September 14, 2006

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Med. Note: 80% of Americans die in a hospital.
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Former Texas Governor Ann Richards Dies
Former Gov. Ann Richards, who opened the doors of state government to women and minorities and won national celebrity with her lively humor and Texas twang, died Wednesday night at her home. She was 73.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/13/richards.obit.ap/index.html

Princeton Scientists Create Vote-Stealing Program for Diebold AccuVote-TS
A group of Princeton computer scientists said they created demonstration vote-stealing software that can be installed within a minute on a common electronic voting machine. The software can fraudulently change vote counts without being detected.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091406K.shtml

VIDEO: Princeton Professors Demonstrate How To Hack A Voting Machine…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/how-to-hack-a-diebold-iv_b_29414.html

Powell: “The World Is Beginning To Doubt The Moral Basis Of Our Fight Against Terrorism”...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/09/14/powell-the-world-is-beg_n_29426.html

Top GOP Senators Oppose Bush's Terror Bill...
But Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, endorsed efforts to block the president's plan. http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/bush-asks-gop-to-back-terror-bills/20060913233409990014

ACLU Slams Senate Judiciary Committee’s Approval of NSA Spying Bills
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0913-03.htm

DeLay Could Face Conspiracy Charge
The highest criminal appeals court in the state of Texas said Wednesday that it would consider reinstating a conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, further delaying his felony money laundering trial.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091306R.shtml

Greenstone Launches All-Women Radio Talk Network
Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda, has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States. Steinem said the network, which is run by women, aims to provide an alternative to current radio talk, which she describes as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated."
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091306WA.shtml

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Med. Note: More New York City residents die from suicide than are murdered.
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"The courts have held that many of Bush's
policies are illegal. How does Congress respond to this? By being legal enablers and moving to draft legislation to make these policies legal -- though they would still, for now, be constitutional. The Specter bill gives the President carte blanche. It abolishes all limits on the president's power to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens, it embraces the most radical 'unitary executive' theories of executive power, and attempts to destroy the possibility of judicial review of the president's behavior." rrmcgovern@aol.com and/or
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/09/13/bush_cheney_hit_with_mock_guilty_verdict

Lamont Says Iraq War "Dangerously Wrong"
"We have sacrificed our daughters and sons and our treasure in a war we didn't have to fight," said Ned Lamont. "We have ignored the real threats and security needs in the war we should be fighting, the one against the terrorists.... Senator Lieberman believes that President Bush has it right in Iraq. I believe that he's dangerously wrong."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091406N.shtml

White House, GOP Senators at Impasse Over Terror Law
The White House and three powerful GOP senators reached an impasse Wednesday over a Bush administration plan to allow tough CIA interrogations, underscoring election-season divisions among Republicans on the high profile issue of security.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091406O.shtml

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Med. Note: The death rate actually decreases when doctors go on strike.
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The Fall of Tony Blair
Chris Floyd writes: "It may look and feel like a farce right now, but one day some future Shakespeare might write it as a tragedy: the fall of a powerful, popular leader broken on the wheel of war. For make no mistake: if not for the criminal folly of the Iraq invasion, British Prime Minister Tony Blair would not have been unceremoniously shoved toward the exit last week by his own party, including some of his fiercest loyalists."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091406J.shtml

A Window Into Oil Lease Profiteering Removal of royalty paments!!!!
An official overseeing oil leasing says he was directed in the 1990s to remove a provision concerning royalty payments, leading to a financial windfall to oil companies. He also said that mid-level department officials covered up the mistake for five years and thus failed to deal with ethical missteps and conflicts of interest.
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FPolitics%2Fstory%3Fid%3D2427096%26page%3D1%26CMP%3DOTC-RSSFeeds0312

Bush Administration Plans Even Bigger EPA Cuts for '08
"EPA planning is now driven entirely by external fiscal targets without regard to the effects upon public or environmental health," says public employee advocate Jeff Ruch. "The Bush administration seeks to 'disinvest' in environmental science, pollution control and global sustainability."
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091306EA.shtml

The Rove Less Traveled:
Texas's then-governor George W. Bush once asked a reporter, "You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you Herman?" When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly quipped: "I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell."
http://tinyurl.com/l8xo6

The Pentagon's 12-Step Program to Create a Military of Misfits
"With a growing majority of Americans opposed to the war in Iraq, even ardent hawks refusing to enlist in droves, and the Pentagon pulling out ever more stops and sinking to new lows in recruitment and retention, a new all-volunteer generation of UUUU's may emerge - the underachieving, unable, unexceptional, unintelligent, unsound, unhinged, unacceptable, unhealthy, undesirable, unloved, uncivil, and even un-American, all led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful," Nick Turse writes. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091406E.shtml

======================================================================== Med. Note: Deaths blamed on mistakes made with prescription drugs sold at pharmacies spike at the beginning of each month.
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Gadgets Eating More Energy
Gadgets like plasma screen TVs, DVD players and iPod chargers are forecast to spark soaring electricity demand. The Toronto Star reports that the growth of electronics and small appliances in Ontario households over the next 20 years will require the equivalent of two nuclear reactors to keep them powered.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091306EC.shtml

Mr. Murtha puts forward a resolution introduced the following resolution:
Expressing the Sense of Congress that the President should immediately replace the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
http://www.house.gov/list/press/pa12_murtha/PRrummyres06.html

National coordinator of Just Foreign Policy:
"As in Iraq, the faction of Congress and the administration hungry for military confrontation with Iran is again trying to cook the intelligence and undermine the international inspection system.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

9/11: Canadians take stock:
Poll reveals a hardening of opinions; many blame U.S. foreign policy for attacks
http://tinyurl.com/gzez5

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Med. Note: Slack health care results in about 62,000 avoidable deaths.
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Gay Groups Renew Drive Against ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Two were college students, and the other was a college graduate. They had no criminal records. They were fit and eager to serve at a time when wars on two fronts have put a strain on American troops and the need for qualified recruits is great…..But the recruiter was forced to turn them away, for one reason: they are gay and unwilling to conceal it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/us/14gay.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1158206400&en=c51f3ff0f2068574&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

Adam Pearlman joins al-Qaeda:
An al-Qaeda activist who in a tape aired by the terror group called on American citizens to embrace Islam is Adam Pearlman, the son of a Jewish musician from California.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3303485,00.html

U.S. Company cleaning up on terror: Raytheon: dirty bomb detectors show promise:
(Wherever you look there is money being made on war.)
Raytheon Co. sensors that scan cargo shipments for nuclear weapons and "dirty bombs" could generate $1 billion in U.S. sales, company officials said yesterday at a Washington press briefing. http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2006/08/raytheon_dirty.html?p1=email_to_a_friend

Just plug your zip code in and it'll tell you the lowest -- and highest -- price in your area. Check it out.
http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

10 Billion Dollars Could Buy Universal Schooling
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0913-03.htm

Armchair Sleuths Uncover Strange Military Sites in China
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0913-08.htm

Universal Health Insurance and the Race for Governor of California
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0913-30.htm

Americans for Democratic Action: Condemns President's Dishonesty
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0913-17.htm

========================================================================= In the next 22 minutes, 100 Americans will die under the care of sincere conventional MDs. And one of them might be YOU
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Judge tells Saddam he wasn't a dictator
Questioning a Kurdish witness Thursday, Saddam said, "I wonder why this man wanted to meet with me, if I am a dictator?" The judge interrupted: "You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look like) a dictator."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam_trial

Plame sues Armitage over CIA leak
However, the lawsuit did not accuse Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state in the Bush administration, of participating in an administration conspiracy to blow her cover.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/15510402.htm

IRS fraudulent refunds an estimated $318M
Internal Revenue Service gave away $318 million in improper refunds this year because a computer program that screens tax returns for fraud wasn't working, according to a report released Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060901/ap_on_go_ot/irs_refund_fraud

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Med. Note: Slack health care results in about 62,000 avoidable deaths.
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Democrats ask for Whitman probe on 9/11
Democrats from New York and New Jersey asked on Wednesday for an investigation that could lead to criminal charges against former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman for breathing problems suffered by thousands after the Sept. 11 attacks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Attacks_Health_Whitman.html

State might require new vaccine for girls
Girls entering sixth grade next year would be required to be vaccinated against a virus that can cause cervical cancer under groundbreaking legislation proposed Tuesday by state Sen. Beverly Hammerstrom, R-Temperance.
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/NEWS01/109130011/-1/NEWS

The Elephant in the Room
Now that the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" naked King and Queen of the MSM (NYT & WP) have finally deigned to detect the elephant in the Bush's room so many of us have been howling about for five years, perhaps now you'll feel it's safe to report on the Story of the Millennium and take a peek at and report on the veritable mountain of anomalies, any handful of which, completely shatter the government's conspiracy theory -- not to mention the Baby Elephant crying out for attention, the inexplicable collapse of 52 story Lucky WTC Building Number 7 in a few mere heartbeats longer than a free falling object.
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2006/09/elephant-in-room.html

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Med. Note: Slack health care results in some 66.5 million avoidable sick days.
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IAEA: U.S. report on Iran's nuclear plan 'outrageous and dishonest'
UN inspectors have protested to the U.S. government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter obtained by Reuters. The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own intelligence assessments have determined.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=IAEA%3A+U.S.+report+on+Iran%27s+nuclear+plan+%27outrageous+and+dishonest%27&itemNo=762788

Our Troops Keep Taking the Hit
If only this was the only instance of our troops being hung out to dry. Sadly, it isn’t.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/13/our-troops-keep-taking-the-hit/

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs
Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/12/usaf.weapons.ap/index.html

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Med. Note: Slack health care results in $1.8 billion in additional medical care costs.
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South Carolina is in for $2.3 billion so far
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

The Prairie Populist: Byron Dorgan
David Sirota writes: "North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan is a popular Democrat from a very 'red' rural state. He's remained a voter favorite not because he's tried to split the difference with Republicans or suck up to the Washington power structure, but because of the populist stands embodied in his new book 'Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America.'"
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091306LA.shtml

The Republican Charade: Lincoln and His Party
Apparently millions continue to harbor the strange delusion that the Republican party is the party of free enterprise, and, at least since the New Deal, the party of conservatism. In fact, the party is and always has been the party of state capitalism.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14954.htm

Venezuela’s promising future :
Communal councils may be instrumental in the construction of Venezuela’s 21st-century socialism.
http://mondediplo.com/2006/09/13venezuela

======================================================================== Med. Note: The US is spending $2 trillion every year for a system that is based on disease management focused on drugs and surgery that fail to address the underlying cause of disease.
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Michigan Bill Proposes Cancer Vaccination
Michigan girls entering the sixth grade next year would have to be vaccinated against cervical cancer under legislation backed Tuesday by a bipartisan group of female lawmakers. The legislation is the first of its kind in the United States, said Republican state Senator Beverly Hammerstrom, lead sponsor.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091306HB.shtml

David Corn, co-author of Hubris maintains that Novak's latest account does seem to contradict an earlier version we have heard. Corn asks Novak vs. Armitage: was the Plame leak deliberate? -- 'Sounds like an interesting book…many new facts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/us/14gay.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1158206400&en=c51f3ff0f2068574&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

Sidney Blumenthal Calls George W. Bush 'The Most Uniquely Radical President We’ve Ever Had'
I think the Republican campaign this year comes down to one word -- Halloween -- one long Halloween. It’s fright night every night. The symbol of their party ought to be Freddy and Chucky. The Democrats need to focus on Bush.
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/032

How Bush Rules: Bush's Radicalism is Leading to a GOP Crackup
The inescapable signs of disillusionment surrounding the Bush administration in its sixth year, facing a second mid-term election, suggest far more than the usual syndrome of incumbent weariness. These are the rumblings of a regime crisis…. The congressional Republicans' feeble assertion of institutional authority has made changing the Congress the only way to revive it and check and balance Bush's radical presidency during his remaining two years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidney-blumenthal/how-bush-rules-bu_b_29297.html

======================================================================= Med. Note: The conventional medical system, not heart disease or cancer, is the leading cause of death in this country.
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