a report. The report released Thursday by an independent advisory panel estimated it was likely that radiation released during the meltdown caused about 260 cases of cancer within a 60-square-mile (154-square-kilometer) area around the reactor.

Chemical Fire Forces 17,000 to Flee Homes in North Carolina
In North Carolina, 17,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes after a large chemical plant fire sent a dangerous chlorine cloud across the town of Apex. At least 18 people have already been hospitalized. Flames from the plant shot 150 feet in the air and burned throughout the night. The plant handled toxic waste including pesticides and PCBs. The plant is owned by the Detroit-based company Environmental Quality. The company was forced to shut down a hazardous waste recycling and treatment plant near Detroit in 2005 after an explosion sparked a fire.

A History of U.S. Nuclear Accidents

• Research Facilities
• Power Plants
• Bombs and Bombers
• Submarines and Ships
• Nuclear Bomb Tests and Testing Facilities
• Processing, Storage, Shipping, and Disposal

New lawsuits challenge Congress's detainee act

President Bush has yet to sign into law Congress's new terror-detainee legislation, but defense lawyers are already asking federal judges to strike down key parts of the measure as unconstitutional. Two suits were filed this week in US District Court here. At issue: Whether the new antiterror legislation retroactively strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear detainee cases, and if so, would that amount to an unconstitutional suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

Waterboarding Republic
As former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell said, we lose our moral high ground if we torture prisoners. To me, that is a hundred times more powerful a statement than Bush's repetitious rantings that 'we are protecting Americans.' That phrase, of course, is born of polling that says Americans want to be protected, and delivered by the likes of Karl Rove, who, if nothing else, knows how to demagogue. It did not seem to bother senators and representatives that the writ of habeas corpus is being suspended for enemy combatants. There is now no way to learn whether or not the prisoner is indeed an enemy, or just someone who was gathered up in a sweep of foreigners in Afghanistan, because, without habeas corpus, their detention cannot be tested in a court.

Labor Ruling Could Prevent Millions From Joining Unions
In labor news, the Republican-controlled National Labor Relations Board has issued a new ruling that could block millions of workers from joining a union. The board broadened its definition of who can be considered a supervisor. Under federal law, employees defined as supervisors aren't entitled to legal protections ensuring their right to join unions. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the board's decision would immediately deny as many as 8 million workers their basic right to have a voice on the job.

2006: Record Year For Journalist Deaths
The World Association of Newspapers says 2006 has become the deadliest year for journalists and media workers on record. So far 75 journalists have died this year. 26 of the deaths occurred in Iraq.

Terry Lloyd

Reporter 'shot by US military on way to hospital'

A British SAS soldier told an inquest today of the moment he saw a US tank open fire on an ITN vehicle carrying the journalist Terry Lloyd. Revealing for the first time that the elite special services regiment had witnessed the shooting, the soldier said he watched as Lloyd, 50, and his Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman came under fire on March 22, 2003.
The inquest in Oxford also heard that the injured father of two was later fatally shot in the head as he was driven to a hospital. Named only as Soldier B and giving evidence from behind a screen, he said he was up to 500 metres away when he saw three vehicles come under fire from the American tank during the start of the Iraq war in Basra. Lloyd and cameraman Daniel Demoustier were in the first vehicle, the second was an Iraqi pick-up with a machine gun mounted on the back and the third vehicle contained Frec Nerac, a French cameraman, and Mr Osman. Soldier B said the tank started shooting at the Iraqi pick-up and the two vehicles began an exchange of fire lasting 30 seconds. The pick-up then burst into flames. "Vehicle One (Lloyd’s vehicle) also ignited and went off to the side of the road to its right and came to rest on the side of a field, burning," he said.
Soldier B continued: "During the engagement, two people got out of the rear vehicle from each side - the passenger and driver - and dashed about 20 metres and took cover.

World Can’t Wait Holds Protests Across Country
And thousands of protesters rallied around the country on Thursday in demonstrations organized by the group World Can’t Wait. Over 200 protests were scheduled.

• Jean Sara Rohe, the former New School student who criticized John McCain at the school’s graduation ceremonies: "I'm here today because I want to have a clean conscience. I want to have children one day, and I want to be able to look them in the eye and to tell them that I did all that I could do, that I did not stand idly by while some people with no regard for human life tortured other people under the banner of my flag, that I did not look on with bewilderment as my government sent an entire region of the world into chaos and war, that I did not just wait around as my government took away a woman's right to choose. My strong optimism about our future is what brings me here today."

Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney also spoke at the rally in New York. McKinney recently lost her re-election bid.

• Cynthia McKinney (D-GA): "Untold Iraqis are dead, thousands of Americans are dead, and tens of thousands are wounded. But what happens to any of us who question the White House and point out their shining lies? First of all, we're targeted as enemies, then labeled 'un-American,' accused of hating our country, and, one by one, we're isolated."

Report: Bolivian President Evo Morales on U.S. No-Fly List
CBS's 60 Minutes is reporting is has obtained the government's secret no-fly list used to screen airline passengers for possible terrorist suspects. The list contains 44,000 entries, including common names like Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson that are shared by thousands of passengers. 60 Minutes interviewed 12 persons named Robert Johnson and all of them said they are detained almost every time they fly. The list also includes Bolivian President Evo Morales and Nabih Berri, the parliamentary speaker in Lebanon. 14 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers are still on the no-fly list.

Tribune Company Fires LA Times Publisher
In media news, the Chicago-based Tribune Company has fired Los Angeles Times publisher Jeffrey Johnson just weeks after he refused to eliminate as many as 100 newsroom positions at the paper. The Tribune company wanted the Los Angeles Times to slash its reporting staff in an effort to save money. Both Johnson and Times Editor Dean Baquet refused. The Tribune Company named David Hiller to be the new publisher. He served in the Reagan Justice Department alongside Chief Justice John Roberts and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The Times deputy sports editor William Rempel said the staff has no confidence in Tribune management to do what's right for journalism or the newspaper. Calls have increased for local ownership of the Los Angeles Times. The Chicago-based Tribune company also owns 10 other papers including the Chicago Tribune, two dozen tv stations including KTLA in Los Angeles and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

LA Times Urged Group to Edit Stop Big Media Ad
Meanwhile the advertising policies of the Los Angeles Times are also coming under scrutiny. Last week the group Free Press attempted to take out an advertisement in the paper to announce the FCC's public hearings in Los Angeles on the new media ownership rules. The Los Angeles Times originally said the ad would cost $25,000 then bumped the price up to over $100,000 because they claimed it was an advocacy advertisement. Craig Aaron of Free Press says the paper then offered a lower rate but only on certain conditions.

• Craig Aaron: "They said they would give us the $40,000 rate on this revised ad, as long as we removed the phrase, quote, “that would allow the largest media companies to get even bigger,” which is how we described the new rules being put forward by the FCC, and we deleted any mention of our own website. The Tribune Company just happens to be the primary mover behind the push to end the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership."

Free Press decided not to take out the ad.

Greenpeace Activists Protest GM Corn Crops
Activists from Greenpeace have created giant crop circles in corn fields in Spain, the Philippines and Mexico as part of a campaign to protect corn from being contaminated from genetically engineered varieties. Greenpeace is calling for a worldwide ban on the release of any transgenic crop or seed and for governments to stop the commercial and experimental growing of genetically engineered crops

Republicans sending obscene messages to children

Ex-Aide Says He Warned Hastert on Foley Three Years Ago A longtime chief of staff to former Republican Congressmember Mark Foley has revealed he warned House Speaker Dennis Hastert about Foley's questionable contact with Congressional pages nearly three years ago. Kirk Fordham says he told Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer about Foley's: "inappropriate behaviour" in a face-to-face meeting. Palmer denies the encounter took place. Fordham says that meeting occurred well before Hastert learned of e-mails that Republicans say account for the only early reports of Foley's behavior. Hastert maintains he did not investigate because the e-mails were deemed to be "over-friendly" but not suggestive of illicit activity. GOPers Allot $20M for "Day of Celebration" of Iraq, Afghanistan Wars The New York Times reports House Republicans have earmarked twenty million dollars for a "commemoration of success" of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. The funding was attached to this year's defense spending bill. The measure empowers President Bush to designate: "a day of celebration" and to "issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities." The funding is allowed to roll over into 2007 if the President decides a celebration is not yet appropriate. DREAM ON! Iraqi Government Investigates Militia-Linked Police Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has announced its de-activating and investigating a police brigade of more than one thousand officers over possible links to death squads. The brigade is accused of complicity in the kidnapping Sunday of twenty six workers in a district under its control. Bush Signs Bill for Massive Fence Along Mexican Border President Bush has signed a law to build hundreds of miles of new fencing along the US-Mexico border. The President held a signing ceremony Wednesday in Arizona. President Bush: "The bill I sign today includes nearly $1.2 billion in additional funding for strengthening the border, for new infrastructure and technology that will help us do our job. It provides funding for more border fencing, vehicle barriers and lighting, for cutting-edge technology - including ground-based radar, infrared cameras and advanced sensors -- that will help prevent illegal crossings along our southern border. It's what the people of this country want." The Mexican government strongly opposes the fence, saying it will lead to more deaths and injuries for those who come into the United States through dangerous terrain. by Steve O @ 12:53 pm via Arm Chair Subversive Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" e-mails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year-old boy. Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year-old girl on the Internet. Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year-old girl. Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year-old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable. Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year-old girl and was sentenced to 10 years' probation. Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year-old boy. Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business. Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano was arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl. Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13- and 14-year-old girls. Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester. Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year-old girls. Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the Internet. Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year-old girls. Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17. Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida. Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year-old girl he murdered. Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor. Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years' probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year-old girl. Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year-old black girl, which produced a child. Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile. Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year-old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial. Republican activist Lawrence E. King Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s. Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s. Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail. Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos. Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child. Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page. Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter. Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography. Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD. Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year-old boy and possession of child pornography. Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year-old babysitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media. Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him. Republican talk-show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11-year-old girl. Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year-old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison. Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the Internet from a 14-year-old girl. Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year-old boy. Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e., exposing himself to children). Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year-old girl. Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a boy. Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl. Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters. Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl. Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6 months in prison. Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession. Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the Internet. Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter. Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls. Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year-old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison. Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer. Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women. Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here. Protests, insults disrupt Kristol 9/11 speech William Kristol speaks about changes in American politics following the events from 9/11 Tuesday evening, while Dean James Steinberg looks on. Aaron Dykes, a UT graduate, is escorted out of the auditorium by police. He's a slimy warmonger and deserves all the heckling he can get barraged with. :) Dumping Denny Won't Do It By Harold Meyerson Washington Post It is a mark of the sheer panic sweeping the ranks of Republican congressmen that one of their most levelheaded members, Ray LaHood of Illinois, has suggested that Congress abolish its page program altogether in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal If LaHood believes that pages pose an irresistible temptation to his peers, there are surely solutions straight out of the Republican playbook that wouldn't punish the victims. How about building a 700-foot fence around all Republican members of Congress? One thing is certain: Just dumping Denny Hastert as speaker, as many conservatives are demanding, won't clean up the Republican act. House Majority Leader John Boehner -- No. 2 in the House GOP hierarchy to Hastert's No. 1 -- now says that the failure to do anything about Foley since his e-mails first became known to the Republican leadership is Hastert's responsibility. But we also know that Boehner and colleagues Tom Reynolds of New York, who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee; John Shimkus of Illinois, who heads the panel that oversees the page program; and Rodney Alexander of Louisiana, who received the first complaints about Foley, had the same information Hastert had, and presumably they noticed that Mark Foley still walked among them as a member of Congress. We know that Shimkus neglected to bring up the Foley issue with Michigan's Dale Kildee, the one Democrat on the committee that oversees the page program. We know that all of them put their concern for avoiding a scandal that might damage their party's prospects over whatever fears they may (and should) have entertained about Foley's interactions with the Capitol's cadre of teenagers. And should House Republicans toss Hastert overboard, then both their leaders in this session will have left the leadership in disgrace. Tom DeLay, after all, is soon to stand trial in Texas for abuses he is alleged to have committed in his drive to secure the House Republican majority by forcing through a mid-decade redistricting in his home state. And dissimilar as Hastert's inaction in the Foley case and DeLay's action in the Texas reapportionment may be, their motives were indisputably identical: elevating the retention of the Republican congressional majority over any concerns about the other consequences -- some legal, some moral -- of their acts. There were, of course, other ways to ensure that majority short of such desperate expedients. Congressional Republicans might have bethought themselves to exercise some oversight on our war in Iraq, at least forcing the administration to articulate exactly what our strategy is. They might have crafted a Medicare prescription program less to the drug companies' liking that didn't leave seniors having to fork over thousands of dollars for medications once the program's coverage ran out, as it has for many, at mid-year. They might have raised the minimum wage, something that, by the evidence of every recent poll, a vast majority of Republican rank-and-filers support. They might have raised revenue to cover the cost of the war and all the other programs they support. They might, in short, have made an effort to address the nation's needs. Instead, the larger purpose of the Republican Congress has been to enrich the rich and to cling to power by all means necessary -- with the financial assistance of the grateful rich. Purging Hastert, like dumping DeLay, does not signal any shift in these priorities. Democratic candidates challenging Republican incumbents are well within their rights to note that their opponent voted to give control of the House to Hastert and DeLay in January of 2005 and to ask why anyone would think he or she would make a better choice next time. What would be different? After all, in not sharing what he knew about Foley with Kildee, Shimkus was merely following the Republicans' practice of cutting the other party out of all legislative deliberations and running the House of, by and emphatically for themselves. And who are the Republican members of Congress who've opposed this? Who has voted for rules that allow Democrats to offer amendments to key bills from the floor of the House? Who among them would consider not just defenestrating Denny but also changing the way the Republican Congress does business? Nobody springs to mind. So -- dump the pages? Come now. Let's just dump the Republicans.

Torture Victim

"A Swashbuckling Spectacle of Corruption" -
Bill Moyers Investigates Abramoff Lobbying Scandal
click to hear or read full interview
Veteran journalist Bill Moyers examines the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in detail in the new PBS documentary, "Capitol Crimes." Moyers untangles thousands of emails, documents and facts to reveals the web of relationships, secret deals and political manipulation that went on between some of the most powerful men in Washington D.C. Moyers says, "The men who came to Washington in the 1980's to lead the conservative revolution wound up running a racket. Abramoff was their outside man, outside the White House, outside the infrastructure but he was very welcome inside the government. [Abramoff had] very good ties with Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform - it was all part of an apparatus that was designed to launder money."

Cost of war in Iraq estimated at $2 billion a week

Cost of Iraq & Afghanistan Wars Tops $500 Billion
The Senate has unanimously approved spending seventy billion dollars more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every Democratic Senator approved the money for the Iraq war.
Congress has now approved spending just over half of a trillion dollars on the two wars. A new Congressional study found that the war in Iraq is now costing about two billion dollars a week -- nearly twice what it cost in 2003. On Friday, the Senate approved the Pentagon’s four hundred forty-eight billion dollar budget for next year. It marks the largest Pentagon budget ever. Congress also approved giving the Israeli military an additional five hundred million dollars. The money is not part of the regular military aid to Israel, which currently stands at over two billion dollars a year.
Just think of all the ways that money could be used to IMPROVE life here in the US and across the world instead of destroying it.

Depleted Uranium news:
Soldiers earn court victory to prove exposure disability
Soldiers from the New York area are reacting to news that they can sue their own military for what they say is mistreatment of medical conditions they continue to suffer after serving time in Iraq.
Iraq war veteran Hector Vega says he still gets headaches and lumps on his hands and neck. Why? He says it is because of high levels of depleted uranium or DU in his body. He says he breathed in the radioactive substance in Iraq. But he says for the last three years military doctors have told him something different. "I'm still being checked out at the VA hospital and they just keep denying the DU issue and keep telling me I'm suffering from PTSD," said Vega.
It wasn't a complete victory: the judge ruled they cannot sue for injuries suffered as active duty soldiers, and that includes exposure to DU. They can only sue for the alleged medical mistreatment of DU after they were discharged. Depleted uranium is a slightly radioactive heavy metal used to strengthen missiles and tanks. The vets say they were wounded by radioactive shrapnel or breathed in radioactive particles.
"These brave men did not receive honest and descent medical treatment. In fact the misdiagnosis they got made them feel bad about themselves, that they could not stand up to the stress, when in fact it was due to radioactivity," said the veterans’ lawyer George Zelma.
The judge ruled their wives also can sue, based on claims they have been deprived of companionship.
At the same time, a suit on behalf of Victoria Matthew, the daughter of one of the soldiers, has been thrown out. Her father says the girl was born with a severely deformed hand because of his DU exposure. But since he cannot sue for his own exposure, only for his misdiagnosis, his daughter' s case can not move forward.
Still, the nine soldiers say they look forward to their day in court to battle their own government.

British troops in secret truce with the Taliban
British troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people.

Baghdad curfew was in response to 'coup attempt' - MP
COUP ATTEMPT IN IRAQ
"What has led to a deteriorated Iraq is the national unity, democratic and national reconciliation government brought about by the Americans and which included among its members some Islamic extremists," A'raji added. Only recently, A'raji pointed out, explosives were found in a well known lawmaker's house, explosives that were used to make car bombs and charges
Baghdad was put on a citywide curfew on Saturday. For the first time since the war began, residents of Baghdad were banned from walking outside for the entire day. All motor vehicle traffic was banned as well. Saturday's curfew was put in place after a bodyguard for a leading Sunni lawmaker was arrested on suspicion of planning bomb attacks inside the Green Zone. The bodyguard worked for Adnan al-Dulaimi who heads the Iraqi Accordance Front, the main Sunni Arab party in the Iraqi government. Leading Shiite lawmakers are now calling for a shakeup of the Iraqi cabinet to remove Sunni lawmakers with ties to the insurgents. Earlier today the Iraqi parliament voted to extend the country's state of emergency for another 30 days.
A preliminary report from the Iraqi Health Ministry found that about eleven hundred Iraqi civilians died during September. 70 U.S. soldiers also died last month making it the second deadliest month of the year.
The U.S. government is warning Iraq that it may be forced to withhold funding for Iraq's security forces unless the Iraqi police improve its human rights record. Under what is known as the Leahy Law, the U.S. government is prohibited from financing foreign security forces that commit "gross violations of human rights."
How convenient -- an excuse to cut off money...

Decimating the Constitution with Military Tribunals
Given all the glorification being bestowed on three U.S. senators for displaying "principle" in standing against President Bush's plan to amend the Geneva Convention to permit torture of detainees, followed by their quick compromise abandoning any semblance of principle, it is easy to lose sight of something much bigger: The military tribunals that the president and the Congress are set to approve will constitute the most radical, dangerous, and disgraceful transformation in the U.S. criminal-justice system since our nation’s inception.

Are You an 'Unlawful Combatant'?
"Buried in the complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."

The New Enabling Act
I cannot view the current debate about the Bush Administration's latest attempt to remove all checks on its power without thinking about how my German and Austrian grandparents must have watched with disbelief as Europe sank into the madness of fascism.
I think about how unprecedented those changes were, and how difficult it must have been to believe that things could really become as bad as they did. My grandparents had once been as comfortably integrated into their communities as I am in mine. In the end their assimilation mattered not at all; they fled, leaving behind family, friends, property and possessions. Unlike millions of others, they were fortunate to escape with their lives.

King George And The Tortured Truth

The Republican-dominated Congress has countered recent U.S. judicial branch attempts to limit the power of George W. Bush, whom his Neocon enablers call a "unitary executive," which his opponents translate as "dictator." Thanks to their effort this week, he will soon no longer need to submit to the check and balance of judges; instead he will be free to rely on his own unchecked, imbalanced judgment. Soon he will be able to engage in domestic spying, torture tactics, interminable internment or military kangaroo courts against those he accuses of terrorism, and he will be able to accuse anyone he wants, whether they be foreigners or U.S. citizens.

Is your daughter a future detainee?
Think the bill goes after only terrorists or people who support them? Think again.
Under this bill, the president or his designee can simply decide that someone poses a threat, call them an unlawful enemy combatant, and lock them away.
Where's the outrage? Nowhere that I can see, except with a possible minority of citizens who seem not to be sleepwalking right now.

UN Torture Expert Criticizes new U.S. Detainee Law
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture has criticized U.S. lawmakers for authorizing President Bush’s request to strip detainees of habeas corpus, reinterpret the Geneva Convention and detain individuals without trial. Manfred Nowak said "I'm very disappointed. It doesn't send the signal that we would have expected after Abu Ghraib." The legislation has already been widely criticized around the world. One Iraqi lawmaker said the law marked the "abandonment of all calls for human rights and democracy." A number of human rights groups are planning to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation.


Alberto Gonzales Issues Warning to Federal Judges
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has warned federal judges not to question the president's judgments in the war on terror. In a speech at Georgetown University, Gonzales said the Constitution provides the courts with few tools to overturn military and foreign policy decisions, especially during wartime. He urged judges to retain "a proper sense of judicial humility."

BRITAIN: The mysterious case of the disappearing 'terror' plots
Readers of Britain's newspapers are regularly accosted with blood-curdling banner headlines screaming of the "thwarting" of potentially catastrophic "terror plots", of "Islamic fanatics" being apprehended in daring midnight raids. "Chilling" details, 'revealed" by anonymous police and government "sources", underline why "we" must accept a "trade-off" between civil liberties and "security", the editorials assure an apprehensive populace. Months or even years later, however, news that many of the "plots" never actually existed is buried behind the latest sex scandal or exploitative "expose" — if reported at all.

Omar Sheikh and British intelligence
Pakistani President Musharraf claims that Omar Saeed Sheikh was a British intelligence agent. Of course, Musharraf would say something like that, as it takes the heat off his own country for some of the things that Omar Sheikh has allegedly done, all supposedly on behalf of Pakistani military intelligence. On the other hand, Musharraf’s story fits.

Gingrich urges overriding Supreme Court
Supreme Court decisions that are "so clearly at variance with the national will" should be overridden by the other branches of government, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says.

Rumsfeld Says He Won’t Resign
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday he is not considering resigning. Questions about Rumsfeld’s future resurfaced this weekend after Bob Woodward revealed in his new book that former White House chief of staff Andrew Card twice sought to persuade President Bush to fire Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld spoke to reporters en route to Nicaragua for a meeting of defense ministers from Latin and Central America.

U.S. Accused of Meddling in Nicaraguan Election
Rumsfeld's visit to Nicaragua comes two months prior to that country's presidential election. Polls show former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega as the front-runner. The Bush administration has openly opposed Ortega's candidacy and has backed his top opponent, Eduardo Montealegre. Supporters of Ortega have accused the U.S. of meddling in the election. Last year the State Department's top diplomat for Latin America, Roger Noriega, warned that "Nicaragua would sink like a stone" should Ortega win.

Mexico to ask Bush not to sign border bill
The Mexican government is urging President Bush not to sign a bill that would extend a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The Senate approved building the wall on Friday.
In other news from Mexico, concern is growing that the Mexican military may soon crush the populist uprising in the city of Oaxaca. Military planes and helicopters have begun flying over the region. Tanks and troop transport trucks have also been sent to the city of Huatulco – about 150 miles from Oaxaca. The protesters – led by thousands of striking public school teachers – have called for Oaxaca governor Ruiz Ortiz to resign.

Report: Rice Brushed Off Bin Laden Warnings in July 2001
Members of the 9/11 Commission have expressed alarm over a report in Bob Woodward's new book over a previously unknown meeting two months before the Sept. 11 attacks between then National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, former CIA Director George Tenet and his counter-terrorism head Cofer Black. According to the book, on July 10, 2001, Tenet went over top-secret intelligence pointing to an impending attack and 'sounded the loudest warning' to the White House of a likely attack on the U.S. by Bin Laden. Woodward writes that Tenet and Black felt that Rice brushed off their concerns. The White House has disputed Woodward's account of the meeting.

Autopsy: No Arabs on Flight 77
No Arabs wound up on the morgue slab; however, three ADDITIONAL people not listed by American Airline sneaked in. I have seen no explanation for these extras. I did give American the opportunity to "revise" their original list, but they have not responded. The new names are: Robert Ploger, Zandra Ploger, and Sandra Teague.

WRH: Evidence of Demolition Charges In WTC 2

"It actually gave at a lower floor, not the floor where the plane hit, because we originally had thought there was like an internal detonation explosives because it went in succession, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then the tower came down." [Ed Cachia - Firefighter [Engine 53]]

One eyewitness whose office is near the World Trade Center told AFP that he was standing among a crowd of people on Church Street, about two-and-a-half blocks from the South tower, when he saw "a number of brief light sources being emitted from inside the building between floors 10 and 15." He saw about six of these brief flashes, accompanied by "a crackling sound" before the tower collapsed. Each tower had six central support columns. [American Free Press]

"We were there I don't know, maybe 10, 15 minutes and then I just remember there was just an explosion. It seemed like on television they blow up these buildings. It seemed like it was going all the way around like a belt, all these explosions." [Rich Banaciski - Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.)]

USA allies with Abbas to topple Palestinian legitimacy
Occupied Jerusalem - Signals of a possible American intervention to topple the legitimate PA elected government were mounting, and were preceded by the ongoing security mess in the Palestinian territories that was carried out by security forces loyal to PA chief Mahmoud Abba.
In Gaza, fighting broke out on Sunday between members of Hamas and security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Eight people died and up to 130 were wounded. It marked the deadliest day of internal violence since Hamas took control of the Palestinian government in March. Hamas officials announced today the complete shut down of all Palestinian government offices. Officials said the move was needed after fighters from Fatah tried to kidnap Hamas officials. Meanwhile, a Palestinian fisherman from Gaza was killed today by fire from an Israeli naval vessel. On Friday Israeli air strikes killed two teenage Palestinian brothers, ages 13 and 16.
Divide & conquer.

US may accept Iranian nuclear bomb
Senior operatives and outside experts from the intelligence community were almost unanimous in their view that little could be done to stop Iran acquiring the components for a nuclear bomb, The Sunday Times has learnt.

US backs off UN sanctions against Iran

Acting on EU advice, the United States has postponed its call for immediate U.N. sanctions against Iran over nuclear policy.

'Bring it On' - why Iran can't lose and the US and Israel can't win
An unprovoked American attack on Iran will instantly and permanently de-legitimize every American client state in the Middle East.

Israel Refuses to Cooperate with UN Bombing Investigation
In news from Lebanon – the United Nations has announced that Israel refused to cooperate with an investigation into the Israeli air strike that killed four UN observers in southern Lebanon in July. Israel did not allow UN investigators to interview military commanders involved in the incident. The UN was trying to determine why Israel continued to bomb the UN site even after UN workers made repeated calls for the attacks to stop. Meanwhile -- the United Nations is disputing Israel's claim that it has completely withdrawn from southern Lebanon. UN officials say Israel is still occupying the border village of Ghajar.

Republicans knew about pedophile congressman
Now Foley faces prosecution under the laws he helped write. But there's more to the story. The top Republicans in the House - Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner - knew about Foley's activities for months. In 2005, a page told them that Foley's messages "freaked (him) out" and called Foley "sick sick sick sick sick." Pretty unambiguous.

Rabbit Hole Of Elitist Perversion Far Deeper Than Foley

Republican cover-up charge over sex e-mails to boy, 16

Foley's Behavior No Secret on Capitol Hill
It turns out Foley's obsession with 16- and 17-year-old male pages has been known to Republicans on Capitol Hill for at least five years.

Republican Lawmakers Scramble to Avoid Taint of House Scandal
Republican congressional candidates scrambled to distance themselves from the Mark Foley sex scandal, fearing it might implicate their leaders and deal a final blow to the party's bid to keep control of the House in November elections.

Republican Leaders Must Reconvene Congress, Give Sworn Testimony, Or Resign Over Page Scandal
Get real, Brent. You are talking about people who have decided that the law and the laws of decency do not apply to them.....and are getting by with it......so why worry about a few NAUGHTY E-MAILS?

FLASHBACK: Conspiracy of Silence
The Franklin Coverup Scandal: The Child sex ring that reached Bush/Reagan Whitehouse
This documentary on the Franklin Child-sex-ring scandal was scheduled to air on The Discovery Channel in 1994. Congressional leaders threatened the entire cable industry with drastic new regulations unless the show were canceled and all copies destroyed. What since has leaked out appears to be a copy of an editing tape, with time code visible at the bottom and a few places where planned footage is missing.

PredatorGate Cover-Up: Reynolds Confirms Hastert Involved, Kildee Confirms No Investigation Happened

At least four Republican House Members, one senior GOP aide and a former top officer of the House were aware of the allegations about Foley that prompted the initial reporting regarding his e-mail contacts with a 16-year-old House page. They include: Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) and Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.), as well as a senior aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl.

Flamed Out GOP Star Arrested For Child Sex Assault

Randal D. "Randy" Ankeney, the convicted sex offender who just a few short years ago was a rising GOP star in Colorado, is being held on a $1 million bond in Larimer County. Ankeney, 35, who was arrested Wednesday, is facing five counts of sexual assault on a child, three counts of sexual enticement of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child. The felonies, if he is convicted, could send him to prison for life.

Mission Impossible

In Case I Disappear
by William Rivers Pitt
Legislation passed by the Republican House and Senate, legislation now marching up to the Republican White House for signature, has shattered a number of bedrock legal protections for suspects, prisoners, and pretty much anyone else George W. Bush deems to be an enemy.
So much of this legislation is wretched on the surface. Habeas corpus has been suspended for detainees suspected of terrorism or of aiding terrorism, so the Magna Carta-era rule that a person can face his accusers is now gone. Once a suspect has been thrown into prison, he does not have the right to a trial by his peers. Suspects cannot even stand in representation of themselves, another ancient protection, but must accept a military lawyer as their defender.
Underneath all this is the definition of "enemy combatant" that has been established by this legislation. An "enemy combatant" is now no longer just someone captured "during an armed conflict" against our forces. Thanks to this legislation, George W. Bush is now able to designate as an "enemy combatant" anyone who has "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States."
Consider that language a moment. "Purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States" is in the eye of the beholder, and this administration has proven itself to be astonishingly impatient with criticism of any kind. The broad powers given to Bush by this legislation allow him to capture, indefinitely detain, and refuse a hearing to any American citizen who speaks out against the Iraq war or any other part of the so-called "War on Terror."

Bush calls for war "across the world"
Stung by criticism, Bush calls for offensive 'across the world'

US President George W. Bush called for fighting America's enemies "across the world" as he stepped up his counteroffensive following charges that his policies were breeding a new generation of Islamic terrorists.

Congress adjourns for election with work unfinished

Leaving behind a pile of unfinished work, members of the scandal-rocked U.S.Congress adjourned and went home on Saturday to ask voters to re-elect them in five weeks.

What if "Daddy Warbucks" Came Clean?

From Harken to Halliburton, the backrooms deals that have netted war profiteers billions.

DAILY KOS: BREAKING: Colin Powell Now Says He Was Fired

It is being reported right now by MSNBC's LIVE at 8:45AM, this morning Sunday, October 1st.
Colin Powell has stated in his new book that he was FIRED by President Bush. The call came from Andy Card the former chief of staff to Powell right after Bush's re-election. Powell states that even though there was a rocky relationship between him and the cabinet he expected because of Bush's loyalty to remain in the White House for the second term. Powell didn't resign folks, he was canned.

Detainee bill lifts Bush's power to new heights --
President now has legal authority even courts can't challenge

With the final passage through Congress of the detainee treatment bill, President Bush achieved a signal victory Friday, shoring up with legislation his determined campaign against terrorism in the face of challenges from critics and the courts. Rather than reining in the formidable presidential powers that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have asserted since Sept. 11, 2001, the law gives some of those powers a solid statutory foundation. In effect it allows the president to identify enemies, imprison them indefinitely and interrogate them -- albeit with a ban on the harshest treatment -- beyond the reach of the full court reviews traditionally afforded criminal defendants and ordinary prisoners.
And it broadens the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" to include not only those who fight the United States, but also those who have "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." The latter group could include those accused of providing financial or other indirect support to terrorists, human rights groups say. The designation can be made by any "competent tribunal" created by the president or secretary of defense.

HOUSE ROLL CALL VOTE ON TORTURE BILL

SENATE ROLL CALL VOTE ON THE TORTURE BILL

Roll call vote for Senate on Defense Spending

Accessories to Torture

These are grim days for the Constitution. The House and the Senate have passed the catastrophic "compromise" negotiated by senators McCain & Co. to the President's "enemy combatants" bill.
The only thing compromised is the rule of law; the bill still strips detainees of the right to appeal, broadens the President's unilateral powers to decide who is an enemy and which interrogation methods violate the Geneva Conventions, and fatally undermines the War Crimes Act. The bill was rushed to passage just days after the Canadian government exonerated Maher Arar, "rendered" by the United States to Syria, imprisoned and tortured for nearly a year.

Bush faces wave of challenges to terrorists' trial law

The Bush administration on Friday faced a raft of legal challenges to a sweeping new regime for Guantanamo that would deny court supervision to detenees in the war on terror and would bar prosecution of U.S. personnel for war crimes.
"The fact that they are denying the right of habeas corpus is so unlawful and unconstitutional that it throws us back to before King John and the Magna Carta,'' said Michael Ratner, president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of the Guantanamo detenees.
The first cases to go before the courts are expected to be challenges to the Senate's denial of the right of habeas corpus to inmates at Guantanamo, some of whom have been held for five years without charge. Despite impassioned pleas from human rights advocates and even some Republican Senators, legislators voted 51 to 48 on Thursday night to bar detainees from challenging their detention in the U.S. courts. The measure goes even further than legislation enacted last December that would bar future habeas corpus challenges, because it would bar even those cases already before the courts from being heard.
"No court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States [who] has been determined ... to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant,'' the legislation says.

Legislating Violations of the Constitution

With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.

Senate passes Iran sanctions bill

The legislation gives the president waiver authority over the sanctions, but only when he demonstrates that it is in the vital national interest.

Like ... continuing to buy Iranian oil.

Candidate-Veteran Attacks Bush on Iraq

An Illinois congressional candidate who lost both her legs during combat in Iraq said Saturday that President Bush has no real strategy for securing the war-ravaged nation, just political talk designed to appeal to voters. Duckworth, who copiloted a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed while under a rocket grenade attack almost two years ago, also criticized Bush and others in his administration for accusing anyone who challenges the president's policies of "cutting and running."
"Well, I didn't cut and run, Mr. President. Like so many others, I proudly fought and sacrificed," Duckworth said. "My helicopter was shot down long after you proclaimed 'mission accomplished.'"

Corker Campaign Imploding, Putting Tennessee Senate Seat Closer in Democratic Hands Than Ever

In the fight for the retiring Bill Frist's Tennessee Senate seat, it's starting to appear as if Harold Ford Jr. may soon be heading to Washington, giving Democrats one more key battleground state in their quest to pick up six seats and regain control.

Blood & guts: At the front with the poor bloody infantry

This is the war they do not want you to see: but while the media are kept from the action, emails and videophone images from the troops tell a terrifying story.

HOW AN ATTACK WOULD UNFOLD:
A military assault on nuclear plants in Iran remains an option for U.S.

"Nobody that I know of is talking about the use of ground forces," Gardiner said. "I think the one thing the administration has learned from (the Iraq war) is don't invade."

Too bad they didn't learn the lesson from Vietnam; that you cannot win a war from the air. What this article is saying is that the US plans to bomb Iran's power stations, which Iran is legally allowed to have under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which both Iran and the US signed, mostly because Israel, which has an estimated 600 nuclear weapons and did NOT sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is worried Iran might have a nuclear bomb, even though no evidence of the massive facilities needed to construct one has been found in 20 years of inspections.

Carved-up Map of Turkey at NATO Prompts US Apology
It is not an "accident" when you draw a map of someone else's country that shows it carved up into new smaller nations.

Scandal involving Chicago police officers could precipitate over 100 dropped cases

A scandal involving several Chicago police officers has forced the Cook County State's Attorney's office to start dropping more than 100 criminal cases.

Investigation costs $6,000 in lap dances, drinks, tips

County records show Hillsborough County officers spent more than $6,000 for 92 lap dances, drinks and tips in an investigation into nudity and liquor law violations at an adult bikini bar. The investigation spanned more than two years.

Humiliation at 33,000 feet: Top British architect tells of terror 'arrest'

To the applause of fellow passengers, the Jewish designer was escorted from a New York flight as a potential bomber. Because, he tells Sophie Goodchild, of his holiday tan.

Washington Post Changes Boehner Quote on Foley
FROM: The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it."

TO: Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy.
Creepy.

Independent Investigation Needed: Did Congressional Republicans Cover Up Page Abuse Scandal?
How can one explain that a senior Republican Congressman is only now forced to resign over a major scandal involving apparent sexual overtures to pages that were reported to Republican Congressional Leaders almost a year ago?
This could be another Franklin Scandal. Then again, as this story takes center stage, remember that it was another sex scandal involving Gary Condit and Chandra Levy that distracted America while the US Government announced to other nations its plan to invade Afghanistan in October 2001, MONTHS BEFORE the 9-11 attacks.

SC Republican Councilman Calls for the Sterilization of Parents with Bad Kids

"What we’ve got is a failure in society, whether it’s in Mount Pleasant with yuppie parents or whether it’s on the East Side with poor crackhead parents," Shirley said Friday. "We pick up stray animals and spay them. These mothers need to be spayed if they can't take care of theirs. … Once they have a child and it's running the streets, to let them continue to have children is totally unacceptable." Deadbeat dads might ought to be sterilized as well, he said.

Here's Larry's e-mail address if you would like to tell him how much of a racist he is.