OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
There is one thing the Cheney understand and that is priviledge.
A Revolutionary Christmas Story
By LYNNE CHENEY
Published: December 21, 2004
Washington
AS 1776 was drawing to a close, Elkanah Watson, a young man in Massachusetts, expressed what many Americans feared about their war for independence. "We looked upon the contest as near its close," he wrote, "and considered ourselves a vanquished people."
The priviledge to live their lives at the expense of others whether it is in the private sector or the public sector.
Lynn Cheney has taken an adventure in being a historian. It is a pathetic attempt to begin the indoctrination of Neocons to bring their children up to enjoy the 'heritage' of war rather than peace.
There was good reason for pessimism. The British had driven Gen. George Washington and his men out of New York and across New Jersey. In early December, with the British on their heels, the Americans had commandeered every boat they could find to escape across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. They were starving, sick and cold. The artist Charles Willson Peale, watching the landing from the Pennsylvania shore, described a soldier dressed "in an old dirty blanket jacket, his beard long and his face so full of sores that he could not clean it." So disfigured was the man, Peale wrote, that at first he did not recognize him as his brother James.
The Cheney's came to serve the USA with a $3 million debt in income tax, developed a lawsuit by the stockholders of Halliburton after Dickey cooked the books and invaded a sovereign nation to relieve them of their liability with Halliburton.
She cares little price others have to pay in order for she and her spouse to conduct their lives of indulgence into power and money.
In these desperate circumstances, George Washington made a stunning decision: to go back across the Delaware and launch a surprise attack on the Hessian mercenaries occupying Trenton. On Christmas night, he led 2,400 men, many of them with their feet wrapped in rags because they had no shoes, to a crossing point nine miles upstream from Trenton. As freezing temperatures turned rain to sleet and snow, they began to cross the river.
NOW.
In order to survive the Cheney Scandal, Halliburton wants to dump KBR.
I suggest Lynn and Dick encourage their chronies to 'deed' their found fortune in the Iraqi desert to the Iraqi government as a holiday surprise.
Perhaps then the people of Iraq and not the people of Halliburton will have jobs.
The task was harder than any of them had imagined. Men had to break through ice to get into the boats and then fend off chunks of floating ice once they were in the river. Getting cannons across - each weighed nearly a ton - was especially difficult. Downstream, two other groups that Washington had ordered to cross the Delaware failed in their mission. But Washington and his men persevered, until finally, at 4 o'clock in the morning, they were across and ready to march to Trenton.
Then.
The troops can come home to leave the Iraqis to find a way to live together rather than oppose each other.
They had planned to approach Trenton before dawn, but the difficulty of the crossing had delayed them, and it was daylight when they encountered the first Hessians. Still, the surprise worked, and in two hours, with few losses of their own, they captured nearly 900 of the enemy. "This is a glorious day for our country," Washington declared.
His men were exhausted after the battle, and many of them, their enlistments expired, decided to go home. But many others stayed with Washington as he decided to keep fighting. When he learned that thousands of British and Hessian troops were heading toward Trenton from Princeton, a pretty college town to the north, he deployed his troops along the south side of Assunpink Creek. He also sent a force to the north side of the creek to slow down the advancing enemy. Near evening on Jan. 2, 1777, when these delaying forces had done all they could, they ran for a narrow bridge that crossed the creek - and saw Washington waiting there for them. "I pressed against the shoulder of the general's horse and in contact with the boot of the general," a private remembered years later. "The horse stood as firm as the rider."
Gen. Charles Cornwallis, the British commander, decided he could wait to attack the Americans. "We've got the old fox safe now," he is supposed to have said of Washington. "We'll go over and bag him in the morning." But Washington had other plans. He knew that Cornwallis had brought most of his troops with him, which meant that there would be far fewer of the enemy at Princeton. That night, with men and officers enjoined to silence and cannon wheels muffled with rags, Washington led the main body of his army on a march around Cornwallis's troops toward Princeton. It was dawn before Cornwallis realized they were gone.
The first encounter of the two armies on farmland outside Princeton did not go well for the Americans. Many were killed, and the dazed survivors retreated, but Washington rallied his troops with the bravery for which he was becoming legendary and led them to within 30 yards of the British line. Once the two sides started firing, it seemed impossible that he would survive, but when the smoke cleared, there he was, straight and tall astride his white horse. With a great shout, the Americans began to advance. The British fell back and then ran. "Bring up the troops," Washington called to an aide. "The day is our own."
Twice in 10 days Washington and his ragtag army had defeated the greatest military power in the world, and their victories lifted the spirits of patriots everywhere. True, the years ahead would be hard - Christmas 1777 would find Washington and his men at Valley Forge. But because of the 10-day campaign that began on Christmas 1776, Americans could now think of winning their war for independence. They could imagine that their great struggle would have a glorious end.
Going for a Halliburton
By David Teather
04-10-04
It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the CEO of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange
.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn44338.htm
Lynne Cheney, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots."
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, December 24, 2004
The Authority
Scientist: 'No question' on global warming
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP Special Correspondent
12/15/2004
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra K. Pachauri smiles at an interview during the 10th International Convention on Climate Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday Dec. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- The world's chief climate scientist on Tuesday disputed the U.S. government contention that cutbacks in carbon dioxide emissions are not yet warranted to check global warming.
Experts readied a report, meanwhile, saying 2004 will be one of the warmest years on record.
"The science says you've got to reduce emissions," Rajendra K. Pachauri told The Associated Press in an interview midway through a two-week international climate conference.
The Kyoto Protocol, the international accord requiring cuts in carbon dioxide, "is driven by the need to reduce emissions, and on that there is no question," said Pachauri, chairman of a U.N.-sponsored network of climatologists.
Scientists largely blame the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere for the rising temperatures of the past century.
The 10 warmest years globally, since records were first kept in the 19th century, have all occurred since 1990, the top three since 1998. Specialists here this week will issue a report saying 2004 ranks as the fourth- or fifth-warmest year recorded.
Conference delegates from dozens of nations are fine-tuning the workings of the Kyoto pact, which takes effect Feb. 16. It sets targets for 30 industrial nations -- excluding the nonparticipating United States and Australia -- to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases, most importantly carbon dioxide, a byproduct of coal, oil and gasoline use.
The United States is a member of the umbrella U.N. treaty on climate change, and it signed that treaty's Kyoto Protocol in 1997. But President Bush renounced the Kyoto agreement in 2001, saying emission reductions would hurt the U.S. economy.
Before leaving for the annual climate-treaty talks, U.S. negotiator Harlan Watson told reporters in Washington that the United States -- the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide -- would eventually stop the growth in its emissions "as the science justifies."
After arriving here, he said the Kyoto Protocol's approach was "not based on science."
Asked about Watson's statements, Pachauri was emphatic.
"The science says you've got to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The science says you've got to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he said. "What may be subject to uncertainty and subject to debate is who is to reduce how much."
As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Indian scientist oversees the work of hundreds of specialists who regularly assess the latest research on climate change and its likely effects.
In its last major report, in 2001, the panel projected that global temperatures in the 21st century would increase by 3 to 10 degrees, depending on many factors, including how quickly and deeply gas emissions were cut back.
Warming is predicted to cause greater extremes in temperature and disrupt global climate, possibly drying out farmlands, stirring up fiercer storms and raising ocean levels, among other impacts, the panel said.
One of the world's leading climate institutes, the British government's Hadley Center, issued a report at the conference Tuesday on work done to narrow the uncertainties, by running many dozens more model scenarios through its supercomputers.
It said temperatures would most likely rise by an additional 5 degrees by later this century if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere doubles from its pre-industrial levels -- a probable scenario if emissions are not controlled.
Pachauri said the evidence of change is everywhere -- in the doubling of extreme weather events recorded by the World Meteorological Organization, in the melting of glaciers worldwide, and in the one-degree global temperature rise of the past century.
"The evidence is so strong, the observations so strong, it's very difficult to close your eyes to it," he said. "I was born in the mountains in India. I've seen the kinds of changes that have taken place with snow cover, with the seasons, with the extent of warming, precipitation patterns, the impact on forests."
Delegations at the conference are searching for ways to bring the United States into the Kyoto process and acceptance of mandatory reductions in gases. Besides the economic argument, Bush complained that some poor but rapidly industrializing nations, such as China and India, were not obligated by Kyoto's short-term targets.
Pachauri said he was heartened by the actions of individual U.S. states, particularly in the U.S. Northeast, to impose carbon-dioxide reductions on power plants, for example.
"I think the next round of action will only come from an acceptance of the science," he said.
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP Special Correspondent
12/15/2004
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra K. Pachauri smiles at an interview during the 10th International Convention on Climate Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday Dec. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- The world's chief climate scientist on Tuesday disputed the U.S. government contention that cutbacks in carbon dioxide emissions are not yet warranted to check global warming.
Experts readied a report, meanwhile, saying 2004 will be one of the warmest years on record.
"The science says you've got to reduce emissions," Rajendra K. Pachauri told The Associated Press in an interview midway through a two-week international climate conference.
The Kyoto Protocol, the international accord requiring cuts in carbon dioxide, "is driven by the need to reduce emissions, and on that there is no question," said Pachauri, chairman of a U.N.-sponsored network of climatologists.
Scientists largely blame the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere for the rising temperatures of the past century.
The 10 warmest years globally, since records were first kept in the 19th century, have all occurred since 1990, the top three since 1998. Specialists here this week will issue a report saying 2004 ranks as the fourth- or fifth-warmest year recorded.
Conference delegates from dozens of nations are fine-tuning the workings of the Kyoto pact, which takes effect Feb. 16. It sets targets for 30 industrial nations -- excluding the nonparticipating United States and Australia -- to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases, most importantly carbon dioxide, a byproduct of coal, oil and gasoline use.
The United States is a member of the umbrella U.N. treaty on climate change, and it signed that treaty's Kyoto Protocol in 1997. But President Bush renounced the Kyoto agreement in 2001, saying emission reductions would hurt the U.S. economy.
Before leaving for the annual climate-treaty talks, U.S. negotiator Harlan Watson told reporters in Washington that the United States -- the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide -- would eventually stop the growth in its emissions "as the science justifies."
After arriving here, he said the Kyoto Protocol's approach was "not based on science."
Asked about Watson's statements, Pachauri was emphatic.
"The science says you've got to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The science says you've got to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he said. "What may be subject to uncertainty and subject to debate is who is to reduce how much."
As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Indian scientist oversees the work of hundreds of specialists who regularly assess the latest research on climate change and its likely effects.
In its last major report, in 2001, the panel projected that global temperatures in the 21st century would increase by 3 to 10 degrees, depending on many factors, including how quickly and deeply gas emissions were cut back.
Warming is predicted to cause greater extremes in temperature and disrupt global climate, possibly drying out farmlands, stirring up fiercer storms and raising ocean levels, among other impacts, the panel said.
One of the world's leading climate institutes, the British government's Hadley Center, issued a report at the conference Tuesday on work done to narrow the uncertainties, by running many dozens more model scenarios through its supercomputers.
It said temperatures would most likely rise by an additional 5 degrees by later this century if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere doubles from its pre-industrial levels -- a probable scenario if emissions are not controlled.
Pachauri said the evidence of change is everywhere -- in the doubling of extreme weather events recorded by the World Meteorological Organization, in the melting of glaciers worldwide, and in the one-degree global temperature rise of the past century.
"The evidence is so strong, the observations so strong, it's very difficult to close your eyes to it," he said. "I was born in the mountains in India. I've seen the kinds of changes that have taken place with snow cover, with the seasons, with the extent of warming, precipitation patterns, the impact on forests."
Delegations at the conference are searching for ways to bring the United States into the Kyoto process and acceptance of mandatory reductions in gases. Besides the economic argument, Bush complained that some poor but rapidly industrializing nations, such as China and India, were not obligated by Kyoto's short-term targets.
Pachauri said he was heartened by the actions of individual U.S. states, particularly in the U.S. Northeast, to impose carbon-dioxide reductions on power plants, for example.
"I think the next round of action will only come from an acceptance of the science," he said.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
The Neocon's Faux Theocracy
December 23, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Christmas Eve of Destruction
By MAUREEN DOWD
In Iraq, as Yogi Berra would say, the future ain't what it used to be.
Now that the election's over, our leaders think it's safe to experiment with a little candor.
President Bush has finally acknowledged that the Iraqis can't hack it as far as securing their own country, which means, of course, that America has no exit strategy for its troops, who will soon number 150,000.
News organizations led with the story, even though the president was only saying something that everybody has known to be true for a year. The White House's policy on Iraq has gone from a total charade to a limited modified hangout. Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out.
If this fiasco ever made sense to anybody, it doesn't any more.
John McCain, who lent his considerable credibility to Mr. Bush during the campaign and vouched for the president and his war, now concedes that he has no confidence in Donald Rumsfeld.
And Rummy admitted yesterday that his feelings got hurt when people accused him of being insensitive to the fact that he arrogantly sent his troops into a sinkhole of carnage - a vicious, persistent insurgency - without the proper armor, equipment, backup or preparation.
The subdued defense chief further admitted that despite all the American kids who gave their lives in Mosul on the cusp of Christmas, battling an enemy they can't see in a war fought over weapons that didn't exist, we're not heading toward the democratic halcyon Mr. Bush promised.
"I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
His disgraceful admission that his condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq were signed by machine - "I have directed that in the future I sign each letter," he said in a Strangelovian statement - is redolent of the myopia that has led to the dystopia.
The Bushies are betting a lot on the January election, even though a Shiite-dominated government will further alienate the Sunnis - and even though Iraq may be run by an Iranian-influenced ayatollah. That would mean that Iraq would have a leadership legitimized by us to hate us.
International election observers say it's too dangerous to actually come in and monitor the vote in person; they're going to "assess" the vote from the safety of Amman, Jordan. Isn't that like refereeing a football game while sitting in a downtown bar?
The administration hopes that once the Iraqis understand they have their own government, that will be a turning point and they will realize their country is worth fighting for. But this is the latest in a long list of turning points that turn out to be cul-de-sacs.
From the capture of Saddam to the departure of Paul Bremer and the assault on Falluja, there have been many false horizons for peace.
The U.S. military can't even protect our troops when they're eating lunch in a supposedly secure space - even after the Mosul base commanders had been warned of a "Beirut-style" attack three weeks before - because the Iraqi security forces and support staff have been infiltrated by insurgency spies.
Each milestone, each thing that is supposed to enable us to get some traction and change the basic dynamic in Iraq, comes and goes without the security getting any better. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that a major U.S. contractor, Contrack International Inc., had dropped out of the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq, "raising new worries about the country's growing violence and its effect on reconstruction."
The Bush crowd thought it could get in, get out, scare the Iranians and Syrians, and remove the bulk of our forces within several months.
But now we're in, and it's the allies, contractors and election watchdogs who want out.
Aside from his scintilla of candor, Mr. Bush is still not leveling with us. As he said at his press conference on Monday, "the enemies of freedom" know that "a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny."
They may choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.
E-mail: liberties@nytimes.com
..................................................................................
elisa2005 - 12:36 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42882 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
Stop plagarizing each other and report REALITY instead of trumped up 'realism.'
It never ceases to amaze me how foolish paid journalists are, especially those that get 'the bucks' in their editorialships. And believe me there is not one of you that clearly speaks for me. Not found one yet especially one I can turn my back on long enough not to pander to the Neo-Nazi in power in the Oval Office.
The USA military will continue their foolish pursuit of 'staying the course' in Iraq until they reach the number of 200 thousand troops as prescribed by the wisely retired General Shinseki. Bubba Bush is convinced the good general is right and will wait patiently while Rumsfeld finds more varied and inventive ways to enforce his 'Back Door Draft.' It is the Commander and Chief's belief that when the force is where it should be then all will be under control.
"W"rong. Those estimates by Shinseki were made prior to the invasion in anticipation of securing all the ammo bunkers as well as the towns of Fallujah and Baghdad. Those estimates were made while there still was no organized militias that now dominate the military scene in Iraq. The Iraqis will win. They are determined to rid themselves of 'infidels.'
Oh, there will be an election but that will mean just as much as when sovereignty changed to Iraq's governing council. If there is leadership pleasing to the 'theocratic' Iraq such as al Sadr the elections might mean something but if the government looks like 'The West' when all is said and done it won't mean a darn thing. That 'illusion' of success is what the people of Iraq are counting on as the first set of elections for 100 representatives turned out to be an election of 82 or so as there were pre-appointed candidates from Georgie's Iraq Governing Council that were needed to maintain HIS interests in Iraq.
"Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out."
continued...
elisa2005 - 12:38 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42884 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
continued from 42882
Ms. Dowd, were the Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein ever sufficient to keep order in that country? No. They never were. The Iraqi military was out gunned and out missiled in Gulf War I. There were stories that came back from that ? Conflict ? Stating Iraqi forces were dressed in their best 'Sunday Go to Meetin' clothes as they were hauled off the Saturday Night dance floor, handed a gun and told to go protect Saddam. The Iraqi military marched into the 'waiting arms' of the USA with their hands in the air longing for a good meal. Now, did you research that and bring that to your editiorial for perspective? No. I didn't think so. Now, what were you saying then about a NEW IRAQI force is the 'dreamscape' of the propagandist George Walker Bush. IN other words the NEW IRAQI military will forego the prayers five times a day to rigorously train and stand by the nation of their birth to defend it from any and all foreign invaders with life and limb?
Oh, you didn't say Iraq was being invaded from the outside except for the USA Coalition. Oh, I see. Your assertion was that the Iraqi military needed to protect and defend the returning exiles from the rebel force that was the former citizens of Fallujah where Saddam housed his military and intelligence network. Oh. Is that the issue?
Well. You know civil war is civil war, babe and if the majority of the people of Iraq back the rebels there ain't nothing a million soldiers are going to do to stop them. The people of Iraq has already made their investments. There are over 100,000 dead of which are primarily women and children. That is quite an investment into overtaking the government to instill an Iraqi government to their liking. See, if you remember, Maureen, the west has tried this before. The Brits are real comfortable with the idea of 'colonialism' and that is what Iraq is all about. The colonialization of Iraq to benefit USA fiscal policies through whatever benefit the people of this country might derive from ? Taxes ? Of Halliburton, Bechtel and the like.
Carnage, get used to it. That's all there is in Iraq.
McCain? Criticizing Rumsfeld is the same as criticizing Bush as Georgie came out to back Don over and over again. Heck, according to what I am reading he signed the papers on approving torture methods. Why decent on Rumsfeld when it can be proven Rummy was just carrying the Comander and Chief's orders?
FBI email embroils Bush in jail abuse
Correspondents in Washington
December 23, 2004
THE White House says it expects new documented accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay to be "fully investigated", but has denied claims George W. Bush personally approved the use of abusive methods against detainees at the US prison camp.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story [...]
continued...
elisa2005 - 12:39 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42886 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
continued from 42884
There ya go, "I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said. That's right. But, because we are not seeing Iraq as a colony we are not conceding we will never be removed from Iraq. Never. Either we get out alive or spend our entire future as a country in conflict with generation after generation of Iraqi, killing until the average citizen is either 'Western Cookie Cutter' or to young to bear children.
Sinkhole is a good word. Black hole is another. Void is even better and less conflict of interest with other words in the journalistic rhelm already in use.
What makes you think anyone is signing letters to the family of dead people if they won't let the press into Dover?
You are probably correct about the Shi'ites as they have one heck of religious leader who fears no one and everyone fears him. Allawi kissed al Sistani's surgical wounds as soon as he arrived to stop the slaughter at Najaf. The man is somebody. The Shi'ites will find good representation. But. What does that do to the rest of the ethnicity in Iraq? Does it bond them together in common good? No. Without adequate representation it places groups like the Sunnis in conflict with those that did well in their representation. Hence, a still greater burgeoning civil war. Except. The Grand Ayatollah is a devoutly peaceful leader who is responsible for keeping many, many of his flock alive under Saddam including the much endangered Cleric al Sadr who is the last of his lineage. I am pleased the Grand Ayatollah has been the 'fortress' of protection for his younger cleric. Al Sadr has a place in Islam as well as Iraq, his heritage demands expression. So, if the Grand Ayatollah al Sistani can achieve 'peace' after the elections it will a remarkable feat that will completely justify the expulsion of the USA Coalition from Iraq. Iraq will then no longer need a huge and strong military as the area nations have little to regard as important to invade as the old regime of death has been removed from the threat to their countries. "Pie in the Sky, Ms. Dowd?" I thought the same thing when I pleaded with the Grand Ayatollah for the lives of the people and militia of Najaf. It came to pass didn't it?
What bothers me about 'journalists' is that none of you are willing to call a Spade a Spade but pander to approval in a way that is supposed to win support among somebody, perhaps the opposition. You see, if journalists reported 'the truth' of the situation you would all sound like Michael Moore, but, then where would Mike be?
The TRUTH, Ms. Dowd, is that the USA is looking at the 'Grand Scheme' of a pathetic man that never was successful in his life until he was able to corral the Evangelical Christians into believing the Second Coming was coming and He would bring it to him.
In the case of Iraq, most definitely there is a theocracy. In the case of the USA? A Theocracy? I guess. It seems more a dictatorship with the real will of the people diverted to those that serve the financial ends of the ruling class. It is not so much a theocracy, in fact, as it is in faux. If in fact it was a theocracy we won't be pretending there was no such thing as Global Warming and you all would never know who I was.
Relish that thought.
Relish that thought.
Relish that thought.
Let there be no doubt !!
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Christmas Eve of Destruction
By MAUREEN DOWD
In Iraq, as Yogi Berra would say, the future ain't what it used to be.
Now that the election's over, our leaders think it's safe to experiment with a little candor.
President Bush has finally acknowledged that the Iraqis can't hack it as far as securing their own country, which means, of course, that America has no exit strategy for its troops, who will soon number 150,000.
News organizations led with the story, even though the president was only saying something that everybody has known to be true for a year. The White House's policy on Iraq has gone from a total charade to a limited modified hangout. Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out.
If this fiasco ever made sense to anybody, it doesn't any more.
John McCain, who lent his considerable credibility to Mr. Bush during the campaign and vouched for the president and his war, now concedes that he has no confidence in Donald Rumsfeld.
And Rummy admitted yesterday that his feelings got hurt when people accused him of being insensitive to the fact that he arrogantly sent his troops into a sinkhole of carnage - a vicious, persistent insurgency - without the proper armor, equipment, backup or preparation.
The subdued defense chief further admitted that despite all the American kids who gave their lives in Mosul on the cusp of Christmas, battling an enemy they can't see in a war fought over weapons that didn't exist, we're not heading toward the democratic halcyon Mr. Bush promised.
"I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
His disgraceful admission that his condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq were signed by machine - "I have directed that in the future I sign each letter," he said in a Strangelovian statement - is redolent of the myopia that has led to the dystopia.
The Bushies are betting a lot on the January election, even though a Shiite-dominated government will further alienate the Sunnis - and even though Iraq may be run by an Iranian-influenced ayatollah. That would mean that Iraq would have a leadership legitimized by us to hate us.
International election observers say it's too dangerous to actually come in and monitor the vote in person; they're going to "assess" the vote from the safety of Amman, Jordan. Isn't that like refereeing a football game while sitting in a downtown bar?
The administration hopes that once the Iraqis understand they have their own government, that will be a turning point and they will realize their country is worth fighting for. But this is the latest in a long list of turning points that turn out to be cul-de-sacs.
From the capture of Saddam to the departure of Paul Bremer and the assault on Falluja, there have been many false horizons for peace.
The U.S. military can't even protect our troops when they're eating lunch in a supposedly secure space - even after the Mosul base commanders had been warned of a "Beirut-style" attack three weeks before - because the Iraqi security forces and support staff have been infiltrated by insurgency spies.
Each milestone, each thing that is supposed to enable us to get some traction and change the basic dynamic in Iraq, comes and goes without the security getting any better. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that a major U.S. contractor, Contrack International Inc., had dropped out of the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq, "raising new worries about the country's growing violence and its effect on reconstruction."
The Bush crowd thought it could get in, get out, scare the Iranians and Syrians, and remove the bulk of our forces within several months.
But now we're in, and it's the allies, contractors and election watchdogs who want out.
Aside from his scintilla of candor, Mr. Bush is still not leveling with us. As he said at his press conference on Monday, "the enemies of freedom" know that "a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny."
They may choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.
E-mail: liberties@nytimes.com
..................................................................................
elisa2005 - 12:36 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42882 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
Stop plagarizing each other and report REALITY instead of trumped up 'realism.'
It never ceases to amaze me how foolish paid journalists are, especially those that get 'the bucks' in their editorialships. And believe me there is not one of you that clearly speaks for me. Not found one yet especially one I can turn my back on long enough not to pander to the Neo-Nazi in power in the Oval Office.
The USA military will continue their foolish pursuit of 'staying the course' in Iraq until they reach the number of 200 thousand troops as prescribed by the wisely retired General Shinseki. Bubba Bush is convinced the good general is right and will wait patiently while Rumsfeld finds more varied and inventive ways to enforce his 'Back Door Draft.' It is the Commander and Chief's belief that when the force is where it should be then all will be under control.
"W"rong. Those estimates by Shinseki were made prior to the invasion in anticipation of securing all the ammo bunkers as well as the towns of Fallujah and Baghdad. Those estimates were made while there still was no organized militias that now dominate the military scene in Iraq. The Iraqis will win. They are determined to rid themselves of 'infidels.'
Oh, there will be an election but that will mean just as much as when sovereignty changed to Iraq's governing council. If there is leadership pleasing to the 'theocratic' Iraq such as al Sadr the elections might mean something but if the government looks like 'The West' when all is said and done it won't mean a darn thing. That 'illusion' of success is what the people of Iraq are counting on as the first set of elections for 100 representatives turned out to be an election of 82 or so as there were pre-appointed candidates from Georgie's Iraq Governing Council that were needed to maintain HIS interests in Iraq.
"Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out."
continued...
elisa2005 - 12:38 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42884 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
continued from 42882
Ms. Dowd, were the Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein ever sufficient to keep order in that country? No. They never were. The Iraqi military was out gunned and out missiled in Gulf War I. There were stories that came back from that ? Conflict ? Stating Iraqi forces were dressed in their best 'Sunday Go to Meetin' clothes as they were hauled off the Saturday Night dance floor, handed a gun and told to go protect Saddam. The Iraqi military marched into the 'waiting arms' of the USA with their hands in the air longing for a good meal. Now, did you research that and bring that to your editiorial for perspective? No. I didn't think so. Now, what were you saying then about a NEW IRAQI force is the 'dreamscape' of the propagandist George Walker Bush. IN other words the NEW IRAQI military will forego the prayers five times a day to rigorously train and stand by the nation of their birth to defend it from any and all foreign invaders with life and limb?
Oh, you didn't say Iraq was being invaded from the outside except for the USA Coalition. Oh, I see. Your assertion was that the Iraqi military needed to protect and defend the returning exiles from the rebel force that was the former citizens of Fallujah where Saddam housed his military and intelligence network. Oh. Is that the issue?
Well. You know civil war is civil war, babe and if the majority of the people of Iraq back the rebels there ain't nothing a million soldiers are going to do to stop them. The people of Iraq has already made their investments. There are over 100,000 dead of which are primarily women and children. That is quite an investment into overtaking the government to instill an Iraqi government to their liking. See, if you remember, Maureen, the west has tried this before. The Brits are real comfortable with the idea of 'colonialism' and that is what Iraq is all about. The colonialization of Iraq to benefit USA fiscal policies through whatever benefit the people of this country might derive from ? Taxes ? Of Halliburton, Bechtel and the like.
Carnage, get used to it. That's all there is in Iraq.
McCain? Criticizing Rumsfeld is the same as criticizing Bush as Georgie came out to back Don over and over again. Heck, according to what I am reading he signed the papers on approving torture methods. Why decent on Rumsfeld when it can be proven Rummy was just carrying the Comander and Chief's orders?
FBI email embroils Bush in jail abuse
Correspondents in Washington
December 23, 2004
THE White House says it expects new documented accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay to be "fully investigated", but has denied claims George W. Bush personally approved the use of abusive methods against detainees at the US prison camp.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story [...]
continued...
elisa2005 - 12:39 PM ET December 23, 2004 (#42886 of 42927)
Bush has no American Mandate, produced nearly 1400 Dead AmericanTroops, insoluable debt while CIA, FBI & State Dept. say Bush is losing war.
continued from 42884
There ya go, "I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said. That's right. But, because we are not seeing Iraq as a colony we are not conceding we will never be removed from Iraq. Never. Either we get out alive or spend our entire future as a country in conflict with generation after generation of Iraqi, killing until the average citizen is either 'Western Cookie Cutter' or to young to bear children.
Sinkhole is a good word. Black hole is another. Void is even better and less conflict of interest with other words in the journalistic rhelm already in use.
What makes you think anyone is signing letters to the family of dead people if they won't let the press into Dover?
You are probably correct about the Shi'ites as they have one heck of religious leader who fears no one and everyone fears him. Allawi kissed al Sistani's surgical wounds as soon as he arrived to stop the slaughter at Najaf. The man is somebody. The Shi'ites will find good representation. But. What does that do to the rest of the ethnicity in Iraq? Does it bond them together in common good? No. Without adequate representation it places groups like the Sunnis in conflict with those that did well in their representation. Hence, a still greater burgeoning civil war. Except. The Grand Ayatollah is a devoutly peaceful leader who is responsible for keeping many, many of his flock alive under Saddam including the much endangered Cleric al Sadr who is the last of his lineage. I am pleased the Grand Ayatollah has been the 'fortress' of protection for his younger cleric. Al Sadr has a place in Islam as well as Iraq, his heritage demands expression. So, if the Grand Ayatollah al Sistani can achieve 'peace' after the elections it will a remarkable feat that will completely justify the expulsion of the USA Coalition from Iraq. Iraq will then no longer need a huge and strong military as the area nations have little to regard as important to invade as the old regime of death has been removed from the threat to their countries. "Pie in the Sky, Ms. Dowd?" I thought the same thing when I pleaded with the Grand Ayatollah for the lives of the people and militia of Najaf. It came to pass didn't it?
What bothers me about 'journalists' is that none of you are willing to call a Spade a Spade but pander to approval in a way that is supposed to win support among somebody, perhaps the opposition. You see, if journalists reported 'the truth' of the situation you would all sound like Michael Moore, but, then where would Mike be?
The TRUTH, Ms. Dowd, is that the USA is looking at the 'Grand Scheme' of a pathetic man that never was successful in his life until he was able to corral the Evangelical Christians into believing the Second Coming was coming and He would bring it to him.
In the case of Iraq, most definitely there is a theocracy. In the case of the USA? A Theocracy? I guess. It seems more a dictatorship with the real will of the people diverted to those that serve the financial ends of the ruling class. It is not so much a theocracy, in fact, as it is in faux. If in fact it was a theocracy we won't be pretending there was no such thing as Global Warming and you all would never know who I was.
Relish that thought.
Relish that thought.
Relish that thought.
Let there be no doubt !!
Earth's Enemy - The Neocons
The Neocons, or Neo-Conservatives, is a poltical designation of the Repug(b)lican Party of the United States of America. In the recent year, 2004, it has come to represent a majority of that party in elected officials. The Neocons are repugnant people.
The leadership in the White House are all Neocons. They practice Christian Humanism ( http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/chrishum.htm) but are not Chrisitans ( http://www.iclnet.org/ ).
Neocons share a strong identity with the Ku Klux Klan (http://www.kkk.bz/index1.htm) also known as the KKK. Neocons are White Supremists and Segregationists as demonstrated by George Walker Bush's affiliation with Bob Jones University (http://www.bju.edu/), where is appeared with his spouse, his Vice Presidential Candidate, Dick Cheney and Cheney's spouse.
The writings of Bob Jones University significantly indicate hatred and bias to Neocons ( http://dks.thing.net/Bob_Jones_University.html). In the case of the candidacy of George Walker Bush there is significant manipulation of images to achieve the goal to President of the USA (http://www.bushnews.com/jews.htm) as engineered by Karl (Marx) Rove through a concept called "Jesus-baiting." After taking office Reverend Bob Jones wrote a letter to George Walker Bush and in it is stated:
..."God has graciously granted America -- though she doesn't deserve it -- a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ." (http://valleyadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:90376)
To further validate the racism affiliated with Neocons one needs only to reflect on Bush's choices of minority such as Colin Powell and then to realize he was never respected by the power brokers of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush.
Neocons such as Gale Norton (http://www.doi.gov/welcome.html) have no regard for the natural world except what can be exploited for wealth. She has opened the doors of The Interior Department to business interests with little regard for legislative documents protecting our heritage suchas The Endangered Species Act, The Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Her record of destruction is significant (http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/norton/nortoninx.asp).
The other aspect of any self respecting Neocon is the manipulative hatred of Israel. Bush has an agenda for Israel that includes taking apart some of the finest Jewish Charities this country has to offer. It isn't as though the Ashcroft State Department came with specific warrants so much as fact finding warrants to 'find' something wrong rather than 'proving' something wrong.
Over a period of time Bush's Anti-semitism has taken shape.
First he denied Israel loan guarantees granted and agreed to years ago, however, the administration suggests $20 million in aid will help Palestinian reformers. Supposedly Israel is to forgive the matter of loan guarantees because a portion of the $20 million will be paid to Israel by Palestine for services over the years. That is still penalizing Israel when the loan guarantees were a separate issue to the payment of Palestinian debt.
Administration suggests $20 million in aid will help Palestinian reformers
By Matthew E. Berger
WASHINGTON Nov. 23 (JTA) — The Bush administration is lobbying Congress to approve a plan to give $20 million to the Palestinian Authority ahead of Palestinian presidential elections — or at least, not to oppose the aid.
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticl [...]
Bush Gives $20 Mln to Palestinians for Israeli Bills
Wed Dec 8, 2004 02:59 PM ET
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday approved $20 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority to help pay its Israeli utility bills after key lawmakers objected to plans to use the money for presidential elections in January and to pay Palestinian salaries.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7031979
Mounting Scandal at Aipac Prompts Talk of Lobbying Powerhouse's Demise
Officials Called By Grand Jury
By Ori Nir
December 10, 2004
WASHINGTON — With senior officials at America's top pro-Israel organization facing the specter of federal indictments, staffers at other groups are beginning to waver in their support and are warning that the mounting legal scandal could damage the political credibility of the entire Jewish community.
The doubts were prompted by last week's FBI raid of the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and by news that four of its top officials had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. In particular, the doubters said, the decision of a federal prosecutor to turn to a grand jury on a matter involving Aipac was ominous and severely undermined the organization's claim that it was the victim of a few rogue investigators.
..."This is not a fishing expedition," he said. "It's clear to me they have some specific information which is leading them in a specific direction."
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=nir200412081101
The leadership in the White House are all Neocons. They practice Christian Humanism ( http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/chrishum.htm) but are not Chrisitans ( http://www.iclnet.org/ ).
Neocons share a strong identity with the Ku Klux Klan (http://www.kkk.bz/index1.htm) also known as the KKK. Neocons are White Supremists and Segregationists as demonstrated by George Walker Bush's affiliation with Bob Jones University (http://www.bju.edu/), where is appeared with his spouse, his Vice Presidential Candidate, Dick Cheney and Cheney's spouse.
The writings of Bob Jones University significantly indicate hatred and bias to Neocons ( http://dks.thing.net/Bob_Jones_University.html). In the case of the candidacy of George Walker Bush there is significant manipulation of images to achieve the goal to President of the USA (http://www.bushnews.com/jews.htm) as engineered by Karl (Marx) Rove through a concept called "Jesus-baiting." After taking office Reverend Bob Jones wrote a letter to George Walker Bush and in it is stated:
..."God has graciously granted America -- though she doesn't deserve it -- a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ." (http://valleyadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:90376)
To further validate the racism affiliated with Neocons one needs only to reflect on Bush's choices of minority such as Colin Powell and then to realize he was never respected by the power brokers of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush.
Neocons such as Gale Norton (http://www.doi.gov/welcome.html) have no regard for the natural world except what can be exploited for wealth. She has opened the doors of The Interior Department to business interests with little regard for legislative documents protecting our heritage suchas The Endangered Species Act, The Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Her record of destruction is significant (http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/norton/nortoninx.asp).
The other aspect of any self respecting Neocon is the manipulative hatred of Israel. Bush has an agenda for Israel that includes taking apart some of the finest Jewish Charities this country has to offer. It isn't as though the Ashcroft State Department came with specific warrants so much as fact finding warrants to 'find' something wrong rather than 'proving' something wrong.
Over a period of time Bush's Anti-semitism has taken shape.
First he denied Israel loan guarantees granted and agreed to years ago, however, the administration suggests $20 million in aid will help Palestinian reformers. Supposedly Israel is to forgive the matter of loan guarantees because a portion of the $20 million will be paid to Israel by Palestine for services over the years. That is still penalizing Israel when the loan guarantees were a separate issue to the payment of Palestinian debt.
Administration suggests $20 million in aid will help Palestinian reformers
By Matthew E. Berger
WASHINGTON Nov. 23 (JTA) — The Bush administration is lobbying Congress to approve a plan to give $20 million to the Palestinian Authority ahead of Palestinian presidential elections — or at least, not to oppose the aid.
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticl [...]
Bush Gives $20 Mln to Palestinians for Israeli Bills
Wed Dec 8, 2004 02:59 PM ET
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday approved $20 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority to help pay its Israeli utility bills after key lawmakers objected to plans to use the money for presidential elections in January and to pay Palestinian salaries.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7031979
Mounting Scandal at Aipac Prompts Talk of Lobbying Powerhouse's Demise
Officials Called By Grand Jury
By Ori Nir
December 10, 2004
WASHINGTON — With senior officials at America's top pro-Israel organization facing the specter of federal indictments, staffers at other groups are beginning to waver in their support and are warning that the mounting legal scandal could damage the political credibility of the entire Jewish community.
The doubts were prompted by last week's FBI raid of the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and by news that four of its top officials had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. In particular, the doubters said, the decision of a federal prosecutor to turn to a grand jury on a matter involving Aipac was ominous and severely undermined the organization's claim that it was the victim of a few rogue investigators.
..."This is not a fishing expedition," he said. "It's clear to me they have some specific information which is leading them in a specific direction."
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=nir200412081101
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Michael Moore - Always Seeking Justice
December 28, 2004
December 27th, 2004 11:20 pm
Pentagon: Rumsfeld misspoke on Flight 93 crash; Defense secretary's remark to troops fuels conspiracy theories
From Jamie McIntyreCNN Washington
A comment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made during a Christmas Eve address to U.S. troops in Baghdad has sparked new conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
December 27, 2004
Rumsfeld Forgets Sept. 11 Heroes
(Did somebody say "let's roll"?)
"And I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten -- indeed the word "terrorized" is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be." -- Donald Rumsfeld, December, 24th, 2004
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
December 26th, 2004 4:19 pm
Top Iraqi General: Troops Willing to Fight
By Bassem Mroue / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's top general on Sunday rejected President Bush's criticism that some Iraqi government troops were unwilling to fight insurgents and have deserted the battlefield, saying the president had been misinformed.
I am quite certain Iraq's top general is absolutely correct in his estimation of George Walker Bush the Commander and Chief of the USA military and NOT the Iraqi military. INDEED !!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=716
December 25th, 2004 6:33 pm
Bush Calls Service Members to Thank Them
By Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
Stationed on the farthest island in Alaska's Aleutians, Coast Guard Fireman Michael Joseph feels like he's living at the end of the earth. But he wasn't too far away to receive a Christmas Eve greeting from President Bush.
Michael Moore Link of the Week
Monday, December 20th, 2004
Buy Blue
You may have voted blue... But every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been defeating our own interests as liberals and progressives.
BuyBlue.org is a concerted effort to lift the veil of corporate patronage so consumers can make informed buying decisions that coincide with their principles.
BUY BLUE
http://buyblue.org/current_campaign.html
In Today's America there is a more powerful act than voting blue, and that's BUYING BLUE!
Michael Moore Today (12.23.04)
December 23rd, 2004 12:34 pm
New Michael Moore project gives drug companies a sick feeling
By Elaine Dutka / Los Angeles Times
America's pharmaceutical industry is putting out an advisory about the latest potential threat to its health: Michael Moore.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=690
Main Page :: Rumsfeld Always on the Defensive
December 20th, 2004 2:14 pm
Deputy Homeland Security Chief to Retire
By Leslie Miller / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - James Loy, the No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department and former head of the Transportation Security Administration, is retiring, the agency announced Monday.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=648
THE MARCH OF FREEDOMA bigshot in the main Nicaraguan opposition political party runs into problems with the Department of Homeland security. So long as you aren't a Central American leftist, you women will have a "modified patdown" at the airport. And despite budget problems, Big Brother shuttles off to Hawaii. What sort of commission does a travel agent get for booking a $23 million getaway?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Michael Moore Today (12.22.04)
Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy
http://www.michaelmoore.com/index.php
December 21st, 2004 1:02 pm
Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy
By Stuart Comstock-Gay / Tom Paine
The Bush electors in Ohio have cast their votes, even though the bitterly contested ballots that allegedly gave them standing as electors have not been recounted. When asked, the mainstream media will admit that there were rampant problems with this election. But there's no juicy story for them to cover because they don't believe a recount would change the outcome of the election. Thus, they neglect what's happening in Ohio. Here Comstock-Gay explains why it matters. For the best of TomPaine.com's coverage of the problems with election 2004, click here.
Stuart Comstock-Gay is executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=664
Michael presented this case back in December. Evidently, Jeb Bush hasn't been able to resolve the child's issues yet.
Lauren Rainey still waiting to hear from GovernorLast Update: 12/6/2004 2:35:31 PMPosted
By: Bruce Mildwurf
Watch this video
(Mobile, Ala.) December 3 - The story of Lauren Rainey, a 13 year old disabled girl from Mobile, Alabama has gone worldwide and it is still gaining momentum. She is tied to an oxygen machine 24 hours a day. With an artificial breathing tube, an enlarged heart, asthma, bone abnormalities and scoliosis, Alabama Medicaid is threatening to drastically reduce her nursing care.
http://www.waveflux.net/archives/000603.php
December 27th, 2004 11:20 pm
Pentagon: Rumsfeld misspoke on Flight 93 crash; Defense secretary's remark to troops fuels conspiracy theories
From Jamie McIntyreCNN Washington
A comment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made during a Christmas Eve address to U.S. troops in Baghdad has sparked new conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
December 27, 2004
Rumsfeld Forgets Sept. 11 Heroes
(Did somebody say "let's roll"?)
"And I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten -- indeed the word "terrorized" is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be." -- Donald Rumsfeld, December, 24th, 2004
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
December 26th, 2004 4:19 pm
Top Iraqi General: Troops Willing to Fight
By Bassem Mroue / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's top general on Sunday rejected President Bush's criticism that some Iraqi government troops were unwilling to fight insurgents and have deserted the battlefield, saying the president had been misinformed.
I am quite certain Iraq's top general is absolutely correct in his estimation of George Walker Bush the Commander and Chief of the USA military and NOT the Iraqi military. INDEED !!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=716
December 25th, 2004 6:33 pm
Bush Calls Service Members to Thank Them
By Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
Stationed on the farthest island in Alaska's Aleutians, Coast Guard Fireman Michael Joseph feels like he's living at the end of the earth. But he wasn't too far away to receive a Christmas Eve greeting from President Bush.
http://www.michaelmoore.co/words/index.php?id=704
As a side note to this entry there were plans for the Bushies to meet in Florida. For some reason that has changed.Michael Moore Link of the Week
Monday, December 20th, 2004
Buy Blue
You may have voted blue... But every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been defeating our own interests as liberals and progressives.
BuyBlue.org is a concerted effort to lift the veil of corporate patronage so consumers can make informed buying decisions that coincide with their principles.
BUY BLUE
http://buyblue.org/current_campaign.html
In Today's America there is a more powerful act than voting blue, and that's BUYING BLUE!
Michael Moore Today (12.23.04)
December 23rd, 2004 12:34 pm
New Michael Moore project gives drug companies a sick feeling
By Elaine Dutka / Los Angeles Times
America's pharmaceutical industry is putting out an advisory about the latest potential threat to its health: Michael Moore.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=690
Main Page :: Rumsfeld Always on the Defensive
December 20th, 2004 2:14 pm
Deputy Homeland Security Chief to Retire
By Leslie Miller / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - James Loy, the No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department and former head of the Transportation Security Administration, is retiring, the agency announced Monday.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=648
THE MARCH OF FREEDOMA bigshot in the main Nicaraguan opposition political party runs into problems with the Department of Homeland security. So long as you aren't a Central American leftist, you women will have a "modified patdown" at the airport. And despite budget problems, Big Brother shuttles off to Hawaii. What sort of commission does a travel agent get for booking a $23 million getaway?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Michael Moore Today (12.22.04)
Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy
http://www.michaelmoore.com/index.php
December 21st, 2004 1:02 pm
Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy
By Stuart Comstock-Gay / Tom Paine
The Bush electors in Ohio have cast their votes, even though the bitterly contested ballots that allegedly gave them standing as electors have not been recounted. When asked, the mainstream media will admit that there were rampant problems with this election. But there's no juicy story for them to cover because they don't believe a recount would change the outcome of the election. Thus, they neglect what's happening in Ohio. Here Comstock-Gay explains why it matters. For the best of TomPaine.com's coverage of the problems with election 2004, click here.
Stuart Comstock-Gay is executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=664
Michael presented this case back in December. Evidently, Jeb Bush hasn't been able to resolve the child's issues yet.
Lauren Rainey still waiting to hear from GovernorLast Update: 12/6/2004 2:35:31 PMPosted
By: Bruce Mildwurf
Watch this video
(Mobile, Ala.) December 3 - The story of Lauren Rainey, a 13 year old disabled girl from Mobile, Alabama has gone worldwide and it is still gaining momentum. She is tied to an oxygen machine 24 hours a day. With an artificial breathing tube, an enlarged heart, asthma, bone abnormalities and scoliosis, Alabama Medicaid is threatening to drastically reduce her nursing care.
http://www.waveflux.net/archives/000603.php
A Commitment to Wind Power
Island wind-turbine factory project set to create 80 jobs JOHN ROSS
EIGHTY jobs are expected to be created in the new year when work starts again at a wind- turbine manufacturing base in the Western Isles. The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) network has agreed terms with Camcal, formerly Cambrian Caledonian, to lease the former oil-fabrication yard at Arnish, near Stornoway, as part of a multi-million-pound project to establish an operation producing steel towers and other equipment for the renewables industry.
Wind giant sets course for 10 per cent growth
SPANISH wind power firm Gamesa has said it expects net profit to fall four per cent in 2005 but to turn around after that and grow at more than ten per cent a year. Net profit is expected to come in at £150 million next year, which is lower than this year because no one-off windpark sales are included in the forecast. In 2004, the firm booked £18.22m in one-off profit.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=1375252004
Green power will be hit by rates system, claims electricity industry
JAMES REYNOLDS, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
PROPOSED rate changes for electricity-generating companies to be announced by the Executive today amount to a "stealth tax" on householders’ domestic bills, and will unfairly penalise the growing renewables industry north of the Border, according to industry representatives.
Previously, industry sector rates were considered and decided by the Executive under a scheme known as prescription. However, with the introduction of a policy to end this method of taxation, the rates of industries will, from next April, be set by the Scottish Assessors Association (SAA).
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=1404132004
Wind farms add to crisis for diving
SHARON WARD
SCOTLAND’S rapid expansion of offshore wind farms and a rejuvenated North Sea oil industry have led to skill shortages, including an urgent demand for commercial divers. With as many as 200 windmills set to appear in Scottish waters to meet increasing energy demands, the provision of divers for maintenance and servicing work will also come directly from the North Sea oil and gas sector, putting pressure on an already depleted diving community.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1412402004
EIGHTY jobs are expected to be created in the new year when work starts again at a wind- turbine manufacturing base in the Western Isles. The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) network has agreed terms with Camcal, formerly Cambrian Caledonian, to lease the former oil-fabrication yard at Arnish, near Stornoway, as part of a multi-million-pound project to establish an operation producing steel towers and other equipment for the renewables industry.
Wind giant sets course for 10 per cent growth
SPANISH wind power firm Gamesa has said it expects net profit to fall four per cent in 2005 but to turn around after that and grow at more than ten per cent a year. Net profit is expected to come in at £150 million next year, which is lower than this year because no one-off windpark sales are included in the forecast. In 2004, the firm booked £18.22m in one-off profit.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=1375252004
Green power will be hit by rates system, claims electricity industry
JAMES REYNOLDS, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
PROPOSED rate changes for electricity-generating companies to be announced by the Executive today amount to a "stealth tax" on householders’ domestic bills, and will unfairly penalise the growing renewables industry north of the Border, according to industry representatives.
Previously, industry sector rates were considered and decided by the Executive under a scheme known as prescription. However, with the introduction of a policy to end this method of taxation, the rates of industries will, from next April, be set by the Scottish Assessors Association (SAA).
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=1404132004
Wind farms add to crisis for diving
SHARON WARD
SCOTLAND’S rapid expansion of offshore wind farms and a rejuvenated North Sea oil industry have led to skill shortages, including an urgent demand for commercial divers. With as many as 200 windmills set to appear in Scottish waters to meet increasing energy demands, the provision of divers for maintenance and servicing work will also come directly from the North Sea oil and gas sector, putting pressure on an already depleted diving community.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1412402004
Important Earth Events
Sustainable Development
Peace Prize winner welcomed to Oslo
Wangari Maathai of Kenya arrived in Oslo this week to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She's a controversial winner, but she was warmly welcomed by the Nobel Committee and a host of dignitaries.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai was welcomed to Oslo by the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, on Wednesday.
Maathai, who won the prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace," has a busy schedule while in Oslo. On Thursday she met reporters and criticized the US' war against terror.
She noted that Kenya has experienced several terrorist attacks, "so we know what terror means." She claimed, however, that today's war against terrorism was unfortunate because innocent victims were dying. She said she sought better ways of solving conflicts.
Maathai, a government minister in Kenya, also said she regretted making earlier remarks that offended some of Kenya's native peoples. She's been criticized for an alleged lack of sensitivity to Kenya's aborigines.
Maathai faced a series of meetings and appearances before she was to be formally awarded the Nobel Peace Prize during a traditional 1pm ceremony at City Hall.
The ceremony will be followed by an interview on CNN and then she'll be hailed by another traditional event, a torchlight parade through downtown Oslo that ends in front of the Grand Hotel, where the Peace Prize winner traditionally stays.
The Nobel banquet will also be held at the Grand Hotel Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, Maathai will be the guest of honor at a Peace Prize Performance conducted by Oslo schools, and then she'll also be the guest of honor at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
The concert, at the Oslo Spektrum arena, is being hosted this year by American talk show host Oprah Winfrey and actor Tom Cruise. Performers will include Tony Bennet, Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Patti LaBelle, Sondre Lerch and Cyndi Lauper.
Peace Prize winner welcomed to Oslo
Wangari Maathai of Kenya arrived in Oslo this week to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She's a controversial winner, but she was warmly welcomed by the Nobel Committee and a host of dignitaries.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai was welcomed to Oslo by the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, on Wednesday.
Maathai, who won the prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace," has a busy schedule while in Oslo. On Thursday she met reporters and criticized the US' war against terror.
She noted that Kenya has experienced several terrorist attacks, "so we know what terror means." She claimed, however, that today's war against terrorism was unfortunate because innocent victims were dying. She said she sought better ways of solving conflicts.
Maathai, a government minister in Kenya, also said she regretted making earlier remarks that offended some of Kenya's native peoples. She's been criticized for an alleged lack of sensitivity to Kenya's aborigines.
Maathai faced a series of meetings and appearances before she was to be formally awarded the Nobel Peace Prize during a traditional 1pm ceremony at City Hall.
The ceremony will be followed by an interview on CNN and then she'll be hailed by another traditional event, a torchlight parade through downtown Oslo that ends in front of the Grand Hotel, where the Peace Prize winner traditionally stays.
The Nobel banquet will also be held at the Grand Hotel Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, Maathai will be the guest of honor at a Peace Prize Performance conducted by Oslo schools, and then she'll also be the guest of honor at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
The concert, at the Oslo Spektrum arena, is being hosted this year by American talk show host Oprah Winfrey and actor Tom Cruise. Performers will include Tony Bennet, Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Patti LaBelle, Sondre Lerch and Cyndi Lauper.
The Risks were known to Halliburton and it's Employees.
(This post was made while Jim Morrison is playing with the Doors, 'Babe Light My Fire.' The unedited version.)
We don't belong in Iraq. We never did. We are there to bail Dick Cheney out of trouble with his stockholders.
The stockholders are responsible for their own greed. Not the American people. The Iraqi people never asked for 'Freedom and Democracy' the exiles like Chaibi did.
Halliburton's Sacrifice - A Relief for Richard Cheney, Vice President of the USA
New York Sun Staff EditorialDecember 22, 2004
News that among those killed in the attack at Mosul, Iraq, yesterday were seven Halliburton workers prompted us to recall some of the political criticism leveled at the company during the presidential campaign. "Halliburton got billions in no bid contracts in Iraq. Dick Cheney got $2 million. What did we get? A $200 billion bill for Iraq. Lost jobs. Rising health care costs.
.....................
It is easy to see how bad Vice President Cheney feels regarding his former employees.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2004
Cheney hunts ducks in Lowcountry
Associated Press
WALTERBORO, S.C. - Vice President Dick Cheney made a special trip to South Carolina to hunt ducks in the ACE Basin with a group of elected officials from the state, Colleton County authorities say.
Cheney arrived in a military helicopter at the Pon Pon Plantation Monday night and left before lunch Tuesday, said sheriff's Maj. Steve Bazzle.
"It wasn't a state visit," Bazzle said. "He just came in to do a little bit of duck hunting and left."
The vice president was joined by Republicans Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Jim DeMint, on the brief but secretive trip, though spokesmen for the officials declined to confirm or deny the reports.
Because Cheney has a heart condition, a Colleton County EMS ambulance was on the property throughout his visit.
Pon Pon is a large, private estate in the ACE Basin owned by George Dean Johnson. It sits adjacent to the Hope Plantation, which belongs to media mogul Ted Turner. Johnson is an entrepreneur and former state legislator.
Despite the secrecy, local residents said they couldn't help but notice the large volume of cars with tinted windows driving back and forth on Bear Island Road, a dirt path that leads to the plantation.
Bazzle, who said authorities prepared for about a week before the visit, said he's glad it went off without a hitch. "Nothing happened and I'm happy," he said.
---
Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.charleston.net
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10472769.htm
...................................................................
From the Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, New York on December 22, 2004
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
While large corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel rake in billions of our hard-earned tax dollars from everybody's paychecks, U.S. soldiers and the people of Iraq are dying. Where is the death toll noted in our media of the women and children of Iraq? Where is the consideration of what we are doing to our younger generation?
The vice president's company should be there for peace, not for spending our money in the black hole of war. After all, as the head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney became the head of President Bush's committee to find a vice president. And look whom he chose.
So, while looking out at our beautiful snow-covered fields, and while thinking of the true meaning of this season, we should think of peace. If the American people want peace, it will happen. Bring our young people home now.
LEIF E. WINTER
HALLSTEAD, PA.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
We don't belong in Iraq. We never did. We are there to bail Dick Cheney out of trouble with his stockholders.
The stockholders are responsible for their own greed. Not the American people. The Iraqi people never asked for 'Freedom and Democracy' the exiles like Chaibi did.
Halliburton's Sacrifice - A Relief for Richard Cheney, Vice President of the USA
New York Sun Staff EditorialDecember 22, 2004
News that among those killed in the attack at Mosul, Iraq, yesterday were seven Halliburton workers prompted us to recall some of the political criticism leveled at the company during the presidential campaign. "Halliburton got billions in no bid contracts in Iraq. Dick Cheney got $2 million. What did we get? A $200 billion bill for Iraq. Lost jobs. Rising health care costs.
.....................
It is easy to see how bad Vice President Cheney feels regarding his former employees.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2004
Cheney hunts ducks in Lowcountry
Associated Press
WALTERBORO, S.C. - Vice President Dick Cheney made a special trip to South Carolina to hunt ducks in the ACE Basin with a group of elected officials from the state, Colleton County authorities say.
Cheney arrived in a military helicopter at the Pon Pon Plantation Monday night and left before lunch Tuesday, said sheriff's Maj. Steve Bazzle.
"It wasn't a state visit," Bazzle said. "He just came in to do a little bit of duck hunting and left."
The vice president was joined by Republicans Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Jim DeMint, on the brief but secretive trip, though spokesmen for the officials declined to confirm or deny the reports.
Because Cheney has a heart condition, a Colleton County EMS ambulance was on the property throughout his visit.
Pon Pon is a large, private estate in the ACE Basin owned by George Dean Johnson. It sits adjacent to the Hope Plantation, which belongs to media mogul Ted Turner. Johnson is an entrepreneur and former state legislator.
Despite the secrecy, local residents said they couldn't help but notice the large volume of cars with tinted windows driving back and forth on Bear Island Road, a dirt path that leads to the plantation.
Bazzle, who said authorities prepared for about a week before the visit, said he's glad it went off without a hitch. "Nothing happened and I'm happy," he said.
---
Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.charleston.net
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10472769.htm
...................................................................
From the Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, New York on December 22, 2004
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
While large corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel rake in billions of our hard-earned tax dollars from everybody's paychecks, U.S. soldiers and the people of Iraq are dying. Where is the death toll noted in our media of the women and children of Iraq? Where is the consideration of what we are doing to our younger generation?
The vice president's company should be there for peace, not for spending our money in the black hole of war. After all, as the head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney became the head of President Bush's committee to find a vice president. And look whom he chose.
So, while looking out at our beautiful snow-covered fields, and while thinking of the true meaning of this season, we should think of peace. If the American people want peace, it will happen. Bring our young people home now.
LEIF E. WINTER
HALLSTEAD, PA.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
The Truth About Iraq - The Reason we are there that no one else will tell you.
The Editorial that Spawned the Definition and Ridicule
War on the Cheap
By BOB HERBERT
Published: December 20, 2004
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 when two students shot and killed a teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves. Mr. Rund survived that horror, but he wasn't able to survive the war in Iraq. The 21-year-old Marine lance corporal was killed on Dec. 11 in Falluja.
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. Corporal Rund was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home. "I've never seen so many grown men cry," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader who founded Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.
"Soldiers will do whatever you ask them to do," said Mr. Rieckhoff. "But when you tell them the finish line is here, and then you keep moving it back every time they get five meters away from it, it starts to really wear on them. It affects morale."
We don't have enough troops because we are fighting the war on the cheap. The Bush administration has refused to substantially expand the volunteer military and there is no public support for a draft. So the same troops head in and out of Iraq, and then back in again, as if through a revolving door. That naturally heightens their chances of being killed or wounded.
A reckoning is coming. The Army National Guard revealed last Thursday that it had missed its recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who heads the National Guard Bureau, said: "We're in a more difficult recruiting environment, period. There's no question that when you have a sustained ground combat operation going that the Guard's participating in, that makes recruiting more difficult."
Just a few days earlier, the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, told The Dallas Morning News that recruiting was in a "precipitous decline" that, if not reversed, could lead to renewed discussions about reinstatement of the draft.
The Bush administration, which has asked so much of the armed forces, has established a pattern of dealing in bad faith with its men and women in uniform. The callousness of its treatment of the troops was, of course, never more clear than in Donald Rumsfeld's high-handed response to a soldier's question about the shortages of battle armor in Iraq.
As the war in Iraq goes more and more poorly, the misery index of the men and women serving there gets higher and higher. More than 1,300 have been killed. Many thousands are coming home with agonizing wounds. Scott Shane of The Times reported last week that according to veterans' advocates and military doctors, the already hard-pressed system of health care for veterans "is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war."
Through the end of September, nearly 900 troops had been evacuated from Iraq by the Army for psychiatric reasons, included attempts or threatened attempts at suicide. Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, an assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997, said, "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war."
When the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq is considered, some experts believe that the number of American troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.
From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
"From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on."
MY REPLY
With all due respect, Mr. Herbert, I am tired of playing around with the 'DENIAL' this country is experiencing regarding this entire episode of USA ?History? or should I say TRAVESTY.
Iraq is about Halliburton. It is about Cheney's Liability to those stockholders.
That is ALL it is about, Mr. Herbert.
Plain and simple.
There were no weapons of mass destruction before we invaded that country. THAT was made plainly obvious by the United Nations Security Council's Inspectors. They found nothing. They tested everything including the dust at the site where Colin Powell TESTIFIED there were WMD production.
There was NOTHING, Mr. Herbert.
NOTHING. Your Judith Miller fell into the habit of promoting the propaganda of the Bush White House to secure an invasion. She never looked outside her undisclosed sources in The White House to VALIDATE 'The Truth.' ( http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html)
The media has allowed the brainwashing of this country rather than coming down on the Bush White House like a ton of bricks unrelenting to 'The Truth' and the best interest of the USA and Iraq. Iraq has support from every area nation including Saudi Arabia. If the USA were to step out of the situation the surrounding nations would intervene with assistance.
WHY has the media allowed brainwashing of the people of this country? Why did you become such a willing part of the propaganda? What did we ever do to all of you?
You have allowed a dictator for self profit, namely Bush, to seduce of you into to thinking he was actually in pursuit of someone that attacked this country. Many of you believe there is virtue in Bush's continued occupation of Iraq while Halliburton secures profits to bail Cheney out of obligation to it's stockholders. Who's side are you on? Bin Laden and his al Qaeda Network has won while you distracted everyone with the terror of Iraq's War. Iraq, a country that was never a threat to the USA. Ever.
Osama bin Laden has won his fiscal attack on the USA. Bush fell right into the pattern of spend and pursue the enemy actually thinking as delusional as the American Press that all would be okay if you could all just 'get on top of it.' Just as the press believes they can turn the country around to prevent further descent from the people who know 'The Truth.' It was easy for Bush, who has failed at every job he's had including serving in the Air National Guard to continue to fail.
In Afghanistan, "Kabul is Afghanistan" as the rest of the country is still dominated by Opium Warlords. And yesterday Iceland, a coalition member, had three of their Peacekeepers attacked.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert? Iceland?
Do you understand the word, bizarre? The country of Iceland is now moving 'nationalism' to the forefront? Are you all the complete idiots for playing Iceland out to be this 'tough and committed' country of the coalition? What difference does it make if Iceland sends there entire country to Afghanistan? This is a joke, Mr. Herbert. A completely and desperately stupid Bush joke on this country.
Iceland? Regardless of the demonstration of 'force' Iceland is showing with their parade of tanks I don't think the people there are in favor of battle. I was in Iceland. I was handed a lapel pin in Icelandic stating "Do you want to bomb Iraq?" It was a demonstration pin in protest of the aggression of the USA.
Iceland is a poor country. All the countries in the USA Coalition have been poor countries until they enlisted for the money dangled in front of their noses. They are incapable of protecting themselves from the violence. That wasn't made clear in Spain the day before their national elections?
Leave Iceland alone. Al Qaeda could destroy that country in one day. Do you understand me? One day. There is a poorly armed USA military base there with nothing but Jumbo C5 Cargo planes. Iceland is a depot and lay over station. There are elements of the Missile Defense Shield there. And now Iceland is being targeted by al Qaeda in Kabul. What does Bush think he is doing?
The Icelandic National Museum is postage size compared to ANY museum in NYC. It is about the size of the third floor of The Whitney.
Mr. Herbert, do you understand this is going nowhere. The New York Times 'article' regarding Iceland is hideous.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/20/international/europe/20reykjavik.html).
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. A majority in rank of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
....................................
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team. He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons, recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
..............................................................
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and our troops are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam. At the height of the killing of USA soldiers in Vietnam the body count was an average of 32 per day. Tell me we haven't reached that much recently.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE. So you are hearing there is going to be a draft? Why? We won't get anywhere.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis and having done so has won their fiscal battle against the USA. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. The Neocons profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they drink the water anyway in order to survive. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is.
The media in this country has become pathetic.
I feel sorry for all of you. You are allowing your emperor to send you to jail while you can't even find enough anger to expound the truth to the American people.
As the days go by and 'The True' of the situation becomes less and less blurred, I am finding no solice in reading newsprint that does nothing but panders to an administration in hope of them becoming enlightened while reporting the war as if matter-of-factly appropriate as if the country is really committed to it.
So, you'll excuse me if I don't find a great deal of enthusiasm for newsprint as I did. I think you have all become a bunch of pathetic puppets willing to work with the system, pandering for a survival rather than reeling against the insanity and incompetency of this situation. The American Press have become nothing more than sniveling comfort seekers.
War on the Cheap
By BOB HERBERT
Published: December 20, 2004
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 when two students shot and killed a teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves. Mr. Rund survived that horror, but he wasn't able to survive the war in Iraq. The 21-year-old Marine lance corporal was killed on Dec. 11 in Falluja.
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. Corporal Rund was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home. "I've never seen so many grown men cry," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader who founded Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.
"Soldiers will do whatever you ask them to do," said Mr. Rieckhoff. "But when you tell them the finish line is here, and then you keep moving it back every time they get five meters away from it, it starts to really wear on them. It affects morale."
We don't have enough troops because we are fighting the war on the cheap. The Bush administration has refused to substantially expand the volunteer military and there is no public support for a draft. So the same troops head in and out of Iraq, and then back in again, as if through a revolving door. That naturally heightens their chances of being killed or wounded.
A reckoning is coming. The Army National Guard revealed last Thursday that it had missed its recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who heads the National Guard Bureau, said: "We're in a more difficult recruiting environment, period. There's no question that when you have a sustained ground combat operation going that the Guard's participating in, that makes recruiting more difficult."
Just a few days earlier, the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, told The Dallas Morning News that recruiting was in a "precipitous decline" that, if not reversed, could lead to renewed discussions about reinstatement of the draft.
The Bush administration, which has asked so much of the armed forces, has established a pattern of dealing in bad faith with its men and women in uniform. The callousness of its treatment of the troops was, of course, never more clear than in Donald Rumsfeld's high-handed response to a soldier's question about the shortages of battle armor in Iraq.
As the war in Iraq goes more and more poorly, the misery index of the men and women serving there gets higher and higher. More than 1,300 have been killed. Many thousands are coming home with agonizing wounds. Scott Shane of The Times reported last week that according to veterans' advocates and military doctors, the already hard-pressed system of health care for veterans "is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war."
Through the end of September, nearly 900 troops had been evacuated from Iraq by the Army for psychiatric reasons, included attempts or threatened attempts at suicide. Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, an assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997, said, "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war."
When the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq is considered, some experts believe that the number of American troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.
From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
"From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on."
MY REPLY
With all due respect, Mr. Herbert, I am tired of playing around with the 'DENIAL' this country is experiencing regarding this entire episode of USA ?History? or should I say TRAVESTY.
Iraq is about Halliburton. It is about Cheney's Liability to those stockholders.
That is ALL it is about, Mr. Herbert.
Plain and simple.
There were no weapons of mass destruction before we invaded that country. THAT was made plainly obvious by the United Nations Security Council's Inspectors. They found nothing. They tested everything including the dust at the site where Colin Powell TESTIFIED there were WMD production.
There was NOTHING, Mr. Herbert.
NOTHING. Your Judith Miller fell into the habit of promoting the propaganda of the Bush White House to secure an invasion. She never looked outside her undisclosed sources in The White House to VALIDATE 'The Truth.' ( http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html)
The media has allowed the brainwashing of this country rather than coming down on the Bush White House like a ton of bricks unrelenting to 'The Truth' and the best interest of the USA and Iraq. Iraq has support from every area nation including Saudi Arabia. If the USA were to step out of the situation the surrounding nations would intervene with assistance.
WHY has the media allowed brainwashing of the people of this country? Why did you become such a willing part of the propaganda? What did we ever do to all of you?
You have allowed a dictator for self profit, namely Bush, to seduce of you into to thinking he was actually in pursuit of someone that attacked this country. Many of you believe there is virtue in Bush's continued occupation of Iraq while Halliburton secures profits to bail Cheney out of obligation to it's stockholders. Who's side are you on? Bin Laden and his al Qaeda Network has won while you distracted everyone with the terror of Iraq's War. Iraq, a country that was never a threat to the USA. Ever.
Osama bin Laden has won his fiscal attack on the USA. Bush fell right into the pattern of spend and pursue the enemy actually thinking as delusional as the American Press that all would be okay if you could all just 'get on top of it.' Just as the press believes they can turn the country around to prevent further descent from the people who know 'The Truth.' It was easy for Bush, who has failed at every job he's had including serving in the Air National Guard to continue to fail.
In Afghanistan, "Kabul is Afghanistan" as the rest of the country is still dominated by Opium Warlords. And yesterday Iceland, a coalition member, had three of their Peacekeepers attacked.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert? Iceland?
Do you understand the word, bizarre? The country of Iceland is now moving 'nationalism' to the forefront? Are you all the complete idiots for playing Iceland out to be this 'tough and committed' country of the coalition? What difference does it make if Iceland sends there entire country to Afghanistan? This is a joke, Mr. Herbert. A completely and desperately stupid Bush joke on this country.
Iceland? Regardless of the demonstration of 'force' Iceland is showing with their parade of tanks I don't think the people there are in favor of battle. I was in Iceland. I was handed a lapel pin in Icelandic stating "Do you want to bomb Iraq?" It was a demonstration pin in protest of the aggression of the USA.
Iceland is a poor country. All the countries in the USA Coalition have been poor countries until they enlisted for the money dangled in front of their noses. They are incapable of protecting themselves from the violence. That wasn't made clear in Spain the day before their national elections?
Leave Iceland alone. Al Qaeda could destroy that country in one day. Do you understand me? One day. There is a poorly armed USA military base there with nothing but Jumbo C5 Cargo planes. Iceland is a depot and lay over station. There are elements of the Missile Defense Shield there. And now Iceland is being targeted by al Qaeda in Kabul. What does Bush think he is doing?
The Icelandic National Museum is postage size compared to ANY museum in NYC. It is about the size of the third floor of The Whitney.
Mr. Herbert, do you understand this is going nowhere. The New York Times 'article' regarding Iceland is hideous.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/20/international/europe/20reykjavik.html).
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. A majority in rank of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
....................................
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team. He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons, recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
..............................................................
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and our troops are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam. At the height of the killing of USA soldiers in Vietnam the body count was an average of 32 per day. Tell me we haven't reached that much recently.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE. So you are hearing there is going to be a draft? Why? We won't get anywhere.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis and having done so has won their fiscal battle against the USA. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. The Neocons profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they drink the water anyway in order to survive. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is.
The media in this country has become pathetic.
I feel sorry for all of you. You are allowing your emperor to send you to jail while you can't even find enough anger to expound the truth to the American people.
As the days go by and 'The True' of the situation becomes less and less blurred, I am finding no solice in reading newsprint that does nothing but panders to an administration in hope of them becoming enlightened while reporting the war as if matter-of-factly appropriate as if the country is really committed to it.
So, you'll excuse me if I don't find a great deal of enthusiasm for newsprint as I did. I think you have all become a bunch of pathetic puppets willing to work with the system, pandering for a survival rather than reeling against the insanity and incompetency of this situation. The American Press have become nothing more than sniveling comfort seekers.
An Introduction to what will be daily posts.
This site will chronicle human activity including reflections of history that have lead to current activity. Hence, not to perpetuate where it demises Earth. There will be comments later after the 'theme' and definition of this blog takes shape.
This is doing some 'catch-up' which will include a volume of other information and opinion before it settles down to JUST a daily entry.
Today in History - December 20, 2004
In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans.
In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
In 1864, Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea."
In 1868 Samuel Harvey was born Firestone, an American industrialist, born in Columbiana County, Ohio. At the age of 27, he became president of the Firestone Rubber Company in Chicago, with which he remained associated for four years. Then in 1900, with 17 workers, he formed the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. He was company president, 1903-32, and board chairman, 1932-35. At the instigation of Firestone the rubber-growing potential of the Philippines and of South America was assessed, and much American capital was invested to develop the rubber industry in those countries. In 1926 Firestone leased 404,686 ha (1 million acres) in Liberia. In the next decade, he established rubber plants on 24,281 hectares (60,000 acres) there. As president (1916-18) of the Rubber Association of America, he directed the conversion of the rubber industry for wartime production during World War I.
The Firestone Library
http://firestone.princeton.edu/
That is where the Map Room is.
In 1879, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1922, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed. It remained such until the refusal of the USSR to intervene in Eastern Europe when popular pressure for political transformations there gained steam in 1989. Largely for this reason, reform movements were able to oust Communist governments all across the Soviet bloc. In the most dramatic change, the Berlin Wall was torn down and Communist East Germany merged with West Germany, forming a united Federal Republic of Germany. Unwilling to expend resources on sustaining old structures in the area, and increasingly distracted by domestic developments, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its troops from Eastern Europe and to dissolve COMECON and the Warsaw Pact, two cornerstones of its postwar foreign policy.
These revolutionary changes were soon echoed inside the USSR. Events might conceivably have taken a different turn in the short term had Gorbachev been willing either to use military force to contain the swelling discontent or, alternatively, to resign from the CPSU and attempt to take charge of the democratic movement. Doing neither, he was caught in a pincer between conservative and liberal factions and points of view.
The beneficiaries of the growing disarray in Gorbachev’s administration were the union republics, hollow shells for much of their existence but now suddenly able to challenge Moscow. Their governments newly elected in 1990, the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,...
...the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,...
...the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,..
from hopes they would be more adept than the center in reforming the economy, and from a belief that only they stood in the way of complete chaos. One by one, the republic parliaments adopted resolutions affirming their sovereignty and the primacy of their laws over Soviet legislation. In several cases, notably in Lithuania and Georgia, the republic went so far as to assert its complete independence from the Soviet Union.
In 1925, and still kicking, Mahathir bin Mohamad was born, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. Mahathir was born in Alur Setar, capital of the northwestern state of Kedah. He was educated in Alur Setar, and in 1947 entered the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.
Active in politics since 1945, Mahathir was a member of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) from its creation in 1946. After graduating from medical school, Mahathir entered government medical service as a practitioner on Langkaw Island (Pulau Langkawi). He was first elected to parliament in 1965 but lost his seat in the 1969 elections. Following the 1969 elections, riots took place in Kuala Lumpur, leading to the discrediting of the leadership of Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Mahathir became one of Tunku's few publicly outspoken critics within the ranks of the UMNO. Mahathir's book The Malay Dilemma (1969) was soon banned inside Malaysia.
In 1945, the Office of Price Administration announced the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.
In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.
In 1968, author John Steinbeck died in New York at age 66.
In 1989, the United States launched Operation "Just Cause," sending troops into Panama to topple the government of General Manuel Noriega.
Today in History - December 21, 2004
In 1620, The first group of colonists disembark from the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts where they established Plymouth Colony. The official Web site of Plimoth Plantation offers resources related to Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony, and the Wampanoag Native American people.
http://www.plimoth.org/
In 1804, Benjamine Disraeli was born, a british writer and prime minister.
In 1879, Joseph Stalin a Soviet Leader was born.
In 1898, scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
In 1913, The New York World newspaper prints the first modern crossword puzzle in the United States.
In 1937, Jane Fonda was born, an American motion-picture actor, political activist, and writer and producer of exercise books and videos. Daughter of motion-picture actor Henry Fonda, she was born in New York City. She attended Vassar College but did not graduate. After studying with acting teacher Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in the late 1950s, Fonda was named most promising actress of the season by the New York Drama Critics' Circle for her Broadway debut in There Was a Little Girl (1960) and was praised by critics for her early motion-picture work in A Walk on the Wild Side (1962) and Sunday in New York (1964). After moving to France in the mid-1960s, she met and married French film director Roger Vadim. Later she starred in Vadim's erotic motion picture Barbarella (1968).
In 1940, Frank Zappa was born, American composer and rock musician, recognized as a master of a wide variety of musical styles. Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His family moved often throughout his childhood. During his teenage years, his musical development was shaped by two divergent musical influences: 20th-century classical music (especially the works of French composer Edgard Varèse) and 1950s rhythm and blues. At the age of 14, Zappa joined a band as a drummer. When he was 18 years old, he began playing the guitar instead. In 1959 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked at a variety of jobs while writing music and playing in bands.
In 1954, Chris Evert, an American Tennis Star was born.
In 1956, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
In 1968, Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.
In 1978, police in Des Plaines, Ill., arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of murdering.
In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
This is doing some 'catch-up' which will include a volume of other information and opinion before it settles down to JUST a daily entry.
Today in History - December 20, 2004
In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans.
In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
In 1864, Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea."
In 1868 Samuel Harvey was born Firestone, an American industrialist, born in Columbiana County, Ohio. At the age of 27, he became president of the Firestone Rubber Company in Chicago, with which he remained associated for four years. Then in 1900, with 17 workers, he formed the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. He was company president, 1903-32, and board chairman, 1932-35. At the instigation of Firestone the rubber-growing potential of the Philippines and of South America was assessed, and much American capital was invested to develop the rubber industry in those countries. In 1926 Firestone leased 404,686 ha (1 million acres) in Liberia. In the next decade, he established rubber plants on 24,281 hectares (60,000 acres) there. As president (1916-18) of the Rubber Association of America, he directed the conversion of the rubber industry for wartime production during World War I.
The Firestone Library
http://firestone.princeton.edu/
That is where the Map Room is.
In 1879, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1922, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed. It remained such until the refusal of the USSR to intervene in Eastern Europe when popular pressure for political transformations there gained steam in 1989. Largely for this reason, reform movements were able to oust Communist governments all across the Soviet bloc. In the most dramatic change, the Berlin Wall was torn down and Communist East Germany merged with West Germany, forming a united Federal Republic of Germany. Unwilling to expend resources on sustaining old structures in the area, and increasingly distracted by domestic developments, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its troops from Eastern Europe and to dissolve COMECON and the Warsaw Pact, two cornerstones of its postwar foreign policy.
These revolutionary changes were soon echoed inside the USSR. Events might conceivably have taken a different turn in the short term had Gorbachev been willing either to use military force to contain the swelling discontent or, alternatively, to resign from the CPSU and attempt to take charge of the democratic movement. Doing neither, he was caught in a pincer between conservative and liberal factions and points of view.
The beneficiaries of the growing disarray in Gorbachev’s administration were the union republics, hollow shells for much of their existence but now suddenly able to challenge Moscow. Their governments newly elected in 1990, the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,...
...the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,...
...the republics profited from long-suppressed nationalism,..
from hopes they would be more adept than the center in reforming the economy, and from a belief that only they stood in the way of complete chaos. One by one, the republic parliaments adopted resolutions affirming their sovereignty and the primacy of their laws over Soviet legislation. In several cases, notably in Lithuania and Georgia, the republic went so far as to assert its complete independence from the Soviet Union.
In 1925, and still kicking, Mahathir bin Mohamad was born, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. Mahathir was born in Alur Setar, capital of the northwestern state of Kedah. He was educated in Alur Setar, and in 1947 entered the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.
Active in politics since 1945, Mahathir was a member of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) from its creation in 1946. After graduating from medical school, Mahathir entered government medical service as a practitioner on Langkaw Island (Pulau Langkawi). He was first elected to parliament in 1965 but lost his seat in the 1969 elections. Following the 1969 elections, riots took place in Kuala Lumpur, leading to the discrediting of the leadership of Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Mahathir became one of Tunku's few publicly outspoken critics within the ranks of the UMNO. Mahathir's book The Malay Dilemma (1969) was soon banned inside Malaysia.
In 1945, the Office of Price Administration announced the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.
In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.
In 1968, author John Steinbeck died in New York at age 66.
In 1989, the United States launched Operation "Just Cause," sending troops into Panama to topple the government of General Manuel Noriega.
Today in History - December 21, 2004
In 1620, The first group of colonists disembark from the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts where they established Plymouth Colony. The official Web site of Plimoth Plantation offers resources related to Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony, and the Wampanoag Native American people.
http://www.plimoth.org/
In 1804, Benjamine Disraeli was born, a british writer and prime minister.
In 1879, Joseph Stalin a Soviet Leader was born.
In 1898, scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
In 1913, The New York World newspaper prints the first modern crossword puzzle in the United States.
In 1937, Jane Fonda was born, an American motion-picture actor, political activist, and writer and producer of exercise books and videos. Daughter of motion-picture actor Henry Fonda, she was born in New York City. She attended Vassar College but did not graduate. After studying with acting teacher Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in the late 1950s, Fonda was named most promising actress of the season by the New York Drama Critics' Circle for her Broadway debut in There Was a Little Girl (1960) and was praised by critics for her early motion-picture work in A Walk on the Wild Side (1962) and Sunday in New York (1964). After moving to France in the mid-1960s, she met and married French film director Roger Vadim. Later she starred in Vadim's erotic motion picture Barbarella (1968).
In 1940, Frank Zappa was born, American composer and rock musician, recognized as a master of a wide variety of musical styles. Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His family moved often throughout his childhood. During his teenage years, his musical development was shaped by two divergent musical influences: 20th-century classical music (especially the works of French composer Edgard Varèse) and 1950s rhythm and blues. At the age of 14, Zappa joined a band as a drummer. When he was 18 years old, he began playing the guitar instead. In 1959 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked at a variety of jobs while writing music and playing in bands.
In 1954, Chris Evert, an American Tennis Star was born.
In 1956, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
In 1968, Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.
In 1978, police in Des Plaines, Ill., arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of murdering.
In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Environmental Atrocities in Iraq
Pollution Chokes the Tigris, a Main Source of Baghdad’s Drinking Water
by Dahr Jamail
Water from the Tigris River -- consumed by Iraqis in Baghdad every day -- is contaminated with war waste, and much of it goes untreated despite obligations of a US company to reconstruct vital facilities.
Baghdad , Jun 6 - With reconstruction of a highly inadequate water treatment and distribution system at a near standstill throughout much of Central Iraq, some residents of Baghdad are left with little choice but to drink highly polluted water from the Tigris River. Aside from a newly formed Iraqi non-governmental organization that is focusing on the cleanup of one section of the river, not much is being done to improve Baghdad residents’ access to potable water, and US contractors appear unable or unwilling to help.
While many areas of Baghdad have access to drinking water from a few of the functional treatment plants, millions of residents remain without a clean, reliable source. All too many of these unfortunates turn to the rotten banks of the Tigris, which snakes prominently through the heart of Baghdad collecting toxins as it flows.
In an alarming development, Dr. Husni Mohammed’s research has additionally concluded that Iraqi and US military waste during the 2003 invasion deposited oil and benzene into the Tigris, the effects of which include nervous system damage, birth defects and cancer.
Abdul Salam Abdulali works on the river, running a dredging machine. A river man for most of his life, he has long been employed by a company that dredges the muddy Tigris, but which was recently incorporated into the Ministry of Water Resources.
"I am married to the water," he said standing atop his dredging machine as it floated atop the river. "But it is too polluted now. I wish I could eat the fish, but when I cut them open I can smell the oil."
PHOTO: The remains of a cow decompose on the banks of the Tigris near Baghdad, a major and often direct source of water for the city's residents. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
The residents of the impoverished Baghdad neighborhood called Sadr City are often forced to drink untreated water directly from the Tigris. They are also plagued by diarrhea; many reportedly suffer from recurring kidney stones.
Sadr City shopkeeper Ranzi Amher Aziz joined a chorus of voices protesting the lack of potable water in this Baghdad slum. "The situation here is worse now than before the war," he said, echoing others’ complaints.
Many here say they cannot see any sign of the US making an effort to help. Aziz stood near a pool of raw sewage in the street. "There has been no work here by the Americans to give us clean water or fix the sewage problem," he said.
Tigris River water is a concentrated cocktail of pesticides, fertilizers, oil, gasoline and heavy metals, reports Dr. Husni Mohammed, an Iraqi who holds a PhD in Environmental and Biological Science and has researched the condition of the Tigris. Raw sewage mixes with particles from antiquated piping and US-fired depleted uranium munitions, he says, plus remnants from untold amounts of other chemicals released by American and Iraqi weaponry used since the 1991 Gulf War.
continued in next entry...
by Dahr Jamail
Water from the Tigris River -- consumed by Iraqis in Baghdad every day -- is contaminated with war waste, and much of it goes untreated despite obligations of a US company to reconstruct vital facilities.
Baghdad , Jun 6 - With reconstruction of a highly inadequate water treatment and distribution system at a near standstill throughout much of Central Iraq, some residents of Baghdad are left with little choice but to drink highly polluted water from the Tigris River. Aside from a newly formed Iraqi non-governmental organization that is focusing on the cleanup of one section of the river, not much is being done to improve Baghdad residents’ access to potable water, and US contractors appear unable or unwilling to help.
While many areas of Baghdad have access to drinking water from a few of the functional treatment plants, millions of residents remain without a clean, reliable source. All too many of these unfortunates turn to the rotten banks of the Tigris, which snakes prominently through the heart of Baghdad collecting toxins as it flows.
In an alarming development, Dr. Husni Mohammed’s research has additionally concluded that Iraqi and US military waste during the 2003 invasion deposited oil and benzene into the Tigris, the effects of which include nervous system damage, birth defects and cancer.
Abdul Salam Abdulali works on the river, running a dredging machine. A river man for most of his life, he has long been employed by a company that dredges the muddy Tigris, but which was recently incorporated into the Ministry of Water Resources.
"I am married to the water," he said standing atop his dredging machine as it floated atop the river. "But it is too polluted now. I wish I could eat the fish, but when I cut them open I can smell the oil."
PHOTO: The remains of a cow decompose on the banks of the Tigris near Baghdad, a major and often direct source of water for the city's residents. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
The residents of the impoverished Baghdad neighborhood called Sadr City are often forced to drink untreated water directly from the Tigris. They are also plagued by diarrhea; many reportedly suffer from recurring kidney stones.
Sadr City shopkeeper Ranzi Amher Aziz joined a chorus of voices protesting the lack of potable water in this Baghdad slum. "The situation here is worse now than before the war," he said, echoing others’ complaints.
Many here say they cannot see any sign of the US making an effort to help. Aziz stood near a pool of raw sewage in the street. "There has been no work here by the Americans to give us clean water or fix the sewage problem," he said.
Tigris River water is a concentrated cocktail of pesticides, fertilizers, oil, gasoline and heavy metals, reports Dr. Husni Mohammed, an Iraqi who holds a PhD in Environmental and Biological Science and has researched the condition of the Tigris. Raw sewage mixes with particles from antiquated piping and US-fired depleted uranium munitions, he says, plus remnants from untold amounts of other chemicals released by American and Iraqi weaponry used since the 1991 Gulf War.
continued in next entry...
Environmental Atrocities in Iraq - continued
In an alarming development, Dr. Mohammed’s research has additionally concluded that Iraqi and US military waste during the 2003 invasion deposited oil and benzene into the river.
The health effects of benzene -- an ingredient found in gasoline and jet fuel -- are well known and severe. Short-term exposure can cause significant damage to the nervous system and dramatic suppression of the immune system. Consistent consumption of benzene-tainted water can cause long-term effects including cancer (particularly Leukemia), birth defects and damage to the reproductive system.
Heavy metals in drinking water are also known to damage the liver, brain and other vital organs.
Adding to the hazards, very few sewage treatment plants in Baghdad are operational. Raw waste from the city of five million residents can be pumped through the sewer system, completely bypassing any treatment, and flow right into the river.
Statistics underscore the widespread suffering of Iraqis. The incidence of diarrheal diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera, doubled between August 2002, before the US-led invasion, and a year later. So reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a UN agency tasked with coordinating responses to severe humanitarian crises. Seventy percent of all children’s sicknesses are linked to contaminated water, the report adds.
Over one year into the occupation, the situation is not seen by most residents here as having improved much. Therefore, some have begun to take on the responsibility and work of enacting changes they do not believe can wait for foreign authorities or the new interim government to undertake.
Shwaqi Kareem, the president of the National Association for Defense of Environment and Children (NADEC), founded the non-governmental organization (NGO) because he felt it was time to start cleaning up a particularly polluted section of the Tigris. He hopes to remove the garbage, stop the deluge of raw sewage that is flowing into the river and establish gardens along the banks.
PHOTO: Waste and garbage from this Baghdad area refinery make their way directly into the Tigris. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
Kareem said the Tigris is in worse condition now than before the invasion, and blames the US’s disinterest in taking care of a waterway considered vital by Iraqis.
NADEC draws on the labor of around 1,000 workers, said co-founder Salim Kamel. Some are paid, but the majority are volunteers. "We get some money from the municipality," Kamel said, "but some of the volunteers are business owners who donate money as well."
Kareem is reluctant to work with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in the cleanup; he blames the Coalition for allowing companies to dump their garbage and sewage into the river over the past year.
A contractor interviewed inside the Coalition-run "Green Zone" area echoed Kareem’s sentiments. Awshalim Khammo recently quit his job in frustration after working to clean up the areas of the CPA near the Tigris. "I tried all last year to help improve the Palace ground and the river side within the Green Zone, but things went from bad to worse," he said. Khammo complained in particular about dumping -- which he referred to as a "disaster" -- near the Kellogg Brown and Root warehouse and yards on the east end of the presidential palace.
Bechtel Corporation was awarded a no-bid, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract on April 17, 2003 worth $680 million. The controversial contract made Bechtel and its subcontractors responsible for the rehabilitation of the Sharkh Dijlah water treatment plant in Baghdad, as well as the Kerkh Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Repeated contacts with various authorities in charge of civilian press access to water treatment projects yielded no invitations to verify progress made on any Baghdad area water treatment facilities.
The brochure produced by Bechtel to highlight its work in Iraq concerning the drinking water situation only gives a concrete finishing date for two projects, one of which is the rehabilitation and capacity-building of the Sharkh Dijlah plant.
Work on the plant, Bechtel’s number two priority in Baghdad since June 2003, is expected to increase potable water by 225 million liters per day. The work was due to be completed by this month.
continued in next entry...
The health effects of benzene -- an ingredient found in gasoline and jet fuel -- are well known and severe. Short-term exposure can cause significant damage to the nervous system and dramatic suppression of the immune system. Consistent consumption of benzene-tainted water can cause long-term effects including cancer (particularly Leukemia), birth defects and damage to the reproductive system.
Heavy metals in drinking water are also known to damage the liver, brain and other vital organs.
Adding to the hazards, very few sewage treatment plants in Baghdad are operational. Raw waste from the city of five million residents can be pumped through the sewer system, completely bypassing any treatment, and flow right into the river.
Statistics underscore the widespread suffering of Iraqis. The incidence of diarrheal diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera, doubled between August 2002, before the US-led invasion, and a year later. So reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a UN agency tasked with coordinating responses to severe humanitarian crises. Seventy percent of all children’s sicknesses are linked to contaminated water, the report adds.
Over one year into the occupation, the situation is not seen by most residents here as having improved much. Therefore, some have begun to take on the responsibility and work of enacting changes they do not believe can wait for foreign authorities or the new interim government to undertake.
Shwaqi Kareem, the president of the National Association for Defense of Environment and Children (NADEC), founded the non-governmental organization (NGO) because he felt it was time to start cleaning up a particularly polluted section of the Tigris. He hopes to remove the garbage, stop the deluge of raw sewage that is flowing into the river and establish gardens along the banks.
PHOTO: Waste and garbage from this Baghdad area refinery make their way directly into the Tigris. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
Kareem said the Tigris is in worse condition now than before the invasion, and blames the US’s disinterest in taking care of a waterway considered vital by Iraqis.
NADEC draws on the labor of around 1,000 workers, said co-founder Salim Kamel. Some are paid, but the majority are volunteers. "We get some money from the municipality," Kamel said, "but some of the volunteers are business owners who donate money as well."
Kareem is reluctant to work with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in the cleanup; he blames the Coalition for allowing companies to dump their garbage and sewage into the river over the past year.
A contractor interviewed inside the Coalition-run "Green Zone" area echoed Kareem’s sentiments. Awshalim Khammo recently quit his job in frustration after working to clean up the areas of the CPA near the Tigris. "I tried all last year to help improve the Palace ground and the river side within the Green Zone, but things went from bad to worse," he said. Khammo complained in particular about dumping -- which he referred to as a "disaster" -- near the Kellogg Brown and Root warehouse and yards on the east end of the presidential palace.
Bechtel Corporation was awarded a no-bid, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract on April 17, 2003 worth $680 million. The controversial contract made Bechtel and its subcontractors responsible for the rehabilitation of the Sharkh Dijlah water treatment plant in Baghdad, as well as the Kerkh Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Repeated contacts with various authorities in charge of civilian press access to water treatment projects yielded no invitations to verify progress made on any Baghdad area water treatment facilities.
The brochure produced by Bechtel to highlight its work in Iraq concerning the drinking water situation only gives a concrete finishing date for two projects, one of which is the rehabilitation and capacity-building of the Sharkh Dijlah plant.
Work on the plant, Bechtel’s number two priority in Baghdad since June 2003, is expected to increase potable water by 225 million liters per day. The work was due to be completed by this month.
continued in next entry...
Environmental Atrocities in Iraq - end this article.
According to the Washington Post, however, Baghdad officials said Bechtel spent four months studying plans for the expansion made by Iraq’s state-run water company, finally concluding they were acceptable. They then reissued the same orders for the same parts from the same supplier Iraqi engineers had tried to acquire them from. Bechtel estimates it will spend $16 billion on the project, carrying out the work essentially as had previously been done by Iraqi engineers no longer permitted to participate.
Bechtel admits the water treatment plant is still being rehabilitated, but says the delay is caused by extra capacity. "We are expanding the treatment capacity of the plant by 50 percent over the design capacity, or 50 million gallons per day," said company spokesperson Francis Canavan. "Our work is expected to be completed in the fall."
Dr. Abdul Latif Rashid, the Minister for Water Resources in Iraq, told the BBC that the poor state of Iraq’s infrastructure and past mismanagement are to blame for some of the water problems Iraqis are now facing.
The UN’s OCHA report spread the blame more broadly: "Three wars and 13 years of sanctions, as well as the Coalition invasion and the looting that followed it, have dealt a heavy blow to the country’s already creaking water system."
Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant -- another Baghdad area plant in Bechtel’s Implementation Plan -- is currently undergoing rehabilitation efforts, according to a company spokesperson, who said, "Last week, the Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant, which we are rehabilitating, began treating sewage for the first time in years, when one-third of the plant reopened.
PHOTO: Discharge from the Kirkh Wastewater Treatment Plant, which Bechtel says it is fixing, courses directly into the Tigris. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
During a boat tour of the Tigris’ banks taken to inspect treatment facilities, NADEC founder Shwaqi Kareem pointed to a massive outpouring of brownish gray wastewater flowing right into the river. The source of this vile discharge? "The Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant," said Kareem.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=481
Bechtel admits the water treatment plant is still being rehabilitated, but says the delay is caused by extra capacity. "We are expanding the treatment capacity of the plant by 50 percent over the design capacity, or 50 million gallons per day," said company spokesperson Francis Canavan. "Our work is expected to be completed in the fall."
Dr. Abdul Latif Rashid, the Minister for Water Resources in Iraq, told the BBC that the poor state of Iraq’s infrastructure and past mismanagement are to blame for some of the water problems Iraqis are now facing.
The UN’s OCHA report spread the blame more broadly: "Three wars and 13 years of sanctions, as well as the Coalition invasion and the looting that followed it, have dealt a heavy blow to the country’s already creaking water system."
Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant -- another Baghdad area plant in Bechtel’s Implementation Plan -- is currently undergoing rehabilitation efforts, according to a company spokesperson, who said, "Last week, the Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant, which we are rehabilitating, began treating sewage for the first time in years, when one-third of the plant reopened.
PHOTO: Discharge from the Kirkh Wastewater Treatment Plant, which Bechtel says it is fixing, courses directly into the Tigris. (Dahr Jamail/NewStandard)
During a boat tour of the Tigris’ banks taken to inspect treatment facilities, NADEC founder Shwaqi Kareem pointed to a massive outpouring of brownish gray wastewater flowing right into the river. The source of this vile discharge? "The Kerkh Wastewater Treatment Plant," said Kareem.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=481
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Daily Log - Morning Papers - Catch Up Entry
The Cheney Observer
Nigerian govt moves to settle oil delta protest
09 Dec 2004 12:39:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Nigerian government began moves on Thursday to settle a dispute in its oil-rich southern delta that has shut 120,000 barrels per day of oil output.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09120880.htm
Rising oil prices, jobless report, tech warnings push stocks lower
07:38 PM EST Dec 09
MALCOLM MORRISON
TORONTO (CP) - The mood was negative on North American stock markets Thursday morning as oil prices moved away from four month lows on fears that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production to keep prices high.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/041209/b120930.html
US daily flays Bush for praising Mush
[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2004 06:38:37 AM ]
WASHINGTON: The world’s worst nuclear proliferation emanating from Pakistan was not possible without support from its military, according to a leading US daily, which flayed President Bush for praising Pervez Musharraf during his recent visit here.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/952368.cms
Bush signs $388 billion spending bill
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 Posted: 3:26 PM EST (2026 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a $388 billion legislative package that covers the spending of every federal agency but the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/08/congress.spending.ap/
China Aviation Oil Losses Serve as `Reminder' of Risks in China
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Chief Executive Officer Chen Jiulin used what he called ``Chinese wisdom'' to triple China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp.'s market value in three years.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=akFf25c7tToQ
Rivers Community Vacates Oil Flowstations
December 8, 2004
Posted to the web December 8, 2004
Lagos
THE Kula community in Rivers State lifted its blockade of three oil pumping stations yesterday after energy giants, Shell and ChevronTexaco, agreed to discuss funding local development projects. The three plants had been occupied since Sunday morning by protesters from the ethnic Ijaw fishing community of Kula, which lies in coastal swamps near the Atlantic coast 100 kilometres south-west of Port Harcourt.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412080643.html
Woodside Says Iraq Security Won't Affect Oil Projects Agreement
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas company, said an insurgency in Iraq is unlikely to disrupt a two-year co-operation agreement signed by the company with the Iraqi Oil Ministry last month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=aB66lUKddVdo&refer=australia
Petroleum fund breaks NOK trillion mark
A fund saving Norway's oil wealth has surpassed a trill
ion crowns (USD 165.2 billion) for the first time, Industry and Trade Minister Børge Brende said in a speech in Oslo on Tuesday.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article927125.ece
Who's behind the oil-for-food scandal?
By Jude Wanniski
Wednesday 08 December 2004, 14:03 Makka Time, 11:03 GMT
Once it became clear some months ago that Saddam Hussein had been telling the truth about not having weapons of mass destruction or connections to al-Qaida, it should have been an embarrassment to the neo-conservatives who talked President George Bush into war with Iraq.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/561BE24F-B06B-4CC1-B28A-F6845EA8E469.htm
Advocacy group protests during Cheney visit
By PATTY HENETZ
Associated Press writer
STEVE C. WILSON/AP
Protesters rally outside the entrance to the Grand America hotel as Vice President Dick Cheney speaks inside at a luncheon in support of Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate John Swallow on Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/12/08/news/regional/f84369ff9ccfb5d887256ee00005f5f4.txt
Read My Lips "Do You Believe Him" - The Beginning of the Year. Let's rob Social Security in time to finance the Bargaining Chips I need for the trip.
Bush European tour aims to build transatlantic ties
By James Harding in Washington and Daniel Dombey in Brussels
Published: December 9 2004 19:31 Last updated: December 9 2004 19:31
President George W. Bush's trip to Europe early next year will mark a commitment to multilateral institutions, improving transatlantic ties and supporting the European project, the White House has signalled.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3a90eb2a-4a18-11d9-b065-00000e2511c8.html
Federal grand jury indicts Michigan man accused of threatening Cheney
December 8, 2004, 4:26 PM
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A federal grand jury has indicted a Michigan man on a count of making a threat against the life of Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Chiara announced Wednesday.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw108377_20041208.htm
Study: Wait to Install Defibrillators
LINDA A. JOHNSON
Associated Press
Implanting defibrillators in patients just weeks after a heart attack does not improve their chances of survival, according to an international study. The researchers suggested instead that patients wait several months before having one of the devices inserted in the chest.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10369905.htm
Ridgeway Petroleum announces intended resignation
CALGARY, Dec. 9 /CNW/ - Ridgeway Petroleum Corp. (the "Company")announces that Walter B. Ruck, Chairman of the Board and President of theCompany, has advised the Company that he intends to resign from his positionas President upon the appointment of his successor. Mr. Ruck cited personalfamily reasons in his decision to retire from the position as President. Hecurrently plans to remain as a Director and Chairman of the Board.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2004/09/c3733.html
Petroleum & Resources Corporation (PEO) Extends Share Repurchase Programs
BALTIMORE, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors ofPetroleum & Resources Corporation (NYSE: PEO) voted today to extend its sharerepurchase program and has authorized the repurchase of up to 5% of theoutstanding shares of the Corporation's common stock over the next twelvemonths. Purchases will be made in the open market when the shares are tradingat a discount of at least 6.5%. The Corporation's discount as of last night'smarket close was 7.5%. As of December 9, 2004, the Corporation has 21,614,927outstanding shares, which means that the Corporation is authorized by theBoard to repurchase up to 1,080,746 shares over the ensuing year.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-09-2004/0002592106&EDATE=
NLC Issues Fresh Strike Threat
December 9, 2004
Posted to the web December 9, 2004
Mike Oduniyi, Chris Nwachuku, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, and Jaiyeola Andrews
Lagos/Abuja/Asaba
PPPRA: We're working to reduce prices
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday served the Federal Government a fresh seven-day ultimatum to ensure the enforcement of the agreed prices of petroleum products in every part of the country or face mass action.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412090144.html
Bush moves to mend a chink in his armour
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Bush-moves-to-mend-a-chink-in-his-armour/2004/12/10/1102625537616.html
Bush to focus on tort reform at forum
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Economic%20Conference
Bush administration breaks silence to back Kofi Annan
* Mandela and prominent South Africans back Annan
* European Union invites Annan to summit to show support
UNITED NATIONS: The Bush administration expressed confidence in UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday and said he should stay in office, in a belated rebuff to demands from Republicans in Congress for his resignation.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-12-2004_pg4_3
New spy chief's power rests in Bush's hands
The bill creating a director of national intelligence left ambiguities about the power of the post. How much -- or how little -- power the chief wields is up to the president.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/10381971.htm
A high price to say 'As I was telling the president ...'
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Tickets to all official inaugural events, including an "elegant" candlelight dinner with a special appearance by President Bush: $100,000.
Tickets to all official inaugural events, two additional tickets to an "exclusive" lunch with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, plus an all-access pass to any inaugural ball: $250,000.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/1204/11inaugural.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
Speaking at the start of a two-day White House conference on the economy, Cheney said the administration believed Bush's four tax cuts over the past four years had provided a badly needed boost to get the economy out of recession. But he said now the focus needed to be on making the tax cuts permanent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Yukos Files for Bankruptcy in U.S.
Russian Oil Giant Moves to Stave Off Auction of Assets Scheduled for Sunday
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Douglas Busvine
Reuters
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 10:51 AM
MOSCOW -- Russian oil group Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court in an attempt to stop Russia's government from auctioning off its main production unit on Dec. 19, it said Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A877-2004Dec15.html
D.C. Firefighters Investigate Charter School Fire
Blaze Is the Second in Two Weeks
By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 6:18 AM
A Northeast Washington charter school was hit by probable arson early this morning for the second time in two weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A773-2004Dec15.html
Anthrax Killer at Large
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; Page A32
AMONTH AFTER the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, letters tainted with the anthrax bacteria were sent through U.S. mail processing facilities, infecting people in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington and Florida. The worst bioterrorist assault in U.S. history left five people dead, 17 sickened and some 10,000 on antibiotics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A93-2004Dec14.html
War on the Cheap
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 when two students shot and killed a teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves. Mr. Rund survived that horror, but he wasn't able to survive the war in Iraq. The 21-year-old Marine lance corporal was killed on Dec. 11 in Falluja.
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. Corporal Rund was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home. "I've never seen so many grown men cry," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader who founded Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.
"Soldiers will do whatever you ask them to do," said Mr. Rieckhoff. "But when you tell them the finish line is here, and then you keep moving it back every time they get five meters away from it, it starts to really wear on them. It affects morale."
We don't have enough troops because we are fighting the war on the cheap. The Bush administration has refused to substantially expand the volunteer military and there is no public support for a draft. So the same troops head in and out of Iraq, and then back in again, as if through a revolving door. That naturally heightens their chances of being killed or wounded.
A reckoning is coming. The Army National Guard revealed last Thursday that it had missed its recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who heads the National Guard Bureau, said: "We're in a more difficult recruiting environment, period. There's no question that when you have a sustained ground combat operation going that the Guard's participating in, that makes recruiting more difficult."
Just a few days earlier, the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, told The Dallas Morning News that recruiting was in a "precipitous decline" that, if not reversed, could lead to renewed discussions about reinstatement of the draft.
The Bush administration, which has asked so much of the armed forces, has established a pattern of dealing in bad faith with its men and women in uniform. The callousness of its treatment of the troops was, of course, never more clear than in Donald Rumsfeld's high-handed response to a soldier's question about the shortages of battle armor in Iraq.
As the war in Iraq goes more and more poorly, the misery index of the men and women serving there gets higher and higher. More than 1,300 have been killed. Many thousands are coming home with agonizing wounds. Scott Shane of The Times reported last week that according to veterans' advocates and military doctors, the already hard-pressed system of health care for veterans "is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war."
Through the end of September, nearly 900 troops had been evacuated from Iraq by the Army for psychiatric reasons, included attempts or threatened attempts at suicide. Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, an assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997, said, "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war."
When the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq is considered, some experts believe that the number of American troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.
From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
"From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on."
Will all due respect, Mr. Herbert, I am tied of playing around with the 'DENIAL' this country is in over this entire episode of USA ?History? or such I say TRAVESTY.
Iraq is about Halliburton. It is about Cheney's Liability to those stockholders.
That is ALL it is about, Mr. Herbert.
Plain and simple.
There were no weapons of mass destruction before we invaded that country. THAT was made plainly obvious by the United Nations Security Council's Inspectors. They found nothing. They tested everything including the dust at the site where Colin Powell TESTIFIED there were WMD production.
There was NOTHING, Mr. Herbert.
NOTHING.
The media has allowed the brain washing of this country rather than coming down on the Bush White House like a ton of bricks unrelently.
WHY?
You have all allowed a dictator for self profit to brain wash you into to thinking he was actually in pursuit of someone that attacked this country?
Osama bin Laden has won his fiscal attack on the USA. Bush slipped right into it. It was easy for someone who has failed at every job he's had including serving in the Air National Guard.
Kabul is Afghanistan as the rest of the country is still dominated by Opium Warlords. And yesterday Iceland, a coalition member, has three of their Peacekeepers attacked.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert? Iceland?
Do you understand the word, bizarre? The country of Iceland is now moving 'nationalism' to the forefront? Are you all the complete idiots you are playing out to be? What difference does it make if Iceland sends there entire country to Afghanistan? This is a joke, Mr. Herbert. A completely and desperately stupid Bush joke on this country.
Iceland? Regardless of the demonstration of 'force' Iceland is showing with their parade of tanks I don't think the people there are in favor of battle. I was in Iceland. I was handed a lapel pin in Icelandic stating "Do you want to bomb Iraq?" It was a demonstration pin in protest of the aggression of the USA.
Iceland is a poor country. All the countries in the USA Coalition have been poor countries until they enlisted for the money dangled in front of their noses.
Leave Iceland alone. Al Qaeda could destroy that country in one day. Do you understand me? One day. There is a poorly armed USA military base there with nothing but Jumbo C5s there. It is a cargo depot. A lay over station. There are elements of MDS there. And now they are being targeted by al Qaeda in Kabul. What does Bush think he is doing?
The Icelandic National Museum is postage size compared to ANY museum in NYC. It is about the size of the third floor of The Whitney.
Mr. Herbert, do you understand this is going nowhere. The 'article' regarding Iceland is hideous.
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act
independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to
exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in
First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and
may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic
police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained
in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team.
He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and
confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an
objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a
situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons,
recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain
alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and we are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME DAMN stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. All those people profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they survive drinking the water anyway. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
No, Mr. Herbert. The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is. The media in this country is pathetic.
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act
independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to
exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in
First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and
may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic
police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained
in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team.
He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and
confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an
objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a
situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons,
recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain
alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and we are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME DAMN stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. All those people profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they survive drinking the water anyway. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
No, Mr. Herbert. The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is. The media in this country is pathetic.
I feel sorry for all of you. You are allowing your emporer to send you to jail while you can't even find enough anger to expound the truth to the American people.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert?
Yeah, right.
You'll excuse me if I don't find a great deal of enthusiasm for newsprint as I did. I think you have all become a bunch of pathetic puppets willing to work with the system pandering for a survival rather than reeling against the insanity and incompetency of this situation. The American Press have become nothing more than sniveling comfort seekers.
……………………………………………………………………………
Cheniere Energy Awards Construction Turnkey Contract to Bechtel Corporation
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2004--Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX:LNG) announced that its wholly owned limited partnership, Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (Sabine), and Bechtel Corporation executed a Lump Sum Turnkey Agreement for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal to be located in western Cameron Parish, La. Sabine intends to give Bechtel Limited Notice to Proceed under the EPC agreement for off-site engineering and preparatory work to commence later this month. Construction at the site is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2005, and the terminal is scheduled to be operational in early 2008.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041220000142&newsLang=en
The Second Water War in Bolivia
Cochabamba, Bolivia -- Five years ago the issue of water privatization exploded here when massive public protests forced out the California engineering giant, Bechtel. Within weeks of taking over the city's public water company Bechtel hiked up rates by as much as 200%, far beyond what the city's poor could afford to pay.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=52&ItemID=6893
The big question
December 20, 2004
THE EFFORT to recover Central Artery costs should be taken away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and given to an independent panel created by Governor Romney and the Legislature. The Turnpike Authority chairman, Matthew Amorello, would be wise to go along with the move, which might speed money back to the project and would remove the debilitating effects of politics.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/12/20/the_big_question/
Asian $$ - Prince Neil Bush Gets Media Protection
Once upon a time Prince Neil Bush was making money hand-over-fist over in China and Taiwan and nobody even seemed to notice.
When it comes to influence peddling by presidential relatives, nothing comes close to the financial activities of Neil Bush. But the comical part of this whole story is that with the media asleep at the wheel during the Bush presidency, Neil’s deals may have remained a secret for life if not for his equally shady violations of his marital vows, and his attempt to dump the wife and keep all the money for himself.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10173&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported
RUMMY REACTS TO BAD 'SIGN'
December 20, 2004 -- After rubber-stamping condolences to many of the 1,000-plus families of soldiers killed in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to personally sign the letters, according to a military publication.
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/36824.htm
Bush confident in Iraqi elections - (Oops. Miscalculation on Iraqi Performance issues on the Police/Military side as well as the Rebellion side. See without the Rebellion the miscalculation of the Western Influenced Iraqi Police and military wouldn't be necessary.)
By RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday acknowledged that efforts to replace U.S. troops with Iraqi soldiers have been hampered by the lackluster performance of Iraqi units, including instances in which they've fled rather than fight.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461703.htm
Bush threatens Syria with new pressure - (Still more ways to Laugh at Bush.)
Iraqi prime minister warns of civil war as Shiites bury dead after twin bombings
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened Syria Monday with new diplomatic or economic measures to pressure the country over its suspected interference in Iraqi politics.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11183
Bush short on Social Security details - (That's because the intent isn't to PROPOSE a plan to save Social Security. It is to GET THEIR HANDS ON "Mo' Money"!)
By LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush says Social Security's future financial shortfall is a crisis that Congress must tackle now, repeating Monday his demand for action but refusing to provide details of his top domestic priority that will cost trillions of dollars to implement.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461868.htm
Should Bush be person of the year? (This is nothing but NEOCON Propaganda. Half the nation Hates the man and Yet TIME/WARNER responds in Admiration. Who Needs it? I am sure they weren't counting on Kerik's Poor Performance either.)
President George W Bush has been named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine for the second time in four years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4111431.stm
Going for a Halliburton
By David Teather
04-10-04 It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the CEO of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn44338.htm
Bush shows caution about plunging into Mideast peacemaking - Oh, really? - That's okay, Mubarak and Sharon are doing just fine !!
BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
President Bush called for realism and took the long view Monday on Mideast peacemaking and development of democracy among Palestinians.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/12/20/national1452EST0601.DTL
Bush, Putin to meet in Slovakia in Feb. - (Perhaps Putin can talk some sense into Bush regarding the danger the USA is causing with Global Warming.)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush will meet in Slovakia in late February with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of an expanding effort by the White House to improve relations with European nations.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-12-20-bush-putin_x.htm
New group claims Sudan oil attack
Tuesday 21 December 2004
A previously unknown rebel group has claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil field in the Darfur region of western Sudan and said it was the group's first military operation.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0E977594-0BFB-4764-8F24-EECBA3647FCD.htm
Crude oil prices dip as market monitors U.S. weather cold snap
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=ed544a56-90f5-43bf-862d-c100b7432e20
Al-Qaida rallies fighters to strike oil infrastructure
Associated Press
Dec. 20, 2004 12:00 AM
CAIRO - The Saudi branch of al-Qaida called for attacks against oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf in a Web statement posted Sunday.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1220al-qaida20.html
Boost for Kenya’s dream of oil riches - Are there any other kind of dreams for Kenya besides oil. Is this the reason al Qaeda is interested in disrupting the government there and throughout Africa? To steal the wealth away from the citizens and use it for their network wars.
Willis Oketch
There is renewed interest in oil exploration in Kenya, amid reports that oil could be struck in the Lamu Basin.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=8875
The Failed Fuel Price Reduction: the Role of Oil Companies
Posted to the web December 20, 2004
Eguono Odjegba
ON the eve of the last strike threatened by labour, government announced a reduction in pump prices of diesel and petrol by N3, while it slashed that of kerosene by N10. To the masses, government's action earned it the respect of a people's representatives that have been listening to the voices of those that voted them into power. Based on this consideration, the Nigerian Labour Congress with its civil societies allies, backed down from going ahead with a proposed nationwide strike, which opinion poll reported would have recorded unprecedented success.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412201161.html
Indian Oil Unit Targets Half Sri Lanka's Fuel Market in 4 Years
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Indian Oil Corp. plans to use money from Sri Lanka's biggest share sale to help capture half the retail fuel market on the South Asian island in four years, said local Managing Director Mahadevan Nageswaran.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aYeyadpXRHok&refer=asia
Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role.
Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards.
...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04):
My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction.
Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Perhaps the Profession of Journalism should set up safeguards against their own inadequacies.
Evidently, their WILLINGNESS to validate a 'story' through 'several people' of THE SAME SOURCE makes them completely ineffective.
Perhaps Ms. Miller should have listened not to the ineffective words of the Bush Insiders but more the UN Inspectors on the Ground already in Iraq.
There obviously were no weapons of mass destruction but only a press of mass deception.
Propagandists.
Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role.
Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards.
...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04):
My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction.
Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Bush Fingers Torture Apologist for Attorney General (Updated)
by NewStandard Staff
With John Ashcroft resigning as America’s top cop, the White House is looking to replace him with an Enron-connected lawyer who once conjured a legal excuse for torturing prisoners of war.
Nov 11 - Following the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, President Bush has selected the man who drafted a legal argument for disregarding international law in the so-called "war on terror" as the next head of the Justice Department. Though many consider White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales a less divisive figure than the highly unpopular Ashcroft, civil rights groups have expressed grave concerns over the nomination.
"Making Alberto Gonzales the Attorney General of the United States would be a travesty," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a press statement. "It would mean taking one of the legal architects of an illegal and immoral policy and installing him as the official who is charged with protecting our constitutional rights. The Gonzales memo paved the way to Abu Ghraib."
Ratner was referring to a memo authored by Gonzales at the behest of President Bush and leaked to the press early 2002, in which the White House Counsel wrote that laws prohibiting torture do not apply to "the President’s detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."
A later memo from Gonzales’ office puts forth the opinion that "physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death" and for mental pain to amount to torture, "it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g. lasting months or even years."
The American Civil Liberties Union likewise expressed trepidation over the nomination. Though he made clear that as an organization with a "record of uncompromising non-partisanship" the ACLU had no official position on the appointment of Gonzales, Executive Director Anthony Romero called "for a full and thorough Senate confirmation process that scrutinizes Mr. Gonzales' positions on key civil liberties and human rights issues."
Romero said that "particular attention should be devoted to exploring Mr. Gonzales' proposed policies on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, the Guantánamo Bay detentions, the designation of United States citizens as enemy combatants and reproductive rights" and that he should be queried on the 2002 memo. "His confirmation hearings should also examine in detail Mr. Gonzales’ approval of the now-disavowed Justice Department memoranda that condoned the torture and incommunicado and indefinite detention of detainees captured during the Afghanistan conflict," added Romero.
Gonzales also faces criticism from activists opposed to capital punishment. A 2003 Atlantic Monthly article reported that when Gonzales was Bush’s legal counsel in Texas, he routinely failed to provide the governor with crucial details surrounding clemency petitions. The article, which relies on documents obtained by journalist Alan Berlow through the Texas Public Information Act, details several cases in which Gonzales drafted brief reports for Bush outlining the legal arguments and case histories of people about to be executed.
"A close examination of the Gonzales memoranda suggests that Governor Bush frequently approved executions based on only the most cursory briefings on the issues in dispute," wrote Berlow. "In fact, in these documents Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence."
Most political analysts say they expect the Senate will approve Gonzales as the next Attorney General, but he is likely to face some tough questioning.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) told the Associated Press that Gonzales’ confirmation hearing "may be the only remaining forum in which to examine more fully the steps that were taken to weaken U.S. policy on torture in the period that led to the prison scandals at Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan."
Some also question Gonzales’ ties to Enron, which is under investigation by the same Justice Department Gonzales will head if confirmed. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Gonzales formerly worked for the law firm that represents the energy giant, and he accepted campaign contributions from the company when seeking election to the Texas Supreme Court in 2000.
Gonzales also received $4,000 while serving on the Court from individuals and organizations affiliated with Halliburton, which is currently under FBI scrutiny for allegedly overcharging taxpayers when providing fuel to troops in Iraq. According to Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit which tracks the influence of money and corporate power in Texas politics, campaign finance records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission include a $2,000 contribution from the Brown & Root political action committee in 1999. Kellogg Brown & Root is a Halliburton subsidiary. They also show Gonzales received $2,000 from Halliburton’s executive vice president, Lester Coleman, in late 1999 and early 2000.
The Alliance for Justice -- a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations -- also put out a statement on Gonzales’ nomination. "Gonzales provided the Bush administration with the legal architecture to sidestep and ignore the rule of law that, as attorney general, he will be mandated to enforce," said the organization’s president Nan Aron. Aron also criticized Gonzales’ role as White House counsel in "selecting extremist judicial nominees."
"Gonzales has consistently pushed the limits of executive privilege in order to shield the Bush administration from oversight by Congress or scrutiny by the American people," added Aron. "The position of the country's chief law enforcement officer demands an impeccable level of integrity and commitment to the rule of law that Gonzales has not proven to possess."
In spite of all the concerns surrounding Gonzales’ nomination, the nation’s largest Hispanic advocacy organization hailed Bush’s choice. In a statement released by the National Council of La Raza, the group’s executive director, Janet Murguia, said, "We are very encouraged by the Gonzales nomination." Calling the nomination "an historic milestone for the Latino community," Murguia pointed out that, if confirmed, Gonzales will become the first Hispanic to serve as head of one of the four major cabinet posts.
© 2004 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1218
California Energy Commission seeks petroleum industry comments on new reporting requirements
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2005, changes will take effect in the requirements for the petroleum industry to report production levels, inventory levels and other data to California under the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act (PIIRA).
http://www.mysan.de/international/article16910.html
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
A Revolutionary Christmas Story
By LYNNE CHENEY
Published: December 21, 2004
Track news that interests you.
ashington
AS 1776 was drawing to a close, Elkanah Watson, a young man in Massachusetts, expressed what many Americans feared about their war for independence. "We looked upon the contest as near its close," he wrote, "and considered ourselves a vanquished people."
There was good reason for pessimism. The British had driven Gen. George Washington and his men out of New York and across New Jersey. In early December, with the British on their heels, the Americans had commandeered every boat they could find to escape across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. They were starving, sick and cold. The artist Charles Willson Peale, watching the landing from the Pennsylvania shore, described a soldier dressed "in an old dirty blanket jacket, his beard long and his face so full of sores that he could not clean it." So disfigured was the man, Peale wrote, that at first he did not recognize him as his brother James.
In these desperate circumstances, George Washington made a stunning decision: to go back across the Delaware and launch a surprise attack on the Hessian mercenaries occupying Trenton. On Christmas night, he led 2,400 men, many of them with their feet wrapped in rags because they had no shoes, to a crossing point nine miles upstream from Trenton. As freezing temperatures turned rain to sleet and snow, they began to cross the river.
The task was harder than any of them had imagined. Men had to break through ice to get into the boats and then fend off chunks of floating ice once they were in the river. Getting cannons across - each weighed nearly a ton - was especially difficult. Downstream, two other groups that Washington had ordered to cross the Delaware failed in their mission. But Washington and his men persevered, until finally, at 4 o'clock in the morning, they were across and ready to march to Trenton.
They had planned to approach Trenton before dawn, but the difficulty of the crossing had delayed them, and it was daylight when they encountered the first Hessians. Still, the surprise worked, and in two hours, with few losses of their own, they captured nearly 900 of the enemy. "This is a glorious day for our country," Washington declared.
His men were exhausted after the battle, and many of them, their enlistments expired, decided to go home. But many others stayed with Washington as he decided to keep fighting. When he learned that thousands of British and Hessian troops were heading toward Trenton from Princeton, a pretty college town to the north, he deployed his troops along the south side of Assunpink Creek. He also sent a force to the north side of the creek to slow down the advancing enemy. Near evening on Jan. 2, 1777, when these delaying forces had done all they could, they ran for a narrow bridge that crossed the creek - and saw Washington waiting there for them. "I pressed against the shoulder of the general's horse and in contact with the boot of the general," a private remembered years later. "The horse stood as firm as the rider."
Gen. Charles Cornwallis, the British commander, decided he could wait to attack the Americans. "We've got the old fox safe now," he is supposed to have said of Washington. "We'll go over and bag him in the morning." But Washington had other plans. He knew that Cornwallis had brought most of his troops with him, which meant that there would be far fewer of the enemy at Princeton. That night, with men and officers enjoined to silence and cannon wheels muffled with rags, Washington led the main body of his army on a march around Cornwallis's troops toward Princeton. It was dawn before Cornwallis realized they were gone.
The first encounter of the two armies on farmland outside Princeton did not go well for the Americans. Many were killed, and the dazed survivors retreated, but Washington rallied his troops with the bravery for which he was becoming legendary and led them to within 30 yards of the British line. Once the two sides started firing, it seemed impossible that he would survive, but when the smoke cleared, there he was, straight and tall astride his white horse. With a great shout, the Americans began to advance. The British fell back and then ran. "Bring up the troops," Washington called to an aide. "The day is our own."
Twice in 10 days Washington and his ragtag army had defeated the greatest military power in the world, and their victories lifted the spirits of patriots everywhere. True, the years ahead would be hard - Christmas 1777 would find Washington and his men at Valley Forge. But because of the 10-day campaign that began on Christmas 1776, Americans could now think of winning their war for independence. They could imagine that their great struggle would have a glorious end.
Lynne Cheney, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/opinion/21cheney.html
Bush has produced nearly 1400 Dead American Troops, an insoluable debt while CIA, FBI and USA State Dept. has stated Bush is losing the war.It would appear that the New York Times reflected the flaws in the journalism profession. How convenient.
Perhaps the Profession of Journalism should set up safeguards against their own inadequacies. Evidently, their WILLINGNESS to validate a 'story' through 'several people' of THE SAME SOURCE makes them completely ineffective. Perhaps Ms. Miller should have listened not to the ineffective words of the Bush Insiders but more the UN Inspectors on the Ground already in Iraq. There obviously were no weapons of mass destruction but only a press of mass deception. Propagandists. Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role. Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards. ...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04): My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction. Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Bush has produced nearly 1400 Dead American Troops, an insoluable debt while the CIA, FBI and USA State Dept. has stated Bush is losing the war.There is one thing Cheney understand and that is priviledge.
A Revolutionary Christmas Story
The priviledge to live their lives at the expense of others whether it is in the private sector or the public sector. Lynn Cheney has taken an adventure in being a historian. It is a pathetic attempt to begin the indoctrination of Neocons to bring their children up to enjoy the 'heritage' of war rather than peace. The Cheney's came to serve the USA with a $3 million debt in income tax, a lawsuit by the stockholders of Halliburton after Dickey cooked the books and invaded a sovereign nation to relieve them of their liability with Halliburton. She cares little about the price others have to pay in order for she and her spouse to conduct their lives of indulgence into power and money.
NOW.
In order to survive the Cheney Scandal, Halliburton wants to dump KBR. I suggest Lynn and Dick encourage their chronies to 'deed' their found fortune in the Iraqi desert to the Iraqi government as a holiday surprise. Perhaps then the people of Iraq and not the people of Halliburton will have jobs. Then. The troops can come home to leave the Iraqis to find a way to live together rather than oppose each other.
Nigerian govt moves to settle oil delta protest
09 Dec 2004 12:39:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Nigerian government began moves on Thursday to settle a dispute in its oil-rich southern delta that has shut 120,000 barrels per day of oil output.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09120880.htm
Rising oil prices, jobless report, tech warnings push stocks lower
07:38 PM EST Dec 09
MALCOLM MORRISON
TORONTO (CP) - The mood was negative on North American stock markets Thursday morning as oil prices moved away from four month lows on fears that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production to keep prices high.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/041209/b120930.html
US daily flays Bush for praising Mush
[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2004 06:38:37 AM ]
WASHINGTON: The world’s worst nuclear proliferation emanating from Pakistan was not possible without support from its military, according to a leading US daily, which flayed President Bush for praising Pervez Musharraf during his recent visit here.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/952368.cms
Bush signs $388 billion spending bill
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 Posted: 3:26 PM EST (2026 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a $388 billion legislative package that covers the spending of every federal agency but the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/08/congress.spending.ap/
China Aviation Oil Losses Serve as `Reminder' of Risks in China
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Chief Executive Officer Chen Jiulin used what he called ``Chinese wisdom'' to triple China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp.'s market value in three years.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=akFf25c7tToQ
Rivers Community Vacates Oil Flowstations
December 8, 2004
Posted to the web December 8, 2004
Lagos
THE Kula community in Rivers State lifted its blockade of three oil pumping stations yesterday after energy giants, Shell and ChevronTexaco, agreed to discuss funding local development projects. The three plants had been occupied since Sunday morning by protesters from the ethnic Ijaw fishing community of Kula, which lies in coastal swamps near the Atlantic coast 100 kilometres south-west of Port Harcourt.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412080643.html
Woodside Says Iraq Security Won't Affect Oil Projects Agreement
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas company, said an insurgency in Iraq is unlikely to disrupt a two-year co-operation agreement signed by the company with the Iraqi Oil Ministry last month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=aB66lUKddVdo&refer=australia
Petroleum fund breaks NOK trillion mark
A fund saving Norway's oil wealth has surpassed a trill
ion crowns (USD 165.2 billion) for the first time, Industry and Trade Minister Børge Brende said in a speech in Oslo on Tuesday.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article927125.ece
Who's behind the oil-for-food scandal?
By Jude Wanniski
Wednesday 08 December 2004, 14:03 Makka Time, 11:03 GMT
Once it became clear some months ago that Saddam Hussein had been telling the truth about not having weapons of mass destruction or connections to al-Qaida, it should have been an embarrassment to the neo-conservatives who talked President George Bush into war with Iraq.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/561BE24F-B06B-4CC1-B28A-F6845EA8E469.htm
Advocacy group protests during Cheney visit
By PATTY HENETZ
Associated Press writer
STEVE C. WILSON/AP
Protesters rally outside the entrance to the Grand America hotel as Vice President Dick Cheney speaks inside at a luncheon in support of Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate John Swallow on Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/12/08/news/regional/f84369ff9ccfb5d887256ee00005f5f4.txt
Read My Lips "Do You Believe Him" - The Beginning of the Year. Let's rob Social Security in time to finance the Bargaining Chips I need for the trip.
Bush European tour aims to build transatlantic ties
By James Harding in Washington and Daniel Dombey in Brussels
Published: December 9 2004 19:31 Last updated: December 9 2004 19:31
President George W. Bush's trip to Europe early next year will mark a commitment to multilateral institutions, improving transatlantic ties and supporting the European project, the White House has signalled.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3a90eb2a-4a18-11d9-b065-00000e2511c8.html
Federal grand jury indicts Michigan man accused of threatening Cheney
December 8, 2004, 4:26 PM
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A federal grand jury has indicted a Michigan man on a count of making a threat against the life of Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Chiara announced Wednesday.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw108377_20041208.htm
Study: Wait to Install Defibrillators
LINDA A. JOHNSON
Associated Press
Implanting defibrillators in patients just weeks after a heart attack does not improve their chances of survival, according to an international study. The researchers suggested instead that patients wait several months before having one of the devices inserted in the chest.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10369905.htm
Ridgeway Petroleum announces intended resignation
CALGARY, Dec. 9 /CNW/ - Ridgeway Petroleum Corp. (the "Company")announces that Walter B. Ruck, Chairman of the Board and President of theCompany, has advised the Company that he intends to resign from his positionas President upon the appointment of his successor. Mr. Ruck cited personalfamily reasons in his decision to retire from the position as President. Hecurrently plans to remain as a Director and Chairman of the Board.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2004/09/c3733.html
Petroleum & Resources Corporation (PEO) Extends Share Repurchase Programs
BALTIMORE, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors ofPetroleum & Resources Corporation (NYSE: PEO) voted today to extend its sharerepurchase program and has authorized the repurchase of up to 5% of theoutstanding shares of the Corporation's common stock over the next twelvemonths. Purchases will be made in the open market when the shares are tradingat a discount of at least 6.5%. The Corporation's discount as of last night'smarket close was 7.5%. As of December 9, 2004, the Corporation has 21,614,927outstanding shares, which means that the Corporation is authorized by theBoard to repurchase up to 1,080,746 shares over the ensuing year.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-09-2004/0002592106&EDATE=
NLC Issues Fresh Strike Threat
December 9, 2004
Posted to the web December 9, 2004
Mike Oduniyi, Chris Nwachuku, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, and Jaiyeola Andrews
Lagos/Abuja/Asaba
PPPRA: We're working to reduce prices
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday served the Federal Government a fresh seven-day ultimatum to ensure the enforcement of the agreed prices of petroleum products in every part of the country or face mass action.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412090144.html
Bush moves to mend a chink in his armour
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Bush-moves-to-mend-a-chink-in-his-armour/2004/12/10/1102625537616.html
Bush to focus on tort reform at forum
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Economic%20Conference
Bush administration breaks silence to back Kofi Annan
* Mandela and prominent South Africans back Annan
* European Union invites Annan to summit to show support
UNITED NATIONS: The Bush administration expressed confidence in UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday and said he should stay in office, in a belated rebuff to demands from Republicans in Congress for his resignation.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-12-2004_pg4_3
New spy chief's power rests in Bush's hands
The bill creating a director of national intelligence left ambiguities about the power of the post. How much -- or how little -- power the chief wields is up to the president.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/10381971.htm
A high price to say 'As I was telling the president ...'
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Tickets to all official inaugural events, including an "elegant" candlelight dinner with a special appearance by President Bush: $100,000.
Tickets to all official inaugural events, two additional tickets to an "exclusive" lunch with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, plus an all-access pass to any inaugural ball: $250,000.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/1204/11inaugural.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
Speaking at the start of a two-day White House conference on the economy, Cheney said the administration believed Bush's four tax cuts over the past four years had provided a badly needed boost to get the economy out of recession. But he said now the focus needed to be on making the tax cuts permanent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Yukos Files for Bankruptcy in U.S.
Russian Oil Giant Moves to Stave Off Auction of Assets Scheduled for Sunday
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Douglas Busvine
Reuters
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 10:51 AM
MOSCOW -- Russian oil group Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court in an attempt to stop Russia's government from auctioning off its main production unit on Dec. 19, it said Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A877-2004Dec15.html
D.C. Firefighters Investigate Charter School Fire
Blaze Is the Second in Two Weeks
By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 6:18 AM
A Northeast Washington charter school was hit by probable arson early this morning for the second time in two weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A773-2004Dec15.html
Anthrax Killer at Large
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; Page A32
AMONTH AFTER the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, letters tainted with the anthrax bacteria were sent through U.S. mail processing facilities, infecting people in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington and Florida. The worst bioterrorist assault in U.S. history left five people dead, 17 sickened and some 10,000 on antibiotics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A93-2004Dec14.html
War on the Cheap
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 when two students shot and killed a teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves. Mr. Rund survived that horror, but he wasn't able to survive the war in Iraq. The 21-year-old Marine lance corporal was killed on Dec. 11 in Falluja.
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. Corporal Rund was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home. "I've never seen so many grown men cry," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader who founded Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.
"Soldiers will do whatever you ask them to do," said Mr. Rieckhoff. "But when you tell them the finish line is here, and then you keep moving it back every time they get five meters away from it, it starts to really wear on them. It affects morale."
We don't have enough troops because we are fighting the war on the cheap. The Bush administration has refused to substantially expand the volunteer military and there is no public support for a draft. So the same troops head in and out of Iraq, and then back in again, as if through a revolving door. That naturally heightens their chances of being killed or wounded.
A reckoning is coming. The Army National Guard revealed last Thursday that it had missed its recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who heads the National Guard Bureau, said: "We're in a more difficult recruiting environment, period. There's no question that when you have a sustained ground combat operation going that the Guard's participating in, that makes recruiting more difficult."
Just a few days earlier, the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, told The Dallas Morning News that recruiting was in a "precipitous decline" that, if not reversed, could lead to renewed discussions about reinstatement of the draft.
The Bush administration, which has asked so much of the armed forces, has established a pattern of dealing in bad faith with its men and women in uniform. The callousness of its treatment of the troops was, of course, never more clear than in Donald Rumsfeld's high-handed response to a soldier's question about the shortages of battle armor in Iraq.
As the war in Iraq goes more and more poorly, the misery index of the men and women serving there gets higher and higher. More than 1,300 have been killed. Many thousands are coming home with agonizing wounds. Scott Shane of The Times reported last week that according to veterans' advocates and military doctors, the already hard-pressed system of health care for veterans "is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war."
Through the end of September, nearly 900 troops had been evacuated from Iraq by the Army for psychiatric reasons, included attempts or threatened attempts at suicide. Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, an assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997, said, "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war."
When the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq is considered, some experts believe that the number of American troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.
From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
"From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on."
Will all due respect, Mr. Herbert, I am tied of playing around with the 'DENIAL' this country is in over this entire episode of USA ?History? or such I say TRAVESTY.
Iraq is about Halliburton. It is about Cheney's Liability to those stockholders.
That is ALL it is about, Mr. Herbert.
Plain and simple.
There were no weapons of mass destruction before we invaded that country. THAT was made plainly obvious by the United Nations Security Council's Inspectors. They found nothing. They tested everything including the dust at the site where Colin Powell TESTIFIED there were WMD production.
There was NOTHING, Mr. Herbert.
NOTHING.
The media has allowed the brain washing of this country rather than coming down on the Bush White House like a ton of bricks unrelently.
WHY?
You have all allowed a dictator for self profit to brain wash you into to thinking he was actually in pursuit of someone that attacked this country?
Osama bin Laden has won his fiscal attack on the USA. Bush slipped right into it. It was easy for someone who has failed at every job he's had including serving in the Air National Guard.
Kabul is Afghanistan as the rest of the country is still dominated by Opium Warlords. And yesterday Iceland, a coalition member, has three of their Peacekeepers attacked.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert? Iceland?
Do you understand the word, bizarre? The country of Iceland is now moving 'nationalism' to the forefront? Are you all the complete idiots you are playing out to be? What difference does it make if Iceland sends there entire country to Afghanistan? This is a joke, Mr. Herbert. A completely and desperately stupid Bush joke on this country.
Iceland? Regardless of the demonstration of 'force' Iceland is showing with their parade of tanks I don't think the people there are in favor of battle. I was in Iceland. I was handed a lapel pin in Icelandic stating "Do you want to bomb Iraq?" It was a demonstration pin in protest of the aggression of the USA.
Iceland is a poor country. All the countries in the USA Coalition have been poor countries until they enlisted for the money dangled in front of their noses.
Leave Iceland alone. Al Qaeda could destroy that country in one day. Do you understand me? One day. There is a poorly armed USA military base there with nothing but Jumbo C5s there. It is a cargo depot. A lay over station. There are elements of MDS there. And now they are being targeted by al Qaeda in Kabul. What does Bush think he is doing?
The Icelandic National Museum is postage size compared to ANY museum in NYC. It is about the size of the third floor of The Whitney.
Mr. Herbert, do you understand this is going nowhere. The 'article' regarding Iceland is hideous.
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act
independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to
exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in
First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and
may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic
police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained
in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team.
He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and
confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an
objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a
situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons,
recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain
alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and we are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME DAMN stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. All those people profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they survive drinking the water anyway. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
No, Mr. Herbert. The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is. The media in this country is pathetic.
Lance Corporal Greg Rund has now joined a majority of the dead in Iraq. There are more Lance Corporals that die than any other rank.
If I may.
A trained military policeman/woman normally employed as a member of a Service Police Unit. Trained to think and act
independently and to take control in emergencies. Used to shift work and to accepting responsibility. Used to
exercising self-discipline and to maintaining high standards of integrity and loyalty.
A Military Policeman or woman is a trained soldier who, apart from military skills, will have received instruction in
First Aid, be trained in arrest and restraint techniques and be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
Throughout his/her service he/she will continually gain experience in conducting and managing crime enquiries and
may also have experience in a specialized field such as Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
A Lance Corporal/Corporal is a trained soldier who has specialist knowledge of the duties and procedures of basic
police work. He/she will have basic computer keyboard skills and will have received instruction in First Aid, be trained
in arrest and restraint techniques and will be able to drive a vehicle and/or ride a motorcycle.
He/she will normally be employed as an individual acting on his/her own initiative or as a member of a small team.
He/she will be capable of independent thought and action and will have a high degree of self discipline and
confidence. He/she will gain experience in dealing with other people at all levels. He/she will be used to making an
objective assessment of a confused situation, arriving at a quick decision and taking effective action to restore a
situation to normal.
He/she will be able to carry out basic investigations entailing the interviewing of witnesses and suspected persons,
recording of statements and the compilation of related reports.
Selected NCOs will receive specialist training in Close Protection, Advanced Driving and Crime Reduction.
He/she will be used to shift work, involving long periods of relative inaction during which time they have to remain
alert and be capable of acting decisively should a crisis occur.
On May 1, 2003, Walker Bush declared the fighting over in Iraq. He declared a victory while standing on a floating landing field. He wasn't standing on Iraqi soil with tens of thousands rejoicing Iraqi citizens applauding his victory. He declared the fighting over so he could continue to conduct a war against the Iraq people while Dick Cheney was bailed out of his indebtedness to the stockholders of Halliburton. He declared the war over so he could send in National Guardsmen to fight a political war of fear and hatred.
The Grand and Wonderful United States of America is fighting against the people of Iraq who have wanted us out of their country since we got there with Military Police, Mr. Herbert.
There are 380 tonnes of explosives disappeared out of the Iraqi desert. The United Nations Security Council is going nuts trying to realize where the 'once contained and secured' stuff is and we are being blown up by it. Our National Guard Military Police are being blown up by the SAME DAMN stuff that was already secured in the Iraqi desert.
In the Lancet there was a study done of the number of dead Iraqis. The number was 100,000. Of those 100,000 they were primarily women and children. Women and children is what are soldiers are killing in Iraq. Sounds strangely odd, as if we were in a jungle in Vietnam somewhere.
Oh, I said the dirty word, Vietnam.
What's the point to you editorial, Mr. Herbert?
That you are concerned we are racking up causalities because there are too few troops? It's a little late for that isn't it? The Mercury News the other day had an article stating three agencies of the USA government has reported the 'insurgency' (also known as REBELLION) was growing. I mean like, NO CLUE.
The USA under Bush is defeated. Al Qaeda has forced this country into poverty status on a global basis. The Iraqi Rebellion has cast doubt on the 'legitimacy' of the INTEGRITY of this country and the greed of the Neocons finally justify their philosophy of War Mongering at any Cost. All those people profit personally from their actions within the government.
As for the Iraqi people? They don't want us there. We have insulted their 'INTEGRITY' all too much while they suffer with radiation sickness from USA dirty bomb. The bombs dropped in Iraq have tips laced with radiation. The ground over there is contaminated. The waters of the Tigris is undrinkable but the people have no infrastructure to protect them so they survive drinking the water anyway. When one realizes the sickness the Tigris causes, the casualties of the Iraqi rebels with the invasion of Fallujah only pales to the Iraqi peoples real troubles.
No, Mr. Herbert. The USA is in profound denial. And we are all still thinking it could only happen in post WWI Germany.
Believe it or not, the war in Iraq isn't the worse problem this country faces; Global Warming and Climate Change is. The media in this country is pathetic.
I feel sorry for all of you. You are allowing your emporer to send you to jail while you can't even find enough anger to expound the truth to the American people.
Iceland, Mr. Herbert?
Yeah, right.
You'll excuse me if I don't find a great deal of enthusiasm for newsprint as I did. I think you have all become a bunch of pathetic puppets willing to work with the system pandering for a survival rather than reeling against the insanity and incompetency of this situation. The American Press have become nothing more than sniveling comfort seekers.
……………………………………………………………………………
Cheniere Energy Awards Construction Turnkey Contract to Bechtel Corporation
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2004--Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX:LNG) announced that its wholly owned limited partnership, Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (Sabine), and Bechtel Corporation executed a Lump Sum Turnkey Agreement for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal to be located in western Cameron Parish, La. Sabine intends to give Bechtel Limited Notice to Proceed under the EPC agreement for off-site engineering and preparatory work to commence later this month. Construction at the site is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2005, and the terminal is scheduled to be operational in early 2008.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041220000142&newsLang=en
The Second Water War in Bolivia
Cochabamba, Bolivia -- Five years ago the issue of water privatization exploded here when massive public protests forced out the California engineering giant, Bechtel. Within weeks of taking over the city's public water company Bechtel hiked up rates by as much as 200%, far beyond what the city's poor could afford to pay.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=52&ItemID=6893
The big question
December 20, 2004
THE EFFORT to recover Central Artery costs should be taken away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and given to an independent panel created by Governor Romney and the Legislature. The Turnpike Authority chairman, Matthew Amorello, would be wise to go along with the move, which might speed money back to the project and would remove the debilitating effects of politics.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/12/20/the_big_question/
Asian $$ - Prince Neil Bush Gets Media Protection
Once upon a time Prince Neil Bush was making money hand-over-fist over in China and Taiwan and nobody even seemed to notice.
When it comes to influence peddling by presidential relatives, nothing comes close to the financial activities of Neil Bush. But the comical part of this whole story is that with the media asleep at the wheel during the Bush presidency, Neil’s deals may have remained a secret for life if not for his equally shady violations of his marital vows, and his attempt to dump the wife and keep all the money for himself.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10173&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported
RUMMY REACTS TO BAD 'SIGN'
December 20, 2004 -- After rubber-stamping condolences to many of the 1,000-plus families of soldiers killed in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to personally sign the letters, according to a military publication.
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/36824.htm
Bush confident in Iraqi elections - (Oops. Miscalculation on Iraqi Performance issues on the Police/Military side as well as the Rebellion side. See without the Rebellion the miscalculation of the Western Influenced Iraqi Police and military wouldn't be necessary.)
By RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday acknowledged that efforts to replace U.S. troops with Iraqi soldiers have been hampered by the lackluster performance of Iraqi units, including instances in which they've fled rather than fight.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461703.htm
Bush threatens Syria with new pressure - (Still more ways to Laugh at Bush.)
Iraqi prime minister warns of civil war as Shiites bury dead after twin bombings
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened Syria Monday with new diplomatic or economic measures to pressure the country over its suspected interference in Iraqi politics.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11183
Bush short on Social Security details - (That's because the intent isn't to PROPOSE a plan to save Social Security. It is to GET THEIR HANDS ON "Mo' Money"!)
By LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush says Social Security's future financial shortfall is a crisis that Congress must tackle now, repeating Monday his demand for action but refusing to provide details of his top domestic priority that will cost trillions of dollars to implement.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461868.htm
Should Bush be person of the year? (This is nothing but NEOCON Propaganda. Half the nation Hates the man and Yet TIME/WARNER responds in Admiration. Who Needs it? I am sure they weren't counting on Kerik's Poor Performance either.)
President George W Bush has been named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine for the second time in four years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4111431.stm
Going for a Halliburton
By David Teather
04-10-04 It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the CEO of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn44338.htm
Bush shows caution about plunging into Mideast peacemaking - Oh, really? - That's okay, Mubarak and Sharon are doing just fine !!
BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
President Bush called for realism and took the long view Monday on Mideast peacemaking and development of democracy among Palestinians.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/12/20/national1452EST0601.DTL
Bush, Putin to meet in Slovakia in Feb. - (Perhaps Putin can talk some sense into Bush regarding the danger the USA is causing with Global Warming.)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush will meet in Slovakia in late February with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of an expanding effort by the White House to improve relations with European nations.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-12-20-bush-putin_x.htm
New group claims Sudan oil attack
Tuesday 21 December 2004
A previously unknown rebel group has claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil field in the Darfur region of western Sudan and said it was the group's first military operation.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0E977594-0BFB-4764-8F24-EECBA3647FCD.htm
Crude oil prices dip as market monitors U.S. weather cold snap
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=ed544a56-90f5-43bf-862d-c100b7432e20
Al-Qaida rallies fighters to strike oil infrastructure
Associated Press
Dec. 20, 2004 12:00 AM
CAIRO - The Saudi branch of al-Qaida called for attacks against oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf in a Web statement posted Sunday.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1220al-qaida20.html
Boost for Kenya’s dream of oil riches - Are there any other kind of dreams for Kenya besides oil. Is this the reason al Qaeda is interested in disrupting the government there and throughout Africa? To steal the wealth away from the citizens and use it for their network wars.
Willis Oketch
There is renewed interest in oil exploration in Kenya, amid reports that oil could be struck in the Lamu Basin.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=8875
The Failed Fuel Price Reduction: the Role of Oil Companies
Posted to the web December 20, 2004
Eguono Odjegba
ON the eve of the last strike threatened by labour, government announced a reduction in pump prices of diesel and petrol by N3, while it slashed that of kerosene by N10. To the masses, government's action earned it the respect of a people's representatives that have been listening to the voices of those that voted them into power. Based on this consideration, the Nigerian Labour Congress with its civil societies allies, backed down from going ahead with a proposed nationwide strike, which opinion poll reported would have recorded unprecedented success.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412201161.html
Indian Oil Unit Targets Half Sri Lanka's Fuel Market in 4 Years
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Indian Oil Corp. plans to use money from Sri Lanka's biggest share sale to help capture half the retail fuel market on the South Asian island in four years, said local Managing Director Mahadevan Nageswaran.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aYeyadpXRHok&refer=asia
Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role.
Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards.
...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04):
My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction.
Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Perhaps the Profession of Journalism should set up safeguards against their own inadequacies.
Evidently, their WILLINGNESS to validate a 'story' through 'several people' of THE SAME SOURCE makes them completely ineffective.
Perhaps Ms. Miller should have listened not to the ineffective words of the Bush Insiders but more the UN Inspectors on the Ground already in Iraq.
There obviously were no weapons of mass destruction but only a press of mass deception.
Propagandists.
Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role.
Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards.
...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04):
My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction.
Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Bush Fingers Torture Apologist for Attorney General (Updated)
by NewStandard Staff
With John Ashcroft resigning as America’s top cop, the White House is looking to replace him with an Enron-connected lawyer who once conjured a legal excuse for torturing prisoners of war.
Nov 11 - Following the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, President Bush has selected the man who drafted a legal argument for disregarding international law in the so-called "war on terror" as the next head of the Justice Department. Though many consider White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales a less divisive figure than the highly unpopular Ashcroft, civil rights groups have expressed grave concerns over the nomination.
"Making Alberto Gonzales the Attorney General of the United States would be a travesty," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a press statement. "It would mean taking one of the legal architects of an illegal and immoral policy and installing him as the official who is charged with protecting our constitutional rights. The Gonzales memo paved the way to Abu Ghraib."
Ratner was referring to a memo authored by Gonzales at the behest of President Bush and leaked to the press early 2002, in which the White House Counsel wrote that laws prohibiting torture do not apply to "the President’s detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."
A later memo from Gonzales’ office puts forth the opinion that "physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death" and for mental pain to amount to torture, "it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g. lasting months or even years."
The American Civil Liberties Union likewise expressed trepidation over the nomination. Though he made clear that as an organization with a "record of uncompromising non-partisanship" the ACLU had no official position on the appointment of Gonzales, Executive Director Anthony Romero called "for a full and thorough Senate confirmation process that scrutinizes Mr. Gonzales' positions on key civil liberties and human rights issues."
Romero said that "particular attention should be devoted to exploring Mr. Gonzales' proposed policies on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, the Guantánamo Bay detentions, the designation of United States citizens as enemy combatants and reproductive rights" and that he should be queried on the 2002 memo. "His confirmation hearings should also examine in detail Mr. Gonzales’ approval of the now-disavowed Justice Department memoranda that condoned the torture and incommunicado and indefinite detention of detainees captured during the Afghanistan conflict," added Romero.
Gonzales also faces criticism from activists opposed to capital punishment. A 2003 Atlantic Monthly article reported that when Gonzales was Bush’s legal counsel in Texas, he routinely failed to provide the governor with crucial details surrounding clemency petitions. The article, which relies on documents obtained by journalist Alan Berlow through the Texas Public Information Act, details several cases in which Gonzales drafted brief reports for Bush outlining the legal arguments and case histories of people about to be executed.
"A close examination of the Gonzales memoranda suggests that Governor Bush frequently approved executions based on only the most cursory briefings on the issues in dispute," wrote Berlow. "In fact, in these documents Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence."
Most political analysts say they expect the Senate will approve Gonzales as the next Attorney General, but he is likely to face some tough questioning.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) told the Associated Press that Gonzales’ confirmation hearing "may be the only remaining forum in which to examine more fully the steps that were taken to weaken U.S. policy on torture in the period that led to the prison scandals at Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan."
Some also question Gonzales’ ties to Enron, which is under investigation by the same Justice Department Gonzales will head if confirmed. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Gonzales formerly worked for the law firm that represents the energy giant, and he accepted campaign contributions from the company when seeking election to the Texas Supreme Court in 2000.
Gonzales also received $4,000 while serving on the Court from individuals and organizations affiliated with Halliburton, which is currently under FBI scrutiny for allegedly overcharging taxpayers when providing fuel to troops in Iraq. According to Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit which tracks the influence of money and corporate power in Texas politics, campaign finance records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission include a $2,000 contribution from the Brown & Root political action committee in 1999. Kellogg Brown & Root is a Halliburton subsidiary. They also show Gonzales received $2,000 from Halliburton’s executive vice president, Lester Coleman, in late 1999 and early 2000.
The Alliance for Justice -- a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations -- also put out a statement on Gonzales’ nomination. "Gonzales provided the Bush administration with the legal architecture to sidestep and ignore the rule of law that, as attorney general, he will be mandated to enforce," said the organization’s president Nan Aron. Aron also criticized Gonzales’ role as White House counsel in "selecting extremist judicial nominees."
"Gonzales has consistently pushed the limits of executive privilege in order to shield the Bush administration from oversight by Congress or scrutiny by the American people," added Aron. "The position of the country's chief law enforcement officer demands an impeccable level of integrity and commitment to the rule of law that Gonzales has not proven to possess."
In spite of all the concerns surrounding Gonzales’ nomination, the nation’s largest Hispanic advocacy organization hailed Bush’s choice. In a statement released by the National Council of La Raza, the group’s executive director, Janet Murguia, said, "We are very encouraged by the Gonzales nomination." Calling the nomination "an historic milestone for the Latino community," Murguia pointed out that, if confirmed, Gonzales will become the first Hispanic to serve as head of one of the four major cabinet posts.
© 2004 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1218
California Energy Commission seeks petroleum industry comments on new reporting requirements
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2005, changes will take effect in the requirements for the petroleum industry to report production levels, inventory levels and other data to California under the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act (PIIRA).
http://www.mysan.de/international/article16910.html
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
A Revolutionary Christmas Story
By LYNNE CHENEY
Published: December 21, 2004
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AS 1776 was drawing to a close, Elkanah Watson, a young man in Massachusetts, expressed what many Americans feared about their war for independence. "We looked upon the contest as near its close," he wrote, "and considered ourselves a vanquished people."
There was good reason for pessimism. The British had driven Gen. George Washington and his men out of New York and across New Jersey. In early December, with the British on their heels, the Americans had commandeered every boat they could find to escape across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. They were starving, sick and cold. The artist Charles Willson Peale, watching the landing from the Pennsylvania shore, described a soldier dressed "in an old dirty blanket jacket, his beard long and his face so full of sores that he could not clean it." So disfigured was the man, Peale wrote, that at first he did not recognize him as his brother James.
In these desperate circumstances, George Washington made a stunning decision: to go back across the Delaware and launch a surprise attack on the Hessian mercenaries occupying Trenton. On Christmas night, he led 2,400 men, many of them with their feet wrapped in rags because they had no shoes, to a crossing point nine miles upstream from Trenton. As freezing temperatures turned rain to sleet and snow, they began to cross the river.
The task was harder than any of them had imagined. Men had to break through ice to get into the boats and then fend off chunks of floating ice once they were in the river. Getting cannons across - each weighed nearly a ton - was especially difficult. Downstream, two other groups that Washington had ordered to cross the Delaware failed in their mission. But Washington and his men persevered, until finally, at 4 o'clock in the morning, they were across and ready to march to Trenton.
They had planned to approach Trenton before dawn, but the difficulty of the crossing had delayed them, and it was daylight when they encountered the first Hessians. Still, the surprise worked, and in two hours, with few losses of their own, they captured nearly 900 of the enemy. "This is a glorious day for our country," Washington declared.
His men were exhausted after the battle, and many of them, their enlistments expired, decided to go home. But many others stayed with Washington as he decided to keep fighting. When he learned that thousands of British and Hessian troops were heading toward Trenton from Princeton, a pretty college town to the north, he deployed his troops along the south side of Assunpink Creek. He also sent a force to the north side of the creek to slow down the advancing enemy. Near evening on Jan. 2, 1777, when these delaying forces had done all they could, they ran for a narrow bridge that crossed the creek - and saw Washington waiting there for them. "I pressed against the shoulder of the general's horse and in contact with the boot of the general," a private remembered years later. "The horse stood as firm as the rider."
Gen. Charles Cornwallis, the British commander, decided he could wait to attack the Americans. "We've got the old fox safe now," he is supposed to have said of Washington. "We'll go over and bag him in the morning." But Washington had other plans. He knew that Cornwallis had brought most of his troops with him, which meant that there would be far fewer of the enemy at Princeton. That night, with men and officers enjoined to silence and cannon wheels muffled with rags, Washington led the main body of his army on a march around Cornwallis's troops toward Princeton. It was dawn before Cornwallis realized they were gone.
The first encounter of the two armies on farmland outside Princeton did not go well for the Americans. Many were killed, and the dazed survivors retreated, but Washington rallied his troops with the bravery for which he was becoming legendary and led them to within 30 yards of the British line. Once the two sides started firing, it seemed impossible that he would survive, but when the smoke cleared, there he was, straight and tall astride his white horse. With a great shout, the Americans began to advance. The British fell back and then ran. "Bring up the troops," Washington called to an aide. "The day is our own."
Twice in 10 days Washington and his ragtag army had defeated the greatest military power in the world, and their victories lifted the spirits of patriots everywhere. True, the years ahead would be hard - Christmas 1777 would find Washington and his men at Valley Forge. But because of the 10-day campaign that began on Christmas 1776, Americans could now think of winning their war for independence. They could imagine that their great struggle would have a glorious end.
Lynne Cheney, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/opinion/21cheney.html
Bush has produced nearly 1400 Dead American Troops, an insoluable debt while CIA, FBI and USA State Dept. has stated Bush is losing the war.It would appear that the New York Times reflected the flaws in the journalism profession. How convenient.
Perhaps the Profession of Journalism should set up safeguards against their own inadequacies. Evidently, their WILLINGNESS to validate a 'story' through 'several people' of THE SAME SOURCE makes them completely ineffective. Perhaps Ms. Miller should have listened not to the ineffective words of the Bush Insiders but more the UN Inspectors on the Ground already in Iraq. There obviously were no weapons of mass destruction but only a press of mass deception. Propagandists. Meet the Stenographers - The People who Assisted Bush into office and it's terrorism role. Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims - Sounds like a profession in dire need of a good professional ethics house cleaning. How does propaganda become propaganda? A Press Corp willing to look the other way based on Poor Performing Professional Standards. ...As a New York Times reporter covering the Iraq War, Judith Miller's reporting on WMD was unrivaled in its influence, if not in its accuracy. Her coverage relentlessly played up the Iraq WMD threat ("All of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD, she credulously quoted a pseudonymous source—9/8/02), while muting conflicting evidence. Miller explained how she saw her role in a New York Review of Books interview (2/26/04): My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times, as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction. Miller's work was prominently cited in a Times mea culpa on May 26, 2004, in which the paper's editors apologized for a lack of skepticism toward sources hyping a non-existent Iraqi WMD arsenal.
http://www.fair.org/extra/0411/stenographers.html
Bush has produced nearly 1400 Dead American Troops, an insoluable debt while the CIA, FBI and USA State Dept. has stated Bush is losing the war.There is one thing Cheney understand and that is priviledge.
A Revolutionary Christmas Story
The priviledge to live their lives at the expense of others whether it is in the private sector or the public sector. Lynn Cheney has taken an adventure in being a historian. It is a pathetic attempt to begin the indoctrination of Neocons to bring their children up to enjoy the 'heritage' of war rather than peace. The Cheney's came to serve the USA with a $3 million debt in income tax, a lawsuit by the stockholders of Halliburton after Dickey cooked the books and invaded a sovereign nation to relieve them of their liability with Halliburton. She cares little about the price others have to pay in order for she and her spouse to conduct their lives of indulgence into power and money.
NOW.
In order to survive the Cheney Scandal, Halliburton wants to dump KBR. I suggest Lynn and Dick encourage their chronies to 'deed' their found fortune in the Iraqi desert to the Iraqi government as a holiday surprise. Perhaps then the people of Iraq and not the people of Halliburton will have jobs. Then. The troops can come home to leave the Iraqis to find a way to live together rather than oppose each other.
Going for a Halliburton (click here)
Oct 04, 2004 02:00 AM
by David Teather
It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the CEO of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange.
Halliburton's business with the federal government has grown considerably since the current administration took office. The business went from being the 22nd biggest military contractor in 2000 to the seventh largest in 2003.
Prior to the invasion of Iraq, without being asked to tender, Halliburton was handed a contract worth up to $ 7 bn to repair the nation's oilfields. It was also given a contract to provide logistical support to US troops, handling everything from food to transport and laundry services. That deal, awarded under an existing long-term contract to provide emergency services, was worth a potential $ 13 bn....
Prior to the invasion of Iraq, without being asked to tender, Halliburton was handed a contract worth up to $ 7 bn to repair the nation's oilfields. It was also given a contract to provide logistical support to US troops, handling everything from food to transport and laundry services. That deal, awarded under an existing long-term contract to provide emergency services, was worth a potential $ 13 bn....
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