September 22, 2006

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"The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.":
Henri-Frédéric Amiel - (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, Poet

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WAR

US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age - threat was delivered after the attacks of September 11, 2001, by Richard L. Armitage
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml

Torture in Iraq Worse Now Than Under Saddam? Certainly not any better.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206P.shtml

HalliburtonWatch: Halliburton Ambush in Iraq Caught on Video
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0921-19.htm

Mossad, Wolfowitz & The Strangely Defenseless Pentagon On 911
http://freemasonrywatch.org/libya.html

$70B OK'd for Iraq and Afghan war funds
http://tinyurl.com/zbdkp

UK suspects in new claims of torture at Guantanamo
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article1655652.ece

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"Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear."
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)
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POLITICS

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Reveals What the White House Has Not Released about the Abramoff Secret Service Records
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0921-09.htm

NOTE:
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is holding a clambake dinner and star-studded fundraiser for his son next month, Oct. 7, at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The Hill

Libby Fundraiser Working for Lieberman – another Bush not so pretty tie-in
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206G.shtml

NSA Whistleblower's Life Destroyed After Exposing Eavesdropping Program
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206I.shtml

COMMENTARY
There is terrorism and there is terrorism. What do you call it when a few folks seem hell bent on election day to take away our freedoms. Is that not terrorism in it's own right? Real things need to be done right now to make this country safer and that is why the 911 Commission gave the US a grade of *F* for doing what needs to be done. Oh no, this Bush bunch is too busy giving our good money to the Halliburton cronies rather than spend it on safety protection that could really make a difference. So what do they do, take away freedoms to make it look like they are doing something. I am sorry – I do not buy this bunk. Do you?
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"Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion."
Samuel James Ervin Jr., lawyer, judge, and senator (1896-1985)
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ECONOMY

A government by the rich, for the rich.
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/usrich06_article1.html

The Super-Rich Get Richer: Forbes 400 Are All Billionaires
http://tinyurl.com/ftnlv

Tax credits on Toyota hybrids being halved
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14937138

911

Venezuelan Government To Launch International 9/11 Investigation
http://tinyurl.com/kaboj

CONGRESS

A Stealth Campaign for Deep Cuts in Social Services
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106U.shtml

Libby Gets Initial Victory on Classified Information - Libby is trying to torpedo the case by demanding documents that are too sensitive to be released at trial. It's a tactic known as "graymail" and the goal is to get a case dismissed.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106S.shtml

Bill Clinton Warns Against Torture Approval
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206E.shtml

A Bad Bargain- military tribunals bill-White House lying to get out of its one real
concession.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22fri1.html?hp

Torture Bill – repeals enforcement backbone – brutal practices not forbidden
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/misc/profile/names/cpyle.shtml

Torture Bill – no habeas corpus – hallmark of a police state
http://ccr-ny.org

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"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry."
Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)
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The Senior Citizens League
Over 2500 people signed our Petition Opposing Medicare Means Testing. They represent every state in the union and Washington, DC.
Twelve more US Representatives formally co-sponsored legislation to stop means testing for Medicare
Most shocking of all, the government announced that the increase in premiums for next year's Medicare Part B has been sliced in half. Earlier, they estimated that most seniors would have to pay 11.2% more for their coverage - but they just announced that they are holding the increase to a much lower 5.6%.
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DOMESTIC

Bush's No Child Left Behind Act Is Illegal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206S.shtml

More Small Women's Colleges Opening Doors to Men
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092106WB.shtml

Pickers Are Few, and Growers Blame Congress
http://tinyurl.com/n2bxj

Tensions Mount as Day Laborers Face Arrest Threat – (Gaithersburg, Maryland)http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092106LA.shtml

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Will the Next Election Be Hacked?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106R.shtml

Capital Punishment: DNA Tests Prove Justice Has Failed
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-08.htm

ACLU, NYCLU, and National Abortion Federation Call on U.S. Supreme Court to Hold Women's Health Paramount In Federal Abortion Ban Challenge’
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0921-23.htm

League Denounces Passage of Voter ID Legislation - “A truly sad day for our nation."
http://tinyurl.com/oaeta

FEDERAL COMMITTEE HEARING ON AGING
NOTE: User fees for drug companie's advertising to help pay for Medicare and Medicaid…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
NOTE: $15 Billion in free sample to MDs – try switching a patient from *purple pill* at $177/month to otc that works as well for about $24/month…………………………………….
NOTE: $200 million in drug company big names compared to $1 million for generics.

ENVIRONMENT

New Air Pollution Rules Rankle Health Groups
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092206EA.shtml

EPA Closing Its Headquarters Library October 1- headquarters library info inaccessible to all
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092106EB.shtml

60 Years to Restore the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-02.htm

Branson Pledges $3 Billion to Combat Global Warming (update)
http://tinyurl.com/eaca9

US Judge Rejects Bush Rule on Logging Roads (to undo Clinton's environmental protections).
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092106EA.shtml

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"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian (1906-1945)
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INTERNATIONAL

NOTE:
Ahmadinejad Talks to U.S. Think Tank – (Council on Foreign Relations)

European Socialist leader: Bush doctrine total failure
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-20/0609214510010103.htm

The Globalization Excuse are really political choices, not economic inevitability
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092206LA.shtml

Toxic Shock: How Western Rubbish is Destroying Africa
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-09.htm

Banned Chemicals Found in US-Japanese Cosmetics
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092206HB.shtml

The US intelligence agents involved in wrongly kidnapping a German citizen of Arab descent could soon face warrants for their arrest
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206L.shtml

Jewish rabbi calls for extermination of all Palestinian males
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/21527/1/

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Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing the ground."
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, editor and orator (1817-1895)
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MILITARY

VT Cong Candidate Calls for Arrest of Bush & Cheney by U.S. Military
http://tinyurl.com/hpnpt

Strained, Army Looks to Guard for More Relief
http://tinyurl.com/hkkuw

National Guard to Be Further Stretched by Iraq, Afghan Wars
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206B.shtml

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"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)
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MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Magazine requested 'photogenic' war widows
http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1696155.ece

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You have to show violence the way it is. If you don’t show itrealistically, then that’s immoral and harmful. If you don’t upset people, then that’s obscenity Roman Polanski
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EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

Vengeance, Retaliation and Revenge - Anyone Got a Better Idea? –
http://tinyurl.com/qsq7x

The Power of Public Opinion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206K.shtml

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In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king: Erasmus c.1469 – 1536
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HEALTH

US Has Highest Infant Mortality Rate of All Industrialized Countries and the lowest life expectancy for people who have reached the age of 60
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092106HA.shtml

Breast Milk Is Key Weapon in Fight to Lower Africa's Child Mortality Rate
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092206HA.shtml

Out to Get You Are tomatoes evil? If you have arthritis, you just might think that tomatoes and a couple of other vegetables are out to get you.
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/414011/14628304/795502/0/

Pycnogenol – a non-drug that may provide a variety of benefits for diabetics
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/414011/14628304/795503/0/

PYY, a hormone your body produces to regulate hunger – what food prompts the body to produce more PYY?
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/414011/14628304/795505/0/

One vitamin may reduce pancreatic cancer risk by a surprisingly significant degree.
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/414011/14628304/795532/0/

Blackberries block spread of cancer:
http://www.newstarget.com/020497.html

Short bursts of exercise as healthy as marathon gym sessions:
http://www.newstarget.com/020491.html

HUMAN RIGHTS
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"Democracies die behind closed doors."-- JUDGE DAMON J. KEITH, in a ruling declaring that the Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding deportation hearings in secret. New York Times Quote of the Day, 8/27/02
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OF INTEREST – MISCELLANEOUS

Bush Shields Dad on Chile Terrorism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206M.shtml

1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Department, Census lost some 250
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206R.shtml

Chavez to Double Energy Subsidies to Needy in US
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092206EC.shtml

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Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner: James Bovard
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