kmwittig

kmwittig

Due to the size and amount of entries in this blog, (1,400) from this point on, I will now continue at http://kmwakak8.blogspot.com

~kmw

Evidence Allegedly Found of Secret CIA Prisons in Europe | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 09.01.2006

Evidence Allegedly Found of Secret CIA Prisons in Europe Europe Deutsche Welle 09.01.2006

Unfortunately this is not a surprise. US cut a deal with Romania. Very sad for the people there to become involved in this mess.

Swiss intelligence services are allegedly in possession of proof that the US has detained terror suspects in secret prisons in various European countries. The CIA is irritated.
A fax sent by the Egyptian foreign ministry to its embassy in London stated that more than 20 Iraqis and Afghans had been questioned at a US-run base in Romania, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday.

SonntagsBlick said the Swiss secret services obtained a copy of the fax which revealed that the Egyptian embassy in London "learned from its own sources that 23 Iraqi and Afghan citizens had been questioned at the Mikhail Kogalniceanu base in the town of Constanza on the Black Sea coast."

The newspaper quoted a report written by the Swiss fefense ministry which said Egypt believed there were "similar centers in Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria."

The Swiss ministry reacted to the report with a statement saying it would open an investigation into how the information was leaked. However, because the report is meant to be secret, the ministry refused to comment on its contents.

A senior officer at the Mikhail Kogalniceanu base categorically denied the report on Sunday.

"I have been working at this base since 1995 and I have never been aware of such an operation," officer Dan Buciuman said.

He added that the base was open to "anyone who wants to carry out an investigation."

Amid protests from European governments that their airports are being used by the Central Intelligence Agency to transport suspects, the United States has not denied the existence of alleged prisons in eastern and central Europe and elsewhere, but has refuted allegations that it uses torture to obtain information.

Just in time

US television network ABC reported in December that the US had held 11 senior members of the al Qaeda network in Poland but that they were evacuated to North Africa shortly before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice toured Europe that month.

This renders the US Government nothing but slimey creatures of lies and deceipt, but we already knew that.

Iran Has Broken Nuclear Commitments, Says Steinmeier | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 09.01.2006

Iran Has Broken Nuclear Commitments, Says Steinmeier Europe Deutsche Welle 09.01.2006

Iran's decision to resume nuclear research marks a breach of its international commitments and "cannot remain without consequence," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday.

Steinmeier said Berlin would this week discuss Iran's latest step with France and Britain, the other two countries that form the European troika negotiating with Tehran on its controversial nuclear program.

"This marks a breach of Tehran's commitments ... It cannot remain without consequence," for the troika, Steinmeier said on the sidelines of a meeting of the German cabinet in Genshagen, outside Berlin. "We have had two very, very grave signals from the Iranian government over the past weekend," he added.

If the US invades Iran, will these countries suport this mission? US has made many conflicts with these countries.

International War Crimes Tribunal

International War Crimes Tribunal

Incinerated body of an Iraqi soldier on the "Highway of Death," a name the press has given to the road from Mutlaa, Kuwait, to Basra, Iraq. U.S. planes immobilized the convoy by disabling vehicles at its front and rear, then bombing and straffing the resulting traffic jam for hours. More than 2,000 vehicles and tens of thousands of charred and dismembered bodies littered the sixty miles of highway. The clear rapid incineration of the human being [pictured above] suggests the use of napalm, phosphorus, or other incindiary bombs. These are anti-personnel weapons outlawed under the 1977 Geneva Protocols. This massive attack occurred after Saddam Hussein announced a complete troop withdrawl from Kuwait in compliance with UN Resolution 660. Such a massacre of withdrawing Iraqi soldiers violates the Geneva Convention of 1949, common article 3, which outlaws the killing of soldiers who "are out of combat." There are, in addition, strong indications that many of those killed were Palestinian and Kuwaiti civilians trying to escape the impending seige of Kuwait City and the return of Kuwaiti armed forces. No attempt was made by U.S. military command to distinguish between military personnel and civilians on the "highway of death." The whole intent of international law with regard to war is to prevent just this sort of indescriminate and excessive use of force.(Photo Credit: © 1991 Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images) (viewer discretion advised)

Oplan Bojinka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oplan Bojinka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oplan Bojinka (also known as Operation Bojinka, Project Bojinka, Bojinka Plot, Bojinga, possibly from Arabic: بجنكة – slang in many dialects for explosion and pronounced Bo-JIN-ka, except in Egyptian where it is Bo-GIN-ka) was a planned large-scale attack on airliners in 1995, and was a precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Several media outlets, including TIME Asia [1], claim that the word Bojinka means "loud bang" or "explosion" in Serbo-Croatian. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed fought with Muslim fighters in Bosnia and supported this effort financially [2]. Endnote 7 of Chapter 5 of the 9/11 Commission Report states that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed claims that "bojinka" is "a nonsense word he adopted after hearing it on the front lines in Afghanistan." In English, the acronym "BOHICA" for 'Bend Over Here It Comes Again' is common military slang which refers to an incoming enemy attack, often bombs and is also used in online chat, e-mail, or newsgroup postings.

Not all media or text that refer to Oplan Bojinka will call it by that name.
The term can refer to the "airline bombing plot" alone, or that combined with the "Pope assassination plot" and the "CIA plane crash plot". The first refers to a plot to destroy 11 airliners on January 21 and 22, 1995, the second refers to a plan to kill Pope John Paul II on January 15, 1995, and the third refers a plan to crash a plane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia and other buildings. Operation Bojinka was prevented on January 6 and 7, 1995, but some lessons learned were apparently used by the planners of the September 11 attacks. This article will cover all three plans.

The money handed down to the plotters originated from Al-Qaida, an international Islamic militant organization which was then based in Sudan. Philippine authorities say that Operation Bojinka was developed by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed while they were in Manila, Philippines in 1994 and early 1995.

The money that funded Operation Bojinka came from Osama bin Laden and Hambali, and from front organizations operated by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law.

Wali Khan Amin Shah, an Afghan, was the financier of the plot. He funded the plot by laundering money through his girlfriend and other Manila women, several of whom were bar hostesses and one of whom was an employee at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

They were bribed with gifts and holiday trips so that they could open bank accounts to stash funds.
The transfers were small, equivalent to about 12,000 to 24,000 Philippine pesos (500 to 1000 U.S. dollars), and would be handed over each night at a Wendy's or a karaoke bar.

The funds went to "Adam Sali", an alias used by Ramzi Yousef. The money came through a Filipino bank account owned by Syrian Omar Abu Omar, who worked at International Relations and Information Centre, an Islamic organization run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. [1]

A company called Konsojaya also provided financial assistance to the Manila cell by laundering money to it. Konsojaya was a front company that was started by the head of the group Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian named Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali. Wali Khan Amin Shah was one of the board of directors of the company.

Contents
1 Financing
2 Planning of Oplan Bojinka
3 Phase I
3.1 Pope assassination plot
3.2 Airline bombing plot
3.2.1 The bomb
3.2.2 Airports planned to be affected
3.2.3 Flights planned to be affected
4 Phase II, CIA plane crash plot
5 Discovery and Termination of Oplan Bojinka
6 The evidence in Room 603
6.1 Yousef's Computer
7 Murad's Confession
8 Manhunt
9 The end result
10 Opinions on Oplan Bojinka in relation to September 11
11 Bibliography
12 Other external links

World Can't Wait | Drive Out the Bush Regime

World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime

WAR CRIMES INDICTMENTS TO BE DELIVERED TO BUSH ET AL AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Its about time!

Citizen's Tribunal Indicts President On War Crimes And Crimes Against Humanity
When: 1:30 p.m. January 10, 2006
Where: The White House, Washington, D.C. www.bushcommission.org

Contact: Larry Everest or Janet Yip: 212-941-8086 or e-mail
commission@nion.us
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it.

Indicments will be delivered at the front gate of the White House and a press conference will follow in Lafayette Park following delivery of the indictments to the White House.

Present to answer questions will be retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, authors William Blum and Larry Everest and Travis Morales, World Can't Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime.
The indictments will also be delivered to the Department of Justice.

Named in the indictment are:
President of the United States George W. Bush
Vice President Richard Cheney
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez
U.S. Army Major General Geoffrey Miller
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others

These indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented in New York City on October 21 and 22, 2005, at the opening session of the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, alleging illegal acts carried out or approved by the above named individuals in relation to, or in the conduct of, the following:

1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan;
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to systematic policies, contributing to the effects of global warming;
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS epidemic; and
5) Bush administration's lethal response to Hurricane Katrina.

What about constitutional violations??? http://kmwakak8.blogspot.com

[See http://www.bushcommission.org/ for audio of session 1, read the chapters andfull indictments.]The concluding sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry will be at the Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York on January 20-22.

The commission was organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by:
Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.Org and many other prominent individuals and organizations, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
The above-named defendants are invited to appear or to send representatives to speak in their defense before a panel of distinguished jurors.
This is the first opportunity in the United States for a complete public hearing of the charges and the evidence and testimony supporting them.

Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org/
First Session (Oct '05) video and audio now available at: http://www.bushcommission.org/

Bush Regime in Trouble

Bush Regime in Trouble

Bush Regime: Under Siege and Lashing Back
Revolution #021, November 6, 2005, posted at revcom.us
The Bush Regime is in trouble. Big trouble.

And that makes this moment both extremely promising and extremely dangerous. We stand at a crossroads where the impact of what we do--or don’t do--is greatly magnified.
We are more powerful than he is

WILD AMBITIONS
We have to recognize that Bush came to power with a sweeping plan to transform American society--both its place in the world and its "social contract."

The people who brought Bush to power--and remember, they shamelessly and coercively stole an election to get him in--wanted a much more untrammeled domination of the planet by the U.S.

To help effect that and to keep the "home base" itself stable, they needed and wanted a fascist order at home, one propped up ideologically and socially by an extreme, know-nothing brand of Christianity.

The end of the Cold War, the tremendous changes brought by globalization, the differences in people’s thinking off of both the struggles of the ’60s and the socioeconomic transformations of the ’90s--all these, and many other things besides, had introduced a lot of uncertainty and instability, and the imperialists saw the need for an iron fist to bludgeon their way through.

This has led to a very radical restructuring in how U.S. imperialism enforces its domination, overseas and domestically. For example: this is not the first time that U.S. intelligence and military personnel have tortured prisoners. But it IS the first time that the president has openly proclaimed that he has the legal right to order such torture!

(It is also significant that those within the army who could not stomach the systematic and wide-ranging scope of the "new torture" regimen were forced out.) Nor is this the first time that religion has played a prominent role in U.S. public life.

But it IS the first time when Supreme Court nominees must be vetted and approved by religious fanatics and when the president’s "model justice" (Scalia) says that the legitimacy of the government is based on "God’s will," rather than the consent of the governed (even though the "consent of the governed" is itself a myth, the fact that a Supreme Court justice would not even claim it as the source of legitimacy is significant. . . and ominous).
And these are just a few examples of many.

Bush does all this not mainly out of perversity and ignorance, but because he represents a section of imperialists--the dominant section--that believes that these "new norms" must be enforced to maintain U.S. dominance abroad and hold U.S. society together while doing so. He and others are convinced that this and this alone can represent the interests of the system in a time of major and unpredictable changes.

He is not the whole of the system, nor is he all of what’s wrong; but he is its main representative and the changes he represents will be very bad for the people and their ability to struggle for a better future.

World Can't Wait | Drive Out the Bush Regime

World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Cheney leaves hospital after breathing scare

Top News Article Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to hospital complaining of shortness of breath on Monday but was released about four hours later, his office said.
"The vice president has departed the hospital. He is home," said Jenny Mayfield, a spokeswoman for his office.

The vice president, who has had four heart attacks, was taken to George Washington University Hospital around 3 a.m. (0800 GMT), according to a statement issued by his office.

Lets keep him really, really stressed, but I imagine keeping all the lies, deceipt and complicity going is stressful indeed.
Not enough.

World by the Tail, Inc. Creators of ClayPaws�, the original paw print kit�

World by the Tail, Inc. Creators of ClayPaws�, the original paw print kit�

While off the subject of my usual ranting and raving, I had to add this site. We had to euthanize our last living member of our immediate family today, Ted a 20 year old tabby cat, but who fought to the end even when it was determined he had tumors ravaging his wasting away little body. Heartbreaking it was, but the gesture to make a paw print for us to save was very sweet, and I am sure we will cherish it, as much as we cherished the feisty cat who once walked on those old paws.
This was one amazing cat, and even after the euthanasia, he hung on, and passed while the vet was making an imprint of his back paw, leaving a very annoyed look on teddy's face as he passed away.
Its a very nice gesture for vets to offer thier clients, at a very difficult time.

Was the Media's Credibility Buried?

Was the Media's Credibility Buried?

The media is always chomping at the bit for a story, but here in the states, we actually, beleve it or not have some limited media tactics, but in my mind you get the facts right before you publish.

I have recently come to terms with the fact that certain government agencies see to it that information is not available, simply missing, or people are told NOT to talk.

We are NOT the land of the Free any more to-to.

9/11: The Big Lie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11: The Big Lie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the Attempt against the Pentagon
In 9/11. The Big Lie, the author, based on several inconsistencies, limits himself to affirm that the official version of the high-jacked plane that crashed against the building is absurd.

Offering no explanation on what happened, he limits himself to say that if US authorities lied about such a serious issue, they could have also lied about many other aspects linked to the September 11 events.

However, the author deals with the issue later in another work: Le Pentagate, in which he affirms that the attack was carried out with the use of a missile.

For the author, it looks impossible that:
a) Air defense systems had not had enough time to act
b) The Pentangon Automatic air defense systems had not been activated
c) The course of the plane suggests its travelling along 500 km close to the earth surface.
d) No parts of the plane, not even its reactors, were found outside the building.
e) Fire-fighters had not found any parts or pieces belonging to a Boeing.
f) The hole opened by the plane when it crashed against the Pentagon is too small for the size of the fuselage of a Boeing.

This thesis would be complete with an explanation on the disappearance of the plane which, according to the official version, crashed against the Pentagon. Besides, the official version has been rejected by the FAA, for which the plane disappeared over a natural reserve 500 kilometers from Washington, without showing again on the radar screens.

According to Thierry Meyssan, it is always strange that US authorities have not released a video since the Pentagon is surrounded by surveillance cameras. Two months after the attacks took place the FBI, under the pressure of the US press, gave the CNN a low-quality video (taken from a side perspective) in which no plane can be seen, only a fast lighting and then an explosion in the building.

According to the officers, the plane fully disintegrated, a fact that allows Meyssan to use irony about some science fiction “dematerialization”.

Neither a black box nor other plane part would have been recovered. On the contrary, different office components such as seats, books and desks appeared intact on the upper floor of the Pentagon, right above the site where the plane crash took place. Similar observation reveal that the Pentagon lawn remained undamaged after the explosion occurred.

States Intervene After Drug Plan Hits Early Snags - New York Times

States Intervene After Drug Plan Hits Early Snags - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - Low-income Medicare beneficiaries around the country were often overcharged, and some were turned away from pharmacies without getting their medications, in the first week of Medicare's new drug benefit. The problems have prompted emergency action by some states to protect their citizens.

"There is a public health emergency due to the federal implementation of Medicare Part D, which has resulted in serious operational problems, causing senior citizens to be turned away at the pharmacy without the drugs they need."

Where the word federal is used, there is guaranteed a 'F' up.

WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.

WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.

WASHINGTON – As London recovers from the latest deadly al-Qaida attack that killed at least 50, top U.S. government officials are contemplating what they consider to be an inevitable and much bigger assault on America – one likely to kill millions, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

According to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, the plan is called the "American Hiroshima" and involves the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already smuggled into the U.S. over the Mexican border with the help of the MS-13 street gang and other organized crime groups.

Plausible indeed. American Hiroshima. We won't have many allies left soon at the rate Bush and Cheney are doing thing. Hence, the original intro to this blog at the top of the page.

Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran

Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran

Michel Chossudovsky, I would believe.

At the outset of Bush's second term, Vice President Dick Cheney dropped a bombshell. He hinted, in no uncertain terms, that Iran was "right at the top of the list" of the rogue enemies of America, and that Israel would, so to speak, "be doing the bombing for us", without US military involvement and without us putting pressure on them "to do it":

"One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked... Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards," (quoted from an MSNBC Interview Jan 2005)
Israel is a Rottweiler on a leash: The US wants to "set Israel loose" to attack Iran.

Commenting the Vice President's assertion, former National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in an interview on PBS, confirmed with some apprehension, yes: Cheney wants Prime Ariel Sharon to act on America's behalf and "do it" for us:

"Iran I think is more ambiguous. And there the issue is certainly not tyranny; it's nuclear weapons. And the vice president today in a kind of a strange parallel statement to this declaration of freedom hinted that the Israelis may do it and in fact used language which sounds like a justification or even an encouragement for the Israelis to do it."

The foregoing statements are misleading. The US is not "encouraging Israel". What we are dealing with is a joint US-Israeli military operation to bomb Iran, which has been in the active planning stage for more than a year. The Neocons in the Defense Department, under Douglas Feith, have been working assiduously with their Israeli military and intelligence counterparts, carefully identifying targets inside Iran ( Seymour Hersh, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/HER501A.html )

Under this working arrangement, Israel will not act unilaterally, without a green light from Washington. In other words, Israel will not implement an attack without the participation of the US. Covert Intelligence Operations: Stirring Ethnic Tensions in Iran

Meanwhile, for the last two years, Washington has been involved in covert intelligence operations inside Iran. American and British intelligence and special forces (working with their Israeli counterparts) are involved in this operation.

"A British intelligence official said that any campaign against Iran would not be a ground war like the one in Iraq. The Americans will use different tactics, said the intelligence officer. 'It is getting quite scary.'" (Evening Standard, 17 June 2003, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/FOX306A.html )

The expectation is that a US-Israeli bombing raid of Iran's nuclear facilities will stir up ethnic tensions and trigger "regime change" in favor of the US. (See Arab Monitor, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ARA502A.html ).

Bush advisers believe that the "Iranian opposition movement" will unseat the Mullahs. This assessment constitutes a gross misjudgment of social forces inside Iran. What is more likely to occur is that Iranians will consistently rally behind a wartime government against foreign aggression. In fact, the entire Middle East and beyond would rise up against US interventionism.

Retaliation in the Case of a US-Israeli Aerial Attack
Tehran has confirmed that it will retaliate if attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes directed against Israel (CNN, 8 Feb 2005). These attacks, could also target US military facilities in the Persian Gulf, which would immediately lead us into a scenario of military escalation and all out war.
In other words, the air strikes against Iran could contribute to unleashing a war in the broader Middle East Central Asian region.

Moreover, the planned attack on Iran should also be understood in relation to the timely withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, which has opened up a new space, for the deployment of Israeli forces. The participation of Turkey in the US-Israeli military operation is also a factor, following an agreement reached between Ankara and Tel Aviv.
In other words, US and Israeli military planners must carefully weigh the far-reaching implications of their actions.
Israel Builds up its Stockpile of Deadly Military Hardware
A massive buildup in military hardware has occurred in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.

Israel has recently taken delivery from the US of some 5,000 "smart air launched weapons" including some 500 BLU 109 'bunker-buster bombs.

The (uranium coated) munitions are said to be more than "adequate to address the full range of Iranian targets, with the possible exception of the buried facility at Natanz, which may require the [more powerful] BLU-113 bunker buster ":

"Given Israel's already substantial holdings of such weapons, this increase in its inventory would allow a sustained assault with or without further US involvement." (See Richard Bennett, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/BEN501A.html )

I feel suicide bombers may be looming in this country, US citizens hell bent of stopping this madness.

CNN.com - Journalist: U.S. planning for possible�attack on Iran - Jan 17, 2005

CNN.com - Journalist: U.S. planning for possible�attack on Iran - Jan 17, 2005

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has been carrying out secret reconnaissance missions to learn about nuclear, chemical and missile sites in Iran in preparation for possible airstrikes there, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.

White House says report is 'riddled with inaccuracies'

THE WHITE HOUSE LIES.

European media report US plans to strike Iran

European media report US plans to strike Iran

German and Turkish media have reported that the US government is planning air strikes against Iran. The reports suggest that the attacks could take place in early 2006.

On December 30, the German magazine Der Spiegel discussed recent articles on the subject in the German press, including a report by Udo Ulfkotte of the news agency DDP.

Citing unnamed “Western security sources,” Ulfkotte wrote that a possible air strike was discussed during a recent meeting between CIA Director Porter Goss and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdrogan.

“More specifically,” Der Spiegel wrote, “Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission. DDP also reported that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Pakistan have been informed in recent weeks of Washington’s military plans.”

Bad freaking move! I have to cross check info on this one....GRRRRR a**holes, I hate american government

Cheney Cites Justifications For Domestic Eavesdropping

Cheney Cites Justifications For Domestic Eavesdropping

Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.

As part of an effort to sell Americans on the administration's recently disclosed program to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant, Cheney told a small group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that instead of being able to "pick up" on the terrorist plot "we didn't know they were here plotting until it was too late

BU*SH*IT. Those planes that took down the twin towers could have been averted a minimum of 30 minutes before they struck. It appears more and more that it was staged.

Surveillance Court Is Seeking Answers

Surveillance Court Is Seeking Answers
Judges Were Unaware of Eavesdropping

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements.

Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Of serious concern to several judges is whether any information gleaned from intercepts by the National Security Agency was later used to gain their permission for wiretaps without the source being disclosed.

Bush has a lot to hide. We're not going to let him.

Rebel Attacks in Iraq Kill 50, 30 at a Funeral - New York Times

Rebel Attacks in Iraq Kill 50, 30 at a Funeral - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 4 - Insurgents unleashed car bombs and suicide attacks throughout central Iraq on Wednesday, killing more than 50 people in the deadliest day since the national parliamentary elections three weeks ago.

In the most lethal attack, terrorists hit a frequent target - a funeral packed with Shiite mourners - killing more than 30 people and wounding 36 during a two-stage bombing of a mourning procession in Miqdadiya, 60 miles northeast of the capital.

The first attacker, according to one witness, wore a slim bomb strapped to his torso and set it off it after wading into a group of grieving relatives who had surrounded the coffin. Then a car bomber drove into the frantic crowd and exploded, killing more mourners, said the witness, Ali Abbas, a 25-year-old student who attended the funeral.

It is never ending.

Sharon Suffers 'Extensive' Stroke and Is 'Very Grave' - New York Times

Sharon Suffers 'Extensive' Stroke and Is 'Very Grave' - New York Times

JERUSALEM, Thursday, Jan. 5 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a serious stroke on Wednesday night and was undergoing emergency brain surgery in an effort to save his life, a hospital official said.

Mr. Sharon's power as prime minister was transferred to Deputy Premier Ehud Olmert. Israeli politics, dominated in recent years by Mr. Sharon, were thrown into turmoil, especially with growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip.

World Fears Turmoil if Israel Loses Sharon | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 05.01.2006

World Fears Turmoil if Israel Loses Sharon Europe Deutsche Welle 05.01.2006

It will be a dark day, decade or even lifetime for Isreal if Prime Minister Sharon passes. Peace to him and his family.

European and world leaders sent wishes of recovery to critically ill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Thursday, while Arab and Israeli media raised the prospect of a profoundly changed Middle East if he dies.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday sent her best wishes to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who is seriously ill in hospital after suffering an extensive brain hemorrhage.

Bush to Give Up $6,000 In Abramoff Contributions

Bush to Give Up $6,000 In Abramoff Contributions

Republican Party officials said yesterday that President Bush will give up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, joining an expansive list of politicians who have shed more than half a million dollars in tainted campaign cash.

Abramoff raised more than $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, making him an honorary Bush "Pioneer." But the campaign is giving up only $6,000, which came directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes the lobbyist represented. The money will be donated to the American Heart Association.

hum, di dum, di DUMB

The War Crimes Act of 1996: Bush, Rumsfeld could be indicted under US law

The War Crimes Act of 1996: Bush, Rumsfeld could be indicted under US law

How many times have I said this? Repeatedly, I asked them to be brought to justice for war crimes.

The War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2441, makes it a federal crime for any U.S. national, whether military or civilian, to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment.

The statute applies not only to those who carry out the acts, but also to those who ORDER IT, know about it, or fail to take steps to stop it. The statute applies to everyone, no matter how high and mighty.18 U.S.C. § 2441 has no statute of limitations, which means that a war crimes complaint can be filed at any time.The penalty may be life imprisonment or -- if a single prisoner dies due to torture -- death.

Given that there are numerous, documented cases of prisoners being tortured to death by U.S. soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that means that the death penalty would be appropriate for anyone found guilty of carrying out, ordering, or sanctioning such conduct.Here's where it gets interesting. The general in charge of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in

Iraq stated this week that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top administration officials ORDERED that inhuman treatment and torture be conducted as part of a deliberate strategy.

It has also recently come out that, even after the torture at Abu Ghraib hit the news, torture still continues at that prison and, indeed, the U.S. is still torturing people worldwide. Even to the casual observer, it is obvious that the administration has no plans to stop, but has instead been working tirelessly to make it easier to carry out torture in the future.

Let's recap. We now know that torture in Iraq was ordered by top officials, and that torture is continuing, notwithstanding the administration's claims that it was only "a couple of bad apples" that were responsible for Abu Ghraib.

Making a potential prosecutor's job easier, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote a memo in January 2002 to President Bush saying that America should opt out of the Geneva Convention because top officials have to worry about prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. § 2441.

By attempting to sidestep the Geneva Convention, Gonzales created a document trail that can be used to prove that top administration officials knowingly created a policy of torturing prisoners, and that such a policy could reasonably have been expected to result in the death of some prisoners.

The U.S. did opt out of the Geneva Convention for the Afghanistan war, but we never opted out of the Geneva Convention for Iraq. Indeed, President Bush has repeatedly stated that Geneva applies in Iraq (although he has since claimed that foreign fighters captured in Iraq are not covered).

Thus, there would be very little room for fancy footwork by defense lawyers in a prosecution against top officials concerning torture in Iraq.

The Abu Ghraib general's recent statements about torture coming from the top is an important piece of evidence for convicting Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and a host of other top administration officials for violation of the War Crimes Act of 1996.

Upon conviction, they could be sentenced to life in prison, or even death.Additionally, violation of the war crimes act almost certainly constitutes a "high crime or misdemeanor" which would allow impeachment of such officials.

posted by George Washington

Read on.

CRG Books and Videos

CRG Books and Videos

"Millions of people have been misled regarding the causes and consequences of September 11.

When people across the US and around the World find out that Al Qaeda is not an outside enemy but a creation of US foreign policy and the CIA, the legitimacy of the bipartisan war agenda will tumble like a deck of cards."

Across the land, the image of an "outside enemy" is instilled in the consciousness of Americans. Al Qaeda is threatening America and the world. The repeal of democracy under the Patriot legislation is portrayed as a means to providing "domestic security" and upholding civil liberties.

The 9/11 Commission Report destroys the historical record of US covert support to international terrorism, while creating the illusion that America and "Western Civilization" are threatened. In turn, the various terrorist warnings and code orange alerts have created, across America, an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

CRG -- Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration? The Role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence Agency (ISI) in the September 11 attacks

CRG -- Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration? The Role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence Agency (ISI) in the September 11 attacks

Pakistan's chief spy Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad "was in the US when the attacks occurred." He arrived in the US on the 4th of September, a full week before the attacks. He had meetings at the State Department "after" the attacks on the WTC. But he also had "a regular visit of consultations" with his US counterparts at the CIA and the Pentagon during the week prior to September 11.

What was the nature of these routine "pre-September 11 consultations"? Were they in any way related to the subsequent "post-September 11 consultations" pertaining to Pakistan's decision to cooperate with Washington. Was the planning of war being discussed between Pakistani and US officials?

On the 9th of September while General Ahmad was in the US, the leader of the Northern Alliance Commander Ahmad Shah Masood was assassinated. The Northern Alliance had informed the Bush Administration that the ISI was allegedly implicated in the assassination.

The Bush Administration consciously took the decision in "the post September 11 consultations" with Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad to directly "cooperate" with Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI) despite its links to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban and its alleged role in the assassination of Commander Masood, which coincidentally occurred two days before the terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, senior Pentagon and State Department officials had been rushed to Islamabad to put the finishing touches on America's war plans. And on the Sunday prior to the onslaught of the bombing of major cities in Afghanistan (October 7th), Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad was sacked from his position as head of the ISI in what was described as a routine "reshuffling."

In the days following General Ahmad's dismissal, a report published in the Times of India, revealed the links between Pakistan's Chief spy Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad and the presumed "ring leader" of the WTC attacks Mohamed Atta.

The Times of India article was based on an official intelligence report of the Delhi government that had been transmitted through official channels to Washington. Quoting an Indian government source Agence France Press (AFP) confirms in this regard that: "The evidence we [the Government of India] have supplied to the US is of a much wider range and depth than just one piece of paper linking a rogue general to some misplaced act of terrorism."

The revelation of the Times of India article has several implications. The Indian intelligence report not only points to the links between ISI Chief General Ahmad and terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta, it also indicates that other ISI officials might have had contacts with the terrorists.

Moreover, it suggests that the September 11 attacks were not an act of "individual terrorism" organised by a separate Al Qaeda cell, but rather they were part of coordinated military-intelligence operation, emanating from Pakistan's ISI.

The Times of India report also sheds light on the nature of General Ahmad's "business activities" in the US during the week prior to September 11, raising the distinct possibility of ISI contacts with Mohamed Atta in the US "prior" to the attacks on the WTC, precisely at the time when General Mahmoud and his delegation were on a so-called "regular visit of consultations" with US officials.

In assessing the alleged links between the terrorists and the ISI, it should be understood that Lt. General Ahmad as head of the ISI was a "US approved appointee". As head of the ISI since 1999, he was in liaison with his US counterparts in the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Pentagon. Also bear in mind that Pakistan's ISI remained throughout the entire post Cold War era until the present, the launch-pad for CIA covert operations in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Balkans

The existence of an "ISI-Osama-Taliban axis" was a matter of public record. The links between the ISI and agencies of the US government including the CIA are also a matter of public record. The Bush Administration was fully cognizant of Lt. General Ahmad's role. In other words, rather than waging a campaign against international terrorism, the evidence would suggest that it is indirectly abetting international terrorism, using the Pakistani ISI as a "go-between".

The Bush Administration's links with Pakistan's ISI --including its "consultations" with General Ahmad in the week prior to September 11-- raise the issue of "complicity". While Ahmad was talking to US officials at the CIA and the Pentagon, ISI officials were allegedly also in contact with the September 11 terrorists.

In other words, according to the Indian government intelligence report, the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks had links to Pakistan's ISI, which in turn has links to agencies of the US government. What this suggests is that key individuals within the US military-intelligence establishment might have known about the ISI contacts with the September 11 terrorist "ring-leader" Mohamed Atta and failed to act.

Whether this amounts to the complicity of the Bush Administration remains to be firmly established. The least one can expect at this stage is an inquiry. What is crystal clear, however, is that this war is not a "campaign against international terrorism".

It is a war of conquest with devastating consequences for the future of humanity. And the American people have been consciously and deliberately misled by their government. Whether this amounts to the complicity of the Bush Administration remains to be firmly established.

And the American people have been consciously and deliberately misled by their government.

Ultimately the truth must prevail. The falsehoods behind America's war against the people of Afghanistan must be unveiled.

Empire Notes

Empire Notes

Now were talking truth. I discovered this gentleman in the introduction of a book I just started reading;

The New Pearl Harbor
The New Pearl Harbor. Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11
David Ray Griffin Foreword by Richard Falk

A new Blog may be forthcoming ;) At the very least

Mine tragedy ends in confusion

Top News Article Reuters.com

The way the news of the deaths of the dozen miners was conveyed angered many family members who stood vigil at a nearby church gripped by apprehension, jubilation, then despair as the reports reaching them from the mine shifted overnight.

"I feel that we were lied to all along," said Anne Meredith, whose father died, adding that she planned to sue the mine owner, International Coal Group Inc..
Company officials delayed a scheduled news briefing during the day on Wednesday before detailing the chain of events.

Very unfair to the families.

Just one survivor at W. Virginia mine

Top News Article Reuters.com

Very sad, but there were conflicting news reports on this all day

TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (Reuters) - Only one man survived after an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine, a mine official said on Wednesday, transforming joy into grief and anger just hours after a mistaken report emerged that 12 of 13 missing miners were still alive 40 hours after the blast.

Ben Hatfield, president of mine owner International Coal Group Inc., blamed the earlier report on "miscommunication" and said that the company had then waited until it could determine which of the miners were dead or alive to tell the families their fate.

Anne Meredith, whose father died in the incident, said, "I feel that we were lied to all along," adding that she planned to sue ICG.

Virginia Dean, whose uncle was in the Sago mine in central West Virginia, reacted by saying: "Only one lived. They lied."

Very tragic in a very dangerous industry.
Perhaps it was a lack of communication, or lying is just becoming an american standard, based on our leaders and their trail of lie, after lie after lie. Its maybe patriotic to be dishonest, who knows these days.
america is NOT what it used to be and people have to stop believing its the greatest country because its NOT.

U.S. Strike on Home Kills 9 in Family, Iraqi Officials Say - New York Times

U.S. Strike on Home Kills 9 in Family, Iraqi Officials Say - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 3 - American F-14 warplanes killed nine members of an Iraqi family, including women and young children, during a bombing and cannon strike on Monday night that obliterated a home near the northern industrial city of Baiji, Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

Enough of this BU*SH*IT.
Its like a recreation of Pearl Harbor (9-11) Leading into another Vietnam.
History is repeating itself in the most repulsive ways, and in the end, we'll pay the price, and because of our leaders, we earned it.

U.S. to Seek Dismissal of Guant�namo Suits - New York Times

U.S. to Seek Dismissal of Guant�namo Suits - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The Bush administration notified federal trial judges in Washington that it would soon ask them to dismiss all lawsuits brought by prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, challenging their detentions, Justice Department officials said Tuesday.

The action means that the administration is moving swiftly to take advantage of an amendment to the military bill that President Bush signed into law last Friday. The amendment strips federal courts from hearing habeas corpus petitions from Guantánamo detainees.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department sent notices to all the federal judges in Washington who have cases involving challenges brought by Guantánamo inmates, informing them of the new amendment. The officials said the department would file formal notices within several days asking the judges to dismiss more than 160 cases involving at least 300 detainees.

If the administration wins its argument it would mean an abrupt end to a wide effort by dozens of lawyers to use the right of habeas corpus in federal courts to challenge the imprisonment of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo as enemy combatants.

This is really making me sick. This is so wrong, so unethical and very inhumane. WTF is wrong with this man?

Iran to Resume Its Nuclear Work; U.S. Warns of Seeking Restraints - New York Times

Iran to Resume Its Nuclear Work; U.S. Warns of Seeking Restraints - New York Times

PARIS, Jan. 3 - Iran announced Tuesday that it planned to restart nuclear research, a move that jeopardized an agreement with the Europeans, complicated a Russian initiative and prompted an American threat.

I believe the little menace is going to be our demise, here our leaders go again, causing MORE trouble. There they go threatening Iran and stepping on Russia's toes, while we have serious issues here at home.
Who are we to threaten anyone? We are not as mighty and powerful as the meglagomaniacs in DC think we are.

Files Say Agency Initiated Growth of Spying Effort - New York Times

Files Say Agency Initiated Growth of Spying Effort - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The National Security Agency acted on its own authority, without a formal directive from President Bush, to expand its domestic surveillance operations in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to declassified documents released Tuesday.

The N.S.A. operation prompted questions from a leading Democrat, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who said in an Oct. 11, 2001, letter to a top intelligence official that she was concerned about the agency's legal authority to expand its domestic operations, the documents showed.

BU*SH*IT- can you hear me now?

Tremors Across Washington as Lobbyist Turns Star Witness - New York Times

Tremors Across Washington as Lobbyist Turns Star Witness - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - As a high-flying Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff has long been known as a mover and shaker in Washington. But when he cut a deal with federal prosecutors on Tuesday, he shook up this town as never before.

Even before Mr. Abramoff left the federal courthouse on Tuesday in a trench coat and fedora, nervous lawmakers of both parties, and even the White House, began trying to distance themselves from him.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois announced that he would donate to charity $69,000 in campaign contributions directed to him by Mr. Abramoff.

I told you this was gonna get good ;)

Abramoff Expected to Plead Guilty to 3 Felony Charges

Abramoff Expected to Plead Guilty to 3 Felony Charges

Former high-powered lobbyist Jack Abramoff is expected to plead guilty today to three felony charges in a deal with federal prosecutors that would clear the way for his testimony about members of Congress and congressional staffers in a wide-ranging political corruption investigation.

The plea bargain would settle one of two fraud and corruption cases against Abramoff, involving charges stemming from his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. The other case, arising from an indictment in Miami in connection with the purchase of a fleet of casino cruise ships, is expected to be settled by another plea agreement.

The purpose of the conspiracy by Abramoff and co-defendants was "to enrich themselves by obtaining substantial funds from their clients through fraud and concealment," according to a criminal information document outlining the plea agreement.

This is going to be fun!

Rink Collapse in Germany Kills at Least 10 - New York Times

Rink Collapse in Germany Kills at Least 10 - New York Times

BERLIN, Tuesday, Jan. 3 - The roof of an ice-skating rink collapsed on Monday afternoon after a heavy snowfall in Bad Reichenhall, a resort in southern Germany

Very sad.

New Rules Set for Giving Out Antiterror Aid - New York Times

New Rules Set for Giving Out Antiterror Aid - New York Times

Facing (MORE) cuts in antiterrorism financing, the Department of Homeland Security plans to announce today that it will evaluate new requests for money from an $800 million aid program for cities based less on politics and more on assessments of where terrorists are likely to strike and potentially cause the greatest damage, department officials say.

The changes to the program, the Urban Area Security Initiative, are being driven in part by a reduction in the overall pool of money for antiterrorism efforts. For 2006, Congress has appropriated $120 million less in these urban grants than for 2005.

Domestic security grants in general, including the urban area ones, have been criticized because they have sent more antiterrorism money per capita to sparsely populated states like Wyoming and Alaska than to states like New York and California.

How lovely you make this information public, the enemy is here, and making some of the dumbest calls I've ever seen.

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act

So basically what I find is very limited freedom of information.
Pages missing, sections blacked out. More serious incidents are not available for reading.
In other words, Limited Information, Most Kept Private Act.

Pricey coffee good to the last dropping

Oddly Enough News Article Reuters.com

On the lighter side of life -YUCK.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia?

Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat.

"People like coffee. And when they want to treat themselves, they order the Kopi Luwak," said Isaac Jones, director of sales for Tastes of The World, an online supplier of gourmet coffee, tea and cocoa.

Despite being carnivorous, civets eat ripe coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal.
Civet droppings are found on the forest floor near coffee plantations.

Once carefully cleaned and roasted, the beans are sold to specialty buyers. Jones said sales for Kopi Luwak rose three-fold just before the Christmas holiday compared with the first half of the year. The company started selling the rare coffee in February 2005.

He expects to sell around 200 pounds of the coffee this year, with orders coming from North America and Europe. So far, most of the orders have been from California.
Indonesia produces only about 500 kilograms, or roughly 1,100 pounds, of the coffee each year, making it extremely expensive and difficult to find.
"It's the most expensive coffee that we know about in the world," said Jones.
By comparison Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, considered to be an expensive type, sells for $35 to $40 per pound, while a pound of Colombia's Supremo arabicas can be bought for about $14.

I'll stick to my current Blend, and Illy for espresso.

Bush Defends Spying Program As 'Necessary' to Protect U.S.

Bush Defends Spying Program As 'Necessary' to Protect U.S.

again, but to recap one of the dumbest statements yet and the year has only begun...

"If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why."~ George Bush

Likewise, George.

Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda - New York Times

Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to current and former employees.

The Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations company, was told early in 2005 by the Pentagon to identify religious leaders who could help produce messages that would persuade Sunnis in violence-ridden Anbar Province to participate in national elections and reject the insurgency, according to a former employee.

Since then, the company has retained three or four Sunni religious scholars to offer advice and write reports for military commanders on the content of propaganda campaigns, the former employee said. But documents and Lincoln executives say the company's ties to religious leaders and dozens of other prominent Iraqis is aimed also at enabling it to exercise influence in Iraqi communities on behalf of clients, including the military.

Mirror.co.uk - News - All News Archive - PILGER: THIS WAR IS A FRAUD

Mirror.co.uk - News - All News Archive - PILGER: THIS WAR IS A FRAUD

I know that, many know that, not everyone knows that. Thats not quite as big a tragedy as the 'war' itself, but tragic nonetheless that so many Americans are so blind.
Since I live here, I can only attest to the fact that most are caught up in their own little worlds.

Some of us are paying attention.

Full List of External Articles - Global Issues

Full List of External Articles - Global Issues

On the War on Terror, a long comprehensive list published by Anup Shah;

The full list is on my other blog:

http://kmwakak8.blogspot.com

USA THE MOVIE

USA THE MOVIE

Mainstream Media Introduction - Global Issues

Mainstream Media Introduction - Global Issues

Press Freedom Around the World
In October 2005, Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders or RSF) published their
2005 worldwide press freedom index.

The results were interesting:
On the whole, it showed that democracies ranked best. (The top position was jointly held by predominantly North European nations: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.)

Totalitarian and communist regimes ranked worst because there was next to no press freedom as in almost all such cases, the media is government controlled.
(The worst 5 were Burma, Iran, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, and North Korea.)

But there were a few surprising findings:

The U.S. slipped down to just 44th. In 2004, they ranked 22nd which was not good, anyway;
Canada and France also slipped (to 21st and 30th, respectively)
U.K. ranked just 24th, almost on par with Benin, a small nation in Africa which the United Nations classifies as being one of the poorest nations in the world, and El Salvador, another very poor country;
Spain and Italy ranked just 40th and 42nd, respectively (they were both only joint 39th the year before).
New Zealand (12th), Trinidad and Tobago (12th), Benin (25th) and South Korea (34th) are the highest-ranked countries in other continents and the top 20 were dominated by Europe (only two were from elsewhere).

Very interesting indeed.

Bush says spying leak causes great harm - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Bush says spying leak causes great harm - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Of this tired already issue, I heard Mr. Bush say tonight on the new :If some one from al-Qaida calls you on the phone, we want to know why.

Well you know what George, if someone from al-Qaida calls you, I want to know why.

I am not buying any of your bu*sh*it. People from other countries who don't know the history of the US may not understand, but there is a long line here that makes the picture much clearer. It goes back way further than I'll begin...

TWA 800 flight went down July 17 1996. Countless witnesses saw a missle hit the plane. The government hushed it away as a fuel tank explosion. They lied. Those files are not accessible in the FBI Freedom of Information Act.

I just happened upon a book Entitled The New Pearl Harbor referring to 9-11, and it hit me so clearly I am sick and can not sleep.

FDR knew about Pearl Harbor before the fact. He allowed it to happen as a back door to War with Hitler.

I have good reason to suspect 9-11 was no surprise, we went to Afghanistan, evaded the hunt for Osama Bin laden, and you conviently decided Iraq had WMD, and we would go to war.

You came from an oil background, daddy was head of the ill reputed CIA who's motto"the truth shall make you free" couldn't be further from the truth. The truth about the CIA is rearing its not so trustworthy dutiful head.

Now as publicists have often made mention, you had every intention of invading Iraq before 9-11. There are many pieces of the puzzle that are coming together, I suspect perhaps you want to know how much WE know. Some of are much smarter than you think, and a picture is becoming more clear, and that is a THREAT to YOUR National Security.

I am far from done with this.

Douglas Valentine - A Nation of Assassins

Douglas Valentine - A Nation of Assassins

More will be revealed.

Pet-Abuse.Com - Profile

Pet-Abuse.Com - Profile

Frank Aquino
Gender: Male
Approximate Age: 43
Date of Birth: Dec 1961
Location: Putnam County, NY (US)
History
Convicted: Dog kicked to death
May 29, 2005 - Putnam Valley, NY (US)

He needs to be whacked, or as the CIA would say, neutralized
I have zero tolerance for cruelty to animals

D.C. Plagued By Backlog In Autopsy Reports

D.C. Plagued By Backlog In Autopsy Reports

The D.C. medical examiner's office has a backlog of 1,037 unfinished autopsy reports, including some cases dating back more than a decade, records show. The agency's slow turnaround has delayed police work and criminal prosecutions, and forced some families to sue the office to obtain the paperwork about their loved ones.

The District's incomplete autopsies include 765 that are at least a year old. Maryland and Virginia, by comparison, have no cases a year old. Among the unfinished D.C. cases are 84 homicides.

This is completely absurd.

844 in U.S. Military Killed in Iraq in 2005 - New York Times

844 in U.S. Military Killed in Iraq in 2005 - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 31 - At least 844 American service members were killed in Iraq in 2005, nearly matching 2004's total of 848, according to information released by the United States government and a nonprofit organization that tracks casualties in Iraq.

The deaths of two Americans announced by the United States military on Friday - a marine killed by gunfire in Falluja and a soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad - brought the total killed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003 to 2,178. The total wounded since the war began is 15,955.

Blood for oil. Innocent lives, in the name of greed, deceipt, lies, corruption and invasion of our personal privacy.

As New Drug Plan Begins, Stores Predict Bumps - New York Times

As New Drug Plan Begins, Stores Predict Bumps - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - Millions of older Americans will gain access to government-subsidized prescription drugs on Sunday with the long-awaited expansion of Medicare. But pharmacists say beneficiaries may initially experience delays and frustration as the promise of the new program is translated into practice.

Since my mother is retiring this week, I've watched her and her friends struggle to make sense out of this plan. They seem to have made it more complicated for the retired generation, which in and of itself is par for the course with our current leaders. I am sure I will be aware of the loopholes before long...

Wanting Facts Firsthand, Teenager Makes Secret Trip to Iraq - New York Times

Wanting Facts Firsthand, Teenager Makes Secret Trip to Iraq - New York Times

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 30 - A Florida teenager secretly made his way to Iraq this month for firsthand impressions of the war, and was returning home on Friday to family members who said they were galled by his recklessness but thankful he was safe.

A junior at a rigorous private school here, Farris, whose parents emigrated from Iraq several decades ago, wrote in an essay recently that he felt guilty "living in a big house, driving a nice car and going to a great school." He wrote that he wanted to experience the hardships of Iraqis and volunteer with the Red Cross during his travels, helping the people of Iraq "rebuild their lives," even if it meant risking his own.

Ms. Atiya, their mother, said Farris had e-mailed the essay he had written about his trip - which he started here and finished in Kuwait - to Pine Crest School, but that the school was angry about the trip and had not accepted it. She said she had lost weight after her son's disappearance and wanted nothing more than to see him again.

I commend Farris's bravery, and desire to see his homeland- with guilt about what was happening to his homeland compared to how he lives here. That shows character.
I am grateful he made it back ok as well. He's a little young to embark on such a journey, but I appreciate his passion to do so.

Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program - New York Times

Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program - New York Times

A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.

The concerns prompted two of President Bush's most senior aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general - to make an emergency visit to a Washington hospital in March 2004 to discuss the program's future and try to win the needed approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, the officials said.

The unusual meeting was prompted because Mr. Ashcroft's top deputy, James B. Comey, who was acting as attorney general in his absence, had indicated he was unwilling to give his approval to certifying central aspects of the program, as required under the White House procedures set up to oversee it.....

With Mr. Comey unwilling to sign off on the program, the White House went to Mr. Ashcroft - who had been in the intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital

Questions about the surveillance operation are likely to be central to a Congressional hearing planned by Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who heads the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Specter, like some other Republicans and many Democrats in Congress, has voiced deep concerns about the program and Mr. Bush's legal authority to bypass the courts to order domestic wiretaps without warrants.

Thank you Mr. Senator. The saga continues.

Merkel Strikes Personal Note in New Year's Wishes to Germans | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 31.12.2005

Merkel Strikes Personal Note in New Year's Wishes to Germans Germany Deutsche Welle 31.12.2005

Very nice

"What can be accomplished in a year?" Merkel asked, in traditional New Year's Eve remarks to be broadcast Saturday. "A great deal! How would it be if we all set a goal tonight to accomplish a bit more in the coming year?"

I think Germany is a remarkable country, while certainly not exempt from its share of political, social and economic issues, its has certainly well risen above what was once a haunting past, and become a sovereign country, with exceptional potential to solidify the EU to far surpass USA.

Kidnapped German Family in Yemen Set Free | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 31.12.2005

Kidnapped German Family in Yemen Set Free Germany Deutsche Welle 31.12.2005

German Foreign Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed Saturday afternoon that the family had indeed been released. He said they were on their way to the southern port city of Aden and that they were well.

Steinmeier thanked the Yemeni government and his own emergency task force in Berlin for their activities to free the Chrobogs.
"We're free, thank God," Chrobog's wife told AP.

Thats a beautiful thing, twice recently German citizens kidnapped have been released. Thats not something that has happened with americans. Get the picture?
Germany is doing the right thing.

POLITICS: UN to Protect Corruption Whistle-Blowers

POLITICS: UN to Protect Corruption Whistle-Blowers

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 29 (IPS) - After being politically crucified over charges of malfeasance and mismanagement, the U.N. Secretariat has responded with a new "whistle-blower protection policy" aimed at encouraging staffers, contractors, consultants and even the public to help expose corruption in the world body.

The new policy, which comes into force in January, assures whistle-blowers that there will be no retaliation for reporting misconduct and "for cooperating with duly authorised audits or investigations".

Funny I should happen upon this article just after making reference to whistle blowing laws. It was not intentional, as this is a different news source and other issues as you will note in the full article.

Justice Dept. Investigating Leak of NSA Wiretapping

Justice Dept. Investigating Leak of NSA Wiretapping

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said yesterday.

Federal prosecutors will focus their examination on who may have unlawfully disclosed classified information about the program to the New York Times, which reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens and residents without court-approved warrants, officials said.

Bush, in his self imposed dictatorship has gone far beyond ethical behavior, he has left a wake of deceipt, lies and corruption and each day seems to avail new levels of his illegal and convoluted agenda. Whoever disclosed what most of already knew obviously felt, as most of do Bush's conduct is WRONG. There are whistle blowing laws which should be upheld here.
He was a criminal before he became president, and continues to be a criminal in office.

Conspiring Against the Voters - New York Times

Conspiring Against the Voters - New York Times

President Bush has announced four nominees for the Federal Election Commission, moving to keep the policing of campaign abuses firmly in the hands of party wheel horses. The timing of the announcement - the president waited until the Senate had gone home - is likely to allow the nominees to avoid the full hearing and confirmation process needed to evaluate them properly.

There seems to be no limit to what this menace to society will do next.

Israel News: Al Quaeda claims responsibility for Katyusha attack

Israel News: Al Quaeda claims responsibility for Katyusha attack

Al-Qaeda in Iraq said Thursday it was responsible for the Katyusha rocket attack on Kiryat Shemona two nights before, but experts are not so sure.

"A group of al-Qaida lions planned ... a new attack on the Jewish state," the statement on an Islamist Web site said. "The brothers accomplished their mission as it was planned and succeeded in their escape."

However, the IDF has blamed a Palestinian faction in Lebanon for the rocket attack, and bombed a base belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command.

Give Israel back their land and let them live in peace.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks

Guardian Unlimited Special reports More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks

The US has detained more than 80,000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Centre four years ago, the Pentagon said yesterday. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington's treatment of prisoners in its "war on terror" and Europe's unknowing help in the CIA's practice of rendition.

The Bush administration has defended the detentions from criticism by human rights organisations, saying the interrogation of suspected militants has been crucial in its attempt to dismantle terror networks. At least 14,500 people are in US custody in connection with the war on terror, Pentagon officials in Washington and Baghdad said yesterday. Some 13,814 people are being held in Iraq and there are approximately 500 at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.

How many are innocent, and why does our constitution not apply to this? (Why do I ask redundant questions about the Constitution when Bush has violated almost every amemdment)
Reference: http://kmwakak8.blogspot.com

CIA insider says U.S. fighting wrong war - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com

CIA insider says U.S. fighting wrong war - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com

Good Interview. Its not America's war. Its George Bush's war at the expense of the american people and the innocent people in Iraq.

A career CIA officer claims in a new book that America is losing the war on terror, in part because of the invasion of Iraq, which, he says, distracted the United States from the war against terrorism and further fueled al-Qaida’s struggle against the United States. The author, who writes as “Anonymous,” is a 22-year veteran of the CIA and still works for the intelligence agency, which allowed him to publish the book after reviewing it for classified information.

In an interview with NBC’s Chief Foreign Affairs
Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, he calls the U.S. war in Iraq a dream come true for Osama bin Laden, saying, “Bin Laden saw the invasion of Iraq as a Christmas gift he never thought he’d get.” By invading a country that’s regarded as the second holiest place in Islam, he asserts, the Bush administration inadvertently validated bin Laden’s assertions that the United States intends a holy war against Muslims.

In his book, titled "Imperial Hubris," he calls the Iraq invasion "an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat,” arguing against the concept of pre-emptive war put forward by President Bush as justification for the Iraq war.
Story continues below ↓

How a Lobbyist Stacked the Deck

How a Lobbyist Stacked the Deck

Not a real bright guy.

* Funding Attacks on Republicans: A client of Jack Abramoff sent $150,000 to a firm associated with Ralph Reed as part of his effort to kill an anti-gambling bill. The money was used to attack GOP House members who backed the bill. This graphic shows an e-mail exchange confirming the check's arrival.

* Abramoff's Paper Trail: Jack Abramoff directed eLottery money to charities and political friends. This graphic shows e-mails between Abramoff and his assistant discussing some of those transactions.

The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff

The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff

Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from "The Godfather" as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill. In a favorite bit, he would mimic an ice-cold Michael Corleone facing down a crooked politician's demand for a cut of Mafia gambling profits: "Senator, you can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing."

The playacting provided a clue to how Abramoff saw himself -- the power behind the scenes who directed millions of dollars in Indian gambling proceeds to favored lawmakers, the puppet master who pulled the strings of officials in key places, the businessman who was building an international casino empire....

"Everybody lost their minds," recalled a former congressional staffer who lobbied with Abramoff at Preston Gates. "Jack was cutting deals all over town. Staffers lost their loyalty to members -- they were loyal to money."

Now this reminds me of a book I am reading entitled "The Broker" by John Grisham....
Its not far from the way things really are. In fact the last 4 books I read made reference to a CIA term "neutralize" which in mafioso terms means whacked. Look back through History and count how many people were "neutralized."

Homeland Security Is Faulted in Audit

Homeland Security Is Faulted in Audit

Nearly three years after it was formed, the immense Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by severe management and financial problems that contributed to the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, according to an independent audit released yesterday.

The report by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner aimed some of its most pointed criticism at one of DHS's major entities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Katrina and a subsequent storm, Rita, increased the load on FEMA's "already overburdened resources and infrastructure," the report said.

In addition, the report found, "the circumstances created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita provide an unprecedented opportunity for fraud, waste and abuse," primarily because FEMA's grant and contract programs are still not being managed properly.

"While DHS is taking several steps to manage and control spending under Katrina, the sheer size of the response and recovery efforts will create an unprecedented need for oversight," the report concludes.

Yep, thats a no brainer. They've screwed up a lot of things.
As I see it, the ban on assault weapons was lifted, so citizens probably in their best defense should get their own security; problem with that is I see a rise in gun crimes daily...but I can drive a few minutes up the road and get an Uzi If I wanted to.

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake

In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country's interior minister. Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA's Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation.

Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one of its citizens, Khaled Masri, for five months, and would soon release him, the sources said. There was also a request: that the German government not disclose what it had been told even if Masri went public. The U.S. officials feared exposure of a covert action program designed to capture terrorism suspects abroad and transfer them among countries, and possible legal challenges to the CIA from Masri and others with similar allegations.

They may be covert, secret and often dangerous (to anyone in their way) But they are not always the sharpest tacks in the box, despite what they'd like you to believe.

Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor

Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor

The effort President Bush authorized shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War, expanding in size and ambition despite a growing outcry at home and abroad over its clandestine tactics, according to former and current intelligence officials and congressional and administration sources.

The broad-based effort, known within the agency by the initials GST, is compartmentalized into dozens of highly classified individual programs, details of which are known mainly to those directly involved.

GST includes programs allowing the CIA to capture al Qaeda suspects with help from foreign intelligence services, to maintain secret prisons abroad, to use interrogation techniques that some lawyers say violate international treaties, and to maintain a fleet of aircraft to move detainees around the globe. Other compartments within GST give the CIA enhanced ability to mine international financial records and eavesdrop on suspects anywhere in the world.

Is this somethong we are supposed to know about...?

Top News Article | Reuters.com

Top News Article Reuters.com

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that a top envoy had talked to Iranian officials to discuss a Russian proposal to enrich uranium for the Islamic Republic, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The foreign ministry had previously denied any formal acceptance by Iran to hold talks over the proposal, while a spokesman for Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov also denied a telephone conversation had taken place.

US probes eavesdropping leak

Top News Article Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation to determine who disclosed a secret NSA eavesdropping operation approved by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, officials said on Friday.
"We are opening an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified materials related to the NSA," one official said.
Earlier this month Bush acknowledged the program and called its disclosure to The New York Times () "a shameful act." He said he presumed a Justice Department leak investigation into who disclosed the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation would get under way.

I don't know why they feel the need to get to the bottom of something that the public knew for a long time, they waste alot of time trying to cover up things that are obvious to the most casual observer.

Fairfax Gunman's Christmas Morning Rampage Detailed

Fairfax Gunman's Rampage Detailed

Police yesterday described a harrowing scene at the Great Falls home where a triple slaying occurred Christmas morning, with the 27-year-old gunman rampaging through the spacious residence, shooting two victims at bedside and one cowering in a closet.

Shocked neighbors, friends and law enforcement officials struggled to make sense of the killings, which occurred less than an hour after the gunman, identified as Nathan Cheatham, allegedly killed his mother, Sheila Cheatham, at her McLean home eight miles away. The bloodbath ended when Cheatham shot himself in the head with the 9mm handgun, bringing the day's death toll to five, authorities said

Very sad indeed.

A Political Debate On Stress Disorder

A Political Debate On Stress Disorder

The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the past five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. A total of 215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 -- a jump of more than 150 percent.

You caused it, you fix it. Its deplorable that our veterans are all camped out on the streets of Washington and other major cities because what you have subjected them to has rendered them unfit to now function in society.
Understanding how PTSD works on a personal level, it needs to be taken very seriously.

Germany's Schr�der Bags Top US Public Speaking Deal | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 28.12.2005

Germany's Schr�der Bags Top US Public Speaking Deal | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 28.12.2005

Former German Chancellor Schröder certainly knows how to stay in the headlines. His wildly lucrative business deals are not giving his critics a chance to even begin lowering their eyebrows.

When asked what his plans were after leaving the White House, former President Bill Clinton responded -- frankly and without any qualms -- that he was interested in making money. The enticing connection between politics and profit seems to have captured the imagination of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as well.

hmm

Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad's Green Zone

Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad's Green Zone

More than 1,000 Latin Americans recruited by US private security contractors to work as mercenaries performing dangerous jobs in the countries under US military occupation. Their deaths underscore the emergence of a cheap labor market for mercenaries that has thrived in recent months.

Unemployed young men from Peru—most of them former soldiers—are paid only $1,000 a month—less than a tenth the salary paid to American mercenaries. For $5.75 an hour—a figure that is roughly equivalent to the US minimum wage—the recruits put themselves “in the line of fire” protecting US and British interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Forbes magazine reports that the US Government “pays private firms between $500 and $1,500 a day for the experienced military personnel they supply in Iraq. That works out to mercenaries who often earn between $150,000 and $250,000 a year.”

That's just wrong.

EU launches Galileo satellite

Science News Article | Reuters.com

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The European Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite on Wednesday, moving to challenge the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).

Russia's space agency Roskosmos said the 600 kg (1,300 lb) spacecraft went into its designated orbit 23,000 km (15,000 miles) from the earth after its launch on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe.

"From now on, directing the spacecraft is down to the client that made the order -- that is, the European Space Agency," a Roskosmos spokesman said.

I suspect far more advanced than NASA

Saudi telecom stops text vote for Arab talent show

Internet News Article | Reuters.com

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi mobile operator Mobily has stopped users from text message voting for an Arab "Star Academy" competition because of an Islamic decree branding the reality show immoral, the company said on Monday.

Hey, Islamic Arabs are people too!

Specter Urges Discipline in Hussein Trial

Specter Urges Discipline in Hussein Trial

BAGHDAD, Dec. 27 -- Saddam Hussein's judges should take control of his chaotic trial, Sen. Arlen Specter said here Tuesday, either by holding him in contempt for his repeated disruptions of the proceedings or banishing him from the courtroom.

Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said U.S. officials in Baghdad had told him that they expect Hussein to face a half-dozen trials. That would raise the prospect of months or years of proceedings unless conviction, condemnation and hanging for any one case stop the clock on trials to follow.

Actually, I have to agree with Arlen Specter on this one, Sadaam Hussein has made a gross mockery of the Judicial system in Baghdad. Why the judge has allowed this conduct is beyond me, except perhaps fear of his life as several lawyers have already been murdered with regard to this case.

Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts - New York Times

Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.

The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out.

The government can find information and do anything they want with it: use it, hide it, deny it, or even kill to wipe away any traces of it if it doesn't suit their purposes.

Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program - New York Times

Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Sunday that it would not have been "that hard" for President Bush to obtain warrants for eavesdropping on domestic telephone and Internet activity, but that he saw "nothing wrong" with the decision not to do so.

Ah, the limited mindset of a political conspiracy. We the people feel differently.

DropShots | Christmas Dinner Entertainment

DropShots | New

As I mentioned before, these little ones were in the spirit. Adopted by long time friends (our adopted family), these little Korean charmers were a smashing hit!

Keep Christmas in greetings

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.

Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" seems to be a hot topic that has been going on for several years now. Only recently have I become more aware of the threat of the possibility of our first amendment right to free speech, being destroyed by those who claim political correctness. What is political correctness after all? Who wants or needs to be state- or government-correct in this country that boasts freedom of speech?

We have become so afraid of offending someone — anyone —that some of our lawmakers are using time that should be spent in creative thinking, planning and proceeding to bring our troops home safe from a needless war. With thousands of Americans under assault in Iraq and Afghanistan, including families and friends right here in the good old USA that need protecting, it is difficult to comprehend those offended by spoken words of "Merry Christmas!"

It is quite a bit disheartening that there is very little reference today in any of the headlines to Christmas.

"Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." It is still our choice! But for how long? Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!

December 25 - New York Times

December 25 - New York Times

Most of us know how we want to feel this time of year, whatever holiday we are celebrating. We want to feel safe, loving and well loved, well fed, openhanded, and able to be moved by the powerful but very humble stories that gather in this season. We would like to feel that there is a kind of innocence, not in our hearts, since our hearts are such complicated places, but in the very gestures and rituals of late December. We would like to feel that we are returning to something unchanged, some still spot in a spinning world. Whether you believe with an absolute literalism or with a more analogic faith, whether you believe at all, whether you are Christian or Jewish or Muslim or merely human, the word we would like to feel most profoundly now is Peace.

It's easy enough to be cynical about the things we would like to feel here at the dark end of the year, to dismiss them out of hand as if they were only the battery-powered, sugar-coated, marzipan dreams of a child's holiday. Life is too tough, too embattled for such sentimentality. That is Scrooge's point exactly: no use pretending the world isn't exactly the way it is. One of the reasons we love to hear the story of an old crank like Scrooge is that he seems to embody this cracked old world, made whole in one night by regret and repentance.

One night will not do it, nor will one day. Peace does not simply appear in the sky overhead or lie embodied one morning in a manger. We come into this season knowing how we want it to make us feel, and we are usually disappointed because humans never cease to be human. But we are right to remember how we would like to feel. We are right to long for peace and good will.

Sad, but true every person I know of just couldn't get it together this year. We all admitted going through the motions (except for a couple toddlers I know now respectively 3 1/2 and 2. adopted from Korea) I have a video unparallelled to anything I have ever seen about Christmas spirit. Priceless as the video is, they are exempt from understanding the nature of crisis looming over each and every adult I have spoken to this season.

I am not catholic, but often atend a catholic service with a friend and her two daughters on Christmas eve.
Her oldest daughter asked why every one was dressed in black.
I thought about the grim reality of the times. As we were gathering for the service, twice a priest interrupted the childrens choir singing, to grumble over the loudspeaker, in a less than friendly inflection "In the name of Christian Charity, please do not save seats for those whom you are waiting for to arrive"
The delivery and the tone of those words, put quite a rough edge on what would otherwise be a joyful celebration.
There is no room in the Inn to be saved for your family(???)

Whose Economy Is It, Anyway? - New York Times

Whose Economy Is It, Anyway? - New York Times

I have asked myself this many times...

As polls registered public discontent with the economy earlier this month, back-to-back government reports showed strong economic growth and respectable job creation. To explain the discrepancy, Allan Hubbard, one of President Bush's top economic advisers, said that hurricanes and high gas prices had temporarily darkened Americans' collective mood, but that the president was pleased with the economy. "He's more concerned with results than he is about polls," Mr. Hubbard said.

No wonder the president seems out of touch. Headline statistics - the "results" Mr. Hubbard referred to - can mask as much as they reveal.

Take, for instance, the solid 4.1 percent economic expansion in this year's third quarter and the 215,000 jobs created last month. In the past four years, similar jolts of positive data have never lasted long enough to result in consistently strong hiring and rising wages. There is little reason to believe things will be different this time. Already, analysts are slashing their fourth-quarter growth estimates to reflect the drag of America's huge trade deficit

Administration officials also love to cite the economy's low unemployment rate, recently 5 percent. But more than one million people have left the work force since 2001 and are not counted as unemployed, although a big reason for leaving is a lack of good jobs. Add to that the 4.2 million part-timers who want full-time jobs, and employment is weaker than the administration would have you believe.

The administration also wants you to think that wages are on an upswing. But during the current recovery, wages have lagged inflation by 0.3 percent for 80 percent of the work force, generally defined as nonmanagers. To add insult to injury, the decline has occurred even as Americans have set records for productivity. That means Americans are working harder, but taking home less.

When I was looking for work, there were no jobs. After it was deemed I could not work, from injuries resulted in an accident; I was denied SS, stating my condition was severe, but not severe enough. Off to the court of appeals.

U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians

U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians

RAMADI, Iraq -- U.S. Marine airstrikes targeting insurgents sheltering in Iraqi residential neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as guerrillas along the Euphrates River in far western Iraq, according to Iraqi townspeople and officials and the U.S. military.

Just how many civilians have been killed is strongly disputed by the Marines and, some critics say, too little investigated. But townspeople, tribal leaders, medical workers and accounts from witnesses at the sites of clashes, at hospitals and at graveyards indicated that scores of noncombatants were killed last month in fighting, including airstrikes, in the opening stages of a 17-day U.S.-Iraqi offensive in Anbar province

"These people died silently, complaining to God of a guilt they did not commit," Operation Steel Curtain, which began on Nov. 5, medical workers had recorded 97 civilians killed. At least 38 insurgents were also killed in the offensive's early days, Rawi said.
"I dare any organization, committee or the American Army to deny these numbers," Rawi said.

This is a pathetic act by the US military, and a tragedy to the people of Iraq. They have every right to hate us.

Alito Urged Wiretap Immunity

Alito Urged Wiretap Immunity

Here it is again!

Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. once argued that the nation's top law enforcement official deserves blanket protection from lawsuits when acting in the name of national security, even when those actions involve the illegal wiretapping of American citizens, documents released yesterday show.

To date, much of the debate involving Alito's nomination has centered on his views on abortion. The latest of Alito's memos to be disclosed opened a window on his thinking in the area of national security vs. privacy rights, an issue that is currently under considerable scrutiny.

As it should be.strong>

Alito Memo in '84 Favored Immunity for Top Officials - New York Times

Alito Memo in '84 Favored Immunity for Top Officials - New York Times

The attorney general should be immune from lawsuits for ordering wiretaps of Americans without permission from a court, Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote in a memorandum in 1984 as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration.

The memorandum, released yesterday by the National Archives, made recommendations concerning a lawsuit against former Attorney General John N. Mitchell over a wiretap he had authorized without a court's permission in 1970. The government was investigating a plot to destroy underground utility tunnels in Washington and to kidnap Henry A. Kissinger, the national security adviser.

Ah the big picture unfolds, George picks them to suit his agenda....

Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency - New York Times

Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency - New York Times

George W. Bush has quipped several times during his political career that it would be so much easier to govern in a dictatorship. Apparently he never told his vice president that this was a joke.

Virtually from the time he chose himself to be Mr. Bush's running mate in 2000, Dick Cheney has spearheaded an extraordinary expansion of the powers of the presidency - from writing energy policy behind closed doors with oil executives to abrogating longstanding treaties and using the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to invade Iraq, scrap the Geneva Conventions and spy on American citizens.

It was a chance Mr. Cheney seems to have been dreaming about for decades. Most Americans looked at wrenching events like the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and the Iran-contra debacle and worried that the presidency had become too powerful, secretive and dismissive. Mr. Cheney looked at the same events and fretted that the presidency was not powerful enough, and too vulnerable to inspection and calls for accountability.

I feel this is why Bush won't be impeached, we'd be stuck with this power monger, who would be much worse.

Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report - New York Times

Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials.

The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said.

As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said.

I feel like I am reading "Digital Fortress all" over again, but this is real life NEWS

Expatica's German news in English: German army to move to northern Afghanistan

Expatica's German news in English: German army to move to northern Afghanistan

Germany finishes what america did not.

EU Threatens Microsoft With Daily Fines For Non-Compliance | Business | Deutsche Welle | 23.12.2005

EU Threatens Microsoft With Daily Fines For Non-Compliance | Business | Deutsche Welle | 23.12.2005

Technology giant Microsoft could be faced with daily fines of up to 2 million euros imposed by the European Commission for not complying to an EU competition ruling in 2004.

A standoff between the EU antitrust watchdog and Microsoft heated up Thursday when the European Commission threatened to slap a daily fine of up to 2 million euros ($2.37 million) on US software giant for failing to comply with a ruling.

EU Budget Deal Costs Germany More Than Expected | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 23.12.2005

EU Budget Deal Costs Germany More Than Expected | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 23.12.2005

Praised as a dealmaker par excellence after engineering last week's EU budget compromise, Angela Merkel has drawn the the opposition's ire after it emerged that Germany's payments to Brussels are set to increase.

The annual check Germany, already the European Union's biggest net-contributor before the newest deal, sends to finance the European Union grew by another 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) as part of the delicate budget deal Chancellor Merkel brokered last week.

"We will have to pay less than we had expected, but we will pay more than in the past," the government's deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said, confirming a report in the Berliner Zeitung daily.

Give the woman a break.

Another School Barrier for African Girls: No Toilet - New York Times

Another School Barrier for African Girls: No Toilet - New York Times

BALIZENDA, Ethiopia - Fatimah Bamun dropped out of Balizenda Primary School in first grade, more than three years ago, when her father refused to buy her pencils and paper. Only after teachers convinced him that his daughter showed unusual promise did he relent. Today Fatimah, 14, tall and slender, studies math and Amharic, Ethiopia's official language, in a dirt-floored fourth-grade classroom

This is really a shame. The UN should not allow these things to happen, but they seem so proccupied with other matters, some far less significant.

Political Trivia

(washingtonpost.com)

Oh joy, I was right again...they are predictable

Vice President Cheney canceled visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week and returned to Washington earlier than scheduled to cast a tiebreaking vote on legislation before the Senate. What part of the U.S. Constitution grants the vice president the authority to cast tiebreaking votes in the Senate?
Article I, Section 2
Article I, Section 3 You Are Correct
Article III, Section 1
Article II, Section 2
Article I, Section 3 states that, "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

PDF: Justice Letter to Congress

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/122205NSAletter.pdf

Power We Didn't Grant

Power We Didn't Grant

In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda. On Tuesday, Vice President Cheney said the president "was granted authority by the Congress to use all means necessary to take on the terrorists, and that's what we've done."

perhaps there should have been clarity...

Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S.

Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S.

The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today's Washington Post.

Daschle's disclosure challenges a central legal argument offered by the White House in defense of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It suggests that Congress refused explicitly to grant authority that the Bush administration now asserts is implicit in the resolution.

The Justice Department acknowledged yesterday, in a letter to Congress, that the president's October 2001 eavesdropping order did not comply with "the 'procedures' of" the law that has regulated domestic espionage since 1978. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, established a secret intelligence court and made it a criminal offense to conduct electronic surveillance without a warrant from that court, "except as authorized by statute."

Read on...

Newly Emboldened Congress Has Dogged Bush This Year

Newly Emboldened Congress Has Dogged Bush This Year

After four years in which Congress repeatedly lay down while President Bush dictated his priorities, 2005 will go down as the year legislators stood up.

This week's uprising against a four-year extension of the USA Patriot Act was the latest example of a new willingness by lawmakers in both parties to challenge Bush and his notions of expansive executive power

What is most striking is that the pushback is coming not just from Democrats and moderate Republicans, who often disagree with Bush, but also from mainstream conservatives

Its about time.

FEMA Slows Search for Kids From Katrina

FEMA Slows Search for Kids From Katrina

Efforts to locate 500 children still classified as missing after Hurricane Katrina are stalled because the Federal Emergency Management Agency, citing privacy laws, has refused to share its evacuee database with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to investigators tracking the cases.

Not until the White House and Justice Department intervened earlier this month did Department of Homeland Security officials agree to a compromise that grants FBI agents limited access to information that may provide clues to many of the unresolved cases.

This is just wrong. The Gov. has broken laws to suit their needs, but not for the missing children.

Reuters AlertNet - CRISIS PROFILE-What's going on in Sudan's Darfur?

Reuters AlertNet - CRISIS PROFILE-What's going on in Sudan's Darfur?

This is a very serious problem, and its personally discouraging more hasn't been done to rectify the situation.

What is the humanitarian crisis in Darfur?

Attacks by government troops and Arab militia have forced about 1.2 million people, mostly black villagers, from their homes in western Sudan. Many have gone to live with families in other parts of Darfur, and about 130,000 have fled across the border into Chad. As many as 50,000 have died in violent raids over the past year and reports continue of massacres, rape, torture and looting despite a nominal ceasefire.


Warning of mass starvation and epidemics, the United Nations has described the situation as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Relief workers are rushing to get desperately needed food, water and medicine to hundreds of thousands but much of the aid is not getting through.

Save Darfur.org ::

Save Darfur.org ::

Reuters AlertNet - US Congress rebuffs Rice on Darfur troop funding

Reuters AlertNet - US Congress rebuffs Rice on Darfur troop funding

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.

Still, despite the rejection by a Congress under pressure to keep spending down, the U.S. State Department said it would seek to find the money from other foreign aid programs for the Darfur mission.

"We are frustrated and disappointed. The AU plays an important role in Darfur," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

Now this is a land and people in serious need of help

Italy issues warrant for CIA team

Top News Article | Reuters.com

MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

The case is one of several investigations into whether U.S. intelligence agents used Europe to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation. The renditions have led to tensions between Washington and the European Union.

Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

EU is cracking down in american bully tactics and covert operations illegal on their soil. Nice to know.

Immigrants find opportunity in ruined New Orleans

Top News Article | Reuters.com

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Much of New Orleans lies abandoned and destroyed after Hurricane Katrina struck nearly four months ago, but for Latin American immigrants the storm-ravaged city has become a land of opportunity.

While New Orleans residents are slow to return, the immigrants, most of them illegally in the United States, have swarmed in to do the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding that others so far have shunned.
They are not here because of altruism -- New Orleans is just another place in a strange land to them -- but because there is a huge unfulfilled demand for labor and, as a result, high wages they cannot get in their homeland or in other U.S. cities.

In a sight common in the southwestern U.S., but new to New Orleans, they crowd street corners starting at daybreak, offering themselves as day laborers to anyone who needs them.

This should be a welcome "Thank you" to the people of NO. They have willing workers to restore the city...where are the american citizens? As immigration laws are becoming more strict, this one should be an "oversight" (recent term used to describe what US Officials are supposed to do in light of the presidents blunders) as Latin Americans are willing to restore what the US has not.

U.S. Plans Slight Force Cut, Up to 5,000 Troops, in Iraq - New York Times

U.S. Plans Slight Force Cut, Up to 5,000 Troops, in Iraq - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - In the first reduction of American troops in Iraq approved since last week's elections there, President Bush has ordered the core force of 17 combat brigades inside Iraq to be trimmed to 15 brigades early next year, senior Defense Department and military officials said Thursday. While the net reduction of American forces under this order is expected to be modest - 3,000 to 5,000 troops in Iraq overall - the decision signals that a cautious realignment has begun, one intended to bring troop levels soon to their lowest point since mid-2004, officials said. It is expected to be followed with further incremental reductions in the months to come.

Its a start.

Workers Choose to Come Back and Talk - New York Times

Workers Choose to Come Back and Talk - New York Times

Thousands of New York City transit workers put down their picket signs and streamed into bus depots and railyards last night to restart the nation's largest transit system, after leaders of their union agreed to a tentative framework for a new contract and ended a 60-hour strike that hobbled the city.

This is good and integral for NYC

German Troops Allegedly Posed as Journalists for Interview | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 22.12.2005

German Troops Allegedly Posed as Journalists for Interview | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 22.12.2005

The German ministry of defense has admitted that it is carrying out an internal inquiry into the possible extracting of information on suspected terrorists by Bundeswehr operatives posing as journalists in Bosnia.

The confirmation of an inquiry on Wednesday, reported in the German media on Thursday, follows allegations that German soldiers attached to the United Nations mission in Bosnia had operated outside official army regulations and interviewed members of the public under a pretence.

There's a little more they could delve into as well....

File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths'

File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths'

President Bush asserted this week that the news media published a U.S. government leak in 1998 about Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone, alerting the al Qaeda leader to government monitoring and prompting him to abandon the device.

The story of the vicious leak that destroyed a valuable intelligence operation was first reported by a best-selling book, validated by the Sept. 11 commission and then repeated by the president

But it appears to be an urban myth.
Urban Myth or Bush lie?

US Constitution Amendments

kmwittig

It bears repeating once again. Violations to The Constitutional amendments under the presidency of George W. Bush.

Impeacement for Bush?

I really suspect the reasons Bush has not been impeached, and may not are:
No one wants the likes of Cheney running this country, and then there is daddy's money that he continues to make from this war.

George Bush has failed. He has failed Americans, he has repeatedly lied to us, to his collegues and has truly become a menace to society.
He has broken every law, violated every amendment in the consitution, denied every international treaty.

He has played this by his own rules. Rules that are not consistant with AMERICAN standards; He has made a mockery of the citizens and his fellow men.

There is no just reason the have this man continue to lead this country [astray- is what it amounts to].

Something has to be done, and justice needs to be served before the people of america begin a revolution, and rightfully so.
What has happened is WRONG, ILLEGAL and CORRUPT beyond measure.

We the people have a right to take appropriate action.

Italy probes US marine for murder in Iraq

Top News Article | Reuters.com

ROME (Reuters) - Italian magistrates have placed a U.S. marine under official investigation for murder over the killing of an Italian agent in Iraq earlier this year, judicial sources said on Thursday.
Intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was shot dead at an improvised U.S. checkpoint on a road near Baghdad in March as he was accompanying an Italian hostage to safety.

Italy and the United States held a joint inquiry into the incident, but they failed to agree joint conclusions and instead issued conflicting reports.

While the U.S. military exonerated its troops of any blame, Rome said nervous, inexperienced American soldiers and a badly executed road block were at the root of the shooting.

How conforting...(not) the we have nervous, inexperienced american soldiers who make grave mistakes. It falls back on the hands of The Commander in Chief, who thinks he is His Royal Highness, and should be drop kicked out of office.

Texas District Adopts Disputed Text on Bible Study - New York Times

Texas District Adopts Disputed Text on Bible Study - New York Times

ODESSA, Tex., Dec. 21 -Trustees of the Ector County Independent School District here decided, 4 to 2, on Tuesday night that high school students would use a course published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools for studying the Bible in history and literature.

Thats a good idea. I think its important to have an idea whats in the Bible, each translation and exactly how the chosen books, and translations came to be.

Court Refuses U.S. Bid to Shift Terror Suspect - New York Times

Court Refuses U.S. Bid to Shift Terror Suspect - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - A federal appeals court delivered a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration Wednesday, refusing to allow the transfer of Jose Padilla from military custody to civilian law enforcement authorities to face terrorism charges.

In denying the administration's request, the three-judge panel unanimously issued a strongly worded opinion that said the Justice Department's effort to transfer Mr. Padilla gave the appearance that the government was trying to manipulate the court system to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing the case. The judges warned that the administration's behavior in the Padilla case could jeopardize its credibility before the courts in other terrorism cases.

What made the action by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., so startling, lawyers and others said, was that it came from a panel of judges who in September had provided the administration with a sweeping court victory, saying President Bush had the authority to detain Mr. Padilla, an American citizen, indefinitely without trial as an enemy combatant.

1. That is NOT what the Constitition says, and who the hell does this menace to society think he is?

2. They already ruined their credibility, and it just gets worse every day.

Hussein Accuses U.S. Guards of Torture - New York Times

Hussein Accuses U.S. Guards of Torture - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 21 - After another harrowing day of testimony about torture, beatings and executions under his rule, Saddam Hussein sought to turn the tables on his accusers on Wednesday with a courtroom outburst in which he accused American military guards of beating and torturing him and his co-defendants.

Whatever happened to contempt of Court?
Whatever hapened to America, for that matter...W

New York Police Covertly Join In at Protest Rallies - New York Times

New York Police Covertly Join In at Protest Rallies - New York Times

Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show.

In glimpses and in glaring detail, the videotape images reveal the robust presence of disguised officers or others working with them at seven public gatherings since August 2004.

The officers hoist protest signs. They hold flowers with mourners. They ride in bicycle events. At the vigil for the cyclist, an officer in biking gear wore a button that said, "I am a shameless agitator." She also carried a camera and videotaped the roughly 15 people present.

Beyond collecting information, some of the undercover officers or their associates are seen on the tape having influence on events. At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.

We all should be protesting this war.

Official Google Blog: Googlebombing 'failure'

Official Google Blog: Googlebombing 'failure'

If you do a Google search on the word [failure] or the phrase [miserable failure], the top result is currently the White House’s official biographical page for President Bush. We've received some complaints recently from users who assume that this reflects a political bias on our part. I'd like to explain how these results come up in order to allay these concerns.

I think its absolutely correct and wouldn't change a thing about it!

Bush defends illegal spying on Americans: the specter of presidential dictatorship

Bush defends illegal spying on Americans: the specter of presidential dictatorship

President George Bush’s defense of his illegal authorization for the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor phone conversations and email in the US without court approval is an assertion of unchecked executive power.

By deciding, after the secret NSA program was revealed in Friday’s New York Times, to not only acknowledge it, but declare that it would continue so long as he remained president, Bush has escalated his administration’s attack on congressional oversight and the entire Constitutional setup in the US. His defiance of laws passed by Congress amounts to a bid to establish a form of presidential dictatorship.

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE

With the White House defiant on illegal spying: Why no outcry for Bush's impeachment?

With the White House defiant on illegal spying: Why no outcry for Bush's impeachment?

That's what I want to know, except no one would want Cheney in office....

Despite the brazen declaration by President Bush that he authorized illegal electronic eavesdropping on Americans and will continue to do so, in defiance of clear legislative prohibitions, the response in official Washington has been remarkably muted. There has been some verbal condemnation and calls for congressional hearings on the secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA), but no serious consideration of the constitutional remedy for presidential lawbreaking: impeachment

The New York transit strike: A new stage in the class struggle

The New York transit strike: A new stage in the class struggle

The strike by transit workers is an event of international significance. Defying massive fines and even the threat of jail, the strike represents a direct challenge to a super-rich Wall Street elite that is accustomed to imposing its economic interests and its will not only on New York City, but on the world.

In no other country is the existence of social class, not to mention class struggle, so vehemently denied as in the United States. But in no other country are the class divisions so deep. And nowhere else is class war practiced with a viciousness that equals that of the American ruling class. It has taken less than 24 hours for the strike of transit workers to expose before the eyes of the world the brutal reality of American society

Indeed. But I think they should be grateful to have jobs in todays economy, George has screwed us all. Its a statistical fact

Cheney cuts Mideast/Asia trip

Top News Article | Reuters.com

ABOARD AIR FORCE TWO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney cut short his trip to the Middle East and Asia on Tuesday and will return to Washington in case his vote is needed on legislation moving through Congress, a White House official said.

"He's needed for close votes," Cheney adviser Steve Schmidt told reporters traveling with the vice president. "The vice president is returning to Washington to be on hand in the Senate ... to cast tie-breaking votes if necessary."

No we can do with out his communistic 2 cents

Italian Ex-hostage Says U.S. Shooting Was No Accident

Italian Ex-hostage Says U.S. Shooting Was No Accident

A survivor’s account of the “checkpoint” shooting raises questions about the official US version and offers further credence to countless previous reports of similar shootings usually excused as “accidental.”

Sgrena’s account differs sharply from that of the US military (not surprised) and a Bush administration spokesperson, who were not present at the scene and did not explain whose version of events they were recounting. Officials said Sunday that the shooting was a "horrible accident."

Bad Santa: Do you want this man in YOUR chimney?

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

BERLIN (Reuters) - Drunken Santas on a rampage in New Zealand, armed German robbers in Santa disguises, a British St. Nick wanted for flashing, and a Swedish vandal in a Santa outfit are giving the big man in red a bad name this year.

Reports of "Bad Santas" breaking the law or otherwise wreaking havoc have been circulating around the world.

Armed with a gun, a man in a Santa outfit held up a furniture store in the German town of Ludwigshafen Saturday and forced two cashiers to open the safe. He filled his sack with cash, locked the two women in the safe and escaped.

That's pathetic that Santa even gets a bad rap in his name now.

Saddam trial hears graphic evidence of torture

Top News Article | Reuters.com

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The trial of Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity resumed on Wednesday and heard some of the strongest evidence yet linking the former Iraqi president and his co-defendants to torture.

A witness told the court that Saddam's guards applied electric shocks to detainees at the headquarters of his feared intelligence service, heated up plastic tubing and allowed the hot plastic to drip on to the bodies of their victims.

"They would be in such pain as the plastic solidified on their bodies," the witness recalled. "A man would leave on his feet and come back thrown in a blanket."

Thats really sad.

Let him hear his wrongs, and lets hope some day in the not so distant future we can bring our own leader to justice for all his crimes.

failure defined

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=failure&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=

Omerta

Omerta

I wonder if the Secret Service will be at my door, but then again I've been logging into this game for over a year ;)

Iran Talking Tough as EU Attempts to Restart Dialogue | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 21.12.2005

Iran Talking Tough as EU Attempts to Restart Dialogue | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 21.12.2005

Iran and the European Union met Wednesday to resume a nuclear dialogue broken off in August, with Tehran insisting on its right to make fuel that the West fears could be used to manufacture atom bombs.

Of course they are...they are trouble waiting to happen. watch and see.

Intelligent Design Debate Arrives in Germany | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 21.12.2005

Intelligent Design Debate Arrives in Germany | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 21.12.2005

"Evolution is a documented fact," said Ulrich Kutschera, a professor at the University of Kassel and one of Germany's leading evolutionary biologists. But a small group of skeptics is claiming that evolution is not the scientific explanation for our planet's existence.

Intelligent design (ID) is a movement that has become considerably popular in the United States in the past several years and is now gaining ground in Germany, too. ID supporters believe that an "intelligent force" played a role in the development of the universe, as opposed to it being the result of random natural selection as argued by Darwin.

The ID theory states that nature could not have developed in such a complex manner without the work of a designer -- who is unnamed -- or higher being. It differs from creationism in that it does not advocate taking the Bible literally.

So there is room for speculation internationally.

Forgive me, but one can not take the bible literally, no disrespect to my heavenly father, but was it not constantine who appointed a group of men to pick and choose the books of the bible for the sole purpose of money?

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

Good move.

Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls - New York Times

Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.

How about that kid ordering a book on communism (a couple blogs down) to do a report...suddenly the secret service shows up on his door step...you guys are freaking rediculous

Judge Rejects Teaching Intelligent Design - New York Times

Judge Rejects Teaching Intelligent Design - New York Times

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 20 - A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania school district to present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology courses because it is a religious viewpoint that advances "a particular version of Christianity."


This has been a week of hearing DUMB things in the news, this is really uncalled for, and what every happened to our 1st amendment?
I guess since George took office, we don't use that silly old piece of paper any more.

Sunnis Reject Early Iraq Election Results, Calling for Inquiry - New York Times

Sunnis Reject Early Iraq Election Results, Calling for Inquiry - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 20 - Sunni Arab leaders angrily rejected early election results on Tuesday, saying the vote had been fixed in favor of Iranian-backed religious Shiites and calling for an investigation into possible fraud. Secular politicians also denounced the results and demanded an inquiry.

So not only did we teach them how to have an election, we taught them how to fix the election. Oh that's SO american.

Germany Frees Hijacker Who Killed U.S. Sailor - New York Times

Germany Frees Hijacker Who Killed U.S. Sailor - New York Times

Good for Germany, bad for US. Oh well.

Homeland Security agents investigate student who borrowed copy of Mao's Little Red Book

History News Network

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book." Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.


The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

Totally rediculous, they have gone way too far.

Germany Releases Hezbollah Hijacker Wanted by US | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 20.12.2005

Germany Releases Hezbollah Hijacker Wanted by US | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 20.12.2005

Germany has quietly released a jailed Hezbollah member wanted by the US for killing an American Navy diver. The timing -- just days after the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq -- has raised uncomfortable questions.

Apparently ignoring Washington's extradition request for Mohammed Ali Hamadi, German authorities have secretly released the Lebanese Hezbollah member who was serving a life sentence in the country for the hijacking of a TWA jet and for the murder of a US navy diver.

Curious Indeed.

FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked

FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked

FBI counterterrorism investigators are monitoring domestic U.S. advocacy groups engaged in antiwar, environmental, civil rights and other causes, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday as it released new FBI records that it said detail the extent of the activity.

The documents, disclosed as part of a lawsuit that challenges FBI treatment of groups that planned demonstrations at last year's political conventions, show the bureau has opened a preliminary terrorism investigation into People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the well-known animal rights group based in Norfolk.

Well, they ARE engaging into illegal activities, terrorism to animals (I am not joking about this one) They do nopthing to help animals.

Bush Addresses Uproar Over Spying

Bush Addresses Uproar Over Spying

The political uproar over President Bush's secret domestic spying program escalated yesterday as the president denied overstepping his constitutional bounds while congressional critics from both parties stepped up their attack and vowed a full investigation.

Bush mounted a vigorous defense of his order authorizing warrantless eavesdropping on overseas telephone calls and e-mail of U.S. citizens with suspected ties to terrorists. He contended that his "obligation to protect you" against attack justified a circumvention of the traditional process in a fast-moving, high-tech battle with a shadowy enemy.

Get the little monger OUT of office. I am tired of his making up new rules as he goes. He is not worthy to be president of anything and is a menace to society

Administration Cites War Vote in Spying Case - New York Times

Administration Cites War Vote in Spying Case - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President Bush and two of his most senior aides argued Monday that the highly classified program to spy on suspected members of terrorist groups in the United States grew out of the president's constitutional authority and a 2001 Congressional resolution that authorized him to use all necessary force against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. (Its all Bu*sh*t)

Offering their most forceful and detailed defense of the program in a series of briefings, television interviews and a hastily called presidential news conference, administration officials argued that the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was not written for an age of modern terrorism. In these times, Mr. Bush said, a "two-minute phone conversation between somebody linked to Al Qaeda here and an operative overseas could lead directly to the loss of thousands of lives."

Mr. Bush strongly hinted that the government was beginning a leak investigation into how the existence of the program was disclosed. It was first revealed in an article published on The New York Times Web site on Thursday night, though some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists had been omitted.

"We're at war, and we must protect America's secrets," (You're our #1 enemy)
Mr. Bush said. "And so the Justice Department, I presume, will proceed forward with a full investigation."

Control Freak

Iraq elections: a democratic facade for a US puppet state

Iraq elections: a democratic fa�ade for a US puppet state

Predictably, the Bush administration has told the American people that the elections in Iraq tomorrow will be a democratic milestone for both the country and the broader Middle East. The truth is that they will only produce greater conflict between the country’s main religious and ethnic groups, intensified social and class tensions and greater hostility among the Iraqi people toward the US-led occupation forces.

The entire US-controlled political process this year—the January 30 elections for a transitional government, the drafting of a new constitution and the referendum on October 15—has been aimed at giving the veneer of legal legitimacy to the plunder of the country’s oil and gas and the formation of a puppet government that will sanction an indefinite US military presence in Iraq.

Corruption Catches Up With Germany | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 19.12.2005

Corruption Catches Up With Germany | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 19.12.2005

A report published this month by Transparency International shows that Germans believe corruption is gaining ground when it comes to crime. Public faith in the morals of politicians is at a particularly low ebb.

Germany is playing a game of catch-up. Although corruption has long been part of the fabric of society, an unwavering adherence to the tenet "ignorance is bliss" has served as a buffer zone for those involved in the business of shady deals. But now the winds of change have begun to whip at the nation's door as Germans realize their country is affected too.

Corruption is indeed widespread in Germany, according to Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization devoted to combating the practice. TI defines it as "the misuse of entrusted power for private gain."

Corrupton is wide spread in every country, but I don't see your leader caught in the act, then groveling in front of your citizens publicly about acts that have been known for a long time in a lame effort to redeem his acts of indecency and voilations of international laws, meanwhile proclaiming to continue these acts at the same time.
Germany is doing something about the issue of corruption, and doing so with dignity.

Germany Relieved at Freeing of Hostage, But Questions Remain | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 19.12.2005

Germany Relieved at Freeing of Hostage, But Questions Remain | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 19.12.2005

Germany rejoiced following the freeing of hostage Susanne Osthoff and her driver in Iraq after more than three weeks in captivity. But details of the release are still shrouded in mystery.

Germany heaved a sigh of relief following news of the release of Susanne Osthoff, a 43-year-old German archaeologist and aid worker, in Iraq after more than three weeks in captivity.

Germany is not concerned about winning anything, Germany is concerned about doing what is right by their people. They don't want this war and I applaud their decision to cease training Iraqi police officers.

Bush Defends Eavesdropping Program

Bush Defends Eavesdropping Program

President Bush today offered his most elaborate defense yet of his administration's domestic eavesdropping program, saying he was legally and constitutionally authorized to implement it and obligated to do so in order to protect the country from a new kind of enemy.

In a wide-ranging news conference this morning, Bush said his authority to have the National Security Agency eavesdrop without judicial involvement derived from his inherent constitutional powers as commander in chief as well as from the authorization for the use of military force approved by Congress in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Congress gave me authority," he said.

Congress just didn't know they gave him authority.

He expressed anger at the fact that someone revealed the secret program, saying he assumed the Department of Justice would launch an investigation to determine the source of the leak. "My personal opinion is it was a shameful act for someone to disclose this program in a time of war. . . . The fact that we're discussing this program is helping the enemy," he said.

What really blows my mind is he is angry that someone revealed the program, when we already knew it was happening. At least I did, its been circulating for several years now. What planet is he on? What drug is he on? He really does live in a bubble.

Rights group says US had secret Afghanistan prison

Top News Article | Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A human rights group said on Sunday that the United States operated a secret prison for terrorism suspects as recently as last year in Afghanistan, where detainees where subjected to torture and other mistreatment.

The Bush administration has faced international criticism over detainees after a November 2 Washington Post article said the CIA held dozens of terrorism suspects in secret prisons called "black sites" in countries around the world, including eastern Europe.

Human Rights Watch said eight detainees now held in the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have told their attorneys that they were arrested separately in countries in Asia and the Middle East and flown to Afghanistan at various times between 2002 and 2004.

The men were taken to a prison near Kabul where they were shackled to walls, kept in darkness for weeks, deprived of food and water for days at a time, bombarded with loud rap and heavy metal music, and punched and slapped during questioning by U.S. interrogators

Talking John Lennon doll coming soon

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

Will it state the contents of the pages the FBI doesn't want exposed, for the sake of "Homeland security"

Battles rage in U.S. over celebrating holidays

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

All I have to say is Merry Christmas, which is consistant with my 1st amendment.

Bush says leaking spy program a shameful act - Politics - MSNBC.com

Bush says leaking spy program a �shameful act� - Politics - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday said disclosure of his domestic eavesdropping program was a “shameful act” and said he will keep using it “for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens.”

. Its a shameful act, but you are going to continue it....You are the number 1 enemy of the american people

Probe Sought on NSA Surveillance

Probe Sought on NSA Surveillance

Democrats and Republicans called separately yesterday for congressional investigations into President Bush's decision after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to allow domestic eavesdropping without court approval.

"The president has, I think, made up a law that we never passed," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.).

I love it!

Lives Lost As Vaccine Programs Face Delays

Lives Lost As Vaccine Programs Face Delays

There is NO excuse for this. Our countries priorities are really messed up.

EPIC Archive - Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Overview. Please Read:

EPIC Archive - Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Electronic Surveillance at an All-Time High in 2004.

2003 Surveillance Report: Secret Warrants Surpass Standard Warrants.

FISA Wiretaps At All-Time High.

Surveillance Oversight Act Introduced.

American Bar Association Urges FISA Oversight.

Secret Appeals Court Permits Broader Electronic Surveillance.

Memo Reveals FBI Wiretap Violations.

Rights Groups File Brief With Secret Appeals Court.

FISA Court Chastises DOJ, FBI.

I am far from finished with this....

US defends decision on domestic eavesdropping

Top News Article Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday said President George W. Bush's secret order to allow spying on people in the United States was legal and necessary to prevent terrorism, but lawmakers from both parties called for Congress to investigate.

In an interview with ABC's "Nightline," Cheney said the president acted within his constitutional authority as commander in chief and that the program was under constant legal review.

"It is a program that is, by every effort we've been able to make, consistent with the statutes and with the law. It's the kind of capability if we'd had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11," Cheney said in a transcript released on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," said disclosure of the eavesdropping could jeopardize terrorism investigations.

"The more we get the exposure of these very sensitive programs, the more it undermines our ability to follow terrorists, to know about their activities," she said.

Rice reiterated Bush's statement that the wiretapping of telephone conversations and other communications was legal and did not violate the U.S. Constitution. (When was the last time you read it? Have a look, for starters at Amendment 4)

A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without court approval. WE want to see the court approval

Then it serves you right to breach our privacy, you get what you deserve. The US Government treats us like children, pretending we don't know what going on. We do.
It would behoove the US to take example of Germany, who having once endured major crisis of magnamious proportions, that your actions are going to create and have begun to replicate the very same scenario.

Bush to Americans: 'Do not give in to despair'

Top News Article | Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush made an unusually direct personal appeal to Americans on Sunday night not to give in to despair over Iraq, insisting "We are winning" despite a tougher-than-expected war.

Confronting American doubts about the war, Bush said in an Oval Office address he recognized that people wondered whether the U.S. mission had created more problems than it is solving.

"I do not expect you to support everything I do," Bush said in remarkably personal terms. "But tonight I have a request: Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom."

Bush, struggling with low approval ratings and wide public discontent with the rising U.S. death toll, pointed to Iraq's election last Thursday as a sign of progress in the war, which is costing taxpayers $6 billion a month.

Its too late, and I am borea**ed with hearing you say that over and over.
America has suffered immeasurably with your self serving agenda, lies and violations of every concievable law, amendment, treaty and violation of our privacy. Every day we have seen death, and every day you have lied. Its very old.

McCain-Bush "anti-torture" measure gives legal cover for continued abuse

McCain-Bush "anti-torture" measure gives legal cover for continued abuse:

"The McCain amendment will have no effect on US policy toward alleged terrorists detained by Washington. This policy flows organically from the drive by the American ruling elite to achieve by military force a hegemonic position in oil-rich regions such as the Middle East and Central Asia, which is deemed critical to the broader aim of establishing American imperialist hegemony on a global scale."

The hypocrisy that underlies McCain’s position was on display at his joint appearance with President Bush on Thursday. He ended his remarks praising the White House by declaring, “Now I think we can move forward with winning the war on terror and in Iraq.”

The Bush administration is utilizing, appropriately enough, the “Big Lie” propaganda methods perfected by the Hitler regime to cover up Washington’s use of barbaric practices that were employed on a more massive scale by the German fascists.

Don't Be Fooled by Bush Polls, Democratic Council Warns

Don't Be Fooled by Bush Polls, Democratic Council Warns

True. We are left in a wake of massive wreckage that will take at least a decade, maybe two to reconcile.

Rising public frustration with the Iraq war and low approval ratings for President Bush look to many Democrats like an opportunity for big gains with voters in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

But two of the party's top strategists say this opportunity may be something else: a trap

Bush's Fumbles Spur New Talk of Oversight on Hill

Bush's Fumbles Spur New Talk of Oversight on Hill

hahaha.

After a series of embarrassing disclosures, Congress is reconsidering its relatively lenient oversight of the Bush administration. (Good thinking)

Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by several recent reports, including the existence of secret U.S. prisons abroad, the CIA's detention overseas of innocent foreign nationals, and, last week, the discovery that the military has been engaged in domestic spying. After five years in which the GOP-controlled House and Senate undertook few investigations into the administration's activities, the legislative branch has begun to complain about being in the dark.

On Friday, after learning that the National Security Agency was eavesdropping on conversations in the United States, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said that the activity was "wrong and it can't be condoned at all," and that his committee "can undertake oversight on it." (oh no, he'll be hearing from me on this one.)

That same day, the House approved a resolution that would direct the administration to provide House and Senate intelligence committees with classified reports on the secret U.S. prisons overseas (Having a bad day?...the truth ALWAYS comes out)

Democrats have long complained about a dearth of congressional investigations into Bush administration activities, but their criticism has been gaining validation from others after the botched response to Hurricane Katrina, problems in Iraq and ethical lapses.

Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, said this fall that "the people's representatives over on the Hill in that other branch of government have truly abandoned their oversight responsibilities [on national security] and have let things atrophy to the point that if we don't do something about it, it's going to get even more dangerous than it already is."

In an interview last week, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said "it's a fair comment" that the GOP-controlled Congress has done insufficient oversight and "ought to be" doing more.

"Republican Congresses tend to overinvestigate Democratic administrations and underinvestigate their own," said Davis, who added that he has tried to pick up some of the slack with his committee. "I get concerned we lose our separation of powers when one party controls both branches."

Well honey, that's the ugly truth about politics, and a whole lot more will be revealed

President Acknowledges Approving Secretive Eavesdropping

President Acknowledges Approving Secretive Eavesdropping

President Bush said yesterday that he secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists because it was "critical to saving American lives" and "consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution."

I still don't know what Constitution you are referring to, however you don't need to eaves drop on me to find out what I am thinking and my position on the current state of affairs. I'll tell it to you straight to your face. I have made it a public domain.
I have no secrets.

Aljazeera.Net - US 'nightmare' set to win Bolivian vote

Aljazeera.Net - US 'nightmare' set to win Bolivian vote

Jorge Quiroga, the former Bolivian president, has conceded defeat to Evo Morales, the leftist challenger, in the country's presidential election.

I am not phased by his intentions, nor his plight to be a "US nightmare." Not one bit. You'll probably be feeding George's nose candy fancy. Hitler fancied it too. They are not that much differeny on an egocentric level.
However I DO find Morales arrogance on a personal level deplorable. Let him ruin his country, and the rest of South America.

kmwittig- The US Constitution

kmwittig

I created this blog as an outline of the Amendments to the Constitution to point out what Bush has explicitly regarded as null and void in his presidency.

Aljazeera.Net - Bush: Don't give up on Iraq

Aljazeera.Net - Bush: Don't give up on Iraq

While Germany has set exemplary standards for other countries to follow, we are stuck with this bumbling idiot.

President Bush has made an unusually direct personal appeal to Americans not to give in to despair over Iraq, insisting "we are winning" despite a tougher-than-expected war.

German Hostage's Passion Is Archeology in Iraq | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 30.11.2005

German Hostage's Passion Is Archeology in Iraq | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 30.11.2005

Susanne Osthoff, the German who has been abducted in Iraq, has devoted her life to researching Iraq's cultural heritage and criticized the US for not preventing the destruction of its archeological sites during the war.

Not only did they destroy it, that which had not been destroyed by the war had been littered by graffiti by the US Military, exemplifying the ignorance of many troops who are deployed there. The people of Iraq have the right to be angry.

German Hostage in Iraq Free | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 18.12.2005

German Hostage in Iraq Free | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 18.12.2005

German archeologist Susanne Osthoff, who was kidnapped in Iraq last month, is free, Foreign Minister Steinmeier confirmed Sunday evening.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed in an evening press conference that Susanne Osthoff had been freed. Since Sunday she had been in safety at the German embassy in Baghdad, and she was in good health, he said.

The German Government obviously knows how to handle situations like this better that the US. I have far more respect for Germany, if you picked up on that, than I do for the USA's government.

In Address, Bush Says He Ordered Domestic Spying - New York Times

In Address, Bush Says He Ordered Domestic Spying - New York Times


WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 - President Bush acknowledged on Saturday that he had ordered the National Security Agency to conduct an electronic eavesdropping program in the United States without first obtaining warrants, and said he would continue the highly classified program because it was "a vital tool in our war against the terrorists."

In an unusual step, Mr. Bush delivered a live weekly radio address from the White House in which he defended his action as "fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities."

what constitution do you use?

Abducted German Says No Payment From US | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 17.12.2005

Abducted German Says No Payment From US | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 17.12.2005

A German citizen of Lebanese origin, mistakenly abducted and detained by the CIA, said Friday he had not received any payment from the United States or been asked to keep quiet about the affair.

"I have not received money from anyone and I have promised nobody I would keep quiet about what happened to me," Khaled el-Masri told German television. "I am outraged and very disappointed anyone should level such accusations."

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told a parliamentary committee Wednesday that the United States had apologized to Masri and paid him damages.

I don't trust this guy...my gut says he's not as innocent as he proclaims to be

Iran Blames EU for Failed Talks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.08.2005

Iran Blames EU for Failed Talks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.08.2005

Iran on Wednesday stuck by its decision to resume sensitive nuclear fuel cycle work, accusing the European Union of damaging diplomatic efforts to resolve a crisis over its nuclear program.

I guess the US will bully its way into another bloodbath

Iran Wants Nuclear Talks Beyond Europe | Current Affairs | Deutsche Welle | 28.08.2005

Iran Wants Nuclear Talks Beyond Europe | Current Affairs | Deutsche Welle | 28.08.2005

Iran does not consider Britain, France and Germany to be the sole negotiating partners on its nuclear program and believes the process should be opened out beyond Europe, the foreign ministry said Sunday.



"We will continue negotiating with them, but on the other hand we will not restrict our negotiations to being with just these three countries," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said of the so-called EU-3.

Iran looks like trouble.

Germany Warns of Fallout Over Anti-Israel Remarks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 12.12.2005

Germany Warns of Fallout Over Anti-Israel Remarks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 12.12.2005

Germany will push for "political consequences" in the United Nations and the European Union over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel. The row comes just before nuclear talks with Tehran

The controversy over Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks against Israel has cast a shadow over upcoming negotiations between the EU-3, Britain, France and Germany, and Tehran over Iran's nuclear fuel program.

Germany Wants UN to Censure Iran Over President's Remarks | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 17.12.2005

Germany Wants UN to Censure Iran Over President's Remarks | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 17.12.2005
Germany plans to ask the UN Security Council to punish Iran for remarks made by its president questioning the reality of the Holocaust, a senior government official says in an interview to be published Sunday.

"We are looking at (possible) measures at the level of the UN," Thomas de Maizieres, chief of staff of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper

But, de Maizieres said, Germany would only take such a step if there was "clear" agreement from its European Union partners.

Sick and Vulnerable, Workers Fear for Health and Their Jobs - New York Times

Sick and Vulnerable, Workers Fear for Health and Their Jobs - New York Times

We've come a million miles from the bad old days," said Robin Bond, who runs an employment law firm in Wayne, Pa., and represents individuals with claims against employers. "But no law changes the basic fact that employers want to do what's good for business. Their job is not necessarily to do what is good for you."

Fact: You are deem you dead weight for being ill and do everything in their power to make your job so difficult you plead to be let go.
Or some drive you to the ground because they are so understaffed, and can't find people who will work 10 hour days for peanuts.

Chinese Pressing to Keep Village Silent on Clash - New York Times

Chinese Pressing to Keep Village Silent on Clash - New York Times

SHANGHAI, Dec. 16 - Ten days ago, the sleepy fishing village of Dongzhou was the scene of a deadly face-off, with protesters hurling homemade bombs and the police gunning them down in the streets.

Now, a stilted calm prevails, a cover-up so carefully planned that the small town looks like a relic from the Cultural Revolution, as if the government had decided to re-educate the entire population. Banners hang everywhere, with slogans in big red characters proclaiming things like, "Stability is paramount" and "Don't trust instigators."

Many facts remain unclear about the police crackdown on a Dongzhou demonstration on Dec. 6, which residents say ended in the deaths of 20 or more people, but one thing is certain: The government is doing everything possible to prevent witnesses' accounts of what happened from emerging.

Residents of Dongzhou, a small town now cordoned off by heavy police roadblocks and patrols, said in scores of interviews on the telephone and with visitors that they had endured beatings, bribes and threats at the hands of security forces in the week and a half after their protest against the construction of a power plant was violently put down. Others said that the corpses of the dead had been withheld, apparently because they were so riddled with bullets that they would contradict the government's version of events. And residents have been warned that if they must explain the deaths of loved ones - many of whom were shot dead during a tense standoff with the police in which fireworks, blasting caps and crude gasoline bombs were thrown by the villagers - they should simply say their relatives were blown up by their own explosives."

Local officials are talking to families that had relatives killed in the incident, telling them that if they tell higher officials and outsiders that they died by accident, by explosives, while confronting the police, they must make it sound convincing," said one resident of the besieged town in an interview. "If the family members speak this way they are being promised 50,000 yuan ($6,193), and if not, they will be beaten and get nothing out of it."

Behind Power, One Principle as Bush Pushes Prerogatives - New York Times

Behind Power, One Principle as Bush Pushes Prerogatives - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 - A single, fiercely debated legal principle lies behind nearly every major initiative in the Bush administration's war on terror, scholars say: the sweeping assertion of the powers of the presidency.

From the government's detention of Americans as "enemy combatants" to the just-disclosed eavesdropping in the United States without court warrants, the administration has relied on an unusually expansive interpretation of the president's authority. That stance has given the administration leeway for decisive action, but it has come under severe criticism from some scholars and the courts.

But some legal experts outside the administration, including some who served previously in the intelligence agencies, said the administration had pushed the presidential-powers argument beyond what was legally justified or prudent. They say the N.S.A. domestic eavesdropping illustrates the flaws in Mr. Bush's assertion of his powers.

"Obviously we have to do things differently because of the terrorist threat," said Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, former general counsel of both N.S.A. and the Central Intelligence Agency, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. "But to do it without the participation of the Congress and the courts is unwise in the extreme."

FindLaw: U.S. Constitution: Fourth Amendment

FindLaw: U.S. Constitution: Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Got that George?

National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) -- Site Start Page

National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) -- Site Start Page

Here it is "No Such Agency" its public knowledge now.

BBC NEWS | World | From Our Own Correspondent | America's most powerful spy agency

BBC NEWS | World | From Our Own Correspondent | America's most powerful spy agency

A few miles out of Washington, on Route 1 to Baltimore, lies an inconspicuous military installation called Fort Meade.

You would not notice it unless you knew what to look for. In fact, on most road maps, Fort Meade does not exist.

And yet it contains the largest mass of secrets in the world.

It is home to the National Security Agency (NSA), the least visible but most powerful spy agency in America's armoury.

Yep, I know about it.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush stands firm over spying row

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush stands firm over spying row

President George W Bush insists he has not compromised civil liberties, after it was alleged he authorised people in the US to be bugged without a warrant.

A storm of protest erupted after the New York Times said the National Security Agency (NSA) was allowed to eavesdrop on hundreds of people.

Senators from both sides called for an explanation and investigation.

Mr Bush refused to confirm or deny the claims, but said he always upheld the law and protected civil liberties.

The president said he would not discuss ongoing intelligence operations.

But he added: "I will make this point. That whatever I do to protect the American people, and I have an obligation to do so, that we will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people."

In otherwards yes, he broke the law to be a nosy sob(or amended temporarily to suit his wants)

Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.

Democrats said the 14-page report contradicts Bush's contention that lawmakers saw all the evidence before U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, stating that the president and a small number of advisers "have access to a far greater volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information."

blah, blah, blah

Former Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin Dies

Former Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin Dies

Lawmaker Famous for His "Golden Fleece" Awards Highlighting Government Waste

Proxmire became a household name for his monthly Golden Fleece awards, started in 1975, to highlight "the biggest or most ridiculous or most ironic example of government waste." The ceremony, as such, was a speech on the Senate floor.

Proxmire's awards went to studies that used public money to explore the effects of booze on fish, why prisoners like to escape from jail and the shapeliness of airplane stewardesses.

He gave the Army Corps of Engineers the 1976 award of the year for "the worst record of cost overruns in the entire federal government -- 47 percent of Corps current projects had cost overruns of 100 percent or more."

I like this guy. May he rest in peace

Bush Declares DeLay Innocent

Bush Declares DeLay Innocent

Bu*sh*it

Democrats Criticize Bush For Saying DeLay's Innocent

Democrats Criticize Bush For Saying DeLay's Innocent

Democratic leaders sternly criticized President Bush yesterday for saying former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of felonious campaign finance abuses, suggesting his comments virtually amounted to jury tampering before DeLay stands trial. (and so does one Non democrat.)

"The president of the United States said a jury does not need to assemble, that Tom DeLay is innocent," said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). "To have someone of his stature, the president of the United States, prejudge a case is something I've never seen before."

(Therefore sealing DeLay's guilt, and George is covering up and Lying again).

President Relents, Backs Torture Ban

President Relents, Backs Torture Ban

McCain Proposal Had Veto-Proof Support

President Bush reversed position yesterday and endorsed a torture ban crafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after months of White House attempts to weaken the measure, which would prohibit the "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of any detainee in U.S. custody anywhere in the world.

The announcement of a deal at the White House yesterday was a setback for the administration, which had pressed the senator to either drop the measure or modify it so that interrogators, especially with the CIA, would have the flexibility to use a range of extreme tactics on terrorism suspects. In the end, McCain, bolstered by strong support in both houses of Congress, was willing to add only two paragraphs that would give civilian interrogators legal protections that are already afforded to military interrogators.

I am liking this John McCain more every day

Patriot Act renewal blocked in Senate

Top News Article | Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, demanding increased protection of civil liberties, defied President George W. Bush on Friday and blocked legislation to renew the USA Patriot Act, a centerpiece of his war on terrorism.

GOOD

After vote, Iraqis hope bloodshed will end

Top News Article | Reuters.com

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Their election over, Iraqis pondered the likely shape of a future government on Friday, hoping it would lead to a withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to the bloodshed of the past three years.

I hope so too, but its highly unlikely, Unfortunately.

NICE Catch-The catch of a lifetime

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York woman threw her one-month-old son from the third floor of a burning building and the baby was caught by an amateur baseball player standing outside, media reports said on Thursday.
Local television stations aired a videotape of Wednesday's dramatic rescue in the Bronx taken by a surveillance camera.

It showed the baby, swathed in white, tumbling some 30 feet
into the arms of Housing Authority employee Felix Vazquez, one of several people waiting below.

The Daily News said firefighters rescued Tracinda Foxe from her apartment shortly after she tossed her baby to Vazquez, who plays catcher on a neighborhood baseball team.

Literacy Falls for Graduates From College, Testing Finds - New York Times

Literacy Falls for Graduates From College, Testing Finds - New York Times

The average American college graduate's literacy in English declined significantly over the past decade, according to results of a nationwide test released yesterday.

Thats pretty sad; Education is America is failing. But this is interesting:

Grover J. Whitehurst, director of an institute within the Department of Education that helped to oversee the test, said he believed that the literacy of college graduates had dropped because a rising number of young Americans in recent years had spent their free time watching television and surfing the Internet.

TV perhaps, but for me, the internet has become a major catalyst to knowledge.

Korean Scientist Said to Admit Fabrication in a Cloning Study - New York Times

Korean Scientist Said to Admit Fabrication in a Cloning Study - New York Times

The South Korean scientist who claimed a stunning series of advances in cloning and stem cell research has admitted that critical parts of one discovery were fabricated, a colleague said yesterday.

The colleague, Dr. Roh Sung Il, a co-author of a paper in the journal Science last June in which the scientist, Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, claimed to have created stem cells from 11 patients, told the Korean television station MBC, "Hwang today made statements totally contrary to what we have believed is right. " Dr. Roh added, "Nine of the 11 stem-cell lines he had said he created didn't even exist."

That's a nice way of saying he LIED

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts - New York Times

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches.

I believe they have crossed the line.... RE The Fouth Amendment of the US Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Aljazeera.Net - CIA got 'legal guidance' for torture

Aljazeera.Net - CIA got 'legal guidance' for torture

The US Justice Department offered justification for the use of torture against al-Qaida detainees in an August 2002 memo to the White House, The Washington Post has reported.

The memo said if a government employee were to torture a suspect in captivity, "he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al-Qaida terrorist network", the newspaper reported.

The memo also said that arguments centring on "necessity and self-defence could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability" later, according to the Post. BU*SH*IT

Well, since we've been using the CIA as hired assassins for YEARS, this should not be a surprise.

Aljazeera.Net - Rumsfeld can override torture order

Aljazeera.Net - Rumsfeld can override torture order

The loophole:


US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld can override the new Defence Department policy on military interrogations that bars torture and calls for "humane" treatment of detainees, a spokesman said.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said there was nothing unusual about the caveat because a defence secretary always has the authority to change or modify policy he has made.

"Any deviation from the policy would have to be approved," he told reporters. "The secretary can make an exception to any policy."

Aljazeera.Net - Bush to accept new torture policy

Aljazeera.Net - Bush to accept new torture policy

After months of resistance, the White House has agreed to accept Senator John McCain's call for a law specifically banning cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror, several congressional officials say.

Under the emerging deal, CIA and other civilian interrogators would be given the same legal rights as are currently guaranteed to members of the military who are accused of breaking interrogation guidelines, these officials added.

Thereby reinforcing the Geneva Convention, which went out the window a long time ago. Oh Georgie isn't going to like not using brute force, but guess what; We the people have the right to abolish THIS FORM OF GOVERNMENT

Aljazeera.Net - High turnout for Iraq vote

Aljazeera.Net - High turnout for Iraq vote

A high voter turnout despite a string of explosions and mortar attacks has marked Iraq's historic general election for the first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.


The high turnout on Thursday's polls forced Iraq's election commission to extend voting by an additional hour around the country.

"We have issued an order to all centres in Iraq to extend the vote by one hour," said Adel al-Lami, the director-general of the Independent Electoral Commission.

With voters lining up in large numbers, polling stations stayed open until 6pm (1500GMT). As voting ended, celebratory gunfire rang out in Baghdad, as much in jubilation as it was in relief for the day having passed off in relative peace.

This is good for them, I am curious what will be in the shadows, but undoubtedly more will be revealed.

Pentagon's domestic spying operations target opponents of Iraq war

Pentagon's domestic spying operations target opponents of Iraq war

As Congress moves toward passage of a bill to extend the USA Patriot Act, scattered reports are surfacing in the US media of a massive expansion of domestic spying operations by the US military. The reports make clear that US citizens engaged in peaceful and legal political activity in opposition to the war in Iraq and aggressive military recruiting tactics are being monitored by military intelligence agencies and included in rapidly expanding secret data banks.

THAT WOULD BE ME! HAVE A LOOK AT ALL MY WORK; All my publications and webpages. http://dearfriends.bravehost.com

There's lots more!! \o/

I STRONGLY OPPOSE THE WAR AND FEEL THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE FOR WAR CRIMES...HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? ARE YOU READING WHAT I AM WRITING????

Vaffanculo!

Girl, 13, fights school uniform in court

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 13-year-old Los Angeles girl who refuses to wear a school uniform has taken her fight to court, charging that school officials violated her civil rights by demanding she wear the blue skirt and white blouse.

The teen's lawsuit seeks to bar the school from disciplining her over the uniform issue, along with unspecified monetary damages for violation of her civil rights, infliction of emotional distress and battery.


Give me a break. The kid needs help, some self rightous person is giving her very bad messages for living in society.

Hitler salute greets concentration camp visitors

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

BERLIN (Reuters) - Two German women have been arrested for giving a Hitler salute and singing a neo-Nazi song to foreign tourists on their way to Germany's Sachsenhausen concentration camp museum, prosecutors said Thursday.
"The tour group was joined on a commuter train platform by two women who marched alongside them, sang the song 'White Aryan resistance' and gave them the Hitler salute," the prosecutors office in Neuruppin, Germany, said in a statement.

The 18- and 19-year-old women, who were under the influence of alcohol at the time, were taken into police custody, the prosecutors said. Germany has strict laws banning the use of Nazi symbols and expression of Nazi ideas

People like this I'd like to knock the crap out of.

In Four Speeches, Two Answers on War's End

In Four Speeches, Two Answers on War's End

As President Bush wrapped up a series of speeches on the war yesterday, he once again gave a clear answer to when U.S. troops would come home from Iraq: "We will not leave until victory has been achieved."

And he also gave this clear answer to when U.S. troops would come home from Iraq: "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."

What he did not do was reconcile those two ideas. Will U.S. soldiers withdraw from Iraq only after the insurgency has been vanquished? Or will they withdraw when Iraqi security forces become adequately trained to take over the battle themselves? Or somewhere in between?

Columnist Says Bush Knows Who Leaked Name

Columnist Says Bush Knows Who Leaked Name

Of couse he does, and so do I but do you really think he'll do anything about it?

House Supports Ban on Torture

House Supports Ban on Torture

The House gave strong support yesterday to a measure that would ban torture and limit interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities, agreeing with senators that Congress needs to set uniform guidelines for the treatment of prisoners in the war on terrorism.

The vote sends a clear signal to the Bush administration that both chambers of Congress support the anti-torture legislation and want the government to adopt guidelines that aim to prevent damage to the U.S. image abroad. The White House has been aggressively pushing to create exceptions for CIA operatives and to water down McCain's language to keep it from limiting interrogators' options. But it appears that the administration and House Republican leaders lost some leverage yesterday.

What the house says and what George and Dick do are two different things.

Scattered attacks fail to disrupt big Iraq vote

Top News Article | Reuters.com

Insurgents made only sporadic attacks on Iraq's election on Thursday as voters turned out in force, joined by disaffected Sunni Arabs determined to win a bigger say in government.

The largely peaceful poll, which will raise U.S. hopes that a stable government can eventually pave the way for American troops to pull out, was a sharp contrast to January's election for an interim assembly, when some 40 people died.

Sunni Arabs largely boycotted that poll but mobilized in large numbers on Thursday, with backing from nationalist rebels who vowed to protect voters in western and northern cities.

"Turnout is much higher than expected," Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said before 10 hours of voting was due to end at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Thats good...but what happens next?

US no-fly list vexes travelers from babies on up

Top News Article | Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Zapolsky was checking in for a flight to Italy when she discovered her 9-month-old son's name was on the United States' "no-fly" list of suspected terrorists.

"We pointed down to the stroller, and he sat there and gurgled," Zapolsky said, recalling the incident at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in July. "The desk agent started laughing. ... She couldn't print us out a boarding pass because he's on the no-fly list."

Zapolsky, who did not want her son's name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. "But when I found out you can't actually get off the list, I started to get a bit annoyed."

That's US "Intelligence" for ya

No Better Deal to Come Says Britain as Europe Nears Crisis | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 14.12.2005

No Better Deal to Come Says Britain as Europe Nears Crisis | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 14.12.2005

Britain's second draft of budget proposals will be its last for the forseeable future, officials said Wednesday as Germany and the rest of the EU urged the presidency to avoid an imminent crisis.

Germany's hopes that a deal could be reached for Europe's 2007-2013 spending plans at an EU summit starting Thursday took a blow after Britain announced that it had made its best offer to end the standoff over the European Union's long-term budget and said that no better deal was likely for at least a year, according to a British EU presidency official said in Brussels on Wednesday.

"We will see no better deal this week or next year," the official said on condition of anonymity, on the eve of an EU summit focused almost entirely on ending the impasse over the bloc's 2007-2013 spending plans.


and so shall they reap.