New York Times imposes selective censorship on readers

Amerikkka Can't Pay for health care because it pays for a big bloated military that fuels Bush friends and associates

[...]

Beginning in the 1930s, both the Americans and the Canadians tried to alleviate health care gaps by increasing use of employment-based insurance plans. Both countries encouraged nonprofit private insurance plans like Blue Cross, as well as for-profit insurance plans. The difference between the United States and Canada is that Americans are still doing this, ignoring decades of international statistics that show that this type of funding inevitably leads to poorer public health.

Meanwhile, according to author Terry Boychuk, the rest of the industrialized world, including many developing countries like Mexico, Korea, and India, viscerally understood that "private insurance would [never be able to] cover all necessary hospital procedures and services; and that even minimal protection [is] beyond the reach of the poor, the working poor, and those with the most serious health problems." ¹ Today, over half the family bankruptcies filed every year in the United States are directly related to medical expenses, and a recent study shows that 75 percent of those are filed by people with health insurance.²

The United States spends far more per capita on health care than any comparable country. In fact, the gap is so enormous that a recent University of California, San Francisco, study estimates that the United States would save over $161 billion every year in paperwork alone if it switched to a singlepayer system like Canada's.³ These billions of dollars are not abstract amounts deducted from government budgets; they come directly out of the pockets of people who are sick.

[...]

Montana Newspapers Delivered to Subscribers Wrapped in Political Ads

Attorney in Halloween Costume Dressed as Osama bin Laden Arrested in Maine

Connolly, who's been charged with criminal threatening, is a well known attorney. He ran an unsucessful campaign for governor in 1998. In 2000, Connolly tipped the media off to a 1970s DUI arrest by presidential candidiate George W. Bush.

Big Business and Profit Motive Continue to make the food supply dangerous

Air America advertiser blacklist

An internal ABC Radio Networks memo obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The Peter B. Collins Show, indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the adverstisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express, General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.

Yeah, he really wants to "dialogue" with Muslims

You're seriously confused, Mr. Foxman.
It is Bush the conqueror, the PNAC crusader, who is being appeased like Hitler.

It's utterly breathtaking to listen to supporters of fascist, genocidal, terrorist Israel compare Muslins to Nazis.

Rummy's "Privatized" Military

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is asking the Pentagon's leadership for a staggering $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 -- an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said on Tuesday.

The request is expected to draw criticism on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are increasingly worried about the huge sums being sought "off budget" to fund wars, escaping the more rigorous congressional oversight of regular budgets.

[...]

With the latest bill passed last month, Congress has approved about $507 billion in spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, under some 13 "emergency" spending requests, according to the Congressional Research Service.

That's OUTSIDE of the half trillion dollar a year regular pentagon budget.

[...]

Democrat Congersswoman on No Fly List

Sanchez is favored to win a sixth term representing the 47th Congressional District, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. The district includes many of the 24,000 Arab Americans who live in Orange County.

Sanchez said that she has fought to get some of her constituents' names off the no-fly list and that doing so can take up to six months.

"When they want to, TSA can make sure that you don't have that identification problem," she said. "Sometimes it's taken us months to get these people off the lists so they can travel in a normal way. I can't have to worry about that."

FRENCH NEWS CHANNEL TO CHALLENGE 'ANGLO-SAXON' CNN, BBC: BOSS

Financed to the tune of 80 million euros (100 million dollars) a year by the state and run as a joint operation between France's top commercial and top public national TV networks, France 24 will start out as a minnow to the BBC or CNN, both of which have built up global networks and enjoy established reputations.

Happy Halloween!

gay baiting GOP closet case ken mehlman (video)

Limbaugh: "Harold Ford has dated a white woman"

Abstinence Program for 20s Also.

She was a bold-looking girl, of about twenty-seven, with thick hair, a freckled face, and swift, athletic movements. A narrow scarlet sash, emblem of the Junior Anti-Sex League, was wound several times round the waist of her overalls, just tightly enough to bring out the shapeliness of her hips. Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her. He knew the reason. It was because of the atmosphere of hockey-fields and cold baths and community hikes and general clean-mindedness which she managed to carry about with her. He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones.

GOP at a loss? Karl Rove has an 11th-hour plan to win

He taps government resources to boost candidates in need.

fuck blogger

Thanks to the reader who sent me this!

Michael J Fox. A Totally Classy Act

Rush Limbaugh, a symptom of a very sick America

Idiot in Chief

Ad says Democrats push ’homosexual agenda’

Ads use discredited information to attack Barney Frank.

What is the homosexual agenda exactly anyway? Stable married life?

Employment Discrimination: Not Always Illegal for Aliens

So why won't the area anglo residents take the jobs?

Racist GOP Begins Erection of Apartheid Wall

Racist GOP Ads: Does the Code Still Work?

Records of Freed Slaves to Go Online

[...]
The Virginia Freedmen Project plans to digitize more than 200,000 images collected by the Richmond bureau, one of dozens of offices established throughout the South to help former slaves adjust to free life.
[...]
"This is the equivalent for African Americans of Ellis Island's records being put up," said Kaine, who was joined by Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor and a grandson of slaves.
[...]
wenty-four years removed from slavery in rural Virginia, Hawkins Wilson had established himself as a respected Texas minister. But there was something missing from his life as a free man: the mother and sisters he left behind.

In a letter dated May 11, 1867, he offered bureau officials details of his family's old home in Caroline County, and urged them to pass along a note to his sister, Jane.

"Your little brother Hawkins is trying to find out where you are and where his poor old mother is," reads the letter, which will be included in the database. "Your advice to me to meet you in Heaven has never (lapsed) from my mind."

Historians don't know if he ever found his family.
[...]

Dollar Declines as New Home Prices Fall the Most Since 1970

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell against the euro for a third consecutive day, its longest losing streak in more than a month, and weakened versus the yen after a report showed the U.S. median price for new homes declined the most since 1970.

The U.S. currency also weakened against the South African rand, South Korean won and Swiss franc as further evidence of a cooling housing market supported the Federal Reserve's decision yesterday to keep borrowing costs unchanged.

And the republicans are campaigning on the economy.

Wild pigs my ass. It's the entire food production and delivery system

The Upcoming Staged Election in Bush's Third World America

[...]

The acknowledgment of the repairs came in response to queries from The Washington Post and sheds further light on Maryland's troubled transition to electronic voting. Critics said it raises concerns about whether the state and company officials have kept the public adequately informed about problems with a system that cost taxpayers $106 million.

State officials said this week that they learned after the November 2004 election that a flawed system board was the source of the screen-freeze problem. But documents show that Diebold had diagnosed the problem early that year.

[...]

Survey: Democrats taking Ohio Senate race

CLEVELAND -- A SurveyUSA poll for Channel 3 News shows Democrat challenger Sherrod Brown winning over ncumbent Republican Mike DeWine.

Brown unseats DeWine 57% to 37% according to Ohio voters likely to vote, interviewed October 23 through October 25.

Brown led by 14 in an identical SurveyUSA tracking poll on 10/12/06. Today, Brown leads by 20.

Brown's lead among males is up from 1 point on 10/12/06 to 13 points today; up from 12 points among white voters to 18 points today.

In Western Ohio, DeWine led by 18 2 weeks ago, trails by 10 today, a 28-point swing to the Democrat.
[...]

Diebold's Political Machine

[...]
While Diebold has received the most attention, it actually isn't the biggest maker of computerized election machines. That honor goes to Omaha-based ES&S, and its Republican roots may be even stronger than Diebold's.

The firm, which is privately held, began as a company called Data Mark, which was founded in the early 1980s by Bob and Todd Urosevich. In 1984, brothers William and Robert Ahmanson bought a 68 percent stake in Data Mark, and changed the company's name to American Information Services (AIS). Then, in 1987, McCarthy & Co, an Omaha investment group, acquired a minority share in AIS.

[...]
If the Republican ties at Diebold and ES&S aren't enough to cause concern, argues election reform activist Bev Harris, the companies' past performances and current practices should be. Harris is author of Black Box Voting, and the woman behind the BlackBoxVoting.com web site.

The rush to embrace computerized voting, of course, began with Florida. But, in fact, one of the Sunshine State's election-day disasters was the direct result of a malfunctioning computerized voting system; a system built by Diebold. The massive screwup in Volusia County was all but lost in all the furor over hanging chads and butterfly ballots in South Florida. In part that's because county election officials avoided a total disaster by quickly conducting a hand recount of the more than 184,000 paper ballots used to feed the computerized system. But the huge computer miscount led several networks to incorrectly call the race for Bush.

The first signs that the Diebold-made system in Volusia County was malfunctioning came early on election night, when the central ballot-counting computer showed a Socialist Party candidate receiving more than 9,000 votes and Vice President Al Gore getting minus 19,000.
[...]

Republicans Love the Troops But not Enough To Give them adequate Funding in Combat

Salvador massacre figure found in U.S.

Terminal Satyriasis

Terminal Satyriasis
The place where monotheism meets capitalism. Terminal satyriasis is a highly contagious mental disorder in which the victim cannot stop violently fucking anyone who does not posses as much power as he does. This disease is rampant in Congress and also infects the executive and judicial branches of what's left of the American federal government in high numbers

Rumsfeld, Overcome, as usual, by Terminal Satyriasis thinks He's the Only One Smart Enough to Understand on His Big Mess in Iraq

You Deserve a Break Today. Rats in McDonald's salad.

[...]

The dead rodent, believed to be a juvenile roof rat, was about 6 inches long and was found on its back with its mouth opened, Scott Casterline, a spokesman for the family, told The Associated Press.

He said the women didn't find the rat until taking the salad home to eat, and that a manager from the McDonald's "didn't offer any comfort" after driving to their house to see the rodent. The suit was filed after the restaurant didn't follow through on promises "to make things right," he said.
[...]

For a great read on rats and other problems in the food supply, and how right wing policies helped create and accelerate them, check out Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Monotheism

Monotheism
Penis Worship. There are a number of varieties of Monotheism. Some of the main ones are best performed while on ones knees, though some sects express their beliefs bent over while grabbing their ankles (or other variants).
Also known as jismism.

A Muslim's View of Women

Sheik Taj Aldin al Hilali denied he was condoning rape when he made the comments in a sermon last month, and apologized to any women he had offended, saying they were free to dress as they wished.

Hilali was quoted in The Australian newspaper Thursday as saying in the sermon: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside ... without cover, and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat's?"
[...]

Because you certainly can't expect a Muslim - or any other male - to control his impulses, though you can expect him to be on the verge of sexual violence at all times, so much on the verge that the sight of a woman's' hair - or disobedience - can trigger him to rape.

The lack of appropriate self regulation is, in my opinion, one of the things that attracts the faithful to their violent, extremist, demonstrably untrue beliefs. These religions are about nothing other than control.

The faithful are apparently so damaged, hate filled and aggressive they need something rigid and authoritarian, something punitive too, to help keep them from running completely amok.
Smells like a personality disorder to me.
And women, after all, all not human beings, but OBJECTS for whatever purpose the lofty male with his lofty phallus god sees fit.

Fuck a bunch of monotheists.

GPS Satellite Built by Lockheed Martin Begins Service

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2005 sales of $37.2 billion.

Lockheed Martin Profit Jumps 47%

More on Drug Addict Rush Limbaugh's Nasty Attack on Michael J Fox

Rush Porky Pig Limbaugh can't face big enough backlash

Illinois Sept. home sales fall 20% despite lower prices

Illinois' total home sales, which include single-family and condominium units, fell 19.5 percent in September as the state's median home sale price dropped 3.4 percent, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.

For the month of September, home sales were down 19.5 percent to 13,447 homes sold, compared to 16,700 sales in the same month last year.

[...]

AT&T signs $37M pact with Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin, the nation's largest military contractor, will be able to run applications over AT&T's network to support its government customers and programs in each of its business areas.

Ancient Footprints Found in Mexico Valley

The shining promise of ethanol doesn't add up for farmers

Oil prices drop

Crude oil prices fell Thursday, a day after jumping more than US$2 a barrel in response to news of falling U.S. inventories.

OPEC's steps to cut production and attacks by Nigerian villagers on oil facilities had contributed to the increase. On Thursday, villagers who took over three Shell oil platforms agreed to end their siege and allow operations to resume.
[...]

Global ecosystems 'face collapse'

Dollar drops broadly Against the Euro

Bee fossil, DNA generate a buzz

Bill Clinton

Liberal Paper Tiger who is favorite recipient of punches and kicks from vociferous toupee wearing loons in American Right. Observing the vitriol pumped out about Clinton is validation that something is deeply wrong with America as he was anything but liberal, was not even remotely progressive and actually gracefully and effortlessly advanced the right wing agenda in many ways, including NAFTA, punitive welfare reform, FCC appointments that led to further media consolidation, etc.

Biblical Inerrancy

A political posture which teaches that each word in the Bible is literally true. Thus various contradictory statements within it can be used to justify slavery, racism, classism, homophobia, misogyny and more, which those who preach biblical inerrancy invariably do.

An example.
Biblical inerrancy claims god made dinosaur fossils, but not dinosaurs, so that man would find the fossils and believe in evolution thereby writing his own ticket to eternal damnation.

The world view advanced is so illogical and distorted it enables all manner of lunacy, such as the belief, often espoused by the inerrancy crowd, that the government sealed Martin Luther King's FBI file, not to protect the government, who most certainly had King under illegal surveillance and perhaps had him murdered, or allowed him to be assassinated, but in order to protect King's legacy from disruption due to public knowledge of his philandering.

While this kind of belief may originate with the semi literate trumpeters of biblical inerrancy and creationism, it is widespread throughout the right wing, who always mention the race of people even when it has no bearing on a story. And who never pass an opportunity to characterize black men as sexually out of control.

Best Recipes From 2 Decades of San Francisco Chronicle Food Section

GOP ad so racist, the Republican wants it nixed

Patient-dumping on Skid Row investigated

[...]

Police have long suspected that several institutions, including law enforcement agencies from outside the city, were using the downtown neighborhood as a dumping ground for homeless people. This is the first criminal probe by the LAPD into the practice.
In one case, a man dropped off at Skid Row was in fact not homeless, said Smith, the LAPD captain. A police officer took him home and the man's family was "outraged," he said.

"Not only did they not know that he was discharged, but the fact that he had been brought to Skid Row instead of being brought home was what further outraged that family," Smith said at a news conference Tuesday.

The investigation began on Sunday, when an LAPD sergeant saw a patient being left in front of the Volunteers of America homeless services facility.
The sergeant called an LAPD videographer, who over the next few hours recorded four more ambulances arriving at the facility and leaving recently discharged patients.

[....]

Health costs bedeviling Americans, survey shows

Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon despite French warnings

Israeli planes fire at German in Lebanon

Hunting Hugo

{...]
In late June, U.S. Southern Command, the arm of the U.S. military in Latin America, concluded that efforts by Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia to extend state control over their oil and gas reserves posed a threat to U.S. oil supplies. While Latin America produces only 8.4 percent of the world's oil output, it supplies 30 percent of the oil consumed in the United States.

“A re-emergence of state control of the energy sector will likely increase inefficiencies and, beyond an increase in short-term profits, will hamper efforts to increase long-term supplies and production,” the study concludes. In an interview with the Financial Times , Col. Joe Nunez, a professor of strategy at the U.S. Army War College, added an observation that ought to send a collective chill down the backs of the three countries named: “It is incumbent upon the Command to contemplate beyond strictly military matters.”

That one of the U.S. military's most powerful arms should find itself deep in the energy business should hardly come as a surprise. Four months after Bush took office, Vice President Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy Development Group recommended that the administration “make energy security policy a priority of our trade and foreign policy.” The administration has faithfully followed that blueprint, using war and muscular diplomacy to corner U.S. energy supplies in the Middle East and Central Asia.

What most Americans don't know is that Venezuela's reserves are enormous. According to a department of energy estimate, they are considerably greater than Saudi Arabia's, and may be as high as 1.3 trillion barrels. Most Venezuelan oil is heavy and expensive to refine, but as long as oil stays above $50 a barrel—and few doubt it will go lower—it is an almost endless gold mine.

[...]

Is Anyone in the GOP sane? Not Michelle Bachman, feckless harlot

• "From there, my husband said, 'Now you need to go and get a postdoctorate degree in tax law.' Tax law? I hate taxes. Why should I go do something like that? But the Lord said, 'Be submissive. Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands.' ... I was going to be faithful to what God was calling me to do through my husband."

• "In the midst of all this, if we didn't have enough to do, he called me to run for the Minnesota State Senate."

• "In the midst of that calling, God then called me to run for the United States Congress. ... And my husband said, 'You need to do this,' but I wasn't so sure. And we took three days, and we fasted and we prayed, and we said, 'Lord, is this what you want? Is this your will?' And along about the afternoon of Day Two, he made that calling sure."

1-866-OUR-VOTE: Or America's Third World Voters Need Help

1-866-OUR-VOTE is the only national voter assistance hotline staffed by live call center operators trained to provide state specific assistance to all voters. Lawyers, poll monitors and additional volunteers will be mobilized in 16 key states across the nation to assist voters in the days leading up to the election and on Election Day. Led by People For the American Way Foundation, the NAACP, and the Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, Election Protection (EP) has operated in every election cycle since 2001, and is the nation’s most far-reaching nonpartisan effort to provide voter assistance and protect voter rights. The services will include bilingual assistance for areas with a heavy concentration of Spanish-speaking voters.

GOP Underwrites Terrorism in Disturbing Campaign Tactic

America continues to do business with Africa's Hitler

[...]
But what Richard Lugar, R-Ind. - chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - removed from the Senate version was a section in the House bill that protected the right of our individual states (six already, with more on the way) to divest public pension funds from international companies doing business in murderous Sudan.
[...]

Lockheed Martin Profit Jumps 47%

Oil profits likely to be huge — but down a bit

BushCo bid for Chicago Tribune, LA Times

Us has Much Less Press Freedom Than When Bush Took Office

Although it ranked 17th on the first list, published in 2002, the United States now stands at 53, having fallen nine places since last year.

"Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security' to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on terrorism,' " the group said.

Meanwhile in Palestine

Israeli troops kill seven Palestinians, wound 14 in northern Gaza: Israeli troops shot and killed seven Palestinians, including three brothers and two of their cousins, in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday

Abbas says Gaza deaths are massacre: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday condemned the IDF's killing of six Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, describing the incident as a "criminal massacre."

Extreme right-winger to join Israeli government: A FAR-RIGHT politician dubbed "the most dangerous politician in the history of Israel" because of his anti-Arab and authoritarian views last night looked set to join the Israeli government.

Israel Downplays Russia’s Comments on Hamas: Israel’s prime minister on Sunday downplayed the Russian foreign minister’s comments that it was “unrealistic” to demand that Hamas immediately recognize Israel and disarm, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Michael Phillips: Under Occupation: An American who was kidnapped in West Bank shares his experiance

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land: This video carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

Mossad angry over British espionage series? : British daily 'The Sunday Express' reports senior Israeli agents arrived in London to view episode of BBC drama 'Spooks' where Mossad agents are depicted shooting bound prisoners in the back

Eight more doctors suspected of illegal human experiments : Eight more doctors from the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot and the Hartzfeld Geriatric Hospital in Gedera are suspected of involvement in experiments on human beings, Chief Superintendent Meir Cohen, told the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee on Monday.

Olmert: Our soldiers will be trained to face Iranian "threat:" . Our soldiers will be trained to face all the threats against Israel, topped by the Iranian threat. We have already begun the work."

Palestinian Fatah official shot dead: A member of the Palestinian security services has been killed in Gaza during clashes with forces loyal to the Hamas-led government.

Palestinian Prime Minister unscathed after militants open fire on his convoy in Gaza : Haniyeh had just finished making a speech at a Gaza mosque, where he said that his movement would reject any moves by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to call fresh elections or sack the Islamist government as a way to break a political deadlock.

Why Israel should grab Hamas' truce offer: Hamas is the only party now in Palestine that has the legitimacy and the capacity to enforce a truce with Israel. Such a truce would likely generate strong pressures from its Palestinian constituency to keep moving in the direction of a permanent peace agreement.

Peace Now: 43% of illegal squatter camps are built on stolen Palestinian land : According to a survey by Peace Now, some parts of 75 of the 102 outposts in the West Bank are on private Palestinian land. The survey, carried out by the organization's settlement monitoring team, found that the total area of the outposts is 16,196 dunams, out of which about 43 percent are on private Palestinian land (6,986 dunams);

Talks Could Lead to Israeli Approval of Illegal West Bank Squatter Outposts: Illegal squatter outposts in the West Bank would get official government approval under a deal Israel's defense minister is working out, government officials and squatters said Thursday.

Furor Over Carter’s South Africa Analogy : Use of the word — apartheid — and some of the book’s content are quickly leaking out, and Jewish Democrats were scrambling this week to limit the impact on closely fought congressional races only weeks away.

Jewish political partisans in U.S.: In their campaigns for the Jewish vote on Nov. 7, Republicans are pitching support for Israel and anti-terrorism, as they have for years. Democrats are reminding voters of the party’s traditional support for Israel but are emphasizing health care, keeping church separate from state and supporting reproductive rights, as they have for years.

Carter Book Slaps Israel With ‘Apartheid’ Tag, Provides Ammo to GOP : As Republicans step up their efforts to paint Democrats as increasingly hostile toward Israel, former President Jimmy Carter is releasing a book on the Middle East, titled “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”

Maybe a period of stark repression will be a rich and rewarding experience for all of us. Who needs habeas corpus anyway?

US naval war games off the Iranian coastline: A provocation which could lead to War?

Bush Plans to Revive Social Security Privatization Scheme With New Congress

Bush defies Senate, appoints mine agency head industry connected pro company

[...]
As the head of MSHA, Stickler will be responsible for administering the MINER Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in June. The new law requires the agency to issue new regulations and adopt new strategies for improving safety procedures.

[...]

"Don't interfere" in Nicaragua vote, OAS tells U.S.

Chimp pushes free-trade extension for Andean nations

Free Trade: Trade unregulated and unfettered by public concerns or government regulation.. Trade that is free to exploit, pollute and pillage across international boundaries. Trade arranged to benefit the super rich and screw people who work for a living.

A phrase repiglikkkans and dimocraps have used to sell trade neoliberal polices to Americans, in spite of the fact that such polices do not benefit American and often hurt them.

Poll: 81% of U.S. Jews believe Arabs want to destroy Israel

Free Press: a collection of professional corporate propagandists.

(This is the point of view endless promoted by American mainstream media. That and that Arabs are violent and subhuman.)

Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

Free Elections: Privatized elections in which votes are counted on heavily hackable machines that are under the control of right wing extremists. Results, like candidates are predetermined. Office holders are selected by corporations through the device of their lobbyists. In order to stay in office office holders must do the bidding of the corporation even if it means selling their county down the river.

(See Abramoff)

CHICAGO'S ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION DATABASE DISCOVERED VULNERABLE TO HACKERS!

CBS: Corrupt arms deals cost Iraq $800M

(That's just the 800 we know about. )
Every dime spent in Iraq has been lost to corruption, corruption in Washington.

Kevin Tillman's Piece on Truth Dig

Pat Tillman's Brother Blasts Iraq War, Bush

War on Terror: A Media Device which pretends to the public that the ruling class is interested in protecting them from terrorists attacks when the ruling class actually, while acting in its own narrow financial interests, constantly increases the likelihood of world terrorists events; also used to further the more general goals of the international class war and remove the legal mechanisms by which people might protest their oppression. Advances the dominance of the simple minded dualistic black and white analytical framework trained into the young by institutions such as religion, crumbling schools and technologies such as TV.

In Deregulation, Plants Turn Into Blue Chips

Deregulation: A Trade Scheme in which a given industry is freed from rules and regulations that protect the public in any way whatsoever. Is sold as a way to accelerate competition, but doesn't work that way. Works to suppress competition over the long haul.

Over 200,000 in Buffalo Still Without Power, But Federal Disaster Not Declared Yet

Decaying infrastructure coupled with the complete disinterest of the federal government is not making life easy in Buffalo.

United States numb to Iraq troop deaths: experts

Too much TV?

Voters Over 50 Favor Democrats

Bush Escalates Danger of annihilation from Nuclear Arms

Because it is profitable.

Debt holds U.S. troops back from overseas duty

Thousands are so mired they're considered at risk for bribery, espionage.

Other Nazis Fled to South America also. Why is Bush setting up guarded family compound in Paraguay

More Deadly Food Makes it Way into the Right Wing's "Deregulated" world. Bring back food safety

[...]
The company said tests showed mixed results for Listeria monocytogenes. The bacterium can cause serious or fatal infections in young children or elderly people. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.
[...]

Bush Declares Permanent State of War

Bush: US troops to remain in Iraq until 'terrorists' defeated

President George W. Bush insisted that US troops would not pull out of Iraq before "the terrorists are defeated," a day after acknowledging a possible parallel between violence there and the Tet Offensive during the US war in Vietnam.

[...]

Since the occupation of Iraq guarantees endless escalation of terrorism, Bush is actually declaring a state of permanent war here.

Not surprising, of course, given the profitability of "The War on Terror" for Bush, his family, their cronies and associates.

Permanent war also gives the dictator more excuse to further suppress civil rights, squash dissent and rid Americans of their liberties so that no one will be able to fight back against the super rich class warriors without the risk of being whisked off to a gulag in Guantanamo Bay for torture.

During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer

Oil prices at 11-month low despite OPEC cuts

Propaganda and Voting. Fox IS NOT News

[...]
We find a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000. Republicans gain 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns which broadcast Fox News.
[...]

American Medical Refugees: The Failure of the For Profit Health Care System

Oct. 18, 2006 -- Dismayed by high surgical costs in the U.S., increasing numbers of American patients are packing their bags to have necessary surgery performed in countries such as India, Thailand, and Singapore.

"This is not what is sometimes snootily referred to as 'medical tourism,' in which people go abroad for elective plastic surgery," says Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, president and chief executive officer of the California HealthCare Foundation in Oakland.
[...]
"Cost is a major factor," Bali tells WebMD. Some examples: Wockhardt Hospitals usually charge $6,000-$8,000 for coronary bypass surgery, $6,500 for a joint replacement, and $6,500 for a hip resurfacing, which represent a small fraction of the typical costs at U.S. hospitals.
[...]
A Call for Reform
"The need for American citizens to go abroad for care -- and their willingness to do so – represents a crushing indictment of numerous myths about the U.S. health care system that have gained popular currency in recent years," says Peter Budetti, MD, JD, chairman of the department of health administration and policy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Budetti was not involved in the report.

Budetti says the report dispels the myths that "foreign systems of universal coverage are so flawed that people in those countries who can afford to do so flock to the U.S. for care; that our health care is the best in the world; that everyone in the U.S. will get the care they need whether they can afford to pay for it or not; and, most telling, that increased consumer cost-sharing will reduce cosmetic or other nonessential care, not medically necessary care.
[...]

The Next War (Iran)

"hole" in the earth's protective ozone layer is at a new record — 10.6 million square miles of sky around the South Pole

President Chimpy Receives Negative Ratings on All 11 Issues Included in Latest Harris Poll, With Healthcare, Iraq, Hurricane Relief, Taxes, Economy

Millions Stolen From Iraq's Treasury

What Happened To More Than Half A Billion Dollars?

Troops With Stress Disorders Being Redeployed

Because Republicans love the troops so much.

Does GOP stand for Gang of Perverts?

In 1995, just three days into her tenure as Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, Wilson removed a routine working file alleging that her husband had engaged in inappropriate contact with a minor. The file was then transferred to the department's attorney in her own Albuquerque office, where it soon went missing.
[...]

Regardless of what it stands for , it certainly appears to be a gang of perverts; pedophiles, closet cases, sinners in the hands of an angry god and Bill O'Reilly's about as sexy as a turnip harassment of his young staffer. It boggles the mind to consider what kind of sexual perversity Hastert might commit if he could find his penis under all that blubber, blubber that didn't hinder him one bit from lobbyist paid fishing trips to Alaska or exploiting his position to enrich himself with shady real estate deals or covering up pedophile republican Mark Foley for political reasons.

Of course, the GOP has a long record of fucking over the children of the nation in every way imaginable

The repiglikkkans are, after all, the party of terminal satyriasis, the party who cannot stop raping the nation (while the dimocraps sit silently by, jerking off with a palm full of Nivea.)

Train spewing acid forces evacuations in Ky.

The railways, like everything else in this country, are a mess, of course, because neither party thinks rail systems are worth bothering with. Why would they when they are financed by so much lovely oil money?

Former delegate gets purported Diebold code

It gives me some comfort to know the country really isn't stupid enough to vote Bush in, that it is actually vote fraud that made Chimpy King of Amerikkka, but it is cold comfort.

Riverbend is back

Child Porn Sting Nets Bible Camp, Boy Scout Leaders

Well, he is the one withthe talent, not super hideous Phil Collins

Red Cross lambasts US terror law

Poaching has brought the hippopotamus population in Democratic Republic of Congo to within a few months of extinction

No Wonder Repiglikkkans Want to Destroy Federal Courts

A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election season debate over lobbyists' White House access.

The Washington Post asked for two years of White House visitor logs in June but the Secret Service refused to process the request. Government attorneys called it "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled Wednesday that, by the end of next week, the Secret Service must produce the records or at least identity them and justify why they are being withheld.

Calif. GOP wants own candidate to withdraw for lying, cheating and distorting. The hypocrites

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - Orange County Republican leaders on Thursday called for the withdrawal of a GOP congressional candidate they believe sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters with arrest.
[...]

The Oil Factor

A 380 million-year-old fossil found in Australia has filled a gap in the understanding of how fish evolved into the first land animals.

Paraguay: South America’s regional centre for illegal activities

United Health profit rises 38 percent

47 million uninsured Americans. That number does not include Americans who receive Medicare, Medicaid or are underinsured.

Something to Drink for Jenna

Anheuser-Busch is launching Budweiser in Paraguay through an import and distribution agreement with Bebidas del Paraguay, which begins in October.
[...]

Something to Drink for Jenna

Anheuser-Busch is launching Budweiser in Paraguay through an import and distribution agreement with Bebidas del Paraguay, which begins in October.
[...]

Bush family preparing to flee to haven in Paraguay? No extradition treaties!

The Long Tradition of Nazis Fleeing to South America?

Asuncion, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) The land grab project of US President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally.

The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries.

[...]

When You can't Win on Issues, Lie, distort and Fix Elections

"To suggest that Martin could identify with a party that affirms preemptive, predatory war, and whose religious partners hint that God affirms war and favors the rich at the expense of the poor, is to revile Martin," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which the slain civil rights leader helped establish.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who marched with King in the 1960s, called the ads an "insult to the legacy and the memory of Martin Luther King Jr." and "an affront to all that he stood for."

ACTION ALERT: Blackwell purged Ohio Voter Rolls Oct 1st.- Vote Early.

Why has CNN devoted 50 times as much coverage to Harry Reid's land deal as Dennis Hastert's?

America Accuses Israel of Discriminating Against 'American Palestinians'

Americans are on to Vote Fraud

Israeli Justice

The Israeli bulldozer ran over her and then backed up, crushing her chest and skull.
The Israelis are terrorist murders and war criminals. There is no justification for the state of Israel. The sooner it ceases to exist the better for everyone in the world.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” Finally Opens in New York

Rachel Corrie was killed in Gaza three years ago when she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer set to demolish a Palestinian home. The play is based on Corrie”s writings before her death.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” was scheduled to open last March at the New York Theatre Workshop. But six weeks before opening night, the theater announced it was indefinitely postponing production of the play. They cited the current political climate as the reason for the cancelation, pointing to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon"s coma and the election of Hamas.

The move was widely criticized by artists and activists all over the world. At the time, we had a debate on Democracy Now and I read a letter written by Nobel laureate Harold Pinter to the artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop James Nicola and the theater”s managing director, Lynn Moffat. The co-editor of the play, Katherine Viner, joined us from London.

[...]

Grinding Palestine To Powder

Bush space policy puts priority on offense and feeding friends taxpayer dollars

Israel Leads the World in Supporting Torture

Many Ways for Totalitarian Thugs passing as government to abuse this toy

A team of American and British researchers has made a Cloak of Invisibility. Well, OK, it's not perfect. Yet. But it's a start, and it did a pretty good job of hiding a copper cylinder.

In this experiment the scientists used microwaves to try and detect the cylinder. Like light and radar waves, microwaves bounce off objects making them visible and creating a shadow, though it has to be detected with instruments.
[...]

Social Worker's Death Raises Questions

Yet another result of the warped priorities of our government which is happy to use the bogus war on terror to lavish billions and billions of dollars a year on Lockheed Martin and more billions on Halliburton and other billions on Bechtel etc., while starving the country of (its own tax) money for social services, health care, education.

Nationwide, social workers are being placed in dangerous situations because of a lack of resources, according to the National Association of Social Workers in Washington, D.C. The association released a report earlier this year that found social workers have fewer support systems in place to protect them, said spokeswoman Allison Nadelhaft.

"Their caseloads are very high. So with diminished resources, their jobs become that much more dangerous," she said.

The association does not compile data on the number of social workers killed. But 44 percent of nearly 100,000 social workers questioned for the report had been the target of some form of violence, Nadelhaft said.

Mexico's rejection of biotech corn planting draws mixed reaction

[...]
This is temporary, because there is so much pressure from the multinationals," Ampugnani said. "They are going to put a lot of pressure on the incoming administration" of President-elect Felipe Calderon, who takes office Dec. 1.

"Mexico is a potential market for them in genetically modified seeds, and that market is closed at present," he said. "These companies aren't going to accept another six years of indefinition."

Monday's decision turned down all seven requests filed by companies including Monsanto, DuPont Co.'s Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. subsidiary, and others.
[...]

Bush says he may ignore new war-funding law

North Korean General: 'War Is Inevitable'

Go For It!

The Internet Weekly

Pig Boy

Bush Signs Law Eviscerating Constitution

Critics and supporters agree that its enactment marks a major shift in the nation’s approach to terrorism and some legal principles.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 clears the way for the CIA to resume aggressive interrogations in secret prisons and denies suspected terrorists the right to challenge their detentions in civilian courts. It also permits the use of evidence obtained through coercion and lets the president draw the line between acceptable interrogation techniques and impermissible torture.

While Bush hailed the legislation as a potent weapon against terrorists, critics called it a stain on America’s reputation as a champion of human rights and civil liberties.

FBI director wants ISPs to track users

[...]
t's not clear exactly what a data retention law would require. One proposal would go beyond Internet providers and require registrars, the companies that sell domain names, to maintain records too. And during private meetings with industry officials, FBI and Justice Department representatives have cited the desirability of also forcing search engines to keep logs — a proposal that could gain additional law enforcement support after AOL showed how useful such records could be in investigations.
[...]

Will the October Surprise creating such confidence in porky sociopath Kkkarl Rove be an attack on Iran?

Rove foresees GOP victory

"Values" voters fade as factor in U.S. campaign

Carter: 1994 Korea Peace Effort 'In the Wastebasket'

Condiliar Rice Vows 'Full Range' Defense of Japan

N. Korea apparently preparing nuke test

This makes me Sick

The Dictator Signs Again

The legislation also eliminates some of the rights defendants are usually guaranteed under U.S. law, and it authorizes continued harsh interrogations of terror suspects.

Would be Dictator Signs "defense " Spending bill, throwing heaps of taxpayer cash at cronies

Uses signing statements in an attempt to further destroy checks and balances.

50 State Job Appoval ratings for Bush

Right Wing Extremists Continue Assaults on Federal Courts in Ongoing effort to extend favoritism and special treatment to corporations

Another Halliburton Contractor Killed. Military Privatization

Lockheed Martin Awarded $110 Million Contract for C-130J Super Hercules Upgrades

General Dynamics Receives $14 Mln Pact For 150 Mine Roller Systems From U.S. Marine Corps - Quick Facts

Discontent with GOP finds way into Texas

Cocoa Farmers Strike in Ivory Coast

Hillary Clinton supports selective torture of terror suspects

Poll: Costs, number of uninsured are biggest healthcare issues

The Era of Walls and Fences

"About 100 People's Liberation Army soldiers in camouflage started building the fence four days ago and finished it yesterday," said a farmer, who only gave his surname, Ai. "I assume it was built to prevent smuggling and illegal crossing."

Government harassment

Antonin Scalia. Self Intoxicated Narcissistic Slob Pontificating.

The emerging field of social neuroscience is based on the idea that human brains are 'wired to connect to each other

Adding solar and geothermal to river power, nonprofit turns Whitinsville complex to new uses

John "jackboots" Bolton Tough Talkin to China on N. Korea. Hey John. I don't think they need you to tell them what to do

Patti Smith Last show at CBGB

[...]
As the show ended minutes before 1 a.m., Smith shouted: "33 years! The same age as Jesus. Goodnight, everybody."
[...]

Gringos turn tide crossing border

[...]

What few people -- at least, outside of Mexico -- have bothered to notice is that while all the nannies, cooks and maids have been heading north to tend the luxury lifestyles of irate Republicans, the gringo hordes have been rushing south to enjoy glorious budget retirements and affordable second homes under the Mexican sun.

Yes, in former California Gov. Pete Wilson's immortal words, "They just keep coming." Over the past decade, the State Department estimates that the number of Americans living in Mexico has soared from 200,000 to 1 million (or one-quarter of all U.S. expatriates). Remittances from the United States to Mexico have risen dramatically, from $9 billion to $14.5 billion in just two years. Although initially interpreted as representing a huge increase in illegal workers (who send parts of their salaries across the border to family), it turns out to be mainly money sent by Americans to themselves to finance Mexican homes and retirements.

[...]

Republican Pombo wants to give oil companies another handout

British government is exporting record levels of military equipment; War is very profitable.

Tamil Tigers

Separated at Birth. Mitch McConnel of Kentucky and Giant Alligator Snapping Turtle

Chatty Condi. Pull the Cord and the Ms. Stiffy says the same thing over and over again

The president and his advisors are so confident that Republicans will hold on to the House in November that they haven't made any plans for what to do

Diebold? Purged Voter rolls? Lack of adequate polling equipment, places and workers? Some other fix looming over the horizon - a nuclear threat from Korea to scare all the mindless idiots into voting for the party of "national security?"

Or maybe it's just that a democratic congress will not change the direction of the country all that much and the Repiglikkkanss know that.

Will a democratic congress withdraw troops from Iraq? I doubt it very much, though they indicate that in their rhetoric. Especially if armed conflict is under way with Iran, well then, troops have to stay in Iraq in their plush new multi-million dollar bases.

Will democrats develop a true energy strategy and issue federal regulations that govern building codes, CAFE standards, put money into research for alternate fuels, pass truly meaningful environmental legislation? Around this democrart controlled state there is no indication of that as party plan or strategy.

Will democrats undo trade liberalization? Hmmm, probably not. After all, both parties have pushed it for decades.
Will a democratic congress undo the regressive tax cuts, repair relations with Russia, China, Venezuela, etc? I doubt that too.

Will a democratic congress stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons? Whoops! Too late for that. How about reduce "defense" expenditures? Maybe, maybe a little. Certainly not enough.
Will a democratic congress rescind all the bad legislation the last several congresses have pumped out, such as the big pharmacy give away, the bankruptcy bill?
It doesn't seem likely.
Will it yank Roberts and Alito off the supreme court? I wish.
Will it restore funding to the VA? Probably not do that either, though they may not dismantle it as quickly.
How about reverse the privatization of the military? I think not.
Restore New Orleans with federal dollars and effort?
Nah. The market will do that.
Will the democratic congress do anything to bring the costs of education and health care under control? How about create a national health insurance system or reregulate the deregulated under the democrats electricity market?
How about the policy of running the economy through the stock market?
Will the democrats file big antitrust suits against the giant handful of conglomerates in media, energy, pharmaceuticals, food, etc? I don't think so.
Return the balance to public television and radio?

Will the democrats investigate and prosecute the vote fraud in 2000 or 2004 or the 9/11 cover-up or the creation of "intelligence to lie the country into a war of aggression or tell Israel to get out of the West bank and Gaza strip and stop terrorising and murdering the people who belong there?

Will the democrats legislate tax payer only financed campaigns thereby throwing the lobbying money out? When pigs fly. Maybe not even then.

And if Obama Hilary Clinton are the future of the democratic party, then the democratic party looks right wing and self righteous indeed.

Not to say I don't prefer the democrats. I do. In small matters they often make a small difference. But the overall direction of the country is one great big right wing trajectory and neither party seems to have any willingness to change it

I wish the democrats were a real opposition party.. . As much as I hate Gorge Bush and his flying monkeys, no democratic administration is going to alter polices in a way that suits me, not unless Dennis Kucinich is elected president with a very compliant congress..
The democrats follow the same corporatist crap.

And almost certainly we will have to listen to fake moderate, false maverick, flip flopping John McCain campaign for 2008. He'll probably win and then continue pursuing the rabid right agenda.

The Republican Crime Club:FBI investigates Rep. Curt Weldon

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry.

The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department's Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon's efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said.

[...]

Strongman Sloboan Milosevic? Wow. They must mean genocidal war criminal.

Prior to the late 1980s, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia-a nation built of six loosely affiliated republics, two autonomous provinces, 25 separate ethnic groups, and a multitude of religions-was an example of a cooperative struggle towards unity. The government of Yugoslavia shared a collective presidency composed of one representative from each of the republics, with the objective of establishing a balance between the leadership of the regional and national interests. Its economy, the system which has come to be known as "self-management," reached its most developed form in the Law of Associated Labor of 1976, under which the means of production and other major resources are not regarded as state property (as in the Soviet Union) but as social property. From this basis of democratic socialism, Yugoslavia was making a bold attempt to push diversity and progress forward.

Among its achievements were a literacy rate that had gone from 55 percent in 1953 to 90 percent in 1986, an infant mortality rate that dropped from 116.5 per 1,000 births to 27.1 per 1,000 births over the same period, free medical coverage, free education, and an ever-growing national identity that crossed traditional boundaries. According to the 1992 Encyclopedia Britannica, "Since World War II, largely in Serbo-Croatian speaking areas, there has been the gradual emergence of a sizable section of the population who prefer to describe themselves as 'Yugoslavs." It also notes, "their numbers are growing steadily, more as a result of ethnically-mixed marriages than because of high natural increase."

The quotations above describe a vastly different Yugoslavia than the one later depicted by NATO and allied leaders. As early as 1984, the Reagan Administration produced a classified National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 133), entitled "United States Policy Toward Yugoslavia," calling for a "quiet revolution" and then integration into a neoliberal free-market economy. By 1989, Yugoslavia had undergone a drastic shift. Needing to stabilize its economy, it borrowed heavily from creditors including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. A western economic recession lead to an interest-driven spiral of debt, and the IMF demanded "restructuring," including massive cuts in social spending, forced privatization, and wage freezes. In the one-year span of 1989-1990 an estimated 600,000 Yugoslavian workers were laid off due to over 1,000 company bankruptcies.

Michel Chossudovsky provides data that shows how 6.1 percent GDP growth in the 1960s and 1970s became a 7.5 percent decline by 1990, with real wages falling 41 percent. In 1991, the GDP fell 15 percent further, while industrial output shrank by 21 percent. The World Bank stated that an additional 2,435 companies were to be liquidated; "their 1.3 million workers - half the remaining industrial work force - were considered redundant," states Chossudovsky. "The IMF-induced budgetary crisis created an economic fait accompli that paved the way for Croatia's and Slovenia's formal secession in June [251 1991."8 Two days later, Bosnia and Macedonia followed. Wanting to remain a united federation, Serbia and Montenegro refused the Western ideals of capitalism and on June 27, 1991, the civil war of the Republics of Yugoslavia began.

WESTERN INTERESTS IN THE BALKANS

Western economic and military interests set the stage for the civil war that peaked with NATO air strikes on Serbian Yugoslavia. Since the weakening and collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. had been hungrily eyeing an estimated $5 trillion in vast oil reserves in the Caspian Sea. In addition Yugoslavia held valuable resources in the Trepca mines complex in the Balkans-gold, lead, silver, zinc, and coal that was worth in excess of $5 billion. After the war, NATO used trumped-up reports of mass graves and crematories at Trepca in order to take over the mines although no evidence was ever brought forward to prove NATO's accusations. The mines, which were once run by Kosovo with the revenue reinvested in its economy, continue to be controlled under NATO forces by private corporations. The profits from these resources are now denied to the people of Kosovo.

After the destruction of Yugoslavia, the U.S. gained control over the Albanian-Macedonian-Bulgarian Oil pipeline (AMBO), which has become their gateway to the Caspian Sea. AMBO Pipeline Corporation, based in New York, has exclusive rights to the development of the project and is expected to begin construction in 2005 with completion in 2008.

These assets (oil and mineral resources) made Yugoslavia a golden fleece in the eyes of the West. When the U.S. "stick-and-carrot" approach to foreign policy failed to quell the "quiet revolution" so strongly desired and instead ended in civil war, the use of force became a necessity. The problem arose of how to do it within the bounds of international law. We needed a smoke screen. And the media was very effective in providing just that.

Nuclear Proliferation

[...]
Signs of activity abound. Hundreds of companies are now prospecting for uranium where dozens did a few years ago. Argentina, Australia and South Africa are drawing up plans to begin enriching uranium, and other countries are considering doing the same. Egypt is reviving its program to develop nuclear power.
[...]

Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said this year that “the international community seems almost to be sleepwalking” down a path where states, after long living without nuclear arms, now feel compelled to revisit their logic.

He warned of a new arms race — not one of superpowers, but of regional powers. “Perhaps most damaging of all,” he concluded, “there is also a perception that the possession of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction offers the best protection against being attacked.”
[...]
Democrats and Republicans spent the past week arguing over who lost control of North Korea, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. But seeds of the problem were planted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, just months after the armistice ended the fighting on the Korean Peninsula in 1953.
[...]
Dr. Khan sold plans and parts for Pakistan’s first-generation centrifuge, the P-1, as well as the next generation, the P-2, which can spin faster to enrich uranium more rapidly.

Investigators are still trying to learn where else Dr. Khan may have planted his nuclear seeds. They discovered outposts of his network in Dubai, Malaysia and South Africa and found that before his downfall in 2004 he visited at least 18 countries, including Egypt, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The worrisome enrichment trends involve not just stealthy military advances but also soaring demands for nuclear power, driven by rising populations, dwindling oil supplies and fears that the combustion of fossil fuels is warming the planet.

“The nuclear renaissance is gaining momentum,” said George B. Assie, vice president for business development at Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Canada.

[...]

How To Stop Terrorism By Noam Chomsky (video)

Right Wing Destruction of Checks and Balances

DENVER — Judges across several Western states could soon face new limits on their authority and threats to their independence, as conservatives campaign for ballot measures that aim to rein in what they describe as "runaway courts."
[...]

Bloated Corporate Fat Cat Chevron Does not Feel it Should Pay Tax

"It's unlawful," said refinery spokeswoman Camille Priselac, referring to Measure T, a city-sponsored ballot measure that is the cash-poor city's latest attempt to raise taxes to pay for services.

In this case, some of the revenue from the one-eighth cent sales tax could be used to hire more officers for the understaffed police force.

The measure, which would tax the value of the raw resources used to produce finished products, is a no-brainer for city residents. Along with another provision in the measure that would increase fees for rental units, the measure intends to provide a lot of money for city services.

Very Bad News. Ethanol firm hires Chevron unit to work on plants

Amazing. Khaddaffi is no longer a terrorist!

ct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The world's biggest energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Chevron Corp., are among 47 corporations that qualified to bid in Libya's third auction of oil drilling rights.

Libya will auction the permits on Dec. 20. They give the permit holder the right to search for oil and gas in 14 offshore and onshore sites, covering a total area of 99,437 square kilometers (38,400 square miles), almost the size of Cuba.

A list of 47 companies that qualified to make offers was published on the Web site of Libya's state-owned National Oil Corp. They were chosen from among 70 oil companies and investors that had expressed interest, it said.

The site of Africa's largest oil reserves, Libya wants to attract $30 billion of investment to increase production this decade to 3 million barrels of oil a day, from 1.7 million barrels a day now. Two years ago, the U.S. eased sanctions against Libya, imposed after terrorism accusations in 1986, allowing for the return of U.S. oil companies.

The list of the companies that will be allowed to bid includes U.S.-based ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and Hess Corp. Contenders also come from Europe, Russia, Asia, Canada, Australia, South America and Africa.

[...]

Angola rising as major oil supplier

Chevron Corp.'s US$2.3-billion Benguela Belize oil platform, dwarfing the Statue of Liberty at about 550 metres, is an innovation in Africa's Gulf of Guinea, where floating platforms long have held sway.

Drilling some months ago drew the first crude into the structure.

Angola is the latest example of the growth of oil in Africa -- and of its potential to help and hurt.

Its oil output is projected to surpass two-million barrels a day next year and increase 90% from 2005 levels by 2010, according to conservative estimates of the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF says that would double Angolan government revenues, and many energy experts believe the extra crude from Angola and other non-OPEC countries will add critical supplies to help sate the world's 85-million-barrel-a-day -- and growing -- oil appetite.

Chevron produces just over 500,000 barrels a day and plans to double production in the next five years.

This year, Angola overtook Saudi Arabia as the leading source of crude oil for China.

"Africa has become an important part of the world's oil supply, drawing more focus from governments like the United States and China," said Jim Blackwell, the Angola-based director of Chevron's southern Africa operations.

"Of all the places I have worked in around the world, this is one of the most stable settings," said Blackwell, who's worked in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.

Rights groups charge Angolan officials are hiding revenues, making it impossible to know whether money is stolen or wasted.

Big Fucking Deal. Fuck Chevron

These bastards and other oil company slime have not only been taking the profits out of these areas for decades, they have been ravaging the environment in them (and all around the world) at the same time.
They OWE a lot more than a few million dollars.

The Community Foundation of Acadiana celebrated Chevron's $4.5 million to area schools at a reception Thursday attended by Chevron North America President Gary Luquette, an Abbeville native.

The donation is part of an $18 million grant Chevron's Energy for Learning program has committed to rebuilding schools in Louisiana and Mississippi after last year's hurricanes.

Lockheed: Encouraging Violence World Wide

LOCKHEED Martin, the largest arms manufacturer in the world, wants to supply transport planes to Slovakia. Its representatives met with the Slovak parliamentary Defence and Security Committee as part of a US embassy delegation this week, the Hospodárske noviny wrote.

Slovakia would buy the planes through the US government in order to receive the same price as the US Army. Based on a request for a price offer, the US government recommended the C-130J airplane for Slovakia. This type of airplane costs around $60 million (Sk1.8 billion) each.

[...]

Navy Awards Lockheed Martin $51M Pact

Lockheed Martin, ITT team for GPS III contract

Lockheed Martin prepares bid to replace military Humvee

There are 170,000 Humvees deployed by U.S. military forces around the world. Hasse expects the contract to be valued at several billion dollars.

Hesse said that several companies probably will compete for the Humvee contract, and the military will eventually narrow the candidates to two for a final assessment and award. She said the two finalists could be designated by December 2007 or January 2008.

Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $9 million contract to build a demonstration vehicle for the Army's future truck needs. The company said the lesson learned in the truck project will help refine the requirements for the new generation of Humvees.

Olmert Promises to be Better Murderer, Violate more international law, to win lunatic vote in Israel

290 murdered in the Gaza Strip since June 25th, amongst them 135 children and 25 women

The department of 'Ambulance and Emergency', of the Palestinian Ministry of Health issued a report on Thursday, providing statistic on the effects of 'Operation Summer Rain'; the Israeli offensive which has been inflicting destruction on Gaza since June this year, all in retaliation for the abduction of one Israeli solider.

The exact moment when a 550 million year old cell began to divide has been captured in an exquisite 3-D image.

Lump Headed Bill O'Reilly Calls for Religious Reactionary Judges on Supreme Court as of Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts aren't bad enough

FACT CHECK: A Tony Snow-Job on North Korea

Habeas Corpus: The Lynchpin of Freedom which America no longer has

Bush Drops this kind of money on an hours worth of bombs: Russia's Floating Energy Barge

U.S. govt appeals court's NSA wiretapping decision. Bush Wants to Violate Constitution in Peace

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Friday appealed a federal judge's ruling this summer that a controversial post-September 11, 2001, domestic spying program was illegal.
[...]

Like any pampered, spoiled brat, Bush never takes no for an answer.

There is no better argument against inherited wealth than the Bush Klan. If this were a democracy the whole law braking pack of them would be in prison.

federal agents question teen who ran ran anti-Bush page on MySpace

The latest Sacramento resident to be questioned by federal agents in possible threats against President Bush is a 14-year-old girl with a heart on her backpack and braces on her teeth, a freckle-nosed adolescent who is passionate about liberal politics and cute movie stars.

Her name is Julia Wilson, and she learned a vivid civics lesson Wednesday when two Secret Service agents pulled her out of biology class at McClatchy High School to ask about comments and images she posted on MySpace.

Beneath the words "Kill Bush," Julia posted a cartoonish photo-collage of a knife stabbing the hand of the president. It was one of a few images Julia said she used to decorate an anti-Bush Web page she moderated on MySpace, the social networking Web site that is hugely popular among teenagers.

The Secret Service refused to answer questions about the case or even confirm an investigation. Eric Zahren, a Secret Service spokesman, said the agency does not discuss its work "due to the sensitivity of our mission."

But Julia's mother, Kirstie Wilson, and an assistant principal at McClatchy High said two agents showed them badges stating they were with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Federal law prohibits making serious threats against the president, and Julia and her parents say what she did was wrong.

The couple are disturbed, however, that federal agents questioned a child at school -- without her parents present. And First Amendment lawyers question whether the Secret Service over-reacted to a 14-year-old's comments on a Web site made for casual socializing.

"I don't condone what she did, but it seems a little over the top to me," said Julia's father, Jim Moose. "You'd think they could look at the situation and determine that she's not a credible threat."

Earlier this month, federal officials arrested two Sacramento-area men for allegedly threatening the president. Elk Grove resident Michael Lee Braun has been charged with sending two threatening letters to the El Dorado Hills country club where Bush recently made an appearance. Rocklin resident Howard J. Kinsey is accused of threatening the president through a text message.

Here is how Julia Wilson's family tells their story:

Two Secret Service agents arrived at their Land Park home about 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, Kirstie Wilson said. They told her they wanted to speak with her daughter about threats to the president that she had posted on MySpace.

"She was in molecular biology, and I said I really didn't want to take her out of class for this," Kirstie Wilson said. "I said I'd make sure she came right home from school."

She asked the agents to come back in an hour, and they left.

Then Wilson sent her daughter a text message instructing her to come straight home from school.

"... there are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush. Dont worry youre not going to jail or anything like that but they take these things very seriously these days," Kirstie Wilson wrote.

"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble"? her daughter replied, using common teenage shorthand for "Oh, my God."

Kirstie Wilson called her husband. While they were on the phone, she received another text message from her daughter: "They took me out of class."

It was a 15- to 20-minute interview, Julia said. Agents asked her about her father's job, her e-mail address, and her Social Security number. They asked about the MySpace page she had created last year as an eighth-grader at Sutter Middle School.

"I told them I just really don't agree with Bush's politics," Julia said Thursday. "I don't have any plans of harming Bush in any way. I'm very peaceful; I just don't like Bush."

The MySpace page under question was a group page, similar to an online club.

[...]

Here's a picture of the terrorist threat