November 23, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

In an Election Day survey, Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen found that 53 percent of voters said the Republicans didn't share their values, and 47 percent said the Democrats didn't share theirs. "There's a strong sense that the two parties are out of touch with the mainstream," Schoen said. (The time is long overdue for Americans to stop voting for candidates that can win, and start voting for those that should win.)

WOULDN'T YOU THINK?

Look Who's Cutting and Running Now - James Baker is the last guy we should listen to about Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/yar9ur

Bush's CIA Creating A 'New Saddam' To Take Over? --- This afternoon I had lunch with a CIA operative who was telling me, in hushed tones, that we were going to put an Iraqi general officer up to leading a putsch against the present régime there.
http://tinyurl.com/ycee4r

WOULDN'T YOU THINK?

U.S. Retreat from Iraq? (The Secret Story) - According to credible Iraqi sources in London and Amman, a secret story of America’s diplomatic exit strategy from Iraq is rapidly unfolding. The key events include. By Tom Hayden
http://tinyurl.com/yxfjfm

Gunmen Attack Baghdad Health Ministry. Time for Bush and Cheney to Go. They are Responsible for the Countless Deaths of Iraqis and Americans -- And It is Only Getting Worse.
http://tinyurl.com/vu5u8

Let Us Now Throw Rumsfeld Under The Bus: Having lived a life in which his chestnuts have always been pulled out of the fire of failure by daddy's friends and wannabe friends (Robert Gates anyone?), Bush is not accustomed to taking blame for his mistakes and eff - ups. He is, to put it bluntly, a 60 year old spoiled brat.
http://tinyurl.com/yk22wf

Iranian president describes Bush as evil, says Iran must thwart US arrogance: The Iranian president described U.S. President George W. Bush as "evil" Wednesday, adding that justice requires that Iran face down U.S. arrogance, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
http://tinyurl.com/ybndny

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine has reported.
http://tinyurl.com/ym5a4u

Missing presumed tortured - More than 7,000 prisoners have been captured in America's war on terror. Just 700 ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Between extraordinary rendition to foreign jails and disappearance into the CIA's "black sites", what happened to the rest?
http://tinyurl.com/y8rq82

Another way to get war going with Syria and Iran for Israel - More and more people are starting to realize that the Gemayal assassination, like that of Hariri, was probably done by Israel as a step towards Israeli invasions of Lebanon and Syria.
http://tinyurl.com/y4ajeo

THE WHITE HOUSE

White House Denies Iraqi Reports That Cheney Is In Baghdad..
http://tinyurl.com/yhznpk

Cheney “Profoundly Disturbed” By Bush's Treatment Of Rumsfeld...
http://tinyurl.com/ym6tth

Arabs' Questions Throw Elder Bush on Defensive
http://tinyurl.com/yjfnqk

Neil Bush's family values - Despite record of past scams and other controversial business deals, Neil Bush now benefits directly from President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and father's international network
http://tinyurl.com/yya6ly

May I Quote You, Mr. President? - A selection of 50 quotes from President George W. Bush, for entertainment or meditation
http://tinyurl.com/uccvj

Suggestion: Bring the Troops Home: Impeach - The new Congress was elected with a clear mandate from the people to stop the wars. They ignore that mandate at the risk of their jobs.
http://tinyurl.com/y2nfn8

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

Panel Calls for Big Changes in Medicaid - A federal advisory panel says that long-term care for aging baby boomers threatens to bankrupt Medicaid, and it recommends sweeping changes to rein in costs, including greater use of managed care for the sickest Medicaid recipients.
http://www.dailykos.com/

The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls - The Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security spend millions annually to buy commercial databases that track Americans' finances, phone numbers, and biographical information, according to a report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Often, the agencies and their contractors don't ensure the data's accuracy, the GAO found....Buying commercially collected data allows the government to dodge certain privacy rules. The Privacy Act of 1974 restricts how federal agencies may use such information and requires disclosure of what the government is doing with it. But the law applies only when the government is doing the data collecting.
http://tinyurl.com/nmfcu

Pentagon delays chemical weapons disposal: The Pentagon has extended its timeline to destroy its aging chemical weapons arsenal until 2023. the military won’t eliminate its stock of deadly nerve gases and skin-blistering agents until 11 years after the 2012 deadline set by the international Chemical Weapons Convention.
http://tinyurl.com/ybh3tb

POLITICS

Retiring GOP Rep. Kolbe Milking Last Days Of Office: Spent $40,000 On Overseas Trips Since June...
http://tinyurl.com/y5x55o

Leaked Drug Company Memo: Santorum Loss “Creates A Big Hole We Will Need To Fill”...“We Now Have Fewer Allies In The Senate”...
http://tinyurl.com/yawb4e

Coincidence? Election over, gas prices up again - If you were a little suspicious of the way in which gasoline prices just happened to dive just before this month's midterm elections, this bit of news won't exactly put your mind at ease: After dropping 84 cents between Aug. 11 and Nov. 3, gas prices are up five cents in the first Lundberg Survey released after the Nov. 7 election.
http://tinyurl.com/u8hkt

LBJ Night Before JFK Assassination: "Those SOB's Will Never Embarrass Me Again" - The night before the Kennedy assassination, Lyndon Baines Johnson met with Dallas tycoons, FBI moguls and organized crime kingpins - emerging from the conference to tell his mistress Madeleine Duncan Brown that "those SOB's" would never embarrass him again. It's a jaw-dropping deposition and it's the biggest JFK smoking gun there is - despite the fact that it has received little media attention.
http://tinyurl.com/lusok

SCANDAL

Sacramento anti-war leader accuses federal government of withholding surveillance information of his group - The report confirms the National Security Agency collected information on the Sacramento chapter of Veterans for Peace for five months in 2005.
http://tinyurl.com/tx4bs

LEGAL ITEMS

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Same-Sex Unions
http://tinyurl.com/y257ts

U.S. Copyright Office Approves 6 Exemptions in Review of 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act --- Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday. ****GOODBYE SPRINT***
http://tinyurl.com/y6hhla

Two U.S. men charged with broadcasting Hezbollah TV - U.S. authorities brought terrorism charges against two men for providing satellite broadcasts of Hezbollah television channel al-Manar to U.S. customers, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday. ((Interesting. Never mind the clear violation of the first Amendment, but because the US is prosecuting people who merely showing a non-Israeli version of what is happening in the Middle East. How very Soviet of the US Government!
http://tinyurl.com/yxgm6r

Jury finds Net pharmacy kingpin guilty - Jurors convicted online pharmacy kingpin Christopher Smith on nine charges, including conspiracy to unlawfully sell drugs and launder money. One of the counts includes a minimum 20-year prison sentence.
http://tinyurl.com/y2ltyz

Giving Thanks, Giving Way to a New Drama - We are headed for a period of grand public drama and fabulous political entertainment. Ploys and counter-ploys, confrontations and threats, and courtroom moments that will top the Nixon and Clinton impeachments combined.
check Huffington Post

Courts rule in favor of bloggers, web publishers who post opinions of independent authors:
http://tinyurl.com/ymf6hb

Federal judge rejects request for NSA wiretapping records: The National Security Agency is not required to release details about its secret wiretapping program, a federal judge said this week.
http://tinyurl.com/yfyrdf

ELECTION ITEMS

Momentum Grows For Edwards-Obama Presidential “Dream Ticket”...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/22/momentum-grows-for-edward_n_34719.html


Hastert Dejected, Unlikely To Serve Entire Term As “Rank And File” Congressman... (say friends)
Check Huffington Post

* * * * * * * * * * *
Highly Recommended Analysis - Why the Democrats Won Back Congress. Stephen T. Gheen's 2006 Election Analysis Indicates White Males (and Others) Handed Victory to the Democrats After Concluding that Bush's Conservative Principles and Policies Had Failed
http://tinyurl.com/y9hfdh
* * * * * * * * * * *

ECONOMY

U.S. initial weekly jobless claims rise to 321,000, up by 12,000
http://tinyurl.com/yzz2wy

Housing starts plunge to six-year low - Home builders retreated on a massive scale in October, dashing hopes that the bottom has been found in the troubled housing sector.
http://tinyurl.com/yzeek5

Dollar Declines Amid Concerns Economy Is Slowing, Fed May Ease: The dollar declined against the euro and yen as traders speculated the economy may be slowing enough for the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates.
Check Google or Yahoo

DOMESTIC

David Blaine Crashes In Times Square After Gyroscope Stunt...
http://tinyurl.com/yxkkuy

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

Reptiles of the Mind -- Giving Thanks for Rational Atheists
Check Huffington Post

Focus On The Family's Dobson: I Don't Have Time To Rehab Disgraced Pastor Haggard... It “Could Take Four Or Five Years”...
http://tinyurl.com/y2qbma

10 lessons from the toilet presidency of George W. Bush - 1. Religious fanatics are now the number one threat to the planet Earth...
http://tinyurl.com/yyhgbq

ENVIRONMENT

Bush administration pressures Britain to oppose new laws limiting use of toxic chemicals in everyday products:
http://tinyurl.com/sszux

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

EPA to regulate form of nanotechnology
http://tinyurl.com/y79or4

INTERNATIONAL

Flugge knew invasion plans - Details of the extraordinary conversation undercut previous statements by the Prime Minister that Australia had not agreed to join the war in Iraq before the UN debate in late 2002 and early 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/yjs5g3

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

OJ: Profits From This Book Were “Blood Money”...Copy Of Cancelled Book Removed From eBay After Two Hours…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/22/oj-profits-from-this-boo_n_34720.html

A predatory capitalist who stifles competition and delivers mediocrity: Our politicians pay court to Rupert Murdoch like Roman vassals. He is a threat to democracy and it is time we took him on
Check Huffington Post

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

The Federal Reserve - When are we going to wake up from this farce called freedom?
http://tinyurl.com/yyoq2z

THE TRUTH - Your Government, U.S. Corporate Interests, Saddam, the CIA & Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/354v5

"As Long As You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About" - Since when were long established civil liberties and the citizen's right to privacy replaced with this "new freedom", this "freedom lite" shall we call it, this guilty until proven innocent mantra?
http://tinyurl.com/y2rvbx

HEALTH

Flu Vaccines Offer No Protection For The Elderly - Yet another study finds that influenza vaccinations provide none of the protection that they claim.
http://tinyurl.com/ymq4jw

Aids pandemic gains renewed strength - The spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic continues unabated, with the number of people infected rising once more in some countries which had been thought to be beating the disease, according to the UN.
http://tinyurl.com/vwk2j

Genetic breakthrough that reveals the differences between humans - Scientists hail genetic discovery that will change human understanding
http://tinyurl.com/kcue4

Baby with heart outside body has surgery
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-11/23/content_741556.htm

A Bombshell Drops on Cholesterol Medication's Glass House:
http://tinyurl.com/yh8pky

Organ harvesting for wealthy foreigners is routine in China:
http://tinyurl.com/ymzrt7

FDA may face serious reforms in 2007 under Democratic majority:
http://tinyurl.com/y9l3pd

Breastfeeding found to lower babies' diabetes risk:
http://tinyurl.com/ybdfhf

Exercise works better than cutting calories when trying to lose weight
http://tinyurl.com/yhjnmm

Canada requires cosmetics makers to list full ingredients on label:
http://tinyurl.com/yl4e6q

Soy consumption found to reduce breast cancer risk by 58 percent
http://tinyurl.com/ymtpvs

Doctors routinely misdiagnose cow's milk allergies in babies, survey suggests:
http://tinyurl.com/ydkdoy

Why a High-Carb Diet Can Harm Your Heart - A long-term study showed that women on diets high in refined sugars and processed foods nearly doubled their heart disease risk compared with those on low-carb diets.
http://www.mercola.com/2006/nov/23/a-low-carb-diet-doesnt-harm-your-heart.htm

This Common Food Lurking in Your Kitchen Cabinets Dramatically Increases Your Risk of Pancreatic Cancer - Who would have known that one of the most popular foods in America would increase your risk of a deadly cancer?
http://www.mercola.com/2006/nov/23/this-common-food-lurking-in-your-kitchen-cabinets-dramatically-increases-your-risk-of-pancreatic-can.htm