carapace – Not your father's america

Ethanol Conversion Tank Preparation 

When it comes to preparing fuel storage tanks for the introduction of ethanol-blended fuels, Tanknology is the nationwide leader in tank inspection and conversion preparation services. Our nationwide field service organization allows us to react to customer needs in every corner of the country.
 

Click here to view our new brochure (in PDF format) titled “Converting to Ethanol: What you need to know about converting your USTs to ethanol-blended fuels.”

 

http://www.tanknology.com/pdf/Converting%20to%20Ethanol%20brochure%20PDF.pdf
Click here to view a recent press release on our nationwide ethanol preparation program.

 

http://www.tanknology.com/pdf/Ethanol%20prep%20press%20release%20PDF.pdf

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Beck: different races “afraid to hang out with each other … because we’re afraid … somebody’s gonna sic the NAACP on us”

On his radio show, Glen Beck claimed that one reason different races are “afraid to hang out with each other” is that “we’re afraid … somebody’s gonna sic the NAACP on us.” Beck also urged people to “drop the Ebonics crap” because, he said, “[t]here’s times that I’ve gotten into conversation with people, and I don’t know what they’re saying to me … and I don’t wanna say, ‘What the hell are you even talking about?’ … Let’s speak the same language.” He also stated that “what I say is not racist.”
Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200607220001?src=other

 

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Focus On The Family Launches Anti-Gay Website: ?Dogs Aren’t Born Mooing, And People Aren’t Born Gay?

http://tinyurl.com/qf4hn
From: Poacnewsletter

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Do as I say, not as I do

Greg James, guest columnist: From President Bush all the way down, a quick look finds the “big talkers” in charge and promoting a kind of “do as I say, not as I do” agenda.
Complete article at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/278441_firstperson24.html

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The ‘terrorist’ batting average

JAMES BOVARD

By James Bovard    July 21, 2006

AFTER THE US Supreme Court’s recent decision limiting military tribunals, Congress is scrambling to pass a law regarding trials for detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere. Republicans are threatening to paint Democrats as soft on terrorism if they refuse to rubber stamp the Bush administration’s existing practices, whereby special rules make it far easier to convict “enemy combatants” in tribunals than in federal courts.

 

But, before sanctifying the tribunals, Congress should recognize that the federal government has far more strikeouts than hits when it comes to terrorist suspects.
 

In the six weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the US government rounded up 1,200 people as suspected terrorists, or their supporters. All that was necessary for an Arab illegal immigrant to be considered a suspected terrorist was to encounter FBI agents in New York or New Jersey. None of the detainees proved to have links to the attacks.
The federal government has inflated the “No Fly List” to 200,000 names. But the list has nabbed more members of Congress than it has terrorists. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and US Representative John Lewis have been inconvenienced by it, and anyone named David Nelson is likely to face a major interrogation each time he flies. Federal officials make it very difficult to correct the list, thus tormenting citizens who are guilty of nothing more than having a name resembling a name suspected sometime by some government official.
 

Hundreds of disruptions have occurred at American airports since Sept. 11 after security breaches set off fears of terror attacks. The subsequent lockdowns boosted local television news ratings. Though no terrorists have been apprehended, thousands of Americans have been arrested at airports for violating Transportation Security Administration regulations or other rules.

…
Complete article at:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/07/21/the_terrorist_batting_average/
James Bovard is the author, most recently, of “Attention Deficit Democracy.”

 

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Borowitz Report – massage strategy shocker

BUSH ATTEMPTS TO GIVE KIM JONG-IL FULL-BODY MASSAGE

North Korean Madman Recoils in Horror

In a controversial attempt to break the nuclear stalemate with North Korea, President George W. Bush today tried but failed to give North Korean President Kim Jong-Il a full body massage.

Mr. Bush had been searching for weeks for the proper pretext to meet with Mr. Kim in order to administer the surprise rubdown, White House spokesman Tony Snow confirmed.

“The president believed that there were knots of tension in Kim Jong-Il’s shoulders and neck region,” Mr. Snow told reporters at the White House. “He felt that once those knots were removed, Kim Jong-Il would be more amenable to abandoning his nuclear program.”

The president contacted the North Korean madman and told him that he wanted to arrange a one-on-one meeting to discuss a full range of issues, but never disclosed that his real agenda was to give President Kim a full-body massage.

Mr. Bush arrived in Pyongyang early Sunday morning, fully armed with a secret cache of massage oils and ointments, Mr. Snow said.

Just minutes into their first negotiation session, the president crept up behind Mr. Kim and attempted to rub his neck, causing the North Korean strongman to recoil in horror.

“No one touches Kim Jong-Il,” Mr. Kim reportedly barked. “Not even Kim Jong-Il.”

For his part, Mr. Snow said that Mr. Bush is “staying the course” in his massage strategy and has scheduled a 4:00 Wednesday appointment with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military denied reports that prisoners at Abu Ghraib are still being abused and said that the hoods being worn by detainees there are the most comfortable in the world.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

David Horsey: i have a dream

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060723/cartoon20060723.gif

Minimum security: Ready, set, rapture

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sm071906.jpg

Signe Wilkinson: do you have dummies guide to black people?

http://www.uclick.com/feature/06/07/21/wpswi060721.gif

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society has recently published the July 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 edition of the Climate Information Digest include:

- Multiple heavy rain events cause damaging floods in southern and eastern China and Taiwan

- Torrential rainfall and flooding in the northeastern United States affects several hundred thousand people

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National Criminal Justice Reference Service – Weekly Accessions List

The website is a weekly listing of documents added to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database. The database provides an electronic listing of documents located onsite at NCJRS. It contains abstracts of more than 185,000 criminal justice publications, including federal, state, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, documents, and unpublished research on a wide range of criminal and juvenile justice topics.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/wal.html

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Cavuto’s Middle East experts: Ann Coulter and Bo Dietl

On Your World, Neil Cavuto turned to Ann Coulter and private investigator Richard “Bo” Dietl for insight into the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. In separate interviews, Coulter declared that, if she were president, she would first “deport all liberals” and then focus on the Middle East, while Dietl, answering a question about Hezbollah’s finances, suggested that Turkey is seeking to reinstitute “the Ottoman Empire” by “overpopuliz[ing]” [sic] Germany.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200607210007?src=other

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Faced with almost daily reports of sectarian carnage in Iraq, congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the war from speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the difficulty of the mission and pointing up mistakes in planning and execution.

http://tinyurl.com/kmsuy

From: Poacnewsletter

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THE AUTHORITARIAN STREAK IN THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

John Dean, AlterNet

The despotic personality types we see in the Bush White House have their origins in the amoral politics practiced by the low-lifes of the Nixon administration.

http://www.alternet.org/story/39275/

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VIETNAM VS. IRAQ

http://poll.gallup.com/videoArchive/?CI=23608
“A lot of people talk about comparisons between the Iraq war and the Vietnam war,” says the Gallup polling organization’s Frank Newport. Since Gallup has been taking opinion polls throughout both wars, it is able to make some meaningful statistical comparisons between the two. Newport reviews the data and points out that in the case of Vietnam, it took three years for the majority of Americans to decide that the war was a mistake, whereas that point was reached in Iraq within less than a year and a half. “When we compare the two wars,” he says, “it took longer for Americans to sour on the Vietnam war than it took for Americans to sour on the war in which the country is involved now.”

SOURCE: Gallup, July 10, 2006

For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4968

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Christian Zionists Lobby Congress

RABBI HAIM BELIAK, haim@jewsonfirst.org,

http://www.jewsonfirst.org, http://www.christianzionism.org

Co-founder of the Jews on First website and member of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism, Rabbi Beliak said today:”‘Christian Zionism’ is an extreme modern apocalyptic movement that shares with Nazi philosophy the paranoid idea that Jews and Judaism are the central actors in the world. Both movements seek the eventual dismantling of the Jewish people and Jewish faith — one by death (Nazism) and the other by conversion to Christianity of a remnant of Jews, who will finally learn their ‘lesson’ from the death of most of the Jewish people at Armageddon.
“‘Christian Zionism’ entirely ignores Jewish/Zionist aspirations for ‘normalcy.’ Zionism was to be a new start for Judaism and the Jewish people living enlightened lives in peace. Instead, Christian Zionism encourages the Israeli government and the so-called American Jewish leadership on a path toward enmity with the Palestinians and disrespect for Islam.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Join our fight for real American values

DefCon America is dedicated to combating the growing power of the religious right on all fronts, including their assault on stem cell research.

The President has claimed that his stem cell research veto is about values – but you and I know these are far from the real values that most Americans share.

Instead, the President has adopted the extreme so-called “values voter” agenda of right-wing ideologues like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson.

While the President’s misguided veto was a momentary victory for the religious right, your incredible work on this issue showed that they have a serious fight on their hands. From the Senate’s overwhelming passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, to the tens of thousand of emails sent to the President prior to his veto, DefCon members like you led this fight for health and hope.

Now, you can count on us – DefCon – to continue this critical fight. But we need your help.

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=6637

While the religious right was able to hold sway over the President, defeating our stem cell effort, the truth is their agenda is failing. Instead of focusing on critical issues for America like the war in Iraq, the energy crisis, and serious environmental concerns like global warming, they are throwing out smokescreen “value votes” like flag burning and gay marriage. And they are losing. They are losing because a majority of Americans do not support their extreme right-wing agenda.

Now is the time when we can most effectively fight their stranglehold on America.

Over the next few months, we plan an all-out assault – DefCon’s REAL American Values Campaign. We plan to wage a full-scale, aggressive campaign to counter and combat the religious right at every level including:

continuing our fight for stem cell research at the state level;

defending sound science education, including fighting intelligent design in states like Kansas;

continuing our aggressive media campaign to expose the religious right’s agenda and their improper influence over our elected officials;

continuing to mobilize the tens of millions of Americans opposed to the religious right, and working to draft them into our Army of DefCon defenders; and organizing local counter events to the upcoming right-wing focused Values Voters Summit in Washington D.C this September (more on this soon!).
But we need your support to help fund our fight. Your contribution of $10, $25, or $50 can help us rescue America from the extremists who are masquerading as patriotic Americans. It’s time for people like you and me – people with real American values – to topple the Religious Right.

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=6637

Support the fight today. And thank you for all you have already done.

Sincerely,
Jessica, Clark and the rest of the DefCon Team

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Religious right looking a little weary

Marianne Means: It is hard to reconcile the image of Ralph Reed, pious boy wonder, however, with the money-grubbing buddy of Washington’s latest poster bad boy. Georgia voters were right not to try the stretch.

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/278424_means23.html

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three to see

Tom Toles: it says no right here

http://www.buffalonews.com/graphics/2006/07/20/0720toles.jpg

Deb Milbrath: presidential signing statements – presidential vetos

http://www.milbrathdraws.com/archives/2006/07/20.jpg

Ted Rall: politicans, who never ever lie

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/trall/2006/trall060722.gif

Jeteye

Jeteye is committed to making it easy to create web pages composed of any kind of content, easy to manage access and privacy controls for organizing, sharing and collaboration, all with a focus on empowering the human touch on the Web.

http://www.jeteye.com/about/index.html

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HOT AND BORED

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11676

For the past couple of years, global warming skeptics have been bashing climate researcher Michael Mann, claiming that fraud or errors created his so-called “hockey stick” graph showing dramatic increases in the temperature of the earth in the last decade. Now a panel of top climate scientists convened by the National Academies of Science (the leading scientific association in the United States) has vindicated Mann’s conclusions in a new, 155-page report which finds that the Earth was hotter in the last few decades of the 20th century than it has been over the last 400 years and possibly longer. Of course, that’s not good enough for PR industry eco-basher Al Caruba, who responds that he is “bored with global warming.” Caruba’s column, which provides ample evidence that he has not bothered to read the NAS report, trots out the usual skeptic rhetoric and concludes by reiterating his “utter boredom” with the subject. (If he’s that bored, why does he keep ranting about it?)

SOURCE: National Academies of Sciences, June 22, 2006

For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4970

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The Homeland Security Department wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars last year on iPods, dog booties, beer-making equipment and designer jackets, congressional investigators have concluded.

http://tinyurl.com/n2gp3

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NY Times, CNN reported Bush signed “fetal farming” ban, failed to note there is no such thing as “fetal farming”

In their coverage of President Bush’s recent veto of embryonic stem cell legislation, The New York Times and CNN reported that Bush also signed a bill that day banning “fetal farming” — creating embryos or fetuses specifically for use as a source of cells or tissue. But neither noted that “fetal farming” is neither being carried out, nor is it “under serious scientific consideration,” as National Public Radio’s Julie Rovner reported.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200607220003?src=other

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Ethanol Turns Into A Pricey Alternative

Yankton Daily Press – Yankton,SD,USA

For Midwestern consumers accustomed to seeing ethanol-blended fuels cost less than regular gasoline, current pump prices may come as a surprise.
…
http://www.yankton.net/stories/071706/community_20060717021.shtml

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Israel at War: Analysis of Goals

TRITA PARSI, tp@tritaparsi.com, http://www.tritaparsi.com,

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33983

A specialist in Israeli-Iranian relations, Parsi wrote the article “Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon.” He said: “Recalling Hezbollah’s close ties to Iran and Syria, both Washington and Tel Aviv argue that the recent clashes must have the support and blessing of these two states. … Such a conclusion rests on the assumption that Tehran and Hezbollah could have predicted Israel’s reaction to the ambush and kidnaping of two Israeli soldiers. … Israel’s heavy-handed response, which risks embroiling the entire region in a war, is rather unprecedented and unlikely to have been predicted by Hezbollah, despite Israel’s shelling of the Gaza strip after Palestinian fighters took an Israeli soldier prisoner.”
Parsi added: “An overextended United States may embolden Israel’s enemies, who may be tempted to test Israel’s resolve and ability to uphold its tough posture. Through its crushing response and by expanding the conflict, Israel seeks to conceal this potential vulnerability and signal the Arabs to abandon any adventurous ideas that the U.S. difficulties in Iraq may have given them.”
Parsi is the author of “Treacherous Triangle — The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States,” scheduled for publication next year.
From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Christian Zionists Lobby Congress

The BBC reported on July 19: “More than 3,400 evangelical Christians have arrived in Washington to lobby lawmakers as part of the first annual summit of Christians United for Israel. Delegates have come from all 50 states and have 280 meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, [main organizer] Pastor John Hagee said.”
Rev. Dr. DONALD WAGNER,

dwagner@northpark.edu, http://www.christianzionism.org
Rev. Wagner is professor at North Park University in Chicago and a founding member of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism. He said today: “Briefly stated, Christian Zionism is a movement within Protestant fundamentalism that understands the modern state of the country-region Israel as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and thus deserving of political, financial, and religious support. Christian Zionists work closely with the Israeli government, religious and secular Jewish Zionist organizations, and are particularly empowered during periods when the more conservative Likud Party is in control of the Knesset.
“The current conflict in Lebanon will accelerate Christian Zionists’ interest in and support for Israel’s objectives and will push the U.S. towards unconditional support for Israel. Many of the Christian Zionists may interpret this as a prelude to the battle of Armageddon and the final end-times scenario. We and our organization find that to be a misinterpretation of the Bible, and it is rather politically myopic. Further, it has no particular compassion for the suffering of innocent civilians, among them Arab Christians, Muslims and Jews.”
Wagner is the author of “Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Is this creep-show catastrophe biblical?

by Elizabeth Palmberg
SojoMail 7-19-2006

At press time, more than 60 million copies have been sold of a mediocre yet extremely popular fiction that, under the cover of an improbable adventure plot, peddles an ideologically driven, wildly unbiblical theology.

I’m talking, of course, about the Left Behind series of books. (Da Vinci what? Never read it). Actually, while The Da Vinci Code is also reported to have sold 60 million copies, for Left Behind the 60 million is an umbrella figure covering Left Behind, its 11 sequels and three prequels, another series of 40 kids’ books, and several more series of novels, plus associated audiobooks, graphic novels, devotionals, and, of course, the upcoming video game. So, while its reach may not be as wide as Dan Brown’s, its fans are invested deeply enough to buy book after book.

Here, I’ve chosen to focus on the third film, Left Behind: World at War, because it was released in churches (the first two films had tanked at the box office). A reported 3,000 congregations, including a number of megachurches, elected to screen the film last October, often billing it as an evangelistic opportunity. But it’s not an entirely gospel message that this film gave its viewers, churched and unchurched – and it’s not just a spiritual kind of warfare that it urges upon the faithful.

…

Complete article at:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5485

Elizabeth Palmberg is assistant editor of Sojourners.

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Borowitz Report – Mideast threat shocker

MIDEAST CRISIS THREATENS BUSH’S VACATION

August Ranch Stay in Jeopardy, President Says

The widening crisis in the Middle East took on graver proportions today when President George W. Bush indicated that if the hostilities continue they could threaten his traditional August vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

At a press briefing at the White House, the president said that if Hezbollah continued their rocket attacks on Israel, he would see those attacks as “an assault on my vacation itself.”

“Throughout the civilized world, my summer vacation has been considered sacrosanct,” Mr. Bush told reporters. “The time has come for Hezbollah to recognize my vacation’s right to exist.”

If Mr. Bush seemed testier than usual at the White House briefing, perhaps it was because he has recently suspected that there is a global conspiracy to spoil his downtime, starting with North Korean President Kim Jong-Il’s decision to launch six test missiles on the 4th of July.

“No one wrecks my vacations,” Mr. Bush said with steely resolve. “Not on my watch.”

While the President has been concerned about the escalating crisis in the Middle East, he has reportedly been even more troubled by the situation on his ranch, where clumps of brush have been growing out of control all summer.

Mr. Bush has set a firm August 1 deadline for returning to his ranch to deal with the brush, and he said today that he expects Hezbollah to abide by that deadline.

“If August 1 comes and goes and I am not clearing that brush, Hezbollah will have hell to pay,” Mr. Bush said.

Elsewhere, actress Pamela Anderson and singer Kid Rock have announced plans to marry, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

trouble town (Lloyd Dangle): bush @ g8

http://www.troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.820.gif

bennelli brothers

http://bennellibrothers.com/blog/archives/karl_rove_bob_novak.gif

Mike Keefe: Shuffle Diplomacy

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2006/KeefeM20060722.jpg

DealsPl.us

 The site to find the latest deals/bargains on a variety of items

 Members can bookmark deals directly to their profile by clicking on the green + logo

 Not only do members submit the deals they also decide what deals make it to the front page

Users contribute posts on shopping deals they find and community votes determine the importance of a bargain, bringing it to the front page

http://www.dealspl.us/

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Pew Internet has a new report on a national survey of bloggers

A national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family.

View PDF of Report

http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP%20Bloggers%20Report%20July%2019%202006.pdf
From: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp

 

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Environmentalist Challenges Move To Grain-Based Ethanol

CattleNetwork.com – Stanley,KS,USA
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)–An agricultural economist and founder of a Washington-based environmental think tank said Thursday that the focus on ethanol to reduce reduce reliance on petroleum-based fuels is ill advised.

…
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=52749

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PICKUP LINES

http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/568875
Sales of gas-guzzling pickup trucks are softening due to high gasoline prices, so PR Week reports that the Ford Motor Company has launched a series of PR stunts aimed at pumping up sales to country folk, including sponsoring a monster truck rally, NASCAR races, and a marketing arrangement with country singer Toby Keith to have a video play at the beginning of Keith’s concerts, showing him driving an F-series pickup. Meanwhile Toyota, “one of the few automakers currently doing very well,” is holding seminars to talk up the fuel efficiency of its hybrid pickups. Which strategy is working? Ford’s CEO has talked big about being an environmentalist for years, but has repeatedly reneged on its promises to build more fuel-efficient vehicles while his company loses money and market share. “Had Mr.Ford produced more fuel-efficient vehicles like hybrids sooner,” observes the New York Times, “he not only would have found his company keeping pace with nimble foreign competitors like Toyota when oil prices spiked, but he also would have been able to illustrate the bottom-line merit of his environmental values. Instead, Ford, is again in the all-too-familiar spot of playing corporate catch-up.”

SOURCE: PR Week, July 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4979

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“We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage,” says congressman, about a pledge that was rewritten by a socialist 178 years after the country was founded

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2212573

From: Poacnewsletter

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O’Reilly’s memory lapse: claimed he has “never said liberal America wants the USA to lose in Iraq”

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly claimed he has “never said liberal America wants the USA to lose in Iraq.” Media Matters for America has found numerous examples in which he has asserted that very thing.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200607200003?src=other

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Israel at War: Analysis of Goals

ROBERT DREYFUSS,

rcd48@cox.net, http://www.robertdreyfuss.com,
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/07/17/neocons_rise_from_mideast_ashes.php
Author of the recent book “Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam,” Dreyfuss said: “Israel’s actions in no way can be seen as a legitimate response to the small-scale attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah. Instead, what Israel has done has used the pretext of those pin-prick attacks — a couple of border raids and a handful of errant rockets — to launch a strategic attack whose goals are to crush Hamas and the remaining institutions of Palestinian self-rule and decapitate and destroy Hezbollah politically and militarily in Lebanon. Second, it’s clear that Israel would never have launched this war without having made the calculation that it would win the support of the United States. … Third, by invading and bombing Lebanon and acting brutally to crush the Palestinian Authority, Israel has created a unified field theory of the Middle East’s crises, uniting the escalating world showdown with Iran, the unraveling civil war in Iraq, the crisis over Syria’s role in Lebanon, and the Arab-Israeli conflict itself into one big tangle.
“Until last week, before Israel went to war, the neoconservatives were losing across the board. They watched in horror as the war in Iraq faltered, and they were appalled by President Bush’s Condi-led opening to Iran. Indeed, to many it seemed as if the entire post-9/11 project to remake the Middle East and build American hegemony on that cornerstone was in jeopardy. … Now that Israel is at war, they have the chance once again to go on the offensive, against Iran, in Iraq, against Syria and against the mythical Terrorist International that they warn about so regularly.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Bush far from neutral player in Mideast

Helen Thomas: By failing to intervene and play its traditional role of peacemaker, however, the U.S. has lost the great esteem it once commanded with all the people in the Middle East.

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/278312_thomas21.html

Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail: helent@hearstdc.com. Copyright 2006 Hearst Newspapers.

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Borowitz Report – Bush expletive shocker

BUSH NAMES SYRIA, IRAN TO ‘AXIS OF ASSHOLES’

President’s Obscenity-Laden Keynote Address Rocks G-8 Summit

Days after using an expletive in discussing the Middle East conflict with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President George W. Bush’s potty mouth was at it again, this time in a 45-minute obscenity-laden keynote address to the G-8 summit.

It was a startling performance for the President, who used the raunchy, paint-peeling address to name Iran and Syria to what he called “The Axis of Assholes.”

Mr. Bush said that the role played by the two nations in the ongoing conflict with Israel was evidence of “a larger pattern of asshole behavior.”

Calling on all of the G-8 leaders to take part in what he termed “the war on assholes,” the President closed with a stirring exhortation: “Are you with us, or are you with the assholes?”

Many of the G-8 leaders in attendance seemed taken aback by the President’s remarks, which seemed at times more appropriate for an appearance on Howard Stern’s radio program than for a diplomatic summit.

“This was not the sort of language one expects from the President of the United States,” said Russian president Vladimir Putin. “This is more what you’d expect from Dick Cheney.”

Moreover, President Bush seemed to be taking a calculated risk in his raunchy keynote address, since any call for a united front against assholes could offend many of the assholes in attendance.

“The President’s remarks were ill-considered and uncalled-for,” said prominent asshole Jacques Chirac.

Elsewhere, what scientists originally thought was a gigantic new planet in the solar system has turned out to be film director M. Night Shyamalan’s ego.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

David Horsey: cutest little stem cells

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060720/cartoon20060720.gif
Ben Sargent: another casualty

http://www.uclick.com/feature/06/07/21/bs060721.gif
Signe Wilkinson: as long as no embryos were hurt

http://www.uclick.com/feature/06/07/21/wpswi060721.gif

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“VETS FOR FREEDOM,” THE 2006 VERSION OF SWIFT BOAT VETS

http://newyorkmetro.com/news/intelligencer/17676/
Geoff Gray writes, “what looks to be a 2006 version of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has formed. The putatively grassroots organization called Vets for Freedom has been offering up decorated, interview-ready soldiers to, as its website puts it, “promote the unbiased, nonpartisan truth of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to educate the public and mobilize public support for the Global War on Terror.” Their offensive started in April, when former Bush press secretary Taylor Gross … tempted newspaper editors … with inexpensive war coverage—’unbiased perspectives’ that ‘would not be at any significant cost.’ Gross had no takers. Then, over Memorial Day, Owen West, a Goldman Sachs commodities trader, Marine reservist, and adventure-book author published an op-ed in the Times in which he lashed out against war opponents … John Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, thought the Vets Website looked suspiciously un-grassroots. … The group’s Website is hosted by Campaign Solutions, a high-profile political consultancy that does Republican-campaign web work. Clients have included Bush-Cheney-04 and the Swift Boat Vets. ‘Vets for Freedom are the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ of the ’06 cycle, says Stauber.”
SOURCE: New York magazine, July 24, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4980

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We are all part of an American society that continues to silently watch as our government pursues a foreign policy that threatens the very future of our democracy.

http://tinyurl.com/qvjvq

From: Poacnewsletter

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Limbaugh distorted news reports to falsely suggest they didn’t identify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization

Rush Limbaugh deceptively cropped a series of news reports on the recent violence in the Middle East to falsely suggest the reports didn’t identify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. In fact, each of the news reports Limbaugh cited mentioned that Hezbollah is an organization devoted to destroying the state of Israel and either called it a terrorist organization or noted that the United States and Israel describe the group as such.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/200607190007?src=other

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AntiAstroturfing: HomePage

AntiAstroturfing

Please support this campaign by adding this image to your blog or website and linking it back to this page. If you have any problems with this, please contact Paull Young.

About

This page has been created to provide a list of resources concerning astroturfing, while also stating the goals of the Anti-Astroturfing campaign and showcasing a list of PR professionals who oppose the practice.

Paull Young and Trevor Cook started this campaign, sparked by the The PRIA and Astroturfing post at Young PR.

http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=AntiAstroturfing.HomePage

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Israel at War: Analysis of Goals

ILAN PAPPE,

pappe@poli.haifa.ac.il,
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=10590

Currently in Haifa, Ilan Pappe is senior lecturer in the University of Haifa Department of Political Science and Chair of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian Studies in Haifa. He said: “The Israeli army’s main vision for the battlefield is today still that of ‘shock and awe’ rather than chasing snipers, suicide bombers and political activists. The ‘low intensity’ war questions the invincibility of the army and erodes its capability to engage in a ‘real’ war. … In the last week, [Israeli generals] have had a field day. No more random use of one-kilo bombs, battleships, choppers and heavy artillery. The weak and insignificant new minister of defense, Amir Perez, accepted without hesitation the army demand for crushing the Gaza strip and grinding Lebanon to dust. But it may not be enough. It can still deteriorate into a full-scale war with the hapless army of Syria, and [the generals] may even push by provocative actions towards such an eventuality. And, if you believe what you read in the local press here, it may even escalate into a long-distance war with Iran, backed by a supreme American umbrella. … It is not too late to stop the Israeli designs from creating a new and terrible reality on the ground. But the window of opportunity is very narrow and the world needs to take action before it is too late.”
Pappe is author of “Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” scheduled for publication this fall.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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three to see

Ted Rall: the h-word
http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/trall/2006/trall060720.gif
Steve Benson: holy s%@*!
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/pics/072006benson314.jpg
Jeff Danziger: War, Gas Price
http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/dancart2851.jpg

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (18 July 2006)

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

* Latest Images:
Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17340

Tsunami Strikes Java
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17339

Tenerife Island, Spain
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17338

Fires in California
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17337

Land Between The Lakes
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17336

Impact of Polluted Skies on Clouds and Climate
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17335

Sulfur Dioxide from Soufriere Hills Volcano
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17334

Suncook River Shifts Course
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17333

* NASA News
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/

- NASA Explains Puzzling Impact Of Polluted Skies On Climate

* Media Alerts
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- Centuries of Land-Use Practices Profoundly Impact Earth System
- Climate Change Not the Only Factor Controlling Distribution of Plant Species
- Hurricane Prediction Model to be Built by Florida State
- Alpine Glaciers Could All But Disappear Within this Century

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/

- More Lava Flows from Philippine Volcano
- Droughts Could Boost Global Warming
- Tropical Storm Billis Kills 115 in China
- European Satellite to Boost Weather Forecasting, Climate Research
- NASA Explains Puzzling Impact of Polluted Skies on Climate
- One the Rise: The Thames in 2100
- Colombia Volcano Provokes Alert
- Massive Chunk Falls from Eiger Mountain
- North Atlantic Warmer Than Normal
- ‘Brown Tide’ Blooms in Washington’s Waters
- Study: Europe’s Glaciers Could Disappear this Century
- Climate Change Threatens Wineries

* New Research Highlights
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

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BRAIN-MIMICKING COMPUTER

Scientists at the University of Manchester (Manchester, UK) have begun to construct a “brain box” computer, a computer designed to mimic the neural interactions of the brain. The ultimate goal is to determine, among other brain functions, how the brain records visual scenes and how mental processes are performed when not all of the component neurons work properly, a condition called “fault tolerance.” The researchers involved hope the new type of computer will help in the design of fault tolerant electronics in the future and make them more reliable.
For more information, visit: http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20060718A8

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Environmentalist Challenges Move To Grain-Based Ethanol

CattleNetwork.com – Stanley,KS,USA

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)–An agricultural economist and founder of a Washington-based
environmental think tank said Thursday that the focus on ethanol to reduce
…
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=52749

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Time: “[Y]ou could argue” Bush “has made a career of … holding fast” to unpopular positions

In an article on President Bush’s threat to veto legislation expanding federal funding for stem cell research, Time magazine reported that “you could argue” that Bush “has made a career of … holding fast to positions that many voters reject, as a sign of strength in these dangerous times.” In fact, as Media Matters for America and many others have pointed out, Bush has a long history of reversing course on issues, particularly when it is politically expedient or necessary to do so.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200607180003?src=other

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Delay’s Replacement Raising More From Lobbyists And Corporate PACs Than DeLay

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/15/boehner-corporate-donations/

From: Poacnewsletter

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THE GROWING THREAT OF RIGHT-WING CHRISTIANS

Onnesha Roychoudhuri, AlterNet

Michelle Goldberg says progressives need to wake up and pay attention to the enormous — and growing — influence of the radical Christian right.

http://www.alternet.org/story/38830/

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Religion is not a primary need

John F. McBride, guest columnist: One need look no further than the Middle East and Israel’s battle with Islam and Islam’s battle with Judaism to be totally baffled by human nature and to cause one to doubt the outcome of humanity’s struggle to survive.
 …

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/277844_religion18.html

 

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USGAO Global War on Terrorism

Global War on Terrorism:  Observations on Funding, Costs, and Future Commitments, by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO-06-885T, July 18.

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-885T

Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06885thigh.pdf

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Borowitz Report – north korean talent shocker

SURPRISE SUMMER TV HIT: ‘NORTH KOREA’S GOT TALENT’

Kim Jong-Il’s First-Ever Reality Show Heats Up the Nielsens

Just weeks after taunting his neighbors and the West with a provocative missile test, North Korean president Kim Jong-Il has launched his first-ever reality show, a surprise summer hit called “North Korea’s Got Talent.”

Hosted by the diminutive dictator himself, the televised talent showcase has been heating up the Nielsens ever since it debuted, with approximately 100% of all North Korean TV viewers watching it.

“It helps that the marketing campaign has been so strong,” says Davis Logsdon, who studies North Korean television trends at the University of Minnesota. “Also that Kim Jong-Il has forced all North Koreans to watch it under penalty of death.”

The North Korean talent show ignores such talents as singing, dancing and juggling in favor of talents that the North Korean dictator favors, such as reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods.

Other talents showcased include goose-stepping, saber-rattling, and kidnapping innocent Japanese citizens.

North Korean viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite contestants, a system that has had more than its share of glitches, according to Mr. Logsdon: “The biggest problem has been trying to teach the audience what ‘voting’ means.”

While the West was apparently blindsided by Kim Jong-Il’s entry into the reality TV field, Mr. Logsdon says the move should not have been a surprise.

“It’s natural that Kim Jong-Il would do a show called ‘North Korea’s Got Talent,’” he said. “What would have been truly surprising is a show called ‘North Korea’s Got Food.’”

Elsewhere, in a budget-cutting move, The New York Times announced that it would trim its page size, changing its motto to “All the News That Fits.”

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

This Modern World: Helpful advice for Connecticut Dems

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW07-19-06.jpg

Mike Keefe: Stem Cell Research

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2006/KeefeM20060719.jpg

Monte Wolverton: Playing the Last Card

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/20879/