carapace – Not your father's america

A Report on Mesopotamia by T.E. Lawrence

22 August, 1920

At:

http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/1918p/mesopo.html

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Media outlets reported that Reid said Iraq war “is lost,” but failed to note his further comments

On April 19 and 20, numerous print and television media outlets reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had said that “the [Iraq] war is lost” during a press conference discussing Congress’ standoff with President Bush over emergency funding for the war. However, these outlets did not also report that, later during the press conference, Reid added that “the war, at this stage, can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically.” Other news outlets reporting on Reid’s statement — for example, Agence France-Presse and Reuters — noted Reid’s further comments. Moreover, during a speech on the Senate floor the same day, Reid reiterated his stance, advocating a “political solution” in Iraq and asserting that “there is still a chance to change course.”
 

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200012?src=other

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Washington’s $8 Billion Shadow –

Mega-contractors such as Halliburton and Bechtel supply the government with brawn. But the biggest, most powerful of the “body shops”—SAIC, which employs 44,000 people and took in $8 billion last year—sells brainpower, including a lot of the “expertise” behind the Iraq war. By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

March 2007

SAIC [Science Applications International Corporation] currently holds some 9,000 active federal contracts in all… The company’s annual revenues, almost all of which come from the federal government, approached $8 billion in the 2006 fiscal year, and they are continuing to climb. SAIC’s goal is to reach as much as $12 billion in revenues by 2008.

At:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703

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‘That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me.’

Key Initiative of ‘No Child’ Under Federal Investigation –Officials Profited From Reading First Program

21 Apr 2007

The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President [sic] Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday. The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program made at least $1 million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered states. “That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee, which held a five-hour investigative hearing. “You don’t get to override the law,” he angrily told a panel of Reading First officials. “But the fact of the matter is that you did.”

At:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002284.html

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Alberto Gonzales: Tip of the Iceberg

by Prof. Marjorie Cohn
 

Global Research, April 21, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca 

As Democratic and Republican leaders alike pile on to demand Alberto Gonzales’ resignation, only George W. Bush is singing his praises. Deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush was happy with Gonzales’ testimony. “The attorney general continues to have the president’s full confidence,” she said.

It’s not surprising that Bush would be pleased. Like a good soldier, Gonzales, who claimed a faulty memory 70 times, was careful not to incriminate his bosses.

Bush and Cheney hired Gonzales as attorney general to carry out their plan to amass governmental power in the hands of the Executive. They knew they could count on him.

Gonzales’ bona fides were well-known to his bosses. When he was counsel to Texas Governor George W. Bush from 1995 to 1997, Gonzales provided his boss with “scant summaries” on capital punishment cases that “repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence,” according to the Atlantic Monthly.

Gonzales prepared 57 such summaries, including one regarding the case of Terry Washington, a mentally retarded man executed for murdering a restaurant manager. The jury was never told about his mental condition. Gonzales’s three-page summary of the case for Bush mentioned only that Washington ‘s defense counsel’s 30-page plea for clemency (which covered the mental competency issue) was rejected by the Texas parole board. Bush refused to stay executions in 56 of the 57 cases in which Gonzales wrote abbreviated memos.

The attorney general was central to the Bush-Cheney-Yoo illegal domestic surveillance program. When he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee after the New York Times uncovered the secret spying program, attorney general Gonzales walked in lockstep with his bosses. Gonzales would not tell the senators whether Bush had authorized other secret programs. He refused to say whether the government could wiretap purely domestic calls without a warrant, or whether he had the authority to search the first class mail of American citizens or to examine people’s medical records. When Republican Senator John Cornyn asked him whether law enforcement could shoot down a plane with drugs, Gonzales said, “I’d have to think about that.”

At Gonzales’ confirmation hearing for attorney general, he said he wasn’t sure whether torturing prisoners could be lawful. The former Texas Supreme Court justice surely knew the terms of the Convention Against Torture, a treaty ratified by the United States and therefore part of the supreme law of the land under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The convention says, “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=COH20070421&articleId=5456

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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Where Is Iraq Headed?

RAED JARRAR, jarrar.raed@gmail.com

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com

Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee, Jarrar said today: “Al-Sadr’s withdrawal from the Iraqi government is seen by many observers as the first step for Iraqi nationalists leaving the
Iraqi government. Al-Sadr is first, and other Shia and Sunni nationalists will follow. If this is true, al-Maliki’s government will end up with only separatist Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish leaders. This will
dramatically increase the Iraqi-Iraqi violence (like what’s happening in Diwaniya and Basra where Iraqi governmental forces are attacking al-Sadr supporters) and increase the violent resistance against the occupation forces. The Bush administration should stop supporting Iraqi separatist leaders at the expense of everyone else.”

From:  Institute for Public Accuracy

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ORWELL WATCH: BELEAGUERED MILITARY DECLARES “LONG WAR” OVER.

By Joshua Holland

Joshua Holland: No word on next phony war.

Complete article at:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50819/

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Reforming Hawaii’s Ethanol Law: It’s A Matter of Public Safety

Contact Your Legislators Now
By Rep. Colleen Meyer R-Kaawa, 4/9/2007 11:06:12 AM
 

Colleen Meyer – House

Here in Hawaii, the E-10 ethanol blend mandate went into effect in April of 2006 rendering all gasoline supplied in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui and Kauai to be blended with ethanol.

While E-10 seems to work fine in automobiles it can create severe problems in other applications.

For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Cessna have shown that using 10% or 15% ethanol-blended gasoline is harmful to aircraft fuel systems. Ethanol is a collector of water and other fuel contaminates, which in turn, forms an acid attacking rubber and composite components, fuel hoses, fuel pumps, and fuel filters. The primary concern for the aviation Industry is that ethanol-blended gasoline adversely affects the volatility, which leads to vapor lock.

In addition, recreational vehicles such as motorboats, snowmobile and vintage cars are also severely damage by the use of ethanol.

House Bill 791, which passed the House and is up for third reading in the Hawaii State Senate, requires gasoline refiners to make fueling stations with non ethanol gasoline available.

I am championing this bill – and I am asking those who are negatively affected by the ethanol mandate to support the bill by contacting the chairs of important legislative committees listed below.

This issue now has momentum and the time is right to push changes to the current law through.

Part of the reason the law is flawed is those in the petroleum industry have remained silent.

In addition, even though other states have had ethanol mandates in place for years, the state Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism simply did not perform the due diligence that was required before issuing rules to implement the ethanol mandate, and did not warn consumers about possible negative impacts. This is troubling.

The industry is cautiously beginning to speak up.

…

Complete article at:

HawaiiReporter.com

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Ethanol Faces Watery Setback in Georgia

April 17, 2007

ALBANY, Ga. — Seven Atlanta-area Shell gas stations that sold ethanol-enhanced gasoline were forced to close over the weekend after officials found water in their underground storage tanks.

“Best case scenario, if you have water in your tank, it will cause your car to run rough,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said to the Albany (Ga.) Herald. “Worse case scenario, it will cause your car to stop.”

Water that seeps into underground tanks typically sinks to the bottom, but in an ethanol blend, it flows throughout the mixture, Irvin said to the Herald.

Georgia permits as much as an inch of water in regular underground tanks, but tanks of fuel blended with ethanol may have none, said Rich Lewis, director of fuel and measures for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, to the Albany Herald. “We don’t allow there to be any water in the (ethanol) storage tanks,” he said.

There may be more lockdowns to come because 277 Atlanta-area Shell stations offer the ethanol blend, said Yao Seidu, spokesman for the commissioner’s office. Underground tanks must be emptied and dried out before the ethanol blend is introduced and the pump must be labeled.

Complete article at:

http://www.nacsonline.com/

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The other side of ethanol

Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Producing just 25 gallons of ethanol requires enough corn to feed one person for one year, according to University of Minnesota economists C. Ford Runge and …

http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1134727.html

Ethanol going against grain?

The Age – Melbourne,Victoria,Australia

ENCOURAGING more extensive use of grain-produced ethanol in fuel is “dopey policy”, says Australian Lot Feeders Association vice-president Kevin Roberts. …

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/ethanol-going-against-grain/2007/04/22/1177180482701.html

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three thousand words

David Horsey: nra’s solution

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070422/cartoon20070422.gif

Bendib Cartoon: Peace…at home and abroad

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2007/april/small/4-20-Peace.jpg

Tom the Dancing Bug: a new generation

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/td/2007/td070421.gif

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (17 April 2007)

In the News:

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

* Latest Images:

Dust Dampens Hurricane Formation

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17617

California Temperatures on the Rise

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17616

Isles of Scilly, UK

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17615

Drought in Southern Africa

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17614

Sumbawa, Indonesia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17613

Bodele Depression Dust Storm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17612

Cyclone Season Drenches Madagascar
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17611

Locust Swarms Develop on the Red Sea Coast
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17610

* NASA News

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

- NOAA, NASA Restore Climate Sensor to Upcoming NPP Satellite
- NASA Aims to Clear Up Mystery of Elusive Clouds at Edge of Space

* Media Alerts

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

- Argonne Helps Improve Air Quality for 2008 Beijing Olympics
- Prepare Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Now for Greater Environmental Benefit Later
- Zeppelin Expedition Will Survey Sea Ice in the Arctic
- Earthshaking Images
- Study of Coastal Disasters Yields Surprising Findings, Arresting Images
- University of Colorado Instruments to Launch on NASA Cloud Mission
- Trees to Offset Carbon Footprint?

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

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

- Quake Injures 12 in Central Japan
- Tenth Anniversary of Grand Forks Flood
- Far North Feels Worst Effects of Warming
- Northeast Prepares for Severe Storm
- Strong Earthquake Rocks Mexico
- Earthquake Causes Coral Reefs to Die
- Warming Could Spark North American Water Scramble: U.N.
- Glaciers Slowed by Sticky Spots
- Powerful Winds Wreak Havoc Across Los Angeles
- Panel Says U.S. Faces Change as Climate Warms
- Indonesia Gets New Tsunami Warning Buoy
- Report: Deadly Heat Waves Threaten Europe
- Study: NYC a Top Greenhouse Gas Producer
- U.N.: How Climate Could Spread Hunger
- Africa Needs Regional Networks to Fight Warming
- Scientists Develop Model to Combat Sea Level Rise
- Deforestation Effects Depend on Location

* New Research Highlights

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

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Will the media ask Bush who is telling the truth about his Syria conversation with Pelosi?

On April 20, The Washington Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said President Bush, at an April 18 White House meeting, “told her he did not criticize her recent trip to Syria.” According to the Post, Pelosi said Bush “told her in an unsolicited comment that it was actually the State Department that criticized her” for heading a bipartisan delegation to Syria and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Post also reported, however, that deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino “took issue with Pelosi’s account of the conversation in the Cabinet Room,” claiming “that Pelosi started the conversation about the Syria trip and that she never heard Bush back off his criticism.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200006?src=other

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Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy

19 Apr 2007

Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the ‘insurgents’ and secure control of troubled provinces. Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush regime’s Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.

At:

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17104704.htm

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Gates urges Iraq to pass key [oil] laws by late summer

20 Apr 2007

Washington, which has 146,000 troops in Iraq, is putting more pressure on Maliki’s fractious government to speed up a law on ‘sharing’ [stealing] Iraq’s oil wealth and rolling back a ban on members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from office. Gates said in his meeting with Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki he expressed the hope that parliament “will not recess for the summer without passing laws on hydrocarbons, debaathification, provincial elections and other measures”. Iraq’s cabinet will present the oil law to parliament next week, but it faces opposition from Iraq’s oil-rich northern Kurdistan region which says some details are unconstitutional.

At:

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-04-20T202631Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-294977-3.xml

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Russian Roulette and the War on Iran

Ulterior Motives of a Potential Iran War Profiteer—and Its Risks

by Ali Fathollah-Nejad

Global Research, April 21, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca

A war on Iran would be catastrophic. That is certainly not a far-fetched estimation expressed by Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on April 11. But Moscow’s former Defense Minister is not the only one in his country suggesting an imminent U.S. nuclear strike on Iran as the scenery for war has already been set. Announcements made by leading Russian political and military officials as well as experts and commentators during the last days on the high probability of an American assault on Iran are, besides being disturbing for Western ears, perfectly reflecting the highly critical crossroads we are currently at. But is that ‘talk of war’ made in the noble intention to prevent our world from a terrible, almost unique, disaster—or are their tangible interests behind that?

Signs of a Russian Turnaround?

It is general belief that Iran and Russia form a stable strategic alliance predominantly directed against U.S. global influence. Despite UN sanctions put upon Tehran, Moscow insisted on continuing cooperation with that country, especially in the much-disputed nuclear area. In January 1995, Iran signed an $800 million contract with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (MinAtom) to complete nuclear reactors at its Bushehr power-plant under IAEA safeguards. While the reactor’s completion was scheduled for July 1999, countless postponements have fixed the finalizing date to the end of this year. But despite comprehensible frustration from the Iranian side as to this issue, efforts directed at maintaining the Russo-Iranian partnership are have not broken off.

While Moscow was the only major global power condemning the kidnapping of Iranian diplomats early this year in Northern Iraq, it sharpened the tone as it considered Iran’s seizure of British spies and its subsequent pursuit of its nuclear research activities despite the latest Security Council resolution a ‘provocation.’ A major commentator from Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti, even concluded that it is Iran that is ‘provoking’ a war. A couple of days later, the same praises to the skies Tehran’s adroit release of London’s soldiers, thus preventing a possible U.S. attack on April 6. Moscow’s state-run news agency was also the very first one to report the immediate danger of a U.S. nuclear assault on Iran for this month. But in recent days, it seems to backpedal while citing sources assessing an American strike on Iran is not going to happen. But what can we conclude from this potpourri of messages and reports echoing from Moscow?

Russia’s Secret Desires

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=FAT20070421&articleId=5455

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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Committee to Consider Four Subpoenas to Further Investigations

The Oversight Committee will hold a business meeting on Wednesday, April 25, at which four subpoenas for testimony and documents will be considered. The subpoenas under consideration are for:

The testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the fabricated claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger and other issues;

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1253

The testimony of former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card regarding the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity and White House security procedures;

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1261

RNC documents related to possible violations of the Presidential Records Act and the Hatch Act by White House officials;

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1259

Contacts between the White House and MZM, a federal contractor implicated in bribery charges.

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1260

Visit www.oversight.house.gov for the latest news.

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The NRA as America’s Cosa Nostra

The NRA is as pervasive and destructive a cancer on American society as la cosa nostra is on Italy’s.

By Stephan Richter | Friday, April 20, 2007

After the events at Virginia Tech, one thing is becoming rapidly clear: U.S. society is gripped by a cancer, the cancer of a deafening silence. For a society that has always held itself up globally as a standard-bearer of moral righteousness, historically and often with good reason, the proper reaction ought to be a no-brainer. Yet, barely a peep is to be heard.

Let us look at the stunning — and revolting – ironies of the Cho shooting spree. NBC’s Brian Williams — who distinguished himself by his dogged coverage of the New Orleans/Katrina disaster — evidently does not even realize how he was used by Cho.

Unfortunately for NBC, the ratings of Mr. Williams’s show have declined in recent months, quite possibly because he was “too tough on the American people.” After all, he was the one to remind them that nothing much had improved in New Orleans — despite the president’s promises that the city would shine again, soon and better than ever.

A drop in ratings

In the ratings race, Mr. Cho’s package must have seemed like a God-send. The decision to broadcast it, despite pretensions of complicated deliberations, was as easy as it was patently false.

Why, one wonders, give a sick man such a stage posthumously? Why not turn it over to law enforcement, saying that NBC did not want to have any part in broadcasting the gyrations of a disturbingly sick mind to the world?

Of course, NBC News’ President justified the broadcast essentially by saying it provided a unique insight into the mind of a mass murderer. Oh, really?

Making a tough decision

…

Complete article at:

http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=6123

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Global warming may put U.S. in hot water

17 Apr 2007

As the world warms, water — either too little or too much of it — is going to be the major problem for the United States, scientists and military experts said Monday. It will be a domestic problem, with states clashing over controls of rivers, and a national security problem as water shortages and floods worsen conflicts and [US-generated] terrorism elsewhere in the world, they said.

At:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070417/ap_on_sc/warming_water

==========

Global Warming may Cause War

Associated Press

April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON – As the world warms, water – either too little or too much of it – is going to be the major problem for the United States, scientists and military experts said Monday. It will be a domestic problem, with states clashing over controls of rivers, and a national security problem as water shortages and floods worsen conflicts and terrorism elsewhere in the world, they said.

At home, especially in the Southwest, regions will need to find new sources of drinking water, the Great Lakes will shrink, fish and other species will be left high and dry, and coastal areas will on occasion be inundated because of sea-level rises and souped-up storms, U.S. scientists said.

The scientists released a 67-page chapter on North American climate effects, which is part of an international report on climate change impact.

Meanwhile, global-warming water problems will make poor, unstable parts of the world – the Middle East, Africa and South Asia – even more prone to wars, terrorism and the need for international intervention, a panel of retired military leaders said in a separate report.

“Water at large is the central (global warming) problem for the U.S.,” Princeton University geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer said after a press conference featuring eight American scientists who were lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s climate-effects report.

Roger Pulwarty, one of the federal government’s top drought scientists, said states such as Arizona and Colorado, which already fight over the Colorado River basin water, will step up legal skirmishes. They may look to the Great Lakes, but water availability there will shrink, he said.

…

Complete artile at:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,132519,00.html

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three thousand words

Jack Ohman: a well-regulated militia …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070419.gif

Wondermark: In which Tragedy strikes

http://wondermark.com/comics/293.gif

Tom Toles: The Turnaround

http://img.slate.com/media/18/070420_ed.gif

THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT HAS HAD ITS DAY? FAT CHANCE

By Rob Boston, Church and State

A recent essay in Time magazine claimed “The religious right’s era is over.” Someone better tell that to the GOP presidential candidates praying for the fundamentalist movement’s blessings.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50447/

==========

Killing in the Name of God: Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda

USAF COUNTERPROLIFERATION CENTER MAXWELL AFB AL
Jerrold M. Post,
NOV 2002

At:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/post.pdf

ABSTRACT: What manner of men are these, living in American society, for years in some cases, aiming to kill thousands while dying in the process? Surely, one would think, they must be crazed psychotics. No normal person could do such a thing. But, in fact, the al Qaeda terrorists were psychologically “normal.” By no means were they psychologically disturbed. Indeed, terrorist groups expel emotionally disturbed individuals — they are a security risk. In many ways, these new terrorists shatter the profile of suicidal terrorists developed in Israel. There is a striking contrast between the Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel and the 19 terrorists who carried out the attacks of September 11th, an unprecedented act of mass casualty terrorism. They had lived in western society, in some cases for many years, exposed to its freedoms and opportunities. The leaders were older, in their mid-thirties and late twenties, and a number had received higher education. Mohammed Atta, the apparent ringleader, was thirty-three. Atta and two other hijackers had received graduate training at the technological university in Hamburg, Germany. Most came from financially comfortable middle class families in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They blended in with society, eschewing the dress, customs and personal grooming of traditional Muslims. And yet, on the appointed day, like the Manchurian Candidate, they carried out their mission to hijack four airliners, and gave their lives while killing just over 3,000 people. Fully formed adults, they had internalized their values. They were “true believers” who subordinated their individuality to the group. This paper presents a history and political personality profile of Osama bin Laden. The paper also discusses al Qaeda’s ideology, philosophy, leadership, organizational structure, and possible scenarios to consider for the future of al Qaeda.

==========

Bill Maher’s ‘View’: Church Going Old Ladies ‘Enablers’ to …

NewsBusters – USA

Maher proceeded to call the instructing of intelligent design alongside evolution teaching “stupidity alongside knowledge. …

At:

http://newsbusters.org/node/12064

==========

LA TIMES MISSES FAKE US HISTORY TIE IN TO TX BIBLE CLASS BILL

By Bruce Wilson

Chuck Norris Missed It Too

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50667/

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CHRISTIAN RIGHT LEADERS: AMERICA CAN ONLY BE ‘RECLAIMED’ BY RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

By Adele Stan, Church and State

Religious Right leaders at the Reclaiming America For Christ Conference fretted that America cannot be “reclaimed” from the grip of the evil forces that now engulf it until religious revival sweeps the land.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50450/

==========

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LATE ABORTION BAN: RIGHT-WING JUDICIAL ACTIVISM RUN AMOK

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet

Bush’s court-packing pays off, and Democrats who voted for Scalia and Roberts get their comeuppance.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50723/

==========

LI Catholic church faces sex abuse lawsuit … and more

Newsday – Long Island,NY,USA

Murphy, who has repeatedly promised to refer any new allegations of sex abuse to law enforcement, also was linked to the priest abuse scandal in Boston, …

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–churchabuselawsui0413apr13,0,899316.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Diocese settles another priest sex abuse case

BurlingtonFreePress.com – Burlington,VT,USA

Paulin last served as a parish priest in 2002, when he was suspended from priestly duties by the diocese as an Attorney General’s Office investigation was …

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS01/704130311/1009/NEWS05

“20/20″ to air “preacher predators” segment

By Sam Hodges

“20/20″ lists numerous SBC preachers who have been convicted or charged with child sex abuse, including pastors still identified on the SBC’s own Web site as ordained ministers. Avila also interviews a preacher who admits, …

http://religion.beloblog.com/archives/2007/04/2020_to_air_preacher_predators.html

Archdiocese loses another round in sex abuse cases

Rocky Mountain News – Denver,CO,USA

The Archdiocese of Denver has lost its second attempt to have a group of sex abuse cases involving the late priest, Harold Robert White, dismissed in Denver …

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5491301,00.html

Southern Baptists Confront Their Own Sexual Abuse Scandal

Beliefnet.com – New York,NY,USA

Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest and canon lawyer in Vienna, Va., warned Catholic bishops in the mid-1980s of potential problems with clergy sex abuse. …

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/216/story_21649_1.html

Last Post: “The God Delusion”

By JCR(JCR)

There is a comparison about this type of “indoctrination” being like child sex abuse in its magnitude and ability to tarnish and damage a person for life. Several examples include adults who to this day cannot
shake off the fear of hell …

http://frequencyofsilence.blogspot.com/2007/04/last-post-god-delusion.html

==========

Richard Dawkins will be interviewed by conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly on Monday, April 23, at 8.00pm EST on FOX. The program will be rebroadcasted at 11.00pm.

April 19, 2007

Check your local listings for times.

For more informations, go to http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html

or

http://richarddawkins.net/event,143,The-OReilly-Factor

Thanks for reading,
Josh Timonen
RichardDawkins.net

==========

three thousand words

Don Addis: reason cat

http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2007/march/images/addis-reason-cat-cartoon.jpg

dhonig: teaching the controversy

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/dhonig2/Ancestors425.jpg

Atheist Eve: evolution

http://www.atheist-community.org/images/cartoon/gkkeBHHUE9PH25tO.jpg

Coghead

Coghead empowers tech-savvy business people to develop applications for common business problems. By combining the benefits of zero infrastructure, drag and drop tools, powerful development features and more, Coghead is changing the app development game, in your favor.

At:

http://www.coghead.com/

                          ==========

Limbaugh said Virginia Tech shooter “had to be a liberal”

On the April 19 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Rush Limbaugh declared that the perpetrator of the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings “had to be a liberal,” adding: “You start railing against the rich, and all this other — this guy’s a liberal. He was turned into a liberal somewhere along the line. So it’s a liberal that committed this act.” Limbaugh then complained, in a possible reference to Media Matters for America, that “Now the drive-bys will read on a website that I’m attacking liberalism by comparing this guy to them. That’s exactly what they do every day, ladies and gentlemen. I’m just pointing out a fact. I am making no extrapolation.” Limbaugh regularly describes mainstream media sources as “the drive-by media.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704190008?src=other

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Insurgents unveil alternative cabinet and first minister for Iraq

20 Apr 2007

An ‘insurgent’ coalition yesterday announced an “Islamic Cabinet” for Iraqi as it attempted to provide an alternative to the country’s US-backed regime. The Islamic State of Iraq group named the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq as its “minister of war”.

At:

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=608232007

                          ==========

Iraqi Oil Law Nears Final Stage

18 Apr 2007

Iraq’s ‘hotly debated’ [LOL, only the Bush, Cheney Halliburton, and Exxon Mobil want it] draft oil law is to be sent to parliament “We are expecting to take no more than two months to discuss it inside the parliament [They know the US will keep blowing up parliament, until the Oil Law is passed]… between one and two months it depends on the parliament,” Assem Jihad told The Associated Press. The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country’s vast untapped reserves.

At:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6567153,00.html

                          ==========

IRAQ: WHY THE MEDIA FAILED

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5953

“It’s no secret that the period of time between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq represents one of the greatest collapses in the history of the American media,” observes Gary Kamiya. “Why did the media fail so disastrously in its response to the biggest issue of a generation? To answer this, we need to look at three broad, interrelated areas, which I have called psychological, institutional and ideological. The media had serious preexisting weaknesses on all three fronts, and when a devastating terrorist attack and a radical, reckless and duplicitous administration came together, the result was a perfect storm.” In the “psychological” category, he points to “the subtle, internalized, often unconscious way that the media
conforms and defers to certain sacrosanct values and ideals. … It’s reflected in a cautious, centrist media that defers to accepted national dogmas.” Institutionally, “The decline of newspapers, the rise of infotainment, and media company owners’ insistence on delivering high returns to their shareholders have diminished resources and led to a bottom-line fixation unconducive to aggressive reporting.” And ideologically, “the U.S. media works within a tiny ideological spectrum on the Middle East, using the same center-right and right-wing sources again and again.”

SOURCE: Salon.com, April 10, 2007

                          ==========

Ethanol Insanity

Allan Topol

April 17, 2007

Decision-makers in Washington concerned about the adverse impact on national security of our obsessive dependence upon imported oil have embraced a syllogism.  Imported oil is bad.  Substitution of ethanol for gasoline will reduce our oil imports.  Therefore let’s expand the use of ethanol.

With this objective in mind, politicians have granted generous subsidies to encourage domestic production of ethanol, which is made from corn in the United States.  Last year those subsidies cost taxpayers approximately $6 billion.  And they have succeeded.  Ethanol, either mixed with gasoline or used alone in specifically designed cars, accounted for 3.5 percent of American fuel consumption in 2006.  Production is growing by 25 percent a year.  Currently there are 114 ethanol distillers in the United States.  Another 80 plants and seven expanded factories are being built, doubling capacity by the end of the decade to 12 billion gallons.

Politicians believe that this ethanol craze is a win-win scenario.  It all seems too good to be true.  Farmers support it because they love government subsidies.  The automobile industry believes it will divert attention from global warming.  The oil industry is happy because inroads on gasoline consumption are not major.  Foreign policy hardliners love the idea of reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Long ago, I learned that anything too good to be true isn’t true.  This is the case with ethanol.

For starters, there are three types of ethanol in the world.  Good ethanol made from sugar cane and currently produced in large quantities in Brazil.  Very good ethanol produced from wood, grasses and shrubs by a process not yet commercially viable.  Then there is “bad ethanol,” which we produce in the United States from corn.  It’s bad because, unlike the other processes for ethanol production, our corn based process requires at least as much energy to produce ethanol as it releases when burned.  It also requires large quantities of water which is in short supply in much of the United States agricultural heartland where the plants are being built.

Then there’s the impact on food production and hence food prices.  Not surprisingly, farmers are shifting productions of wheat, soy and other crops to corn in order to gain the governmental subsidies.  Last year, 78 million acres of corn were planted.  There will be more than 90 million this year.  It doesn’t take an agricultural economist to realize that farm land is limited in the United States.  Growing more corn means that other crops will be in short supply and their prices will rise.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,132578,00.html

                          ==========

ETHANOL WILL NOT BE OUR CLEAN, GREEN SAVIOR! … and more

By Murray Dobbin, The Tyee

As much as we may hope to the contrary, ethanol will not save us. Instead it will lead to more food and water shortages, and feed our unchecked consumption.

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/50189/

Corn-based ethanol not cheap, not green

The Economist: It is not often that this newspaper agrees with Fidel Castro, Cuba’s tottering Communist dictator. But when he roused himself from his sickbed last week to write an article criticizing George W. Bush’s unhealthy enthusiasm for ethanol, he had a point.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/pimail.asp?uid=36689&url=opinion/311225_ethanol12.html

Ethanol Driving Up Corn Prices

The Heartland Institute – Chicago,IL,USA

Continuing high demand for corn, fueled by increasing ethanol production, will keep corn prices at historic levels for the foreseeable future, …

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20943

Ethanol plants come with hidden cost: Water

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – St. Louis,MO,USA

David Pitts doesn’t begrudge the farmers and investors who see a new ethanol plant as a way to make some good money. He’s just worried he won’t have any …

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/2CE7802268EB6382862572BD001D245F?OpenDocument

Ethanol vehicles pose significant health risk – study

TG Daily – USA

Stanford (CA) – A new Stanford University study finds that a switch to ethanol vehicles would likely increase the number of respiratory deaths in the United …

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31683/113/

Ethanol vehicles pose significant health risk – study

“As a cure for our addiction to oil, ethanol turns out to have some nasty side effects. Concerns that the nation’s cars are contributing to global warming have led automobile manufacturers and policy makers to promote ethanol as the fuel of the future, since it is made from crops such as sugar beet. Pollution from gasoline engines accounts for 10,000 deaths in the US each year, along with thousands of cases of respiratory disease, and even cancer. The widely touted ethanol-based fuel E85 (15% gasoline,  85% ethanol) could result in similar numbers of deaths, or even make matters worse, according to a new study. Mark Jacobson at Stanford University in California, US, modelled emissions for cars expected to be on the road in 2020. An E85-fuelled fleet would cause 185 more pollution-related deaths per year than a petrol one across the US the model predicted – most of them in smoggy Los Angeles, California.”

Learn more in the New Scientist.

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11628-warning-biofuel-may-harm-your-health.html

From: http://www.futurebrief.com/

Study says ethanol could be as bad for health as gasoline

SitNews – Ketchikan,AK,USA

If ethanol ever gains widespread use as a clean alternative fuel to gasoline, people with respiratory illnesses may be in trouble. …

http://www.sitnews.us/0407news/041907/041907_shns_ethanolrisk.html

                          ==========

Fact Sheet: Proposed FISA Modernization Legislation

Office of the Director of National Intelligence, April 13, 2007, Fact Sheet: Proposed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)Modernization Legislation

http://www.odni.gov/press_releases/20070413_release.pdf

“Key Provisions of this Bill Are:

Updating the definition of electronic surveillance to account for the sweeping changes in telecommunications technology that have taken place. The proposed legislation is technology neutral. In contrast to the 1978 statute, which contains central provisions that are tied to specific communications technologies, this proposal is not tied to specific technology we have today. That way, as telecommunications technology develops over time – - which it surely will do – - FISA will not run the risk of becoming out of date.

Protecting civil liberties and privacy interests and improving our intelligence capabilities by focusing FISA on people located in the United States.
 

Improving the way the United States does business with communications providers. The country’s communications providers are important partners in the ability of the United States Government to protect our national security. The proposed legislation includes needed authority both to protect those carriers when they do comply with lawful requests under FISA, and to enable providers to cooperate with authorized intelligence activities.

Streamlining the FISA process. Numerous Congressional and Executive Branch reviews of the FISA process have recommended that the FISA process be made more efficient, and the Department of Justice has made major strides in recent years in improving its practices and procedures. The proposal would make several changes to improve further the efficiency of the FISA process, including extending the period of authorization for non-United States persons, which will allow the Department and the FISA Court to concentrate more scarce resources to the cases that concern United States persons. Reflecting today’s national security threats. The Bill seeks to update FISA to reflect today’s national security threats. One of those threats is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This legislation will allow the Intelligence Community to obtain FISA authority to better protect the nation against proliferators.

Adding an additional definition of an agent of a foreign power for non-U.S. persons whom the Government believes possess significant intelligence information, but whose relationship to a foreign power is unclear.”

Via FAS, the text of the proposed legislative changes to FISA, including a section by section analysis.

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2007/04/fisa-proposal.pdf

April 16, 2007 press release: “Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) today re-introduced legislation reaffirming that the federal government must follow the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) when conducting electronic surveillance of American citizens in the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. The Feinstein-Specter bill also would prevent delays in intelligence agency anti-terrorist surveillance, while ensuring that these activities do not violate the civil liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”

http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=fc682de6-91b9-3e2c-2c8a-e35069864001

                          ==========

Borowitz Report – Smoking Gonzales Shocker

Smoldering Pile of Ashes Believed to be Gonzales

Found on Chair in Senate Hearing Room

A smoldering pile of ashes found on a chair in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room is believed to be the remains of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, officials confirmed today.

The smoking remnants, which appeared on the chair in which Mr. Gonzales had been seated during his testimony Thursday, have a “ninety percent chance” of being the Attorney General, a source close to the committee said.

“We’re going to have to wait for positive identification from the forensics people,” the source said. “But right now, all evidence points to that smoldering pile of ashes being Alberto.”

Mr. Gonzales’ day of testimony got off to a bumpy start as he displayed the memory lapses that have become his hallmark, including forgetting that he had an appointment with the Senate Judiciary Committee that day.

The Attorney General rushed into the hearing room two hours late, still wearing a pajama top, telling the senators that he had forgotten to set his clock radio.

As his testimony wore on, Mr. Gonzales repeatedly frustrated his Senate inquisitors by telling them that he could not recollect important meetings and conversations, prompting Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) to interject, “Even when I’m on a bender I have a better memory than this.”

At the White House, President Bush gave Mr. Gonzales’ a vote of confidence, telling reporters, “I believe that Alberto can continue to be an effective Attorney General, even if he is a smoldering pile of ashes.”

Elsewhere, the elimination of Sanjaya on “American Idol” has “sent a chill through the no-talent community,” said actress Tori Spelling.

ELSEWHERE, see Andy next Thursday, April 26 in “Next Week’s News,” one night only at Caroline’s on Broadway. Special guests include Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jon Fisch, Dean Obeidallah and Adam Wade. Show begins at 8 PM; tickets available at www.carolines.com .

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

                          ==========

three thousand words

Adam Zyglis: disturbing manifestos

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/34200/

Dwane Powell: Senator McCain

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/34119/

David Horsey: call me karl

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070420/Cartoon20070420.gif

IMUS IS OUT, BUT WHITEY EXECS GET THE LAST LAUGH

By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com

People say that Don Imus isn’t funny, but let’s face it, there is a joke in all of this — a joke on the black community.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/50744/

==========

Boortz, others blame VA Tech victims for not fighting back

In the April 18 edition of his daily program notes, called Nealz Nuze and posted on his website, nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz asked: “How far have we advanced in the wussification of America?” Boortz was responding to criticism of comments he made on the April 17 broadcast of his radio show regarding the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. During that broadcast, Boortz asked: “How the hell do 25 students allow themselves to be lined up against the wall in a classroom and picked off one by one? How does that happen, when they could have rushed the gunman, the shooter, and most of them would have survived?” In his April 18 program notes, Boortz added: “It seems that standing in terror waiting for your turn to be executed was the right thing to do, and any questions as to why 25 students didn’t try to rush and overpower Cho Seung-Hui are just examples of right wing maniacal bias. Surrender — comply — adjust. The doctrine of the left. … Even the suggestion that young adults should actually engage in an act of self defense brings howls of protest.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704180007?src=other

==========

Lawyer outlines a broader conspiracy in search for FBI documents on Oklahoma City bombing

17 Apr 2007

A Utah attorney alleges informants gathering information on Timothy McVeigh or his associates warned the FBI about the plot to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building but the agency took no action to stop the 1995 attack. Jesse Trentadue also says there were others involved in carrying out the bombing besides McVeigh and Terry Nichols, despite investigators’ conclusion that they were the only ones responsible for the crime.

At:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5684544

==========

House to Begin Probe Into Fla. Election

17 Apr 2007

A House task force will take the first steps Tuesday in an investigation of a Florida congressional election decided by 369 votes amid complaints that ‘voting’ machines failed to count thousands of electronic ballots.

At:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/17/ap3619937.html

==========

War of the Words

The American people have become the unwitting victims of their own information warriors.

by Michael Carmichael
Global Research, April 17, 2007

Planetary Movement

With clockwork military precision, the American people have become the unwitting victims of their own information warriors. The dazzling effects of this war’s weaponry leave US citizens bewildered by wilful misrepresentations of facts. While US propaganda surges are ostensibly designed to deceive America’s enemies, far too frequently they boomerang back, plunging their deadly roots deep down into the American psyche.

Under Donald Rumsfeld, strategic communications campaigns based on outmoded theories of information led to the destruction of the moral authority of the United States. Following growing concerns voiced by key figures in the US military, some attempts were launched to rein in the abuse of propaganda, but it is already too late – the damage to America’s standing in the world has been done. Worse, the destruction of American credibility is the direct result of the policies of the Bush-Cheney White House and their neoconservative administration.

During the first phase of the invasion of Iraq, the Rumsfeld Pentagon launched a concatenation of disinformation in the form of a chain reaction of stories that were false. These stories fooled the mainstream press. CNN, The New York Times, the Associated Press and UPI – and many more agencies – ran the propaganda. Here are just a few examples:

Iraqi military planned to don US and UK uniforms to commit atrocities on Iraqis in order to stigmatize the coalition;

Iraqis had executed prisoners of war and The mass surrender of the Fifty-first Division of the Iraqi Army.

All these stories were uncorroborated at the time they were published, and they soon died due to lack of evidence, but the damage was done. Iraqis were demonized as perpetrators of war crimes, while the reports about the mass surrender of the Fifty-first Division misinformed Americans about the progress of the war.

Today, the US military relies on information warfare campaigns to such a degree that it is perfectly correct to label the propaganda process: “the weaponization of information,” a term introduced by Daniel Schulman in his recent paper, Mind Games, published in the Columbia Journalism Review.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CAR20070417&articleId=5422

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

==========

ONWARD, FREE MARKET SOLDIERS: PRIVATIZING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

by Diane Farsetta

U.S. Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes’ remarks at the “Private Sector Summit on Public Diplomacy” opened on a militaristic note. “Looking around the room and seeing the quality and the scope of the talent represented here,” she said, “I feel like reinforcements have arrived.”

Given Hughes’ membership in the White House Iraq Group, a key part of the Bush administration’s Iraq War “sell job,” perhaps her choice of imagery isn’t surprising. But are her new corporate “troops” well suited for the job of public diplomacy?

The January 2007 public diplomacy summit was co-sponsored by the State Department and the PR Coalition, an “ad hoc partnership” of groups representing the public relations, investor relations, lobbying and other communications professions. Nearly 160 PR executives and government officials attended, engaging “in a dialogue over how the private sector can become more involved in and supportive of U.S. public diplomacy,” in the words of PR Coalition chair and Accenture PR chief James Murphy.

To read the rest of this item, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5967

==========

Perspectives on Virginia Shooting

YESHUA MOSER-PUANGSUWAN,

http://www.iansa.org

A founding member of the International Action Network on Small Arms, Moser-Puangsuwan said today: “Other Western countries like Australia and the UK have one mass shooting, then institute policies on guns and don’t have a repeat. In the U.S., it happens again and again.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

==========

DUH, “I JUST SOLD HIM THE GUN”

By Jan Frel

Gun store dealer to Va. Tech killer shows little remorse

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50718/

==========

WSU Vancouver evacuated due to threat;

Patriot Act forum rescheduled

18 Apr 2007

The Vancouver branch of Washington State University was evacuated Tuesday night because of threatening graffiti discovered in a campus restroom shortly before an evening conference on the Patriot Act and the war on [of] terror, authorities said. University officials decided to evacuate the campus about 6:30 p.m. after the graffiti was found, according to Sgt. Mike Cooke of the Clark County sheriff’s office. The threat came on the same night that Brandon Mayfield, an attorney wrongly arrested by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings, was scheduled to appear on campus as part of a forum on civil liberties titled “Casualties of the USA Patriot Act and the War on Terror.” His wife, Mona Mayfield, said they drove to the campus and were told to leave. Mayfield said she was told the event would be rescheduled.

At:

http://www.komotv.com/news/7074327.html

==========

Where Is Iraq Headed?

AARON GLANTZ, aaronfglantz@yahoo.com

http://www.aaronglantz.com

An unembedded journalist and author of the book “How America Lost Iraq,” Glantz has reported extensively from Iraq since the spring of 2003. He said today: “Muqtada al-Sadr has millions of followers — many more than the Bush-backed government in the Green Zone. … He may be a Shi’ite fundamentalist, but even Sunnis and secular Iraqis respect him for standing up to an unpopular American occupation.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

==========

three thousand words

David Horsey: all-american education

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070419/Cartoon20070419.gif

Ben Sargent: Following the Clues

http://img.slate.com/media/29/070417_ed.gif

Sandy Huffaker: he said the a-word through the z-word …

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/HuffaS/2007/HuffaS20070412_low.jpg

Sobering News on Tax Day for America’s Middle Class

by Tula Connell, Apr 16, 2007
Salary gains for the past five years have gone to the highest-paid workers, like Katie Couric, who makes $15 million a year as “CBS Evening News” anchor.  Have you hit the “send” button on your electronic tax filing yet?

Just in time for tax day, some in the news media are highlighting what we frequently note here: The rich are getting richer and more of us are just getting by.

Yesterday’s Parade magazine, that all-American national weekly tabloid, features a multi-page article on the discrepancy between our growing economy and our not-growing wages. In sum, writes reporter Lynn Brenner:

Most Americans didn’t see the long economic boom reflected in their paychecks.

Instead:

The salary gains of the last five years have gone to the highest-paid workers.

The most striking part of the feature is the row upon row of photos featuring famous people and their salaries—sprinkled in between people who represent the rest of us. There’s Katie Couric, paid $15 million a year to keep “CBS Evening News” in third place, behind NBC and ABC news. Just below Couric we see Angela Pratt in Wichita, Kan., a foster-care recruiter who makes $23,000 a year. Want to bet which job is harder?

Deborah Mensch, one of those over-paid government employees living high off the taxpayer trough, gets $14,000 a year as a seasonal park ranger in Montana. Over in Greenwich, Conn., Edward Lampert pulls in a cool $425 million as hedge fund manager.

And so it goes. Writes Brenner:

“People are worried about the future,” says Gary Fearn, who earned $9,000 last year as a minister in Pueblo, Colo. For many Americans, being employed no longer means being free of financial insecurity.

Brenner makes another point we’ve made here: U.S. workers’ productivity is growing while our paychecks are not.

Workers’ productivity grew an impressive 18 percent between 2000 and 2006—but most people’s inflation-adjusted weekly wages rose only 1 percent during that time. This was the firs economic expansion since World War II without a sustained pay increase for rank-and-file workers.

But just because our salaries aren’t keeping up with those of hedge fund managers, TV news anchors—or even the cost of living—don’t expect a break from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The New York Times reports today the IRS is increasingly auditing middle-class taxpayers.

Since 2000, authorities at the Internal Revenue Service have nearly tripled audits of tax returns filed by people making $25,000 to $100,000 as part of a broad change in audit strategy.

Audits of these middle-class taxpayers rose to nearly 436,000 last year, up from about 147,000 returns in 2000. For these 61 million individuals and married couples, who make up nearly half of all taxpayers, the odds of being audited rose from 1 in 377 to 1 in 140.

At:

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/04/16/sobering-news-on-tax-day-for-americas-middle-class/

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Townhall.com cartoon shows bin Laden wearing “Obama 2008″ button

A sidebar on the conservative website Townhall.com features a cartoon of a bearded man with a rifle — presumably Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — wearing a button that reads “Obama 2008.” In the image, the man is smiling and giving a thumbs-up. As of April 17, the sidebar appears aside every column on the website and invites visitors to “Click Here” for “More Funnies.” The image is linked to Townhall.com’s “The Funnies,” a collection of political cartoons by “Townhall.com Cartoonists.”
 

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704170003?src=other

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Secret service officer shoots two agents at White House

18 Apr 2007

Two Secret Service officers were injured after a gun held by another Secret Service officer accidentally fired inside the White House gate, according to a spokesman, Darrin Blackford. Their injuries are non-life threatening, the spokesman said.

At:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/agent-shoots-colleagues-in-white-house/2007/04/18/1176696868706.html

                          ==========

Bush administration pushes for expansion and deepening of police state

by Larry Chin

Global Research, April 15, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca

The George W. Bush administration seized the White House in 2000 by way of an openly stolen election, then cemented its criminal power into place with the unprecedented 9/11 mass murder, and its two resulting abominations: the fabricated “war on terrorism” (the pretext for endless global war), and the USA Patriot Act (the full-scale destruction of the Constitution, and the militarization of the US homeland).

The deepening of the war and security state continues unabated and relatively unopposed, in spite of meager posturing of (largely complicit) congressional Democrats. Nothing has been done to stop, reverse or undo the Bush administration’s boundless criminality, its wide open corruption, or the absolute and systematic rape of law itself. Few if any of Bush’s criminals have been brought to justice.

Three new examples leave no doubt:

    *
      In yet another attack on the separation of powers, the Bush administration is pushing for a “war czar”, giving the White House even more centralized war power, over and above the power it already wields through the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA. Through the concocted war and intelligence “czars”, the White House inner circle—Bush, Cheney, Rove, etc.—wields total dictatorial power, and the power to bypass and silence any hint of opposition from the rest of the government.

    *
      Mike McConnell, the National Intelligence Director (intelligence “czar” himself) is pushing for greatly expanded power to spy on US citizens and potential “terrorists”. McConnell is requesting more warrantless wiretapping and surveillance of US citizens, and more spying without Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court approval or other court orders.

McConnell is also demanding that telecommunications companies receive immunity from civil liability for “cooperating” with the Bush administration. Two companies, AT&T and Verizon, now face lawsuits for handing phone records to the NSA. AT&T’s “secret rooms” provided the Bush administration direct access to the lives of US citizens.

See:

“Bush administration caught red-handed spying on US citizens”

http://www.onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_699.shtml

The Bush administration wants not only the full legal authority, but the permission, to violate and destroy the lives of anyone it targets.

    *
      It is a fact, detailed in a new investigation by Jeremy Scahill, that Blackwater, the private mercenary firm, manages and runs many aspects of the Bush administration’s criminal wars all over the world, as well as domestic “security” operations (such as police operations in the post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans). Blackwater, one of the many poison-fanged corporate military faces of Bush-Cheney’s neocon political apparatus, headed by hardwired Bush-connected neocon military-intelligence figures, is above the law—not controlled by either the US military or the US Congress. Blackwater, which is thriving, and building new facilities all over the world, including the United States, is the face of the new international and homeland security state—a criminal state.

As written by Mike Ruppert in Crossing the Rubicon, “American fascism is something different now. It’s not just private, elite control over the legal system, nor private evasion of the rule of law. It’s a crisis-induced transition from a society with a deeply compromised legal system to a society where force and surveillance completely supplant the system.”

Consider the system supplanted.

At:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20070415&articleId=5387

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

                          ==========

The Accomplices: Sundance George and Butch Reid and the Virginia Tech Massacre

by Greg Palast
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

He had accomplices. Don’t kid yourself: 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui didn’t forge his two little pistols in his smithy shop.

He had a dealer, a guns-and-bullets pusher-man who put the heat in his hand, took the kid’s money and pocketed it with a grin.

“Whether you are looking for a pistol for affordable training or simply the excitement of shooting, the P22 is the pistol for you!”

That’s the ad on the Walther website for the student-reaper, a Walther.22.

Not that Walther, or its fellow murder-maker, Glock, which crafted the other Weapon of Student Mass Destruction, the Glock 7mm, kept all of the killer kid’s money. The gun makers religiously tithe a portion of their grim reapings to their friends in Washington.

This report isn’t about gun control legislation or the right to bear arms or any of that sideways crap. This is about a group of co-conspirators who dropped two killing devices into the hands of someone who shouldn’t have had access to a plastic spoon.

But before we bring in the suspects for questioning, let’s pull back the camera lens for the bigger picture. Because what we saw at Virginia Tech was just a concentrated node of a larger, nationwide killing spree that goes on day after day in the USA. Eighty-thousand Americans take a bullet from a hand gun in any year. Thirty-thousand die. That’s one thousand shooting deaths off-camera for each victim at Virginia Tech.

Sundance Bush is right now at the school for his photo op. The President is, “saddened and angered by these senseless acts of violence.” But will our senseless and violent President do anything about it? He already has: On July 29, 2005, the US Senate passed, then Bush signed, a grant of immunity from lawsuits for Walther, Glock and other gun manufacturers.

Now, corporations that make hand-guns can’t be sued for knowingly selling firearms to killers. Like that? No other industry has such wide lawsuit immunity — not teachers, not doctors, not cops — only gun makers.

Here’s how Cho got his guns. It’s a story you won’t hear on CNN. It begins with something known as, The Iron Pipeline. At one end of the Pipeline are states like Alabama where gun laws are loosey-goosey. Gun makers including Glock stuff the ‘Bama end of the pipe with far more guns than can ever be bought legally in that state, knowing full well that the guns will be illegally shipped up the pipeline into states where gun laws are tougher. Virginia law prevents “gun-trafficking”; in Alabama, they could care less.

In every state in America, a bar owner is liable to lawsuit if a bartender serves too many drinks and a customer dies in an auto accident. Hand a chainsaw to a child, you’re in legal trouble. Until Bush signed the 2005 protect-the-gun-makers law, the same common law against negligent distribution applied to firearms.

Bush was aiming at Stephen Fox. Steven can describe feeling pieces of his brain fly from his skull after a mugger shot him. He’s permanently paralyzed. A jury charged the makers of .25-caliber hand guns with negligent distribution — and Bush went wild.

He was especially worked up because the City of New Orleans sued the gun makers for the cost of hospitalizing cops shot by armaments pooping out the end of the Iron Pipeline. The NAACP joined in the suit with the effrontery to demand the gun-pushers alter their marketing programs to keep their products out of the hands of maniacs and murderers.

Do the gun manufacturers know their .22′s are being used for something other than hunting long-horned elk? Every year, the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency sends 800,000 requests to the gun companies to trace weapons found at crime scenes. As Fox’s attorney told me, criminals are a much-valued, if unpublicized, market segment sought out and provisioned by these manufacturers.

But they’re safe, the gun-makers, even if we aren’t, because of Bush’s immunity law. But Sundance Bush didn’t act alone. There was Harry ‘Butch’ Reid, leader of the Senate Democrats, riding shotgun on the immunity bandwagon.

The Walther .22 comes from Austria. Hitler came from Austria, too. The Glock 7mm student-slayer comes from Germany. With the legal protection handed them by Bush and Reid, the two Teutonic weapons profiteers can skip free of legal judgment with that line well-practiced by their countrymen: “We were only taking orders — for our product.”

This report is adapted from, “Just Put Down that Lawsuit, Pardner, and No One Gets Hurt” in the Class War section of the new edition of Greg Palast’s bestseller, “ARMED MADHOUSE: Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of A White House Gone Wild.” Order it now at www.GregPalast.com before its official release next week.

From: http://www.gregpalast.com/

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Now has it been enough gun violence?

Bonnie Erbe, syndicated columnist:

The only fact separating this week’s Virginia Tech massacre from the other countless workplace, college, school and public area shootings is its scale. As long as weapons are widely available, particularly automatic weapons, such massacres will continue unabated.

…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/311987_erbe18.html

Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service.
E-mail bonnieerbe@CompuServe.com

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WHAT I THINK ABOUT GUNS

By Jane Smiley, HuffingtonPost.com

Americans will always have guns. But it would be nice if the gun-toting right wing admitted that there is a price we pay.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50697/

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Perspectives on Virginia Shooting

MIKE MALES, mmales@earthlink.net

http://home.earthlink.net/~mmales

Author of the book “‘Kids & Guns:’ How Politicians, Experts, and the Press Fabricate Fear of Youth,” Males said today: “Mass shootings are common in the United States — we’ve had several in recent months in offices, and almost weekly in families. I cannot find another country where mass shootings are so common outside of war or revolution, regardless of their other characteristics.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Borowitz Report – Wolfowitz Girlfriend Shocker

World Shocked That Wolfowitz Has Girlfriend

‘Who Would Date Wolfowitz?’ Millions Ask

Amid the controversy swirling about World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, millions of people today reacted with shock to what is universally considered the most improbable aspect of the story: that Paul Wolfowitz could have a girlfriend.

All over the world, from Wall Street to Main Street, reactions to the news about Mr. Wolfowitz ranged from “Who would date Wolfowitz?” to “Wolfowitz has a girlfriend? You have got to be shitting me.”

At the World Bank, work ground to a halt as colleagues of the organization’s controversial president staggered about in disbelief, searching for theories to explain such an impenetrable mystery.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would go out with the Wolf-man,” said one World Bank employee on condition of anonymity. “He may be the second-least sexy man to come out of the Bush administration – right after Karl Rove.”

Another World Bank employee, who admitted that he was “dumbfounded” by the news about Mr. Wolfowitz, offered one possible explanation: “Maybe she figured that because he’s president of the World Bank, he’ll always pick up the check.”

Davis Logsdon, who studies the dating habits of World Bank presidents at the University of Minnesota, says that the world “shouldn’t be surprised” by Mr. Wolfowitz’s apparent “magic touch” with the ladies.

“Convincing someone to go out with him is no big deal for a man like Paul Wolfowitz,” Mr. Logsdon said. “Remember, this is the same guy who convinced President Bush to invade Iraq.”

Elsewhere, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he has “nothing to hide,” according to an exclusive interview published today in “Yeah, Right” magazine.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand words

J.D. Crowe: tragedy stirs the need to embrace loved ones

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/34084/

Sandy Huffaker: prsident shocked by virginia tech!!!

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/34072/

Jeff Danziger: War Czar, Bush, Iraq

http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/dancart3201.jpg