The Republicans are Corrupt, why would anyone think they aren't sexually scandalous.

1000


A Scramble for Republicans in Wake of Foley Resignation

By Mara Lee
Scripps Howard News Service

Washington (SHNS) -- The resignation Friday of GOP Congressman Mark Foley in a sex scandal adds to the woes of Republicans already fearing that voters might knock them out of power in the House in elections less than six weeks away.

Democrats need to win 15 seats to take over, and Foley's Florida seat was considered safe for Republicans _ until Friday, when the six-term lawmaker quit amid reports that he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to teens who worked as congressional pages.

Nathan Gonzales, a political analyst with the Rothenberg Political Report, said that, around the country, "Republicans are already on the defensive. This just adds to their list of headaches."

The Rothenberg Political Report was predicting a Democratic gain of 15 to 20 seats before the resignation.

Tom Riehle, a partner at the polling firm RT Strategies, said this race was not on its list of 30 contests that could change the majority in the House. Now, his company will be polling in the district for its Majority Watch poll, which will be released in mid-October.

He said that when a Congress member has been in office for a long time and has voter loyalty, "quite often, the only thing that can unseat him or her is a personal scandal."

Riehle said Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., is facing a similar problem, because of news coverage of his affair with a woman who is 30 years his junior. Sherwood polled at 43 percent, and his opponent at 50 percent in the Majority Watch poll.

Riehle, who has worked for Democrats before founding the bipartisan firm, said the Florida election calculus is complicated.

"They didn't recruit an A-level candidate on the Democrat side, but it's very late to recruit an A-level candidate on the Republican side."

GOP leaders were considering a Republican statehouse representative from the region, but did not name Foley's replacement Friday.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee praised its candidate, Tim Mahoney, as a serious contender.

Mahoney "has been conducting a vigorous campaign for more than a year and running television ads for almost a month. He has raised over $700,000 and he's personally donated an additional $349,000," read a memo released by the DCCC communications department. "In the latest poll in the district, conducted by (Democratic pollsters) Hamilton Beattie and completed September 14th, Foley was under 50 percent."

Under Florida election law, it's too late for Foley's name to be removed from the ballot. But all votes for him will go to the Republican nominee who replaces him.

University of Virginia political-science professor Larry Sabato said the Republican would have a good chance to win, but he wondered if people would want to vote for Foley, even knowing he's not the nominee. He called it "the yuck factor."

He predicted the scandal would not taint other Republican incumbents and pointed out that former Rep. Duke Cunningham, R-Calif., who went to prison for taking bribes, was replaced in a special election by another Republican who was working as a lobbyist.

1002

Dana Bash "... it is clear that Congressman Foley was clearly not honest ... "

1004

Preventing Pelosi

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_471818.html

The question about the November elections isn't whether the Republicans will lose seats but how many they will lose. And as fall begins, the forecasts are getting bleak: If Republicans lose 15 House seats, they will lose their majority as well.
Republican Hill staffers are eyeing the exits, looking to get out while the getting's good. They may be too late: K Street lobbying shops are hiring Democrats in anticipation of a shift in power.
Republicans are doing better in the Senate. They are likely to lose seats there but probably not their majority.
But House Republicans face a daunting national political environment. The continued fighting in Iraq, along with the absence of a clear path to victory, has demoralized Republicans and angered Democrats. It has soured the public mood even on seemingly unrelated issues.

Some Republicans have drawn hope from the fact that forecasters thought they would lose seats in 2002 and turned out to be wrong. But most of the poll numbers looked worse for Republicans in August 2006 than they did in August 2002.
In 2002, 51 percent of Americans thought the country was "on the wrong track" while 43 percent thought we were headed "in the right direction." That eight-point gap has ballooned to 38 points: Now 66 percent of the public thinks we're on the wrong track, compared with 28 percent who think the opposite.

1015

I also read a poll today stating only 35% of voters knew Senator Menendez was their incumbent.

Poll: Voters split on Kean, Menendez

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/15569956.htm

By Leonard N. Fleming
Inquirer Staff Writer
Ask the Experts Ask a question of NJ political analysts
More coverage of elections in New Jersey
The bitterly fought New Jersey Senate race between U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and his Republican opponent, Thomas H. Kean Jr., remains a dead heat, despite a federal probe into a lease deal involving the Democratic lawmaker, a new poll showed yesterday.
The Quinnipiac University poll, which surveyed 1,233 registered voters, underscored the pivotal role that independents will play in a highly volatile contest between two largely unknown candidates that has been focused on ethics and the Iraq war.
Independents are evenly split on whom they will support, and 37 percent of them say they could change their mind before Election Day, the poll showed. Although Democrats have done well with independents in recent years, they could help elect a Republican for the first time since 1972.
The race will "come right down to the independent voters" and neither candidate has a clear majority yet, said Clay F. Richards, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute based in Connecticut.
Kean, a state senator from Union County and son of a former popular governor, holds a 48 percent to 45 percent lead among likely voters over Menendez, a former Hudson County congressman who was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Corzine in January. The survey included 688 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.7 percent - meaning the race is a virtual tie.
The poll indicates that the campaign strategies - Kean painting his opponent as unethical, and Menendez linking his challenger to President Bush and the Iraq war - are having an impact.

1019

I am tired of this mess. Teens are still killing each other because they can. There are plenty of guns around and Bush doesn't care. The Brady Bill was proven effective. Yet, the current majority Republicans have thrown all caution out with their politicking for their power base. This Party does not care about the people of this nation, they only care about what they can get out of this country and it's military. They are all 'power players' vs. legislators and statesmen/wemen.

Statement of Brady President Paul Helmke On House Passage Of Bill That Protects Gun Dealers That Help Arm Criminals

http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/?pagename=release&release=796

Washington, D.C. - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement:

“The United States House of Representatives today chose to pass special interest legislation that benefits the law-breaking gun pushers who make money by selling firearms that end up in the hands of killers, muggers and thieves. They ignored the concerns of our nation’s Mayors and law enforcement leaders who opposed this awful bill.

“One must ask the question: When does this end in our country? How many children and police officers must die before our elected members of Congress stop doing the bidding of the gun lobby? Today in Pennsylvania, the families of the victims of gun violence drove for hours to get to the state Capitol to ask for help. In New York, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, my home city of Fort Wayne, Indiana and cities all over America, the people want their leaders to get the illegal guns off the streets.

“In Washington, D.C., instead of listening to all of those voices, a loud message was sent to the gun traffickers: Keep the guns coming. That’s a frightening message.”

enough

The USA Military is NOT in Iraq to act as Private Guards to Halliburton

1000

I don't how many times I have heard the words, "It's for the money." The Halliburton employees know full well they may not be returning home. They expect the USA military to protect their interests. It's war, babe. If you are going to be a civilian in the middle of a war zone you are half crazy and the other half is desperate for a job Bush cannot supply at home.

The USA military does the same job as these truck drivers for far less salary. I can imagine the USA military thinking, they don't get paid that much, they aren't putting their lives on the line for people that actually belong at work back home.

Privatized Warfare: The Summer of Discontent

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2811/

But then again, in August, a federal jury in Raleigh, N.C., set a legal precedent by convicting CIA contractor David Passaro for his role in the death of a detainee under interrogation in Afghanistan, marking the first time an American civilian had been held criminally accountable for abuse in Afghanistan and Iraq. A couple of weeks later, Blackwater USA—the “professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm”—lost its attempt to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the families of four employees brutally killed in Fallujah. In late July, the construction firm Bechtel couldn’t escape being audited, and lost a $50 million contract for mismanaging the long-delayed building of a Basra children’s hospital.

The jobs the Halliburton employees are doing belong to the Iraqis. We don't belong in Iraq, We never did.

1010

Michael Ware - "...US Forces are simply unpopular in this country (Iraq) ..." Thank you.

1013

I have no sympathy for the private contractors ANYWHERE in a war zone. It's occupation and not requested assistance. The people working in war zones need to insist on better jobs back home and pay scales to match it ! Stop being stupid asses !

1017

Ambramoff and Bush

House Suspends Hill Telecom License

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092701859.html

Va. Firm's Award Linked to Abramoff
By James V. GrimaldiWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, September 28, 2006; Page D03
House leaders have suspended a multimillion-dollar wireless communications license that federal prosecutors say was corruptly awarded to a Dulles telecommunications firm by Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) in exchange for gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Even after conviction the corruption continues:

Abramoff Seeks Delay in Prison Term

http://www.forbes.com/business/services/feeds/ap/2006/09/28/ap3052973.html

A judge agreed Thursday to again put off prison for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former business partner, but the delays were shorter than what lawyers on both sides sought. Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers had jointly requested delays of 90 days beyond Monday's scheduled prison surrender date so Abramoff can continue to cooperate in a Washington corruption investigation, and Adam Kidan can provide more information about the gangland-style murder of former SunCruz Casinos owner Konstantinos Boulis. U.S. District Judge Paul Huck reluctantly agreed to let Abramoff remain free until Nov. 15, and Adam Kidan until Oct. 23.

1023

commercials

Projects under scrutiny
Inquiry looks at Halliburton work in Nigeria and elsewhere

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4220311.html

By DAVID IVANOVICHCopyright 2006
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Federal investigators, who have been looking into a possible bribery scheme involving Houston's Halliburton Co. and a Nigerian natural gas plant, are scrutinizing "multiple" projects both within and outside Nigeria, according to company filings.
Recently uncovered information suggests employees at Halliburton's M.W. Kellogg Co. — some time before 1998 — may have planned to funnel payments to government officials to land projects in countries outside Nigeria, Halliburton subsidiary KBR said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

1027

Republican Legislative Laziness

Dramatic new video shows Halliburton contractors under fire in Iraq

http://www.abc4.com/local_news/local_headlines/story.aspx?content_id=9798A429-1B79-4BF1-82E6-5224094EE7F5

See the Video: Halliburton truck drivers under fire in Iraq

A dramatic home video obtained by ABC News shows U.S. troops apparently abandoned a truck convoy after it came under insurgent attack in Iraq last year.

Three unarmed Halliburton truck drivers were executed at point-blank range once the troops left, according to a surviving driver, Preston Wheeler, of Mena, Ark., who taped the scene. "They was murdered. To me, they was murdered," Wheeler told ABC News in an exclusive interview broadcast Wednesday on World News and Nightline.

The tape shows an armored personnel carrier leading the trucks that Wheeler says was from the Virginia National Guard. Once insurgents opened fire and disabled four trucks, the personnel carrier can be seen racing ahead.

The corruption? Is neck deep.


US judge backs Halliburton on Iraq overtime claim

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-28T171439Z_01_N28271048_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-HALLIBURTON.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas ruled this week that oil field services company Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) does not have to pay millions of dollars in overtime wages claimed by U.S. employees working in Iraq.
The five plaintiffs had filed the lawsuit filed last year charging Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction unit violated the terms of its LOGCAP III contract with the Pentagon by failing to pay them 1-and-1/2 times their base pay for hours worked over 40 hours per week.
Many of Halliburton's employees often worked as much as 100 hours per week under dangerous and difficult conditions, according to the complaint, but were paid not paid at the higher rate.
The five, who had sought class action status to include an estimated 20,000 and 40,000 employees who worked for KBR in Kuwait and Iraq, also argued the company had paid them too little by miscalculating their wages.

Vengence against Hugo

I don't think he is feeling it.

It’s time petroleum prices are lowered

http://www.timesnews.co.ke/29sep06/editorials/edtorial1.html

Petroleum dealers in Kenya meet Energy Permanent Secretary today to discuss the escalating fuel prices. There is no gainsaying that petroleum is a key factor of production in the country and that is why President Kibaki’s concern about rising costs of the commodity should be approached with the seriousness and thirst that it deserves. If these high prices are not curbed, the Kenyan economy could easily lose the gains made in view of the recently published 5.8 percent economic growth. ...

In doing so, the government can use what Foreign Affairs minister, Raphael Tuju referred to as economic diplomacy to secure cheap oil for Kenyans. In this time of economic constraints, Kenya cannot afford to continue with this trend where high fuel prices are killing the local manufacturing industry because of high production cost precipitated by runaway fuel prices. A way must be sought to procure cheaper sources of fuel. All that is needed is for our economic planners to be more adventurous in negotiating for better deals in the international market.

At a recent meeting of African heads of state and government under the auspices of the African Peer Review Mechanism in Banjul, the Gambia, Venezuelan and Iranian leaders, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejaad respectively, advised African leaders to seek cheaper and clean oil from the two countries. The two heads asked African leaders not to be intimidated by Western threats that they should not do business with the two oil producing countries. As the two leaders observed then, governments are formed in order to promote the welfare of their people.

The two presidents said they were saddened to see many African consumers of petroleum products suffer under crippling trade relations with unscrupulous dealers yet their countries offer oil at substantially affordable prices. In view of this the Ministry of Energy should start expanding its policy options concerning procurement of petroleum. With a free market economy in place, the country is in a better position to procure cheaper oil than ever before. If the country is presently seeking alternative bilateral partners like China, it can surely seek alternative sources of oil.

1044

commercials

1047

Kenya: Nairobi to Host Climate Change Meeting

http://allafrica.com/stories/200609270994.html

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
September 28, 2006Posted to the web September 27, 2006
Samuel OtienoNairobi

Preparation for the first international conference on environment to be held in the country is under way.

Environment and Natural Resources minister, Prof Kivutha Kibwana, said the United Nations meeting to discuss climate change would take place from November 6 to 17.

Between 6,000 and 10,000 representatives of governments, non-governmental organisations, private sector and academia are expected.

Kibwana said about 130 ministers would also attend the conference expected to cost about Sh803 million.

Briefing the Press at his office on Wednesday, Kibwana said the Government had so far spent Sh193 million on the preparation for the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

COP is the supreme body responsible for keeping international efforts to address climate change on track.

"It also reviews the implementation of the convention and examines the commitment of parties in light of the convention objectives," said Kibwana.

Among the issues to be discussed at the conference, which will be the second meeting of the Kyoto Protocol parties, are new scientific findings and experiences in implementing climate change policies.

Kenya is a signatory to UNFCCC and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Kibwana said the country was developing projects under the Clean Development Mechanism, which was created under the Kyoto Protocol to help developing countries attain sustainable development.

He said Kenya was chosen because it is vulnerable to climate change. The minister said the country has suffered droughts, famine and flooding due to the effects of climate change.

1049

commercials

1053

News secretary

The troops are in better hands with NATO. I am hopeful this is a sign that Rumsfeld is getting ready to resign. That also means the troops are actually fighting a war for the country rather than acting as Halliburton Private Security Transport Firm.

1100

Rally in Charlotte NC to Impeach Bush and Cheney Saturday, Sept 30th at 1 PM

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=13996

Gregg Jocoy
September 26, 2006
Freedom Park in Charlotte, NC will buzz with speeches and music this Saturday starting at 1 PM. The goal of all the music and speeches is nothing less than the permanent removal of George Bush and Dick Cheney.
Offering speakers from across the Carolinas and the nation, the rally will call for the impeachment of the President and Vice President based in part on the lies told the Congress and the American people by them in the lead up to the war on Iraq.
Musical acts cover the gamut from individual performers, like Michael Sharpe and Peter Moore to groups like Bellyfull and Hardcore Lounge. Sponsors of the event include the NC, Charlotte and York County (SC) chapters of the Green Party, local branches of Code Pink and NOW, and local activist groups like the Action Center for Justice and the Charlotte Coalition for Peace and Justice.

enough

Osama bin Laden is Bush's Problem. Musharraf and Karzai had bigger ones.

1000

Bush is staging 'blame' for his own failures and not finding solutions to the problems of these countires.

Musharraf on Kashmir: Calls for Talks on Self-Governance
By Khalida Mazhar 'Pakistan Times' US Bureau Chief

NEW YORK (US): Pakistan was left stranded in 1989 after Afghan war, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in an address to the Council of Foreign Relations here while releasing his book “The Line of Fire”.The country was not delivered F-16 fighter planes neither the paid amount returned back to Pakistan, which created suspicions and it will take time to iron out the situation, Musharraf said.He said the governments of United States and Pakistan enjoying cordial relations but the people of Pakistan have reservations about the United States, as the country was left stranded after the Afghan war in 1989.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/27/top.htm

1006

President Musharraf doesn't even recognize the Taliban. How can President Karzai talk to Bush's issues with the Taliban and al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden when President Musharraf doesn't even recognize the Taliban.

Musharraf says peace accord is with Tribals, not Taliban
By Sonita Taylor 'Pakistan Times' Special Correspondent
NEW YORK (US): Pakistan has entered into a peace pact with North Waziristan's tribal elders in a strategic move to isolate the Taliban, President Pervez Musharraf said Monday night. In an interview with Public Broadcasting System (PBS), the President dispelled the misconception that his government had caved in to the Taliban, asserting that not all people in that region were pro-Taliban. "We have entered into a peace treaty with the non-Taliban," he said, adding that it was working well. To questions about reported movement across the Pak-Afghan border, he replied that Pakistan was doing a lot, but more must be done in Afghanistan. The Taliban, who occupied some 90 per cent of Afghanistan in 1995, were not from Pakistan, and Mullah Omar had never been there since that year.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/27/top1.htm

1013

Both these Presidents come to Washington to ask for assistance. They aren't interested in Bush's failed war. THIS IS WHAT PAKISTAN AND MUSHARRAF'S people want to hear about.

Kerry urges more development funds for Pakistan

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/27/top7.htm

'Pakistan Times' Monitoring Desk
NEW YORK (US): Senator John Kerry, the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, has called for increasing U.S. development funds for Pakistan as part of the strategy to counter extremism."(We) must use economic leverage to ensure the Taliban no longer finds sanctuary and recruits in Pakistan", he said in an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal.Noting that Washington gave Pakistan only $300 million in economic support last year, Sen. Kerry said the amount was insufficient as that's "what we spend in a day in Iraq.""We need to give to give more in development funds earmarked for specific projects that help undermine radicals and demand more in return from (President Pervez) Musharraf government," he said.

1021

And the USA has HUGE problems.

Loss of Antarctic Ice Increases

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30E15F73C550C708CDDAA0894DE404482

Two new satellite surveys show that warming air and water are causing Antarctica to lose ice faster than it can be replenished by interior snowfall, and thus are contributing to rising global sea levels.
The studies differed significantly in estimates of how much water was being added to the oceans this way, but their authors both said that the work added credence to recent conclusions that global warming caused by humans was likely to lead to higher sea levels than previous studies had predicted.
The earlier projections presumed that snowfall over Antarctica, as well as Greenland, would increase as warming added moisture to the air, compensating for the losses of ice from crumbling or melting along coasts.
Several independent experts agreed with the new conclusions, saying they meshed both with more localized studies of trends in Antarctica and with evidence from warm spells before the last ice age.

1022

Have anything to say worthwhile Anderson. We know there is a war and it's difficult. It's time end the wars and bring the troops home. You aren't going to get a draft. There is very few al Qaeda in Iraq. One of them is in prison in Jordan. An Iraqi woman. Jordan. The war is unproductive in providing stability.

Try this award winning question, Anderson. "Is there improved stability in the Middle East post invasion into Iraq and how best is that achieved? Will an autonomous Provincial Iraq actually bring a more stable region?"

This program goes on and on and on with the same message.

1030

Pakistan gives front page news space to Global Warming. Pakistan. Can President Musharraf have an intelligence discussion about the HUGE problems the USA has if Bush doesn't even recognize Human Induced Global Warming. Yet. To the Pakistanis it is a very real problem that the USA is a huge contributor to.

Global temperature highest in Millennia 'Pakistan Times'
Monitoring Desk

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/27/top9.htm

WASHINGTON (US): The planet's temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, warming that has begun to affect plants and animals, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Earth has been warming at a rate of 0.36 degree Fahrenheit per decade for the last 30 years, according to the research team led by James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.That brings the overall temperature to the warmest in the current interglacial period, which began about 12,000 years ago.The researchers noted that a report in the journal Nature found that 1,700 plant, animal and insect species moved poleward at an average rate of about 4 miles per decade in the last half of the 20th century.

1032

You never stated what is on the mind of these Presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It helps to know what guests are stating as priorities and problems. Ignorance to other President's concerns is a measure of stupidity in circles of diplomacy.

Musharraf on Peace

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/27/editorial.htm

BEAMING an explicit message to the world, President Pervez Musharraf, in his extensive address to the 61st session of the UN General Assembly has called for resolution of volatile issues like Kashmir and Palestine, end to racial and religious discrimination against Muslims and ban on the ‘defamation of Islam’ to promote peace, justice and harmony in the world. He also attributed terrorism to the old conflicts and new campaigns of military intervention and advocated for pursuit of enlightened moderation as a way forward to deal with the scourge. As a matter of fact, the world is in turmoil as a result of injustice and discrimination against the Muslim world, exclusively at the hands of the mighty powers. Religious sensitivities of the Muslims are being hurt through attacks on Islam, one way or the other. Thus, it’s obviously a sheer folly to hope for peace amidst perpetration of injustice, intimidation and deprivation on the Muslims.

1038

You should stay on message that won you the Emmy's Anderson.

Feature story in a regular newscast: CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 for Charity Hospital.

Live coverage of a breaking story (long form): CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 for Starving in Plain Sight.

CBS and PBS lead winners of Emmy news awards (click on)
(Sep 27, 2006)
CBS and PBS each took five awards at the annual news and documentary Emmys, where PBS' Bill Moyers was presented with a lifetime achievement award. The winners:
Coverage of a breaking news story in a regular newscast: NBC Nightly News for Hurricane Katrina: Moment of Crisis.
Coverage of a continuing news story in a regular newscast: ABC's World News Tonight for Iraq: Where Things Stand.

1041

U.S. workers on foreign company payrolls decline for fourth year

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/26/business/NA_FIN_US_Foreign_Hiring.php

WASHINGTON Though outsourcing of jobs to other nations has stirred a political uproar, a slide in the number of U.S. workers on foreign companies' payrolls has gotten little notice.
The latest total, 5.12 million, is down 9.6 percent from 2000. That drop raises concerns that the United States could be losing its edge in the global competition to generate jobs.
In a new report looking at all 50 states, the number of workers in the United States employed by foreign companies dropped by 2.4 percent in 2004 to 5.12 million, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline.
Since hitting an all-time high of 5.66 million workers in 2000, foreign company hiring of Americans has fallen by 9.6 percent. That four-year performance contrasts with a 43.1 percent surge in the six years from 1994 to 2000.

1055

You know, Aaron Brown always stated "Are we on the same page?" If Bush isn't responsive in his policies to the same issues that his guests are there will be no effective communication. There was one mention about Kashmir by Mr. Bush before the dinner. Not one. Yet, this is one of the worst problems facing Pakistan and India. Unfortunately and maybe Karzai and Musharaff realize this. ...... No ..... they definately recognize this .... they are here as pawns in political goals of Bush. John Kerry did the right thing to extend a helping hand to Pakistan before any change in leadership in the USA. These leaders should realize they aren't the issue so much as Bush is.

I don't feel like reminiscing about bin Laden.

I'll read about the dinner in the New York Times. They have the best leaks.

enough.

Bin Laden Determined to Strike Within the United States

1002

It's interesting to have a USA Senator, once a First Lady, aware of the issues her husband faced. Now as a legislator, Hillary Rodham Clinton is a very unique woman. One would think as First Lady it would be enough of politics, but, Hillary keeps coming back. There is something about being a woman with a history of fighting for chidren's rights as Hillary did in her days with The Children's Defense Fund that keeps them involved.

http://search.eb.com/women/article-9095812

There is really no getting away from it, Hillary is a powerful person, not to mention a powerful woman. She has perspective even her spouse does not have. I don't believe Bill Clinton was ever a legislator. A Governor and President is different. Legislators seek support for issues pertinent to the people they represent in a different way. She does it well.

1013

There you go. Nancy Pelosi is right. Mr. Bush needs to speak truth to the people of this country. In the face of the newly released intelligence report I don't see the USA staying in Iraq. I don't consider the 'innocent face' of Karzai stating, "What are you going to do, let them come kill us again?" a proper answer to the question. He evaded the issues of Bush's incompetency to date in a very big way. President Karzai should answer the question, "How did it feel to be abandoned in Afghanistan when you realized a larger military effort could have secured Afghanistan that was witnessed in Iraq. Funding for reconstruction? Larger military force to end the presence of terrorists in his nation? Karzai never answered the primary issue that Americans are rightfully upset about? How does he view the continued presence of Osama bin Laden in the world? How does he feel about Iran's position regarding Bush's America and the Anti-Semitic remarks of Iran's president? How does he see his role given the fact he once tried to mend fences with Iran and the USA after he was returned as president of Afghanistan? There is a whole lot President Karzai can address to journalists in this country BUT does not. At least, President Musharraf is not afraid to speak his mind.

The Iraq nation is dissolving. It is a completely different circumstances in Iraq than Afghanistan. Iraq was never the issue of 911.

There is a huge power struggle between the ethnic groups in Iraq because of the long history of violence toward any one group at a time.

Iraq House debates autonomy
REUTERS
baghdad • Iraq’s parliament took tentative steps yesterday to resolve a deadlock over autonomous regions, an issue that has split its politicians on sectarian lines, as fresh clashes erupted in southern Baghdad.
Parliament named a committee to draft amendments to the constitution — a Sunni demand — and read out a bill to allow for regional autonomy, a key demand of powerful Shi’ite leaders. The two issues lie at the heart of Iraq’s sectarian divide and have hurt Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s efforts to end months of political paralysis and mounting violence. Many majority Shi’ites want to create an autonomous region in their oil-rich southern heartland.
Minority Sunnis fear this would siphon oil wealth from Baghdad and could tear the country apart, and want to amend the constitution to strengthen the powers of the central government. Kurds already have autonomy in the north and want their region to include the disputed oil city of Kirkuk. The parliamentary hearing was chaotic, with members shouting as the autonomy bill was read and renewed evidence of a split in the main Sunni bloc.
Violence continued. Police said Shi’ite militiamen had attacked a Sunni neighbourhood in southern Baghdad. Clashes ensued in which three people were killed and 10 wounded, and the withdrawing gunmen set three shops ablaze. A suicide car bomber killed two policemen in Jurf Al Sakhar. At least four bombs in Baghdad killed at least seven people. Bombers also struck in Kirkuk, Baquba and Latifiya, and mortars fell on houses in Mahmudiya, where police also found 12 bound and tortured corpses.


Iraqi parliament debates autonomy
Washington Post

1026

Everyone seems to think the USA is supposed to 'handle' the future of Iraq. "W"rong. I am confident the Iraq Central Authority finds it convenient to be the center of affection of Bush, Jr., but this legislative body has it's own ideas about the future of their people. I don't want to set up Iraq for portential human rights violations in the future as in Bosnia and Herzegovina where ethnic hatred absolutely killed so many. Bill Clinton participated in "The Dayton Accords" which settled the dispute and started separate governing provinces for the Serbs.

The problem is this, comparing and contrasting the violence of Bosnia and Iraq there are similarity in that in 1991 Bosnia immediately fell into war and crimes after splitting from Yugoslavia. I am sure Former President Clinton sees similarities in the issues and has made recommendations to Bush. I doubt sincerely anything but Bush's priorities matters.

If the ethnic groups of Iraq see peace within the autonomous states they have identified, they may be finding their own peace between each other; IF each find economies and security that compliment that division of sovereignty. I believe it is possible.

The question I would love for Former President Clinton to answer which no one ever asks, 'does he see parrallels between the Bosnia issues and Iraq's ethnic issues and does he see similar resolves as his Dayton Accords?

1043

Is no one paying attention to the storms still be spawned in the Atlantic or will they all go away, too?

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_east_loop-12.html

I suppose that one out there now isn't up to speed yet.

1051

You know I did notice today on Wolf's program how they adapted the introduction to match the one Aaron used to have called 'The Whip Around the World." Odd name I guess. But, it introduced everyone right up front. It was a nice preview. "Front Page Headline" is what it was considered and followed by Page Two and then Page Two and a Half and then Segment Papers and ..... well.... then the rest of the program.

Oh, yeah I added some questions to the Nancy Pelosi paragraph. I think they are great questions and the PROPER perspective of a failed war in Afghanistan.

enough

1054

How does a subject as serious as impeachment get turned into a political issue?

Anderson Cooper finds the leaked National Intelligence Estimate to be work of a political volly.

"W"rong Anderson.

It's about life and death and what international global enivronment is BEST for the United States of America.

Bush's International Theater is not good for promoting the longevity of Americans.

It isn't hard to figure out Anderson. The wars were supposed to make the USA and it's populous safer. It hasn't. This is NOT rocket science.

Anderson you have complete irreverence for life.

1014

MIchael, I am not interested in how well Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are doing; I want to know how well the USA is secured from these idiots. There is every indication the man whom is president is incompetent. There is every indication the men in the White House have left our Homeland completely vulnerable.

If I were Anderson Cooper I would want to know who leaked the information, if he doesn't already know, and why whomever it was FELT THE NECESSITY to warn the nation about the bumbling of this adminstration. Was the leaker(s) so scared they found relief in leaking information.

1020

The news secretary

ciommercials

Why don't you have Nancy Grace on Anderson? After all if anyone has no reverence for life, it's her. Pushing someone beyond the limits of tolerance when circumstances surrounding a missing child because a witch hunt of the mother. Regardless, of how she may or may not have been guilty in anyway, there should not be people killing themselves after being cross examined by a PUBLIC PROSECUTOR. If the mother was guilty she would never have to testify against herself anyway. This 'Cat Bird' seat Grace has a prosecutor's dream come true. They usually never have the chance to directly prosecute a defendant without the benefit of an attorney. When she spoke with Grace she expected a focus on the missing child and not on herself. Somehow anyone would expect the same thing. CNN has the wrong focus to attract viewers.

1027

Military recruiters don't believe in what they do. They only care about doing a job close to the end of their enlistment meeting recruitment numbers handed down by the military. Michael Moore has done nothing short of warning everyone off from military recruitment. The protestors that see recruiters as draconian demonstrate against them, regularly. This issue of rape is not surprising. I am wondering if the 'new' definition of rape such as that which is part of the terrorist interrogation standards according to Bush takes effect here or does it have to go back to the drawing board so that Bush's military can 'have at 'em' whenever they want?

1033

commercials

Darfur - osteoporosis is an interesting combination for a commercial segment.

1035

Clinton on America - Also known as "Throw out the Rule Book" by Bush.

No rules of war.

No rules of interrogation.

No rules in the United Nations.

No rules in spying on Americans.

No rules in impeachment.

No rules in protecting a criminal president after the fact such as Senator Spector and how is always comes to the rescue of the Oval Office, including Secret Committees to FIND A WAY to justify his lies to the nation and his illegal wiretapping.

No rules for military battlefields and the amount of personnel necessary to launch such invasions. Not enough military personnel in Afghanistan in 2001. Not enough military personnel at Tora Bora when Military Intelligence knew exactly where Bin Laden was. Not enough military personnel into Iraq.

No international rules on demeanor. Calling every nation with a difference with the USA, evil. Escalating the nuclear weapon cold war.

No rules in making statements about assisting the innocent such as Darfur.

No rules that actually find successful routes of deployment of 'strategically' precise weapons so allies can count on munititions when in the middle of advancement in Bush's War on Terror such as Israel with Hezbollah.

No rules when it comes to following through with agreements by the UN made with terrorists networks like Hezbollah to uphold those agreements including the return of abducted soldiers at the borders of Israel.

1046

Afghanistan was well executed? What propaganda this is. 20,000 troops to fight a war against a terrorist network that just downed towers, crashed planes even into the Pentagon and killed nearly 3000 and this bozo says it was well executed with a deployment of 20,000 trooops.

Right.

I am curious about something. Is there any books being published except the ones that blow smoke up your skirt?

1049

commercials

1051

Gergan - Bill Clinton is not angry. He put a Neocon interviewer in his place referring quite adeptly the issue of equity. I never watched the fiction mini-series about September 11th.

1053

Next on the enlightening show AC 360 - Down home clogging while building spin off the war. It's called boring.

enough

Tonight's Cast - Bush, Mush and Hope for the Pope

1003

Bushy and Mushy together in the fight - Osama bin Laden enter stage right.

1007

Gary Bernstein's book is Jawbreaker - the people dead yet to be forsaken.

1011

Bounty is 25 million on 'bin' but for a blind cleric it's only ten.

1012

Commercials are the life blood, only for three minutes, just so Andy could.

1015

Recognition of Israel can be seen by Abbas, but blind and unfortunately in the case with Hamas.

1016

Victory is their's says Hezbollah by yet another blind cleric named Nasrallah.

1019

UPS and Verizon covering ground quickly so that success is on the horizon.

Robots to make a Hyundai while no account fees with Schwab make our day.

Headon and Activon handle our pain but these commercials are such a drain.

1023

Nasrallah attends a Beirut rally while southern Lebanon lies in piles of crushed wally.

1031

Circuit city has all the computers while coal technology remains nothing but CO2 polluters.

1032

A meeting of leaders is hope for the Pope while Muslim demonstrators insist they are not on Afghanistan dope.

1037

Freedom of speech should be in abundance while Islamic extremists are no longer among us.

1040

Religion plays pivotal roles while Muslims seek freedom to go to the polls.

1042

Commercials go on and on, but, I don't.

enough.

Shana Tova.

Aaron Brown a true patriot - in other words, what is best for the country and our allies, right Aaron?

Halliburton, revenge and cronies aren't on the agenda for you, huh? Could it be that college students are actually in good hands with appropriate dissonance? If it's Aaron? The answer is always.........yes.

Summit Calls For Moderation in U.S.-Muslim World Relations (Click on)

...Various panelists addressed the specific problems surrounding Iraq, Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, and the Arab-Israeli conflict at different times during the summit.

Aaron Brown, former host of CNN's NewsNight and the keynote speaker at the summit, said that after 9-11, "whatever goodwill we had around the world, whatever sense of national unity and purpose we had at home, was squandered in the way we went to war with Iraq."...

More gossip from the UN - Little information about policy. While at the Clinton gathering it was nothing but policy and impowerment

1002

I wouldn't call Bush by such names as Cowboy and Former Drunk. I'd just call him a loser. President Chavez is right about that. The American Indian genocide. It's true. The USA Calvary almost wiped them out.

1013

I won't call the American Press a free press exactly. I do believe there are a few journalists in jail these days.

Judgment Calls

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4185

How top editors decide whether to publish national security stories based on classified information

By Rachel Smolkin Rachel Smolkin

(rsmolkin@ajr.umd.edu) is AJR's managing editor.

The outcry over decisions by major newspapers to disclose the Bush administration's secret monitoring of international banking transactions was fast and furious.

Although the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post also published articles describing efforts to trace the financial records of suspected terrorists, the New York Times broke the story on the Web and bore the brunt of the outrage. The administration had asked the New York Times and L.A. Times not to publish. But both papers ultimately decided to anyway, posting their pieces the evening of June 22 and publishing them on page one the following day.

The clash between the First Amendment's guarantee of a free press and the patriotic duty to protect American lives and uphold national security puts the media in an uncomfortable position. For the second time in six months, the New York Times had infuriated the administration by exposing a secret program in the war on terror. The piece followed a December 16 story disclosing the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping inside the United States. In that instance, too, the administration had pleaded with the Times to withhold publication. But after delaying for more than a year to conduct additional reporting, the Times published the article--and won a Pulitzer Prize for it.

On June 26, President Bush condemned the global banking records story. "Congress was briefed," he said, answering questions from reporters. "And what we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America."
Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in more pointedly the next day. "Some in the press, in particular the New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs," Cheney said in a June 27 speech. He called the Times' Pulitzer for its NSA story "a disgrace."

Those statements were positively temperate compared with the reaction among administration allies. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, accused the New York Times of "treason." Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, asked the U.S. attorney general to launch a criminal investigation of the paper. On June 29, the House of Representatives voted 227-to-183 to condemn the publication of classified information and to urge news organizations' cooperation in the war on terror. In early August, Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, introduced a bill that would criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

The punditry was even more vociferous. On June 28, San Francisco talk show host Melanie Morgan told the San Francisco Chronicle that New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller should be jailed for treason for approving publication of the banking records story. "If he were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber," Morgan told the Chronicle. "It is about revealing classified secrets in the time of war. And the media has got to take responsibility for revealing classified information that is putting American lives at risk." ...

... Describing their calculus for weighing whether to publish, editors cite an imprecise combination of case-by-case evaluations, a balancing test of public interest versus national security, and, ultimately, some reliance on their gut. "It starts with instinct," Bradlee says. ...

1027

There is some question about the actual statements by Nikita Khrushchev and where and when he stated them. This is an entry from Wikipedia. I realize people challenge the source many times, but, this would have been a glaring error on their part, so I think it has some brevity.

We will bury you
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev famously used an expression generally translated into English as "We will bury you!" ("Мы вас похороним!", transliterated as My vas pokhoronim!) while addressing Western ambassadors at reception in Moscow in November, 1956. [1] The translation has been controversial because it was presented as being belligerent out of context. The phrase may well have been intended to mean the Soviet Union would outlast the West, as a more complete version of the quote reads: "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you" - a meaning more akin to "we will attend your funeral" than "we shall cause your funeral".
Several online sources incorrectly claim that he made this statement at the United Nations General Assembly on October 11, 1960, when he is said to have pounded the table with his shoe, or with an extra shoe he had brought with him explicitly for that purpose. [2] (Occasionally these incorrect reports give the date October 12, the date this incident was reported in most newspapers.)
Speaking some years later in Yugoslavia, Khrushchev himself remarked, "I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you" [3], a nod to the popular Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism." Khrushchev later went on to explain that socialism would supplant capitalism in the same manner that capitalism itself supplanted feudalism.

1030

Even Time Magazine has it reported differently than David Gergen stated it. Sorry, Anderson, you lose.

"We Will Bury You!"

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867329,00.html

Posted Monday, Nov. 26, 1956At the final reception for Poland's visiting Gomulka, stubby Nikita Khrushchev planted himself firmly with the Kremlin's whole hierarchy at his back, and faced the diplomats of the West, and the satellites, with an intemperate speech that betrayed as much as it threatened.
"We are Bolsheviks!" he declared pugnaciously. "We stick firmly to the Lenin precept—don't be stubborn if you see you are wrong, but don't give in if you are right." "When are you right?" interjected First Deputy Premier Mikoyan—and the crowd laughed. Nikita plunged on, turning to the Western diplomats. "About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us. don't accept our invitations, and don't invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not. history is on our side. We will bury you!"

1033

Death Squads? Or Defense Squads?

Iraq torture report by UN angers Washington
By Tim Reid of The Times in Washington
The Bush Administration angrily rejected a claim by a United Nations official today that more Iraqis are being tortured now than when Saddam Hussein was in power.
Manfred Nowak, the UN's chief anti-torture campaigner, has never been to Iraq but said he based his claim on interviews with people in Amman, Jordan and other sources.
"What most people tell you is that the situation as far as torture is concerned now in Iraq is totally out of hand," Mr Nowak said in Geneva.
"The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein."
Nowak, an Austrian law professor, was speaking following a UN report which showed that the number of Iraqi citizens killed in July and August was 6,599, a record-high number.
More than 5,100 were murdered in Baghdad and many victims had been tortured. Violent civilian deaths in July reached an unprecedented 3,590, an average of more than 100 a day.
A State Department official in Washington, asked about Professor Nowak's comments, told The Times: "How anyone could compare state-sanctioned torture under a dictator to the situation today is beyond us.
"We definitely don't agree with his remarks. We don't agree with his assessment of the situation at all."
According to the UN report, torture is rampant in Iraqi detention centres and in sectarian killings across the country.
Bodies found in the Baghdad morgue "often bear signs of severe torture including acid-induced injuries and burns caused by chemical substances, missing skin, broken bones - back, hands and legs - missing eyes, missing teeth and wound caused by power drill or nails," the report said.
"You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police, you have these militias. There are so many people who are actually abducted, seriously tortured and finally killed," Mr Nowak said.
"It’s not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal methods of torture you’ll find by private militias," he added.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2368770,00.html

1037

Just a repeat of last night. Ho-hum. Waiting for the punch line in the second hour.

1114

President Chavez is winning over the world. The interesting part is that he really means it. He feels 'the threat' of Bush's administration and military and isn't about to take it lying down. He is providing the impetus to contain Bush. He just might.

The USA Near Borders in two years, I suggest the people of the USA turn their country around and soon.

Top U.S. Leader On S. America Warns Against Venezuela
September 21, 2006 6:35 p.m. EST
Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A U.S. military commander says Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez continues to export political instability to Latin America.
Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, the outgoing head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, says Chavez has become "bigger than a nuisance."
"I think there's an exporting of instability coming out of Venezuela. I think it's unfortunate. There's a glut of money there from oil. Money talks in a lot of parts of the world. It buys things, influence."
According to the Pentagon, Craddock's comments came on the same day Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush "a devil" during a speech to the U.N. General Assembly. The general said the United States should take such inflammatory speeches seriously.
Improving relations between Venezuela and Iran is also "of concern." The General adds, "We have to watch that."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004940286


Venezuela's Hugo Chavez boosts heating oil program for U.S. poor

Ian James, Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, September 21, 2006
NEW YORK (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited a Harlem church Thursday and promised to more than double the amount of discounted heating oil his country ships to needy Americans, while he also took another sharp swipe at U.S. President George W. Bush.
A day after he called Bush "the devil" in a speech to the UN General Assembly, Chavez said of the president: "He's an alcoholic and a sick man."
Chavez received a round of applause from the crowd at Mount Olivet Baptist Church, which included activists and other supporters as well as actor Danny Glover.
Bush has acknowledged that he had a drinking problem when he was young but gave up alcohol 20 years ago.
Chavez also called Bush's policies in Iraq criminal, adding he hopes Americans will before long "awaken" and elect a better president. The Venezuelan leader said that while he opposes Bush, the American people "are our friends."
Some in the church laughed and applauded when Chavez compared Bush to the cowboy movie icon John Wayne.
Chavez also announced that Citgo, the U.S.-based refining arm of Venezuela's state-run oil company, plans to more than double the amount of discounted heating oil it is offering Americans this winter to 380 million litres, up from 150 million litres.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=d7785063-3c00-454f-a59d-d3f2a23d7668&k=38778



CHAVEZ'S ANTI-U.S. FERVOR
Emerging force among nonaligned nations
Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 21, 2006
He pops up almost everywhere -- Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America and this week at the United Nations, denouncing U.S. policy with revolutionary fervor.
Like a recurring bad dream for the Bush administration, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is molding himself into one of the world's most pre-eminent anti-American leaders.
Days before he addressed the United Nations -- where he called President Bush the devil Wednesday -- Chavez hosted the equally anti-American Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Caracas. They cemented an increasingly close alliance by signing more than 20 trade and investment deals, and Chavez promised to cut off oil supplies to the United States in the event of a U.S. military attack on Iran.
At last week's summit in Cuba of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement, Chavez emerged as the heir apparent of the movement's longtime patron, the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. However, Chavez has something Castro never had -- huge oil revenues that will last for decades to come.
"Unlike Castro, who depended on the Soviet Union, Chavez is completely independent economically, which gives him a large margin to maneuver," said Luis Lander, a professor of social sciences at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas.
Although Chavez came to power in 1999, his global influence has expanded dramatically in the past two years as his oil revenues boomed. He is pouring aid into leftist allies Cuba and Bolivia, providing discounted oil to Caribbean and Central American nations, buying high-tech weaponry from Russia and even spreading Venezuelan wealth around western Africa. If Venezuela succeeds in its attempt to gain a two-year rotating seat on the U.N. Security Council, Chavez will have a big new megaphone on the global stage.
"Chavez is wildly popular in places where you wouldn't imagine people had even heard of him," said Carlos Mendoza, who was Venezuela's ambassador to Russia until last year and previously was ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "In the (Persian) Gulf states, for example, everyone knows who he is, they admire him and love him."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/21/MNGPDL9LS51.DTL

enough

The Nuclear War Presidents

Unfortunately Bush already has them, otherwise the world would be placing sanctions on him.

1006

Anderson has green hair now. Seriously. It's green. I guess it reflects the amount of expertise in journalism he has.

I can understand the confusion by the Iranian President about the Holocaust and why the Jewish people aren't in Germany. He can't or won't see the Justice in Jewish people having a homeland in the Middle East when they were from Europe. He doesn't connect the 'history' of the Hebrews in territories of the Middle East. He also wants the world to realize the injustice of 'the times' when Israel was carved out of those territories. The injustice that is of Palestine. Palestine was a nation of nomads. But, today they are a nation of people. They are being treated seriously today as the Jewish were after the Holocaust. There really is no sincere reason for his anger about Palestine. Nor the Jews.

He has much empathy for the Palestinians but none for Israel to realize they have suffered greatly as well, just less in modern times. He truncates the past, the history, the heritage of the Hebrews in order to justify hatred. That is unfortunate. It reveals perhaps a racial bigotry or perhaps even more a man that is unaware of the profound need to respect history and it's importance in the present. The Hebrews are home. Israel is correct to be where it is. The reality that Palestine is a nation of focal areas of Israel is to realize the past of very ancient times when Rome first caused such atrocities that drove native peoples from the region to seek safety. He stated there are Jews in Palestine as well. That should also bring a clear reality to the roots of the region and why it is correct for the Palestinians and Jews to live together as they did millenium ago. It is odd that today they are still at war with each other when their shared enemy, the Romans, have long since died away.

The Iranian President didn't think much of you, Anderson.

Where is the coverage about the Western USA fires?

Well, Andy's hair was green. It was in the interview.

1032

Day Fire
Area: 84,035 acres
(5% increase from yesterday)
Location: Ventura county, CA - SW of Pyramid Lake @ Piru Creek
Cause: Human
Team Type: 1
Team Leader: Jeanne Pincha-Tulley
15.0% Contained
Fuels: Heavy Mixed Brush With Scattered Timber.

Bar Complex Fire
Area: 74,170 acres (4% increase from yesterday)
Location: Trinity county, CA - N & NW of Weaverville, CA
Cause: Lightning
Team Type: 1
Team Leader: Molumby/Johnson
39.0% Contained
Expected Containment: Oct 15, 2006
Fuels: Nffl Fuel Models 6, 8, & 10. Heavy Loading Of 1000 Hr. Fuels From Past Fires And Non-fire (bug Kill) Mortality In The Areas Surrounding The Fires Exists.

Rattlesnake Complex Fire
Area: 44,904 acres (0% increase from yesterday)
Location: VALLEY county, ID - 13 MILES NE OF GARDEN VALLEY
Cause: Lightning
Team Type: 1
Team Leader: Rowdy Muir
75.0% Contained
Expected Containment: Oct 15, 2006
Fuels: Fuel Models 2,8,9,10 Sub-alpine Fir, Lodgepole Pine, Ponderosa Pine And Grass

Red Mountain Fire

Area: 35,482 acres (0% increase from yesterday)
Location: Boise county, ID - 16 miles northeast of Lowman, Idaho
Cause: Human
Team Type: 1
Team Leader: Paul Broyles
95.0% Contained
Expected Containment: Oct 1, 2006
Fuels: Subalpine Fire And Lodgepole Pine.

The Derby Fire
Area: 234,000 acres (0% increase from yesterday)
Location: Sweet Grs/Stlwtr/Par county, MT - 15 miles south of Big Timber, MT
Cause: Lightning
Team Type: 1
Team Leader: Chuck Stanich
90.0% Contained
Expected Containment: Oct 15, 2006
Fuels: Combination Of Fuel Models 8,2, And 10.

enough

It took less than three minutes for Andy to get to the nuclear weapon argument ...

... it took Paula Zahn a whole lot less than that. She even ventured into launching weapons against Iran.

The world is talking about sanctions and these idiots are putting 'Iraq II' before the public as if it's a reality.

To speak to a 'timely' issue based in reality we have to turn to The Arab News. Kyoto is not about completely replacing oil energy resources, it's about limiting it. Limiting enough to stop the deadly trend and reverse it to a tolerable level that doesn't destroy Earth's icecaps. It's the icecaps that provide a livable planet.

Kingdom Supports Kyoto, but ‘Green Power’ Can’t Meet Demand: Al-Naimi

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=86830&d=20&m=9&y=2006

RIYADH, 20 September 2006 — Riyadh Governor Prince Salman called on the business community yesterday to take advantage of opportunities that await them in the energy sector, especially in the area of clean development mechanism (CDM), which provides a new investment avenue. The governor made his remarks while inaugurating the three-day first international conference on CDM organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources here last night.
CDM is an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol that allows for industrialized countries to contribute to reducing greenhouse gases not by reducing their own emissions but by investing in the construction of modernized, energy-efficient technologies in developing countries.

1008

Gergan hasn't said anything worthwhile yet. As if Bush is the only leader in the world that can speak harshly about other countries. Jerks.

Carolina's Kristi Eveland Named ACC Player Of The Week Freshman was named Defensive MVP of Duke adidas Classic.

http://www.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/stories/091806abj.html

Sept. 18, 2006
GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's Kristi Eveland was tabbed Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week after leading the Tar Heels to a pair of wins at the 2006 Duke adidas Classic in Durham, N.C., this past weekend.

Eveland was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player of the tournament as the Tar Heels posted shutouts in back-to-back games beating Marquette 2-0 and Florida 1-0 to improve to 8-1 on the season. The freshman from Southlake, Texas anchored a defensive effort which limited the competition to just four shots, two of which were on goal, over the weekend.

In Friday's contest against Marquette, North Carolina outshot the Golden Eagles 21-1 and followed that performance by outshooting the Gators 14-3 on Sunday. It was the fifth straight shutout registered by the Tar Heels and the seventh in nine games this year. Eveland has started all nine games for UNC this season, playing in 916 of the team's 920 total minutes.

Eveland and the Tar Heels will open conference play this Thursday, September 21, as North Carolina welcomes Florida State to Chapel Hill in a game shown live on the Fox Soccer Channel at 8:00 pm. The Tar Heels will wrap-up the weekend facing Miami at home on Sunday.


House of Cards: How job loss, lack of education and creative financing steal the dream of home ownership

http://www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&SubSectionID=44&ArticleID=1713&TM=70085.83

He shuffles around the corner clutching a typed notice in his hand, making his way past the Guilford County Clerk of Court's administrative suite and down the long hallway where a continuous bulletin board stretches the length of the wall, subdivided into columns headed with numbers for the day of the month, each one containing a headache-inducing array of sale notices.Wearing a chestnut-colored snap-cap and sensible slacks, heavy black-framed glasses focusing quizzical eyes, 80-year-old Govan Tate looks all of an old-school man of the world, and the stoop in his walk and smooth skin stretched over hollowed cheeks do not detract from his obvious pride. With a curt "excuse me" he positions himself in front of the column marked "13" and examines the notices, glancing from the jumble of papers on the wall to the one in his hand. After a moment he shakes his head and walks down to the end of the hallway and back before accepting the assistance of a stranger.


Suicide, homicide ruled out in death of Anna Nicole Smith's son

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060919-1330-annanicolesmith-son.html

By Michael Melia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:30 p.m. September 19, 2006
NASSAU, Bahamas – More than a week after her son mysteriously died beside her hospital bed, Anna Nicole Smith remained out of sight in the Bahamas as officials said only that his death was not a suicide or homicide.
With toxicology tests pending, the official cause may not be publicly known before a jury inquest starting Oct. 23. The 38-year-old former reality TV star, who gave birth to a baby girl three days before her son's death, is expected to be summoned.
Daniel Smith, 20, died the morning of Sept. 10. By all accounts, he flew into the Bahamas the night before and went directly to the private Nassau Doctors Hospital, where staff saw him tending to his mother and newborn half-sister in the hours before his death.
Two autopsies – one by the Bahamas coroner's office, another by celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht – have ruled out suicide, foul play and several potential natural causes. Both have sought further tests to detect drugs or chemicals.
Wecht, who was hired by Anna Nicole Smith to perform a follow-up autopsy, said Daniel had been taking a “quite low” dosage of prescription anti-depression medication.

Frank Rich on Global Warming

The Cannes Landslide for Al Gore
By FRANK RICH
LET it never be said that the Democrats don't believe in anything. They still believe in Hollywood and they still believe in miracles. Witness the magical mystery comeback tour of Al Gore.
Like Michael Moore's ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' before it, Mr. Gore's new documentary about global warming, ''An Inconvenient Truth,'' has wowed the liberal caucus at Cannes (who needs landlocked Iowa?) and fueled fantasies of political victory back home. ''Al Gore Takes Cannes by Storm -- Will the Oval Office Be Next?'' Arianna Huffington asks on her blog, reporting that the former vice president was hotter on the Croisette than Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Penelope Cruz. In a ''fantasy'' presidential poll on the liberal Web site Daily Kos, Mr. Gore racks up a landslide 68 percent, with the closest also-ran, Russ Feingold, at 15. Liberal Washington pundits wonder whether the wonkishness that seemed off-putting in 2000 may actually be a virtue. In choosing a president, Margaret Carlson writes on Bloomberg.com, maybe ''we should give a rest to that old saw about likeability.''
Still, the unexpected rebirth of Al Gore says more about the desperation of the Democrats than it does about him. He is most of all the beneficiary of a perfect storm of events, the right man in the right place at the right time. It was just after Mr. Gore appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' to kick off his movie's publicity campaign that long-rumbling discontent with the party's presumptive (if unannounced) presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, boiled over. Last week both New York magazine and The New Yorker ran lead articles quoting party insiders who described a Clinton candidacy in 2008 as a pox tantamount to avian flu. The Times jumped in with a front-page remembrance of headlines past: a dissection of the Clinton marriage.
If Senator Clinton is the Antichrist, might not it be time for a resurrected messiah to inherit (and save) the earth? Enter Mr. Gore, celebrated by New York on its cover as ''The Un-Hillary.''
There's a certain logic to this. Mrs. Clinton does look like a weak candidate -- not so much because of her marriage, her gender or her liberalism, but because of her eagerness to fudge her stands on anything and everything to appeal to any and all potential voters. Where once she inspired passions pro and con, now she often induces apathy. Her most excited constituency seems to be the right-wing pundits who still hope to make a killing with books excoriating her. At least eight fresh titles are listed at Amazon.com, including my own personal favorite, ''Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation From Mussolini to Hillary Clinton.'' (Why settle for Il Duce when you can go for Hitler?)
Since no crowd-pleasing Democratic challenger has emerged at this early date to disrupt Mrs. Clinton's presumed coronation, the newly crowned movie star who won the popular vote in 2000 is the quick fix. Better the defeated devil the Democrats know than the losers they don't. Besides, there are at least two strong arguments in favor of Mr. Gore. He was way ahead of the Washington curve, not just on greenhouse gases but on another issue far more pressing than Mrs. Clinton's spirited crusade to stamp out flag burning: Iraq.
An anti-Hussein hawk who was among the rare Senate Democrats to vote for the first gulf war, Mr. Gore forecast the disasters lying in wait for the second when he spoke out at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Sept. 23, 2002. He saw that the administration was jumping ''from one unfinished task to another'' and risked letting Afghanistan destabilize and Osama bin Laden flee. He saw that the White House was recklessly putting politics over policy by hurrying a Congressional war resolution before the midterm elections (and before securing international support). Most important, he noticed then that the administration had ''not said much of anything'' about ''what would follow regime change.'' He imagined how ''chaos in the aftermath of a military victory in Iraq could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.''
At the time, the White House professed to ignore Mr. Gore's speech, but on cue in the next five days Condoleezza Rice, Ari Fleischer, Donald Rumsfeld and the president all stepped up the hype of what Mr. Rumsfeld falsely called ''bulletproof'' evidence of links between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Democratic leaders in Congress, meanwhile, blew off Mr. Gore for fear that talk of Iraq might distract the electorate from all those compelling domestic issues that would guarantee victory in the midterms. (That brilliant strategy cost Democrats the Senate.) On CNN, a representative from The New Republic, a frequent Gore cheerleader, reported that ''the vast majority of the staff'' condemned his speech as ''the bitter rantings of a guy who is being politically motivated and disingenuous in his arguments.''
But in truth, as with global warming, Mr. Gore's stands on Iraq (both in 1991 and 2002) were manifestations of leadership -- the single attribute most missing from the current Democrats with presidential ambitions. Of the potential candidates for 2008, only Senator Feingold raised similar questions about the war so articulately so early. The Gore stand on the environment, though still rejected by the president and his oil-industry base, has become a bipartisan cause: 86 evangelical Christian leaders broke with the administration's do-nothing policy in February.
If this were the whole picture, Mr. Gore would seem the perfect antidote to the Democrats' ills. But it's not. The less flattering aspect of Mr. Gore has not gone away: the cautious and contrived presidential candidate who, like Mrs. Clinton now, was so in thrall to consultants that he ran away from his own administration's record and muted his views, even about pet subjects like science. (He waffled on the teaching of creationism in August 1999, after the Kansas Board of Education struck down the teaching of evolution.) That Gore is actually accentuated, not obscured, by ''An Inconvenient Truth.'' The more hard-hitting his onscreen slide show about global warming, the more he reminds you of how much less he focused on the issue in 2000. Gore the uninhibited private citizen is not the same as Gore the timid candidate.
Though many of the rave reviews don't mention it, there are also considerable chunks of ''An Inconvenient Truth'' that are more about hawking Mr. Gore's image than his cause. They also bring back unflattering memories of him as a politician. The movie contains no other voices that might upstage him, not even those of scientists supporting his argument. It is instead larded with sycophantic audiences, as meticulously multicultural as any Benetton ad, who dote on every word and laugh at every joke, like the studio audience at ''Live With Regis and Kelly.''
We are also treated to a heavy-handed, grainy glimpse of Katherine Harris, Michael Moore-style, and are reminded that Mr. Gore is not a rigid blue-state N.R.A. foe (he shows us where he shot his rifle as a farm kid in Tennessee). There's even an ingenious bit of fearmongering to go head to head with the Republicans' exploitation of 9/11: in a worst-case climactic scenario, we're told, the World Trade Center memorial ''would be under water.'' Given so blatant a political context, the film's big emotional digressions -- Mr. Gore's tragic near-loss of his young son and the death of his revered older sister from lung cancer -- are as discomforting as they were in his 1992 and 1996 convention speeches.
If ''An Inconvenient Truth'' isn't actually a test drive for a presidential run, it's the biggest tease since Colin Powell encouraged speculation about his political aspirations during his 1995 book tour. Mr. Gore's nondenial denials about his ambitions (he has ''no plans'' to run) are Clintonesque. Told by John Heilemann of New York magazine that his movie sometimes feels like a campaign film, Mr. Gore gives a disingenuous answer that triggers an instant flashback to his equivocation about weightier matters during the 2000 debates: ''Audiences don't see the movie as political. Paramount did a number of focus-group screenings, and that was very clear.'' You want to scream: stop this man before he listens to a focus group again!
Even so, let's hope Mr. Gore runs. He may not be able to pull off the Nixon-style comeback of some bloggers' fantasies, but by pounding away on his best issues, he could at the very least play the role of an Adlai Stevenson or Wendell Willkie, patriotically goading the national debate onto higher ground. ''I think the war looms over everything,'' said Karl Rove this month in bemoaning his boss's poll numbers. It looms over the Democrats, too. But the party's leaders would rather let John Murtha take the heat on Iraq; they don't even have the guts to endorse tougher fuel economy standards in their ''new'' energy policy. While a Gore candidacy could not single-handedly save the Democrats from themselves any more than his movie can vanquish ''X-Men'' at the multiplex, it might at least force the party powers that be to start facing some inconvenient but necessary truths.

1021

Any country that takes CNN off the aire has my loyalty.

Everyone is excited about Katie on CBS, but, one is talking about Rosie except Chuck Scarborough.

Rosie O'Donnell's Lively 'View' Debut

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500574.html

Rosie O'Donnell's Lively 'View' Debut
By FRAZIER MOOREThe Associated PressTuesday, September 5, 2006; 2:16 PM
NEW YORK -- "My name is Meredith Vieira, and welcome to 'The View,'" said Rosie O'Donnell, introducing herself _ as if that were necessary _ on the ABC women's chat show Tuesday.
Filling the moderator slot vacated in June by Vieira (who went to NBC's "Today" show), O'Donnell was greeted by a rousing standing ovation from the studio audience. And she coyly suggested that her longtime crush, Tom Cruise, had sent the huge flower arrangement on the floor beside her.

1026

Union takes issue with state's performance pay rules for teachers

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060919/LOCAL/209190327/1078/news

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Education Association is challenging state guidelines for developing local teacher performance pay plans because they were written without going through required rule-making procedures, officials of the statewide teachers union said Monday.The union contends the Florida Department of Education has cut teachers out of the guideline-writing process for the new program dubbed Special Teachers are Rewarded, or STAR. The challenge is aimed at invalidating several interpretations of the plan the department has made."Through proper rule-making, all parties have an opportunity to address concerns, identify problems and perhaps arrive at a workable solution," union general counsel Pam Cooper said in a statement.Gov. Jeb Bush said teachers have had an ample opportunity to be heard in hearings held around the state."Basically the union does not want to pay teachers over and above the increases that we've given them on an annual basis for performance based on student learning," Gov. Jeb Bush said.
Union president Andy Ford said his group doesn't oppose the concept of performance pay, a form of merit pay that gives more money to those teachers deemed to be doing a better job than their peers. It is premature, though, until all Florida teachers can be paid a salary at or above the national average, Ford said.

1029

Human Rights Watch Urges Governor Jeb Bush to Postpone the Execution of Clarence Hill

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-16412.html

1034

"Hamid Karzi is the elected president of Afghanistan." states Andy.

Yet.

President Ahmadinejad is a 'regime.' Although he was elected by the people of Iran.

No hatred there of course.

1037

Citizens Property Insurance ordered to hold customer service hearings
Tallahassee, Florida - The state is putting new requirements on the state-created company that is the largest home insurer in the state.
Governor Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet ordered Citizens Property Insurance to hold three public hearings on its customer service by the end of the year.
Citizens, which insures homes for which people can't get private coverage, was seeking approval of its business plan for the coming year, one written mostly by the Legislature.
But Bush and the Cabinet rejected the plan.
The company must also present a new plan with more details on how it will do better in that area and can't use outside attorneys to sue the state over some disputes without approval from the company's board and the governor and Cabinet.
A Citizens spokesman says they take the recommendations seriously and will comply with them.

1044

Alabama Ferry Shut by Racism is Revived
September 19, 2006
The Associated Press
Chicago Tribune
A ferry service that was shut down 44 years ago in what was seen as an attempt by whites to prevent blacks from registering to vote reopened Monday, dedicated as an example of what the ballot box can bring. "I'm mighty happy," said 89-year-old Ollie Pettway, who christened the new Gee's Bend Ferry by breaking a bottle of champagne over the boat's railing. The ferry over the Alabama River carries people between the isolated, poor and mostly black community of Gee's Bend and the Wilcox County seat of Camden.

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/voting/details.cfm?id=47052

enough