November 13, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

“…..if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties.. if that is what they mean by a “liberal” then I am proud to be a liberal. “: John F. Kennedy

The Republicans Took a Dive --- What explains the curious decline from the high--powered Republican machine that could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in 2000, 2002 and 2004 to the broken down jalopy of 2006 that blew control of both houses of Congress?
http://tinyurl.com/yltpaq

ALERT

US Is Top Purveyor on Weapons Sales List --- The United States last year provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions - many already engaged in conflict - grew to the highest level in eight years, new US government figures show.
http://tinyurl.com/yywvlq

WARNING

Congressman: American Concentration Camps "On The Books"--- if something is not done soon to overturn legislation such as the Military Commissions act, the law officially allows for citizen concentration camp facilities
http://tinyurl.com/y3ty4a

Beware: George Bush's secret agents can now arrest us in our own country: The Government last week cravenly surrendered control of the independence of our criminal justice system to the United States.
http://tinyurl.com/y6ansc

WAR
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“Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that The State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied.” : Arthur Miller playwright
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Bush Calls for Global Isolation of Iran
http://tinyurl.com/y7axuw

Democrats Push for Troop Cuts Within Months
http://tinyurl.com/y5ovtm

Jewish JINSA/PNAC Neocons Want Iran to be Bombed Next -- No Air Force expert we could find agreed ((Richard Perle was caught handing classified information to Israel in 1970. Perle ran the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans from which many of the now discredited lies about Iraq originated.))
http://tinyurl.com/uwok6

Bush: Isolate Iran...Blair: Partner With Iran…
http://tinyurl.com/wmc3b

Anti-Corruption Official in Iraq Accused of Fraud --- Iraq's top anti-corruption watchdog, a high-profile judge whose efforts have been hailed by Americans as one of the few bright spots in the country, is himself the target of a corruption probe, officials said Saturday.
http://tinyurl.com/wxfv2

THE WHITE HOUSE

Judicial Watch Obtains Documents from Army Related to Halliburton Subsidiary’s No-Bid Iraq Contract - Newly Released Documents Raise Questions Regarding Involvement of Vice President’s Office
http://tinyurl.com/yya5dz

Barbara Bush: First Daughter...First Drinker....
http://tinyurl.com/y7fgx9

Bush's Belated Accountability Moment --- After securing a second term in November 2004, George W. Bush was asked by the Washington Post why no one in his administration had been held accountable for the problems facing US troops in Iraq. Bush replied dismissively, "We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections." Bush said the same thing at the 2004 campaign. Perhaps Bush may have spoken a bit too soon.
http://tinyurl.com/tbv9w

CABINET ISSUES

Pentagon without 'budget watchdog' for over a year
http://tinyurl.com/ygzpvl

KEEP IT UNDER YOUR HAT: CIA IS RECRUITING SPIES -- So grab an old trench coat, and brush up on your Austin Powers - this could be your chance to go James Bond.
http://tinyurl.com/y9yfk2

Rumsfeld? - Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh!
http://tinyurl.com/tmtck

Rumsfeld’s long walk into Political Oblivion --- Even after being forced to resign in utter disgrace, he still shows no sign of doubting his abilities as a military genius. His ego remains as impervious to criticism as tempered steel.
http://tinyurl.com/vxln5

Social Security Data a Major Source in Terrorism Probes: Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Social Security Administration's vast databases of personal information have become a resource for federal investigators
http://tinyurl.com/ygdnbg

Outrage at London sting by US spies: - Undercover American agents are staging secret 'sting' operations in Britain against criminal and terrorist suspects they want to extradite to the US.
http://tinyurl.com/yxva7v

Lockerbie trial was a CIA fix, US intelligence insider claims: THE CIA manipulated the Lock erbie trial and lied about the strength of the prosecution case to get a result that was politically convenient for America, according to a former US State Department lawyer.
http://tinyurl.com/y68ch4

POLITICS

GOP officials: Mel Martinez to lead Republican National Committee
http://tinyurl.com/y2kuo3

Arrogant to the End --- On the basis of this administration's record, all of us can be excused for being just a tad skeptical - and very afraid."
http://tinyurl.com/vztgz

Lieberman: “I'm Not Ruling...Out” Becoming A Republican...
http://tinyurl.com/y3rlyr

Democrats Make Gains as President Suffers Backlash --- The party that tells the best story wins," writes Ira Chernus. "But the story of the 2006 election isn't over yet. It's like one of those movies on DVD with several alternative endings. You get to choose the one you want."
http://tinyurl.com/yxetkg

SCANDAL

White powder terrorist of Jon Stewart, Letterman, Pelosi...--- Yes, it appears that Chad Conrad Castagana, the man "suspected of mailing more than a dozen threatening letters containing white powder to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Jon Stewart and other high-profile figures," was a conservative and a commenter on conservative blogs. He also appears to have been a frequenter of Right Wing sewer, The Free Republic.
http://tinyurl.com/y3odat

The Corporate End Run --- "Corporate profits are at record levels. The Dow, too, has climbed past its high-water mark from the dot-com era. Executives reap bigger and bigger paydays, even as wages have stagnated. Meanwhile, the widening investigation into stock-option backdating reminds us that the corporate malfeasance era was much more than just a couple of bad apples like Enron and WorldCom," explains the New York Times.
http://tinyurl.com/y6a6n2

U.S. 'Torture Taxis' Make Regular Stops in Las Vegas: This is the story of so called rendition planes, otherwise known as torture taxis. They are civilian aircraft often owned by companies suspected of being fronts for the CIA. The planes are used to travel abroad, kidnap suspects, and take them to dark places at the ends of the earth, from which few ever return.
http://tinyurl.com/ycatvt

LEGAL ITEMS

Man Arrested For Death Threats To Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Schumer, David Letterman, Jon Stewart...
http://tinyurl.com/ym7obf

Scooter Libby Allowed To Use Classified Info To Prove He Can't Remember Details Of Plame Leak...
http://tinyurl.com/y8vob5

Corporate and Government Looting of the Gulf Coast --- Federal state and local governments are teaming up with corporations and developers to systematically steal hurricane relief funds from the poor to enrich themselves,"
http://tinyurl.com/y49u22

Danish journalists on trial for publishing leaked intelligence reports on Iraq: The reports said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein's rule — one of the main reasons behind the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/yh7vh7

“With Great Power…” --- We must remind these people that until we have the 900-year-old principle of Habeas Corpus returned in this country – whole, undiluted, for citizen and non-citizen alike, we really do not live in America.
http://tinyurl.com/y2lwyn

ELECTION ITEMS

ELECTION POST-MORTEM. WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER, MUCH BETTER .--- It is clear that the DLC did not want certain issues brought to the Democratic House caucus, including 911 Truth (Bowman), pre-911 screw ups (Rowley), voting machine fraud (Curtis), and congressional pederasty (Patty Wetterling, 6th Minnesota district). One can only wonder why the DLC would want to eschew candidates who the Bush administration would find extremely uncomfortable. The answer is simple -- the Republicans and DLC are basically one and the same. Similar foreign and domestic policy goals put them in bed with one another. Its no more complicated than that.
http://tinyurl.com/ddhv8

NY Times On Montana's New Senator: He's Almost 300 Pounds Even Though He's Got Only Seven Fingers...
http://tinyurl.com/ya4lby

What's Not Going to Change: After the Electoral Earthquake --- French political analyst Jacques Sapir warns Le Monde readers that the American political tendencies that produced the Bush administration are neither dead nor altogether absent from the Democratic Party.
http://tinyurl.com/yx3vhs

Sen. Feingold Would Have Made a Good President; Held 1,000th Town Hall Meeting Sunday
http://tinyurl.com/wtlr3

ECONOMY

Negative numbers popping up in the data - If the U.S. economy is so strong, what are all those negative signs doing in front of the economic statistics?
http://tinyurl.com/y32h5k

Cheney’s Revenge - Cheney knows that the story about a “Democratic sweep” is utter nonsense. He knows who operates the voting machines and how get the results he wants. The normal procedures for rigging the election were simply put on hold. - Is anyone gullible enough to believe that Republican big-wigs have given up cheating as a vital part of their strategy for winning elections?
http://tinyurl.com/yhj3dr

NBC Cuts 17 Jobs At “Dateline”...
http://tinyurl.com/yyensd

CONGRESS

Congress - whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans - has a solemn duty to uphold and when necessary enforce the law. Constitutional law is not at the personal discretion on the part of individual lawmakers. The pre-emptive nature of the decision by Pelosi and Conyers stands in sharp contrast to every principal of law enforcement. by stating flatly that "impeachment is off the table," incoming Speaker Pelosi and incoming Chairman Conyers appear to have erred rather substantially in their consitutional responsibility.
http://tinyurl.com/vh2ak

Pelosi backs Murtha for majority leader
http://tinyurl.com/y6jajp

Pelosi, AIPAC and Google - As of 11/12/06, a search of AIPAC's website for mention of Nancy Pelosi yields about 20+ results. Oddly, none of these pages are available anymore. AIPAC's website gives a "Oops! We're sorry, but we are unable to find the page you were looking for."
http://tinyurl.com/ybx5bk

House OKs bill aimed at animal activists - Animal rights advocates who threaten scientists conducting animal research or companies funding or affiliated with it could be fined and imprisoned under a bill the House passed Monday and sent to President Bush.
http://tinyurl.com/whqlg

Pelosi ‘will ensure’ Murtha win, Murtha ally says --- House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ensure that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) wins his race for majority leader, a key Murtha ally said Monday night. “She will ensure that they [the Murtha camp] win. This is hard-ball politics,” said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a longtime Murtha supporter. “We are entering an era where when the Speaker instructs you what to do, you do it.” --- If Moran’s claims are true, Pelosi is taking an enormous gamble only a week after the election propelled her into the Speakership. If she prevails, she will likely banish her onetime rival Hoyer to the back benches and send a clear signal to her colleagues that she intends to rule with an iron hand. If Hoyer wins, she loses substantial political capital and alerts the caucus that they can successfully oppose her.
THE HILL

Labor Movement Dusts Off Agenda as Power Shifts in Congress
http://tinyurl.com/y3zxn3

Administration Opposes Democrats' Plan for Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices --- The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
http://tinyurl.com/y4e6j4

GOP Likely to Lose Battle Over Offshore Drilling ----- The Democrats' return to power is increasing pressure on House Republican leaders to accept a limited expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling.
http://tinyurl.com/y92cny

Leahy aims at restoring habeas corpus: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is expected to take over as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and The (Calif.) Daily Journal reports that Leahy is drafting a bill to undo portions of the new law in an effort to restore habeas corpus rights for enemy combatants.
http://tinyurl.com/y87wr5

Are Democrats Turning A Blind Eye to Civil Liberty? Democrats are anxious to get on with their agendas and have shown no recognition that the first order of business is to repeal the legislation that permits torture, warrantless detention and domestic spying.
http://tinyurl.com/y3anwb

DOMESTIC

Work absenteeism highest in years --- At seven-year high, per survey of HR execs; 2.5 percent absenteeism rate.
http://tinyurl.com/y7yr48

Working Families Now Guaranteed a Raise From Democrats
http://tinyurl.com/vsug7

RELIGIOUS ITEMS
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The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity: George Bernard Shaw
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Baptist measure would oust churches that support gays - On Tuesday, the organization is expected to pass a measure that would alter the articles of its constitution to provide for such exclusions.
http://tinyurl.com/tt9xd

ENVIRONMENT

Global Warming Could Wipe Out Most Birds: ...WWF - unchecked climate change could drive up to 72 per cent of the world's bird species into extinction but the world still has a chance to limit the losses, conservation group WWF said in a report on Tuesday.
http://tinyurl.com/y4rsum

BMW launches test fleet of 100 hydrogen vehicles in Berlin:
http://tinyurl.com/y3wk4k

Helen Caldicott Credo --- "I believe that women have the fate of the Earth in the palm of their hands. Some 53 percent of us are women and we really are pretty wimpish. We don't step up to the plate - and it's time we took over," says Helen Caldicott. "I think men have had their turn and we're in a profound mess."
http://tinyurl.com/y5acf5

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Scientists claim stem cell solution
http://tinyurl.com/y59fc6

Your Smart Phone's data belong us, says US CITIZENS face the danger of their smart phones being confiscated ad infinitum according to a report in the New York Times.--- This is silly. Someone really intent on crime knows there are dozens of places to hide data. As one example, I have a 2 gigabyte card in my digital camera. When plugged into my laptop, it functions as a USB hard drive, and ANY data can be written to the camera. As long as the disk is full, the camera continues to work, and the added files do not show up on the camera's playback function. --- Jump disks are getting smaller and smaller, to the point where they are easily hidden or can be disguised as other items.--- Finally, encrypted data can simply be left on a web server for retrieval after travel.--- This seizure of laptops and cell phones has zero effect against real criminals and is just another tactic to keep the American sheep cowed and silent while that big sheer sweeps back and forth.
http://tinyurl.com/yy2smq

Google CEO: Cell Phones Should Be Free...
http://tinyurl.com/y4u2qh

INTERNATIONAL

Call to Bridge West-Muslim Divide --- A cross-cultural group of 20 prominent world figures has called for urgent efforts to heal the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies. The chief causes of the rift are not religion or history, they say, but recent political developments, notably the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://tinyurl.com/yyx4dt

Oil Revenues Fuel Resistance to US --- Iran, Venezuela and Russia are flush with petroleum money, a buffer allowing them to challenge perceived American dominance.
http://tinyurl.com/y2pg5v

Australia: Officials linked to AWB deals: AWB paid $290 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime between 1999 and 2003, most of which went through Alia, disguised as trucking fees.
http://tinyurl.com/yzf2ft

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Comedians On Election Results... Leno: “Wow...GOP Is Now DOA”....
http://tinyurl.com/yj2o6s

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

I hate Joe Lieberman
http://tinyurl.com/yymxj5

HEALTH

No Fluoride for Infants, Say Dentists --- To prevent tooth damage, the American Dental Association (ADA) warned its members that fluoridated water should not be mixed into concentrated formula or foods intended for babies one year and younger, in a November 9th ADA e-mail alert.
http://tinyurl.com/y27ck6

Roche's Tamiflu to Add Warning on Psychiatric Risks Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu flu treatment must carry information warning of potential risks of psychiatric side effects, U.S. regulators said.
http://tinyurl.com/y2ytjs

Nanotech ingredients may expose food industry workers to unknown health risks:
http://tinyurl.com/y8dghp

Soil depletion is leading to foods with alarmingly high levels of carcinogens. In today's feature article, you'll learn how sulfur deficiency in the soil causes grains (and their carbohydrates) to form massive quantities of cancer-causing acrylamides when cooked.
http://tinyurl.com/wznof

Urgent consumer fraud investigation about a popular line of non-stick cookware from a company called "Swiss Diamond." --- not only made of the SAME chemical as Teflon, it's also easily scratched with a common fork!
http://tinyurl.com/y3pads

An alternate to total hip replacement with hip resurfacing, designed to last at least 10 years, which is already a common procedure in England and Canada
http://tinyurl.com/yy98aj

An oral leukemia breakthrough, which is not chemotherapy, has mild side-effects, and is showing great promise for leukemia that has grown resistant to other therapies
http://tinyurl.com/y3upvm

The in-depth doctor's interview with Paresh Dandona, M.D., Ph.D., who explains how insulin could aid heart recovery in heart attack patients
http://tinyurl.com/vknmg
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"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear." —General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951
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How the Alzheimer drug, rivastigmine, could help traumatic brain injury patients focus, concentrate and recall things more easily, according to Dr. Douglas Katz, a neurologist at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital/Boston University
http://tinyurl.com/u6ax2

Flavor Point Diet by David L. Katz, M.D., an author and director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, talks with us about his Flavor Point Diet. He says of the 20 people in his 12-week study, everyone lost weight.
http://tinyurl.com/yxoxh6

From Philadelphia, the DNA Diet, which purportedly reveals the best diet for you, based on a swab of your DNA.
http://tinyurl.com/y7qeze

Botox Helps Knee Pain
http://tinyurl.com/y3cz59

Drug Provides Pain Relief for Fibromyalgia
http://tinyurl.com/v2ft3

Breast Cancer Patients Need More Mental Health Care
http://tinyurl.com/uktej

Chinese Medicine for Asthma
http://tinyurl.com/tonzz

Bedbugs -- Back and Biting
http://tinyurl.com/y7bs3u

SPECIAL INTEREST ITEMS

Bush's Wax Head Suffers $25,000 In Damages After Las Vegas Attack...
http://tinyurl.com/yhk8w2