1003
If our troops are at fault the people of this country have a right to know the truth. The entire truth. I want to hear the words myself. I don't want to hear about any investigation through the 'filter' of a press conference. A good use of C-Span should be to record the hearings, TRANSPARENTLY, to the American Public. I don't want to hear how the National Security is at stake. This is Iraq. This is the military movements in Iraq. It has nothing to do with National Security.
1006
There it is AGAIN. Any excuse is a good excuse. I don't care about the 'information.' Osama bin Laden is out there. That is all I understand. That reality is an atrocity against the people of this country and complete disrespect to the victims of September 11, 2001. All this is nonsense. Afghanistan and Pakistan is NOT that big. It has been nearly five years of a failed compaign against al Qaeda. This is the failure of the Bush White House to stop the terrorist networks from sustaining and spreading. A tape can get to Al Jezeera but Osama bin Ladne can't be found. Iraqi military under Saddam can be heard from thousand of feet in the air with spy planes and listening devies but al Qaeda can't be stopped, but, Saddam could. Pakistan is a country under a 'coup' leader which is pandered to by Bush with millions of dollars sent over the years. Could be billions actually. But, yet, the Pakitani government can't contain the violence of their nation, their poverty that breeds terrorist networks and women are still raped and murdered.. You call that an administration intereseted in the well being of this country? I dont !!!
1014
commercials.
1018
Smart Enegy Solutions
http://www.sierraclub.org/energy/
Scientists Find Global Warming Hurts Crops
By Frank Ling Washington30 June 2006
Scientists have found that global warming could decrease crop yields, not increase them as once thought. VOA's Frank Ling reports that this finding suggests future crop estimates may have to be lowered.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-06-30-voa64.cfm
SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY
http://www.ucsusa.org/
Global warming is one of the most serious challenges facing us today. To protect the health and economic well-being of current and future generations, we must reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases by using the technology, know-how, and practical solutions already at our disposal.
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/
1024
Kerr McGee exerts no oversight of subcontractors. Thety had recourse in this case because they wirte it inot the contract and turn their affiliates loose regardless their 'real' liability.
http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/domin.pdf
1034
I covered citations to responsible organizations that track these death events at 'theme parks last night.
The zoo is safer !
1037
boring
1042
There is 'bin.' Forever being himself. I guess he's one of those guys the FBI just can't catch.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm
Eventually "bin" will die of old age. But, then there is his heirs. It isn't enough to have him on a 'Ten Most Wanted List." He needs to be apprehended and Islamic Jihadists need to come to terms with his capture and/or death. Haivng a picture of him on the loose isn't what I call 'effective' government. How much has the USA gone into debt to 'end this?' It just doesn't seem to end.
Five years and he is still out there. Five years. He should have been defeated in the first hours of the invasion if the force that was sent to Iraq was sent to Afghanistan. This is excusable. He needs to be captured or killed. He needs to be behind bars along with his friend Moussaoui.
1047
The Japanese Prime Minister Dream Come True. He should have a good time.
1052
I don't know anyone on the Ten Most Wanted List. My friends don't know any of the Ten Most Wasted. We don't want to know the Ten Most Wanted. This is irrelivant information to life.
enough
Friday, June 30, 2006
Andy considers hearing from Osama bin Laden important. I don't I consider his death/capture big news.
952 pm
I find the escalation of al Qaeda messages important from the standpoint of what is happening in the Middle East. I can't say it often enough. There has been movement by the 10s of thousands of people in Iraq over the last month. For as sad as that is, realizing all the advocacy by Bin Laden promoting violence after the death of Zarqawi, I believe there is a real message to the USA military in that reality.
Iraq conflict leaves at least 130,000 displaced
By Hiba Moussa and Michael Georgy / Reuters
BAGHDAD - Iraq's sectarian violence of the past four months has pushed the number of displaced people to above 130,000, parliament heard on Monday as members urged ministers to give more aid and security to contain the crisis.
"There should be more field visits to understand their plight," Sunni Arab parliamentarian Dhafir al-Ani told the assembly. "The government should take direct steps and provide security for displaced families, including at their camps."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7358
1001
At one time in the USA it was prohibited to allow this type of television announcement by Bin Laden for the concern of 'stimulating' terrorist cells. What happened to that directive? Iguess we don't have that issue in this country anymore. I didn't know our borders were so secure that only drug dealers could cross.
1015
Anderson this is all very convenient for you while you repromote Mueller's attempt to make the American Public paranoyd about each other with their Home Grown Agenda. The people whom need to be most concerned is Bush for not successfully defeating al Qaeda and the USA military that now faces retaliation by who knows whom in Iraq.
1018
The Supreme Court protects the US Consitution, not the Bush agenda for the USA Constitution. Bush is NOT the legislature. Bush is supposed to ANSWER to the legislature. He's not ! Get over it. The ruling is more than appropriate, it's Bush that is out of line with his boasted 'exectutive authority.' This moronic. Bush is supposed to carry out the will of the people of this country. He is an employee, not a dicatator.
This is a stupid debate. Hysteria by the right is typical. Oh, my. Oh, my. We don't have control of the courts yet !!! Is Bin Laden in Gitmo? I didn't think so.
1021
"ode to the right wing repubicans"
The Executive Branch is Article II ofthe USA Constitution.
Not Article I.
Article I is The Legislature.
The Legislature is SUPPOSED to reflect the will of the people.
The 'duties' of the president and veep are very limited to their autonomy.
Section I of the USA Constitution Article II 'defines the election and QUALIFICATIONS of the Executive Branch. Unfortunately it makes no mention of compentency. The Founding Fathers assumed the people of the country would seek that out. Who knew?
For those of the right wing Repubican party that can read, I seek to be helpful. See below. No need to thank me. I know growing up in the south primarily revolves around tabacco and the military. The 'idea' of the Commander and Chief, 'being the man' comes all too easy.
Section. 2.
Clause 1:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Clause 2:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
Clause 3:
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section. 3.He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
1039
It would seem the rest of the show is revolving around 'gossip.
Blah, blah, blah. The news secretary should be coming along soon.
1043
Cognitive Moderators of Negative-Emotion Effects: Implications for Understanding Media Context - group of 3 »JP Murry Jr, PA Dacin - The Journal of Consumer Research, 1996
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0093-5301%28199603%2922%3A4%3C439%3ACMONEI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P&size=LARGE
1048
Safer Parks
http://www.saferparks.org/
Another Crushed Child
Editorial by Kathy Fackler - June 21, 2006
Last Sunday afternoon at a California carnival, Sophia Castillo entrusted the life of her little boy to an amusement ride and the people who make their living selling excitement to the masses. Six-year-old Reuben met the 42” minimum height limit for children riding alone, a measure set by the ride's manufacturer and, presumably, enforced by the ride's operator. Witnesses say the child appeared to panic when his car reached the summit. He fell to his death as his mother and the ride operator looked on.
http://www.saferparks.org/saferparks_agenda/editorials/another_crushed_child.php
1050
How Safeis ThatRoller Coaster?
By Richard O'Brien
E very year some 319 million people visit amusement parks in the United States. Most of these fun seekers line up for the ever-faster, ever-more-towering roller coasters for what they hope will be the ride of their lives. Should they stop to wonder if it could be the last ride of their lives?
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/rollercoaster02.asp
1053
Amusement Safety Organization
http://www.amusementsafety.org/
1055
I am still waiting for the pitch for fear mongering of Home Grown Osamas.
Not forthcoming I take it. The commercial interruuption announcement during the news event is it?
This is boring.
Anderson this is a manipulated mess. You are a liar. I have no use for this program. You know, Anderson , it's time you went back to being a real journalist rather than one that seeks to out thrill as the persona of Steven King right out of Pet Cemetary.
This is a darn shame.
1109
enough
Addendum
The 120 second or so segment out of a 120 minutes about defendants of Mueller that appeared at the 'end' of a repeated hour was an insult to the east coast viewershi. That viewership was expected to get a second dose of the terrorist and 911 mastermind Osama bin Laden whom continues his campaign of global terror due to a failed war by Bush. The program proceeded past that with the boring gossip segment about Starr Jones, more pictures of waterlogged America, a second news secretary blurb which was the only 'diifernece' between the hour before just to dangle it's announced 'of interest' segment to the end of the program. The segment didn't really contain the information I was looking for and that was the previous criminal history of the defendant, their eductional levels, impressions of people they ?worked? with, attended Mosque with, related to daily other than the other defendants. The upset mother, the defending lawyer was all very predictable and also adds a shadow of suspicion to the charges but does not portray a true understanding of the 'character' issue that will no doubt enter the fray during a trial about terrorist charges rather than that of a trespasser. Note to self: Why did you sit through the second lousy hour of that show? Answer: Because that news team is untrustworthy and I can always look at satellites for another hour without being bored.
end (How many jumble words can one find in English out of end? Den, Ned. I think that is it.
Oh, yeah. The segment about the Mueller terrorist didn't even make the transcript. Somethign tells me this news team doesn't consider it important or the producer when home about the time I quite reviewing the program.
I find the escalation of al Qaeda messages important from the standpoint of what is happening in the Middle East. I can't say it often enough. There has been movement by the 10s of thousands of people in Iraq over the last month. For as sad as that is, realizing all the advocacy by Bin Laden promoting violence after the death of Zarqawi, I believe there is a real message to the USA military in that reality.
Iraq conflict leaves at least 130,000 displaced
By Hiba Moussa and Michael Georgy / Reuters
BAGHDAD - Iraq's sectarian violence of the past four months has pushed the number of displaced people to above 130,000, parliament heard on Monday as members urged ministers to give more aid and security to contain the crisis.
"There should be more field visits to understand their plight," Sunni Arab parliamentarian Dhafir al-Ani told the assembly. "The government should take direct steps and provide security for displaced families, including at their camps."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7358
1001
At one time in the USA it was prohibited to allow this type of television announcement by Bin Laden for the concern of 'stimulating' terrorist cells. What happened to that directive? Iguess we don't have that issue in this country anymore. I didn't know our borders were so secure that only drug dealers could cross.
1015
Anderson this is all very convenient for you while you repromote Mueller's attempt to make the American Public paranoyd about each other with their Home Grown Agenda. The people whom need to be most concerned is Bush for not successfully defeating al Qaeda and the USA military that now faces retaliation by who knows whom in Iraq.
1018
The Supreme Court protects the US Consitution, not the Bush agenda for the USA Constitution. Bush is NOT the legislature. Bush is supposed to ANSWER to the legislature. He's not ! Get over it. The ruling is more than appropriate, it's Bush that is out of line with his boasted 'exectutive authority.' This moronic. Bush is supposed to carry out the will of the people of this country. He is an employee, not a dicatator.
This is a stupid debate. Hysteria by the right is typical. Oh, my. Oh, my. We don't have control of the courts yet !!! Is Bin Laden in Gitmo? I didn't think so.
1021
"ode to the right wing repubicans"
The Executive Branch is Article II ofthe USA Constitution.
Not Article I.
Article I is The Legislature.
The Legislature is SUPPOSED to reflect the will of the people.
The 'duties' of the president and veep are very limited to their autonomy.
Section I of the USA Constitution Article II 'defines the election and QUALIFICATIONS of the Executive Branch. Unfortunately it makes no mention of compentency. The Founding Fathers assumed the people of the country would seek that out. Who knew?
For those of the right wing Repubican party that can read, I seek to be helpful. See below. No need to thank me. I know growing up in the south primarily revolves around tabacco and the military. The 'idea' of the Commander and Chief, 'being the man' comes all too easy.
Section. 2.
Clause 1:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Clause 2:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
Clause 3:
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section. 3.He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
1039
It would seem the rest of the show is revolving around 'gossip.
Blah, blah, blah. The news secretary should be coming along soon.
1043
Cognitive Moderators of Negative-Emotion Effects: Implications for Understanding Media Context - group of 3 »JP Murry Jr, PA Dacin - The Journal of Consumer Research, 1996
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0093-5301%28199603%2922%3A4%3C439%3ACMONEI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P&size=LARGE
1048
Safer Parks
http://www.saferparks.org/
Another Crushed Child
Editorial by Kathy Fackler - June 21, 2006
Last Sunday afternoon at a California carnival, Sophia Castillo entrusted the life of her little boy to an amusement ride and the people who make their living selling excitement to the masses. Six-year-old Reuben met the 42” minimum height limit for children riding alone, a measure set by the ride's manufacturer and, presumably, enforced by the ride's operator. Witnesses say the child appeared to panic when his car reached the summit. He fell to his death as his mother and the ride operator looked on.
http://www.saferparks.org/saferparks_agenda/editorials/another_crushed_child.php
1050
How Safeis ThatRoller Coaster?
By Richard O'Brien
E very year some 319 million people visit amusement parks in the United States. Most of these fun seekers line up for the ever-faster, ever-more-towering roller coasters for what they hope will be the ride of their lives. Should they stop to wonder if it could be the last ride of their lives?
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/rollercoaster02.asp
1053
Amusement Safety Organization
http://www.amusementsafety.org/
1055
I am still waiting for the pitch for fear mongering of Home Grown Osamas.
Not forthcoming I take it. The commercial interruuption announcement during the news event is it?
This is boring.
Anderson this is a manipulated mess. You are a liar. I have no use for this program. You know, Anderson , it's time you went back to being a real journalist rather than one that seeks to out thrill as the persona of Steven King right out of Pet Cemetary.
This is a darn shame.
1109
enough
Addendum
The 120 second or so segment out of a 120 minutes about defendants of Mueller that appeared at the 'end' of a repeated hour was an insult to the east coast viewershi. That viewership was expected to get a second dose of the terrorist and 911 mastermind Osama bin Laden whom continues his campaign of global terror due to a failed war by Bush. The program proceeded past that with the boring gossip segment about Starr Jones, more pictures of waterlogged America, a second news secretary blurb which was the only 'diifernece' between the hour before just to dangle it's announced 'of interest' segment to the end of the program. The segment didn't really contain the information I was looking for and that was the previous criminal history of the defendant, their eductional levels, impressions of people they ?worked? with, attended Mosque with, related to daily other than the other defendants. The upset mother, the defending lawyer was all very predictable and also adds a shadow of suspicion to the charges but does not portray a true understanding of the 'character' issue that will no doubt enter the fray during a trial about terrorist charges rather than that of a trespasser. Note to self: Why did you sit through the second lousy hour of that show? Answer: Because that news team is untrustworthy and I can always look at satellites for another hour without being bored.
end (How many jumble words can one find in English out of end? Den, Ned. I think that is it.
Oh, yeah. The segment about the Mueller terrorist didn't even make the transcript. Somethign tells me this news team doesn't consider it important or the producer when home about the time I quite reviewing the program.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
June 24, 2006.
Lecco, Italy.
Photographer states :: 6/24/06 h.8.34pm: In less than an hour a sunny warm day like many others has turned into the stormiest in this Summer for us. The photo shows probably a shelf cloud (not actually one of the neatest examples, but these are not the Plains!) of a huge multi-cellular system with overshooting top passed on almost the whole Northern part of Italy. Despite its size, its frightning appearance and the number of lightning strikes, this storm left ridiculous amounts of rain, probably because humidity in the air was low.
Burn Down the House
1000
A stupid robot. They use a stupid robot as if that adds something. How moronic does 'treating the public' get? You know, Aaron's 'whip around the world' was an introduction with real journalists. Aaron never felt threatened by his piers and would share the stage with them the entire hour. He'd wouldn't dream of doing it differently and what does Cooper do? Replaces piers with a robot. Boy, it's impressive, I'll tell you.
1003
Human Induced Global Warming.
I need to move to my other computer. In a minute.
1010
The news secretary.
I have to download a satellite view to illustrate the oddity. You can't make sense of this my looking at individual storms.
Anderson shut up. The New York Times simply reported the information Bush officially leaked. Stop being so stupid. Bush and Cheney have a long history of officiating leaks from this government. There is a former senior White House aide on indictment because he won't admit to it to protect his boss, whom was scapegoating him the entire time. And now, because The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal have so kindly obliged Bush and Cheney's official leaks they are being 'set up' as treasonist organizations. You are an asshole, Anderson. You actually believe pathological liars like Bush and Cheney? You are a bigger fool than Aaron Brown could ever bring himself to be !! Jerk ~
Satellite next.
A stupid robot. They use a stupid robot as if that adds something. How moronic does 'treating the public' get? You know, Aaron's 'whip around the world' was an introduction with real journalists. Aaron never felt threatened by his piers and would share the stage with them the entire hour. He'd wouldn't dream of doing it differently and what does Cooper do? Replaces piers with a robot. Boy, it's impressive, I'll tell you.
1003
Human Induced Global Warming.
I need to move to my other computer. In a minute.
1010
The news secretary.
I have to download a satellite view to illustrate the oddity. You can't make sense of this my looking at individual storms.
Anderson shut up. The New York Times simply reported the information Bush officially leaked. Stop being so stupid. Bush and Cheney have a long history of officiating leaks from this government. There is a former senior White House aide on indictment because he won't admit to it to protect his boss, whom was scapegoating him the entire time. And now, because The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal have so kindly obliged Bush and Cheney's official leaks they are being 'set up' as treasonist organizations. You are an asshole, Anderson. You actually believe pathological liars like Bush and Cheney? You are a bigger fool than Aaron Brown could ever bring himself to be !! Jerk ~
Satellite next.
Let me know when Anderson starts saying something important. Thank should give me plenty of time.
June 29, 2006. 0130z.
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite - Hemispheric.
I'm going to put a dialogue to this image. Take a good look at it. Come to your own conclusion and then we'll see if we agree. I already know I am right, but, I keep an open mind.
Ready.
I usually take the time to allow my mind to fill with the image enough to draw on it's own memory to impose difference from the past. It's a tedious exercise I put myself through. I could compare satellite images with other satellite images but I work completely from memory. I trust my mind.
I already know people are going say, this broad is off the wall. Not so.
Confusing looking image, isn't it? I agree. Let's break it down.
Where is the light part of the image?
Where is the dark?
The 'light' cloud cover type of color is exclusively in the north. Yes, it is. There is no 'color' that matches anything in the south that is in the north. Don't believe me to believe me. Decide. Color, intensity, pattern, DIVISION.
See, it yet?
Now. Let's look at the north. I'd like to say it is all due to 'the jet stream.' Would I love to say that and never have to look another satellite image again. But, it isn't. There are vortices at every 'scallop.'
I am not going to explain the dynamics of vortices. Just recall that most of the 'water' is in the north. Leave it there. Tuck it under your pillow. You might want to ask, what it is doing there.
Okay.
The southern aspect of the picture.
Take a good look.
It's void of water. Isn't it? Compared to the north. It's mostly void of water.
Except for where?
Where? The coastlines of the North American Continent. Yes? Yes.
Why? Hm. Coastlines. Water at the coastlines. Cooler water than the continent. Hm. Turbulent air. Yep. Storms.
But, what about the center of the continent? What gives?
Drought. Simple as that. All the water is in the north spinning around the Arctic Circle. There is precious little water over the continent because it's hot. The terra firma of the USA is hot. Carbon dioxide blankets this nation and the heat intensity has grown so much that it has no dew point at ground level. The water 'vapor' in the troposphere over the continent evaporates before it ever hits the ground.
So what is that line across the bottom. That's turbulent, too. There is water there. What is that all about?
Hm. The equatorial air. Oh, that. Well. Take a good look. Where is the land along that line? The North American continent where it approaches South America. There is only a tiny piece of land to interfer with the equatorial air and it's travel around Earth. That air mass at the equator is probably the most 'healthy' aspect of the picture. At least for now.Try to imagine where the 'solar rays' are hitting. Then come to understand they are far from the equator. Just south of the equator is a huge rainforest. The Amazon. The beautiful and ever endangered Amazon. It absorbs carbon dioxide in huge amounts whenever the sun is up. It also provides moisture to the air. So there is an equatorial dynamics that plays out separately from that above the Tropic of Cancer. The Tropic of Cancer is 23.5 degrees north (click on).
But there is one other aspect to this.
The curve of Earth. You all know about curves. Women worry about them. Men adore them. Well. Earth's curves aren't quite that enticing. But it exists doesn't it? In that 'click on' map, Earth is curved. The way inwhich the solar rays hits Earth depends on it's angle, rotation and curve at any one location on this planet in it's relentless travel around Sol providing a benevolent biota in a very hostile universe.
Do me a favor. Learn to love Earth. It loves you. Let's get this stuff right. With any luck, the lives we save will appreciate the fact they were saved and will want to do the same to the planet that sustains them.
Shalom.
I really don't give a hoot about what Anderson has to say for the rest of the next hour or the one that just transpired. He has no 'agenda' of benevolence and seeks to back a president intent on 'burning the house down' including the planet that loves us.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Die Hard Propagandists
2157
Let's Party Larry. You support the victimization of the poor in this country? You support Mueller's Campaign Season for Home Grown Oppression? You want to drag John Walsh into this mess out of desperation?
Fine.
John Walsh seems compelled to back Mueller regardless the lack of evidence of al Qaeda support. According to John Walsh a person does NOT have to overtly appear to be a member of al Qaeda. He cited the Lackawanna Seven to support that claim. John Walsh needs to check his facts before he makes statements that victimize 'entrapment' of homeless, Black Americans whom have no resources or any way of carrying out a crime against the people of the USA. I got an idea. Maybe John Walsh can give some homeless jobs working for the protection of American's children. You know. Reform the poorest in this country rather than allowing them to live in warehouses without windows.
Oh, by the way, there are more Senators that are Democrats backing tough laws to prohibit crimes against children as well.
The Lackawanna Seven were not poor. They were not entrapped. They were hardened Al Qaeda. (click on).
Yasein Taher was voted "friendliest" by his 1996 graduating class at Lackawanna High School. Five years later, in the spring of 2001, he was in an Al Qaeda training camp attending military lectures and learning how to use a Kalashnikov.
The 25-year-old former soccer team co-captain married his high school sweetheart, a former cheerleader. Friends said Taher became more interested in Islam as he entered his early twenties. When he returned from the camp in Afghanistan, relatives said he appeared less devout, going out to nightclubs again and shaving his beard.
Taher worked at a collection agency and had attended a local community college. He was living with his mother at the time of his arrest. He pled guilty in May 2003 to providing material support to Al Qaeda, and was sentenced to an eight-year prison term in December 2003.
Described by his lawyer as a "sports nut," Shafal Mosed, 25, was a frequent gambler at the casinos across the border in Canada, according to members of the Lackawanna community. "He had his wild side," a friend remembers.
Mosed was enrolled in community college and worked as a telemarketer at the time of his arrest. He was living with his wife and two-year-old son. He also cared for his disabled mother.
Mosed pled guilty to material support in March 2003. In his plea deal with the U.S. government, he admitted to knowing beforehand that the planned trip was illegal and that the training camp they were going to was associated with Osama bin Laden. He said he performed guard duty at the camp and also received training in mountain climbing and weapons. He told the government that he heard bin Laden speak of "50 men who were on a suicide mission" when the Al Qaeda leader visited the camp. Mosed was sentenced to eight years in prison in December 2003.
At the request of the CIA, Bahraini police picked up Mukhtar al-Bakri, 23, on his wedding night from a hotel room in the capital city of Manama. FBI agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz interviewed him the next day, Sept. 11, 2002. During a subsequent interrogation, al-Bakri admitted he trained in the use of weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda camp.
Al-Bakri was the first to admit that the group had not attended religious training in Pakistan, but rather traveled to the terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. His confession paved the way for the FBI to bring charges against the Lackwanna men.
In Afghanistan, al-Bakri and the others met Osama bin Laden, who visited the camp. Al-Bakri says he told the Al Qaeda leader he was worried because his parents didn't know where he was. He hoped that he would be allowed to leave but he says bin Laden responded by suggesting he write his parents a letter, telling them where he was. Al-Bakri also said that he was made to stay an additional week at the camp for "extra training."
Al-Bakri came under increased surveillance after the U.S. government reviewed and analyzed an e-mail he sent while traveling in Saudi Arabia months before his arrest. The e-mail referred to an upcoming "big meal" that authorities interpreted as a code for an impending terrorist attack. Al-Bakri told the FBI he had overheard a conversation about an attack but did not know any details. He said he had used a code because he was afraid his e-mail was being monitored.
Al-Bakri says in his heart, he never considered himself an Al Qaeda member despite having attended the training camp.
In June 2003, he was the last of the six arrested men to plead guilty to material support, and he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in December 2003.
In May 2003, the U.S. government unsealed an indictment charging Jaber Elbaneh, 37, with providing material support to Al Qaeda.
According to Sahim Alwan, Elbaneh admired Kamal Derwish who encouraged the young Lackwanna men to become more religious. Derwish, who is believed to have been an Al Qaeda recruiter, organized the summer 2001 trip into Afghanistan.
Elbaneh traveled to Afghanistan with al-Bakri, Alwan and Yahya Goba. At the camp, Elbaneh told Alwan that he wanted to fight with the Taliban and was willing to become a martyr.
Elbaneh never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan and in September 2003, the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He was believed to be living in Yemen.
January 2004 Update: According to U.S. and Yemeni officials familiar with the case, Elbaneh has been taken into custody in Yemen. These officials gave no details of his arrest, but U.S. officials say that negotiations concerning Elbaneh's possible extradition are under way between the U.S. and Yemeni governments.
Sahim Alwan, 30, is a college-educated, married man with three children who worked as a counselor with the Iroquois Job Corps Center, a job training facility located in Medina, NY. He was active in the Lackawanna Yemeni community and served as president of the mosque.
He is the first American citizen to have gone to an Al Qaeda training camp, met personally with Osama bin Laden and given a formal interview about his experience.
Today, Alwan says he regrets the trip and maintains that he never intended to become a terrorist. Even though he knew going to Afghanistan was wrong, he admits he let his curiosity get the better of him.
Hungry to learn more about Islam, Alwan says he was frustrated by the limited opportunities to study his religion in depth in Lackawanna. When Alwan first met fellow Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish, he was intrigued by this "very likable guy" who seemed knowledgeable about Islam.
In spring 2001, with Derwish's encouragement, Alwan and the others embarked on their trip. However, Alwan claims he very quickly had a change of heart and begged the camp authorities to let him to return home. He was allowed to leave, but first was taken to a personal meeting with bin Laden, in which the Al Qaeda leader asked about the status of Muslims in the U.S.
After the meeting with bin Laden, Alwan was asked by a bin Laden associate to carry videotapes of the USS Cole bombing to a guesthouse in Pakistan on his way back. Alwan admits to transporting the tapes.
Once Alwan returned home to Lackawanna, he did not report what he'd learned about Al Qaeda to authorities. Despite already having a contact at the FBI from an earlier, unrelated case, Alwan kept silent about his trip, even after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he was scared that he'd be turned into a scapegoat at such an emotional time. "We talked about keeping your mouth shut, and just letting this thing die out," he says. After being confronted with information obtained from the arrest and interrogation of Mukhtar al-Bakri, Alwan confessed to FBI agent Edward Needham and was arrested on Sept. 13, 2002. He pled guilty to material support of terrorism in April 2003, and was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison in December 2003.
Goba, 26, did not grow up in Lackawanna. Born in the Bronx, he was raised for a while in Yemen, and moved to Western New York in the late 1996. Later he moved in with Al Qaeda recruiter Kamal Derwish. The two men would host Islamic education sessions at their home, where Derwish would lecture, and the group would order pizza and socialize.
In May 2001, Goba traveled with Sahim Alwan, Jaber Elbaneh and Mukhtar al-Bakri to Pakistan, where the group split up and made their way into Afghanistan to an Al Qaeda training camp. Goba was considered one of the group's leaders and after returning from Afghanistan he maintained phone and e-mail communication with Derwish, who remained overseas. In his March 2003 guilty plea, Goba admitted having trained to use firearms, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, as well as explosives. He also said that Osama bin Laden had spoken at the camp of men "willing to become martyrs for the cause." In December 2003, Goba was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison.
Galab, 27, was a part-owner of a gas station in Lackawanna, where he spent much of his time. Growing up, Galab, like the others, seemed to be a typical American teenager, interested in clothes, partying, and going to casinos. He was a star soccer player and loved watching the Buffalo Sabres hockey team. He spoke only minimal Arabic.
According to his brother Moses, Faysal Galab became interested in religion in his early 20s, when he got married and started having children. Galab traveled with the first group that left for Afghanistan, on April 28, 2001.
In January 2003, Galab was the first of the "Lackawanna Six" to plead guilty to material support of terrorism. In his plea, he admitted to traveling to the camp, knowing that the trip was illegal, and receiving weapons training. He also acknowledged Osama bin Laden had spoken at the camp. Galab, according to the plea agreement, left the camp before he had completed the training course, and eventually returned to Lackawanna with Shafal Mosed and Yasein Taher in June 2001. In December 2003, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
enough
Let's Party Larry. You support the victimization of the poor in this country? You support Mueller's Campaign Season for Home Grown Oppression? You want to drag John Walsh into this mess out of desperation?
Fine.
John Walsh seems compelled to back Mueller regardless the lack of evidence of al Qaeda support. According to John Walsh a person does NOT have to overtly appear to be a member of al Qaeda. He cited the Lackawanna Seven to support that claim. John Walsh needs to check his facts before he makes statements that victimize 'entrapment' of homeless, Black Americans whom have no resources or any way of carrying out a crime against the people of the USA. I got an idea. Maybe John Walsh can give some homeless jobs working for the protection of American's children. You know. Reform the poorest in this country rather than allowing them to live in warehouses without windows.
Oh, by the way, there are more Senators that are Democrats backing tough laws to prohibit crimes against children as well.
The Lackawanna Seven were not poor. They were not entrapped. They were hardened Al Qaeda. (click on).
Yasein Taher was voted "friendliest" by his 1996 graduating class at Lackawanna High School. Five years later, in the spring of 2001, he was in an Al Qaeda training camp attending military lectures and learning how to use a Kalashnikov.
The 25-year-old former soccer team co-captain married his high school sweetheart, a former cheerleader. Friends said Taher became more interested in Islam as he entered his early twenties. When he returned from the camp in Afghanistan, relatives said he appeared less devout, going out to nightclubs again and shaving his beard.
Taher worked at a collection agency and had attended a local community college. He was living with his mother at the time of his arrest. He pled guilty in May 2003 to providing material support to Al Qaeda, and was sentenced to an eight-year prison term in December 2003.
Described by his lawyer as a "sports nut," Shafal Mosed, 25, was a frequent gambler at the casinos across the border in Canada, according to members of the Lackawanna community. "He had his wild side," a friend remembers.
Mosed was enrolled in community college and worked as a telemarketer at the time of his arrest. He was living with his wife and two-year-old son. He also cared for his disabled mother.
Mosed pled guilty to material support in March 2003. In his plea deal with the U.S. government, he admitted to knowing beforehand that the planned trip was illegal and that the training camp they were going to was associated with Osama bin Laden. He said he performed guard duty at the camp and also received training in mountain climbing and weapons. He told the government that he heard bin Laden speak of "50 men who were on a suicide mission" when the Al Qaeda leader visited the camp. Mosed was sentenced to eight years in prison in December 2003.
At the request of the CIA, Bahraini police picked up Mukhtar al-Bakri, 23, on his wedding night from a hotel room in the capital city of Manama. FBI agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz interviewed him the next day, Sept. 11, 2002. During a subsequent interrogation, al-Bakri admitted he trained in the use of weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda camp.
Al-Bakri was the first to admit that the group had not attended religious training in Pakistan, but rather traveled to the terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. His confession paved the way for the FBI to bring charges against the Lackwanna men.
In Afghanistan, al-Bakri and the others met Osama bin Laden, who visited the camp. Al-Bakri says he told the Al Qaeda leader he was worried because his parents didn't know where he was. He hoped that he would be allowed to leave but he says bin Laden responded by suggesting he write his parents a letter, telling them where he was. Al-Bakri also said that he was made to stay an additional week at the camp for "extra training."
Al-Bakri came under increased surveillance after the U.S. government reviewed and analyzed an e-mail he sent while traveling in Saudi Arabia months before his arrest. The e-mail referred to an upcoming "big meal" that authorities interpreted as a code for an impending terrorist attack. Al-Bakri told the FBI he had overheard a conversation about an attack but did not know any details. He said he had used a code because he was afraid his e-mail was being monitored.
Al-Bakri says in his heart, he never considered himself an Al Qaeda member despite having attended the training camp.
In June 2003, he was the last of the six arrested men to plead guilty to material support, and he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in December 2003.
In May 2003, the U.S. government unsealed an indictment charging Jaber Elbaneh, 37, with providing material support to Al Qaeda.
According to Sahim Alwan, Elbaneh admired Kamal Derwish who encouraged the young Lackwanna men to become more religious. Derwish, who is believed to have been an Al Qaeda recruiter, organized the summer 2001 trip into Afghanistan.
Elbaneh traveled to Afghanistan with al-Bakri, Alwan and Yahya Goba. At the camp, Elbaneh told Alwan that he wanted to fight with the Taliban and was willing to become a martyr.
Elbaneh never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan and in September 2003, the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He was believed to be living in Yemen.
January 2004 Update: According to U.S. and Yemeni officials familiar with the case, Elbaneh has been taken into custody in Yemen. These officials gave no details of his arrest, but U.S. officials say that negotiations concerning Elbaneh's possible extradition are under way between the U.S. and Yemeni governments.
Sahim Alwan, 30, is a college-educated, married man with three children who worked as a counselor with the Iroquois Job Corps Center, a job training facility located in Medina, NY. He was active in the Lackawanna Yemeni community and served as president of the mosque.
He is the first American citizen to have gone to an Al Qaeda training camp, met personally with Osama bin Laden and given a formal interview about his experience.
Today, Alwan says he regrets the trip and maintains that he never intended to become a terrorist. Even though he knew going to Afghanistan was wrong, he admits he let his curiosity get the better of him.
Hungry to learn more about Islam, Alwan says he was frustrated by the limited opportunities to study his religion in depth in Lackawanna. When Alwan first met fellow Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish, he was intrigued by this "very likable guy" who seemed knowledgeable about Islam.
In spring 2001, with Derwish's encouragement, Alwan and the others embarked on their trip. However, Alwan claims he very quickly had a change of heart and begged the camp authorities to let him to return home. He was allowed to leave, but first was taken to a personal meeting with bin Laden, in which the Al Qaeda leader asked about the status of Muslims in the U.S.
After the meeting with bin Laden, Alwan was asked by a bin Laden associate to carry videotapes of the USS Cole bombing to a guesthouse in Pakistan on his way back. Alwan admits to transporting the tapes.
Once Alwan returned home to Lackawanna, he did not report what he'd learned about Al Qaeda to authorities. Despite already having a contact at the FBI from an earlier, unrelated case, Alwan kept silent about his trip, even after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he was scared that he'd be turned into a scapegoat at such an emotional time. "We talked about keeping your mouth shut, and just letting this thing die out," he says. After being confronted with information obtained from the arrest and interrogation of Mukhtar al-Bakri, Alwan confessed to FBI agent Edward Needham and was arrested on Sept. 13, 2002. He pled guilty to material support of terrorism in April 2003, and was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison in December 2003.
Goba, 26, did not grow up in Lackawanna. Born in the Bronx, he was raised for a while in Yemen, and moved to Western New York in the late 1996. Later he moved in with Al Qaeda recruiter Kamal Derwish. The two men would host Islamic education sessions at their home, where Derwish would lecture, and the group would order pizza and socialize.
In May 2001, Goba traveled with Sahim Alwan, Jaber Elbaneh and Mukhtar al-Bakri to Pakistan, where the group split up and made their way into Afghanistan to an Al Qaeda training camp. Goba was considered one of the group's leaders and after returning from Afghanistan he maintained phone and e-mail communication with Derwish, who remained overseas. In his March 2003 guilty plea, Goba admitted having trained to use firearms, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, as well as explosives. He also said that Osama bin Laden had spoken at the camp of men "willing to become martyrs for the cause." In December 2003, Goba was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison.
Galab, 27, was a part-owner of a gas station in Lackawanna, where he spent much of his time. Growing up, Galab, like the others, seemed to be a typical American teenager, interested in clothes, partying, and going to casinos. He was a star soccer player and loved watching the Buffalo Sabres hockey team. He spoke only minimal Arabic.
According to his brother Moses, Faysal Galab became interested in religion in his early 20s, when he got married and started having children. Galab traveled with the first group that left for Afghanistan, on April 28, 2001.
In January 2003, Galab was the first of the "Lackawanna Six" to plead guilty to material support of terrorism. In his plea, he admitted to traveling to the camp, knowing that the trip was illegal, and receiving weapons training. He also acknowledged Osama bin Laden had spoken at the camp. Galab, according to the plea agreement, left the camp before he had completed the training course, and eventually returned to Lackawanna with Shafal Mosed and Yasein Taher in June 2001. In December 2003, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
enough
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Is that anyway to treat 'the truth.'
1000
Iraq General Proposes Troop Reductions; Democrats Call Plan A Political Move
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1535073/20060626/index.jhtml?headlines=true
With election-year issues such as flag burning, gay marriage — and the latest addition to the team, immigration — gaining momentum in advance of this November's midterm congressional elections, Democrats charged Monday that Republicans are planning to steal a page from their playbook and add troop reductions in Iraq to the list. Just days after a pair of Democratic initiatives to begin a troop withdrawal went down in fiery defeat in the Senate (see "Senate Rejects Call For Withdrawal From Iraq; Cheney Slams Democrats"), Democrats were fuming Monday (June 26) over The New York Times reports that General George W. Casey, the top military commander in Iraq, met privately with President Bush on Friday and proposed a gradual drawdown of troops that could begin this fall. Their source of anger was word that the proposal was similar to one of the defeated Democratic plans offered up on Thursday, which Republicans had publicly assailed as an attempt to "cut and run" or set an artificial timetable for withdrawal.
1015
John Robert's lies to mount an attack on The New York Times and their reporting of the Casey Draw Down. The Levin Amendment completely reflects flexibility in troop withdrawals.
Reid: Bush Republicans Stand Alone on Iraq
6/26/2006 3:22:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Jim Manley or Rebecca Kirszner, 202-224-2939, both of the Office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
WASHINGTON, June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid today delivered the following remarks on the Floor of the U.S. Senate, calling on Bush Republicans to put aside their partisan slogans on Iraq to support a real plan for the future. Democrats, America's generals, and Iraq's government are united behind the need for change in Iraq, and it is time for Bush Republicans to explain why they are standing alone behind a failed policy, said Reid.
The text of Senator Reid's remarks, as prepared, is below.
Mr. President, here is the lead sentence from an article in yesterday's New York Times. It ran under the headline of "U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts." Quote:
"The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say."
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=68270
CNN's focus is to invalidate the truth.
1023
The news secretary
commercials
1027
Gerald Ford namesake of new aircraft carrier in Senate amendment
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/UPDATE01/60615006
Kakie UrchThe Desert Sun
June 15, 2006
June 15, 2006
WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday joined Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., in introducing an amendment to name the CVN-78 aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Gerald Ford.
1029
Rebuilding New Orleans
Tent cities are being addressed. These tent cities in New Orleans reflects the Public Housing. There are a lot of problems when a complete city is destroyed and it ain't all traffic lights either. These problems were never solved by FEMA. Tent cities should never have been a necessity. There should be FEMA trailers for all those displaced.
6/22 New Orleans shows a glimmer of hope through Public Housing residents, Common Ground and Music
By Diane Greene Lent
See more photos at dianelent.com. I returned to New Orleans June 2-6, 2006 to photograph the rebuilding. The tent city went up in front of St. Bernard Housing Project. I toured Common Ground sites and heard a lot of great music. I had been previously, in March and things seemed pretty grim, but this time I left with hope. The people are demanding their right of return. The musicians are back and playing all over the place and making it New Orleans.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/06/71842.shtml
1034
commercials
1037
Pray for CNN. They need the help.
1041
commercials
New Orleans mayor sees rebuilding plan by year-end
Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:37pm ET
By Peter Henderson
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans may take until the end of the year to develop rebuilding plans for all the neighborhoods of the storm-savaged city, Mayor Ray Nagin said on Monday, dismissing criticism that the process is dragging.
Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city last August, soaking tens of thousands of houses in fetid water for weeks. The disaster left residents uncertain where to rebuild, yet also gave the city a chance to reshape itself.
Even 10 months later, many areas of the city are still cleaning up rather than rebuilding, with only isolated signs of construction in hard-hit areas full of empty houses.
Nagin described a neighborhood planning process led by the city council -- a process slowed due to funding problems earlier in the year -- while critics have said the mayor should develop a vision for the entire city that would act as a framework for citizens in different areas.
"At the latest before the end of the year we should have every neighborhood pretty well done. But the key neighborhoods that were most devastated, they are on track, and some of them are 80 percent done with their planning process," he said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-06-27T003737Z_01_N26455767_RTRUKOC_0_US-WEATHER-HURRICANES-REBUILDING.xml&archived=False
The rebuilding of New Orleans regardless of funding will take time especially since there has no focus to the return of the wetlands vigorously.
The descension that accompanies the focuses on invalidating 'the truth' is simply amazing. And they say others have problems, when the propaganda suits them. The decension is a distraction all by itself. It is a hope of 'returning' influence to the Republicans whom are grappling with their lies, cronies and corruption. I can understand why Nagin stated he doesn't know where people are stating he doesn't have a plan. This is in "The Times Picayune." Don't ask me. I don't 'get it.' Are these '100 day plans' as Nagin promised during his re-election bid purely being measured according to 'actual' physical progress? Plans don't necessarily take the same meaning as 'construction.'
Nagin plans to reorganize local government
(page down)
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_06_26.html#155348
By James Varney Staff writer Offering a sneak preview of his second-term administration, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday that he plans to reorganize local government to better respond to the city’s post-Katrina needs. Nagin did not provide concrete details of his plans during a meeting at The Times-Picayune. But he outlined a three-pronged attack that he hopes will help his administration better manage the massive cleanup and redevelopment tasks the city will face in the next four years. The mayor said he plans to combine housing, economic development and planning under one organizational umbrella. In addition, he said he will create an Office of Recovery to tackle tasks related specifically to the disaster, while his Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield focuses on day-to-day governmental tasks.
enough
Iraq General Proposes Troop Reductions; Democrats Call Plan A Political Move
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1535073/20060626/index.jhtml?headlines=true
With election-year issues such as flag burning, gay marriage — and the latest addition to the team, immigration — gaining momentum in advance of this November's midterm congressional elections, Democrats charged Monday that Republicans are planning to steal a page from their playbook and add troop reductions in Iraq to the list. Just days after a pair of Democratic initiatives to begin a troop withdrawal went down in fiery defeat in the Senate (see "Senate Rejects Call For Withdrawal From Iraq; Cheney Slams Democrats"), Democrats were fuming Monday (June 26) over The New York Times reports that General George W. Casey, the top military commander in Iraq, met privately with President Bush on Friday and proposed a gradual drawdown of troops that could begin this fall. Their source of anger was word that the proposal was similar to one of the defeated Democratic plans offered up on Thursday, which Republicans had publicly assailed as an attempt to "cut and run" or set an artificial timetable for withdrawal.
1015
John Robert's lies to mount an attack on The New York Times and their reporting of the Casey Draw Down. The Levin Amendment completely reflects flexibility in troop withdrawals.
Reid: Bush Republicans Stand Alone on Iraq
6/26/2006 3:22:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Jim Manley or Rebecca Kirszner, 202-224-2939, both of the Office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
WASHINGTON, June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid today delivered the following remarks on the Floor of the U.S. Senate, calling on Bush Republicans to put aside their partisan slogans on Iraq to support a real plan for the future. Democrats, America's generals, and Iraq's government are united behind the need for change in Iraq, and it is time for Bush Republicans to explain why they are standing alone behind a failed policy, said Reid.
The text of Senator Reid's remarks, as prepared, is below.
Mr. President, here is the lead sentence from an article in yesterday's New York Times. It ran under the headline of "U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts." Quote:
"The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say."
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=68270
CNN's focus is to invalidate the truth.
1023
The news secretary
commercials
1027
Gerald Ford namesake of new aircraft carrier in Senate amendment
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/UPDATE01/60615006
Kakie UrchThe Desert Sun
June 15, 2006
June 15, 2006
WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday joined Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., in introducing an amendment to name the CVN-78 aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Gerald Ford.
1029
Rebuilding New Orleans
Tent cities are being addressed. These tent cities in New Orleans reflects the Public Housing. There are a lot of problems when a complete city is destroyed and it ain't all traffic lights either. These problems were never solved by FEMA. Tent cities should never have been a necessity. There should be FEMA trailers for all those displaced.
6/22 New Orleans shows a glimmer of hope through Public Housing residents, Common Ground and Music
By Diane Greene Lent
See more photos at dianelent.com. I returned to New Orleans June 2-6, 2006 to photograph the rebuilding. The tent city went up in front of St. Bernard Housing Project. I toured Common Ground sites and heard a lot of great music. I had been previously, in March and things seemed pretty grim, but this time I left with hope. The people are demanding their right of return. The musicians are back and playing all over the place and making it New Orleans.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/06/71842.shtml
1034
commercials
1037
Pray for CNN. They need the help.
1041
commercials
New Orleans mayor sees rebuilding plan by year-end
Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:37pm ET
By Peter Henderson
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans may take until the end of the year to develop rebuilding plans for all the neighborhoods of the storm-savaged city, Mayor Ray Nagin said on Monday, dismissing criticism that the process is dragging.
Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city last August, soaking tens of thousands of houses in fetid water for weeks. The disaster left residents uncertain where to rebuild, yet also gave the city a chance to reshape itself.
Even 10 months later, many areas of the city are still cleaning up rather than rebuilding, with only isolated signs of construction in hard-hit areas full of empty houses.
Nagin described a neighborhood planning process led by the city council -- a process slowed due to funding problems earlier in the year -- while critics have said the mayor should develop a vision for the entire city that would act as a framework for citizens in different areas.
"At the latest before the end of the year we should have every neighborhood pretty well done. But the key neighborhoods that were most devastated, they are on track, and some of them are 80 percent done with their planning process," he said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-06-27T003737Z_01_N26455767_RTRUKOC_0_US-WEATHER-HURRICANES-REBUILDING.xml&archived=False
The rebuilding of New Orleans regardless of funding will take time especially since there has no focus to the return of the wetlands vigorously.
The descension that accompanies the focuses on invalidating 'the truth' is simply amazing. And they say others have problems, when the propaganda suits them. The decension is a distraction all by itself. It is a hope of 'returning' influence to the Republicans whom are grappling with their lies, cronies and corruption. I can understand why Nagin stated he doesn't know where people are stating he doesn't have a plan. This is in "The Times Picayune." Don't ask me. I don't 'get it.' Are these '100 day plans' as Nagin promised during his re-election bid purely being measured according to 'actual' physical progress? Plans don't necessarily take the same meaning as 'construction.'
Nagin plans to reorganize local government
(page down)
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_06_26.html#155348
By James Varney Staff writer Offering a sneak preview of his second-term administration, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday that he plans to reorganize local government to better respond to the city’s post-Katrina needs. Nagin did not provide concrete details of his plans during a meeting at The Times-Picayune. But he outlined a three-pronged attack that he hopes will help his administration better manage the massive cleanup and redevelopment tasks the city will face in the next four years. The mayor said he plans to combine housing, economic development and planning under one organizational umbrella. In addition, he said he will create an Office of Recovery to tackle tasks related specifically to the disaster, while his Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield focuses on day-to-day governmental tasks.
enough
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Dear Diary
I have lived through a lot in my life. It hasn't been an easy road but I have accepted it as my life. I cherished freedom and justice in a country I never thought would lose it's principles, but, now in the year 2006 out of paranoya, fear and incompetence the very government I felt so protected by has turned against the people of this nation.
Over the last six years there has been a 'sham' for a government. It's agenda is undermining and measured. It misleads only enough to allow fear to overcome objection. The USA today is a retreating nation. A retreating nation from it's values. It's hopes and dreams for the future. It's promise. It's preciousness.
The only real charges that should have been applied to these circumstances was 'trespassing.' There was no other crime committed. There were only 'ideas' of an identity beyond themselves. An idea that would carry them to the supremacy of manhood. The soldier leader that would liberate all of them. A fantasy. Nothing but a fantasy. They never really acted in any real way on those ideas. They were encouraged to continue their fantasy while hanging themselves legally under the gaze and direction of the FBI.
The next day in a news conference, Mueller stated the Miami raid was successful. It has captured in the early stages a "Home Grown al Qaeda Cell." A new terrorist network. He stated they had overwhelming evidence to bring a judge to issue warrants. Once those warrants were issued the metal door locking an entrance to a windowless warehouse was torn down and the men inside, all seven oddly enough were arrested. Seven homeless Black Men were arrested without the potential to cause any harm to anyone except themselves in circumstance they probably still don't understand.
Did Mueller speak to their education? Did he speak to their impoverishment? Did he once consider the consequences of such a fool hearty act against basically helpless men in full view of a nation tired of the intrusion of their lives by this administration and it's ever increasing invasion into homes, morality and choices in life? Did he ever stop one minute to realize what a fool he was being and what a puppet to Gonzalez he had become?
No. Not once. No remorse. No apologies. In true Bush style when the going gets tough the tough get going and he did. Mueller went on tour. Our tax dollars is paying for his 'Tour de Home Grown Terrorist." After his news conference he made a public speech 'showing off' his catch of the day.
He continues his tour. Where? CNN of course. The nation's propaganda network.
I never thought I would see the day an intelligence agency would be used in a propaganda campaign against the electorate of the USA. If Mueller and Gonzalez were sincere in catching very dangerous people within our borders they would not have 'annouced' their methodology to the world. I never thought I'd see the day that basically angry but innocent men would be facing sentences that have the potential of sending them to Gitmo or life in prison or death row. These men may have criminal records. My understanding is that they don't. Who knows what will be trumped up against them.
In a country once admired with values once sought after by people all across this globe, a dark shadow has been cast upon it. It no longer carries a message of hope, tolerance and promise. It carries the message, 'Beware, of the USA." Citizens in this country are no longer safe from their government.
Over the last six years there has been a 'sham' for a government. It's agenda is undermining and measured. It misleads only enough to allow fear to overcome objection. The USA today is a retreating nation. A retreating nation from it's values. It's hopes and dreams for the future. It's promise. It's preciousness.
I probably should have started this 'type' of entry long ago. It would have measured clearly every step by this government to hide their truth, their lack of promise, their insult to the Constitution.
The past few days has proven dramatically the extent to the end of democracy in the USA. The end of freedom. The end of justice.
In a planned assault against the minds of the electorate, a 'staged' take down of a supposed al Qaeda cell in Miami played out on Friday. Robert S. Mueller, III carried out a 'lead up' to the faux raid.
Seven Black Men were living in a warehouse. They were Muslims. These seven men were poor. Unfunded except for the entrapment by the FBI under Mueller's direction and deception. They knew nothing about the 'game' the FBI was running on them. They were unarmed with aboslutely no potential to anyone any harm in anyway.
These seven men have families. They were estranged from society. It's understandable to have a young man without promise, potential for a future to become estranged from society's 'higher' values. Seven Black Men were not able to support a family. They could not contemplate fatherhood in a real way and provide support while living with them. Seven Black Men carried on as if they could defeat the USA from the inside of an abandoned warehouse in Miami, in a neighborhood the police commissioner there characterized as 'a good neighborhood.' He stated unlike inner city neighborhoods it had problems but it was basically a good neighborhood.The only real charges that should have been applied to these circumstances was 'trespassing.' There was no other crime committed. There were only 'ideas' of an identity beyond themselves. An idea that would carry them to the supremacy of manhood. The soldier leader that would liberate all of them. A fantasy. Nothing but a fantasy. They never really acted in any real way on those ideas. They were encouraged to continue their fantasy while hanging themselves legally under the gaze and direction of the FBI.
The lead up to the arrests was most dramatic. CNN had been getting attention grabbing guests that week and the most popular show of any of the CNN lineup, "Larry King Live" featured the entire hour an interview with Robert S. Mueller, III. During that interview and well acted as if reluctant to 'let on' Mueller stated there was an operation in Miami of which the result would be revealed the next day.
Dutifully, CNN knew it's place and began promoting the raid without relent.
The next day in a news conference, Mueller stated the Miami raid was successful. It has captured in the early stages a "Home Grown al Qaeda Cell." A new terrorist network. He stated they had overwhelming evidence to bring a judge to issue warrants. Once those warrants were issued the metal door locking an entrance to a windowless warehouse was torn down and the men inside, all seven oddly enough were arrested. Seven homeless Black Men were arrested without the potential to cause any harm to anyone except themselves in circumstance they probably still don't understand.
Did Mueller speak to their education? Did he speak to their impoverishment? Did he once consider the consequences of such a fool hearty act against basically helpless men in full view of a nation tired of the intrusion of their lives by this administration and it's ever increasing invasion into homes, morality and choices in life? Did he ever stop one minute to realize what a fool he was being and what a puppet to Gonzalez he had become?
No. Not once. No remorse. No apologies. In true Bush style when the going gets tough the tough get going and he did. Mueller went on tour. Our tax dollars is paying for his 'Tour de Home Grown Terrorist." After his news conference he made a public speech 'showing off' his catch of the day.
He continues his tour. Where? CNN of course. The nation's propaganda network.
I never thought I would see the day an intelligence agency would be used in a propaganda campaign against the electorate of the USA. If Mueller and Gonzalez were sincere in catching very dangerous people within our borders they would not have 'annouced' their methodology to the world. I never thought I'd see the day that basically angry but innocent men would be facing sentences that have the potential of sending them to Gitmo or life in prison or death row. These men may have criminal records. My understanding is that they don't. Who knows what will be trumped up against them.
In a country once admired with values once sought after by people all across this globe, a dark shadow has been cast upon it. It no longer carries a message of hope, tolerance and promise. It carries the message, 'Beware, of the USA." Citizens in this country are no longer safe from their government.
lovingly submitted,
elisa
Thursday, June 22, 2006
I don't need lies or liars.
Somehow the automated voice within the introduction to AC 360 is more than appropriate, it relays a real feeling of the puppeteer of the anchor.
I had enough of this program before it got started !
I had enough of this program before it got started !
How quickly the current deaths are forgotten.
1000
Al-Qaeda chief beheaded US soldiers: report
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/alqaeda-chief-beheaded-us-soldiers-report/2006/06/21/1150701561957.html
Iraqi insurgents have boasted that al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq "slaughtered" two missing US soldiers, whose bodies were found yesterday.
The statement from an umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents suggested the soldiers had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
The bodies showed signs of "barbaric torture" when they were found by US and Iraqi troops, a senior Iraqi general told Reuters. "The two soldiers were found yesterday by a combined US-Iraqi force. We found they had been tortured in a barbaric fashion," Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Private Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon and Private Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston, Texas went missing at dusk on Friday after an ambush at a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a town in an area south of Baghdad some Iraqis call the "Triangle of Death".
The Arabic word used in the insurgents' statement, "nahr", is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
DEMOCRATS 'think' for a living, Anderson. Something you are not used to !
1010
Web Post Says Russians Slain in Iraq; Workers Abducted, AP Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_qi3dAOT8Vk&refer=us
June 21 (Bloomberg) -- A group loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq said it killed four kidnapped Russian diplomats, according to an Internet posting found by the Washington-based Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute.
The claim surfaced on a day in Iraq during which about 85 factory workers were kidnapped by gunmen and Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike to protest the killing of one of his lawyers, according to the Associated Press.
The workers were abducted as they left work from a factory for metal doors, windows and pipes north of Baghdad, according to AP. About 30 women and children were later freed.
Iraq's new government is trying to clamp down on insurgent and sectarian violence to help forge national unity and economic growth.
1012
"LIE AND DIE"
Yep.
That's Bush. He's hasn't said a word of truth yet. And. He hasn't captured either Osama bin Laden OR the 20th hijacker.
'Al-Qaeda video' of 20th hijacker
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5101954.stm
A video said to be from al-Qaeda shows the man it says was the planned "20th hijacker" for the 9/11 US attacks.
The video, released by a US intelligence organisation, is of Saudi man, Fawaz al-Nashimi, who was killed in a shootout in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
The US has not commented and the video claim cannot be independently verified.
The identity of a 20th hijacker has been the subject of great debate, although there is no concrete evidence one was part of the plans for 9/11.
Al Qaeda has their own movie production company? Oh, really? Where exactly is this studio? Kabul?
Al-Qaeda’s al-Sahab Productions Releases New Zawahiri Video in Response to Kabul Riots
By SITE Institute
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications187506&Category=publications&Subcategory=0
A video of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two leader, was released today. Zawahiri’s statement on the video is a response to the rioting that occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 29, 2006, after three American military vehicles crashed into civilian cars during rush hour. The recording, almost four minutes, was likely recorded on May 30, 2006, as Zawahiri refers to “yesterday’s” events.
Zawahiri calls upon the Muslims in Kabuland elsewhere in Afghanistanto work with al-Qaeda against the Americans. This is the second message released by Zawahiri after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death on June 8, 2006. However, as the video was likely made before Zarqawi’s death, there is no mention of his death.
1018
commercials
1019
NEW AL QAEDA CHIEF: I SLIT THEIR THROATS
Sick claim as bodies of kidnapped troops found
By Mark Ellis, Foreign Editor
THE new head of al-Qaeda in Iraq personally slit the throats of two US soldiers whose bodies were found near Baghdad, it was claimed last night.
A statement on the internet gloated that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir had "implemented" sentence on the "two captive crusader parasites".
And it is feared al-Qaeda has scored a propaganda coup by carrying out the atrocity despite a huge US-led hunt for privates Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, and Kristian Menchaca, 23.
More than 8,000 Iraqi and US troops, backed by fighter and spotter planes, searched for the soldiers who were snatched on Friday from a checkpoint in Yusifiya, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17264726&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=new-al-qaeda-chief--i-slit-their-throats--name_page.html
1022
more commercials
I GUESS THE BOYS REPEATED THEIR SKILLS . THEY ARE ON A ROLL. I was hoping they could duplicate their victory. I congratulate them. This time it was the Aussies.
US troops kill Zarqawi's 'right-hand man'
The US military says it has killed the "right-hand man" of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Major General William Caldwell says Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was killed on Friday by US forces in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad.
"We do know that Sheikh Mansur was a key leader in Al Qaeda in Iraq with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organisation," General Caldwell said.
He describes him as Zarqawi's right-hand man and a liaison between Al Qaeda and tribes in the restive area south of Baghdad.
The Mashhadani are a major tribe of Sunni Arabs.
"He was tied to the senior leadership, including having relationships with both Zarqawi and al-Masri," General Caldwell said, referring to Abu Ayub al-Masri, whom the US military claim to be Zarqawi's successor.
"We do think that his death will significantly continue to impact on the ability of this organisation to regenerate and organise itself."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1667855.htm
1024
Campbell sees corruption in IWC practices
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1668876.htm
Federal Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell has labelled some of the practices in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as corrupt.
Senator Campbell is back in Australia after attending the commission's annual meeting, which was this year held on the Caribbean island of St Kitts.
There have been accusations of vote-buying and bullying, after pro-whaling nations led by Japan managed to pass a resolution to end a 20-year ban on commercial whaling by one vote.
Senator Campbell is disappointed with the outcome.
"I think that some of the practices within the IWC over many years could be called corrupt," he said.
"It's been happening in the last couple of years, these sorts of practices have been going on for many years."
Protesters fined
Meanwhile, a magistrate in St Kitts has fined six Greenpeace activists more than $12,000 for charges arising from a protest yesterday.
Five activists, who jumped from high-speed launches and waded through the surf to the beach beside the conference resort, were convicted of illegal entry and fined more than $A2,500 each.
The protesters, four from Brazil and one from Mexico, had boarded the launches from the nearby Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which had been banned from entering St Kitts' port during IWC talks.
They had planned to plant more than 800 banners in the sand in the shape of whale fins bearing the slogan "R.I.P." in memory of whales killed by Japan in the Southern Ocean during its "research whaling" program this year.
A sixth activist, Greenpeace spokesman Mike Townsley from Britain, was convicted of obstructing a police officer and fined $A500.
Prosecutors said Townsley was charged after telling other protesters not to give their names to a senior police officer.
A second charge of resisting arrest was dropped against him.
All six activists were remanded in custody until the fines were paid.
1029
NASA safety chief won't appeal shuttle launch order
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/nasa-safety-chief-wont-appeal-shuttle-launch-order/2006/06/22/1150845291372.html
NASA's top safety officer says he won't appeal a decision to clear shuttle Discovery for lift-off next week, even though he has nagging concerns about its safety.
On Saturday, following a two-day flight review, NASA safety chief Bryan O'Connor and chief engineer Chris Scolese declined to endorse the space agency's certification that Discovery was ready for launch.
At issue is whether additional modifications to the shuttle's external fuel tank were necessary before flights resume.
NASA redesigned the tank after the 2003 Columbia disaster, and then again after the first-post Columbia mission last July. Both times large pieces of insulating foam fell off the tank.
Columbia was hit and damaged by the falling debris, triggering the ship's break-up as it flew through the atmosphere for landing. Seven astronauts died in that accident.
Discovery escaped impact from the falling foam debris during its launch nearly a year ago, but NASA suspended flights for additional modifications.
Some engineers say the agency has not gone far enough, an opinion clearly shared by O'Connor and Scolese.
But both, speaking in a teleconference with reporters today, ruled out any last-minute appeals aimed at scuttling the planned July 1 launch of Discovery.
1043
Somalis head for Sudan talks to stave off war
1.00pm Thursday June 22, 2006By Mohamed Ali Bile
MOGADISHU - Sudan's president is to mediate in talks between Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers and Somalia's interim government on Thursday.
The Arab League-sponsored talks are aimed at heading off new war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tensions have risen between the government and the Islamists since the latter kicked US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu on June 5 and went on to seize a strategic swathe of Somalia.
The government's call for international peacekeepers and its assertion that Muslim fundamentalists from around the world helped the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) secure its victory in Mogadishu have infuriated the Islamists.
The two sides seemed unlikely even to meet face-to-face.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is to lead the Khartoum talks under the auspices of the Arab League.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, whose weak interim government is based in the provincial town of Baidoa, was on his way to Sudan for the talks. But ICU chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was sending a 10-man delegation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387803
Zimbabwe to compensate foreigners for land
1.25pm Thursday June 22, 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe will pay compensation in foreign currency for land seized from foreigners, but the land owners could still challenge the seizures in court, a cabinet minister has said.
Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over thousands of white-owned commercial farms after backing often violent invasions led by veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.
The government last August passed laws that nationalised all such farms, barring farmers from challenging the seizure of their property in courts. Many economists and critics say the programme has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.
Some of the confiscated land belonged to foreign countries despite being protected under bilateral agreements.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who heads land reform and resettlement, said those with farms covered by such deals would receive full compensation and have the right to contest the seizures in court.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387852
1046
THIS IS WHAT IS COMING ACROSS THE USA SOUTHERN BORDER.
Policemen beheaded in Mexico border city of Tijuana
2.20pm Thursday June 22, 2006
TIJUANA, Mexico - Three police officers and a fourth man were decapitated in the drug-plagued Mexican city of Tijuana on the US border, their heads and bodies dumped kilometres apart, authorities there have said.
Police found the heads of three municipal policemen and a man identified only as a friend of one of the officers in plastic bags under a Tijuana bridge hours after their corpses turned up in the outlying district of Rosarito, said Jaime Niebla, a senior Tijuana police official. The city is near San Diego.
Rosarito's police chief, Valente Montijo, citing witnesses, said men in federal police uniforms attacked the victims.
The killings were the latest in a spate of police killings along the US border in recent months. Officers often collude with drug traffickers, and shootouts between members of different police forces are common.
Drug violence has been rife along the border since President Vicente Fox declared "the mother of all battles" on drug cartels in January 2005 and sent hundreds of troops and federal police to border cities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387854
US and Colombia crack drug smuggling ring
11.20am Thursday June 22, 2006By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK - US and Colombian authorities have arrested 30 suspected members of one of Colombia's top trafficking rings, a US official said.
The traffickers secreted heroin and cocaine in the soles of sandals, furniture, the lining of golf bags, and used human carriers who swallowed heroin pellets packed in condoms and boarded commercial airlines, the official said.
The arrests "dismantled a drug trafficking organisation that operated from the darkened jungles of Colombia to the bright lights of New York City", US Drug Enforcement Administration special agent John Gilbride told a news conference in New York.
Twenty-one people were arrested in Colombia, including nine suspected leaders of the Jaime Ocampo-Marin operation. US authorities arrested two people in Florida and seven in New York, Gilbride said.
As part of the investigation, anti-drug agents seized more than 113 kg of heroin worth more than US$25 ($40.9) million in raids in the United States and Colombia between mid-2004 and December 2005, Gilbride said.
He described it as "one of the largest amounts of heroin seized in a single drug investigation".
Nine Colombian anti-narcotics police involved in the investigation were killed on May 22, giving authorities an incentive to crack the ring, Gilbride said.
Eight Colombian soldiers have been arrested in connection with the deaths. Colombian investigators say the soldiers were in the pay of right-wing paramilitary militias.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387814
1050
Even mild injuries to brain add up
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-06-brain-damage_x.htm
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
After a land mine exploded under his armored vehicle last October in Barwana, Iraq, Marine Sgt. Devon Bradley remembers a deafening noise and a flash. Then nothing.
Seconds later, when he came to, Bradley grabbed his weapon and went back into the fight. He led his team for the next two months in efforts to clear insurgents from Barwana.
"We're hard dogs, and I kept pushing to be with my Marines," says Bradley, 29, who was on his third combat tour.
But something was wrong. In the weeks that followed the blast, he began forgetting what other Marines had just told him. He struggled to handle more than one task at once. Taste and smell disappeared. Worst of all, so did the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter, Addison. Bradley says he had to dig through letters from home to remember it.
He was eventually flown to a battlefield hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion — his second in the Iraq war and the third of his life. Bradley learned that what he thought was post-nasal drip was actually leaking spinal fluid.
By January, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California. Doctors told him his brain may never fully recover, and his career in the Marine Corps is in doubt
After more than three years of war in Iraq, where bombs are the biggest threat to U.S. troops, military doctors are seeing a growing number of brain injuries among soldiers and Marines caught too close to a blast. The vast majority are mild concussions that cannot be detected even with a CT scan or MRI.
THIS IS FROM January 2004. Once again the troops receive less than adequate protection from the Bush Administration.
Head Injuries Push Improvements In Gear
http://www.operation-helmet.org/head-injury.html
By Sandra JontzStars and StripesEuropean Edition January 30, 2004WASHINGTON — U.S. troops are suffering traumatic brain injuries in greater numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan than in previous wars, prompting studies on better helmets and improved medical treatment and recuperation care.
An area of scientific focus at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, headquartered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is how many traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, are direct results from the shock wave of a blast, and not just from the head impacting with the ground or other head and brain injuries wounds caused by shrapnel, for example, said Laurie Ryan, the center's assistant director for research.
In a preliminary study done among troops treated at Walter Reed, scientists analyzed 155 patients wounded in combat in Iraq to see if any showed signs of combat traumatic brain injury. Of the 155 troops, 96, or 62 percent, showed symptoms of minor to severe brain injuries. Of the 96, 88 likely had sustained an injury as a result of a blast, such as an explosion from a landmine, rocket propelled grenade or improvised explosive device, she said...
Original article
http://www.operation-helmet.org/documents/news-stories/Head-Injuries-Push-Improvements-In-Gear.pdf
1100
Large Incidents along the Southwest USA has increased exponentially since a week ago.
http://firemapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/
There is no sign of relief. The current turbulence is east of most of the fires. Drought.
http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_hem_loop-12.html
The Caribbean Sea was hot today. I can't believe the longevity of the Mid Atlantic vortex.
1108
I don't care to second guess the NECESSARY trials of our soldiers. We cannot allow a military to kill at will. For as much as it hurts to prosecute soldiers there has to be a brevity to their killing, otherwise, an event as the one that killed Pat Tillman will occur over and over again besides the deaths of innocent people. The USA military aren't supposed to be worse than the terrorists. I really think the USA military is out of control It's happening too frequently.
1110
I couldn't agree more. The Bush policy on most issues is inflammatory without resolve.
Bush policy a failure, says diplomat
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-policy-a-failure-says-diplomat/2006/06/21/1150845247944.html
WASHINGTON: A former US diplomat who was deeply involved in North Korea policy said the Bush Administration's approach has been a failure that left Pyongyang to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
In a rare public attack on the Administration by a foreign service officer, the retired head of the State Department's office of Korean affairs, David Straub, also questioned the decision-making on the issue by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
One fundamental failure of President George Bush's approach was the tendency to raise tensions and make South Korea nervous by stating that "all options" were on the table, a phrase underscoring US intentions to use force against North Korea if necessary, he said.
"Of course all options are on the table. No government ever takes any option off the table, but you don't have to talk about it all the time," Mr Straub said.
1123
The News Secretary finally.
This 'type' of incident of isolation leading to captured soldiers happened before with the squad of which Jessica Lynch was a memeber.
FIRST LYNCH
The truth about Jessica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html
Her Iraqi guards had long fled, she was being well cared for - and doctors had already tried to free her. John Kampfner discovers the real story behind a modern American war myth Thursday May 15, 2003The Guardian
Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war. An all-American heroine, the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.
Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.
...In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned from their beds to Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. Jim Wilkinson, the White House's top figure there, had stayed up all night. "We had a situation where there was a lot of hot news," he recalls. "The president had been briefed, as had the secretary of defence."
The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam had been captured. The story they were told instead has entered American folklore. Private Lynch, a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was a member of the US Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company that took a wrong turning near Nassiriya and was ambushed. Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where he was held for eight days. That much is uncontested.
THE INCIDENT THAT KILLED THREE USA SOLDIERS
Left to die in ambush: army asks why
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/left-to-die-in-ambush-army-asks-why/2006/06/21/1150845247938.html
Major-General William Caldwell confirmed the bodies were believed to be the remains of Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, 23, and Private First Class Thomas Tucker, 25. General Caldwell said an autopsy would determine the cause of death and there would be DNA testing "to confirm that it is in fact them".
A third soldier, identified as Specialist David Babineau, 25, died in a gun battle that preceded the abduction. All three soldiers were guarding a canal bridge near their military camp.
The circumstances of the initial attack remain mysterious. In a country where military vehicles, even the most impervious tanks, rarely leave fortified areas unless in pairs, General Caldwell confirmed the soldiers were alone.
"We know that there was a single vehicle with three American soldiers when they came under attack," he said.
According to Iraqis living in the area, the three soldiers became isolated when their comrades pursued insurgents into the orchards off the roadside. Then, the Iraqis said, seven or eight masked guerillas attacked the three, killing Specialist Babineau and capturing the other two. The Iraqis said they believed insurgents had staged the first attack to divert most of the Americans and isolate the three.
General Caldwell said the two were killed in a violent way and had not died from battle wounds.
The Shura Council of the Mujahideen, an al-Qaeda-linked group, posted a message on a jihadist website taking responsibility for the killings, but offered no proof of involvement.
General Caldwell said US troops found the bodies on Monday night, but did not immediately recover them, fearing the area was booby-trapped.
'Far too few' soldiers sent to Iraq
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/far-too-few-soldiers-sent-to-iraq/2006/06/21/1150845247929.html
THE US deployed a disastrously undersized army to occupy Iraq because the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, wanted to prove a point about military theory, according to a former top Bush Administration official.
The deputy secretary of state in the first four years of the Bush Administration, Richard Armitage, said that the undersized troop commitment was one of four key US strategic errors.
With a debate raging in Washington over whether to withdraw from Iraq, and a vote in the US Senate due today, Mr Armitage said the Administration discarded an invasion plan for Iraq that deployed at least 380,000 troops in favour of a plan with two-thirds that size at 250,000.
The reason was that Mr Rumsfeld wanted to apply a doctrine of "transformation" of the military, a vaunted move away from traditional military practice towards more flexible and high-tech warfare.
This would represent a departure from the principle of overwhelming force known as the Powell doctrine, named after the former secretary of state and general Colin Powell, a rival of Mr Rumsfeld's within the Bush Administration.
"The largest strategic mistake we made is that we had enough soldiers to win the war, but we had far too few to secure the peace," Mr Armitage said in an interview with the Herald.
enough
Al-Qaeda chief beheaded US soldiers: report
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/alqaeda-chief-beheaded-us-soldiers-report/2006/06/21/1150701561957.html
Iraqi insurgents have boasted that al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq "slaughtered" two missing US soldiers, whose bodies were found yesterday.
The statement from an umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents suggested the soldiers had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
The bodies showed signs of "barbaric torture" when they were found by US and Iraqi troops, a senior Iraqi general told Reuters. "The two soldiers were found yesterday by a combined US-Iraqi force. We found they had been tortured in a barbaric fashion," Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Private Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon and Private Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston, Texas went missing at dusk on Friday after an ambush at a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a town in an area south of Baghdad some Iraqis call the "Triangle of Death".
The Arabic word used in the insurgents' statement, "nahr", is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
DEMOCRATS 'think' for a living, Anderson. Something you are not used to !
1010
Web Post Says Russians Slain in Iraq; Workers Abducted, AP Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_qi3dAOT8Vk&refer=us
June 21 (Bloomberg) -- A group loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq said it killed four kidnapped Russian diplomats, according to an Internet posting found by the Washington-based Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute.
The claim surfaced on a day in Iraq during which about 85 factory workers were kidnapped by gunmen and Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike to protest the killing of one of his lawyers, according to the Associated Press.
The workers were abducted as they left work from a factory for metal doors, windows and pipes north of Baghdad, according to AP. About 30 women and children were later freed.
Iraq's new government is trying to clamp down on insurgent and sectarian violence to help forge national unity and economic growth.
1012
"LIE AND DIE"
Yep.
That's Bush. He's hasn't said a word of truth yet. And. He hasn't captured either Osama bin Laden OR the 20th hijacker.
'Al-Qaeda video' of 20th hijacker
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5101954.stm
A video said to be from al-Qaeda shows the man it says was the planned "20th hijacker" for the 9/11 US attacks.
The video, released by a US intelligence organisation, is of Saudi man, Fawaz al-Nashimi, who was killed in a shootout in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
The US has not commented and the video claim cannot be independently verified.
The identity of a 20th hijacker has been the subject of great debate, although there is no concrete evidence one was part of the plans for 9/11.
Al Qaeda has their own movie production company? Oh, really? Where exactly is this studio? Kabul?
Al-Qaeda’s al-Sahab Productions Releases New Zawahiri Video in Response to Kabul Riots
By SITE Institute
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications187506&Category=publications&Subcategory=0
A video of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two leader, was released today. Zawahiri’s statement on the video is a response to the rioting that occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 29, 2006, after three American military vehicles crashed into civilian cars during rush hour. The recording, almost four minutes, was likely recorded on May 30, 2006, as Zawahiri refers to “yesterday’s” events.
Zawahiri calls upon the Muslims in Kabuland elsewhere in Afghanistanto work with al-Qaeda against the Americans. This is the second message released by Zawahiri after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death on June 8, 2006. However, as the video was likely made before Zarqawi’s death, there is no mention of his death.
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commercials
1019
NEW AL QAEDA CHIEF: I SLIT THEIR THROATS
Sick claim as bodies of kidnapped troops found
By Mark Ellis, Foreign Editor
THE new head of al-Qaeda in Iraq personally slit the throats of two US soldiers whose bodies were found near Baghdad, it was claimed last night.
A statement on the internet gloated that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir had "implemented" sentence on the "two captive crusader parasites".
And it is feared al-Qaeda has scored a propaganda coup by carrying out the atrocity despite a huge US-led hunt for privates Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, and Kristian Menchaca, 23.
More than 8,000 Iraqi and US troops, backed by fighter and spotter planes, searched for the soldiers who were snatched on Friday from a checkpoint in Yusifiya, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17264726&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=new-al-qaeda-chief--i-slit-their-throats--name_page.html
1022
more commercials
I GUESS THE BOYS REPEATED THEIR SKILLS . THEY ARE ON A ROLL. I was hoping they could duplicate their victory. I congratulate them. This time it was the Aussies.
US troops kill Zarqawi's 'right-hand man'
The US military says it has killed the "right-hand man" of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Major General William Caldwell says Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was killed on Friday by US forces in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad.
"We do know that Sheikh Mansur was a key leader in Al Qaeda in Iraq with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organisation," General Caldwell said.
He describes him as Zarqawi's right-hand man and a liaison between Al Qaeda and tribes in the restive area south of Baghdad.
The Mashhadani are a major tribe of Sunni Arabs.
"He was tied to the senior leadership, including having relationships with both Zarqawi and al-Masri," General Caldwell said, referring to Abu Ayub al-Masri, whom the US military claim to be Zarqawi's successor.
"We do think that his death will significantly continue to impact on the ability of this organisation to regenerate and organise itself."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1667855.htm
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Campbell sees corruption in IWC practices
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1668876.htm
Federal Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell has labelled some of the practices in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as corrupt.
Senator Campbell is back in Australia after attending the commission's annual meeting, which was this year held on the Caribbean island of St Kitts.
There have been accusations of vote-buying and bullying, after pro-whaling nations led by Japan managed to pass a resolution to end a 20-year ban on commercial whaling by one vote.
Senator Campbell is disappointed with the outcome.
"I think that some of the practices within the IWC over many years could be called corrupt," he said.
"It's been happening in the last couple of years, these sorts of practices have been going on for many years."
Protesters fined
Meanwhile, a magistrate in St Kitts has fined six Greenpeace activists more than $12,000 for charges arising from a protest yesterday.
Five activists, who jumped from high-speed launches and waded through the surf to the beach beside the conference resort, were convicted of illegal entry and fined more than $A2,500 each.
The protesters, four from Brazil and one from Mexico, had boarded the launches from the nearby Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which had been banned from entering St Kitts' port during IWC talks.
They had planned to plant more than 800 banners in the sand in the shape of whale fins bearing the slogan "R.I.P." in memory of whales killed by Japan in the Southern Ocean during its "research whaling" program this year.
A sixth activist, Greenpeace spokesman Mike Townsley from Britain, was convicted of obstructing a police officer and fined $A500.
Prosecutors said Townsley was charged after telling other protesters not to give their names to a senior police officer.
A second charge of resisting arrest was dropped against him.
All six activists were remanded in custody until the fines were paid.
1029
NASA safety chief won't appeal shuttle launch order
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/nasa-safety-chief-wont-appeal-shuttle-launch-order/2006/06/22/1150845291372.html
NASA's top safety officer says he won't appeal a decision to clear shuttle Discovery for lift-off next week, even though he has nagging concerns about its safety.
On Saturday, following a two-day flight review, NASA safety chief Bryan O'Connor and chief engineer Chris Scolese declined to endorse the space agency's certification that Discovery was ready for launch.
At issue is whether additional modifications to the shuttle's external fuel tank were necessary before flights resume.
NASA redesigned the tank after the 2003 Columbia disaster, and then again after the first-post Columbia mission last July. Both times large pieces of insulating foam fell off the tank.
Columbia was hit and damaged by the falling debris, triggering the ship's break-up as it flew through the atmosphere for landing. Seven astronauts died in that accident.
Discovery escaped impact from the falling foam debris during its launch nearly a year ago, but NASA suspended flights for additional modifications.
Some engineers say the agency has not gone far enough, an opinion clearly shared by O'Connor and Scolese.
But both, speaking in a teleconference with reporters today, ruled out any last-minute appeals aimed at scuttling the planned July 1 launch of Discovery.
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Somalis head for Sudan talks to stave off war
1.00pm Thursday June 22, 2006By Mohamed Ali Bile
MOGADISHU - Sudan's president is to mediate in talks between Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers and Somalia's interim government on Thursday.
The Arab League-sponsored talks are aimed at heading off new war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tensions have risen between the government and the Islamists since the latter kicked US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu on June 5 and went on to seize a strategic swathe of Somalia.
The government's call for international peacekeepers and its assertion that Muslim fundamentalists from around the world helped the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) secure its victory in Mogadishu have infuriated the Islamists.
The two sides seemed unlikely even to meet face-to-face.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is to lead the Khartoum talks under the auspices of the Arab League.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, whose weak interim government is based in the provincial town of Baidoa, was on his way to Sudan for the talks. But ICU chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was sending a 10-man delegation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387803
Zimbabwe to compensate foreigners for land
1.25pm Thursday June 22, 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe will pay compensation in foreign currency for land seized from foreigners, but the land owners could still challenge the seizures in court, a cabinet minister has said.
Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over thousands of white-owned commercial farms after backing often violent invasions led by veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.
The government last August passed laws that nationalised all such farms, barring farmers from challenging the seizure of their property in courts. Many economists and critics say the programme has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.
Some of the confiscated land belonged to foreign countries despite being protected under bilateral agreements.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who heads land reform and resettlement, said those with farms covered by such deals would receive full compensation and have the right to contest the seizures in court.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387852
1046
THIS IS WHAT IS COMING ACROSS THE USA SOUTHERN BORDER.
Policemen beheaded in Mexico border city of Tijuana
2.20pm Thursday June 22, 2006
TIJUANA, Mexico - Three police officers and a fourth man were decapitated in the drug-plagued Mexican city of Tijuana on the US border, their heads and bodies dumped kilometres apart, authorities there have said.
Police found the heads of three municipal policemen and a man identified only as a friend of one of the officers in plastic bags under a Tijuana bridge hours after their corpses turned up in the outlying district of Rosarito, said Jaime Niebla, a senior Tijuana police official. The city is near San Diego.
Rosarito's police chief, Valente Montijo, citing witnesses, said men in federal police uniforms attacked the victims.
The killings were the latest in a spate of police killings along the US border in recent months. Officers often collude with drug traffickers, and shootouts between members of different police forces are common.
Drug violence has been rife along the border since President Vicente Fox declared "the mother of all battles" on drug cartels in January 2005 and sent hundreds of troops and federal police to border cities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387854
US and Colombia crack drug smuggling ring
11.20am Thursday June 22, 2006By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK - US and Colombian authorities have arrested 30 suspected members of one of Colombia's top trafficking rings, a US official said.
The traffickers secreted heroin and cocaine in the soles of sandals, furniture, the lining of golf bags, and used human carriers who swallowed heroin pellets packed in condoms and boarded commercial airlines, the official said.
The arrests "dismantled a drug trafficking organisation that operated from the darkened jungles of Colombia to the bright lights of New York City", US Drug Enforcement Administration special agent John Gilbride told a news conference in New York.
Twenty-one people were arrested in Colombia, including nine suspected leaders of the Jaime Ocampo-Marin operation. US authorities arrested two people in Florida and seven in New York, Gilbride said.
As part of the investigation, anti-drug agents seized more than 113 kg of heroin worth more than US$25 ($40.9) million in raids in the United States and Colombia between mid-2004 and December 2005, Gilbride said.
He described it as "one of the largest amounts of heroin seized in a single drug investigation".
Nine Colombian anti-narcotics police involved in the investigation were killed on May 22, giving authorities an incentive to crack the ring, Gilbride said.
Eight Colombian soldiers have been arrested in connection with the deaths. Colombian investigators say the soldiers were in the pay of right-wing paramilitary militias.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387814
1050
Even mild injuries to brain add up
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-06-brain-damage_x.htm
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
After a land mine exploded under his armored vehicle last October in Barwana, Iraq, Marine Sgt. Devon Bradley remembers a deafening noise and a flash. Then nothing.
Seconds later, when he came to, Bradley grabbed his weapon and went back into the fight. He led his team for the next two months in efforts to clear insurgents from Barwana.
"We're hard dogs, and I kept pushing to be with my Marines," says Bradley, 29, who was on his third combat tour.
But something was wrong. In the weeks that followed the blast, he began forgetting what other Marines had just told him. He struggled to handle more than one task at once. Taste and smell disappeared. Worst of all, so did the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter, Addison. Bradley says he had to dig through letters from home to remember it.
He was eventually flown to a battlefield hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion — his second in the Iraq war and the third of his life. Bradley learned that what he thought was post-nasal drip was actually leaking spinal fluid.
By January, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California. Doctors told him his brain may never fully recover, and his career in the Marine Corps is in doubt
After more than three years of war in Iraq, where bombs are the biggest threat to U.S. troops, military doctors are seeing a growing number of brain injuries among soldiers and Marines caught too close to a blast. The vast majority are mild concussions that cannot be detected even with a CT scan or MRI.
The same article was noted by Michael Moore.
Even mild injuries to brain add up
By Gregg Zoroya / USA Today
After a land mine exploded under his armored vehicle last October in Barwana, Iraq, Marine Sgt. Devon Bradley remembers a deafening noise and a flash. Then nothing.
Seconds later, when he came to, Bradley grabbed his weapon and went back into the fight. He led his team for the next two months in efforts to clear insurgents from Barwana.
"We're hard dogs, and I kept pushing to be with my Marines," says Bradley, 29, who was on his third combat tour.
But something was wrong. In the weeks that followed the blast, he began forgetting what other Marines had just told him. He struggled to handle more than one task at once. Taste and smell disappeared. Worst of all, so did the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter, Addison. Bradley says he had to dig through letters from home to remember it.
He was eventually flown to a battlefield hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion — his second in the Iraq war and the third of his life. Bradley learned that what he thought was post-nasal drip was actually leaking spinal fluid.
By January, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California. Doctors told him his brain may never fully recover, and his career in the Marine Corps is in doubt.
After more than three years of war in Iraq, where bombs are the biggest threat to U.S. troops, military doctors are seeing a growing number of brain injuries among soldiers and Marines caught too close to a blast. The vast majority are mild concussions that cannot be detected even with a CT scan or MRI.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7180
THIS IS FROM January 2004. Once again the troops receive less than adequate protection from the Bush Administration.
Head Injuries Push Improvements In Gear
http://www.operation-helmet.org/head-injury.html
By Sandra JontzStars and StripesEuropean Edition January 30, 2004WASHINGTON — U.S. troops are suffering traumatic brain injuries in greater numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan than in previous wars, prompting studies on better helmets and improved medical treatment and recuperation care.
An area of scientific focus at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, headquartered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is how many traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, are direct results from the shock wave of a blast, and not just from the head impacting with the ground or other head and brain injuries wounds caused by shrapnel, for example, said Laurie Ryan, the center's assistant director for research.
In a preliminary study done among troops treated at Walter Reed, scientists analyzed 155 patients wounded in combat in Iraq to see if any showed signs of combat traumatic brain injury. Of the 155 troops, 96, or 62 percent, showed symptoms of minor to severe brain injuries. Of the 96, 88 likely had sustained an injury as a result of a blast, such as an explosion from a landmine, rocket propelled grenade or improvised explosive device, she said...
Original article
http://www.operation-helmet.org/documents/news-stories/Head-Injuries-Push-Improvements-In-Gear.pdf
1100
Large Incidents along the Southwest USA has increased exponentially since a week ago.
http://firemapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/
There is no sign of relief. The current turbulence is east of most of the fires. Drought.
http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_hem_loop-12.html
The Caribbean Sea was hot today. I can't believe the longevity of the Mid Atlantic vortex.
1108
I don't care to second guess the NECESSARY trials of our soldiers. We cannot allow a military to kill at will. For as much as it hurts to prosecute soldiers there has to be a brevity to their killing, otherwise, an event as the one that killed Pat Tillman will occur over and over again besides the deaths of innocent people. The USA military aren't supposed to be worse than the terrorists. I really think the USA military is out of control It's happening too frequently.
1110
I couldn't agree more. The Bush policy on most issues is inflammatory without resolve.
Bush policy a failure, says diplomat
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-policy-a-failure-says-diplomat/2006/06/21/1150845247944.html
WASHINGTON: A former US diplomat who was deeply involved in North Korea policy said the Bush Administration's approach has been a failure that left Pyongyang to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
In a rare public attack on the Administration by a foreign service officer, the retired head of the State Department's office of Korean affairs, David Straub, also questioned the decision-making on the issue by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
One fundamental failure of President George Bush's approach was the tendency to raise tensions and make South Korea nervous by stating that "all options" were on the table, a phrase underscoring US intentions to use force against North Korea if necessary, he said.
"Of course all options are on the table. No government ever takes any option off the table, but you don't have to talk about it all the time," Mr Straub said.
1123
The News Secretary finally.
This 'type' of incident of isolation leading to captured soldiers happened before with the squad of which Jessica Lynch was a memeber.
FIRST LYNCH
The truth about Jessica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html
Her Iraqi guards had long fled, she was being well cared for - and doctors had already tried to free her. John Kampfner discovers the real story behind a modern American war myth Thursday May 15, 2003The Guardian
Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war. An all-American heroine, the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.
Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.
...In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned from their beds to Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. Jim Wilkinson, the White House's top figure there, had stayed up all night. "We had a situation where there was a lot of hot news," he recalls. "The president had been briefed, as had the secretary of defence."
The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam had been captured. The story they were told instead has entered American folklore. Private Lynch, a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was a member of the US Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company that took a wrong turning near Nassiriya and was ambushed. Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where he was held for eight days. That much is uncontested.
THE INCIDENT THAT KILLED THREE USA SOLDIERS
Left to die in ambush: army asks why
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/left-to-die-in-ambush-army-asks-why/2006/06/21/1150845247938.html
Major-General William Caldwell confirmed the bodies were believed to be the remains of Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, 23, and Private First Class Thomas Tucker, 25. General Caldwell said an autopsy would determine the cause of death and there would be DNA testing "to confirm that it is in fact them".
A third soldier, identified as Specialist David Babineau, 25, died in a gun battle that preceded the abduction. All three soldiers were guarding a canal bridge near their military camp.
The circumstances of the initial attack remain mysterious. In a country where military vehicles, even the most impervious tanks, rarely leave fortified areas unless in pairs, General Caldwell confirmed the soldiers were alone.
"We know that there was a single vehicle with three American soldiers when they came under attack," he said.
According to Iraqis living in the area, the three soldiers became isolated when their comrades pursued insurgents into the orchards off the roadside. Then, the Iraqis said, seven or eight masked guerillas attacked the three, killing Specialist Babineau and capturing the other two. The Iraqis said they believed insurgents had staged the first attack to divert most of the Americans and isolate the three.
General Caldwell said the two were killed in a violent way and had not died from battle wounds.
The Shura Council of the Mujahideen, an al-Qaeda-linked group, posted a message on a jihadist website taking responsibility for the killings, but offered no proof of involvement.
General Caldwell said US troops found the bodies on Monday night, but did not immediately recover them, fearing the area was booby-trapped.
'Far too few' soldiers sent to Iraq
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/far-too-few-soldiers-sent-to-iraq/2006/06/21/1150845247929.html
THE US deployed a disastrously undersized army to occupy Iraq because the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, wanted to prove a point about military theory, according to a former top Bush Administration official.
The deputy secretary of state in the first four years of the Bush Administration, Richard Armitage, said that the undersized troop commitment was one of four key US strategic errors.
With a debate raging in Washington over whether to withdraw from Iraq, and a vote in the US Senate due today, Mr Armitage said the Administration discarded an invasion plan for Iraq that deployed at least 380,000 troops in favour of a plan with two-thirds that size at 250,000.
The reason was that Mr Rumsfeld wanted to apply a doctrine of "transformation" of the military, a vaunted move away from traditional military practice towards more flexible and high-tech warfare.
This would represent a departure from the principle of overwhelming force known as the Powell doctrine, named after the former secretary of state and general Colin Powell, a rival of Mr Rumsfeld's within the Bush Administration.
"The largest strategic mistake we made is that we had enough soldiers to win the war, but we had far too few to secure the peace," Mr Armitage said in an interview with the Herald.
enough
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
When the program goes south, it goes south. Good night and good luck.
Who will get your attention today -- Anderson Cooper and Angelina Jolie, or Pfc Kristian Menchaca and Pfc Thomas Tucker? (click on title for article)
Today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times, plus who knows what other papers, carry half-page ads from CNN promoting Cooper's great get: his TELEVISION EXCLUSIVE interview with "Jolie - just back from Africa - on motherhood and her passionate fight for refugee relief." In politics, and in the entertainment business, these ads are known as "paid media." CNN is spending substantially in order to attract eyeballs to Cooper's show, whose ratings turn out not to be as high as Aaron Brown's, whom he replaced, despite Cooper's appearance in feature stories and on magazine covers ("free media") promoting his new book. Jolie is using her celebrity to get free media for refugees (and herself), just as the UN is using its prestige to get free media by declaring today World Refugee Day. CNN, in turn, is using Jolie's susperstar eye-candy in order to demonstrate to advertisers that it can pull decent enough Nielsens to justify paid media by HeadOn, ditech.com, the Schwarzenegger campaign and anyone else competing for your neurons.
Today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times, plus who knows what other papers, carry half-page ads from CNN promoting Cooper's great get: his TELEVISION EXCLUSIVE interview with "Jolie - just back from Africa - on motherhood and her passionate fight for refugee relief." In politics, and in the entertainment business, these ads are known as "paid media." CNN is spending substantially in order to attract eyeballs to Cooper's show, whose ratings turn out not to be as high as Aaron Brown's, whom he replaced, despite Cooper's appearance in feature stories and on magazine covers ("free media") promoting his new book. Jolie is using her celebrity to get free media for refugees (and herself), just as the UN is using its prestige to get free media by declaring today World Refugee Day. CNN, in turn, is using Jolie's susperstar eye-candy in order to demonstrate to advertisers that it can pull decent enough Nielsens to justify paid media by HeadOn, ditech.com, the Schwarzenegger campaign and anyone else competing for your neurons.
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