January 23, 2007

NEWS ITEMS

Security can not be preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765) John Adams

-BBC Poll: U.S. Image Around The World Is Getting Much Worse, Wonder What The Reason Could Be ????

-NOTICE: George W. Bush has issued Executive Orders allowing the National Security Agency to read this message and all other e-mail you receive or send---without warning, warrant or notice. Bush has ordered this to be done without any legislative or judicial oversight. You have no recourse nor the impeachment of President Bush and other government officials who are involved in this illegal and unconstitutional activity. ((American Civil Liberties Union and Center for National Security Studies Seek Records on Warrantless Mail Surveillance))

-Bush Betrays Our Soldiers Yet Again: Defense Department officials have laid off most of their case workers who help severely injured service members, sources said.

-FBI Cited For Not Protecting Congressional Pages In Foley Scandal

-Setting The Record Straight: Obama Attack Unfounded.

-Clinton Wrongly Accused; These Untruthful Right-Wing Attacks Have To Be Exposed For What They Are Israeli President May Be Indicted On Rape, Abuse Of Power Charges; So Presidents CAN Be Indicted !!!!

-Why Won't the Corporate Press Discuss Bush's Character Problem? (Supposing You are Playing a Game of Poker with a Guy You Know Always Cheats to Win the Hand.- Maybe that is why.)

-Fitzgerald: "Vice presidential adviser Lewis 'Scooter' Libby first learned the wife of an administration foe worked for the CIA from Vice President Cheney himself, the prosecutor in Libby's perjury and obstruction trial said this morning."
Libby: ‘I Will Not Be Sacrificed So Karl Rove Can be Protected’
How Far is Bush Orbiting in Some Parallel Universe?

-Corporate America is Begging Him to Do Something About Global Warming. That's How Far. You don't stop climate change by waging more war for oil.

-President of the National Research Center for Women & Families, Zuckerman said today: "President Bush's healthcare proposals remind me of a shell game -- moving money and tax breaks from one place to another. Like most gambles, some people will benefit, many will be harmed, and the most vulnerable won't be helped at all

-Bush Continues to Unite the World... AGAINST HIM

-The United States' ability to take on a new fight has been hurt by its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the top military officials for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps told Congress on Tuesday.

-Brzezinski: Bush Iran Policy ’Stupid’ - He stressed that it is utterly absurd to adopt a position that the US has the right to dictate what happens in Iraq, as if Iran has nothing to say.

-Israeli billionaire Saban biggest donor to US politicians
T
-The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun closing its nationwide network of scientific libraries, effectively preventing EPA scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and information on issues from toxicology to pollution.

-Diabetic women who eat large quantities of red meat and other foods high in iron run a significantly higher risk of developing heart disease, according to new Harvard research published in the journal Diabetes Care.

-Ethanol demand spikes U.S. corn prices

-Lobbyists Find New Congress is OPEN for Business

-Wal-Mart Takes Step to End Discriminatory Policy; Will Now Include Birth Control in Insurance Plan

-Among Republicans, 56% say the nation is heading in the right direction. Just 36% of men, 32% of whites, and 44% of Evangelicals—all groups that backed the President in 2004—say the same.

-President’s personal unfavorable rating reaches 58%.
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No Way In - No Way Out *** Americans who cherish freedom would do well to stop stumbling around in the trees and forests of the illegal immigration debate and see that the Bush administration is well on its way to closing the borders of the entire nation, not only to people trying to get in, but to citizens trying to get out.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/84/1/

Is it high treason or just a simple case of dereliction of duty? *** The Bush administration was the closest ever to Bin Laden and could have captured him on September 26, 2001, intelligence operatives were feet from him. http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/70/2/

Are Saudis waging an oil-price war on Iran?: Falling fuel costs probably not a coincidence, oil traders say http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16772560/

Bonds: As oil falls, exporters cut levels of U.S. debt: OPEC nations are selling U.S. Treasury securities at the fastest pace in more than three years as tumbling crude oil prices have sent bond prices falling.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/21/bloomberg/bxbond.php

January 21, 2007

WEEKEND NEWS -

I have an idea. Once we get ourselves out of this god awful mess that Bush has slammed us into and we get that bill paid off, we should give every person in these United States a billion dollars (that is about 350 million folks making $1 Billion dollars each). That would be $350 Billion dollar total, - is that not correct? If we can literally throw away $450 Billion on Iraq we can certainly *throw away* $350 Billion on the individuals of this country. If we are willing to go into debt for this Iraq mess, we should be more than willing to finance a debt for this country's individuals. If we did that, just watch this country take off in a way never before seen!!!
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Polling in New Hampshire shows Obama holds slight edge over Clinton and Edwards in tight Dem battle


Iowa Dems favor Edwards, GOP Favors Giuliani, McCain


The Pentagon has hidden at least $1.4 billion in other agencies' accounts instead of returning unspent money to the U.S. Treasury, the Defense Department's internal watchdog told Congress Wednesday.


On January 12, 2007 Google has stopped indexing Uruknet.info as a news source.


If you saw Bush and the Neocons lying their way into invading your country the way Iran has, you would be testing your missiles too!


Motorcycle and street gang members have joined the U.S. military and served in Iraq, a new FBI report says


Clinton More Worried About Winning The Democratic Nomination Than Winning General Election


Bush: “I’m The Decider”… ((Sorry fella, the Congress is the *Decider* now.))

NM Gov. Announces - “Civility And Common Decency In Government Has Perished"


Brownback: Goal To Get Supreme Court “That Would Be Willing To Overturn Roe V. Wade"


World's oldest woman dies at 115 - Montreal - she just stopped breathing - great way to go!!

Will Obama's covered up Muslim past take him out?



Former GOP Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee depleted the governor’s office emergency fund in the final weeks of his administration in part to pay for the destruction of computer hard drives in his office. Now, why did a Republican have to destroy hard drives with records of his administration as governor. Doesn't that information belong to the citizens of Arkansas? Guess not, if you are a Soviet-Style Republican.


Even Henry Kissinger Says We're In Iraq For The Oil


Friend: Cheney Says Washington Is 'All BS,' Full Of 'Suffering Fools'; We Knew He Was There For A Reason

A year and a half after New Orleans became an international symbol of governmental neglect and racism, the city remains in crisis.

January 20, 2007

You know, I can remember when the Republicans took over everything in this country, I said to hubby, "Well, I just hope this country gets a really good taste of Republicanism so they will never want it again - not for a long, long time."His reply was, "I think they would vote for a Republican in a heart beat." Lordy, I hope he is wrong.

The House legislation, passed 356-71, would slice rates on the subsidized loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 %in stages over five years

Middle East Policy Council: "You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told a Washington think tank."

Citrus freeze leaves thousands jobless

Sprint reports 300,000 subscriber losses, job cuts coming of 5,000 jobs

Party politics played a role in decisions over whether to take federal control of Louisiana and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA director Michael Brown said Friday. "Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it," he said. Can the Bush Crime Family Get Any More Revolting?

Convicted lawmakers may lose pensions (Senate went 87-0 on this vote to strip pensions)

Senate Finance Committee to Attach Tax Small Business Tax Breaks to Minimum Wage Hike - But at Least They'd Be Paid For

34th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Senator John McCain has enlisted the core players of President Bush's advertising team, adding them to what was already a group of bare-knuckled political advertising strategists working for his nascent campaign.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday opened an investigation into a no-bid contract that the chief of the General Services Administration attempted to give to companies operated by her longtime friend.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:
-From bondage to spiritual faith;
-from spiritual faith to great courage;
-from courage to liberty;
-from liberty to abundance;
-from abundance to selfishness;
-from selfishness to complacency;
-from complaceny to apathy;
-from apathy to dependence;
-from dependency back again into bondage.
Sir Alex Fraser Tyler: (1742-1813)
Scottish jurist and historian

Congressional authority to make the "nuclear option" against Iran illegal long ago abdicated constitutional responsiblity re initiation of wars.

Have you noticed? Neither President George W. Bush NOR Vice President Dick Cheney have cited any U.S. intelligence assessments to support their fateful decision to send 21,500 more troops to referee the civil war in Iraq. This is a far cry from October 2002, when a formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was rushed through in order to trick Congress into giving its nihil obstat for the attack on Iraq.

Elevated Uric Acid Levels May Forewarn Dementia Risks

Dollar falls as data show U.S. investors buy abroad

Did Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, run a covert program with operatives in high-level US government positions to influence the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq?
The FBI wants to know.

Mass US Rejection of War Increasing

Ohio poll workers indicted for fudging 2004 recount (So, we STILL do not know who really won that election.)

US and British companies can expoit Iraq oil reserves for 30 years under new law

Marine Corps will ask thousands to come back
Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad

Angry surgeon hacks off patient's privates Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital. (Good reason to stick with alternative medicine.)

Poll: 49% want Democrat president; 54% say Bush unethical (Nat'l poll: Clinton 47, Obama 17) - SOROS BACKS OBAMA, AS 2008 FEUD BEGINS

As far as the old adage "the customer is always right" goes, Best Buy doesn't buy it. The massive retailer is being vocal about something that at first might sound a little uncouth: frankly, they'd rather not have 20% of their customers as customers.

Mehlman Warns GOP On Way Out: 2006 Losses Were Not A Fluke

Job performance said to be behind White House firing -The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said

MIT researchers copy spider silk

Bush Vs. War Powers Act: The Iraq resolution invoked the War Powers Clause, therefore requiring the President of the United States to gain congressional approval for all troop deployment, as stated in Section 2(b) of the War Powers Act, which points to the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution as the basis for legislation on the war powers.

NY court: FBI might have violated First Amendment in efforts to take down conspiracy film http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070119-1617-film-fbi.html

Internet as political force grows, poll finds
Minnesota Daily Launches Series of 9/11 Truth Columns http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/190107Columns.htm

European Storm Worm hits computers http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/European-Storm-Worm-hits-computers/2007/01/20/1169096014493.html

Feinstein claims White House using Patriot Act to oust prosecutors *** The California Democrat complained on the Senate floor that the Bush administration has used a provision of the Patriot Act to remove U-S Attorney Kevin Ryan and other prosecutors and replace them with White House allies.
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?s=5961037

Lobbying backlash could hit bloggers - Much of the bill's wording is obtuse. But one section says that certain political bloggers who make or spend $25,000 per quarter and who encourage readers to contact their elected representatives would be forced to register as lobbyists--or face up to 10 years in prison.
http://news.com.com/Lobbying%20backlash%20could%20hit%20bloggers/2100-1028_3-6151311.html?tag=sas.email

Blog: The middle class at a tipping point http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2007%2F1%2F20%2F16012%2F2071


































































































































































http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070119-1617-film-fbi.html
Internet as political force grows, poll finds
Minnesota Daily Launches Series of 9/11 Truth Columns http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/190107Columns.htm
European Storm Worm hits computers http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/European-Storm-Worm-hits-computers/2007/01/20/1169096014493.html
Feinstein claims White House using Patriot Act to oust prosecutors *** The California Democrat complained on the Senate floor that the Bush administration has used a provision of the Patriot Act to remove U-S Attorney Kevin Ryan and other prosecutors and replace them with White House allies.http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?s=5961037
Lobbying backlash could hit bloggers - Much of the bill's wording is obtuse. But one section says that certain political bloggers who make or spend $25,000 per quarter and who encourage readers to contact their elected representatives would be forced to register as lobbyists--or face up to 10 years in prison.
http://news.com.com/Lobbying%20backlash%20could%20hit%20bloggers/2100-1028_3-6151311.html?tag=sas.email

Blog: The middle class at a tipping point http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2007%2F1%2F20%2F16012%2F2071

January 19, 2007

NEWS ITEMS TO KEEP UP

It came as little surprise that Cheney has known of secret negotiations between the Israelis and Syrians on a peace treaty, while egging Israel on in the ill-fated recent war with Hezbollah. And Cheney, according to the BBC, spurned offers by Iran at reaching a level of peaceful coexistence.

Congress Unleashes Antiwar Proposals - Truth is Speaking….Is Power Listening?

Times/Bloomberg Report: Most Oppose Troop Buildup

The Bush administration is trying to protect itself by purging independent-minded prosecutors Internet as Political Force Grows

Demand Accountability from Gonzales, American Civil Liberties Union Calls on Lawmakers Seeks Torture Memos and Answers on Increased Surveillance

Senate Republicans Trying – Again – to Kill Lobbying and Ethics Reform Bill BUT, BUT, BUT the Senate, responding to voter frustration with corruption and special interest influence in Washington, on Thursday overwhelmingly approved far-reaching ethics and lobbying reform legislation.

House Rolls Back Oil Company Subsidies

Iraqi Budget Loaded With Divisive Expenditures - Most ministries get multimillion-dollar discretionary funds known as "social benefits" with few spending safeguards, Iraqi officials say.

Radical Christian Right Feasts On Suburbanites Lost In Growing Personal And Economic Despair With No Sense Of Community


Pelosi Won't Block Iraq Funding to Stop Troop Surge

Miami Beach Wants to Outlaw Private Parties

Senators Demand Details on New Eavesdropping Rules

China Tests Anti-Satellite Weapon, Unnerving US

'Total Bull' That Congress Can't Stop Bush Iraq Escalation Plan Says John Edwards Campaign


The new rules for military courts in the US allow convicted terrorists to be imprisoned or put to death using hearsay evidence or coerced testimony. So, if Mr. A is tortured into saying he heard Mr. B say something bad about Mr. C, Mr. C can be put to death.

MILITARY DECLARES SOLDERS ARE NOT US CITIZENS

McCain's Popularity "Tanking" In New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada

Gonzales, live: "The Constitution does not say that every citizen has the right to habeas corpus."

Governors lose in power struggle over National Guard - Bush Seizes Control Over State Militias


The cost of the Iraq War in addition to costing thousands of American and Iraqi lives is bleeding the American treasury at dangerous levels.


Auditors Report Billions in Reconstruction Waste and Fraud in Iraq:


Study: Hot chili pepper compound kills cancer without side effects (capsaiin)

Speaking two languages into old age can stave off dementia, study finds

Number of obesity surgery patients in U.S. soared between 1998 and 2004

Las Vegas Review: Host Of This Year’s WH Correspondents Dinner Claiming He Was Told To Go Easy On Bush

DEMS COMPLETE 100 HOUR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA IN
42 HOURS, 15 MINUTES....

Pentagon admits spy coins 'never existed'

Congressman Ney was 'hitting the bottle all day long'- sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a congressional bribery scandal

Pelosi: President Bush 'has to answer for this war'

Ex-aide says Rice ignorant of Mid-East history

Dem compromise may kill min-wage hike

Pacific Lumber Co. files for bankruptcy

CEO: Motorola will cut 3,500 jobs

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's approval rating with Iranians, including with Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei, is deteriorating.

San Francisco will become the first city in the country requiring employers to give their workers paid sick leave.

Oreck Corporation is moving its manufacturing to
Tennessee due to high insurance rates and lack of workers.

Majority believe stronger passport requirements for travelers entering U.S. will help increase security

Sen. Leahy Slams Gonzalez Over Torture

Rogers Says Oil Will Rise to $100 After Correction' said Jim
Rogers, who predicted the start of the commodities rally in 1999.

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Conspiracy of Silence - US Politicians Pedophile Ring
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=359924937663867563&q=conspiracy%20of%20silence

NO WAY OUT: A 50% DOLLAR DEVALUATION
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/mchugh/2007/0114.html

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers - Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.DCA attacks a unique feature of cancer cells: the fact that they make their energy throughout the main body of the cell, rather than in distinct organelles called mitochondria. This process, called glycolysis, is inefficient and uses up vast amounts of sugar.
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn10971-cheap-safe-drug-kills-most-cancers.html

Aficial meat- Technology emerging that will allow scientists to grow artificial meat for human consumption - just like meat at a molecular level, except it won't come from an animal. It will come from a factory where it was grown cell by...
http://www.newstarget.com/021455.html

Human guinea pigs eat "ape diet" for 12 days, experience remarkable health improvements - Nine human beings in Devon, England, aged 36 to 49, agreed to be treated like animals for their health by living in a tent next to the ape house at Paignton Zoo and eating a strict diet akin to what our ancestors consumed. The experiment...
http://www.newstarget.com/021451.html

Professor says America seeks Afghanistan Oil Deal: The mounting U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries may enable Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, UNOCAL, and other giant corporations to lay claim to "the number-one prize in world oil." But the extension of U.S. military power and economic domination into this region comes with very grave risks
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/01/18/01326.html

The Great Democratic Landslide Of 2008
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_brent_bu_070118_the_great_democratic.htm

January 18, 2007

Read to keep up with some of the news out there:

My question, Mr. President: If God asked you to bombard, invade and occupy Iraq for four years, why did he send an opposite message to the Pope? (Geo. McGovern)

Failure is Not an Option! It Comes Standard on Every Bush Model!

Hangings Fuel Sectarian Split Across Middle East

Christian Conservatives Fight Ethics Bill

The Senate says no to increasing of U.S. troops

Military officials in occupied Afghanistan are proposing a surge of their own. Cost $6B

Denial of habeas corpus right for detainees to be repealed by Democratic Congress

GOP Favors Giuliani, McCain - McCain Leads Republican Field, Obama holds slight edge over Clinton and Edwards in tight Dem battle

Bill Would Require Congress Approval to Increase US Troops in Iraq

Protesters' Names in Pentagon Database

Amid Bloodshed, Bush Wants a 'Thank You'...(Gad!)

The Cornucopia Institute: Organic Fraud: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Accused of Widespread Distortion Nonorganic Food Products Misidentified as "Organic"

Chinese sent up a ballistic missile to destroy an ageing weather satellite. (US premise - He who rules space rules the earth - oops!)

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday warned federal judges not to meddle in cases involving national security (Arrogance to the hilt!!!)

Americans continue having difficulties paying their mortgage obligations, with December foreclosure rates above the 100,000 mark for the fifth straight month

In an economic and housing outlook, Fannie Mae said sales of new homes are expected to drop by 7.1% in 2007, while sales of existing homes are expected to drop 8.1% this year.

Resignations at Federal Election Commission Raise Concern
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is creating a special committee to recommend legislation to cut greenhouse gases.

Data supplied by tobacco companies strongly suggest that in recent years manufacturers deliberately boosted nicotine levels in cigarettes to more effectively hook smokers, (Harvard researchers).

Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be convicted on hearsay evidence and coerced testimony and imprisoned or put to death.

Bush Administration Sources Have Confirmed that Cheney Was Kept Informed of Secret Peace Negotiations Between Israel and Syria.

Kucinich, Sanders Want to Bring Back Fairness Doctrine
Bush Retreats on Use of Executive Power - to submit his warrantless-surveillance program to the jurisdiction of a special intelligence court

71 Employees in Bush's Office Owe $660,000 in Back Taxes

Democrats Target Royalty Breaks for Oil Firms

A Newsweek poll a while back said that 51 percent of Americans want Bush impeached and 44 percent do not. That's about double the support there was for impeaching Clinton when it was in the news every single day.

Thursday is the worst day of the week to be admitted into a hospital. Monday is the most stressful day of the week, resulting in fatal jumps in blood pressure. Being admitted on a Saturday (5.5 days) or Sunday was associated with the shortest hospital stays.

Deaths attributed to medication errors rise by as much as 25 percent above normal in the first few days of every month, because there isn't enough staff to handle the beginning-of-the-month spike in prescriptions.
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2 U.S. Attorneys Quit, Critics Say Bush Forced Them Out: Two U.S. Attorneys in California announced they are stepping down, as critics alleged political pressure from the Bush administration was pushing them and others out of their jobs.http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=state&id=4944075

Video: Sen. Diane Feinstein blows the whistle on yet another Bush power grab: Watch and tremble -fear for the future of Democracy, Due Process of Law, freedom itself:http://tinyurl.com/2m6gyy

Law Groups Want Pentagon Official Firedhttp://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0117-03.htm

One Small Step for Sanity - a Bipartisan Senate Measure Confronts Bush Over Iraq.

Bernanke warns of threat to US prosperity: Fed chairman Ben Bernanke warned in stark terms on Thursday of the long-term threat to US prosperity posed by the soaring cost of unfunded entitlement programmes such as Medicare and Social Security.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ff4eeb60-a6ff-11db-83e4-0000779e2340.html

Methodist Ministers try to stop SMU from landing Bush library, "believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate." The Shame of Guantanamo Exposed in Cuba
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0117-20.htm

US housing bust getting worse, warns Goldman Sachs: The US Federal Reserve will need to slash interest rates three times this year as the housing slump goes from bad to worse and the American consumer begins to buckle, Goldman Sachs has warned. "Americans have shown a complete lack of self-control. The personal savings rate is at its lowest point ever, and has actually been negative since April 2005. http://tinyurl.com/wtbvd

Bush and the Psychology of Incompetent DecisionsAccording to John P. Briggs, MD, and J.P. Briggs II, PhD, President George W. Bush prides himself on "making tough decisions." But many are sensing something seriously troubling, even psychologically unbalanced, about the president as a decision-maker. They are right. Because of a psychological dynamic swirling around deeply hidden feelings of inadequacy, the president has been driven to make increasingly incompetent and risky decisions. This dynamic makes the psychological stakes for him now unimaginably high. The words "success" and "failure" have seized his rhetoric like metaphors for his psyche's survival.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011807J.shtml

According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as this article will prove. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16218.htm

January 17, 2007

NEWS ITEMS TO KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE
(Illness precludes my doing the regular blog.)

AG Gonzales Tells Courts to Look the Other Way while Bush Tramples Constitution in Speech to Neocons

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this week to study the feasibility of banning trans fats in county restaurants,

U.S. Official Who Wanted Boycott on Law Firms Representing Guantanamo Detainees Offers Apology

Software companies are just beginning to realize that miserly protection of software code is not always as lucrative as giving it away and participating in certain open-source software practices instead.

McCain takes fourth among polled Phoenix-area Republicans, loses Phoenix Republican straw poll

One interprets Senator Barbara Boxer's remark last week toCondoleezza Rice that the secretary of state, single and childless, doesn't have a "personal price" to pay in Iraq, the brief exchange still has people debating.

Enemies Of The New Ethics Bill: Abramoff Friend, Christian Conservatives

According to an article in the Jan. 9 issue of Neurology, brain bleeding associated with the blood thinner warfarin -- also known as Coumadin -- increased roughly 500 percent in the 1990s, and by an even greater degree in patients aged 80

Patriot Act purge sweeps U.S. Attorneys from office across America -- who gave White House this power?

Finding 12 People Who Can Impartially Judge Libby Trail Harder Than It Looks

Sixteen months after Hurricane Katrina tore this city apart, a hidden sort of damage is emerging. Local officials see it in reports of suicides, strokes and stress-related deaths. They see it in the police calls for fights and domestic violence. They see it in the long waiting lists for psychiatric care that they have no way to provide. These days, life in the Big Easy isn't easy at all.

Russia has sold new anti-aircraft missiles to Iran

Wrong Winner Chosen Twice by Same Voting Machine

The Justice Department, easing a Bush administration policy, said
Wednesday it has decided to give an independent body authority to monitor the government's controversial domestic spying program.

Bush Won't Budge on Greenhouse Emission Limits

Consumer Reports tests indicate that 83 percent of fresh, whole broiler chickens bought nationwide harbor campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease.

A sociopath is defined as someone who displays at least three of seven distinguishing characteristics, such as deceitfulness, impulsivity and a lack of remorse. Such people often have a superficial charm, which they exercise ruthlessly in order to get what they want. ))Sound like anyone we all know?((((((

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has had at least three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection and faces "a very grave prognosis," a Spanish newspaper reported Tuesday. The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even as the United States turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military forces to confront Tehran's influence in Iraq.

Iraq vets' suicide rate soars: While over 3,000 American soldiers have died in hostilities, a growing number have taken their own lives, often because of the horrors of fighting the war.

Russia has delivered new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and will consider further requests by Tehran for defensive weapons

A Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale.

After campaigning for months on a promise to tighten ethics rules, Senate Democratic leaders tried unsuccessfully Thursday to block a measure that would shine a light on the shadowy practice of earmarking federal money for lawmakers’ pet projects.

Quick Tax Refund Loans Continue to Gouge Taxpayers

A letter from about 1,000 active-duty, Guard and Reserve members calling for Congress to end the war in Iraq was delivered to Capitol Hill

A Defense Department database devoted to gathering information on potential threats to military facilities and personnel, known as Talon, had 13,000 entries as of a year ago - including 2,821 reports involving American citizens, according to an internal Pentagon memo to be released today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Pentagon memo says an examination of the system led to the deletion of 1,131 reports involving Americans, 186 of which dealt with "anti-military protests or demonstrations in the US."

Libby Seeks Jurors Who Trust Cheney ((OOHEE - what fool would say yes to that inquiry?)))

Bush Administration Leaving Out Important Details on Iraq http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0115-04.htm

Acrylamide content of most foods remains a mystery:http://www.newstarget.com/021428.html

Boosting olive oil intake can lower blood pressure in men, study finds:http://www.newstarget.com/021427.html

CO2 emissions to cause catastrophic rise in sea levels, warns top NASA climatologist:http://www.newstarget.com/021425.html

Plastic circuitry breakthrough may revolutionize electronics industry:http://www.newstarget.com/021424.html

Visionary Vehicles races big three auto makers to market with a hybrid plug-in electric car:http://www.newstarget.com/021429.html

New Report Links High Credit Card Debt to Medical Expenseshttp://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0116-08.htm

Drug for Deadly Brain Tumor Shows PromiseAZD2171 reduces the size of a brain tumor and improves the effectiveness of other therapeutic techniques.
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=15337

Periodontal Disease Linked to Pancreatic CancerHere's a new reason you may not want to miss your dental cleanings.
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=15338

Iran Does Not Pose A Threat To The U.S. (Audio 10 Minutes) *** Radio National host Paul Barry interviews Scott Ritter. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17203.htm

January 15, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT
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"All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it." - Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French historian - Source: Democracy in America, 1835
***********************************

No matter how much you sacrifice, no matter how much you shackle your children to their share of the burden, this government can never get out of debt. The interest alone now exceeds all the personal income taxes paid by every American...... Americans have two and only two choices. Either we allow ourselves to get dragged down, or we stop throwing good money after bad and let the US Government collapse with its bad debts.

ALERT

Cliff Ahead! Stomp on the Gas! War costs are hitting historic proportions - Okay, Bush lost the advantage in Afghanistan, so now he goes down in Iraq by going into Iran? Remember, it is his promises of "freedom" and democracy in the Middle East and throughout the world!!!!

DUMB BUSHISM
*********************************
="It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true." ---Henry Kissinger
*********************************

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

PONDER THIS

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

THE WHITE HOUSE
*******************************
We Americans have no commission from God to police the world: Benjamin Harrison, address to Congress, 1888
*******************************

"Bush is Charles Keating, using other people's money to keep Lincoln Savings going long after it should have been shut down - and squandering the life savings of thousands of investors, not to mention billions in taxpayer dollars, along the way." (Paul Klugman)

Cheney Defends Efforts to Obtain Financial Records - (but how is the Pentagon was using its authority?)
http://tinyurl.com/y6gckt

DID YOU KNOW

-60 Minutes: CIA Official Reveals Bush, Cheney, Rice Were Personally Told Iraq Had No WMD in Fall 2002

-Reuters: Al Gore Won't Run For President

-U.S. GIs fighting in Philippines against guerrillas linked to al-Qaida

-Zogby Poll: Nation Now Needs a New Reagan or FDR
U.S. in national crisis, majority tell Pollster Zogby

-WHAT A PAUSE Mitch McConnell serves up when Wolf Blitzer asks him why he believes President Bush's troop escalation plan will succeed.

-'08 Hopefuls Biden And Dodd: Time For South Carolina To Take Down The Confederate Flag

-Doctors Planning First Womb Transplant In The United States

-More US women husband-free than ever

-Michigan court says 'anyone involved in extramarital fling' can be prosecuted.

LEGAL ITEMS
************************************
"Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others.": Marcus Tullius Cicero - (106-43 B.C.) Roman Statesman, Philosopher and Orator
************************************

New Law Could Subject Civilians to Military Trial - Private contractors and other civilians serving with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could be subject for the first time to military courts-martial under a new federal provision that legal scholars say is almost certain to spark constitutional challenges.
http://tinyurl.com/yy3j2q

Many in the hot seat at Libby trial
http://tinyurl.com/y36yho

ELECTION ITEMS

Colorado Senate seat opens up in 2008 as Republican Wayne Allard won't run for third term
http://tinyurl.com/yccq8p

ECONOMY
************************************
As so often before, liberty has been wounded in the house of its friends. Liberty in the wild and freakish hands of fanatics has once more, as frequently in the past, proved the effective helpmate of autocracy and the twin-brother of tyranny: Otto Hermann Kahn - Speech at the University of Wisconsin
************************************

Want to double your taxes? U.S. comptroller says taxes would have to double to pay for Bush budget in 2040
http://tinyurl.com/ydtz5z

Euro displaces dollar in bond markets - The euro has displaced the US dollar as the world’s pre-eminent currency in international bond markets, having outstripped the dollar denominated market for the second year in a row

Housing Crash Continues, Bubble Pops
http://tinyurl.com/444qj

ENVIRONMENT

2006 hottest year on record for U.S., climate experts say:
http://tinyurl.com/y27vpz

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Media giants want to criminalize personal copying of movie DVDs to portable electronic devices:
http://tinyurl.com/y5mxuq

MEDIA AND JOURNALISM

Mainstream media criticizes Wikipedia because it represents a decentralization of their information monopoly:
http://tinyurl.com/ug49p

HEALTH

Genetically Altered Cells Could Fight Skin Infection
http://tinyurl.com/y5fox7

Milk Counteracts Healthy Benefits of Tea
http://tinyurl.com/y4c8de

Fighting Cancer With Fat
http://tinyurl.com/yxnthe

Rush University Medical Center and Duke University Medical Center - using one's own adult stem cells for reversing heart damage and for healing chronic skin problems
http://tinyurl.com/yjmhxp

Study finds that daily dose of probiotic helps improve infantile colic symptoms:
http://tinyurl.com/vfvhm

Calif. governor proposes universal health plan:
http://tinyurl.com/sk45r

Kraft Foods faces suit over "all natural" claim on Capri Sun drink:
http://tinyurl.com/yxyxzw

"Muscle Logic" book introduces revolutionary strength training concepts for building lean body mass:
http://tinyurl.com/yybpth

January 14, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!! The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation's top firms were representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms' corporate clients should consider ending their business ties.

ALERT #1

Bush Administration "Aggressively" Expanding Domestic Spying - The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans - The CIA has also been issuing what are known as national security letters to gain access to financial records from American companies,
http://tinyurl.com/yac4px

ALERT #2

Housing Bubble Bloodbath *** Imagine mortgage payments that suddenly jump from $1,300 per month to more than $2,000 on a $129,000 house. That’s what many people will be facing in 2007 when their loans reset and they are suddenly forced out of their homes and onto the streets.
http://tinyurl.com/y74oks

WAR

Breaking Ranks: Troops Call for Iraq Withdrawal - - active duty troops will travel to Washington to present the Appeal for Redress of Grievances from the US Congress to US Representative Dennis Kucinich
http://tinyurl.com/ylhh3p

Top Dem Wesley Clark Says ‘N.Y. Money People’ Pushing War With Iran: Retired general Wesley Clark drew harsh criticism this week after reportedly saying that “New York money people” are pushing America into a war against Iran.
http://tinyurl.com/yedtj8

DUMB BUSHISM

"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." —summing up his first year in office, three months after the 9/11 attacks, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001

PONDER THIS

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

SCANDAL

Iraq's billions & the White House connection: The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers
http://tinyurl.com/y76r92

DID YOU KNOW

-Bush is spending our tax dollars -- like a dry drunk sailor --to benefit war profiteers.

-Bush just connected Iraq to 9/11 again, and the media will not tell you it was
a lie,"

-Bush Breaks 150-Year History of No Higher US Taxes in Wartime

-Bush answers a country demanding an exit
strategy from the Iraq war, by offering an entrance strategy for an Iran war

-Opposition to Iraq Plan Leaves Bush Isolated

-Republicans on Panel Back President's Plan, Masking Divisions

-Experts doubt Iraqis can make Bush plan work:

-Six Senators both parties Back Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Cuts

ELECTION ITEMS

Most of the panel, in a two way race between the two leading candidates, prefer Hillary Clinton the Democrat over John McCain
http://tinyurl.com/vuuts

January 13, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT
*************************************“
HYPOCRITE, n. One who, profession virtues that he does not respect secures the advantage of seeming to be what he depises.”: Ambrose Bierce - Journalist and Editor, 1842-1914
**************************************

1. Well, I guess we know where we stand!?!?!? *** Bush: "No matter what Congress wants' surge is on." - In an interview set to air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes, President George W. Bush vows to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq "no matter what" the Democratic-controlled Congress tries to do.

2. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam of San Diego is fired by the White House. She was apparently kicked out by the Busheviks, an extremely rare action for a U.S. Attorney, because she pursued the corruption of Republicans, most notably Duke Cunningham. If the Busheviks aren't an organized crime family, I don't know what one is.

3. Huge corporations like GE and Time Warner have deep pockets but no inherent moral conscience. Under their watch, a dictator has risen to power. These news organizations have betrayed their constitutional charge as "Fourth Estate" during a time when checks and balances were so direly needed."

DUMB BUSHISM
**************************************
Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty: Simone Weil
**************************************

"I try to go for longer runs, but it's tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It's sad that I can't run longer. It's one of the saddest things about the presidency." —interview with "Runners World," Aug. 2002

PONDER THIS

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.

WAR
**************************************
I have seen men march to the wars, and then I have watched their homeward tread, And they brought back bodies of living men, But their eyes were cold and dead: Edmund Vance Cooke
**************************************

STAYING THE COURSE OF DESTRUCTION *** Bush's "surge" is the "decent interval" redux. It's too little, too late, and it relies on the Iraqis to do what we know full well they can't do. There is no realistic likelihood that it will lead to an enduring solution in Iraq. But it may well provide the decent interval the GOP needs if it is to survive beyond the 2008 elections....At this point, the Republicans win by losing in Iraq — as long as they can blame the loss on the Democrats. And unless they find a way to refuse to play the game, the Democrats will just lose.

THE WHITE HOUSE
***************************************
"I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from ... the Declaration of Independence ... that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence ... I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th US President
***************************************

Bring back the professional criminals. Reagan Lawyer Ready to Return to White House - Mr. Fielding forged his skills in politically charged episodes like Watergate and the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981.
http://tinyurl.com/y78x9r

Former Reagan aide compares Bush to Hitler - "Bush is like Hitler," Paul Craig Roberts writes in a column entitled The Surge: Political Cover or Escalation?. "He blames defeats on his military commanders, not on his own insane policy." "Like Hitler, he protects himself from reality with delusion," Roberts continues. "In his last hours, Hitler was ordering non-existent German armies to drive the Russians from Berlin."
http://tinyurl.com/ymd9mh

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

Officials believe White House chose new Intelligence chief in effort to darken Iran Intelligence Estimate, broaden domestic surveillance - The nomination of retired Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" McConnell to be Director of National Intelligence is part of an effort by the Vice President to tighten the Administration’s grip on domestic intelligence and grease the wheels for a more aggressive stance towards Iran, current and former intelligence officials believe.
http://tinyurl.com/ybsbp8

DID YOU KNOW

- The so-called War on Terror is nothing more than an excuse for corporate-sponsored fascism

-Joe Lieberman and John McCain have become brothers in bloodshed.

-Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell to filibuster any Democratic attempt to decrease funding for Bush's new Iraq plan

-2 percent of Americans identify themselves as Jewish. But in Congress, the proportion of Jewish members is now four times that.

-Ex-Cheney aide's trial starts Tuesday

-Job growth under Bush slower than under Clinton, Reagan

-Gates Foundation May Shift Billions into Ethical Stocks after Attack on Investments

-Streetcars make comeback in US

-In china, major pollution spill every other day*

LEGAL ITEMS

Victim owed compensation in CIA case, judge told - Montreal woman who was experimented on should receive reparations, lawyer says
http://tinyurl.com/uamly

ECONOMY

Global Markets Face `Severe Correction,' Faber Says - Marc Faber, who predicted the U.S. stock market crash in 1987, said global assets are poised for a ``severe correction'' and it's time to sell.
http://tinyurl.com/y5bwap

911

Computer disk drives from WTC could yield clues - An unexplained surge in transactions was recorded prior to the attacks, leading to speculation that someone might have profited from previous knowledge of the terrorist plot by moving sums of money. But because the facilities of many financial companies processing the transactions were housed in New York's World Trade Center, destroyed in the blasts, it has until now been impossible to verify that suspicion.
http://tinyurl.com/nmgmc

CONGRESS
***************************************
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.": Frederick Douglass - [Frederick Baily] (1818- 1895), Escaped slave, abolitionist, author, editor of the North Star and later the New National Era
***************************************

The First 100 Hours = Ethics Reform, Minimum Wage, 9/11 Panel Recommendations, Stem Cell Research, Medicare...the Senate hasn't been as ggressive – Their version of ethics reform is little more than window dressing.
http://tinyurl.com/6umfo

Nancy 'Oops, I did it again!' Pelosi and a special exemption to the Minimum Wage Bill - she provided an exemption to the Minimum Wage Bill to two companies based in her district, doing business in America Samoa.
http://tinyurl.com/wbute

MILITARY
**************************************
In the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave: John James Inga
**************************************

U.S. Soldier Was 'Homicidal' Before Attack - An Army private charged with the slaughter of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental health team three months before the attack.
http://tinyurl.com/tskgn

HEALTH

Health insurers deny policies in some jobs - health insurers in California refuse to sell individual coverage to people simply because of their occupations or use of certain medicines, according to documents obtained by The Times.
http://tinyurl.com/uaxeu

HUMAN RIGHTS

German child porn ring busted - The police didn't even have access to the data itself, the credit companies carried out all of the matching.
http://tinyurl.com/y5punx

January 12, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT

Bush Lied They Died
Bush's Legacy: The President Who Cried Wolf - 'Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me' - only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical mistake ... in Iran." - Keith Olbermann

ALERT

Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007 - In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November) than what had traditionally occurred.
http://tinyurl.com/jd7lr

DUMB BUSHISM

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

PONDER THIS

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perserverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.

FUNNY BONE

George W. Bush is Enough to Make Anyone Support Abortion.

WAR

Wes Clark takes on AIPAC! - Jewish donors in NYC are pushing us into an Iran war as they pushed us into Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/y8ob8w

THE WHITE HOUSE

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy - There's always a problem with giving a junkie another fix.
It can only make things worse. - Greg Palast

SCANDAL

More guns equal more murders in U.S. states: study - Then why does Washington DC, which has a gun BAN, have the highest per-capita rate of murder in the country, while Vermont, which has automatic conceal carry, pretty much the lowest?
http://tinyurl.com/yd74tu

NEW COULTER VOTER FRAUD DOCS - Police Report Says TWO Third Degree Felonies, One Misdemeanor May Have Been Committed by GOP Darling!
http://tinyurl.com/y8oqaf

DID YOU KNOW

-IMPEACH NOW! - Full page ad from today's New York Times

-Gate admits not an expert on Iraq or military

-Baghdad Suffered Total Power Outage During Bush Speech. Talk about a "Surge!"

-Governors Lose in Power Struggle Over National Guard

-CIA Leak Prosecutor Fitzgerald Suggested To Scooter Libby During Grand Jury That Libby Engaged In Cover-Up To Protect Cheney

-Emergency Alert - Federal 'Anti-Hate' Bill Introduced In House

-Democratic Congressman reintroduces bill for military draft in US

-Stem Cell Bill Sails Through House

-Senate Passes Bill Canceling Pensions For Congressmen Convicted Of Ethics Violations

-House Passes Bill Requiring Gov't To Negotiate With Pharmaceutical Companies For Lower Medicare Drug Prices

-Many Workers at Wal-Mart Don't Use Its Health Plans

-China's Population Crisis: Within 15 Years 1 in 10 Men Will NOT Be Able To Find Wives

ELECTION ITEMS

Ron Paul: Next President Of The USA?
http://tinyurl.com/y7f2qy

911

Scientific American Lies for the Empire
http://tinyurl.com/y6zdug

CONGRESS

The House approved legislation Friday requiring the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower the prices of medicines for Medicare patients.
http://tinyurl.com/yfzeoc

ENVIRONMENT

Scientists Reject Chemical Rules - The prestigious National Research Council has determined that it's necessary to entirely redo the Bush admins. proposed revamping of the rules by which federal agencies decide whether chemicals and other products pose risks to human health.
http://tinyurl.com/y32ssm

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

How NSA access was built into Windows - A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows.
http://tinyurl.com/b33of

MILITARY

Webb Does More For Troops in One Day Than Allen Did In Years - Webb introduced the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007, legislation that will provide the newest Veterans with educational benefits like those received by men and women who served in the three decades following World War II.
http://tinyurl.com/ye4v4u

SPECIAL INTEREST ITEMS

Rare brain worms spread by unsanitary cooks
http://tinyurl.com/sqtq7

January 11, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT
****************************************
War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man: Napoleon Hill
****************************************
The only possible response of a sane society to the depredations of this man is his impeachment and removal from power. There is no other course of action for any responsible, patriotic member of Congress to take. Unfortunately, the American Establishment has clearly gone insane — so deranged from decades of bloated power and privilege that it can no longer act even to save itself from the general ruin that Bush is bringing upon the country. Unfortunately, there are very, very few responsible, patriotic members of Congress.

ALERT
****************************************
"The bad thing of war is, that it makes more evil people than it can take away." : Immanuel Kant - (1724-1804) German philosopher
****************************************
Troop Surge Already Under Way - The troop surge in Iraq is already under way. Ninety advance troops from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Baghdad Wednesday. An additional battalion of roughly 800 troops from the same division are expected to arrive in Baghdad Thursday.
http://tinyurl.com/yhm5ep

DUMB BUSHISM

I BLEW IT...BUT NOW YOU SHOULD TRUST ME….

PONDER THIS

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

WAR
****************************************
If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law: Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849
****************************************

"I'm Scared Out of My Mind" - Live From Iraq - Active Duty Army Sgt. Speaks Out Against War Escalation - Audio and transcript: "Any troops increase over here - they will just be more sitting ducks, more targets."
http://tinyurl.com/yd4u3y

THE WHITE HOUSE
*************************************
"There never was an idea stated that woke men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American Poet - Source: Over the Teacups, 1891
*************************************

"The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he thinks Congress has voted the wrong way" If you're not outraged by this statement ---- you have forgotten what America is all about!!!!!
http://tinyurl.com/yhcjgj

How many times has he covered failure, excused failure or promised success while mired in the abyss of certain failure? *Entitled **Criminality*
http://tinyurl.com/yjhxjs

SCANDAL

Opponents of Nevada Bomb Test Fault Impact Studies - Officials from the Department of Defense say they hope to detonate a bomb - a $23 million experiment known as Divine Strake - sometime in the first half of this year. Groups opposed to the test due to health hazards were successful in filing a lawsuit that postponed the experiment indefinitely, but the Department of Defense is attempting to follow through with its plans ((Right! there are no laws that apply to this admin.))
http://tinyurl.com/y5aqoz

DID YOU KNOW

-Why Bush Fights: It's the Morality Stupid

-Poll: Americans Oppose Iraq Troop Surge

-Bush to seek $6.8 billion for new Iraq plan:

-UK to Cut 3,000 Troops From Iraq by May

-War With Syria and Iran = Peace With Iraq?

-Pentagon wants 92,000 more troops

-Pentagon abandons active-duty time limit

-Mitch McConnell wants to keep going in Iraq, threatens filibuster over anything otherwise.

-Nancy Pelosi Escalating War in Iraq Sends Wrong Message

-Hagel: Bush speech worst blunder since Vietnam

-Did Bush Plagiarize LBJ's Speech on Why We Needed to Send More Troops To Vietnam? You be the Judge. (The Correct Answer is Yes.)

-Shia hostages hanged in streets in revenge for Saddam's execution:

-Sen. Johnson able to talk, begins therapy

-State Farm Held Liable in Katrina damage Case

-Seattle Suburb Restricts Gore Film in Schools

-a "blue card" for illegal immigrants Calif. says are essential to bringing in US crops.

-Potential off-switch for HIV virus found-744,000 Are Homeless in US

-GOP: Bush Will Veto Bill That Lowers Prescription Drug Prices

-14 Carter Center advisers resign in protest over former president's book:

-Denver to Host 2008 Democratic National Convention

-Ann Coulter may have committed two felonies

LEGAL ITEMS

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington: Sues NARA for Information about Classification of White House Visitor Logs
http://tinyurl.com/ym55e5

CONGRESS
****************************************
Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive: Henry Steele Commager - (1902-1998) Historian and author
****************************************

Democrats Aim to Block Funds for Plan - Senior House Democrats said yesterday that they will attempt to derail funding for President Bush's proposal to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, setting up what could become the most significant confrontation between the White House and Congress over military policy since the Vietnam War.
http://tinyurl.com/ylf2pk

Biden Wants Legal Brigade for Domestic Safety - and is drafting a bill to encourage lawyers to work on behalf of domestic violence victims. The bill would also create a network of 100,000 legal volunteers.
http://tinyurl.com/w43hs

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

Bill Moyers Has Harsh Words for President, Christian Right
http://tinyurl.com/ydlang

ENVIRONMENT

Chinese dynasty brought to its knees by climate changes affecting crops:
http://tinyurl.com/y3ex9p

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Roomba maker launches programmable robot for hobbyists, students:
http://tinyurl.com/wenb4

EDITORIALS - OPINIONS

Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons - Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq?
http://tinyurl.com/93aqe

HEALTH

Folic acid may help prevent hearing loss in old age, study finds:
http://tinyurl.com/y7vzyq

Poor nutrition leaves 200 million children "intellectually stunted":
http://tinyurl.com/txl5t

Parents fights to save 9-year-old girls from mandatory HPV vaccinations:
http://tinyurl.com/y7gvk9

FDA to allow osteoporosis prevention claims for calcium, vitamin D:
http://tinyurl.com/sfdcg

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New Evidence Linking Toxic Food Containers to Breast Cancer Risks in the Womb
Bisphenol A (BPA), an artificial estrogenic compound widely used in plastics for food containers, may increase the adult breast cancer risk of female fetuses. This confirms earlier findings regarding a link between BPA and breast cancer. //////////A study exposed pregnant rats to bisphenol A at a range of doses from 2.5 to 1,000 micrograms per kg of body weight per day.///////////Their female children developed precancerous breast lesions during puberty at a rate three to four times higher than usual. BPA resulted in an increased level of lesions at all dose levels, which suggests that the current exposure limit set by the U.S. EPA (50 micrograms per kg per day) has put American women at risk of breast cancer.//////////BPA is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics for many food and beverage containers, including baby bottles and canned food linings. Dental composites can also contain the chemical. Urine analysis has shown that 95 percent of people have been exposed to BPA. BPA has also been linked to prostate cancer and brain tissue damage, even at extremely low levels.

Reproductive Toxicology October 24, 2006
Foodconsumer.org December 18, 2006
Environmental Science & Technology December 20, 2006

January 10, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT

Don't you find it difficult to understand how ordering a second death does anything to obliterate the hell of the first death? Why throw even one body into a hole of alligators much less followed with a second? Obviously, someone does not understand alligators. *No* to troop increases. Bush Will Send More Troops to Die in Iraq to Ensure U.S. Marketplace Dominance, Oil Company Concessions in Iraq, and Because He is a Sociopath.

ALERT

EU Says Climate Change Will Transform the Face of the Continent - Europe, the richest and most fertile continent and the model for the modern world, will be devastated by climate change, the European Union predicts.
http://tinyurl.com/w6vmp

DUMB BUSHISM

"Can we win? I don't think you can win it." —after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, "Today" show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

PONDER THIS

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

WAR

Grim Picture of Iraq From US Government Watchdog - The US Government Accountability Office released a grim report card of the American record in violence-wracked Iraq. The report states that the Pentagon had failed to allow proper Congressional oversight of Iraqi armed forces, and warned of an increasing strain on US forces pressed into repeated tours of duty, and shortages of military supplies.
http://tinyurl.com/y3dm49

THE WHITE HOUSE

With Iraq Speech, Bush to Pull Away From His Generals - Pentagon insiders say members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have long opposed the increase in troops and are only grudgingly going along with the plan because they have been promised that the military escalation will be matched by renewed political and economic efforts in Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/y2gbly

SCANDAL

Ex-Interior Deputy a Target in Abramoff Probe - Steven Griles, corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities.
http://tinyurl.com/u4zvy

DID YOU KNOW

- Unions May Create Trouble for Bush's Overhaul on immigration (Dems agreeable to Bush's ideas, Labor is not and is big supporter of Dems.)

-New Hope for a Woman's Right to Choose – Dems control, Henry Hyde pro-lifer hushed.

-Even Oliver North says *No* to troop increase

-Homeland Security Bill Passes House on First Day

-Papers all across the country say *No* to troop increases

-If the war goes on, no need to impeach (time to plan to vote this new bunch out)

-Leahy Introduces Bills To Combat War Profiteering, Public Corruption:

-Bayer Dumps AIDS Infected Drugs On European and Asian Markets after it killed people in America.

-Bush's Speech was a Sad Attempt to Salvage His Name

-Study: 744,000 homeless people in U.S.

-Freshman and veteran lawmakers alike risk the ire of bloggers and other activists if they waver on an Iraq exit.

-$133.132 billion cost of Israel since 1947 paid by the American taxpayer.

-Transmitting Canadian coins found in U.S.

-ABC shut down blogger who criticized violent rhetoric on one of its radio stations

-If Congress is not listenting to the people of this country, then who is it listening to?

-Snow Falsely Claims That Bush Said ‘Just The Opposite’ Of ‘Mission Accomplished’

-Canada: US putting 'bugs' in our coins

-Bangor bans smoking in cars with kids

-Brit Hume is fed up with Bush too

CONGRESS

Bipartisan Bill Protects Free and Open Internet
http://tinyurl.com/y6onka

Pelosi: "We Will Not Be Swiftboated on These Issues" - "..we're making a very strong differentiation between supporting our troops, which we do - those in the field now - and giving a blank check to the president for an escalation of the war."
http://tinyurl.com/y5yfeg

DOMESTIC

State of the State: Bold Move on Global Warming - California will create the world's first global warming pollution standard for transportation fuels, ratcheting down fuel carbon content 10 percent by 2020 under a plan put forward by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new standard could have implications for the auto industry and change the way gasoline is produced around the globe.
http://tinyurl.com/y8cmzn

ENVIRONMENT

Report: Soap and water as effective as environment-damaging antibacterial cleaners:
http://tinyurl.com/t45th

GM fights to get green with upcoming electric car, "Volt":
http://tinyurl.com/vpnhk

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Qflix technology for burning movie DVDs supported by major studios:
http://tinyurl.com/y8gm6v

HEALTH

Not Just a Day at the Beach for People With Asthma - Before you run to the beach for the day of fun, you may want to check out the red tide toxin levels.
http://tinyurl.com/skhor

Macular Degeneration Caused by More Than Genes - Your lifestyle also has an impact on how likely it is you will develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
http://tinyurl.com/y7tcnc

Surgeons "maimed" brain damaged child to "convenience" caregivers,health advocate charges
http://tinyurl.com/y4a2hz

FTC sues makers of diet pills for false claims; ignores Big Pharma's false claims:
http://tinyurl.com/stt5p

Multivitamins help increase birth weights of newborns:
http://tinyurl.com/yy6vev

Reducing excessive salt intake can help relieve asthma symptoms, says review:
http://tinyurl.com/y234aw

Time spent treating cancer costs Americans billions each year:
http://tinyurl.com/y822pe