October 16, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

This explains just how out of step are the Democratic Party is with reality: In Pennsylvania Race, War Hurting GOP - When Joe Sestak announced he was running for Congress, national Democrats and media consultants told him not to talk about pulling troops out of Iraq, arguing it would only encourage the image of Democrats as weak on national security. Nine months later, having ignored their advice, Mr. Sestak has put a 20-year Republican incumbent on the run for the first time, turning a bid by a political novice into a real race.
http://tinyurl.com/ynh36e

WAR

The Rumblings of Discontent --- "The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission," writes Tom Engelhardt, has ". .. ruled out the President's favorite option, 'victory'" in Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/yl9mvc

NOTE: David Brooks: Bush Admin. Considering Replacing Entire Iraqi Government..

"Many of the troops on the ground in Iraq, and their commanders back home, believe that they are remaining there almost exclusively for political reasons."British troops are fighting for their lives in Afghanistan. Those in Iraq are wondering when they can go home. But they all share their commander's view of a confused and chaotic mission.
http://tinyurl.com/y6jdg9

US rejects plea for helicopters --- MoD forced to hire civilian helicopters in Afghanistan - Britain is so short of helicopters in Afghanistan that military chiefs are being forced to scour the world for civilian aircraft to support its troops after the US rejected a plea to help plug the shortfall.
http://tinyurl.com/yd4apb

Iraq Cancels Peace Talks After Scores More Die --- The unremitting wave of sectarian violence that has greeted the Muslim holy month of Ramadan claimed scores more Iraqi lives at the weekend, as authorities in Baghdad announced the indefinite postponement of a conference of political leaders seen as crucial to quickly-diminishing hopes for national reconciliation.
http://tinyurl.com/yaf8m8

Saddam Verdict Expected as US Votes --- A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be issued by early next month.
http://tinyurl.com/yjoku2

What happens if Saddam Hussein is acquitted? --- One, if Saddam is found guilty and given a death sentence there will be hell to pay in the streets of Tikrit. Two, if he's found innocent, then our excuse for occupying Iraq after finding no weapons of mass destruction goes up in smoke.
http://tinyurl.com/ybzo9y

Planespotting --- Nerds with binoculars bust the CIA's torture taxis.
http://tinyurl.com/ye2nf9

THE WHITE HOUSE

The Loyalists to Poppy Bush are Dismayed at the Presidency of His Son, The Texas Village Idiot
http://tinyurl.com/y62cfs

White House contests AP article that charted the president's changing emphasis on the main reasons we went to war in Iraq, and remain there.
http://tinyurl.com/tqskp

Ex-Aide Says Evangelicals Mocked in White House. "Kuo claims Bush officials mocked evangelical leaders behind their backs, alleging that in the office of political guru Karl Rove they were called 'the nuts.'" That's like the cashews calling the pecans "nuts."
http://tinyurl.com/yeratf

POLITICS

The Gay Old Party Comes Out - "Paging Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council: Here's a gay Republican story you probably did not hear last week. On Tuesday a card-carrying homosexual, Mark Dybul, was sworn into office at the State Department with his partner holding the Bible. Dr. Dybul, the administration's new global AIDS coordinator, was flanked by Laura Bush and Condi Rice.... Could wedding bells be far behind?" asks Frank Rich.
http://tinyurl.com/ymzzzj

SCANDAL

FBI Raids Home Of Rep. Weldon's Daughter: Investigating If Congressman Used Influence For Her Profit....
http://tinyurl.com/y2kbhd

SCANDAL RIDDEN HASTERT LOSING GRIP ON HOUSE…
http://tinyurl.com/y7y7uz

STATE BY STATE GOP SCANDAL SCORECARD --- no Demo version available
http://tinyurl.com/y75qcd

SEC stock options probe grows over backdating of options
http://tinyurl.com/unygq

Foley "October Surprise" Claim Flops --- Robert Parry writes that "the evidence is that Congressional Republicans knew about Foley's inappropriate advances toward teenage pages for years and even alerted GOP House leaders. Though this information was kept from Democratic members of Congress, Hastert pointed the finger at Democrats when the scandal broke."
http://tinyurl.com/y3dq4h

UnitedHealth's chief to exit over stocks
http://tinyurl.com/tc968

LEGAL ISSUES

Tycoon held in carousel fraud investigation --- One of the world's most enigmatic multi-millionaires was behind bars last night after being arrested during an investigation into carousel fraud, the sophisticated swindle which costs European taxpayers billions of pounds a year.
http://tinyurl.com/vpkxk

NAACP to monitor elections in 10 states --- Will post observers, notify Justice Dept. of problems; States chosen 'pivotal.'
http://tinyurl.com/yybdcq

ELECTION ISSUES

Iraq war supports hits all-time low --- Just 34% of Americans say that they support the war; 70% of women opposed.
http://tinyurl.com/y7323g

NAACP to monitor elections in 10 states --- Will post observers, notify Justice Dept. of problems; States chosen 'pivotal.'
http://tinyurl.com/yybdcq

Even Esquire Magazine Calls for a Democratic Senate --- Senate voting recommendations would suggest a 52-48 Democratic majority when the 110th Congress convenes in January.
http://tinyurl.com/y3nr46

With Eye on 2008, Kerry Attacks - the man who lost the 2004 presidential campaign left little doubt that if he runs again in 2008, he intends to be the chief prosecutor of the record of the Bush presidency.
http://tinyurl.com/yhgajy

Republicans pulling financial support of DeWine - Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.
http://tinyurl.com/ydq59a

Libertarian Stan Jones Montana TELLS TRUTH - Stan Jones running for Senate from Montana Libertarian, tells the Truth about Globalization, North American Union, our new money the Americo and the NAFTA Super Hwy. Good for him! He stands for the USA in truth.
http://tinyurl.com/mxo6b

In Final Weeks, GOP Focuses on Best Bets --- In this year's fierce midterm election battles, those Republican candidates who are likely to be defeated are losing financial support as party money is being diverted to other embattled Republican senators.
http://tinyurl.com/yfpave

ECONOMY

Electricity Deregulation Fails to Deliver Promised Savings - A decade after competition was introduced in their industries, long-distance phone rates had fallen by half, air fares by more than a fourth and trucking rates by a fourth. But a decade after the federal government opened the business of generating electricity to competition, the market has produced no such decline.
http://tinyurl.com/ykjell

U.S. Oil Fields to produce enough oil for the next 500 years. (Read with care – this is really an advertisement of sorts. I do not know how much to believe. If true, fantastic!)
http://tinyurl.com/ylo9ct

Crop insurers piling up record profits (subsidies and no competition)
http://tinyurl.com/sumoo

911

Startling 9/11 Poll by the New York Times and CBS: "Only 16 per cent of respondents say the government headed by U.S. president George W. Bush is telling the truth on what it knew prior to the terrorist attacks."
http://tinyurl.com/yz45x4

CONGRESS

Pelosi: 'The only way to deal with [Bush] is as a co-equal'
http://tinyurl.com/yaxsqv

Radar Mag: America's Ten Dumbest Congressmen...
http://tinyurl.com/yk9wfj

DOMESTIC

TSA Screener Faces Theft Charge A screener with the Transportation Security Administration was arrested after a passenger reported that she took money from the passenger's wallet.
http://tinyurl.com/y3c529

Study Finds Crime Growing at 'Alarming Pace' - The nation is on the verge of a crime epidemic, according to a report to be released this weekend at a conference of police chiefs. The report, compiled by the Police Executive Research Forum, says violent crime across America is "accelerating at an alarming pace." (Doesn't Bush tell us his job is to keep all of us safe?)
http://tinyurl.com/y3lwv8

A Power-Grid Report Suggests Some Dark Days Ahead - Companies are not building power plants and power lines fast enough to meet growing demand, according to a group recently assigned by the federal government to assure proper operation of the power grid.
http://tinyurl.com/yfjgxd

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Raw obtains CENTCOM email to bloggers---CENTCOM announced earlier this year that a team of employees would be [engaging] bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information."
http://tinyurl.com/yhuneb

Limbaugh Attacks "Democrat Kook" Alex Jones On Plane Crash Story --- In the second hour of his nationally syndicated show Thursday, Rush Limbaugh attacked Alex Jones, Prison Planet.com and the 9/11 truth movement, for suggesting that the Cory Lidle plane crash affected the upcoming election by invoking memories of 9/11 - when it was Fox News and Limbaugh himself that pitched this spin.
http://tinyurl.com/smfvx

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

America Is Finally Revolting Against the Republicans --- "A country founded on the idea of the separation of powers has rarely witnessed such a concentration of might in the hands of one party." writes Andrew Rawnsley, "Republican domination is beginning to crack. This autumn the tectonic plates of American politics are beginning to shift under the feet of President Bush and an increasingly desperate Republican Party."
http://tinyurl.com/yh73me

Bush's Nuclear Apocalypse --- "War with Iran - a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East - is probable by the end of the Bush administration," writes Chris Hedges. "This administration, claiming to be anointed by a Christian God to reshape the world, and especially the Middle East, defined three states at the start of its reign as 'the Axis of Evil.' They were Iraq, now occupied; North Korea, which, because it has nuclear weapons, is untouchable; and Iran."
http://tinyurl.com/yzsfyy

The Democrats Have Lost Their Minds --- This article totally misses what happened in 1992. George Bush Sr. did not lose to Bill Clinton. The Iran-Contra investigation had reached the White House, and Bush Sr. knew he could not survive a second four-year term in office. So, he had to lose the White House, and he had to lose the White House to the one Democrat who would keep the lid on the scandal, the Democratic Governor of the very state the gun and drug running operation had been located in. Clinton didn't "win" the White House. He was hired to house-sit the place until Bush Jr. was ready to step in and finish his daddy's agenda.
http://tinyurl.com/y7n42r

HEALTH

Eat Walnuts for Heart Health
http://tinyurl.com/yasfwa

Healing Chronic Pain
http://tinyurl.com/yd9ntl

Healing Painful Wounds - ultrasound
http://tinyurl.com/yzjq5r

Stem Cell Treatment Shows Promise for Lou Gehrig's
http://tinyurl.com/yzhgvd

High Blood Sugar Complicates Surgery, Increases Death
http://tinyurl.com/yl6yjg

Pumping it up may Impact Male Fertility
http://tinyurl.com/yfswaa

Using Magnets to Deliver Medication
http://tinyurl.com/ymvdbz

Perchlorate chemicals in milk and produce found to cause thyroid deficiency
http://tinyurl.com/ydgzzu

Medicare drug prices based on smoke and mirrors
http://tinyurl.com/yecoev

Researchers find link between obesity and cognitive decline
http://tinyurl.com/yzjb4b

Electrical stimulation restores some speech in brain-damaged man
http://tinyurl.com/yfuqg8

Methylcobalamin nutrient offers solution for sleep disorders, mental alertness
http://tinyurl.com/ylmf6v

Resveratrol in red wine protects the brain from stroke damage
http://tinyurl.com/sf678

SPECIAL INTEREST ITEMS

Report: Lab creates new element
http://tinyurl.com/u8f29