http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201433.html
Bush: 'I take responsibility' - "President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for any failures in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and acknowledged the storm exposed serious deficiencies at all levels of government four years after the September 11 attacks. "To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush told a White House news conference at which he openly questioned U.S. preparedness for another storm or a "severe attack." Bush's rare admission of "serious problems in our response capability" came as the White House stepped up efforts to repair his public standing."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/13/MTFH89819_2005-09-13_18-35-28_EIC358139.html
The Day Hell Froze Over - "Did I miss the cataclysmic event that rocked the heavens? Did Christ reappear and walk on water? Did hell freeze over? Or maybe aliens landed on the mall in Washington? Something must have happened to shift the earth out of his orbit because George W. Bush accepted blame for something."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7387.shtml
U.S. Deploys Slide Show to Press Case Against Iran - "With an hour-long slide show that blends satellite imagery with disquieting assumptions about Iran's nuclear energy program, Bush administration officials have been trying to convince allies that Tehran is on a fast track toward nuclear weapons."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301837.html
As bodies recovered, reporters are told 'no photos, no stories' - "On Saturday, after being challenged in court by CNN, the Bush administration agreed not to prevent the news media from following the effort to recover the bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims. But on Monday, in the Bywater district, that assurance wasn't being followed. The 82nd Airborne soldier told reporters the Army had a policy that requires media to be 300 meters -- more than three football fields in length -- away from the scene of body recoveries in New Orleans. If reporters wrote stories or took pictures of body recoveries, they would be reported and face consequences, he said, including a loss of access for up-close coverage of certain military operations. Dean Nugent, of the Louisiana State Coroner's Department, who accompanied the soldier, added that it wasn't safe to be in Bywater. "They'll kill you out here," he said, referring to the few residents who have continued to defy mandatory evacuation orders and remain in their homes.""
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/13/MNG3HEMQHG1.DTL
The News Media Are Knocking Bush -- and Propping Him Up - "This month we've heard a lot of talk about journalists who got tough with President Bush. And it's true that he has been on the receiving end of some fiercely negative media coverage in the wake of the hurricane. But the mainstream U.S. press is ill-suited to challenging the legitimacy of the Bush administration. The country's largest media institutions operate on a basis of enormous respect for presidential power. Major news organizations defer to that power even while venting criticisms. Overall, mass media outlets restrain the momentum of denunciations lest they appear to create instability for the Republic."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0914-29.htm
Roberts: Law Will Guide Right-To-Die Cases - "Supreme Court nominee John Roberts on Wednesday assured senators he would be guided by the law, not personal beliefs, on right-to-die cases. He also told the lawmakers that Congress can counter the court's decisions. ... "Without any knowledge of your understanding of the law _ because you will not share it with us _ we are rolling the dice with you, Judge," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who has wrangled with Roberts on privacy issues, right-to-die cases and whether judicial candidates should fully answer senators' questions." -- Rolling the dice? We have to "roll the dice" when approving a Supreme Court Judge?
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/14/D8CK6MEO3.html
America Is Bankrupt - "A recent trip to the United States – after a three-year absence – showed me how far the country and its people have deteriorated in a short period of time. Americans are bankrupt. They are bankrupt at every possible level: spiritually, morally, educationally. The country’s economy has deteriorated to the level of a Philippines or a Thailand (and I mean no disrespect to the Philippines or Thailand – I love those places). ... I shook my head and thought, When are these crazy people going to wake up? Apparently it’s good that the USA invaded Iraq to secure oil. Japan has no natural resources. America does. America even has its own oil. Guess what? About seven years ago, the price for a liter of gasoline in Japan was 100 yen (3.78 liters per gallon). The price today is about 125 yen per liter. That means today’s price for a gallon of gasoline in Japan, a nation that produces no oil, is about $4.58 – an increase of 25% over the last seven years. Now, it doesn’t take much of a math whiz to figure out that if the prices at the pumps in America – a nation that produces oil – have doubled in the last few years, there’s something strange going on. How is it possible that Japan’s gasoline prices have just barely inched up over these past few years, at about 3% per year, while USA prices have doubled or more? Is it just the Iraq war? Or is it the decline of the dollar? Probably a bit of both, but you can definitely be sure of one thing, it is the US government taking advantage of you – regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican. And the average American still cheers on the federal monster."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10254.htm
The Fallout of a Can't-Do Presidency - "We're not No. 1. We're not even close. By which measures, precisely, do we lead the world? Caring for our countrymen? You jest. A first-class physical infrastructure? Tell that to New Orleans. Throwing so much money at the rich that we've got nothing left over to promote the general welfare? Now you're talking. The problem goes beyond the fact that we can't count on our government to be there for us in catastrophes. It's that a can't-do spirit, a shouldn't-do spirit, guides the men who run the nation. Consider the congressional testimony of Joe Allbaugh, George W. Bush's 2000 campaign manager, who assumed the top position at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001. He characterized the organization as "an oversized entitlement program," and counseled states and cities to rely instead on "faith-based organizations... such as the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service." ... This is the stuff-happens administration. And it's willing, apparently, to sacrifice any claim America may have to national greatness rather than inconvenience the rich by taxing them to build a more secure nation. ... Let the Dutch build their dikes through some socialistic scheme of taxing and spending; that isn't the American way. Here, the business of government is to let the private sector create wealth - even if that wealth doesn't circulate where it's most needed. So George W. Bush threw trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, and what did they do with it?"
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0914-31.htm
U.S. schooling falls back in global ratings - "The United States is losing ground in education, as peers across the globe zoom by with bigger gains in student achievement and school graduations, a study shows. ... By both measures, the United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies. McGaw said that the United States remains atop the "knowledge economy," which uses information to produce economic benefits. But, he said, "education's contribution to that economy is weakening, and you ought to be worrying." The report, released yesterday, bases its conclusions about achievement mainly on international test scores released last December. They show that compared with their peers in Europe, Asia and elsewhere, 15-year-olds in the United States are below average in applying math skills to real-life tasks. Top performers included Finland, South Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada and Belgium."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002493301_educate14.html
Judge: School Pledge Is Unconstitutional - "Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was declared unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge ruling in the second attempt by an atheist to have the pledge removed from classrooms. The man lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.""
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/14/D8CK6SOO2.html
Pa. Screening Schoolchildren for Obesity - "As they wait for their children's first report cards to come home this year, elementary-school parents across Pennsylvania also can expect to get a separate report on a key indicator of their children's health. For the first time, the state Health Department is requiring school nurses to compute students' body-mass index _ or height-to-weight ratio _ during annual growth screenings of children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Parents will get letters about the results that will encourage them to share the information with their family doctors. The letters will explain whether the BMI is above, below, or within the normal range for the child's age and gender."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/14/D8CK7NKO2.html
F.A.A. Alerted on Qaeda in '98, 9/11 Panel Said - "American aviation officials were warned as early as 1998 that Al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to previously secret portions of a report prepared last year by the Sept. 11 commission. The officials also realized months before the Sept. 11 attacks that two of the three airports used in the hijackings had suffered repeated security lapses."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/politics/14terror.html?ei=5065&en=a0c11d440e1b0052&ex=1127361600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
Court Mulls Release Of Columbine Videos - "Reporters have already seen and written about the Columbine "basement tapes" of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold showing off their arsenal and eagerly talking about their plan to attack their high school. But the gunmen's parents are fighting a newspaper's request for public release of the videos, audio recordings and writings Harris and Klebold made in the months before they killed 12 students and a teacher in April 1999. ... At the heart of the dispute is a question that District Judge Brooke Jackson said has never been considered by Colorado's courts: Does private property seized under a search warrant become public record?"
http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/4965665/detail.html
Dutch to Open Electronic Files on Children - "Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, all citizens will be tracked from cradle to grave in a single database — including health, education, family and police records — the health ministry said Tuesday. "
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050913/ap_on_re_eu/netherlands_child_files_1
Slow Seismic Slip Event Underway in Pacific Northwest - "The chance of a major earthquake is 30 times higher now for a roughly two-week period, but the odds are still remote, scientists say. ... The slip began Sept. 3 on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and has migrated north to the Vancouver Island area, Cassidy wrote. Victoria moved 0.12 inches (3 millimeters) to the West over the course of two days. The events are thought to last six to 15 days."
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050913_slip.html
Professor Sex Is Not Back for More - "George Washington University chose this summer not to renew the contract of the adjunct professor who had been teaching sexuality to a packed house for 17 years. Schaffer was given no explanation for the decision. But, he said, when he pressed Patricia Sullivan, the acting chair of the Department of Exercise Science, for answers, she told him “maybe you need to look at your student evaluations.”
http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/09/13/sex
Pssst...Where the devil is the exorcist convention? - "Orthodontists have national conventions, as do lawyers and computer salespeople. So why not exorcists? At the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday Pope Benedict greeted Italian exorcists who, he disclosed, are currently holding their national convention. The Pope encouraged them to "carry on their important work in the service of the Church." Problem was that until the Pope spoke few people outside the inner circle knew that a convention of Beelzebub-busters was going on, presumably in Rome. And where were they holding it? In a church, a hotel, a graveyard? "They try to keep these things quiet," said a Catholic professor who has dealings with exorcists. The Roman Catholic Church has shown growing interest in exorcism in Italy. ... A Vatican university announced last Thursday that for the second year running it will hold a course on exorcism and Satanism for Roman Catholic priests."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050914/od_nm/pope_exorcists_dc;_ylt=A9FJqYUtxChDfDIBhhQSH9EA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Playmobile Security Check in Toy -- Brainwashing the kids early.
http://store.playmobilusa.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/PM_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=i-8G5lY-xEsG5BUYXxoKwJgMzFCP7m1uHcY=?ProductSKU=3172&CategoryName=US_storefront&PLS=0
California files french fry lawsuit - "California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed a lawsuit to force top makers of potato chips and french fries to warn consumers about a potential cancer-causing chemical found in the popular snacks."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/27/french.fry.lawsuit.reut/
Quote of the Day
"Have we found the same old fears?"
~ Pink Floyd
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