March 10, 2006

News -- March 10, 2006

Conservatives Are Jumping Ship: Bush Is Going Down - " The crimes of the Bush Administration are so many and varied that none of us should be surprised by anything that might happen in the coming weeks and months: Bin Laden captured or reported killed, a U.S.-Israeli air assault on Iran's nuclear facilities, a major terrorist attack inside the U.S. to be followed by martial law, the announcement of a bird-flu outbreak with the military placed in charge. I'm pretty level-headed and don't usually think in these dire terms, but these guys have backed themselves into a tight political corner and are desperate -- and dangerous."

'US not doing enough to stop Iran' - "The United States has until now not done enough to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a senior Defense Ministry official has told The Jerusalem Post while expressing hope that Wednesday's referral of the Iranian issue to the United Nations Security Council would prove to be effective. "America needs to get its act together," the official said. "Until now the US administration has just been talking tough but the time has come for the Americans to begin to take tough action." The only real way to stop Teheran's race to obtain the bomb apart from military action was through tough economic sanctions that caused the Iranian people to suffer. "Once the people understand that their government is bringing upon them a disaster will they realize that the [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's regime needs to be replaced," the official said."

'Ira() has nukes, will use them - we must strike first' - "But otherwise we are watching as the drums of war are beating with increasing strength and we watch, with incredulity mixed with disgust and fear, as the exact same steps that led to the Iraq War are now being played out with Iran. ... And there you go, another unavoidable war of choice made for election purposes. Why doesn't it sound far-fetched? Why is it happening again?"

Sandra Day O'Connor Speaks out and unbelievably says - "She closed by saying (paraphrase) that it takes a long time to become a dictatorship but better to stop the slide at the beginning than the end. That's Right..Sandra Day O'Connor used the word dictatorship. Not some 'nutty blogger' not some 'left wing lezzy' but the most venerated, praised, widely respected, Justice O'Connor."

Whatever Happened to Courage? - "For me, one of the most valuable lessons taught by history is that from time to time people rise up and fight back against horrible tyranny and against impossible odds. There are many examples: ... Why do we tolerate the kind of government we now have? Why do we allow it to rape and plunder the earth that provides the sweet gift of life, and divvy up the profits among the rich? Why do we sit by quietly and allow the invasion and occupation of sovereign nations by the armed forces? Why do we allow our government to fleece the poor by providing eternal welfare to the rich? Why do we allow this government to represent the interest of the wealthy by neglecting the needs of the many? Why do we allow those in power to stealthily pilfer our civil rights, our hard won liberties with hardly a whimper of indignation or protest? How do we allow our government to cripple and assassinate democratic governments all over the world and call it democracy? How do we allow those in power to steal our elections without filling the streets with massive and unrelenting protests? How do we allow the practice of extraordinary rendition to occur under our watch? Why do we tolerate the intolerable while keeping a smile on our bright faces? Why do we allow the charade of the neocon agenda to continue and offer little more than token resistance? What does it take to make us angry and indignant to the point of rebellion? I could go on indefinitely."

Media Joins the Massive Call for Bush Impeachment - "Calls for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and cohort Vice-President Dick Cheney grow louder and stronger with each passing week. This past week, members of the mainstream media and others joined the swelling chorus of voices pushing for Congressional impeachment hearings."

South Dakota: Pioneers to the Past - "Everyone who got pregnant back then handled it differently, but not because they had much of a choice. Money and class made the choice for them, as it will again if South Dakota-style 'wisdom' prevails across the land. At my college, the scholarship girls disappeared and never returned, except for one brave soul who came back after delivering and giving up her baby, whispers flapping behind her like nuns' robes in a gale. The middle-class girls rallied their friends to loan them the money, then headed to the nearest city for a terrifying weekend, sometimes accompanied by the now-sullen boy friend who had once promised marriage. But the rich girls, the ones from Wayzata and Lake Forest and Manhattan's upper east side, they took a four-day weekend on daddy's dime to Sweden or Japan, where they got a safe, legal abortion and were back in class before anyone blinked. And all of them were comparatively lucky, as they were the ones in college, sailing towards lives shimmering with comfort and privilege. The poorest girls, those nowhere near college, who traded dashed dreams for a few tender moments, or for a proposition they literally couldn't refuse, they tried the most drastic and deadly home-measures to abort, or gave birth to babies they could ill-afford to raise. So once again the poorest of the poor will be the ones to suffer the most, while the rich will always have choices. If Jenna Bush came home pregnant after a wild night of clubbing, does anyone think that we'd see a little first-family love child toddling around the White House? Well, as the conservatives like to say, the poor will always be with us. I have one back at them. So will abortion."

Tennessee senate wades into abortion fight - "The state Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to amend the Tennessee Constitution so that it doesn't guarantee a woman's right to an abortion."

No Evidence al-Qaida Planned Madrid Attacks - "A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes the Islamic terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals acting on their own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, two senior intelligence officials said."

NORAD orders Web deletion of transcript - "In an unusual follow-up to a public event, the Defense Department and the Transportation Security Administration have ordered that a transcript of an open hearing on aviation restrictions be yanked from the Web."

New photo resparks 'Noah's Ark mania' - "A new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the "Ararat Anomaly" is reigniting interest in the hunt for Noah's Ark." -- Yes, they have the image at this site.

Supreme Court Rules That No One Owns Their Home - "Regarding the following, "Either it's your property or it isn't." The hard truth? It isn't. It is not your property. You get "use of." STOP paying your "fee"/property tax and wait to see WHO comes and throws you out of your paid-for home."

Lawmakers: Wal-Mart threatens US payment system - "A group of lawmakers on Friday said an industrial bank owned by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, could threaten the stability of the U.S. financial system and drive community banks out of business."

What you say online could haunt you - "In the past few months, college, high school and even middle school students across the USA have been suspended or expelled, thrown off athletic teams, passed over for jobs and even arrested based on their online postings. ... To young adults, Facebook, MySpace and blogging sites such as Xanga and LiveJournal were never meant to be scrutinized or even observed by those in authority. ... Adolescents, she adds, have always tested boundaries. "It's just that they are now doing it online, in full public view."

'Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone - "Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person's motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement."

Drama about polygamy causes stir in Utah - "What concerns the church is anything that might make light of the abuse of women and children alleged to occur in some polygamist communities."

Dallas taking harder line on homeless - "Panhandling banned. Shopping carts prohibited on city streets. The distribution of food to the homeless restricted to designated areas. With a series of ordinances governing its growing homeless population, Dallas is gaining a reputation as a city uncharitable toward some of its neediest citizens."




Quote of the Day
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
~ Charles DeGaulle

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