December 7, 2006

THE THINKING SPOT

No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority: Thomas Jefferson: American 3rd US President (1801-09).

((My husband said that had he written this Bush fiasco as a book, no company would have even considered it, the entire Bush fiasco is a bumbling episode - totally gawky - it is a level of silliness that one would expect at a child's level, but is, in actuality, a blistering story of a mad man - you cannot combine this craziness into a book for child or adult for it is so bizarre.))

ALERT

Drug company executives plot strategy for maintaining pharmaceutical monopoly after Democrats take over Congress:
http://tinyurl.com/y9faqr

WAR

Panel: U.S. Lied About Level Of Violence In Iraq - U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush administration's policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said. ((Are we going to pull out - hell no!. The godforsaken bloodbath of Bush will continue. No wonder Papa Bush is falling apart into tears, his country is being debacled by his son. Did you notice that no Iraqi was on the infamous panel?))
http://tinyurl.com/saeqa

Saudis Reportedly Funding Iraqi Sunnis - Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
http://tinyurl.com/yydp3d

Samsung unveils machine-gun-wielding sentry robot that can track, kill humans:
http://tinyurl.com/yz3nwb

THE WHITE HOUSE

BUSH ADMINSTRATION IMPLICATED IN NARCO DEATH SQUAD COVER UP - A group calling itself the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition has filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Department of Justice which seeks to expose information implicating government officials behind the death squads involved on both sides of the border in more than 50 murders related to DEA, Homeland Security and Mexican police covert operations.
http://tinyurl.com/yxxl6s

The End of the Bush Dynasty: The modern-era Bush family dynasty goes back four generations and was connected to the military-industrial complex of its day during and after WW I much like the most recent two Bush generations are to the present one.
http://tinyurl.com/yxzmtz

CIA acknowledges Bush signed secret directive on interrogating terror suspect: "a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees," the civil liberties union said, based on its review of published accounts.
http://tinyurl.com/ybmyg5

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

Homeland Security secretly assigns "terrorist scores" to all international travelers entering U.S.:
http://tinyurl.com/yexplr

EPA May Drop Lead Air Pollution Limits - The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.
http://tinyurl.com/yb9vqa

SCANDAL

U.S. Criminal Probe Rattles $2 Trillion Municipal Bond Market - The first-ever antitrust probe of the municipal bond market is roiling an industry that states and cities depend on to finance everything from garbage trucks to schools.
http://tinyurl.com/yhsmb9

LEGAL ITEMS

Case of the Dwindling Docket Mystifies the Supreme Court - The courtroom, however, was empty on Wednesday, and for a simple reason: The court was out of cases. The question is, where have all the cases gone? ((When you rubber-stamp the President, people stop listening to you!))
http://tinyurl.com/ydpyfy

U.S. indicts Taylor's son for torture: The U.S. Justice Department Wednesday indicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for torture, the first such prosecution in U.S. history.
http://tinyurl.com/vbomw

Hewlett-Packard To Pay $14.5 Million In Spying Scandal Settlement...
http://tinyurl.com/yj45ed

U.S. Criminal Probe Rattles $2 Trillion Municipal Bond Market - The first-ever antitrust probe of the municipal bond market is roiling an industry that states and cities depend on to finance everything from garbage trucks to schools.
http://tinyurl.com/yhsmb9

ECONOMY

Forget shopping, this could turn into a crash - As the dollar's fall continues, the US must decide between growth or curbing inflation
http://tinyurl.com/yncj9o

CONGRESS

GOP “Do-Nothing” Congress Tries To Give Itself Raise On Final Day…
http://tinyurl.com/yb96tx

Not The Triumphant Finale He Envisioned: Frist Leaves Senate For Good...
http://tinyurl.com/ylmynk

DOMESTIC

12 Million Suburbanites Live in Poverty - As Americans flee the cities for the suburbs, many are failing to leave poverty behind. The suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas
released Thursday
http://tinyurl.com/ynbm6p

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

Healing the Earth through Faith and Action: An Interview with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi:
http://tinyurl.com/ydt76w

ENVIRONMENT

Exxon Spends Millions to Cast Doubt on Warming: The world's largest energy company is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund European organisations that seek to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on global warming and undermine support for legislation to curb emission of greenhouse gases. ((Look for the money and you will find all your answers.))
http://tinyurl.com/yznvno

A Look at the Impacts of Biofuels Production - the ecological impacts of biofuel production are more complicated, and wider-reaching, than an environmentalist might first imagine
http://tinyurl.com/yzus56

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

One Third Of Jailed Journalists Are Bloggers - A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists warns of increasing authoritarian attitudes towards the free flow of information on the Internet as statistics reveal that of the estimated 134 journalists jailed for their work worldwide, a full third are Internet writers and bloggers.
http://tinyurl.com/ykwngs

A media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, has been able to turn lies into truth, propagandizing the citizens of these United States of America. All of our forefathers must be rolling over in their graves. The media was totally complicit in this calamity created in Iraq by Bush. This war was really one of "progress" and "victory". You bought that - right?

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

Rabbi Michael Lerner Thank You, Jimmy Carter
http://tinyurl.com/yj99b7

HEALTH

Pediatricians Blast Inappropriate Ads -(( why don't we care about our kids? You want a good model - check out Canada, they are very careful about what their children are subjected to.))
http://tinyurl.com/yzuod2

Fast food restaurants at children's hospitals influence parents to feed their families unhealthy meals:
http://tinyurl.com/ycvm6g

In a single year, bird flu caused $5.4 billion in economic losses to global economy:
http://tinyurl.com/yc2gaf

HUMAN RIGHTS

Wal-Mart Abuses Female Employees
http://tinyurl.com/ym27k4

Stoning for Adultery - Currently, in Iran, there are nine women sentenced to death by stoning on charges of adultery, compared to two men for the same offence -- highlighting the fact that this barbaric mode of execution is primarily a women's issue.
http://tinyurl.com/yd6tx7