carapace – Not your father's america

Trendio

On Trendio.com, you can bet on the popularity of politicians, sporting teams or events, ideas, stars, natural catastrophies, etc., in fact on any word that makes the headlines. The words are rated according to the number of times they appear in 3000 anglophone media web sites from around the world. Buy the words you believe in, sell the others!
http://www.trendio.com/

======

NOAA Weather Portal

www.weather.gov/climate/

======

Earth could get hotter faster than climate models predict

“Greenhouse gases are known to spur global warming, but scientists said on Monday that global warming in turn spurs greenhouse gas emissions – which means Earth could get hotter faster than climate models predict. Two scientific teams, one in Europe and another in California, reached the same basic conclusion: when Earth has warmed up in the past, due to the sun’s natural cycles, more greenhouse gases have been spewed into the atmosphere. As greenhouse gas levels rose, so did Earth’s temperature, the scientists reported. Earth has not endlessly warmed up, though, becausem these natural solar cycles ended, letting the planet cool down and prompting a corresponding drop in greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists reported. But these previous periods of heating and cooling were not influenced by the burning of fossil fuels, and the current resulting trend toward higher global average temperatures, according to Margaret Torn of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.”

Read more at Reuter’s AlertNet.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22393031.htm

======

HOW CORPORATE AMERICA PERPETUATES THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS

David Sirota, In These Times

In an excerpt from his book ‘Hostile Takeover,’ Sirota reveals how the same politicians who preach about the ‘culture of life’ are too addicted to health industry cash to care about people who can’t afford to see a doctor.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36341/

======

Progressives factored out: The O’Reilly Factor dominated by Republicans, conservatives

A Media Matters study of guests on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor shows that Republican and conservative guests have dominated The O’Reilly Factor during the first four months of 2006.

Read more: http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605220001?src=other

======

Hand-Picked Bush Appointee, Bernard Kerik, To Lead Iraqi Police Training Prepared For Job By Watching A&E Shows On Saddam

http://tinyurl.com/mtzt4

Kerik was the guy who used the donated hotel room for 9-11 rescue workers as a hook-up place for his extra-marital affairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Kerik

From: Poacnewsletter

======

Borowitz Report – dean reassurance shocker

DEAN REASSURES DEMOCRATS: ‘WE WILL FIND A WAY TO SCREW THIS UP’

DNC Chief Determined to Uphold Losing Tradition

Amid a growing belief that there is no way the Democrats can blow the 2006 midterm elections, Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean sought today to reassure the party faithful that the party was “doing everything in its power” to uphold its losing tradition.

At a top-level summit called “Defeat: 2006″ being held in Boston, the former Vermont Governor gave a rousing speech to concerned Democrats, bringing his audience to his feet by vowing, “I can assure each and every one of you, we will find a way to screw this up.”

With President Bush’s approval rating below thirty percent and key Republican members of Congress the targets of ethics probes, many Democrats have been worried that their historic role as losers and sad sacks might come to an abrupt end this November, a fear Mr. Dean attempted to quell today.

“Folks, let’s not forget, we’re Democrats,” Mr. Dean said. “If there’s a way to lose, we will find it.”

Carol Foyler, a longtime Democrat from Bethesda, Maryland who attended the summit, said that she had been worried that the Democrats might somehow pull out a victory in 2006, but added, “Just knowing that Howard Dean is in charge makes me feel much more confident about losing.”

Elsewhere, after a study by the Georgetown School of Medicine said that millions of dollars are wasted on unnecessary medical tests, the American Medical Association said that there might be something wrong with the author of the study and he should come in for a checkup immediately.
http://www.borowitzreport.com/

======

three to see

Deb Milbrath: i’m too busy bitchin

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/18510

Slowpoke: Web of deception

http://workingforchange.speedera.net/www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sp052206.gif

trouble town: bumper sticker history of the bush presidency

http://www.troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.811.gif

blummy

blummy is a free tool for quick access to your favorite web services via your bookmark toolbar.
It consists of small widgets, called blummlets, which make use of Javascript to providerich functionality (such as bookmarklets).
http://blummy.com/

====== 

BATTLEFIELD COOLING

In collaboration with the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Dr. Ellen Glickman, professor of exercisephysiology at Kent State University (Kent, OH), has developed a microclimate cooling system to be placed in soldiers’ boots. Thedevice features a pump that circulates cold water through coils in the boots, with the ultimate goal of lowering the wearer’s core bodytemperature.
One of the deadliest obstacles soldiers face in desert warfare is heat. The gear soldiers wear and carry, which can average about 60 pounds, can contribute 10 additional degrees to the outside temperature, a dangerously significant increase on a 95-degree day.
For more information, visit:
http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20060516A6

====== 

The Bush Administration’s Toxic Cover-Up

Workers at ground zero are getting sick and dying. Bush said it was safe.
Read the full story….
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/57qVob51IcIU/

====== 

AFTER CONGRESS, K STREET BEATS MAIN STREET

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/051606_brief.html

Part of the Washington DC government-industry revolving door has been quantified: 318 former members of Congress currently lobby their former colleagues, according to a new report by PoliticalMoneyLine. They include former Rep. Billy Tauzin, now head of the Pharamaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; former Sen. John Breaux, now at Patton Boggs; former Sen. Don Nickles, who started his own lobbying firm; and former Rep. Jack Quinn, now a vice-president at Cassidy & Associates. Quinn told The Hill, “I was never someone who thought ‘lobbyist’ was a dirty word.” PoliticalMoneyLine’s website lists the clients of former official-turned-lobbyist William Lowery. His friend, current Rep. Jerry Lewis, has been accused of steering government contracts to Lowery’s clients.

SOURCE: The Hill, May 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4808

====== 

Patriot Act e-mail spying approved: 

The Justice Department asks a judge to approve Patriot Act e-mail monitoring without any evidence of criminal behavior.
http://tinyurl.com/kapfx
From: Poacnewsletter

====== 

WIRETAPPING WOULDN’T HAVE PREVENTED 9/11

Larry Beinhart, Buzzflash

History shows that it was secrecy and incompetence that helped the hijackers get on those planes.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/36465/

 

====== 

Vargas reported Bush’s claims about tax cuts, omitted critics’ views

On ABC’s World News Tonight, anchor Elizabeth Vargas noted President Bush’s claim that dividend and capital gains tax cuts passed in 2003 “have helped expand the economy and create jobs,” but she omitted any mention of critics who have challenged the administration’s claims that the tax cuts were responsible for the recent economic growth.
Read more:
http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605190001?src=other

====== 

three to see

Pat Oliphat: you let that crazy general tap my phone?
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/po/2006/po060517.gif

Tony Auth: the polls are falling, the polls are falling
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ta/2006/ta060521.gif

Tom Toles: i’m back (ethics committee)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinion/ssi/images/Toles/c_05212006_520.gif

May 2006 Climate Information Digest  

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society has recently published the May 2006 edition of the Climate Information Digest.  It is available at:
http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/cid/latest/

The IRI Climate Information Digest is a monthly web publication that provides a global overview of recent climate anomalies and their societal impacts (with an emphasis on climatic hazards, health, energy/water resources, and agriculture). This information provides context for the IRI seasonal climate forecasts.
Hot Topics in this month’s issue of the Climate Information Digest include:
Cholera epidemic in Angola exacerbated by heavy rainfall in April
Heavy rainfall and snowmelt prolong flooding along the Danube River

 

====== 

SmartLinks, the latest addition to KaiserEDU.org

With just one-click, access “pre-queried” searches from multiple search engines, on a range of health policy issues.

http://www.kaiseredu.org/smartlinks.asp

 

====== 

Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer 

IAN JOHNSTON

BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a “destructive myth” had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a “kind of paganism” because it harked back to the days of “nature gods” who were responsible for natural events.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. “Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That’s why science and religion need to talk to each other,” he said.

“Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism – it’s turning God into a nature god. And science needs religion in order to have a conscience, to know that, just because something is possible, it may not be a good thing to do.”

Brother Consolmagno, who was due to give a speech at the Glasgow Science Centre last night, entitled “Why the Pope has an Astronomer”, said the idea of papal infallibility had been a “PR disaster”. What it actually meant was that, on matters of faith, followers should accept “somebody has got to be the boss, the final authority”.

“It’s not like he has a magic power, that God whispers the truth in his ear,” he said.

Complete article at:

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=674042006

 

====== 

WHY RELIGION MUST END 

Laura Sheahen, Beliefnet

A leading atheist says people must embrace rationalism, not faith — or they will never overcome their differences.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36195/

 

====== 

UnitedHealth CEO scandal sickening 

Dr. William McGuire worked as a pulmonologist in Colorado Springs in 1985, when he became president of Peak Health Plan of Colorado. A health-care revolution had just begun. Goodbye, Sisters of Charity. Hello, big corporate daddy.  

FULL STORY  http://www.denverpost.com/allewis/ci_3839198

 

====== 

President Bush makes a run for the border for his latest photo op  

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-immi19.html

From: Poacnewsletter

 

====== 

Boot repeated false, misleading claims on NSA domestic spying 

In his Los Angeles Times column, Max Boot mischaracterized the opposition to the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic surveillance programs, offered a misleading defense of the National Security Agency’s reported call-tracking operation, and falsely claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act impeded a pre-9-11 terror investigation.

Read more: http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605190002?src=other

 

====== 

Fellow Americans, do you feel safer yet? 

Marianne Means: The astonishing revelation that anonymous Bush administration spooks are regularly snooping through the telephone records of tens of millions of ordinary Americans with no known criminal or terrorist links is, to put it mildly, quite scary.

Complete article at:

http://p-i.com/cgi-bin/pimail.asp?uid=36689&url=opinion/270548_means18.html

 

====== 

three to see 

Ted Rall: politics of treason

http://www.tedrall.com/

Rob Rogers: da vinci tax code

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/18332/

Chappette: DA Vinci Code: And now the movie!

http://public.globecartoon.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/globecartoon.woa/1/wr?wodata=182491136503897692

Ambedo – Search Engine Tagger

Ambedo can be just about anything you want it to be. We prefer to call it a search engine tagger or something like that. Depending on what you search for, you often need to use different search engines. Ambedo lets you tag search engines to access them quickly.

Ambedo is a front page to many search engines. Ambedo helps you start your searches without going to each search engine’s front page. That saves you a minute or two per search. Ambedo also has a lot of tags and triggers to search for specific items easier. Try searching for “actor tom hanks” and you will search Imdb.com for “tom hanks” without the trouble of going to Imdb.com and entering the search. You can access hundreds of search engines quickly from Ambedo.com.

http://www.ambedo.com/

======

Network-analysis product – National Security Agency

“The equipment that technician Mark Klein learned was installed in the National Security Agency’s “secret room” inside AT&T’s San Francisco switching office isn’t some sinister Big Brother box designed solely to help governments eavesdrop on citizens’ internet communications. Rather, it’s a powerful commercial network-analysis product with all sorts of valuable uses for network operators. It just happens to be capable of doing things that make it one of the best internet spy tools around. ‘Anything that comes through (an internet protocol network), we can record,’ says Steve Bannerman, marketing vice president of Narus, a Mountain View, California, company.”

Learn more in Wired News.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70914-0.html?tw=wn_index_13

From: Future Brief

======

HOW BUSH DESTROYED THE CIA

Sidney Blumenthal, AlterNet

In Porter Goss, the Bush administration found the perfect hatchet man to drive the CIA into the ground. Hayden, the former NSA chief, may oversee its liquidation.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36343/

======

Rep. Murtha and Haditha

JOHN SIFTON, siftonj@hrw.org, http://hrw.org/

Sifton is a researcher with Human Rights Watch. He said today: “Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine colonel, has provided key new facts about the Haditha incident.
If what Rep. Murtha is saying regarding the Haditha incident is indeed true, this can only be considered a serious war crime. Retaliations or revenge killings of civilians are not in a legal gray area, they are war crimes, pure and simple. Unfortunately, the military has a bad record when it comes to holding its personnel, especially officers, accountable for grave misconduct or crimes. Most of the punishments have been limited to administrative penalties, docking of pay, reduction in rank, discharge, etc., rather than criminal sanctions. Yet it’s been six months since the incident; there has been more than enough time to work towards some charges. If the facts are as alleged, it’s time for the responsible parties to be court-martialed. It’s time for real accountability, not fines and slaps on the wrist.”

Sifton added: “Additionally, if what Rep. Murtha is saying is correct, that means that the military’s account of what happened six months ago was flat-out wrong. At the time, the claim had been that an improvised explosive device had gone off, killing the civilians. It now appears that the civilians were shot at close range, execution-style, by the American troops.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

======

Savage: “Jimmy Carter is like Hitler”

On his radio show, Michael Savage declared that former President Jimmy Carter is a “Jew-hater” and a “war criminal” who “is like Hitler” because of his criticism of Israeli policies in the West Bank. Savage also called Carter a “communist, anti-American, anti-Semitic bastard.”

Read more:

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605180005?src=other

======

HHS MOVES CLOSER TO DROWNING IN A BATHTUB

http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0516dhhs.htm

One of twelve units of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is contemplating outsourcing its communications office, reports O’Dwyer’s. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is collecting “proposals from PR firms that can handle its public affairs, publishing, research and web operations.” The firm would replace the agency’s Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer, which employs 32 full-time staff. (Current staff would be offered the “‘right of first refusal’ to outsourced jobs for which they are qualified.”) The agency’s move follows Office of Management and Budget guidelines, which say “‘commercial activities’ performed by government workers should be subject to competition when possible.” The agency carries out an annual report on healthcare quality in each U.S. state, and recently reported that alcohol abuse-related problems cost $2 billion a year in hospital costs.

SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), May 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4809

======

Homeland Security Chief Five Months Ago On National Guard At Border:

Not Trained For The Mission Horribly Over Expensive

http://tinyurl.com/qlv2m

From: Poacnewsletter

======

Sirota: ‘No Boundary Between Big Business and Our Government’

Invasion of the corporate body snatchers. Science fiction? No, they’ve taken over.

Read the full story….

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/I1qVob51Wu6a/

======

Borowitz Report – fed hike shocker

BUSH PRESSES FED CHIEF FOR HIKE IN APPROVAL RATING

President Demands One Percent Increase In Heated Oval Office Meeting

In what insiders described as a heated, occasionally testy Oval Office meeting, President George W. Bush today pressed Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke for a one percent increase in his approval rating.

With the president’s approval rating sinking below thirty percent for the first time in his presidency to an all-time low of twenty-nine percent, Mr. Bush felt that urgent action needed to be taken to boost his sagging statistic.

For that reason, he took the extraordinary step of pulling Mr. Bernanke out of a Fed meeting on inflation and summoning him to the White House to demand that his approval rating be hiked by one hundred basis points, or one percent.

While presidents in the past have leaned on the nation’s central banker to move interest rates up or down, Mr. Bush’s action is believed to be the first time that a Fed chief has been called upon to manipulate a president’s approval rating.

But at the White House today, Mr. Bush defended the move, telling reporters, “It’s time to start thinking outside the box.”

For his part, Mr. Bernanke seemed cool to the President’s argument, issuing the following official statement: “The chairman of the Federal Reserve can change the course of interest rates, but he does not control the world.”

Soon after Mr. Bernanke issued his statement, the president offered his own terse response: “Alan Greenspan could.”

Elsewhere, after scientists said that chimps and humans are more closely related than originally thought, the National Security Agency announced that it would begin eavesdropping on chimps.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

======

three to see

Mikhaela Blake Reid: It’s My Religion!
http://www.mikhaela.net/pictures/toons/myreligion.jpg
Ben Sargent: very latest tax cut
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/bs/2006/bs060518.gif
Jeff Danziger: General Hayden
http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/dancart2784.jpg

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (16 May 2006)

In the News:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:
Typhoon Chanchu
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17277

Java and the Merapi Volcano
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17276

Dust and Smog in Northeast China
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17275

Valley of the Gods, Utah
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17274

Pinnacles National Monument
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17273

Bezymianny Volcano
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17272

Cape Horn
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17271

Mount Ubinas, Peru
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17270

* NASA News

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/

- NASA Launches Satellites for Weather, Climate, Air Quality Studies
- Scientists Use Satellites to Help Detect Deep-Ocean Whirlpools

* Media Alerts

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- Pollution, Greenhouse Gases and Climate Clash in South Asia
- Pollutant Haze Heats the Arctic
- Monster Hurricanes
- Laboratory Scientists Study Soot in Mega-city Pollution
- Scientists Reveal Fate of Earth’s Oceans

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/

- New Hampshire Floods Force 100 People from Homes
- Tropical Storm Leaves Trail of Destruction in Philippines
- Thousands Flee Lava of Indonesia Volcano
- Ecuador Volcano Shows Sign of Activity
- Study Details Quake at San Andreas Fault
- Climate Change Evidence Stronger
- Hurricane Center Chief: Technology is Good
- Magnetic Field Weakening in Stages
- Beijing Suffering Worst Drought in 50 Years
- Earth Safe from Gamma Ray Bursts
- China Expecting Hot and Stormy Summer: Report
- Climate, Not Humans, Said to Have Killed Off Mammoths
- New York Warned to Prepare for Hurricanes
- Experts See Weaker 2006 Hurricane Season
- Officials Prep for Red Tide Outbreak
- Plankton Blooms Linked to Quakes
- Tonga Quake Reveals Tsunami Challenges
- Cell-Phone Towers Double as Weather Forecasters

* New Research Highlights

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/
 

======
  

New England Public Policy Center report pertaining to energy policy in New England is now available on the Boston Fed’s web site

NEPPC Conference Report 05-2

FUELING THE FUTURE: ENERGY POLICY IN NEW ENGLAND
by Antoniya Owens

On December 2, 2005, the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston hosted its first policy symposium, “Fueling the Future: Energy Policy in New England.”  The conference brought together legislators, regulators, business leaders, researchers, and policy advisors in a discussion aimed at identifying key energy policy issues in New England as well as their potential solutions.  As Boston Fed President Cathy Minehan noted in her opening remarks, energy policy is an issue that affects every part of the region; needs clearer information, analysis, and discussion; and has a measurable impact on the region’s economy andpotential for growth.  Through presentations and a panel discussion, the forum highlighted the challenges and opportunities in New England’s energy situation, helping the region continue its tradition
of innovation and creativity in resolving its energy policy issues.

This report summarizes the proceedings of the conference.

Read the full report:
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/neppc/conreports/2005/conreport052.pdf
 

====== 

Foreign-born labor force

Data can be found in the “Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-Born Workers.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/forbrn.nr0.htm

 

====== 

ALL THE WORLD NEWS THAT DIDN’T GET PRINTED

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33238

“Every year, the U.N.’s Department of Public Information (DPI) unveils its list of the world’s 10 most under-reported stories,” reports IPS. This year’s list, released May 15, includes Liberia’spost-war reconstruction, upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, children affected by conflict in Nepal, drought and war in Somalia, problems with tsunami relief efforts, successful efforts to resolve conflicts over water resources, renewed violence in Cote d’Ivoire, and the many challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers. UN DPI head Shashi Tharoor blamed the “if it bleeds it leads” media phenomenon. “Development issues can make good stories too,” he said, calling on “readers, viewers and listeners” to “let editors know that they’d like to see more of such stories.” This year, Malaysia, which chairs the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement, launched the Non-Aligned News Network. Tharoor said the new network had the potential to broaden world news coverage.

SOURCE: Inter Press Service news, May 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4810
 

======
  

Weekly Standard misleadingly touted “data-mining” as “crucial” to terror investigations

A Weekly Standard editorial criticized the Bush administration for not hyping “data-mining,” demonstrated by the National Security Agency’s reported data collection program, as “a crucial tool against unknown mass-murderers.” The editorial offered little to justify the claim that “data-mining” is “a crucial tool,” though there are experts who question the utility of “data-mining” in terrorism investigations — specifically the type of “data-mining” the in which NSA is allegedly engaged.

Read more:

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605160001?src=other

====== 

Editorial: Bush’s immigration conversion

The politics of Bush’s National Guard move raise doubts about his commitment to enforcement.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0517/p08s02-comv.html

 

====== 

Ex-WMD Inspector: Politics Quashed Facts

A year after Bush administration claims about Iraqi “bioweapons trailers” were discredited by American experts, U.S. officials were still suppressing the findings, says a senior member of the CIA-led Iraq inspection team.

At one point, former U.N. arms inspector Rod Barton says, a CIA officer told him it was “politically not possible” to report that the White House claims were untrue. In the end, Barton says, he felt “complicit in deceit.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060514/D8HJAHQ80.html

From: Blackwater Tactical Weekly

 

 

====== 

Bush and Hayden vs. The Law?

“I have two paths in front of me, both of them lawful, one FISA, one the presidential — the president’s authorization.”
– Michael Hayden, National Press Club, January 23, 2006

<http://www.dni.gov/speeches/20060123_speech.htm>

“Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance … may be conducted.”
– FISA; 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2511(f)

<http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/18usc2511.htm>

DOUG CASSEL, doug.cassel@nd.edu, http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=1204

CIA director-nominee Michael Hayden was head of the National Security Agency when its warrantless wiretapping program was reportedly initiated and he has been a leading defender of it since its existence became public.

Cassel is director of Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights. He said today: “The claim of authority to eavesdrop on the phone calls and emails of U.S. citizens rests on a dangerously expansive reading of presidential powers under the Constitution and an indefensible reading of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In short, the eavesdropping program is a federal crime and those responsible for it ought to be prosecuted, not nominated for high public office.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

 

====== 

Borowitz Report – confusion shocker

CONFUSED IMMIGRANTS STAY HOME

Not Sure If They Will Be Welcomed, Shot

As President George W. Bush’s policy on immigration has become increasingly confusing in recent weeks, a growing number of potential illegal aliens have given up trying to figure it out and have decided to stay at home instead.

The confusion over the president’s immigration policy has been at the top of the agenda of the annual meeting of Future Illegal Aliens of America, which is gathering in Juarez, Mexico this week.

The organization, which offers travel tips, restaurant suggestions and other information for those planning to sneak across the border, spent the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to decipher the president’s immigration policy but with no success.

“We do not know whether we will be granted guest worker status or shot on sight by the National Guard,” said Manuel Javier Davalos, who until recently had been considering sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico border. “Just trying to figure out the whole thing makes my head hurt.”

Mr. Davalos said he had been planning to sneak into the U.S. in order to get prescription drug benefits, but added, “President Bush’s prescription drug plan is almost as confusing as his immigration policy.”

At the White House, President Bush said that the addled response from potential illegal aliens was “proof that my policy of intentional confusion is working.”

“By changing my policy on an almost daily basis, I have succeeded in stemming the flow of illegal aliens,” Mr. Bush said. “It’s only a matter of time before the same thing works in Iraq.”

Elsewhere, in an effort to increase his nation’s birth rate, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered citizenship to Britney Spears and husband Kevin Federline.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

 

====== 

three to see

Steve Benson: you’re being bugged

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/pics/051806benson.jpg

Walt Handelsman: immigration reform – reagan

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmwha/2006/tmwha060516.gif

Doug Marlette: thwack thwack

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmdma/2006/tmdma060516.gif

Vibmarks -

A little mashup that lists in one single page the popular links from social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, reddit.com, spurl.net and ma.gnolia.com.

http://www.vibmarks.com/

                              ======
 

FBI – Child Pornography Unit

“Seconds after she announces her presence in an online chat room, the girl is besieged by a half-dozen men who want to know more about her. The edgy online banter is taking place in an AOL chat room ostensibly for women who like older men, but known as a forum for men who want to make contact with girls. The supposed 13-year-old in this case, though, is not a child, but an undercover FBI agent who is working out of the bureau’s main child pornography unit in a suburban Washington office park. The demonstration for an Associated Press reporter was intended to show off the FBI’s growing effort to fight child pornography, which has yielded increases of more than 2000% in arrests and 350% in federal prosecutions over 10 years.”

Learn more in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-05-15-fbi-chat-rooms_x.htm

From: Future Brief

                               ======

  Politics – In pushing for immigration reform, Bush aims to shore up GOP base

The hope is that the move will help his standing – even if the guest-worker plan irks some Republicans.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0517/p10s01-uspo.html

                              ======

Latest Immigration Data

The very latest monthly information on the criminal enforcement of immigration cases shows that January prosecutions were almost 18% higher than they were in December and over 100% higher than they were five years ago. TRAC’s January Monthly Update Bulletin also provides specific data on the most frequently used laws, busiest districts and most active judges.

To see this timely report go to http://trac.syr.edu/immigration and click on “Reports and Bulletins.”

Also note the two reports on Protecting the Borders. Both provide insights about President Bush’s immigration plan.  One report, for example, shows that in the last ten years Border Patrol agents have more than doubled but “apprehensions” of aliens declined by about ten percent. A second report shows that Border Patrol staff increased at a faster rate under President Clinton than in the Bush years. Both reports have sector-by-sector data.

trac@syr.edu
http://trac.syr.edu
                              ======

Angle repeated Rove’s false claim that Bush’s favorability rating is “around 60 percent”

Fox News’ Jim Angle uncritically reported Karl Rove’s assertion that President Bush’s “personal approval rating is around 60 percent.” In fact, recent polling shows that Bush’s favorability ratings have been in the 30s and 40s in 2006, not the 60s.

Read more: 

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605160004?src=other
                              ======

In Afghan Poppy Heartland, New Crops, Growing Danger

Mahmad Naim’s cucumber patch is a speck of defiance in a vast landscape of opium poppy fields whose bright green bulbs, bursting with toxic sap, will bring nearly $1 billion into Helmand province this year. Naim is one of a few thousand farmers in Helmand, the country’s major opium-producing region, who have signed on to a U.S.-sponsored program aimed at proving that legal crops, such as eggplants and tomatoes, can bring a healthy income for those who switch from poppy.

http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=WarReports&file=index&view=1162

From: Blackwater Tactical Weekly

                              ======

Dishonest Budget Gimmick Enables Passage of Irresponsible Tax Cuts

One day after the House passed the $70 billion tax reconciliation measure, the Senate passed it as well, sending the bill to President Bush for his signature. With these tax cuts, this Congress has once again proven itself to be a body determined to shirk fiscal responsibility and kowtow to the regressive, revenue-draining tax policies of this administration. And it was all made possible by a dishonest budget gimmick.

The House easily passed the bill on May 10 by a vote of 224-185 with 15 Democrats joining all but two Republicans. The House long ago approved a version of the tax reconciliation bill centered on extending lower rates of capital gains and dividends.

The extension of these rate reductions that largely benefit the wealthy has been far less popular in the Senate, which even initially passed its version of the tax cut bill without including the capital gains and dividend rate cut extensions. Instead, the Senate focused on tax cuts that primarily benefit upper-middle income Americans, such as adjusting the Alternative Minimum Tax.

When it came time to actually pass the measure, however, the senators caved on the capital gains and dividends issue, appearing to conveniently forget their original misgivings. Three Democrats – Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE), and Mark Pryor (D-AR) – voted along with most Republicans for the bill. Three Republicans – Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and George Voinovich (R-OH) – crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats.

Voinovich expressed his dissatisfaction with current fiscal policy as embodied by the reconciliation bill during a May 3 floor speech, reported on by the Washington Post. Voinovich told colleagues,
…

Complete item at:

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3427/1/441

                              ======

9/11 Commission report is a lie

Richard Curtis, guest columnist: It turns out the oral histories of the New York City firefighters who survived the World Trade Center attacks reveal details about what was happening in those buildings that are completely inconsistent with the tale told by the 9/11 Commission.

Complete article at:

http://p-i.com/cgi-bin/pimail.asp?uid=36689&url=opinion/270284_connellyrebut16.html

Richard Curtis, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of philosophy at Seattle University and a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth; www.st911.org
                              ======
 

Borowitz Report – controversial plan shocker

U.S. MOVES LOU DOBBS TO MEXICAN BORDER

Anchorman To Serve As Barrier To Illegal Immigrants

In his toughest stand yet against illegal immigration, President George W. Bush today announced that he would move CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs to the United States’ border with Mexico.

For Mr. Bush, who one day earlier had announced that he was moving 10,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, the decision to dispatch Mr. Dobbs means that the deployment of Guard troops was no longer necessary.

“It is my belief that America’s most powerful weapon against illegal immigration has always been and will always be Lou Dobbs,” Mr. Bush said in a nationally televised address.

Speaking from his studio in New York, Mr. Dobbs said he would continue broadcasting his nightly “Moneyline” program from the Mexican border while keeping an eye out for illegal aliens trying to sneak across it.

Mexican president Vicente Fox, who was already concerned by Mr. Bush’s decision to send troops to the border, was incensed today by the decision to deploy the CNN anchorman, calling the move “an act of intimidation.”

“I could live with American troops on my border, but Lou Dobbs is another thing entirely,” Mr. Fox told reporters in Mexico City.

While many in Congress questioned the decision to dispatch the newsman to the border, with some expressing concern about the cost of maintaining Lou Dobbs, Mr. Bush strongly defended the move.

“It was a choice between building a massive wall and sending Lou Dobbs,” he said. “Lou Dobbs was cheaper.”

Elsewhere, media mogul Rupert Murdoch threw his support to Sen. Hlllary Clinton (D-NY), as was first reported in the Book of Revelation.

http://www.borowitzreport.com

                              ======

three to see

This Modern World: The revised revised story

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW05-17-06.jpg

David Horsey: national guard heads to the border

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060517/cartoon20060517.gif

Mike Keefe: Bush Tax Cut Extension

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2006/KeefeM20060513.jpg