And back in the good ol' US of A, all things are just rosy

Ford cuts aim to align supply with sales
Company: More details about 'Way Forward' plan to be revealed in Sept.


(AP)
Updated: 8:54 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2006

DETROIT - In a sign it will no longer cling to market share at the expense of profit, Ford Motor Co. on Friday announced deep production cuts designed to bring its supply of vehicles in line with withering demand for its biggest sellers — pickups and SUVs.

Ford said it will temporary shut down 10 assembly plants across North America through the end of this year to cut its fourth-quarter production by 21 percent.

full article

Yet the MSM keeps telling me that we're living in properous times, thanks to Bushco.

Anonymous

So much for peace...

Israeli forces operate deep inside Lebanon
Raid marks broadest violation of 5-day-old cease-fire with Hezbollah

MSNBC
Updated: 5:35 a.m. ET Aug. 19, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah fighters battled Israeli commandos who landed near the militants’ stronghold deep inside Lebanon early Saturday, killing one soldier, in the first large-scale violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire between the sides.

Hezbollah said its guerrillas foiled the raid after a gunbattle, and the Israeli army said one soldier was killed and two were wounded but that the commando team completed its mission.

Three Hezbollah guerillas were also killed, Lebanese security sources said.

full article

Anonymous

Political fallout from ruling begins

THE WASHINGTON POST
Sat, Aug. 19, 2006

Political Fallout Begins Following Ruling On Warrantless Surveillance

A federal judge's ruling that warrantless wiretapping is unconstitutional set off a flurry of political responses Friday, as Republicans tried to keep control of the national security debate amid signs that their own party's ranks may be breaking under the pressure of the Iraq war.

The National Republican Senatorial Campaign challenged Democratic candidates to "stand up in opposition to a liberal judge," while the Republican National Committee released an Internet advertisement painting the Democrats as soft on defense. The ad shows prominent Democrats decrying warrantless wiretapping, abusive interrogations, ballistic missile defense and the war in Iraq through the opening of a cave, meant to represent the vantage point for terrorists monitoring the opposition party..

With that burst of activity, Republicans appeared ready to make the decision on wiretapping the 2006 equivalent of a Massachusetts judge's legalization of gay marriage in 2004: a rallying cry for the Republican base.

"They never miss an opportunity to play divisive politics on national security," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "The one casualty Americans would accept in the war on terror is partisanship, and that's the one thing George Bush won't give up."

But with polls showing Republican voters more divided on security issues than Democrats, it was unclear whether the strategy would work again.

"There is no consensus that Republicans are better on terrorism than the Democrats, as once was clearly the case," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

link

"There is no consensus that Republicans are better on terrorism than the Democrats, as once was clearly the case..."

I disagree... Rethuglicans are excellent at terrorism!

Anonymous

I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!

Not really......I hate that friggin mouse. But I am going to Orlando for a week. Maybe when I get back the world will have changed for the better. ha! Thanks in advance to Buckness and Mirther and Bro for watching the place.
Smell ya all later.......

Question Girl

LET'S TALK ABOUT DEPLETED URANIUM

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. The article I posted down the line on Lebanon made me think some more about Iraq. We have no idea what the actual casualties of this war are, or will be. First of all, I have to assume that the DOD counts deaths IN COUNTRY, like they did during Viet Nam. The men and women who died after they got home were not part of the statistics. Anyway, how many of our troops are going to come home, only to suffer debilitating illnesses, or worse...death... from chemical exposure? How many of them will have children who have birth defects or suffer strange diseases?

Let me give you some figures here from the first Iraq war from The Sorrows of Empire:

During 1990 and l991, some 696,778 individuals served in the Persian Gulf as elements of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Of those, 148 were killed in battle, 467 were wounded in action, and 145 were killed in accidents, totaling 760 casualties, quite a low number given the scale of the operations. As of May, 2002, however, the VA reported that an additional 8,306 soldiers had died and 159,705 were injured or ill as a result of service connected "exposures" suffered during the war. Even more alarmingly, the VA revealed that 206,861 veterans, almost a third of General Norman Schwarzkopf's entire army, had filed claims for medical care, compensation, and pension benefits based on injuries and illnesses caused by combat in 1991. After reviewing the cases, the agency has classified 168,011 applicants as "disabled veterans." In light of these deaths and disabilities, the casualty rate for the first Gulf War may actually be a staggering 29.3 percent.
Doug Rokke, a former army colonel and a professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University, was in charge of the military's environmental cleanup following the first Gulf War. The Pentagon has since sacked him for criticizing NATO commanders for not adequately protecting their troops in areas where ammunition made from depleted uranium was used, such as Kosovo in 1999. Rokkee observes that many thousands of U.S. troops have been based in and around Kuwait since 1990, and their exposure to DU seems to produce a higher figure than the VA's. he notes that between August 1990 and May 2002, a total of 262,586 soldiers became "disabled veterans" and 10,617 died. His numbers result in a casualty rate for the whole decade of 30.8%.

That's some scary shit!!! Can you imagine what the actual numbers are going to be when all is said and done this time around in Iraq???? Very scary, indeed. It will be years before we see the full scope of pain and suffering and death that will come out of this war. And that's not to mention what the Iraqis, and their children, and their children's children are / will suffer, also. I wonder if our country is planning for the HUGE expense of treating all the illness that comes out of this war for years to come. My guess is....they are not.

Here's another site with info on depleted uranium.

By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP National Writer

NEW YORK Aug 13, 2006 (AP)— It takes at least 10 minutes and a large glass of orange juice to wash down all the pills morphine, methadone, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, a stool softener. Viagra for sexual dysfunction. Valium for his nerves.

Full story here

Question Girl

FBI UPGRADE THAT WASN'T

Just one little instance of the waste. I have often wondered how much of the "emergency" funds that have been granted through congress for the war in Iraq have actually ended up in other places. That's the thing about not declaring war. The Pentegon is not held accountable. As Bat said, Just imagine what would happen if the Pentagon could ever successfully complete an audit or if there was true oversight of Halliburton and other Iraq, Afghanistan and Katrina contractors....
Batocchio sent this article in. Thank you!

By Dan Eggen and Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 18, 2006; Page A01

As far as Zalmai Azmi was concerned, the FBI's technological revolution was only weeks away.

It was late 2003, and a contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), had spent months writing 730,000 lines of computer code for the Virtual Case File (VCF), a networked system for tracking criminal cases that was designed to replace the bureau's antiquated paper files and, finally, shove J. Edgar Hoover's FBI into the 21st century.

Read more here

Question Girl

JEB BUSH REINSTATES DEATH WARRANT

Florida Governor Jeb Bush has reinstated a death warrant for a condemned killer whose execution was halted by a US Supreme Court decision that allows him to challenge the state's method of lethal injection.

Clarence Hill was strapped to a gurney and his arms attached to intravenous tubes set to deliver a fatal cocktail of three drugs when the US Supreme Court in January intervened and blocked his execution.

Full article here

Question Girl

LET'S SHAG BABY

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE music, and I LOVE to dance. This is the next dance I'd like to learn. I may have to go to South Carolina to do so, but before I die.....I'm gonna learn this one!!! Hey D....do you shag????

carolina shag dance

Question Girl

KATHERINE HARRIS STORY OF THE DAY

Think she's desperate?? What an embarassment to the human race! And what ever became of the dinner with the defense contractor??? I haven't seen or heard anything about that lately.

This election year is going to be a tough one, and that’s why Al Franken started Midwest Values PAC—to help elect (and re-elect) progressive candidates across the country through education, fundraising and grassroots mobilization. And our commitment to education is why people like Senator Rick Santorum, James Dobson, and former President Martin van Burren have endorsed our efforts.

Speaking of which, have you heard the latest Katherine Harris story? Apparently, she’s posting endorsements from people that actually don’t support her:

Read the full article here

Question Girl

AFGHAN OPIUM CROP UP 40%

AP , KABUL
Friday, Aug 18, 2006,Page 4

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has hit record levels -- up by more than 40 percent from last year -- despite hundreds of millions in counternarcotics money, Western officials said.

The increase could have serious repercussions for an already grave security situation, with drug lords joining the Taliban-led fight against Afghan and international forces.

More here

Question Girl

THE HIDDEN COST OF THE WAR IN LEBANON

The environmental consequences of the Lebanese conflict will take time to be fully felt

By Arne Jernelov

Friday, Aug 18, 2006,Page 9

In any war, the primary focus is on dead, wounded and displaced people. The number of people killed as a result of Israel's offensive in Lebanon at the time of writing is reported to be roughly 800 Lebanese and 120 Israelis -- a typical ratio for Arab-Israeli conflicts. The UN estimates the number of displaced persons to be more than a million, about 800,000 of them Lebanese.

Full article here

Question Girl

UTAH REPUBLICAN HELPED BROTHER'S LOBBY CLIENTS

Family values you know.....

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Christopher Cannon says he would not allow his wife or any of his eight children to lobby him on behalf of paying clients. But he has no such qualms when it comes to his older brother.

Read here

Question Girl

GONZO SAYS EXTREMISTS HOMING IN ON THE INTERNET

So I guess the terrorists figured out all those tubes....they probably heard Ted Stevens explain how it all works!!

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said Wednesday that more than 5,000 Internet sites were being used by extremists to train and coordinate internationally, filling the gap caused by the crackdown on the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

Full story here

Question Girl

A DAY IN IRAQ

Already this month, 27 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq. July brought the highest Iraqi death count since the beginning of this "war." Keep your eye on the ball folks.


08/17/06 NPR: Patrolling Baghdad for Terror and Trash
U.S. and Iraqi forces go through some of Baghdad's most dangerous districts, seizing weapons, arresting terrorism suspects and hiring residents to clear trash from the streets. The U.S. military describes the sweeps as the most important...
08/17/06 CENTCOM: MND-B SOLDIER KILLED BY IMPROVISED-EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldier died at approximately 7 a.m. today [8/17/2006] when he was hit by an improvised-explosive device south of Baghdad while conducting a dismounted patrol. Release Number: 06-08-01CL
08/17/06 newhouse: One Day in Iraq, One Lifetime to Recover
His legs are gone, but Steven Smith's courageous Army swagger remains intact...April 4 was Smith's first and only day in Iraq...the Humvee he was riding in struck a roadside bomb. The explosion took both of his legs from the knee down
08/17/06 AP: Iraq Doubles Funding for Oil Imports
Iraq has doubled the money allocated for importing oil products in August and September to tackle the country's worst fuel shortage since Saddam Hussein's 2003 ouster, a senior Iraqi official said Thursday.
08/17/06 Reuters: Iraqi army arrest six gunmen in Basra
The Iraqi army arrested six gunmen in Basra and 58 suspected insurgents in different parts of Iraq in the last 24 hours, Iraq's defence ministry said in a statement.
08/17/06 Reuters: Two bodies found dead just north of Falluja
The bodies of two men with gunshot wounds, bearing signs of torture, were found dead just north of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 NYTimes: Bombs Aimed at G.I.’s in Iraq Are Increasing
The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraq rose in July to the highest monthly total of the war, offering more evidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthen despite the killing of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
08/17/06 AFP: Iraqi parliament speaker dismisses ouster plans as 'lies'
Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani has dismissed as "lies" reports that lawmakers were planning to oust him, Jordan's state-run Petra news agency reported.
08/17/06 Reuters: No calm for Baghdad streets (video)
Baghdad's streets and markets continue to be dangerous places for civilians and police. At least three people were killed and 26 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a crowded market in eastern Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 Centcom: SOLDIER DIES IN AL ANBAR (confirmed)
A Soldier assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division died from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province Aug. 16.
08/17/06 AP: Car bomb kills 7 in Baghdad's Sadr City slum
A car bomb exploded Thursday in Baghdad's biggest Shiite district, killing seven people and injuring 15, officials said. Iraq's prime minister insisted that Iraqi forces were ready to take over security duties in most provinces despite rising violence.
08/17/06 Kuna: Three Iraqi policemen killed in car bomb attack in Baghdad
Three Iraqi policemen were killed in a car bomb attack in the western suburb of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Thursday...A source at the police said in press remarks a booby-trapped car went off near a police patrol in Mansour area in western Baghdad.
08/17/06 AP: Iraq Violence Feeds Funeral Businesses
Back in 1982, Radhwan Mizaal Ali opened a tiny shop offering funeral supplies. Now he runs six shops, and business is booming. ``Whenever they beat war drums, our business flourishes more,''
08/17/06 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills two civilians in Daquq
A roadside bomb exploded in the town of Daquq, 45 km (25 miles) south of Kirkuk, killing two civilians and wounding a third, police said.
08/17/06 Reuters: Three policemen wounded by roadside bomb in Baghdad
Three policemen were wounded when a car bomb exploded in Mansour district, west-central Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said
08/17/06 Reuters: Nine people wounded in attack on Kurdish security
Nine people were wounded, including four civilians, when a suicide car bomber targeting Kurdish security forces blew himself up on a road in Sinjar...Police had earlier said five guards were killed in the blast.
08/17/06 Reuters: Iraqi interpreter killed in Mahmudiya
An Iraqi interpreter working on a U.S. military base was killed by gunmen in Mahmudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 Reuters: Lieutenant Colonel killed in Mosul, policeman killed in Falluja
Lieutenant Colonel Abdul-Ilah Abdul-Kareem of Mosul police was gunned down in western Mosul...Gunmen killed a policeman in the city of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 Reuters: Iraqi soldier found dead im Balad
One Iraqi soldier securing oil fields was found dead, with 13 gunshot wounds to the head, a day after he was kidnapped in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 Reuters: Bodies of six blindfolded civilians retrieved from the Tigris
The bodies of six blindfolded civilians with their hands bound and with multiple gunshot wounds were retrieved from the Tigris river in Suwayra, a town 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
08/17/06 AFP: Twenty people wounded in Muqdadiyah
In the town of Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baquba, 20 people were wounded including three policemen when three mortars rounds slammed into a market on Thursday, police said.
08/17/06 AFP: Six civilians killed in Baquba (cont.)
A fifth victim was gunned down by men after they stole his car outside Baquba, while a civilian from the village of Zhagania, north of town, was shot dead in a coffee shop, police added.
08/17/06 AFP: Six civilians killed in Baquba
Another six people were killed in a string of shootings in and around Baquba...Three of the dead were brothers, who owned an agricultural equipment shop, while another was a salesman. The four were shot in the centre of Baquba market.
08/17/06 AP: Car bomb kills four in Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite stronghold
At least four people are dead and a dozen more injured from a car bomb that blew up in Baghdad's Sadr City, the slum that is a stronghold of support for anti-U-S Muslim cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr (mook-TAH'-duh ehl SAH'-dur).
08/17/06 irinnews: Lawyers killed for defending cases “against Islam”
Defending the rule of law and women’s rights is costing some Iraqi lawyers their lives. Since October 2005, 38 lawyers have been murdered and hundreds attacked for defending cases which their enemies say are “against Islam”,
08/17/06 BBC: Displaced Iraqis - Sunni family's story
Jamal Anour, 51, his wife and two children are among tens of thousands of Iraqis who have fled sectarian violence in recent months. The Sunni musician had lived in the Shaab area of Baghdad since the 1980s. Once a mixed district...
08/17/06 VOI: U.S. forces launch arrest campaign in Falluja
The U.S. forces started in the early hours of Thursday an arrests campaign and raids in Falluja, eyewitnesses said. U.S. Hummers accompanied by Iraqi security forces cordoned off in the early hours of Thursday Dubbat neighborhood in central Falluja
08/17/06 Xinhua: Gunmen shoot dead a senior police officer in northern Iraq
Gunmen in Iraq assassinated on Thursday a senior official of Mosul police station while he was going out of his house in the center of Mosul, about 400 km north of Baghdad, a source from local police told Xinhua.
08/17/06 AP: U.S. Soldier Killed In Western Iraq
The U.S. military today said that another of its troops has been killed in the western Iraqi province of Al-Anbar. The statement says the soldier was killed in combat on August 16, but provides no other details.

Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties

Question Girl

GLENN GREENWALD ON THE ILLEGAL WIRETAP DECISION

Thanks again to Bat!

I have read the opinion. Here is my immediate analysis of it. It is a very strong opinion in some places, weak in others, but is rather straightforward -- and sometimes eloquent -- in its almost always unequivocal rejection of the Bush administration's arguments:

Read more from Greenwald here

Question Girl

BREAKING NEWS..... JUDGE RULES NSA WIRETAP PROGRAM ILLEGAL, MUST HALT RIGHT AWAY

UPDATE:

By SARAH KARUSH
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 17, 2006; 1:09 PM

DETROIT -- A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

"Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution," Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.

From the Washington Post

CBS/AP) A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

More here


-- A federal judge has ruled that the federal government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.

I'll post more when I find it. Thanks to Batocchio for the tip

Question Girl

MIDDAY MUSIC BREAK

In honor of my dear departed friend, Lexis O'Leary..... a little Emmylou.
Well I'm 1600 hundred miles from the people I know.....
Emmylou Harris - Two More Bottles of Wine

Question Girl

NEWS YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW

3 LOST MEXICAN FISHERMAN FOUND 5,500 MILES AWAY, NINE MONTHS LATER

NEBRASKA MAN ARRESTED FOR 226TH TIME

EX-WIFE SAYS RAMSEY KILLER IN ALABAMA AT TIME OF MURDER

JUDGE DISCIPLINED FOR ORDERING COURTROOM TO CHEER SEAHAWKS

JUMPING STURGEON KNOCKS MAN OUT

HYBRID MUTANT FOUND DEAD IN MAINE

ONLINE DATING FOR ORANGUTANS

Question Girl

DOLPHIN SAVED FROM SPEEDO SWIM TRUNKS

You see....those Speedos are never a good thing. What cracks me up about this is, the advertisements for Speedo swimwear next to the article.

By William Mullen
Chicago Tribune
Posted August 17 2006, 9:20 AM EDT


A lucky adolescent male bottlenose dolphin is back to living nude and free in Gulf Coast Florida's Sarasota Bay after making a potentially fatal wardrobe choice early this summer.

The 10-year-old dolphin, known as Scrappy, probably owes its life to a Brookfield Zoo marine mammal research team that works year round in the bay.

Read article and order your Speedo here

Question Girl

ARREST IN RAMSEY CASE....IN CASE YOU DIDN'T HEAR

How do you "accidently" strangle someone and crack their skull?

JonBenet Ramsey Murder Suspect Admits He Killed Her (Update3)
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- American John Mark Karr told Thai police he accidentally killed JonBenet Ramsey, a 6-year-old girl found slain in the basement of her family's Colorado home almost a decade ago, officials said.

Karr, 41, was arrested at his apartment in Bangkok yesterday following a request by the U.S. Embassy, Police Lieutenant General Suwat Tumrongsriskul said during a press briefing with U.S. authorities in Bangkok. Autopsy reports showed JonBenet had been strangled with a rope and her skull had been fractured.

Full article here, in case you haven't heard it yet.

Question Girl

The Smell of Fear

Excellent piece by Robert C. Koehler of OpEdNews. This is the entire article...

August 16, 2006 at 19:03:12
The Smell of Fear

That $100-a-bottle perfume that inconvenienced passengers tossed into airport trash cans last week, along with the lip gloss, toothpaste and shampoo, added the missing element of home-front sacrifice to the war on terror, which may explain why initial media coverage was so enthusiastic and skepticism-free.

It was a story everyone understood - us vs. them, wise-cracking stoicism, a big jolt of fear - and for a while the nation could return to its pre-quagmire delusions of Pearl Harbor/Good War redux. That's the story the media have tried to cover all along.

And, oh, they keep trying: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." That was our president, of course, still reading "The Pet Goat" to the nation, still quoted straight up as he simplifies a complex world for us. The fanatics who hate freedom will even try to detonate our Prell, our Crest, our Fiji Water, our Eau de Toilette.

Turns out that those of us who thought something smelled funny about the timing and all - peace had just broken out in Connecticut, for instance - were getting a whiff of more than just discarded aftershave.

It's outrageous enough that the arrest in London last week of 24 terror suspects was premature and dovetailed not with the accumulation of evidence against them, but with the White House's need to call the voters who dumped Joe Lieberman "Defeatocrats" (House Majority Leader John Boehner) and coddlers of "al-Qaida types" (Dick Cheney).

But the outrage is magnified by the fact that the Bush administration, even as it stoked national paranoia over a plot to detonate carryon liquids aboard transatlantic flights, was, according to the Associated Press, quietly defunding the development of technology to detect those very bombs. Indeed, the research arm of the Department of Homeland Security has become a "rudderless ship without a clear way to get back on course." This is the bipartisan assessment of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the AP said.

Only Republicans are allowed to be this incompetent! It's "heckuva job, Brownie" all over again, but with a wicked twist. When it comes to national security, the clueless fumbling of the Homeland Security bureaucracy feeds the Bush administration's politics of fear.

"Weeks before Sept. 11, this is going to play big," a White House official, speaking anonymously about the London arrests, told Agence France Presse. Yeah, I'll bet, especially if the Defeatocrats can do no more than cringe and whimper that they're tough on terror, too.

And the "new normal" at airport terminals gets a little bit weirder. Apropos of nothing but politics, shoeless passengers add a new step to the counterterror dance they have to do to board a plane.

In a rational world, terrorism would be addressed with objectivity, intelligence and an ongoing effort, in this flawed world, to redress the cultural misunderstandings and gaping injustices that foment it; and maybe, while we're at it, an all-out commitment to developing alternative energy sources, among much else. On Planet Bush, terrorism is addressed by turning shampoo bottles into objects of hysterical suspicion. And when we get used to that, they'll come up with something else. It's faith-based fear, and they can't govern without it.

Consider how desperate the situation is:

"Republicans have become increasingly alarmed that the war might drag down incumbents," the New York Times reported the other day. "A senior Republican consultant with ties to the White House, who was granted anonymity so he could describe internal research for a Republican member of Congress, said he had recently conducted a focus group in a highly contested Congressional district in the Philadelphia suburbs.

"He was shocked, he said, at the degree of hostility among Republicans toward the war, even accounting for the fact that Northeast Republicans are more moderate than their counterparts in the rest of the country."

What to do, what to do? Rather than think about changing course, in recognition of the fact that it's losing its base, the Bush adminstation, through calculated and highly sophisticated fear-mongering (no incompetence here), is pushing us deeper into more of the same. If the U.S. Constitution were color-coded, we'd be in code red.

"The goals of the White House are not to stop terrorism; the goal of the White House is to allow terrorism to fester in order to - as the basic game plan for dictators goes - use fear to consolidate tyrannical power and do away with our Constitutional checks and balances of government and guarantee of individual liberties," the Web site BuzzFlash editorializes.

The word for this, the editorial notes, is treason.

Get it yet? We do have something to be afraid of, but the only way to defeat it is by stepping up our citizenship and working to defeat the crowd that is turning the whole country into a place whose laws are no more recognizable than the procedures at our airports.

Anonymous

Scientists Find Brain Evolution Gene

Scientists Believe They Have Found Key Gene That Helped Human Brain Evolve From Apes

SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science

WASHINGTON Aug 17, 2006 (AP)— Scientists believe they have found a key gene that helped the human brain evolve from our chimp-like ancestors. In just a few million years, one area of the human genome seems to have evolved about 70 times faster than the rest of our genetic code. It appears to have a role in a rapid tripling of the size of the brain's crucial cerebral cortex, according to an article published Thursday in the journal Nature.

Study co-author David Haussler, director of the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said his team found strong but still circumstantial evidence that a certain gene, called HAR1F, may provide an important answer to the question: "What makes humans brainier than other primates?" Human brains are triple the size of chimp brains.
...
However, the gene changed so fast that Clark said that he has a hard time believing it unless something unusual happened in a mutation. It's not part of normal evolution, he said. Haussler attributed the dramatic change to the stress of man getting out of trees and walking on two feet.

full article

Take that, ID proponents!
Does anyone have Robertsons or Falwells email or snail-mail address?

Anonymous

DID EAVESDROPPING THWART TERRORISTS PLOT?

Oh, of course it did. Just ask them....well, you don't have to ask them. They're going to tell you it did. Skeletor whines that Britain has broader powers to fight terrorism and they can hold people for a month without charging them. EXCUSE ME SKELETOR...... you have the FISA act and choose not to use it. You wiretap, you view phone records, you read emails. You arrest people and hold them for YEARS without charging them. You do pretty much anything you fucking want to do.....so how does Britain intelligence have anything on you? You already have the tools to fight terrorism. You just don't want to use them. You want to be able to do anything you want, regardless if it's within your legal limits or not. You want no limits. I'm so sick of people saying our intelligence agencies don't have the "tools" they need to fight terrorism. They do. They are in place. And it's been said over and over. If these tools aren't enough, then go to Congress and enact new laws to give you new tools. That's the way it works!!!! What is so hard to understand about that??? The Homeland Security Budget has gone from 19.5 billion in 2002, to 41.1 billion in 2006. Our ports are still not secure, our airports are not secure, our borders are not secure. I think the problem is not that you don't have the tools available....it's that your incompetent and wasteful. You've known since the early 90's about the possibility of "liquids" being used. Why didn't you do something about it? Why are you constantly REactive and not PROactive?
My guess..... some guy in Pakistan was tortured into making up this story. So far....no charges. No pictures of these guys. No plane tickets. No liquids. It sure did take the heat off of Iraq, though.....didn't it. Iraq.....remember.....where more people died in July than any month since we've occupied it. Iraq.....where 2,602 U.S. soldiers have died. Iraq....where British soldiers are walking away. Iraq....where there IS a civil war going on. Iraq....where Americans want our troops out. Iraq.....you know.....THAT quaqmire.

Thursday, August 17, 2006
THE AS yet untold story of how British, U.S. and Pakistani authorities thwarted a plot by Islamic extremists to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners could provide a fresh perspective on a heated controversy over intelligence-gathering techniques.

Read more of the Republican article here

Question Girl

VIDEO OF BLITZER 1989

This was at the University of Pennsylvania, 1989. Sponsored by the International Student Council. Check out Blitzer's body language and facial expression after Finkelstein finishes speaking. Priceless.....

Wolf Blitzer is a Zionist

Question Girl

LOU DOBBS WRITES......

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Soviet Union, Marxist Leninism, the Evil Empire and their ugly metaphor, the Berlin Wall, crumbled and collapsed almost 17 years ago.

At the time, I thought it was strange that the United States didn't have the inclination to celebrate. There were no victory parades and no fireworks; nor did Congress declare a V-CW Day, as in Victory in the Cold War. There weren't even any grand speeches about America's emergence as the World's Only Superpower.

Read more from Uncle Lou here

Question Girl

BIRTH PANGS OF A NEW CHRISTIAN ZIONISM

This post is really Bro's. I'm posting it. A must read! And these are the people influencing our foreign policy.

Washington, DC

Over the past months, the White House has convened a series of off-the-record meetings about its policies in the Middle East with leaders of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a newly formed political organization that tells its members that supporting Israel's expansionist policies is "a biblical imperative."

Full article at the Nation

Question Girl

A LITTLE MIDDAY MUSICAAAAA

I've always loved Rory Gallagher. I would marry you baby.....

Rory Gallagher - I Wonder Who 1984

Question Girl

BEFORE I FORGET MY BROTHER.....

Happy Birthday....from Me, Buckness and Mirther....

Happy birthday

Question Girl

INSIDE THE IRAQI FORCES FIASCO

This is a great article. A great news source.

By David J. Morris

The US effort to train Iraqi forces -- and bring American troops home -- is mired in bureaucratic mismanagement, inept recruits and astonishing shortages of equipment.

Back in March, Marine Maj. William McCollough, the commanding officer of a small team of U.S. military advisors training an Iraqi army battalion in the volatile Anbar province, found out that his team had failed to receive a supply of 40 mm grenades.

Full article here

Question Girl

IS BUSH AN IDIOT?

I don't care for Scarborough, but I thank him for posing the question.

Raw Story has the video. Take a look!!


From Scarborough

One of the President's former aides told me recently that he's intellectually shallow and one of the most incurious public figures this man had ever met. And I hear it from congressmen I hear it from senators, I hear it from staff members. Shouldn't that concern us?

Question Girl

GROUP SAYS IRAN IS NOT "A CRISIS"

Things just aren't going Georgie's way. They've tried to backdoor their way into Iran, and that didn't work. They still keep shooting their mouths off about how dangerous Iran is, and now they have a bunch of generals, diplomats and security officials saying Iran is not a threat. Back to the drawing board.

WASHINGTON — Seeking to counter the White House's depiction of its Middle East policies as crucial to the prevention of terrorist attacks at home, 21 former generals, diplomats and national security officials will release an open letter tomorrow arguing that the administration's "hard line" has actually undermined U.S. security.

The letter comes as President Bush has made a series of appearances and statements, including a visit Tuesday to the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., seeking to promote the administration's record on security issues in advance of November's midterm congressional elections.

Full article here

Question Girl

GEORGE ALLEN'S POSITIVE CAMPAIGN

George Allen....what an asshole!

macaque

Question Girl

JULY DEADLIEST MONTH YET IN IRAQ

We send in extra troops to quell the violence, and Iraq has the most violent month yet. No wonder the talking point just changed from stay the course, to adapt to win. I don't think their adapting is working, either.

By Edward Wong and Damien Cave
The New York Times
Posted August 16 2006

Baghdad · July appears to have been the deadliest month of the war for Iraqi civilians, according to figures from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, reinforcing criticism that the Baghdad security plan started in June by the new Iraqi government has failed.

An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed each day in July, according to the figures. The total number of civilian deaths that month, 3,438, is a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly double the toll of January.

Full story here

Question Girl

ABU GHRAIB WHISTLEBLOWER SPEAKS

In 2004, an American soldier stationed at Abu Ghraib handed a CD full of incriminating photographs to the Army Criminal Investigation Division. The soldier's name was Joe Darby, and the pictures showed the world what was happening at the now notorious prison. For this act of courage, he was vilified by his fellow soldiers, his friends, and even his family. Now, for the first time, Darby tells his story.

Read Joe Dary's story here

Question Girl

RECRUITER VIOLATIONS ON THE UPSWING

So they keep bragging about how they're making their recruitment goals each month. Think this is how?? Violations rose from 4,400 cases in 2004 to 6,600 in 2005.

A congressional watchdog agency reports there has been a significant increase in violations by military recruiters, with 5 percent of recruiters having committed a serious violation.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says a 50 percent increase occurred between fiscal 2004 and 2005 in substantiated cases of recruiter wrongdoing. A 100 percent increase in criminal violations, such as falsifying documents and sexual harassment, took place over the two fiscal years.

More here

Question Girl

FIRST KATRINA FLOOD CASE RULING

I sure wish they had received a better settlement than this, but they are claiming it as a win.

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi (CNN) -- A federal judge Tuesday rejected a couple's insurance claim for Hurricane Katrina-related flood damage in a case sure to resonate with homeowners ravaged last year by the storm.

Senior District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. said the insurance policy of plaintiffs Paul and Julie Leonard of Pascagoula, Mississippi, specifically excluded flood damage.

Ful story here

Question Girl

IN ISRAEL, THE POLITICAL CASUALTIES BEGIN TO MOUNT

They must take lessons from the U.S. politicians, eh?

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006
The Lebanon cease-fire is holding for a second day, but the casualties in Israeli politics are just starting to mount. Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, an ex-fighter pilot who was the chief strategist of Israel's less-than-satisfactory war against Hizballah, is still catching flak for Israel's failure to deliver a killing blow to Hizballah during the four-week campaign. But Haltuz is now in deep trouble on the home front as well, where he stands accused of an unusual case of insider trading that some might argue borders on war profiteering

Full story here

Question Girl

STEINMEIER CANCELS VISIT TO SYRIA

Ok....back to the news. :-)

BERLIN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier cancelled a planned trip to Syria on Tuesday because of a speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in which he blamed the United States for Middle East troubles.

"The speech today by Syrian President Assad is a negative contribution that is not in any way justified in view of the current challenges and opportunities in the Middle East," Steinmeier said in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

Read more here

Question Girl

I'M NEWSED OUT .....HOW ABOUT A LITTLE ROD

The sound on this isn't the best, but it's one of my favorite Faces tunes. I saw them in the early 70's at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. That was such a great place for concerts. We had front row tickets, and the band had cases of champaigne on stage. They would drink some, and then pass the bottles down to us. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. My hearing has never been the same...... what'd ya say?


Faces - Stay with me

Question Girl

U.S. ACKNOWLEDGES EXPLOSIONS HOSTILE ACT

Car bombs causing gas explosions...and the U.S. decides it was due to an hostile act. Fucking brilliant!!!!!!!!

Car bombs triggered gas explosions in a Shiite neighborhood two days ago, the U.S. said Tuesday, acknowledging that the attack was due to a hostile act.

At least 63 Iraqis were killed and 140 wounded in the series of explosions Sunday night in Zafraniyah. Iraqi officials said the blasts were due to car bombs and a rocket attack from a Sunni neighborhood under U.S. control.

Question Girl

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN RECORDING MISSING

Misplaced? This administration is riddled with incompetence.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. government has misplaced the original recording of the first moon landing, including astronaut Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," a NASA spokesman said on Monday.

Story here

Question Girl

DEAD REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE REMAINS ON BALLOT

And her death is under investigation......gee.....

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Nevada Republicans will get another reminder of the death of one of their statewide candidates when they vote in Tuesday's primary.

Under state law, election officials must post notices at polling places notifying voters that treasurer candidate Kathy Augustine is dead, even though her name remains on the ballot. Election officials didn't have enough time to remove her name.

Full article here

Question Girl

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT CARTER

A voice of reason....

Former US president Jimmy Carter speaks with DER SPIEGEL about the danger posed to American values by George W. Bush, the difficult situation in the Middle East and Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro.

Read the interview here

Question Girl

MILTARY OUSTERS FOR BEING GAY UP 10%

So what if someone claims they are gay so they can get out of the military? Do they have some kind of "gaydar" to judge whether they are really gay or not? It's hard to believe that in this day and age, this has any bearing on whether you can be in the military or not.

By John Files
The New York Times
Posted August 15 2006

WASHINGTON · The Defense Department discharged 726 service members last year for being gay, up about 10 percent from 2004, figures released by a gay rights group show.

The group, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, obtained the information through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Read here

Question Girl

EXPERTS MEET IN PRAGUE TO DECIDE IF PLUTO REALLY IS A PLANET

Ok, I say no matter what they find.....Pluto is a planet. Call it a "grandfathered" planet.

Astronomers are gathering in the Czech capital, Prague, hoping to define exactly what counts as a planet.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) hopes to settle the question of Pluto, which was first spotted in 1930.

Experts are divided over whether Pluto - further away and considerably smaller than the eight other planets in our Solar System - deserves the title.

Continue reading here

Question Girl

DRUG SUB FOUND OFF SPAIN'S COAST

This is news to me. I had never heard that the Columbians have used subs to smuggle cocaine.

A submarine which police say may have been used for cocaine smuggling has been found floating off Spain's north-western coast.
It was spotted by a member of the public in an inlet along the rugged coastline on Sunday.

No drugs were found on board the vessel, but it is now being dismantled at a shipyard in Moana, near Vigo.

It is reported to be about 10m (33ft) long, made by amateurs from basic materials, not by professionals.

Article here

Question Girl

JILL CARROLL STORY PART 1

I can't, in my wildest dreams, imagine what being a captive would be like. I'm glad Ms. Carroll made it home safely.

My chief captor had an idea about how to prod the U.S. government into action: another video.

He said this one would be different, and left.

I turned to the two guards sitting on cushions a few feet away and started to panic. Really, really panic.

"Oh my God, oh my God, they're going to kill me, this is going to be it. I don't know when but they're going to do it," I thought.

Read the rest here

Part II here

Question Girl

FBI: NO TERRORISTS IN CELL PHONE CASE

Gee, what a surprise. Hope these kids sue, too.

The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups.

Also, a prosecutor in a separate Ohio case said he can't prove a terrorism link to two men arrested after buying large numbers of cell phones and will drop terrorism charges against them.

Read here

Question Girl

IRANIAN BROTHERS SUE OVER LONG DETENTION

I'll be watching this one..... good luck to these guys!! The shit this administration gets away with is unbelievable.

Four Iranian brothers who were detained for more than three years after the 2001 terrorist attacks filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court, claiming they were held on false pretenses during an FBI investigation.

The brothers' attorney said they "were detained longer than virtually all of the post-Sept. 11 detainees caught up in the sweeps of non-citizens." The four were released from custody in March 2005

Read story here

Question Girl

For your listening pleasure...

Ambrosia - The Biggest Part of Me



Enjoy!

Anonymous

DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINE ON EBAY

Do you think there's ANY chance of fair elections?

Diebold on ebay

And check this out

Question Girl

BROWARD COUNTY OFFICER APOLOGIZES FOR REMARKS

Thanks to LafinGas for sending this in. My own paper, and I missed it! What struck me is Sheriff's spokesman Elliot Cohen said the tape was reviewed "a long time ago" and it was determined to have broken no department rules."There's a difference between violating department procedure and just being inappropriate," he said.

By Madeline Baró Diaz
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 10 2006


The ranking Broward Sheriff's officer shown on a training tape in which deputies made fun of protesters at a free trade summit apologized Wednesday, but said his deputies did not violate department policy.

"The comments were inappropriate and unprofessional and I shouldn't have made them," Major John Brooks said during an interview at the Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. "I'm apologizing to the people being talked about, I'm apologizing to the BSO and to the public."

The tape that featured Brooks was a training video made during and after protests that took place during the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Miami. In the video, one deputy refers to the protesters as "scurrying cockroaches."

Read more here

Question Girl

STEINMEIER TO VISIT SYRIA TOMORROW IN BID TO WIN SUPPORT FOR U.N. LEBANON PEACE RESOLUTION

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Syria tomorrow in a bid to win President Bashar al-Assad's support for the United Nation's Lebanon peace resolution.

Winning over Syria's ``constructive support'' for the peace resolution forged on Aug. 11 is ``very important'' to securing Lebanon's eastern border, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner told reporters in Berlin today. Steinmeier seeks to ease Syria's diplomatic isolation without offering concrete rewards for its cooperation, Ploetner said.

Steinmeier has taken the lead in trying to gain Syria's support for the UN resolution, using a window between today's cease-fire and a German Cabinet decision next week on a peacekeeping role. The Social Democrat will address reporters on the goals of his visit to Syria at Berlin's Tegal airport at 2:25 p.m. Frankfurt-time.

More here

Question Girl

TUSKEGEE AIRMEN STILL WAITING

This really upsets me.

Monday, August 14, 2006;

Five months after Congress voted to bestow its highest honor on the Tuskegee Airmen -- pioneering aviators who during World War II broke the color bar banning black pilots in the U.S. military -- the Congressional Gold Medal is still not in their hands.

"Every time you pick up a newspaper, one or two more are gone," said retired Lt. Col. Spann Watson of Westbury, N.Y. "We'd like people who are still living to be able to receive them. I want to get my medal in my hand."

"There is some concern," said retired Col. Lee Archer, 84, of New Rochelle, N.Y., the nation's first black combat ace. "Since Congress approved it, I know of three people who have passed on and will never see it. But I have no intention of dying before we get the medal."

More here

Question Girl

MEANWHILE BACK IN IRAQ.....

Atleast 19 U.S. soldiers have been killed so far this month.

By Solomon Moore
Los Angeles Times
Posted August 14 2006


BAGHDAD · Hundreds of newly recruited police officers in Fallujah failed to show up for work Sunday after insurgents disseminated pamphlets threatening officers who stayed on the job, according to police officials in the western Iraq city.

"We will kill all the policemen infidels," read the pamphlets, "whether or not they quit or are still in their jobs."

Fallujah Police Lt. Mohammed Alwan said that the force, which he estimated had increased to more than 2,000, has now shrunk to only 100. Alwan said that insurgents have killed dozens of policemen in their homes and also attacked family members in an intimidation campaign

More here

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A prominent Sunni cleric escaped assassination Monday when gunmen fired on his convoy in north Baghdad, an aide said. One bodyguard was wounded in an exchange of fire.

Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie was traveling through the Seliekh neighborhood when the shooting occurred, according to the aide, Zuhair al-Taan.

Al-Samarie heads the Sunni Endowment, the government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines across the country.

More here

Question Girl

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Thank you to Serenity Now for this one.

Forced Perspective

Question Girl

ALLIGATOR'S FEROCIOUS IMMUNE SYSTEM COULD LEAD TO NEW MEDICINES FOR PEOPLE

There's no lack of them here in Florida. They've increased the number of hunting permits during alligator season because there is such an increase in numbers. I think we're at about 1.5 million now.

By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 14 2006


The alligator's massive jaws and powerful tail mark it as a relic of the dinosaur age, a primitive creature that would appear to have little in common with humans. Yet scientists are studying aspects of alligator biology that could lead to new medical treatments and a better understanding of threats to the environment.

In the bayous of Louisiana, researchers have discovered that alligators have a ferocious immune system that can take down a vast range of viruses, bacteria and other infectious microbes, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Full article here

Question Girl

CEASE FIRE STARTS

In Lebanon, as the clock struck 8, the streets of Beirut were littered with a new leaflet dropped by Israeli warplanes saying that Hezbollah had brought the people of Lebanon “to the edge of the abyss” and brought only “destruction, displacement and death.” The leaflet warned that the Israelis could return “with all necessary might.”

Does this sound like a country who welcomes a cease fire? Think they're pissed? Think they truly regret killing all the innocents and destroying their country?

JERUSALEM, Monday, Aug. 14 — A cease-fire negotiated by the United Nations went into effect at 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern time) on Monday, the 34th day of this latest Middle East conflict, with Israeli troops ordered to halt their offensive against Hezbollah and Lebanon agreeing to halt Hezbollah attacks on Israel

On Sunday, Israel bombed Beirut suburbs where Hezbollah is based and raced to consolidate its positions in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah fired more than 220 rockets into northern Israel and tried to send a truck bomb into the Israeli city of Metulla, the Israelis said.

Full story here

Question Girl

OPEN THREAD.... ONLY LOVE CAN CONQUER HATE BABY

Marvin Gaye - What's going on

Question Girl

HOME OF THE BRAVE AND LAND OF THE FREE.....UHHH NOT QUITE

It used to be said that academic rows were vicious because the stakes were so small. That's no longer true in America, where a battle is underway on campuses over what can be said about the Middle East and US foreign policy.
Douglas Giles is a recent casualty. He used to teach a class on world religions at Roosevelt University, Chicago, founded in memory of FDR and his liberal-inclined wife, Eleanor. Last year, Giles was ordered by his head of department, art historian Susan Weininger, not to allow students to ask questions about Palestine and Israel; in fact, nothing was to be mentioned in class, textbooks and examinations that could possibly open Judaism to criticism.

Students, being what they are, did not go along with the ban. A young woman, originally from Pakistan, asked a question about Palestinian rights. Someone complained and Professor Giles was promptly fired

Continue reading here

Question Girl

BUSH HELPED PLAN ATTACK ON LEBANON

No surprise here.....

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Monday August 14, 2006
The Guardian

The US government was closely involved in planning the Israeli campaign in Lebanon, even before Hizbullah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raids in July. American and Israeli officials met in the spring, discussing plans on how to tackle Hizbullah, according to a report published yesterday.
The veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh writes in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine that Israeli government officials travelled to the US in May to share plans for attacking Hizbullah.

Quoting a US government consultant, Hersh said: "Earlier this summer ... several Israeli officials visited Washington, separately, 'to get a green light for the bombing operation and to find out how much the United States would bear'."

Read more here

Question Girl

PROTEST VIDEO

Thousands Protest Mideast Policy at White House

Question Girl

CHINA BANS MICKEY MOUSE AND HOMER SIMPSON FROM PRIME TIME TV

This goes under news you don't need to know.

D'oh! China has banished Homer Simpson, Pokemon and Mickey Mouse from prime time. Beginning Sept. 1, regulators have barred foreign cartoons from TV from 5 to 8 p.m. in an effort to protect China's struggling animation studios, news reports said Sunday. The move allows the Monkey King and his Chinese pals to get the top TV viewing hours to themselves.

Foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, are hugely popular with China's 250 million children and the country's own animation studios have struggled to compete. Communist leaders are said to be frustrated that so many cartoons are foreign-made, especially after efforts to build up Chinese animation studios.

More here

Question Girl

KATHERINE HARRIS AIDE AND FRIEND STOLE MONEY FROM FORMER EMPLOYEE

Nice friends she has.....

By MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com
Before he became U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris' travel aide, Bruce Carlton Jordan journeyed across the state and dined out with money he stole from his former employers, according to court records.

Jordan, 42, is a longtime friend of the Longboat Key congresswoman and began working as her volunteer driver and personal assistant in March -- about a month after he got out of jail, according to the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

Now on community control and three years' probation, Jordan must pay restitution and has occasionally traded in his well-cut campaign-trail suits for jail stripes to work off the remainder of his 60-day sentence cleaning roadsides and moving furniture for nonprofit organizations.

More here

More on Harris campaign here

Question Girl

FLORIDA POLITICS.....OPEN POLICY FORUM OPEN TO.....REPUBLICANS

Open policy forum awash in Republican rhetoric

By Jason Garcia
ORLANDO SENTINEL
Posted August 13 2006


ORLANDO · Although it was billed as an open policy forum to help infuse Florida's political leaders with a new wave of ideas, the two-day conference held last week by state legislators at Universal Orlando felt at times more like a Republican Party convention.

Jack Kemp, the former GOP congressman and vice presidential nominee, opened the event by praising conservative views and criticizing liberal ones. Gov. Jeb Bush, the undisputed leader of Florida Republicans, wound things down Friday by highlighting his administration's accomplishments and lightly mocking his opponents.

Read more here

Question Girl

"Sunday Bloody Sunday"

Thanks to http://onegoodmove.org and Rx @ http://thepartyparty.com/ Greets to arstechnica!

Question Girl

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICES AT Q'S

Peace be with you my friends.

The Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day (1986)

Question Girl

CEASEFIRE AGREED TO

So will Israel be charged with war crimes????? How long do you think they will go before breaking the U.N. resolution?

Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 13, 2006; 10:22 AM

JERUSALEM, Aug. 13 -- The Israeli cabinet voted Sunday to accepted a U.N. -- declared cease-fire, even as the fiercest ground fighting of the war continued in southern Lebanon and Israel launched new air strikes on southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government had accepted the cease-fire with reservations Saturday night. Israeli Foreign Mininster Tzipi Livni said at a news conference after the Sunday vote that Israeli forces would not withdraw from southern Lebanon until both an international force and the Lebanese army took control of the area.

More here

Question Girl

IRAQ, IRAN VOW TO PROMOTE ENERGY COOPERATION

Oil ministers of Iran and Iraq met here on Saturday in a bid to promote cooperation and bilateral development in the energy sector between the two neighboring countries, Iranian local Mehr News Agency reported.

Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussein al-Shahristani, who is on a four- day visit to Iran, underlined the necessity of cooperation in exploiting jointly-shared oil fields and carrying out a plan for Iran to provide refined products in return for Iraq's oil, the report said.

In July 2005, the two countries signed a deal under which Iran agreed to exchange Basra light crude with liquid-petroleum-gas ( LPG) and kerosene.

More here

Question Girl

BUSH SAYS AMERICA SAFER SINCE 9/11

Has he graduated from the whiskey to a crack pipe?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday that the United States is safer today than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because of the government's anti-terrorism measures to protect the American people.

But he warned in his weekly radio address that the American people "must never make the mistake of thinking the danger of terrorism has passed."

The foiled plot in Britain to blow up passenger flights bound for the United States and the arrests of over 20 suspects this week reminded people of "a hard fact: the terrorists have to succeed only once to achieve their goal of mass murder, while we have to succeed every time to stop them," he said

More here

Question Girl

PROTESTERS AROUND THE WORLD CONDEMN U.S. AND ISRAELI POLICIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Slim pickings when you search for the protest. Some of these articles are protests that occured in July. Maybe Mirther can find more.

August 13, 2006

BY NATASHA T. METZLER

WASHINGTON -- Thousands gathered across from the White House on Saturday, even
though the president was out of town, to condemn U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East.

Speakers in Lafayette Park energized the mostly Muslim crowd with chants and speeches condemning Israeli involvement in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, U.S. support for Israel and U.S. involvement in Iraq

More here

By SHAWN LOGAN, CALGARY SUN

Calling for an end to hostilities in the Middle East, hundreds of protesters took to Calgary streets yesterday just as word came that a UN-brokered peace deal was imminent.

More here

By Karen de Sá
Mercury News
Skeptical of a proposed cease-fire and decrying civilian casualties, thousands of protesters marched peacefully through downtown San Francisco and in cities across the country Saturday, calling for an end to U.S.-backed Israeli attacks in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

The Bay Area crowd of first-time protesters, longtime activists and families with children rallied at Civic Center before and after a march down Market Street.

``We're objecting to what the U.S. and Israel are doing in the Middle East, what they're willing to achieve by attacking, occupying and killing innocent civilians,'' said Enayat Katouli, a community college instructor and founder of an Iranian pro-democracy group in Oakland.

More here

TORONTO (CP) - A protest for peace in the Middle East took on a distinctly anti-Israel tone Saturday as thousands of people from various backgrounds gathered outside the Israeli consulate to protest the country's war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Lebanese, Palestinian and even Six Nations flags flew over the heads of protesters as they rallied to demand Israel's immediate withdrawal from Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

More here

Around the world:

Sydney

Greece

UK (pictures here)

Brazil

Israel

London UK

Question Girl