Death Toll Could Be Twice the Official Figure - "Lebanese doctors, aid workers and refugees are all reporting that the official number of dead in Lebanon is far lower than the actual."
President Bush and Prime Minister Blair of the United Kingdom Participate in Press Availability - "PRESIDENT BUSH: David, it's an interesting period because instead of having foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability, we have a foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and instability. For a while, American foreign policy was just, let's hope everything is calm, kind of managed calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of resentment and anger that was manifested in its -- on September the 11th. And so we've taken a foreign policy that says, on the one hand, we will protect ourselves from further attack in the short-run by being aggressive and chasing down the killers and bringing them to justice -- and make no mistake, they're still out there, and they would like to harm our respective peoples because of what we stand for -- in the long-term, to defeat this ideology, and they're bound by an ideology. You defeat it with a more hopeful ideology called freedom." -- Yes, he said American foreign policy was to blame for 9/11. Then he went on and blathered about how to defeat one ideology with another ideology. I guess the only way to do that is with violence.
Is Bush Trying to Dodge the Gallows? - "Could George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and maybe Alberto Gonzales all end up sucking poison gas? That, apparently, is a concern now being taken seriously by Attorney General Gonzales, who is quietly working with senior White House officials and friendly members of Congress to do what murderous dictators in Chile, Argentina and other bloodthirsty regimes have done as their future in office began to look uncertain: pass laws exempting them from prosecution for murder."
Britain, U.S. Using Radioactive ‘Dirty Bombs’ - "While U.S. and British military personnel continue using illegal uranium munitions—America’s and England’s own “dirty bombs”—Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) officials deny that there are any adverse health and environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing and use of uranium munitions. The reason for the doubletalk is obviously to avoid criminal liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive and toxic material—depleted uranium (DU). How do I know this? Fourteen years ago, I was asked by the U.S. military to clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War I."
US in quiet U-turn on Iraq troop numbers - "The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November. ... However, analysts said an increase in troop numbers was more likely than a reduction because the number of sectarian killings in Iraq had almost doubled since the start of the year. The rise will prompt fears that the US is becoming increasingly bogged down in an unwinnable conflict."
Who are the real terrorists in the Middle East? - "What exactly is being defended by the violence in Gaza and Lebanon? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state?"
Reality intrudes - "This comes at a time when things were supposed to be improving -- after formation of a new Iraqi government, more participation by Sunni politicians, a raid that killed al-Qaida's top operative in Iraq. And it is a time when Americans, and that certainly includes most Republican candidates this year, hoped the U.S. presence would start to diminish. Instead, it is hard to think of anything that has gotten better. The security situation has so deteriorated that, for the first time, the average daily death toll among Iraqi civilians last month exceeded 100. The casualties are especially high in Baghdad, which is becoming unlivable. Businesses are closing, streets are often deserted and -- perhaps most ominously -- religious minorities are fleeing previously integrated neighborhoods, often with the intent of leaving the country." -- 3000 Iraqi civilians die each month. Oh yes, things are so much better for the Iraqi people.
Who Needs Congress or Courts With Bush in Charge? - "Congress passes a law that says the U.S. won't torture people. The president says OK, we won't -- unless we really need to, thus adopting an exception Congress had specifically and vociferously rejected. Congress passes the Sarbanes-Oxley law to reform business practices. In signing it, the president issues a statement to cut back on protection for corporate whistle-blowers. Congress passes a law telling the administration to inform it on specific matters. The president issues statements saying he won't disclose anything he doesn't think he should. So Congress tells him to notify it when he decides to ignore a law. He repeats that he will disclose only what he thinks he should, claiming, as he always does, constitutional authority to resist. As of July 11, President George W. Bush had said no (or, not unless I want to) to 807 provisions enacted by Congress that he signed into law, according to Christopher Kelley, a political science professor at the University of Miami, Ohio. That number compares to some 600 provisions challenged by all of Bush's predecessors combined, says Kelley."
House Leadership Invokes "Martial Law," Forcing Members to Vote On Key Bills Without Full Knowledge of What They're Voting On - "The House Republican Leadership has announced its intention to have the House vote, before adjourning on Friday or Saturday, on several major pieces of legislation that are not yet available to House members in final form because behind-closed-door negotiations on the proposals are still going on. The Leadership apparently intends to use a process known as “martial law” to allow these bills to be brought to the floor very shortly after negotiations are completed, with the result that Members of the House are likely to have virtually no time to examine and consider the details of the legislation before they will be required to vote on it."
Iranian leader bans usage of foreign words - "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday."
Judge rules against Bucs; league defends pat-downs - "Security "pat-downs" of fans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and unreasonable, a federal judge ruled Friday, throwing into question the practice at NFL games nationwide."
Court Says Lending Weapon Not Covered By Gun Law - "The state's highest court has ruled that Marylanders can lend a gun to a friend without going through the seven-day waiting period and background check required by state law before guns can be transferred or sold to a new owner."
Minimum wage increase passes House - "Republicans muscled the first minimum wage increase in a decade through the House of Representatives early Saturday after pairing it with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates."
Global warming's effect on hurricane strength disputed in new report - "Scientists linking the increased strength of hurricanes over recent years to global warming have not accounted for outdated technology that may have underestimated storms' power decades ago, researchers said in a report published Friday."
If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History -- There are some pretty good ones.
China's growing pollution reaches U.S. - "Researchers say the environmental impact of China's breakneck economic growth is being felt well beyond its borders. They worry that as China consumes more fossil fuels to feed its energy-hungry economy, the U.S. could see a sharp increase in trans-Pacific pollution that could affect human health, worsen air quality and alter climate patterns."
Powering Up, One Step at a Time - "British engineers are converting street vibrations into electricity and predict a working prototype by Christmas capable of powering facility lights in the busiest areas of a city."
Scientists: Cosmic blob biggest thing in universe - "An enormous amoeba-like structure 200 million light-years wide and made up of galaxies and large bubbles of gas is the largest known object in the universe, scientists say."
Marijuana gumballs found at school - "Federal drug agents aren't laughing about marijuana packaged in yellow, smiley-faced gumballs. ... "When it comes to drug dealing, you're only limited by your imagination.""
Pornopoliticos: Candidates with nothing to hide - "The gubernatorial campaigns of Melody "Mimi" Damayo and Mary Carey could be seen as dirty politics, but their experience and exposure in adult films gives them some advantage, political pundits say."
Quote of the Day
"How can a world that makes such wonderful things…be bad?"
~ Ariel, The Little Mermaid
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