Democracy is in grave danger of poor journalism
The [Bush] Administration works closely with a network of rapid response digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for undermining support for our troops. ... Bush and Cheney are spreading purposeful confusion while punishing reporters who stand in the way. It is understandably difficult for reporters and journalistic institutions to resist this pressure, which, in the case of individual journalists, threatens their livelihoods, and in the case of the broadcasters can lead to other forms of economic retribution. But resist they must, because without a press able to report "without fear or favor" our democracy will disappear. -- Al Gore, American Constitution Society.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
NEWSPEAK
Iraq is sovereign ... except it can't make decisions on its own [I believe the expression should have been 'Let freedom RING'.]
White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice Monday informed President Bush in a handwritten note of the transfer of authority in Baghdad, prompting Bush to scribble back: 'Let freedom reign'.
The note exchange took place during a meeting of NATO leaders in Istanbul. Ms Rice handed the note to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who passed it along to Bush.
Iraq Gov't must abide by US-made laws
The US led-coalition, facing a Wednesday deadline to hand back power, has put in place major legal revisions that would force Iraqis to get drivers' licenses, obey traffic laws, ban certain people from holding office and place American contractors above the law.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish politician and member of the disbanded US-picked Governing Council, said he thinks the Americans began pushing the flurry of laws once it became clear the occupation would be cut short. Washington's earlier plans, he said, called for a longer occupation that would have allowed Iraq's constitution to be written under US watch.
But critics say the Coalition Provisional Authority's flurry of laws amounts to meddling in Iraq's basic institutions, something that international law places out of bounds for an occupying power.
Especially irksome for Iraqi leaders is the fact that the occupier's edicts remain in force after the occupation ends -- including laws that curtail the powers of the incoming government.
Prisoner 27075 learns limits of sovereignty
Iyad Akmush Kanum, 23, learnt the limits of sovereignty when US prosecutors refused to uphold an Iraqi judges' order acquitting him of attempted murder of coalition troops.
US prosecutors said that he was being returned to the controversial Abu Ghraib prison because under the Geneva Conventions they were not bound by Iraqi law.
Faisal Estrabadi, an Iraqi lawyer, said yesterday after the refusal to release Mr Kanum: "If the Iraqi courts have acquitted an individual he must be released. Anything else is a violation of sovereignty".
White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice Monday informed President Bush in a handwritten note of the transfer of authority in Baghdad, prompting Bush to scribble back: 'Let freedom reign'.
'Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from (U.S. administrator Paul) Bremer at 10:26 a.m. Iraq time -- Condi,'
The note exchange took place during a meeting of NATO leaders in Istanbul. Ms Rice handed the note to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who passed it along to Bush.
Iraq Gov't must abide by US-made laws
The US led-coalition, facing a Wednesday deadline to hand back power, has put in place major legal revisions that would force Iraqis to get drivers' licenses, obey traffic laws, ban certain people from holding office and place American contractors above the law.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish politician and member of the disbanded US-picked Governing Council, said he thinks the Americans began pushing the flurry of laws once it became clear the occupation would be cut short. Washington's earlier plans, he said, called for a longer occupation that would have allowed Iraq's constitution to be written under US watch.
But critics say the Coalition Provisional Authority's flurry of laws amounts to meddling in Iraq's basic institutions, something that international law places out of bounds for an occupying power.
Especially irksome for Iraqi leaders is the fact that the occupier's edicts remain in force after the occupation ends -- including laws that curtail the powers of the incoming government.
Prisoner 27075 learns limits of sovereignty
Iyad Akmush Kanum, 23, learnt the limits of sovereignty when US prosecutors refused to uphold an Iraqi judges' order acquitting him of attempted murder of coalition troops.
US prosecutors said that he was being returned to the controversial Abu Ghraib prison because under the Geneva Conventions they were not bound by Iraqi law.
Faisal Estrabadi, an Iraqi lawyer, said yesterday after the refusal to release Mr Kanum: "If the Iraqi courts have acquitted an individual he must be released. Anything else is a violation of sovereignty".
BIG BROTHER
FBI snoops suspects' computers using Trojan horse:
The FBI has confirmed the existence of its latest Internet-eavesdropping, controversy-raising snooping device exotically code-named 'Magic Lantern'.
Magic Lantern is software that, once installed on the suspect's computer, will record every keystroke typed. The gathered keystrokes will then be analyzed by the FBI to extract passwords. The harvested passwords will be used by the FBI to access the suspect's email messages and other encrypted documents, or to gain access to other computers contacted by the suspect via the Internet.
The FBI has confirmed the existence of its latest Internet-eavesdropping, controversy-raising snooping device exotically code-named 'Magic Lantern'.
Magic Lantern is software that, once installed on the suspect's computer, will record every keystroke typed. The gathered keystrokes will then be analyzed by the FBI to extract passwords. The harvested passwords will be used by the FBI to access the suspect's email messages and other encrypted documents, or to gain access to other computers contacted by the suspect via the Internet.
WATCH THE SKIES
'UFO' is spotted in skies over Ireland
TWO men working high up a radio mast in Co Monaghan believe they have spied a top-secret inter-planetary craft flying toward Belfast.
Miles Johnston, of the Irish UFO Research Centre, and Dublin-based rigger Terry Malone claim the delta-winged craft traversed the sky at ultrasonic speed, taking just a few seconds to reach the horizon.
"I am convinced it was a man-made advanced space craft - we had a good long look at it in a clear blue sky," Mr Johnston said.
Mr Malone confirmed the object was "absolutely enormous".
"It was huge, high, and travelling at some speed," he said. "I've seen B52s going over and you can hear them buzzing, but there was not a sound from this thing. And it was gone in an instant."
TWO men working high up a radio mast in Co Monaghan believe they have spied a top-secret inter-planetary craft flying toward Belfast.
Miles Johnston, of the Irish UFO Research Centre, and Dublin-based rigger Terry Malone claim the delta-winged craft traversed the sky at ultrasonic speed, taking just a few seconds to reach the horizon.
"I am convinced it was a man-made advanced space craft - we had a good long look at it in a clear blue sky," Mr Johnston said.
Mr Malone confirmed the object was "absolutely enormous".
"It was huge, high, and travelling at some speed," he said. "I've seen B52s going over and you can hear them buzzing, but there was not a sound from this thing. And it was gone in an instant."
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Carlyle Group buys into world's third-largest cinema chain
A team of buyout firms sealed a deal to snap up Loews Cineplex Entertainment for $1.46 billion.
Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp., which owns Loews with Oaktree Capital Management, said yesterday that it would sell the world's third-largest movie theater chain to a company formed by Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors.
A source familiar with the deal said Bain and Carlyle will have equal stakes of 38 per cent each, while Spectrum will have around 20 per cent, with existing management owning the rest.
Michael Connelly, a managing director of the Carlyle Group's telecommunications and media group said "We look forward to working with management and employees of the company to create new opportunities".
The assets being acquired by Bain, Carlyle and Spectrum include Loews' U.S. operations, Grupo Cinemex in Mexico and its 50 per cent interests in Megabox Cineplex of Korea and Yelmo Cineplex of Spain.
Loews, based in New York, boasts more than 2800 screens in some 280 movie houses throughout the world.
[Would this have anything to do with the Bush cartel, which has close connections with Carlyle, being unable to suppress screenings of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11? The film looks at the alleged 'murky relationship' between Bush senior, controversial defence investment firm the Carlyle GroupLink...]
A team of buyout firms sealed a deal to snap up Loews Cineplex Entertainment for $1.46 billion.
Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp., which owns Loews with Oaktree Capital Management, said yesterday that it would sell the world's third-largest movie theater chain to a company formed by Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors.
A source familiar with the deal said Bain and Carlyle will have equal stakes of 38 per cent each, while Spectrum will have around 20 per cent, with existing management owning the rest.
Michael Connelly, a managing director of the Carlyle Group's telecommunications and media group said "We look forward to working with management and employees of the company to create new opportunities".
The assets being acquired by Bain, Carlyle and Spectrum include Loews' U.S. operations, Grupo Cinemex in Mexico and its 50 per cent interests in Megabox Cineplex of Korea and Yelmo Cineplex of Spain.
Loews, based in New York, boasts more than 2800 screens in some 280 movie houses throughout the world.
[Would this have anything to do with the Bush cartel, which has close connections with Carlyle, being unable to suppress screenings of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11? The film looks at the alleged 'murky relationship' between Bush senior, controversial defence investment firm the Carlyle GroupLink...]
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
High court slams Bush on terror suspects
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the war on terrorism does not give the government a "blank check" to hold a U.S. citizen and foreign-born terror suspects in legal limbo, a forceful denunciation of Bush administration tactics since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ruling in two cases, the high court refused to endorse a central claim of the White House: that the government has authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny access to courts or lawyers while interrogating them.
A state of war "is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in the most significant case of the day, a ruling that gives American-born detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi the right to fight his detention in a federal court. Separately, the court said that nearly 600 men from 42 countries held at a Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can use American courts to contest their treatment.
Pentagon names tribunal for Hicks trial
The Pentagon has named the officers who will decide the fate of David Hicks and two other Guantanamo prisoners charged by the United States in the first US military tribunals since World War II.
Earlier this month, Hicks, a convert to Islam accused of joining Al Qaeda, was charged with three counts: conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy.
Human rights groups have condemned the trial process established for the commissions, saying the rules favour the prosecution, undercut the defence and do not permit independent judicial review.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the war on terrorism does not give the government a "blank check" to hold a U.S. citizen and foreign-born terror suspects in legal limbo, a forceful denunciation of Bush administration tactics since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ruling in two cases, the high court refused to endorse a central claim of the White House: that the government has authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny access to courts or lawyers while interrogating them.
A state of war "is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in the most significant case of the day, a ruling that gives American-born detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi the right to fight his detention in a federal court. Separately, the court said that nearly 600 men from 42 countries held at a Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can use American courts to contest their treatment.
Pentagon names tribunal for Hicks trial
The Pentagon has named the officers who will decide the fate of David Hicks and two other Guantanamo prisoners charged by the United States in the first US military tribunals since World War II.
Earlier this month, Hicks, a convert to Islam accused of joining Al Qaeda, was charged with three counts: conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy.
Human rights groups have condemned the trial process established for the commissions, saying the rules favour the prosecution, undercut the defence and do not permit independent judicial review.
FRESH MEAT
US readies for draft
Despite denials that the U.S. plans to re-institute the draft, the Pentagon has stepped up preparations for a new Selective Service System that could allow for a full-blown draft by next year.
The Selective Service System insists it "remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the President and the Congress so direct. This responsibility has been ongoing since 1980 and is nothing new".
But savvy draft-watchers, including author, radio personality and attorney retired Col. Ron Ray, USMCR, dispute the “is not getting ready” phrase, suggesting that there is, indeed, evidence indicating a new, heightened urgency within the agency, which these days is independent and no longer falls under the aegis of the Department of Defense. Ray himself had served as a Pentagon official during the Reagan administration.
[Helping the agency to reach its goals and objectives is a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that requires schools to provide contact information for every student – or risk losing federal aid dollars.]
Army plans involuntary call-up of thousands
Despite denials that the U.S. plans to re-institute the draft, the Pentagon has stepped up preparations for a new Selective Service System that could allow for a full-blown draft by next year.
The Selective Service System insists it "remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the President and the Congress so direct. This responsibility has been ongoing since 1980 and is nothing new".
But savvy draft-watchers, including author, radio personality and attorney retired Col. Ron Ray, USMCR, dispute the “is not getting ready” phrase, suggesting that there is, indeed, evidence indicating a new, heightened urgency within the agency, which these days is independent and no longer falls under the aegis of the Department of Defense. Ray himself had served as a Pentagon official during the Reagan administration.
[Helping the agency to reach its goals and objectives is a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that requires schools to provide contact information for every student – or risk losing federal aid dollars.]
Army plans involuntary call-up of thousands
NEW WORLD ORDER
Senior intel officer: Al Qaeda will attack US to ensure Bush win
A senior US intelligence official is about to publish a bitter condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy, arguing that the West is losing the war against Al Qaeda and that an 'avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked' war in Iraq has played into Osama bin Laden's hands.
This senior intelligence official, who anonymously penned "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror", also says that 'Osama bin Laden may attack the US before the November election to ensure the re-election of President George Bush.'
James Bamford, the author of two respected books on American intelligence (The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, both about the National Security Agency), has written a new book called "Pretext for War".
His book -- described as a "damning portrait" of the intelligence community painting a "scathing picture" of neoconservatives in the Bush administration -- suggests that the CIA caved to pressure from administration hard-liners. Bamford quotes a CIA case officer who says a senior agency officer called a meeting and said, "You know what – if Bush wants to go to war, it's your job to give him a reason to do so".
According to Bamford, the basic blueprint for the administration's Middle East policy had been drawn up in the mid-1990s by Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser, three neoconservatives who would be named to influential positions in the Bush administration.
A senior US intelligence official is about to publish a bitter condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy, arguing that the West is losing the war against Al Qaeda and that an 'avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked' war in Iraq has played into Osama bin Laden's hands.
This senior intelligence official, who anonymously penned "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror", also says that 'Osama bin Laden may attack the US before the November election to ensure the re-election of President George Bush.'
James Bamford, the author of two respected books on American intelligence (The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, both about the National Security Agency), has written a new book called "Pretext for War".
His book -- described as a "damning portrait" of the intelligence community painting a "scathing picture" of neoconservatives in the Bush administration -- suggests that the CIA caved to pressure from administration hard-liners. Bamford quotes a CIA case officer who says a senior agency officer called a meeting and said, "You know what – if Bush wants to go to war, it's your job to give him a reason to do so".
According to Bamford, the basic blueprint for the administration's Middle East policy had been drawn up in the mid-1990s by Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser, three neoconservatives who would be named to influential positions in the Bush administration.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Who is Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi?
Al Zarqawi is often described as an "Osama associate", the bogeyman, allegedly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in several countries. In other reports, often emanating from the same sources, it is stated that he has no links to Al Qaeda and operates quite independently. He is often presented as an individual who is challenging the leadership of bin Laden.
His name crops up on numerous occasions in press reports and official statements. Since early 2004, he is in the news almost on a daily basis.
Osama belongs to the powerful bin Laden family, which historically had business ties to the Bushes and prominent members of the Texas oil establishment. Bin Laden was recruited by the CIA during the Soviet-Afghan war and fought as a Mujahideen. In other words, there is a longstanding documented history of bin Laden-CIA and bin Laden-Bush family links, which are an obvious source of embarrassment to the US government.
In contrast to bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi has no family history. He comes from an impoverished Palestinian family in Jordan. His parents are dead. He emerges out of the blue.
He is described by CNN as "a lone wolf" who is said to act quite independently of the Al Qaeda network. Yet surprisingly, this lone wolf is present in several countries, in Iraq, which is now his base, but also in Western Europe. He is also suspected of preparing a terrorist attack on American soil.
He seems to be in several places at the same time. He is described as "the chief U.S. enemy", "a master of disguise and bogus identification papers". We are led to believe that this "lone wolf" manages to outwit the most astute US intelligence operatives.
US denies reports al-Zarqawi captured
There are conflicting reports that one of Washington's most wanted men has been captured in Iraq. Al-Arabiya television reported Monday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in custody, but the head of the U.S. military in Iraq denied the reports.
The US intelligence apparatus has created it own terrorist organizations. And at the same time, it creates its own terrorist warnings concerning the terrorist organizations which it has itself created. In turn, it has developed a cohesive multibillion dollar counterterrorism program 'to go after' these terrorist organizations. -- by Michel Chossudovsky
Al Zarqawi is often described as an "Osama associate", the bogeyman, allegedly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in several countries. In other reports, often emanating from the same sources, it is stated that he has no links to Al Qaeda and operates quite independently. He is often presented as an individual who is challenging the leadership of bin Laden.
His name crops up on numerous occasions in press reports and official statements. Since early 2004, he is in the news almost on a daily basis.
Osama belongs to the powerful bin Laden family, which historically had business ties to the Bushes and prominent members of the Texas oil establishment. Bin Laden was recruited by the CIA during the Soviet-Afghan war and fought as a Mujahideen. In other words, there is a longstanding documented history of bin Laden-CIA and bin Laden-Bush family links, which are an obvious source of embarrassment to the US government.
In contrast to bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi has no family history. He comes from an impoverished Palestinian family in Jordan. His parents are dead. He emerges out of the blue.
He is described by CNN as "a lone wolf" who is said to act quite independently of the Al Qaeda network. Yet surprisingly, this lone wolf is present in several countries, in Iraq, which is now his base, but also in Western Europe. He is also suspected of preparing a terrorist attack on American soil.
He seems to be in several places at the same time. He is described as "the chief U.S. enemy", "a master of disguise and bogus identification papers". We are led to believe that this "lone wolf" manages to outwit the most astute US intelligence operatives.
US denies reports al-Zarqawi captured
There are conflicting reports that one of Washington's most wanted men has been captured in Iraq. Al-Arabiya television reported Monday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in custody, but the head of the U.S. military in Iraq denied the reports.
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
MIND CONTROL
Watching TV 'blocks sleep hormone in children'
Exposure to television can influence melatonin levels in children and possibly contribute to the premature onset of puberty, according to a study by scientists from the University of Florence.
The study found a 30 per cent increase in levels of the sleep-regulating hormone in children who had abstained from watching television for a week, the Rome daily La Repubblica reported yesterday.
Exposure to television can influence melatonin levels in children and possibly contribute to the premature onset of puberty, according to a study by scientists from the University of Florence.
The study found a 30 per cent increase in levels of the sleep-regulating hormone in children who had abstained from watching television for a week, the Rome daily La Repubblica reported yesterday.
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
Court rules against Bush in case about terror suspects
The US Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners seized as potential terrorists and held for more than two years at a US military prison camp in Cuba may challenge their captivity in American courts - a defeat for President George W Bush in one of the first major high court cases arising from the September 11 attacks.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners seized as potential terrorists and held for more than two years at a US military prison camp in Cuba may challenge their captivity in American courts - a defeat for President George W Bush in one of the first major high court cases arising from the September 11 attacks.
NO PAIN, NO GAIN
What the 'torture memos' reveal
Aug. 1, 2002 saw the most infamous of the "torture papers," DOJ/OLC chief Bybee's memorandum to Gonzales entitled: "Standards of Conduct for Interrogations, under the Convention Against Torture and the U.S. Anti-Torture Act (18 U.S. 2340-2340A)." This memorandum was reportedly drafted by the DOJ for the CIA, and sent directly to the White House without consultation with either the State Department, or the Joint Chiefs and Joint Staff legal experts. It is an extremely detailed, 50-page memorandum, giving the most lenient interpretation conceivable, of the anti-torture treaty and laws. The memo states at the outset:
When the White House officially released this memo (it already having been leaked), DOJ attorneys suddenly disavowed it, telling reporters that it would be "repudiated" and "replaced." But the official who signed it, Jay Bybee, is now a Federal appellate judge, sitting on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Washington Post reported on June 24, that sometime in December, two Navy interrogators heard military intelligence personnel talking about using techniques which they considered "repulsive and potentially illegal". Their concerns were brought to DOD General Counsel Haynes by Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora. Haynes apparently ignored Mora's appeals until Mora threatened to put them in writing.
Aug. 1, 2002 saw the most infamous of the "torture papers," DOJ/OLC chief Bybee's memorandum to Gonzales entitled: "Standards of Conduct for Interrogations, under the Convention Against Torture and the U.S. Anti-Torture Act (18 U.S. 2340-2340A)." This memorandum was reportedly drafted by the DOJ for the CIA, and sent directly to the White House without consultation with either the State Department, or the Joint Chiefs and Joint Staff legal experts. It is an extremely detailed, 50-page memorandum, giving the most lenient interpretation conceivable, of the anti-torture treaty and laws. The memo states at the outset:
We conclude below that Section 2340A proscribes acts inflicting, and that are specifically intended to inflict, severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical.
Those acts must be of an extreme nature to rise to the level of torture within the meaning of Section 2340A and the Convention.
We further conclude that certain acts may be cruel, inhuman, or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisite intensity to fall within Section 2340A's proscription against torture.
We conclude that for an act to constitute torture as defined in Section 2340, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure.
Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of body function, or even death.
For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture under Section 2340, it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years....[...]
We conclude that, under current circumstances, necessity or self-defense may justify interrogation methods that might violate Section 2340A.
When the White House officially released this memo (it already having been leaked), DOJ attorneys suddenly disavowed it, telling reporters that it would be "repudiated" and "replaced." But the official who signed it, Jay Bybee, is now a Federal appellate judge, sitting on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Washington Post reported on June 24, that sometime in December, two Navy interrogators heard military intelligence personnel talking about using techniques which they considered "repulsive and potentially illegal". Their concerns were brought to DOD General Counsel Haynes by Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora. Haynes apparently ignored Mora's appeals until Mora threatened to put them in writing.
NAKED EMPEROR
Angry White House reprimands Irish interviewer for 'dissing' Bush
THE White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.
The White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful. She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.
On several occasions during the 15-minute interview, Bush asked Coleman not to interrupt him.
It has also emerged that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.
Pampered Bush meets a real reporter
Coleman asked tough questions about the mounting death toll in Iraq, the failure of US planning, and European opposition to the invasion and occupation.
And when the president offered the sort of empty and listless "answers" that satisfy the White House press corps -- at one point, he mumbled, "My job is to do my job" -- she tried to get him focused by asking precise follow-up questions.
See the interview, and decide if Coleman "overstepped the bounds of politeness".
[The chief executive who gleefully declares that he does not read newspapers cannot begin to grasp the notion that journalists might have an important role to play in a democracy.]
THE White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.
The White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful. She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.
On several occasions during the 15-minute interview, Bush asked Coleman not to interrupt him.
It has also emerged that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.
Pampered Bush meets a real reporter
Coleman asked tough questions about the mounting death toll in Iraq, the failure of US planning, and European opposition to the invasion and occupation.
And when the president offered the sort of empty and listless "answers" that satisfy the White House press corps -- at one point, he mumbled, "My job is to do my job" -- she tried to get him focused by asking precise follow-up questions.
See the interview, and decide if Coleman "overstepped the bounds of politeness".
[The chief executive who gleefully declares that he does not read newspapers cannot begin to grasp the notion that journalists might have an important role to play in a democracy.]
NEW WORLD ORDER
Divide and conquer means death to democracy
'When, through the process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance." -- From the American Banker's Association Digest (1924 edition).
'When, through the process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance." -- From the American Banker's Association Digest (1924 edition).
Monday, June 28, 2004
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Democracy needs to be re-constructed after Bush
“The current incumbents may do severe, perhaps irreparable, damage if given another hold on power-a very slim hold, but one they will use to achieve very ugly and dangerous ends. In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts. Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat, but that's not the end of the story. The basic culture and institutions of a democratic society have to be constructed, in part reconstructed, and defeat of an extremely dangerous clique in the presidential race is only one very small component of that.” -- Noam Chomsky
["The danger of the Chomsky approach is that it isolates Bush from the history of US imperialism, viewing Bush's policies as something exclusive to the current administration. The real failure I contend, lies with the Left." -- William Bowles]
“The current incumbents may do severe, perhaps irreparable, damage if given another hold on power-a very slim hold, but one they will use to achieve very ugly and dangerous ends. In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts. Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat, but that's not the end of the story. The basic culture and institutions of a democratic society have to be constructed, in part reconstructed, and defeat of an extremely dangerous clique in the presidential race is only one very small component of that.” -- Noam Chomsky
["The danger of the Chomsky approach is that it isolates Bush from the history of US imperialism, viewing Bush's policies as something exclusive to the current administration. The real failure I contend, lies with the Left." -- William Bowles]
TRUE COLOURS
'Fuck you, world'
Cheney to Senator regarding Halliburton: 'Go fuck yourself' ... thus ignoring 'family values'
In the US Senate, Vice President, and former chief of Halliburton Corp., Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, to 'go fuck yourself'.
Cheney -- who has steered numerous no-bid no-competition government contracts for the War on Terror and the War on Iraq to Halliburton -- exhibited his arrogance publicly after Leahy spoke to Cheney about Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq, which are all under investigation for fraud by the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice.
Ironically Cheney's obscenities aimed at Senator Leahy came on the day the Senate passed a law called the 'Defense of Decency Act'.
YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE
New laws allow suspects to be DNA tested
South Australian Premiere Mike Rann boasts that South Australia's forensic DNA database had grown by more than 11,000 this year compared with less than 500 last year.
Appearing on ABC TV's 7 o'clock bulletin, Mr Rann said that whereas the database formerly contained genetic identity profiles only of convicted criminals, new laws have made it possible now to include those who had been charged and those suspected of crime.
[The last time I saw Mr Rann he was dressed in a shin-length black leather overcoat and looked more like the State's Gruppen Fuhrer]
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
'We will not enforce the R rating for Fahrenheit 9/11' -- A Michigan cinema flouts the law so that younger patrons can see what their alien masters have been up to.
The view from America: responses to Fahrenheit 9/11
'We just came back from the cinema in Hollywood where the reception was fantastic! I even got my Republican father a ticket to see the movie in Orange County. Needless to say after he saw the movie he now plans to vote against the Bush. He has voted Republican since Nixon.' -- R.S.
WHITE SUPREMACISTS
Ashcroft downplays terrorist! It's OK, he's not a swarthy Muslim
FBI agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon -- a cyanide bomb -- big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.
Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character.
Recently, Jose 'dirty bomber' Padilla didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world.
This time a William Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened. Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.
In this case, it sounds over the top to accuse Mr. Ashcroft of trying to bury news about terrorists who don't fit his preferred story line. Yet it's hard to believe that Mr Krar wouldn't have become a household name if he had been a Muslim, or even a leftist.
[Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised 'Southern patriots' like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?]
FBI agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon -- a cyanide bomb -- big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.
Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character.
Recently, Jose 'dirty bomber' Padilla didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world.
This time a William Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened. Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.
In this case, it sounds over the top to accuse Mr. Ashcroft of trying to bury news about terrorists who don't fit his preferred story line. Yet it's hard to believe that Mr Krar wouldn't have become a household name if he had been a Muslim, or even a leftist.
[Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised 'Southern patriots' like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?]
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Report claiming 'war on terrorism' success now found to be a crock
The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Secretary of State Colin Powell denied claims the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
In reviewing the data, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center found preliminary indications that there was a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
[If you missed this item, it is possibly because former president Reagan's "Weekend at Ronnie's" endless funerary rites were hogging the news-o-taiment shows.]
The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Secretary of State Colin Powell denied claims the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
In reviewing the data, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center found preliminary indications that there was a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
[If you missed this item, it is possibly because former president Reagan's "Weekend at Ronnie's" endless funerary rites were hogging the news-o-taiment shows.]
UBERKINDER
Eugenics and a new master race ... or just a freak of nature?
A German toddler has massive muscles and can lift far heavier weights than other kids his age because of a natural genetic mutation, Markus Schuelke, a neurology specialist in Berlin, said.
Schuelke first examined the child, now four, as a newborn baby when his extraordinary muscle mass caused fears he might have a muscular problem. But the baby has developed into a healthy boy, normal apart from having muscles twice as big as normal which enable him to lift three-kilo weights.
Doctors have now proved for the first time that the child's muscles grew so large because of the absence or malfunctioning of the growth-curbing hormone myostatin.
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
Here comes the Judge ... the total wanker
While seated on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a penis enlargement pump, shaved and oiled his nether region, and pleasured himself, state officials charged yesterday in a petition to remove the jurist. According to a complaint filed by the Oklahoma Attorney General, Donald D. Thompson, 57, was caught in the act by a clerk, trial witnesses, and his longtime court reporter. Thompson, the complaint charges, even pumped up his penis during a murder trial.
The AG's petition quotes Thompson as admitting that the pump was 'under the bench' during the murder case (and at other times), but he denied using the item, which was supposedly a 'gag gift from a friend'.
Lisa Foster, the judges court reporter for the past 15 years -- but recently sacked, said she saw the judge use the penis pump 10 times, saw him masturbate while on the bench on a number of occasions, saw his penis 20 times and saw him rub lotion on his penis on a number of occasions, she once saw Judge Thompson hold up his penis and shave underneath it, the petition says.
While seated on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a penis enlargement pump, shaved and oiled his nether region, and pleasured himself, state officials charged yesterday in a petition to remove the jurist. According to a complaint filed by the Oklahoma Attorney General, Donald D. Thompson, 57, was caught in the act by a clerk, trial witnesses, and his longtime court reporter. Thompson, the complaint charges, even pumped up his penis during a murder trial.
The AG's petition quotes Thompson as admitting that the pump was 'under the bench' during the murder case (and at other times), but he denied using the item, which was supposedly a 'gag gift from a friend'.
Lisa Foster, the judges court reporter for the past 15 years -- but recently sacked, said she saw the judge use the penis pump 10 times, saw him masturbate while on the bench on a number of occasions, saw his penis 20 times and saw him rub lotion on his penis on a number of occasions, she once saw Judge Thompson hold up his penis and shave underneath it, the petition says.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Wireless nanocrystals efficiently radiate visible light
A wireless nanodevice that functions like a fluorescent light - but potentially far more efficiently - has been developed in a joint project between the National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
The device efficiently causes nanocrystals to emit light when placed on top of a nearby energy source, eliminating the need to put wires directly on the nanocrystals.
The energy source is a so-called quantum well that emits energy at wavelengths most easily absorbable by the nanocrystals.
A wireless nanodevice that functions like a fluorescent light - but potentially far more efficiently - has been developed in a joint project between the National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
The device efficiently causes nanocrystals to emit light when placed on top of a nearby energy source, eliminating the need to put wires directly on the nanocrystals.
The energy source is a so-called quantum well that emits energy at wavelengths most easily absorbable by the nanocrystals.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Breaking silence over the horrors of Hebron
"The day I understood that I simply enjoyed the sense of power, I was ashamed of myself. I don't believe in it, I don't think it's right to do anything [bad] to anyone, and certainly not to someone who hasn't done you any harm. But you can't help but enjoy it. People do what you tell them. You know it's because you've got a gun. You know that if you didn't have a weapon and if you didn't have your comrades beside you, they'd jump on you and beat you up and stab you and kill you - [but] you begin to enjoy it. Enjoy is not even the word. You need it."
-- Testimony appearing with a Tel Aviv exhibition of photographs taken by Israeli army conscripts which has caused consternation and drawn admiration.
"The day I understood that I simply enjoyed the sense of power, I was ashamed of myself. I don't believe in it, I don't think it's right to do anything [bad] to anyone, and certainly not to someone who hasn't done you any harm. But you can't help but enjoy it. People do what you tell them. You know it's because you've got a gun. You know that if you didn't have a weapon and if you didn't have your comrades beside you, they'd jump on you and beat you up and stab you and kill you - [but] you begin to enjoy it. Enjoy is not even the word. You need it."
-- Testimony appearing with a Tel Aviv exhibition of photographs taken by Israeli army conscripts which has caused consternation and drawn admiration.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Judge likens election of Bush to rise of Facist dictators
A prominent federal judge has told a conference of liberal lawyers that President Bush’s rise to power was similar to the accession of dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
"In a way that occurred before but is rare in the United States…somebody came to power as a result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution that had the right to put somebody in power. That is what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put somebody in power," said Guido Calabresi, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan.
The 71-year-old Judge Calabresi, a former dean of Yale Law School, said Mr. Bush has asserted the full prerogatives of his office, despite his lack of a compelling electoral mandate from the public. “That’s got nothing to do with the politics of it.It’s got to do with the structural reassertion of democracy,” he said.
[Is Calabresi simply appeasing the masses by allowing them to believe that they still have the power to effect significant political changes, when the reality is that they don't?]
A prominent federal judge has told a conference of liberal lawyers that President Bush’s rise to power was similar to the accession of dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
"In a way that occurred before but is rare in the United States…somebody came to power as a result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution that had the right to put somebody in power. That is what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put somebody in power," said Guido Calabresi, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan.
The 71-year-old Judge Calabresi, a former dean of Yale Law School, said Mr. Bush has asserted the full prerogatives of his office, despite his lack of a compelling electoral mandate from the public. “That’s got nothing to do with the politics of it.It’s got to do with the structural reassertion of democracy,” he said.
[Is Calabresi simply appeasing the masses by allowing them to believe that they still have the power to effect significant political changes, when the reality is that they don't?]
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Never too soon to say goodbye to Hi
Hi is the latest joint venture developed by the State Department and media consultants, in this case the Washington-based Magazine Group, to 'build bridges of communication' between Arabs and the United States. Described by its editors as a non-political, lifestyle magazine whose 'target readership [are] Arab men and women aged 18 to 35,' Hi has become one of the most high-profile elements in the post-September 11 campaign of public diplomacy aimed at the Arab world.
SMALL THINGS
Nanometre scale wires (about one thousandth the diameter of a human hair) of a silicon-carbon material (silicon carbide) are grown from tiny droplets of a liquid metal (Gallium) on a silicon surface
Physicists reveal first 'nanoflowers'
The Institute of Physics has released some of the most beautiful science images of the year so far, a collection of photomicrographs of tiny 'flowers' and 'trees' less than one thousandth the width of a human hair. The images are published in the Institute journal Nanotechnology.
Ghim Wei Ho, a PhD student studying nanotechnology at Cambridge University, has named some of her best photographs nanobouquet, nanotrees, and nanoflower.
EARTH CHANGES
Venus transit may cause serious flooding, Chinese scientist claims
Geng Guoqing, an expert on natural calamities in The People's Republic of China, compared historical records reaching 2187 years back and found a clear correlation between Venus transits and serious floods along the river's middle and lower reaches.
Geng Guoqing, an expert on natural calamities in The People's Republic of China, compared historical records reaching 2187 years back and found a clear correlation between Venus transits and serious floods along the river's middle and lower reaches.
COMPLETELY MENTAL
All 'disruptive' children may be forcibly medicated
A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions".
A March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative has been criticised for protecting the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The president's commission recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages", including preschool children. ... Schools are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students.
The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan.
The Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm. He was sacked this week for speaking out.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab".
[Read the report (PDF format)]
[Eli Lilly -- manufacturer of one of the drugs recommended in the Texas algorithm -- has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000, 82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.]
Bush on the Couch: professor of psychiatry takes a look into depths of Bush's psyche
Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, argues that the president's inclination to see the world in black-and-white, good-versus-evil terms, and his tendency to repeat favourite words and phrases under pressure, are not simply politics as usual, but classic symptoms of untreated alcoholism.
"Bush switched from alcoholism to religion. It takes responsibility out of his hands. Being born again is a way of denying the past," Prof Frank said.
A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions".
A March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative has been criticised for protecting the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The president's commission recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages", including preschool children. ... Schools are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students.
The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan.
The Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm. He was sacked this week for speaking out.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab".
[Read the report (PDF format)]
[Eli Lilly -- manufacturer of one of the drugs recommended in the Texas algorithm -- has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000, 82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.]
Bush on the Couch: professor of psychiatry takes a look into depths of Bush's psyche
Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, argues that the president's inclination to see the world in black-and-white, good-versus-evil terms, and his tendency to repeat favourite words and phrases under pressure, are not simply politics as usual, but classic symptoms of untreated alcoholism.
"Bush switched from alcoholism to religion. It takes responsibility out of his hands. Being born again is a way of denying the past," Prof Frank said.
YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE
Court: no right to keep name from police
'Ordinary Americans will be hopelessly confused about when they can assert their right to remain silent without being jailed like Mr. Hiibel,' said Tim Lynch, an attorney with the libertarian-oriented think tank Cato Institute.
He said the court has effectively "ruled that the government can turn a person's silence into a criminal offense".
Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said "In a modern era, when the police get your identification, they are getting an extraordinary look at your private life."
'Ordinary Americans will be hopelessly confused about when they can assert their right to remain silent without being jailed like Mr. Hiibel,' said Tim Lynch, an attorney with the libertarian-oriented think tank Cato Institute.
He said the court has effectively "ruled that the government can turn a person's silence into a criminal offense".
Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said "In a modern era, when the police get your identification, they are getting an extraordinary look at your private life."
MARTIAL LAW
Emergency law mooted for Iraq’s new ‘democracy’
Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi -- an ex CIA man with close links to the US and a relative of the convicted embezzler and alleged Iranian-paid spook Ahmad Chalabi --has appointed a ministerial panel to study whether Iraqis should be subjected to curfews and bans on public demonstrations after the June 30 handover. If Iraqis wake up to emergency law on July 1, instead of the promised and much vaunted “freedom and democracy”, the move will surely symbolize America’s failed policies in the region like no other.
Another of Allawi's relatives, Salem Chalabi is heading the tribunal set up to try Saddam and former members of his government currently in US-run jails.
Salem Chalabi has close business links with Marc Zell, a partner in Zell, Goldberg & Co., which claims to be one of Israel’s fastest-growing business-oriented law firms.
Zell is a marketing consultant for Salem’s Baghdad-based law outfit was formerly a partner in the same law firm as rabid pro-Zionist Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — a founder member of the right-wing think tank Project for a New American Century and one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion.
[PNAC uncovered. Further reading]
Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi -- an ex CIA man with close links to the US and a relative of the convicted embezzler and alleged Iranian-paid spook Ahmad Chalabi --has appointed a ministerial panel to study whether Iraqis should be subjected to curfews and bans on public demonstrations after the June 30 handover. If Iraqis wake up to emergency law on July 1, instead of the promised and much vaunted “freedom and democracy”, the move will surely symbolize America’s failed policies in the region like no other.
Another of Allawi's relatives, Salem Chalabi is heading the tribunal set up to try Saddam and former members of his government currently in US-run jails.
Salem Chalabi has close business links with Marc Zell, a partner in Zell, Goldberg & Co., which claims to be one of Israel’s fastest-growing business-oriented law firms.
Zell is a marketing consultant for Salem’s Baghdad-based law outfit was formerly a partner in the same law firm as rabid pro-Zionist Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — a founder member of the right-wing think tank Project for a New American Century and one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion.
[PNAC uncovered. Further reading]
PETROCRAT WARNING
Oil chief: my fears for the planet
'Sequestration is difficult, but if we don't have sequestration then I see very little hope for the world,' said Lord Oxburgh. 'No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are pumping out at present ... with consequences that we really can't predict but are probably not good.'
-- Ron Oxburgh Shell boss's 'confession' shocks industry
'Sequestration is difficult, but if we don't have sequestration then I see very little hope for the world,' said Lord Oxburgh. 'No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are pumping out at present ... with consequences that we really can't predict but are probably not good.'
-- Ron Oxburgh Shell boss's 'confession' shocks industry
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Joshua Micah Marshall describes the situation well...
"Beside the possibility that the White House's favored Iraqi exile was an Iranian agent, that the spy chief just got canned, that the OSD is wired to polygraphs, and that the president has had to retain outside counsel in the investigation into which members of his staff burned one of the country's own spies, I'd say the place is being run like a pretty well-oiled machine."
-- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, June 3, 2004.
"Beside the possibility that the White House's favored Iraqi exile was an Iranian agent, that the spy chief just got canned, that the OSD is wired to polygraphs, and that the president has had to retain outside counsel in the investigation into which members of his staff burned one of the country's own spies, I'd say the place is being run like a pretty well-oiled machine."
-- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, June 3, 2004.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Dissembling the truth in the Age of Bush
Crazy claims hit us every day: lies brazen, bold, and breathtaking in their degree of misrepresentation; assertions that are perfect inversions of what is true; claims so implausible that believing them would require a level of ignorance that no one who reads the daily newspaper could possess; analysis so twisted, it is a wonder that anyone could spout it without laughing.
We hear versions of these every day, though public-spirited writers of left and right labor to expose them. And yet, refuting these lies is like shooting fish in a barrel. Hundreds of stories from around the world appear every day that debunk the bunk. What is startling is how the claims keep coming back, as if the people who promote them have no regard for the truth at all, and have no shame whatsoever about mouthing falsehoods again and again.
How is it that the relentless liars on US foreign policy and war are not outed and disgraced? Why are they permitted to socialize in polite company? Why are their columns carried in reputable newspapers and why do the networks continue to interview them as if they were serious voices contributing to the public dialogue? Why are they not shunned and rebuked the way systematic liars in private life are avoided and discredited?
The crucial difference is that they are lying on behalf of power. And not just any power. We are talking about the greatest centralized power on the globe, the world's largest, most well-armed, and most dangerous government, the only government to have ever used nuclear weapons against civilians and the government that has invaded more countries than any other in modern times.
Crazy claims hit us every day: lies brazen, bold, and breathtaking in their degree of misrepresentation; assertions that are perfect inversions of what is true; claims so implausible that believing them would require a level of ignorance that no one who reads the daily newspaper could possess; analysis so twisted, it is a wonder that anyone could spout it without laughing.
We hear versions of these every day, though public-spirited writers of left and right labor to expose them. And yet, refuting these lies is like shooting fish in a barrel. Hundreds of stories from around the world appear every day that debunk the bunk. What is startling is how the claims keep coming back, as if the people who promote them have no regard for the truth at all, and have no shame whatsoever about mouthing falsehoods again and again.
How is it that the relentless liars on US foreign policy and war are not outed and disgraced? Why are they permitted to socialize in polite company? Why are their columns carried in reputable newspapers and why do the networks continue to interview them as if they were serious voices contributing to the public dialogue? Why are they not shunned and rebuked the way systematic liars in private life are avoided and discredited?
The crucial difference is that they are lying on behalf of power. And not just any power. We are talking about the greatest centralized power on the globe, the world's largest, most well-armed, and most dangerous government, the only government to have ever used nuclear weapons against civilians and the government that has invaded more countries than any other in modern times.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
BY JINGO
Howard flags new requirement for schools seeking funding
Every Australian school will be required to have a functional flag pole if they are to receive additional funding, under Federal Government legislation to be introduced to Parliament tomorrow.
The flagpole requirement is one of the conditions that will be attached to $31 billion in Commonwealth school funding.
Mr Howard has rejected suggestions that making schools fly the Australian flag is old-fashioned.
[He is right: the western nations are becoming more and more characterized by chauvinistic patriotism. And by a complementary dose of xenophobia.]
Every Australian school will be required to have a functional flag pole if they are to receive additional funding, under Federal Government legislation to be introduced to Parliament tomorrow.
The flagpole requirement is one of the conditions that will be attached to $31 billion in Commonwealth school funding.
Mr Howard has rejected suggestions that making schools fly the Australian flag is old-fashioned.
[He is right: the western nations are becoming more and more characterized by chauvinistic patriotism. And by a complementary dose of xenophobia.]
WAR ON PEACE
Intelligence agency does not distinguish between terrorism and peace activism
Days before firing wooden slugs at anti-war protesters, Oakland police were warned of potential violence at the Port of Oakland by California's anti-terrorism intelligence center, which admits blurring the line between terrorism and political dissent.
The April 2 bulletin from the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) arguably offered more innuendo than actual evidence of protesters' intent to "shut down" the port and possibly act violently.
CATIC spokesman Mike Van Winkle woke up long enough to say that such evidence wasn't needed to issue warnings on war protesters.
"You can almost argue that a protest against [terrorism] is a terrorist act."
Days before firing wooden slugs at anti-war protesters, Oakland police were warned of potential violence at the Port of Oakland by California's anti-terrorism intelligence center, which admits blurring the line between terrorism and political dissent.
The April 2 bulletin from the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) arguably offered more innuendo than actual evidence of protesters' intent to "shut down" the port and possibly act violently.
CATIC spokesman Mike Van Winkle woke up long enough to say that such evidence wasn't needed to issue warnings on war protesters.
"You can almost argue that a protest against [terrorism] is a terrorist act."
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Bush administration uses polls to find the best spin to put on unpopular policy
Whereas other US administrations had used polls to determine the popularity of a range of policy options, the Bush administration used polls to determine the best rhetoric with which to market policies that might not be popular.
John DiIulio confirmed the Bushies' public-relations approach to government when he confessed to reporter Ron Suskind that 'staff, senior and junior ... consistently talked and acted as if the height of political sophistication consisted in reducing every issue to its simplest, black-and-white terms for public consumption, then steering legislative initiatives or policy proposals as far right as possible'.
Whereas other US administrations had used polls to determine the popularity of a range of policy options, the Bush administration used polls to determine the best rhetoric with which to market policies that might not be popular.
John DiIulio confirmed the Bushies' public-relations approach to government when he confessed to reporter Ron Suskind that 'staff, senior and junior ... consistently talked and acted as if the height of political sophistication consisted in reducing every issue to its simplest, black-and-white terms for public consumption, then steering legislative initiatives or policy proposals as far right as possible'.
TRUE LOVE
Marine's wife pleads guilty to murder conspiracy
The 34-year-old wife of a Marine, Wendy Glass of Yuma, Ariz., pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to have her husband killed while he was stationed in Kuwait.
She admitted having an affair with another Marine, Larry Framness, from November 2001 to May 2003, and she admitted she and Framness conspired to kill her husband, James Houston Glass.
James Glass and Framness were deployed from Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma and sent to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in early 2003. While there, Framness tried to kill Glass with a grenade after luring him to a guard shack, prosecutors said. Glass was injured but survived.
Framness pleaded guilty in February in military court to attempted murder, dereliction of duty, making false official statement and adultery. He is serving a life sentence.
Because Wendy Glass cooperated in the prosecution case against Framness, prosecutors have recommended a sentence of a little more than eight years.
The 34-year-old wife of a Marine, Wendy Glass of Yuma, Ariz., pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to have her husband killed while he was stationed in Kuwait.
She admitted having an affair with another Marine, Larry Framness, from November 2001 to May 2003, and she admitted she and Framness conspired to kill her husband, James Houston Glass.
James Glass and Framness were deployed from Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma and sent to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in early 2003. While there, Framness tried to kill Glass with a grenade after luring him to a guard shack, prosecutors said. Glass was injured but survived.
Framness pleaded guilty in February in military court to attempted murder, dereliction of duty, making false official statement and adultery. He is serving a life sentence.
Because Wendy Glass cooperated in the prosecution case against Framness, prosecutors have recommended a sentence of a little more than eight years.
Monday, June 21, 2004
OUR COSMOS
Most of universe invisible, experts say
Everything you can see – from a distant nebula to the family dog – makes up only about 5 per cent of the universe. The rest is mystery stuff – dark matter and dark energy.
We should be wary of equating existence with visibility because most of the universe is not something we can see, University of Toronto astronomy professor John Percy said.
Dark matter is similar to normal matter in that it exerts gravitational force, Prof. Percy said, but most similarities end there. Some of the remaining 95 per cent might be made up of dark objects like planets, but “most likely it's some kind of elementary particle which doesn't interact much with other things".
Everything you can see – from a distant nebula to the family dog – makes up only about 5 per cent of the universe. The rest is mystery stuff – dark matter and dark energy.
We should be wary of equating existence with visibility because most of the universe is not something we can see, University of Toronto astronomy professor John Percy said.
Dark matter is similar to normal matter in that it exerts gravitational force, Prof. Percy said, but most similarities end there. Some of the remaining 95 per cent might be made up of dark objects like planets, but “most likely it's some kind of elementary particle which doesn't interact much with other things".
NEW WORLD ORDER
Librarian's stand against US Patriot Act
As America gears up for the presidential elections more and more attention is being focussed on the so-called USA Patriot Act, which in the wake of 9/11, gave the intelligence agencies new powers to keep watch on American citizens.
Jacky Griffin is large, elegant, with close cropped hair, she speaks with the confidence of youth and enormous intellect. She has a bulky bag slung across her shoulders, it is full of books, and if anyone messes with books, they get Jacky's wrath.
"An FBI agent would not be welcome here," she says, standing in the lobby of the cavernous library in Berkeley, California. She is its director.
The Berkeley City Council, in time-honoured fashion for this counter-culture community, has decided not to obey George W Bush's Patriot Act should the FBI try to impose it here.
This is much more dangerous than the other periods," says Robert Schechtman, a 35-year-old student of German studies, who was instrumental in passing the Berkley University's resolution against the law.
"One of the early things Hitler did was to create a separate court system that was responsible only to him. And with the Patriot Act and the military tribunals we have a separate legal system in the United States which completely goes around the checks and balances that our system of government was founded on."
[Four US states -- Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont, and more than 300 towns -- have passed resolutions against it, although now, the Justice Department is looking to introduce a Patriot Act Two which would be even tougher, and George Bush says he plans to make it an election issue.]
As America gears up for the presidential elections more and more attention is being focussed on the so-called USA Patriot Act, which in the wake of 9/11, gave the intelligence agencies new powers to keep watch on American citizens.
Jacky Griffin is large, elegant, with close cropped hair, she speaks with the confidence of youth and enormous intellect. She has a bulky bag slung across her shoulders, it is full of books, and if anyone messes with books, they get Jacky's wrath.
"An FBI agent would not be welcome here," she says, standing in the lobby of the cavernous library in Berkeley, California. She is its director.
The Berkeley City Council, in time-honoured fashion for this counter-culture community, has decided not to obey George W Bush's Patriot Act should the FBI try to impose it here.
This is much more dangerous than the other periods," says Robert Schechtman, a 35-year-old student of German studies, who was instrumental in passing the Berkley University's resolution against the law.
"One of the early things Hitler did was to create a separate court system that was responsible only to him. And with the Patriot Act and the military tribunals we have a separate legal system in the United States which completely goes around the checks and balances that our system of government was founded on."
[Four US states -- Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont, and more than 300 towns -- have passed resolutions against it, although now, the Justice Department is looking to introduce a Patriot Act Two which would be even tougher, and George Bush says he plans to make it an election issue.]
WATCH THE SKIES
Meteor 'loud enough to shake the house'
Paul Kesterson was getting ready for work Friday morning when two thunderous explosions a split second apart rocked the sky above his home.
NASA scientist Mike Mumma said the likely culprit was a 'sizable' meteor ripping apart as it blasted through the atmosphere at 100,000 mph.
Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object monitoring program in Pasadena, Calif., said a meteor that shakes homes and windows could have been the size of a small car.
Paul Kesterson was getting ready for work Friday morning when two thunderous explosions a split second apart rocked the sky above his home.
NASA scientist Mike Mumma said the likely culprit was a 'sizable' meteor ripping apart as it blasted through the atmosphere at 100,000 mph.
Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object monitoring program in Pasadena, Calif., said a meteor that shakes homes and windows could have been the size of a small car.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
NEW WORLD ORDER
Report says US has 'secret' detention centres
The United States is holding terrorism suspects in more than two dozen detention centres worldwide and about half of these operate in total secrecy, a human rights report says.
Human Rights First, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said in a report that secrecy surrounding these facilities made 'inappropriate detention and abuse not only likely but inevitable.'
'The abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib cannot be addressed in isolation,' said Deborah Pearlstein, director of the group's U.S. Law and Security program, referring to the U.S. Naval base prison in Cuba and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where abuses are being investigated.
'This is all about secrecy, accountability and the law,' Pearlstein told a news conference.
The United States is holding terrorism suspects in more than two dozen detention centres worldwide and about half of these operate in total secrecy, a human rights report says.
Human Rights First, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said in a report that secrecy surrounding these facilities made 'inappropriate detention and abuse not only likely but inevitable.'
'The abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib cannot be addressed in isolation,' said Deborah Pearlstein, director of the group's U.S. Law and Security program, referring to the U.S. Naval base prison in Cuba and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where abuses are being investigated.
'This is all about secrecy, accountability and the law,' Pearlstein told a news conference.
WATCH THE SKIES
'Surprise' meteor shower possible in June
Meteor enthusiasts will likely be out in force in the coming nights, hoping to catch a glimpse of the on-again, off-again Ursids meteor display. Special emphasis will be placed on two specific nights: June 22-23 and June 26-27.
Ironically, the month of June is usually not noteworthy for any major meteor showers.
[The legendary British meteor observer, William Denning, first suggested that these meteors were bits and pieces shed by the Comet Pons-Winnecke]
Meteor enthusiasts will likely be out in force in the coming nights, hoping to catch a glimpse of the on-again, off-again Ursids meteor display. Special emphasis will be placed on two specific nights: June 22-23 and June 26-27.
Ironically, the month of June is usually not noteworthy for any major meteor showers.
[The legendary British meteor observer, William Denning, first suggested that these meteors were bits and pieces shed by the Comet Pons-Winnecke]
EARTH CHANGES
'House-sized' meteorite hits Australian east coast
A Meteorite the size of a house fell near the south eastern coast of Australia, exploding in a bright flash, police have said.
A driver on the Hume Highway shortly after 9pm (AEST) near Menangle reported an object the size of a house falling from the sky.
The meteorite was described as glowing silver in colour when it exploded with a bright flash on impact.
Workers at the Sydney Airport Tower said they saw a meteorite about 9pm, police said.
'Extensive police patrols' of the area for more than an hour did not turn up the space debris. 'We didn't find anything - there was no bloody great rock sitting in the middle of the highway, anyway'.
A Meteorite the size of a house fell near the south eastern coast of Australia, exploding in a bright flash, police have said.
A driver on the Hume Highway shortly after 9pm (AEST) near Menangle reported an object the size of a house falling from the sky.
The meteorite was described as glowing silver in colour when it exploded with a bright flash on impact.
Workers at the Sydney Airport Tower said they saw a meteorite about 9pm, police said.
'Extensive police patrols' of the area for more than an hour did not turn up the space debris. 'We didn't find anything - there was no bloody great rock sitting in the middle of the highway, anyway'.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"People that are really weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."
J. Danforth Quayle says something smart.
J. Danforth Quayle says something smart.
PATRIOTIC DUTY
Republican website encourages harassment of theaters screening Moore's film 'Fahrenheit 911'
The US Republican party has launched a nominally patriotic website, Moveamericaforward.org, via long-time GOP "public relations" firm Russo Marsh & Rogers, which was a major player in the recall ouster of California governor Grey Davis in 2002. In 2002, RMR partner Ron Rogers teamed up with the Reagan era Lyn Nofziger and Ed Rollins to work on the gubernatorial campaign of Bill Simon.
The Republican connection was uncovered using WHOIS, a database maintained by registries and registrars that records domain name registrations on the Internet.
Within minutes of being exposed, the website domain registration was changed, effectively removing any direct Republican connections to the site.
Melanie Morgan (left) -- Vice Chair of Move America Forward and host of a San Francisco radio program 'Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan Show' -- advises sympathisers to: Pick a theatre in your neighborhood that is showing Farehneit 9/11. Find the e-mail address from the list we've provided and let them know what you think of this effort to discredit America's fight on Radical Islamists.
Make a small effort to communicate with the corporate moguls who profit from this slur on our families, friends and neighbors who are risking their lives in this battle to keep the rest of us safer. And then forward our website to others who will support us.
I'm honored to work with my friend, Howard Kaloogian, on this important cause to rally Americans to stand united behind the men and women of the armed forces and their mission: fighting the war on terrorism around the world.
Honorable Howard Kaloogian served as a Member of the California State Assembly from 1994-2000. Mr. Kaloogian made history as Chairman of the Recall Gray Davis Committee, leading the historic effort that replaced failed California governor, Gray Davis, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Considering former President and California Governor Ronald Reagan to be one of his political heroes, Kaloogian was Chairman of the Defend Reagan Committee www.DefendReagan.org which successfully rallied millions of Americans to oppose the airing of the CBS' hatchet piece 'The Reagans'.
Fahrenheit 9/11 exposes financial connections between President George W. Bush’s family, and its associates, and prominent Saudi Arabian families, including that of Osama bin Laden, the man blamed for masterminding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC. The movie also exposes the Bush administration’s role in evacuating Osama bin Laden's relatives from the US immediately after the September 11 attacks.
Claiming that it contains “violent and disturbing images” and “strong language,” the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ruled that director Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 must carry the “R” adult rating. This means that the movie may not be viewed by Americans under the age of 17 unless they are accompanied by an adult.
Disney had stopped its subsidiary Miramax from distributing Fahrenheit 9/11, whereupon the Canada based Lions Gate distributor mustered its courage to make sure that Moore’s film can be seen by North American audiences. (European audiences are already seeing the movie without restriction). Moreover, Lions Gate’s chairman, Tom Ortenberg, promptly reacted with indignation to the MPAA's R rating decision, declaring it to be completely unjustified. “We are adamant about overturning this decision in an expeditious manner to ensure that as many people as possible ... are able to see one of the most important and thought-provoking films of our time.”
Saturday, June 19, 2004
FLASHBACK
You can't run a country by a book of religion
Not by a heap or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules of ancient date
Designed to make you all feel great
While you fold, spindle and mutilate
Those unbelievers From a neighboring state
Frank Zappa, "Dumb All Over", off the album You Are What You Is
WITCH AND BOOK BURNING
Crackdown on intellectuals and artists gathers momentum
No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history. ... Somewhere, the anthrax terrorist is laughing. But the Justice Department, you'll be happy to know, is trying to determine whether it can file bioterrorism charges against a Buffalo art professor whose work includes harmless bacteria in petri dishes. ...
Perhaps most telling is the way Mr. Ashcroft responds to criticism of his performance. His first move is always to withhold the evidence. Then he tries to change the subject by making a dramatic announcement of a terrorist threat.
-- New York Times columnist Paul Krugman
No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history. ... Somewhere, the anthrax terrorist is laughing. But the Justice Department, you'll be happy to know, is trying to determine whether it can file bioterrorism charges against a Buffalo art professor whose work includes harmless bacteria in petri dishes. ...
Perhaps most telling is the way Mr. Ashcroft responds to criticism of his performance. His first move is always to withhold the evidence. Then he tries to change the subject by making a dramatic announcement of a terrorist threat.
-- New York Times columnist Paul Krugman
COUP D'ETAT
Bush, Cheney indictments in Plame case looming
Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?
The real reasons ... have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence "failures" before the upcoming presidential election.
Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown.
Based upon recent developments, it appears that long-standing plans and preparations leading to indictments and impeachment of Bush, Cheney and even some senior cabinet members have been accelerated, possibly with the intent of removing or replacing the entire Bush regime prior to the Republican National Convention this August.
Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?
The real reasons ... have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence "failures" before the upcoming presidential election.
Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown.
Based upon recent developments, it appears that long-standing plans and preparations leading to indictments and impeachment of Bush, Cheney and even some senior cabinet members have been accelerated, possibly with the intent of removing or replacing the entire Bush regime prior to the Republican National Convention this August.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Judge rules batter-coated, frozen french fries really a fresh veggie
French [or Freedom] fries may be the bane of low-carb diets and obesity foes, but the US Department of Agriculture and a federal judge in Texas have another name for the popular food: fresh vegetable.
US District Judge Richard Schell last week endorsed little-noticed changes by the USDA to federal regulations that govern what defines a fresh vegetable.
The changes were made at the behest of the french-fry industry, which has spent the last five decades pushing for revisions to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
Amending an obscure USDA rule, a revision has added batter-coated, frozen french fries to the list of fresh produce.
[This harks back to Ronald Reagan's administration in which budget director David Stockman was ridiculed for suggesting ketchup be classified as a vegetable for federally financed school lunches.
Interesting to note then that Judge Schell recently got moved up a notch after Bush authorised a new Federal court in Texas.]
Bush OK's court to alleviate caseload
12/11/2003
After more than a decade of lobbying, a federal court is coming to Plano, helping to alleviate a brimming Denton County caseload in northern-neighbor Sherman.
President George Bush on Wednesday signed legislation authorizing the court in Plano.
Judge Richard Schell, one of three judges in the nearest federal court in Sherman, said he will become Plano's first federal judge.
Magistrate Judge Don Bush would split his time between Plano and Sherman.
Once money is approved, Schell said the district's clerk will identify the court's space needs.
"The first step is that the court put together a formal request for space for a courtroom or courtrooms, space for chambers, space for other offices, space for the marshal's service and space for those who are incarcerated or awaiting trial," he said.
Plano has never housed a federal court, judge, magistrate, clerk's office or grand jury.
The Eastern District of Texas has divisions in Beaumont, Marshall, Paris, Sherman, Texarkana, Tyler and Lufkin. The Sherman division includes Collin, Grayson, Cook and Denton counties.
More than 75 percent of the Sherman court's cases originate in Collin and Denton counties.
French [or Freedom] fries may be the bane of low-carb diets and obesity foes, but the US Department of Agriculture and a federal judge in Texas have another name for the popular food: fresh vegetable.
US District Judge Richard Schell last week endorsed little-noticed changes by the USDA to federal regulations that govern what defines a fresh vegetable.
The changes were made at the behest of the french-fry industry, which has spent the last five decades pushing for revisions to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
Amending an obscure USDA rule, a revision has added batter-coated, frozen french fries to the list of fresh produce.
[This harks back to Ronald Reagan's administration in which budget director David Stockman was ridiculed for suggesting ketchup be classified as a vegetable for federally financed school lunches.
Interesting to note then that Judge Schell recently got moved up a notch after Bush authorised a new Federal court in Texas.]
Bush OK's court to alleviate caseload
12/11/2003
After more than a decade of lobbying, a federal court is coming to Plano, helping to alleviate a brimming Denton County caseload in northern-neighbor Sherman.
President George Bush on Wednesday signed legislation authorizing the court in Plano.
Judge Richard Schell, one of three judges in the nearest federal court in Sherman, said he will become Plano's first federal judge.
Magistrate Judge Don Bush would split his time between Plano and Sherman.
Once money is approved, Schell said the district's clerk will identify the court's space needs.
"The first step is that the court put together a formal request for space for a courtroom or courtrooms, space for chambers, space for other offices, space for the marshal's service and space for those who are incarcerated or awaiting trial," he said.
Plano has never housed a federal court, judge, magistrate, clerk's office or grand jury.
The Eastern District of Texas has divisions in Beaumont, Marshall, Paris, Sherman, Texarkana, Tyler and Lufkin. The Sherman division includes Collin, Grayson, Cook and Denton counties.
More than 75 percent of the Sherman court's cases originate in Collin and Denton counties.
Thursday, June 17, 2004
WHACKY JAPANESE
Those crazy Japanese are at it again
And now a machine to take the wrist strain out of bukkake evenings.
And now a machine to take the wrist strain out of bukkake evenings.
EARTH CHANGES
UN says globe drying up at fast pace
The world is turning to dust, with vast tracts of land becoming desert wasteland every year and the problem threatening to send millions of people fleeing to greener countries, the United Nations says. The global dessication is driving people into cities and destroying agriculture in vast swaths.
"It's a creeping catastrophe," said Michel Smitall, a spokesman for the U.N. secretariat that oversees the accord. "Entire parts of the world might become uninhabitable."
Hotter city summer nights may be more frequent
Analysis by researchers at Britain's Hadley Center for Climate Prediction in Exeter has shown that the so-called "urban heat island" effect, of heat generated from buildings and vehicles being retained by asphalt and concrete at night, will intensify.
"Cities that now release an average of 20 watts of heat per square meter (yard) will in future release 60 watts more," New Scientist magazine said.
About one billion people at risk of flooding
"On one hand, we have a sea-level rise, a product of global warming. That is happening and will continue to happen.
"More and more people will face a greater likelihood of flooding. The likelihood is that areas already subject to high rainfall will be hit."
-- Dr Roger Few, an environment expert at the University of East Anglia
The world is turning to dust, with vast tracts of land becoming desert wasteland every year and the problem threatening to send millions of people fleeing to greener countries, the United Nations says. The global dessication is driving people into cities and destroying agriculture in vast swaths.
"It's a creeping catastrophe," said Michel Smitall, a spokesman for the U.N. secretariat that oversees the accord. "Entire parts of the world might become uninhabitable."
Hotter city summer nights may be more frequent
Analysis by researchers at Britain's Hadley Center for Climate Prediction in Exeter has shown that the so-called "urban heat island" effect, of heat generated from buildings and vehicles being retained by asphalt and concrete at night, will intensify.
"Cities that now release an average of 20 watts of heat per square meter (yard) will in future release 60 watts more," New Scientist magazine said.
About one billion people at risk of flooding
"On one hand, we have a sea-level rise, a product of global warming. That is happening and will continue to happen.
"More and more people will face a greater likelihood of flooding. The likelihood is that areas already subject to high rainfall will be hit."
-- Dr Roger Few, an environment expert at the University of East Anglia
MARTIAL LAW
Why we need martial law
John Kaminski believes a criminal government is destroying America and that the military must step in to restore Constitution
Our government is out of control. The elections are rigged. The Congress is completely bought off. The White House administration is a gang of criminals who are stealing the nation blind. There is no proper accountability from any department of government. And the United States is conducting two major wars, irresponsibly squandering the lives of our young people, for reasons that everyone in the world knows are lies.
People are being jailed for no reason, illegally tortured while in custody and deprived of due process. Innocent families around the world are being humiliated and killed for no legitimate reason. Our law enforcement apparatus — corrupt courts and cops — are failing to stop obvious crimes committed by the very rich, and assaulting ordinary citizens trying in a lawful manner to protest these injustices.
The American government is criminal enterprise, and American law enforcement is complicit in the crime. The only way to stop the continuing crime spree is by a military takeover and a declaration of martial law. Hundreds of cops, attorneys and judges need to be in jail.
Flashbacks
Children trained to accept Martial Law conditions.
Photos taken close to Nellis Air Force Baseshow what appears to be some kind of concentration camp.
John Kaminski believes a criminal government is destroying America and that the military must step in to restore Constitution
Our government is out of control. The elections are rigged. The Congress is completely bought off. The White House administration is a gang of criminals who are stealing the nation blind. There is no proper accountability from any department of government. And the United States is conducting two major wars, irresponsibly squandering the lives of our young people, for reasons that everyone in the world knows are lies.
People are being jailed for no reason, illegally tortured while in custody and deprived of due process. Innocent families around the world are being humiliated and killed for no legitimate reason. Our law enforcement apparatus — corrupt courts and cops — are failing to stop obvious crimes committed by the very rich, and assaulting ordinary citizens trying in a lawful manner to protest these injustices.
The American government is criminal enterprise, and American law enforcement is complicit in the crime. The only way to stop the continuing crime spree is by a military takeover and a declaration of martial law. Hundreds of cops, attorneys and judges need to be in jail.
Flashbacks
Children trained to accept Martial Law conditions.
Photos taken close to Nellis Air Force Baseshow what appears to be some kind of concentration camp.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Cassini pass reveals moon secrets
The Cassini spacecraft, which is en route to Saturn, has made a close pass of the planet's mysterious moon Phoebe.
The US-European spacecraft made its closest approach to the moon on Friday at 2156 BST at a distance of 2,078km.
Images show a scarred moon pounded by massive impacts that tossed building-sized rocks out on to its surface.
The pictures have already hinted at an ice-rich cosmic body overlain with a thin layer of dark material. One sharply defined crater exhibits two or more layers of alternating bright (icy) and dark material.
GENEVA CON
Interrogation abuses were 'approved at highest levels'
New evidence that the physical abuse of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay was authorised at the top of the Bush administration will emerge in Washington
this week, adding further to pressure on the White House.
The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly.
New evidence that the physical abuse of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay was authorised at the top of the Bush administration will emerge in Washington
this week, adding further to pressure on the White House.
The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly.
BURNING BUSH: PANTS ON FIRE
'Saddam in the bunker' informant killed in strike, but Bush pretends the 'brave soul' is still alive
A Central Intelligence Agency officer reported, based primarily on information provided by satellite telephone from an Iraqi source, that Mr. Hussein was in an underground bunker at the site. That prompted President Bush to accelerate the timetable for the beginning of the war, giving the go-ahead to strikes by precision-guided bombs and cruise missiles, senior intelligence officials said.
But in an interview last summer, Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, of the Air Force, who directed the air campaign during the invasion, acknowledged that inspections after the war had concluded that no such bunker existed.
Various internal reviews by the military and the C.I.A. have still not resolved the question of whether Mr. Hussein was at the location at all.
In the raid, the Air Force primarily used deep-penetrating munitions because of their ability to destroy an underground bunker. The person who was the primary source of the information about the bunker was killed in the raid, according to intelligence officials.
HOWEVER
An interview of President Bush by Tom Brokaw of NBC News aboard Air Force One: New York Times, April 25, 2003. In which Tom Brokaw seems to know that the "asset" was no longer around to talk about whether a certain arabic word meant bunker or refuge or hospital...
Q That human intelligence that we had on the ground, did you hear back from him, I presume?
THE PRESIDENT: We did.
Q And did he --
THE PRESIDENT: He felt like we got Saddam.
Q He did?
THE PRESIDENT: He felt like that, yes. And we're trying, of course, to verify. And before there's any declaration, of course, there will be a lot of evidence.
Q Did you see that famous television video of Saddam the next day, in the glasses, reading out from the notepad and so on?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, yes. I was amused by that, almost as amused by that as I was his PR man -- it was one of the classics -- probably helping NBC Saturday Night Live out mightily, but through his -- it was just unbelievable what he was saying.
But, you know, the people that wonder if Saddam Hussein is dead or not, there's some evidence that says, suggests he might be. We would never make that declaration until we were more certain. But the person that helped direct the attacks believes that Saddam, at the very minimum, was severely wounded.
Q That night?
THE PRESIDENT: That night, yes.
... AND LATER ...
Q I don't want you to give up sources and methods, but the guy who called in the first time -- still with us?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, he is. He is with us. Thank God. A brave soul.
Q That's great.
A Central Intelligence Agency officer reported, based primarily on information provided by satellite telephone from an Iraqi source, that Mr. Hussein was in an underground bunker at the site. That prompted President Bush to accelerate the timetable for the beginning of the war, giving the go-ahead to strikes by precision-guided bombs and cruise missiles, senior intelligence officials said.
But in an interview last summer, Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, of the Air Force, who directed the air campaign during the invasion, acknowledged that inspections after the war had concluded that no such bunker existed.
Various internal reviews by the military and the C.I.A. have still not resolved the question of whether Mr. Hussein was at the location at all.
In the raid, the Air Force primarily used deep-penetrating munitions because of their ability to destroy an underground bunker. The person who was the primary source of the information about the bunker was killed in the raid, according to intelligence officials.
HOWEVER
An interview of President Bush by Tom Brokaw of NBC News aboard Air Force One: New York Times, April 25, 2003. In which Tom Brokaw seems to know that the "asset" was no longer around to talk about whether a certain arabic word meant bunker or refuge or hospital...
Q That human intelligence that we had on the ground, did you hear back from him, I presume?
THE PRESIDENT: We did.
Q And did he --
THE PRESIDENT: He felt like we got Saddam.
Q He did?
THE PRESIDENT: He felt like that, yes. And we're trying, of course, to verify. And before there's any declaration, of course, there will be a lot of evidence.
Q Did you see that famous television video of Saddam the next day, in the glasses, reading out from the notepad and so on?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, yes. I was amused by that, almost as amused by that as I was his PR man -- it was one of the classics -- probably helping NBC Saturday Night Live out mightily, but through his -- it was just unbelievable what he was saying.
But, you know, the people that wonder if Saddam Hussein is dead or not, there's some evidence that says, suggests he might be. We would never make that declaration until we were more certain. But the person that helped direct the attacks believes that Saddam, at the very minimum, was severely wounded.
Q That night?
THE PRESIDENT: That night, yes.
... AND LATER ...
Q I don't want you to give up sources and methods, but the guy who called in the first time -- still with us?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, he is. He is with us. Thank God. A brave soul.
Q That's great.
BUSH BASHING
Retired officials say Bush must go
A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, will explicitly condemn Bush's foreign policy, according to several of those who signed the document.
"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the administration," said William C. Harrop, the ambassador to Israel under President Bush's father and one of the group's principal organizers.
Those signing the document, which will be released in Washington today, include 20 former US ambassadors, appointed by presidents of both parties, to countries including Israel, the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia.
Others are senior State Department officials from the Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations and former military leaders, including retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, the former commander of US forces in the Middle East under President Bush's father. Hoar is a prominent critic of the war in Iraq.
It is unusual for so many former high-level military officials and career diplomats to issue such an overtly political message during a presidential campaign.
Former ambassadors who have signed the joint statement include Jeffrey Davidow, William DePree, Charles Freeman Jr., William C. Harrop, Arthur Hartman, H. Allen Holmes, Samuel Lewis, Princeton Lyman, Jack Matlock Jr., Donald McHenry, Richard Murphy,
David Newsom, Phyllis Oakley, John Reinhardt, Ronald Spiers, Nicholas Veliotes and
Alexander Watson; and Adm. William Crowe, Gen. Joseph Hoar and Adm. Stansfield Turner.
[Now lets see haw many fall victim to one of those mysterious "skiing acidents"]
A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, will explicitly condemn Bush's foreign policy, according to several of those who signed the document.
"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the administration," said William C. Harrop, the ambassador to Israel under President Bush's father and one of the group's principal organizers.
Those signing the document, which will be released in Washington today, include 20 former US ambassadors, appointed by presidents of both parties, to countries including Israel, the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia.
Others are senior State Department officials from the Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations and former military leaders, including retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, the former commander of US forces in the Middle East under President Bush's father. Hoar is a prominent critic of the war in Iraq.
It is unusual for so many former high-level military officials and career diplomats to issue such an overtly political message during a presidential campaign.
Former ambassadors who have signed the joint statement include Jeffrey Davidow, William DePree, Charles Freeman Jr., William C. Harrop, Arthur Hartman, H. Allen Holmes, Samuel Lewis, Princeton Lyman, Jack Matlock Jr., Donald McHenry, Richard Murphy,
David Newsom, Phyllis Oakley, John Reinhardt, Ronald Spiers, Nicholas Veliotes and
Alexander Watson; and Adm. William Crowe, Gen. Joseph Hoar and Adm. Stansfield Turner.
[Now lets see haw many fall victim to one of those mysterious "skiing acidents"]
BIG BROTHER
Fast-tracking frequent flyers through security -- for a fee and a personal background 'internal' exam
Aviation sources tell Time that this week the TSA will announce the launch of a three-month trial of its Registered Traveler program, which will start at five airports, beginning in Minneapolis—St. Paul and then in other cities, including Los Angeles and Houston.
A sort of fast track for frequent flyers, the program aims to let approved passengers use less crowded lanes to the security checkpoints and possibly avoid such routine security measures as removing their shoes and coats.
To gain that privilege, passengers must submit to an extensive background check, including searches of commercial and government databases. After being approved and paying a small annual fee (yet to be determined), they would be issued a card—containing a biometric identifier (a fingerprint, for example) and personal data—that shows they're entitled to the special security treatment.
Proposition to take DNA at arrest stirs privacy fears / Mandatory sampling on November ballot
A man who lost his brother to an unknown serial killer has bankrolled a November ballot measure that would force everyone arrested for a felony in California to provide a DNA sample.
Although backers of the measure say such a greatly expanded DNA database could clear up thousands of unsolved crimes, civil rights activists argue it would give the government access to too much information about too many people.
'DNA is not like a fingerprint, since getting it is more invasive and it holds information beyond mere identification,'' said Tania Simoncelli, a science and technology fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union. 'Storing it permanently for future criminal investigations doesn't comply with the Constitution.''
Son of Patriot Act rises
While activists and politicians work to repeal or change parts of the Patriot Act that they say violate constitutional rights, Patriot Act II legislation -- which caused a stir when it came to light last year -- is rearing its head again in a new bill making its way through Congress.
The bill would strengthen laws that let the FBI demand that businesses hand over confidential records about patrons by assigning stiff penalties (up to five years in prison) to anyone who discloses that the FBI made the demand.
The bill would also let the FBI compel businesses to cooperate with record requests, and it would expand the government's secret surveillance powers over noncitizens in the United States.
The bill, known as the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003, or HR 3179, was introduced last September by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) and was co-sponsored by Rep. Porter Goss (R-Florida), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a possible contender to replace departing CIA chief George Tenet.
Aviation sources tell Time that this week the TSA will announce the launch of a three-month trial of its Registered Traveler program, which will start at five airports, beginning in Minneapolis—St. Paul and then in other cities, including Los Angeles and Houston.
A sort of fast track for frequent flyers, the program aims to let approved passengers use less crowded lanes to the security checkpoints and possibly avoid such routine security measures as removing their shoes and coats.
To gain that privilege, passengers must submit to an extensive background check, including searches of commercial and government databases. After being approved and paying a small annual fee (yet to be determined), they would be issued a card—containing a biometric identifier (a fingerprint, for example) and personal data—that shows they're entitled to the special security treatment.
Proposition to take DNA at arrest stirs privacy fears / Mandatory sampling on November ballot
A man who lost his brother to an unknown serial killer has bankrolled a November ballot measure that would force everyone arrested for a felony in California to provide a DNA sample.
Although backers of the measure say such a greatly expanded DNA database could clear up thousands of unsolved crimes, civil rights activists argue it would give the government access to too much information about too many people.
'DNA is not like a fingerprint, since getting it is more invasive and it holds information beyond mere identification,'' said Tania Simoncelli, a science and technology fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union. 'Storing it permanently for future criminal investigations doesn't comply with the Constitution.''
Son of Patriot Act rises
While activists and politicians work to repeal or change parts of the Patriot Act that they say violate constitutional rights, Patriot Act II legislation -- which caused a stir when it came to light last year -- is rearing its head again in a new bill making its way through Congress.
The bill would strengthen laws that let the FBI demand that businesses hand over confidential records about patrons by assigning stiff penalties (up to five years in prison) to anyone who discloses that the FBI made the demand.
The bill would also let the FBI compel businesses to cooperate with record requests, and it would expand the government's secret surveillance powers over noncitizens in the United States.
The bill, known as the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003, or HR 3179, was introduced last September by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) and was co-sponsored by Rep. Porter Goss (R-Florida), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a possible contender to replace departing CIA chief George Tenet.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
NAVAL GAZING
Seven US carriers 'surge' out to sea
The USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Enterprise have set sail -- meaning the US Navy now has seven of its 12 carriers away from port simultaneously, a major shift from the way carriers have traditionally been used. The two Norfolk-based carriers are participating in the exercise, dubbed 'Summer Pulse 04'.
'Summer Pulse 04' continues through August, with seven carriers conducting joint exercises and international exercises with allies from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia, officials said.
Capt. Michael R. Groothousen, the Truman's commanding officer, said "Terrorists love predictability. If we can start putting some unpredictability into our schedule, it makes it more difficult for any threat out there to determine when to strike."
The other carriers in "Summer Pulse 04" are the Norfolk-based USS George Washington and San Diego-based USS John C. Stennis, which are already deployed; the USS Kitty Hawk, based in Yokosuka, Japan; the Mayport, Fla.-based USS John F. Kennedy; and the USS Ronald Reagan, which left Norfolk last week and is en route to its new home port of San Diego.
Eighteen Royal Navy warships head west
The largest commitment of Royal Navy personnel since the liberation of Iraq 12 months ago has been sent west for huge war games in the Atlantic.
Eighteen warships, led by Fleet flagship HMS Invincible, are taking part in Exercise Aurora, stretching along the eastern seaboard of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico.
Among the ships deployed are helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, assault ship HMS Albion and Type 23 frigates HM ships Marlborough and Sutherland, all sailing in small ‘packets’ to meet up in Norfolk, Virginia.
The linchpin of the deployment is Exercise Rapid Alliance, involving two American carrier battlegroups and a US Marine Corps task force, staging mock invasions.
Also joining the war games are ships and personnel from Canada, Holland, Germany, Peru, Norway, Italy, Denmark, France and Australia.
Major Russian armed forces exercises to be held in June
The Russian Armed Forces will hold major exercises in June 2004, acting Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told President Vladimir Putin.
"In June, permanent alert units will be redeployed from one Russian region to some."
In addition, exercises within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will be held in the Central Asian strategic sector from August to September, the acting defense minister noted.
"The Russian Navy is planning major independent and international campaigns in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea in August-September," Mr. Ivanov said.
The USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Enterprise have set sail -- meaning the US Navy now has seven of its 12 carriers away from port simultaneously, a major shift from the way carriers have traditionally been used. The two Norfolk-based carriers are participating in the exercise, dubbed 'Summer Pulse 04'.
'Summer Pulse 04' continues through August, with seven carriers conducting joint exercises and international exercises with allies from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia, officials said.
Capt. Michael R. Groothousen, the Truman's commanding officer, said "Terrorists love predictability. If we can start putting some unpredictability into our schedule, it makes it more difficult for any threat out there to determine when to strike."
The other carriers in "Summer Pulse 04" are the Norfolk-based USS George Washington and San Diego-based USS John C. Stennis, which are already deployed; the USS Kitty Hawk, based in Yokosuka, Japan; the Mayport, Fla.-based USS John F. Kennedy; and the USS Ronald Reagan, which left Norfolk last week and is en route to its new home port of San Diego.
Eighteen Royal Navy warships head west
The largest commitment of Royal Navy personnel since the liberation of Iraq 12 months ago has been sent west for huge war games in the Atlantic.
Eighteen warships, led by Fleet flagship HMS Invincible, are taking part in Exercise Aurora, stretching along the eastern seaboard of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico.
Among the ships deployed are helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, assault ship HMS Albion and Type 23 frigates HM ships Marlborough and Sutherland, all sailing in small ‘packets’ to meet up in Norfolk, Virginia.
The linchpin of the deployment is Exercise Rapid Alliance, involving two American carrier battlegroups and a US Marine Corps task force, staging mock invasions.
Also joining the war games are ships and personnel from Canada, Holland, Germany, Peru, Norway, Italy, Denmark, France and Australia.
Major Russian armed forces exercises to be held in June
The Russian Armed Forces will hold major exercises in June 2004, acting Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told President Vladimir Putin.
"In June, permanent alert units will be redeployed from one Russian region to some."
In addition, exercises within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will be held in the Central Asian strategic sector from August to September, the acting defense minister noted.
"The Russian Navy is planning major independent and international campaigns in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea in August-September," Mr. Ivanov said.
EARTH CHANGES
27,000 pelicans abandon their nests to places unknown
Wildlife officials estimate nearly 27,000 pelicans have abandoned their summer nesting grounds at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The question is why - and where they went.
'They just left,' said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck. Abandoned were thousands of eggs, which are unlikely to hatch.
The refuge is the home of the largest known nesting colony of white pelicans in North America.
'We don't think they were killed. We think they abandoned their nest,' said Kim Hanson, refuge manager of the Arrowwood complex, which includes Chase Lake. Officials suspect some kind of disturbance -- human or animal -- because some of the remaining birds appear more skittish than usual, Hanson said.
[Of course, they may be "more skittish than usual" because all their neighbours have just disappeared.]
Wildlife officials estimate nearly 27,000 pelicans have abandoned their summer nesting grounds at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The question is why - and where they went.
'They just left,' said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck. Abandoned were thousands of eggs, which are unlikely to hatch.
The refuge is the home of the largest known nesting colony of white pelicans in North America.
'We don't think they were killed. We think they abandoned their nest,' said Kim Hanson, refuge manager of the Arrowwood complex, which includes Chase Lake. Officials suspect some kind of disturbance -- human or animal -- because some of the remaining birds appear more skittish than usual, Hanson said.
[Of course, they may be "more skittish than usual" because all their neighbours have just disappeared.]
TORTURE RULES OK
Lawyers decided bans on torture didn't bind Bush
A team of administration lawyers concluded in a March 2003 legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal antitorture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security.
The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also said that any executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons.
A team of administration lawyers concluded in a March 2003 legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal antitorture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security.
The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also said that any executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons.
Monday, June 14, 2004
REVISION THING
A history of the Iraq war, told entirely in lies
All text is verbatim from senior Bush Administration officials and advisers.
Example: We had the overwhelming support of the Iraqi people. Once we won, we got great support from everywhere.
All text is verbatim from senior Bush Administration officials and advisers.
Example: We had the overwhelming support of the Iraqi people. Once we won, we got great support from everywhere.
POLITICAL ANIMALS
Amoral philosophy driving current political agenda in US
Is United States foreign policy being run by followers of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher whose views were elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government? Suddenly, political Washington is abuzz about Leo Strauss, who arrived in the US in 1938 and taught at several major universities before his death in 1973.
Members of the cognoscenti are becoming aware that key neoconservative strategists behind the Bush administration's aggressive foreign and military policy consider themselves to be followers of Strauss.
The New Yorker's legendary investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh, who noted that Strauss believed the world to be a place where "isolated liberal democracies live in constant danger from hostile elements abroad", and where policy advisers may have to deceive their own publics and even their rulers in order to protect their countries.
Is United States foreign policy being run by followers of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher whose views were elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government? Suddenly, political Washington is abuzz about Leo Strauss, who arrived in the US in 1938 and taught at several major universities before his death in 1973.
Members of the cognoscenti are becoming aware that key neoconservative strategists behind the Bush administration's aggressive foreign and military policy consider themselves to be followers of Strauss.
The New Yorker's legendary investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh, who noted that Strauss believed the world to be a place where "isolated liberal democracies live in constant danger from hostile elements abroad", and where policy advisers may have to deceive their own publics and even their rulers in order to protect their countries.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
WORLD DOMINATION
Massive 'dart' to be launched from space to strike like a meteor
A pair of satellites orbiting several hundred miles above the Earth would serve as a weapons system. One functions as the targeting and communications platform while the other carries numerous tungsten rods -- up to 20 feet in length and a foot in diameter -- that it can drop on targets with less than 15 minutes' notice.
When instructed from the ground, the targeting satellite commands its partner to drop one of its darts. The guided rods enter the atmosphere, protected by a thermal coating, traveling at 36,000 feet per second--comparable to the speed of a meteor. The result: complete devastation of the target, even if it's buried deep underground.
[Even as the Pentagon struggles with the low-tech reality of war in Iraq, it looks to increasingly bizarre-sounding technology for next-gen fighting systems. This article looks at the Pentagon's sci-fi future.]
A pair of satellites orbiting several hundred miles above the Earth would serve as a weapons system. One functions as the targeting and communications platform while the other carries numerous tungsten rods -- up to 20 feet in length and a foot in diameter -- that it can drop on targets with less than 15 minutes' notice.
When instructed from the ground, the targeting satellite commands its partner to drop one of its darts. The guided rods enter the atmosphere, protected by a thermal coating, traveling at 36,000 feet per second--comparable to the speed of a meteor. The result: complete devastation of the target, even if it's buried deep underground.
[Even as the Pentagon struggles with the low-tech reality of war in Iraq, it looks to increasingly bizarre-sounding technology for next-gen fighting systems. This article looks at the Pentagon's sci-fi future.]
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
It's my party and I'll kill if I want to
Crying is not how one 13-year-old Baltimore girl handled a 'betrayal' at her recent birthday party.
When the birthday girl's 'boyfriend' kissed a 12-year-old guest on the cheek at the party, the birthday girl's mother was furious, and ordered her daughter to 'handle your business'. At which point the unfortunate guest, Nicole Ashley Townes, was savagely beaten by six women and girls, including the mother, and sent into a coma.
[While it is still true that violence among boys is a much bigger problem than violence among girls, as measured by arrest statistics, AP reports that while it used to be the ratio was 10 to 1, now it's 4 to 1.]
Crying is not how one 13-year-old Baltimore girl handled a 'betrayal' at her recent birthday party.
When the birthday girl's 'boyfriend' kissed a 12-year-old guest on the cheek at the party, the birthday girl's mother was furious, and ordered her daughter to 'handle your business'. At which point the unfortunate guest, Nicole Ashley Townes, was savagely beaten by six women and girls, including the mother, and sent into a coma.
[While it is still true that violence among boys is a much bigger problem than violence among girls, as measured by arrest statistics, AP reports that while it used to be the ratio was 10 to 1, now it's 4 to 1.]
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US plans to build military training facility in Australia
Australia and the US have moved closer to an agreement on basing a major US military training facility in northern Australia.
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said he discussed the project with his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, during a security conference in Singapore over the weekend and an agreement could be signed as early as next month.
'It's to enhance mutual capability, ensure inter-operability and to assist a critically important ally,' Hill said on ABC Radio. Hill said an agreement in principle on setting up the training facility could be reached at annual bilateral defense talks to be held in Washington next month.
[[A major enhancement of the US military presence in Australia could upset neighbour states like Indonesia, which has in the past bristled at suggestions Australia serves as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
About half the world's oil supplies move through the Indonesia region on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the industrialized world.]]
Australia and the US have moved closer to an agreement on basing a major US military training facility in northern Australia.
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said he discussed the project with his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, during a security conference in Singapore over the weekend and an agreement could be signed as early as next month.
'It's to enhance mutual capability, ensure inter-operability and to assist a critically important ally,' Hill said on ABC Radio. Hill said an agreement in principle on setting up the training facility could be reached at annual bilateral defense talks to be held in Washington next month.
[[A major enhancement of the US military presence in Australia could upset neighbour states like Indonesia, which has in the past bristled at suggestions Australia serves as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
About half the world's oil supplies move through the Indonesia region on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the industrialized world.]]
DEAD PRESIDENT
Goodbye and good riddance to the Gipper
Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, died on Saturday, June 5th, and the airwaves and newspapers covered little else. I found the astounding collective mindset to revere this past president while forgetting or foregoing any of his past that was remotely negative, very disturbing. After all, doing so is a blatant disregard of history.
None of the articles or all-day eulogies mentioned the Iran-Contra crimes, the Savings and Loan scandals, the insider trading and leveraged buy-outs that ruined many an everyday folk, or his "trickle down" economics that coincidentally never trickled to the citizens that actually needed a trickle. Gosh, that sounds ominously familiar.
[Ronald Reagan was a conman. Reagan was a coward. Reagan was a killer.]
Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, died on Saturday, June 5th, and the airwaves and newspapers covered little else. I found the astounding collective mindset to revere this past president while forgetting or foregoing any of his past that was remotely negative, very disturbing. After all, doing so is a blatant disregard of history.
None of the articles or all-day eulogies mentioned the Iran-Contra crimes, the Savings and Loan scandals, the insider trading and leveraged buy-outs that ruined many an everyday folk, or his "trickle down" economics that coincidentally never trickled to the citizens that actually needed a trickle. Gosh, that sounds ominously familiar.
[Ronald Reagan was a conman. Reagan was a coward. Reagan was a killer.]
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Dentist who was writing book about 9-11 hijackers mysteriously falls ill
A dentist who claims he met three of the Sept. 11 hijackers a year before the attacks has mysteriously fallen ill and is on life support.
Dr. David Graham was driving back home from Houston on Saturday night when he became sick. A friend said Graham began suffering organ failure and medical tests show possible poisoning. He is hospitalized in Houston.
Graham is trying to publish a book that claims meetings with the hijackers and another Middle Eastern man who is a Federal fugitive here.
Mike Sledge, a friend of Graham, has a manuscript of Graham's book, 'The Graham Report: The true story of three 9-11 hijackers who were reported to the FBI 10 months before 9-11'.
In the book, Graham claims he met the hijackers at his home town in September 2000 and thought they were plotting an attack on an Air Force Base. He said he reported them to the FBI.
A dentist who claims he met three of the Sept. 11 hijackers a year before the attacks has mysteriously fallen ill and is on life support.
Dr. David Graham was driving back home from Houston on Saturday night when he became sick. A friend said Graham began suffering organ failure and medical tests show possible poisoning. He is hospitalized in Houston.
Graham is trying to publish a book that claims meetings with the hijackers and another Middle Eastern man who is a Federal fugitive here.
Mike Sledge, a friend of Graham, has a manuscript of Graham's book, 'The Graham Report: The true story of three 9-11 hijackers who were reported to the FBI 10 months before 9-11'.
In the book, Graham claims he met the hijackers at his home town in September 2000 and thought they were plotting an attack on an Air Force Base. He said he reported them to the FBI.
MATERIEL GIRL
Madge does the military two-step
Last year, Madonna cut a video for the song that reportedly featured "a runway show of couture army fatigues which escalates into a mad frenzy depicting the catastrophic repercussions and horror of war," Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg explained last February. "This will be a stirring and extremely controversial piece of work from the artist."
But, before it could be premiered, Matt Drudge began to leak details of transvestite soldiers and Madonna tossing a grenade at a George W. Bush look-alike. The resulting outcry from Drudge's core conservative constituency convinced Madonna to back down.
"Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video," Madonna explained in shelving the clip in favour of a neutered flag-waving second cut.
At the time we still believed in weapons of mass destruction. Support for the President and his war was high. And Madonna had sales to worry about.
[A year later, critics have turned and that album has tanked, as has the popularity of the President. More importantly, several hundred thousand concert tickets have gone on sale. So here (again) comes Madonna the anti-war agitator, seeming not so much brave as desperate.]
NEW WORLD ORDER
CIA veteran Ray McGovern on CIA director George Tenet's surprise resignation
"I am more frightened now than at any time over the last three and a half years, that this administration will resort to extra-legal methods to do something to ensure that there are four more years for George Bush. And Ashcroft’s statement last week, gratuitous statement, uncoordinated with the department of, CIA, with the Department of Homeland Security, his warning that there is bound to be a terrorist strike before the US elections.
That can be viewed and this can be reasonably viewed as the opening salvo in the justification for doing, taking measures to ensure that whatever happens in November comes out so that four more years can be devoted to maybe changing that war crimes act or protecting at least these vulnerable people for four more years." -- 27-year veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
"I am more frightened now than at any time over the last three and a half years, that this administration will resort to extra-legal methods to do something to ensure that there are four more years for George Bush. And Ashcroft’s statement last week, gratuitous statement, uncoordinated with the department of, CIA, with the Department of Homeland Security, his warning that there is bound to be a terrorist strike before the US elections.
That can be viewed and this can be reasonably viewed as the opening salvo in the justification for doing, taking measures to ensure that whatever happens in November comes out so that four more years can be devoted to maybe changing that war crimes act or protecting at least these vulnerable people for four more years." -- 27-year veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
MISSISSIPPI LYNCHIN
Man found hanged after land feud
Family members say 55-year-old Roy Veal, found yesterday hanging from a tree in rural Mississippi, had returned home to fight for his family's land.
Doris Gordon, the man's sister her brother had returned to the family home in Wilkinson County 'to help with a lawsuit pending against our family.'
'There are people trying to take part of our land because they apparently think there is oil on the land,' she said.
Thelma Veal, the man's 79-year-old mother, said her son had obtained a map of the property and was collecting documents to prove the family owned the land.
"Now they have found my son hung back there on a tree," said Mrs Veal.
She said her husband owned more than 40 acres in the area southwest of Woodville and that it was being sought because it might have oil deposits.
There is oil production in that area of the state.
"My husband's daddy bought this land in 1926, and I've been here ever since I was 18," she said. "It's our land."
Family members say 55-year-old Roy Veal, found yesterday hanging from a tree in rural Mississippi, had returned home to fight for his family's land.
Doris Gordon, the man's sister her brother had returned to the family home in Wilkinson County 'to help with a lawsuit pending against our family.'
'There are people trying to take part of our land because they apparently think there is oil on the land,' she said.
Thelma Veal, the man's 79-year-old mother, said her son had obtained a map of the property and was collecting documents to prove the family owned the land.
"Now they have found my son hung back there on a tree," said Mrs Veal.
She said her husband owned more than 40 acres in the area southwest of Woodville and that it was being sought because it might have oil deposits.
There is oil production in that area of the state.
"My husband's daddy bought this land in 1926, and I've been here ever since I was 18," she said. "It's our land."
PRESIDENT GORE
He won by half a million votes ..but he's been quite til now...
"In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president.
I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability...
So today, I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation's trust, those who are horrified at what has been done in our name, and all those who want the rest of the world to know that we Americans see the abuses that occurred in the prisons of Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and secret locations as yet undisclosed as completely out of keeping with the character and basic nature of the American people and at odds with the principles on which America stands.
I believe we have a duty to hold President Bush accountable - and I believe we will."
"In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president.
I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability...
So today, I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation's trust, those who are horrified at what has been done in our name, and all those who want the rest of the world to know that we Americans see the abuses that occurred in the prisons of Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and secret locations as yet undisclosed as completely out of keeping with the character and basic nature of the American people and at odds with the principles on which America stands.
I believe we have a duty to hold President Bush accountable - and I believe we will."
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Ribbon of carbon nanotubes the cable for elevator into space
As long as man has been able to stare at the stars the idea has been there, in Jacob's ladder, in the Tower of Babel. It was a mystical dream of something tall enough to reach into the heavens.
What if there were a way, a ribbon slicing through the atmosphere that spacecraft could climb? An extreme version of an elevator that's right out of science fiction by writers like Arthur C. Clarke.
The space elevator starts with a basic platform in the ocean, near the equator. Attached to the platform is a paper-thin ribbon no more than a metre wide that stretches 100,000 kilometres into space, about one-quarter of the way to the moon. There it's tied to a satellite that pulls the ribbon taut and keeps it straight as it orbits in synch with the Earth's rotation.
Spacecraft would ride up the cable on an electrically powered climber that would be fuelled by ground-based lasers shining onto solar panels.
Once above the Earth's atmosphere the spacecraft would be released to orbit the Earth and do whatever business it was sent to do. Or it could ride the elevator right to the end and be thrown toward Mars or Venus.
[Until 1991, scientists were forced to fantasize about a space elevator built with a magic material they called "unobtainium". Then carbon nanotubes were discovered -- hollow carbon tubes 100 times stronger than steel yet so tiny 50,000 of them would fit inside a human hair. Scientists are trying to figure out a way to stretch carbon nanotubes. Right now the longest one they can make is just 1.5 centimetres.]
As long as man has been able to stare at the stars the idea has been there, in Jacob's ladder, in the Tower of Babel. It was a mystical dream of something tall enough to reach into the heavens.
What if there were a way, a ribbon slicing through the atmosphere that spacecraft could climb? An extreme version of an elevator that's right out of science fiction by writers like Arthur C. Clarke.
The space elevator starts with a basic platform in the ocean, near the equator. Attached to the platform is a paper-thin ribbon no more than a metre wide that stretches 100,000 kilometres into space, about one-quarter of the way to the moon. There it's tied to a satellite that pulls the ribbon taut and keeps it straight as it orbits in synch with the Earth's rotation.
Spacecraft would ride up the cable on an electrically powered climber that would be fuelled by ground-based lasers shining onto solar panels.
Once above the Earth's atmosphere the spacecraft would be released to orbit the Earth and do whatever business it was sent to do. Or it could ride the elevator right to the end and be thrown toward Mars or Venus.
[Until 1991, scientists were forced to fantasize about a space elevator built with a magic material they called "unobtainium". Then carbon nanotubes were discovered -- hollow carbon tubes 100 times stronger than steel yet so tiny 50,000 of them would fit inside a human hair. Scientists are trying to figure out a way to stretch carbon nanotubes. Right now the longest one they can make is just 1.5 centimetres.]
BERG WEIRDNESS
Filmmaker Moore says he has footage of Berg interview
Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose incendiary new documentary lambastes President Bush's handling of the war, said Thursday that he has footage unused in the film of Nicholas Berg, the American civilian later beheaded in Iraq.
The footage, of an interview with Berg, 'is approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media,' Moore said in a statement. 'It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family.'
Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose incendiary new documentary lambastes President Bush's handling of the war, said Thursday that he has footage unused in the film of Nicholas Berg, the American civilian later beheaded in Iraq.
The footage, of an interview with Berg, 'is approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media,' Moore said in a statement. 'It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family.'
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