Iran pledges $50 million to Palestinians - "Iran will give the Palestinian Authority $50 million and urged other Muslim countries to follow suit, Iran's top diplomat said Sunday. Western countries have cut direct funding to the authority's Hamas-led government."
Iranians volunteer for "martyrdom missions" - "Some 200 Iranians have volunteered in the past few days to carry out "martyrdom missions" against U.S. and British interests if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program, a hardline group said on Sunday."
Entire Bush team needs replacement - "The message was a subtle reminder that it was a sexual act that got Bush's predecessor impeached, and a not-so-subtle reminder that Bush's numerous and far more egregious impeachable acts that have cost America thousands of lost and ruined lives and billions in treasure have so far gone unpunished. That's what a lockstep, one-party majority in both the Senate and House can do for you. The intensely moral Tom DeLay, and those two adulterous frauds, Henry Hyde and Dan Burton, who pushed the House to impeach Clinton have been silent as the Sphinx on Bush's abuse of his office and the Constitution."
Asleep all over America - "Are you awake yet, America? I'm wide awake, and worried. Are you worried with me, wondering what's next? Are you terrified? If you're not scared silly, that frightens me even more. ... The United States of America is not magically immune to totalitarianism, and we're flirting with it. It can happen here, and we're approaching the brink. The only difference between freedom and tyranny is what leaders can get away with. And many Americans, it seems, are willing to let George W Bush get away with anything and everything he wants. You should shudder in fear, as I do, when Americans -- Americans! -- argue that their own rights are un-important, or that their leaders should be above the law."
Zarqawi; the Pentagon’s ongoing war of deception - " In more than 3 years of war, there has never been a positive citing of alleged terror mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi. This has led many to believe that he is merely a creation of Pentagon propagandists working with their agents in the western press. Colonel Derek Harvey strengthened those suspicions last week when he admitted in a Washington Post article that the military intentionally "enlarged Zarqawi’s caricature" to create the impression that the ongoing struggle against occupation was really a fight against terrorism. But, that is not the case. As Harvey notes, "The long term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but former regime types and their friends"." -- Yep, they're using Orwell's 1984 as a "how-to manual" for their operations.
Massive New Embassy in Iraq Flaunts US Power, Critics Say - "The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome. "We can't talk about it. Security reasons," Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project. ... "The presence of a massive U.S. embassy — by far the largest in the world — co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country," the International Crisis Group, a European-based research group, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq." -- Check out the picture.
US firms suspected of bilking Iraq funds - "American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds, but so far there is no way for Iraq's government to recoup the money, according to US investigators and civil attorneys tracking fraud claims against contractors." -- The American way.
NYPD flips on surveillance cameras to fight crime and terror - "The cameras were the first installment of a high-tech surveillance program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million. Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of midtown with a surveillance "ring of steel" modeled after security measures in London's financial district."
Gingrich warns Republicans Americans want change - "The Republican Party is in serious danger of losing political ground in November elections if it does not enact reforms that eliminate waste and hold the federal bureaucracy to higher standards, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Sunday. "I think they're in very serious danger of having a very bad election this fall," Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday."
Muslims outraged by new cartoon of Prophet in Hell - "An Italian magazine has infuriated Muslims by publishing a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed cut in half and burning in Hell. The drawing appears in Studi Cattolici, a monthly magazine with links to the ultra-conservative Roman Catholic group, Opus Dei. It shows the poets Virgil and Dante on the edge of a circle of flame looking down on Mohammed."
How the Abandonment of Christianity May Be Leading to Disaster - "As writer Mark Steyn glumly put it in The New Criterion, "Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries." What could possibly cause such a cataclysm? Another world war? A nuclear confrontation? The devastation of a plague, similar to that caused by the Black Death in the 14th century? Nothing quite so dramatic, say the experts. Rather, Europe is slowly dying simply by refusing to have enough children to replace the people who die each year."
Criticism warranted when any group forces its beliefs on others - "Tragically, however, religious beliefs almost invariably spawn fundamentalist sects, which are usually the principal source of the conflict and violence frequently associated with religion. Most moderate and liberal believers are, regrettably, unwilling to denounce the extreme dogmatism of the radicals, perhaps partly due to the taboo of criticizing religious beliefs. Why have I focused on Christianity? Hindus, Jainists, Pantheists and Neopagans aren't the groups vehemently pushing for religion in our public school science classes. Similarly, they aren't at the forefront in political opposition to sex education in schools, condom use to prevent AIDS or government funding of embryonic stem cell research. "
Theocons and Theocrats - " Is theocracy in the United States (1) a legitimate fear, as some liberals argue; (2) a joke, given the nation's rising secular population and moral laxity; (3) a worrisome bias of major GOP constituencies and pressure groups; or (4) all of the above? The last, I would argue."
Flag burning, gay marriage and abortion top GOP agenda - "Between now and the November elections, Republicans are penciling in plans to take action on social issues important to religious conservatives, the foundation of the GOP base, as they defend their congressional majority. In a year where an unpopular war in Iraq has helped drive President Bush's approval ratings below 40 percent, core conservatives whose turnout in November is vital to the party want assurances that they are not being taken for granted." -- The people in Congress are not religious. They use religion to obtain votes. Their religious constituents can't even see that they are being used because they are so blinded by religion.
Preparing returns too taxing for some members of Congress - "When it comes to their own tax returns, many members of Congress who specialize in writing tax laws turn to professional preparers rather than complete the paperwork themselves." -- And that speaks volumes.
The Dollar Is a Swindle - ""Answering audience questions after a speech to the Dallas Friday Group, Fisher said the U.S. dollar is a 'faith-based currency' dependent on the credibility of a central bank. "'In addition to a faith-based currency, we are the currency of the world and we must maintain its integrity...'" How can you maintain the integrity of something whose integrity rests on faith? There is the problem right there...out in the open. Faith is a matter of perception, of hope, of desire. The dollar will be worth something as long as people have faith in it. You can have faith in God. You can have faith in Mother Nature or in the cosmos, but how can you have faith in the dollar? Is not the dollar managed by men? Are not men easily corruptible? Are they not born of woman? Do they not eat bread, drink whiskey and wallow in sin from time to time? And, will they not be tempted to liven up the party occasionally, and try to get their pictures in the paper. And, being human, won't they give into it every once in a while? People who have faith then, won't they be chumps?"
U.S. Plan For Flu Pandemic Revealed - "President Bush is expected to approve soon a national pandemic influenza response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies, including determining which frontline workers should be the first vaccinated and expanding Internet capacity to handle what would probably be a flood of people working from their home computers."
Obesity Finds Niche in American Marketing - "From the cradle to the grave and most points between, obesity has found its niche in American marketing. Make that a wide berth. Baby seats, doorways and caskets are but a few examples from a long list of life's accouterments that are getting much bigger to accommodate much bigger people. There are also vacation resorts for those embarrassed to be seen in a bathing suit."
Goth Youths Prone to Suicide Attempts and Self-Mutilation - "More than half of 19-year-olds who self-identified as Goth reported self-harming behavior, and nearly half reported a suicide attempt, said Robert Young, a research associate at the University of Glasgow. But whether participation in Goth culture leads to self-destructive behavior or whether adolescents with those tendencies gravitate to Goth is not clear, Young and colleagues said online today in BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal."
Men, you have 30 seconds to impress women - "HALF of all women make their minds up within 30 seconds of meeting a man about whether he is potential boyfriend material, according to a study on speed-dating."
Quote of the Day
"Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people."
~ The Refreshments
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