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    Repiglican Roast

    A spirited discussion of public policy and current issues

    Name:
    Location: The mouth of being

    I'm furious about my squandered nation.

    Sunday, September 30, 2007

    Suspected Georgetown gay-basher has Bush Administration ties

    19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, pictured here in the spring of 2005, is the son of fallen Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney.

    Phil Cooney was appointed chief of staff with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, suffering criticism for his lack of environmental experience. After his resignation and subsequent hire to a position with ExxonMobil, it was found that Cooney had reportedly tampered with data to support the Bush line on climate change.

    Philip Anderton Cooney was identified by the victim and reported to police thanks to his Facebook profile, which contained a photograph. He is being charged with simple assault, which, as a hate crime, carries a jail sentence of up to 270 days, the Washington Post reports. On the morning of September 9, the victim says, he was attacked physically and verbally, including with anti-gay slurs, by Cooney while walking near 36th and O Streets in northwest Washington, DC.

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    Israeli Death Mongers want US neokkkons to wipe Iran off the map. Settlements in Tehran?

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    U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries

    he global weapons market is highly competitive, with manufacturing countries seeking both to increase profits and to expand political influence through weapons sales to developing nations that reached nearly $28.8 billion in 2006.

    That sales total was a slight drop from the 2005 figure of $31.8 billion, a trend explained by the strain of rising fuel prices that prompted many developing states - except those that produce oil - to choose upgrading current arsenals over purchasing new weapons.

    The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an office of the Library of Congress, and presents a number of interesting observations linking arms sales and global politics.

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    Six states – Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota -Right wing attack on freedom of choice

    Six states – Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota -- have so-called trigger laws waiting on the books to make abortion illegal as soon as federal policy permits.

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    General Dynamics profit expected to be undented by an Iraq pullout

    General Dynamics, the worst-performing stock among the five largest U.S. defense companies, may outpace competitors like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman as investors gain confidence that a U.S. pullout from Iraq will not hurt profit at the company, which is the biggest supplier of combat gear to the U.S. Army.

    U.S. troops in Iraq might need armored vehicles and tanks from General Dynamics for years to come, while allies are preparing to step up purchases to modernize their own militaries, said Erik Becker, co-manager of the Waddell & Reed Advisors Core Investment fund, based in Overland Park, Kansas.

    "The U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue for longer than people expect," Becker said.

    In addition, revenue from business jets will help the stock rise 25 percent to $105 in the next 12 months, he said. General Dynamics trailed other U.S. defense companies most of the year.

    [...]

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    Does Dean Foods Sell Fake Organic Products under the name Horizon?

    [...]

    According to a news release sent out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Aug. 30, 2007, the company’s Platteville, Colo.- based plant may still see its organic certification revoked if the farm does not comply with various demands by the end of a one-year probationary period.

    Aurora is one of the largest organic milk suppliers in the country, with 12,000 dairy cows on five farms. The company produces organic milk for private label programs at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Safeway (NYSE: SWY), Trader Joe’s and others. The company also sells milk under its own brand name, High Meadows.


    [...]

    However, the agency’s own release listed a number of requirements placed on Aurora, including providing daily access to pasture during the growing season and reducing the number of cows on its farm, among others. Aurora’s dairies in Colorado and Texas are expected to be closely monitored over the next year, and certification of any Aurora farm not complying with the agreement will be revoked, according to USDA. Aurora also agreed not to renew certification for its Woodward, Colo., farm.

    If Aurora loses additional certifications, organic milk supplies could dip, eliminating the current glut and raising organic milk prices, according to market analysts. Aurora Organic and Dean Foods are estimated to control as much as 70 percent of the organic dairy market.

    [...]

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    good doctors don't vote republican

    [...]
    Punch in a family size (I chose two parents, 2 kids) and a city (I chose Fort Worth-Arlington because I live there) and choose no employer sponsored health insurance. Turns out that the family will pay $1000 a month for their health insurance. They will pay $4,252.47 for total monthly expenses---if they spend nothing on anything but the basics--and they will need to make $56,000 a year to get by. That is 273% of the poverty level. Look at those numbers long and hard. To buy insurance, the family will have to spend over one fifth of its pre-tax income. And that does not count deductibles, copays, and it does not take into account the possibility that a child may have a pre-existing condition like asthma that will prevent the family from getting insurance.

    George W. Bush wants to make sure that all the families who make $50,000 a year give their $12,000 a year to United Health or Blue Cross, Blue Shield, so that these companies can turn around and give a cut of that money to his political buddies. George W. Bush says that he does not want any of these families to get any sort of help with their health care crisis until all the families making less than 200% of the poverty level have health insurance. This is as good as saying that no one will get any SCHIP money, because a lot of southern states like Texas treat SCHIP like a nuisance. They have a proven record of failing in their obligation to inform and enroll citizens who qualify for available services. This is no accident. It is not a choice on the part of the poor. It reflects the mind set of those who govern Texas and many southern states. They would rather see the poor suffer than give them something "for free" even if the funds are federal. Check out these numbers.
    [...]

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    Saturday, September 29, 2007

    U.S. Used 'Shock' Tactics to Privatize Public Sector

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    Thanks a million, Ayn Rand, for setting the greedy free

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    Apple Ass Fucks its Customers yet again. No lube

    The iPhone

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    Happy Birthday Rumi!

    Khanaqa - a kind of madrassa or religious school - where Rumi studiedA painting of Rumi by Haydar Hatemi (Copyright: Haydar Hatemi)

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    Couric was pressured by NBC, Corporate Child of BIG DEFENSE Contractor GE to lay off Bushies re illegal aggression toward and occupation of Iraq

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    The US Government has dealt drugs in order to fund atrocites before. Just ask Ollie North, Fokkks News Spook

    Some news reports have linked the plane to the transport of terrorist suspects to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but those reports cite logs that indicate only that the plane flew twice between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo and once between Oxford, Conn., and Guantanamo. No terrorist suspects are known to have been transferred to Guantanamo directly from the United States.

    The jet, carrying the tail number N987SA, changed hands twice in recent weeks. But how it ended up in the hands of suspected drug traffickers remains a mystery.

    The Mexican attorney general's office said the blue and white Gulfstream II crashed on Monday in a remote jungle area on the Yucatan Peninsula. Authorities seized 132 bags of cocaine weighing four tons. Two men were arrested and jailed on drug trafficking charges in Merida, officials said. They declined to identify the men, however.

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    Woman Dies After Airport Arrest

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    Stunning admission' by Clinton, Obama, Edwards is tantamount to a permanent occupation of Iraq, Kucinich says

    The stunning admission by Democratic frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards that they might keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2013 "is tantamount to an announcement of a permanent occupation that could cost U.S. taxpayers $5 trillion and bankrupt any opportunity to address health care reform, education, jobs, or any other domestic policy initiatives," Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said today.

    In remarks prepared for a speech in New Hampshire tonight, Kucinich is expected to challenge the credibility, motives, and fitness of the Democratic frontrunners to serve as President "when they either voted to go to war or voted to continue the war. They took us into this war, and, with every vote for continued funding, they have kept us there. Now, they're telling us we may be there forever, diverting trillions of dollars from desperate domestic needs to financing an illegal, immoral, and endless war. It is time to end this war, and it is time to expose their hypocrisy."

    Kucinich noted that "Senators Clinton and Edwards were among the most outspoken advocates in 2002 for giving President Bush the authorization he wanted to invade and occupy Iraq. And, until he announced his candidacy this year, Senator Obama supported the war every time he voted to continue funding it. Whatever they say on the campaign trail, they have all voted in support of this war - repeatedly."

    "It is absolutely astonishing that these candidates have the audacity to portray themselves as pro-peace and anti-war when their statements, their actions, and their votes reveal just the opposite. They must be held accountable and answerable for their roles in this illegal, immoral, and disastrous war, and, that's what I intend to do."

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    State Dept. IG Retaliates Against Whistleblowers, Threatens ‘Their Jobs And Careers’

    Krongard has thwarted investigations into waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq. He has also “refused to cooperate with an investigation into alleged weapons smuggling by a large, unidentified State Department contractor.”

    Today, Waxman sent Krongard another disturbing letter that reveals the State Department Inspector General has been retaliating against the whistleblowers. Waxman writes:

    This week, several current employees in your office — including two who have agreed to go on the record — informed the Committee that your senior staff attempted to coerce them not to cooperate with the committee’s inquiry and threatened their jobs and careers.

    In the letter, Waxman explains that one week after he informed Krongard of the accusations being made by employees within his department, the whistleblowers were accosted by one of Krongard’s subordinates: a congressional affairs liaison who works for the State IG’s office. Here’s what one whistleblower reports that he was told:

    [T]he congressional liaison told him: “You have no protection against reprisal. You have no whistleblower protections. Howard could retaliate and you would have no recourse.”

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    Thursday, September 27, 2007

    patriot act ruled unconstitutional

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    Stone Age Rice Fields Discovered in China Swamp

    Chinese hut picture

    An 8,000-year-old dugout canoe, pottery made with wild rice as a bonding material, wood and bamboo tools, and the bones of dogs and pigs were also found.

    Zong's team analyzed the sediments of the ancient swamp for signs of rice paddies.

    The researchers found the land was deliberately managed for rice growing.

    Fire was used to clear scrub, while flood-prevention measures helped keep brackish water from getting into the fields, the study suggests.

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    Senate gun bill tied to Va. Tech shootings stalls

    [...]
    The bill would tighten requirements for states to share gun purchasers’ mental health information with the federal government.

    Majority Democrats in the Senate were poised as early as this past Monday to bring the bill to a vote until Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., objected.

    [...]

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    EPA to Approve New Fumigant for Crops

    he Environmental Protection Agency is expected within days to approve a new toxic fumigant for use by fruit and vegetable farmers, despite opposition from California regulators, prominent scientists and environmental and farmworker groups.

    The agency intends to register methyl iodide as a substitute for the pesticide methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty, according to government officials familiar with the decision. The new product is MIDAS, a methyl iodide compound manufactured by Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corp.

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    US plans $2.3bn arms sale to Iraq

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    CHRONOLOGY-45 years of resistance and repression in Burma (myamar)

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    Gingrich calls Iranian president's visit 'unacceptable' (Or Newt is Running for Pres. Bleech)

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    Bush threatened nations that did not back Iraq war

    MADRID (AFP) - US President George W. Bush threatened nations with retaliation if they did not vote for a UN resolution backing the Iraq war, according to a transcript published Wednesday of a conversation he had with former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

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    Navy adds $1B to Raytheon destroyer tech deal

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    Department of Defense has awarded a $6.5 million contract to Raytheon's Tewksbury business unit, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems

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    Unemployment in Germany fell sharply to 8.4 percent, its lowest in 12 years

    A poster with the word
    In August, employment figures hit a post-unification high of 39.7 million people, according to the Federal Statistics Office. When adjusted for seasonal differences, employment rose by about 19,000 in comparison with the previous month. It's the country's 19th straight gain and represents the largest workforce since German reunification, according to the office.

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    Bolivia's Morales suggests U.N. move HQ from U.S.

    Morales, who has championed indigenous rights and has close ties to leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba, said many in his delegation had trouble getting visas to attend the U.N. General Assembly this week.

    "I don't know how all of you managed to come here to the United States," he told the General Assembly. "At least my delegation had a great deal of visa problems."

    "My ministers here are subjected to hours and hours of controls at the airport," he said. He also criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for referring to Castro as a cruel dictator in a speech on Tuesday.

    "Some of us are practically threatened by the rulers of the country, by President Bush," Morales said. "Perhaps if that's the case, we should change the site of the United Nations. Perhaps we should do research on that."

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    Russia Warns Rogue Terrorist Bush Government Against Space Weapons

    [...]
    President Bush signed an order last year tacitly asserting the U.S. right to space weapons and opposing the development of treaties or other measures restricting them.

    Bush also had pushed an ambitious program for space-based missile defense, and the Pentagon is working on missiles, ground lasers and other technology to shoot down satellites.

    The U.S. plans have worried Russia, which also has strongly criticized U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic. Putin has rejected U.S. assertions that the missile defense sites in Europe were necessary to confront a prospective missile threat from Iran and said they threatened Russia's nuclear deterrent.

    The dispute has badly damaged the Russian-U.S. relations, also strained over U.S. criticism of the Kremlin's backsliding on democracy and rifts over global crises.

    [...]

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    Woman Delivers 17-Pound Baby

    [...]
    Tatiana Khalina, 42, delivered the girl by Caesarean section at a maternity clinic in Aleisk, a town of 30,000 in the Altai region in southern Siberia, Svetlana Gildeyeva, a nurse at the clinic, said Thursday.
    [...]

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    Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta Declares War

    The image “http://www.indymedia.org/images/2007/09/893072.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

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    Two killed, 11 injured in Kosovo explosion

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    Dawn raid kills more Palestinians

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    Nine Murdered in Burmese crackdown

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    BS Hired Investigator Who Confirmed RATHER/MAPES-Bush Draft Dodging Report-Was Authentic & Accurate

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    Verizon: The Anti-Woman Telecom

    [...]

    Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by many political candidates and advocacy groups to send updates to supporters.

    But legal experts said private companies like Verizon probably have the legal right to decide which messages to carry. The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages.

    The dispute over the Naral messages is a skirmish in the larger battle over the question of “net neutrality” — whether carriers or Internet service providers should have a voice in the content they provide to customers.

    “This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school, referring to the treatment of text messages. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”

    [...]

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    Tuesday, September 25, 2007

    George Bush The Great Dicktater

    http://www.the-penis.com/zimages2/con862.jpghttp://www.artofadambetts.com/images/postgraphics/photographs/Potato-Large.jpg

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    O'Reilly surprised "there was no difference" between Harlem restaurant and other New York restaurants

    O'Reilly asserted: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' You know, I mean, everybody was -- it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all." O'Reilly also stated: "I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They're getting away from the Sharptons and the [Rev. Jesse] Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They're just trying to figure it out. 'Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it."http://blogs.newsobserver.com/media/medium_oreillymad.2_02.jpg

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    refresher

    The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. It was the first company using the oil reserves of the Middle East. APOC was renamed 1935 in Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and eventually became the British Petroleum Company (BP) in 1954, as one root of the BP Company today.

    negotiated an oil concession with the Shah Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia in 1901 giving away control of Iranian oil reserves to Britain for 60 years. However, within a few years D'Arcy was almost bankrupted by the cost of exploration and so to raise capital he sold a large portion of the stock to the Burmah Oil Company Ltd. who created the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) as a subsidiary and also sold shares to the public.[1]

    Volume production of Persian oil products eventually started in 1913 from a refinery built at Abadan. The British government, at the impetus of Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, partly nationalized the company in 1913 in order to secure British-controlled oil supplies for its ships. [2][1] APOC took a 50% share in a new Turkish Petroleum Company organised in 1912 by Calouste Gulbenkian to explore and develop oil resources in the Ottoman Empire. After a hiatus caused by World War I it reformed and struck an immense gusher at Kirkuk, Iraq in 1927, renaming itself the Iraq Petroleum Company.

    By this period, Iranian popular opposition to the D'Arcy oil concession and royalty terms whereby Iran only received 16 percent of net profits was widespread. Since industrial development and planning, as well as other fundamental reforms were predicated on oil revenues, the government's lack of control over the oil industry served to accentuate the Iranian Government's misgivings regarding the manner in which APOC conducted its affairs in Iran. Such a pervasive atmosphere of dissatisfaction seemed to suggest that a radical revision of the concession terms would be possible. Moreover, owing to the introduction of reforms that improved fiscal order in Iran, APOC's past practise of cutting off advances in oil royalties when its demands were not met had lost much of its sting.

    The attempt to revise the terms of the oil concession on a more favourable basis for Iran led to protracted negotiations that took place in Tehran, Lausanne, London and Paris between Abdolhossein Teymourtash, Iran's Minister of Court from 1925-1932 and its nominal Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Chairman of APOC, John Cadman, 1st Baron Cadman, spanning the years from 1928 to 1932. The overarching argument for revisiting the terms of the D'Arcy Agreement on the Iranian side was that its national wealth was being squandered by a concession that was granted in 1901 by a previous non-constitutional government forced to agree to inequitable terms under duress. In order to buttress his position in talks with the British, Teymourtash retained the expertise of French and Swiss oil experts.

    [...]

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    Billions in Profit aren't enough? BP can go fuck itself

    http://www.cttitans.com/

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    Bank of America Corp. will lay off about 2,500 employees in Illinois

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    current financial implosion is result of serial bouts of financial deregulation

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    Himalayan glaciers are melting fast

    Himalayan glaciers are the headwaters for Asia's nine largest rivers, crucial for the 1.3 billion people who live downstream. The melting glaciers could endanger water supplies for hundreds of millions of people, it said.

    "Emission of greenhouse gases is the biggest threat to Kashmir's ecology and environment," said Arjimand Talib, head of ActionAid's Kashmir chapter, releasing the report in Srinagar, summer capital of the revolt-hit region.

    "Many of the areas have seen a complete disappearance of small glaciers. In other areas, the height of the small glaciers has reduced to over one-fourth of the original height," the 28-page report from the non governmental group said.

    Major glaciers were also melting fast, the report said, while water levels in almost all the streams and rivers in Kashmir have decreased by two-thirds during the last 40 years.

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    series of tornadoes hit central and southern England on Monday,

    http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06/Tornado_450x337.jpg

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    ewer and fewer penguin chicks are being born or are surviving as climate change ruins their environment

    A gentoo penguin.

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    Yes. Jena is America

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    Phonetic Notes For Moron Bush's UN Speech Accidentally Released

    Bush's UN Speech Full of Fone-eh-tick Pronunciations for World Leaders


    ronunciations for President Bush's friend French President Sarkozy "[sar-KOzee]" appeared in draft #20 on the UN website. Other pronunciations included the Mugabe "[moo-GAHbee] regime" and pronunciations for countries "Kyrgyzstan [KEYRgeez-stan]" and "Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]."

    Most leaders submit a text in advance, especially to help the many translators who simultaneously turn the speeches into more than half a dozen languages. The teleprompter also needs to be loaded with a copy of the President's words so it will appear on glass screens in front of the lectern.

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    My Great Big Cock Will Blow Up Mountains

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    New study for Severn energy plan

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    We'll see. Iraq to end contractor 'immunity'

    The new code would require contractors to be subject to Iraqi law and to be monitored by the Iraqi government.
    [...]

    Correspondents say their behaviour has incensed Iraqis who view them as private armies acting with impunity on their soil.

    The contractors are currently granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority - the now-defunct interim body set up by the US-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein.

    The agreement was extended shortly before the CPA was disbanded in June 2004.

    [...]

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    Shadow President and War Criminal Dick Cheney heads to Utah for a private speech on Friday

    Vice President Dick Cheney will speak to a super-secret,conservative policy group in Utah on Friday during his second trip to the state this year.
    Cheney will address the fall meeting of the Council for National Policy, a group whose self-described mission is to promote "a free-enterprise system, a strong national defense and support for traditional Western values."
    The organization -- made up of few hundred powerful conservative activists -- holds confidential meetings and members are advised not to use the name of the group in communications, according to a New York Times profile of the group.
    "The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before [or] after a meeting,'' a list of rules obtained by The Times showed. The group did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
    Czech Republic President Václav Klaus is also expected to address the Council for National Policy's meeting in downtown Salt Lake City. After his speech, Cheney will meet with Klaus, the vice president's office said Tuesday.
    Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, will also be in Utah on Friday but his campaign did not respond to a question about whether he would talk with the group.

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    Polygamist sect leader Warren Steen Jeffs was found guilty Tuesday

    art.warren.jpg

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    homophobic Muslim alliance derails UN's gay rights resolution

    UN sources said Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were doing everything they could to stop the resolution. "I suspect they want to stall as much as possible and lobby other countries to win support for their amendments," said a source.

    The historic resolution on "human rights and sexual orientation" was originally tabled by Brazil at the UN commission on human rights, in Geneva, with the support of 19 other countries including Britain. It calls on all UN member states to promote and protect the human rights "of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation".

    But the sentiments are anathema to many UN states; almost half outlaw gay sexual relations and more than 70 countries keep a total ban on homosexuality - in some cases it is punished by death.

    The British gay rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, said: "The vote has been derailed and delayed by Islamic fundamentalist states where gay people are either jailed, flogged or beheaded."

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    Bush administration urges Social Security cuts

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    Sun-powered homes defy a cool housing market

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    U.S. sues Illinois over immigration law

    Anton Zander Levey Look alike Michael "fuck up" ChertoffTaking a stand

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    CBS interview with Ahmadinejad

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    Arctic Ice shrinks by an Alaska plus a Texas

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    The Top 100 Effects of Global Warming

    Say Goodbye to Guacamole
    Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory predict hotter temps will cause a 40 percent drop in California’s avocado production over the next 40 years. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab]

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    Another Fascist republikkkan opposes Free Speech

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    Not A Fair Fight. Alan Greenspan could not Keep up with Naomi Klein

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    Outsourcing Works, So India Is Exporting Jobs

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    Gingrich wants 30 million dolars in 3 weeks

    Oink Oink

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    Author: Bush nominee helped mask FBI's pre-9/11 failures and kept al Qaeda's infiltration of US intelligence from view

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    Home sales, prices continue to fall

    Sales of existing homes, depressed by turmoil in credit markets, fell for a sixth straight month in August, pushing activity to the lowest point in five years, an industry trade group said Tuesday. A separate report showed that t he nationwide decline in home prices accelerated in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years.

    Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.

    Sales of existing single-family homes dropped by 4.3 percent in August from July, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted rate 5.5 million units a year, the slowest pace since August 2002.

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    Where Do I Begin

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    White House: Obama too "intellectually lazy" to work here

    This just in from the Irony-Free Department: A "senior official" in the White House of George W. Bush tells journalist Bill Sammon why Barack Obama won't be the next president of the United States: Obama is intellectually "capable" of the job, the official says, but he relies too much on easy charm. "It's sort of like, 'That's all I need to get by,' which bespeaks sort of a condescending attitude towards the voters ... and a laziness, an intellectual laziness."

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    Delusional Out of Control Narcissist Giuliani party seeks $9.11 per person

    Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani expounds on his political platform of homeland vigilance and preparedness by reciting some of his '12 commitments' during a visit before students, faculty, supporters and local GOP leaders in Pearl, Miss., in this Sept. 4, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

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    Separated at Birth

    http://www.markdroberts.com/images/Gilligan-Denver-4.jpgThe image “http://www.iranchamber.com/history/mahmadinejad/images/mahmoud_ahmadinejad1.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

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    "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

    art.iran.columbia.ap.jpg

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    Iran closes all border crossings with Iraqi Kurdistan region

    "Iran closed all its five outlets on the borders with the Kurdistan region," Jamal Abdullah told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
    A presidential statement on Saturday read that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani sent a message of "discontent" to U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad Ryan Crocker and the Multi-National Forces (MNF) commander in Baghdad General David Petraeus, in which he indicated that Iran threatened to close the borders with Kurdistan if the arrested Iranian citizen was not released.

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    Monday, September 24, 2007

    Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads

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    Photo in the News: "Nonexistent" Flying Fox Discovered

    Flying fox picture

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    Chimperor Bush to Skip U.N. Talks on Global Warming

    http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/blog/pictures/chimpy.jpg

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    Analysts watch, wince as Mexico's oil supply dwindles

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    Violent crimes on the rise, FBI reports

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    Joni Mitchell Shine

    Mitchell’s album will be something of a revelation to young people who might buy it at Starbucks when it’s released tomorrow if they listen to it and read the lyrics. Mitchell, the original singer-songwriter, presents herself in stark contrast to the dodo-brained warblers of this generation. She’s cynical and doesn’t mind expressing it.

    n my favorite song, “Bad Dreams,” she begins by painting a happy picture: “The cats are in the flower bed/A red hawk rides the sky/I guess I should be happy/Just to be alive...”

    But then the other foot falls, and it’s a doozy. When I first heard the next line, I actually laughed out loud. All I could think was, You tell ‘em, Joni:

    “But we have poisoned everything/And oblivious to it all/The cell phone zombies babble/Through the shopping malls…”

    And that’s just for starters. She observes: “You cannot be trusted/Do you even know you're lying/It's dangerous to kid yourself/You go deaf and dumb and blind.”

    Mitchell plays nearly all the instruments on the album herself, and does all the singing. And while the lyrics are harsh indictments of modern culture, Mitchell serves them up with grace and style. Her jazz renderings and melodies are gorgeous, and she even manages to weave in hooks and choruses as she delivers the bad news. This takes the bite out of what could have been stridency. A couple of listens, and songs like “Hana” and the clever “If I Had a Heart, I’d Cry” are hard to forget.

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    Speaking of Debt: Private Debt Much Higher Than During the Great Depression

    The staggering amount of private debt in the U.S. is frightening. The same debt problems that led to the Great Depression are currently present within our system:

    • The purchase of homes, automobiles, stocks, and other consumer goods on credit increased consumer spending, but compounded debt.
    • When price deflation occurred (similar to the home price depreciation now), people who were in debt fell into serious trouble.
    • Construction work plummeted. Homes were no longer being built in large numbers because they were no longer affordable.
    • Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted in large numbers.
    • Lenders tightened credit regulations, and began to limit loans.

    The one main difference between credit conditions during the Great Depression and credit conditions now is that private debt is much higher today. When the recession begins, it will be more difficult for households to come out unscathed, and much more difficult for people to recover.

    The Problem with Private Debt

    The problem with private debt has not gone unseen by our nation's leaders. Many years ago, Thomas Jefferson issued a dire warning about banks and debt:

    'If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless. I sincerely believe the banking institutions (having the issuing power of money) are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies. My zeal against these institutions was so warm and open at the establishment of the Bank of the United States (Hamilton's foreign system), that I was derided as a maniac by the tribe of bank mongers who were seeking to filch from the public.'

    Of course, the warning was ignored. The Federal Reserve System controls our currency, inflation, and deflation at the price of the American people. What most citizens don't realize is that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation that makes decisions based on the profits required by stockholders. The fact that Americans hold a great deal of private debt isn't troublesome to them, merely profitable.

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    French PM Fillon tells farmers 'France is broke'

    Mr Fillon's government is due to announce the 2008 budget this week with a deficit of €41.5billion (£29billion).

    But his remarks drew immediate fire, both from within his own ranks and from the opposition.

    Francois Bayrou, the head of the centrist Modem party, said Mr Fillon seemed to forget that both he and Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finance minister before becoming president, had been in government since 2002 without improving the situation.

    He added that Mr Sarkozy's decision to spend up to €15billion (£10.5billion) on a package of tax cuts had only made things worse. One deputy from Mr Fillon's UMP party added: "This phrase was badly timed. The French are liable to ask why we committed all this spending on the fiscal package if we are in such a bad way."

    It is the second time in two weeks that Mr Fillon has run into trouble over his tough-talking rhetoric.

    The first came when he announced that he only needed "the word" from Mr Sarkozy to roll out a plan to enact state pension reforms, even before trade unions had begun negotiations. They called a strike for Oct 18.

    This gaffe reportedly enraged Mr Sarkozy, who spent days reassuring the unions that they would be consulted.

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    UN envoy doubts U.S. assertion Iran arming Afghan insurgents

    In June, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Assistant Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said weapons were being shipped into Afghanistan from Iran. Burns said there was “irrefutable evidence” that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was arming the Taliban.

    Last week, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill, NATO’s senior Afghanistan commander, told the Washington Post that Western troops intercepted a cache of Iranian made weapons on Sept. 6 on the remote western Afghan-Iranian frontier in Farah province that included “upscale” roadside bombs similar to ones confronted by American forces in Iraq.

    Iran has denied that it is doing anything to subvert the peace in Afghanistan. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on a visit to Kabul last month that his government fully supports the Karzai government. In Ottawa, the federal government has no additional corroboration beyond the initial reports of negative Iranian influence in Afghanistan, but if true, they would have serious implications for Canadians on the ground there, said Bernier, Canada’s new foreign minister.

    “We’re deeply concerned about that,” Bernier told CanWest News Service in an interview. “If it’s true, such support will directly endanger the lives of Canadians and international forces and aid workers.”

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    Iranian leader tells off CBS reporter: 'You don't represent 300 million people'

    [...]

    "Well, I wouldn't say that what American government says is is the prerequisite here. Something happened there which led to other events. Many innocent people were killed there. Some of those people were American citizens obviously. We obviously are very much against any terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of discord among nations," Ahmadinejad replies. "Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects. And also to perhaps to air your views about the root causes of such incidents. I think that when I do that, I will be paying, as I said earlier, my respect to the American nation."

    "But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world," Pelley says. "You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans."

    "Well, I'm amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?" Ahmadinejad says. "You are representing a media and you're a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there."

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    Report: Cheney may have mulled pushing Israel to hit Iran

    [...]
    "Cheney had been mulling the idea of pushing for limited Israeli missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz - and perhaps other sites - in order to provoke Tehran into lashing out."

    According to the report, "The Iranian reaction would then give Washington a pretext to launch strikes against military and nuclear targets in Iran."
    [...]

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    The Boys from Baghdad: Iraqi Commandos Trained by U.S. Contractor

    Michael John, a spokesperson for USIS, told CorpWatch that the company is still under contract with the Pentagon for ERU training, but says that the support is provided strictly as part of training. “We are in a training and not in an operational capacity. The National Police Support Team (NPST) operates under the jurisdiction of Iraq's Ministry of Interior and the U.S. Department of Defense.”

    Dozens of interviews conducted by CorpWatch with high-ranking military and government officials over the past 12 months suggest that even at the level of Petreaus’s staff, few appeared to know the specific role and scope of ERU activity. What is clear is that the ERU is just one of at least six different U.S. “security” training programs worth over $20 billion that a variety of U.S. agencies have provided to the many factions in Iraq. (See accompanying boxes for examples of other programs.)

    It is becoming increasingly clear that such training programs may be causing or at least exacerbating civil war. Part of the blame lies within the complex failures of the U.S. occupation and part with the loyalties and skills of the forces recruited into the myriad security training programs that are associated with different ministries and thus with different, and often rival, political factions.

    “Of course, they are fucking things up,” Robert Young Pelton, author of “Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror” told CorpWatch. “Because the U.S. is arbitrarily putting weapons and power in the hands of those who choose to fight, rather than those who are in the moral right,”(2) explaining that few who sign up have any previous law enforcement credentials.

    The Third Force

    The fact that neither the Iraqi army nor the police were able to tackle the growing insurgency became glaringly obvious in April 2004 when violent uprisings exploded across the country. Iraqi soldiers assigned to fight in Fallujah fled the field.(3) A group of Baghdad police, sent to assist U.S. soldiers battling the Mahdi army in Najaf at the same time, also refused to fight.(4)

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    Romney, Advised By Blackwater’s Vice Chairman, Stays Silent On Blackwater Shootings

    Romney has a clear interest not condemning Blackwater. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater, currently serves as a Senior Adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues on the Romney campaign. From the April press release announcing that Black would be joining the campaign:

    “I am pleased to welcome Cofer Black to our campaign. He has a long and impressive career dedicated to making America safer and more secure in the world,” said Governor Romney. “Our country faces a new generation of challenges and Black’s experience at the forefront of our nation’s counterterrorism efforts will be a tremendous asset.”

    The recent incident was not the first violent episode that involved Blackwater in Iraq. Iraqi officials are now investigating “allegations about the security firm’s involvement in six other violent episodes this year that left at least 10 Iraqis dead.” The day before the Coalition Provisional Authority ceased to exist, L. Paul Bremer, then the chief American envoy in Iraq, issued an order that “granted American private security contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts.”

    Black previously served as the CIA’s chief of counterrorism. In 2001, he infamously ordered an agent to “Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice.”

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    Your Tax Dollars at Work Enriching "defense" contractors in a war of choice

    Golan armored vehicle, designed by PVI. in cooperation with RAFAEL, is proposed for the USMC MRAP program as well as the Israeli Army future heavy wheeled armored vehicle

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    Bush to ask for $50B more for war vehicles

    [...]
    Much of the new request -- which would bring the total 2008 budget for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere to nearly $200 billion -- will go to refurbish and purchase new military equipment such as mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, The New York Times reported.
    [...]
    Legislators have already approved $1.2 billion more than the $2.6 billion the Bush administration initially sought for the vehicles in fiscal year 2007. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., has introduced legislation to further increase funding for MRAPs by $23.6 billion.

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    War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says

    The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday.

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    Saturday, September 22, 2007

    Iraqi Government Ban on Blackwater almost as much of a Joke as George Bush as president

    American diplomats today resumed travel in Iraq in convoys escorted by Blackwater USA, the private American security contractor, less than a week after the Iraqi government banned the company following a shooting in which at least eight Iraqis were killed.

    It was unclear, however, whether the Iraqi authorities had approved the decision to allow Blackwater to resume operations and what this resumption of convoy traffic means in the developing dispute between Iraqi and American officials over the use of private security contractors in Iraq. Mirembe Nantongo, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy, said a limited number of diplomats had traveled outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and were likely accompanied by Blackwater guards. “As a general rule, in a limited manner, Blackwater is operating,” she said.
    [...]

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    The New South: Jena Louisiana

    http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p316/francislholland/noose.jpg

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    Scott Ritter - Crisis in US-Iranian Relations

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    China ignores 'Car Free Day'

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    German Beer Blast

    Oktoberfest

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    Rest In Peace Aunt Esmerelda

    art.alice.ghostley.ap.jpg

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    Fascist Bush Government keeping track of every move and every thought

    The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

    The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.

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    Freak

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    Blackwater Weapons Smuggling

    [...]

    The News & Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq without a license.

    The paper's report that the company itself was under investigation could not be confirmed by the AP.

    [...]

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    Iran warns West against attack

    [....]

    "Our message to the enemies is: Do not do it," the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said, speaking to reporters less than a week after France's foreign minister publicly raised the prospect of war.

    "They will regret it, as they are regretting it in Iraq," the commander added, speaking on the sidelines of an annual military parade just outside the capital.

    The Islamic Republic put on show medium-range missiles it has said could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf at the parade marking the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

    [...]

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    U.S. family seeks political asylum in Finland

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    Friday, September 21, 2007

    Merck abandons HIV vaccine trials

    HIV-infected cell

    In trials, the vaccine failed to prevent HIV infections among volunteers who were at risk of catching the virus, including gay men and sex workers.

    Merck had previously expressed high hopes for the drug, which it spent 10 years developing.

    'Headed for failure'

    Merck's international trial, called Step, began in 2004 and involved 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers from diverse backgrounds, between the ages of 18 and 45.

    Merck said that 24 of 741 volunteers who got the vaccine became infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

    Out of a group of 762 volunteers who were given a dummy version of the jab, 21 became infected with HIV.

    An independent monitoring panel recommended discontinuing the vaccination of volunteers, saying the trail was headed for failure.

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    Chile court extradites Fujimori

    Alberto Fujimori in a photo from July 2007

    The Chilean authorities say Mr Fujimori may be repatriated within hours.

    Mr Fujimori, 69, has been fighting extradition ever since he flew from Japan to Chile in 2005, and is currently under house arrest.

    He travelled there in a failed attempt to return to Peru to run in last year's presidential elections.

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    Dollar In Free Fall. Who Profits?

    [...]

    The level of the dollar - often regarded as a barometer of the U.S. economy's health - dropped to $1.4120 against the euro during business hours in Asia, reaching an all-time low for a second consecutive day.

    It also slipped against a number of other major currencies on speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep cutting interest rates as the world's largest economy weakens.

    Sentiment soured for the dollar after Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, stoked speculation that he might continue to lower rates following this week's aggressive trim of half a percentage point. Bernanke said Thursday that the sell-off in credit markets could make the housing recession more severe.

    The dollar recovered somewhat during European trading, but investors believe that the currency will continue to lose ground, as it has for much of the past six years.

    [...]

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    Cracker Judge Does the Racist Thing In Jena LA.

    [...]

    The case dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day.

    Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters has said he could find no state law covering the act.

    The incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites that culminated in the attack on Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious on school grounds. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that night.

    Five of the teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder — charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.

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    Iran directly confronts US backed rogue terrorist state Israel on alleged nuclear arms

    [...]
    Soltanieh also criticized the "continuous silence of the U.S. ... vis a vis the atrocities, aggression, bloodshed and violations of over 30 resolutions of the United Nations."

    That, he said, is "shameful and (a) dark point in the history of the United Nations, and the IAEA and the modern century at large."

    [...]

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    Xena

    The image “http://www.mysteryisland.net/xena.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

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    Bush Wearing the Skins of a protected Animal would be perfectly in Character for him and the whole stinking GOP

    art.mexico.boots.ap.jpg

    The arrest of Martin Villegas -- and Mexico's raid of a warehouse filled with hundreds of cowboy boots and belts made from endangered species -- has raised questions about how much Fox knew of the scheme and whether the former Mexican president purchased illegal boots himself.

    Before Fox left office in December, Villegas created a special brand of cowboy boot named after him, which was manufactured in Mexico's shoemaking capital, Leon, in Fox's home state of Guanajuato.

    The Mexican bootmaker also produced footwear for Fox's bodyguards, Cabinet members, relatives and friends -- including Bush, a fellow lover of ranchwear who accepted a pair of ostrich-skin cowboy boots as a gift during a visit to Fox's ranch in 2001.

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    Dan Rather Dramatically UNDERSTATES the incredibly Undeniably Obvious

    [...]

    "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

    In the suit, filed a day earlier in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, Rather claimed CBS and Viacom Inc. used him as a "scapegoat" and intentionally botched the aftermath of a discredited story about President Bush's military service to curry favor with the White House. He was removed from his "CBS Evening News" post in March 2005.

    "They sacrificed support for independent journalism for corporate financial gain, and in so doing, I think they undermined a lot at CBS News," he told King.

    Rather didn't mention other instances in which he believed news organizations bowed to corporate and government pressure.

    [...]

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    Thursday, September 20, 2007

    Oil Hits New High Over $82 On Supply Fears

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    America's Addiction to Debt Finally Crashes the System

    Market evangelists created the wreckage, but ordinary working people will bear the greatest burden.

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    Bill O'Reilly is the biggest horses ass in America

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    Almighty US dollar turns into ‘American peso’

    Since 2001 the dollar has lost more than half its value against the euro. It now costs nearly $1.40 to buy one euro. And it isn’t just the euro that seems to be growing stronger against the US dollar. It has declined against many other major world currencies, and even including minor ones like our peso, reflecting the dollar’s loss of purchasing power.

    As the Los Angeles Times reported, “in much of the world — from Brazil to Poland to Thailand — one dollar buys less than it did a year ago, and far less than it did four years ago. On Friday, the US currency hit a 30-year low against its Canadian peer.”

    Since 2001 the dollar has lost more than half its value against the euro. It now costs nearly $1.40 to buy one euro. And it isn’t just the euro that seems to be growing stronger against the US dollar. It has declined against many other major world currencies, and even including minor ones like our peso, reflecting the dollar’s loss of purchasing power.

    As the Los Angeles Times reported, “in much of the world — from Brazil to Poland to Thailand — one dollar buys less than it did a year ago, and far less than it did four years ago. On Friday, the US currency hit a 30-year low against its Canadian peer.”

    There isn’t a single explanation for why currencies rise and fall, the LA Times explains, but many experts believe that the sliding dollar is largely a function of the nation’s borrowing binge of the last two decades. That has left the US with a yawning trade deficit and the fact that it is deep in debt to foreigners.

    Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, blames President George W. Bush for America’s current economic problems. Greenspan says Bush pays too little attention to financial discipline. In a book to be published this week, In The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, Mr. Greenspan says Mr. Bush ignored his advice to veto “out-of-control” bills that sent the US deeper into deficit.

    There isn’t a single explanation for why currencies rise and fall, the LA Times explains, but many experts believe that the sliding dollar is largely a function of the nation’s borrowing binge of the last two decades. That has left the US with a yawning trade deficit and the fact that it is deep in debt to foreigners.

    Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, blames President George W. Bush for America’s current economic problems. Greenspan says Bush pays too little attention to financial discipline. In a book to be published this week, In The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, Mr. Greenspan says Mr. Bush ignored his advice to veto “out-of-control” bills that sent the US deeper into deficit.

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    The Weird Russian Mind-Control Research Behind a DHS Contract

    What's gotten DHS' attention is the institute's work on a system called Semantic Stimuli Response Measurements Technology, or SSRM Tek, a software-based mind reader that supposedly tests a subject's involuntary response to subliminal messages.

    SSRM Tek is presented to a subject as an innocent computer game that flashes subliminal images across the screen -- like pictures of Osama bin Laden or the World Trade Center. The "player" -- a traveler at an airport screening line, for example -- presses a button in response to the images, without consciously registering what he or she is looking at. The terrorist's response to the scrambled image involuntarily differs from the innocent person's, according to the theory.

    Gear for testing MindReader 2.0 software hangs on a wall at the Psychotechnology Research Institute in Moscow. Marketed in North America as SSRM Tek, the technology will soon be tested for airport screening by a U.S. company under contract to the Department of Homeland Security.

    Photo: Nathan Hodge

    "If it's a clean result, the passengers are allowed through," said Rusalkina, during a reporter's visit last year. "If there's something there, that person will need to go through extra checks."

    Rusalkina markets the technology as a program called Mindreader 2.0. To sell Mindreader to the West, she's teamed up with a Canadian firm, which is now working with a U.S. defense contractor called SRS Technologies. This May, DHS announced plans to award a sole-source contract to conduct the first U.S.-government sponsored testing of SSRM Tek.

    The contract is a small victory for the Psychotechnology Research Institute and its leaders, who have struggled for years to be accepted in the West. It also illustrates how the search for counter-terrorism technology has led the U.S. government into unconventional -- and some would say unsound -- science.

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    Finding the hidden bells and whistles in Firefox

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    in an effort to suppress dissent Simi Valley says citizens must pay for police service

    The bill for $39,306 is the preliminary pricetag for police services at the protest Sunday at the United Church of Christ. The protest brought out about 125 anti-illegal immigration activists and counter-protestors.

    The city wants the church to pay for services provided by the Simi Valley Police Department and mutual aid from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

    Mayor Paul Miller told the council Monday night that he's ready to send out the bill to the church to recoup the cost. He called church members irresponsible for "harboring an illegal immigrant."

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    Mich. U.S. House members scold federal agency for foreign autos

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    Housing layoffs

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    Paulson: U.S. to Hit Debt Limit Oct. 1

    [...]
    The limit is $8.965 trillion. Unless Congress votes to raise it, the country would be unable to borrow more money to keep the government operating and to pay debt obligations coming due.
    [...]

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    Blackwater's 'Drug War' Bonanza

    While Blackwater's mercenaries beg for mercy for killing a baby and 19 other people in Baghdad on Sunday, they're already working on another lucrative government contract on yet another foreign adventure: the "war on drugs."

    In a major new outsourcing deal reported by only a few outlets, including the Army Times, Blackwater will divvy up a $15 billion pot of government gold, along with four huge defense contractors: Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Arinc.

    Blackwater claims to be building remote-control spy airships. Purty darn good for an army based in a little North Carolina town — no, it's Currituck, not Mayberry.

    [...]

    t probably didn't hurt the mercenary army that, according to federal campaign records, its top execs gave $1,000 to Tom DeLay's campaign on December 14, 2004. Or that they contributed mostly to other openly God-fearing lawmakers, like Bono pal Rick Santorum, Kansas's Todd Tiahrt, and Indiana's Mike Pence — whose campaign-finance tool is the Principles Exalt a Nation PAC.

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    bill richardson points out bad nationa priorities

    [...]
    "We're a nation that spends $5.5 billion in cancer research — that's two weeks of the Iraq war," Richardson told The Associated Press. "It shows the misguided priorities."
    [...]
    Democratic presidential hopeful, Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., talks to The Associated Press in Washington Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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    Minot Air Force Base Where Plane was Accidentally loaded with Nukes

    1. All six people listed below are from Minot Airforce base
    2. All were directly involved as loaders or as pilots
    3. All are now dead
    4. All within the last 7 days in 'accidents' [Not all of them --LRP]

    http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=10465
    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070915/BREAKINGNEWS/70915012
    http://www.kxmc.com/News/161562.asp
    http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=140988
    http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/07/20/news/state/136489.txt
    http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9679367.html

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    Wednesday, September 19, 2007

    Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies After Being Shocked With Taser 10 Times

    [...]

    Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.

    "One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.

    According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five seconds.

    A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor, the report said. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled Delafield's death a homicide.

    [...]

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    AIPAC Operative, Disgrace to Humanity, Non-Journalist Wolf Blitzer

    http://delivery.viewimages.com/xv/57496532.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19396908EAF14430D35EF6693EEF764E01F5DC2DCC4BFFA88F6

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    Walmart Public Relation Blitz or Smoke and Mirrors on Healt care Coverage

    [...]

    The plans with the lowest premiums would still charge annual deductibles as high as $2,000 — typical for American corporate health plans, but perhaps steep for Wal-Mart employees, many of whom work part time and earn less than $20,000 a year. And the company’s plans have other limitations, including waiting periods as long as a year for new employees.

    Wal-Mart Watch, a group long critical of the company, said yesterday that “these plans are still unaffordable due to low wages or inaccessible due to waiting periods.”

    It is unclear how many of the 125,000 Wal-Mart workers without health coverage would sign up. But industry analysts said the program represented an upgrade for the 636,000 employees who already receive health insurance through Wal-Mart. They said it could force the company’s discount-retailing competitors to offer more generous plans for their own workers.

    [...]

    When will Americans get what every other industrialized nation in the world already gets?

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    "I am full of shit"

    Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at the Service Employees International Union Political Action Conference in Washington, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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    The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress

    he 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress are:

    Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
    Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
    Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
    Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
    Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
    Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
    Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
    Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
    Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
    Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
    Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
    Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
    Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
    Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
    Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
    Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
    Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
    Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
    Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
    Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
    Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

    Dishonorable Mention:

    Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
    Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

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    War means a windfall for already wealthy greed driven fascist fuck CEOs

    Take a look:

    • CEOs at top defense contractors have reaped annual pay gains of 200% to 688% in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
    • The chief executives at the seven defense contractors whose bosses made the most pocketed nearly a half-billion dollars from 2002 through last year.
    • The CEOs made an average of $12.4 million a year, easily more than the average corporate chief. Since the start of the war, CEOs at defense contractors such General Dynamics (GD, news, msgs), Halliburton (HAL, news, msgs) and Oshkosh Truck (OSK, news, msgs) have made, on average, more in four days than what a top general makes in a whole year, or $187,390.

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    Big Drop in Energy Costs Sends Consumer Prices Down for the First Time in 10 Months

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    Bush Administration Flooding Iraqi Black Market With Billions Of Dollars In Weapons

    [...]

    U.S. officials also acknowledged in June that they were arming Sunni groups who promised to fight Al-Qaeda. But as Center for American Progress Senior Fellows Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis note, the Bush administration’s short-sighted strategy is actually contributing to the deterioration of the security situation:

    First, the United States is arming up different sides in multiple civil wars that could turn even more vicious in the coming years. Second (and more important to America’s strategic interests) billions of dollars of U.S. military assistance is going to some of the closest allies of America’s greatest rival in the Middle East — Iran. The Shi’a-dominated Iraqi national army and security forces could quite quickly turn their weapons against American troops and allies in the region.

    [...]


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    U.S. Attorney Paulose Dresses Down Employee Using Terms ‘Fat,’ ‘Black,’ ‘Lazy,’ And ‘Ass’

    Highlights of the charges:

    – Paulose mishandled classified information. Black writes that Paulose regularly received “status updates on the war on terror” from intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The “secret” reports were supposed to be locked up, but Paulose “regularly left the reports loose in her office, sometimes unattended.”

    – Paulose threatened to fire an employee who raised concerns about the material. Then-First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti spoke to Paulose about safeguarding the classified materials and “as required by regulations, filed a report with the national office that oversees U.S. attorneys.” Paulose began “threatening” to fire Marti and “bad-mouthing” him to other colleagues. He eventually resigned.

    – Paulose repeatedly retaliated against employees suspected of “disloyalty.” Paulose “allegedly said that she would make the woman so miserable that she would want to quit. In some instances, Paulose allegedly ordered those in charge of performing job evaluations to downgrade the reviews of those she considered disloyal.”

    – Paulose called employees racial epithets. “Paulose allegedly denigrated one employee of the office, using the terms ‘fat,’ ‘black,’ ‘lazy’ and ‘ass.’”

    In April, four top staffers to Paulose voluntarily demoted themselves in protest of her “highly dictatorial style” of managing. She also “earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses and dressing down underlings.”

    A look at Paulose’s background indicates that she was handpicked by the Justice Department because of her personal connections, rather than her professional qualifications. She was a special assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and was best buds with Monica Goodling, who infamously admitted to considering “party affiliation in screening applicants to become immigration judges.”

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    Must Be the same bunch of drolling idiots who were confident in Bush national security plans

    Voters Confident in Clinton's Decisions On Health Care

    On the heels of Hillary Clinton's health care plan rollout, a new CBS News poll confirms the former first lady's advantage on what has become a top issue for the 2008 presidential campaign.

    Among Democratic voters, Clinton has a wide lead on the issue. Seven in 10 say they would be confident in her decisions on health policy, while just 41 percent say the same of Edwards and 38 percent the same of Obama. Half say she would do a better job handling health care than any of her rivals.

    [...]

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    Bad Cops! No Doughnuts! Citizen tasered at Kerry Speech.

    [...]
    "John kerry did try to interfere with the police. at one point, police where holding on to meyers. kerry got to a point where he almost lost his composure and said officer guy. you, let him go. i do want to hear his question, i do want to hear to what he has to say. i do want to answer him. that was at the point the officers said will pull you aside to ask your question. but as he was attempting to ask his question. the officers themselves appeared to me to make themselves clear not allowing him to stay and hear the question and yelling into his ear."
    [...]

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    U.S. Spy Chief: 9/11 'Could Have Been Prevented'

    [...]
    Director of National Intelligence, Michael McConnell, told members of the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday that "it was an issue of connecting information that was available."
    [...]

    Ah yes, the Reich Wing has made the government so dysfunctional, it didn't function! How is this news?

    [...]

    Given the vast resources of the intelligence community, along with the FBI's and CIA's knowledge that al Qaeda had an interest in flight training, and had sent 9/11 hijackers Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi and terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui to undertake such training in the United States, McConnell said, "For whatever reason, we didn't connect the dots."

    A federal judge in Virginia sentenced Moussaoui, the only person indicted in connection with the 9/11 attacks, to life in prison without the possibility of parole, in May 2006. He is serving his time at a super-maximum security federal facility in Florence, Colo.

    [...]

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    Tuesday, September 18, 2007

    Police Abuse a Citizen yet again

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    Bush Setting Up America for War With Iran

    [...]

    Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

    Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.

    Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action.

    [...]

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    Iraq Orders Murdering Blackwater USA Contractors Out

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    Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

    File photo shows the green streak of a meteor cutting across the sky. Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.(AFP/File/John Mottern)

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    Cascadian farms Organic Produce from Serbia

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    More Outsourced "organic" from chile

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    Organic Certifcation is Meaningless. Here is Why

    Anyone can get accredited and there is no national standard.

    The Federal standard is much weaker than the Oregon, by the way, and the number of organizations that are able to bring an ORGANIC label to a product, regardless of whether it actually is organic or not, is huge and controlled by vested interests.

    Of course this scam is part of the great Reagan-Bush -Gingrich-Delay and other right wing scum, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, plan to weaken the federal government so that their corporate cronies can reap the benefit.

    A single federal standard, strong inspections and enforcement would do a lot to stop this kind of CONSUMER FRAUD and also a lot to shut down the ongoing epidemic of food poisoning wrought by the centralized food supply dumped on top of the decentralized federal government.

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    Cascadian Farm "organic"

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