News -- November 16, 2005

US used white phosphorus in Iraq - "The Pentagon has confirmed that US troops used white phosphorus during last year's offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Falluja. "It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC - though not against civilians, he said. The US earlier denied it had been used in Falluja at all." -- Proof that this administration has lied. Do you really think that is the only lie you have been told?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4440664.stm

'I treated people who had their skin melted' - ""They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud," he said. He had seen "pieces of these bombs explode into large fires that continued to burn on the skin even after people dumped water on the burns"."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article327136.ece

When Presidents Lie - "Let this be a lesson for the next time elected leaders try to cajole a reluctant public into war. There are tremendous institutional incentives for chief executives to call the military into action. Eisenhower knew what he was talking about when he warned of the dangers of the permanent military-industrial complex. The patriotism war whips up is always good for a bump in the poll numbers and a pass from an uncritical media. A lot of people make a lot of money from war, and a lot of other people -- people that don't matter to the leaders -- suffer. Power is seductive, and the people who crave power enough to want the most powerful job in the world are invariably never satisfied. They always want more. It's a story as old as humankind."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1115-33.htm

Prominent Conservative Leader: Government in Hands of Psychopaths - "Former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts expressed his dire warning that the US government has fallen into the hands of psychopaths and that the Neo-Cons in the Bush administration may be set to stage another terror attack in the US as part of a black operation to demolish growing dissent and coerce the public to rally behind the government once again." -- Of course a staged terrorist attack is possible to rally the sheeple. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2005/151105inhands.htm

Senate Republicans Block Iraq Timetable - "The Republican-controlled Senate easily defeated a Democratic effort Tuesday to pressure President Bush to outline a timetable for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. It then overwhelmingly endorsed a weaker statement calling on the administration to explain its Iraq policy."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111505Y.shtml

Suspected torture centre found in Iraq - "More than 170 malnourished detainees found at an Interior Ministry detention centre in Baghdad appear to have been tortured, the Iraqi prime minister says."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BFFFC9C0-206D-4821-9CA9-8D0B822E8F93.htm

Torture -- Spare Me The Tough Talk - "I can't get over this feeling of unreality, that I am actually sitting here writing about our country having a gulag of secret prisons in which it tortures people. I have loved America all my life, even though I have often disagreed with the government. But this seems to me so preposterous, so monstrous. Maybe I should try to get a grip -- after all, it's just this one administration that I had more cause than most to realize was full of inadequate people going in. And even at that, it seems to be mostly Vice President Cheney. And after all, we were badly frightened by 9/11, which was a horrible event. ''Only'' nine senators voted against the prohibition of ''cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under custody or control the United States.'' Nine out of 100. Should we be proud? Should we cry? ... Why did we bother to beat the Soviet Union if we were just going to become it? Shame. Shame. Shame."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1115-20.htm

About Iraq on the Record - "Prepared at the direction of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Iraq on the Record is a searchable collection of 237 specific misleading statements made by Bush Administration officials about the threat posed by Iraq. It contains statements that were misleading based on what was known to the Administration at the time the statements were made."
http://democrats.reform.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord/

Marines Quiet About Brutal New Weapon - "This is a version of the standard USMC Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon but with a new warhead. Described as NE - "Novel Explosive"- it is a thermobaric mixture which ignites the air, producing a shockwave of unparalleled destructive power, especially against buildings."
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001944.html

Not guilty. The Israeli captain who put 17 bullets into a Palestinian schoolgirl - "An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday. The soldier, who has only been identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago. The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died." -- Bastards.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1643573,00.html

Bushenomics - "Bushenomics is the use of the government to take regular people's money and give it to rich people and corporations. The genius of Bushenomics has been selling it to the voters as something that's good for them."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1115-34.htm

Government showdown could break up Internet, experts warn - "A tense dispute over US control of the Internet in the run-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) could eventually lead to the break-up of the global network and hamper seamless browsing, officials warned Monday." -- Now who would benefit from breaking up the global network of information?
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1611

Deal Reached on Managing the Internet - "Negotiators from more than 100 countries agreed late Tuesday to leave the United States in charge of the Internet's addressing system, averting a U.S.-EU showdown at this week's U.N. technology summit."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/16/D8DTJ5UG1.html

IU survey of rural men stirs sex education debate - "Men who live in rural areas often use condoms incorrectly, according to a study out this week that Indiana University researchers say underscores the shortcomings of sex education in Hoosier public schools."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/REPOSITORY/511120520&SearchID=73226444425699




Quote of the Day
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
~ George Orwell

News -- November 15, 2005

This isn't the real America by Jimmy Carter - " In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights." -- Worth the read.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter14nov14,0,7164514.story

The US used chemical weapons in Iraq - and then lied about it - "Now we know napalm and phosphorus bombs have been dropped on Iraqis, why have the hawks failed to speak out?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1642831,00.html

Bush Admin Will Restrict Liberties After Next Terror Attack - "The man who leaked thousands of pages of top secret documents to the media in 1971 to expose the U.S. government's handling of the Vietnam War warned Saturday that another terrorist attack could permanently damage civil liberties. ... "And if there is another terror attack," Ellsberg added sarcastically, "I believe the president will get what he wants. And what he wants is a new Patriot Act, one that will make the current Patriot Act look like the Bill of Rights.""
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/november2005/131105restrictliberties.htm

Right to Trial Imperiled by Senate Vote - "Can US government officials lock people up and throw away the key without having to prove their case to any court? This fundamental question of democratic government is hanging in the balance in the US Senate."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/brecher

Safer Smallpox Vaccines In Works - "Two companies are reporting rapid progress in developing a new vaccine designed to be safer than the standard one, and a third company, with no government support, is developing yet another new vaccine. That vaccine could offer significant advantages if terrorists were to unleash the smallpox germ in several cities at once, requiring the vaccination of huge numbers of people. The government stumbled badly in its campaign after Sept. 11, 2001, to vaccinate health care workers who would respond to a smallpox attack. It has since spent millions to fund development of a new, safer vaccine and has already decided to order enough to protect at least 10 million people. It could buy far more if money becomes available." -- Why do I get the feeling that this is all about making some company/person a shitload of money and not really about public health?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/13/AR2005111301006.html

The 9/11 Hijackers - What are they up to now? - "At least 9 of them survived 9/11. A former high-level intelligence official told me, "Whatever trail was leftwas left deliberately--for the F.B.I. to chase.""
http://www.welfarestate.com/911/

CIA Accused of Using Airport in Mallorca - "The National Court has received a prosecutor's report on allegations that the CIA used an airport on the Spanish island of Mallorca for a program of covert transfers of terror suspects, court officials said Monday."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5413724,00.html

Feds Using ISPs to Spy on Internet Users - "Having recently reported how ISPs are being pressurized into revealing information on internet users, the USA stands on the threshold of a far more ominous threat to privacy that will force ISPs to allow a wide range of law enforcement agencies direct real time access to their own systems."
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=990

Battle over the Net’s future begins Wednesday - "The World Summit on the Information Society starting on Wednesday is heading for a showdown over governance of the Internet, amid attempts to shift the balance of power away from the United States."
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13983658

Microsoft eyes making desktop apps free - "Although no specific plans have been made, executives within Microsoft are examining whether it makes sense to release ad-supported versions of products such as Works, Money, or even the Windows operating system itself, according to internal documents seen by CNET News.com."
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+eyes+making+desktop+apps+free/2100-1014_3-5951569.html?tag=nefd.lede




Quote of the Day
"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

News -- November 14, 2005

Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument - "President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence. Neither assertion is wholly accurate. ... Bush, in Pennsylvania yesterday, was more precise, but he still implied that it had been proved that the administration did not manipulate intelligence, saying that those who suggest the administration "manipulated the intelligence" are "fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments."" -- Fine, W. Maybe your administration didn't manipulate the evidence. That leaves one other possibility for the mess this country is in: total incompetence by you and your administration. Either way, impeachment hearings should be called.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101832.html

Martial Law - "Many folks accept, some with a sense of high probability, that the US will suffer a terrorist attack, perhaps of horrific proportions. If that happens, as General Tommy Franks and others have suggested, democracy could well fail and the US Constitution could be brought down and replaced by martial law. An attack would leave a terrified US populace, many of them so desperate for a sense of order, so lustful for revenge against the terrorists (to be identified by the War Machine, of course) that they will follow the US Government in lockstep. Nuke Iran and Syria immediately (as neocons have wanted to do for quite some time)? No problem. Arrest and intimidate anyone who dares speak out against the government? Hey, national security is at stake. Vigilantism waged against dissident “traitors”? We’re fighting for the survival of Western civilization, for God’s sake. But that can’t happen here! Well it can happen here."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/nolan-m2.html

Is America above the Geneva Conventions? - "Inside the Pentagon, officials are arguing with Vice President Dick Cheney about a new set of US Defense Department guidelines for interrogating suspected terrorists. The debate over an anti-torture bill is a sad moment for a country that once stood for human rights."
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,384163,00.html

What’s wrong with cutting and running? - "Everything that opponents of a pullout say would happen if the U.S. left Iraq is happening already, says retired Gen. William E. Odom, the head of the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. So why stay?"
http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=129

Who Is Lying About Iraq? - "Among the many distortions, misrepresentations and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others. This is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007540

U.S. 'can't maintain Iraq troop levels' - ""It has become clear that if we still have 140,000 ground troops in Iraq a year from now, we will destroy the all-volunteer army," said the a report written by the center's Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis. Korb served as assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan."
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051110-125019-8225r

The President Betrayed Us - "Bush went to war on a claim that Iraq was about to attack us with WMD. When it became clear there were no WMD the honorable thing to do would be to resign. War is serious business, and there is no room for mistakes - or lies. If you go to war over WMD and there aren't WMD the right thing to do is step aside and let someome else take your place. Simple as that. But what happened with Iraq is far worse than that."
http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2005/11/the_president_b.htm

Let them eat pork - "Congressional leaders say it's time to get serious about the deficit, so they cut $36-billion in spending on the country's working poor. And then they give the wealthy $70-billion more in tax breaks."
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/06/Opinion/Let_them_eat_pork.shtml

Feds' Net-wiretap order set to kick in - "According to a final order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in late September, all broadband Internet service providers and many Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies will have 18 months--until spring 2007--to ensure their systems have backdoors that allow police to eavesdrop on their customers' communications for investigative purposes."
http://news.com.com/Feds%20Net-wiretap%20order%20set%20to%20kick%20in/2100-1028_3-5946880.html?part=rss&tag=5946880&subj=news

FORCED INOCULATIONS BEGINNING OF BUSH'S BAD BIRD FLU PLAN - "The bill (S. 1873) -- a big congressional wet kiss to the drug industry -- is dressed up in a noble-sounding title: "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act." In essence, however, it would force Americans to receive inoculations against a disease that has yet to kill one of them, while removing their constitutional right to seek redress in our courts in case of injury or death from the shots because of company negligence. The proposal, now moving its way through the Senate, would also ban citizens from using the Freedom of Information Act and other popular informational laws to discover whether the new vaccine (when it is finally produced) was effective and safe, and even whether anyone had suffered adverse reactions to it."
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/hanchette179.html

Why the avian flu is so lethal in humans - "The bird flu virus that has raised the spectre of a new flu pandemic causes 10 times as much inflammation in human lung cells as regular flu, according to new research."
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ef1848d9-6a93-4fc5-a0a5-687c30dde398

Tamiflu linked to deaths of 2 teens - "The drug in Japan carries a note listing impaired consciousness, abnormal behaviors, hallucination and other psychological and neurological symptoms as possible serious side effects."
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=355181

Doctors baffled as HIV man ‘cures’ himself - "It was claimed last night that Andrew Stimpson, 25, may have shaken off the virus with his own immune system after contracting HIV in 2002. If proved, the NHS has said the case would be “medically remarkable”. It could provide vital information to researchers looking into treatments for HIV and Aids, which has killed about 3,800 people in Britain since the 1980s. The worldwide annual death toll is more than 3m."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1870340,00.html

STUDY SHOWS MARIJUANA INCREASES BRAIN CELL GROWTH - "Many drugs --- heroin, cocaine, and the more common alcohol and nicotine -- inhibit the growth of these new cells. It was thought that marijuana did the same thing, but this new research suggests otherwise."
http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v05/n1728/a04.htm?134

'In God We Trust' to come off coins? - ""I am about to file to get 'In God We Trust' off the front of our currency," he told the Oklahoman. "I plan to do that this week.""
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47387

Electric bills set to shock - "U.S. electricity rates are 46 percent higher than a year ago, an industry group said Friday."
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=0a4626557d5c57ad

Petrick Googled 'Neck,' 'Snap,' Among Other Words, Prosecutor Says - "Robert Petrick searched for the words "neck," "snap," "break" and "hold" on an Internet search engine before his wife died, according to prosecutors Wednesday. More than two years after Janine Sutphen's body was discovered floating in a Raleigh lake, investigators continue to find new evidence on computers seized from Robert Petrick's home that prosecutors say support their arguments that Petrick killed his wife."
http://www.wral.com/news/5287261/detail.html

AMERICA’S GROWING EDUCATIONAL AND JOB NIGHTMARE - "The facts show American students rank 28th in math while trailing China, Finland and Korea. America is no longer the most college educated nation in the world." http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty96.htm

Calif. May Build Tunnel in Quake Region - "Traffic is so bad along the eastern rim of Los Angeles' suburban ring that regional planners are considering the once unthinkable - an 11-mile tunnel through a mountain range in earthquake country."
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051113/D8DR8Q4G0.html

1 Square Inch of Land for Sale at $1,500 - "A tiny parcel of land in southwest Indiana is some of the priciest real estate in the world. Owen County officials are trying to sell a 1-square-inch plot of land for $1,500. At that rate, an acre of land would cost nearly $7 billion."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111200636_pf.html

Loneliness could be in your genes - "Teams from the Free University in Amsterdam and the University of Chicago looked at data on 8,000 identical, and non-identical, twins. They found genetics had a significant influence on loneliness."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4426184.stm

Should You Be in Pictures? - "Have you ever participated in an adult chat room? If so, you probably agreed to something like the terms above -- possibly without reading them. And if that's the case, you might want to get a copy of the new book webAffairs (NSFW), published by Eighteen Publications, as soon as possible to see whether you're in it. To describe webAffairs as one woman's journey into adult cyberspace is like describing Elvis as a singer. It's true, but it hardly conveys the full impact of the art. ... The book is a large hardback, printed on heavy paper, each page a meticulously designed collage of webcam windows, chat excerpts, the author's narrative and snippets of conversation between the author and her husband. It raises questions of privacy in public spaces, of fidelity, of emotional and sexual involvement with lovers onscreen and off."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69545,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Judge Allows Lawsuit Against KISS' Simmons - "A woman who claims to be a former girlfriend of KISS rocker Gene Simmons can proceed with a defamation lawsuit in which she says he made her sound like a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac" during a VH1 television show, a judge has ruled. ... Ward's papers say that because a photo of her with Simmons — though her name is never mentioned — was shown during remarks about his sexual adventures, she was in effect portrayed as "wild" and "unchaste.""
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175371,00.html




Quote of the Day
"The truth is always like a natural disaster."
~ Evie Kelley

News -- November 11, 2005

GOP memo touts new terror attack as way to reverse party's decline - "A confidential memo circulating among senior Republican leaders suggests that a new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush as well as the GOP and "restore his image as a leader of the American people." The closely-guarded memo lays out a list of scenarios to bring the Republican party back from the political brink, including a devastating attack by terrorists that could “validate” the President’s war on terror and allow Bush to “unite the country” in a “time of national shock and sorrow.”"
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7639.shtml

Bush Forcefully Attacks Iraq Critics - "President Bush forcefully attacked critics of the war in Iraq on Friday, accusing them of trying to rewrite history and saying they are undercutting American forces on the front lines. ... "Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and mislead the American people about why we went to war," Bush said. ... "We will never back down. We will never give in. We will never accept anything less than complete victory," he said Friday." -- He's lost it.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/11/D8DQDLJ8A.html

Poll: Most Americans Doubt Bush's Honesty - "Most Americans say they aren't impressed by the ethics and honesty of the Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications for an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity."
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=051111&cat=news&st=newsd8dq9ptog&src=ap

Senate Approves Limiting Rights of US Detainees - "The Senate voted Thursday to strip captured "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of the principal legal tool given to them last year by the Supreme Court when it allowed them to challenge their detentions in United States courts." -- Sometimes the world I live in just leaves me baffled.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111105Z.shtml

US Soldiers in St. Louis Admit to Rape and Murder in Iraq - "The man apologized and said “you know I’m just back from Iraq and I’m acting a little crazy… in Iraq we can do whatever. You think they put all that shit on the news? Man ask anybody we rape those bitches over there and we take their men and blow their brains out just like that and nobody ever knows.” Not knowing how to respond to that he changed the subject and said “I can’t wait for the race war man. I feel like killin some honkies and some Puerto Ricans. They need to invent a gun that can tell the difference between a Mexican and a Puerto Rican so we can kill all the Puerto Ricans.” ... “In Iraq when you are stressed you can just take out you stress by killing someone. You can go pull your dick out and smack it in some Muslim bitches face but here you just walk around tired and stressed and that’s why I want to go back to Iraq; but I feel like killin someone for real and when I step up in this club with my knife don’t be surprised if I kill a muthafucka.” Are these soldiers telling the truth or are they just boasting? Why would they lie about raping women? Who would they impress after all I don’t know anyone who is impressed by a rapist? ... What I found more disturbing was the fact that when I shared this news with people they just shrugged it off by saying things like “you know they have a tough job over there” or “man those guys are under a lot of stress.” What kind of logic is that? ... The lives of many are not valued in this society. We saw that in New Orleans, we see that in the Prison Industrial Complex, and we see that in these young men who themselves are not valued in this society but they carry more value than the Muslims they have raped and killed in the eyes of many in America." -- I'm not sure which is more disgusting, the acts the soldiers boast about or the apathy their actions are given.
http://www.stlimc.org/newswire/display/698

Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse? - "In writing this paper, I call for a serious investigation of the hypothesis that WTC 7 and the Twin Towers were brought down, not just by damage and fires, but through the use of pre-positioned explosives. I consider the official FEMA, NIST, and 9-11 Commission reports that fires plus damage alone caused complete collapses of all three buildings. And I present evidence for the explosive-demolition hypothesis, which is suggested by the available data, testable and falsifiable, and yet has not been analyzed in any of the reports funded by the US government."
http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html

Attorney Offers Document On Oklahoma City Bombing - "Attorney Jesse Trentadue, pursuing the 1995 death of his brother in an Oklahoma prison, has disclosed a document concerning an informant at a white supremacist camp telling federal authorities of a threat to blow up federal buildings before the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing."
http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=93480

Pat Robertson warns Pa. town of disaster - "Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design." -- Shut up, Pat.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Robertson_Evolution.html

Talk host's towering rant: S.F. not worth saving - "Conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly is ready to scratch San Francisco off the map of the United States. Gone. Coit Tower? Terrorists can blow it up, and the rest of the country shouldn't care. The Fox News talk-show host and one-man conservative media juggernaut has concluded that the United States and San Francisco just don't go together anymore. Voting to oppose military recruitment in public schools and to ban handgun ownership, as San Franciscans did Tuesday, means the city should be cut off from federal dollars. And then some." -- Shut up, Bill. Make sure to read his comments.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/11/MNGFMFMNV41.DTL

Housing Market Cooling, Data Say - "Lynn Edmonds and his wife, Sebnem, could barely wait to sign on the dotted line back in May when they committed themselves to pay $796,000 for a three-floor townhouse under construction in Alexandria's Cameron Station. But since May, the sales prices for the development have fallen -- and units like the one the Edmonds bought are now being sold for $699,900. The Edmonds are facing the prospect of a $100,000 loss in value before they even walk through the front door."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111002241.html

Driving in Manhattan? You Pay, Under One Idea - "The idea is to charge drivers for entering the most heavily trafficked parts of Manhattan at the busiest times of the day. By creating a financial incentive to carpool or use mass transit, congestion pricing could smooth the flow of traffic, reduce delays, improve air quality and raise the speed of crawling buses. ... The 840,000 cars that enter Manhattan south of 60th Street on an average weekday could be subject to a $7 charge during peak hours. " -- Another way to bring in more money?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/nyregion/11traffic.html?ei=5065&en=b5faf9c68b604428&ex=1132290000&adxnnl=1&partner=MYWAY&adxnnlx=1131685246-As6Oii1quZT6/IeM0IoGUw&pagewanted=print

Mom Arrested For Offering Toddler For Sex On Web - "A 22-year-old Martinez mother has been arrested after police say she allegedly offered her four-year-old child for $500 to sexual predators surfing the internet in a Craigslist web personal ad."
http://www.ktvu.com/news/5302937/detail.html

Newly discovered hormone curbs weight, in rats - "Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California have discovered a hormone, which they dubbed obestatin, that suppresses appetite and produces weight loss in rats."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051110/hl_nm/discovered_weight_dc_1

'Godzilla' surfaces in Argentina - "A bizarre marine crocodile that lived 135 million years ago in what is now Argentina had the head of a dinosaur and the tail of a fish, paleontologists say." -- How cool is that?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/149683FA-81B4-4F47-BFB2-576B6B5A019B.htm




Quote of the Day
"Everybody's waiting for something to happen. Everybody's waiting for something to see. Lunatics waiting for bigger disasters. Everyone's waiting for news on TV."
~ Iron Maiden

News -- November 10, 2005

U.S. Army publication confirms United States used incendiary weapon in Falluja - "The March edition of Field Artillery magazine, a U.S. Army publication, reveals that the U.S. military did in fact use the incendiary weapon white phosphorous in Fallujah, Iraq. ... Use of white phosphorus is not banned by name in any international treaty. However, the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons (Protocol III) prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations or in areas that have high civilian populations. The United States is among several nations that are not signatories to the convention."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/U.S._Army_publication_confirms_United_States_1109.html

US Soldiers Accused of Burning Taliban Alive - "While the US military is busy investigating media reports that its troops put bodies of two Taliban on fire in Kandahar province in October, there are now fresh allegations that American soldiers burnt alive two more Taliban fighters in Zabul."
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2005-daily/10-11-2005/main/main17.htm

Wake up and smell the Fascism - "Laurence Britt identifies 14 characteristics common to fascist regimes."
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Cheney wants to give free rein to prison interrogators - "Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, is fighting a rearguard action to stop Congress imposing more humane rules on interrogating prisoners."
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/09/wchen09.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/09/ixworld.html

Bush Borrowed More Than All Previous Presidents Combined, Group Says - "President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined, a group of conservative to moderate Democrats said Friday. ... According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion." -- Think about how much money that is.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200511/NAT20051104b.html

Congress May Curb Some Patriot Act Powers - "A budding House-Senate deal on the expiring USA Patriot Act includes new limits on federal law enforcement powers and rejects the Bush administration's request to grant the FBI authority to get administrative subpoenas for wiretaps and other covert devices without a judge's approval. Even with the changes, however, every part of the law set to expire Dec. 31 would be reauthorized and most of those provisions would become permanent." -- So much for sunsets.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/09/D8DP71M02.html

FBI may be checking on you, but you have no way to know - "These days, Americans suspected of no wrongdoing can suddenly find themselves caught up in FBI surveillance operations. It's as easy as saying "national security letter." Using this little-noticed but potent tool, the FBI can demand, for example, that an Internet provider, bank or phone company turn over records of who you call and e-mail, which websites you visit, how much you spend, where you work, fly and vacation, and much more. No judge has to approve the demand, a common check required on more typical subpoenas. You'd never learn about the secret intrusion, either. It's all classified."
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/november2005/091105maybechecking.htm

Sen. Graham Introduces Amendment to End Habeas for Detainees - "Senator Lindsay Graham is introducing an Amendment to the defense appropriations bill pending in the Senate (S. 1042) that would strip those designated by the Administration as enemy combatants of the ability to seek habeas review in federal courts. This is an end-run around the Supreme Court's decision in Rasul v. Bush which held Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge the legality of their detentions."
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/013056.html

Bush's "War on Poverty" - "Ya know- remember about a month ago, back when Bush's approval ratings were at around 45%? Remember when he made that speech in front of the Andrew Jackson statue in New Orleans, promising a new "war on poverty" that was almost reminiscent of Roosevelt? ... In a move that will bring to an end the shortest "war on poverty" in US history. Long story short, the republican congress is getting set to axe a huge chunk out of medicaid, welfare, headstart, and food stamps (kicking thousands off the program, entirely), and, on the same day, will vote to extend Bush's tax cuts to the richest 1% of the uber-wealthy. The promised aid to the victims of this record-breaking hurricane season is being terminated, effectively creating another 1,000,000 homeless people, in this country."
http://www.ericblumrich.com/

Agent: Feds told of threats to blow buildings - "Unearthed by a Salt Lake City, Utah, attorney, statements made by a Tulsa Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agent in a federal courtroom confirm that a confidential informant did warn the agency of plans to bomb federal buildings before the attack in Oklahoma City that left 168 dead and hundreds more injured. Moreover, a federal judge in Oklahoma ordered that the information be kept sealed because of its potential impact on the trial of bomber Timothy McVeigh, records show." -- Conspiracies happen.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47320

CDC May Distribute 1918 Killer Flu - "Federal scientists say they will consider requests to ship the recently recreated 1918 killer flu virus to select U.S. research labs." -- "Accidents" happen.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051109/ap_on_re_us/pandemic_flu&printer=1;_ylt=Am8CbJMqXynYZWesU_hStmtH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE

Couple accused of turning teen into sex slave - "A couple held a runaway teen captive in a hollow bed frame for weeks and forced her to have sex for money with people they found on the Internet, police said. ... They took her to a park, bound her and had her gang raped for hours, police said. At a west Phoenix apartment, they imprisoned her in a dog kennel for about a week and threatened her with a gun, Hill said. They sold her for sex dozens of times on the Internet, he said, and forced her to hide in a hollowed-out bed frame covered with plywood."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9978551/

A theme park for the Holy Land? - "The center, to be built on approximately 125 acres that the Israeli government is offering free of cost, would be a Christian theme park and visitors' center, one that would be particularly attractive to Evangelicals and other Christians who want to spend more time in the places where Jesus walked."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1110/p06s01-wome.html

Voters oust US school board that backed intelligent design - "The Pennsylvanian school board that is attempting to introduce the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution was yesterday ousted in local elections by anti-creationist campaigners. All eight Republican members of the board, the body that sets education policy for Dover, Pennsylvania, lost their seats to Democrat challengers."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1638584,00.html

Are You a 'Public Figure'? - "Can being mentioned on the net turn an ordinary citizen into a public figure with severely limited abilities to fight libel and defamation lawsuits? According to a Florida judge's ruling -- perhaps the first of its kind in the United States -- the answer is yes."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,69511,00.html?tw=wn_story_mailer

Study: Preschool harmschildren's development - "A new study on the effects of preschool on children, which finds attendance harms kids' emotional and social development, is being used by a homeschool organization to help encourage parents to educate their children at home."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47322

Mixed response to toddler plans - ""From the minute you are born and your parents go back to work, as the government has encouraged them to do, you are going to be ruled by the Department for Education.""
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4420138.stm

Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die - "Just because technology makes it possible for us to work 10 times faster than we used to doesn't mean we should do it. The body may be able to withstand the strain -- for a while -- but the spirit isn't meant to flail away uselessly on the commercial gerbil wheel. The boys in corporate don't want you to hear this because the more they can suck out of you, the lower their costs and the higher their profit margin. And profit is god, after all. But what's good for them isn't necessarily good for you, no matter how much filthy lucre they throw your way."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68742,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Sen. Obama Warns TV to Clean Up or Congress Will Act - "If the industry doesn't take significant steps to make it easier for parents to control what their children view on television, Congress will step in and legislate. That was a warning shot fired by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a speech Wednesday in Washington."
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8885

Study Says There Is More Sex on TV - "The proportion of shows with sexual content in prime-time on the major broadcast networks _ ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox _ also increased, the study said. Nearly eight in 10 network shows, or 77 percent, included sexual content. That's up from 67 percent in 1998 and 71 percent in 2002."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/09/D8DP1U5O4.html

Opening the door on a CD-less music label - "More eyebrow-raising from the traditional big labels' perspective, artists get to keep ownership of the master recordings they release under Cordless. If they want to release their music elsewhere after a short contract is up, more power to them."
http://news.com.com/Opening+the+door+on+a+CD-less+music+label/2100-1027_3-5942975.html?tag=nefd.top




Quote of the Day
"No matter how paranoid you are, what they're actually doing is worse than you can possibly imagine!"
~ Ralph J. Gleason

News -- November 9, 2005

The Italian Documentary Making Waves Around the World -- Watch it. Then decide.
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/video/fallujah_ING.wmv

US 'uses incendiary arms' in Iraq - "Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of Falluja."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm

US denies using white phosphorus on Iraqi civilians - "The U.S. military in Iraq denied a report shown on Italian state television on Tuesday saying U.S. forces used incendiary white phosphorus against civilians in a November 2004 offensive on the Iraqi town of Falluja." -- Watch the video above and then decide.
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20051108/2005-11-08T204233Z_01_MCC874503_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-IRAQ-USA-WEAPONS-DC.html

The media are minimising US and British war crimes in Iraq - "The reporting of the Iraqi death toll - both in its scale and account of who is doing the killing - is profoundly dishonest."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1636606,00.html

Negroponte won't back Cheney on torture - "U.S. intelligence czar John Negroponte is declining to support Vice President Dick Cheney's effort to exempt the CIA from law banning mistreatment of detainees. "It's above my pay grade," he told a secret briefing for Senators last month, Time Magazine reported Sunday, adding that Negroponte then "artfully dodged another question about whether the harsher interrogation tactics Cheney wants the agency to be free to use actually produce valuable intelligence.""
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051107-015539-8991r

White House keeps dossiers on more than 10,000 'political enemies' - "Spurred by paranoia and aided by the USA Patriot Act, the Bush Administration has compiled dossiers on more than 10,000 Americans it considers political enemies and uses those files to wage war on those who disagree with its policies. The “enemies list” dates back to Bush’s days as governor of Texas and can be accessed by senior administration officials in an instant for use in campaigns to discredit those who speak out against administration policies or acts of the President. The computerized files include intimate personal details on members of Congress; high-ranking local, state and federal officials; prominent media figures and ordinary citizens who may, at one time or another, have spoken out against the President or Administration. ... White House insiders tell disturbing tales of invasion of privacy, abuse of government power and use of expanded authority under the USA Patriot Act to dig into the personal lives of anyone the administration deems an enemy of the state." -- And we continue to allow these criminals to stay in office.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7625.shtml

Kansas State Board Votes to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools - "The Kansas State Board of Education approved a proposal to teach intelligent design along with evolution as a scientific explanation of how life began."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aVeLoLOEyMEI&refer=us

Texas Voters Approve Ban on Gay Marriage - "Texas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine, however, voters rejected a conservative-backed proposal to repeal the state's new gay-rights law."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ballot_measures;_ylt=A9FJqZcVfHFDX8wATwOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ

Voters Reject Schwarzenegger Initiatives - "In a stinging rebuke from voters who elected him two years ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state government were rejected during a special election that darkened his prospects for a second term."
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051109/D8DOVC380.html

"Watt"'s wrong with this picture? How the Right is twisting the French riots - "But let's be clear about something else. The relevance that most of the rioters are Muslim may not be completely nil, but it's pretty far down the list behind poverty and government indifference. You wouldn't know that from reading the right side of the blogosphere -- where if you weren't paying attention you'd think that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahri, carrying lighted torches, were marching a band of future suicide hijackers down the Champs Elysees and under the Arc de Triomphe."
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002466.html

Alito Will Overturn Roe v. Wade - "That Roe v. Wade is the law of the land right now means little. Alito is before us for one reason only: to provide the swing vote to overturn a woman's right to choose. What a tribute to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1108-22.htm

THE OUTRAGEOUS SILENCE OF DUMB AND DUMBER! - "Let’s get our terms straight here. We’re not talking “Dumb” as in lacking intellectual acuity or understanding. We’re talking “Dumb” as in lacking the power or ability of speech. We’re talking about a stunt in which the President and Vice President have turned themselves into non communicative mutes. We’re talking about George Bush and Dick Cheney, the silent duo who will not answer to the people of this nation. We’re talking about two men who scoff at any attempt to hold them accountable for their crimes."
http://tvnewslies.org/html/bush___cheney_-_dumb___dumber.html

White House Initiates Ethics Refresher Courses - "The hour-long briefings, conducted by White House Ethics Officer Richard Painter, were mandatory for all staffers, said spokesman Scott McClellan. Only President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were exempt, he said." -- Thus, I don't see anything changing at the White House.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-110805ethics_lat%2C0%2C6540158.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Notable Events in Influenza History - "Here are some key moments in influenza history:"
http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/1999/rahul23/timeline.html

Kansas couple convicted of abusing mentally ill - "A Kansas couple who ran a psychotherapy practice were convicted on Monday of holding mentally ill people as slaves and forcing them to perform sex acts on videotape while billing Medicare nearly $1 million for therapy."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07572192.htm

Doubts Raised About Toilet-Seat Case - "A man who sued Home Depot last month claiming a prank left him glued to a toilet seat made a similar allegation about another restroom more than a year ago, an official told a newspaper."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051109/ap_on_fe_st/toilet_seat_lawsuit;_ylt=A9FJqaSgfHFD5CgBMQvtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA














Quote of the Day
"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology."
~ Michael Parenti, political scientist and author

News -- November 8, 2005

Italian documentary (in English) on the use of chemical weapons in the attack on Fallujah -- Watch it. All of it.
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/video/fallujah_ING.wmv

US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah - "Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon. ... "Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for." ... The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets." -- See video above.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325560.ece

Insiders say Rove may leave White House - "Karl Rove's colleagues are preparing for the possibility that he may leave the White House because of the CIA leak case."
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051106-102707-6462r

Bush declares: 'We do not torture' - "Bush supported an effort spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney to block or modify a proposed Senate-passed ban on torture." -- Actions speak much louder than words.
http://www.islandpacket.com/24hour/front/story/2876704p-11538930c.html

$5,000 for loss of wife and son: how US prices death - "HAMEED Hassan sat in the remains of his car, next to his dead wife, and watched his four-year-old son begin to bleed to death. The family had been on the way to buy clothes in Rawah's small market when the American soldiers opened fire. A helicopter gunship joined in the attack, cutting the car and two of its occupants to pieces. ... The soldiers drove off, leaving the family in the street. The US military has not apologised for the incident. But it has agreed to pay compensation for the killings, an acceptance that innocent lives were lost. Under the US "consequence management" system, there is a maximum payout of $2,500 per claim. A dead wife and a dead son are equivalent to two claims; meaning Hassan is in line to receive a total of $5,000 in cash."
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2208712005

So Iraq Was About the Oil - "While bemoaning the administration’s incompetence in implementing the war strategy, Wilkerson said the U.S. government now had no choice but to succeed in Iraq or face the necessity of conquering the Middle East within the next 10 years to ensure access to the region’s oil supplies."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/110705.html

Evolution in the bible, says Vatican - "The Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally. Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17162341-13762,00.html

Budget for U.S. spying slips out — $44 billion - "In an apparent slip, a top U.S. intelligence official has revealed at a public conference what has long been secret: the amount of money the nation spends on its spy agencies. At an intelligence conference in San Antonio last week, Mary Margaret Graham, a 27-year veteran of the CIA and now the deputy director of national intelligence for collection, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635159613,00.html

Pataki wants DNA samples taken even for misdemeanors - "In a state where 15,000 DNA profiles have been extracted from unsolved crimes and where cold cases are reopened daily on the basis of DNA evidence, proponents say a database including all offenders will give police the tool they need to track down thousands of attackers, rapists and murderers."
http://poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051107/NEWS05/511070323

Bush’s legacy will haunt U.S. for years to come - "Unfortunately, it appears that the worst president in our history has again proposed an incarnation of Caligula’s horse for the Supreme Court, and the fears you’ve expressed will be fully actualized when the Senate’s shamefully obedient Republican bloc rubber-stamps this right-wing extremist for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat, despite the clear threat he presents to the core American value of honoring citizens’ individual freedoms before governmental caprice."
http://showmenews.com/2005/Nov/20051107Comm005.asp

A Nanotech Cure for Cancer? - "To anyone familiar with the long, often fruitless search for cancer's cure, or the unfulfilled promise of nanotechnology, this may seem far-fetched. But in recent years, scientists have learned more about how cancer works at the cellular level. They have also learned to build molecules that could detect and destroy cancer cells, making today's painful and often-ineffective treatments a thing of the past. Though the jump from lab to patient is long, scientists are confident that it can be made."
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,69206,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Workers face paycheck pinch - "For all its strength, the current economic expansion is not boosting the American worker's paycheck. Wages have been rising nominally: Average pay rose 8 cents last month to $16.27 an hour, according to a government report Friday. That's not fast enough to counter inflation. By one common measure, average pay for an hour's work has less purchasing power than it had four years ago - when the current growth cycle began."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20051107/ts_csm/awages_1















Quote of the Day
"I guess that's the real point of war, isn't it? To create intolerable deprivations and induce deaths."
~ Walter Tevis, WARDAY by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka

News -- November 7, 2005

US intel on Iraq-Qaeda ties 'intentionally misleading': document - "US military intelligence warned the Bush administration as early as February 2002 that its key source on Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iraq had provided "intentionally misleading" data, according to a declassified report. ... "This newly declassified information provides additional, dramatic evidence that the administrations pre-war statements were deceptive," said Democrat Carl Levin."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usiraqintelligence;_ylt=Aoxf_vsTfFqjSrm0qJo_wNkDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Smoking Gun on Manipulation of Iraq Intelligence? 'NY Times' Cites New Document - "It shows that an al-Qaeda official held by the Americans was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the basis for its claims that Iraq trained al-Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to this Defense Intelligence Agency document from February 2002. It declared that it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, "was intentionally misleading the debriefers" in making claims about Iraqi support for al-Qaeda's work with illicit weapons, Jehl reports."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001434737

The FBI's Secret Scrutiny - "The Connecticut case affords a rare glimpse of an exponentially growing practice of domestic surveillance under the USA Patriot Act, which marked its fourth anniversary on Oct. 26. "National security letters," created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, originated as narrow exceptions in consumer privacy law, enabling the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. The Patriot Act, and Bush administration guidelines for its use, transformed those letters by permitting clandestine scrutiny of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies. The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters -- one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people -- are extending the bureau's reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366_pf.html

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA - "Did you know...." -- Worth the read.
http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html

Frist urges germ spies - "The agency, commonly referred to as BARDA, would be given a first-year budget of $1 billion and some unusually strong powers. It would have authority to shield drug manufacturers from liability lawsuits in the event a drug used to counteract a bioterrorism event or disease outbreak caused death or injury. It also would be granted a blanket exemption from the federal Freedom of Information Act."
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/1105/05natbioterror.html

'Safe cigarette' claimed to cut cancer by 90% - "BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) is to launch a controversial “safer cigarette” designed to cut the risk of smoking-related diseases such as cancer and heart failure by up to 90%. The cigarettes use tobacco treated to produce lower levels of cancer-causing chemicals. They also incorporate a new type of filter said to remove more of the remaining toxins. The company wants to launch the cigarettes in 2006 but has kept the move secret, knowing it would infuriate anti-smoking groups."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1859508,00.html

US Relied on False Information Linking Iraq, Al-Qaida - "A published report says a top al-Qaida operative in U.S. custody gave false information later used by the Bush administration to support its contention that Iraq trained al-Qaida militants to use illegal weapons."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-11-06-voa12.cfm

An Enemy of The State - "Although the file finds no criminal activity by me or members of my immediate family, it remains open because I am a “person of interest” who has “written and promoted opinions that are contrary to the government of the United States of America.” And it will remain active because the government of the United States, under the far-reaching provisions of the USA Patriot Act, can compile and retain such information on any American citizen. That act gives the FBI the authority to collect intimate details about anyone, even those not suspected of any wrongdoing."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7624.shtml

Sweet Dreams for America's Ruling Elite and their Sycophantic Loyalists - "Billy Joel was on to something when he sang "Only the Good Die Young." Here in America, our government does not jail its dissidents; it launches programs like COINTELPRO to pursue them (with reckless disregard for the law), and to covertly engineer their assassinations. Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King, the Kennedy brothers, and Malcolm X are but a few of "the Good" who dared to challenge the wealthy US ruling elite’s malevolent domination over the poor, minorities and working class. In the "land of the free", your right to dissent (and to live) ends when you begin posing a serious threat to those who truly wield the power."
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2005/11/el-pas-de-las-pesadillas.html

If Cheney's for torture, why not use it on Scooter? - "One can only imagine how long it's going to take for Fitzgerald to lay out the evidence, to put witnesses on the stand, to build a case against Libby, and find out whether he lied to cover up for his actions or those of others at the White House. Who knows how many other CIA agents may be outed while this case works its way through the courts? Now, couldn't the whole process be expedited if Fitzgerald could attach a few electrodes to Libby's chest and then crank up the volts? Some of you might find this position a bit extreme, but unless I'm reading the situation all wrong, this is exactly the sort of thing that Libby's boss, vice-president Dick Cheney, could get behind."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1131317399107&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907619599&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Suicide bombers on Iran kids' TV - "Iranian state television has broadcast a cartoon that glorifies suicide bombings against Israelis, depicting a young boy blowing himself up after being told: "Go and show the Zionists how brave and heroic are the children of Palestine.""
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/06/wiran06.xml

Political bloggers jailed, detained - "Libya has sentenced a blogger to a year and a half in prison after he criticized the government in his online articles, according to Human Rights Watch. The jailing, which the rights group reported Thursday, is one of several recent crackdowns on bloggers by authoritarian governments. The group also confirmed Friday that Egyptian authorities have detained a university student who had criticized the government and Islamic fundamentalism in his blog in what may be the first such case in the country."
http://news.com.com/Political+bloggers+jailed,+detained/2100-1028_3-5933917.html?tag=nefd.top

Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head - "It seems too good to be true: a new source of near-limitless power that costs virtually nothing, uses tiny amounts of water as its fuel and produces next to no waste. If that does not sound radical enough, how about this: the principle behind the source turns modern physics on its head."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1627424,00.html

Sex at School Increasing, Some Educators Say - ""In all the years that I've been in education, I've never run into this one before," said John Boronkay, the school system's acting superintendent. "It's a new one." Actually, it's not so new. According to some teenagers, sex on school property is more frequent than adults might imagine. And some adults who work with teenagers said it's happening more often these days. There's anecdotal evidence to support that:" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501414_pf.html




Quote of the Day
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
~ James Madison

News -- November 5, 2005

Drifting towards a Police State - "The American people have no idea of the amount of energy that has been devoted to stripping them of their constitutional protections and how stealthily that plan has been carried out. It has required the concerted efforts of the political establishment, the corporate elite, and the collaborative media. For all practical purposes, the government is no longer constrained in its conduct towards its citizens; it can do as it pleases. ... Americans still seem blissfully unaware of the fundamental changes to the political system. The cloak of disinformation and diversion has successfully obscured the perils of our present course. Freedom is no longer guaranteed in Bush’s America nor is liberty everyman’s birthright. The rickety scaffolding that supports the rule of law has been replaced by the unbridled authority of the supreme presidency. The country is slipping inexorably towards the Orwellian nightmare; the National Security State."
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9048

GOP Leaders to Bush: 'Your Presidency is Effectively Over' - "A growing number of Republican leaders, party strategists and political professional now privately tell President George W. Bush that his presidency "is effectively over" unless he fires embattled White House advisor Karl Rove, apologizes to the American people for misleading the country into war and revamps his administration from top to bottom."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7617.shtml

A Cheney-Libby Conspiracy, Or Worse? Reading Between the Lines of the Libby Indictment - "Having read the indictment against Libby, I am inclined to believe more will be issued. In fact, I will be stunned if no one else is indicted. Indeed, when one studies the indictment, and carefully reads the transcript of the press conference, it appears Libby's saga may be only Act Two in a three-act play. And in my view, the person who should be tossing and turning at night, in anticipation of the last act, is the Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20051104.html

The United States of Torture - "How did we stoop so low? As if Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo were not horrifying enough, the Washington Post has unmasked an even greater scandal that will heap disgrace on the nation. Dana Priest's article "The CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons" paints a sobering picture of an administration that has completely derailed and abandoned any shred of moral authority. The United States has become the number 1 exporter of torture in the world today and George Bush has become the uncontested sovereign of savagery; quite a distinction."
http://www.uruknet.com/?p=17463&hd=0&size=1&l=e

Cheney Seeks CIA Exemption to Torture Ban - "Cheney told his audience the United States doesn't engage in torture, these participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment in case the president decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_torture;_ylt=AvYQUUqc7wD9beVrHZIInbqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ

It's time to decide if torture is the U.S. way - "If our lawmakers haven't been seriously questioning what U.S. policy is in regard to suspected terrorist detainees, they need to start doing so right now. A revelation by the Washington Post that the United States Central Intelligence Agency is operating a secret global internment network where detainees are being held without any oversight whatsoever should raise red flags in a country that claims to pride itself on humane treatment of prisoners. ... The revelation of this network of prisons may shed new light on a request to Congress by Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss to exempt CIA employees from legislation - already signed by 90 U.S. senators - that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody. The CIA contends that in order to protect the United States, it must be permitted to detain and question suspects without restrictions imposed by U.S. law, or, for that matter, by military tribunals such as those held for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison."
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/opinion/13074506.htm

We Don’t Need Them - "I’ve never understood the idea of speaking truth to power. The truth, surely, is that in almost all countries of the world, political and economic systems are designed to benefit only the rich and powerful, at the expense of those with less money and power. This is how the world works, and I see no reason to think that the powerful don’t already understand that. After all, they designed it; they maintain it. ... Well, the government and their pals are not going to stop using and abusing us. They’re not going to stop preying on us. They cannot stop! Republican or Democrat, they are rich and powerful precisely because they prey on us. They are rich because they rob us. They’re robbing us right this minute. They are powerful because they dominate every aspect of our lives, because they’ve taken control of all the major social, political, economic, and communication systems in the world. These systems were designed to increase their wealth and power by taking both from all the rest of us. But, we are not children, and they are not our parents. We’re not little people and they are not big people. We’re not insignificant and they are not significant. In fact, we do not need them."
http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=520&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Iraq Conflict Not Worth Fighting, Say Americans - "Many adults in the United States believe their federal administration should not have launched the coalition effort, according to a poll by CBS News. 64 per cent of respondents believe the result of the war with Iraq was not worth the loss of American life and other costs."
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/9718

House Vote Counters Eminent Domain Measure - "The bill would withhold for two years all federal economic development funds from states and localities that use economic development as a rationale for property seizures. It also would bar the federal government from using eminent domain powers for economic development."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/seizing_property;_ylt=AnDJo2J_4JW8sH5bsTpzVqOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ

Cellphones to help DOT track traffic - "As cellphone towers ping phones that are traveling in cars down the highway, DOT wants to put that information to use. It has contracted with a Marietta company, AirSage, to put new software in already existing Sprint cell tower switching systems so it can figure out how fast cars are going and where traffic jams are. Sprint is the nation's third largest cellphone carrier."
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/1105/04metspeed.html

Student 'girlcott' protests Abercrombie t-shirts - "With a few words on their T-shirts, Abercrombie & Fitch lets young women send a message: "Who needs a brain when you have these?" A group of female high school students have a message for A&F: Stop degrading us. ... "Our clothing appeals to a wide variety of customers. These particular T-shirts have been very popular among adult women to whom they are marketed," a company spokesman said in a statement."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-chifitch1103,0,2875928,print.story?coll=ny-hsports-allstars-features




Quote of the Day
"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
~ Mark Twain

News: Page 2 -- November 3, 2005

Why Most Americans Don't Care About Guantanamo - "These arguments are all valid. However, the problem is that they are either sentimental or unrealistic—and most Americans sense that. Americans like thinking they’re the world’s nicest, most democratic people, but they’ll abandon that warm and fuzzy feeling if being nice and democratic will increase their risk of being blown up by terrorists. Americans don’t worry about being hypocrites, because “everything changed” after 9/11; we’re fighting a “different kind of war,” and history will judge us as prudent, they believe. Most Americans know that our soldiers probably won’t be captured: enemies are barely able to kill our troops, much less capture them. And as we saw with Jessica Lynch, we can just go rescue them anyway. Moreover, what country would dare mistreat US troops and incur our (perhaps nuclear-tipped) wrath? As for the classic argument that we need rigorous legal process in case we’re arrested by mistake, well, most Americans know that it’s highly unlikely they themselves will ever be caged at GTMO: most Americans aren’t radical Muslims."
http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/5871/Why_Most_Americans_Don_t_Care_About_Guantanamo

Bush Adviser Says Policy Forbids Torture - ""Once again, it appears to me that the White House has dictated that the Republican-controlled Congress not conduct oversight of an important national security matter," Rockefeller said. "They have made it clear that anyone who suggests that oversight is needed should be labeled as unpatriotic.""
http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/5235359/detail.html

Lawmaker: Italy Warned U.S. That Documents About Purported Iraq Uranium Deal Were Fake - "Italian secret services warned the United States months before it invaded Iraq that a dossier about a purported Saddam Hussein effort to buy uranium in Africa was fake, a lawmaker said Thursday after a briefing by the nation's intelligence chief." http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBKH0NDLFE.html

Thanks to Bush,bad could get worse - "The war in Iraq has hardly made the Mideast more stable. Assurances from the Bush administration must now be held to a new post-Iraq standard because just about everything Washington said was happening (WMD) and would happen (an easy occupation) has turned out to be utterly false."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/361893p-308183c.html

The Gun is Smoking: Ohio Exit Poll Data Provides Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount - "New analysis of the precinct-level Ohio exit poll data provides virtually irrefutable evidence of large scale vote miscounts in Ohio during the 2004 presidential election. 6% of Ohio's exit-polled precincts had impossible vote counts and 57% had significant discrepancies (a less than 5% chance of occurring in any one precinct). The pattern of Ohio's exit poll results is not consistent with any exit poll error hypothesis. However, it is consistent with pro-Bush vote miscounts."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_the_nati_051102_the_gun_is_smoking__.htm

Pre-Pandemic-Intelligence - "And while I'm at it, why is Donald Rumsfeld a major stockholder in the company that owns the patent to one of the drugs for avian flu? (A company called Gilead. The drug is Tamiflu. A majority stockholder. He was made Chairman in 1997.) Yes, he's recused himself from any government decisions about the handling of the possible "avian flu pandemic". But even if he's not responsible for the panic (which some consider a hoax) when he had "insider information" about its upside, ought he to have divested himself of it, rather than recusing himself from a situation where he stood to personally make millions of dollars, rather than do his job, which I thought had something to do with protecting us? Just asking."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-ephron/prepandemicintelligence_b_10049.html

Where is the (North) American Press? - "A friend from Argentina sent me the following picture today. It is self explanatory and has been seen everywhere in the world except in the United States. Why? In analyzing Bush for several years I keep finding that it is not only his immediate circle that insulates him -- the press insulates us."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-frank/where-is-the-north-amer_b_9932.html

Historic Vermont Meeting in State Capital Passes Resolution to Secede from the U.S. - "The neo-con band of criminals running Washington, trampling on civil rights at home and invading countries at will overseas, has led a large group of strong-minded Vermont freedom-fighters with no choice but to secede from the United States. ... Most people think of secession as impossible if not treasonous, but the concept is deeply rooted in the Declaration of Independence, reminding us that “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it and to institute new government.” ... “First and foremost, we want out of the United States. It’s not just an anti-Bush statement and if Kerry was elected, we still would have wanted out,” said Naylor. “The reality is that we have a one party system in this country, called the Republican party, that is owned and operated and controlled by corporate America. So it’s not just a Bush protest, but a protest against the Empire."
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/articles/article/1518131/36584.htm

Texans Gear Up to Decide on Gay Marriage - "The tactic has supporters of the same-sex marriage ban crying foul. It has opponents boasting that they may have a chance at defeating the measure _ in Texas, of all places, the conservative home state of President Bush."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110300257_pf.html

Lesbian lover equal to traditional parent - "The lesbian lover of a child's biological mother has equal legal rights with traditional parents, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled today."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47206

Congressman to propose fence for U.S.-Mexico border - "A leading House Republican wants to build a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions of dollars and that critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration."
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/1943262.html

Australian Senate rushes anti-terror changes after attack warning - "The Australian Senate has held a special sitting to rush through amendments to anti-terrorism laws, a day after Prime Minister John Howard said he had received credible reports of a possible attack. ... The lack of detail has led critics of the conservative government to accuse Howard of issuing the warning to help push through a raft of new anti-terrorism laws that have been labelled by critics as a threat to civil liberties." -- Ah. Fear at work.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/11/02/afx2315201.html

Pay Gains Are Lagging Inflation: Just A Blip Or Enduring Trend? - "Payday isn't what it used to be. The economy has ticked along at a healthy 3%-plus growth rate for 10 straight quarters, unemployment has fallen to 2001 levels and corporate profits are running strong. But wage and salary growth has been sluggish. When energy-fueled inflation is taken into account, wages actually are falling."
http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/051102/general.html

Scientists prove blind people can 'see' with sixth sense - "In tests, the blind have been able to distinguish basic shapes of objects they cannot see, as well as their orientation and direction of motion. On other occasions a blind person has reported experiencing a "feeling" that an object is present, while not being able to see it."
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=2176562005

Two former Hilo Wal-Mart employees file suit against company - "Two former Hilo Wal-Mart employees have filed a class action lawsuit against all Hawaii Wal-Marts, alleging the company shaved time from its employees time cards from 1997 to 2004. The lawsuit states there is a videotaped admission of a Wal-Mart executive and Wal-Mart memoranda, showing that Wal-Mart deleted thousands of hours of time worked from employees' payroll records, resulting in millions of dollars of labor savings."
http://khon.com/khon/display.cfm?storyID=8575&sid=1152

Schoolgirl blogger poisons mother in homage to killer - "A HIGH-SCHOOL girl has been arrested for gradually poisoning her mother to the brink of death and keeping a blog of her progress — all done as a grim homage to a British serial killer whom she idolised."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1854972,00.html

MIT examines mores of 'Sex and the City' - "This semester, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is giving its best scholarly treatment to a slice of popular culture each Tuesday evening when 24 undergraduates gather to ponder HBO'S ''Sex and the City."" http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/11/03/deconstructing_carrie/

Colorado man glued to toilet seat, sues store - "A Colorado man who had a panic attack when he found he was glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot restroom has sued the home improvement giant for negligence, saying staff ignored his plight."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051103/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_glue;_ylt=A9FJqamEpGpD88YAzAbtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA

Quote of the Day
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
~ Krishnamurti