Immigrants boost pay, not prison populations, new studies show

Two new studies by California researchers counter negative perceptions that immigrants increase crime and job competition, showing that they are incarcerated at far lower rates than native-born citizens and actually help boost their wages.
[...]

U.S. warns against EU's CIA flight probe

Because the best way for the united states to stop terrorism is go it alone.

Someone please take the dill pickle out of James Carville's ignorant ass and shove it between his tonsils to shut him up

Carville pictured here with his right wing extremsist pig of a wife.

A Christian Woman keeps her Knees together at all times. Laura Bush Shows off Jesus in Kabul

CanWest Buys out the New Republic

Another Baptist minister arrested, charged with child sex exploitation

Calvinist family values

Some Sonics owners back group against gay marriage

he millionaires who've turned to this state's left-leaning Legislature to authorize a $300 million tax subsidy for a new basketball arena have been playing right-wing politics.

Two members of the new Seattle Sonics ownership group are heavyweight financiers of a national political machine dedicated to banning gay marriage.

Together, co-owners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon donated more than $1.1 million to Americans United to Preserve Marriage, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage.

The group is lead by Gary Bauer, an outspoken leader of conservative groups including the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

[...]

UK doubles naval presence in Persian Gulf

Child Rape in Texas Prisons

Why they Hate Us

Well, one of many reasons

[...]
At various times both the American press and lawmakers have criticized Vinnell's operations in Saudi Arabia as an effort to protect the country's autocratic rulers from the democratic aspirations of their own people. The National Guard has a chain of command independent of the Saudi Defense ministry. The 75,000 strong force can operate as a mobile complement to the tank-heavy divisions of the Saudi army in wartime, but its primary mission is protecting the ruling Saudi royal family from peacetime internal political unrest.
[...]

While the American military provides direct assistance to the mainstream Saudi army, virtually all of the National Guard training is contracted by Vinnell. This setup results from the sensitive position that the Guard plays in internal Saudi politics. Hiring out the Guard training mission to Vinnell is an effort to avoid the perception that the royal family's autocratic internal policies are being implemented and supported by the American military.

As the bombing shows, however, political groups in Saudi Arabia often do not distinguish between American civilian "privateers" who contract with the Saudi National Guard and American soldiers who work with the mainstream military. After the blast, an anonymous caller to a western news agency stated flatly, "If the Americans don't leave the kingdom as soon as possible, we will continue our actions." He did not specify which Americans.

Israel continues to "settle" people on stolen Palestinian land

[...]
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation B'nai Yeshurun, the synagogue where information was distributed Sunday, said people were interested in the houses as investments and possible homes, "as well as to make a public statement that there are Jews in the world who believe, want to send a message that, the land belongs to us, to the Jewish people, and we make that statement without any shame, any hesitation."

[...]

How to create democracy in the USA

1. Impeach Bush
2. Impeach Cheney
3. Arrest and try Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Gonzales, and all others complicit in the Iraq invasion, for war crimes.
4. Try Bush the first for war crimes and treason for his part in October surprise, Iran Contra and other illegal activities.
5. Try Bill Clinton for war crimes in Bosnia
   
6. Test James Baker's DNA to see if he is actually human.
7. INVESTIGATE 9/11
8. Break up Carlyle group
9. break up Media Conglomerates
10. Break up food Conglomerates
11. Implement progressive tax code
12. Cut defense spending by 75 % immediately
13. Fund all education
14. Create a single payer national health care system.
15. Tell Israel out of West Bank and Gaza NOW or no more funding and no more weapons
16. Develop a Manhattan project for energy independence
17. Bring all troops home
18. Break up defense contractor conglomerates, especially Lockheed, and make all their business activities front page news
19. Free internet broadband for everyone. Afterall, we paid for it
20. Drug Treatment instead of prison for drug users

Bush funneling money to Al Qaeda-related groups [VIDEO]

Cuba Opens Experimental Wind Farm

[...]

The collapse of the Soviet Union sparked widespread energy shortages in Cuba, when the island suddenly lost its primary source of fossil fuels on highly preferential terms. While conditions have improved, blackouts are still sometimes a problem during the scorching summer months.

Cuba produces its own oil and natural gas, but not enough to meet its needs. An agreement with oil-rich Venezuela allows the island to buy nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day under preferential terms, while Cuba sends thousands of volunteer doctors to Venezuela who offer free care to the poor.

Dr David Kelly Death not a suicide

[...]

Dr Kelly, whose body was found in July 2003, had been under intense pressure after being named as the suspected source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on the threat posed by Iraq.

[...]

Amerikkka won't pay poor mothers, but will give "aid" to nuclear bomb holding, terrorist supporting state of Pakistan

The United States has given Pakistan more than $10 billion in the five years since the Sept. 11 attacks but there is little accountability for how the money is spent and it has afforded Washington little leverage over Islamabad, researchers said on Monday. A report by two experts with the Center for Strategic and International Studies has highlighted doubts about the effectiveness of the Bush administration's strategy of enlisting Pakistan as a front-line ally in trying to combat al Qaeda and resurgent Taliban militants. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney visited Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday to urge Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to take tougher action against militants on his side of the lawless border, where U.S. commanders say radical fighters are sheltering and training.
[...]
How it works.
Billions of tax payer dollars granted to terrorist harboring Pakistan are used to buy weapons from US corporations.
It's just another way of forcing American tax payers to pay fabulously wealthy "defense" contractors for doing nothing but escalating violence and fomenting war.
The blowback from this game with Pakistan could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. Pakistan, unlike Iraq has the nuclear bombs.

Right wing policy shoving more people into poverty

The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid. The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.
[...]
Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.
[...]
Nia Foster fits the pattern of dependence on government programs. She stopped getting cash welfare payments in the late 1990s and has moved from one clerical job to another. None provided medical benefits.

The 32-year-old mother of two from Cincinnati said she supports her family with help from food stamps and Medicaid.

Foster said she did not get any job training when she left welfare. She earned her high-school equivalency last year at a community college.

"If you want to get educated or want to succeed, the welfare office don't care," Foster said. "I don't think they really care what you do once the benefits are gone."

Foster now works in a tax office, a seasonal job that will end after April 15. She hopes to enroll at the University of Cincinnati this spring and would like to study accounting. She is waiting to find out if she qualifies for enough financial aid to cover tuition.

"I like data processing, something where it's a bunch of invoices and you have to key them in," Foster said. "I want to be an accountant so bad."

Shannon Stanfield took a different, less-traveled path from welfare, thanks to a generous program that offered her a chance to get a college education.

Stanfield, 36, was cleaning houses to support her two young children four years ago when she learned about a program for welfare recipients at nearby Hamilton College, a private liberal arts school in Clinton, N.Y.

"At the time I was living in a pretty run-down apartment," said Stanfield, who was getting welfare payments, Medicaid and food stamps. "It wasn't healthy."

The program, called the Access Project, accepts about 25 welfare-eligible parents a year. Hamilton waives tuition for first-year students and the program supplements financial aid in later years. Students get a host of social and career services, including help finding internships and jobs and financial assistance in times of crisis.
[...]
About 44 million people _ nearly one in six in the country _ relied on government services for the poor in 2003, according to the most recent statistics compiled by the Census Bureau. That compares with about 39 million in 1996.

Also, the number of people getting government aid continues to increase, according to more recent enrollment figures from individual programs.

Medicaid rolls alone topped 45 million people in 2005, pushed up in part by rising health care costs and fewer employers offering benefits. Nearly 26 million people a month received food stamps that year.

Cash welfare recipients, by comparison, peaked at 14.2 million people in 1994.

There is much debate over whether those leaving welfare for work should be offered more opportunities for training and education, so they do not have to settle for low-paying jobs that keep them dependent on government programs.

"We said get a job, any job," said Rep. Jim McDermott, chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees welfare issues. "And now we expect them to be making it on these minimum-wage jobs."

McDermott, D-Wash., said stricter work requirements enacted last year, when Congress renewed the welfare overhaul law, will make it even more difficult for welfare recipients to get sufficient training to land good-paying jobs.
[...]

We don't have enough e-coli, salmonella and other corporate produced food transmitted illness and death to suit republikkkans

Consumer groups such as the Food and Water Watch and the Consumer Federation of America are also not happy with the way the USDA is going about the initiative. Some say that the current inspection data does not give enough information for risk-based assessment to work properly, while others say that the move is reckless and probably just a way for the government to reduce spending.

The announcement has also ruffled some feathers on Capitol Hill. Representative Rosa DeLauro, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA, said that she thinks it is a mistake for USDA to be moving forward on this at this time and she "will be monitoring what happens very closely."

The objections to the government's action boil down to two arguments. One is that by not involving all the stakeholders in the planning and design of the new system the government will not get the co-operation needed to make it work "transparently".

And the second argument that is being made by the objectors is that the data going into the risk assessment will be flawed.

This second point, if correct, is disturbing, for under the new system processing plants that are not deemed to be high risk will be inspected less often than those that are. The achilles heel of risk-based systems is the accuracy and reliability of the data. If you get the assessment wrong, then you could end up targetting the wrong plants and leaving higher risk plants out of the loop.

[...]

Bush administration drives price of oil up by repeatedly threatening Iran. Driving price up is why we are in the Middle east to begin with

[...]
`The main risk to the oil price is either a boycott of trade, isolating Iran, or a military attack,'' because either would ``influence the production and supply of oil from Iran to the world market,'' said Thina Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Bank AB in Oslo. Distillate inventories ``will influence the price'' until winter ends in the Northern Hemisphere, she said.
[...]

Bush Won't Regulate Hedge Funds. This is similar to his Iraq policy.

The US government has rejected tighter controls over the hedge fund industry.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said increased vigilance rather than laws were the best guarantee of stable hedge fund performance.

Mr Paulson chairs the President's Working Group, which reviews risk in the financial markets.

His report has drawn criticism from politicians concerned at a lack of formal protection for investors in the 9,000 US hedge funds.

US hedge funds are estimated to control $1.5 trillion (£766bn) of assets.

He and his murdering, Rapist Compatriots should be tried in Iraq under Iraqi law

[...]

Cortez, of Barstow, California, pleaded guilty to four counts of felony murder, rape and conspiracy to rape.
He said he conspired with three other soldiers to rape Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, 14.
The girl, her parents and a younger sister were all
murdered to cover up the crime

[...]

On Wednesday, Cortez described raping the girl in her family's home in Mahmoudiya last March, along with James Barker, 24. Barker pleaded guilty in November to rape and murder and was sentenced to 90 years in military prison.

Cortez said former private Steven Green raped the girl before he did. Then Green shot the family.
Jesse Spielman, 22, and Bryan Howard, 19, await courts-martial.
Green, who was discharged from the military, will be prosecuted in a federal court.

[...]

a Most Excellent Film. Shut Up and Sing

Whole Foods Buys Wild Oats. American business strives for no competiton of any kind

London Mayor Signs Oil Deal With Chavez

U.S. Health-Care Costs to Top $4 Trillion By 2016

That's one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).
[...]
Universal single payer health care coverage now.

Lithuania Mulling Iraq Troop Withdrawal

Lithuania is "seriously considering" withdrawing its 53 troops from Iraq, a government spokeswoman said Wednesday.
[...]
The coalition of the economically coerced continues to crumble.

In Publicity effort, dirt drug maker Merck pretends to stop pushing venereal disease vaccine on little girls

Hitler-Themed Sugar: And you thought all the Nazis had moved to Washington DC ( and Crawford, Texas)

An international Jewish rights group has asked the Croatian government to launch an immediate investigation into a company that is distributing sugar packets emblazoned with images of Adolf Hitler and anti-Semitic jokes.

The sugar packets, distributed by a small Croatian company called Pinki, have been sold in at least two Croatian cities for several months and received attention from a Croatian newspaper.
[...]

Bush Administration Continues to operate outside the law with help of fascist appointments to judiciary

[...]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding the prisoners, a decision that will strip court access for hundreds of detainees with cases currently pending.

"The arguments are creative but not cogent. To accept them would be to defy the will of Congress," wrote Judge A. Raymond Randolph in the 25-page opinion, which was joined by Judge David B. Sentelle. Both are Republican appointees to the federal bench.

[...]

Not so Separated at Birth: Fascist Fuck John Howard, Fascist Jackal Fuck Dick Cheney and Nazi officers

by 2008, Bush’s wars in the Muslim World will have cost each American man, woman and child $2,300

[...]
The $690 billion poured into the bottomless hole of the faux war on terrorism does not include the estimated $100 billion direct cost of the 9/11 attacks, the urgent need to replace $66 billion of US military equipment worn out or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions in lifetime care for seriously injured soldiers, $125 billion in backlogged veteran’s claims, and untold billions spent in secret CIA programs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ironically, half of the money spent on these wars is being borrowed from former American enemies, Communist China and Japan. Half the current American deficit is being tied directly to the war on terrorism. After six years, the Bush/Cheney Administration cannot even define what it means by victory in its wars in the Muslim World.

Defeat looms large in Iraq; Afghanistan is headed that way; and the US National intelligence Estimate just reported that al-Qaida is actually stronger than ever. The still elusive Osama bin Laden, who said the only way to expel US influence from the Muslim World was to bleed the US financially, must be beaming over the success of his grand strategy.

As all kings have found since the dawn of time, in war, money is as important as armies. Wars always cost far more than originally projected. A primary architect of the 2003 Iraq War, former US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, assured Americans the Iraq war would only cost $40 billion. The cost of occupying Iraq would be fully covered, he claimed, by plundering its oil. Wolfowitz now heads the World Bank.
[...]

Riverbend is Back

I wonder what excuse they used when they took her. It’s most likely she’s one of the thousands of people they round up under the general headline of ‘terrorist suspect’. She might have been one of those subtitles you read on CNN or BBC or Arabiya, “13 insurgents captured by Iraqi security forces.” The men who raped her are those same security forces Bush and Condi are so proud of- you know- the ones the Americans trained. It’s a chapter right out of the book that documents American occupation in Iraq: the chapter that will tell the story of 14-year-old Abeer who was raped, killed and burned with her little sister and parents.
[...]
She’s just one of tens, possibly hundreds, of Iraqi women who are violated in their own homes and in Iraqi prisons. She looks like cousins I have. She looks like friends. She looks like a neighbor I sometimes used to pause to gossip with in the street. Every Iraqi who looks at her will see a cousin, a friend, a sister, a mother, an aunt…

Humanitarian organizations are warning that three Iraqi women are to be executed next month. The women are Wassan Talib, Zainab Fadhil and Liqa Omar Muhammad. They are being accused of 'terrorism', i.e. having ties to the Iraqi resistance. It could mean they are relatives of people suspected of being in the resistance. Or it could mean they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of them gave birth in the prison. I wonder what kind of torture they've endured. Let no one say Iraqi women didn't get at least SOME equality under the American occupation- we are now equally as likely to get executed.

And yet, as the situation continues to deteriorate both for Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq, and for Americans inside Iraq, Americans in America are still debating on the state of the war and occupation- are they winning or losing? Is it better or worse.

Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost. You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys. You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated. You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out and verified your atrocities behind prison walls as well as the ones we see in our streets. You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power and hailed them as Iraq’s first democratic government. You lost when a gruesome execution was dubbed your biggest accomplishment. You lost the respect and reputation you once had. You lost more than 3000 troops. That is what you lost America. I hope the oil, at least, made it worthwhile.

Jailed Monotheist> Just doing what the One Eyed God likes Best. Keeping the Women in line.

Irina Cornici, 23, died after being starved and chained to a cross at a secluded convent in the north-east.

The ritual in 2005 was led by Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 31, the priest at the Holy Trinity convent in Tanacu village.

He and four nuns were convicted of manslaughter. The nuns got jail terms ranging from five to eight years.

Amerikkkan Ubercapitalistchristo fascists do not believe in regulation of industry

[...]

The report also suggests that cable and satellite TV could be subjected to an "a la carte" regime that would let viewers choose their channels.

Citing studies, the draft says there is evidence that violent programming can lead to "short-term aggressive behavior in children," according to an agency source, who asked not to be identified because the commission has not yet approved the report.

"In general, what the commission's report says is that there is strong evidence that shows violent media can have an impact on children's behavior and there are some things that can be done about it," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday.

[...]

The amount of antisocial, attention deficit disorder generating time tykes spend in front of TV where they aren't able to develop needed social skills also, no doubt, contributes to violence in our most violent society ever in history here in Amerikkka.

It certainly contributes to stupidity and social conditions in which runny, reeking dog shit like Bill O'Reilly gets air time in a propaganda network like FOX news. If little Johnny woudl read or play hide in seek instead of watch those thousands of hour of commercials and shootings he sees on TV, we would almost certainly have a better world. And a better little Johnny.

Tainted-Food Recalls.

The chicken breast recall is the fourth food recall in a week. Fresh cantaloupe and selected jars of organic baby food were recalled late Friday, and a major recall of peanut butter was initiated late Wednesday after 300 people in 39 states were sickened.
[...]
According to the CDC, there are an estimated 76 million cases of food-borne illness each year in the United States, the vast majority of which are mild and cause symptoms that last a day or two. Some cases are more serious, leading to 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths annually. The most severe cases tend to occur in the very old, the very young, and those with weakened immune systems.
[...]

Republikkkan family values: Poison kids for money

Chris Hedges on “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America”

Morales: `Job is to take care of poor'

Great Andean glacier 'will melt to nothing by 2012'

Arsenal of Hypocrisy

The Texican

'Taliban gain popular support'

Living La Vida Loca

Oil states plan weapons buying binge

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates --Deep fears about the war in Iraq and growing tension between the United States and Iran are driving the wealthy oil states of the Persian Gulf to go on shopping sprees for helicopters, ships and tanks, officials say.
[...]

That ought to push the price of oil even higher while making the weapons makers almost as rich as the oil companies.

Bush Family involvement in murder of JFK.

Chaac, God of rain and Thunder

We ought to do this here

President Hugo Chavez threatened Wednesday to nationalize any privately owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods.

Accusing private companies of hoarding beef and other foods, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalize their facilities as soon as they gave him "an excuse."

"If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them," Chavez said during a televised broadcast. "So prepare yourselves!"

[...]

Hasn't this Country Suffered Enough from Woman Hating Republikkkan pig Gingrich and his contract On america?

Venezuela fiber-optic line to dramatically expand Cuban internet capacity

HAVANA: A new undersea fiber-optic cable from Cuba to Venezuela should be finished within two years, a Venezuelan communications official said Thursday, dramatically expanding Cuba's internet and telephone capacity.
[...]

The Bush Economy: slowly crumbling. Okay, not so slowly

Republikkkan Shill attacks Kennedy

[...]

Kennedy fired back by saying that if Mack wants to create a moral litmus test for oil-exporting countries and other trade partners, the congressman should hold Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and China to the same standard.

``Once we've followed the Mack Doctrine and refused oil from every country that fails to meet our disciplined moral standards, I'm sure you'll enjoy your walks to Washington, because there certainly won't be fuel to fly you there,'' Kennedy wrote to Mack.

In an interview with the AP, Kennedy defended his decision to refer to ``our good friends in Venezuela.''

Kennedy said he approached other oil companies but only Citgo, the Venezuelan government's Texas-based oil subsidiary, responded with an offer of aid. He said nothing in his contracts require him to publicly thank Citgo and Venezuela. That was his decision, he said.

``I think it would be the height of arrogance to accept the help and assistance of Citgo, the only oil company to respond to my plea to help, and never even mention them in the ad,'' said Kennedy, who served in Congress from 1987 to 1999.

[...]

U. of I. decides to end racist mascot's run

Republikkkans Attack freedom of Speech in the Classroom

Another V day post

The Prince version is unavailable, damn it.

Happy Valentines Day!

Scalia Drives Daughter to Drink

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center Hospital Homeless Dumping

A hospital van dropped off a homeless paraplegic man on Skid Row and left him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said.

Witnesses who said they saw the incident Thursday wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number, which helped detectives connect the vehicle to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

IRAQ: Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad

24. Right wing extremist television

I'm willing to bet this ISP disinformation

They want free community wifi SHUT DOWN

The Closet case sof the religious right are winning. Birth control taught in shrinking number of schools, study says

[...]
More than $1 billion in federal aid has been poured into state-run abstinence-only programs in the past decade after the Bush administration decided there was an imbalance that favored comprehensive sex education and slighted abstinence. State school systems accepting the federal money are required to teach that sexual activity outside marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects, and that a married, monogamous relationship is the expected standard.
[...]

We even make Japan sick

The deployment of United States Air Force (USAF) F-22 stealth fighter jets to a base on Japan's Okinawa island has prompted protests from residents.

Any republikkkan talking about moral purpose always makes me very nervous. Hagel is a right wing extremist

Just check out his voting record here.

Insurance. An industry that should be dismantled

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If you are injured in a minor car crash, chances are good that you will be in the fight of your life to get the insurance company to pay all the medical costs you incur -- even if the accident was no fault of your own.
[...]

So you'd think the sons a bityches would get behind a national health care plan, but no. It is more fun to screw people. And more profitable.

Bolivia's Morales nationalizes smelter

Bush's Ownership Society Just Sizzling

Ohio food stamp use increases by 71 percent since 2000

Carlyle Makes A Killing With Defense Sale

[...]
The Carlyle Group raked in an 800% return on its investment on Friday when it sewed up the sale of its 10.3% stake in QinetiQ Group, the British defense research company, said to be the inspiration behind doddering gadget maven Q in the James Bond films.
[...]

US fabricating evidence against Iran�

Iran arrests top Al Qaeda men

Chimpy says, "Blow 'em up anyway dad burnit."

Diane Sawyer Is In Iran To Interview Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Diane Sawyer Is In Iran To Interview Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

CREW's Latest Report reveals 25 Most Corrupt Members of the Bush Administration

The 25 Most Corrupt Members of the Bush Administration are:

Claude Allen, White House

Eric Andell, U.S. Department of Education

Margaret Burnette, Food and Drug Administration

Lester Crawford, Food and Drug Administration

Lurita Doan, General Services Administration

Brian Doyle, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Darleen Druyun, U.S. Air Force

Frank Figueroa, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Central Intelligence Agency

J. Steven Griles, U.S. Department of the Interior

Andrea Grimsley, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Donald Keyser, U.S. Department of State

John Korsmo, Federal Housing Finance Board

Kevin Marlowe, U.S. Department of Defense

Jose Miranda, Broadcasting Board of Governors

William Myers, U.S. Department of Interior

Janet Rehnquist, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

David Safavian, White House and General Services Administration

Robert Schofield, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Thomas Scully, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

David Smith, Department of Interior

Jeffrey Stayton, U.S. Department of the Army

Robert Stein, Coalition Provisional Authority

Roger Stillwell, U.S. Department of the Interior

Kenneth Tomlinson, Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Condiliar Rice grilled over lack of smoking gun in allegations against Iran

A Bush Budget for Permanent War

Though not charged, Cheney at center of trial

Guilty Psychopath Mouthing Off

General Dynamics Robs TaxPayers Blind

[...]

After 10 years and a $1.7 billion investment, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle breaks down too often, leaks and sometimes veers off course, the newspaper said, citing military officials and government reports.

[...]

Oil prices slip after briefly topping $60 a barrel

The Bush -Cheney plan to create enormous instability in the middle east in order to keep the price of oil high is still working though.

Condi Rice, From Black Boots to Ambushed on Iraq, Allure Fades but the Neocon Odor Remains

Bush Connected Mercenary Firm Blackwater USA Takes Congressional Hot-Seat as Landmark Hearing Probe its Ugly Role in Iraq

The Missing Billions: Ex-Iraq Occupation Chief Paul Bremer Questioned on Oversight, Spending of Iraqi Money

[...]

REP. HENRY WAXMAN: Little more than a year, $12 billion in US currency removed from the vaults of the Federal Reserve and flown into Iraq, this money, mainly $100 bills, were packed into bricks, and each brick was worth $400,000 each. And I think we have a picture of the bricks on the screen. They were assembled into large palettes containing over $60 million in cash and flown into Iraq. In December 2003, Ambassador Bremer and the Coalition Provision Authority asked for a shipment of $1.5 billion to be flown into Iraq, and a Federal Reserve official described this in an email as the largest payout of US currency in US history. But this didn't remain the largest for very long, because in June, $2.4 billion was sent to Iraq, and this time the Federal Reserve official wrote, quote, “Just when you think you've seen it all, the CPA is ordering $2,401,600,000 in currency.”

Well, the question this committee is trying to answer is, what happened to the money?
[...]

Plight worsens for Iraqi refugees

The number of Iraqis leaving their home country and seeking refuge in neighbouring states has intensified in the past two years.

[ ...]

But Iraq's neighbours have recently started to apply stricter visa regulations to Iraqis applying for asylum from Iraq.

Jordan, which used to grant Iraqis a renewable three-month visa on arrival, has reduced it to one month. Syria is also about to start a limited-period visa instead of an open one.

[...]

Yeah, but I smell a rat

WASHINGTON — Executives from Wal-Mart and three other large U.S. employers on today joined union leaders in calling for "quality, affordable" health care for every American by 2012.

However, they did not propose any specific policies to achieve this goal, or commit to spending any extra money in the near-term to provide health coverage to more workers.

[...]

Do Me Baby

Former U.S. attorney says he was ordered to resign (by Bush Administration Thugs)

Mich. Ruling Alarms Gay Rights Advocates

CREW Files Second Complaint against Living Word Christian Center

Impeach Right Wing Activist Judge U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III

Rice believes Chavez is "destroying" Venezuela. Also Believes in Iraq WMD

and that an appropriate response to report on her desk that Bin Laden Plans to Attack United States with Airplanes is to do NOTHING.

Georgia to stop enrolling new PeachCare patients

[...]

Georgia is one of at least 14 states facing a federal shortfall for its state Childrens Health Insurance Program. Iowa's Hawk-I plan, which insures more than 30,000 children, expects to exhaust its budget by the end of June.

Congressional Democrats had asked President Bush to add $745 million to the $93 billion emergency war spending proposal he submitted Monday to cover the rest of 2007. Eager to show policy differences with the White House, they now say they may add the money when the bill comes up in the coming weeks.

Bush proposes instead that states with program surpluses should more quickly give up the money to states with deficits, according to Dennis Smith, director of Center for Medicaid and State Operations.

[...]

Good Christian George Bush wants to outlaw abortion so children can be born to suffer in the name of Jesus.
Impeach the monster now.

Iran says identifies, detains U.S., Israeli spies

Iranian leader threatens broad retaliation if attacked

Feinstein will pursue paper record at polls

Mike Jones responds to Ted Haggard's announcement of his heterosexuality

[...]
n response to Haggard's statement, Jones giggled and responded "Well, that's the quickest therapy I've ever heard of. It's hard for me to imagine someone who is performing oral sex and saying that he is 'straight.' That just doesn't jive." If you were to ask me 'Do I think is Ted haggard gay?' I would have to say 'yes'," he added.

In response to one of Haggard's counselor's claims that Haggard's activities were not a "constant thing," Jones explained that he could only speak to the time he spent with Haggard and that had an ongoing sexual relationship with the minister and that their time together "indicated a gay man to me." Jones also shared that he had heard from two other individuals that claimed they had encounters with Haggard. Those accusers, Jones asserted, have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs.

[...]

Now will Ken Ham's Boyfriends please come forward?

Totally Heterosexual Ted Haggard, President of Sodomites for Jesus, pictured With Some Other Evangelikkkal Leaders

Even Norquist wants to part

Norquist: Bush’s Advisers Telling Him ‘Invade Iran. Then Everyone Will See How Smart We Are’

In this month’s issue of Vanity Fair, Craig Unger writes that the same neoconservative advisers who advocated for the Iraq war are now recycling the same tactics to push for the bombing of Iran. Unger reports that not all of Bush’s key conservative allies are pleased with the administration’s course on Iran:

“Everything the advocates of war said would happen hasn’t happened,” says the president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, an influential conservative who backed the Iraq invasion. “And all the things the critics said would happen have happened. [The president’s neoconservative advisers] are effectively saying, ‘Invade Iran. Then everyone will see how smart we are.’ But after you’ve lost x number of times at the roulette wheel, do you double-down?”

For example, Richard Perle, a former Bush administration official, has said, “I have very little doubt” that Bush would order “necessary military action” against Iran. “Make no mistake, President Bush will need to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities before leaving office,” wrote American Enterprise Institute analyst Joshua Muravchik.

Two other important points from the Unger article:

1) Retired Defense Intelligence official Patrick Lang told Unger that Bush has ordered StratCom — the military command responsible for “nuclear weapons, missile defense and protection against weapons of mass destruction” — to draw up plans for a “massive strike against Iran.” Lang noted that the shift away from Central Command “to StratCom indicates they are talking about a really punishing air-force and naval air attack [on Iran].”

2) Former CIA officer Phillip Giraldi said, “I’ve heard from sources at the Pentagon that their impression is that the White House has made a decision that war is going to happen.”

Leaders move to stop child soldiers

Saudi school in London 'institutionally racist'

[...]
A school in London that is owned, funded, and run by the Saudi Arabian government teaches students that Christians are "pigs" and Jews are "monkeys," a former teacher has alleged in an employment tribunal claim, The Times reported Tuesday.
[...]

Fearless Class Warrior and Full Time Chimpy George Bush Strikes at Middle Class

President Bush yesterday proposed deep cuts to federal healthcare, education, and transportation programs, searching for new money in the federal budget for his program of world wide domination through war.

Cost of troop buildup not even in huge bloated budget aimed at enriching Bush Pals in the weapons industry

Highlights of Bush's fiscal 2008 budget

Private security contract in Iraq. After many denials, US Army confirms Blackwater is Huge "War" Profiteer

[...]

The secretary of the Army on Tuesday wrote two Democratic lawmakers that the Blackwater USA contract was part of a huge military support operation by run by Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

Vice President Dick Cheney ran Halliburton before he became vice president.

Several times last year, Pentagon officials told inquiring lawmakers they could find no evidence of the Blackwater contract. Blackwater, of Moyock, North Carolina, did not respond to several requests for comment.

The discovery shows the dense world of Iraq contracting, where the main contractor hires subcontractors who then hire additional subcontractors. Each company tacks on a charge for overhead, a cost that works its way up to U.S. taxpayers.

[...]

Private Prisons

[...]
This contemporary push to privatize corrections takes place against a socioeconomic background of severe and seemingly intractable crisis. Under the impetus of Reaganite social Darwinism, with its "toughness" on criminal offenders, pris on populations soared through the 1980s and into the 1990s, making the U.S. the unquestioned world leader in jailing its own populace. By 1990, 421 Americans out of every 100,000 were behind bars, easily outdistancing our closest competitors, South Africa and the then USSR. By 1992, the U.S. rate had climbed to 455. In human terms, the number of people in jails and prisons on any given day tops 1.2 million, up from fewer than 400,000 at the start of the Reagan era. While incarceration statistics have skyrocketed, crime rates have increased much more slowly. In fact, from 1975 to 1985, the serious crime rate actually decreased by 1.42 per cent while the number of state and federal prisoners nearly doubled. The number of people sent to prison is actually determined by policy decisions and political expediency. Politicians of all stripes have sought cheap political points by being "tough on crime." They throw oil on the fire of public panic by portraying the urban underclass (read: young, black males) as predator. Ignoring the broad context of economic policies that have effectively abandoned large segments of the population, they have instituted mandatory minimum sentences, tighter or no parole schedules, and tougher "good time" regulations. Adding to the overpopulation these putative measures wrought, the War on Drugs-which aimed its frenzy at the inner city-stuffed the nation's already over crowded prisons with a large crop of mostly African-American and Latino nonviolent offenders. In state after state, budgets have been stretched to the breaking point by the cost of maintaining and expanding this massive correctional archipelago. In California, the nation's largest state prison system, the corrections budget increased seven-fold during the 1980s to $2.1 billion annually at the end of the decade-and the system was still operating at 180 percent of capacity. The huge costs associated with the choice to deal with social problems by mass imprisonment are a fundamental part of the drift toward private prisons. The converging trends (rampant free-marketism, higher prison population, and escalating costs) are part of a larger trend-the sharpening of Reaganite class war and the social meanness that accompanied it.
[...]

Polar Science from the Deep--Part III

Glacial lubrication.
This is the first view of a channel cut out of the Antarctic continental shelf by high pressure "ice streams" that flow beneath the ice sheet.

Praze Manly Jezus. Ted has been cured and is not a bearded lady anymore

Religious Cleric Tony Perkins Threatens Rudy Giuliani Will Ruin Republikkkan chances to hold Imperial Throne in New Rome on the Potomac

Pictured Here is Mullah Perkins who seems to forget that current mainstream "conservative" thought is right out of Mein Kampf.

Doesn't he look like he has certain closety things in common with completely heterosexual Pastor Ted and the Squirrel Eater who loves Testosterone so much?

Growing income gap poses problems, Fed chief says

Hey Mr Bernacke! Maybe you could throw the peasants some of the crumbs trapped in your beard or as your folks said in olden times "Let them eat cake"!

Cuyahoga Co. Elections Director Resigns Far Too Late To Save His County from the Regime of the Flying Monkeys

Water Deal Illuminates Secret Contracts

[...]

The U.S. contractor that benefited from the multimillion-dollar deal wasn't just anyone. The company had personal ties to the officer, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who would soon leave his logistics post in Frankfurt, Germany, and move to Washington to become the CIA's third-ranking official.

In at least one written communication, a Baghdad CIA officer complained about the no-bid contract. According to one official, the officer believed the deal was simply unnecessary because safe water was available commercially but he was ignored.

The water contract, while small on the scale of the billions that flowed into Iraq, raises questions about why U.S. taxpayer dollars went to well-connected businessmen rather than Iraqis who could have benefited from a share of postwar reconstruction business. And the case provides a window into the murky world of covert government business arrangements.

[...]

Out of Touch Fake Moderate McCain touts ties with the right

US to get Africa command center

[...]
Africa Command would be the fifth regional operations base for the US.
[...]

Russia wants U.S. to sign deal saying militaries don't target each other

Bush God

Because they already know how to stamp out fascism in Germany. And should really get rid of Merkl.

[...]
A German court on Monday ruled that police cannot remotely search criminal suspects' computer hard drives over the Internet without their knowledge.
[...]

Here's Some Propaganda. We know they aren't there as drug patrol. They deal drugs

Let me emphasize - I think what the many Ecuadoreans think.
The US wants to control who governs in all of Latin America for purposes of profit.

It isn't complex. But it is immoral.

If they can keep their right wing thug governments in power in places like Columbia, they can do better "Bidness" with them.

This is the same pattern that has been followed in the middle east. Prop up murderous dictators and right wing puppets who stuff their own pockets with billions while robbing the countries they control of their natural resources and leaving the populace in dire poverty.
Really works well.
[...]
Many Ecuadoreans believe the U.S. is trying to draw them more deeply into the Colombian conflict spilling over their borders: Leftist rebels frequently cross into Ecuador, and tens of thousands of Colombian refugees crowd lawless border towns plagued by drug traffickers and child prostitution.

Although U.S. officials deny that Manta's planes spy on leftist rebels in Colombia, they do intercept drug flights and eavesdrop on radio communications there.

"There is a widespread feeling that Washington is carrying out an extensive, mostly security, anti-drug program with Colombia, with little regard for the severe consequences -- growing violence and refugees -- on Ecuador," said Michael Shifter, deputy director of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.
[...]

Peyton Manning. George Bush Fan

Perhaps this ugly little right wing rat bastard ought be throwing in Baghdad.
Fuck the KKKolts.

Chimpy is a Manning Fan. Probably loves the Kkkolts since they are from the Klan State

Iran accuses US over seized diplomat

Gunmen wearing Iraqi uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat in central Baghdad at the weekend, the government in Tehran said today, blaming the kidnapping on troops acting on US orders.

Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy, was seized on Sunday by forces operating "under the supervision of the American forces in Iraq", an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this aggressive act, which is in violation of international law," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

[...]

I-957 would require married couples to have kids

Under I-957, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriages would be subject to annulment.

All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in them would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.

"Absurd? Very," the group says on its Web site, which adds it is planning two more initiatives involving marriage and procreation. "But there is a rational basis for this absurdity. By floating the initiatives, we hope to prompt discussion about the many misguided assumptions" underlying the Supreme Court's ruling.

Republikkkan Party Provides Fertile Ground for Supremacist activity

Oversight and government Reform. Dirtbag L Paul "jerry" bremer expected to testify tomorrow

Merck and Rick Perry on the March Agaisnt Penis Cancer

Big Brother is Secretly Scanning Your Iris

Speaking of Lockheed Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels

[...]
Still, there is another way to view Jackson's activities. As The New York Times put it in a 1997 article, "at night Bruce Jackson is president of the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO, giving intimate dinners for senators and foreign officials. By day, he is director of strategic planning for Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world's biggest weapons maker."
[...]
Dick Cheney's son-in-law, Philip J. Perry, a registered Lockheed lobbyist who had, while working for a law firm, represented Lockheed with the Department of Homeland Security, had been nominated by Bush to serve as general counsel to the Department of Homeland Security. His wife, Elizabeth Cheney, serves as deputy assistant secretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs.
[....]

Privatization Goose steps on

[...]

Without a public debate or formal policy decision, contractors have become a virtual fourth branch of government. On the rise for decades, spending on federal contracts has soared during the Bush administration, to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does.

Contractors still build ships and satellites, but they also collect income taxes and work up agency budgets, fly pilotless spy aircraft and take the minutes at policy meetings on the war. They sit next to federal employees at nearly every agency; far more people work under contracts than are directly employed by the government. Even the government’s online database for tracking contracts, the Federal Procurement Data System, has been outsourced (and is famously difficult to use).

The contracting explosion raises questions about propriety, cost and accountability that have long troubled watchdog groups and are coming under scrutiny from the Democratic majority in Congress. While flagrant cases of fraud and waste make headlines, concerns go beyond outright wrongdoing. Among them:

¶Competition, intended to produce savings, appears to have sharply eroded. An analysis by The New York Times shows that fewer than half of all “contract actions” — new contracts and payments against existing contracts — are now subject to full and open competition. Just 48 percent were competitive in 2005, down from 79 percent in 2001.

¶The most secret and politically delicate government jobs, like intelligence collection and budget preparation, are increasingly contracted out, despite regulations forbidding the outsourcing of “inherently governmental” work. Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, said allowing CACI workers to review other contractors captured in microcosm “a government that’s run by corporations.”

¶Agencies are crippled in their ability to seek low prices, supervise contractors and intervene when work goes off course because the number of government workers overseeing contracts has remained level as spending has shot up. One federal contractor explained candidly in a conference call with industry analysts last May that “one of the side benefits of the contracting officers being so overwhelmed” was that existing contracts were extended rather than put up for new competitive bidding.

¶The most successful contractors are not necessarily those doing the best work, but those who have mastered the special skill of selling to Uncle Sam. The top 20 service contractors have spent nearly $300 million since 2000 on lobbying and have donated $23 million to political campaigns. “We’ve created huge behemoths that are doing 90 or 95 percent of their business with the government,” said Peter W. Singer, who wrote a book on military outsourcing. “They’re not really companies, they’re quasi agencies.” Indeed, the biggest federal contractor, Lockheed Martin, which has spent $53 million on lobbying and $6 million on donations since 2000, gets more federal money each year than the Departments of Justice or Energy.

¶Contracting almost always leads to less public scrutiny, as government programs are hidden behind closed corporate doors. Companies, unlike agencies, are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Members of Congress have sought unsuccessfully for two years to get the Army to explain the contracts for Blackwater USA security officers in Iraq, which involved several costly layers of subcontractors.

[...]

Bush’s ‘08 Budget Slashes Middle-Class Assistance

No Doubt This Squirrel Eater Knows Pastor Ted from their time together in the closet

Purity Balls. Not A Pretty Sight

Cheney's Fund Manager Attacks ... Cheney

This Beautiful Child plays a better game of football than Rex Grossman and thinks more clearly than Peyton Republikkkan Manning

Maybe that's why they both want to get him killed with their support of failed right wing ideas and policies.
Or maybe Manning needs his diapers for himself.

Yes, Nearly Thirty Years of Right Wing Rule in the United States has created Wide Spread Homelessness in it

Amerikkka Wants Nicaragua to destroy its national defense ( so Oliver North and John Negroponte can take the nation in hand to hand combat)

[...]
In 2004 Nicaragua destroyed 1,000 missiles out of the 2,000 donated by the Soviet Union when Ortega's government was fighting a civil war against US-backed rebels in the 1980s.

The missiles were destroyed partly at the request of the US which feared that the shoulder-fired Sam-7 missiles could be used to attack airliners.

[...]

Palestinians: 'Ethnic cleansing' in Iraq

Thousands march against governor in Mexico's Oaxaca

Bush Wants to Spend ALL Tax Payer money on Wars of Choice to enrich his pals while taking health care away from poor and elderly

[...]

"America has already spent almost $400 billion on this war, too much of which has been wasted on boondoggles like Olympic-sized swimming pools in unused multimillion-dollar training camps in the desert," said Reid, D-Nev. "The American people deserve better. New reports by the
Congressional Budget Office and our nation's intelligence community make clear that the president's policies in Iraq are flawed, costly and unsuccessful."

The president also called on Congress to pass the line-item veto, which would give him the ability to cut certain provisions in spending bills without vetoing entire measures. And he urged lawmakers to restrain government spending by reducing the use of earmarks — a common Capitol Hill practice of slipping pet projects into spending bills.

To address the growth of entitlement programs, Bush's budget proposal contains about a 1 percentage point cut in the rapid growth in Medicare to squeeze about $66 billion in savings over five years from the federal health care program for the elderly.
[...]

Survey: U.S. workplace not family-oriented

Illinois Doesn't Like Chimpy

[...]
But on Tuesday, the surprise was on Bush. In town to deliver remarks on the economy, the president walked into the diner, where he was greeted with what can only be described as a sedate reception. No one rushed to shake his hand. There were no audible gasps or yelps of excitement that usually accompany visits like this. Last summer, a woman nearly fainted when Bush made an unscheduled visit for some donut holes at the legendary Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant in Chicago. In Peoria this week, many patrons found their pancakes more interesting. Except for the click of news cameras and the clang of a dish from the kitchen, the quiet was deafening.

“Sorry to interrupt you,” Bush said to a group of women, who were sitting in a booth with their young kids. “How’s the service?” As Bush signed a few autographs and shook hands, a man sitting at the counter lit a cigarette and asked for more coffee. Another woman, eyeing Bush and his entourage, sighed heavily and went back to her paper. She was reading the obituaries. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” a White House aide told her. “No problem,” she huffed, in a not-so-friendly way. “Life goes on, I guess.”

[...]

srael "Examines" Moving Separation Barrier Deep Into Palestinian Lands

U.N. Says 75 Percent Of Stolen Nuclear Material Still Missing; 149 Incidents In 2006

Bush will request slightly more than $100 billion to cover war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and even more

for the rest of this year and an even larger amount for fiscal 2008 that begins on October 1, congressional sources said on Thursday.
[...]

More Corruption and Stealing by Bush Administration

[...]
The Bush Administration wants Congress to approve $10.6 billion for security and reconstruction in Afghanistan, but here’s the problem: we already have a pretty good idea of how that money is going to be spent. As recent reports indicate—and based on the U.S. government’s track record thus far, most of the funds will go toward contractors and private companies that will make a killing on the contracts and have very little to show for it in the end.

It’s doubtful that the money will go where it’s most needed—to help alleviate the suffering of the almost 2.5 million drought-stricken Afghan people caught up in the escalating war between the Taliban and the United States.
[...]

Pfizer, Halliburton Grab Democrats as Hearings Loom

[...]

Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock, two former Justice Department officials who have formed their own lobbying firm in Alexandria, Virginia, are talking to representatives of oil and drug companies. One of their current clients, Blackwater USA of Moyock, North Carolina, is scheduled to testify next week before Waxman's committee, Corallo said. The panel is probing possible waste and fraud in Iraq war contracts.

``When we realized that the political winds were blowing the other way, we understood there would be a market,'' said Corallo. Industries that ``escaped oversight'' for more than a decade ``are going to find themselves in the congressional crosshairs,'' he said.

The pharmaceutical industry, which the Center for Responsive Politics says gave 68 percent of its 2006 campaign gifts to Republicans, may be the biggest target for investigators. The House voted Jan. 12 to require the Medicare program, which provides health care for the elderly and disabled, to negotiate prices with drug companies; five congressional committees plan hearings into industry practices, including the generic-drug approval process and drug safety.

[...]

More Big Intrusive Republikkkan Government violating your child

Phony Bullshit = Chuck "Tough Talk" Hagel

Nigeria’s Globacom signs new contracts with Alcatel-Lucent worth USD 600M for multimedia services

Shell has been forced to ditch its target of producing 4 million barrels of oil a day by 2009, because of a series of setbacks on key projects.

[...]
A number of Shell's key projects have been dogged by difficulties in the past 12 months, including being forced to cede control of the Russian Sakhalin Island project to Gazprom and the current impasse with militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta where production has ceased.
[...]
Earthtimes.org

Happy Groundhog Day!

Bush Attacks What Little Public Health Care there is in the United States

Bush green fuel goal "impossible": Valero CEO

Just How Nuts is Bush?

Report: US plans strike against Iran

Molly Ivins, Columnist, Dies at 62

My favorite columnist

Cuba to send doctors to help Nicaragua's Ortega

Thousands in Mexico City Protest Rising Food Prices

Venezuela vows Orinoco oil takeover by May Day

The four Orinoco projects produce about 600,000 barrels per day of synthetic oil.

Chavez has promised to take over not only oil and gas projects in Venezuela, the No. 4 crude exporter to the United States, but also power utilities and the country's biggest telecommunications company.

[...]

"The president of the United States should resign, if he had the least dignity ... if only the United States had a democracy like what we have here. If only the American people could call a recall referendum," he added.

Despite Chavez's political will to strip oil giants of their managing stakes in the Orinoco, the takeovers will not be easy.

A senior Venezuelan oil official acknowledged last month the country could face hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties if it takes over the projects, because of financing agreements with international banks.

[...]

Thousands in Mexico City Protest Rising Food Prices

Venezuela Rejects Negroponte’s “Concerns” Over its Democracy

[...]

The Venezuelan government’s response, issued through a Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRE) press release, stated that “Mr. Negroponte represents a real threat to peace and democracy,” in Latin America. “It is not credible to anybody in the hemisphere that [the U.S. government] is considering a new policy for Latin America when it assigns individuals such as Mr. Negroponte,” it added.

In reference to the period (1981-1985) that Negroponte served as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, the MRE press release said, “Latin America has the worst memories of this individual when he was an instrument of genocidal and imperialist policies in Central America."

Negroponte is widely known to have been complicit with human rights abuses perpetrated by the Honduran military that he worked closely with during his tenure in Honduras. Declassified State Department documents show that Negroponte played a leading role in supporting the U.S. government funded terrorist organization, the Contras, to violently undermine the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua while he was US Ambassador to Honduras.[...]

2006 Personal Savings Fall to 74-Yr. Low