February « 2008 « carapace – Not your father's america

Archive for February, 2008

Sunday February 17, 2008 – “In religion and politics, people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination.” – Mark Twain

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

# 9 of Top 10 Bizarre Biblical Tales

Eglon’s ignoble death
Found in: Judges 3:21-25

Ehud is the Bible’s sneakiest assassin (and also the only left-handed person mentioned in the Holy Book). He is on a mission to deliver a “message from God” to smarmy King Eglon. Ehud waltzes in to meet the gluttonous king, pulls out a sword and stabs Eglon in the stomach. At first he can’t get it in, but he pushes harder and eventually reaches his intestine. Eglon is so overweight, we learn, that his fat actually covers the hilt of the sword, pushing it further into his stomach until it’s not even visible. It’s at this point that Eglon loses control of his bowels and begins to defecate mercilessly all over his chamber. The King’s attendants eventually come back, but do not enter Eglon’s bed chamber, assuming he is relieving himself. After waiting “to the point of embarrassment”, his attendants burst in to find their king dead on the floor, covered in his own faecal matter. Meanwhile, Ehud had escaped to the town of Seriah.

The moral of this story? Who cares, but it’s damn cool.

From: http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-bizarre-biblical-tales/

==========

Churches Of Peace: As Jesus Lived And Taught

By Joe Parko

America’s churches could turn the world toward peace if every church lived and taught as Jesus lived and taught. As Christians we must ask ourselves–Are we really following in the footsteps of Jesus? Are we working for peace or are we promoting war?

http://tinyurl.com/2kmdek / www.opednews.com

==========

Byassee on the Creation Museum

11 Feb 2008

Finally, The Christian Century has published this lengthy report
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=4350 of a visit to the Creation Museum. It was written by Jason Byassee. Most of the article is a bemused and slightly cynical account of the exhibits you find at the museum. It was the last paragraph that really caught my eye, however:

Reconciling Christian claims about God, creation and humanity with the findings of Darwin and his successors is an important and daunting task, one that mainline theology has still not satisfactorily accomplished. AiG can hardly be faulted for attempting the task, though its effort is a spectacular failure.

Two excellent sentences. I recommend having a look at the whole thing.

From: EvolutionBlog

==========

God-heroes, Witches, and the Creator at CPAC

08 February 2008

A round-up of reporting from CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference at which John McCain sought the support of his party’s right flank yesterday: The conservative Human Events remains skeptical, http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24889 arguing that McCain will hear but not “listen” to conservatives. Case in point? Same-sex marriage, which Mitt Romney, playing conservative to the end, denounced yesterday morning shortly before bowing out. McCain didn’t say a word about it. Nor, interestingly, did he invoke the religious langauge he’s used elsewhere to define what he’s said is the top issue of his campaign: the fight against the “transcendent evil” of “radical Islam.” There were four religion-references in his speech,
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccaintext8feb08,0,3163223.story?page=2
but they were more along the lines of an abstract civil religion, rights granted by our “creator” and an invocation of Ronald Reagan’s famous “shining city upon a hill” line. Maybe that was enough for those CPACers torn between their disdain for a candidate they perceive as secular and their reverence for the authority and order of, well, everything, including party politics. The moderate conservative Weekly Standard reports that journalists eager for controversy are keeping the dwindling anti-McCain forces on life support.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/708ohozu.asp

Mother Jones’ Jonathan Stein must be one of them — he spoke to what seems like a strong sample of attendees “heartbroken” over McCain’s victory over Romney, despite McCain’s almost fetishistic adoration of “the crowd’s god-hero, Ronald Reagan.”
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/02/mitt-waves-goodbye.html

Meanwhile, reports leftist blogger Leonard Pierce, Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily used CPAC to rally conservatives against witchcraft.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59488

Also yesterday: James Dobson endorses Huckabee.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006474.cfm

More fundamentalist b-listers will follow suit.

http://www.therevealer.org/archives/today_002938.php

==========

Let There Be Light Crude

04 February 2008

Lest anyone accuse Paul Thomas Anderson of going over the top in his juxtaposition of God and oil in There Will Be Blood, Mother Jones features in its latest issue a story — non-fiction — about an evangelical oil hustle that bilks believers of their retirement funds with a plan to drill for oil in the Dead Sea, drain the Arab oil fields, provoke an attack on Israel, and set off Armageddon.The headquarters for this scheme features an oil well bursting out of a giant Bible. The article, by Mariah Blake, is sloppy in spots. “It is widely believed among evangelical Christians (and some Orthodox Jews),” she writes, “that Scripture foretells a massive oil find in the Holy Land.” Widely believed? Hardly. But with a history of God-for-oil schemes to tap, Blake doesn’t have to dig deep to hit black gold. This story’s a gusher of American weird religion creepy goodness!

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/01/let-there-be-light-crude.html

From: http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_002934.php

==========

CHRISTIAN RIGHT’S EMERGING DEADLY WORLDVIEW: KILL MUSLIMS TO PURIFY THE EARTH

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Christian extremists are preaching a war against tolerance to target and persecute all Muslims, including the 6 million who live in the U.S.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/76686/

==========

CATHOLIC SCHOOL FIRES TEACHER FOR BEING SINGLE AND PREGNANT

By Richard Blair, The All Spin Zone

The Catholic Church would rather have a single mother become unemployed than either have an abortion or a job to provide for her child.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/76943/

==========

“Border Disputes in the Christian Right” –

Sarah Posner reports on an increasingly revealing spat involving Huckabee, b-list televangelists, and elite fundamentalism.

http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_002946.php

==========

CHARLES BARKLEY SLAMS CONSERVATIVES: THEY’RE “FAKE CHRISTIANS”

By Adam Howard, AlterNet

Barkley also reiterated a claim he has made before regarding his intention to run for governor of Alabama.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/77246/

==========

Americans United Deplores California Pastor’s Renewed ‘Death Prayer’ Campaign

February 15, 2008

IRS Target Wiley Drake Asks Followers To Engage In Imprecatory Prayers Against Americans United Staff Members

Controversial Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake has again urged his followers to pray for the deaths of staff members at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Last August, Americans United filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service about Drake’s use of church letterhead and a church-based radio program to endorse presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Federal tax law forbids tax-exempt groups from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

In a Feb. 5 letter, the IRS notified Drake that his First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park is being investigated.

In response, Drake issued a Feb. 14 e-mail appeal to followers to engage in “imprecatory prayers” (curses) against Americans United and three of its staff members.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “We deplore Pastor Drake’s reckless and repugnant antics. Introducing this kind of religious extremism into American life is reprehensible.

“We have asked the IRS to investigate what we believe to be Drake’s violation of federal tax law,” Lynn continued. “If Drake thinks he is innocent, he has more than adequate legal representation, and there is ample opportunity to make his case.

“Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man is repugnant,” Lynn concluded. “There is more than a whiff of the Taliban in this action”

Wrote Drake, “In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer. Especially against Americans United for Separation of Church and State…. Specifically target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing [sic] and their leader Rev. Barry Lynn. They are those who lead the attack.”

Drake directed his followers to Psalms 109 (as well as Psalms 55, 58, 68, 69 and 83) for examples of imprecatory prayers.

Verses from those texts ask God to bring death and destruction to those targeted.

“Let his days be few; and let another take his office,” says one passage. “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.”

Another passage says, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell.”

Drake waged a similar campaign last year after Americans United filed its complaint against him with the IRS. Religious leaders from a wide variety of faiths repudiated the pastor’s tactic.

Drake is a prominent pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. He recently completed a term as second vice president of the group, its third highest post. He currently is running for president of the denomination, which became increasingly political after a fundamentalist takeover in the 1980s.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State www.au.org

==========

Americans United Urges Florida Tax Commission To Reject Efforts To Weaken Religious Liberty

February 14, 2008

Church-State Watchdog Group Says Proposed Constitutional Amendments Would Allow For Public Funding Of Religion

Efforts to repeal a provision in the Florida Constitution that bars government funding of religious institutions should be rejected, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is considering two proposed constitutional amendments that would allow Florida to use public funds to support religious schools and other faith-based ministries.

In a Feb. 14 letter to the commission , Merrill Shapiro, vice president of the Americans United Board of Trustees and rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Palm Coast, called for both proposals to be defeated.

Shapiro said the measures, if added to the Florida Constitution, “would nullify important religious liberty protections by allowing government to fund religious organizations and schools.”

The efforts to amend the Florida Constitution are being led by former members of Gov. Jeb Bush’s administration. Bush pushed a statewide private school voucher program during his terms in office. The Bush voucher proposal was found unconstitutional by state courts in 2005.

The Palm Beach Post reported that six of the Commission’s 25 voting members hail from the former governor’s staff, including Bush’s longtime education adviser. Two-thirds of the entire commission must approve the proposals before they can be placed on the November ballot.

One proposal would nullify the Florida Constitution’s Article IX, section 1, that requires Florida government to provide a free high-quality public education to all students and instead allow the State to contract with private education providers regardless of their religious affiliations.

Another proposal is aimed at undermining Article I, section 3, which provides, “No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”

In his letter to Commission Chairman Allan Bense, Shapiro argued that repealing the Florida constitutional ban on public financing of religious institutions would put Florida “in the business of religion.”

“When awarding funding, the state government would be forced to pick and choose among different faiths, thus endorsing the particular beliefs of the recipient religious organizations over others,” said Shapiro, who is past president of the Greater Orlando Board of Rabbis and the Winter Park Council of Churches and Synagogues.

Shapiro urged the commission to reject the proposed constitutional amendment that allows the state to shirk its duty of providing quality education to all students by “handing off responsibility and funding for public education to private religious schools.”

“In order to fully protect religious freedom,” Shapiro insisted, “I strongly urge you to oppose the two proposals to amend the Florida Constitution. This most basic liberty is built on a foundation of the freedom to exercise one’s religion and the freedom from government funding of and interference with religion. Without one part of the foundation, religious freedom will falter.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State www.au.org

==========

Florida State School Board Should Reject Religious Right Effort To Weaken Science Standards, Says Americans United

February 12, 2008
Happy Darwin Day!

Constitution Forbids Introduction Of Religious Concepts Into Public School Curriculum, Church-State Watchdog Group Insists

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today urged the Florida State Board of Education to reject a Religious Right drive to weaken proposed new science standards.

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote Feb. 19 on “world-class” science standards that for the first time explicitly include evolution. Religious Right activists and their allies are intently lobbying the board to water down the standards in keeping with fundamentalist Christian theology.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “Public schools must teach science, not religion, in biology classes. It’s up to parents, not government officials, to make decisions about religious training.

“School officials,” he added, “have a high responsibility to resist all efforts to make the curriculum conform to the tenets of one faith tradition. Florida children deserve the best science education possible, not religious concepts disguised as science.”

In a letter to School Board Chairman T. Willard Fair, Americans United said the Constitution requires a separation of church and state and that the courts have repeatedly forbidden teaching religion in science classes.

“The Board should not,” Americans United said, “risk the sound scientific education of Florida’s children or costly litigation that could result from adopting any standards that would include creationism or intelligent design…. Retreating from the proposed science standards to include religious ideas in science classes would ‘compromise the objectives of public education and the goal of a high-quality science education,’ negatively affecting Florida’s students.”

Americans United warned that students’ religious liberty rights are at stake.

“Any effort to introduce creationism in Florida’s public school science curriculum,” the AU letter insisted, “will harm the religious liberty rights of students and their families…. Parents, not schools, have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

“Our nation is becoming more and more religiously diverse and Florida’s students and their families reflect this diversity. One specific religion’s view of the origins of life should not be taught to the exclusion of others.”

The Americans United letter was signed by AU State Legislative Counsel Dena S. Sher.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State www.au.org

==========

Time won’t heal the Catholic Bishops’ sins … and more

GetReligion – Washington,DC,USA

Had he seen through the Bishop’s false rationale, he might have connected it with the US Bishops’ cover-up of priestly sex abuse. …

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=3165

Priest Sex Abuse

WJHG-TV – Panama City,FL,USA

A Bonifay couple has filed suit against the Catholic Church for failing to prevent their 15 year daughter from being abused by a priest. …

http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/15520187.html

Clergy sex abuse cited in lawsuit

Florida Times-Union – Jacksonville,FL,USA

Peake, 63, filed a lawsuit in Jacksonville Tuesday claiming that a late Catholic priest who taught him in 1954 sexually assaulted him repeatedly.
…

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021308/met_246363153.shtml

Ex-priest faces 2nd sex case

Gary Post Tribune – Gary,IN,USA

The suit alleges the abuse began when the boy was 11 and continued into the boy’s late teens. Emerson first bonded with the boy in family settings,
…

http://www.post-trib.com/news/795543,emerson.article

NYC priest accused of sex abuse

State police want to know whether anyone in the Capital Region was victimized by a 65-year-old priest who resigned as pastor of a Queens church late last year after allegations of sexual abuse involving boys.

Church Officials: Priest In Sex Abuse Case Is HIV Positive

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Catholic church officials in Texas say a priest accused of sexually abusing children is HIV positive.

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/national/article.aspx?storyid=80805

==========

three thousand words

Reverend Fun: flowers?!? … (jacob addressing leah and rachel)

http://www.reverendfun.com/add_toon_info.php?date=20080211&language=en

Atheist Eve: bible toys we didn’t see this christmas

http://www.atheist-community.org/images/cartoon/msp168BHXmH249214m.jpg

Don Addis: … why did he make us so stupid?

http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2007/oct/images/addismysteriouswayscartoon.jpg

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Saturday February 16, 2008 – “The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.” – Frank Herbert

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN AMERICA NEEDS

By Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect

A “stimulus” package only works for ordinary, business-cycle downturns. But this is no ordinary recession.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/76707/

==========

Ignoring pattern of politically expedient reversals, NBC’s Gregory claimed McCain “is not going to pander to the right”

NBC’s David Gregory stated: “John McCain is not going to pander to the right. He did that once and it didn’t work.” The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan both agreed, asserting: “He’s not going to do it.” In fact, McCain has attempted to satisfy conservative Republicans by reversing his positions on issues such as taxes, immigration, and the religious right.

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802130012?lid=53672&rid=3542115

==========

Plan to curb contract fraud doesn’t apply overseas

14 Feb 2008

A Bush regime plan to crack down on contract fraud has a multibillion-dollar loophole: The proposal to force companies to report abuse of taxpayer money will not apply to work overseas, including projects to secure and rebuild destroy Iraq and Afghanistan.

At:

http://tinyurl.com/2la25j / www.usatoday.com

From: CLG News

==========

Blair used ‘irresistible pressure’ to halt investigation into BAE-Saudi arms deal

15 Feb 2008

Tony Blair wrongly influenced due legal process when he used “irresistible pressure” to end the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into alleged bribery and corruption involving arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, it was alleged in the High Court yesterday.

At:

http://tinyurl.com/29n74e / www.independent.co.uk

From: CLG News

==========

9/11: The “Perfect Opportunity” for North American Integration

By Andrew G. Marshall
Global Research, February 14, 2008

On February 12, 2008, the Canadian newspaper, the Financial Post, published an opinion piece by Michael Hart, of Carleton University, entitled, “Canada Blew It,” in which he blamed the “slow” approach to North American integration on Canada’s policies following 9/11. The article begins by stating:

“The Canadian and U.S. economies have become intertwined in response to demands by Canadians and Americans for each other’s products, services, capital, and ideas. Yet the border as presently constituted protects Canadians and Americans from each other, not from global security threats. It also presents a risk to the wealth-creating flow of people, goods, services and capital between the two countries.” 1

Hart states that in order to “address global security concerns”, Canada and the US need to, “develop co-operative solutions to common problems.” He stated to do this, Canada and the US should implement an, “agenda aimed at removing the border to the largest extent possible as an obstacle to Canada-U.S. interaction and integration.” He continues in outlining the steps to be taken in this agenda, the first of which is to, “re-imagine the border.” Hart explains that much of the problems with the border are a result of “regulatory compliance”, as in having a border, to which he proposes a solution in which, “Canada and the United States need to aggressively pursue regulatory convergence,” or in other words, harmonization. He continues, “It is in Canada’s interests to align as many of its regulatory requirements as possible with those of the United States.”

In discussing the security of “North America’s” economic infrastructure, Hart states, “Similar to our interdependence in ensuring the security of the North American continent, neither country can ensure the security of its economic infrastructure without the full co-operation of the other,” to which he elaborates that, “we need to build the necessary institutions and networks of co-operation that ensure that American and Canadian officials are working together toward common objectives and doing so on the basis of constructive political oversight.”2 Amazingly, Hart stated that it is “not a trade agenda”, but is, in fact, “an integration agenda that requires the full participation of departments and agencies on both sides of the border responsible for border administration, economic regulation, and infrastructure integrity.”

Hart continued in his critique of the slow process of integration, stating that, “The crisis of Sept. 11, 2001, provided a perfect opportunity to seize the moment to re-imagine the border, but Canada blew it [emphasis added].” This is a clear example of how important it is for those who oppose the processes of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), and the North American Union which it seeks to create, must also examine the relationship between integration and terror; between the North American Union and 9/11. These are not separate elements of one another, these events are themselves deeply integrated, in both purpose and strategy. It is integral for those that oppose the NAU to review the attacks of September 11, 2001, to see the linkages between them and understand them as something beyond random associations and reactions to one another.

…

Complete article at:

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8082

==========

Science for Hire Comes Under Fire

Source: ABC News, February 6, 2008

The U.S. Congress is investigating the Weinberg Group, a science consulting firm that promises to help clients “clear regulatory hurdles and defend products in the court and media.” Representative John Dingell (Democrat of Michigan) said the firm’s practices “raise serious issues about whether science is for sale.” The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Dingell chairs, has asked the firm for records of its work on Bisphenol A and other chemicals. Some studies have linked Bisphenol A, which is present in a wide range of plastics, to cancer and hormone disruptions. In 2006, Paul D. Thacker reported on a Weinberg Group memo in which the firm told the chemical company DuPont that it could help “shape the debate” about the safety of its products. “We will harness … the scientific and intellectual capital of our company with one goal in mind — creating the outcome our client desires,” added the memo.

==========

REP. WEXLER CONFRONTS CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S 935 IRAQ WAR LIES

By Matt Corley, Think Progress

Rep. Wexler pressed Rice to explain the inconsistencies, asking “isn’t it true that you had intelligence that cast doubt on your repeated claims?”

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/77077/

==========

RICE “UNINTERESTED IN ADVISING” BUSH PRE- 9/11, WANTED TO BE “CLOSEST CONFIDANTE”

By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress

A new book singles out Condoleezza Rice as inept, more interested in being President Bush’s buddy than securing the nation.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/75921/

==========

Borowitz Report – Superdelegate Shocker

Conversation with a Superdelegate

Actual Transcript

– Hello?
– Doug, my man, is that you? Glad I caught you, buddy! You’ve had your voicemail on the past few days. Hillary and I have been worried sick.
– I told you to stop calling me.
– What? That’s a fairy tale.
– The last time we talked, right before I hung up on you, I said, “Stop calling me here.”
– Doug, when you said that, you were in your bedroom, weren’t you?
– Yes, I was in my bedroom. You called me at two A.M. But I don’t –
– and you’re not in your bedroom now, are you? I hear a coffee maker. You’re in your kitchen now, aren’t you, Doug? So when you said, “Stop calling me here,” I naturally assumed you meant, “Don’t call me in my bedroom, but the other rooms in my house are fine.” It depends on the meaning of “here” I hear.
– I’m changing my phone number.
– Hillary can do that for you.
– What?
– Hillary can change your number. She’s been making change for thirty-five years. Now, when it comes to calling Verizon customer service and getting your number changed, who do you trust, someone who’s been a change agent for thirty-five years or someone who’s been making viral videos with the Black Eyed Peas?
– I don’t –
– Now, I’ve got nothing against the Black Eyed Peas. I like the girl, what do they call her, Fergie? She’s hot. I like that song that she does about her humps, and what she’s gonna do with that junk, all that junk inside her trunk. Her humps, her humps, her humps, her lovely lady bumps. But she’s not even in the video Barack made, and when you make a video with the Black Eyed Peas I think you owe it to the American people to let them know right up front that the hot girl with the lovely lady bumps isn’t going to be in it, so that people won’t waste their time freeze-framing it.
– I…
– Let’s say you, Hillary, and Barack are on a life raft in the middle of shark-infested waters. And Hillary offers you a life preserver and Barack offers you a line of blow. Who would you vote for?
– I have to take my kids to school.
– Hillary will take them.
– What?
– She’ll be over there in ten minutes.
– She doesn’t know where I live.
– Sure, she does. We drove by your house last night.
– You drove by my house?
– We were hoping to chat with you. By the way, the drainpipe in the back needs fixing. It kind of separates from the house when you try to shimmy up it.
– I’m getting a restraining order.
– No, you’re not, Doug. Hillary’s going to drive your kids to school, and then you and I are going to sit down and have ourselves a nice little talk. Let’s say you were stranded on a desert island. Who would you choose to help you survive: someone who had thirty-five years of experience making real change on Day One, or someone who spent his high school years surfing and sucking on a giant bong?
– [click].

Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu

Andy with Susie Essman and Jeffrey Toobin – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jeffrey Toobin (CNN, bestselling author of The Nine). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to www.92y.org .

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

==========

three thousand words

Rob Tornoe: he’s become such a flip-flopper!

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/TornoR/2008/TornoR20080215A_low.jpg

David Horsey: … protect something sacred to each and every american …

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080215/335cartoon20080215.gif

KAL: I’m beginning to see a pattern here …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/cwkal/2008/cwkal080214.gif

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Friday February 15, 2008 – “The politics [foreign policy] of a state are in its geography.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

NEW PULSE POSTED

http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/pulse_v254_08.htm

That’s the url to the February 11, 2008, issue of DOE Pulse. Pulse is a newsletter about accomplishments at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Here is some of what you’ll find in this issue:

* Fermilab: Particle physics buZZ

* Ames: New permanent magnet alloy

* Argonne: Neutron-rich helium-8

* Brookhaven: DNA guides nanoparticles

Feature: PNNL’s toxic metal-zapping nanomaterial

Researcher profile: Los Alamos’ Paul Johnson

==========

ABC’s Tapper, Limbaugh touted Weekly Standard characterization of Obama that is based on false assumption

Citing Dean Barnett’s Weekly Standard piece about a recent speech by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, radio host Rush Limbaugh and ABC’s Jake Tapper promoted Barnett’s claim that without a teleprompter, Obama is, in Limbaugh’s words, “a different guy.” However, in claiming that Obama “improvised” or “ad-libbed” and that the audience “saw a different Obama,” Barnett provided several quotes that have been part of Obama’s standard stump speech since as early as November 2007.

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802120012?lid=48770&rid=3461770

==========

U.S.-Backed Sunni “Awakening” Militias Clash with U.S.-Backed Government

12 Feb 2008

U.S. backed Sunni militants have challenged the U.S.-backed Iraqi government in Baghdad, and demanded political power after two women were killed by government forces. Tensions rose earlier this month when men dressed in Iraqi security personnel uniforms kidnapped two women. Their naked bodies were found later.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/story/76781/

From: CLG News

==========

North American Governments Ponder How Best to Boost Their Wars

Source: Toronto Star (Canada), February 4, 2008

“A key part of Ottawa’s public relations campaign” in support of its controversial military mission in Afghanistan is frequent phone calls where “senior federal officials … plot strategy.” All Afghan mission matters “are vetted through the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister’s Office,” leading to charges of top-down media management. “It’s not about communications,” said one anonymous Canadian official. “It’s about keeping the press gallery at bay.” Recently, a panel led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley criticized Canada’s approach to Afghanistan. The panel called for “franker and more frequent” public briefings, and a greater emphasis on diplomacy and reconstruction. In the United States, the controversial Pentagon program “America Supports You” (ASY) is reviewing its PR contract, reports O’Dwyer’s. ASY, which is under investigation for its financial practices, currently works with the PR firm Susan Davis International. The Pentagon will ask Washington DC firms to submit proposals for ASY’s “national strategy and outreach program, web and interactive work, events and PSAs.” It’s not clear if Susan Davis will be invited to, or would choose to, submit a proposal to continue its work with ASY.

==========

Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets

12 Feb 2008

Fear that a hobbled banking sector Bush may set off another Great Depression could force the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to take the unprecedented step of buying a broad range of assets, including stocks, according to one of the most bearish market analysts.

At:

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSGOR27660220080212

From: CLG News

==========

Op-Ed: Better biofuels before more biofuels

San Francisco Chronicle
Alexander E. Farrell

ALEXANDER E. FARRELL IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENERGY AND RESOURCES AT UC BERKELEY.

February 13, 2008

It’s all about the land, not the crops. While California and the nation pursue biofuels for energy security and climate change, we must ensure that cleaner technologies are the result, not irreversible damages.

New research suggests that corn ethanol may have greenhouse gas emissions nearly double the emissions of gasoline. The reason is that the way we make biofuels today increases the global demand for land and accelerates the clearance of wilderness for new farms….

Unfortunately, farmland expansion today often means clearing rainforest: burning the trees, releasing carbon dioxide from the soil into the atmosphere, and losing biodiversity.

This not about corn or sugarcane, or even switchgrass; the key idea is that climate-friendly biofuels should not use fertile land. There are at least three ways to get away from the food-fuel-wilderness competition.

…

Complete article:

http://tinyurl.com/yvn3ej (www.sfgate.com)

==========

Report: Ethanol industry’s job impact overstated

Quad City Times – Davenport,IA,USA

By NAFEESA SYEED

Monday, February 11, 2008 DES MOINES, Iowa -

The ethanol industry is creating far fewer jobs than supporters claim and could face a
…

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/11/ap-state-ia/d8uodsk80.txt

Minnesota Scientists Say Ethanol is Harmful

11 Feb 2008

StarTribune.com reports that some Minnesota scientists are saying that ethanol may do more harm than good due to its effect on the landscape. The high demand for the fuel is forcing farmers to cut down forests, grasslands, and peat lands to make room for biofuel crops. The scientists also say that producing the fuel can emit more carbon dioxide than what is saved by having low emissions.

http://tinyurl.com/23ojud (www.biodieselinvesting.com/)

Ethanol: It’s Even Worse Than You Thought

CBS News – New York,NY,USA

By Kevin Drum (Political Animal)

ETHANOL: IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT….A few days ago two studies were published showing that biofuels like ethanol …

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/13/politics/animal/main3824099.shtml

US scientists puncture the ethanol biofuel bubble

They deal serious damage to the belief – which up to now has been driving the biofuel bubble – that stepped-up ethanol production in the US is an answer to …

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/13/science_biofuel_reports/

==========

How the Spooks Took Over the News

“In his controversial new book, Nick Davies argues that shadowy
intelligence agencies are pumping out black propaganda to manipulate
public opinion – and that the media simply swallow it wholesale”

http://tinyurl.com/2u8zo9 (www.independent.co.uk)

==========

And now for the important news ….

By Argus Hamilton

The New York Yankees began funding a training camp in China Sunday to expand baseball to the world’s largest nation. People in China meet the first test of what it takes to be baseball fans. They’re not fussy at all about what goes into a hot dog.

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

==========

three thousand words

Vlad el Empapelador: buscando el voto hispano

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/AlvarJ/2008/AlvarJ20080214_low.jpg

Steve Benson: … we’re not in kansas anymore …

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=122295

Trouble Town (Lloyd Dangle): … love prevails! and just in time!

http://troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.897.gif

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Thursday February 14, 2008 Valentine’s Day – Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. – William Shakespeare

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Darwin Day Celebration

“Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809.

http://www.darwinday.org/

==========

Savage claimed Lantos used the Holocaust as “a weapon the rest of his life”

Discussing the recent death of Rep. Tom Lantos, Michael Savage stated, “You’re not supposed to talk badly about the dead. I generally wouldn’t do it. But in the case of Tom Lantos, I’ll make an exception. I think he was one of the most — he was a scoundrel. And I’ll tell you why I detested Tom Lantos. The man survived the Holocaust of World War II and used it as a weapon the rest of his life.”

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802120004?lid=48754&rid=3461770

==========

Even the rich are revolting as Republicans abandon GOP

13 Feb 2008

In the wealthiest suburbs of Virginia, a quiet revolution was under way yesterday as life-long republicans switched sides to vote for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary. So deep is the disillusionment with George Bush, so uninspiring the choice offered by the Republicans, that many life-long conservatives are abandoning the Grand Old Party to support a liberal black candidate.

At:

http://tinyurl.com/28p789 (http://www.independent.co.uk/)

From: CLG News

==========

Another GOPedophile bites the dust: Ex-Fla. official facing fed porn charges

11 Feb 2008

The former spokesman for Florida’s child welfare agency paid two 16-year-old boys for sexually explicit photos of themselves and then brokered the images to overseas pornographers, according to a complaint filed Monday by federal prosecutors.

At:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_re_us/child_welfare_official_porn

From: CLG News

==========

Senator McCain’s Real Record on the War in Iraq

VoteVets.org
February 8, 2008

Senator John McCain presents himself as a maverick and a critic of the Iraq war. But a close read of his record indicates that his position on the Iraq war has consistently matched President George W. Bush’s.

Before The War:

McCain used many of the same arguments as Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney and President Bush when advocating going to war with Iraq.

McCain co-sponsored the Use of Force Authorization that gave President George W. Bush the green light—and a blank check—for going to war with Iraq. [SJ Res 46, 10/3/02]
McCain argued Saddam was “a threat of the first order.” Senator McCain said that a policy of containing Iraq to blunt its weapons of mass destruction program is “unsustainable, ineffective, unworkable and dangerous.” McCain: “I believe Iraq is a threat of the first order, and only a change of regime will make Iraq a state that does not threaten us and others, and where liberated people assume the rights and responsibilities of freedom.” [Speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2/13/03]
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney’s rationale for going to war. McCain: “It’s going to send the message throughout the Middle East that democracy can take hold in the Middle East.” [Fox, Hannity & Colmes, 2/21/03]
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney’s talking points that the U.S. would only be in Iraq for a short time. McCain: “It’s clear that the end is very much in sight. … It won’t be long…it’ll be a fairly short period of time.” [ABC, 4/9/03]
McCain said winning the war would be “easy.” “I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women.” [CNN, 9/24/02]

During The War:

Senator McCain praised Donald Rumsfeld as late as May 12, 2004, after the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Asked if Donald Rumsfeld can continue to be an effective secretary of defense, McCain: “Yes, today I do and I believe he’s done a fine job. He’s an honorable man.” [Hannity and Colmes, 5/12/04]
Senator McCain repeatedly supported President Bush on the Iraq War—voting with him in the Senate, defending his actions and publicly praising his leadership.

McCain maintains the war was a good idea.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain, focusing on the war in Iraq, said that while weapons of mass destruction were not found, Saddam once had them and “he would have acquired them again.” McCain said the mission in Iraq “gave hope to people long oppressed” and it was “necessary, achievable and noble.” McCain: “For his determination to undertake it, and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, President Bush

Senator McCain: “The war, the invasion was not a mistake. [Meet the Press, 1/6/08]

Asked if the war was a good idea worth the price in blood and treasure, McCain: “It was worth getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He had used weapons of mass destruction, and it’s clear that he was hell-bent on acquiring them.” [Republican Debate, 1/24/08]

McCain defended Bush’s rationale for war. Asked if he thought the president exaggerated the case for war, McCain said, “I don’t think so.” [Fox News, 7/31/03]
McCain has been President Bush’s most ardent Senate supporter on Iraq. According to Michael Shank of the Foreign Policy in Focus think tank, McCain was at times Bush’s “most solid support in the Senate” on Iraq. [Foreign Policy in Focus, 1/15/08]
McCain voted against holding Bush accountable for his actions in the war. McCain opposed the creation of an independent commission to investigate the development and use of intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. [S. Amdt. 1275 to H.R. 2658, Vote # 284, 7/16/03]
McCain praised Bush’s leadership on the war. McCain: “I think the president has led with great clarity and I think he’s done a great job leading the country…” [MSNBC, Hardball, 4/23/03]
Senator McCain has constantly moved the goal posts of progress for the war—repeatedly saying it would be over soon.

January 2003: “But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” [MSNBC, 1/22/03]
March 2003: “I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short.” [NBC, Meet the Press, 3/30/03]
June 2004: “The terrorists know that this is a very critical time.” [CNN, 6/23/04]
December 2005: “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have a fair amount of progress [in Iraq] if we stay the course.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]
November 2006: “We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months.” [NBC, Meet the Press, 11/12/06]
Senator McCain opposed efforts to end the overextension of the military that is having a devastating impact on our troops.

McCain voted against requiring mandatory minimum downtime between tours of duty for troops serving in Iraq. [S. Amdt.. 2909 to S Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote 341, 9/19/07; S Amdt. 2012 to S Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote #241, 7/11/07]
McCain was one of only 13 senators to vote against adding $430 million for inpatient and outpatient care for veterans. [S Amdt. 3642 to HR 4939, Vote 98, 4/26/06]
Senator McCain has consistently opposed any plan to withdraw troops from Iraq
Senator McCain repeatedly voted against a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. [S. Amdt. 3876 to S.Amdt. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote #438, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.. 3875 to S.Amdt.. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote # 437, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.3164 to H.R. 3222, Vote # 362, 10/3/07; S.Amdt. 2898 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #346, 9/21/07; S.Amdt. 2924 to S.Amdt.. 2011 to H.R.1585, Vote #345, 9/21/07; S.Amdt.2 087 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #252, 7/18/07; S.Amdt. 643 to H.R. 1591, Vote #116, 3/27/07; S.Amdt. 4320 to S. 2766, Vote #182, 6/22/06; S.Amdt. 4442 to S. 2766, Vote #181, 6/22/06; S.Amdt.. 2519 to S.1042, Vote # 322, 11/15/05]
Senator McCain has consistently demonized Americans who want to find a responsible way to remove troops from Iraq so that we can take the fight to al Qaeda.

McCain: “I believe to set a date for withdrawal is to set a date for surrender.” [Charlotte Observer, 9/16/07]
McCain called proponents of a congressional resolution opposing the troop surge in Iraq intellectually dishonest. [Associated Press. 2/4/07]
The Future:

Senator McCain now says he sees no end to the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

McCain: “[M]ake it a hundred” years in Iraq and “that would be fine with me.” [Derry, New Hampshire Town Hall meeting, 1/3/08]
McCain on how long troops may remain in Iraq: “A thousand years. A million years. Ten million years. It depends on the arrangement we have with the Iraqi government.” [Associated Press, 1/04/08]

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/

==========

U.S. President. – Economic report of the President : transmitted to the Congress : together with the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisors

Washington : U.S. Government Printing Office, February 2008

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/2008/2008_erp.pdf

==========

BMO Capital Markets. – Focus : a weekly financial digest

Bank of Montreal, February 8, 2008. 14 p.

http://www.bmonesbittburns.com/economics/focus/20080208/focus.pdf

==========

Too big to fail

by David Henry

If a major bank slips into deep trouble, Uncle Sam may have to help save it.

Business week, issue 4069, February 4, 2008, p. 32-34.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_05/b4069032985454.htm

==========

Borowitz Report – Obama Winning Streak Shocker

Obama Wins Country Music Entertainer of the Year

Extends Amazing String of Victories

Coming off a weekend in which he racked up victories in Nebraska, Washington, Louisiana, the Virgin Islands and Maine, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) extended his amazing winning streak today by being named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year.

For Mr. Obama, who is not a country music entertainer, the award represents a significant upset since it had been expected to go to longtime country favorite Kenny Chesney.

Mr. Obama barely had time to cobble together an acceptance speech when he received word that he had also won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The Illinois senator had been considered a long-shot to win the Nobel, given his history of not being a chemist, but the Nobel committee awarded it to him nonetheless, passing over the prohibitive favorite for the prize, Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke.

Reached at his laboratory in Tokyo, where he has been studying the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription for the past forty years, Dr. Kyosuke said he had “no hard feelings” about losing the chemistry prize to a non-chemist, explaining, “If anyone else had beaten me, I’d be upset, but Barack Obama? I do love him so.”

The news about the Nobel Prize was slightly overshadowed by the release of a new poll today showing Senator Obama defeating Hannah Montana in a head-to-head match-up.

The poll showed Mr. Obama defeating Ms. Montana 67 percent to 31 percent among people who describe themselves as rabid fans of Hannah Montana.

Elsewhere, seeking funds for her cash-strapped campaign, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) fired her campaign manager and replaced her with Heather Mills McCartney.

Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu/

Andy with Susie Essman and Jeffrey Toobin – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jeffrey Toobin (CNN, bestselling author of The Nine). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to http://www.92y.org/ .

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

==========

three thousand words

Tom Tomorrow: on parallel earth

http://action.credomobile.com/comics/Original%20Image021308.jpg

Chip Bok: it’s the economy …

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/BokC/2008/BokC20080213_low.jpg

JD Crowe: Talk Radio Blowhards

http://blog.al.com/jdcrowe/2008/02/large_2-8-08WIncompetence.jpg

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Wednesday February 13, 2008 – “I’ll tell you what war is all about; you’ve got to kill people, and when you’ve killed enough they stop fighting.” – General Curtis LeMay

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Blair went to war on a lie, law lords told

12 Feb 2008

The mothers of two teenage soldiers killed in Iraq accused Tony Blair’s government of going to war “on a lie” as they took their fight for a public inquiry into the conflict to the House of Lords. Beverly Clarke and Rose Gentle argue that ministers breached their duty to Britain’s armed forces by failing to ensure the invasion was lawful.

At:

http://tinyurl.com/2nkhzb (www.independent.co.uk/)

From: CLG News

==========

Development and Reform of the Iraqi Police Forces.

Authored by Major Tony Pfaff.

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=840

The author seeks to show how social, political, cultural, and environmental factors have combined to impede Iraqi police development in ways that are predictable, understandable, and, with external help, resolvable.

==========

Analysis of the Growth in Funding for Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Elsewhere in the War on Terrorism

Congressional Budget Analysis of the Growth in Funding for Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Elsewhere in the War on Terrorism, February 11, 2008.

“The United States began combat operations in Afghanistan in fiscal year 2002 and in Iraq in fiscal year 2003. To finance those operations (and other activities related to the war on terrorism), the Congress provided $18 billion and $76 billion in emergency appropriations in those years, respectively. With the exception of a slight decrease in 2004, to $74 billion, funding has increased steadily each year, to a total of $165 billion for 2007. If the Administration’s request for 2008 is funded in full, appropriations for military operations and other war-related activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the war on terrorism will rise to $188 billion this year and to a cumulative total of $752 billion since 2001.”

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/02-11-WarCosts_Letter.pdf

==========

Huckabee won’t concede state; GOP resuming delegate count

10 Feb 2008

The results of the state Republican caucuses were called into question today after presidential candidate Mike Huckabee challenged the party’s declaration that Arizona Sen. John McCain had won the delegate count.

At:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004175292_webhuckabee10.html

From: CLG News

==========

Financial Crisis: Asset Securitization– The Last Tango Endgame: Unregulated Private Money Creation

By F. William Engdahl
Global Research, February 8, 2008

The Financial Tsunami, Part IV.

Endgame: Unregulated Private Money Creation

What had emerged going into the new millennium after the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall was an awesome transformation of American credit markets into what was soon to become the world’s greatest unregulated private money creation machine.

The New Finance was built on an incestuous, interlocking, if informal, cartel of players, all reading from the script written by Alan Greenspan and his friends at J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and the other major financial houses of New York. Securitization was going to secure a “new” American Century and its financial domination, as its creators clearly believed on the eve of the millennium.

Key to the revolution in finance in addition to the unabashed backing of the Greenspan Fed, was the complicity of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the US Government right to the Supreme Court. In addition, to make the game work seamlessly, it required the active complicity of the two leading credit agencies in the world—Moody’s and Standard & Poors.

It required a Congress and Executive branch that would repeatedly reject rational appeals to regulate over-the-counter financial derivatives, bank-owned or financed hedge funds or any of the myriad steps to remove supervision, control, transparency that had been painstakingly built up over the previous century or more. It required that the major government-certified rating agencies give their credit AAA imprimatur to a tiny handful of poorly regulated insurance companies called Monolines, all based in New York. The monolines were another essential part of the New Finance.

The interlinks and consensus behind the massive expansion of securitization among all these institutional players was so clear and pervasive it might have been incorporated as America New Finance Inc. and its shares sold over NASDAQ.

Alan Greenspan anticipated and encouraged the process of asset securitization for years before his actual nurturing of the phenomenal real estate bubble in the beginning of the first decade of the new Century. In a pathetic attempt to deny his central role after the fall, Greenspan last year claimed that the problem was not mortgage lending to sub-prime customers but the securitization of the sub-prime credits. In April 2005, he sung a quite different hymn to sub-prime securitization. Addressing the Federal Reserve System’s Fourth Annual Community Affairs Research Conference, the Fed chairman declared,

“Innovation has brought about a multitude of new products, such as subprime loans and niche credit programs for immigrants. Such developments are representative of the market responses that have driven the financial services industry throughout the history of our country. With these advances in technology, lenders have taken advantage of credit-scoring models and other techniques for efficiently extending credit to a broader spectrum of consumers The mortgage-backed security helped create a national and even an international market for mortgages, and market support for a wider variety of home mortgage loan products became commonplace. This led to securitization of a variety of other consumer loan products, such as auto and credit card loans.”

…

Complete article at:

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8032

F. William Engdahl is the author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press) and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation, www.globalresearch.ca.

The present series is adapted from his new book, now in writing, The Rise and Fall of the American Century: Money and Empire in Our Era. He may be contacted through his website, www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net.

==========

IRS Flouts Court Orders

The Internal Revenue Service, defying three court orders, continues to withhold crucial statistical data the public needs to judge how the agency is enforcing the nation’s tax laws. That charge was made today in a motion filed in the Federal District Court in Seattle by longtime IRS
expert Susan Long. A professor in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, Long is also the co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research center affiliated with both the Whitman School and the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Since 1989, TRAC has used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain data from a range of federal agencies that it then makes available to the public.

To see the filing and a press release go to http://trac.syr.edu/foia

David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Syracuse University
488 Newhouse II
Syracuse, NY 13244-2100
315-443-3563
trac@syr.edu
http://trac.syr.edu

==========

Visit Your Congressional Member – Charitable Choice Provisions

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Act (SAMHSA) is being considered for reauthorization in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Educations, Labor and Pensions . As currently written SAMHSA legislation includes charitable choice provisions, which allow for federally funded organizations to hire and fire solely on the basis of an employee’s religion, does not require separate accounting of government funds from religious funds and allows religious organizations to proselytize or try to convert the beneficiary to the organization’s religion in return for government funded services.

In short, charitable choice amounts to religious discrimination. Speak with your Senator about making critical changes to SAMHSA to bring to stop federally funded religious discrimination. For more information please visit

http://tinyurl.com/2rvbjh (www.centerforinquiry.net)

==========

HOW KARL ROVE AND TORTURE INFLUENCED THE 9/11 REPORT

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

A 9/11 commission chief answers to allegations that he let Karl Rove influence the probe investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://www.alternet.org/stories/76572/

==========

And now for the important news ….

By Argus Hamilton

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Friday set aside nine million acres in four Western states as critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl. No one really thinks the owls are endangered. For every one you deport, three more fly over the fence.

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

==========

three thousand words

Chip Bok: striaght talk express

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/BokC/2008/BokC20080212_low.jpg

Jeff Danziger: Wounded Veterans, Pentagon, Ft. Drum, Benefits

http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/dancart3502.jpg

Matt Bors: right-wing pundits in revolt

http://www.mattbors.com/strips/345.gif

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Tuesday February 12, 2008 – “bad money drives out good” – Sir Thomas Gresham

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Visit Your Congressional Member – Controversial Judicial Nominations

President Bush has nominated several highly controversial figures to the federal bench. Moreover, the current Administration has consistently refused to work together with Congress to appoint impartial and non-controversial federal judges who will protect our constitutional rights and liberties. These judges will often serve for life tenures and decide key constitutional issues. Only the Senate has the ability to confirm or reject these controversial judicial nominations. Ask your Senator to reject all judicial nominations until after the upcoming presidential election.

For more information please visit http://ga1.org/campaign/controversial

==========

Overlooking reversals, Chicago Trib.’s Page wrote that McCain “wander[ed] away from right-wing positions” on immigration, tax cuts

Chicago Tribune editorial board member and syndicated columnist Clarence Page wrote that John McCain “shifted his emphasis on immigration reform to border protection after his earlier emphasis on providing a path to citizenship for illegal workers failed to get through Congress. In other words, he was not flip-flopping on his core beliefs, but he was willing to listen to critics.” However, McCain’s current stance on immigration represents a reversal of his prior position — not simply a “shift[] in emphasis”: McCain had previously argued that border security could not be disaggregated from other provisions in legislation on comprehensive immigration reform.

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802100002?lid=45454&rid=3345929

==========

How Big Media Hides the Real Economic News

By Charles McMillion
Created 02/07/2008 – 2:29pm

Summary:

Recent news reports on labor costs and productivity show a very clear example of how the media spin the news to hide economic troubles and mislead those who believe they are following economic conditions.

Read this AP story [1]on productivity growth and labor costs, then read the note below (written Wednesday) about the same Bureau of Labor Statistics report [2] on employment, wages, output and productivity. This is a very clear example of how the media spin the news every day to hide economic troubles and mislead those who believe they are following economic conditions. All the major media spun this story in almost exactly in the same way as the AP.

…

Complete article at

Published on OurFuture.org ( http://www.ourfuture.org )

==========

ISN Security Watch – Assessing the ‘surge’ in Iraq

7 February 2008

Assessing the ‘surge’ in Iraq

Almost a year into the “surge,” proponents declare it a success and critics dismiss it as a failure. A sober review shows that the relative increase in security has not paid off in terms of political progress.

Commentary by Matthias Wegener for ISN Security Watch (07/02/08)

The last few months have witnessed an emotional debate in the US about the efficacy of the “surge” strategy for Iraq. Its advocates, like presidential contender John McCain, declare that the US is “winning in Iraq.”

Critics reject such rhetoric as hawkish hype, arguing that the increase in troops has actually been a strategic failure.

In fact, it is still too early for a final assessment of the “surge.” However, the news from Iraq so far indicates that while the security environment there has improved, the political objectives have not been met.

Progress on security

There is no doubt that security in Iraq has increased remarkably over the previous months – recent setbacks notwithstanding. All figures suggest that violence has been reduced significantly.

While 288 US soldiers were killed in action in the last three months of 2006, the number has decreased to 98 over the same period in 2007. Likewise, the monthly figures of Iraqis killed, injured or displaced have gone down considerably.

The progress on security has been caused in part by the additional US forces. The extra troops have enabled the new commander, General David Petraeus, to implement a strategy that he had helped devise as commander of the US Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, prior to his deployment to Iraq.

Recognizing that the support of the local population is pivotal for the success of a counterinsurgency campaign, Petraeus has radically altered the strategy employed by US forces in Iraq.

He shifted the focus from trying to defeat the enemy through overwhelming force – a tactic that had often resulted in civilian casualties – to protecting the population from terrorism and sectarian violence.

Complete article at

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

Matthias Wegener is a research intern at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich. He holds a Master’s degree in Middle East Security from the University of Aberdeen and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Bremen.

==========

THE TRUTH IS, IRAQ’S FUTURE IS ABYSMAL

By Scott Ritter, Truthdig

As nice as it would be for some hope that the “surge” worked, the truth is that the disaster in Iraq has only just begun.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/76318/

==========

Iraq Oil Report – ‘Iraq income up five years after war as oil production slowly increases, fetching more with high oil prices’

Plus
*Ex-Iraq corruption watchdog blames firing on oil smuggling investigation
*Police bust smugglers in Missan
*2008 budget delayed a week
*Dana Gas to pump $300M into Iraqi Kurdistan natural gas venture
*Corruption allegation over Iraq Central Bank building fire
*Iraq Press Roundup
*Much, much moreâ€¦

New data from Iraq’s oil export arm finds increased production and high prices raised revenues by 31 percent [...]