Sunday, May 29, 2005

Good Morning to a Liberated and Not Oppressed America ! Posted by Hello

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Rooster "Crowing"

"Okeydoke"

We'll catch up on history this evening.

Surviving the Politics of being Woman.

Also Known As "Did you ever get the feeling your uterus belongs on a Political Billboard?"

Abortion Parental Consent Law Passes in Texas
IRVING, Texas, May 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A bill requiring abortionists to obtain the written consent of a parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl passed the Texas Senate today by a bipartisan vote of 23-7. The bill, backed by over 40 pro-life and pro-family organizations, is now to go before Governor Rick Perry who has pledged his support for it.
"The parents of Texas are the clear winners," said Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life Coalition. "We are grateful to see this popular, common-sense legislation has passed, and expect that teen pregnancy, births and abortions will decrease significantly as a result."
According to an October 2004 Scripps-Howard Texas poll, 81% of Texans support parental consent, which Governor Perry is expected to sign.

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05052704.html

Anti-abortion activist signals run for Florida Senate
BY JEFF LIBBY
The Orlando Sentinel
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - (KRT) - Frustrated and angry over the state Legislature's failure to keep Terri Schiavo alive, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry on Thursday all but announced his bid to replace one of the ranking Republicans in the Florida Senate.
Testing the waters at a series of news conferences in Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, Terry launched attacks on Sen. Jim King, who voted against legislation aimed at keeping Schiavo alive.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11748395.htm

Last citation against abortion protester thrown out
By Dan Hartzell
Of The Morning Call
A Lehigh County judge exonerated an abortion protester Friday, ruling the prosecution had failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Phillip Pongracz was guilty of defiant trespass for protesting at the Allentown Women's Center in the city.
Testimony from an employee of the abortion clinic on Union Boulevard placed Pongracz, of South Whitehall Township, on the clinic's private, fenced parking lot in November, but Judge Kelly Banach said her review of videotapes from both sides in the dispute failed to prove Pongracz was on the lot.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-abortionprotester0527,0,5315625.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed

I was always under the impression the Jane Roe in Roe v. Wade actually gave birth because the case took too long to get through the courts.

SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER PARENTAL NOTIFICATION AND ABORTION
by MNA PRESS
(EP)—Pro-life groups are expressing pleasant surprise over the Supreme Court’s decision to consider a case involving New Hampshire’s parental notification law.
The case is expected to go before the justices in the next term, beginning this fall.
The Supreme Court has not been anxious to tackle abortion cases lately. The last major Supreme Court abortion case was heard five years ago, and the justices split on the case 5-4.
Earlier this year, justices declined to hear a challenge to the Roe v. Wade ruling by Norma McCorvey, the woman known as “Jane Roe” in the case. McCorvey, now a Christian who says she regrets her decision to abort and to be at the center of the case, had hoped that she would have special legal standing to challenge the historic ruling. The justices ruled otherwise.
In this case, justices will review a 2003 New Hampshire law that an appeals court ruled was unconstitutional because it didn’t provide an exception to protect the minor’s health in the event of a medical emergency.
Parental consent and pro-life activists say they welcome the review. “I am absolutely elated,” New Hampshire Republican state Rep. Barbara Hagan, a longtime pro-life activist from Manchester, told the Associated Press. “It gives back parental authority, which has been usurped and taken away by laws, and lack of laws, that are assuming that parents have no right to know what their minor children are doing.”
However, the New Hampshire chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it also is pleased that the case will come up for review, saying it will “clarify” the parental notification issue.

http://www.montanasnews.com/articles.php?mode=view&id=1830

Abortion hinders incest investigation

PALM BEACH, FL, United States (UPI) -- Authorities allege a Florida woman allowed her 17-year-old daughter to have an
abortion to protect the girl`s stepfather from sexual battery charges.
Police said they needed to examine the fetus to determine if the 17-year-old had been impregnated by her stepfather, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported. The Palm Beach County Sheriff Department said the 17-year-old claimed her stepfather had gotten her
pregnant.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1002599.php/Abortion_hinders_incest_investigation

Emergency Contraceptives Bill Brings Abortion Debate to the Capitol
Emergency Contraceptives Bill Brings Abortion Debate to the Capitol
Updated: 8:11 AM May 27, 2005
Zac Schultz

Madison: An ad in the UW student newspaper led to a debate over emergency contraception and abortion.
Last spring University Health Services took out a series of ads in the campus newspaper. The number one tip told women to bring the morning after pill along with their sunscreen and bikini on vacation.

http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/1579576.html

Sydney Morning Herald

Police search for clues amid Indon blast debris
May 29, 2005 - 3:30PM
Police forensic experts today picked through the debris after two bombs ripped through a market in the Christian dominated town of Tentena, killing at least 20 people and leaving dismembered bodies laying amid piles of onions and tropical fruit.
Church leaders called for calm in the aftermath of the blasts, which were blamed on Islamic extremists. They were the deadliest terrorist attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation since the 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali island.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Police-search-for-clues-amid-Indon-blast-debris/2005/05/29/1117305489168.html

Corby team rules out pardon request
May 29, 2005 - 2:09PM
Schapelle Corby's defence team says she is not seeking a pardon from Indonesia's president because to do so would mean admitting to a crime she did not commit.
"The girl is not guilty," said defence adviser Vasu Rasiah. "How can she ask for a pardon?"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Corby-team-rules-out-pardon-request/2005/05/29/1117305492710.html

Water wasters face clampdown
By Alex Mitchell
May 29, 2005
The Sun-Herald

Warragamba Dam's water level keeps dropping.
Photo: Adam Hollingworth
Tough water restrictions backed up by a regime of fines will be announced midweek to protect Sydney from its worst water crisis since the 1930s, when breweries were forced to stop producing beer.
The new measures will be accompanied by a water-use education program in the mass media aimed at householders who waste water by over-using dishwashers and washing machines and topping up swimming pools.
Gardeners, who use 25 per cent of the city's daily supply, will only be allowed to hose on alternate days for one hour, while the total ban on sprinklers and watering systems will remain.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Water-wasters-face-clampdown/2005/05/28/1117129934399.html

Australia offers help with appeal
By Joseph Kerr
May 28, 2005
The Federal Government yesterday renewed its efforts to bring in two top lawyers to help Schapelle Corby - this time to help prepare an appeal to the Bali Supreme Court - amid a clamour of concern about the verdict.
Admitting Australia had "neither the power nor the right" to intervene in the Indonesian court's decision, the Prime Minister, John Howard, said "whatever the merits of the case, I feel for the girl and I feel for the family" as politicians of all political parties rushed to comment on the case.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Australia-offers-help-with-appeal/2005/05/27/1117129897859.html

Brace for tighter curbs on water use
By Jonathan Pearlman and Anne Davies
May 28, 2005
Tighter water restrictions will be announced next week after dam levels dropped below the State Government's trigger-point for imposing further controls on water use.
Sydney's water supply dropped on Thursday to 39.7 per cent, dipping below the 40 per cent level flagged by the Government as the likely mark for the next set of restrictions. Warragamba dam is at just 36 per cent.
The Utilities Minister, Frank Sartor, said yesterday he was "very close" to announcing a set of tougher restrictions and they would be "quite reasonable".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Brace-for-tighter-curbs-on-water-use/2005/05/27/1117129901064.html

Chirac makes last-ditch appeal for French yes
By Jon Henley in Paris
May 28, 2005
President Jacques Chirac has made a final attempt to reverse French determination to reject the European Union constitution, imploring voters "not to answer the wrong question" and insisting their choice was "about your future, your children's future, the future of France and of Europe".
A French rejection of the constitution is widely seen as leaving it dead in the water.
In a solemn address on national TV and radio, Mr Chirac said it would be wrong to use Sunday's referendum on the constitution to punish his government. He promised the treaty would make France stronger, guarantee its social advances and protect its public services.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Chirac-makes-lastditch-appeal-for-French-yes/2005/05/27/1117129897925.html

Cedar Revolution moves towards free democracy
By Ed O'Loughlin Herald Correspondent in Jerusalem
May 28, 2005
Lebanon takes another uncertain step towards becoming the first free Arab democracy tomorrow when Beirut voters go to the polls to elect the first parliament since Syrian occupation ended last month.
Free - or at least freer - of Syrian influence, the parliament will reflect more closely the views of the so-called "Cedar Revolution" - the wave of mass protests which followed the February 14 murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Cedar-Revolution-moves-towards-free-democracy/2005/05/27/1117129897892.html

Bush walks taut tightrope on Palestinian pledges
By Ken Herman in Washington
May 28, 2005
The US President, George Bush, has committed $US50 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority for housing and infrastructure and plans to send the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to the Middle East to try to rekindle the stalled peace process, with the aim of creating a Palestinian state.
For the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, it is the kind of acceptance never won by his controversial predecessor, Yasser Arafat.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bush-walks-taut-tightrope-on-Palestinian-pledges/2005/05/27/1117129897916.html

Koran mishandled five times, Pentagon investigation finds
May 28, 2005
Washington: Pentagon officials say investigators have identified five incidents of military guards and an interrogator "mishandling" the Koran at Guantanamo Bay but characterised the episodes as minor and said most occurred before specific rules on the treatment of Muslim holy items were issued.
Brigadier-General Jay Hood, the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said investigators had looked into 13 allegations of Koran desecration at the prison and had determined eight of them unfounded, lacking credibility or the result of accidental touching of the holy book.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Koran-mishandled-five-times-Pentagon-investigation-finds/2005/05/27/1117129897898.html

Jobless and proud: the bludger stands up
May 28, 2005
Derided by society, Japan's idle young have found an ally, Deborah Cameron writes in Tokyo.
The bludger has arrived in Japan. The traits are familiar enough: not in work, not in school, not in training and with not a jot of initiative.
For a country with a work ethic so entrenched there is a medical term for working yourself to death, to bludge is an affront.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Jobless-and-proud-the-bludger-stands-up/2005/05/27/1117129897901.html

More fission than fusion after month of crucial nuclear talks
By Mark Coultan Herald Correspondent in New York
May 28, 2005
At the height of the Cold War, the doomsday clock, invented by a group of scientists to signify the dangers of nuclear war, reached two minutes to midnight.
By the end of the Cold War, in 1988, it had been wound back to six minutes to midnight. During the 1990s, it turned back time to a relatively relaxed 17 minutes to doomsday. Today, it stands at seven minutes to midnight, where it's been since 2002.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/More-fission-than-fusion-after-month-of-crucial-nuclear-talks/2005/05/27/1117129897907.html

Hoax revealed: how two men made millions, then vanished
By Louise Williams
May 28, 2005
The helicopter was skimming across a dense canopy in the Borneo jungle when its sole passenger, a Filipino geologist, Michael de Guzman, quietly unclipped his Rolex watch, slipped off his gold neckchain, and laid them aside. Then he wrenched open the side door.
The shocked pilot later said he had felt a sudden, unsettling gust of wind. When he looked back, his celebrity passenger was gone - or at least, that's how the story went.
The obvious initial question was: did he jump or was he pushed? New information emerged this week, more than eight years on, which lays a mysterious trail to a bank in Brazil and suggests an entirely different scenario.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Hoax-revealed-how-two-men-made-millions-then-vanished/2005/05/27/1117129897904.html

Radical centre rises from sidelines to challenge Bush
By Michael Gawenda Herald Correspondent in Washington
May 28, 2005
There was George Bush, standing in the middle of a group of mothers and fathers with their disgruntled and impatient toddlers, talking about the "culture of life".
Whenever the US President is unscripted, he manages to smile and look bewildered at the same time. There was no script when a baby was thrust into his arms.
After holding the child long enough for the photographers and cameramen, it was handed back to its mother.
"These children were once embryos," he said. "Research on stem cells derived from embryos may offer great promise, but the way those cells are derived today destroys the embryos."
What Mr Bush did not say was that there are 400,000 frozen embryos stored in fertility clinics across the country, the vast majority destined to be discarded.
Despite his threat to veto any bill that allowed federal funding of stem cell research, the House of Representatives passed the legislation, with 50 Republicans crossing the floor in defiance of their President.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Radical-centre-rises-from-sidelines-to-challenge-Bush/2005/05/27/1117129897895.html

Poor bear brunt of medical brain drain
May 28, 2005
Paris: A "medical carousel" in which doctors and nurses migrate to richer countries is a considerable contributor to the decrepit health infrastructure in poor nations, the medical journal The Lancet says.
"Doctors and nurses are the linchpins of any health-care system," the journal says. "In countries already severely deprived of health professionals, the loss of each one has serious implications for the health of citizens."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Poor-bear-brunt-of-medical-brain-drain/2005/05/27/1117129897919.html

Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

MTV is practicing Oppression. I don't see FOX News being NON-PARTISAN. Past administration have had their 'images' used for all kinds of issues. What gives? Disrepect IS a legitimate protest. Images of government officials are 'fair game.'

"Apparently The Image of Our President Is As Offensive To MTV As It Is To Me"

Nine Inch Nails drops MTV show over image of Bush
May 27, 2005 — LOS ANGELES (
Reuters) - The rock band Nine Inch Nails said on Friday it canceled plans to appear on next week's MTV Movie Awards after the network questioned the band's plans to perform in front of an image of President Bush.
The band was slated to perform "The Hand That Feeds," the first single from its latest album.
A Los Angeles Times review called the song "a warning against blind acceptance of authority, including that of a president leading his nation to war."


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2809

Watch 'The Hand That Feeds' (VIDEO)

Analysts Behind Iraq Intelligence Were Rewarded
By Walter Pincus /
Washington Post
Two Army analysts whose work has been cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq -- the claim that aluminum tubes sought by the Baghdad government were most likely meant for a nuclear weapons program rather than for rockets -- have received job performance awards in each of the past three years, officials said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2811

"The Washington Post" is deriving the English language from a new dictionary called "The Rove Heritage Dictionary" with expressions that make no sense like "... right thinking minds ..." They should be ashamed of themselves. What kind of standard have you lowered yourselves to, Hill-Billy?

continued...
The ? Well ? Studied Global Water Shortage. Is it coming sooner than anyone estimated? It would seem to be the case. Posted by Hello
Australia's Warragamba Dam's water level continues to drop. Posted by Hello
Kofi getting 'in upto his elbows.' U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke with rape victims in South Darfur. Posted by Hello

Morning Papers - continued

The Washington Post

WHAT THE HECK is '…right-thinking people…" Is that like thinking with your right brain? Like a real brain drain? Or is it thinking like the Religious Right? Whatever it is it doesn't sound like something that spells 'FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION' OR 'FREEDOM TO BE YOURSELF' OR 'FREEDOM TO HAVE FUN.' Are people actually thinking this 'sorted' type of behavior doesn't happen everyday? "W"rong. The only place it doesn't happen is in Bush's Voter's Booth. HOW MANY people wash their cars in bathing suits to tone up their 'tanning' salon look? GET FOR REAL !!! The ONLY danger in that commercial is the cholesterol in the hamburger and to show how well Ms. Hilton's influence is NO ONE HAS DISCUSSED THAT YET. But, they'll pick on a Big Mac in a heartbeat !!

Mama Warned Us About Fast Food And Fast Women
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 29, 2005; Page D01
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first: Paris Hilton's TV commercial for the Carl's Jr. fast-food chain, now being downloaded at a computer near you, is a shoddy, shameless, plainly outrageous publicity stunt that all decent, right-thinking people will condemn.
Yes, it's that good.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052800979.html

Review May Shift Terror Policies
U.S. Is Expected to Look Beyond Al Qaeda
By Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 29, 2005; A01
The Bush administration has launched a high-level internal review of its efforts to battle international terrorism, aimed at moving away from a policy that has stressed efforts to capture and kill al Qaeda leaders since Sept. 11, 2001, and toward what a senior official called a broader "strategy against violent extremism."
The shift is meant to recognize the transformation of al Qaeda over the past three years into a far more amorphous, diffuse and difficult-to-target organization than the group that struck the United States in 2001. But critics say the policy review comes only after months of delay and lost opportunities while the administration left key counterterrorism jobs unfilled and argued internally over how best to confront the rapid spread of the pro-al Qaeda global Islamic jihad.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052801171_pf.html

Hastert Directs Millions to Birthplace
Earmarked Money Skirts Procedures
By Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 29, 2005; Page A01
When Scott B. Palmer received an honorary degree in 2002 from his alma mater, Aurora University in Illinois, he urged the graduating class to "give back to our university, to our community and to our country."
As chief of staff to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Palmer runs a congressional office that has been able to do just that for Aurora, the birthplace of his boss and the largest city in his boss's home district.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052801183.html

In River of Many Aliens, Snakehead Looms as Threat
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 29, 2005; Page A01
This is the summer of the snakehead, Part II. A year after 20 of the toothy Asian fish were found in the Potomac, the creatures are growing in size, number and legend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052801079.html

Refugees at Darfur Camp Tell Annan of Violence
By Opheera McDoom
Reuters
Sunday, May 29, 2005; Page A17
KALMA CAMP, Sudan, May 28 -- Tens of thousands of refugees lined the muddy streets of the largest camp in Darfur to greet U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who later heard their stories of rape and other violence.
Men carried signs saying, "We are looking for freedom and justice," and women ululated to welcome Annan almost 11 months after his first visit to Darfur.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052800796.html

Refugees at Darfur Camp Tell Annan of Violence
By Opheera McDoom
Reuters
Sunday, May 29, 2005; Page A17
KALMA CAMP, Sudan, May 28 -- Tens of thousands of refugees lined the muddy streets of the largest camp in Darfur to greet U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who later heard their stories of rape and other violence.
Men carried signs saying, "We are looking for freedom and justice," and women ululated to welcome Annan almost 11 months after his first visit to Darfur.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052800796.html

I always loved horses as a kid.

Starved horses case goes to Missouri Supreme Court
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The question of what to do with more than 100 horses that authorities say were starved and neglected in southwest Missouri will be heard by the Missouri Supreme Court next month.
The Humane Society of Missouri and the Carthage Humane Society are currently caring for the horses, which were taken taken from William Zobel's rural Republic ranch in January.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11755021.htm

Silks and horses: Harness racing highlights community festival
Published Friday, May 27, 2005 11:11:38 AM Central Time
MONROE -- Harness racing where silks flutter and the horses trot and pace will come to Monroe Sunday June 12 at the Green County Fairgrounds as one of many events planned at St. Victor's Community Festival. Races begin at noon and end at 3:30 p.m.

http://www.themonroetimes.com/m0527pha.htm


NYRA Places Restrictions on Horses from Delaware Park, Churchill Downs
Date Posted: 5/27/2005 10:58:58 AM
Last Updated: 5/27/2005 12:20:38 PM

As a result of a confirmed case of strangles at Delaware Park and the recent outbreak of equine herpes virus at Churchill Downs, the New York Racing Association has imposed restrictions on horses from those tracks planning to be shipped to NYRA facilities.
The restrictions from Dr. Celeste Kunz, chief examining veterinarian for NYRA, were posted on the NYRA Web site Thursday.
The restrictions are:

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=28327

The New Zealand Herald

Serious storms and floods becoming more common
Devastation from flooding at Matata this month. Picture / Rotorua Daily Post
29.05.05 1.00pm
by Adrienne Kohler

The floods which devastated the Bay of Plenty this month are part of a trend for more serious storms and floods which has experts warning New Zealand has to be better prepared.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10128050

Police bust Indonesia visa scam
29.05.05
By Jonathan Milne and Cameron Bates

Police have smashed an international people-trafficking ring reportedly ferrying illegal immigrants from Indonesia into New Zealand.
Four Indonesian citizens have been arrested in East Java, one caught with 230 mixed passport covers, 93 completed
passports and an array of immigration stamps.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10128030

Have today's women got the jump on men?
Sita Vaaetasi takes the leap off the Sky Tower - 55 per cent of those brave enough to do so are women. Picture / Richard Robinson
28.05.05
by Simon Collins

A young couple inch gingerly out to a platform near the top of Auckland's Sky Tower, clutching their
tickets to jump 192m to the ground.
"Quite often you get a couple walking in," says Sky Jump manager Steve Weidmann, "and you get the girl doing it and the guy says no, he's not doing it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127886

Annan visits burned-out town in Sudan
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at Kalma Camp in south Darfur. Picture / Reuters
29.05.05 1.00pm

LABADO, Sudan - United Nations chief Kofi Annan toured a burned-out town in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur and heard survivors describe how it was bombed in a government air raid.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10128044

US Navy commando cleared in Abu Ghraib case
28.05.05 3.00pm

A US
military jury has found a Navy commando innocent of charges stemming from a 2003 incident in which his platoon beat a suspected Iraqi insurgent before handing him over to the CIA where he died in custody.
Navy Lieutenant Andrew Ledford had faced more than 11 years in prison had he been convicted at the court-martial on charges of assault, conduct unbecoming an officer, making false statements and dereliction of duty.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127986

Leaked G8 climate graft sets no specific targets
28.05.05 1.00pm

LONDON - A leaked draft communique on climate change for July’s Group of Eight industrial nations summit contains no specific targets and is silent on the science of global warming - to the dismay of environmentalists.
Pressure group Friends of the Earth immediately condemned the document as a huge missed opportunity.
"I find it really alarming. The issues they are covering suggest that they have got their heads around what needs to be done but they are just being really very, very poor on taking strong action," said climate change expert Katherine Pearce.
The 15-page draft, seen by Reuters and dated May 3, begins by stressing the need for urgent action on everything from developing new technologies, cleaner engines, energy efficiency and insulating buildings to capturing greenhouse gases.
But there are no targets for cutting the emission of climate-warming gases like carbon dioxide and a section on the scientific basis for climate change - strongly disputed by the United States - is left blank.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127974

America's great black hope
Future leader? Barack Obama at the democratic national convention. Picture / Reuters
28.05.05
by David Usborne

It wasn't too long ago that most Americans had never heard the name Barack Obama, the newbie US senator from Illinois. Even now they get it wrong to his face. Senator Barama ... Senator Alabama ... Senator Banana. He always smiles and gently corrects them.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127895

continued . . .
Hard to find good help these days. I wish someone would investigate the Former Foreign Relations Chair, Senator Jesse Helms. His cronies must have received billion if not trillions over all those years. I wonder how much of his bad habits Senator Elizabeth Dole has picked up with? Picture: Nine months after Scott B. Palmer, left, chief of staff to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, got an honorary degree from Aurora University, $9.8 million was earmarked for the school in an appropriations bill. Both men are shown in a 1999 photo.
 Posted by Hello