December 1, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

"Find out just what people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." : Frederick Douglass, African-American slave, and later abolitionist.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives: James Madison

ALERT

"It is better to die standing than to live on your knees." --Ernesto "Che" Guevara

WAR
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People have not been horrified by war to a sufficient extent ... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige as the warrior does today: John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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Pullout-Pullback Battle Looms - President Bush outright rejected calls for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq Thursday, setting the stage for what will likely be a bitter showdown between the White House and the new Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress
http://tinyurl.com/whnd3

Halliburton Unit to Pay $8 Million for Overbilling
http://tinyurl.com/tlty8

Iraq Study Group To Recommend Withdrawing Combat Troops By Early '08...
http://tinyurl.com/y8ogg7

Idea of Rapid Withdrawal from Iraq Seems to Fade but Not from the American people.
http://tinyurl.com/y2teuc

Woman being used as 'human shield' shot by U.S. forces
http://tinyurl.com/wuflm

THE WHITE HOUSE
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Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind: George Orwell
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Bush's Body Language Says "I'm Afraid" - President Bush's face expressed fear in dozens of different ways at his press conference in Amman. For President Bush, fear looks like a slight widening of the eyes together with a slightly crooked half-grimace in his mouth. It is a look that sent shivers through my spine when I saw it in the C-SPAN video--the look of a man who not only does not understand the answers to the questions being asked, but does not understand the reason they are being asked in the first place.
http://tinyurl.com/tyryu

United States v. George W. Bush et al - The moment the President lied, he exceeded the authority of his office. The moment Bush does something the President is not allowed to do, he ceases being the President.
http://tinyurl.com/y67c5p

U.S. legislator warns of Bush plot to merge Canada, the U.S. and Mexico - Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo, revered by some U.S. conservatives for his efforts to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico, said this week that Bush is a dangerous internationalist.
http://tinyurl.com/yxhebd

POLITICS
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Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind: George Orwell
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Mehlman said it’s Time for ‘Self-examination’ among Republicans
THE HILL

HISTORY REVISITED
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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous: Carl Sagan
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Iran/contra: 20 Years Later and What It Means - But many Americans did not absorb the key lesson: the Iran/contra vets were not to be trusted. Consequently, most of those officials went on to prosperous careers, with some even becoming part of the squad that has landed the United States in the current hellish mess in Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/yez78o

SCANDAL

Exxon Chairman gets $14.2 mln in restricted stock - Tillerson and other top executives received restricted stock awards earlier this week, Exxon disclosed on Thursday evening in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Executive pay in the oil industry, particularly at Exxon, is a sensitive subject as U.S. motorists smart from gas prices that have topped $3 a gallon.
http://tinyurl.com/yymrdo

Net sex sting nabs GOP operative
http://tinyurl.com/y7z4ga

LEGAL ITEMS

A Crack in the Stone Wall (The New York Times) - "The question of the wiretap program's constitutionality is now making its way through the courts and should ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
http://tinyurl.com/uap6h

Ex-CIA Worker Pleads Guilty To Burglary - A CIA employee for nearly 20 years admitted breaking into 10 homes near the spy agency's headquarters about a year ago and taking valuables and other items. (Would you believe ladies panties.)
http://tinyurl.com/ymv92n

ELECTION ITEMS

Security of Electronic Voting Is Condemned by Federal Agency - Paperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country "cannot be made secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the US Election Assistance Commission.
http://tinyurl.com/y3vjq8

ECONOMY

A MUST READ ! ! ! Dollar Fall Is Catalyst For Predatory Global Government - Americans remain ignorant to 35% devaluation of their bank savings as skids are greased for introduction of Amero, North American Union.
http://tinyurl.com/y7jvm8

US manufacturing shrinks for 1st time in 3-1/2 yrs - That includes the weapons makers.
http://tinyurl.com/y9caea

Govt Warns Al Qaeda Planning Cyber-Attack Against US Stock Trading, Banking Website...
http://tinyurl.com/y7y4z9

CONGRESS
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Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it: Albert Einstein
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Deny Pensions to Convicted Members of Congress, Watchdogs Say - 20 citizens groups have renewed their call for congressional leaders to deny pensions to members of Congress convicted of crimes
http://tinyurl.com/wadmb

Sen. Reid: Ethics, Stem Cells Top Agenda Sen. Reid: Ethics, Stem Cells Top Agenda
http://tinyurl.com/yy87w7

Reyes to Chair Intelligence Panel - House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman, Silvestre Reyes, to lead the House Intelligence Committee, according to congressional aides.
http://tinyurl.com/y79xjk

GOP vow to take off Pelosi's head ------ (Republicans are ready to show Dems a thing or two about how to be a merciless minority party.)
http://tinyurl.com/y7t2zv

Dodd Proposes Restoring Rights for Terrorism Suspects - has proposed revamping the newly authorized military commissions to restore habeas corpus protections for terrorism suspects, as well as to curb executive interpretation.
http://tinyurl.com/yyoljm

Jewish Groups To Challenge Ethics Reform - Two of America’s most influential Jewish organizations are gearing up for their first direct confrontation with the incoming, Democratic-led Congress. - Jewish groups, though supportive of most measures, are concerned about two aspects of the reform: the ban on privately funded congressional travel, and the limitations on earmarks.
http://tinyurl.com/yyaw6m

Exxon Mobil CEO Warns Ending Tax Breaks - Proposals by congressional Democrats to eliminate oil industry tax breaks and subsidies would set a bad example overseas and discourage new industry investments, Exxon Mobil's top executive said Thursday. ((The word "greed" is not sufficient to describe these people. There needs to be a new word in the language to describe the level of greed that exists in corporate America.))
http://tinyurl.com/v53tk

Grassley hits FDA over approval of antibiotic - Grassley has been feuding with the Bush administration over its refusal to provide his panel with information about the FDA’s actions regarding Ketek, an antibiotic that had been approved despite indications that its application contained fraudulent information.
THE HILL

Socialist Senator to Push Congress From Left - Congress owes voters an exhaustive probe into the White House - pressing for hearings on Iraq to probing no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton
http://tinyurl.com/y3hxbo

DOMESTIC

Prison X-Ray Machines Planned For US Airports…
http://tinyurl.com/y3b37v

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

Religious Right Up In Arms - Congressman To Take Oath On Koran...(Like I said, we are going to have to save God from the Evangelicals!)
http://tinyurl.com/y2h63r

L.A. archdiocese settles 45 sex abuse cases for $60m
http://tinyurl.com/yyd7hh

ENVIRONMENT

EPA Backtracks on Easing Toxin Rule - ((YAHOO!!!)) Under pressure from Democratic senators, the Bush administration has modified its proposal to ease public reporting requirements for companies that handle or release toxic chemicals.
http://tinyurl.com/y4t33w

Justice Scalia: “I Don't Want To Have To Deal With Global Warming”… (No wonder A.Gore took a wack at Scalia on some TV show! I wonder how long Scalia would last with no clean air or water.)
http://tinyurl.com/ufecy

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Move to new planet, says Hawking - He told the BBC that life could be wiped out by a nuclear disaster or an asteroid hitting the planet. But the Cambridge academic added: "Once we spread out into space and establish colonies, our future should be safe."
http://tinyurl.com/snsur

New rules compel firms to track e-mails
http://tinyurl.com/y7tls2

Microsoft Introduces New Operating System...
http://tinyurl.com/y6npq7

MILITARY
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I was a bombadier in WW 2. When you are up 30,000 feet you do not hear the screams or smell the blood or see those without limbs or eyes. It was not til I read Hersey's Hiroshima that I realized what bomber pilots do: Howard Zinn
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Woman: Soldier's Casket on Baggage Cart - The Army is investigating a woman's claim that a soldier's flag-draped casket was placed in an airport baggage cart with other luggage while being transferred between airline flights.
http://tinyurl.com/y4zlpj

Clinton: Army should probe casket report
http://tinyurl.com/yzwrpy

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Even Scarborough Beats Up on O'Reilly Now - Scarborough took off on O'Reilly in a big way Thursday (November 30, 2006) in retaliation for the Big Blow Hard attacking NBC for deciding to call the Iraq civil war a "civil war." Scarborough says O'Reilly is on a "crusade against the American press, especially NBC."
http://tinyurl.com/ujt37

HEALTH

Private HMOs cost more to Medicare: study - Private managed-care companies have taken a bigger role in Medicare, the health insurance program for 43 million elderly, after recent changes pushed by President George W. Bush and the Republican-led U.S. Congress.
http://tinyurl.com/uyl9r

Plan Could Close 20 or More New York Hospitals - In addition, the commission reached deep into the particular operations of many individual institutions, ordering them to eliminate specific numbers of beds, telling some to eliminate psychiatric, substance abuse or maternity wards, and in some cases directing others to take on those functions. (( Another Bush legacy!))
http://tinyurl.com/yyfhmw

Common chemotherapy drugs can kill healthy brain cells - Common drugs used to treat cancer patients may do more harm than good by killing healthy brain cells, a research study shows.
http://tinyurl.com/uur5s

SPECIAL INTEREST ITEMS

Gates' billions to be gone within 50 years of death
http://tinyurl.com/ynhh8m