carapace – Not your father's america

Free anonymising browser debuts 

The program hides your data in a crowd of other users

Web users worried about privacy can now use a modified version of Firefox that lets them browse the net anonymously.

The Torpark browser has been created by a hacking group and uses technology backed by digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Torpark uses its own network of net routers to anonymise the traffic people generate when they browse the web.

The browser can be put on a flash memory stick so users can turn any PC into an anonymous terminal.

Hide and seek

The Torpark tool has been created by Hacktivismo – an international coalition of hackers, human rights workers, lawyers and artists.

Torpark uses the Tor network of internet routers set up by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that already has tens of thousands of regular users.

Whenever any computer connects to the net it freely shares information about the address it is using. This is so any data it requests is sent back to the right place.

The Tor network tries to stop this information being shared in two ways. First, it encrypts traffic between a computer and the Tor network of routers – this makes it much harder to spy on the traffic and pinpoint who is doing what.

…

Complete article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5363230.stm

or go to

http://torpark.nfshost.com/index.php

Torpark

Welcome to the official Torpark homepage. Torpark is a program which allows you to surf the internet anonymously. Download Torpark and put it on a USB Flash keychain. Plug it into any internet terminal whether at home, school, work, or in public. Torpark will launch a Tor circuit connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer indirectly to a Tor exit computer, allowing you to surf the internet anonymously. How much does Torpark cost? IT’S FREE.

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Hacktivismo

ABOUT HACKTIVISMO

Hacktivismo is a group of international hackers, human rights workers, artists and others who seek to further the goals of human rights through technology. They operate under the aegis of the CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc). Hacktivismo is committed to developing technologies in support of the highest standards of human rights.

More at:

http://www.hacktivismo.com

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CNN uncritically reported disputed claim that Zubaydah interrogation led to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
 

CNN’s Kelly Arena uncritically reported U.S. government officials’ claim that the interrogation of Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah and terrorism suspect Ramzi bin al-Shibh led to the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Arena failed to note evidence indicating that the interrogation of Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh had little to no impact on Mohammed’s capture.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609220021?src=other

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Remember the notorious Office of Special Plans in the run-up to the Iraq war?

Say hello to the new version for invading Iran

At:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6108983

From: Poacnewsletter

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#11 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is a impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

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#11 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

#11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed

Sources:

Independent/UK, May 22, 2005
Title: Revealed: “Health Fears Over Secret Study in GM Food”
Author: Geoffrey Lean

Organic Consumers Association website, June 2,2005
Title: “Monsanto’s GE Corn Experiments on Rats Continue to Generate Global Controversy”
Authors: GM Free Cymru

Independent/UK, January 8, 2006
Title: GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed”
Author: Geoffrey Lean

Le Monde and Truthout, February 9, 2006
Title: “New Suspicions About GMOs”
Author: Herve Kempf

Faculty Evaluator: Michael Ezra
Student Researchers: Destiny Stone and Lani Ready

Several recent studies confirm fears that genetically modified (GM) foods damage human health. These studies were released as the World Trade Organization (WTO) moved toward upholding the ruling that the European Union has violated international trade rules by stopping importation of GM foods.

Research by the Russian Academy of Sciences released in December 2005 found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed GM soy died within the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers fed on non-modified soy. Six times as many offspring fed GM soy were also severely underweight.

In November 2005, a private research institute in Australia, CSIRO Plant Industry, put a halt to further development of a GM pea cultivator when it was found to cause an immune response in laboratory mice.1
In the summer of 2005, an Italian research team led by a cellular biologist at the University of Urbino published confirmation that absorption of GM soy by mice causes development of misshapen liver cells, as well as other cellular anomalies.

In May of 2005 the review of a highly confidential and controversial Monsanto report on test results of corn modified with Monsanto MON863 was published in The Independent/UK.

Dr. Arpad Pusztai (see Censored 2001, Story #7), one of the few genuinely independent scientists specializing in plant genetics and animal feeding studies, was asked by the German authorities in the autumn of 2004 to examine Monsanto’s 1,139-page report on the feeding of MON863 to laboratory rats over a ninety-day period.

The study found “statistically significant” differences in kidney weights and certain blood parameters in the rats fed the GM corn as compared with the control groups. A number of scientists across Europe who saw the study (and heavily-censored summaries of it) expressed concerns about the health and safety implications if MON863 should ever enter the food chain. There was particular concern in France, where Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen has been trying (without success) for almost eighteen months to obtain full disclosure of all documents relating to the MON863 study.
…

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

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GLOCK SHOCK IN IRAQ (OR, WHAT THE LINCOLN GROUP DID LAST YEAR WITH YOUR $19 MILLION)

At:

http://www.alternet.org/story/41479

Willem Marx, a recent graduate from Oxford, dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. He applied for an internship in which he would “pitch story ideas” and “interact with the local media” in Iraq. That’s how the U.S. government-funded Lincoln Group advertised it. Sent off to Baghdad with virtually no training, Marx was soon packing a loaded Glock and helping buy good press for America–$3 million in cash in his apartment safe and another $16 million coming for “news,” PR and advertising. Until, he writes, he could bear no more. “We were…to create something called a Rapid Response Cell…

Working in the violent cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, the journalists would be paid by Lincoln Group to report news that bolstered the U.S. military message.” That included advance notice of “breaking stories” in order to ensure that the reporters would “‘positively’ portray events before the insurgency could put out its own account.” Marx’s account has stimulated a lively discussion on

Alternet.org and offers an epilogue to CMD’s The Best War Ever.

SOURCE: Harper’s, September 2006 

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

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5191

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ROBERTSON PREDICTS HOLY WAR

Free Market News Network – Pompano Beach,FL,USA

… Broadcasting Network’s The 700 Club about Pope Benedict XVI’s recent controversial comments about Islam and Al Qaeda’s reaction, host Pat Robertson stated: “[W …

Complete article at:

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=21888

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U.S. Has Highest Infant Mortality, Lowest Life Expectancy, Compared With More Than 20 Industrialized Nations, Report Finds

Access this story and related links online:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=39954
The U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate and lowest life expectancy rate for residents older than age 60 among almost two dozen industrialized nations worldwide, according to a report published Wednesday on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, Gannett/Hattiesburg American reports (Wheeler,
Gannett/Hattiesburg American, 9/20). For the report, researchers for the Commission on a High Performance Health System at the Commonwealth Fund examined 37 indicators of health outcomes, quality, access, equity and efficiency developed by the Institute of Medicine, HHS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and other experts. According to the report, the U.S. overall scored an average of 66 out of a possible 100 on the health indicators and did not score highest on any of the indicators (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 9/20). The report finds that the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as other industrialized nations in relation to gross domestic product. In addition, the report finds that 61 million U.S. residents lacked health insurance or did not have adequate coverage in 2003 (Young, Bloomberg/Miami Herald, 9/21).

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Renouncing Bush’s Failures Is a Start

The president’s onetime lapdogs should also rethink the extremist ideology that got us here.

By Todd Gitlin,

TODD GITLIN is a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and the author, most recently, of “The Intellectuals and the Flag.”

September 23, 2006
IN RECENT MONTHS, Republicans have begun to discover that their leader is not the paragon they once thought he was.

Perhaps he is not a conservative at all but a deficit-mongering big-government advocate, a world-changing radical in disguise and a cultivator of global anti-Americanism. Perhaps, from Baghdad to Kabul to New Orleans, bungling is not the exception but the rule because he and his inner circle hold planning, the law, diplomacy and even reason in contempt.

Suddenly, Republicans as well as Democrats are urging the defenestration of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld — the Titanic chair-shifter’s way of acknowledging a fiasco in Iraq. George Will savaged President Bush for a “triumph of unrealism.” Embattled Connecticut Republican Rep. Christopher Shays lurched from “stay the course” to “phased withdrawal.”

Just last month, conservative talk-show host Joe Scarborough asked, “Is Bush an Idiot?” In May, the popular right-wing KABC-AM (790) talk-show host Doug McIntyre declared: “I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush…. I have been shocked repeatedly by a consistent litany of excuses, alibis, doubletalk, inaccuracies, bogus predictions and flat-out lies…. After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush, I’ve reached the conclusion he’s either grossly incompetent or a hand-puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works. Or both.”

Such reconsiderations are all to the good, and not only for the practical purpose of evacuating a sinking ship. The recantation mood is a sign of maturity.

But apologies, while worthy, are never enough. To help make right what has gone badly wrong, they also must lead to rethinking.

Because 1930s analogies are back in vogue, consider that it was incumbent upon conservatives who were dismayed by Neville Chamberlain at Munich in 1938 to inquire into the worldview that led him to appease Adolf Hitler. Likewise, as conservatives never cease to remind those on the left, it was perfectly reasonable to tell the Soviet Union’s fellow travelers to examine the fantastical credulity with which they persuaded themselves to overlook the depredations of Lenin and Stalin. To learn from our greatest misconceptions is, of course, a prime reason we study history.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-gitlin23sep23,0,520903.story?track=tothtml

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three to see

David Horsey: military manpower shortage

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20090924/Cartoon20060924.gif

Jeff Danziger: Political Gas, Gas Price, Republican Campaigns

http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/dancart2915.jpg

Sandy Huffaker: i brung what i could find

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/24277/

Pixsy

Pixsy collects visual material from thousands of providers across the web, resulting in millions of photos and videos for you to search and browse. Traditional image search engines take a mathematical approach to search, with the focus entirely on relevancy. With Pixsy, you can search for both photos and videos by “relevance”, “category”, “provider”, or “freshness”.

At:

http://www.pixsy.com/

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#10 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican

Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

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#10 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

Sources:

The New Yorker, December 2005
Title: “Up in the Air”
Author: Seymour M. Hersh

Tomdispatch, December 2005
Title: “An Increasingly Aerial Occupation”
Author: Dahr Jamail

Community Evaluator: Robert Manning
Student Researcher: Brian Fuchs

There is widespread speculation that President Bush, confronted by diminishing approval ratings and dissent within his own party as well as within the military itself, will begin pulling American troops out of Iraq in 2006. A key element of the drawdown plans not mentioned in the President’s public statements, or in mainstream media for that matter, is that the departing American troops will be replaced by American airpower.

“We’re not planning to diminish the war,” Seymour Hersh quotes Patrick Clawson, the deputy director of the Washington Institute, whose views often mirror those of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. “We just want to change the mix of the forces doing the fighting—Iraqi infantry with American support and greater use of airpower.”

While battle fatigue increases among U.S. troops, the prospect of using airpower as a substitute for American troops on the ground has caused great unease within the military. Air Force commanders, in particular, have deep-seated objections to the possibility that Iraqis will eventually be responsible for target selection. Hersh quotes a senior military planner now on assignment in the Pentagon, “Will the Iraqis call in air strikes in order to snuff rivals, or other warlords, or to snuff members of their own sect and blame someone else? Will some Iraqis be targeting on behalf of al-Qaeda, or the insurgency, or the Iranians?”

Dahr Jamail reports that the statistics gleaned from U.S. Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) indicate a massive rise in the number of U.S. air missions—996 sorties—in Iraq in the month of November 2005.

The size of this figure naturally begs the question, where are such missions being flown and what is their size and nature? It’s important to note as well that “air war” does not simply mean U.S. Air Force. Carrier-based Navy and Marine aircraft flew over 21,000 hours of missions and dropped over twenty-six tons of ordnance in Fallujah alone during the November 2004 siege of that city.

Visions of a frightful future in Iraq should not overshadow the devastation already caused by present levels of American air power loosed, in particular, on heavily populated urban areas of that country. The tactic of using massively powerful 500 and 1,000 pound bombs in urban areas to target small pockets of resistance fighters has, in fact, long been employed in Iraq. No intensification of the air war is necessary to make it commonplace. Jamail’s article provides a broad overview of the air power arsenals being used against the people of Iraq.

A serious study of violence to civilians in Iraq by a British medical journal, The Lancet, released in October 2004, estimated that 85 percent of all violent deaths in Iraq are generated by coalition forces (see Censored 2006, Story #2). 95 percent of reported killings (all attributed to U.S. forces by interviewees) were caused by helicopter gunships, rockets, or other forms of aerial weaponry.1 While no significant scientific inquiry has been carried out in Iraq recently, Iraqi medical personnel, working in areas where U.S. military operations continue, report that they feel the “vast majority” of civilian deaths are the result of actions by the occupation forces.

Given the U.S. air power already being applied largely in Iraq’s cities and towns, the prospect of increasing it is chilling indeed. As to how this might benefit the embattled Bush administration, Jamail quotes U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski:

“Shifting the mechanism of the destruction of Iraq from soldiers and Marines to distant and safer air power would be successful in several ways. It would reduce the negative publicity value of maimed American soldiers and Marines, would bring a portion of our troops home and give the Army a necessary operational break. It would increase Air Force and Naval budgets, and line defense contractor pockets. By the time we figure out that it isn’t working to make oil more secure or to allow Iraqis to rebuild a stable country, the Army will have recovered and can be redeployed in force.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

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4 of 5 Executives Consider Outsourcing Pension Plan Management

- September 20, 2006 –

Major changes in pension plan rules are fueling a trend toward outsourcing plan management, with 81 percent of executives responding to a Quick Poll reporting they will consider it. The results of the poll, released on Monday, also indicate that 42 percent of participating U.S. and Canadian plan sponsors remain committed to their defined benefit plans.

“Executives are correctly identifying this watershed event as an opportunity to reevaluate the value that managing a pension plan internally brings to the organization,” said Jim Morris, Senior Vice President, Retirement Solutions for SEI Global Institutional Group. “While there is still a large contingent that appears to remain strongly committed to the benefit, that does not mean they aren’t questioning their organization’s role in management of the plan. They are realizing that the new funding rules will bring significant challenges in the years ahead for companies who choose to implement investment management internally.”

…

Complete article at:

http://tinyurl.com/kb9ey

AccountingWEB.com

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US: Spy Agencies Outsourcing to Fill Key Jobs

At:

http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14120

From: Poacnewsletter

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O’Reilly claimed to be on Al Qaeda “death list,” but that’s news to FBI, others at Fox News

Bill O’Reilly’s claim to be on an Al Qaeda “death list” has reportedly been disputed by an FBI official and a “correspondent” at Fox News.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609210009?src=other

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LETELIER-MOFFITT ASSASSINATION 30 YEARS LATER

National Security Archive calls for Release of Withheld Documents Relating to Pinochet’s Role in Infamous Act of Terrorism in Washington, D.C. on September 21, 1976

Archive releases new document on CIA approach to Manuel Contreras on Operation Condor

For more information contact:
Peter Kornbluh
202/994-7000

At:

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington, DC, September 20, 2006 – On the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and his American colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, the National Security Archive today called on the U.S. government to release all documents relating to the role of General Augusto Pinochet in the car bombing that brought terrorism to the capital city of the United States on September 21, 1976.

Hundreds of documents implicating Pinochet in authorizing and covering up the crime were due to be declassified under the Clinton administration but were withheld in the spring of 2000 as evidence for a Justice Department investigation into the retired dictator’s role. After more than six years, according to Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Archive’s Chile Documentation Project, it is time to release them. “If there is not going to be a legal indictment,” Kornbluh said, “the documents can and will provide an indictment of history.”

The Archive today released a declassified memo to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reporting on a CIA approach in early October 1976 to the head of the Chilean secret police, Manuel Contreras, regarding U.S. concerns about Operation Condor assassination plots. The secret memo, written by Kissinger’s deputy for Latin America, Harry Schlaudeman, noted that Contreras had denied that “Operation Condor has any other purpose than the exchange of intelligence.” While the car bombing in downtown Washington, D.C. that killed Letelier and Moffitt took place on September 21, 1976, the memo contains no reference to any discussion with Contreras about the assassinations–even though DINA was widely considered to be the most likely perpetrator of the crime. In 1978, Contreras was indicted by a U.S. Grand Jury for directing the terrorist attack.

The document was obtained by Kornbluh under the Freedom of Information Act.

The memorandum to Kissinger adds to a series of documents that have been obtained by the National Security Archive that shed light on what the U.S. government knew about Operation Condor–a collaboration of Southern Cone secret police services to track down, abduct, torture, and assassinate opponents in the mid and late 1970s–and what actions it took or failed to take prior to the Letelier-Moffitt assassination.

The Archive also released a second memo from Schlaudeman to Kissinger reporting on a cable from U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay Ernest Siracusa voicing his concerns on presenting the Condor demarche. Siracusa, the memo suggests, feared that he would become a target of Operation Condor if he followed his diplomatic instructions, and recommended that Schlaudeman approach Uruguay’s ambassador to Washington instead. In his memo to Kissinger dated August 30, 1976, Schlaudeman spelled out the U.S. position on Condor assassination plots: “What we are trying to head off is a series of international murders that could do serious damage to the international status and reputation of the countries involved.”

Kornbluh noted that neither the CIA memorandum of conversation with Contreras nor the Sircusa cable has been declassified and urged the Bush administration to release all records relating to Operation Condor and the Letelier-Moffitt case. “Amidst today’s ongoing effort against international terrorism,” he noted, “it is important to know the full history of the failure of U.S. efforts to detect and deter a terrorist plot in the heart of Washington, D.C.”

http://www.nsarchive.org

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The Oliver North File: His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs Collection (posted in 2004) of “diaries, e-mail, and memos of Iran-contra figure Oliver North, …

[which] directly contradict his criticisms … of Sen. John Kerry’s 1988 Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee report on the ways that covert support for the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s undermined the U.S. war on drugs.” Includes a summary and scanned images of the documents. From the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

At:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/

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Facts Beyond the Bush Speech at the UN

STEPHEN ZUNES, zunes@usfca.edu,

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3531

Zunes is Middle East editor for the Foreign Policy In Focus Project and wrote an annotated critique of Bush’s speech. Zunes pointed out that while Bush quoted a letter from Arab and Muslim intellectuals to justify his policies, the same letter also stated: “the main problem with U.S. policies in the Middle East (in particular in Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere) is precisely their failure to live up to America’s democratic ideals of liberty and justice for all.”

Zunes noted: “The letter also called on President Bush to ‘break with 60 years of U.S. support for non-democratic regimes in the region, and to make that known to the world in unequivocal terms’ and ‘to press for an end to regime repression of democratically spirited liberal and Islamist groups, and to emphatically distance itself from such repression and condemn it in the strongest terms whenever and wherever it occurs.’ There is no indication that the Bush administration intends to change its policies, however.” Zunes is a professor of politics and the author of the book “Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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WILLIE HORTON REDUX: KAREN HUGHES BREAKS HER SILENCE

by John H. Brown

Karen Hughes, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, has been strangely silent this summer. The Bush confidante sworn in with much hoopla nearly a year ago to fix America?s image overseas has had practically nothing to say recently about pressing issues of the day. Why? Was it a desire on her part to take a break from the demands of her job? Or did her lack of knowledge about the Middle East require her to be unheard if not unseen?

But now, upon the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Hurricane Karen, as she is known in Bush circles (or at least was until Katrina brought the President?s poll numbers down), has chosen to let her views about the state of the world be better known, in a September 12 article in the national daily USA Today.

Unfortunately, Hughes’s just published global tourd?horizon, reminiscent of a sanctimonious small-town sermon, reflects much that has been wrong with American public diplomacy with her at the helm. Her 928-word piece, “Where’s the Outrage: A United World Must Resolutely Condemn Terror” shows Hughes – and her notions about America?s place on our small planet -; at their worst, for several reasons:

For the rest of this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5176

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Borowitz Report – Lewinsky 2008 Shocker

Andy in NYC Monday Night!

Win a Free Copy of “The Republican Playbook”

The third season of Andy’s live show kicks off on Monday, September 25 at Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction. Andy will be signing copies of his new book, “The Republican Playbook” and will be joined by Jimmy Carr, Dean Obeidallah, John Oliver of “The Daily Show,” and much much more! Mo Pitkins is located at 34 Avenue A between 2nd and 3rd Street. Doors at 8; show begins at 8:30. Tickets only $6 at the door or at www.ticketweb.com.

And now, breaking news:

Lewinsky Mulls ’08 Run

Former White House Intern Offers Self as Alternative to Hillary

In a development that could drastically alter the playing field of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky confirmed today that she was considering making a bid for the Democratic nod in 2008.

According to those familiar with her political plans, Ms. Lewinsky plans to offer herself as an alternative to the presumptive frontrunner in the race, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York).

Rumors of Ms. Lewinsky’s intentions spread like wildfire this week when the erstwhile intern made a series of stops in New Hampshire, location of the nation’s first presidential primary.

Wearing a midnight blue cocktail dress, Ms. Lewinsky drew large crowds across the state, suggesting that she could be a real threat to Ms. Clinton in a head-to-head race.

“Voters are worn out from George Bush, Iraq and the war on terror,” said Democratic voter Jayson Tenzer, who attended one of Ms. Lewinsky’s New Hampshire rallies. “Monica Lewinsky means good times.”

According to Professor Davis Logsdon of the political science department at the University of Minnesota, offering herself as an alternative to Sen. Clinton could be a successful strategy for Ms. Lewinsky: “It’s worked before.”

And while some Democratic insiders worry that Ms. Lewinsky lacks the political know-how to be President of the United States, Professor Logsdon does not share those concerns: “Monica Lewinsky has actually had more experience in the Oval Office than Hillary Clinton has.”

Elsewhere, one day after President Hugo Chavez appeared at the United Nations and called him “Satan,” President Bush said, “I think he has me mixed up with Cheney.”

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Bad Reporter(Don Asmussen): hugo chavez

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/pictures/2006/09/22/092206-950×315-badreporter.gif

David Horsey: how the iraq reconstruction team was chosen

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060921/cartoon20060921.gif

M.e Cohen: : Half and Half

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/24213/

Ethanol’s dirty little secrets

Globe and Mail – Canada

… So it is with the Ontario and federal governments, which are spinning their pro-ethanol campaigns as consumer-friendly solutions to our energy and …

At:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060919.RREGULY19/TPStory/Business

(registration req’d)

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Indiana Sues Swift Boater’s New Attack Group

At:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001547.php

From: Poacnewsletter

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Media ignored front-page Washington Post report that White House hampered Iraq rebuilding efforts by hiring unqualified individuals based on “loyalty to the Bush administration”

A Media Matters for America review of cable and broadcast networks and major newspapers showed no coverage of a September 17 front-page Washington Post report by Rajiv Chandrasekaran detailing the process by which many individuals who “lacked vital skills and experience” were assigned to positions in the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq based on their “loyalty to the Bush administration.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609190006?src=other

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#9 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

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#9 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall

Sources:
Left Turn Issue #18

Title: “Cementing Israeli Apartheid: The Role of World Bank”
Author: Jamal Juma’

Al-Jazeerah, March 9, 2005
Title: “US Free Trade Agreements Split Arab Opinion”
Author: Linda Heard

Community Evaluator: April Hurley, MD
Student Researchers: Bailey Malone and Lisa Dobias

Despite the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision that called for tearing down the Wall and compensating affected communities, construction of the Wall has accelerated. The route of the barrier runs deep into Palestinian territory, aiding the annexation of Israeli settlements and the breaking of Palestinian territorial continuity. The World Bank’s vision of “economic development,” however, evades any discussion of the Wall’s illegality.

The World Bank has meanwhile outlined the framework for a Palestinian Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) policy in their most recent report on Palestine published in December of 2004, “Stagnation or Revival: Israeli Disengagement and Palestinian Economic Prospects.”

Central to World Bank proposals are the construction of massive industrial zones to be financed by the World Bank and other donors and controlled by the Israeli Occupation. Built on Palestinian land around the Wall, these industrial zones are envisaged as forming the basis of export-orientated economic development. Palestinians imprisoned by the Wall and dispossessed of land can be put to work for low wages.

The post-Wall MEFTA vision includes complete control over Palestinian movement. The report proposes high-tech military gates and checkpoints along the Wall, through which Palestinians and exports can be conveniently transported and controlled. A supplemental “transfer system” of walled roads and tunnels will allow Palestinian workers to be funneled to their jobs, while being simultaneously denied access to their land. Sweatshops will be one of very few possibilities of earning a living for Palestinians confined to disparate ghettos throughout the West Bank. The World Bank states:

“In an improved operating environment, Palestinian entrepreneurs and foreign investors will look for well-serviced industrial land and supporting infrastructure. They will also seek a regulatory regime with a minimum of ‘red tape’ and with clear procedures for conducting business. Industrial Estates (IEs), particularly those on the border between Palestinian and Israeli territory, can fulfill this need and thereby play an important role in supporting export based growth.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

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Bush at the UN: Peace and Prosperity?

President Bush’s address to the United Nations today followed his statement yesterday that “the goals of this country are to help those who feel hopeless, the goals of this country are to spread liberty, the goals of this country is [sic] to enhance prosperity and peace.”

CHRIS TOENSING, ctoensing@merip.org, http://merip.org

Editor of Middle East Report, Toensing said today: “The more stress Bush lays on ‘democracy promotion,’ the more the world will be reminded of actual U.S. policy — everything from Washington’s leadership of an international aid embargo on the democratically elected Palestinian government to Washington’s continued backing for autocrats in Cairo and Riyadh to a Canadian inquiry’s finding yesterday that U.S. officials kidnapped a completely innocent man [Maher Arar] and ‘rendered’ him to a Syrian dungeon for torture.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

three to see

R.J. Matson: don’t let it rub off on me

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/060919/matson.gif

Mr. Fish (Dwayne Booth): what is it?

http://www.cagle.com/working/060919/booth.jpg

Trouble Town (Lloyd Dangle): we do not torture

http://troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.829.gif

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory 19 September 2006

In the News:

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

* Latest Images:
Hurricane Gordon strokes the Azores
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17403

Day Fire, Southern California
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17402

Crater Lake, Oregon
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17401

Hurricane Gordon
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17400

Carrara Marble Quarries
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17399

Clouds Streets off the Amery Ice Shelf
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17398

Grand Canyon
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17397

Fires in the Western U.S.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17396

* NASA News

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/
- Growth in Amazon Cropland May Impact Climate and Deforestation Patterns
- Scientists Test Recently Launched NASA Satellites
- Arctic Ice Meltdown Continues With Significantly Reduced Winter Ice Cover
- Warming Climate May Put Chill on Arctic Polar Bear Population
- NASA Sees Rapid Changes in Arctic Sea Ice

* Media Alerts

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/
- Team Describes Unique Cloud Forest
- New Launch Date for Europe’s First Polar-Orbiting Weather Satellite
- Stratospheric Injections Could Help Cool Earth
- Changes in Solar Brightness Too Weak to Explain Global Warming
- Round-the-Clock Monitoring Contributes to Air Quality Study
- Researchers Link Human Activities to Rising Ocean Temperatures in Hurricane Formation Regions

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/
- China’s Dangerous Dust Bowl
- Helene Strengthens to Category Three
- Scientists Baffled by Decline in Great Lakes Water Levels
- Hurricane Lane Leaves Destruction in Mexico
- Dying Glaciers Draw Curious to Swiss Alpine Peaks
- Study Acquits Sun of Climate Change
- Pollutant Could Starve Off Warming Crisis
- 2006 Hotter than Ever So Far
- Polar Bears Shored by Arctic Melting
- Scientists: Winter Arctic Sea Ice is Shrinking
- Smoke Pollutants in East Drop
- Researchers Looking into Dying Aspens
- Ioke Damaged 70 Buildings on Wake Island
- El Nino Returns
- Scientists: Earth Storms Lead to Space Storms
- Scientists Predict More European Heat Waves
- Study Confirms Lightning’s Icy Origin
- Some Glaciers Growing Due to Climate Change
- Climate Change Seen Pushing Plants to the Brink
- Study: Strong Hurricanes Tied to Warming
- Gulf Quake Mystifies Experts

* New Research Highlights

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

                          ==========

Halliburton Offering Military Medals To Combat-Zone Employees If They Don’t Sue.

At:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001548.php

From: Poacnewsletter

                          ==========

On Scarborough Country, Buchanan said Islam “is a fighting faith” while Crusades were launched to “take back what we had lost!”

While discussing Pope Benedict XVI’s recent controversial comments about Islam, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan declared three times that Islam “is a fighting faith.” During the discussion, which took place on the September 18 edition of MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough asked: “[D]espite the fact … there are Muslim extremists … do you not think that this pope should … reach out to moderate Muslim regimes?” Buchanan replied, “How do you think Islam came out of Arabia, captured the Holy Land, all of North Africa, occupied all of Spain and Portugal … except by the sword?” When Scarborough pleaded that he did not “want to refight the crusades,” Buchanan declared Christians fought the Crusades “[t]o take back what we had lost!”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609190009?src=other

                          ==========

#8 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

                          ==========

#8 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

Complete article at:

#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act
Sources:

New Standard, May 6, 2005

Title: “Pentagon Seeks Greater Immunity from Freedom of Information”
Author: Michelle Chen

Newspaper Association of America website, posted December 2005
Title: “FOIA Exemption Granted to Federal Agency”

Community Evaluator: Tim Ogburn
Student Researcher: Rachelle Cooper and Brian Murphy

The Department of Defense has been granted exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In December 2005, Congress passed the 2006 Defense Authorization Act which renders Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) “operational files” fully immune to FOIA requests, the main mechanism by which watchdog groups, journalists and individuals can access federal documents. Of particular concern to critics of the Defense Authorization Act is the DIA’s new right to thwart access to files that may reveal human rights violations tied to ongoing “counterterrorism” efforts.

The rule could, for instance, frustrate the work of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations that have relied on FOIA to uncover more than 30,000 documents on the U.S. military’s involvement in the torture and mistreatment of foreign detainees in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and Iraq—including the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Several key documents that have surfaced in the advocacy organization’s expansive research originate from DIA files, including a 2004 memorandum containing evidence that U.S. military interrogators brutalized detainees in Baghdad, as well as a report describing the abuse of Iraqi detainees as violations of international human rights law.

According to Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney involved in the ongoing torture investigations, “If the Defense Intelligence Agency can rely on exception or exemption from the FOIA, then documents such as those that we obtained this last time around will not become public at all.” The end result of such an exemption, he told The New Standard, is that “abuse is much more likely to take place, because there’s not public oversight of Defense Intelligence Agency activity.”

Jaffer added that because the DIA conducts investigations relating to other national security-related agencies, documents covered by the exemption could contain critical evidence of how other parts of the military operate as well.
he ACLU recently battled the FOIA exemption rule of the CIA in a lawsuit over the agency’s attempt to withhold information concerning alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees. The CIA’s defense centered on the invocation of FOIA exemption, and although a federal judge ultimately overrode the rule, Jaffer cited the case as evidence of “exemption creep”—the gradual stretching of the law to further shield federal agencies from public scrutiny.

According to language in the Defense Authorization Act, an operational file can be any information related to “the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence operations or intelligence or security liaison arrangements or information exchanges with foreign governments or their intelligence or security services.”

Critics warn that such vague bureaucratic language is a green light for the DIA to thwart a wide array of legitimate information requests without proper justification. Steven Aftergood, director of the research organization Project on Government Secrecy, warns, “If it falls in the category of ‘operational files,’ it’s over before it begins.”

Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, adds, “These exemptions create a black hole into which the bureaucracy can drive just about any kind of information it wants to. And you can bet that Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib-style information is what DIA and others would want to hide.”

The Newspaper Association of America reports that, due to lobbying efforts of the Sunshine in Government Initiative and other open government advocates, congressional negotiators imposed an unprecedented two-year “sunset” date on the Pentagon’s FOIA exemption, ending in December 2007.

Update by Michelle Chen:

The Defense Intelligence Agency, the intelligence arm of the Department of Defense, has been a source for critical information on the Pentagon’s foreign operations as well as the DIA’s observations of the conduct of other branches of the military. Its request for immunity from the Freedom of Information Act last year was not the first attempt to shield its data from members of the public, but it did come at a time that the governent’s anti-terror fervor was beginning to crest.

Open-government groups warn that such an exemption from FOIA requests, which the Central Intelligene Agency already enjoys, would close off a major channel for information in a government bureaucracy already riddled with both formal and informal barriers of secrecy. The Pentagon’s request alarmed groups like the ACLU, which has relied heavily on such data to build cases regarding torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq.

At:

http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/042005/ .
Since the article was published, the language proposed for the Defense Department budget for FY 2006 was adopted. (The public print of the bill can be read at the GPO website here, buried on page 472:

At:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:s1042pp.txt.pdf .)

The bill specifically refers to the immunity of “operational files,” though this is somewhat ambiguously defined.

Another development in this issue area over the past year is that secrecy and intelligence gathering have become intense domestic political issues. As a result, heightened public attention to the gradual rollback on open-government laws is beginning to stir some congressional action in the form of hearings and investigative reports, not just related to classified information per se but also the new quasi-classified categories that have cropped up since 9/11

At:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2006/index.html .

Earlier this year, the Pentagon initiatied a department-wide review of FOIA practices, though it is unlear whether this internal evaluation will lead to actual changes in how information is disclosed or withheld from public purview.

At:

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/DoD_FOIA_Review.pdf .

For more on this issue, see:
The Project on Government Secrecy, a watchdog group run by the American Federation of Scientists:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2006/index.html

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

                          ==========

Whistleblowers Call for Massive Leaks on Iran

DANIEL ELLSBERG, via Giulia Melucci, giulia@harpers.org,

http://www.ellsberg.net

After Ellsberg revealed the Pentagon Papers — top-secret government documents which showed a pattern of governmental deceit about the Vietnam War — in 1971, the Nixon White House indicted him for a possible 115-year sentence, used the White House “plumbers” to burglarize his doctor’s office, conducted warrentless wiretaps against him and attempted to physically assault him at a Capitol Hill rally.
He has just authored a piece in the forthcoming issue of Harper’s magazine, “The Next War,” in which he writes about his regret over not having leaked such documents in his possession in 1964, before the
Johnson administration’s escalation of the war. He now believes such a course of action could have averted the war.
Similarly, he writes that officials in the Bush administration, like Richard Clarke, had they leaked documents showing the duplicity of the Bush administration during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, could well have prevented the war — though he notes the personal cost could have been tremendous.
Now, Ellsberg urges U.S. government officials to disclose internal controversy concerning an attack on Iran. While several government officials are anonymously voicing their concerns in some media outlets
about what the Bush administration is planning on Iran, Ellsberg urges disclosure on a scale that would likely reveal the identity of a source.
Ellsberg said today: “Many officials are asking themselves: ‘How much can I put out without being found out?’ They should consider going beyond that and think of what they could achieve by massive disclosure
that would sacrifice their clearance and career — but save many lives.”
Ellsberg emphasized that “What is needed is not leaking operational war plans, but rather the full internal controversy, the secret estimates of costs and prospects and dangers of war and nuclear
‘options’ — the Pentagon Papers of the Middle East.”

The full Harper’s article from the forthcoming October issue; also see Editor & Publisher’s article on Ellsberg’s proposal:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122216 .

Ellsberg is author of the book “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

 Bush at the UN: Peace and Prosperity?

President Bush’s address to the United Nations today followed his statement yesterday that “the goals of this country are to help those who feel hopeless, the goals of this country are to spread liberty, the goals of this country is [sic] to enhance prosperity and peace.”

NOAM CHOMSKY, http://www.chomsky.info

Chomsky is author most recently of “Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.” He said today: “Fine words are cheap. What the Bush administration has done, more characteristically, is to destroy hope, undermine freedom, bring prosperity to a few and war and terror to the many. His meeting with Abbas [scheduled for Wednesday] could pave the way to resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict by sharply changing course, withdrawing support for illegal annexation of Palestinian lands and dismemberment of the shrinking territories granted to Palestinians, and joining the long-standing international consensus on a two-state settlement based on the international border with guarantees for the right of all states ‘to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries,’ including Israel and Palestine. That would not resolve all the crises of the region, but would take a long step towards that goal and lay the basis for further progress towards hope, liberty, prosperity and peace.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

INSIDE THE FEDS’ SECRET WIRETAPPING ROOMS

Jeffrey Klein, Paolo Pontoniere, New America Media

Congress is considering three bills to “reform” massive surveillance programs. But secret facilities around the country are already eavesdropping on Americans.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/story/41819/

                          ==========

Borowitz Report – Evil Spinach Shocker

Bush Accuses Saddam of Poisoning America’s Spinach

Calls Vegetables the New Front in War on Terror

In a nationally televised address last night, President George W. Bush accused former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein of poisoning America’s spinach supply and called vegetables the new front in the war on terror.

While offering no direct evidence linking Saddam to the recent tainting of American spinach with E coli, Mr. Bush said that intelligence sources indicated that “trying to destroy America by poisoning its spinach is just the kind of thing that Saddam Hussein would try to do, if given half a chance.”

He added that he would take action to maintain an uninterrupted flow of spinach by releasing America’s Strategic Spinach Reserve, millions of tons of spinach stored in huge underground salt caverns along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Bush’s case against Saddam appears to have been persuasive, since a new poll taken after the President’s speech showed that a majority of Americans now believe that the Iraqi madman was responsible for the tainting of America’s spinach, with a slightly smaller number believing he was somehow involved in the death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

In Baghdad, the former Iraqi dictator did not address Mr. Bush’s accusations, but instead complained about conditions at his trial, telling reporters, “I can barely hear myself think with all that racket outside.”

“Every time I try to launch into an insane outburst, there’s some big boom, boom, boom outside that drowns it out,” he said. “I’m doing some of my finest work here and it’s going to waste.”

Elsewhere, the Space Shuttle Atlantis planned to return to Earth Wednesday, while Tom Cruise set no firm date.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

                          ==========

three to see

This Modern World: Circular logic, featuring the rightwing nutcase

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW09-20-06.jpg

Deb Milbrath: bush’s moral high ground

http://www.milbrathdraws.com/archives/2006/09/18.jpg

Mike Peters: a uniter not a divider

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2006/MP0916.gif

NEW PULSE POSTED

At:

http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/pulse_v218_06.htm

That’s the url to the Sept. 18, 2006, issue of DOE Pulse. Pulse is a newsletter about accomplishments at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Here is some of what you’ll find in this issue:

* Pacific Northwest: Uranium ‘pearls’ before slime

* Oak Ridge: Precision climate modeling

* NREL: Biomass for Denver Zoo

* Berkeley: MRI on the cheap, on the go

Feature:  DOE-JGI, Oak Ridge, international collaboration on poplar tree genome

Researcher profile: Oak Ridge’s Elbio Dagotto

                          ==========

Ethanol is a gimmick, not an answer to high gas prices

San Jose Mercury News – CA, USA

By William O’Keefe

… The latest Capitol Hill darling is ethanol, which supporters claim will reduce dependence on foreign oil — because the fuel is derived from corn — and also …

Complete article at:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/15547090.htm

WILLIAM O’KEEFE is president of Solutions Consulting and has also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Petroleum Institute. He wrote this article for the Mercury News.

                          ==========

“Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers” is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.

Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so.

At:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/18/iraq-for-sale/

From: Poacnewsletter

                          ==========

White House soiree: Boortz, Hannity, Gallagher, Medved and Ingraham were reportedly invited to meet with Bush in the Oval Office

In a September 16 posting on his weblog, nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz wrote that he had been invited to “the West Wing of the White House” for a “30-minute meeting with the President in the Oval Office [which] turned into 90 minutes.” Boortz added that the “other invitees were [conservative radio hosts] Sean Hannity, Mike Gallagher, Michael Medved and Laura Ingraham.” As the weblog Think Progress noted, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in a September 17 posting on its website that conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has been invited to the meeting but could not attend.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609180005?src=other

                          ==========

#7 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican. 

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

                          ==========

#7 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq

Sources:

American Civil Liberties Website, October 24, 2005

Title: “US Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq”

Tom Dispatch.com, March 5, 2006

Title: “Tracing the Trail of Torture: Embedding Torture as Policy from Guantanamo to Iraq”

Author: Dahr Jamail

Faculty Evaluator: Rabi Michael Robinson
Student Researchers: Michael B Januleski Jr. and Jessica Rodas

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents of forty-four autopsies held in Afghanistan and Iraq October 25, 2005. Twenty-one of those deaths were listed as homicides. The documents show that detainees died during and after interrogations by Navy SEALs, Military Intelligence, and Other Government Agency (OGA).

“These documents present irrefutable evidence that U.S. operatives tortured detainees to death during interrogation,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “The public has a right to know who authorized the use of torture techniques and why these deaths have been covered up.”

The Department of Defense released the autopsy reports in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace.

One of forty-four U.S. military autopsy reports reads as follows: “Final Autopsy Report: DOD 003164, (Detainee) Died as a result of asphyxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) due to strangulation as evidenced by the recently fractured hyoid bone in the neck and soft tissue hemorrhage extending downward to the level of the right thyroid cartilage. Autopsy revealed bone fracture, rib fractures, contusions in mid abdomen, back and buttocks extending to the left flank, abrasions, lateral buttocks. Contusions, back of legs and knees; abrasions on knees, left fingers and encircling to left wrist. Lacerations and superficial cuts, right 4th and 5th fingers. Also, blunt force injuries, predominately recent contusions (bruises) on the torso and lower extremities. Abrasions on left wrist are consistent with use of restraints. No evidence of defense injuries or natural disease. Manner of death is homicide. Whitehorse Detainment Facility, Nasiriyah, Iraq.”

Another report from the ACLU indicates: “a 27-year-old Iraqi male died while being interrogated by Navy Seals on April 5, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. During his confinement he was hooded, flex-cuffed, sleep deprived and subjected to hot and cold environmental conditions, including the use of cold water on his body and head. The exact cause of death was ‘undetermined’ although the autopsy stated that hypothermia may have contributed to his death.”

An overwhelming majority of the so-called “natural deaths” covered in the autopsies were attributed to “arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease” (heart attack). Persons under extreme stress and pain may have heart attacks as a result of the circumstances of their detainments.

The Associated Press carried the story of the ACLU charges on their wire service. However, a thorough check of LexisNexis and ProQuest electronic data bases, using the keywords ACLU and autopsy, showed that at least 95 percent of the daily papers in the U.S. did not bother to pick up the story. The Los Angeles Times covered the story on page A4 with a 635-word report headlined “Autopsies Support Abuse Allegations.” Fewer than a dozen other daily newspapers including: Bangor Daily News, Maine, page 8; Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, page 6; Charleston Gazette, page 5; Advocate, Baton Rouge, page 11; and a half dozen others actually covered the story. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Seattle Times buried the story inside general Iraq news articles. USA Today posted the story on their website. MSNBC posted the story to their website, but apparently did not consider it newsworthy enough to air on television.
Janis Karpinski, U.S. Brigadier General Commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, was in charge of seventeen prison facilities in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2003. Karpinski testified January 21, 2006 in New York City at the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush administration. Karpinski stated: “General [Ricardo] Sanchez [commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq] signed the eight-page memorandum authorizing a laundry list of harsh techniques in interrogations to include specific use of dogs and muzzled dogs with his specific permission.” Karpinski went on to claim that Major General Geoffrey Miller, who had been “specifically selected by the Secretary of Defense to go to Guantanamo Bay and run the interrogations operations,” was dispatched to Iraq by the Bush administration to “work with the military intelligence personnel to teach them new and improved interrogation techniques.” When asked how far up the chain of command responsibility for the torture orders for Abu Ghraib went, Karpinski said, “The Secretary of Defense would not have authorized without the approval of the Vice President.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

                          ==========

Whistleblowers

KATHARINE GUN, kthgun@yahoo.co.uk,

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/20/iran_time_to_leak.php

Shortly before the U.S./U.K. invasion of Iraq, in early 2003, Gun was a British government employee when she leaked a U.S. intelligence memo indicating that the U.S. had mounted a spying “surge” against delegations on the U.N. Security Council in an effort to win approval for an invasion of Iraq. President Bush continues to claim, as he claimed then, that “We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq.” (March 8, 2003).

Gun faced two years imprisonment under the British Official Secrets Act, but charges were dropped. She has written the article “Iran: Time To Leak,” which encourages government officials to leak documents to prevent war.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

IAEA: Congress Panel Cooking Intel on Iran

ROBERT NAIMAN, naiman@justforeignpolicy.org,

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

National coordinator of Just Foreign Policy, Naiman said today: “As in Iraq, the faction of Congress and the administration hungry for military confrontation with Iran is again trying to cook the intelligence and undermine the international inspection system. While the Washington Post ran the committee’s report on page 1, the IAEA’s refutation ran on page 17. The IAEA’s refutation deserves at least as much attention as the committee report, since they are the legitimate experts. Americans should ask their representatives in Congress to oppose another U.S. military fiasco in the Middle East based on manufactured evidence.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

Borowitz Report – Poll Shocker

Poll: In Match-up Between Hillary and Kerry, Most Democrats Would Choose Suicide

Survey Spells Trouble for Dems, Pollster Says

A new survey of Democratic voters indicates that in a hypothetical match-up between Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former presidential nominee John Kerry, most Democrats would choose suicide over either candidate.

The poll, conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Opinion Research Institute, shows Mr. Kerry drawing 21%, Sen. Clinton 18%, and various forms of suicide 61%.

“Throwing yourself in front of a speeding city bus” was the most popular means of suicide at 22%, with “jumping off the roof of a really tall building or bridge” coming in second at 17%.

According to pollster Rockwell Pritchard, the surging popularity of suicide bodes ill for both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Kerry as potential presidential candidates in 2008.

“It’s still very early, but even at this stage of the game the prospect of one of those two being nominated shouldn’t be making Democrats want to kill themselves in these numbers,” Mr. Pritchard said.

Reached at his home in Massachusetts, Sen. Kerry pointed out that while he did not do as well as suicide, he still polled higher than Sen. Clinton, adding, “That’s better than a sharp stick in the eye.”

But Mr. Pritchard was quick to throw cold water on Mr. Kerry’s upbeat assessment: “In a head-to-head match-up, a sharp stick in the eye beats Sen. Kerry by a two-to-one margin.”

Elsewhere, reacting to the Pope’s recent gaffes about Muslims, President Bush said. “I guess I’m the only person left who’s infallible.”

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

                          ==========

three to see

David Horsey: primary day

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060919/Cartoon20060919.gif

Mike Keefe: Crops in Afghanistan

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2006/KeefeM20060917.jpg

Justin Bilicki: don’t eat the spinach

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/24006/

ENOUGH OF THE 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES, ALREADY

Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

We have enough proof that the Bush administration is a bunch of lying evildoers. We don’t need to make it up.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/story/41601/

==========

Bush’s Plans for Detention and Eavesdropping

RAY McGOVERN, rrmcgovern@aol.com

McGovern was a 27-year career analyst with the CIA and a member of the steering committee for Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He said today: “The courts have held that many of Bush’s policies are illegal. How does Congress respond to this? By being legal enablers and moving to draft legislation to make these policies legal — though they would still, for now, be unconstitutional. The Specter bill gives the President carte blanche. It abolishes all limits on the president’s power to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens, it embraces the most radical ‘unitary executive’ theories of executive power, and attempts to destroy the possibility of judicial review of the president’s behavior.”

McGovern added: “The most prominent individual being moved to Guantanamo is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom the 9/11 Commission report labels the ‘mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.’ The Commission report noted that his ‘animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.’ We have to ask: did they hate us, or our policies?”

McGovern spoke yesterday at Camp Democracy, a grassroots gathering at the National Mall, near the White House.

Video of McGovern and other material is available at:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/09/13/bush_cheney_hit_with_mock_guilty_verdict .

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

==========

Media uncritically reported Bush’s false suggestion that Powell letter compared “the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists”

Numerous print and television outlets uncritically reported President Bush’s response to a reporter’s question about a letter by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in which Powell argued that “[t]he world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism.” Bush stated: “If there’s any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it’s flawed logic. I simply can’t accept that.” In fact, neither the question nor Powell’s letter made any such comparison.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200609170002?src=other

==========

Why a true conservative will not vote republican this fall

At:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0610.bartlett.html

From: Poacnewsletter

==========

#6 of 17 rules to bring you up to speed on what you need to believe to be a Republican.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.

Complete article at:

http://sr4001.com/2006/09/04/believe-republican/

==========

#6 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007

#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy

Source:

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility website

Titles: “Whistleblowers Get Help from Bush Administration,” December 5, 2005
“Long-Delayed Investigation of Special Counsel Finally Begins,” October 18,2005
“Back Door Rollback of Federal Whistleblower Protections,” September 22, 2005

Author: Jeff Ruch

Faculty Evaluator: Barbara Bloom
Student Researchers: Caitlyn Peele and Sara-Joy Christienson

Special Counsel Scott Bloch, appointed by President Bush in 2004, is overseeing the virtual elimination of federal whistleblower rights in the U.S. government.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the agency that is supposed to protect federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse is dismissing hundreds of cases while advancing almost none. According to the Annual Report for 2004 (which was not released until the end of first quarter fiscal year 2006) less than 1.5 percent of whistleblower claims were referred for investigation while more than 1000 reports were closed before they were even opened. Only eight claims were found to be substantiated, and one of those included the theft of a desk, while another included attendance violations. Favorable outcomes have declined 24 percent overall, and this is all in the first year that the new special counsel, Scott Bloch, has been in office.

Bloch, who has received numerous complaints since he took office, defends his first thirteen months in office by pointing to a decline in backlogged cases. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Executive Director Jeff Ruch says, “. . . backlogs and delays are bad, but they are not as bad as simply dumping the cases altogether.” According to figures released by Bloch in February of 2005 more than 470 claims of retaliation were dismissed, and not once had he affirmatively represented a whistleblower. In fact, in order to speed dismissals, Bloch instituted a rule forbidding his staff from contacting a whistleblower if their disclosure was deemed incomplete or ambiguous. Instead, the OSC would dismiss the matter. As a result, hundreds of whistleblowers never had a chance to justify their cases. Ruch notes that these numbers are limited to only the backlogged cases and do not include new ones.

On March 3, 2005, OSC staff members joined by a coalition of whistleblower protection and civil rights organizations filed a complaint against Bloch. His own employees accused him of violating the very rules he is supposed to be enforcing. The complaint specifies instances of illegal gag orders, cronyism, invidious discrimination, and retaliation by forcing the resignation of one-fifth of the OSC headquarters legal and investigative staff. The complaint was filed with the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, which took no action on the case for seven months. PEER was one of the groups who co-filed the complaint against Bloch and Ruch wants to know, “Who watches the watchdogs?”

This is the third probe into Bloch’s operation in less than two years in office. Both the Government Accountability Office and a U.S. Senate subcommittee have ongoing investigations into mass dismissals of whistleblower cases, crony hires, and Bloch’s targeting of gay employees for removal while refusing to investigate cases involving discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Department of Labor has also gotten on board in a behind-the-scenes maneuver to cancel whistleblower protections. If it succeeds, the Labor Department will dismiss claims by federal workers who report violations under the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. General Counsel for PEER, Richard Condit says, “Federal workers in agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency function as the public’s eyes and ears . . . the Labor Department is moving to shut down one of the few legal avenues left to whistleblowers.” The Labor Department is trying to invoke the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity, which says that the government cannot be sued without its consent. The Secretary of Labor’s Administrative Review Board recently invited the EPA to raise a sovereign immunity defense in a case where a woman was trying to enforce earlier victories. Government Accountability Project General Counsel Joanne Royce sums up major concerns: “We do not want public servants wondering whether they will lose their jobs for acting against pollution violations of politically well-connected interests.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

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“Holes” not very filling for patients

By Al Lewis

Denver Post Staff Columnist

The “D” in Medicare Part D stands for doughnut.

Insurance and pharmaceutical companies get to eat this doughnut.

Patients get the doughnut hole.

“Doughnut hole” is the term for a gap in Medicare’s new prescription drug program. Congress created the doughnut hole to contain a benefit that will cost taxpayers at least $40 billion more a year.

In the new Medicare Part D plan, the government covers 75 percent of the cost – up to $2,250 – then nothing until expenses hit $5,100. Meantime, those in this doughnut hole could pay monthly premiums for a plan that covers nothing for months – until expenses hit $5,100 or a new year rolls around.

About 37 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare Part D. Because the program has only been available since January, many are just now discovering its dreaded doughnut hole.

Dennis Mantas, who runs Wheat Ridge Pharmacy near West 38th Avenue and Pierce Street, says people are hitting the hole faster than expected because drug companies are raising prices. Insurance companies – acting as pharmacy benefit managers for Medicare – are reporting fast-rising profits and revenues, too.

“Nobody knows how they are arriving at their costs,” Mantas said. “So a lot of people hit that $2,250 pretty fast.”

That’s what happened to Fannie Reynolds, 69, of Arvada, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Her prescriptions cost thousands per year. “This is a very crucial medication for my MS,” she said. “If I don’t have it, I get all messed up. I fall. My legs hurt. My arms hurt.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.denverpost.com/allewis/ci_4347487

Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to Lewis at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-954-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.

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Primaries say voters want change

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Marianne Means: WASHINGTON — The last round of primaries held something for everyone, but did nothing to discourage the common wisdom that voters are in a mood for a change this year.

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/285274_means17.html

Marianne Means is a Washington, D.C., columnist with Hearst Newspapers. Copyright 2006 Hearst Newspapers. She can be reached at 202-263-6400 or means@hearstdc.com.

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Borowitz Report – Papal Career Move Shocker

Fox News Offers Pope His Own Show

‘The Pope Benedict XVI Factor’ to Debut Next Week

In what many in religious and broadcasting circles are calling an unprecedented development, the Fox News Channel today announced that it had offered Pope Benedict XVI his own show as part of their weekly primetime lineup.

The program, which will be broadcast live from a specially built television studio in Vatican City, will be called “The Pope Benedict XVI Factor” and will feature the outspoken pontiff shooting from the hip on a variety of topics.

Fox, which is currently home to such conservative commentators as Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, surprised many in the television industry by reaching out to one of the world’s most powerful religious leaders to host a nightly news program.

But according to Fox spokesperson Carol Foyler, the Pope’s recent comments about Islam, which succeeded in alienating millions of Muslims around the world, showed that the pontiff and Fox were “a good fit.”

“If Pope Benedict XVI can offend and insult that many people right out of the box, imagine how good he’ll be after a few weeks of working here at Fox News,” Ms. Foyler said.

Ms. Foyler said that the format of the Pope’s show was still “a work in progress,” but she hinted that there would be a nightly segment in which the Pope would take a gratuitous shot at one of the world’s leading religious faiths.

“Our thinking is, let the Pope be the Pope,” she said.

Elsewhere, a new study shows that vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts and watercress can help kill cancer cells, while spinach can kill the entire the person.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Tom Toles: a huge scary threat

http://www.buffalonews.com/graphics/2006/09/18/0918toles.jpg

David Horsey: just who is the emperor around here?

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Khalil Bendib: disagree with out torture policy?

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2006/september/small/9-16-U.S.-Torture.jpg