House passes Hawaii Superferry bill 39-11...

Pathetic. No other words necessary....

Yeah, this could really be a GOOD thing! A writer�s strike would paralyze the old media just when the new media is starting to really come on strong!

New Springsteen CD Banned by Clear Channel...

Dog Chapman has been captured spewing foul-mouthed racist slurs on a tape obtained exclusively by The NATIONAL ENQUIRER. And now a civil rights leader is calling for Dog's TV show to be removed from the airwaves.

STATEMENT FROM DUANE �DOG� CHAPMAN...

"A&E has just learned of the story released by the National Enquirer concerning Duane Dog Chapman. We take this matter very seriously. Pending an investigation, we have suspended production on the series. When the inquiry is concluded, we will take appropriate action."

Michael Feeney
Senior Vice President
AETN Corporate Communications

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said Wednesday she had postponed a planned trip to Dubai because of rumours that President Pervez Musharraf may impose a state of emergency.

Bhutto said the emergency rumours were in connection with a Supreme Court decision expected later this week on whether military ruler Pervez Musharraf's victory in an October 6 presidential election was valid.

THERE ARE NO ISRAELIS IN ISRAEL...

Buildings Topple Over...

Ron Paul Banners engulf MSNBC Dem Debate Ron Paul Banners engulf MSNBC Dem Debate ANTI-WAR...

The Board of Immigration Appeals on Tuesday dismissed all charges against Khader M. Hamide and Michel I. Shehadeh, who had faced deportation proceedings since 1987, and approved a settlement submitted by the men's lawyers and the Department of Homeland Security, according to documents made public today.

Boy confesses to starting California fire that FOX News claimed Al-Qaeda started...

"THE LAST SUPPER" IN EXTREME DETAIL...

Amid warnings that southern Iraq could erupt into civil war when British troops withdraw, Basra's chief of police has publicly admitted that his forces have been unable to clamp down on growing militia warfare in the city.

In recent months, rival Shia factions have been battling for control of the city which is considered the second largest in the country and home to Iraq's only port.

Several hundred Taliban fighters have moved into a strategic area just outside the southern city of Kandahar in recent days and clashed with Afghan and NATO forces, according to Canadian and Afghan officials.

The fighting, which began Tuesday, is the first time large numbers of Taliban have been able to enter the area just north of the city since 2001. Control of the area, known as the Arghandab district, would allow the Taliban to directly threaten Kandahar, southern Afghanistan�s largest city.

29 October 2007: Gazan cancer patient dies after being delayed entry into Israel for 10 days...

Today Chairman Waxman asks White House Counsel Fred Fielding to turn over more than 600 pages of documents relating to the activities of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff that are being withheld because they involve internal White House deliberations.

The Senate's Hart office building was evacuated briefly Wednesday after a fire alarm went off and boxes at the bottom of a stairwell were found to be on fire.

Though the court doesn't equate bloggers and journalists generally, it gives Smith the same protection given to journalists

The popular icon of a witch is an ugly old woman riding across the sky on her magic broomstick and wearing a pointed hat. But as with all mythologies there is an element of truth behind the image. Witches did ride brooms, after a fashion, the brooms were magic, in a way, and the pointed hat was the mildest of the punishments inflicted on them for their activities!

Power plants shut due to lack of fuel...

We now know something that we did not know before: When Hillary Clinton has a bad night, she really has a bad night.

America�s middle east foreign and military programs are now run entirely by right-wing Jewish groups but hardly for the benefit of the United States. The Likudists in the government and in various political action groups have only the interest of the state of Israel at heart. The so-called neocons deliberately pushed Bush and Cheney into the Iraqi war so as to permit a permanent U.S. military force in the area to protect Israel from her hostile Arab neighbors.

Piss on racism! That's essentially what the students at Emory University had to say to David Horowitz and his 'message' of Islamo-Fascism.

I realised today that in the twenty three years I have lived in Israel, I have never seen a democratically elected government here. Israel constantly claims that it is 'the only Democracy in the Middle East', but has not had a democratically elected government since Menachim Begin was Prime Minister. There have been rotating Prime Ministers, National Unity Governments, Coalition Governments, just about every type except a democratically elected one.

The so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a stewy body of plastic and marine debris that floats an estimated 1,000 miles west of San Francisco, is a shape-shifting mass far too large, delicate and remote to ever be cleaned up, according to a researcher who recently returned from the area.

But that might not stop the federal government from trying.

The rising price of copper has prompted the US government to consider making coins with cheaper metals.

Even the most undiscriminating viewer may suspect that TV newsreaders and news articles are not telling us the whole story. The slightly more lucid may have begun to glimpse the calculated intent of standard news content and are wondering about the reliability and accuracy of the way events are presented. For the very few who take time to research beneath the surface of the daily programming and who are still capable of independent thought, a somewhat darker picture begins to emerge. These may perceive bits of evidence of the profoundly technical science behind much of what is served up in mass media.

New Iowa law taxes jack-o-lanterns...

What is this "unwritten contract"? I'll tell you what it is: it's an agreement to censor anything and everything that offends the Lobby and its glorified, sanitized view of Israel. Here, after all, is a country that practices apartheid, imprisons children, and was founded on ethnic cleansing and bigoted religious obscurantism � and yet they present themselves to the world as a valiant little "democracy," a beleaguered outpost of "the West" in the midst of an Arab sea. It takes a lot of cosmetics to hide the true face of this dog, and that's what CAMERA is all about � prettifying an increasingly ugly reality. The Lobby reserves the right to censor any material that presents Israel in a more realistic light, and anyone who opposes them in their mission on behalf of a foreign power is smeared as an "anti-Semite."

"There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"

After first adamantly denying any knowledge of the aviation radio, and then sitting in solitary confinement for 10 days, Mr. Higazy finally conceded. It was his radio, he confessed. He was charged with making false statements.

One month after Mr. Higazy was locked up, the story took a sharp turn.

An airline pilot walked into the hotel asking for the very same radio, saying that he had left it behind in his room on the morning of Sept. 11. The pilot, a United States citizen from the Midwest, knew nothing about Mr. Higazy.

Britain's biggest bookie has Texas Congressman 12/1 to win White House, down from 66/1...

A cursory glance of national polling data will reveal to anyone, even the most diehard supporter of corporate media�s integrity, that the mainstream polls used as statistical proof of Ron Paul�s low chances more often than not do NOT include Ron Paul in the polls.

The mysterious "mass suicide" of 152 dolphins washed up on Iran's coast over the past month has alarmed environmentalists, with the blame pointed at regional fishing practices.

The mass death of more than 150 Striped Dolphins in southern Iran over the last month could be due to the herd of mammals following a sick dominant male, said a UAE-based marine expert.

The new American Embassy in Baghdad will be the largest, least welcoming, and most lavish embassy in the world: a $600 million massively fortified compound with 619 blast-resistant apartments and a food court fit for a shopping mall. Unfortunately, like other similarly constructed U.S. Embassies, it may already be obsolete.

Nominee Unsure If Waterboarding Breaks Torture Law.

A large-scale IDF operation against Palestinian rocket squads in Gaza was drawing near, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.

"Every day that passes brings us closer to a broad operation in Gaza," Barak told Army Radio.

The FTC has a problem. As the federal agency with the most responsibility for combating spyware, FTC Commissioners would love the power to slap down spyware vendors with massive fines or perhaps even toss them in jail for a while (where they would be shown a computer screen covered with pop-up ads, one hopes). Sadly, FTC commissioners are instead reduced to pleading their case at Congressional hearings and nonprofit luncheons while little action is taken. In the meantime, spyware vendors continue to get slapped on the wrist with a wet noodle.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are conducting in northern part of the country the largest military drill since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported Tuesday.

The White House is now planning to implement as much new policy "as it can" by administrative order "after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership."

The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor, let the cat out of the bag while speaking at the American Jewish Committee luncheon on Oct. 22. In remarks paralleling those of Rice, Meridor said Iran is the chief threat to Israel.

Heavy on the chutzpah, he served gratuitous notice on Washington that effectively countering Iran's nuclear ambitions will take a "united United States in this matter," lest the Iranians conclude, "come January '09, they have it their own way."

Meridor stressed that "very little time" remained to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. How so?

Because the U.S. Dollar Has Just Been Devalued by a Third Over the Past Five Years.

Police concluded Wednesday that �negligence� is to blame for the Glorietta 2 mall blast, although the terror attack angle cannot be completely ruled out yet.

In other words, 'take a hike, Tzipi!

The Bush administration has provided nearly $11 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001, most of it in military hardware and cash support for the country's operating budget. But frustrations are rising among military officers on both sides because the aid has produced neither battlefield success nor great trust, said government officials and independent experts who study relations between the two countries.

Iran and Venezuela are united in their disdain for the U.S. Some reports have indicated that Chavez won't hesitate to cut off his country's oil supply to the United States if it launches an air strike or any military action against Iran. Chertoff suggested that his department and indeed the intelligence community are tracking the growing ties between these two nations and the potential threat it could pose.

Or How the neocons hijacked the �war on terror�

THE HONOLULU ADVERTISER PRINTED IT!...

Washington's negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic over installing the defences "have not only not been suspended, but additional measures are being taken to speed them up," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin. "There is the impression that the United States is trying to make the realisation of its plans irreversible," Kamynin said in a statement.

It's not quite signing statements, where President George W. Bush used legal means to "interpret" laws, allowing him to avoid Congressional directives, but the White House is now planning to implement as much new policy "as it can" by administrative order "after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership."

"White House aides say the only way Bush seems to be able to influence the process is by vetoing legislation or by issuing administrative orders, as he has in recent weeks on veterans' health care, air-traffic congestion, protecting endangered fish and immigration," the Post authors write. "They say they expect Bush to issue more of such orders in the next several months, even as he speaks out on the need to limit spending and resist any tax increases."

Dog shoots Iowa man during hunt...

The United States on Monday brushed aside the UN nuclear watchdog agency chief's warning that there was no proof Iran seeks atomic weapons, and invited him to stay out of diplomacy with Tehran.

The American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative ideologist whom Bush has consulted on this topic, has written that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "like Hitler � a revolutionary whose objective is to overturn the going international system and to replace it in the fullness of time with a new order dominated by Iran and ruled by the religio-political culture of Islamofascism." For this staggering proposition Podhoretz provides not a scintilla of evidence.

Here is the reality. Iran has an economy the size of Finland's and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?

The Zogby International survey shows 52 percent of Americans would support a strike on Iran, while 53 percent expect President Bush to launch such an attack before the end of his second term.

Reports that State Department investigators offered immunity deals to security guards accused of shooting dead 17 Iraqis dealt an embarrassing blow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday.

According to the Washington Post, FBI agents now investigating the Baghdad shootings involving the Blackwater security firm are barred from using any of the information obtained during an earlier State Department probe.

THE United States's willingness to resort to harsh interrogation techniques in its so-called war on terror undermined human rights and the international ban on torture, a United Nations spokesman says.

Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, said the US's standing and importance meant it was a model to other countries which queried why they were subject to scrutiny when the US resorted to measures witnessed at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.

"There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart, to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture," Tutu said of Israelis.

"Don�t be found fighting against this god, your god, our god, who hears the cry of the oppressed," Tutu said.

A Dallas jury, a week ago, caused a mistrial in the government case against this country�s largest Islamic charity. The action raises a defiant fist on the sinking ship of American democracy.

Such trials, however, have been politically expedient. The accusations, true or untrue, serve the aims of the administration. A jury in Tampa, Chicago or Dallas can dismiss the government�s assaults on individual rights, but the draconian restrictions put in place because of the mendacious charges remain firmly implanted within the system. It is the charges, not the facts, which matter.

"From the invasion until now, with few exceptions the so-called mainstream media in the West has portrayed a drastically different picture of what Iraq is really like under U.S. military rule. We regularly see stories from the military point of view, and rarely, if ever, how catastrophic the occupation has made life for the average Iraqi. Thus, most people are in no way getting an accurate picture of what has occurred, or what is occurring today."

The Wa�ed Society for political prisoners and ex-prisoner, reported on Monday that the Israeli army continued its violations against the Palestinian people, continued the arrest campaign, and that currently there are 360 Palestinian children still imprisoned in several Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

The number of Palestinian children currently imprisoned by Israel is 360, the society said, and added that the imprisoned children are facing harsh conditions, mistreatment and repeated attacks.

Clashes between Turkish army units and Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas intensified during the weekend along Turkey's borders with northern Iraq and in the country's eastern province of Tunceli. Twenty suspected Kurdish rebels were killed, according to Turkish NTV network.

Fighting in the district of Pulumur began Sunday morning, involving 8,000 Turkish security troops, backed by helicopter gunships, who surrounded rural Dokuzkaya, Sariyayla, Kizilmescit and Zagge areas located in the Pulumur and Nazimiye districts of Tunceli. The highway that gives access to the rest of the province was cut off.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq warned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in May that the country's biggest dam, just up the Tigris River from the northern city of Mosul, is at risk of collapse, putting the city's 1.7 million people in danger of being inundated by a 65-foot flood wave.

The letter from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, co-signed by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is included in an audit to be published tomorrow. The report found that little or no progress has been made to shore up the Mosul Dam since the May warning, largely because a $27 million project funded by U.S. reconstruction money has been plagued by mismanagement and possible fraud.

To anyone opposed to the government practice of snatching people off the street, erasing any record of their whereabouts, flying them off to a black hole in some human rights-violating netherworld, and subjecting them to sadistic torture techniques in the name of a "war on terror," the answer is painfully obvious. But in our enduringly surreal political era, the question cuts to the heart of the actual debates that are currently playing out on Capitol Hill.

One can imagine what would happen if any developing country branded the US industrial-military complex as "terrorists" - and any number of countries would have plenty of reasons to do so. By stretching its "war on terror" logic to actually naming names, the Bush administration has boxed itself into no other option than regime change in Iran.

The president is on a sticky wicket in northern Iraq. The Kurds have longed to unite with their brethren in Turkey, Iran, and Syria to form independent Kurdistan. The big powers, the United States included, have never been crazy about the idea. But that hasn�t stopped American presidents from posing as champions of their cause � until it�s inconvenient. That�s what it is now.

In its report, the Constitution Project gets to the dangerous core of the government's claim that it alone can and should decide how to define "state secrets." The answer from these constitutionalists is: "Unless claims about state secrets evidence are subjected to independent judicial scrutiny, the executive branch is at liberty to violate legal and constitutional rights with impunity. By accepting these claims as valid on their face, courts undermine the principle of judicial independence, the adversary process, fairness in the courtroom, and our constitutional system of checks and balances." Since this particular administration has violated so many legal and constitutional rights, its assurance that we must "trust" it to close courtrooms requires a suspension of disbelief that responsible American citizens should not provide.

Long before the first suicide bombing by Palestinians in 1994, Israel had resorted to extrajudicial killings, home demolitions, deportations, curfews and other forms of collective punishment barred by international law.

Most convictions are based on coerced confessions, and for decades Israeli interrogation tactics have entailed the use of torture and ill-treatment. Tens of thousands more Palestinians were never prosecuted, but were instead held in administrative detention for months or years.

Yuval Diskin, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, told a parliamentary committee that while failure at the conference could provoke some violence, it would not reach the same level as the Intifada, or uprising, that began in 2000 when the last major peace initiative collapsed.

"In my estimation ... the Palestinians are exhausted. There isn't the energy in the public and there also isn't the leadership right now that could spur such resistance," Diskin was quoted by a parliamentary spokesman as telling lawmakers.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will ask U.S. President George W. Bush to take immediate and ``concrete steps'' against Kurdish militants sheltering in northern Iraq.

China believes that "the unbridled use of sanctions should not be encouraged," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference.

His comments come as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was in Beijing to call on China to back new sanctions against Iran.

Including both funding provided through 2007 and projected funding under the two illustrative scenarios, total spending for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities related to the "war on terrorism" will amount to between US$1.2 trillion and $1.7 trillion for fiscal years 2001 through 2017.

If the US and Russia continue a course of mutual belligerency � albeit gloved � the road to Armageddon will be short.

The West must understand that Russia newly flushed with energy wealth is no longer an underdog but a major world player. Russia, in its turn, must quit sending its bombers to tease Western countries. The US should come to terms with the fact it's no longer the only policeman on the block.

The White House on Monday said it had little information about Egypt's plans to relaunch its nuclear power program but declared itself "generally supportive" of civilian atomic power.

"I don't know a lot about it. In general, we are supportive of countries pursuing civil nuclear energy. It's clean burning. It provides electricity in a clean-burning and affordable way for citizens," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Are the media ignoring rallies against the Iraq war because of their low turnout or is the turnout dampened by the lack of news coverage?

I find it unsettling that I even have to consider the question.

Mukasey Won�t Say Waterboarding Is Torture But in 1947 the U.S. Called It a War Crime, Sentenced Enemy Officer to 15 Years Hard Labor...

So I got home, opened the box and found not a 1TB internal hard drive but 6 pieces of bathroom ceramic tile wrapped in last months New York Post. I got into my car, raced back to Best Buy and voiced my complaint. The employee and assistant manager were more than willing to help, saying that it happens. So they set up the return and I repurchased the drive and while I was checking the contents to ensure it was a hard drive this time, the store manager came up, took the box from me and said to take it up with the manufacturer.

Now to my surprise, I argued with the guy saying that they have already accepted the return and I have now purchased the new one. He said I was shit out of luck.

ISRAELI APARTHEID/GENOCIDE LIVE ON VIDEO...

Apartheid, genocide, hatred, expulsions; dreams come true for the satans of our time.

Many of the problems that sank the Soviet Union now endanger the US. For instance, like the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, it has a huge, well-equipped and very expensive military bogged down fighting Muslim freedom fighters in foreign lands. Also, energy shortfalls linked to peaking oil production and horrendously unfavourable capital account and trade balances is resulting in runaway foreign debt. Add to that a delusional self-image, an inflexible ideology, and unresponsive, totally corrupt authoritarian judicial and political systems.

Read Harmon's Orwellian masterpiece... and weep. The Dems are showing freaked-out Suburbia that they can wipe their ass with the Constitution just as well as any Republican, if it will just stop all that "violent radicalization." And the women in the men's club are proving they can be just as mean and asinine as any man.

A fake news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency has produced, along with outrage and ridicule, its first personnel casualty.

John P. Philbin, until last week the agency�s public relations chief, was supposed to start work Monday as the new director of public affairs for the nation�s top intelligence official, Mike McConnell.

But he learned instead that he would not.

The University of Arizona senior is vehemently against the war in Iraq. And if you get her started about how she thinks the Bush administration has trampled the Constitution, you'll get an earful. However, she's also a Republican, and a proud one at that.

What happens when that power is intentionally turned off to an entire section of the population? It is, in effect, DENIAL of the existence of that population. It is, in reality, attempted murder, as there are many that depend on electricity for the operation of life saving devices. What makes this situation even worse, is despite these moves being in violation of International Law, they have the support of the United States government.

In the name of ' Oneupmanship', the competition has begun! The 'Kosher Nostra' in the States has just finished 'celebrating' 'Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week', Israel itself has to prove that it can do better.

Award winning actor Mark Ruffalo says he is "baffled" at the collapse of the twin towers and Building 7 on 9/11 and has called for re-opening the investigation into the attacks, joining Martin Sheen in publicly doubting the government's official story.

UN Director General: Food Riots Would Not Be A Surprise...

Alaska is not legally a state either!...

YouTube - FOX News working to censor Ron Paul...

READER PHOTOS FROM LOS ANGELES PEACE MARCH, OCTOBER 2007...

IRS Grants Tax Relief for Southern California Wildfire Victims...

New York City�s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani�s extra-legal bid to extend his term in office or override laws barring him from serving a third term are a particularly sinister expression of the ongoing attempts to exploit the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in order to curtail democratic rights.

The intelligence services have become embroiled in a rare public row with the Saudi government by describing comments about the 7/7 London bombings made by the Saudi king as a "myth".

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Will Now Tell All - and Face Charges if Necessary - to Any Major Television Network That Will Let Her.

Flu Lab Set to Open for 1918 Pandemic Virus Reconstruction...

Was Bin Laden's last video faked?...

Legalized Counterfeiting - The Federal Reserve System...

Actor Martin Sheen questioned the official 9/11 story, as well as the collapse of Building 7 and Larry Silverstein's "pull it" comment during an anti-war march this past weekend in Los Angeles, saying that recent revelations about the attacks had caused him to have doubts.

France and the US have dismissed a finding by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei that there is no evidence of Iran building a bomb.

Shouting at the Devil: �Fuck You, Capitalism!�...

Last week, Moscow rejected the idea of sending observers to the planned Czech base. Still, astonishment at the idea Prague might have allowed a Russian return -- nearly 40 years after Soviet-led forces invaded the country -- still reverberates locally.

A photo-montage on the front cover of Monday's edition of the current affairs weekly, Tyden, showed Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on all fours like a dog. The lead was held by US President George Bush, pictured chatting with his Russian counterpart.

Utopian fantasies have long transfixed the human race. Yet today a much rarer fantasy has become popular in the United States. Millions of Americans, the richest people in history, have a death wish. They are the new �Armageddonites,� fundamentalist evangelicals who have moved from forecasting Armageddon to actually trying to bring it about.

American fundamentalists strongly supported the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. They consistently support Israel�s hard-line policies. And they are beating the drums for war against Iran. Thanks to these end-timers, American foreign policy has turned much of the world against us, including most Muslims, nearly a quarter of the human race.

Families and friends who share eggnog, lamb curry or beef stew this winter may not know whether the main ingredients came from cloned animals, after the governor vetoed a San Francisco lawmaker�s labeling bill.

food-safety and animal-welfare groups criticized Schwarzenegger�s decision. �The animals are injected with large amounts of hormones � and that�s a food safety issue,� said Rebecca Spector, the San Francisco-based West Coast director of The Center for Food Safety.

Israel's state prosecutor said Monday that planned punitive cuts in the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip cannot go ahead without taking full account of the possible humanitarian consequences.

CNN reported earlier Monday that John "Pat" Philbin, the Director of Public Affairs responsible for FEMA's recent faked news conference, was all set to accept a his promotion, until his new boss realized that hiring a spokesman with a penchant for fiction might not be the best idea.

The White House warned Monday that there was no doubt that Iran seeks atomic weapons, rebuffing the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency after he said there was no evidence for such a charge.

"This is a country that is enriching and reprocessing uranium and the reason that one does that is to lead towards a nuclear weapon," spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.

Various reports have alleged physicians' complicity in the mistreatment of prisoners being held by the United States at Abu Ghraib and at Guantanamo. Physicians are reported to have advised interrogators as to whether particular prisoners were fit enough to survive physical maltreatment, informed interrogators about prisoners' phobias and other psychological vulnerabilities that could be exploited during questioning, failed to report incidents of alleged torture, force-fed prisoners who were on hunger strikes, and altered the death certificates of prisoners who died.

If US physicians are educated about military medical ethics - especially the Geneva Conventions - they could lead calls for humane treatment of prisoners, regardless of their legal status. Doing so might begin to heal our country and to restore the United States' position as a moral agent in the world.

Mahmoud Abbas, the man who represents no one, claims to have found a 'serious partner.' Of course he did, the very man that has installed him in his position of 'leader' of the Palestinian Authority, the very man that is about to turn off electricity to the Gaza Strip, the man that since taking over the position of Israeli Prime Minister from the (still) comatosed Ariel Sharon has proven to the world that Sharon was not alone in his desire to rid the world of the Palestinian nation.

The conduct of the "war on terrorism" is not merely premised upon circular argument, it IS a circular argument, causing resistance which Bush conveniently calls "terrorist". If the US put ten million men in arms at any part of the world now at peace, they will be greeted by armed resistance. Bush will summon the circular argument and call them all "terrorists". But Bushies would not be done! Having justified such an aggression by citing "terrorism", Bush will cite the opposition as evidence in proof of his absurdity. Of all fallacies, this has the potential of being the most pernicious.

Congolese refugees continue to stream into Uganda following fighting in North Kivu between government forces and troops loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

By press time yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) put the number at 18,000.

Thousands of Pakistanis are fleeing a northwestern town and outlying villages because they fear a showdown between the security forces and an Islamist militant Taliban-style movement, residents said.

The Swat valley in the North West Frontier Province has been the scene of fierce fighting between security forces and followers of a radical Muslim cleric on Friday after authorities sent more than 2,000 soldiers to counter growing militancy.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Sunday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had been apprised of the fact that a specific timetable for the management of negotiations following the Middle East peace conference scheduled in Annapolis later his year would not be fixed, Israel Radio reported.

PA's lead negotiator warns of failure to reach viable agreement in Annapolis, says clear timetable must be set for talks. 'We need support from Israel, not with kisses but with the evacuation of settlements,' says Ahmed Qureia.

"If the summit fails � frustration will win out over everything else and it will have a negative affect on the region. I cannot predict exactly what will happen, but it may lead to more wars.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman drew his red lines on Saturday night in an official document presented to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference scheduled to take place in Annapolis by the end of the year.

Lieberman demanded that the permanent agreement with the Palestinians include an exchange of populations and territories, in a way which will guarantee the Jews a majority of 80% in the State of Israel.

He also demanded that the Palestinians halt all terrorist activities and deal with their economic problems before the permanent agreement is discussed.

The post-2001 experience suggests that American military attacks against Iran would probably result in more turmoil in the Middle East and Asia, and greater anti-American sentiments and actions around the world. The American-led wars and aggressive diplomatic stances vis-a-vis Iran, Hamas, Hizbullah and Syria have already generated two specific phenomena: widespread criticism of the US in public opinion around the entire world (see the recent BBC and Pew polls); and, a determination by many Middle Eastern actors to actively resist and defy the US, and militarily fight it (or its Arab and Israeli proxies) when such an opportunity arises in Lebanon and Iraq, rather than to react with the expected acquiescence and compliance.

The six-year-old US-led "global war on terror" has expanded terror networks and their threats, hastened weapons of mass destruction proliferation by assorted regimes, bolstered Arab-Asian dictators, weakened indigenous democracy movements, mangled nascent rule of law traditions, badly isolated and weakened the US diplomatically, and virtually nullified the deterrent power of American-Israeli military might. Attacking Iran will only exacerbate these trends in the short term.

Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on right to food, castigated the Israeli occupation and described it as the only "colonial regime" which refuses to abide by any international law, calling on the UN to adopt an effective policy forcing Israel to respect human rights and the Geneva Convention.

"The Israeli occupation is a colonial regime and an illegal military occupation from the UN's point of view, it continues to annex more Palestinian lands; and thus the Israeli occupation is the worst in the history of colonialism," Ziegler stated in a TV interview.

With more than 100,000 troops and all those F-16s, tanks and helicopter gunships massed on the Turkish-Iraqi border, the new George W Bush greater Middle East war - that is, the Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan - is ready to roll.

To say this is all part of a "structural crisis" between Turkey and the US would be the understatement of the century. Turkey is actually deciding nothing less than its real geopolitical position in a mesmerizing balancing act involving Iran, Israel, the Arab world, Europe, Russia and the US.

Fiercely nationalist Turks demand their armed forces invade Iraq's autonomous Kurdish mini-state to destroy PKK bases. Turkish attacks are already under way.

Washington urged "restraint" on its key ally, Turkey. By contrast, after two Israeli soldiers were captured last year in a routine border clash with Hezbullah guerillas, the White House gave Israel a green light to bomb and invade Lebanon, killing over 1,100 civilians and causing $4-billion damage.

This crisis is a huge mess for all concerned. Turkey supplies 70% of air-delivered supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq, and is a vital NATO ally.

But Turks are enraged and increasingly anti-American.

Gaza is entirely dependent on Israel for trade, and the Israeli shekel is the primary currency. Following the Hamas takeover, Israel and Egypt closed the borders with Gaza, and Israel allowed only basic items, such as food and medicine, into the territory.

On Sunday, Israel began cutting vital fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip after the Israeli government warned it would use the tactic to pressure Hamas after months of Palestinian rocket attacks.

Some countries may have to implement retail price controls on food in the near future because of rising prices for consumers, the UN's food chief said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Jacques Diouf also said that he would not be surprised if the rising food prices sparked riots in parts of the world, adding that food price inflation had become an "even more serious problem" in recent weeks as the rises have started to hit consumers.

Britain's first Muslim Minister has decribed his disappointment after he was detained at a US airport, where his hand luggage was analysed for traces of explosive materials.

He was searched and detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - the same department whose representatives he had been meeting on his visit to the country.

Like most people, economists love a mystery � especially if it involves not a missing person but a missing $2.9 trillion in United States debt.

That's $2.9 with 11 zeros after it.

ome words of explanation: Every quarter the Department of Commerce comes up with the US "International Investment Position." At the end of 2006, for instance, the US had a net negative position � by this measurement of international assets and liabilities � of $2.6 trillion. In other words, the country is by far the world's biggest debtor nation.

Two Tampa Bay veterans hospitals turn away critically ill patients for huge chunks of the year because of an overloaded veterans� health care system.

James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa and Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg are the nation�s busiest and fourth-busiest Veterans Affairs hospitals, respectively.

Since 2000, Bay Pines has diverted patients far more frequently than any other hospital in Pinellas County. Last year, it diverted veterans during 1,150 hours about 48 days, or 13 percent of the time, Pinellas paramedic records show.

Although intelligence estimates vary as to when Iran will achieve the know-how for a bomb, the French government recently received a memo from the International Atomic Energy Agency stating that Iran will be ready to run almost 3000 centrifuges in 18 cascades by the end of this month. That is in defiance of a UN ban on uranium enrichment and would be enough to produce a nuclear weapon within a year.

Today on CNN, ElBaradei sounded alarms about the Bush administration�s increasingly hawkish rhetoric in regards to Iran�s alleged nuclear ambitions. �We have the time� to use diplomacy, ElBaradei urged. There is �no military solution� with Iran.

The dollar sank to a new record low against the euro in Asian trade Monday as market players grew increasingly confident about the prospect of another US interest rate cut this week, analysts said.

GOP Senator: Bush 'dead right' about 'World War III' with Iran

GOP Senator: Bush 'dead right' about 'World War III' with Iran...

When it comes to serving their Israeli masters, at the end of the day, neither man could possibly be more subservient than they are.

But putting Israel's interests first means putting America's interests last, and that is very unhealthy not only for the nation as a whole, but also for the young men and women who are expected to fight, get maimed, and die in the service of "neutralizing" yet another of Israel's enemies in the region. - M. R.

China's lunar probe in good condition

China's lunar probe in good condition...

Lieberman demands population exchange

Lieberman demands population exchange...

Didn't Germany do this in the 1930s??? - M. R.

Top US general praises man who got US into Iraq, WMD fabricator Ahmad Chalabi

Chalabi, fomer dissident who pushed bogus WMD claims, assumes a new post in Iraq's government.

The controversial Iraqi politician and alleged Iranian intelligence asset -- perhaps as responsible as anyone in drumming up false pre-war claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities -- has reemerged as a central figure in the latest US attempts to put his broken country back together.

Apparently,those assets that helped lie this country into a war do get their rewards. - M. R.

The mystery of the missing $2.9 trillion

Like most people, economists love a mystery � especially if it involves not a missing person but a missing $2.9 trillion in United States debt.

That's $2.9 with 11 zeros after it.

The obvious answer is that the books are being cooked.

"The last official act of any government is to loot the nation." -- Michael Rivero - M. R.

NYSE Eliminates Trading Curbs Dating Back to 1987

The New York Stock Exchange said it will no longer impose curbs on computer-program trading that were put in place after the crash of 1987, claiming they're no longer as effective in damping swings in prices.

"And they get in the way of our buddies making a killing in short-sells when we crash the whole system!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.

Fake FEMA news conference director gets promotion

CNN reports that John "Pat" Philbin, the Director of Public Affairs responsible for FEMA's recent faked news conference, is effectively receiving a promotion. PRNewser was notified by an email which said that Philbin's new job was an "amazing opportunity to head the communications shop at ODNI."

Philbin is slated to become Director of Public Affairs for the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell.

Lie to the American people about who you really are and what your agenda is, and get a promotion in this administration!

Was the "faux FEMA news conference" his audition for the new gig? - M. R.

Is Bush Administration Planning Martial Law? Congressman DeFazio Denied Access to Government Documents

The Bush Administration shocked lawmakers and analysts two months ago when it denied a member of the House Homeland Security Committee permission to examine classified plans for maintaining the functioning of the government in the event of a major natural disaster or terrorist attack.

George Carlin Questions "Received Reality" Of 9/11 Story

Asked if he would support a new investigation into 9/11, Carlin was skeptical, stating, "They don't investigate themselves in this country - it would be a whitewash, it would be like the Kennedy thing, it would be like everything."

Folks, we don't NEED the government to admit they were wrong. We KNOW we are right, and we KNOW what they did, and it is a total waste of time trying to get them to admit it.

So, screw the government., If they want to make themselves look ridiculous by persisting in their lies, let them. Laughter and ridicule is all they deserve and all they will get. There is no law says we have to believe them, and I for one do not.

Sooner or later the US Government will go the way of the USSR, brought down by the accumulated weight of their own lies. No shots will be fired, nor will they need to be. The people will simply stop listening to the government they know is lying to them, and on that day the government will cease to be able to function. - M. R.

Bank Foreclosures Lists, Foreclosure, Free Foreclosure Listing, Foreclosed Home List Government Forclosures

Bank Foreclosures Lists, Foreclosure, Free Foreclosure Listing, Foreclosed Home List Government Forclosures...

You know, there is one thing that the US government could do to ease the foreclosure crisis. <