carapace – Not your father's america

FILE SHARING

Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh, PA) have developed a method of speeding up the transfer of large data files over the Internet by configuring peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services to share not only identical files, but also similar files. By identifying relevant chunks of files similar to a desired file, the Similarity-Enhanced Transfer (SET) increases the number of potential sources for downloads. Boosting the number of sources usually translates into faster P2P transfers.

Once the download of a data file is initiated, the source file is divided into smaller, unique chunks. Different chunks are downloaded simultaneously from numerous sources that have the identical file, and then the chunks are reassembled into a single file. While downloading is underway, SET continues to search for similar files.

For more information, visit:

http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20070417A2

 

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NY Times left out reported contradiction by former DOJ official of key Gonzales assertion

An April 16 New York Times article headlined ” ‘Nothing to Hide,’ Gonzales Insists Before Hearing,” which previewed Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’ upcoming testimony before Congress on the scandal involving the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, reported that Gonzales would claim “he had ‘nothing to hide’ and that none of the prosecutors were removed to influence the outcome of a case,” but did not report that a former Justice Department official involved with the firings has reportedly made statements undermining a key assertion Gonzales has made. The article noted that Gonzales “is certain to be asked on Tuesday about his own recollection of events” and that “Michael A. Battle, the former director of the department’s United States attorney liaison office,” has apparently contradicted Gonzales’ claim that he “was not involved in seeing any memos,” and “was not involved in any discussions about” the dismissals. However, according to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Battle — the official who informed the U.S. attorneys that they were to be fired — told the committee that shortly before the firings, he was unaware of “performance problems” with all but one of the fired U.S. attorneys, even though Gonzales has claimed that the prosecutors were dismissed for performance reasons. By contrast, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press all reported Schumer’s statements about Battle.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704160005?src=other

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Domenici Sought Iglesias Ouster

15 Apr 2007

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned. Domenici had complained about Iglesias before, at one point going to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before taking his request to the president [sic] as a last resort… In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out. Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.

Read more

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm

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CIA told of al-Qaeda hijack plot before 9/11

16 Apr 2007

French intelligence services warned their US counterparts, eight months before the attacks of September 11, 2001, that al-Qaeda was planning to hijack a US-bound plane, a media report said today. The information that Osama bin Laden’s group, working with Taliban militants and Chechen rebels, had been plotting the move was passed on to Bill Murray, head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Paris bureau, Le Monde daily said.

Read more

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21568776-1702,00.html

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French warned CIA of Al Qaeda hijacking plot before 9/11, report says

16 Apr 2007

A French intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that Al Qaeda was working on a plot to hijack U.S. airliners, and it passed the information on to the CIA, a news report said today. France’s Le Monde newspaper said it had obtained 328 pages of classified documents on Osama bin Laden’s terrorism network that the French foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, had drawn up between July 2000 and October 2001.

Read more

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS07/70416005

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National Security Archive Update, April 16, 2007

ARCHIVE DIRECTOR FEATURED ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY AS “POWER PLAYER OF THE WEEK”

For more information contact:
Thomas Blanton – 202/994-7000

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington DC, April 16, 2007 – Yesterday, Fox News Sunday featured a segment with Chris Wallace interviewing Archive director Tom Blanton.

Secret documents featured on the Fox News Sunday show include:

* Mullah Omar calls Washington two days after the cruise missiles hit Osama bin Ladin’s camps in 1998.

* The Iraq war plans briefed to President Bush in PowerPoint slides assumed there would be only 5,000 U.S. troops left in Iraq by now.

* The Nixon and Elvis file, including Elvis’s handwritten letter.

* The CIA wires a cat to be a mobile microphone – Project Acoustic Kitty.

The government spends $7 billion keeping the secrets.

At least half the secrets don’t deserve classification and wouldn’t damage national security if released.

Follow the link below to watch the interview and read the documents.

http://www.nsarchive.org

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War Profiteering and the Concentration of Income and Wealth in America – Escalating Military Spending

by Prof. Ismael Hossein-zadeh
 

Global Research, April 13, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca 

How Escalation of War and Military Spending Are Used as Disguised or Roundabout Ways to Reverse the New Deal and Redistribute National Resources in Favor of the Wealthy.

Escalating Military Spending: Income Redistribution in Disguise

Critics of the recent U.S. wars of choice have long argued that they are all about oil. “No Blood for Oil” has been a rallying cry for most of the opponents of the war.

It can be demonstrated, however, that there is another (less obvious but perhaps more critical) factor behind the recent rise of U.S. military aggressions abroad: war profiteering by Pentagon contractors.

Frequently invoking dubious “threats to our national security and/or interests,” these beneficiaries of war dividends, the military–industrial complex and related businesses whose interests are vested in the Pentagon’s appropriation of public money, have successfully used war and military spending to justify their lion’s share of tax dollars and to disguise their strategy of redistributing national income in their favor.

This cynical strategy of disguised redistribution of national resources from the bottom to the top is carried out by a combination of (a) drastic hikes in the Pentagon budget, and (b) equally drastic tax cuts for the wealthy. As this combination creates large budget deficits, it then forces cuts in non-military public spending as a way to fill the gaps that are thus created. As a result, the rich are growing considerably richer at the expense of middle– and low–income classes.

Despite its critical importance, most opponents of war seem to have given short shrift to the crucial role of the Pentagon budget and its contractors as major sources of war and militarism—a phenomenon that the late President Eisenhower warned against nearly half a century ago. Perhaps a major reason for this oversight is that critics of war and militarism tend to view the U.S. military force as primarily a means for imperialist gains—oil or otherwise.

The fact is, however, that as the U.S. military establishment has grown in size, it has also evolved in quality and character: it is no longer simply a means but, perhaps more importantly, an end in itself—an imperial force in its own right. Accordingly, the rising militarization of U.S. foreign policy in recent years is driven not so much by some general/abstract national interests as it is by the powerful special interests that are vested in the military capital, that is, war industries and war–related businesses. 

The Magnitude of U.S. Military Spending

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=HOS20070412&articleId=5368

Ismael Hossein-zadeh is an economics professor at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. This article draws upon his recently published book, The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism (Palgrave-Macmillan Publishers). Professor Hossein-zadeh is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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SUNLIGHT SPARKLES

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5935

PBS journalist Mark Glaser has written a laudatory article featuring the Sunlight Foundation, which cosponsors our own Congresspedia project on SourceWatch, along with numerous other citizen journalism projects such as their exposing earmarks campaign. Glaser calls Sunlight a “shining example of independent citizen action … The group has had far-reaching success not only in making Congress more accountable to the people they are supposed to serve, but also in creating bi-partisan fervor in the blogosphere for reform on Capitol Hill. Though the Foundation’s grants and projects, average citizens have been given the tools and resources to make a difference.”

SOURCE: PBS MediaShift, April 4, 2007

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Biodefense Research Supporting the DoD: A New Strategic Vision

The author examines why, despite devoting decades of research to developing countermeasures against biological agents, the Department of Defense has few products in its arsenal. She concludes that the military requires significant change in program structure and management to begin fielding protective drugs and vaccines for the warfighter efficiently.

Published April 2007, Authored by Colonel Coleen K. Martinez

At:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=767

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three thousand words

This Modern World: Then and now

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW041607.jpg

Jim Borgman: The Drain

http://img.slate.com/media/34/070416_ed.gif

Walt Handelsman: your biggest sponsors have pulled out …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmwha/2007/tmwha070412.gif

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (10 April 2007)

In the News:

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

* Latest Images:  Locust Swarms Develop on the Red Sea Coast
 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17610

Floods in Argentina
 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17609

Plume at Shiveluch Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17608

Melt Ponds on Greenland’s Ice Cap

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17607

Plume at Mount Bagana, Bouganville Island 
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17606

Melting Days on Greenland
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17605

Springtime Aerosols over Eastern Asia
 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17604

Magnitude 8.1 Earthquake off the Solomon Islands
 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17603

* NASA News

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

- NASA Data Show Earthquakes May Quickly Boost Regional Volcanoes

* Media Alerts

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

- High-Resolution Images Herald New Era in Earth Sciences
- Snowmelt Monitored in the Baltic Sea Watershed Region in Near Real Time
- Arctic Sea Ice Narrowly Missed Record Low in Winter 2007
- The Global Carbon Budget — Proper Accounting Means Paying Attention to Inland Waters
- Want to Monitor Climate Change? Pick Up a Penguin!
- Experts Develop Technology to Increase Effectiveness of Tsunami Warning Systems
- University of Alaska-Fairbanks Scientist to Lead Sea Ice Expedition

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

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

- Volcano Eruptions Diminish on Indian Ocean Island
- Climbers Becoming Reluctant Witnesses to Global Warming
- Quake Lifts Solomon Islands Out of Sea
- Reunion Sees ‘Colossal’ Volcano Eruption, But Population Safe
- Panel: Global Warming a Threat to Earth
- Bleakest Warning Issued on Climate
- Warming Not Behind Hurricane Activity: Forecaster
- Study: Lake Superior Warming Quickly
- Climate Change Threatens a New Dust Bowl
- Winter Arctic Sea Ice Near Record Low
- Study Shows Rich Reforestation After Fires
- ‘Rough Guide’ Tsunami Warnings on the Way
- Global Warming Driving Australian Fish South: Report
- Barrier Reef Could Have Blocked Tsunami: Scientist
- Forecasters Predict Busy Atlantic Hurricane Season
- NASA: Arctic Meltdown Threatens Ice Cap’s Stability

* New Research Highlights

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

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Fox’s Goler left out Cheney aspect of Sheehan’s explanation for declining “war czar” position

On the April 12 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that “two retired generals have turned down” the position of war czar and that one had “sa[id] he didn’t need the ulcer he would be likely to develop.” But that was a small part of what retired Maj. Gen. John J. “Jack” Sheehan reportedly said. Unmentioned in Goler’s report was the statement by Sheehan that he refused the job because he would have spent much of his time unsuccessfully fighting Vice President Dick Cheney and his allies who, according to Sheehan, “don’t know where the hell they’re going” on Iraq.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704140002?src=other

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Attacks Surge as Iraq Militants Overshadow City

16 Apr 2007

They maneuver in squads, like the American infantrymen they try to kill… They operate in bad weather, knowing American helicopters and surveillance drones are grounded. Some carry G.P.S. receivers so mortar teams can calculate the coordinates of American armored vehicles. They kidnap and massacre police officers. The Sunni guerrillas and extremists [resistance fighters] who now overshadow this city demonstrate a sophistication and lethality born of years of confronting American military tactics.

At:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/middleeast/16insurgency.html

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Webb Says McCain Is Impugning Patriotism of Iraq Debate Foes

13 Apr 2007

Democratic Senator James Webb accused Republican John McCain of questioning the patriotism of those who disagree with him on Iraq and “hiding behind the troops as political justification” for a misguided policy. “I think that John McCain has been impugning people’s patriotism and I really regret that he is doing that,” Webb, of Virginia, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” scheduled to air today. “I’m very disappointed in him.”

At:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aTE7TSru46uo

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Perry’s database of Texans concerns lawmakers –

Names of more than 1 million Texans are housed database, drawn from records of state, local and, soon, federal law enforcement agencies. 14 Apr 2007 If you’ve had a traffic ticket recently, you likely are in the privately run database of criminals and potential terrorists being kept by Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) office. The database has information ranging from intelligence on potential terrorists to standard criminal convictions to drug investigations to speeding tickets and red-light violations.

At:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4714334.html

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TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY’S DANGEROUS DATABASE

By Jake Bernstein, Texas Observer

Texas is amassing an unprecedented amount of information on its citizens.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50517/

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The U.S. Terrorist Database

It’s called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), and it’s huge.  In 2003, there were 100,000 people on it; now there are 435,000.

Of course there are problems:

“TIDE has also created concerns about secrecy, errors and privacy. The list marks the first time foreigners and U.S. citizens are combined in an intelligence database. The bar for inclusion is low, and once someone is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off it. At any stage, the process can lead to ‘horror stories’ of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.”

Mostly the article tells you things you already know: the list is riddled with errors, and there’s no defined process for getting on or off the list.  But the most surreal quote is at the end, from Rick Kopel, the center’s acting director: “The center came in for ridicule last year when CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ noted that 14 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were listed — five years after their deaths. Kopel defended the listings, saying that ‘we know for a fact that these people will use names that they believe we are not going to list because they’re out of circulation — either because they’re dead or incarcerated…. It’s not willy-nilly. Every name on the list, there’s a reason that it’s on there.’”

Get that?  There’s someone who deliberately puts wrong names on the list because they think the terrorists might use aliases, and they want to catch them.  Given that reasoning, wouldn’t you want to put the entire phone book on the list?

Complete article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400944.html

From: CRYPTO-GRAM  Bruce Schneier  SCHNEIER.COM

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U.S. Government Accountability Office – Gulf Coast Rebuilding: Preliminary Observations on Progress to Date and Challenges for the Future

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07574t.pdf

While the federal government has provided billions of dollars in assistance to the Gulf Coast, a substantial portion was directed to short-term needs, leaving a smaller portion for longer-term rebuilding. It may be useful to view this assistance in the context of the costs of damages incurred by the region and the resources necessary to rebuild. Some damage estimates have put capital losses at a range of $70 billion to over $150 billion, while Louisiana estimated that the economic impact on its state alone could reach $200 billion. Such estimates raise important questions regarding additional assistance that will be needed to help the Gulf Coast rebuild in the future. To date, the federal government has provided long-term rebuilding assistance to the Gulf Coast through two key programs, which follow different funding models. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s public assistance program provides public infrastructure funding for specific projects that meet program eligibility requirements. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, on the other hand, provides funding for neighborhood revitalization and housing rehabilitation activities, affording states broad discretion and flexibility. To date, the affected states have received $16.7 billion in CDBG funding from supplemental appropriations– so far, the largest share of funding targeted to rebuilding.

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Borowitz Report -  Heir Apparent

Steinbrenner to Name Successor

Yankee Boss Releases Shortlist

WITH his soon-to-be-former son-in-law Steve Swindal reportedly no longer his heir apparent, and no other members of the immediate family likely to step up, George Steinbrenner might have to think outside the box to find a replacement. According to insiders, the following little-known candidates have emerged as serious contenders for the Yankee throne:

BARON RUPERT VON STEINBRENNER A member of the Bavarian branch of the Steinbrenner family, Baron Rupert von Steinbrenner has never paid a visit to Yankee Stadium, preferring to spend summers in his 17th-century castle on the Danube. Rumor has it that the Yankee owner’s “baseball people” in Tampa, Fla., shudder at the thought of their storied franchise in the hands of a man who has spent most of his adult life raising prize-winning finches. But perhaps Rupert is ready for a new challenge; in a recent interview with the Bavarian newspaper Suddentsche Zeitung, he said, “I am very interest in this ball of bases.”

KIM JONG-STEINBRENNER Very little is known about the super-reclusive head of the North Korean branch of the Steinbrenners, who for the past 15 years has managed the family’s vast plutonium mining interests. George Steinbrenner paid an impromptu visit to his mercurial ninth cousin while scouting pitching talent in Pyongyang in early 2002. According to one insider who was present at the meeting in Kim’s highly fortified underground bunker, the Yankee boss came away impressed, although he feared that the North Korean might be “a little too autocratic.” Still, Steinbrenner is reported to be high on Kim, believing that if he were at the helm of the Yankees, he would try to win at all costs. “Kim would try to destroy the Red Sox,” the insider said. “Literally.”

BIZARRO GEORGE STEINBRENNER NO. 1 Perhaps the darkest of dark horses on the list, Bizarro George Steinbrenner No.1 has run the Old York Yankees of the alternate universe known as the Bizarro Planet for the past 30 years, securing 30 consecutive last-place finishes. The Bizarro Yankee boss’s recent comments to the Bizarro Planet’s leading sports magazine, Mademoiselle, offer some hints about his baseball philosophy: “Me spend big money on bad players and lose, lose, lose!” One Steinbrenner insider believes that Bizarro George Steinbrenner No. 1 has virtually no chance of running the Yankees, but adds, “He could catch on with the Knicks.”

ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES Rumors that the embattled attorney general had made George Steinbrenner’s shortlist swept through Tampa and the Bronx this week. Gonzales is the only non-Steinbrenner under consideration, and the mere mention of his name has Yankee-watchers debating his pros and cons. “On the negative side, Gonzales doesn’t seem very good at remembering things that were said at meetings,” says the insider. “But on the plus side, it looks like he’s going to be available soon.” Gonzales’s biggest fan may also be the most important one: The Boss himself. “Steinbrenner is totally blown away by Alberto,” the insider says. “Even George has never fired eight people in one day.”

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand works

Bendib Cartoon: are you now or have you ever been a muslim?

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2007/march/small/3-26-New-MCCarthyism.jpg

Steve Benson: mccain 2008

http://azcentral.com/sshow/News/Benson/4776_81854.jpg

Mike Peters: easter’s over kid. Now I’m hiding white house e-mails

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2007/MP0415.gif

HOW THE RIGHT USES PEOPLE OF COLOR TO FOSTER RACISM

By Margaret Kimberly, Black Agenda Report

White supremacy, sensing the need to repackage itself for consumption in polite company, partially fills the demand for racist bile by outsourcing to mercenary writers of color.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/50073/

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Discussing Imus, MSNBC’s Jansing sugarcoated Coulter quote on converting Muslims

On the April 13 edition of MSNBC News Live, host Chris Jansing gave viewers a truncated version of right-wing pundit Ann Coulter’s post-September 11, 2001, comments about Muslims, claiming that Coulter “said they should all be converted to Christianity.” In fact, a day after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Coulter wrote in her syndicated column, published on September 13, 2001, in National Review: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” She was later fired from the right-wing National Review Online as a result of those comments. Furthermore, as Media Matters for America has noted, in her book, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter (Crown Forum, October 2004), Coulter wrote: “I am often asked if I still think we should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. The answer is: Now more than ever!”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704130009?src=other

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Angry truckers to encircle D.C. with ‘blockade’ –Protesting administration plan to allow Mexican long-haulers on U.S. roads

14 Apr 2007

American truckers plan to circle the White House and state capitals in a “rolling blockade” to protest a federal government plan to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to operate throughout the U.S. Drivers who participate in “Truck-Out” also are being asked to run their rigs at the minimum speed permitted by law.

At:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55199

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Former commander backs return of military draft

14 Apr 2007

A former commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq said this week it might be time for the United States to discuss bringing back the military draft. On Monday, retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste told News 10NBC in Rochester, N.Y., that in order to “win the peace” in Iraq, current troop levels there would need to be nearly doubled to 300,000, adding that to make numbers like that possible, a military draft might need to be considered.

At:

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=45085

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Energy Outlooks: The Decline & Fall of Practically Everything

Introduction

In this short paper, we will attempt an overview of our energy outlook, globally, and in particular with regard to North America. We will concentrate on major reserve energy sources — that is, energy sources of which the Earth has major stockpiles that are readily accessible. We will focus on these energy sources and ignore other various alternatives and renewable sources for the very simple reason that it is these resources which will dominate the energy market for the foreseeable future.

Certainly, there is a lot of talk about renewable energy sources (wind, sun, tide, geothermal, etc.), and various other energy schemes such as hydrogen fuel cells, methane hydrates, and — the alternative de jour — biofuels. Yet, when you take a hard, close look at these various alternatives and the amount of energy we currently consume, you find that at best none of these alternatives will ever replace more than a fraction of our current energy usage.

In the past, we have analyzed the amount of energy available from sunlight and compared it to our current oil consumption.1 In doing so, we demonstrated that our basic energy problem is one of over-consumption. To replace US daily oil consumption with the products of photosynthesis would require 46% of the planet’s entire surface area. The world would require the entire surface area of the planet and then some.2 This is a direct appropriation of the entire product of photosynthesis, leaving nothing but a barren Earth.

Biofuels transform the products of photosynthesis into a useable fuel. They do so at an energy loss. If the direct energy of photosynthesis is not enough to replace our current oil consumption, then biofuels will never do so. Furthermore, biofuels are dirty and environmentally destructive.3 And biofuel production will compete with agriculture for prime farmland, exacerbating a rise in hunger as oil-based modern agriculture begins to fail. Biofuels will harm the poor, as a study by economists at the University of Minnesota contends.4

Using photovoltaics, the US would require 17% of the planet’s entire surface area, or 59% of the land surface to replace its current daily oil consumption. The entire world would require 40% of the entire planet’s surface are, or 1.37 times the entire land area.5

While some industry insiders are pushing for more nuclear plants, this is not really an economically viable alternative, let alone environmentally. A recent analysis suggests that the construction costs of a new nuclear building spree could be much higher than in the past, and that the cost of electricity generated by these plants could likewise explode.6

While we certainly should expand our usage of renewable resources, we cannot realistically expect them to replace hydrocarbons. So long as our consumption remains at anything near its current level, we will be dependent upon oil and natural gas for the majority of our energy needs, along with coal. And so we will focus on these three energy sources for the remainder of this article.

Oil

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=PFE20070413&articleId=5380

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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CONGRESSIONAL COUCH POTATOES

Volume XII No. 4 – April 13, 2007

As any local gym owner can attest, their businesses are packed in early January with folks resolved to work off some of the holiday turkey and pie.  By February, however, the gyms clear out and only the most dedicated gym rats remain.

Armed with their own new year’s resolutions about earmarks and ethics reforms, House Democrats made it their first order of business to usher in new rules regarding transparency.  These efforts were supposed to ensure that the general public knows the Congressional sponsor of earmarks in federal legislation.  The Senate also acted quickly, adopting a sweeping and bipartisan ethics and transparency bill (S. 1), which incorporated and even slightly improved upon the House language.

As a result of the House reforms, we now see sponsors names next to their projects in the “technical corrections” bill for the bloated transportation bill from last Congress.  What an ironic twist that the first bill to list earmark sponsors is an amendment of the bill that brought us the granddaddy of all earmarks, the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska.

Read the rest of this week’s Wastebasket

http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/KOTFGYYHGA/ODDBGYYHMT/1141283911

Going on at Taxpayer.net This Week

The Farm Bill Debate is Heating Up on Capitol Hill. Need to Sharpen Up Your Knowledge of Federal Ag Policy? Check out TCS’s Agriculture Page!

http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/KOTFGYYHGA/EKUYGYYHMU/1141283911

TCS Analysis of the 2007 Emergency Spending Bill (html)

http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/KOTFGYYHGA/GJJNGYYHMV/1141283911

TCS in the News

Hodes was right to let critics have their say (Concord Monitor, New Hampshire)
Point, click to pet projects (San Diego Union-Tribune)
War Dispute Delays Funds (Hartford Courant)
W.Va. congressman earmarks well (United Press International)
Kontogiannis an enigmatic figure in Cunningham case (North Country Times)
Updated OMB database shows $19B in earmarks in fiscal 2005 budgets (Federal Times)

Notable Quote

“The bridges were two of 282 bridges in the highway bill passed by the House. They were not earmarks.”

–Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), in his latest attempt to try and defend the millions of taxpayer dollars earmarked for the indefensible Knik Arm and Gravina Island “Bridges to Nowhere” in Alaska.

From: Taxpayers for Common Sense    www.taxpayer.net

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INTERNATIONAL PR BLITZ PUSHES CERVICAL CANCER VACCINE

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5930

The “first global summit against cervical cancer” was held in Paris on March 22 and promoted the need for national vaccination programmes for girls. The cost of the summit, estimated at millions of dollars, was “entirely funded” by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, the company with the European license to market Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, reports Sarah Boseley. Gardasil is effective against the most common strains of human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. The “Coalition Against Cervical Cancer” was launched at the summit, and promoted by a video news release produced by the PR firm Euro RCSG and distributed by AP Television News. “Celebrities, doctors and journalists were shipped in from across Europe and the United States by PR agencies working for Sanofi,” Boseley reports. Diane Harper, a professor at Dartmouth medical school in New Hampshire, flagged potential concerns and described a mass vaccination program as being “a great big public health experiment.”

SOURCE: Guardian (UK), March 26, 2007

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Need for ‘czar’ shows chaos of war

Ann McFeatters, guest columnist:

While the nation has been fixated on the fiasco of Don Imus, a virulently self-obsessed radio/TV shock jock who should have been fired long ago for trying to pose as an adult, a much more serious breach of intelligence has occurred: The Bush White House has been in desperate search of a “war czar.”
…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/311571_mcfeatters15.html

                          ==========

A HOLLOW ARMY – HOW THE BUSH REGIME BROKE AMERICA’S MILITARY

By Richard Blair

Richard Blair: Four years and one surge into the occupation of Iraq, the Bush regime has broken America’s standing Army…

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50504

                          ==========

three thousand words

Jack Ohman: iraq …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070412.gif

David Horsey: transmit racial or sexual degradation …

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070414/Cartoon20070414.gif

Tom Toles: decision time

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20070411/ltt070411.gif

GOOD FOR A LAUGH…

President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Episcopal Church outside Washington as part of his campaign to restore his poll standings.

Bush’s campaign manager made a visit to the Bishop, and said to him, “We’ve been getting a lot of bad publicity because of the president’s position on stem cell research, the Iraq war, Katrina, and the like. We’d gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you’d say the President is a saint.”

The Bishop thought it over for a few moments and finally said, “The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it.”

Bush showed up for the sermon and the Bishop began:

“I’d like to speak to you all this morning about our President. George Bush is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel.

He took the tragedy of September 11 and used it to frighten and manipulate the American people. He lied about weapons of mass destruction and invaded Iraq for oil and money, causing the deaths of tens of thousands and making the United States the most hated country on Earth.

“He appointed cronies to positions of power and influence, leading to widespread death and destruction during Hurricane Katrina. He awarded contracts and tax cuts to his rich friends so that we now have more poverty in this country, and a greater gap between rich and poor, than we’ve had since the Depression. He instituted illegal wiretaps when getting a warrant from a secret court would have been a mere administrative detail, had his henchmen lie to Congress about it, then claimed he is above the law.

“He has headed the most corrupt, bribe-inducing political party since Teapot Dome. The national surplus has turned into a staggering national debt of 7.6 trillion dollars, gas prices are up 85%, and vital research into global warming and stem cells is stopped cold because he’s afraid to lose votes from some religious kooks.

“He is the worst example of a true Christian I’ve ever known.

But compared to Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, George Bush is a saint.”

(Thanks to Monty Gaither)

==========

MEDIA FINALLY DISCOVERS ARMY OF PAT ROBERTSON ACOLYTES IN BUSH ADMINISTRATION

By Max Blumenthal, HuffingtonPost.com

When Monica Goodling’s name erupted into the news last week in the attorney scandal, the mainstream press suddenly realized that Pat Robertson’s Regent University exists — and that it’s got a big footprint in the Bush admin.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50408/

==========

Justice scandal exposes religious right’s influence

The recent scandal surrounding the Justice Department’s firing of several US attorneys has inadvertently revealed the dangerous influence the religious right wields over the current administration. While the media is focused on the political firings of these attorneys, the connection between the administration and Pat Robertson’s Regent University — which has seen over 150 graduates hired by the Bush administration in recent years — is a more worrisome reality.

In today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman acknowledges the danger the religious right poses to our nation. Krugman exposes how these “extremists” have long sought to merge their ideology with government policy, a reality that we understand all too well. He also points out just how little attention this serious threat to democracy has received from mainstream media:

“The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda — which is very different from simply being people of faith — is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It’s also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists. But this conspiracy is no theory”.

DefCon was founded to fight this influence and restore our nation’s commitment to freedom, science, and progress — not theocracy. Revelations like those shown by this scandal not only reveal the seriousness of this threat but more importantly how critical our campaign remains.

Please take a moment to forward this news on to your friends and family, encouraging them to join our campaign for freedom, science, and equality. If you’re not already a DefCon member, click here to sign up and receive news and updates.

http://ga3.org/ct/07MqIIM1Dmpj/

Also, be sure to share your thoughts on this development on the DefCon blog.

http://ga3.org/ct/0dMqIIM1Dmpu/

Clark and the rest of the DefCon Team

Justice scandal exposes the incredible influence of the religious right. Click here to read more.

http://ga3.org/ct/0dMqIIM1Dmpu/

==========

SWIFTBOATERS RECRUITED TO PUSH ABSTINENCE

Scott Swenson: And your tax dollars support them…

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50163/

==========

How Jesus Endorsed Bush’s Invasion of Iraq

By Thomas

Neuhaus established himself as the rare priest who would grant interviews to National Public Radio in order to defend the justice of invading Iraq. Weigel spoke on college campuses about the administration’s firm
grasp of the just war …

http://gnosticlightandlife.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-jesus-endorsed-bushs-invasion-of.html

==========

AN ARMY OF CHRISTIAN RIGHT LAWYERS IS WAGING WAR ON THE CONSTITUTION

By Sarah Posner, Washington Spectator

A look at the Christian Right’s legal muscle leading the fight to end the separation of church and state.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/50139/

==========

Did the US forefathers want a Christian nation? Ask the Treaty of Tripoli. [Read Article 11]

At:

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/treaty_tripoli.html

==========

Article 11 of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, finished after George Washington left office; cited in John Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (New York: Random House, 2007) p. 103, p. 262

“AS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS NOT IN ANY SENSE FOUNDED ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, — AS IT HAS IN ITSELF NO CHARACTER OF ENMITY AGAINST THE LAWS, RELIGION OR TRANQUILITY OF MUSSELMEN [MUSLIMS], — AND AS THE SAID STATES NEVER HAVE ENTERED INTO ANY WAR OR ACT OF HOSTILITY AGAINST ANY MEHOMITAN [MUSLIM] NATION, IT IS DECLARED BY THE PARTIES THAT NO PRETEXT ARISING FROM RELIGIOUS OPINIONS SHALL EVER PRODUCE AN INTERRUPTION OF HARMONY EXISTING BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES.”

==========

“Time’s Bad Religion” — “Talibanistan” vs. “Why We Should Teach The Bible in Public School”

At:

http://www.therevealer.org/archives/today_002833.php

==========

RADICAL CHRISTIAN RIGHT PREACHES LIBERAL EVIL

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Members of the radical Christian End Times movement are being taught to believe that America is ruled by evil, clandestine organizations disguised as liberal groups. As a result, the fearful are hoping for the end.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/50366/

==========

Urge Senate to expand stem cell research

April 9, 2007

Dear Secular Coalition activist,

The Senate is expected to vote on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S. 5) this week. Please contact both your Senators and urge them to vote YES on this important legislation:

http://www.secular.org/activism/stem_cell_070409.html

S. 5 will expand stem cell research by increasing the number of stem cell lines eligible to be used in federally-funded research. Current policy allows federal funds to be used for research only on those stem cell lines that existed when President Bush issued an executive order on August 9, 2001. The stem cells in question are generated from embryos that would otherwise be discarded by fertility clinics.

Our online Action Alert offers a sample letter and links you to last year’s scorecard of Senate action on stem cells. Please visit today:

http://www.secular.org/activism/stem_cell_070409.html

Best wishes,
Lori Lipman Brown, Director

The Secular Coalition for America
http://secular.org

==========

Creationist museum challenges evolution

By Martin Redfern
BBC News, Kentucky, USA

For some a battle between science and religion is being fought for the soul of America. The Creationists argue God created the world in six days and want their beliefs given equal status to evolutionary science.

Petersburg, Kentucky, is in the middle of North America. It is supposedly within a day’s drive of two-thirds of the US population.

For the rest, it is just 10 minutes from Cincinnati International Airport. That is why it was picked as the site for a new museum, due to open in a couple of months.

We enter the landscaped grounds through gates flanked by wrought iron stegosaurs.

The lobby is modelled on a cliff in the Grand Canyon. But this is no ordinary museum of science and geology.

It is the dream of Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry that promotes the idea that the Biblical book of Genesis should be taken literally in describing the creation of the world, life and humans as carried out by God over a six-day period a few thousand years ago.

We get as far as the museum bookshop – already well-stocked with creationist titles – but no further.

Officials tell us that state regulations forbid it. It is still under construction and closed to visitors.

In the card game of creationism, the Bible trumps science every time

Is this, I wonder, because I am accompanied by Eugenie Scott, director of the National Centre for Science Education and a polite but determined campaigner against attempts to teach creationism alongside evolution in American school science classes.

Sharp teeth

…

Complete article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6549595.stm

==========

Questioning Creationism

Dale Netherton

Dale Netherton was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa December 30, 1938 and has lived most of his life in Iowa. He spent 22 years working for General Mills as a Plant Services Manager, has a B.S. in Forest Management from Iowa State University, an M.B.A. from Nova University and pregraduate study in philosophy from the State University of Iowa

He has written a book of poetry, had two novellas published,( both books are available on Amazon.com ), written and produced two poetry videos, created a poetry product for photographers, wrote a column for 7 years for a major Eastern Iowa newspaper and is a participant in the Ayn Rand Institute’s Atlantis Legacy program.

Dale Netherton
April 1, 2007

I see by a recent Newsweek poll that 34% of college graduates accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Assuming they were taught to question and think for themselves in college what questions did they avoid (or evade) to come to such a conclusion? Since some questions were obviously not asked during the learning years here are a few to ponder and/or further avoid.

First of all a Biblical account requires a creator. If a creator can exist without being created by something else, why is it required that one believe everything else in existence except a creator has to undergo creation? And what exactly would have to be the nature of a creator? If he could create something from nothing would he not have to be able to visualize a nonexistent? But to visualize a nonexistent is to see what isn’t there or has ever been. This is palatable to 34% of college graduates?

…

Complete article at:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=23199

==========

Attorneys and pastors threatened with contempt for plan to shift funds in bankruptcy case … and more

By Mark Sauer and Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

April 10, 2007

In a highly unusual move, a federal judge yesterday ordered attorneys and pastors involved in the Diocese of San Diego’s bankruptcy to explain why they should not be sanctioned for attempting to shift funds without authorization. …

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070410-9999-1n10diocese.html

More Abuse Lawsuits Filed Against Priest

Click10.com – Miami,FL,USA

The lawsuit said Doherty gave the boys money and drugs in exchange for sex. Eventually, all three became prostitutes and Doherty became a client.
…

http://www.local10.com/news/11651872/detail.html

==========

three thousand words

atheist eve: don’t exist

http://www.atheist-community.org/images/cartoon/51420Yc151614Wk25K10f5.jpg

dhonig: Then call it God

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/dhonig2/Thencallit425.jpg

JEFF SWENSON: the easter raptor

http://humaniststudies.org/~funnies/freethunk/sf20070411.gif

PhysMath Central

PhysMath Central is the open access publisher covering all areas of physics & mathematics. We are actively working with the physics & maths communities to develop open access journals for these fields. Bookmark this page and visit us again to find out what new journals we will be launching.

At:

http://www.physmathcentral.com/

“The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres of life.”

Albert Einstein

“Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.”

Richard Feynman

==========

LA Times poll question, article gave Bush’s argument against war timetable, but not Democratic argument for it

A question in an April 5-9 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll and an April 10 Los Angeles Times article about that poll both included President Bush’s argument against a congressional measure providing supplemental funding for the Iraq war that includes a timetable for withdrawal without including the Democratic position in favor of it, though even with the skewed wording, a plurality said they think Bush should sign “a funding authorization that includes a timetable for withdrawal.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704120005?src=other

==========

Spy Chief Wants Surveillance Without Court Approval

11 Apr 2007

Officials told the AP that National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell’s plan would give the NSA the power to monitor foreigners without seeking court approval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones and e-mail accounts in the United States. The plan also would triple the life span of a FISA warrant targeting a non-U.S. citizen from 120 days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer without checking back with a judge.

At:

http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3596719p-12868388c.html

==========

The Army’s looking for a few good online gamers

12 Apr 2007

The U.S. Army is about to invade the online gaming community with an estimated $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League website. Starting in June, the Army will sponsor a “national gaming” area as a way to tap into the site’s 9.2 million players per month of everything from shooter games to pro baseball. It hopes to find candidates for recruitment [for Halliburton, KBR, Monsanto and Blackwater USA] among the 17- to 24-year-old males who are 80% of the gamers on the site.

At:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-04-11-army-recruit-gaming_N.htm

==========

Doomsday for the Greenback

by Mike Whitney
Global Research, April 11, 2007
Information Clearing House

“Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money.” Daniel Webster

The American people are in La-la land. If they had any idea of what the Federal Reserve was up to they’d be out on the streets waving fists and pitchforks. Instead, we go our business like nothing is wrong.

Are we really that stupid?

What is it that people don’t understand about the trade deficit? It’s not rocket science. The Current Account Deficit is over $800 billion a year. That means that we are spending more than we are making and savaging the dollar in the process. Presently, we need more than $2 billion of foreign investment per day just to keep the wheels from coming off the cart.

Everyone agrees that the current trade imbalances are unsustainable and will probably trigger major economic disruptions that will thrust us towards a global recession. Still, Washington and the Fed stubbornly resist any change in policy that might reduce over-consumption or reverse present trends.

It’s madness.

The investor class loves big deficits because they provide cheap credit for Bush’s lavish tax cuts and war. The recycling of dollars into US Treasuries and dollar-based securities is a neat way of covering government expenses and propping up the stock market with foreign cash. It’s a “win-win” situation for political elites and Wall Street. For the rest of us it’s a dead-loss.

The trade deficit puts downward pressure on the dollar and acts as a hidden tax. In fact, that’s what it is–a tax! Every day the deficit grows, more money is stolen from the retirements and life savings of working class Americans. It’s an inflation bombshell obscured by the bland rhetoric of “free markets” and deregulation.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WHI20070411&articleId=5341

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

==========

SWIFT BOAT AMBASSADOR

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5931

After withdrawing his nomination in the face of Congressional opposition, President Bush has used a recess appointment to make Sam Fox U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. At issue is Fox’s ties to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Republican front group that during the 2004 presidential election attacked Senator John Kerry’s military service and patriotism. Fox is reported to have given $50,000 to the group. In addition, Fox was one of “Bush’s Rangers,” which requires raising a minimum of $200,000. He has also donated millions of dollars to GOP candidates over the years. Senator and Presidential candidate Chris Dodd (D-CT) said he plans to ask the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ nonpartisan research arm, for an opinion on the legality of the appointment.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, April 5, 2007

==========

Newsweek Hides Global Warming Denier’s Financial Ties to Big Oil

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted April 12, 2007.

A recent Newsweek op-ed by global warming denier Richard Lindzen claims the meteorologist has no industry ties, but his bio is as misleading as his writing.

So Newsweek is running an opinion piece about global warming titled: “Why So Gloomy?” The piece is authored by Richard Lindzen, a well-known meteorologist, and his thesis about the potential melt-down of our climate can be boiled down to this: Don’t worry, be happy!

At the bottom of the article, is this brief biographical sketch of the author:

Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has always been funded exclusively by the U.S. government. He receives no funding from any energy companies.

Sounds like he’s on the up-and-up, no? After all, the guy’s not one of those scientists who denies global warming and then cashes nice checks from a bunch of big energy firms, right? Maybe those wing-nuts are right when they deny that there’s a scientific consensus about human activities contributing to global warming. Hmmm.

Oh, but wait. That name … Lindzen … sure does sound familiar.

Yes! From that excellent investigative piece in Harper’s on the funding behind the climate skepticism “industry” …

In the last year and a half, one of the leading oil industry public relations outlets, the Global Climate Coalition, has spent more than a million dollars to downplay the threat of climate change…

For the most part the industry has relied on a small band of skeptics–Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Dr. Pat Michaels, Dr. Robert Balling, Dr. Sherwood Idso, and Dr. S. Fred Singer, among others–who have proven extraordinarily adept at draining the issue of all sense of crisis.

Lindzen, for his part, charges oil and coal interests $2,500 a day for his consulting services; his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels, and a speech he wrote, entitled “Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus,” was underwritten by OPEC.

His research may be funded entirely by the government, but Lindzen himself — his kids’ college tuition, his mortgage payments — have at least in part been funded by Big Oil and Big Coal, including OPEC for crying out loud!

…

Complete article at:

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/50494/

==========

CAMPAIGN JOURNALISM IS BACK, MORE EVIL THAN ’04

By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com

You’ll hear a lot in the next 20 months about which candidate has bony hands, who looks good in a parka — but you won’t hear anything about who voted for the bankruptcy bill and who didn’t.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/50403/

==========

Borowitz Report – Imus Shocker

Imus Moves to Al-Qaeda Network

Shock Jock to Anchor Three-hour Hate Block

Just days after his “Imus in the Morning” program was dropped by MSNBC, embattled shock jock Don Imus bounced back nicely today, landing a new show on Osama bin Laden’s fledgling Al-Qaeda TV network.

While Mr. bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror network has made headlines in recent years, the same cannot be said for his Al-Qaeda TV network, a perennial ratings laggard.

Critics of the network’s programming say that it is dull and uninspired, including such shows as “Osama in the Morning,” in which the fugitive terror mastermind spews repetitious hate-filled rants from a drab-looking cave.

In fact, Mr. bin Laden’s programming woes have been so pronounced that jihadist viewers around the world have urged the madman to abandon television altogether and focus on terrorism instead.

But after seeing Mr. Imus make his controversial remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, Mr. bin Laden decided that the New York shock-jock was just what the doctor ordered to pump on the Al-Qaeda network’s anemic schedule.

According to network insiders, Mr. bin Laden envisions Mr. Imus as the anchor of a daily, three-hour “hate block” of programs, the other two of which would star actor Mel Gibson and comedian Michael Richards.

Professor Davis Logsdon, Dean of the University of Minnesota School of Broadcasting, said that the controversial Mr. Imus could be “the perfect fit” for the Al-Qaeda TV network.

“When Osama bin Laden’s face appears on television, millions recoil in horror,” Professor Logsdon said. “The same is true of Don Imus.”

Elsewhere, James Frey’s book “A Million Little Pieces” won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, and also for fiction.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

==========

three thousand words

Mike Lester: could you turn on the hose?

http://cagle.com/working/070412/lester.jpg

Trouble Town (Lloyd Dangle): karl rove’s efforts

http://troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.856.gif

Ted Rall: giuliani says …

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/trall/2007/trall070412.gif

LAO Launches Web Site Focused on Retiree Health Care

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has launched a Web site designed to provide information to policy makers, media, and the public concerning governmental retiree health care benefits, costs, and unfunded liabilities.

The Web site address is http://www.lao.ca.gov/retireehealth . The site will feature noteworthy news articles, reports, and commentaries from throughout California and around the country concerning governmental actions that affect retiree health benefits and liabilities.

==========

National media bury Wisconsin story backing up charges that Bush has politicized U.S. attorney offices

An April 11 article in The Washington Post on the House Judiciary Committee’s decision to subpoena hundreds of Justice Department documents related to the U.S. attorney firings noted that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) has “joined other members in demanding records and additional information about a federal public corruption case” in Wisconsin. Regarding the case, the Post reported only that a federal appeals court in Chicago ordered a former state employee to be “released after overturning her conviction.” The article did not report that Georgia Thompson — who was not identified by name — was convicted on charges brought by a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney just before the 2006 election, that Wisconsin Republicans used her conviction to attack Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) during the campaign, that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit took the highly unusual action of ordering the defendant released during oral argument because of the lack of evidence to support the conviction, and that Feingold and five other senators have requested information about the case to investigate whether “politics may have played an inappropriate role” in the prosecution.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704110010?src=other

==========

Red Cross warns of ‘ever-worsening’ crisis for Iraqi civilians

11 Apr 2007

The Iraqi people face an “ever-worsening crisis,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday in a report highlighting the growing suffering of civilians four years after the US-led invasion. US President [sic] George W. Bush’s “surge” strategy of sending thousands more troops to Baghdad to boost security has yet to yield any noticeable improvement for civilians, said the ICRC’s director of operations, Pierre Kraehenbuehl.

Read more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070411/wl_afp/iraqicrc_070411094950

==========

AMERICA’S HIDDEN WAR DEAD

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5943

In addition to the 3,200 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq, notes Howard Witt, “More than 770 civilians working for U.S. firms have lost their lives supporting the military in Iraq, and some families are now speaking out.” Family members are complaining that companies like KBR/Halliburton have placed their workers in harm’s way in Iraq without adequate protection and that their own financial and psychological hardships have been ignored.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2007

==========

DIVIDE AND RULE: BUSH’S DOOMED PLAN FOR BAGHDAD

By Robert Fisk, The Independent

Revealed: a new counter-insurgency strategy to carve up the city into sealed areas. The tactic failed in Vietnam. So what chance does it have in Iraq?

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/50439/

==========

DIRTY LAUNDRY IN THE BUSH FUEL SPIN CYCLE

By Frank O’Donnell

Frank O’Donnell: (hint: it’s all about coal, cars and corn)…and a surprising lobbyist against global warming limits

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50393/

==========

EFF Sues Justice Department for Immediate Release of NSL

Follow up to postings on investigations into FBI use of National Security Letters, this press release: “The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a judge to issue an emergency order requiring the FBI to immediately release agency records about its abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) to collect Americans’ personal information. The Department of Justice has already agreed that the records should be disclosed quickly due to the exceptional media attention and the questions the NSL report has raised about the government’s integrity. However, despite this recognition, the Bureau has failed to meet the 20-day time limit that Congress set for requests that do not merit fast processing…EFF’s FOIA request asks for all FBI records discussing or reporting violations of current law, guidelines, or policies, as well as any communications discussing various potential interpretations of current federal investigative power. EFF also demands copies of the contracts between the FBI and three telephone companies, which were intended to allow the FBI to get rapid access to telephone records.”

At:

http://www.eff.org/flag/nsl/nsl_complaint.pdf

==========

9/11 TRUTHER CALLS ON NEW YORK DA TO INVESTIGATE

By Joshua Holland

Joshua Holland: What about Atta’s stay in Brooklyn?

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50244/

==========

Borowitz Report – Mass Firings Shocker

Bush Fires Senate Judiciary Committee

Critics Question Timing of Decision

In a move that seems guaranteed to create more controversy for his embattled administration, President George W. Bush today fired the entire Senate Judiciary Committee.

Critics were quick to question the timing of the president’s decision, coming as it did just days before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ scheduled appearance before the Senate panel on Thursday.

But in a briefing with the White House press corps today, Mr. Bush insisted that the mass sacking of the Senate Judiciary Committee had “nothing to do with” Mr. Gonzales’ impending appearance.

“I just thought these folks needed to spend more time with their families,” Mr. Bush said. “Especially that bastard Ted Kennedy.”

Immediately after the president announced his decision, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee cried foul, arguing that the President has no constitutional authority to fire members of the U.S. Senate.

But Mr. Bush was quick to shoot back, telling reporters, “The only people who can determine what is constitutional and what is not is the U.S. Supreme Court, and as of today, I have decided to can them, too.”

With the sudden increase in the volume of firings coming out of the White House, insiders have wondered whether Mr. Bush intends to do all of the sacking himself or whether he would seek additional help to share the workload.

Mr. Bush seemed to answer that question today, when he appointed a new “special assistant to the President”: billionaire Donald Trump.

Elsewhere, scientists say that they are the verge of inventing the first “memory pill” which could enable former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s wife to remember all of her previous marriages.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

==========

three thousand words

Jack Ohman: I haven’t fallen … I’m repositioned

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070410.gif

David Horsey: stretched

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070412/Cartoon20070412.gif

Tab (Thomas Boldt): happy anniversary mr. president

http://cagle.com/working/070321/tab.jpg