December 3, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

Webb showed restraint, considering his son was nearly killed this week when the Bush twins were reveling in Argentina
http://tinyurl.com/y2vzkg

WAR

America's Mideast Allies “In A State Of Panic”...
http://tinyurl.com/v9jp4

U.S. intelligence chief admits insurgency "self-sustaining"
http://tinyurl.com/yxbd3s

Israel's Defense Forces Warn of Pending Mideast War - Haaretz reports that there will be a war next summer.
http://tinyurl.com/y98f4j

THE WHITE HOUSE

Has He Started Talking to the Walls? : FRANK RICH - Bush’s Unreality *** As Mr. Bush has ricocheted from Vietnam to Latvia to Jordan in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed the troubling behavior of a president who isn’t merely in a state of denial but is completely untethered from reality. It’s not that he can’t handle the truth about Iraq. He doesn’t know what the truth is.
http://tinyurl.com/tcz6n

The President Who Wouldn't Listen...
http://tinyurl.com/y8uhyv

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

Defense nominee's business ties raise concerns *** As Gates awaits Senate confirmation as President Bush's secretary of Defense, ethics watchdogs worry about the revolving door between government and private business that allowed Gates to align himself with defense contractors, investment houses and a global drilling company involved with Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton Co
http://tinyurl.com/yxaxwd

FBI Launches Its Own Investigation Into Russian Spy Poisoning...Focus On Fmr. KGB Living In US...
http://tinyurl.com/vovv3

POLITICS

Defense Nominee's Business Ties Raise Concerns - As Robert Gates awaits Senate confirmation as President Bush's secretary of defense, ethics watchdogs worry about the revolving door between government and private business that allowed Gates to align himself with defense contractors, investment houses and a global drilling company involved with Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton Co.
http://tinyurl.com/yxaxwd

SCANDAL

'House of Death' linked to U.S. *** Media ignore scandal tying Washington officials to brutal killings in Mexico.
http://tinyurl.com/y37mh6

Bush Administration Faulted for FEMA Aid Shortfalls In denouncing the way the Bush administration has denied aid to tens of thousands of victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a federal judge in Washington last week pulled back the curtain on a deeper mystery 15 months after the nation's costliest natural disaster: What has happened to 2.6 million households that applied for disaster assistance but have been largely shed from the rolls?
http://tinyurl.com/y6g94k

LEGAL ITEMS

Scooter' Goes for a Spin? What Libby Plans to Say at Trial
http://tinyurl.com/y5hry5

ELECTION ITEMS

"Can Romney endure the media exposure that awaits him?
http://tinyurl.com/yeu8r8

ECONOMY

Owning Mutual Funds May Be Hazardous To One's Wealth
http://tinyurl.com/y5pzqd

Is the United States bankrupt?
http://tinyurl.com/g9kwc

Look who owns U.S. debt now *** Other nations hold a record 52% of it, leaving U.S. economy vulnerable.
http://tinyurl.com/wcxue

The United States Is In Deep Doodoo! *** United States Congressional Record - March 17, 1993 - Vol. #33, page H-1303 - Speaker- Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House: "Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise."
http://tinyurl.com/bptd

Europe Calmly Looks at Sliding Dollar - With the European economy on the upswing, companies and governments are shrugging off the dollar's renewed slide against the euro this week - a phenomenon once dreaded as potential poison for the continent's many exporters
http://tinyurl.com/y63gty

CONGRESS

"Congress will convene on Tuesday for what some fear will be the lamest of lame-duck sessions, and GOP leaders have decided to take a minimalist approach before turning over the reins of power to the Democrats." Now Republicans go "Minimalist" After Years of "Maximum" Destruction to America!
http://tinyurl.com/yykq9v

Gates Hearing Has New Urgency *** The Bush administration has made clear it won’t submit to congressional subpoenas if it considers the information privileged or overly sensitive.Thus, it makes sense for Bush to push through Gates’s confirmation during the lame-duck session when the Republicans are still in charge.Quick confirmation would deny the Democrats one of their few pressure points – approval of Gates – that they could use to extract some cooperation from the White House in the planned oversight hearings
http://tinyurl.com/yyfap4

ENVIRONMENT

Judge rules on road ban in forests - A federal judge has ruled that a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests applies to hundreds of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration.
http://tinyurl.com/wob4h

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Mysteries of computer from 65BC are solved. The machine first came to light when an archaeologist working on the recovered objects noticed that a lump of rock had a gear wheel embedded in it. Closer inspection of material brought up from the stricken ship subsequently revealed 80 pieces of gear wheels, dials, clock-like hands and a wooden and bronze casing bearing ancient Greek inscriptions.
http://tinyurl.com/y4jvwh

Famed Scientist Fights Evangelical Crusade To Hide Kenya's Pre-Human Fossils...
http://tinyurl.com/t7c26

INTERNATIONAL

Raul Castro 'ready' to talk to US *** CUBA'S communist interim leader Raul Castro, in a shift from the tack of his ailing brother Fidel Castro, has overnight pushed for negotiations with the United States to end decades of tense ties.
http://tinyurl.com/yxkhxz

Japan inches toward a full-fledged military *** Amid growing security concerns among its people, especially after neighboring North Korea's nuclear test, Japan will almost certainly enact bills soon to upgrade the status of the Defense Agency to a ministry more than five decades after its inception.
http://tinyurl.com/y9dumd

US tells banks to shut down Iran operations *** Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.(untimately, the US will only have accomplished a success in bullying UK banks to do its bidding)
http://tinyurl.com/y6lome

MILITARY

Military Radio Signal Jams Hundreds Of Garage Doors In Colorado Town...
http://tinyurl.com/yjjjm8

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Russert: Bush keeps blaming 'Qaeda, Qaeda, Qaeda'
http://tinyurl.com/y8sh7r

RUSSERT FED UP: Pins Bush Adviser Hadley To The Wall On Iraq Mistakes...
http://tinyurl.com/y8yb5u

HEALTH

Pfizer ends cholesterol drug development - Pfizer Inc. said Saturday it has cut off all clinical trials and development for a cholesterol drug that was supposed to be the star of its pipeline because of an unexpected number of deaths and cardiovascular problems in patients who used it....
http://tinyurl.com/y26258

((Lower cholesterol with garlic. - In a large study of 220 patients, the garlic group took 800 milligrams of a powdered garlic for four months. This group experienced a 12 percent drop in cholesterol and a 17 percent drop in triglycerides. The placebo group had little change.))
http://tinyurl.com/y3vcsd