Lock Him Away to Stop the Next War - "We cannot wait any longer for the impeachment of George W. Bush. Far more efficient to have Bush certified. There is no need for further debate on his mental state. The US President is bonkers."
Rumsfeld Shouldn't be Fired, He Should be Indicted - "The mainstream media in the U.S. is giving enormous attention to the retired generals who are demanding Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation because of his autocratic style and his bungling in Iraq. But the mainstream media is barely discussing Rumsfeld’s alleged culpability in the abusive treatment of detainees, up to and including torture."
Bush: 'I'm the decider' on Rumsfeld - ""I listen to all voices, but mine is the final decision," he said. "And Don Rumsfeld is doing a fine job. He's not only transforming the military, he's fighting a war on terror. He's helping us fight a war on terror. I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld. I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."" -- This little speech says quite a bit about Bush's character.
Lieberman: US could attack Iran's nukes - "The goal of such action, he continued, would be "to delay it, to deter it, hoping that you set the program off course, so that by the time they catch up back to where they were, there's been a change in the government. That's the limited objective that I would see."" -- When does the U.S. get a change in government?
Poll: 48% back military action against Iran if government continues pursuing nuclear technology - "However, a majority (54%) of the poll's respondents indicated that they don't believe President Bush will make the "right decision."" -- So the public has been brainwashed to back military action against Iran. How sad.
APPROVAL RATING FOR GEORGE W BUSH AS OF 4/18/06 - "Sorted by 4/06 Net Approval" -- Ouch.
Would Someone Explain to Rumsfeld the Difference Between a Bowel Movement and Utter Failure? - "Message to Mr. Master of the Universe: We are not talking about a bowel movement here. We are talking about thousands upon thousands of lives lost, thousands more wounded, billions of dollars of our money spent wastefully, and a military that thinks you don't know what the Hell you are doing -- along with the blessed ignorance of Bush and Cheney. No, Donald, this too will NOT pass. It's called incompetence, arrogance, and abysmal, utter failure."
U.S. invasion responsible deaths of over 250,000 civilians in Iraq - "New studies make the Bush administration's "liberation" argument for a 'pre-emptive' war against Iraq seem questionable."
Senator rips ex Exxon CEO's retirement package - "Amid record oil prices and soaring gasoline costs, Exxon Mobil's $400 million retirement package to its former CEO is a "shameful display of greed" that should be reviewed by Congress and investigated by federal regulators, Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. ... "There can be no more compelling evidence that the price gouging and market manipulation which has produced record oil prices is out of control, and is working to serve the forces of individual greed and corporate gluttony at the painful expense of millions of American consumers," Dorgan said."
No wonder Chavez makes Bush uneasy - "When the hated despots of nations like Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan loot their countries' treasuries, transfer their oil wealth to personal Swiss bank accounts and use the rest to finance (in the House of Saud's case) terrorist extremists, American politicians praise them as trusted friends and allies. But when a democratically elected populist president uses Venezuela's oil profits to lift poor people out of poverty, they accuse him of pandering. As the United States and Europe continue their shift toward a "Darwinomic" model where rapacious corporations accrue bigger and bigger profits while workers become poorer and poorer, the socialist economic model espoused by President Hugo Chavez has become wildly popular among Latin Americans tired of watching corrupt rightwing leaders enrich themselves at their expense. Left-of-center governments have recently won power in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Chavez's uncompromising rhetoric matches his politics, but what's really driving the American government and its corporate masters crazy is that he has the cash to back it up."
New RFID travel cards could pose privacy threat - "Future government-issued travel documents may feature embedded computer chips that can be read at a distance of up to 30 feet, a top Homeland Security official said Tuesday, creating what some fear would be a threat to privacy." -- 30 feet?
Recipe for Holy War: Add two nut jobs and stir - "All right. I'm now officially scared. Having just read Seymour Hersh's article about Bush's Iran plan, it appears that we no longer have a case of the good guys versus the bad guys. What we have here is the bad guy versus the bad guy - two madmen playing an international game of chicken, ratcheting up the rhetoric to appeal to their fundamentalist followers."
What are your? Some kind of atheist? - "I am that kind of atheist who found that where there is God-talk, there are people with power lording that power over others they either pity or disdain. When I hear God-talk, I tend to hear more clearly these others, the unloved ones. And there are always the others. They are the outsiders and the uninvited. ... Still, God-talk remains people talk. So my atheism simply means that God-talk is empty talk, and what is, is, and if what is, is something one might actually name, it is beyond us, and it certainly would not answer to "God". Nothing about what is can be reasonably said. What does "God" mean? Nothing. Who does God name? No one. That is atheism. ... People invent God; God does not invent people. The rest is unspeakable."
Required Outcry - "I am asking these screwballs to stop hurting people in the name of God when they clearly do not have God in their hearts when they commit these acts. I ask that all Christians publicly point to this sort of behavior and condemn it as being an act of cruelty. I ask that local and national leaders vocally declare these acts as morally reprehensible. I ask that pro-life organizations vocally oppose such actions, and even if they consider these passed men and women to be sinners for their lifestyles, to defend the dignity that their lives held and oppose those who would celebrate their deaths. Finally, I am asking those who would critique these screwballs to identify them to be the loons that they are and not to take the opportunity to take a cheap shot at Christians as a whole, as they are obviously acting in a manner opposed to the norms of Christian life."
Atheist leader will speak at UA Monday - "Minister-turned-author and atheist Dan Barker will give a talk titled "Losing Faith in Faith" Monday evening at the University of Arizona. The talk is free and open to the public. ... Barker is expected to tell the story of how he went from a teenage evangelist to an ordained minister and then to a painful and difficult conversion from Christianity to atheism. He will explain why he left the ministry and also why he rejects a belief in God."
It's gospel: Religion has always divided America - "However, he emphasizes, the God invoked by Madison and Monroe – and by Lincoln as the Civil War dragged on, and by FDR on D-Day – was intentionally not a denominational God. It was not the God of Abraham, not the God who had a son whose resurrection Christians celebrate on this Easter Sunday. "The Founders had every opportunity to invoke that God," Mr. Meacham says in an interview. "And they explicitly chose not to." Instead, they chose what Benjamin Franklin called our "public religion," a sort of benign homage to a sort of generic God, one whose outline, and agenda, were deliberately left vague. It's a nonsectarian God, a God not weighted down by dogma. He made us. He watches over us. But he isn't kicking butt and taking names. Unlike the Old Testament God, or the God of the Crusaders, or the God the Wahhabi, he doesn't exhort his followers to lop off the heads of those who worship in the wrong temple."
Keep religion out of politics, Canadians say - "Canadians are becoming increasingly uneasy about mixing religion and politics and they'd be more likely to vote for a party lead by an atheist or a Muslim than an evangelical Christian, suggests a new poll." -- God love those Canadians. Americans could learn something from them.
Like It or Not, You’re Funding Right-Wing Rock -- No comment.
2 charged for Holocaust denial - "German prosecutors say they have charged a German far-right activist, extradited from the United States, and a Belgian man, handed over by the Netherlands, with incitement for allegedly denying the Holocaust."
Study Finds Consolidation Among Health Insurers Is Creating Near-Monopolies in Most of U.S. - "Data from the American Medical Association show that in each of 43 states, a handful of top insurers have gained such a stronghold that their markets are considered "highly concentrated" under U.S. Department of Justice guidelines, often far exceeding the thresholds that trigger antitrust concerns. The study also shows that in 166 of 294 metropolitan areas, or 56 percent, a single insurer controls more than half the business in health maintenance organization and preferred provider networks underwriting."
Bird flu threat not so grave, CDC chief says - "“There is no evidence it will be the next pandemic,” Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said of avian flu. There is “no evidence it is evolving in a direction that is becoming more transmissible to people.”"
Many Health Care Workers Won't Show Up in Flu Pandemic - "With many Americans worried about their safety should a flu pandemic occur, there's little reassurance from a survey that finds that close to half of U.S. public health-care workers would not show up for work if such a pandemic occurred."
LA Woman Hospitalized With Bubonic Plague - "A woman was hospitalized earlier this month with bubonic plague, the first confirmed human case in Los Angeles County in more than two decades, health officials said Tuesday."
Bush Plan To Hide Data on 1.5M Lbs. of Toxic Chemicals in California - "A Bush Administration proposal to roll back Americans' right to know about chemical hazards in their neighborhoods would let California industries handle almost 1.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals a year without telling the public, according to an investigation of federal data by Environmental Working Group (EWG)."
Study shows the public is turning to alternative medicine and away from dangerous prescription drugs - "A study published in April 2005 revealed that more than 70 percent of adults aged 50 or older are now using some form of alternative therapy. This includes medicinal herbs, meditation and chiropractic care. The fact that these people are adopting alternative medicine and using it in their own lives is fascinating in and of itself, but what is really fascinating about this research is the response it has been getting from the conventional medical community."
Judge: Doctors not required to report teen sex - "In a victory for an abortion rights group, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that abortion clinic doctors and other professionals are not required under Kansas law to report underage sex between consenting youths."
China Using Artificial Rain to Clear Dust - "The government was preparing to seed clouds to make rain to clear the air, state TV said, citing the Central Meteorological Bureau. It did not elaborate, and the bureau refused to release more information."
Youths near Vegas Strip beat, rob man - "A man was attacked early Saturday by about 15 youths near an entrance to a parking garage at the rear of a Strip resort, police said. A surveillance videotape of the attack shows the man being sucker punched by one young man, then being swarmed by a crowd of at least six young men, who beat him. One of the attackers tries to kick the man in the face. The victim is able to pull away from the crowd, but he is chased and caught in the middle of a roadway, where the growing group of attackers, as if in a feeding frenzy, continues to punch, kick and stomp on him as he curls in a fetal position on the ground. One of the assailants appears to use a chain or some type of belt to whip the man.
Skin cancer epidemic underway in the US - "One in five Americans will develop skin cancer, and a person's risk of the disease doubles if he or she has had five or more sunburns, according to a report in the April issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter."
States Omitting Minorities' Test Scores - "The AP found that states are helping public schools escape potential penalties by skirting that requirement. And minorities — who historically haven't fared as well as whites in testing — make up the vast majority of students whose scores are excluded."
Net playing bigger role in life decisions - "Nearly half of U.S. users of the Internet went online for help with major life decisions such as finding a college for their child or looking for a new place to live, according to a survey released on Wednesday."
Supercomputer simulates black hole collision - "When two black holes collide, space shivers like Jell-O. With the help of a supercomputer to simulate this event, NASA seeks to prove Albert Einstein's theories and unveil the universe's secrets."
Quote of the Day
"Man is the only animal that has the true religion -- several of them."
~ Mark Twain
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