carapace – Not your father's america

The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0

e-Government Initiative
Department of Management
Southeastern Louisiana University

At:

http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/WyldReportBlog.pdf

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On Fox News, Hannity continued to call carbon offsets a “sham” — still no mention of Murdoch

On the July 22 edition of Fox News’ Hannity’s America, host Sean Hannity again criticized the purchase of credits to offset one’s “carbon footprint” as a “sham,” adding: “You know what it’s like? It’s like saying to your husband or spouse, ‘I’m going to cheat, but I’ll buy you a diamond ring.’ That’s what it’s saying.” As Media Matters for America documented, Hannity has previously derided carbon offsets as a “sham,” a “crock,” and a “ridiculous concept,” and has repeatedly criticized former Vice President Al Gore’s reported use of them. However, Hannity has yet to address the pledge by News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch “to be carbon neutral, across all our businesses” — which includes Fox News — “by 2010.” Murdoch specifically mentioned that his plan calls for reducing net carbon emissions to zero “through a combination of operational changes and carbon offsets.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707230003?src=other

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America’s next big blunder By Eric Margolis

July 22 2007

Fears are growing the U.S. may be planning to attack Pakistan’s “autonomous” tribal region bordering Afghanistan… In best British imperial tradition, Washington pays Musharraf $100 million monthly to rent his sepoys (native soldiers) to fight Pashtun tribesmen. As a result, Pakistan is fast edging towards civil war… Osama bin Laden is a hero in the region. The U.S. just increased its reward for bin Laden to $50 million and plans to shower $750 million on the tribal region to try to buy loyalty. Bush/Cheney & Co. do not understand that while they can rent President Musharraf’s government in Islamabad, many Pashtun value personal honour far more than money, and cannot be bought. Any U.S. attack on Pakistan would be a catastrophic mistake.

At:

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/07/22/4359095.html

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Britain is protecting the biggest heroin crop of all time By Craig Murray

July 21 2007

According to the United Nations, 2006 was the biggest opium harvest in history, smashing the previous record by 60 per cent. This year will be even bigger… [Afghanistan] now exports not opium, but heroin… Millions of gallons of the chemicals needed for this process are shipped into Afghanistan by tanker. The tankers and bulk opium lorries on the way to the factories share the roads, improved by American aid, with Nato troops… The four largest players in the heroin business are all senior members of the Afghan government – the government that our soldiers are fighting and dying to protect. When we attacked Afghanistan, America bombed from the air while the CIA paid, armed and equipped the dispirited warlord drug barons – especially those grouped in the Northern Alliance – to do the ground occupation. We bombed the Taliban and their allies into submission, while the warlords moved in to claim the spoils. Then we made them ministers.

At:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=469983

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Constitution can’t save us from Bush

 

July 23, 2007
Rupert Cornwell, The Independent:

Had George W. Bush been elected under a parliamentary system, as a prime minister at the head of the majority party or a majority coalition, he would have long gone the way of Chamberlain — or most lately Tony Blair. Fearful of disaster in the next election, his erstwhile followers would have forced him out. Under the U.S. system, that is not possible.

…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/324785_constitution24.html

Rupert Cornwell writes for The Independent in Britain.

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“The word ‘homeland’ … resonates sinisterly like das Vaterland in German or rodina in Russian

 … while Vaterland or rodina have non-ideological colloquial roots and were expropriated by Hitler and Stalin, ‘homeland’ is a purely ideological construct of Bush administration.”

Werther, “Beyond Euphemism: How to Read a National Intelligence Estimate” (CounterPunch, July 21)

http://www.counterpunch.org/werther07212007.html

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FIVE WAYS BUSH’S ERA OF REPRESSION HAS STOLEN YOUR LIBERTIES SINCE 9/11

By Matthew Rothschild, The New Press

In his new book, Matt Rothschild examines how the Bush White House constructed the edifice of repression to brazenly access our private data and shred the judicial process.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/57689/

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WHY IS THE WHITE HOUSE PRETENDING THAT SAUDI INSURGENTS IN IRAQ ARE IRANIAN?

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Nearly half of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops in Iraq have come from Saudi Arabia — an inconvenient truth for the White House papered over with the lie that Iran is the chief instigator.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57391/

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Congressman Ron Paul’s column for the week of July 23rd – Exposing the True Isolationists

Yet globalism has a consequence that is, if we are to believe the rhetoric of its greatest proponents, entirely unintended. Globalists often label those of us who resist their schemes as “isolationist.” Yet it is, somewhat remarkably, the globalists themselves who promote policies that isolate our nation from the rest of the world.

Full article here:

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst072307.htm

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three thousand more words

Monte Wolverton: The Presidential Colon

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/WolveM/2007/WolveM20070723_low.jpg

David Horsey: I have nothing to hide …

http://www.newsfrombabylon.com/files/images/galleries/nothing_to_hide.gif

Matt Bors: do those chinese know how to fix a quality control problem or what …

http://www.mattbors.com/strips/276.gif

The Atlas of Ideas

The Atlas of Ideas began as an 18-month study of science and innovation in China, India and South Korea, with a focus on new opportunities for collaboration with the UK and Europe. Continuing work will expand the depth and breadth of the initial study, and will help nations, regions, companies and universities to navigate emerging global science and innovation networks.

At:

http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/atlasofideas/overview

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On Meet the Press, NY Times’ Brooks admitted to pulling number of possible Iraqi deaths “out of the air”

On the July 22 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, discussing the number of Iraqis that could be killed following a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, New York Times columnist David Brooks asked “are we willing to prevent 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month at the cost of 125 Americans?” Brooks initially tried to attribute the “10,000″ figure to New York Times Baghdad bureau chief John Burns and the National Intelligence Estimate, but later admitted, “I just picked out 10,000 out of the air.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707220001?src=other

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America’s next big blunder By Eric Margolis

July 22 2007

Fears are growing the U.S. may be planning to attack Pakistan’s “autonomous” tribal region bordering Afghanistan… In best British imperial tradition, Washington pays Musharraf $100 million monthly to rent his sepoys (native soldiers) to fight Pashtun tribesmen. As a result, Pakistan is fast edging towards civil war… Osama bin Laden is a hero in the region. The U.S. just increased its reward for bin Laden to $50 million and plans to shower $750 million on the tribal region to try to buy loyalty. Bush/Cheney & Co. do not understand that while they can rent President Musharraf’s government in Islamabad, many Pashtun value personal honour far more than money, and cannot be bought. Any U.S. attack on Pakistan would be a catastrophic mistake.

At:

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/07/22/4359095.html

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Turkish PM threatens to invade northern Iraq

July 21 2007

Turkey’s Prime Minister has threatened an invasion of northern Iraq if, after the Turkish election on Sunday, talks fail with Iraq and the US on curbing the activities of Turkish Kurd guerrillas.

At:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2788616.ece

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THE NEXT INVASION OF IRAQ? KURDISH MOUNTAIN ARMY AWAITS TURKISH INCURSION

By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch

Another war in Iraq looms as Turkey’s 140,000 troops amassed on the border with Kurdish Iraq threatens to set off a new wave of violence and destabilization in the Middle East.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57592/

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The Coming Conflict in the Arctic – Russia and US to Square Off Over Arctic Energy Reserves

by Vladimir Frolov

Global Research, July 17, 2007
Russia Profile 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush spent most of their time at the “lobster summit” at Kennebunkport, Maine, discussing how to prevent the growing tensions between their two countries from getting out of hand.

The media and international affairs experts have been portraying missile defense in Europe and the final status of Kosovo as the two most contentious issues between Russia and the United States, with mutual recriminations over “democracy standards” providing the background for the much anticipated onset of a new Cold War. But while this may well be true for today, the stage has been quietly set for a much more serious confrontation in the non-too-distant future between Russia and the United States – along with Canada, Norway and Denmark.
 

Russia has recently laid claim to a vast 1,191,000 sq km (460,800 sq miles) chunk of the ice-covered Arctic seabed. The claim is not really about territory, but rather about the huge hydrocarbon reserves that are hidden on the seabed under the Arctic ice cap. These newly discovered energy reserves will play a crucial role in the global energy balance as the existing reserves of oil and gas are depleted over the next 20 years.

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6344

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

President George W. Bush – Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding International Emergency Economic Powers Act, July 17, 2007: “Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)(IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of persons determined to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people…My new order takes additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 and expanded in Executive Order 13315 by blocking the property and interests in property of persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.”

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq, July 17, 2007

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html

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IN KEEPING DOWN AMERICAN WORKERS, CORPORATE CRIME PAYS

By Ben Zipperer, John Schmitt, AlterNet

Crime may not pay for ordinary criminals, but companies avoid paying millions in wages and benefits by committing crimes against their workers.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/56401/

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Thank you for your recent comments expressing your concern over H-1B visas. I appreciate knowing of your interests. – Congressman Eliot Engel

 

Due to the current unemployment rates, I oppose increasing the H-1B visa cap. The H-1B visa program was created to give U.S. employers access to the world’s highly educated professionals when there was a shortage of U.S. workers in high tech fields. However, there is currently no compelling evidence of a labor shortage in the high-tech arena that cannot be met by our existing workforce and newly
graduating students. I strongly support funding for the education of U.S. students and training of U.S. workers, and fear that increasing the ceiling on H-1B visas would cause the high-tech industry to rely on foreign workers and stymie efforts to educate and re-train American workers in need of work. With the IT sector experiencing reduced product demand and employee layoffs, Congressional interest in this issue has waned and no legislation increasing H-1B visas has been introduced.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance in the future.
 

Sincerely,

Eliot L. Engel
Member of Congress

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Ford Factory Closure Will Result In 600 Workers Losing Jobs … and more

AHN – USA

He said closing the plant will have a flow on affect. “This is the death knock for Geelong and other automotive industry in the area,” he said.
 …

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007938339

Delta Apparel closes Fayette plant

Dateline Alabama – Birmingham,AL,USA

By Michael James

Closing is part of a company-wide restructuring that will shift some manufacturing to Honduras. Five years ago, Fayette was reeling from …

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070718/NEWS/70718003/1007/dateline&cachetime=3&template=dateline

Loopholes let employers skirt federal plant-closing law

Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Pittsburgh,PA,USA

Worker advocates say the law, which requires many employers to notify their employees 60 days before a plant closing or mass layoff, is in desperate need of …

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07203/803534-84.stm

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three thousand more words

Tom Toles: I have enough paint left for iran

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20070720/ltt070720.gif

Ted Rall: waiting for petraeus

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/trall/2007/trall070723.gif

Tom the Dancing Bug: juan sanchez admits …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/td/2007/td070721.gif

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

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

* Latest Images:

Heat Wave in the Western United States
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17710

Flooding in Coffeyville, Kansas
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17709

Typhoon Man-Yi
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17708

Hokkaido, Japan
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17707

North Slope of Alaska
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17706

Texas Greenup
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17705

Algae in Great Salt Lake
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17704

Ice Jams the Ob River
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17703

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

- Hot, Dry Conditions Spark Wildfires

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

- Volcanic Mudflow Witnessed in New Zealand
- Plants Learned to Respond to Changing Environments
- Faults? Structure May Dampen Earthquakes
- Melting Ice Drives Polar Bear Mothers to Land
- Changing Climate will Challenge Northeast Agriculture
- Invisible Gases Form Most Organic Haze
- Ancient DNA Reveals Greenland’s Warm Past
- Global Warming is Evaporating Arctic Ponds
- Urban Growth and Changing Rainfall Patterns Linked

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

- China Says Climate Change Drying Up Major Rivers
- Warming May Bring Hurricanes to Mediterranean
- Iowa Farmers Look to Trap Carbon in Soil
- Safer Shipping by Predicting Sand Wave Behavior
- Drought Threatens Navajo’s Crops, Culture
- Changing Climate Will Challenge Northeast Agriculture
- Scientists Get Front Row Seats to Rapid Mudflow
- Fragmented Structure of Seafloor Faults May Dampen Earthquakes
- Soft Corals “Melting” Due to Warming Seas
- Deep Volcanic Fizz Forces Earth to Burp
- Coral Shuffle Helps Reefs Survive Warmer World
- Experts Plan Rating System for El Niño
- How Plants Learned To Respond To Changing Environments
- China’s Tianshan Glaciers Shrinking Fast
- Northeast Faces Flood Risks from Global Warming
- Texas Goes Green after Record Rainfall
- Java Landslide Launched 2006 Tsunami
- ‘No Sun Link’ to Climate Change
- Ancient Culture Prompts Worry for Arid Southwest

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Hannity gets “Worst Person” runner-up for saying that Whitewater, Vince Foster death are “chapters remaining open”

On the July 19 edition of MSNBC’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Sean Hannity the “runner-up” in his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for comments Hannity made during the “Clinton Chapters” segment of the July 15 edition of Fox News’ Hannity’s America, in which, as Media Matters for America documented, Hannity asserted that “there are still many chapters remaining open from [Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY)] time at the Rose Law Firm. Take Whitewater and the death of Vince Foster.” Olbermann responded: “No, there aren’t. That’s what the last of three special prosecutors concluded after six years and $60 million spent investigating her.” Indeed, Foster’s death has been conclusively determined to have been a suicide, and after extensive investigations, three different Republican independent counsels determined that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges against the Clintons in the Whitewater matter.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707200010?src=other

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Iraq unions vow ‘mutiny’ over oil law

July 20 2007

Iraq’s unions say the draft oil law is a threat and threaten “mutiny” if Parliament approves the bill. “This law cancels the great achievements of the Iraq people,” Subhi al-Badri, head of the Iraqi Federation of Union Councils, told the al-Sharqiyah TV station. He referred specifically to laws that nationalized Iraq’s oil sector. “If the Iraqi Parliament approves this law, we will resort to mutiny,” he said. “This law is a bomb that may kill everyone. Iraqi oil does not belong to any certain side. It belongs to all future generations

At:

http://www.upi.com/Energy/Briefing/2007/07/20/iraq_unions_vow_mutiny_over_oil_law/

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Key Exxon Mobil benchmark for Iraq in jeopardy: Secret Report: No Iraq Oil Deal by September

July 20 2007

A confidential intelligence report prepared for U.S. officials this week concludes a key U.S. benchmark of progress in Iraq, a law to divide oil revenues equitably among the provinces [Yeah, right!], “will not be agreed by September, even if cosmetic legislation is put in place.”

At:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/secret-report-n.html

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Woodward Shares War Secrets –Journalist Describes Secret Details On White House’s Plans For War

Apr 18 2004

Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election – to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day. Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: “They’re [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That’s the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.” [So much for "refinery shortages" driving the price of oil sky high. The price of oil is sky high because we are being punished by Bush's corpora-terrorists for the Democratic sweep in 2006.]

At:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/main612067.shtml

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America’s Farm Bill 2007

Material from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the 2007 reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which provides subsidies to U.S. farmers. The 2007 bill includes “more than 65 proposals [that] correspond to the 2002 farm bill titles with additional special focus areas, including specialty crops, beginning farmers and ranchers, and socially disadvantaged producers.” Includes news, fact sheets, and related material on topics such as conservation, energy, forestry, nutrition, and rural
development.

America’s Farm Bill 2007

URL: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdafarmbill?navtype=SU&navid=FARM_BILL_FORUMS

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Poor farmers need our help, but big agribusiness doesn’t – Sojourners/Call to Renewal

When you think of family farmers, do you picture comedian David Letterman or former NBA star Scottie Pippen? How about billionaires like David Rockefeller and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen?

Amazingly, they’re some of the people receiving your taxpayer dollars in the form of crop subsidies, which overwhelmingly benefit absentee landlords and big agribusiness at the expense of farmers in America and the developing world who are struggling to feed their families.

Right now, Congress is deciding whether to extend these unfair subsidies as part of the farm bill, a mammoth but little-known piece of legislation that governs our nation’s agricultural policies. It affects everyone who eats, not just those who farm.

Click here to tell Congress – Poor farmers need our help, but big agribusiness doesn’t:

http://go.sojo.net/campaign/farm_bill/w8nus5srym63d5i?

Here’s one example: In West Africa, millions of desperately poor people farm cotton to make a living, often surviving on less than $1 a day. But our cotton subsidies make it more difficult for these farmers to survive by artificially lowering the price of cotton in violation of international agreements.

Moreover, by disproportionately subsidizing corn, wheat, and soy, the current farm bill encourages us to eat cheap, unhealthy, and fattening processed foods instead of fresh fruits and vegetables. As writer Michael Pollan puts it, “the reason the least healthful calories in the supermarket are the cheapest is that those are the ones the farm bill encourages farmers to grow.”

In short, our current system of farm subsidies makes no sense – for those who grow food or those who eat it. We must make sure that Congress takes this opportunity to reform the farm bill, or these policies will continue for another five years.

Send a message to your senators and representative: It’s time for fair food policy!

http://go.sojo.net/campaign/farm_bill/w8nus5srym63d5i?

Remember, this issue is being decided right now, so your senators and representative need to hear from you today.

Thank you for all that you do.

Blessings,

Gini, Bob, and the rest of the team at Sojourners/Call to Renewal

P.S. The farm bill is being written by a handful of congresspeople in committees that have loyalties to a few farming districts. To make a difference, we need to overwhelm our representatives with the demand for reform – can you forward this message to at least five of your friends, family, or
congregation members?

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

http://go.sojo.net/sojourners/join-forward.html?domain=sojourners&r=odAkse91yK5Z&

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The WasteBasket: A Bulletin on Wasteful Government Spending by Taxpayers for Common Sense

From: www.taxpayer.net

END CROP INSURANCE WINDFALL TO BIG INSURANCE – Volume XII No. 17 – July 20, 2007

Insurance lobbyists are swarming around the Hill this summer, trying to keep the lucrative federal handouts flowing from the Crop Insurance program. Together, commodity and disaster payments and crop insurance provide a fiscal security blanket for Congress’s favorite farmers. But the annual taxpayer cost runs into the billions of dollars, and the dirty little secret is that a few insurance companies and agents – not farmers – are the ones making out like bandits.

Insurance is always a bit like gambling. But in a bizarre twist, crop insurance pits insurance companies as the “house” and federal taxpayers as the perpetual loser. According to economists at the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, the crop insurance program cost $3.31 for every $1.00 it paid out in 2005. Since 2001, taxpayers have paid $15.1 billion to deliver just $8.9 billion to farmers. The $6.2 billion difference pays for much of the insurance industries’ administrative costs, which in turn enables the companies to make record profits, which it has four out the last five years.

Jerry Skees, an agriculture economist at the University of Kentucky, puts it this way: “Crop insurance is a good idea gone awry. It’s expensive, complex and inefficient.”

For their part, crop insurance companies recognize they have got a good thing going and are happy to spread a little political grease to protect it. The four crop insurance organizations that testified at a May 1st House Agriculture Committee hearing gave more than $1 million in political contributions over the last 10 years, the vast majority to members of that committee.

The federal government is always the insurer of last resort, opening the door to high costs, waste, and fraud. With a taxpayer supported federal backstop, there are no incentives or requirements to charge enough to develop a credible catastrophic reserve or reinsurance fund. In federal insurance programs, the U.S. Treasury is the catastrophic reserve and the U.S. taxpayer the reinsurer. With this type of guarantee there is no incentive to minimize risk.

Recent USDA Inspector General reports to Congress highlight a North Carolina corporation that used false documents to obtain more than $9.28 million in crop insurance payments for tomatoes and sought an additional $3.8 million in payments. In another case, an Iowa family defrauded the government in attempts to obtain $3.3 million of agriculture payments. USDA’s Risk Management Agency also overpaid five producers nearly $400,000 by overestimating the yield from their crops.

Maximizing the likelihood of loss is another tactic for abusing the system. Farming is so fickle that you can just sabotage your crop to collect a check. Farmers in South Texas insured 6,600 acres of
watermelons, though none of the nineteen farmers—all of whom were recruited for this scheme by the insurance agent’s son—had any experience growing watermelons. Not surprisingly, the crop failed and
those nineteen farmers received $5.5 million in insurance payments. Before the watermelon program was closed, $47.8 million insurance claims were paid, a full 75 percent of the insured liability.

Unfortunately, we could go on.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing exposing the problems with the crop insurance program that the Agriculture Committee didn’t want people to hear. In response to that hearing, Reps. Jim Cooper (D-TN) and John Duncan (R-TN) are pushing Congress to make positive steps towards addressing many of the problems with the crop insurance program. Let’s hope the taxpayer voice isn’t financially overwhelmed by the well-heeled insurance lobby.

Going on at Taxpayer.net This Week

Check out TCS’s Complete Coverage of FY08 Spending Bills
http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/APZCHLIEXT/OEGNHLIFEY/1312827511

TCS Finds Twenty-three Earmarks in Senate FY08 State-Foreign Operations Bill
http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/APZCHLIEXT/EPFJHLIFEZ/1312827511

House Labor-HHS-Education Bill Tops 1,300 Earmarks
http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/APZCHLIEXT/KOWRHLIFFA/1312827511

House Shows Restraint in Energy and Water Spending Bill Earmarks When Compared with Senate
http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/APZCHLIEXT/KVTNHLIFFB/1312827511

Notable Quote (Your money?)

“This is supposed to be a house of honor; you didn’t tell me you were going to offer this amendment…We are a new state. I have poverties that you don’t even think of and yet you say you want my money — my money, for my students that need to be educated — to go to New Jersey. This is a sad day for this House.”

–Rep. Don Young (R-AK), in response to an amendment offered by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) that would cut millions in appropriations for “Strengthening Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.” He also followed up with the statement “those who bite me will be bitten back.”

INFO ABOUT TCS: info@taxpayer.net or
http://capwiz.com/taxpayer/utr/1/APZCHLIEXT/HYNEHLIFFD/1312827511

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Borowitz Report – Substitute President Shocker

Cheney, Briefly Assuming Bush’s Duties, Says He Enjoyed The Downtime

President’s Colon Procedure Offered Welcome Break From Grueling Vice-Presidential Schedule

Vice-President Dick Cheney, having briefly assumed President Bush’s duties while the President underwent a routine colon procedure on Saturday, told reporters today that he “enjoyed the downtime immensely.”

The two hours and fifteen minutes spent doing Bush’s job were “incredibly relaxing,” Mr. Cheney said, adding that they were a welcome relief from his exacting Vice-Presidential schedule.

Invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution Saturday morning, Mr. Bush transferred to Mr. Cheney all of his presidential responsibilities, which meant that Mr. Cheney spent Saturday jogging, going to the gym, and hitting a ball for Mr. Bush’s dog to retrieve.

In addition, Mr. Cheney called the nations of East Timor and Luxembourg “evil,” stumbling briefly over the pronunciation of Luxembourg.

Finally, as Mr. Bush’s colon procedure was winding down, Mr. Cheney made some remarks about the Japanese economy, mistakenly using the word “devaluation” instead of “deflation,” sending the NIKKEI stock market into a tailspin.

All in all, Mr. Cheney said he emerged from his brief tenure as President rested and refreshed, ready to plunge back into his demanding Vice-Presidential workload.

As for the President, Mr. Bush’s doctors pronounced his procedure a success, but said that they were having difficulty determining whether or not the President’s anesthesia had fully worn off.

Mr. Bush’s doctors indicated that when they asked the President the standard post-operative questions – such as, “What is the capital of the United States?” – Mr. Bush got only two out of five correct.

“Before the operation, he got three out of five right,” one doctor said.

Elsewhere, a Mexican candy has been recalled after containing traces of lead, in a sign of Mexico’s ongoing effort to compete with China’s candy industry.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand more words …

David Horsey: a plan to get our troops out of iraq

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070722/cartoon20070722.jpg

Jack Ohman: U.S. senate resting area … U.S. soldier resting area

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070719.gif

Simpson: If only this weren’t true

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#3 of The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths)

Hindu Cosmology’s Rendezvous with Brahma

The Hindu cosmology contains many myths of creation, and the principal players have risen and fallen in importance over the centuries. The earliest Vedic text, the Rig Veda, tells of a gigantic being, Purusha, possessing a thousand heads, eyes, and feet. He enveloped the earth, extending beyond it by the space of ten fingers. When the gods sacrificed Purusha, his body produced clarified butter, which engendered the birds and animals. His body parts transformed into the world’s elements, and the gods Agni, Vayu, and Indra. Also, the four castes of Hindu society were created from his body: the priests, warriors, general populace, and the servants. Historically later, the trinity of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer) gained prominence. Brahma appears in a lotus sprouting from the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. Brahma creates the universe, which lasts for one of his days, or 4.32 billion years. Then Shiva destroys the universe and the cycle restarts. Relax everybody, the current cycle has a couple billion years left.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.livescience.com/history/top10_intelligent_designs-1.html

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Murder suspect says he was doing God’s work

July 15, 2007

Cypress man is being held in the June death of flight attendant

By PAIGE HEWITT

A Cypress man charged in the death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant said Saturday that he was doing God’s work when he went to a Montrose-area bar last month, hunting for a gay man to kill.

“I believe I’m Elijah, called by God to be a prophet,” said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. ” … I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing.”

Interviewed in the Brazoria County Jail Saturday morning, Mangum said he feels no remorse for killing 46-year-old Kenneth Cummings Jr., whom relatives described as a “loving” son who never forgot a holiday and a devoted uncle who had set up college funds for his niece and nephew. He worked at Southwest for 24 years.

Mangum, who described himself as “definitely not a homosexual,” said God called on him to “carry out a code of retribution” by killing a gay man because “sexual perversion” is the “worst sin.”
…

Complete article at;

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4968717.html

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Insurance for Sex Abuse

Slate – USA

Hold on–can churches buy insurance for sex abuse? Yes. Like any business, churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations purchase insurance to …

At;

http://www.slate.com/id/2170482/

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Forrest and Gross on “Biochemistry by design”

Writing in Trends in Biochemical Sciences (subscription required; 2007; 32 [7]: 322-331), Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross take the case against “intelligent design” to biochemists. Forrest and Gross are the authors of the definitive exposé of the “intelligent design” movement’s so-called Wedge strategy, Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design — now available in paperback (Oxford University Press, 2007) with a new chapter on Kitzmiller v. Dover, in which Forrest, a member of NCSE’s board of directors, was a pivotal expert witness for the plaintiffs. The abstract of their article:

Creationists are attempting to use biochemistry to win acceptance for their doctrine in the public mind and especially in state-funded schools. Biochemist Michael Behe is a major figure in this effort. His contention that certain cellular structures and biochemical processes — bacterial flagella, the blood-clotting cascade and the vertebrate immune system — cannot be the products of evolution has generated vigorous opposition from fellow scientists, many of whom have refuted Behe’s claims. Yet, despite these refutations and a decisive defeat in a US federal court case, Behe and his associates at the Discovery Institute continue to cultivate American supporters. They are also stepping up their efforts abroad and, worryingly, have achieved some success. Should biochemists (and other scientists) be concerned? We think they should be.

Although Forrest and Gross survey Behe’s involvement with creationism from before his book Darwin’s Black Box to the aftermath of the Kitzmiller trial, Behe’s new book The Edge of Evolution — which has already taken a pounding in review after review after review — is not discussed in the article. But Forrest and Gross in effect already saw it on the horizon, for in their concluding paragraph, they write, “If there is a single most important lesson for scientists and concerned citizens, it is that creationists never give up. They merely change their strategy with each defeat, necessitating corresponding adjustments and constant vigilance by their opponents.”

From:

http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2007/US/632_forrest_and_gross_on_biochemi_7_11_2007.asp

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Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

by Bart D. Ehrman

The Bible Delusion
A Review by Doug Brown

Those who call the King James Version of the Bible the unerring word of God have a slight problem. The New Testament of the KJV (as the King James Version is usually referred) was translated into English from a version of the Greek New Testament that had been collected from twelfth-century copies by Erasmus. Where Erasmus couldn’t find Greek manuscripts, he translated to Greek from the Latin Vulgate (which itself had been translated from Greek back in the fourth century). Here the problem splits into two problems. First, Jesus spoke Aramaic — his actual words, never recorded, were only rendered in Greek in the original gospels. Thus, the KJV consists of Jesus’ words twice refracted through the prism of translation. Second, Erasmus’s Greek New Testament was based on handwritten copies of copies of copies of copies, etc., going back over a millennium, and today is considered one of the poorer Greek New Testaments. It is this second problem that Ehrman spends most time on in Misquoting Jesus, a fascinating account of New Testament textual criticism.

Many people have a vague notion that all the original biblical texts are preserved in vaults somewhere, and translators work from those original texts. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. The earliest surviving versions of the gospels are handwritten copies dating from centuries after the original texts were written. Also, we don’t just have a single version of each gospel; we have many versions, and even more fragments. The trouble is, none of the versions agree with each other. As Ehrman puts it, there are more points of disagreement between manuscripts than there are words in the Gospels. So which one is right? How can one tell what the original authors intended?

One way is to try and establish which manuscript is the earliest, and call it closest to the author’s intent. However, it may not be. Ehrman describes how the earliest copies of Christian texts were done by everyday folks, many of whom were barely literate; it is thus among the earliest copies that the greatest disagreements are found. In later times, professional scribes did most of the copying, resulting in fewer inter-copy disagreements. Also, we may have a document from the fourth century and one from the eighth; but the latter might have been copied from a second-century document, making it closer to the original. In general, though, if most early manuscripts have a given wording and later versions have another, scholars assume the early version is correct.

Another method of deciding which of two text versions is closer to the original is geographic comparison. If all the manuscripts from Alexandria have one version of text, but copies from everywhere else have another version, the Alexandria version is probably incorrect. Also, Ehrman controversially argues that if we have two passages, one with an easier interpretation and another with a harder, the latter is more likely correct. Scribes would often clean up passages that were hard to interpret, or that seemed to make Jesus hard to understand.

…

Read more about this book

http://www.powells.com/pow/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=74-9780060859510-0

From: http://www.powells.com/review/2007_07_14

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Church Abuse Settlements’ Other Costs … and more

CBS News – New York City,NY,USA

Parishioners say the archdiocese wants to sell the property to help pay off some of the $157 million priest sex abuse settlement. But many parishioners feel …

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/15/eveningnews/main3059919.shtml

More reports of Baptist clergy sex abuse

By Sam Hodges

A Memphis television station said Haney’s arrest ticket accused him of forcing the 15-year-old to take an “obedience test,” which required him to perform various sex acts with the preacher. The victim said the abuse, which went on for …

http://religion.beloblog.com/archives/2007/07/more_reports_of_baptist_clergy.html

Minister Charged

WCBD-TV – Mt. Pleasant,SC,USA

By AP A former youth minister from Murrells Inlet is facing life in prison after he was found guilty of kidnapping and molesting a boy who was once in his …

http//www.wcbd.com/midatlantic/cbd/news.apx.-content-articles-CBD-2007-07-12-0037.html

Catholic boarding school sued in alleged sex abuse

Jackson Clarion Ledger – Jackson,MS,USA

“Our investigation indicates that this case falls into the same sad pattern of child abuse followed by cover-up of which we are all too familiar,” said
…

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/NEWS/707170383/1001

Six priests face sex abuse suits

Miami Herald – Miami,FL,USA
BY OSCAR CORRAL

A sexual abuse case involving the same Catholic priest who admitted having an inappropriate relationship with former US Rep. …

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/175066.html

Minister charged with child rape

Seattle Times – United States

By Christine Clarridge A part-time minister and choir director of a local church was charged this week with first-degree child rape for an assault on a …

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003798403_webcalcote20.html

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three thousand more words

Ann Telnaes: $660 million. Pay it. It won’t bankrupt us …

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Perfect Happiness Requires Perfect Ignorance

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cesame-nm.org: The Scientific Method vs the Creationist Method

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A NEW DAWN FOR CLIMATE PREDICTION

July 18

Scientists must develop new, more adaptive approaches to predicting and monitoring climate, say climate modellers from the University of Exeter. In a ‘perspectives’ article published in leading journal Science, Professor Peter Cox and Professor David Stephenson argue that new prediction tools are required to help us to limit and adapt to climate change.

Full story at

http://www.physorg.com/news103986688.html

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O’Reilly named “Worst Person” for defending comparison of Daily Kos to Nazis, KKK

On the July 18 edition of MSNBC’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly the “winner” of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for defending his comparison of the Daily Kos blog to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan during the July 17 edition of Fox News The O’Reilly Factor, as Media Matters for America documented. Olbermann observed: “After the tidal wave of protests across the political spectrum as to his comparison of the liberal website the Daily Kos to the Nazis, he is still sticking with it. ‘Hate is hate. That website traffics in it, as do Nazi websites. No difference.’ ”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707190011?src=other

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Go to Iraq and fight, Mr. President –Bush’s latest choice of scapegoat — Hillary Clinton — boggles the mind By Keith Olbermann

July 19 2007

Let your minions try to spread the blame to the real patriots here, who have sought only to undo the horrors you have wrought since 2002. Let them try it, until the end of time. Though the words might be erased from a million books and a billion memories, though the world be covered knee-deep in your lies, the truth shall prevail. This, sir, is your war. Sen. Clinton has reinforced enemy propaganda? Made it impossible for you to get your ego-driven, blood-steeped win in Iraq? Then take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush. Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations. Go there and fight, your war. Yourself.

At:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19859124/

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COLLEGE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: MEET THE NEXT GENERATION OF GOP HYPOCRITES

By Max Blumenthal, HuffingtonPost.com

From Iraq to homosexuality and abortion, a visit with the next crop of Republican leaders reveals the utter hypocrisy and delusional thinking that sustains GOP politics.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57382/

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BENCHMARK BOOGIE: A GUIDE TO THE STRUGGLE OVER IRAQ’S OIL

By Antonia Juhasz, AlterNet

Your guide to the ongoing dance between Bush, the Congress, and the Iraqi government; an update on the current status of the proposed oil laws; and some steps you can take to stop the hijacking of Iraq’s oil.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/56672/

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PETROL POLITICS – Oil Law, Iraqi Government in Limbo

Return of Quorom Does Not Mean Hydrocarbon Bill Will Be Passed

By BEN LANDO

WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) — Iraqi lawmakers who have boycotted Parliament over disputes with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned Thursday. This gives the body little time to deal with weighty issues such as an oil law the Bush administration is pressing them on.

The largest Sunni bloc, the Iraq Accord Front, which holds 44 of Parliament’s 275 seats, has returned. It reached a deal that reinstated speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who was removed five weeks ago. The details of a back-room agreement were not released.

The Sadr Movement, a major Shiite party with 32 seats, also returned. It has been frustrated with Maliki, in part because of lax reconstruction of the bombed al-Askari shrine in Samara.

While Maliki’s coalition parties plus the returning parties may meet quorum, pending chronic absenteeism, those opposed to the oil law may still block the measure if it’s taken up.

“It’s not suitable for us,” Nawal al-Majeed, an IAF parliamentarian, told United Press International from Baghdad in a telephone interview. “Iraq now doesn’t need an oil law. We need other things.”

Her party, like others, opposes a draft of the law they say weakens the federal government’s authority and is too friendly to foreign oil companies.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.upi.com/Energy/Analysis/2007/07/19/analysis_iraq_govt_oil_law_in_limbo/4127/

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USGAO: Rebuilding Iraq: Serious Challenges Impair Efforts to Restore Iraq’s Oil Sector and Enact Hydrocarbon Legislation

by Joseph A. Christoff, director, international affairs and trade, before a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on International rganizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

GAO-07-1107T, July 18.

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1107T

Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d071107thigh.pdf

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Iran: The geo-strategy of oil

Even with its strength as one of the world’s largest oil producers, Iran is dependent on foreign energy and is taking stiff measures to rectify the situation.

By Kamal Nazer Yasin in Tehran for ISN Security Watch (18/07/07)

To many, Iran is an energy giant. The country possesses over a quarter of the world’s known oil and gas reserves. It is the second largest oil producer among OPEC countries and it has abundant natural resources which make it ideal for producing electricity.

Vast inefficiencies and abnormalities, however, mar this idyllic picture. Iran’s oil production has been declining steadily from its pre-revolution peak of 6 million barrels per day (bpd) to its present 4 million bpd – below its OPEC quota – due to war, sanctions, low investment and depletion. Iran’s consumption of petrol has increased at 11 percent per year. If the present trend continues, by 2015, Iran will have become a net importer of petrol.

The Islamic Republic’s official GDP is approximately US$196 billion. Yet, according to the newspaper Hamshahri, each year, the government spends roughly US$55 billion for the country’s energy needs including US$35 million in direct subsidies. In other words, 28 percent of the economic output is spent on basic energy needs. These huge and cheap energy inputs are needed to run the largely inefficient state-owned enterprises, to placate the public with dirt-cheap utility rates and to help out Iran’s strategic friends around the world.

Without any doubt, petrol wastage occupies the prime place among all of the various economic distortions in Iran. Despite its enormous oil reserves, Iran imports 43 percent of its petrol needs from other countries due primarily to huge domestic demands as well as lack of sufficient refining capacity.

The country’s average daily use is around 70 million liters per day, roughly equal to China’s daily consumption, but the latter’s population is 18 times larger. Economists attribute several factors for this situation. These include gas-inefficient automobiles, high population growth, the voraciousness of consumers and its super cheap petrol prices.

Until 27 June, petrol was 9 cents a liter, making it among the cheapest in the world. It takes no more than US$5 to fill up a car in Iran, compared to US$40 on the average in the US and US$90 in neighboring Turkey.

With Iran’s highly protected automobile industry and cheap financing – spurred on by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s encouragement of car sales – manufacturers have no incentive to produce gas-efficient cars. According to a study by the financial newspaper Donay-e Eghtesad, 30 percent of the cars currently in use, consume 3 times more petrol than the international average.

Smuggler’s paradise

…

Complete article at:

ISN Security Watch http://www.isn.ethz.ch/

Kamal Nazer Yasin is the pseudonym of a Iranian journalist reporting for ISN Security Watch from Tehran.

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Bechtel Jacobs contractor accused of stealing nuclear secrets –National lab worker allegedly stole classified information, tried to sell it

July 19 2007

Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused a low-level Bechtel Jacobs contract worker at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory — birthplace of the nuclear bomb — with stealing highly classified information about how to make enriched uranium, a key ingredient in nuclear weapons. The suspect was allegedly caught trying to sell it to someone he thought was representing another country, someone who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

At:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19850505/

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three thousand more words

Dana Summers: … and the iraqis are just as bad

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Jack Ohman: why can’t you register as a lobbyist like the rest of us?

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David Horsey: why would you oppose it?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070720/cartoon20070720.gif

Lotteries: A Regressive Tax

PHILIP COOK, pcook@duke.edu,

http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/PublicPolicy/faculty/cook

Cook is a professor of Public Policy Studies at Duke University and the co-author of “Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America.” Cook is the co-author of numerous studies on state lotteries including “Implicit Taxation in Lottery Finance” where he co-wrote: “State lotteries as they are operated in the United State today involve four distinct aspects: legalization of lottery games, monopolistic provision by the state, marketing of lottery products, and extraction of a portion of the surplus they derive from sales for state revenue. [Examining] the implicit tax levied by lottery agencies through this fourth function, … we find that the implicit tax is regressive in virtually all cases.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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TAKING APART BILL O’REILLY’S SHODDY JOURNALISM

Center for American Progress

It’s not the first time Bill O’Reilly has targeted the progressive blogosphere with with disingenuous attacks. Now, the netroots movement returns the fire.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/57270/

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BILL O’REILLY COMPARES PROGRESSIVE BLOGGERS TO NAZIS AND KKK

By Jeffrey Feldman

Everything O’Reilly discussed in his gotcha piece on JetBlue and YearlyKos was false and misleading.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/57256/

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O’Reilly defends comparison of Daily Kos to Nazis and KKK

During the July 17 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, discussing comments he made the previous night comparing the Daily Kos blog to the Nazi Party and to the Ku Klux Klan, host Bill O’Reilly asserted that “[t]he comparison is valid.” O’Reilly was responding to a viewer who said in an email that O’Reilly “owe[d] me and thousands of others an apology,” claiming that “you should not compare anything to the Nazis.” O’Reilly replied: “Hate to say it, sir, that website traffics in hate, as do the Nazi websites. No difference.” O’Reilly then read an email from another viewer who asserted: “I’m a black American and understand your argument against JetBlue, but I disagree with you comparing the Daily Kos to the KKK. The website simply hates the Bush administration.” O’Reilly responded: “What does the pope have to do with the president, sir? How about Israel? The website sells hate, as does the KKK and the Nazis. The comparison is valid.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707180006?src=other

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Federal funding cutback worries anti-terrorism officials in L.A.

July 18 2007

Los Angeles County law enforcement officials said today that a 10% reduction in federal anti-terrorism money will undercut efforts to share intelligence, upgrade emergency operations centers and equip and train thousands of police to counter attacks. The Los Angeles-Long Beach region will receive $72.6 million in the coming year from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an $8-million decrease from last year.

At:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-terrorism19jul19,0,4914181.story

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IRAQSLOGGER WATCHES THE MEDIA

http://www.prwatch.org/node/6250

Veteran Iraq war correspondent Chris Albritton has begun writing a regular MediaWatch column for the recently-launched news website, IraqSlogger.com . Recent columns have examined the amount of U.S.
reporting on Iraq compared to other topics, highlighted the work of an Iraqi editorial cartoonist, and discussed a recently-uncovered memorandum by U.S. Marines discussing how to spin the killing of
civilians in Haditha.

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Dave Winer – Why We Fight

Dave Winer says we go to war because it is profitable.  Take a look at Halliburton’s 5 year chart and draw your own conclusions:

At:

http://ceppi.blogs.com/arbitrage/2007/07/dave-winer—wh.html

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CHENEY’S SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE IS REVEALED!

By David Roberts

After a six-year battle the record of who Cheney created our nation’s energy policy with is
published, and it isn’t a pretty picture.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/57195/

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Success of Iraq surge rests on ability to suspend cycle of violence

By James Kitfield, National Journal

BAGHDAD — The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Blood is thicker than mortar. Tribe and sect trump nation. Look for enemies and you will find them everywhere.

Army Lt. Col. Steve Miska knew all of those maxims for negotiating the byzantine maze of Baghdad politics as he interrupted a late-night meeting between a prominent Shiite politician and a senior Iraqi army commander. Miska’s troops were engaged in a deadly firefight nearby with the Shiite militia, Jaish al-Mahdi, and he wasn’t getting the help he wanted from Iraqi army units in the neighborhood. He also knew that he, an uninvited presence at the meeting, represented the most timeworn cliche of all: the proverbial stranger in a strange land.

Seeing Iraqi legislator Baha al-Araji, an influential spokesman for anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr and his Jaish al-Mahdi militia — which people here call JAM, or the Mahdi Army — Miska immediately understood why the Iraqi had so far ignored urgent U.S. requests for backup.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37493&dcn=e_ndw

From: GovExec.com — National Defense Week

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three thousand more words

Mike Smith: I don’t know why a senator would visit a prostitute …

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Jack Ohman: U.S. is falling behind in stature

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Trouble Town (Lloyd Dangle): why do you want to work for the bush white house? …

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