October 13, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

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Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765) John Adams
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The Assassins of Truth - By Charles Sullivan --- I charge that the government is engaged in immoral and criminal conduct on a global scale. That it does not conform to the norms of civil society; that it is sociopathic, and flagrantly violates domestic and international law. http://tinyurl.com/ydmxj9

GOP HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK

Dennis Hastert ---You can tell why Bush has a place in his heart for Hastert: here's a guy who knows how to mouth the words "accept responsibility" for the cameras, but uses every finger pointing scam in the world to evade accountability.
http://tinyurl.com/y9kass

WAR

U.S. Offers N. Korea Resolution At UN, Ruling Out Military Sanctions --- There's something really odd about the way this headline is structured. Notice that the headline uses the phrase "ruling out military sanctions", yet says the following in the 4th paragraph: just precisely which nations will be inspecting traffic in and out of North Korea, and if it's not their military, what part of the work force will be doing this? Their teachers? Their doctors? Their mechanics? --- Come on, people, who is kidding whom on this?
http://tinyurl.com/ynfplb

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What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment ... inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose: Thomas Jefferson ************************************************

Revolt of American generals and call for US talk with Iran -- discord among the senior military and political intellectuals of Bush administration over the US approach to Iran
http://tinyurl.com/y62ave

THE WHITE HOUSE

Bush and His Dangerous Delusions --- Robert Parry writes: "There's always been the frightening question of what would happen if a President of United States went completely bonkers. But there is an equally disturbing issue of what happens if a President loses touch with reality, especially if he is surrounded by enough sycophants and enablers so no one can or will stop him."
http://tinyurl.com/y5om93

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Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered Expression: Gerard K. O'Neill, 2081
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LA Times: Bush's False Choice on Iraq---The Los Angeles Times argues that the deliberate repetition of a shameless canard just before an election does not contribute to this thoughtful debate. Indeed, Bush's formulation could lead to a false sense of complacency.
http://tinyurl.com/yyobfc

The National Security Archive: The Reykjavik File - Previously Secret Documents from U.S. and Soviet Archives on the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit
http://tinyurl.com/ye3rpq

POLITICS

The Foley Rumsfeld Connection --- After demonstrated failures, leaving Rumsfeld in charge of Iraq is like leaving Mark Foley in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.
http://tinyurl.com/ycwwxj

In short, why can't the Dems in D.C. heed the spirit of the music of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seeger? Both are all-American rockers. But they have never sacrificed their empathy for and hard-driving lyrical championing of their working class roots. --- This is what the Democratic Party
BuzzFlash epiphany of sorts

THE WHITE HOUSE

Bush Is Said to Have No Plan if GOP Loses --- Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7–a concern aggravated by the president's news conference this week.
http://tinyurl.com/y4bl6l

Bush Confounded by the 'Unacceptable' --- Using such a categorical term is not that surprising after a policy setback, according to Steven Kull, a political psychologist who directs the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes. Some people deal with failures, Kull said, "by intensifying an authoritarian posture and insisting that their preferences are equivalent to a moral imperative."
http://tinyurl.com/y39fs8

Bush Admin: Conservative Christian Allies “Boorish,” “Nuts”...Rove Denies “Nuts” Comment…
http://tinyurl.com/y3m7la

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Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist
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SCANDAL

Feds Launch Investigation Into Rep. Kolbe’s Camping Trip With Pages…always something
http://tinyurl.com/yz7n69

AP Story On Reid Is “Absolute Crap”...
http://tinyurl.com/kudhf

US Catholic Church Demands Answers from Disgraced Politician - The Archdiocese of Miami has written to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley demanding he name the priest he claims abused him as a boy.
http://tinyurl.com/y9u67b

Foley Wrote To Jeb Bush In 2004: “Have I Done Something To Offend The White House...I Am Always Getting The Shaft”..."BooHoo - Jeb, the pres doesn't like me any more." - Foley was not being allowed near the pres early on. What's your guess? Yep, mine too.
http://tinyurl.com/ykv9hz

FEDERAL LEGAL ISSUES

Rep. Bob Ney pleads guilty to Abramoff bribery charge - Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty Friday in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation, the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in a scandal that has stained the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration.
http://tinyurl.com/uw9be

Why a Scooter Libby pardon is likely in the offing.--- the "Armitage" distraction may have been part of pre-pardon public relations maneuvering.
http://tinyurl.com/yhssxm

Abramoff fallout: Ney to resign; Prosecutors seek 30 to 37 months for ex-Bush aide Safavian --- The fallout from the Abramoff lobbying scandal continues, as Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney pleads guilty in federal court to conspiracy charges and prepares to resign from Congress, at the same time as a former Bush Administration official faces a possible two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
http://tinyurl.com/y9bhqx

Who Said All Roads Lead to Karl Rove? Elizabeth de la Vega writes, "Ultimately, every phase of the CIA leak case, including the propaganda campaign that is occurring right now, has been about maintaining the wealth and power of the Republican Party."
http://tinyurl.com/ybyoz9

ELECTION ISSUES

Bush's Approval Ratings Slip --- Ever notice how the media always reports that Bush's numbers are slipping, yet the numbers themselves always seem to stay the same, in that 32-34% area?
http://tinyurl.com/tmabo

Poll: Opposition to Iraq War Growing in the U.S. South
http://tinyurl.com/ynhv3l

Connecticut's Largest Paper Says Lieberman "Plays Loose With the Facts"
http://tinyurl.com/y6c4ds

Bass jab caught on YouTube --- The campaign of Rep. Charlie Bass’s (R-N.H.) Democratic opponent is crying foul after a video of Bass comparing Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez surfaced Wednesday on the video-sharing website YouTube.
THE HILL

Networks Sue Over Florida and Nevada Exit Poll Laws --- A lawsuit has been filed by the Associated Press and five television networks.
http://tinyurl.com/yjl6po

ECONOMY

Corporations Working Hard to Keep Chinese Slave labor
http://tinyurl.com/wmumm

Medicare Drug Premiums Will Rise for Many - In a sternly worded letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Los Angeles, accused the administration of "deceptive advertising."
http://tinyurl.com/yzevxw

CONGRESS

Senate Investigators Accuse Norquist of Fraud
http://tinyurl.com/y2vl27

Shays defends comments on Abu Ghraib --- U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays was under fire yesterday after saying in a debate earlier this week that the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison was not torture but rather a "sex ring" involving National Guard troops."This is outrageous for a sitting congressman who was shown pictures (of Abu Ghraib) that were not even available to the public because they were supposed to be more provocative,"
http://tinyurl.com/y4uy5n

DOMESTIC

Pentagon shows anti-war database's scope --- military officials labeled as "potential terrorist activity" events like a "Stop the War Now" rally in Akron, Ohio, in March
http://tinyurl.com/yzx7rb

Police In Virginia Threaten To Arrest Anti-Marriage Amendment Canvassers
http://tinyurl.com/y45pxt

Jobless man asks judge for jail time - A man who couldn't find steady work came up with a plan to make it through the next few years until he could collect Social Security: He robbed a bank, then handed the money to a guard and waited for police.
http://tinyurl.com/y7bd2u

ENVIRONMENT

In Ontario, Making "Clean Energy" Pay -- Canada's Ontario province has ordered local utility companies to pay homeowners or businesses for any electricity they generate from small solar, wind, water or other renewable energy projects, beginning next month.
http://tinyurl.com/yhpadu

An Anxious World, Contemplating a Fiery Extinction, Turns to...Harvard
http://tinyurl.com/ycmjoz

Rogue Elephants - Attacks by elephants on humans, both in Africa and India, have been increasing dramatically in the past five years. As villagers tell of "revenge raids," scientists argue that loss of habitat and social structure is seriously destabilizing these magnificent creatures.
http://tinyurl.com/y8uhkk

INTERNATIONAL

Bush's Approval Ratings Slip --- Ever notice how the media always reports that Bush's numbers are slipping, yet the numbers themselves always seem to stay the same, in that 32-34% area?
http://tinyurl.com/tmabo

Moon, North Korea & the Bushes - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's business empire, which includes the right-wing Washington Times, paid millions of dollars to North Korea's communist leaders in the early 1990s when the hard-line government needed foreign currency to finance its weapons programs, according to U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency documents.
http://tinyurl.com/y84rf9

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Air America Radio Files For Bankruptcy...
http://tinyurl.com/ye26nz

HEALTH

Water for millions at risk as glaciers melt away: Crisis threatens parts of South America and Asia: Decline accelerates as global warming takes hold.
http://tinyurl.com/ymtx2a

You Can Thank Industrial Agriculture for E. Coli
http://tinyurl.com/yeud5y

Grain stockpiles at lowest for 25 years --- The world’s stockpiles of wheat are at their lowest level in more than a quarter century, according to the US Department of Agriculture, which on Thursday slashed its forecasts for global wheat and corn production.
http://tinyurl.com/ygf9ad

Democrats Challenge Pesticide Testing on Pregnant Women, Infants - Three Democrats in Congress have added their names to a lawsuit seeking to end any pesticide testing on children by the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://tinyurl.com/yjn6js

Breast cancer risk tripled for women exposed to farm pesticides and chemicals:
http://tinyurl.com/y3vde2

Potassium supplements boost bone density in women, prevent osteoporosis:
http://tinyurl.com/y9jdpt

Psoriasis correlated with heightened heart attack risk; research funded by drug company that sells psoriasis medication:
http://tinyurl.com/ymq8qd

Genentech sets price gouging limit for Avastin cancer drug:
http://tinyurl.com/y7r2xr

Florida orange crop drops to lowest level in years due to weather changes:
http://tinyurl.com/yms2wb

Eating whole grains could slash diabetes risk in black women:
http://tinyurl.com/y5k3r8

Vision loss, hearing loss appear to have common cause:
http://tinyurl.com/tngsx

Anti-psychotic drugs found useless against Alzheimer's:
http://tinyurl.com/yg5e6m

Childhood cancer treatments cause chronic illness later in life:
http://tinyurl.com/ucdx9

Injured men finish watching sports on TV before going to emergency room:
http://tinyurl.com/ym4cl4

Coca-Cola jumps on green tea bandwagon, launches Enviga beverage with negative calorie claims:
http://tinyurl.com/v8zta

A $3 Water Purifier That Could Save Lives - About 6,000 people a day - most of them children - die from water-borne diseases. Vestergaard Frandsen, a Danish textile company that supplies water filters to the Carter Center guinea worm eradication program and mosquito-killing plastic tarps to refugee camps, has come up with a new invention meant to render dangerous water drinkable.
http://tinyurl.com/yz6tse

HUMAN RIGHTS
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"An open mind is a prerequisite to an open heart." -- Robert M. Sapolsky, neuroscientist and author (1957- )
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The Housing Bubble May Have Burst, But Discrimination Hasn't
http://tinyurl.com/y4gn3h

Zimbabwe: Gender Activists Protest MP's Anti-Women Remarks
Women's organizations are outraged by an opposition parliamentarian who urged the national assembly not to pass a bill aimed at stamping out domestic violence because women were inferior to men.
http://tinyurl.com/uq2br

Violence Against World's Women "Pervasive": UN Report --- Surveys on violence against women conducted in at least 71 countries show "a significant proportion of women suffer physical, sexual or psychological violence. On average, at least one in three women is subjected to intimate partner violence in the course of her lifetime."
http://tinyurl.com/y657sh

China Drafts Law to Boost Unions and End Labor Abuse; American and other foreign corporations that have lobbied against it." Imagine that, U.S. corporations (Read: Wal-Mart, Nike, etc) working hard to make sure China's labor force is underpaid and overworked. China's labor force is strong enough to win. Perhaps, their victory will help U.S. workers. No one except the greedy likes exploiting workers.
http://tinyurl.com/utpjp