December 22, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

The Nightmare before Christmas - Iran's 'nookular' bombs may be mythical, but its ability to close the strait of Hormuz is NOT. If the US succeeds in browbeating the UN into imposing sanctions on Iran over non-existent nuclear weapons, and Iran responds by closing off the strait, 20% of world oil flow will be cut off. Prices at the pump will skyrocket. Bush will scream about protecting America's oil supply, conveniently forgetting that it was US actions at the UN that created the crisis, and send in the fleet to open up the strait, and Bush will have his shooting war with Iran. Merry Christmas!
http://tinyurl.com/y9py6q

ALERT

Bush's Secy. Of Veteran Affairs:
“I Think That Our Society Would Benefit” From Reinstating Draft...
http://tinyurl.com/ya8er8

WAR

Lieberman Officially Endores Escalation in Iraq - Today, Lieberman voiced his strong support for pouring tens of thousands more U.S. troops into Iraq:
http://tinyurl.com/y5x6qu

US Commanders Wary of Gates Proposal - Defense Secretary Robert Gates found American commanders wary of a proposal to rush more US troops to Iraq as he visited the war-ravaged country Wednesday.
http://tinyurl.com/y8gfws

US and Britain to Add Ships to Persian Gulf in Signal to Iran - The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran
http://tinyurl.com/y2l5u9

George W. Bush Has Only One Priority in Iraq: Himself
http://tinyurl.com/ybx9pm

The Syrian Litmus Test - It has just been exposed that the neo-cons, through very senior administration officials, wanted Israel to attack Syria during this summer's Lebanon conflict. The Israelis politely declined this request.
http://tinyurl.com/ykkns8

THE WHITE HOUSE

Bush versus Bush - President George W. Bush and Texas Governor George W. Bush respond to the same questions about US foreign policy, war in Iraq, etc. Very funny and very sad.
http://tinyurl.com/yx2o54

FDA consolidation plan could close federal food and drug labs - As many as seven of the federal laboratories that help safeguard the nation's food and drugs could close,
http://tinyurl.com/y7zpls

Bush Doles Out 16 Pardons For Drug Crimes, Bank And Mail Fraud, Conspiracy To Defraud Govt....
http://tinyurl.com/yhj7rt

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

U.S. Is Proposing to Cut Medicaid’s Drug Payments - the Bush administration on Monday will propose sweeping reductions in payments to pharmacies as a way to save money for Medicaid, the health program for more than 50 million low-income people.
http://tinyurl.com/yz9gny

Bush's Secy. Of Veteran Affairs:
“I Think That Our Society Would Benefit” From Reinstating Draft...
http://tinyurl.com/ya8er8

POLITICS

Right Wing Americans are Getting What They Deserve The blind faith and catatonic loyalty given to George W. Bush by what has to be the most uninformed political base in human history serves as justification for those of us in the “we told you so” crowd to tell them to shut up and take it like a man. - Bush supporters have nobody to blame but themselves and guess what, the rest of us should blame them too.
http://tinyurl.com/txdec

U.S. Dem. Rep.-elect Nick Lampson taken to hospital
http://tinyurl.com/y25w3p

SCANDAL

21 Arrested In Central Fla. Sex Predator Sting
Twenty-one men, including a police officer, were arrested in Flagler Beach in a sexual predator sting to catch men looking to meet children for sex, according to police.
http://tinyurl.com/vpryg

Another Republican does a NO NO -How NOT to find a hacker... According to Network World's Paul McNamara, the communications director for U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), Todd Shriber, hired two 'hackers' to break into the computer of his alma mater, Texas Christian University, and change his college grades.
http://tinyurl.com/yzbycp

Lawmaker Fears Election of 'More Muslims' Keith Ellison, who is the first Muslim elected to Congress, has angered some conservatives, who want him to swear on a Bible before he takes office. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." -- The Bill of Rights
http://tinyurl.com/ygfk2e

CIA agent blows his own legs off faking terrorism in the Philippines
http://tinyurl.com/yhfeab

Pfizer's Outgoing CEO To Get $180 Million...
http://tinyurl.com/y8uuxv

Oliver North is the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week. "North's behavior is indicative of the insensitivity and brazen opportunism of the GOP war hawks. Call it hypocrisy, but make sure you also call it unmanly and revolting."
http://tinyurl.com/yk2c9o

LEGAL ITEMS

Lawmaker's files sought by grand jury A federal grand jury has subpoenaed congressional records from Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) as part of an escalating Justice Department corruption probe aimed at determining whether Weldon used his influence to win favors for family members, people familiar with the investigation said.
http://tinyurl.com/y36pan

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters regarding former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, subpoenaed Wilson as a defense witness this month. Wilson asked a federal judge Wednesday not to force him to testify in the CIA leak case, and he accused former White House aide Libby of trying to harass him on the witness stand.
http://tinyurl.com/y6lcvt

American Civil Liberties Union and Public Health Groups Urge Appeals Court to Reject Bush Global AIDS Gag
http://tinyurl.com/uqrf2

ELECTION ITEMS

McCain Hires Communications Director With History Of Lying To The Press...
http://tinyurl.com/yxlqrp

ECONOMY

Freightliner plans Mexico factory despite layoffs elsewhere - DaimlerChrysler's Portland-based Freightliner unit will build a $300 million truck plant in Mexico to meet a surge in long-term demand even as it prepares for as many as 4,000 North America layoffs next year.
http://tinyurl.com/y7a5mn

Stocks fall after slow economy report
http://tinyurl.com/yb57hr

2006 Federal Budget Year in Review
http://tinyurl.com/wj674

911

International airline to allow cell phone chatter on planes But while some upscale, long-haul airlines are installing equipment onboard that will allow for cell phone use, it may be a while before the service makes its way to the U.S. ((Oh really? We were told cell phones worked just fine on airliners on 9-11!))
http://tinyurl.com/sow3d

The Bush Administration's 9/11 Story is a Conspiracy Theory
http://tinyurl.com/ya8er8

CONGRESS

Tubbs Jones to head House ethics committee - Jones, now in her fourth term in the House, is a lifelong resident of Ohio's 11th Congressional District, which encompasses most of the East Side of Cleveland as well as parts of the West Side and 22 suburbs. She is a former county prosecutor and Common Pleas judge.
http://tinyurl.com/yg8jrt

Congress Closes With a Pork-Filled Flourish - The dialysis industry, the coal industry and other interests that donated to lawmakers get lavish end-of-session breaks
http://tinyurl.com/uwv52

DOMESTIC

USA Today Adds Foreclosure Listings To Real Estate Web Site - USA Today is offering the service as foreclosures rise throughout the United States as a result of a deflating real estate market.
http://tinyurl.com/y47yk3

Truck Carrying About 6,000 Pounds Of Nuclear Material Overturns On Interstate...
http://tinyurl.com/wwfsp

America's Open Wound - Whatever you've heard about New Orleans, the reality is much worse.
http://tinyurl.com/y6tz4a

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

Rep: 'Everything depends' on bringing Christianity to Iraq - ((Yep, we're definitely headed into a new Dark Ages when we see another (Un)Holy Crusade getting cranked up.))
http://tinyurl.com/y5m2w6

Conservative Christians Want Gay Pastors to Come Out. I Say Amen to That
http://tinyurl.com/ykkczt

What do you know about Bethlehem?
www.openbethlehem.org

ENVIRONMENT

The Last Tide Could Come at Any Time. Then These Islands at the End of the Earth Will Simply Vanish
http://tinyurl.com/ylo3ns

INTERNATIONAL

Who is going to run the show of controlling oil and gas and all transportation routes? - The death of Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov, however, could dramatically shift the center of gravity of the Great Game.
http://tinyurl.com/yxy2kc

SKorea says traces of toxic chemical found in US beef - A little dioxin with that burger? And how did that get past the USDA inspectors?
http://tinyurl.com/yfdld5

MILITARY

Military Draft System To Be Tested - The Selective Service System is making plans to test its draft machinery in case Congress and President Bush need it, even though the White House says it doesn't want to bring back the draft.
http://tinyurl.com/ynzv6l

Troop Levels Unknown - Despite all the talk about just what kind of troop levels the U.S. should maintain, it's not clear anyone knows the size of the Iraqi force, Rep. Christopher Shays said today in his report to the White House and Pentagon on findings from his trip to Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/y35s7o

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

NY Times' Finally Publishes Op-Ed 'Redacted' by C.I.A. - For days, it was an open secret that The New York Times was holding an Op-Ed piece after the Central Intelligence Agency objected to publication of parts of it. It's written by Flynt Leverett, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council. and Hillary Mann, a former Foreign Service officer. The Times finally published it Friday -- with sections literally blacked out. ((Confirming what we already knew about the mainstream media; that they will not publish anything without the government's permission.))
http://tinyurl.com/w7dgx

A Limit to Bloggers' Power? For the last two years, the Internet giants Yahoo and Google, along with the rapidly proliferating ranks of web bloggers, have won all kinds of buzz, clout and attention. But on Capitol Hill, in the debate over "net neutrality," it's Old Media 2, New Media 0.
http://tinyurl.com/yd7fgg

Scarborough Panel Discusses Impeachment of ‘Isolated’ ‘Delusional’ President Bush - MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough invited a group of “heavy hitters” on to “Scarborough Country” Wednesday, and the discussion quickly moved in the direction of why impeachment proceedings of President Bush should be commenced due to his handling of the war in Iraq. ((Not to mention lying us into it in the first place.))
http://tinyurl.com/ynblft

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles. It is for this reason that we will continue to press for the release of the article without the material deleted."
http://tinyurl.com/y8s9h5

When Charity Shouldn’t Begin at Home
http://tinyurl.com/wmpun

SPECIAL INTEREST ITEMS

Parents of caged children convicted
http://tinyurl.com/umdap