September 15. 2006

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"The high minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think."
-- Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)
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CIA Knew in '02 Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties
The CIA learned in late September 2002 from a high-level member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle that Iraq had no past or present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi leader considered bin Laden an enemy of the Baghdad regime, according to a recent Senate Intelligence Committee report.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506Z.shtml

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As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand: -Josh Billings
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Google 'eager' to work with Republicans
"Google, one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley, is ramping up its political clout in Washington, D.C., while taking a series of steps to court Republicans,"
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Roll_Call_Google_eager_to_work_0914.html

Mehlman to spend $60M, five times Dean’s $12M
The Republican National Committee (RNC) will spend its entire bank account, $60 million or more, helping Republicans try to retain control of Congress in the midterm elections.
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/091306/mehlman.html

McCain stands his ground on CIA jails
John McCain, the Republican frontrunner for the 2008 presidential election, has dramatically raised the stakes in a fight with the White House over interrogation techniques permitted for use at secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons by saying he is unwilling to back down on the issue even if it ruins his chance of becoming president.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4fadbf1c-4424-11db-8965-0000779e2340.html

Did White House Coerce Military Lawyers?
In the battle over torture and detainee treatment, did the White House engage in some "coercive techniques" of its own -- against top military justice officials?
http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tpmmuckraker.com%2Farchives%2F001521.php

Murtha Lays the Dead at Rumsfeld's Door
Democratic congressman John Murtha has released a 12-page report outlining severe shortfalls plaguing the US Army as thousands of troops prepare to be deployed to Iraq. Murtha said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld bears full responsibility for the military's consistent readiness failures and demanded that he resign.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506J.shtml

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"Lying is done with words and also with silence." Adrienne Rich, writer and teacher (1929- )
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NOTE: Did you ever think that we are not going after BinLaden because this administration knows that he is a dead man?
A large group of folks including the FBI think he is dead.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/osama_dead.html

Molly Ivins Remembering Ann Richards
Molly Ivins reflects on the life and personal style of Ann Richards. She writes, "I have known two politicians who completely reformed the bureaucracies they were elected to head. Bob Bullock did it by kicking ass at the comptroller's until hell wouldn't have it. Fear was his m.o. Ann Richards did it by working hard to gain the trust of the employees and then listening to what they told her. No one knows what's wrong with a bureaucracy better than the bureaucrats who work in it."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506P.shtml

A Call for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to Resign
Robert Byrd writes to President Bush: "The war in Iraq has backfired, producing more recruits for terrorism, and deep divisions within our own country. It is a war we should never have begun. The detour from our attack on bin Laden and his minions, hiding in the cracks and crevices of the rough terrain of Afghanistan, to the unwise and unprovoked attack on Iraq has been a disastrous one." He continues, "The United States is a weaker power now, especially in the Middle East, but also in the court of world opinion."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506K.shtml

Irked by the spread of democracy
It's no wonder that Cheney isn't happy with the spread of democracy to the American foreign-policy debate. Not only did Cheney have to answer Tim Russert for a whole series of spurious prewar claims and badly mistaken predictions. He must also be distressed with how different the political world is now from what it was four years ago, when he and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began building their case for the Iraq war.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003259054_dionne15.html

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"Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality."
-- Theodor Adorno, philosopher and composer (1903-1969)
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Senate Republicans defy Bush and pass their own military tribunal bill
Warner, McCain and Graham – a former Navy secretary, a former prisoner of war, and a former military lawyer, respectively – say that any retreat from the anti-torture provisions of the Geneva Conventions would damage America’s international standing and endanger troops abroad. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote a letter supporting their
position Thursday.
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/09/15/ap3021182.html

A Defining Moment for America
The president goes to Capitol Hill to lobby for torture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401587.html

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Americans like to fight hard but they like to fight fair!
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Battle for Congress Tightens
Republican Candidates Trail Democrats by Just 3%
Congressional Republicans is that one in four of their supporters—23%—consider terrorism the top issue as they go to the polls, easily the top issue for those backing the GOP. This is the same percentage as say they will vote for Democrats based on the War in Iraq and general U.S. foreign policy. Republican candidates also continue to benefit from the dual issues of morality and values, which are motivating one in nine voters planning to pull the Republican lever this fall. Another 8% of GOP supporters say the War in Iraq and U.S. foreign policy are their prime motivators.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1172

Voting rights center says voters may be prevented from casting ballots Leadersof a voting-rights center that successfully sued Florida, Washington, Ohio and other states over their election laws said Wednesday that tens of thousands of eligible voters will be prevented from casting ballots in November http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/NEWS02/609130428

House Votes To Disclose Earmarks - Rule Change Defers Broad Lobby Reform The House voted yesterday to shed more light on narrow-interest tax and spending legislation called earmarks, an incremental step toward openness that ended the prospect for a more sweeping overhaul of federal lobbying laws this year….With a 245 to 171 vote, the House reacted to a year of congressional scandals by requiring its members to own up to the thousands of earmarks they sponsor each year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401674.html

Voting rights center says voters may be prevented from casting ballots
Leaders of a voting-rights center that successfully sued Florida, Washington, Ohio and other states over their election laws said Wednesday that tens of thousands of eligible voters will be prevented from casting ballots in November.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15511911.htm

Judge Says Voter ID Law Is Unconstitutional
A Cole County judge Thursday tossed out a new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, saying the measure violated Missourians' fundamental right to vote.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506T.shtml

Democrats to Roll Out Plan to Curtail Abortions
Reaching out to more moderate, churchgoing voters with misgivings about abortion, House Democrats plan to unveil legislation that sets a public policy goal of reducing abortions in America by promoting such preventive measures as funding for contraceptives and expanded sex education geared toward avoiding pregnancy, as well as support for adoption and services to new mothers.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091506WA.shtml

Hanesbrands Will Close 3 Plants
Clothing maker Hanesbrands Inc. said Wednesday it will close three North American plants and cut nearly 2,200 jobs as it continues to try to make the newly spun off company more profitable.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4184773.html

Ford to extend buyout offers to all U.S. hourly workers
The United Auto Workers announced today that the union had reached agreement on voluntary system-wide buyouts for more than 75,000 UAW-represented hourly workers at Ford Motor Company.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060914/NEWS99/60914018

Los Angeles Times Editor Openly Defies Owner’s Call for Job Cuts
In a highly unusual move, Dean P. Baquet, who was named editor last year, was quoted yesterday in his own newspaper as saying he was defying the paper’s corporate parent in Chicago and would not make the cuts it requested.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/media/15paper.html?ex=1158897600&en=89412fb042a62a6f&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

New Clues in the Plame Mystery
Robert Parry says, "A well placed conservative source has added an important clue to the mystery of the Bush administration's 'outing' of CIA officer Valerie Plame." This source reveals a detail, continues Parry, that, "... undermines the current 'conventional wisdom' among Washington pundits that Armitage acted alone - and innocently - in July 2003 when he disclosed Plame's covert identity to right-wing columnist Robert Novak, who then got Rove to serve as a secondary source confirming the information from Armitage."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506R.shtml

Republican Rep. Bob Ney to Plead Guilty to Criminal Charge
Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney is the first member of Congress to admit to criminal charges in the Abramoff investigation.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506L.shtml

FCC Ordered Media Ownership Study Destroyed
The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091506O.shtml

Backer of Swift Boat attack ads funds group targeting Democrats
The Republican donor who helped bankroll the Swift Boat attacks on Democratic Sen. John Kerry's war record has given $5 million to a new group targeting Democratic candidates.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/15519148.htm

Translation of "Largest Newspaper in Switzerland asks if Bush was behind 9-11"
Ganser: “The more we research, the we doubt more of Bush version.” For it it is conceivable that the Bush government was responsible. “Bush lied already so much! And already 1962 gave it in the Pentagon a plan to sacrifice innocent US citizens for own interests.” As far as Ganser Stahel does not go: “I place only questions.”
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blick.ch%2Fnews%2Fausland%2F9-11%2Fartikel45057&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Long-sought 9/11 videotape didn't capture attack
Many believed the video would show American Airlines Flight 77 -- or something else -- striking the Pentagon. The videotape, which depicts views from the gas station’s six security cameras, shows that the CITGO cameras did not seem to capture the actual attack.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Longsought_911_videotape_didnt_capture_attack_0915.html

9/11 Toxic Dust Whistleblower Raided By SWAT Team
A 9/11 toxic dust whistleblower, a ground zero hero and one of the individuals influential in the release of documents proving a government cover-up that deliberately put police, firemen and rescue personel at risk, has been raided by a New York SWAT team - who ransacked his home for three hours after he was arrested.
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/september2006/150906whistleblowerraided.htm

US warns Nicaraguans not to back Ortega
The US ambassador to Nicaragua has issued a vigorous warning to this small Central American country's electors against supporting Daniel Ortega, the veteran leftwing Sandinista leader and the frontrunner in November's presidential election.
(How would we feel if this were happening to us?)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14840215

Clooney, Wiesel warn UN of genocide in Darfur
"Now my job is to come here today and to beg you on behalf of the millions of people who will die — and make no mistake they will die — for you to take real and effective measures to put an end to this," he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/09/14/clooney-wiesel-darfur.html

Muslim anger grows at Pope speech
Speaking in Germany, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5347876.stm

E. Coli Outbreak Spreads to 20th State
Federal health officials worked Friday to find the source of a multistate E. coli outbreak and warned consumers that even washing the suspect spinach won't kill the sometimes-deadly bacteria….One person died and dozens of others were sickened in the 20-state outbreak, linked by Food and Drug Administration officials to bagged spinach…Officials believes the spinach may have been grown in California, and federal and state health officials were there trying to pinpoint the source of the contamination.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/15/D8K5EJH80.html

Palestinian children in Israeli prison (Torturing kids – have I read this right?)
The western Ramallah’s Beit Ur At Tahta Village boys have been subject to severe beatings at the hands of Israeli soldiers. Members of the intelligence in charge of interrogating the children have beaten and threatened both and forced them to sign statements…..Khalaila sat with Al Aisha as he reported what has happened to him. Israeli soldiers and interrogators have repeatedly punched the 13 year old in the face and kicked him in the legs and backside. The boy said that he was not throwing stones, denying the charge against him. He was forced under threat to sign a statement of unknown content.
http://www.uruknet.org.uk/?p=m26682&hd=0&size=1&l=e

Alarmed Scientists Warn: Even in Winter, Arctic Ice Melting
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0914-02.htm

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"For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. ... That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that."
-- Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)
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Children's Advocates Ask Companies Not to Advertise on BusRadio and Channel One
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0914-05.htm

Authors of Zotob Worm Jailed
Two Moroccan men have been jailed for releasing the Zotob computer worm, which wreaked havoc on an estimated 250,000 Windows PCs last year….Ekici and Essebar, known also by their hacker names of "Coder" and "Diabl0," respectively, were arrested just 12 days after the release of Zotob, but authorities had also been investigating 16 other individuals in connection with a credit card theft ring that may have been linked to the worms….It is not unusual for hackers to create networks of compromised computers, like the one created by the Zotob worm, for identity theft, said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with antivirus vendor Sophos.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060912/tc_pcworld/127120

QUESTION: Have you ever wondered what the story was with Vince Foster?
"The position of the arms and legs of the corpse were drastically inconsistent with suicide."……… "The lack of blood and brain tissue at the site suggests VF was carried to the scene. The peculiar tracking pattern of the blood on his right cheek also suggests that he was moved."
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/FOSTER_COVERUP/foster.html

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"Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Flannery O'Connor, writer (1925-1964)
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AND IF FOSTER GETS YOUR NOSE WIGGLING, TRY RON BROWN'S DEMISE:
It is worth noting that Ron Brown was just one of four Clinton campaign fund raisers to die under questionable circumstances. The others were C. Victor Raiser II, Hershel Friday, and Ed Willey, a total of three plane crashes and one "Fosterization". Following Brown's demise, his personal attorney as well as a co-worker at the Department of Commerce, Barbara Wise also died under questionable circumstances. As in the case of yet another "suddenly dead" member of the Clinton administration, Vincent Foster , Ron Brown's office was ransacked for files by Commerce staff immediately after his death.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CRASH/BROWN/brown.html

US Has Been Stockpiling Banned Pesticide
The United States has stockpiled millions of pounds of methyl bromide, a pesticide that depletes the ozone layer, according to newly public documents - information that could create a stir during international negotiations next month, when the Bush administration seeks permission to produce more.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091506EB.shtml