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24.Feb.2007 Boston Police to Stop Using Pellet Guns - BG-https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FAN_DEATH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
24.Feb.2007 Federal Murder Inc. Tied To Okc Terror Bombing ... - BG- Federal Murder Inc. Tied To Okc Terror Bombing
WhatReallyHappened.com 25 mins ago

In a cadre of heroes that day, Yeakey’s performance was outstanding. On

11.May 1996 -the following year he was scheduled to receive the Medal of Valor from the Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD). He never got it.

08.May 1996 He was murdered, in the country, two and a half miles west of the El Reno Penitentiary. His body was found a mile from his blood-soaked car.

The official report said “suicide.” However, many people who knew Yeakey have questioned that, as the inside of Terry’s private automobile was described by witnesses as looking like someone had “butchered a hog” on the front seat. There was much blood on the back seat, too, but little or none where his body was found a mile away.

More suspiciously, his private bombing reports were missing from his car and have never been found. https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_coverupdeceptions.html#060134

Tags: Oklahoma City Bombing, Terry Yeakey "Suicide", Pat Shannan, www.americanfreepress.net
24.Feb.2007 If this doesn't offend your sensibility, you might want to check your ability for rational thought - BG-
The idea that an author can make the following claim, with a straight face, shows why the global warming skeptics should be given a continuing fair hearing. We've obviously messed up our planet
https://www.disinfo.com/site/displayarticle18666.html

24.Feb.2007 Fox Interrupts the Anna Nicole Smith Hearing for...a Live Car Chase! - BG- On Wednesday

21.Feb.2007 at 12:02 p.m. ET, we found out what it would take for Fox "News" to interrupt its coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith hearing taking place in Florida: a car chase! ...

Source: https://www.newshounds.us/2007/02/21/fox_interrupts_the_anna_nicole_smith_hearing_fora_live_car_chase.php
21.Feb.2007 today's papers
No Right
By Daniel Politi
The
New York Times leads, the Wall Street Journal tops its worldwide newsbox + the Los Angeles Times off-leads a federal appeals court ruling that foreign prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have no constitutional right to challenge their detention in federal courts. With the 2 to 1 decision, the court upheld the Military Commission Act that was passed last year by the Republican-controlled Congress.

The Washington Post leads with yesterday's Supreme Court decision that overturned a $79.5 million award in punitive damages against Philip Morris.

By sending the case back to Oregon courts, the justices set limits on the extent jurors can consider the harm a company caused to others that weren't part of the original case.

USA Today leads with word that British Prime Minister Tony Blair told President Bush he plans on announcing a "phased pullout" of troops from Iraq today.

According to the BBC, Blair will say that up to 1,500 of the country's 7,000 troops currently in Iraq will begin to go back home in a few weeks.

The LAT leads locally with news that a Superior Court judge declared Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's strategy of dealing with overcrowded prisons by transferring inmates to other states is illegal.

To continue reading, click here.
24.Feb.2007 Does this seem far-fetched? Perhaps. But it worked for Israel.
20.Feb.2007
Nation-building, Resource Manipulation and Zionist Skullduggery - BG-Nation-building, Resource Manipulation and Zionist Skullduggery :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it
Nation-building, Resource Manipulation and Zionist Skullduggery
Mark Green, Al-Jazeerah

A 60 MINUTES segment which aired Sunday (2/18/07) revealed that Iraq is indeed disintegrating as a nation. But according to host Bob Simon, this isn't altogether unreasonable or, for that matter, even unfortunate. Indeed, despite stated claims by the Bush Administration that a "unified Iraq" remains America's objective, events there are serving up unexpected developments with unforeseen consequences.
This latest political surprise however doesn't involve the once-powerful Sunnis, various insurgents, or even the now-ascendant Shiites. In this instance, even US forces are safely "not targeted". So what's so important if no one's even getting killed?
With little fanfare, Kurdish separatists are successfully establishing a state of their own within Iraq. And US forces are doing little to stop them. But why?
Though Arabs comprise the vast majority of that county's population--and nearly all of its war causalities--the small and relatively isolated (non-Arab) Kurdish population in Northern Iraq is initiating bold political changes which may prove irreversible.
The Kurds of Iraq, explained Simon, are the world's "largest nation without a country". Simon lends subtle support to the idea that an irredentist "ethic minority" (Kurds) deserve their own separate nation which, like Israel, is poised to spring suddenly into being out of a battered nation of extremist Arabs. Significantly, the new nation of 'Kurdistan' would not only be oil-rich but they would be strongly aligned with the Jewish state--from whom they already receive significant covert aid. The declaration of an independent 'Kurdistan' might not only exacerbate Iraq's civil war but, in the long run, advance Israeli hegemony. Both scenarios however pose substantial challenges to attaining regional stability.

24.Feb.2007
OKC - BG-
Tim McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, has made a startling claim in a recent affidavit (emphasis added by me throughout): Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says a high-ranking FBI official "apparently" was directing Timothy McVeigh in the plot to blow up a government building and might have changed the original target of the attack, according to a new affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Utah. The official and other conspirators are being protected by the federal government "in a cover-up to escape its responsibility for the loss of life in Oklahoma," Nichols claims in a Feb. 9 affidavit. Documents that supposedly help back up his allegations have been sealed to protect information in them, such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth.My first response: Obviously, Terry Nichols is no-one's idea of an unimpeachable source. He may well be lying to draw... Source:
https://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2007/02/okc.html

22.Feb.2007 today's papers
It's On
By Daniel Politi
The
New York Times leads with news that a truck containing explosives and chlorine blew up in Baghdad, marking the third time in a month that insurgents used chlorine as part of an attack. Some military officials say this could signal a new insurgent strategy. The Washington Post leads + the Wall Street Journal tops its worldwide newsbox, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair officially announcing yesterday that 1,600 British troops will leave Iraq in the coming months. Although U.S. administration officials tried to put a positive spin on the news saying that the withdrawal demonstrates how some areas of Iraq are improving, opposition leaders and military analysts disagreed. The Los Angeles Times leads locally but goes high with a look at the British withdrawal, which the paper says is a recognition that the country's military can't fight wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

USA Today leads with a look at the way many retirees who moved to Florida in their 60s are now moving back north as they get older. Experts say these retirees usually end up making the switch when either their health worsens, they lose a spouse, or run out of money. The paper says that this "wave of 'boomerang' seniors" will only keep on increasing as baby boomers get older. To continue reading, click here.
23.Feb.2007 Florida Bill Would Make It Legal To Falsify Court Records - BG-
Here's a good one from last week's Miami Herald: Prosecutors seek OK to create phony files: Florida's prosecutors are floating a proposal to the Legislature to give them the power to secretly falsify public court records -- with a judge's approval -- for undercover law enforcement purposes. Spurred by Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, the draft bill would limit the authority to manufacture and plant fake documents in court files to 180 days. But it also provides for an unlimited number of 30-day extensions. "Judges would be very involved in the monitoring. It all has to go through a judge," said Arthur I. "Buddy" Jacobs, general counsel for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which supports the bill. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florid... Source:
https://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/02/florida-bill-would-make-it-legal-to.html

23.Feb.2007 According to Oklahoma bombing conspirator, ranking officials were involved in the attack - BG-https://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5271117
Affidavit: McVeigh had high-level help According to Oklahoma bombing conspirator, ranking officials were involved in the attack
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/21/2007 01:03:43 AM MST
Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says a high-ranking FBI official "apparently" was directing Timothy McVeigh in the plot to blow up a government building and might have changed the original target of the attack, according to a new affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Utah.
The official and other conspirators are being protected by the federal government "in a cover-up to escape its responsibility for the loss of life in Oklahoma," Nichols claims in a 09.Feb.2007 affidavit.

23.Feb.2007 Aaron Russo pictured next to Nick Rockefeller, 1999 - BG-from https://jonesreport.com

Interview with Aaron Russo Discussing Admissions of Nick Rockefeller on 9/11, War on Terror, Microchips and More

Aaron Russo pictured next to Nick Rockefeller, 1999 (Click to Enlarge)
23.Feb.2007
WTC Structural Analysis - BG-https://www.iconreview.org/en/news/687

14.Mar.2002 American Structural Engineers Defend 'Heroic Performance' of WTC Towers
The profound shock felt in the USA and its construction community at the enormous destruction wrought by the attack on the World Trade Center was vividly conveyed by Ron Klemencic at the recent Building for the 21st Century 'summit conference' in London.

Introducing a graphic presentation on the fall of New York's two highest buildings,

Mr. Klemencic, Chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat + President of the structural consultancy Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire in Seattle, said:

"September 11th 2001 will forever be etched in our minds – a date when the world witnessed an horrific act, challenging the innocence or naivety of 'freedom' to the very core. How will we respond?

What price are we willing to pay to protect ourselves?"

Mr. Klemencic said the destruction of the World Trade Center presented an enormous problem to the design and construction industry.

"The fruits of our labor have been the target of an attack and we must prove to the world that we can overcome this challenge."
23.Feb.2007
MIT's Jeff King: WTC Collapse Was Controlled Demolition
23.Feb.2007 U.S. Army General Says Flight 77 Did Not Hit Pentagon
23.Feb.2007 Court: Detainees Can't Challenge Detentions - BG-
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., rules that detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have no right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

The case is expected to move on to the U.S. Supreme Court. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us ... Source: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7496235
20.Feb.2007 Politics: A Very Special Relationship - BG-foreigners
A Very Special Relationship
Why do U.S. presidents go weak-kneed for their Russian counterparts? By Anne Applebaum
"I have a difficult time explaining that speech. It doesn't accord with either the world as we see it nor with the character of our interactions with the Russians."-- Condoleezza Rice, 15.Feb.2007

Ten days have now passed since Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech in Munich, Germany, accusing the USA of plunging the planet into "an abyss of permanent conflicts," of deliberately encouraging the spread of weapons of mass destruction + (this from a country that regularly blackmails and manipulates its neighbors) of having "overstepped its national borders in every way." During that time, the U.S. secretary of state--quoted above--has not been alone in expressing surprise. With varying degrees of shock, commentators and politicians have speculated about the significance of Putin's "new" language, wondering whether it means Russia's road to democracy has reached a fork; whether President Putin was really speaking to his domestic audience; or whether, even, the speech heralds some kind of policy change.To continue reading, click here.
23.Feb.2007 Video: Moment 21/7 'bomber' fled in a burka | the Daily Mail - BG-https://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=437327&amp;in_page_id=1766&ito=1490
23.Feb.2007 Think Progress » Snow: Politicians Warning Of Iran War ‘May Be Trying To Protect Iran’ - BG-Think Progress » Snow: Politicians Warning Of Iran War 'May Be Trying To Protect Iran'

Today on, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow claimed that members of Congress who have warned about the possibility of a military strike against Iran may be "trying to protect Iran." Watch it:
23.Feb.2007
Jesselyn Radack Was the Justice Department Official Who Knew Too Much - BG-Jesselyn Radack Was the Justice Department Official Who Knew Too Much -- A BuzzFlash Interview | BuzzFlash
BuzzFlash:

The Canary in the Coalmine: Blowing the Whistle in the Case of the 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh is your memoir about a particular experience you've had. Let's start with the person who's very much at the heart of this. What was your involvement with the case of John Walker Lindh?
23.Feb.2007 Trial Spotlights Cheney’s Power as an Infighter - New York Times - BG-
Trial Spotlights Cheney's Power as an Infighter - New York Times
Intriguing NYT Piece (Which Often is in Bed with the White House in Its News Section).

In this rare analysis piece that actually holds a Bush Administration member accountable for something, it practically exonerates Bush in PlameGate + dumps it all on Cheney,

even though in the trial, it was clear that Bush sanctioned Cheney's activities against Wilson.

Looks like the Bush loyalists are using the NYT to distance Bush from Cheney on PlameGate, when the trial indicated that Bush wanted Libby to take the rap + not Rove.

Reading the NYT news section is often like reading the old Pravda; You have to read "into and around" the story to get to the bottom of things. But, heck, it does, at least, dump on Cheney.

Cheney is going to read this article as a Bush loyalist effort to throw him overboard on PlameGate. You should read it that way too. Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, dick cheney, bush
23.Feb.2007 Tracing a 9/11 Truth Rumor - BG-Who has claimed that Ben Chertoff is related to Michael Chertoff?

Andreas, Judy

Bollyn, Christopher (claims to have talked with Ben or his Mom)  It appears Bollyn is the closest thing to a source for this allegation.

Chamish, Barry (attributed to Alex Jones)

Doraemi, John (attributed Alex Jones)

Jones, Alex

Quinn, Joe (attributed to Bollyn)
23.Feb.2007 Guardian Unlimited | | 9/11 fantasists pose a mortal danger to popular oppositional campaigns - BG-
These conspiracy idiots are a boon for Bush and Blair as they destroy the movements some of us have spent years building
https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2017006,00.html

23.Feb.2007 Met chief kept in dark over De Menezes | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited - BG-https://www.guardian.co.uk/menezes/story/0,,2016279,00.html Tags: 7/7, De Menezes
23.Feb.2007 Debunking the BBC's 9-11 Conspiracy Files - BG-
18.Feb.2007 the BBC broadcasted an hour-long episode which it claimed would examine and answer the questions of the 9-11 truth movement. However, both the episode and the written Q&A turned out to be attacks on the skeptics rather than a true investigation. The public was presented with a heavily controlled and edited discussion, which was rigged in favour of the official story. Worse yet, propaganda techniques were used to portray the opponents of the official story unfairly. Techniques included: manipulative camerawork, personal attacks and a show which focussed on only the weakest evidence presented by the opponents of the official story.... Source:
https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_mainstream_media.html#060023

23.Feb.2007 Cheney: ‘There Does Not Appear To Be A Consensus’ That Global Warming Is ‘Caused By Man’ - Faiz  -

In its latest report,

the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded it was “very likely” — or more than 90 % probable — that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.

Continuing the Bush administration’s long resistance to the science of global warming, Vice President Dick Cheney said today a consensus is lacking on whether global warming is caused by human activity.

From an interview with ABC:

JONATHAN KARL: Where is the science on this? Is global warming a fact? And is it human activity that is causing global warming?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Those are the two key questions. I think there’s an emerging consensus that we do have global warming. You can look at the data on that + I think clearly we’re in a period of warming.

Where there does not appear to be a consensus, where it begins to break down, is the extent to which that’s part of a normal cycle versus the extent to which it’s caused by man, greenhouse gases, et cetera.

Cheney added later in the interview, “I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.” But he appears comfortable enough in his knowledge to suggest that the scientists are all wrong.
23.Feb.2007
‘Hero In Error’ Chalabi Makes Political Comeback To Lead Iraqi End Of Escalation Strategy - Faiz  -

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that

Ahmed Chalabi, the darling of neoconservatives in the lead-up to the Iraq war, has been given a prominent position to oversee the implementation of the escalation strategy on the Iraqi end:

In his latest remarkable political reincarnation, onetime U.S. favorite Ahmed Chalabi has secured a position inside the Iraqi government that could help determine whether the Bush administration’s new push to secure Baghdad succeeds. …

Chalabi will serve as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign across the city.

The position is meant to help Iraqis arrange reimbursement for damage to their cars and homes caused by the security sweeps in the hope of maintaining public support for the strategy.

Chalabi, who once famously said of his Iraq involvement, “we are heroes in error,” has had a sordid history with the USA. A review of Chalabi’s nefarious activities:

PENTAGON FUNDED CHALABI TO PROVIDE RATIONALE FOR WAR: The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency paid the INC $335,000 a month in the lead-up to the Iraq war to gather intelligence.

In all, the Bush White House has given the INC at least $39 million over the past 5 years. [IPS, 5/23.2004; New Yorker, 6/7.2004]

CHALABI’S IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS WAS MAJOR SOURCE OF DATA FOR PENTAGON OFFICE OF SPECIAL PLANS:

According to a report in the New Yorker, analysts based in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans “relied on data gathered by other intelligence agencies and also on information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, or I.N.C., the exile group headed by Ahmad Chalabi.” [New Yorker, 5/12/03]

CHALABI WAS SOURCE FOR FALSE JUDY MILLER STORIES: Chalabi was the source for discredited news stories about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction which were penned by New York Times reporter Judith Miller. 00.000.2001, Miller wrote a front-page story about claims that Saddam had twenty secret WMD sites hidden in Iraq. The information turned out to be bogus. [New York Times, 2/26.2004; The New Yorker, 6/7.2004]

CHALABI ACCUSED OF PASSING U.S. SECRETS TO IRAN: In June 2004, Chalabi came under investigation for allegations that he passed secret intelligence to Iran. Chalabi was accused of telling the Iranian government that the U.S. had broken the code it used for secret communications. [Washington Post, 6/3.2004; WSJ, 11/7/05] More here.

Commenting on Chalabi’s political resurgence, a senior American official told the WSJ: “The question is whether he is really doing this to help, or whether he’s trying to build himself a new political base in Baghdad or carry water for the Shiites. And we simply don’t know the answer to that yet.”
23.Feb.2007
Michelle Malkin to co-host new Fox show. - Nico  -

“Fox News Channel is testing another pilot on Sunday that will air following its experiment in news satire, ‘The ½ Hour News Hour.’

‘It’s Out There,’ a half-hour of stories derived from blogs, will get a half-hour test run following Joel Surnow’s satirical take on news.

[The show], fronted by conservative blogger-columnist Michele Malkin and former Clinton administration operative Kirsten Powers, will take on political and cultural issues enflaming the blogosphere.”
23.Feb.2007 Hunter taps right-wing advisers. - Nico  -

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) yesterday named the South Carolina advisers to his presidential campaign.

One of them, Lois Eargle, boasted about her hard-line views on immigration, explaining that when “an illegal immigrant with three children came to her office this week asking for free legal help for an abused child,” she told the immigrant to “get back to Mexico.” Another Hunter adviser, Dr. Henry Jordan, declared last year, “I mean you’ve got to be stupid to believe in evolution, I mean really.”
23.Feb.2007 Exclusive: Powell Rebuts Media Reports Claiming He Supports Escalation - Amanda  -

Yesterday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at Purdue University. Articles on the event by the Lafayette Indiana Journal and Courier and the Associated Press report that Powell “said he supported President Bush’s decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq”:

These reports are wrong. This morning, ThinkProgress spoke with Powell’s office, who told us that he never indicated his support for the escalation. According to his office, Powell simply said that the escalation is proceeding whether we like it or not:

The surge is on + will soon be finished while Congress debates it. And we’ll have to see whether it works + we’ll have to pass off to the Iraqis sooner or later.

Jeanne Norberg, a spokeswoman for Purdue who attended the speech, confirmed with us that Powell did not say he supported Bush’s escalation.

Powell has previously stated his opposition to Bush’s escalation strategy. On Dec. 17, he said on CBS’s Face the Nation that “I have not seen a case that persuades me that [Iraqi security] would be better” with more forces.
23.Feb.2007 Presidential Progress: NetTrends ‘08 - Think Progress  -

Today, ThinkProgress is launching Presidential Progress: NetTrends ‘08:

1) A comprehensive database of presidential candidates’ activities online.

2) A collaborative research project (that means you) to find the most innovative 2008 web content.

From now through the end of the 2008 election, NetTrends will be tracking how the candidates and their supporters are using the Internet. We’ll be updating the site regularly + will direct you to the must-see web content we find. There’s also a handy graph making it easy to see who’s utilizing the Net and who’s not.

Why track the ‘08 candidates online? Because conservatives have long dominated the traditional media battlegrounds of radio, television + direct-mail. With Rush Limbaugh and Fox News leading the charge, they enjoy a “wide-ranging, multimedia apparatus that when tapped will vibrate like a gigantic tuning fork.”

But the media is fundamentally changing + progressives need to change with it. Candidates who are using new media effectively deserve to be praised + candidates who ignore the netroots deserve criticism. Moreover, the web will only empower our democracy if we actually use the tools that have been created. We hope NetTrends will make it more convenient for you to get involved in your favorite campaigns.

Check out our database HERE (and other great work being done by TechPresident) — and please share sites and resources that you think are particularly useful and innovative.
23.Feb.2007 Second woman alleges rape by Iraqi forces. - Nico  -

“An Iraqi police official in the northwestern city of Tall Afar said Thursday that a military officer and three soldiers had admitted to raping a Sunni woman and recording the act with a cellphone camera. … The soldiers’ statement follows another Sunni woman’s assertion this week that she had been raped in Baghdad by members of Iraq’s predominantly Shiite security forces. Iraq’s Kurdish president and its Sunni vice president said Thursday that a judge should investigate her case, which the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has dismissed as groundless.”

UPDATE: Joe Klein on why these rapes — and the government’s reaction — are so important.
23.Feb.2007 ThinkFast: February 23, 2007 - Think Progress  -

The Bush administration has “demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.” In meetings with Israeli officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “was forceful in expressing Washington’s view on the matter”: “Don’t even think about it.

“Iraq may be facing a deadly civil war, but the Iraqi government is initiating major, costly repairs to its diplomatic building in Washington and expanding its real estate holdings here.” The Iraqi government recently purchased a $5.8 million mansion complete with “heated floors…and spacious bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi.”

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday “declared himself at odds with hawks in the US Administration” over Iran. He told BBC News, “I can’t think that it would be right to take military action against Iran . … What is important is to pursue the political, diplomatic channel.”

The White House yesterday announced “plans to replace the assistant defense secretary for health affairs ” — William Winkenwerder — “two days after a review was ordered into outpatient care for wounded troops.” The Pentagon claimed the announcement had “no bearing on current events whatsoever.”

Day two of jury deliberations in the Scooter Libby trial produced no verdict. Yesterday, the jury of eight women and four men “requested a large flip chart, masking tape, Post-it notes and a document with pictures of the witnesses.” (more…)
23.Feb.2007 The war drums beat. - Nico  -

McClatchy: “‘I still believe, at the end of the day, that he will bomb the Iranian (nuclear) facilities,’ said Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank with close ties to the Bush administration. Muravchik, who favors military action, sees Bush’s current focus on diplomacy as a prelude to attack.”

Rush Limbaugh: “If we launched attacks on Iran and Syria today and went heavy metal, pedal-to-the-wall, this country would be cheering. The Democrats and the media would be in panic, but the people in this country would be cheering.”
23.Feb.2007 Corporate donors over kids. - Nico  -

The Department of Education Inspector General has released another report criticizing the Bush administration’s Reading First program, part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The IG found the program “violated the prohibition against controlling individual school curricula by promoting specific reading materials and instructions to the financial benefit of companies — such as McGraw Hill and Voyager — headed by top Bush administration donors.”
23.Feb.2007 Senate moves to revoke 2002 Iraq authorization. - Nico  -

“Determined to challenge President Bush, Senate Democrats are drafting legislation to limit the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq, effectively revoking the broad authority Congress granted 00.000.2002,” the AP reports.

A draft of the bill “would restrict American troops in Iraq to combating al-Qaida, training Iraqi army and police forces, maintaining Iraq’s territorial integrity and otherwise proceeding with the withdrawal of combat forces. … The plan is to attempt to add the measure to anti-terrorism legislation that scheduled to be on the Senate floor next week and the week following.”
23.Feb.2007
Radical Right Attacks McCain Over Global Warming: ‘Loony,’ ‘Environmental Extremist,’ ‘Popping Off’ - Faiz  -

Yesterday in California, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said what has now become conventional wisdom: that the Bush administration’s inaction on global warming has had damaging consequences for our environment.

“I would assess this administration’s record on global warming as terrible.

And I have held hearings when I was chairman of the Commerce Committee for years + got no cooperation from the administration on this issue whatsoever,” McCain said.

For speaking such a casual truth, McCain has come under attack from the small contingent of global warming deniers on the right who refuse to accept the science. A few examples of the attacks:

Ankle Biting Pundits: McCain Sides With The Loony Left On Global Warming. … No Senator McCain, the President’s record on global warming is not terrible. Just because he doesn’t want to go along with the Euro’s and the lefties in voluntarily destroying our economy doesn’t make him wrong.

Jon Fleischman: McCain Embraces Environmental Extremism in California Appearance

National Review: He’s in CA doing “non-political” global warming events?? Gee + they wonder why conservatives don’t trust him .

Tonight, Fox pundit Mort Kondracke said McCain’s comments were an example of him “popping off” and demonstrating he is “not entirely in control of his mouth.” Watch it:

Global warming is not a partisan issue.

A recent poll taken among conservatives in South Carolina indicate 56 % believe global warming is happening. Slowly, a consensus on the issue is building, leaving only the fringe right in its wake.
23.Feb.2007 ‘Why we’re staying in Iraq.’ - Nico -

Newsweek: “The British are leaving, the Iraqis are failing and the Americans are staying — and we’re going to be there a lot longer than anyone in Washington is acknowledging right now. …

[W]hat few people seem to have noticed is that Gen. David Petraeus’s new ’surge’ plan is committing U.S. troops, day by day, to a much deeper + longer-term role in policing Iraq than since the earliest days of the U.S. occupation. How long must we stay under the Petraeus plan? Perhaps 10 years. At least five. … To a degree little understood by the U.S. public, Petraeus is engaged in a giant ‘do-over.’” (Via Atrios)
23.Feb.2007 Hagel: ‘We Must Be Clear That The U.S. Does Not Seek Regime Change In Iran’ - Faiz  -

Conservatives are using a U.N. report released today to instigate a confrontation with Iran. Drudge headlines “Iran Nuke showdown.” AEI writes, “Now is the time to ratchet up the pressure.” In a speech at the University of Nebraska, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) tamped down on such rhetoric, arguing the way forward must involve diplomatic engagement. The first step, he argued, is to make clear we do not see “regime change in Iran”:

The USA must be resolute and clear-headed in our dealings with Iran…just as the Administration has been in the latest round of the Six Party Talks regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The agreement that Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill reached on February 13 with his colleagues from China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia reflects the power of adept diplomacy, supported through regional coordination, strengthened by financial pressure + our military presence in South Korea, Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region.

The USA must employ similar, wise statecraft to redirect deepening Middle East tensions toward a higher ground of resolution. We must be clear that the USA does not seek regime change in Iran. We must be clear that our objections are to the actions of the Iranian government…not the Iranian people.

In the last month, the Bush administration has deployed an additional carrier group to Iran, stormed Iranian government offices in Iraq + accused the “highest levels” of the Iranian government of funneling weapons into Iraq. Today, Hagel warned that “careless rhetoric” and “flawed intelligence” risk triggering a military confrontation with Iran:

The USA needs to weigh very carefully its actions regarding Iran. In a hazy, hair-triggered environment, careless rhetoric and military movements that one side may believe are required to demonstrate resolve and strength…can be misinterpreted as preparations for military options. The risk of inadvertent conflict because of miscalculation is great.

The USA must be cautious and wise not to follow the same destructive path on Iran as we did on Iraq. We blundered into Iraq because of flawed intelligence, flawed assumptions, flawed judgments + questionable intentions.

Read the full speech here.
23.Feb.2007 What about Cheney’s trip was ‘unreportable’? - Nico  -

From today’s pool report from Vice President Cheney’s trip to Japan: “This was largely a repeat of the speech delivered the day before in Tokyo. However, the vice president made something clear this day that had been unanswered the day before — when he had departed from a prepared text in Tokyo that had read Americans “do not” accept a policy of retreat and instead said that Americans “will not” accept a policy of retreat. Your pool’s queries about the meaning of this departure in tenses went unanswered last night in what started as a background briefing with an administration official and lapsed into something else that is, well, unreportable.”
23.Feb.2007 Women can’t write for a ‘general audience’ - Amanda  -

on topics such as “military history,” according to Barry Gewen, an editor at the New York Times Book Review, explaining why there are so few female reviewers.
23.Feb.2007 Schieffer Slams White House On Iraq: Bush ‘Even More Isolated,’ Coalition ‘Coming Apart’ - Nico  -

Last night on CBS, chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer was sharply critical of the Bush administration’s attempt to spin Britain’s Iraq drawdown as a sign that conditions are improving.

“If that’s the claim, it’s going to be a very hard sell to a country and a public that has already turned against this war,” Schieffer said. In fact, the UK’s decision to redeploy troops is “going to make the president even more isolated,” he said, adding, “Whether you’re for the war or against the war, Katie, what this underlines tonight is that the coalition that the president put together to fight this war is now coming apart.”

Drawing parallels to the Vietnam era, Schieffer said Tony Blair’s decision reminded him of “when things were going badly + the crusty old senator from Vermont, George Aiken, said there’s only one way out here, that’s to declare victory and just leave. That’s what we’re seeing.” Watch it: Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Is Cheney next? - Amanda  - ABC’s The Blotter notes: If the jury finds Scooter Libby guilty, “it could spur investigators to explore further whether Cheney was involved in conspiring to obstruct justice.”
23.Feb.2007 Don Imus Reports Administration Won’t Allow Him To Tour Entire Walter Reed Facilities - Faiz  -

This morning on his radio show, Don Imus continued to call attention to the deplorable conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Imus has highlighted the issue every day this week.

On yesterday’s show, he revealed, “I haven’t heard from anybody [in the administration] about whether I can come down there and take a little tour.”

This morning, Imus updated his audience, reporting that administration officials called him and said he could take a limited guided tour of the facilities.

Imus explained, “They will cherry pick some places for me to go look at, but they don’t want me just going down there looking at the entire facility. I’m not interested in having that.” Watch it:

Imus said that all he has received from the administration is talking points.

“The Veterans Administration called me — they keep trying to cherry pick a couple of situations you have that you are doing what you are supposed to do. Don’t think that is going to shut me up, because it’s not.

So just save your breath on all that stuff. It’s annoying and it’s insulting and it’s a waste of time,” he said.

Email the Walter Reed Public Affairs office + tell them to let Don Imus tour the full Walter Reed facilities. Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 White House Stands Behind Cheney’s Attacks On Murtha And Pelosi - Amanda  -

Yesterday, Vice President Cheney attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) for supporting Iraq redeployment:

CHENEY: I think, in fact, if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy . …

I think that’s exactly the wrong course to go on. I think that’s the course of action that Speaker Pelosi and Jack Murtha support. I think it would be a huge mistake for the country.

Q Is that policy that we hear from the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi — from other Democrats, is that a policy of defeat?

CHENEY: Yes.

Today, a reporter asked White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino about Cheney’s comments. She refused to disavow them:

QUESTION: Was he at all out of line in making those comments?

PERINO: The Vice President out of line? Absolutely not. He was questioning the merits of the — of their proposal.

It’s no surprise that President Bush supports Cheney’s attacks.

In the lead-up to the 2006 elections, Bush’s message was that his opponents want “America to lose and the terrorists to win.” Watch it: Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Report: Ninth helicopter downed in Iraq. - Nico  -

Yet another U.S. helicopter has been downed by insurgent attacks in Iraq, according to Arab media reports being investigated by the Pentagon.

If confirmed, it will be the ninth helicopter downed in Iraq since 20.Jan.2007 . More here.
23.Feb.2007 When Fox attacks. - Nico  -

Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films, the creators of Outfoxed, have launched a new site — FoxAttacks.com — to “give you the information and tools you need to hit Fox where it hurts.”

Watch their first video compilation on Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL):
23.Feb.2007 Pentagon’s Iraq Report Contradicts White House’s Rosy Rhetoric on U.K. Troop Withdrawals - Payson  -

Yesterday, administration officials were spinning the announcement that U.K. troops would be withdrawing from Iraq as a sign of progress.

“I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well,” Vice President Cheney told ABC News.

Tony Snow added:

“The fact that [the British] have made some progress on the ground is going to enable them to move some of the forces out + that’s ultimately the kind of thing that we want to be able to see throughout Iraq.”

In a “Setting the Record Straight” release, the White House claimed the British pulled their troops “based on the conditions on the ground.”

But the Los Angeles Times reports that the Pentagon’s latest quarterly report on Iraq contradicts these claims:

[T]he Pentagon, in its most recent quarterly report to Congress, listed Basra as one of five cities outside Baghdad where violence remained “significant,” + said

the region was one of only two “not ready for transition” to Iraqi authorities.

Once a promising beacon, Basra suffers from sectarian violence as well as Shiite militia clashes over oil smuggling.

Ferocious street battles have broken out between rival Shiite Muslim groups in provincial capitals such as Samawah, Kut and Diwaniya in the last year.

Of the 18 Iraqi provinces, according to the Pentagon report, Anbar and Basra were the only provinces classified as “Not Ready For Transition” to Iraqi control:
23.Feb.2007 A ‘vicious cycle’ of global warming. - Amanda  -

“Nearly half of the carbon that exists on land is contained in the sweeping boreal forests, which gird the Earth in the northern reaches of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia + Russia.

Scientists now fear that the steady rise in the temperature of the atmosphere and the increasing human activity in those lands are releasing that carbon, a process that could trigger a vicious cycle of even more warming.”
23.Feb.2007 February 22, 2007 - Think Progress  -

14,000 National Guard troops will return to Iraq next year, “shortening their time between deployments to meet the demands of President Bush’s buildup.”

“The accelerated timetable illustrates the cascading effectBush’s escalation plan is putting on the entire armed forces.

Lobbying restrictions on the “revolving door” are “completely ineffectual.”

Five of the 39 ex-lawmakers who lost

04.Nov.2004 are now at firms that lobby Congress, including Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), who said last year that “Congress is not for sale.”

$36 billion: Amount the military needs for equipment and reconstruction costs, “denied earlier by the administration in its $481 billion defense appropriations request for the new fiscal year.”

Among the requests are “more than 5,000 armored vehicles [and] another $153 million for systems that defend against the deadly improvised explosive devices in Iraq.”

“I would assess this administration’s record on global warming as terrible ,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said yesterday. He pronounced himself “very happy to see the president mention global warming and a renewed commitment from the administration to this issue.” But he added tartly: “It’s long overdue.”

Rep. Thomas M. Davis (R-VA), the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, “ blasted the Army yesterday, saying in a statement that it has known for years about shortcomings at Walter Reed.(more…)
23.Feb.2007 Pelosi beats back Cheney smear. - Nico  -

Vice President Cheney today on Iraq redeployment: “I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy.”

Pelosi responds:

“Vice President Cheney continues to question the patriotism of those of us in Congress who challenge the Bush Administration’s misguided policies in Iraq, but his latest attack is beneath the office of the Vice President, especially at a time of war.”

UPDATE: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday phoned President Bush to air her complaints over Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments. … ‘You cannot say as the president of the USA, “I welcome disagreement in a time of war,” and then have the vice president of the USA go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position of authority is acting against the national security of our country,’ the speaker said.”
23.Feb.2007 Coalition no longer willing. - Amanda  -

When Britain and Denmark withdraw their troops from the U.S.-led coalition, just 22 nations will continue to have a presence in Iraq. Forty-nine nations originally made up the coalition.
23.Feb.2007 Bush To Nominate Anti-Regulatory Industry Lobbyist To Head Consumer Protection Agency - Amanda  -

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from dangerous consumer products. Currently, the three-person commission has a vacancy. Media reports indicate that President Bush will likely fill the position with Michael Baroody, “executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group that opposes aggressive product safety regulation” and “has called for weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

While at NAM, Baroody repeatedly lobbied for looser business regulations, at the expense of public safety:

– Asbestos Regulations:

00.000.2003 NAM opposes tougher rules regulating asbestos + teamed up with the asbestos industry + spent $180,000 opposing asbestos reform legislation.

– Highway Safety:

00.000.2000 NAM successfully killed a bill in the Senate that would have helped reduce safety risks to motorists by requiring tire manufacturers to report accident data + potential defects to the National Highway and Transportation Safety Board.

Global Warming: NAM’s official position states that scientific data have “not confirmed evidence of global warming that can be attributed to human activities” and calls for “voluntary” measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It “opposes any federal or state government actions regarding climate change that could adversely affect the international competitiveness of the U.S. marketplace economy.”

00.000.2001, Baroody wrote to Bush and personally thanked him for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol.

Occupational Hazards: 00.000.2001, NAM opposed the reduction of occupational hazards by attempting to kill the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s ergonomics standard.

In an attempt to mitigate the “unwarranted litigation” that NAM argued would result from the standard’s implementation, NAM filed suit in federal court.

Bush has repeatedly attempted to weaken regulations that protect the American public.

He nominated Susan Dudley, who was formerly director of regulatory studies at the industry-backed Mercatus Center, to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which holds sway over federal regulatory agencies like the EPA.

More recently, Bush issued a directive that would give the White House greater control over federal regulations. 23.Feb.2007 Contradicting Cheney, McCain Says British Withdrawal Not ‘A Good Thing’ - Faiz  -

This morning, ABC reported that Vice President Cheney views the British phased withdrawal from Iraq as a “sign of progress.”

Cheney said, “Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well.”

Contradicting Cheney’s line, Sen. John McCain said today that he believes the British pullout is a negative development. “Do I think it was a good thing?” asked McCain.

“No, I wish they would stay longer.” Via Pipeline:

Also at the press conference, McCain responded to Cheney’s suggestion that he “apologize to Rumsfeld” for calling him the “one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.”

McCain told reporters, “I stand by my comment about Secretary Rumsfeld.” Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 UK withdrawal shows progress in Iraq war? - Nico  -

Vice President Cheney says the UK’s withdrawal plans are “a sign of progress in Iraq.” Juan Cole responds:

This is a rout, there should be no mistake. The fractious Shiite militias and tribes of Iraq’s South have made it impossible for the British to stay.

They already left Sadr-controlled Maysan province, as well as sleepy Muthanna. They moved the British consulate to the airport because they couldn’t protect it in Basra.

They are taking mortar and rocket fire at their bases every night. Raiding militia HQs has not resulted in any permanent change in the situation. …

Blair is not leaving Basra because the British mission has been accomplished.

He is leaving because he has concluded that it cannot be + that if he tries any further it will completely sink the Labor Party, perhaps for decades to come.
23.Feb.2007
Scarborough Smacks O’Reilly for Ignoring Iraq to Focus on ‘NBC Jihad’ - Payson  -

For several weeks, Joe Scarborough has been fighting back against Bill O’Reilly’s petty attacks on MSNBC and NBC News.

The battle continued yesterday as Scarborough’s production team took a page from Think Progress and tracked the relative importance O’Reilly has been placing on two issues: NBC and the war in Iraq.

According to Scarborough’s figures taken from one week of The Factor, O’Reilly referenced NBC 47 times and mentioned Iraq only 20 times. (11 of those Iraq mentions came during anti-NBC segments.)

“While the war in Iraq rages halfway across the globe,” Scarborough asked, “what does Bill O’Reilly spend night after night talking about? NBC News, of course.”

Scarborough went on to scold O’Reilly: “Stop being self-righteous.” Watch it: Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Party Over Country: 25 Members Of Congress Who Criticized Escalation But Voted For It Anyway - Think Progress  -

Last week, Iraq war veteran and VoteVets founder Jon Soltz appealed for members of Congress to “put country above party” and vote against escalation in Iraq.

Majorities in both the House and Senate answered Soltz’s call.

But at least 25 members of Congress caved to partisan pressure and voted in favor of escalation, despite having publicly criticized President Bush’s strategy in the weeks prior to the vote.

Here are four examples:

Rep. Virginia Brown-Waite (R-FL): “It’s too little, too late + should have been done a year ago. … I just get a feeling our country is being used.

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM): “I am not a supporter of a surge to do for the Iraqis what the Iraqis will not do for themselves.”

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): “I have little confidence that a surge in troop levels will change the situation in Iraq in any substantive fashion.

It seems clear that the violence in Iraq is increasingly sectarian + inserting more troops in this atmosphere is unlikely to improve the situation.

Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH): “I am skeptical that a surge of troops will bring an end to the escalation of violence and the insurgency in Iraq… I’m absolutely against the surge.

When it came time to vote, these four members — and 21 of their colleagues — couldn’t muster the courage to buck their own party and vote against escalation.

These members appear to understand the danger of sending tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Iraq’s bloody civil war. They just don’t care enough to do something about it.

The full list of the “Party-Over-Country” 25: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Jeff Gannon sighting. - Amanda  - At the National Press Club yesterday for the press roundtable: (HT: C&L)
23.Feb.2007 Snow Backtracks, Now Claims Bush Didn’t Know Of Walter Reed Neglect - Amanda  -

During yesterday’s White House press briefing, Tony Snow tried to play down the neglect uncovered at Walter Reed by portraying it as old news. President Bushcertainly has been aware of the conditions in the wards where he has visited, Snow said, affirming that the administration was aware of Walter Reed’s conditions “before the articles appeared in the paper.”

The White House has since backtracked from Snow’s comments. In a small addendum added to the bottom of yesterday’s briefing transcript on the White House website, a note now reads that Bush “first learned of the troubling allegations regarding Walter Reed from the stories this weekend in the Washington Post,” and that he is “deeply concerned” by the conditions:

Following the reversal, Snow told the Washington Post that “he did not know why the president, who has visited the facility many times in the past five years, had not heard about these problems before.”

Asked yesterday if Bush may talk about this scandal at some point in the future, Snow answered, “No.
23.Feb.2007 Don’t forget Lithuania. - Nico  -

Lithuania is “seriously considering” withdrawing its 53 troops from Iraq, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“It was the first time that Lithuania, a staunch U.S. ally, indicated it would reduce its commitment in Iraq.”
23.Feb.2007
Cheney: McCain ‘Ran Over To Me And Apologized’ For Saying ‘Nasty Things’ About Me - Amanda  -

In July 2004, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Vice President Cheney “one of the most capable, experienced, intelligent and steady vice presidents this country has ever had.”

But last month, McCain flip-flopped, attacking Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for their mismanagement of the war in Iraq:

The president listened too much to the Vice President. … Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the Secretary of Defense .

But today in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Cheney said that McCain’s criticisms were nothing more than empty rhetoric: “John said some nasty things about me the other day and then next time he saw me ran over to me and apologized.” Watch it:

Commenting on McCain’s propensity to change his mind, Cheney added, “Maybe he’ll apologize to Rumsfeld.” Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
21.Feb.2007 February 21, 2007 - Think Progress  -

Asked about Tony Blair’s announcement today that the U.K. will cut troop levels in Iraq by 1,600 — from 7,100 down to 5,500 — Vice President Dick Cheney “said the move was actually good news and a sign of progress in Iraq.” Later in the day, he told a group of U.S. troops, “I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat.”

Denmark is expected to follow Britain’s lead and announce plans to withdraw its 460 troops from Iraq .

“Most of the Justice Department’s major statistics on terrorism cases are highly inaccurate + federal prosecutors routinely count cases involving drug trafficking, marriage fraud and other unrelated crimes as part of anti-terrorism efforts,” according to a government audit.

Sectarian tensions have heightened since a Sunni woman announced on Al Jazeera on Monday that she was kidnapped and raped by three officers from the Iraqi National Police has highlighted sectarian tensions.

At first Prime Minister Maliki, a Shiite, vowed to investigate, “but a few hours later condemned the woman, said she was a criminal, announced the three officers would be honored,” and made her name public.

“Six years into Mr. Bush’s presidency, the corps of loyal Texans who accompanied him to Washington from Austin remains a powerful force inside the administration, a steady source of comfort for an increasingly isolated president .

No matter how grim the polls or dire the news in Iraq, they have stood by Mr. Bush — and been rewarded with plum jobs.” (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Glenn Beck attacks New Orleans. - Amanda  - “I find it very difficult in some ways to feel bad for New Orleans,” said Headline News pundit Glenn Beck, who once called Katrina survivors “scumbags.”
23.Feb.2007 Tony Snow and White House Reporters Slam The ‘Hateful,’ ‘Polarized’ Blogosphere - Faiz  -

In a press roundtable at the National Press Club tonight, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow led a discussion with White House correspondents about the impact of the internet on their respective jobs. Their conclusion? They don’t like being challenged by blogs.

NBC News’ David Gregory bemoaned how political coverage has “become so polarized in this country…because it’s the internet and the blogs that have really used this White House press conferences to somehow support positions out in America, political views.” Tony Snow admitted he sometimes reads blogs (”I’ll occasionally punch it up”) only to find “wonderful, imaginative hateful stuff that comes flying out.”

Newsweek’s White House correspondent Richard Wolffe added, “[Bloggers] want us to play a role that isn’t really our role. Our role is to ask questions and get information. …

It’s not a chance for the opposition to take on the government and grill them to a point where they throw their hands up and surrender.” Watch it: Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 White House defends Rumsfeld. - Faiz  -

“The White House defended Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday from criticism from Republican Sen. John McCain that he was one of the worst U.S. defense secretaries ever for his handling of the Iraq war. … The White House backed Rumsfeld but was careful not to criticize McCain in doing so.”
23.Feb.2007 Media Engage In Baseless Speculation About Cheney’s Influence - Satyam  -

The Washington Post writes today “Cheney’s Influence Lessening in Second Term,” arguing that the most powerful vice president in history has been pushed aside. As Cheney left for a one-week diplomatic trip to Asia this week, the Los Angeles Times questioned whether Cheney’s excursion was in fact an “excuse to high-tail it of town,” as “the past few weeks have not been kind to the vice president — or at least to his public image.”

Throughout Bush’s second term, the media has frequently speculated that Cheney, who tends to minimize public appearances, has lost his grip on the White House. Some examples:

Los Angeles Times :

“Events…have prompted speculation that the once-formidable vice president — the most powerful in American history — has become a spent force .” [2/17.2007 ]

McClatchy Washington Bureau :

“[The North Korea nuclear deal] also reflects a changed power balance within the Bush administration with… Vice President Dick Cheney’s influence diminished, at least on this issue and for now .” [2/13.2007 ]

International Herald Tribune :

“ Recent events seem a stunning setback for the vice president ” [11/20.2006 ] (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Blair to announce U.K. troop withdrawal from Iraq. - Payson  -

BBC reports: “Tony Blair is expected to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq. The prime minister is due to make an announcement in the House of Commons on Wednesday in which he is expected clarify the details. Mr Blair is expected to say hundreds of troops will return from Basra within weeks with more to follow later. Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.”
23.Feb.2007 Congress responds to Walter Reed report. - Payson  -

“Seizing on an investigative report by The Washington Post’s Dana Priest and Anne Hull, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) will introduce legislation next week to require more frequent inspections of hospitals providing treatment to active-duty military personnel.” Meanwhile, Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Patty Murray (D-WA) “wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates today demanding an inspector general’s investigation into living conditions for the returning soldiers at Walter Reed.”
23.Feb.2007 Growing Middle East Tensions Incite ‘Weapons Buying Binge’ Among Gulf States - Guest  -

IDEX-2007, touted as the world’s largest military defense exhibition, began yesterday in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The conference — which brings together “key decision-makers from across the world, defense ministers, chiefs of staff and senior officers from army, navy and air force to network” with defense contractors — is attracting a great deal of attention from Persian Gulf states.

The recently-released National Intelligence Estimate assessed that increasing violence and unrest in Iraq “have heightened fears of regional instability + unrest and contributed to a growing polarization between Iran + Syria on the one hand and other Middle East governments on the other.” And Iraq’s neighbors are equipping themselves for potential battle. The AP reports:

Deep fears about the war in Iraq and growing tension between the USA and Iran are driving the wealthy oil states of the Persian Gulf to go on shopping sprees for helicopters, ships and tanks, officials say. …

Helicopters and electronic warning sensors are expected to be hot sellers. For example, seaborne early warning radar can can detect rogue vessels approaching ports or oil terminals. …

In particular, the Saudi military is looking for air defenses and helicopters and perhaps naval frigates. … The Emirates’ shopping list includes ship-to-ship missiles.

States in the Gulf region which have invested little in “rearming” in the “last 15 years,” are now eager to see what others are buying and how they might “defeat those capabilities.”

As one analyst said, “The shopping lists are directly correlated to the threat perception.”

Defense contractors attending the summit — including Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin + Boeing — are more than happy to oblige the Arab nations’ demands.

The Gulf states’ “weapons buying binge” is expected to rake in sales that will “soar past” the $2 billion in contracts offered at IDEX 00.000.2005.

According to U.S. Ambassador to the UAE, Michele Sisson, U.S. companies are expected to “clinch” a significant portion of the profits. Digg It! - Ryan Powers
23.Feb.2007 Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) - Faiz  -

reveals that he didn’t know — and didn’t care — if the Pelosi plane story was true. Putnam claimed he pushed the story because it was the first break “from the media in driving our message.”

A message which happened to be completely false.
23.Feb.2007 How many Australians will it take? - Payson  -

“The Australian government on Tuesday announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country.” Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull predicted the new restrictions “could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tons by 2012 and cut household power bills by up to 66 %.”
23.Feb.2007 Snow: President Bush ‘Certainly’ Was ‘Aware Of The Conditions In The Wards’ At Walter Reed - Amanda  -

In today’s press briefing, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Tony Snow about the Washington Post’s two-part series over the weekend, highlighting the Walter Reed hospital’s dilapidated conditions. Snow stated that “the president certainly has been aware of the conditions in the wards where he has visited + visited regularly.” Snow also affirmed that the administration was aware of Walter Reed’s conditions “before the articles appeared in the paper.” Watch it:

The Army began repairs on the facilities yesterday, only after the media reports and intense public criticism. Apparently, Bush is fine with U.S. troops living in squalid conditions — as long as no one else knows about it.

(The Progress Report has more on the state of veterans under the Bush administration. Read it and sign up to receive the newsletter HERE.)

Bush_Was_Aware_Of_The_Conditions_In_The_Wards_At_Walter_Reed">Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Dana Priest On Walter Reed: An ‘Unbelievable’ Story of ‘Neglect’ and ‘Indifference’ - Payson  -

Dana Priest and Anne Hull of the Washington Post revealed over the weekend that Walter Reed hospital, once perceived as the “crown jewel of military medicine,” has become “something else entirely — a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients.” Priest and Hull snuck in and out of the Walter Reed facilities over the course of four months without the knowledge or permission of hospital officials. They said they wanted to bypass the hospital’s “very well-oiled public relations machine.” Some examples of what they saw:

– The “legions” of injured soldiers housed at the facility “take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army.”

– Building 18 “has been plagued with mold, leaky plumbing and a broken elevator.”

– “The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.”

– “Disengaged clerks, unqualified platoon sergeants and overworked case managers fumble with simple needs.”

Last night on PBS Newshour, Priest admitted Walter Reed’s dilapidated condition was “surprising” to her. “We think that the American — we know that the American people support the troops, no matter what they think of the war,” Priest said. “And so, when we started hearing these stories of neglect + in some cases indifference, it was unbelievable.”

Watch it: John at AmericaBlog has been covering the Walter Reed issue extensively + has a nice round-up of veterans news here. PTSDCombat, FireDogLake, Carpetbagger, Daily Kos and Atrios have more.
23.Feb.2007 ‘The battle royal.’ - Faiz  -

U.S. News reports: “The White House is still holding out hope that it will have a chance to name a third justice to the Supreme Court and cement its conservative tilt for generations to come. ‘We need one more on the Supreme Court,’” said a Bush insider. The source added, “That will be the battle royal.”
23.Feb.2007 House Anti-Murtha Leader Flip-Flops To Attack Iraq Plan - Nico  -

Top House conservatives have teamed up with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt and other bloggers to launch a campaign attacking Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) new Iraq plan, which would attach measures to a defense spending bill requiring that all U.S. forces sent to Iraq are well-trained and well-equipped.

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) is “leading the effort” to force a House vote on a “binding measure to prevent cutting or restricting money for the war.” During last week’s Iraq debate, Johnson attacked Iraq war critics relentlessly:

Debating non-binding resolutions aimed at earning political points only destroys morale, stymies success + emboldens the enemy.

The grim reality is that this House measure is the first step to cutting funding of the troops…Just ask John Murtha about his “slow-bleed” plan that hamstrings our troops in harm’s way.

But as Digby first noted, Johnson had a much different view of the “power of the purse” when President Clinton sent U.S. forces to Bosnia 00.000.1995. Here’s Johnson on the House floor on 12/13/95:

I wholeheartedly support withholding funds … Although it is a drastic step and ties the President’s hands, I do not feel like we have any other choice.

The President has tied our hands, gone against the wishes of the American people + this is the last best way I know how to show my respect for our American servicemen and women . They are helpless, following orders.

But we, we are in a position to stop this terrible mistake before it happens .
23.Feb.2007
New Jersey’s first civil union. - Nico  -

“Hundreds of gay couples were granted the same legal rights, if not the title, as married couples Monday as New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions.” Steven Goldstein and Daniel Gross, partners for 15 years, were the first couple to be joined in civil union. Watch it:
23.Feb.2007 Breaking: Justice denied to Gitmo detainees. - Faiz  -

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 today that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding foreigners. The court refused arguments that the court-stripping provision of the Military Commissions Act was unconstitutional. “The ruling is all but certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court.”

UPDATE: A copy of the court’s opinion can be found here.
23.Feb.2007 Right-Wing Radio Host: Teachers Unions Are ‘Much More Dangerous’ Than Al Qaeda - Think Progress  -

Last night on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes, right-wing radio host Neal Boortz claimed that teachers unions are “destroying a generation” and are “much more dangerous than al Qaeda.” He stated, “Look, Al Qaeda, they could bring in a nuke into this country and kill 100,000 people with a well-placed nuke somewhere. Ok. We would recover from that. It would be a terrible tragedy, but the teachers unions in this country can destroy a generation.” Sean Hannity agreed, noting, “They are ruining our school system.” Watch it:

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, represents more than 2.7 million of America’s teachers and educators.

00.000.2004 -then Secretary of Education Rod Paige similarly called the NEA a “terrorist organization.”

NEA responded to Paige’s remarks, saying it is “morally repugnant to equate those who teach America’s children with terrorists.”

Boortz also called to abolish the Department of Education and in the past, charged that public schools are “brainwashing” American children.

Contact Boortz about his comments HERE. Digg It! (HT: News Hounds) Transcript: (more…)
23.Feb.2007 Largest scientific society issues global warming warning. - Satyam  -

Over the weekend, the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science issued its first statement on global warming: “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now + it is a growing threat to society. … It is time to muster the political will for concerted action. Stronger leadership at all levels is needed. The time is now. We must rise to the challenge.”
23.Feb.2007 Iraq war amputee denied photo-op with Bush. - Faiz  -

“‘Are you telling me that I can’t go to the ceremony ’cause I’m an amputee?‘” asked David Thomas, an Iraq war veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart. Thomas was told he could not wear shorts to attend a ceremony with President Bush because the media would be there + shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row. David responded, “I’m not ashamed of what I did + y’all shouldn’t be neither.” When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it. John Aravosis tracks other cases of disgraceful treatment toward veterans.
23.Feb.2007 REPORT: What Fox Business Channel’s ‘ More Business-Friendly’ Model Means For Television - Faiz  -

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch has announced that he will launch the new Fox Business Channel (FBC) in the fall. The channel is marketing itself as being “more business-friendly” than its rivals.

Nevermind that FBC’s main rival — CNBC — is dealing with allegations that its star network host had an inappropriate undisclosed relationship with a Citigroup executive. Fox wants to push the limits even further. Fox News chief Roger Ailes explained, “Many times I’ve seen things on CNBC where they are not as friendly to corporations and profits as they should be.”

Neil Cavuto will reportedly oversee content and business coverage at the new service. Here’s a glimpse of what we can look forward to from the new Fox Business Channel:

Cavuto to Paul Krugman on his argument about growing wealth inequality in America: “ You are lying to people . That’s what I think that you’re doing.

“Most Americans, when they’re polled on the likability of this president, he polls highly in that regard.”

The Liberal Media: Out to sabotage the economy ?”

“All this hype over global warming could be just that — hype.”

Are immigration protests “ economic terrorism ?”

“Did Americans who took Hugo Chavez’s oil today commit treason ?”

Democrats “will crush the economy ” if they win.

Cavuto explained, “We’re going to be a channel for America — not for old white men with money.”

No, instead, FBC will be “entertaining, informative, youthful,” Cavuto pledged. Given his record, we assume that only means more Playmates, pole-dancing + nearly nude women.
23.Feb.2007 Consumer Revolt Spurred Via the Internet - Zonk 138 - sas-dot writes

"UK's newspaper Independent outlines the brewing consumer revolt being fomented on the web. 'Consumer militancy' is becoming ever more common, as individuals join forces on the internet to fight back against the state and big business. Businesses from banks to soccer clubs have been the target of these groups, in each case facing the fury of consumers who feel they have been wronged. For example, 'A mass revolt has left the high street banks facing thousands of claims from customers seeking to claw back some of the £4.75bn levied annually on charges for overdrafts and bounced cheques. More than one million forms demanding refunds have been downloaded from a number of consumer websites. The banks are settling out of court, often paying £1,000 a time.' Are these kinds of organized 'advocate mobs' going to be the future of internet activism?"
23.Feb.2007
Canadian Border Tightens Due to Info Sharing - Zonk 231 -blu3 b0y writes

"The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that new information sharing agreements have made it as easy for a Canadian border officer to know the full criminal records of US citizens as it is for their local police. As a result, Canadian officials are turning away American visitors for ancient minor convictions, including 30-year-old shoplifting and minor drug possession convictions. Officials claim it's always been illegal to enter Canada with such convictions without getting special dispensation, they just had no good way of knowing about them until recent security agreements allowed access. One attorney speculates it's not long before this information will be shared with other countries as well, causing immigration hassles worldwide."
23.Feb.2007
Old Islamic Tile Patterns Show Modern Math Insight - CowboyNeal 323 - arbitraryaardvark writes

"Reuters reports that medieval Muslims made a mega math marvel. Tile patterns on middle eastern mosques display a kind of quasicrystalline effect that was unknown in the west until rediscovered by Penrose in the 1970s. 'Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions + possess a special form of symmetry.' It isn't known if the mosque designers understood the math behind the patterns or not."
23.Feb.2007
DoD Warez Leader Faces 10 Years in Jail - CowboyNeal 277 -An anonymous reader writes

"After spending nearly 3 years in a detention center fighting his extradition from Australia, a leader of notorious warez group 'DrinkorDie' was yesterday arraigned before a U.S. District Court to face charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and one count of actual criminal copyright infringement. If found guilty he faces 10 years in jail & a $500,000 fine."
23.Feb.2007
Chimps Found Making Own Weapons to Hunt for Food - CowboyNeal 358 -Pojut writes

"The Washington Post has an article involving chimps and weapons. Apparently, there have been direct observations of chimps in the west African savannah modifying sticks to create spears. They then use these spears to kill small mammals and eat them. It is the first time that an animal other than a human has been directly observed in crafting a weapon for the purpose of hunting or killing."
23.Feb.2007
Fish-like Sensors for Underwater Robots - Zonk 15+ -Roland Piquepaille writes

"Today, both submarine and surface ships use sonar for navigation. But sonar and other vision systems face various limitations. So why not imitating fish? For millions of years, fish have relied on 'a row of specialized sensory organs along the sides of their bodies, called the lateral line' to avoid predators or to find preys. So engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have decided to build an artificial lateral line for submarines and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The first tests have been successful + we can now envision a day where AUVs could detect and track moving underwater targets or avoid collisions with moving or stationary objects."
23.Feb.2007
Ex-judge Gets 27 Months on Evidence From Hacked PC - samzenpus 535+ -netbsd_fan writes

"A former California judge has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for possession of illegal pornography, based entirely on evidence gathered by an anonymous vigilante script kiddie in Canada. At any given time he was monitoring over 3,000 innocent people. The anonymous hacker says, "I would stay up late at night to see what I could drag out of their computers, which turned out to be more than I expected. I could read all of their e-mails without them knowing. As far as they were concerned, they didn't know their e-mails had even been opened. I could see who they were chatting with and read what they were saying as they typed."
23.Feb.2007
Scientists Make Quantum Encryption Breakthrough - samzenpus 136+ -Madas writes

"Scientists working in Cambridge have managed to make quantum encryption completely secure (registration required) by putting decoy pulses in the key transmission stream. According to the story this paves the way for safe, encrypted high-speed data links. Could this allow completely private transmission of data away from snooping eyes and ears? Or will it mean film studios can stop movies from being copied when traveling on the internet?"
23.Feb.2007
Burning Ice Drilled from Alaska's Slope - ScuttleMonkey 90+ -bagboy that as sources of renewable energy are being sought, BP has announced a new method of extracting natural gas from ice underneath Alaska's North Slope drilling fields. "Scientists with the federal Energy Department paid $4.6 million to drill for the hot ice just below the surface of the Milne Point well, which is situated northwest of Prudhoe Bay. [...] Now, scientists from around the world are waiting for pieces of this strange ice to conduct their own tests and determine whether Alaska's frozen grounds contain untapped, clean-burning energy."
23.Feb.2007
Fuel Tanks Made of Corncob Waste - ScuttleMonkey 117+ -Roland Piquepaille writes

"The National Science Foundation is running a story on how corncob waste can be used to created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas. These methane storage systems may encourage mass-market natural gas cars. In fact, these 'briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1 storage to volume target set by the U.S. Department of Energy 00.000.2000.' They can lead to flat and compact tanks and have already been installed in a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality. And as the whole natural gas infrastructure exists already, this new technology could be soon adopted by car manufacturers."
23.Feb.2007
Europe Moves To Track Phone and Net Use - kdawson 66+ -An anonymous reader writes with a NYTimes piece on the early moves by European governments to implement an EU data retention directive.

The governments of Germany and the Netherlands are initially proposing much more stringent programs than the EU directive requires. For example, the German proposal "would essentially prohibit using false information to create an e-mail account, making the standard Internet practice of creating accounts with pseudonyms illegal." The Times notes that, early days as it is, nevertheless some people involved in the issue are "concerned about a shift in policy in Europe, which has long been a defender of individuals' privacy rights."
23.Feb.2007
Don't Believe What You See at the Movies - Zonk 362+ - MattSparkes writes

"Many images you see in a magazine are Photoshopped + it's getting less and less likely that what you see at the cinema is any more genuine. In the film 'Blood Diamond', tears were added to Jennifer Connolly's face after a scene was shot. According to The Times, digital effects artists can even change actors' expressions. 'Opening or closing eyes; making a limp more convincing; removing breathing signs; eradicating blinking eyelids from a lingering gaze; or splicing together different takes of an unsuccessful love scene to produce one in which both parties look like they are enjoying themselves.' The article mentions the moral qualms digital effects people have over performing these manipulations + the steps actors are taking to protect their digital assets."
23.Feb.2007
Australia Outlaws Incandescent Light Bulb - Zonk 689+ -passthecrackpipe writes

"The Australian Government is planning on making the incandescent light bulb a thing of the past. In three years time, standard light bulbs will no longer be available for sale in the shops in Australia (expect a roaring grey market) and everybody will be forced to switch to more energy efficient Fluorescent bulbs. In this move to try and curb emissions, the incandescent bulb — which converts the majority of used energy to heat rather then light — will be phased out. Environmental groups have given this plan a lukewarm reception. They feel Australia should sign on to the Kyoto protocol first. A similar plan was created together with Phillips, one of the worlds largest lighting manufacturers."
23.Feb.2007
U.S. Copyright Lobby Out of Touch - Zonk 233+ -Ontheright writes

"The BBC is featuring a story on how the U.S. copyright lobby is increasingly out of touch with the rest of the world. The article focuses on a recent report designed to highlight the inadequacies of IP protection around the world by arguing for a global expansion of the DMCA and elimination of copyright exceptions. Michael Geist penned the article, which specifically calls out the USA for expecting the world at large to adopt its non-standard standards for copyright law."
23.Feb.2007
UK Taps 439,000 Phones, Now Wants To Monitor MPs - Zonk 251+ -JPMH writes

"With the largest density of CCTV cameras in the world + an increasing network of automatic number-plate recognition cameras on main roads, Britain has long been a pioneer for the surveillance society. Now new official figures reveal that UK agencies monitored 439,000 telephones and email addresses in a 15 month period between 2005 and 2006. The Interception of Communications Commissioner is seeking the right for agencies to be allowed to monitor the communications of Members of Parliament as well, something which has been forbidden since the 1960s. It must be that it is bringing their numbers down: on the law of averages they should be monitoring at least 5 of the MPs."
23.Feb.2007
Sweden to Make Denial of Service Attacks Illegal - ScuttleMonkey 55+ -paulraps writes

"Sweden is to pass legislation making Denial of Service attacks illegal. The offense will carry a maximum jail term of two years + is thought to be a direct response to the attack which crashed the Swedish police's web site last summer. Nobody was charged for that, but the fact that it came shortly after a raid on the Pirate Bay's servers was thought by many to be not entirely coincidental. Sweden's move follows the UK, which is even tougher on web attackers — there the sentence can be over five years in prison."
23.Feb.2007
Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time - ScuttleMonkey 105+ -[TheBORG] writes

"There are two stories on Yahoo! News about regrowing lost body parts. One is about regrowing lost fingers & limbs and the other one is about regrowing teeth. The story about regrowing lost fingers and limbs talks about the experimental use of powdered pig bladder to regrow fingers and eventually lost limbs for soldiers and others in need from information that Pentagon-funded scientists hopefully learn from studying the salamander. The story about regrowing teeth talks about how Japanese scientists used primitive cells and injected them into a framework of collagen. Once grown to a certain point, scientists implanted the growths into mice where the teeth developed normally."
23.Feb.2007
Couple Who Catch Cop Speeding Could Face Charges - ScuttleMonkey 553+ -a_nonamiss writes

"A Georgia couple, apparently tired of people speeding past their house, installed a camera and radar gun on their property. After it was installed, they caught a police office going 17MPH over the posted limit. They brought this to the attention of the local police department + are now being forced to appear in front of a judge to answer to charges of stalking."
23.Feb.2007
Attorney: Sealed Documents Indicate OKC Inside Job - Paul Joseph Watson -FBI, defense team files identify government informants directing McVeigh
23.Feb.2007 Attorney: Ashcroft Gagged Nichols From Exposing McVeigh's OKC Bombin - Paul Joseph Watson -Conspirators Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue dropped more bombshells on the U.S.
23.Feb.2007 Nichols Fingers FBI Agent Directing McVeigh in OKC Bombing By Name - Paul Joseph Watson A newspaper reported the name of the FBI agent fingered by Terry Nichols as having led
23.Feb.2007 BBC Discredited; Retractions on 9/11 Hit Piece Forthcoming? - Paul Joseph Watson - Complaint responses suggest consternation within corporation on revelations of bias in Conspiracy
23.Feb.2007
Billboards Urge Preparedness for A Terror Attack on 11/9/09 - Paul Joseph Watson -These rather fetchingly huge fearmongering billboards have been going up across America recently to
23.Feb.2007 Producer Struggles to Defend Flaws & Bias of BBC Hit Piece - Paul Joseph Watson -Guy Smith says 'we can debate these issues all day' without being able to debate any of them
23.Feb.2007 Expert Goes On Record: Bin Laden 9/11 Confession Is Bogus - Paul Joseph Watson -Professor says there is no doubt infamous Bin Laden tape is fake, being used to deflect 9/11
23.Feb.2007 Indonesien - Goldrausch killt Klima - onlineredaktion Michael Schulze von Glaßer ?

Der Goldrausch auf einer indonesischen Insel sorgt für Kriminalität und Umweltzerstörung. Ein Insel-Paradies wird von gierigen Unternehmern rücksichtslos vernichtet. Sulawesi droht ein ?goldiger? Untergang + daran beteiligt sein soll, laut des Vereins ?Rettet den Regenwald?, die deutsche Geschäftsbank WestLB.
Die unerwartet hohe Nachfrage nach diesem Edelmetall trieb den Preis in den letzten Jahren nach oben. Der Preis pro...

23.Feb.2007
Mystery Surrounds Scientist's Death - sfux UPI -

An Iranian scientist who worked at the country's Isfahan nuclear facility may have been assassinated by Israeli operatives, it was reported Sunday. The U.S.-funded Iranian Radio Farda says Adreshire Hassanpour, 44, died under mysterious circumstances Jan. 15, the Sunday Times of London reported. Intelligence...
23.Feb.2007
What Are Fusion Centers? - sfux OSIN -

Fusion Centers are the latest attempt at cooperation between several entities, especially law enforcement groups, at combating terrorism and crime. Or so we are told. But anytime you give a group of mostly neocon white guys that much intelligence capability, you will see basic civil liberties get pissed upon....
23.Feb.2007
Vergewaltigungen in Irak: Frauen brechen ihr Schweigen - sfux Bagdad / AP -

Nach der Kontroverse um eine angeblich von irakischen Polizisten vergewaltigte Sunnitin hat nun eine zweite Irakerin schwere Vorwürfe gegen die Sicherheitskräfte erhoben. Sie sei von sechs Soldaten vergewaltigt worden.
Die 40 Jahre alte Mutter von elf Kindern aus der nordirakischen Stadt Tel Afar sagte einem lokalen TV-Sender aus Kirkuk und dem arabischen Nachrichtensender Al-Dschasira, die sechs Soldaten hätten sie vergewaltigt, die Tat gefilmt und das Video...

23.Feb.2007
Walfänger bedroht Ökosystem der Antarktis - sfux Singapur -

Die Antarktis - eine zerbrechliche Wildnis am Ende der Welt. Gerade geht nach dem kurzen antarktischen Sommer die Brut- und Blütenzeit zu Ende. Die jungen Pinguine der Adélie-Kolonie nicht weit vom McMurdo-Stützpunkt sind fast flügge. Doch tickt vor ihrer Haustür seit zehn Tagen eine Zeitbombe. Gut 1000 Tonnen Benzin und Öl schwappen dort in einem kaputten japanischen Walfangboot hin und her. Wenn es ausläuft, sind die Folgen für dieses sensible Ökosystem unabschätzbar.
23.Feb.2007
Giuliani leads race for White House - sfux New York -

A new U.S. national poll released Wednesday found former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani out in front in the race for the White House 00.000.2008.
The Quinnipiac University poll found Giuliani ahead of fellow New Yorker Senator Hillary Clinton among registered American voters. The former mayor leads Clinton by 5 %age points, 48 to 43.
Arizona Senator John McCain trails with 18 %, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who...

23.Feb.2007
Irans Gegenschlagskapazität - sfux Malte Olschewski -

Die Gefahr eines amerikanisch-israelischen Angriffs auf den Iran hat sich in den letzten Tagen erhöht. Trotz eines am 21.2. abgelaufenen Ultimatums des UNO-Sicherheitsrates will Teheran an seinem Atomprogramm festhalten. Während im Iran umfangreiche Luftabwehrmanöver begonnen haben, versammelt sich vor seinen Küsten um die Flugzeugträger ?Eisenhower? und ?Stennis? eine amerikanische...
23.Feb.2007
Nadelstiche gegen Hillary Clinton - sfux AP -

Im Rennen um die Präsidentschaftskandidatur der Demokratischen Partei in den USA muss Hillary Clinton wegen ihrer früheren Haltung zum Irak-Krieg mit Kritik aus dem eigenen Lager rechnen. Bei einer Podiumsveranstaltung in Nevada sagte der frühere Senator John Edwards, Clinton müsse es mit ihrem Gewissen ausmachen, dass sie sich nicht von ihrer anfänglichen Zustimmung zur Irak-Invasion distanziert habe.
«Es steht mir aber nicht zu, ein Urteil darüber abzugeben», sagte...

23.Feb.2007
US against Iran ? Apocalypse now? - onlineredaktion Dr. Alexander von Paleske -

The US Government apparently continues to prepare for war against Iran. A second aircraft carrier is on its way to the Persian Gulf. Openly the options, how to destroy the Iranian alleged nuclear facilities, are being considered. Israel is pressurizing for a speedy attack.
23.Feb.2007
bbau der Demokratie auch in Norwegen? - onlineredaktion 

Das norwegische Parlament in Oslo hat Verfassungsänderungen beschlossen. Demnach wurde die in der Verfassung verankerte, seit 1884 gebräuchliche Regel ein von einem Misstrauensvotum betroffener Minister müsse zurücktreten, abgeschafft. Ein Schritt zu mehr Verantwortungslosigkeit norwegischer Minister? Oder ein Weg zu diktatorischer ?Sicherheit?? Ebenso geändert: Norwegische Parlamentarier wollen Gesetze künftig schneller beschließen.
23.Feb.2007
A Six-Year Push to Attack Iran - sfux Larisa Alexandrovna & Muriel Kane -

The escalation of US military planning on Iran is only the latest chess move in a six-year push within the Bush Administration to attack Iran, a RAW STORY investigation has found. While Iran...
23.Feb.2007
Schnüffeln im Sexualleben der Bundesbürger - sfux Karl Weiss - Verschärfen des Sexualstrafrechts ? Sex unter 18 Straftat?
Um von ihren Untaten abzulenken, schaffen Politiker in diesem Moment in der Bundesrepublik immer neue Strafbestände im Sexualstrafrecht. Man macht verschärfte Gesetze scheinbar gegen ?Kinderschänder? ? in Wirklichkeit gegen solche, die absolut nichts mit sexuellen Übergriffen auf Kinder zu tun haben.

23.Feb.2007 Joint Intelligence Sharing Centre Opened in Kabul - sfux AFP -

The Afghan, Pakistan and Nato militaries in Afghanistan formally opened their first joint intelligence sharing centre yesterday to boost co-operation against Taliban and other extremists.
The commander of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General David Richards,...

23.Feb.2007
Verbot für Giftmülltransport aus Australien ? aber nur vorläufig - onlineredaktion -

Bei Politikern, Umweltverbänden und vielen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern stieß der geplante Transport von australischem Giftmüll durch Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg auf heftige Kritik. Im Mai 2007 sollte die Fracht des australischen Sprengstoffherstellers Orica im Elbhafen Brunsbüttel entladen werden ? vier Schiffladungen, rund 22.000 Tonnen krebserregender Lösungsmittelrückstände, davon die Hälfte Hexachlorbenzol. Geplant war, die Hälfte der Giftfracht der Brunsbüttler...
23.Feb.2007
Top Secret Polo Step - sfux National Security Archive / Washington -

The U.S. Central Command's war plan for invading Iraq postulated in August 2002 that the U.S. would have only 5,000 troops left in Iraq as of December 2006, according to the Command's PowerPoint briefing...
23.Feb.2007
Don't leave children with dogs - medics Children should not be left alone to play with dogs, doctors say - and one calls for classes for all dog owners.
23.Feb.2007 Hospital bug deaths on the rise The number of deaths linked to a hospital bug called Clostridium difficile has outstripped those due to MRSA, statistics show.
23.Feb.2007 Emotion robots learn from people Making robots that interact with people emotionally is the goal of a European project led by British scientists.
23.Feb.2007 Iran leader vows nuclear defiance Iran vows to defend its nuclear activities to the end, as world powers prepare for talks on more sanctions.
23.Feb.2007 UK-US in talks on missile defence The UK and US are discussing whether to site a US anti-ballistic missile defences on UK soil.
23.Feb.2007 Bush faces fresh Iraq challenge Democrats in the US are planning a Senate challenge to President George W Bush's handling of the Iraq war.
23.Feb.2007
Mexican anger over US 'trespass' Mexico's parliament condemns an alleged border violation by US workers building a controversial border barrier.
23.Feb.2007 Cheney warns on Chinese build-up US Vice-President Dick Cheney voices concern at China's growing military power, on a visit to Australia.
23.Feb.2007
Advanced geometry of Islamic art Geometric principles used in Islamic art were only discovered centuries later by western mathematicians.
23.Feb.2007 Nimrods grounded in safety scare The MoD grounds Nimrod MR2 aircraft as checks are carried out on possible fuel pipe problems.
23.Feb.2007 The Green Room Why giving developing world farmers control over their destinies will help them and the environment.
23.Feb.2007 Italian parties 'reach agreement' Parties in Italy's governing coalition reach a deal allowing Romano Prodi to continue as prime minister, reports say.
23.Feb.2007 Padilla 'not fit to stand trial' Suspected al-Qaeda conspirator Jose Padilla is not fit to stand trial, a psychiatrist called by his defence says.
23.Feb.2007 Air Force Seeks Sleepless Lights No more "go pills": The military wants special lights to keep pilots awake. Otherwise, the brass will just breed the need to sleep out of 'em. In Danger Room.
23.Feb.2007 Feb. 23, 1941: One Step Closer Scientists isolate plutonium for the first time. Next up, the atomic bomb. Compiled by Tony Long.
23.Feb.2007 Chimps ... the Mighty Hunters? For the first time, researchers observe a chimpanzee fashion a spear from a branch then use it to kill prey. Is this an anomaly, or are chimps really that smart? By the Associated Press.
23.Feb.2007 RFID Chips Shrink to Powder Size Hitachi's new tags measure 0.002 inches square, but store as much information as their much-larger predecessors. The company's still investigating possible uses. By the Associated Press.
23.Feb.2007 Why we don't care about Josh Wolf CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the jailed blogger's plight is another example of Valley quietude when it comes to getting involved.
23.Feb.2007 Ägypten: Kampf gegen Meinungsfreiheit - vier Jahre Haft für kritischen Blogger
23.Feb.2007 Einladung zur Insepktion: Nordkorea erlaubt wieder Uno- Atomkontrollen
23.Feb.2007 Numerator: Moschee- Baumeister waren westlichen Mathematikern 500 Jahre voraus
23.Feb.2007 Mount St. Augustine: Vulkan speit Blitzkaskaden
23.Feb.2007
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml
Needless to say, electricity utilities are watching the solar revolution with horror. Companies in Japan and Germany have already seen an erosion of profits because of an effect known "peak shaving".

In essence, the peak wattage of solar cells overlaps with hours of peak demand and peak prices for electricity in the middle of the day, crunching margins.
23.Feb.2007 Ritual piece of Stonehenge discovered 
A MISSING stone which could be an integral part of rituals at Stonehenge may have been discovered by a Welsh archaeologist.posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 Affidavit: McVeigh had high-level help 

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says a high-ranking FBI official "apparently" was directing Timothy McVeigh in the plot to blow up a government building and might have changed the original target of the attack, according to a new affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Utah. Via Raw Story. posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 The Ancient Girl With the Golden Eye  The body of a strikingly tall 5,000-year-old woman with an artificial golden eye has been discovered in Iran. With cool pic and illustration.posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 Hogg brothers try to save Scotland's rarest dialect  Two elderly Cromarty brothers may be the last to speak an ancient Scottish dialect. posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 Sudden cold snap linked to Neanderthals' demise 

They once inhabited a zone stretching from Asia to western Europe and eked out an existence until some 24,000 years ago. But in the end it was a familiar foe - climate change - that did for our evolutionary cousins the Neanderthals, new research suggests. posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 World's Smallest RFID Tag  Article on RFID 'Powder' - scary stuff. Via Daily Grail.posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 U.S. judge sentenced in child-porn case uncovered by Canadian hacker 

Nearly a decade after he began his controversial career as a teenage "vigilante hacker," a Canadian computer whiz says it was "definitely satisfying" to learn this week that his most high-profile quarry - a disgraced California judge - has finally been sentenced. posted by Prof. Hex
23.Feb.2007 Absichtserklärung: 46 Staaten wollen Streubomben ächten

23.Feb.2007 US- Raketenabwehr: Union wirft Steinmeier Antiamerikanismus vor - SPD empört
23.Feb.2007 Kritik an Spritfressern: "Economist" knöpft sich deutsche Autokonzerne vor
23.Feb.2007
The Denial Machine -Video -This documentary shows how fossil fuel corporations have kept the global warming debate alive long after most scientists believed that global warming was real and had potentially catastrophic consequences .Continue
21.Feb.2007 The Future of Food -Video
The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled grocery store shelves for the past decade.
Click to view

The Second Great Depression -By Mike Whitney

23.Feb.2007 December’s figures indicate that foreign investment is drying up and the world is no longer eager to purchase America’s lavish debt.

The only thing the Federal Reserve can do is raise interest rates to attract foreign capital or let the dollar fall in value. The problem, of course, is that if the Fed raises rates, the real estate market will collapse even faster which will strangle consumer spending and shrivel GDP. Continue

21.Feb.2007 A War Conspiracy Documented -By John Prados
There is a new hot document that confirms that Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair intended to sucker Saddam into war. It demonstrates that this aim was present long before the Bush-Blair talks + indeed that provocation formed an integral feature of the U.S. war plan.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 The Iraq Effect - War Has Increased Terrorism Sevenfold Worldwide -By Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank
The administration’s own National Intelligence Estimate on "Trends in Global Terrorism: implications for the USA," circulated within the government

00.Apr.2006 and partially declassified in October, states that "the Iraq War has become the ‘cause celebre’ for jihadists...and is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives." Continue

23.Feb.2007 Audit: Anti-Terror Case Data Flawed -By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud + drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11

even though no evidence linked them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit said Tuesday. Continue
23.Feb.2007 US Guantanamo ruling 'shocking:

AMNESTY International has criticised a decision by the US appeals court preventing foreign terror suspects from challenging their detentions at Guantanamo Bay in the US legal system

23.Feb.2007 Chain up Cheney! Bring Hicks home!: Sydney anti-war marchers defy police ban and reclaim the streets

23.Feb.2007 Australia: Ten arrested at Cheney protest: TEN people have been arrested in Sydney during violent clashes between police and protesters at a rally ahead of the arrival of US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

23.Feb.2007 Libby perjury hearing casts cloud over Cheney: As a Washington jury continues its deliberations on Thursday on whether Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff of Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, is guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice, he is not the only one whose reputation has come under suspicion.

23.Feb.2007 Jury undecided in Libby leak trial: A JURY has adjourned after its first day of deliberations without deciding whether to convict former US vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby of obstructing an investigation tied to the Iraq war.

23.Feb.2007 Texas Governor Perry took Merck money before mandating cervical vaccine : Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) says that it's just a coincidence that he and eight other lawmakers received donations of $5,000 each from Merck lobbyists just a few days before mandating the drug giant's HPV cervical cancer vaccine for all females in Texas ages 12 and up.

23.Feb.2007 At last!: Israeli Arabs demand binational state : A coalition of Arab community leaders in Israel has drafted a manifesto demanding the country's Jews share power in a binational state.

23.Feb.2007 Claim: Syria-Russia missle deal close: Ha'aretz, which did not disclose it's sources, said Thursday the new sale of Kornet AT-14 and Metis AT-13 missiles was close to completion despite Israeli diplomatic efforts to get Moscow to abandon it.

23.Feb.2007 Unnamed sources: Syria rearms, moves troops closer to Golan Heights border : The Syrian navy, after years of neglect, is also being reinforced with an Iranian version of a Chinese anti-ship missile, similar to the one used by Hezbollah during the second Lebanon war to strike the Israeli destroyer INS Hanit.
23.Feb.2007 Iran ready to negotiate : Will not suspend uranium enrichment : Iran said Tuesday it was ready to negotiate over its nuclear ambitions, but refused to budge on demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, despite a looming U.N. Security deadline and the threat of tougher sanctions.

23.Feb.2007 Iran ignores UN nuclear deadline : On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said in a report that Iran had installed two cascades, or networks, of 164 centrifuges in its underground Natanz enrichment plant with another two cascades close to completion.

23.Feb.2007 US' Rice says Iran to be referred to UN Security Council : Rice said after a meeting in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that there was agreement over the next steps to take following Iran's refusal to stop uranium enrichmen

23.Feb.2007 Britain wants Security Council action to 'further isolate' Iran : "We will now be consulting closely with our European, Chinese, Russian and US partners and other Security Council members on next steps. We remain determined to prevent Iran acquiring 'the means " to develop nuclear weapons."

23.Feb.2007 Straying From the Script : A U.S. briefer overstates Iran's meddling in Iraq, setting off a Washington tempest.

War pimp alert: US commander fears ‘miscalculation’ by Iran : “What concerns me is miscalculation. That’s certainly what we are trying to avoid... a mistake that then boils over into a war,” Walsh said late on Monday.

23.Feb.2007 Russia warns U.S. on Iran moves: "The Russian foreign minister said Wednesday U.S.-led multinational foreign forces in Iraq must not conduct military operations outside the country, including against Iran," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

23.Feb.2007 Splits emerge between U.S. and Europe over aid for Palestinians: The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who has said that the USA + Europe should look for ways to engage Hamas, was pointed during a news conference about not threatening to continue the boycott if the new government did not recognize Israel.

23.Feb.2007 Hamas political chief to travel to Moscow for talks: Mashaal's trip would be his second to Moscow in a year. A high-level delegation met with Russian officials in March 2005 — a trip that irked Israel, broke the international isolation of the militant group and was widely seen as a bid by President Vladimir Putin to activate Russia's role in the Middle East peace process.
23.Feb.2007 More nations plan pull-out : Poland has already announced that it will bring home its 900 troops by the end of the year + Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Japan and New Zealand have already withdrawn their troops.
23.Feb.2007 US Iran Intelligence 'Is Incorrect' -Julian Borger in Vienna-Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today. Continue

23.Feb.2007 US ratchets up ‘psy-ops’ against Tehran -By Mahan Abedin
People like Ahmadinejad and Kachouyan developed their political consciousness not on the turbulent streets of the Iranian revolution but in the revolutionary decade of the 1980s + especially in the front lines of the Iran-Iraq War. The belief that Iran faced much of the Western and Eastern worlds during the war is widely shared in the population, but it is especially intense in the networks linked to the second-generation revolutionaries.
Continue

23.Feb.2007 Nuclear Secrets – Vanunu And The Bomb -BBC Video-Mordechai Vanunu was the man who was determined to tell the world about Israel's nuclear capabilities and, by doing so, created a world scandal. Real Video 23.Feb.2007 BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week: "Well, she's back: one-half of the "Ken Starr" dream team of GOP legal assassins, Victoria Toensing...Toensing's argument was so specious ? and the Washington Post's timing of the publication to influence the Scooter Libby jury so transparent ?that it crossed the line into de facto, but legal, jury tampering."

23.Feb.2007 Joe Conason: In light of the series of laws passed in Congress and precedents set by the Bush administration, people have good reason to doubt the future of democracy and the rule of law in America.
As BuzzFlash and Others in the Blogoshpere Predicted,Lieberman is Holding the Democratic Party and the Welfare of Our GIs Hostage to His Own Bushevik Delusions. He Threatens to Switch to the GOP if the Dems Try to Stop the Iraq War. Repbulicans and Naive Dems Were the Key to His Election in Connecticut + Now the Creep May Sabotage Dem Control of the Senate.

23.Feb.2007 U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty: The %age of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen. 2/23
Blair in Retreat From the Crazed Fantasyland of Bushevism? "Tony Blair has declared himself at odds with hawks in the US Administration by saying publicly for the first time that it would be wrong to take military action against Iran. The Prime Minister?s comments came hours before the UN?s nuclear watchdog raised the stakes in the West?s showdown with Tehran." 2/23

23.Feb.2007 License to Murder needs to be stopped. Please click here to sign Freedom States Alliance?s statement against this dangerous and unnecessary law. And when you?re done, you?ll be given a chance to tell five of your friends about what the NRA is trying to do to us in America. Currently, violence is used only as a last option + anyone who commits violence in self defense is fairly treated under the law. But the NRA wants to undo what works + give a firing order to anyone holding a gun.
Determined to challenge Bush, Senate Democrats are drafting legislation to limit the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq, effectively revoking the broad authority Congress granted 00.000.2002, officials said Thursday. Bush would just ignore it, if passed. He doesn't believe in the Constitutional guarantee of checks and balances. 2/23
GOP Oregon Senator Gordon Slade's Staff Has Two Senior Citizen Women Arrested for Trying to Meet With Him About the Iraq war 2/23

23.Feb.2007 Bushevik Betrayal of Our GIs Continues with a Literal Whitewash of Walter Reed: "Kiley might have had a stronger case if men wearing Tyvek hazmat suits and gas masks hadn't walked through the lobby while the camera crews waited for the tour to start, or if he hadn't acknowledged, moments later, that the entire building would have to be closed for a complete renovation. The general also seemed to miss a larger point identified by other officials: Walter Reed's problem isn't of mice and mold but a bureaucracy that has impeded the recovery of wounded soldiers." 2/23
23.Feb.2007
https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/ In this country, Cheney is quite unpopular -- witness the case for impeachment outlined in GQ magazine (of all venues!). Still, the Aussies seem to have taken a visceral dislike to the man unmatched on these shores. Permalink
23.Feb.2007 https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/ One possible explanation: The company hired Lam, in part, to keep an eye on her. She must know some very sensitive material. Permalink
23.Feb.2007 https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/ Interestingly, Lam will soon function as an attorney for Qualcomm, the wireless technology firm.
23.Feb.2007 https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/ Daniel Hopsicker has published an excellent piece pointing out a simple fact missed by all other commentators: "Hookergate" -- unlike previous sex scandals, such as those involving Monica Lewinski or Donna Rice -- cost lives. Tons of DOD cash went to Wilkes and Wade, while our solders went begging: Just one month after the Duke-ster was getting his rocks off in Hawaii, a story in the Los Angeles Times contained this headline: “Why must Americans in Iraq face death because of outmoded body armor?” From a New York Times article cited by Hopsicker:
“The Pentagon has been collecting the data on wounds since the beginning of the war in

00.Mar.2003 in part to determine the effectiveness of body armor.
"The military's medical examiner, Dr. Craig T. Mallak, told a military panel 00.000.2003 that the information 'screams to be published.'"
“The findings and other research by military pathologists suggests that an analysis of all combat deaths in Iraq, including those of Army troops, would show that 300 or more lives might have been saved with improved body armor.” Hopsicker then brings it all back home: What makes all this tragic almost beyond words is this statement from the story in the N.Y. Times:

Even at retail prices, it would have cost less than $97 million to outfit each of the 150,000 soldiers in Iraq with state-of-the-art vest plates.
Hell, the Defense Department's 'black budget' spent more money than that with Wilkes’ company just to Xerox old maps.

Meanwhile, speculation continues to grow that the rash of fired U.S. Attorneys may have been engineered to provide cover for the one firing that really, really counts -

- Carol Lam, the woman who went after Wilkes, Dusty Foggo + John T. Michael (an under-discussed Cunningham bribe figure).
20060423

Apr.2006 Berlusconi unbowed by poll ruling Italy's prime minister refuses to concede ... Apr.2006 Italien: Unabhängiger Senator gefährdet Prodis Vorsprung ... alfatomega.com/20060423.html
23.Feb.2007
Amerikaner glauben an Jungfrau-Geburt - Esoterik und Spiritualität :) Amerikaner glauben an Jungfrau-Geburt Religionen und ihre Götter! ...

Solange werden sie auch im religiösen Glauben sich alles mögliche vorstellen. www.foren4all.de/showthread.php?t=2085
23.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,druck-468176,00.html
In "Science" veröffentlichen Waters und Stafford nun einen viel engeren Zeitrahmen: Alle Funde sollen 12.900-13.100 Jahre alt sein.
23.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,druck-468176,00.html

Neue Datierung, engerer Zeitraum

Bislang galt ein Zeitraum von vor 13.300 bis vor 12.800 Jahren als die Hochzeit, in der Angehörige der Clovis-Kultur an jenen Orten gelebt haben, an denen Archäologen im 20. Jahrhundert ihre Spuren fanden.

Aber einige Datierungen wiesen auf Zeitpunkte hin, die bis zu 13.600 Jahre zurückzuliegen schienen. Keine älteren Spuren menschlicher Besiedlung Amerikas konnten bislang zweifelsfrei nachgewiesen werden.
23.Feb.2007
Clovis- Kultur: Steinzeit- Amerikaner lebten später als gedacht
23.Feb.2007 Strategieschwenk: US- Verbündete verlegen Truppen vom Irak nach Afghanistan

23.Feb.2007 Verhaltensforschung: Das Faultier, das zu faul war
23.Feb.2007 Kölnisch Wasser: 4711 ist wieder in deutschen Händen
23.Feb.2007 Konjunktur: Geschäftsklima kühlt sich stärker ab als erwartet
23.Feb.2007 Gebärmaschinen- Streit: Mixa rühmt Hausmütter

23.Feb.2007 Aids: Beschnittene Männer haben geringeres HIV- Risiko
23.Feb.2007 Aktionskünstler Mark McGowan: New Yorker treten Bush in den Hintern
23.Feb.2007 Rüstung: Pakistan testet nuklearfähige Langstreckenrakete

23.Feb.2007 Energiekonzern: Hohe Strompreise füllen RWE die Kasse
23.Feb.2007 Verbrechen im Irak: US- Feldwebel zu 100 Jahren Haft verurteilt
23.Feb.2007 Pakt mit Prodi: Italiens Linke will Regierung retten

23.Feb.2007 Atomstreit: Sicherheitsrat berät neue Sanktionen gegen Iran
22.Feb.2007 Briefbomben- Serie: Hausmeister wegen Attentaten angeklagt
22.Feb.2007 BND- Ausschuss: Wie Murat Kurnaz zum Dauerrisiko wurde
22.Feb.2007 Bayerische Unibibliothek: 80 Tonnen historische Bücher im Altpapier
22.Feb.2007 Atomstreit: Iran brüskiert Uno- Sicherheitsrat
22.Feb.2007 Erdbebenschutz: Bakterien sollen Sand zu Stein machen
22.Feb.2007 Privatisierung: Ein Tag Stillstand im Hamburger Hafen
22.Feb.2007 Von der Leyens Kinder- Pläne: Gebärmaschinen- Schelte provoziert Protest - Politiker empört über Bischof
22.Feb.2007 Klimaschutz im Internet: Yahoo- Gründer kämpft gegen Glühbirnen
22.Feb.2007 Mega- Bauprojekt: Brücke soll Afrika und arabische Länder verbinden
22.Feb.2007
Atomstreit: Iran verletzt Uno- Resolution
22.Feb.2007
US- Raketenpläne: Steinmeier warnt vor Gefahr für Abrüstung
22.Feb.2007 Lichtgeister am Himmel: Satellit jagt rätselhafte Leuchtwolken

23.Feb.2007 Aids: Herpes- Medikament hemmt HI- Viren
23.Feb.2007 US- Präsidentschaft: Offene Fehde zwischen Clinton und Obama
23.Feb.2007
Exoplaneten: "Spitzer" nimmt Fingerabdruck ferner Gashüllen
23.Feb.2007 Konjunktur: Export boomt, Schulden steigen

23.Feb.2007 Familienpolitik: Frauen als Gebärmaschinen - Bischof giftet gegen von der Leyen
23.Feb.2007 Fall Kurnaz: Verfassungsschutzchef nennt Vorwürfe Quatsch
23.Feb.2007 Ausgewachsener Kalmar: Fischer fangen lebenden Tiefsee- Koloss

23.Feb.2007 Neue Website: Passagiere können gegen US- Flugverbotsliste protestieren
23.Feb.2007 Gastgeschenk: Eine Prise Schwefel für Bush
22.Feb.2007 Natural family planning 'effective' A natural family planning method is as effective as the contraceptive pill, German research suggests.
22.Feb.2007 Drug 'cuts long-term cancer risk' Tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer returning long after women stop taking the drug, research suggests.
22.Feb.2007 'Cancer hug' liability admitted The Ministry of Defence is to compensate a woman who says she developed cancer from hugging her dockyard worker father.
22.Feb.2007 How irises 'reveal personalities' Personality really can be read in a person's eyes, a study has said.
22.Feb.2007 Iran rejects UN's nuclear demand Iran hits out at UN calls for it to stop uranium enrichment after a report said it had missed a deadline to do so.
22.Feb.2007 Russia to tackle mortality crisis Russia sets aside $3bn (£1.53bn) to tackle falling life expectancy rates and an epidemic of ill-health.
22.Feb.2007 Italian crisis talks as PM quits Italian President Giorgio Napolitano holds crisis talks after the resignation of Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
22.Feb.2007 Anger at NY 'immigration game' Republican students in New York spark claims of racism with a game called "Find the Illegal Immigrant".
22.Feb.2007 Philippine army linked to murders A Philippines government panel implicates the military in some political killings, backing the findings of a UN envoy.
22.Feb.2007 Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult' An Egyptian court jails an internet blogger for four years for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.
22.Feb.2007 Man charged over letter bombings A school caretaker is charged in connection with seven letter bombs sent over a period of three weeks.
22.Feb.2007 UN to press Iran on nuclear talks The US says the UN Security Council will make a fresh attempt to persuade Iran to discuss its nuclear programme.
22.Feb.2007 Iran failed to meet UN deadline Iran has boosted its nuclear research, defying the latest UN deadline to halt the work, a key report says.
22.Feb.2007 Threat to ocean sharks increases Several species of ocean-going shark are more threatened than previously thought, scientists conclude.
22.Feb.2007 Italian PM hands in resignation Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi offers to resign after the loss of a key foreign policy vote in the Senate.
22.Feb.2007 Blair announces Iraq troops cut Tony Blair says he hopes to cut the number of UK troops in Iraq from 7,100 to 5,000 within months.
22.Feb.2007 US wants tougher Iran sanctions Washington says it will now push for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities.
22.Feb.2007 Colombia clowns killed on stage Two clowns have been shot dead in the middle of a show in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta, police say.
22.Feb.2007 Fear as cyclone nears Mozambique Mozambique is on the highest level of alert as a cyclone with winds of up to 175km/h approaches.
22.Feb.2007 US probes troops' neglect claims The US says it is reviewing the way its wounded soldiers are cared for at hospitals, after critical media reports.
22.Feb.2007 Philippines army is 'in denial' A UN envoy says the Philippines army is in "almost total denial" about a wave of extra-judicial killings.
22.Feb.2007 Quartet warning to Palestinians The Quartet of Mid-East peace negotiators says the new Palestinian government must recognise Israel.
22.Feb.2007 S Asia rivals sign nuclear pact India and Pakistan sign an agreement to reduce the risk of accidental nuclear conflict in the region.
22.Feb.2007 Indian Idol creates Kashmir stir Young people ignore militant threats in Indian-administered Kashmir and audition for TV show Indian Idol.
22.Feb.2007 21/7 suspects arrest video shown Footage of two 21 July bombing suspects as they surrendered to police has been shown to jurors.
22.Feb.2007 Fed 'uncertain' about inflation The US Federal Reserve left rates on hold in January amid uncertainty about the future path of inflation, minutes show.
22.Feb.2007 Japan may resume whaling voyage The fire on Japan's ship Nisshin Maru may not have ended its Antarctic whaling operations for this season.
22.Feb.2007 Iran defiant on nuclear plan Iran's president rejects calls to suspend uranium enrichment, a day before a UN deadline runs out.
22.Feb.2007 S Korea tackles high suicide rate Officials plan steps to tackle South Korea's high suicide rate, which has doubled in about five years.
22.Feb.2007 Guantanamo court moves barred A US federal court rules that Guantanamo prisoners cannot challenge their detention in the civilian courts.
22.Feb.2007 No end to deadly Bolivian floods Up to 340,000 people have been affected by continuing flooding in Bolivia, which has left 35 people dead.
22.Feb.2007 Prosecutors 'uncover mafia plot' Italian authorities say they have discovered a conspiracy to kill a top anti-mafia politician
22.Feb.2007 EU reaches deal on emissions cuts EU environment ministers agree in principle to cut emissions by 20% by 2020 + seek a global 30% cut.
22.Feb.2007 New finds at Egypt's city of dead Archaeologists unveil the latest finds at the Saqqara necropolis, or city of the dead, near Cairo.
22.Feb.2007 Freeze 'condemned Neanderthals' Climate change could have been the killer blow that finished off the Neanderthals, according to a study.
22.Feb.2007 US 'Iran attack plans' revealed US contingency plans for possible air strikes on Iran include most of its military infrastructure, the BBC learns.
22.Feb.2007 Sexualisation 'harms' young girls Sexualised images of girls in advertising and the media harms their mental and physical health, experts warn.
22.Feb.2007 Mexico steps up anti-drugs fight Mexico sends more troops and police to states bordering Texas, in a further attempt to crack down on drug gangs.
22.Feb.2007 RIAA Appeal Threatens Open Wi-FI The latest twist in a landmark file-sharing case could lead to a world where open wireless networks constitute a legal liability. In Listening Post.
22.Feb.2007 Blogger Jailed for Slamming Islam Outspoken criticism of Muslim extremists and Egypt's president earns an Egyptian man a four-year prison sentence. By the Associated Press.
22.Feb.2007 Cities Battle Blinking Billboards Giant digital displays, designed to give roadside advertisers more options for capturing drivers' eyes, encounter opposition in the face of safety concerns.
22.Feb.2007 Selling Homeowners a Solar Dream A startup promises to install solar panels on your roof for free + sell you the power for pennies. Is it a revolution, or clean-energy vaporware?
22.Feb.2007 Darpa Chief Talks Wonder War Tech In an exclusive interview, the Pentagon's director of way-out research reveals what's in the pipeline -- and what's working in Iraq right now. In Danger Room.
22.Feb.2007 NSA Spy Documents Stay Sealed A federal judge rejects a bid by Wired News and other media outlets to unseal whistle-blower papers in a lawsuit over surveillance of Americans. In 27B Stroke 6.
22.Feb.2007 Banking on Babies' Cord Blood Pediatricians push the ultimate biological insurance policy - a stash of umbilical cord blood to battle future illness - as the government sets up a national blood-banking system. AP.
22.Feb.2007 Aussies Ban Old-Style Bulbs Australia decrees a nationwide replacement of incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescents, one step, it says, in the battle against global warming. By the AP.
22.Feb.2007 You Buy Research You Can't See The Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress is funded by taxpayers to the tune of $100 million annually.

But the reports are not public information. In 27B Stroke 6.
22.Feb.2007
Chimps use spears, scientist finds Blog: Chimpanzees in Senegal are regularly making and using spears to hunt other primates, without human assistance, according to a...
22.Feb.2007 Global warming could make faucets run dry, expert says If global warming persists, don't expect to take many long showers, Nobel Prize winner says.
22.Feb.2007 Scary oil statistics from the U.S. Treasury Blog: We're very addicted to oil when it comes to transportation, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.The U.S. consumes 21...
20060913

Sep.2006 Libanon- Einsatz: Merkel schickt Marine auf historische Mission ... Sep.2006 Asem - Gipfel: EU und asiatische Staaten wollen mehr Klimaschutz ... alfatomega.com/20060913.html
22.Feb.2007 Rounding Up U.S. Citizens | AfterDowningStreet.org The Alien Enemies Act provided for the arrest, detention and deportation of male citizens ...
www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14432
22.Feb.2007 AlterNet: American Prison Camps Are on the Way The Alien Enemies Act provided for the arrest, detention and deportation of male citizens ... www.alternet.org/story/42458/
20060412

Apr.2006 UK dismisses talk of Iran attack UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says reports of a possible US nuclear strike against Iran are "nuts". alfatomega.com/20060412.html
22.Feb.2007
Blackwater Represents the Privatization of Our Military, Accountable to No One. Bush Has Created a Mercenary Army.
"There is a cloud over the vice-president," Patrick Fitz­gerald, special prosecutor, told the jury on Tuesday. "He sent Libby off to the meeting with Judy [Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter] where Plame was discussed. That cloud is something that we just can't pretend isn't there."
Cheney on Aircraft Carrier: "We Want to Complete the Mission." Wait, What Mission? Wasn't it already Accomplished? -- A BuzzFlash News Alert

23.Feb.2007 When Do We Say That Bush and Cheney are on a "Mission" of Madness and Death? It's Official Now, "Blair announces Iraq withdrawal plan." The Busheviks Abandon Our Underequipped GIS to be Bait for Their Warmongering and Egomania. They are Alone in Creating Their Pool of Blood Now with Our Soldiers.
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (Hardcover), By Chalmers Johnson

23.Feb.2007 This past week, Vermont became the first state in the Union where both legislative houses passed resolutions calling for the forthcoming and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. State Representative Michael Fisher led the effort to save Vermont men and women in uniform from being put in harm's way for an undefined mission and delusional pursuit of an undetermined victory. He merits this week's BuzzFlash "Wings of Justice Award."

23.Feb.2007 Joe Galloway: As The Washington Post probe proves, there's more to supporting our troops than making "Support Our Troops" a phrase that every politician feels obliged to utter in every speech, no matter how craven the purpose. How can they look at themselves in the mirror every morning? 2/22
The latest -Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 60 % of Americans want Congress to block money from going to war -- President Bush's planned troop increase, the 21,500 new troops for Iraq. Thirty-eight % are against the resolution, or at least believe that Congress should vote against the resolution.
UK Calls Iraq Withdrawal Days after Prince Harry Deployment Revealed. How Long Would it Take Bush if the Twins Enlisted? -- A BuzzFlash News Analysis

23.Feb.2007 "That statement opens a 52-page report comparing the well-being of children in 21 industrialized countries. Overall the USA finished second to last in that ranking, with Great Britian last. I have not heard anyone in our government comment on the report much less dispute the findings. I think it's shocking that children in this country are not doing as well as ones 00.000.19 other countries including places such as the Czech Republic, Portugal Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Canada is at the mid-point on the chart while we're at the bottom." 2/22
22.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,druck-467872,00.html

Buschhäher hatten bereits in früheren Studien gezeigt, dass sie in der Lage sind, eine geistige Reise in die Vergangenheit anzutreten, um ihre Nahrungsverstecke wiederzufinden und genau zuzuordnen. Die neue Studie zeige nun, dass sie sich auch die Zukunft vorstellen und ihr Verhalten an die erwarteten Bedingungen anpassen könnten, schreiben die Wissenschaftler. Die Annahme, der Mensch sei das einzige Lebewesen, das dazu in der Lage ist, müsse daher eindeutig in Frage gestellt werden - auch wenn wegen der fehlenden Sprache der Vögel nicht genau geklärt werden könne, wie ihre Vorstellung der Zukunft aussieht.
22.Feb.2007
Sinn für Morgen: Vögel sorgen vor

22.Feb.2007 Aufschwung in Deutschland: Staatsdefizit noch niedriger als erwartet
22.Feb.2007 Boomjahr: Deutsche Börse schafft Rekordgewinn
22.Feb.2007
And Then Only the Sociopath and Rasputin Were Left with Cannon Fodder in Iraq: "Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that his country will withdraw its 460-member contingent from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi forces." 2/21
NY Daily News: Any staffer proven to have leaked CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity "would no longer be in this administration," former White House spokesman Scott McClellan promised in September 2003. Three years later, Bush has sacked no one. But since Bush, we now have proof, knew what was going on, he'd have to fire himself. 2/21

21.Feb.2007 Uno- Klimarat: Menschheit muss Trendwende bis 2020 schaffen
21.Feb.2007 Streit über Raketenschild: Rice bürstet deutsche Kritik ab
21.Feb.2007 Brutaler "Trendsport" in den USA: Teenager machen Jagd auf Obdachlose
21.Feb.2007 Abzug aus dem Irak: Blair verschafft US- Demokraten Rückenwind
21.Feb.2007 Iraks Außenminister: "Wir sitzen im Kreuzfeuer von Iran und USA"
21.Feb.2007 Netzwelt- Ticker: IP- Adressenspeicherung nur noch für sieben Tage
21.Feb.2007 Great Barrier Reef: Zyklon verschmutzt Korallenparadies

21.Feb.2007 Löwenkopf als Souvenir: Südafrika will Jagd auf Raubtiere einschränken
21.Feb.2007 Luftverpestung: Deutsche Politiker verursachen jährlich 100.000 Tonnen CO2
21.Feb.2007 Abzug aus dem Irak: Großbritannien holt 1600 Soldaten nach Hause
21.Feb.2007 Rettung der Art: Nashorn reist 63 Stunden zur Paarung
21.Feb.2007 Truppen- Heimkehr: Dänemark will mit Großbritannien aus dem Irak abziehen
21.Feb.2007
Präsidentschaftswahlkampf: US- Demokraten buhlen um Hollywoods Millionen (Politik)
21.Feb.2007 Gefahr im Gehölz: Wild, Bauern und Feuer bedrohen deutsche Wälder
21.Feb.2007 The generation of 'damaged' girls:

A generation of very young girls is being psychologically damaged by inappropriate "sexy" clothing, toys + images in the media that are corrupting childhood, leading psychologists warn today.
21.Feb.2007 "
Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World: Love letters, bank transactions, library books, scuba diving lessons?can the government actually use your personal information to predict whether you might be a terrorist?

21.Feb.2007 An Orwellian solution to kids skipping school: Let's say your teenager is a habitual truant and there is nothing you can do about it. A Washington area politician thinks he might have the solution: Fit the child with a Global Positioning System chip, then have police track him down.

21.Feb.2007 Britain Developing Tiny Camera to Spy on Each Passenger : TINY cameras the size of a fingernail linked to specialist computers are to be used to monitor the behaviour of airline passengers as part of the war on terrorism. 21.Feb.2007 Afghan war crimes amnesty passed : The upper house of the Afghan parliament has passed a controversial bill giving amnesty to people accused of war crimes over the past 30 years.

21.Feb.2007 Russian general warns against US missile bases: In a statement reflecting the growing distrust between Moscow and the West, a top Russian general warned yesterday that Poland and the Czech Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host US missile defense bases.

21.Feb.2007 Venezuela Preparing for 'Asymmetrical' Showdown With U.S.: Venezuela is beefing up its military capabilities by land, sea + air in preparation for what one senior official called a possible "asymmetrical conflict" with the USA

21.Feb.2007 Cuba government to go open source: Brazil, China + Venezuela have already embraced open source, while academics allied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a spiritual home of the free software movement, have produced an open source alternative to the Wintel computer for sale to African countries.

21.Feb.2007 U.S. Gulag: Court: No habeas for Guantánamo captives: The federal appeals panel in Washington, D.C., sided 2-1 with the Bush administration today, upholding an act of Congress that stripped Guantánamo Bay captives of the right to challenge their detention in lower federal courts.

21.Feb.2007 German Intelligence Agency 'Misplaces' Kurnaz Files: Important documents relating to the case of German-born Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz have disappeared. Germany's BND intelligence agency is reported to have misplaced transcripts of CIA interrogations that could have finally exonerated the former Guantánamo inmate.

21.Feb.2007 Accused Terrorist Is Big GOP Donor: The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won't say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier.
21.Feb.2007 Pollard activists break into Rice's hotel: Activists for release of Israeli spy reach floor of US secretary of state's room

21.Feb.2007 Following the Christian money trail: Last month, the US-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) said it donated some $37 million in aid to Israel and the Jewish people 00.000.2006 – $20 million of which were given during last summer’s war with Hizbullah.
21.Feb.2007 War pimp alert: Farid N. Ghadry: Syria's terror networks : The Syrian regime is just as complicit as Iran in moving forward hostile activities specifically designed to kill Americans. The evidence is there and widely acknowledged by those in the know.

21.Feb.2007 Who Is Farid N. Ghadry ? : Described as a "discredited businessman from Virginia" who is "Syria’s version of Ahmad Chalabi" by Robert Dreyfuss April 17, 2006

21.Feb.2007 US Senator: Dealing with Iran crucial to Israeli security: "In all of the years that I have been coming to Israel, one thing stands out to me above all others as crucial to the security of this country - and that is the need to deal with Iran," Kyl told The Jerusalem Post.

21.Feb.2007 Top Hamas official: US 'sowing sedition': A senior Hamas official on Monday accused the USA of "sowing sedition" among the Palestinians, hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a rare summit with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
21.Feb.2007 Security forces’ rob Baghdad academics: The security forces separated the men from the women and then ordered Jabouri’s wife to give them a suitcase filled with jewellery and £20,000 in cash.

21.Feb.2007 A Short History Of Empire: 3000 years--in just 90 seconds

21.Feb.2007 Iran Offers "Evidence" That Terrorists Use US-Gifted Arsenals : These arsenals have been confiscated during a raid on the hideout of a terrorist group known as Jondollah in the provincial capital city of Zahedan on Thursday.

21.Feb.2007 Iran: We'll Halt Uranium Enrichment If West Does : Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in northern Iran one day ahead of a U.N. Security Council deadline that it was no problem for his country to stop, as long as western nations did the same.

21.Feb.2007 White House Dismisses Iran Nuclear Offer: Questioning whether it was even a "serious offer," the White House is dismissing a suggestion from Iran's president that his country would stop its uranium enrichment program if Western nations did the same.

21.Feb.2007 Iran to discuss nuclear time-out : Larijani and other Iranian officials have suggested that Iran place a formal limit on the degree of its enrichment as a guarantee that it is not developing an atomic weapon.

21.Feb.2007 Iran bomb is 10 years away, says ElBaradei: Iran may be able to enrich uranium on a mass scale in six months but it could be 10 years away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, the chief United Nations nuclear monitor says.

21.Feb.2007 Bush's Iran 'attack plan': GEORGE Bush will launch missiles against Iran if it is proved to be behind attacks on US soldiers in Iraq, it was claimed last night.

21.Feb.2007 War pimp alert: U.S. Navy's Mideast buildup came after Iranian provocations in crucial Gulf, U.S. Navy commander says: "The Shahab-3 most recently went into waters very close to the traffic separation scheme in the straits themselves. This gives us concern because innocent passage of vessels now is threatened," Walsh said in the interview Monday on the base of the Navy's Fifth Fleet in this tiny Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain.

21.Feb.2007 Two 'Gators' deploy from Norfolk in two different directions: The 1,000 sailors of the Saipan had just six weeks to get ready. The Captain said they're needed in the Arabian Gulf, where they could remain for four to six months.

21.Feb.2007 Two Pearl Destroyers Head for Persian Gulf: Hundreds of Pearl Harbor Sailors are headed to Iraq. Two destroyers answered the call to duty today + a unexpected call it was. The Navy is calling a surge deployment.

21.Feb.2007 Tehran alarm over US tough talk: What will alarm Tehran about the latest details of US military planning for a strike on Iran is the fact that there are now two possible triggers for an attack.

21.Feb.2007 Durrani: Any US strike on Iran will mean attack on Muslim ummah: Chief Minister of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province Akram Khan Durrani said here Tuesday that any US strike on Iran would be considered as attack on Muslim Ummah.

21.Feb.2007 Iran - This, Mr President, is how wars start: Andrew Stephen in Washington warns that war could easily be triggered by the Bush administration's sheer incompetence
21.Feb.2007 New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq's Oil Reserves to Western Companies : : What would this new law mean for Iraq? - Concerning Iraq's sovereignty. Iraq will not be capable of controlling the levels -- the limits of production, which means that Iraq cannot be a part of OPEC anymore

21.Feb.2007 Patrick J. Buchanan: Baghdad On The Potomac? : Both houses of Congress have now gone on record opposing Bush's dispatch of 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Yet neither house is willing to end U.S. involvement by cutting off funding for the war.
21.Feb.2007 Blair 'to confirm Iraq troops withdrawl timetable' : Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.
21.Feb.2007 The Iraq Effect -War Has Increased Terrorism Sevenfold Worldwide -By Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank
The administration’s own National Intelligence Estimate on "Trends in Global Terrorism: implications for the USA," circulated within the government in April 2006 and partially declassified in October, states that "the Iraq War has become the ‘cause celebre’ for jihadists...and is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives."
Continue

21.Feb.2007 Audit: Anti-Terror Case Data Flawed -By LARA JAKES JORDAN-Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 even though no evidence linked them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit said Tuesday. Continue

21.Feb.2007 Lebanon will be first victim of Iran crisis -By Robert Fisk-How easily the sparks from the American-Israeli fire fall across the Middle East. Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. Continue

21.Feb.2007 Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility -By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 The Denial Machine -Video -This documentary shows how fossil fuel corporations have kept the global warming debate alive long after most scientists believed that global warming was real and had potentially catastrophic consequences .Continue

21.Feb.2007 02/20/07 US 'Iran Attack Plans' Leaked-BBC News Video -Senior figures in Washington have been considering how to attack Iran if the order is given, the BBC has learned. Click to view

21.Feb.2007 US 'Iran Attack Plans' Revealed -By BBC
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure. - It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 In Iraq, Anyone Can Make a Bomb -By Andrew Cockburn
00.Nov.2006 U.S. troops raiding a Baghdad machine shop came across a pile of copper disks, 5 inches in diameter, stamped out as part of what was clearly an ongoing order. This ominous discovery, unreported until now, makes it clear that Iraqi insurgents have no need to rely on Iran as the source of EFPs.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 Eisenhower's Worst Nightmare Now Harsh Reality For USA -By John Hanchette
Consider this mind-twisting equation from a well-researched article in the current issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine:

Private federal contractors now "absorb the taxes paid by everyone in America with incomes under $100,000." Continue

21.Feb.2007 Washington's $8 Billion Shadow -By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele
Mega-contractors such as Halliburton and Bechtel supply the government with brawn. But the biggest, most powerful of the "body shops"—SAIC, which employs 44,000 people and took in $8 billion last year—sells brainpower, including a lot of the "expertise" behind the Iraq war.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 Learning To Be A Lean, Mean Killing Machine -By Sgt. Martin Smith, USMC, ret.
It speaks volumes that in order for young working-class men and women to gain self-confidence or self-worth, they seek to join an institution that trains them how to destroy, maim + kill. The desire to become a Marine-as a journey to one's manhood or as a path to self-improvement-is a stinging indictment of the pathology of our class-ridden world .
Continue

21.Feb.2007 Until You Change How Money Works, You Change Nothing-By Carolyn Baker
"Tapeworm” is the name Fitts applies to the economic system of the U.S. which seeks to feed upon both its inhabitants + its neighbors, near + far + at the same time, ingest them with toxins which cause them to crave the very elements which feed the Tapeworm, thereby establishing a perpetual search-and-destroy economic system.
Continue

21.Feb.2007 https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/ Meanwhile, Brad Friedman -- who has also been doing good Plamegate work of late -- is reaching out to his readers for help. If any one man deserves credit for making election reform a national issue, that man is Brad Friedman. He deserves your support. Permalink # posted by Joseph
21.Feb.2007 Breaking Four Alarmer: Bush and Cheney Alone in Their Bloody Pool of Delusions. "Blair to announce Iraq withdrawal plan."

21.Feb.2007 This past week, Vermont became the first state in the Union where both legislative houses passed resolutions calling for the forthcoming and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. State Representative Michael Fisher led the effort to save Vermont men and women in uniform from being put in harm's way for an undefined mission and delusional pursuit of an undetermined victory. He merits this week's BuzzFlash "Wings of Justice Award."

21.Feb.2007 ?I Oppose the NRA?s License to Murder?
NY Daily News: Any staffer proven to have leaked CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity "would no longer be in this administration," former White House spokesman Scott McClellan promised in September 2003. Three years later, Bush has sacked no one. But since Bush, we now have proof, knew what was going on, he'd have to fire himself. 2/21
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (Hardcover), By Chalmers Johnson

21.Feb.2007 Scary terror statistics actually included marriage fraud, immigration violations and other totally irrelevant cases. Marriage fraud?! 2/21
If you find yourself at Guantanamo, you can't appeal your imprisonment, rule judges. Case headed for Supreme Court. 2/21

21.Feb.2007 BuzzFlash Golden Oldie Repost: Yet, not one -- not one -- of any of Bush's children or his nieces and nephews have volunteered for service in any branch of the military or volunteered to serve in any capacity in Iraq. Not one of them has felt the cause was noble enough to put his or her life on the line."
Harry Reid doesn't think Brit withdrawal will influence Bush's war plan 2/21

21.Feb.2007 Terror X 7: Mother Jones finds that "Iraq Effect" has caused terrorism to multiply by an arresting figure of 607% 2/21
21.Feb.2007 https://www.gnn.tv/articles/2558/Five_Years_Later_The_Official_Story_Falls_Apart

Sander Hicks is an author of The Big Wedding: 9/11, the Whistle-Blowers and the Cover-Up, available at voxpopnet.net.
21.Feb.2007 https://www.gnn.tv/articles/2558/Five_Years_Later_The_Official_Story_Falls_Apart
The real cutting edge of 9/11 Truth is an Internet search for Shaffer’s
48-page statement. Just don’t believe what you read about him in the Washington Post .
21.Feb.2007 https://www.gnn.tv/articles/2558/Five_Years_Later_The_Official_Story_Falls_Apart

00.000.1980 -In the late s- President Reagan’s biggest scandal, Iran/Contra, broke open + was soon covered up.

Despite laws from Congress, the ascendant conservative right-wing funded anti-leftist Contra rebels in Nicaragua with drug and weapons profits from trade with Iran, Pakistan + Iraq.

20 years ago, in Iran/Contra, the PNAC social network circumvented Congress + infused capital into a right-wing militia,

using a complex international network that included massive narcotics trafficking, surface support for Islamic fundamentalism, domestic media manipulation, fake Christianity at home + the power of the dollar.

In other words, it was a lot like 9/11.

The pattern is the same + so are a lot of the names:

John Negroponte, National Intelligence Chief, presided over death squads in Honduras, while ambassador there during Iran/Contra.

Eliot Abrams was indicted for lying to Congress about Iran/Contra, yet he laid low and came back strong as one of the National Security Council’s Senior Directors in the Bush White House.
21.Feb.2007
https://www.gnn.tv/articles/2558/Five_Years_Later_The_Official_Story_Falls_Apart History shows us that when the rulers decide to go to war, they “create” a reason.
21.Feb.2007 BEHIND THE BUSHES: Chronology of a family KEY WORDS: George W. Bush

The shifty Perle, the Mother of all Neocons, also predicted, like former ... BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, ... prorev.com/bush4.htm
20050126 Jan.2005 Bush Pulls ' Neocons ' Out of the Shadows: In the unending struggle ...

The neocons have spun into fits of Lincolnite hysteria over President Bush’s ... alfatomega.com/20050126.html
Elie Hobeika, Victim of Extrajudicial ASSASSINATIONS of USA's CIA ...

The neocons, worried that the Baker Group was succeeding in bringing Syria ...

Earlier in the year, I met with the notorious Sarkis Soghanalian in the balmy ... newhk.blogspot.com/2005_12_23_archive.html
21.Feb.2007 PHXnews.com | Neocons last gasp Neocons last gasp (Score:1) By Sinbad on Friday January 26, ...

EXCERPT: Sarkis Soghanalian, the international arms dealer who bought billions in weapons ... www.phxnews.com/comment.php?cid=182723
20050303 A Lebanese arms dealer, Sarkis Soghanalian, known as The Merchant of Death, gets the rifles ... Intel Bulletin 020000106 Spy Tech Agency Sarkis Soghanalian, ... alfatomega.com/20050303.html
Cannonfire One of these Agency-linked arms merchandisers was Sarkis Soghanalian (who had ... one origin point for the current split between the neocons + the Agency. cannonfire.blogspot.com/2005/12/wilkes-and-cia-some-history.html
GlobalFreePress- Dep. INN - News ... Party Realignment: a New Progressive Era or Neocon fascist dictatorship? ... on the early role of George Bush and weapons dealer Sarkis Soghanalian . inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=960

Stories That Matter - Trento's Column ...

Inherited Another Nightmare ·

Trento's Column: The Arrogance of the Neocons · Denver Court Hands Down Rocky Flats Decision ·

More on Sarkis Soghanalian .. www.storiesthatmatter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=19&Itemid=29 Wot Is It Good 4: 11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006

Kenneth Adelman, the Pentagon neocon who also beat the drums for war, ... obviously an error for Sarkis Soghanalian ], Carlos Cardoen + Stephen Bryen ... wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_wotisitgood4_archive.html
Democratic Underground Forums - Printer friendly page, topic ID ...

The fact that all the neocons were in bed with him is one of the reasons why Cheney was ... Neocons are the biggest flip-floppers the world has ever seen. www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=printer_friendly&forum=104&topic_id=3853409
Democratic Underground - Yup - their is a big myth out there that ... Neocons are the biggest flip-floppers the world has ever seen. ...

SARKIS SOGHANALIAN FACT SHEET, seemslikeadream, Jun-16-05 11:10 AM, #44. Now THAT's a CV.
Israel's legitimacy LewRockwell.com is the neocons ’ worst nightmare.

Sarkis Soghanalian, whose 40-year career in the arms business began when he armed Christian militias in ... www.cannabisculture.com/forums/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=terror&main=1278046&type=thread
More Dyspeptic Ranting About Journalism - Achenblog According to Sarkis Soghanalian, Adham brought Mark Thatcher into the arms ...

NEOCON =Establishment(official washington, corporate masters (bechtel), ... blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2005/10/more_dyspeptic_ranting_about_j.html
21.Feb.2007 Sacramento News and Review January 18, 2007 Give me honor or give me death Gangsta tactics. U.S. foreign policy.

This writer says a new video game demonstrates how similar the two are. www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A268912
21.Feb.2007 Schwangerschaftsverhütung: Natürliche Familienplanung ähnlich sicher wie Pille
21.Feb.2007 Anglikanische Kirche: "Bevor England auf den Papst hört, muss sich viel ändern"

21.Feb.2007 Ein falsches Wort: US- Büchereien boykottieren Kinderbuch - wegen "Hodensack"
21.Feb.2007 Sechs- Jahreshoch: Dax knackt 7000- Punkte- Marke
21.Feb.2007 Seth William Meier - Digital Cameras and Digital Camcorders Few people know about it, but the Homeland Security Department runs a program that assigns a security rating to international travelers. www.aweno.com/dc/find/Actor/ DVD/Seth%20William%20Meier/p-1.html - 42
Phone Booth The Department of Homeland Security is trying to coordinate all the identification and screening programs it runs. But privacy rights groups worry that the ...
www.aweno.com/dc/info/B00007KGCK/Phone_Booth.html

21.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/0,1518,druck-467516,00.html

Luftbrücke

Wichtiger als Triebfeder ist die strategische Bedeutung der Insel. Von einem Moment auf den nächsten kann London den Schalter umlegen - von friedlicher Hege des Antennenwalds zur Unterstützung im militärischen Konflikt. Via Ascension kann England jeden Ort am Südatlantik erreichen - was die Argentinier offenbar nicht bedenken, als sie Anfang April 1982 die Falklandinseln in Beschlag nehmen. London ist weit, 13.000 Kilometer; bis die Flotte eine solche Strecke bewältigt hat, glaubt man sich bestens für den Gegenschlag gerüstet. Nur: Mit einem Zwischenstopp schrumpft die Distanz zum machbaren Flug. Am 30. April starten britische Tankflugzeuge und Bomber zur Operation "Black Buck"; die Rückeroberung der Falklands beginnt auf Ascension.
21.Feb.2007
Neue Umweltschützer: 100 Konzerne verabschieden Klimaschutzerklärung

21.Feb.2007 Weltweite Kommunikation: Das Empire hört mit

21.Feb.2007 RAF- Debatte: Schäuble gegen "Schlussstrich unter Terror von links"
21.Feb.2007 Umfrage: Klimadebatte beschert Grünen Sympathiehoch

21.Feb.2007 Frankreichs Wirtschaftspolitik: Überholen, ausbremsen, abdrängen
21.Feb.2007 Britische Truppen: Blair will Teilabzug aus Irak bekannt geben
ProvocaZional ACTIONS, related affairs///ProvocaZional ... BUSH -it Jr. Watch; super bloody idiotic marionette of all the ages of civilization: https://www.bushwatch.net/ Buying of the president : ... xian.he.net/~ofmusic/forum/band/messages/26.html

20051218

Dec.2005 Domestic spying OK'd by president : President Bush signed a secret order ...

Dec.2005 U.S. Rebuffs Red Cross Request for Access to Detainees Held in Guantanamo ... alfatomega.com/20051218.html
12.Dec.2000 NucNews - Is Indonesia, which the World Bank lists as the most crooked state on earth, ...

The international space station Alpha and its gleaming new solar wings ... nucnews.net/nucnews/2000nn/0012nn/001212nn.htm
20.Feb.2007
Tim's World PRIME Minister John Howard will be presented the prestigious B'nai B'rith international Presidential Gold Medal for his "outstanding" support of Israel and ... happytribe.blogspot.com
20.Feb.2007 Zeitplan für Heimkehr: Blair will Irak- Rückzug einläuten

20.Feb.2007 Pakistan: Unislamische Kleidung - Extremist erschießt Ministerin
20.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,druck-467531,00.html
"Wir überlassen Iran keine Gewässer. Dies sind internationale Gewässer, deshalb muss es dort auch internationalen Zugang geben.

Das (Gebiet) werden wir mit unseren Partnern in der Region und in der Koalition schützen", betonte Walsh.
20.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,druck-467531,00.html

Inzwischen hat die US-Armee einen zweiten Flugzeugträger in den Nahen Osten verlegt.

Die "USS John C. Stennis" traf am Montag in den Gewässern der Region am Persischen Golf ein, wie das Kommando der Fünften US-Flotte heute im arabischen Golfstaat Bahrain mitteilte.

Zu den Aufgaben zählten Sicherung der regionalen Stabilität sowie die Unterstützung von Bodentruppen im Irak und in Afghanistan, hieß es.

Im Seegebiet der Golfregion befindet sich bereits der Flugzeugträger "USS Dwight D. Eisenhower".

Der scheidende Kommandeur der Fünften Flotte, Vize-Admiral Patrick Walsh, hatte am Montag Berichte zurückgewiesen, wonach die USA für offensive Zwecke ihre Militärpräsenz dort verstärkten.

Zugleich sprach er jedoch in der Hauptstadt Bahrains, Manama, von einer "beispiellosen Zeit der Instabilität und Unsicherheit in der Region".
20.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,druck-466876,00.html

Die Operation Waldumbau, eine der größten Umwälzungen in der Forstgeschichte, wird sich, so die KomPass-Experten, "langwierig und schwierig" gestalten. Dabei drängt die Zeit.
20.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,druck-466876,00.html

Destabilisiert worden sind die Wälder durch Unwetter wie zuletzt den Orkan "Kyrill", der

00.Jan.2007 mit Spitzengeschwindigkeiten von über 200 Stundenkilometern über Europa fegte + auf dem Kontinent mehr als 60 Millionen Bäume fällte.
20.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,druck-467349,00.html

"Dem Wald geht's so schlecht wie nie zuvor", meldete der Düsseldorfer Umweltminister Eckard Uhlenberg nach der jüngsten Waldinventur in Nordrhein-Westfalen, wo nur noch jeder vierte Baum gesund ist.
20.Feb.2007
Atomstreit: Laridschani beharrt auf Verhandlungen ohne Bedingungen
20.Feb.2007 Fall Kurnaz: Schlamperei bei den Schlapphüten?
20.Feb.2007 Urteil: Bush erringt Sieg im Streit um Terror- Sondertribunale
20.Feb.2007 Militärpläne: US- Armee soll Angriffsziele in Iran ausgewählt haben
20.Feb.2007 Umweltschutz: Grüne sagen Glühlampen den Kampf an

20.Feb.2007 Video aufgetaucht: Neuer Film löst Rätsel um Kennedys tödliche Schusswunde
20.Feb.2007 Klimaschutz: EU- Umweltminister einigen sich auf gemeinsame Ziele
20.Feb.2007 Neue ADAC- Studie: Geländewagen sind so gefährlich wie fahrende Mauern
20.Feb.2007 Geheimdienst- Affäre: SPD- Obmann bestreitet Verlust von Kurnaz- Akten

20.Feb.2007 Ägypten: Einzigartige Holzstatuen bei Kairo entdeckt
20.Feb.2007 Atomstreit: Iran fordert Westen zum Stopp seiner Urananreicherung auf
20.Feb.2007 Altenheim in Japan: Behinderter Mann in Käfig eingesperrt
20.Feb.2007 Ökofonds: Geld verdienen mit dem Klimawandel
20.Feb.2007 Nach 40 Jahren: Neuer Amateurfilm zeigt JFK kurz vor Todesschüssen
20.Feb.2007 Deutsche Milieus: In der Mitte brodelt es
20.Feb.2007 US- Wahlkampf: Wenn Finanzjongleure Politik machen
20.Feb.2007
Wald- Zukunft: Deutschland sucht den Superbaum

20.Feb.2007 Türkei: Mann schlägt Richterin zusammen - "Frauen sollten Kinder gebären"
20021122 22.Nov.2002 Das Web wurde durchsucht nach Dulles##+Bush ...

00.000.19---06.Feb.2004 Nazi + German + General + Gehlen Spy net of + employed + by + USA + U.S. + US + United States of America + american + +

00.000.18---00.000.19-- Bush, Prescott Samuel Bush [BPS917 ... alfatomega.com/noname18.html
00.Apr.2001 Security Scrapbook-Espionage and Eavesdropping News ... + used video cameras to spy on his female tenant was arrested yesterday. Allegheny County police ...
https://www.omega.com/ppt/ppt.asp?ref=OMA-AVDS-4

No, we don't sell this. In fact, we don't sell anything ... www.spybusters.com/SS014.html
20.Feb.2007 Operational Psychology: An Emerging Subdiscipline ration and ethics .

In this article we explore an emerging subdiscipline in behavioral ... resistance + escape; InfoOps = information operations; ... www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327876mp1804_2
Web MD ... operation assessments at InfoOps .com, an Annapolis Md.based company . ... Man The Science and Art of Ethics . Loyola College, Baltimore, MD 1958 Planned ... www.exampleessays.com/essay_search/Web_MD.html
crime based The oldest theory is based on ethics and theology. ... for information operation assessments at InfoOps .com, an Annapolis Md.based company that . ... www.exampleessays.com/essay_search/crime_based.html
20061123 PSYOPS + MEDIAOPS sind zwar in einigen Einsatzgebieten Teilgebiete von INFOOPS ... www.scienca.de/wiki/Psychologische_Kriegsführung alfatomega.com/20061123.html
A Police Training ProgramHTML-Version Information Operations – Cyber War https://www.tno.nl/instit/fel/infoops Ethics in Policing https://www.freedomtocare.org/police.htm www.lsaii.org/Internet%20Resources-Intel-Terror-HomeSec.pdf
OSSHTML-Version 2006, US, InfoOps, Stewart, InfoOps and Intelligence ... 1992, US, Policy, Steele, E3i: Ethics, Ecology, Evolution + Intelligence ...
OSSHTML-Version

2006, US, IO Intel, Stewart, InfoOps and Intelligence ...

2005, US, Policy, Andregg, Ethics and the IC: Breaking the Laws of God and Man ...
Österreichs Bundesheer - TRUPPENDIENST International - Edition 2 ... there is much in common: professional ethics, moral values + traditions. ... support of INFOOPS + PSYOPS by disseminating EUFOR key messages; www.bundesheer.gv.at/truppendienst/international/artikel.php?id=37
Värdering av telekrig i NBFHTML-Version FOI, FHS och enskilda förband såsom Högrekurs telekrig och InfoOps . 1.2 Metod ...

Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics meet. New. York. Basic Books. .www.foi.se/upload/framsyn/06/foir1742.pdf
IWS Information Operations / IWAR Chapter The Ethics of Computer Network Attack by William J. Bayles, From Parameters,

00.000.2001 -Spring-, pp. 44-58. Understanding Information Age Warfare [6 MB] by David ... www.iwar.org.uk/iwar
20.Feb.2007 Edelmetallfunde: Rätsel um Kolumbus- Silber gelöst
20.Feb.2007 Irak- Krieg: McCain zieht über Rumsfeld her
20.Feb.2007 Umwelt: Söder will Erbschaftsteuer an Klimaschutz koppeln
20.Feb.2007 Klimaschutz: Australien will Glühbirnen verbieten
20.Feb.2007
Geheimdienste: BND soll wichtige Kurnaz- Unterlagen verschlampt haben
19
.Feb.2007 Kontakte zu Paramilitärs: Kolumbiens Außenministerin gibt auf
19.Feb.2007 Atomstreit Iran: ElBaradei fordert Entgegenkommen des Westens
19.Feb.2007
Cold Fusion Scientist Exonerated - ScuttleMonkey 36 - Icarus1919 writes

"New Scientist reports that the scientist who discovered a possible cold fusion reaction by bombarding a solvent with neutrons and sonic waves has recently been exonerated of accusations of scientific misconduct following the verification of his results by another scientist."
19.Feb.2007
Lakes Found Under Antarctic Ice Using Space Lasers - ScuttleMonkey 68 -Reverse Gear writes

"There is a new study circling the media about new lakes found underneath the antarctic ice sheets that apparently empty and fill back up quite fast. 'The scientists allay fears that global warming has created these pockets of water. They say these lakes lie some 2,300 feet below compressed snow and ice, too deep for environmental temperature to reach. However, it is necessary to understand what causes the phenomenon as it can facilitate an understanding of the impact of climate change on the ice sheet in Antarctica.' NASA also has some information on the technique used to detect these lakes."
19.Feb.2007
RIAA Hires Artists, Then Sends In the SWAT team - Zonk 280 -cancan writes

"The NY times is carrying an article about how the RIAA is hiring hip hop artists to make mix tapes + then helping the police raid their studios. In the case of DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon, they were raided by SWAT teams with their guns drawn. The local police chief said later that they were 'prepared for the worst.' Men in RIAA jackets helped cart away 'evidence'. Just the same, 'Record labels regularly hire mixtape D.J.'s to produce CDs featuring a specific artist. In many cases, these arrangements are conducted with a wink and a nod rather than with a contract; the label doesn't officially grant the D.J. the right to distribute the artist's songs or formally allow the artist to record work outside of his contract.' " This is more of the shenanigans that we've previously discussed on the site.
19.Feb.2007
Possible 25 Million Year Old Frog Found - Zonk 132 -dispatch writes

"A small frog, found preserved in amber, has been found by researchers in Mexico City. The frog, according to the scientists, may be some 25 million years old! According to the article:

00.000.2005 'The chunk of amber containing the 0.4-inch frog was uncovered by a miner in southern Chiapas states + was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study.'

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though the scientists will be allowed to drill into the rock, at the owner's request."

19.Feb.2007 World's Largest Tropical Glacier Vanishing - Zonk 395 -Socguy wrote with a link to a CBC article about the rapidly disappearing Peruvian glacier known as the Quelccaya ice cap.

The world's largest tropical glacier was a hot topic this past Thursday at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson + a team of Ohio state scientists, produced the stunning news that Quelccaya and similar formations are melting at a rate of some 60 metres per year. While polar ice caps have commanded attention in the discussion of global warming to date, these tropical caps are crucial to the well-being of ecosystems relying on an influx of mountain stream fresh water.
19.Feb.2007
Alex Jones Watch: #11: Woeful Lack of Awareness of WTC Hit #2 Videos and Pics BG- A caller on today's show asked Alex about what he thought of the pictures + video of the 2nd hit at the WTC on 9/11.
The caller specifically mentioned the "projectile" that can be seen having a distinctive smoke trail.

These details have been discussed in depth at some web sites / blogs + in some case these details has been used to mislead in my estimation.
Unfortunately, Alex has not come even close to "doing his homework" on this topic. Alex ignorantly said: it just looks like an airplane hitting the tower to me.
I would claim that the "projectile" exited the side of the WTC (not the opposite side as some researchers have claimed). However, for Alex to claim that the details shown in the videos are consistent with the official story of Flight 175 hitting the tower is just about one of the biggest misunderstandings that I've seen Alex manifest.

19.Feb.2007
Alex Jones Watch: #10 Holding His Fire Against Fetzer - BG-
Blogger Thoughts: Let me make clear that the purpose of these posts is not to claim Alex Jones' contentions are misleading or false. This is criticism from a supporter.
My beef here is that Alex has clearly expressed his disdain for some of the WTC destruction theories of Fetzer and Judy Wood... and even breaks with Morgan Reynolds with his questions about what hit the towers. However, when it comes to the BBC documentary, he (or more precisely, Mr. Watson) lets Fetzer off the hook in his clear cooperation in providing material on camera, such as suggesting that the C-130 transport plane near the Pentagon air space at the time of the explosion, was possibly controlling the drone or aircraft that hit the Pentagon.
Fetzer expressing this level of unsubstantiated speculation is either a sign of creeping senility or collaboration with the BBC to discredit 9/11 Truth.

Alex should call Fetzer on his outrageous representation of the 9/11 Truth Community.-----
Material taken from Prisonplanet.com:
BBC Hit Piece a Tissue of Lies, Bias and Emotional Manipulation
8) Why were the 9/11 skeptics filmed and portrayed in an unflattering light whereas the debunkers were lent credence and authority as a result of the style and location of their filming? For example, debunkers were filmed at ground zero, Washington DC and inside military fighters, whereas 9/11 skeptics were filmed in untidy offices and, in the case of Alex Jones, a conference hall that was portrayed as an evangelic religious cult gathering. Why was Jim Fetzer positioned so close to the camera so as to make his gestures and facial expressions seem wild and overexerted? As another blog points out,
When Fetzer and Avery were shown talking to the camera, they were overwhelmingly depicted as single-minded and emotional, with a forcible attitude of 'you're either with us or against us', which was intended to subliminally turn the viewer off them - and thus discredit their points. t was almost half an hour before we got to see Alex Jones, who was introduced when he was yelling to an audience about the New World Order. The BBC said he was like an 'evangelist' -- this was another underhanded technique where the BBC tried to associate alternative thought with religious fundamentalism.
https://prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/190207tissueoflies.htm

19.Feb.2007 911 Truth: Steve Jones declines invite from BBC BG- Perhaps, after seeing the hit job that the BBC did last night, I need to re-evaluate the decision of S. Jones.======

19.Feb.2007 12/16/06

Is Jones withdrawing from the fray? "we did contact Professor Steven Jones, but he did not want to be interviewed for the programme" https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/12/conspiracies_wont_go_away_1.html
19.Feb.2007 Canadians to jackboots: 9/11 was a scam BG- >From National Post

17.Feb.2007 : "About 50 invited guests and a few gatecrashers gathered for eight hours last Sunday at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto to pose questions to the city's top RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service counterterrorism officials. It did not begin well. The first speaker, Ahmed Motiar, started off by sharing his curious theories of the 9/11 attacks, claiming that "Muslims were not involved and seven of the alleged 19 hijackers are alive and well!" Then Cheryfa Jamal complained about a Canadian military exercise she said was held outside her children's Islamic school. (Her husband is one of the 18 men charged with belonging to an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group that was allegedly plotting truck bombings in downtown Toronto.) "You're asking us here to have a di...
Source:
https://www.total411.info/2007/02/canadians-to-jackboots-911-was-scam.html

19.Feb.2007 Debunking the BBC's 9-11 Conspiracy Files - BG-https://debunking-bbc.blogspot.com/
19.Feb.2007 Top Bin Laden Expert: Confession Fake | 911Blogger.com - BG- https://www.911blogger.com/node/6317
19.Feb.2007 The Raw Story | Newsweek: The CIA leaker 'you've never heard of' sent Novak's 'outing' column to Rove before it was published - BG- >Newsweek_The_CIA_leaker_youve_never_0218.html">https://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/Newsweek_The_CIA_leaker_youve_never_0218.html
19.Feb.2007
Soros: America Must 'De-Nazify' Itself - BG-
The New York Post slammed billionaire George Soros on Sunday, saying "the Democrats' favorite financial fat-cat clearly isn't feeling comfortable unless he's comparing the USA to Nazi Germany." rhttp:
//www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/2/18/185315.shtml?s=ic

19.Feb.2007 Reid Calls Iraq “Worst Foreign Policy Mistake” While Tony Snow Proves His Ignorance of History - BG-
Senator Reid is correct: "This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told 's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." "So we should take everything seriously. We find ourselves in a very deep hole and we need to find a way to dig out of it." Asked whether he considers it a worse blunder than Vietnam, Reid responded, "Yes." Comparisons to Vietnam are nothing new, but a "worse than" designation from a top lawmaker is. Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who has been one of the war's most outspoken critics, told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January that President Bush's ...
Source:
https://angrybear.blogspot.com/2007/02/reid-calls-iraq-worst-foreign-policy.html

19.Feb.2007 The Voice of the White House - BG-
"There may be a concept of freedom of the press but the American media is certainly a controlled entity. As much of the print and television media is controlled by Jewish interests we never see criticism of Israel but we do see attacks on their enemies, such as Iraq and Iran. If a Palestinian sets off a bomb in Israel, the press is filled with it but if the IDF is thrashed in battles with the Hezbollah or sets fire to an Arab day care center, it never sees the light of day on this side of the Atlantic. Members of AIPAC stealing secrets? Back page if at all. But "evil Iran" (who might bomb Israel with an atomic weapon) is constantly on the front page.... Source:
https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_israel.html#059981

19.Feb.2007 ScienceDaily: A Good Lie Detector Is Hard To Find: 'Spin' And Fact Omission Leave No Neuro-trace BG- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218184515.htm
19.Feb.2007 BBC Hit Piece a Tissue of Lies, Bias and Emotional Manipulation - Paul Joseph Watson -Outraged truth community demands answers from Guy Smith, immediate retractions and apologies
19.Feb.2007
Rice Admits To U.S. Troops: ‘Your Honor and Your Sacrifice’ Is ‘Appreciated’ By Iraq War Critics - Payson  -

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed military personnel stationed in Baghdad. She told the troops that everyone — including critics of the administration’s Iraq policy — believes that “the sacrifice and the labor of our men and women here has been honorable.” She called the debate over escalation a sign of a “great democracy.” An excerpt from her speech:

And the final thing I want to say is I know that a lot’s going on in Washington and that you’re hearing it. A lot’s going on because we are a great democracy. And people have their views and they’re going to express them. And some do not think that this was the right war to fight + others think that we in the Administration haven’t fought this war quite right. By the way, all of them know that the sacrifice and the labor of our men and women here has been honorable.

And so when you hear the criticism of the war or the criticism of the President or of me or of anybody else, I do want you to know that to a person at home, your honor and your sacrifice and your labor is appreciated. People know what you’re doing and it’s appreciated across the board. I don’t care what people think of the policies; it’s appreciated across the board.

Rice’s comments contradict earlier claims from the administration that a debate on Iraq policy would be “detrimental from the standpoint of the troops.” Her words echoed those of Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace, who said the troops understand the “debate’s being carried on by patriotic people who care about them and who care about their mission.”
19.Feb.2007 Bush Administration Condemns Iraq Resolution, Then Uses It As A Diplomatic Strategy - Faiz  -

The White House and its conservative allies have been arguing that the congressional debate over a non-binding resolution on Iraq is sending the wrong message to Iraqis about our commitment. “What signal does it send to the Iraqis in terms of steadfastness?” asked Press Secretary Tony Snow last week.

But in her recent trip to Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used the debate as part of a diplomatic strategy to urge Iraqi political leaders to accelerate their efforts to produce results on the economic and security conditions in Iraq. The NY Times reported:

Ms. Rice said she used the restiveness in Washington to underline for Iraqi officials the spread of American frustration with Iraq’s lagging political and economic progress.

She said she had ”made clear that some of the debate in Washington is, in fact, indicative of the concerns that the American people have about the prospects for success” if Iraq’s leaders did not quickly take actions to ensure longer-term stability.

Iraqi leaders took note. Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, said Rice “emphasized a great deal the issue of urgency.” Rice stressed to Iraqi leaders that “patience is not unlimited in the USA and that there’s a great deal of frustration,” Zebari added.

Noting the irony, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said, “It’s interesting that finally [the administration] understands the power of what we are doing in the Congress.” Watch it: Transcript: (more…)
19.Feb.2007 Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda regaining power. - Nico  -

“Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border,” the New York Times reports. “American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda.”
19.Feb.2007 Mutmasslicher Attentäter von Madrid hat Anschläge verurteilt - sfux 
Madrid / Onlineredaktion - Einer der mutmasslichen Attentäter von Madrid hat die Anschläge vom März 2004 verurteilt. Gleichzeitig bestritt der Angeklagte Jamal Zougam, dass er zu El Kaida oder einer Gruppe gehört, die mit dem Terrornetzwerk zusammenarbeitet.
"Ich bin nicht einverstanden mit diesem Attentat und mit keinem Anschlag, der aus religiösen oder politischen Gründen das Leben unschuldiger Menschen beendet", sagte der Marrokaner vor Gericht in Madrid.

19.Feb.2007 Müll-Deal mit Australien gefährdet Hamburg - onlineredaktion Harald Haack -

Australischer Giftmüll soll nach Information von ?Abendblatt Sonntags? im Mai 2007 im Elbhafen Brunsbüttel entladen werden ? vier Schiffladungen, rund 22.000 Tonnen krebserregender Lösungsmittelrückstände, davon die Hälfte Hexachlorbenzol.
Geplant sei, die Hälfte der Giftfracht der Brunsbüttler Sonderabfallverbrennungsanlage zu ?entsorgen?, der Rest, etwa 11.000 Tonnen, soll über dem Schienenweg zur Firma Bayer in Nordrhein-Westfalen transportiert...

19.Feb.2007
Moon/Bush 'Ongoing Crime Enterprise' - sfux Robert Parry -

Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his business/political/media/religious organization have avoided prosecution for a shark poaching scam despite evidence of Moon's direct involvement.
Moon, who has poured billions of mysterious dollars into pro-Republican media and into financial support for prominent right-wingers, got the benefit of the doubt again from Bush administration prosecutors....

19.Feb.2007
British Mercenary Simon Mann's last journey? - sfux Dr. Alexander von Paleske

- A court in Zimbabwe is hearing the request of Equatorial Guinea to extradite the British mercenary and ex-SAS man Simon Mann. Simon Mann is presently serving...
19.Feb.2007 Schacht Konrad - Atommüll, ?Korruption? und Justiz - onlineredaktion -Harald Haack -

Die Atomwirtschaft hat in Deutschland mutmaßlich die Kontrolle über ihren Atommüll verloren. Maria Flachsbarth, hannoversche CDU-Bundestagsabgeordnete, die dem Umweltausschuss des Bundestags angehört, soll laut n-tv kürzlich gesagt haben, es gebe in Karlsruhe große Probleme mit der Zwischenlagerung von Atommüll: ?Der Müll gammelt vor sich hin. Wir wissen nicht, in welchem Zustand die Fässer sind?. Nach ihren Worten muss es sich um eine...
19.Feb.2007
Teachers back TV concerns Some children come to school "tired and exhausted" from watching too much television, say teachers.
19.Feb.2007 Leaders condemn India train blast India and Pakistan say a train bombing that killed at least 66 people will not disrupt their peace process.
19.Feb.2007 Iran, Russia in nuclear plant row Tehran denies Russian claims it is late on payments for work on a nuclear reactor in southern Iran.
19.Feb.2007 Japan anger at US sex slave bill Japan denounces a US resolution calling on Tokyo to apologise over wartime sex slaves.
19.Feb.2007 Nosebleed triggers embassy alert An alert at a Paris embassy, after an employee suffered a nosebleed on opening a suspicious package, is over.
19.Feb.2007 Mexico steps up anti-drugs fight Mexico sends more troops and police to states bordering Texas, in a further attempt to crack down on drug gangs.
19.Feb.2007 Czech-Polish OK for US missiles Czech and Polish leaders back a US plan to install missile defence facilities on their territory.
19.Feb.2007 Nepal king 'takes responsibility' Nepal's King Gyanendra publicly accepts responsibility for "success and failure" under his period of direct rule.
19.Feb.2007 21 July suspect 'almost killed' Police armed with sub-machine guns almost killed one of the 21/7 bomb suspects, a court is told.
19.Feb.2007 Autism gene breakthrough hailed Scientists are praised for finding new autism genes by scanning families with the condition.
19.Feb.2007 Feb. 19, 1473: Copernicus Born His promulgation of the heliocentric theory ignites a scientific revolution that changes history. Compiled by Tony Long.
19.Feb.2007 FBI Wards Off Kitchen Sink Bombs Specialists make bombs from common household items to help the FBI defend against low-tech terrorist threats in the USA. By the Associated Press.
19.Feb.2007 Learning How to Regrow Fingers A new federally funded project should help scientists learn how some animals regenerate body parts so well. They hope to apply the lessons to humans. By the Associated Press.
19.Feb.2007 Greenland's ice is melting, but it won't be a green land tomorrow Blog: Greenland, that icy land that even the Vikings had trouble colonizing, plays a pretty crucial role when it comes to the planet's...
19.Feb.2007 Scientist details most recent findings on global warming Video: Scientist details most recent findings on global warming.

From the AAAS Annual Conference in San Francisco:

Susan Solomon, senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, addresses the most recent findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
19.Feb.2007
With global warming, expect rainfall changes Blog: Don't expect the weather patterns you remember as a kid to persist.Increasing global temperatures are + will continue,...
19.Feb.2007 Turning up the heat on gene-mod potatoes Blog: Research from nearly a decade ago is sparking a new outcry against the biotech industry's tinkering with the genes of vegetables...
19.Feb.2007 For SEC, tech switch spurs stock option probes Investigations into "crooked accounting" take dramatic leap forward with combination of real-time reporting, programming language.
19.Feb.2007 Anglikaner und Katholiken: Erste Schritte zur Wiedervereinigung
19.Feb.2007 https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070214-cheap-gas_2.html

What's behind today's relatively high oil prices?

These prices are not due to the world's oil drying up—they are simply derived from the low investments of two decades. In the 1990s OPEC repeatedly asked countries to find an agreement in order to sustain prices, because prices were very low due to overproduction.

OPEC continually [said], if you don't ensure markets for new capacity, we won't spend money [on development]. And sooner or later, if we don't spend money, the current capacity will be overloaded + a crash will come.

Now the production crash has come. We're paying today for the low prices of yesterday.
19.Feb.2007
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml
"We think solar power can provide 20pc of all the incremental energy needed worldwide by 2040," he said.
19.Feb.2007 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml

It will be ready commercially in late 2009.

"It'll even work on a cold, grey, cloudy day in England, which still produces 25pc to 30pc of the optimal light level. That is enough, if you cover half the roof," he said.

"We don't need subsidies, we just need governments to get out of the way and do no harm. They've spent $170bn subsidising nuclear power over the last thirty years," he said.

His ultra-light technology, based on a copper indium compound, can power mobile phones and laptop computers with a sliver of foil.

"You won't have to get down on your knees ever again to hunt for plug socket," he said
19.Feb.2007 War wounded rushed home for treatment, only to face neglect 
Impeach George Bush. posted by Prof. Hex
19.Feb.2007 Michelangelo's Receipt Solves Mystery 

A 450-year-old receipt has provided proof that Michelangelo kept a private room in St. Peter's Basilica while working as the pope's chief architect, Vatican experts said. posted by Prof. Hex
19.Feb.2007 Mother's fish consumption linked to child's IQ 

A large study has found that children of women who ate little fish during pregnancy had lower IQs and more behavioral and social problems than youngsters whose mothers ate plenty of seafood. posted by Prof. Hex
19.Feb.2007 Space lasers detect big lakes under Antarctic ice  Lasers beamed from space have detected what researchers have long suspected: big sloshing lakes of water underneath Antarctic ice. posted by Prof. Hex
19.Feb.2007 Ancient Stone "Tools" Found; May Be Among Americas' Oldest  Crude stone "tools" found in northern Minnesota may be at least 13,000 years old, a team of archaeologists recently announced. posted by Prof. Hex
19.Feb.2007 Italians march in US base protest : Tens of thousands of people have marched in the north-eastern Italian city of Vicenza against a planned extension of the US army base there.

19.Feb.2007 Hicks 'coming home': JOHN Howard is bowing to mounting pressure over the David Hicks debacle and is working to bring him home before this year's federal election, highly placed sources have revealed to The Sunday Age.

19.Feb.2007 DNA data deal 'will create Big Brother Europe' :

Police across the EU are to be given free access to Britain's DNA, fingerprint and car registration databases in a move denounced last night as the creation of "Big Brother Europe".
19.Feb.2007
U.S. Military Is The Largest Consumer Of Oil On Earth : The US military is completely addicted to oil. Unsurprisingly, its oil consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the Pentagon the single largest oil consumer in the world. By the way, according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook rankings there are only 35 countries (out of 210) in the world that consume more oil per day than the Pentagon.
19.Feb.2007 Mission Imperial: Comfort, War Profiteering and Delusion Inside the Green Zone
Repost: Jon Stewart on Bushevik Accusations Against Iran, Following the Iraq "Tell the American People Whatever is Necessary" To Go To War Script. Bush Sounds Like an Absolute Moron. How Republicans in Congress Can Salute Such Failure and Idiocy is Beyond Any Question of Rationality.
Democrats vow to seek limits on Iraq war. Uh, Don't Forget the Next War, Iran. Because Once Bush and Cheney Start That One, We'll Get the Whole Canard of "You Can't Undercut Our Troops in Harm's Way" All Over Again, As Bush and Cheney Use Our GIs as Political Bait and Lets Them Drop Like Ducks in a Pond.
A majority of people around the world do not believe the globe is locked in a "clash of civilizations" that will lead to violent conflict between Islam and the West, a poll published Monday found.

19.Feb.2007 Martha Rosenberg: NRA Silent on Day Before Valentine's Day Massacres -- A BuzzFlash Guest Contribution
"Maverick" McCain, groveling before the Religious Right, says Roe v. Wade should be overturned, then goes to an abstinence rally. 00.000.1999, he supported the right to abortion.
Danny Schechter: The Real Media Mantra: 'Let's Make A Deal' -- A BuzzFlash Guest Contribution

19.Feb.2007 New Series From '24' Creator Aims To Be Right Wing 'Daily Show' -- Verse-Case Scenario by Tony Peyser
Mission Imperial: Excerpt From Upcoming Expose on Life in the Green Zone of Baghdad 2/19

19.Feb.2007 Please sign the following statement to let the NRA know that you support your local police, even if they don't.
19.Feb.2007 Zensur: Somalische Regierung hebt Meinungsfreiheit auf
19.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,druck-467128,00.html

Die "New York Times" betont, die Informationen nur unter der Zusage erhalten zu haben, dass die Quellen anonym bleiben. Auch habe sie keine Beweise für die Existenz neuer Trainingslager vorliegen. Die Angaben stammten aber von Angehörigen der Aufklärungsdienste.
19.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,druck-467128,00.html

Nun zeigt sich, dass das Terror-Netzwerk sich trotz der militärischen Gegenmaßnahmen reorganisieren konnte.

Die entstehenden Strukturen sind dabei besonders gefährlich: Einerseits ist Qaida dezentral organisiert, andererseits hat die Führung der Organisation offenbar die Mittel, größere Operationen in Gang zu setzen.

Laut den amerikanischen Experten haben die Ausbildungslager noch nicht die Größe erreicht, die sie in Afghanistan unter der Herrschaft der Taliban hatten. Doch schon jetzt würden Gruppen von 10 bis 20 Männern trainiert, auch für Einsätze außerhalb des Landes. Die Lager würden von arabischen, pakistanischen und afghanischen Extremisten geleitet, sie seien lose vernetzt.

In mindestens einem der Camps werden nach Erkenntnissen der Geheimdienste Attentate in westlichen Ländern vorbereitet. Besondere Sorge bereitet den Diensten, dass britische Staatsbürger pakistanischer Herkunft die Lager besuchten.

US-Regierung erwägt Luftschläge
19.Feb.2007
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/0,1518,druck-467153,00.html

Die Gefahr ist also durchaus real. "Menschen nehmen die Realität grundsätzlich auf zwei unterschiedliche Arten wahr", erklärt Slovic. "Auf eine emotional-intuitive und eine rational-analytische." Letztere greift bei Gefahren, die Homo sapiens nicht mit eigenen Erfahrungen und Gefühlen in Verbindung bringen kann oder aber im Reich des Unkontrollierbaren verortet - und deshalb meist unterschätzt. "Menschen sorgen sich viel weniger über das, was die Natur anrichten kann, als über das, was ihnen andere Menschen antun könnten", sagt Slovic.

"99924 Apophis": Der bedrohliche Brocken

Fotostrecke starten: Klicken Sie auf ein Bild (6 Bilder)

Als Beispiel nennt er den Krieg der US-Regierung gegen den internationalen Terrorismus. "Die rund 3000 Todesopfer der Anschläge vom 11. September 2001 hatten bedeutende politische Folgen", sagt Slovic. "Im gleichen Monat sind in den USA etwa 3000 bei Verkehrsunfällen gestorben. Sie wurden von der Öffentlichkeit praktisch nicht registriert." Der gleiche Mechanismus führe dazu, dass ansonsten mitleidsvolle Menschen ohne jede Regung Berichte über Völkermorde verfolgen oder keinerlei Angst vor den Folgen des Klimawandels verspüren - da es sich jeweils um weit entfernte oder abstrakte Bedrohungen handelt.

Lottokönige sind alltäglich
19.Feb.2007
Risiko- Forschung: Lotterie mit Killer- Asteroiden
19.Feb.2007 Geldanlage: Sparer ziehen Milliarden aus heimischen Fonds ab
19.Feb.2007 Drogen: Alkoholvergiftungen bei Kindern nehmen zu
19.Feb.2007 Fehlerstudie: So kommt's zum plötzlichen Plattentod
19.Feb.2007 Dreiergespräch: Nahost- Gipfel ohne Ergebnis
19.Feb.2007 ABC- Alarm: Entwarnung in kanadischer Botschaft in Paris
19.Feb.2007
NACLA Digital Archive - TRICONTRANENTAL With Barbara Studley, his partner in the arms firm GeoMiliTech, Singlaub also drafted a memo outlining a contra international of sorts with its own arms ... archive.nacla.org/Summaries/V22I5P17-1.htm
19.Feb.2007 Frankreich: ABC- Alarm in kanadischer Botschaft in Paris

19.Feb.2007 Kriegsgefahr: Fischer warnt USA vor Angriff auf Iran
19.Feb.2007 Telefon für abgelegene Gebiete: Mobilfunk mit Solar- und Windenergie
19.Feb.2007 Durchbruch: Forscher züchten Retorten- Zahn
19.Feb.2007 Bush unter Druck: Demokraten wollen Vollmacht für Irak- Krieg beschneiden
19.Feb.2007
Deutscher Wald: Angriff der Killerkäfer
19.Feb.2007 Neuseeland: Vize- Polizeichef wegen Vergewaltigung angeklagt
19.Feb.2007 Educação Também acontece que muitos donos de cães de maior porte desconhecem em absoluto alguns princípios básicos da educação do cão . As consequências por vezes são ... whippetp.no.sapo.pt/Educacao.htm
19.Feb.2007 Fake sheikh accused after terror plot acquittals | The Guardian ...

Dominic Martins, Abdurahman Kanyare and Roque Fernandes outside the Old Bailey ...

He was later joined by undercover officers, who met Mr Kanyare, ... www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1830189,00.html?gusrc=rss
Fake sheikh accused after terror plot acquittals | The Guardian ... He was later joined by undercover officers, who met Mr Kanyare, ...

Mr Kanyare's solicitor, Paul Harris, said his client was still being held "at the behest ... www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1830314,00.html
19.Feb.2007 Volksabstimmung: Klare Mehrheit für mehr Autonomie in Andalusien
19.Feb.2007
Rice set for key Mid-East summit US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a rare three-way summit.
19.Feb.2007 Poll sees hope in West-Islam ties A majority of people in the West and Islamic world do not believe violent conflict is inevitable, a BBC survey finds.
19.Feb.2007 Getting Ready for Deep Impact Scientists expect to detect a lot more asteroid threats with new technology, but it's still not clear what anyone will do about them.

Randy Dotinga reports from the AAAS meeting in San Francisco.
19.Feb.2007
Cleaning Up After a Dirty Bomb Scientists develop an absorbant gel that can remove radioactivity from concrete, but don't count on the government hearing aid. Bodyhack reports from AAAS.
19.Feb.2007 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,druck-467057,00.html

Die Affäre, in die Karadi verwickelt sein soll, hatte im September 1999 ihren Anfang genommen, als ein Polizeibeamter sich in Uniform im Auftrag der Familie Farinian an der Ermordung eines Mafiamitglieds beteiligte.

Der Mann wurde in einem Krankenhaus im Bett getötet. Der Polizist gestand nach seiner Festnahme den Mord und benannte mehrere ranghohe Beamte, die ebenfalls im Dienst des Mafiaclans stehen sollen.

Er wurde unter Hausarrest gestellt, floh nach Mexiko und wurde dort im April 2001 ermordet.
18.Feb.2007
Korruption und Mafiakontakte: Skandale zwingen israelische Staatsdiener zum Rücktritt
18.Feb.2007 Israel's chief of police resigns Israel's police chief resigns after a government commission says he should go over alleged misconduct.
18.Feb.2007 Delusional Redefined - BG-by Larry C Johnson

Congratulations to Victoria Toensing, former Reagan Administration Justice Department official, for plumbing new depths of delusion + crazed fantasies in her latest Washington Post op-ed. Ms. Toensing's piece--Trial in Error--should have been titled, "I Am Ignorant of Basic Facts". She offers up two special gems: Valerie Plame was not covert. Ambassador Joseph Wilson (Valerie's husband) misled the public about how he was sent to Niger, about the thrust of his March 2003 oral report of that trip + about his wife's CIA status Valerie Plame was undercover until the day she was identified in Robert Novak's column. I entered on duty with Valerie in September of 1985. Every single member of our class--which was comprised of Case Officers, Analysts, Scientists + Admin folks--were undercover. I was an analys... Source: https://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/delusional_rede.html
18.Feb.2007 BBC vs 9/11 Truth: The Smear Continues - BG-
LOOKOUT AGAIN! Here comes another load of manure from the BBC! We wondered what kind of documentary the BBC was making about 9/11 + it's becoming clearer by the day.

Guy Smith, producer of the upcoming BBC "Conspiracy Files" episode on 9/11, laid the groundwork in a piece called "We're all conspiracy theorists at heart" which was published by the BBC on Friday.

In that piece, Smith claims conspiracy theories persist because people are natural story-tellers who instinctively look for elaborate tales to describe events beyond their control.

Your nearly frozen correspondent replied with "BBC vs 9/11 Truth: The Smear Begins". I urge you to read both pieces if you have any doubts about our respective positions, or motivations.

On Saturday the BBC laid the next layer of infrastructure for its... Source: https://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/02/bbc-vs-911-truth-smear-continues.html
18.Feb.2007 World Trade Center Port Authority Cops heard explosions
18.Feb.2007 Parenti: Mystery: How Wealth Creates Poverty in the World - BG-
There is a "mystery" we must explain: How is it that as corporate investments and foreign aid and international loans to poor countries have increased dramatically throughout the world over the last half century, so has poverty? The number of people living in poverty is growing at a faster rate than the world's population. What do we make of this? Over the last half century, U.... Source:
https://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=10&ItemID=12151

18.Feb.2007 Britney vs. The Terrorists by Robert R. Reilly (Washington Post) BG-

Was Britney encouraged to do something outrageous (like shaving her head bald) to make it easy for the MSM to keep America distracted for our illegal wars + corrupt government?
Ken Tomlinson, then the board's new chairman, approvingly quoted his son as saying Spears's music "represents the sounds of freedom."
https://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=2764&paper=2784

18.Feb.2007 The Sacred Moment: THE ROOTS OF HORROR: Instilling Obedience and Denial in Childhood - BG-https://thesacredmoment.blogspot.com/2004/02/roots-of-horror-instilling-obedience.html
18.Feb.2007 'Sickened' Dick Smith chips in for Hicks fight - BG-BUSINESSMAN Dick Smith has given $60,000 to support the campaign to free Australian terror suspect David Hicks.... Source: https://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,21245206-2,00.html
18.Feb.2007 John Yarmuth, Congressman from Kentucky BG- Hat Tip:  Sandy Knauer

My Favorite E-Mail Message So Far Today --

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth ).

Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago I was just like most other Americans, trying to evaluate the President's plan to invade Iraq.

Unlike most Americans, I was writing a newspaper column and was expected to take a public position on such a national policy.

But like most Americans, I was unburdened by the classified and faulty intelligence provided to Members of Congress.

I concluded and wrote

that the claims made to justify the American invasion of Iraq were baseless,

that there were no weapons of mass destruction,

that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the USA,

that Saddam Hussein was not in any way connected to the 9/11 attacks + finally

that Iraq was not a safe harbor for al Qaeda.

I also concluded and wrote that we were rushing into Iraq with no idea of what we would do after the Iraqi regime fell + also that we had no plan for getting out.

The point of all of this reminiscing is not to show that I was so smart, nor is it to say that I told you so.

Four years later, as our men and women are still dying in Iraq, the American people know everything there is to know about the situation there.

We know as much if not more than the President of the USA.

And our ideas about the conflict are just as valid.

That is why this resolution is so important and this debate so significant.

Tomorrow we will be voting on what may be only a nonbinding resolution, but it is a resounding and unequivocal expression of the National will.

This is not simply a group of Congressmen and women explaining their votes.

It is the echo of an overwhelming majority of Americans who are demanding a new direction in Iraq.

It is the sound of scores of people like me who were sent here by citizens to turn the ship of state around.

During this momentous debate, we have heard from some on the other side of the aisle that this resolution and the discussion we are having somehow undermine our national interest.

I believe they are selling this institution short.

We are displaying for the world what a government of the people, by the people and for the people truly looks like.

What we are doing here this week speaks far more clearly and loudly than our bullets and our rockets and even our dollars.

When the United States Government so clearly and dramatically reflects the will of its citizens, we may not shock the world, but we make it watch in awe.

James Madison wrote that the role of Congress is to expand and refine the public view.

He accurately perceived that on most issues Americans assume that their representatives will consider their opinions and work out the details.

In the present situation, I believe the American people are shouting at us that it is time to get our men and women out of harm's way in Iraq.

I will cast my vote not simply to oppose the President's escalation, but as a statement that this Congress will no longer abdicate its responsibility to expand and refine the public view.

Mr. Speaker, today I am as confident about my position as I was 4 years ago. I am confident because I have listened to those who oppose this resolution. I hear only disingenuous rhetoric.

The other side accuses us of trying to micromanage the Iraqi conflict, then says we should have our own plan.

They say that we are dishonoring our fallen heroes, but then offer no strategy for honoring them other than to simply send more brave soldiers in their place.

They continue to talk about victory and defeat, while virtually everyone agrees that we could never identify or define either.

They say this resolution is an empty political gesture + then say it is tantamount to surrender.

What they do not give us + more importantly what the President of the USA has not given us, are any reasons to believe

that we are succeeding in Iraq,

that the current plans increase the odds of our success,

that we are any closer to eliminating the threat of terrorism, or finally

that the USA is enhancing its image around the world as the beacon of freedom.

We who support this resolution honor and respect our troops.

We care deeply about the international reputation of our country.

We are unequivocally committed to our Nation's security + we desperately want America to succeed.

By supporting this resolution, we undeniably succeed, because we honor our Nation and its citizens who have entrusted us with the simple, but grave, responsibility to listen to them.
15.Feb.2007
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Al Qaeda’s latest menace to America’s oil sources embodies a plan to inflame Saudi Shiites against the Riyadh throne

In the February issue of Sawt al Jihad, the Saudi wing of the jihadist group calls for attacks on US oil suppliers in the Middle East, Canada, Venezuela and Mexico.

In a separate article, al Qaeda reports preparations for “quality attacks to shake the foundations of the crusaders in the Arabian Peninsula.”

The “Sheik Osama bin Laden’s Companies,” created for the new terror offensive, will launch attacks on the 3-4 million long-suppressed Saudi Shiites as a stratagem for igniting sectarian war in Saudi Arabia on the Iraq model in the oil regions of the kingdom. More...
17.Feb.2007 Iranian police clash with armed Sunni rebels in Balochi capital of Zahedan

The gunfights in the southeastern Iranian city erupted Sat. Feb. 17, two days after a car bomb killed 11 Revolutionary Guards, claimed by the Sunni Balochi group Jundallah. Tehran has accused Britain and the US of stirring up minority outbreaks in Balochistan and other Iranian provinces. The provincial police commander reported 68 arrests had been made over Wednesday’s attack.
17.Feb.2007 The US Senate is set to vote Saturday on nonbinding bipartisan resolution slamming Bush’s Iraq strategy and troop boost

The motion was carried in the House Friday by 246 to 182 votes. Seventeen Republican lawmakers joined the Democrats in criticizing the president’s Iraq policy.

While sending the White House a negative signal, the resolution does not tie President George W. Bush’s hands, whereas he must have legislative approval for the $93 bn emergency allocation to fund the extra troops which goes before Congress next week.
12.Feb.2007
DEBKAfile reports: Syria has delivered Russian-made SA-18 "Grouse" Igla 9K38 anti-air missiles to Lebanese Hezballah

Moscow guaranteed the shoulder-carried SA-18 “Grouse” Igla 9K38 was sold to Damascus under the strict prohibition of its transfer to Hizballah, DEBKA file notes. The pledge was given to the US and personally by Russian president Vladimir Putin to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. More...
18.Feb.2007 Snow: Politicians Warning Of Iran War ‘May Be Trying To Protect Iran’ - Nico  -

Today on, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow claimed that members of Congress who have warned about the possibility of a military strike against Iran may be “trying to protect Iran.” Watch it:

Numerous military and regional experts agree that there is no military solution for Iran. They say it would be “disastrous for the USA,” “empower reactionaries [in Iran] and validate their pro-nuclear argument,” and “usher in chaos and instability.” None of them are trying to “protect Iran.” Tony Snow’s hysterical rhetoric is false.
18.Feb.2007 Injured U.S. troops held in revolting conditions. - Nico  - The Washington Post reports:

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan’s room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. AmericaBlog has more.
18.Feb.2007 Tony Snow Backtracks: ‘Of Course’ Things Have Gone Wrong In Iraq - Nico  -

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about pre-war military plans that predicted

00.000.2006 only 5,000 U.S. troops would be in Iraq.

“What went wrong?” a reporter asked. Snow replied, “I’m not sure anything went wrong.

This morning, Snow was forced to face reality. NBC’s Tim Russert pointed out, “The weapons of mass destruction, the cost of the war, the size of the military force necessary, the level of sectarian violence. All those assumptions were just wrong.” Snow tried to dodge the claim but was asked again, “Things did go wrong?” Snow said, “Yeah. Of course.” Watch both clips back-to-back: Transcript: (more…)
18.Feb.2007 True ‘Fair And Balanced’ Coverage: Wallace Calls Out Feith For Lying On Fox News - Faiz  -

Last week on Fox News Sunday, former Rumsfeld aide Douglas Feith told Chris Wallace, “Nobody in my office ever said there was an operational relationship between Iraq + Al Qaeda.

It’s just not correct. I mean, words matter.”

Fox News pursued the matter and did a follow-up report this week.

Wallace reported, “It turns out he did make that case [that there was an operational relationship] in a memo he sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee 00.Oct.2003 .” Watch it: Transcript: (more…)
18.Feb.2007 Hume: Murtha Is Senile, Doesn’t Have ‘The Foggiest Awareness’ Of What’s Going On In The World - Think Progress  -

This morning on Fox News, Brit Hume launched a scathing diatribe against Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) character. “It’s time a few things be said about him,” Hume said.

“This guy is long past the day when he had anything but the foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world.” Hume called Murtha an “absolute fountain” of “naivete.” Watch it:

Murtha has long been the subject of smear attacks from the right.

00.000.2005 -in late- When he first came out in support of redeployment from Iraq , Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Murtha had “never been a big thinker,” + that he had “become too emotional” because he “goes to funerals.” The White House said it was “baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing.” Digg It! Transcript: (more…)
18.Feb.2007 'Now or never' for climate action EU nations must back plans to cut emissions by 30% by 2020 or risk jeopardising future global climate efforts, ministers warn.
18.Feb.2007 Suppressed Report Shows Cancer Link to GM Potatoes - Zonk 254 - Doc Ruby writes

"After an 8-year-long court battle, Welsh activists have finally been allowed to released a Russian study showing an increased cancer risk linked to eating genetically modified potatoes.

While the victory of the Welsh Greenpeace members in the courtroom would seem to vindicate the work of the Russian scientists that did the original research, there are still serious questions to be answered.

The trials involved rats being fed several types of potatoes as feed.

The rats who were fed GM potatoes suffered much more extensive damage to their organs than with any other type; just the same, serious questions remain about the validity of the findings.

The Welsh group wants to use this information to stop the testing of GM crops in the UK, tests currently slated for the spring of this year."
18.Feb.2007
Creating Power From Wasted Heat - Zonk 138 -Roland Piquepaille writes

"Today, about 90 % of the world's electricity is created through an indirect and inefficient conversion of heat. It is estimated that two thirds of the heat used by thermoelectric converters are wasted and released.

But now, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have found a new way to convert this wasted heat into electricity by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles.

So far, this method of creating electricity creation is in its very early stage, but if it can scale up to mass production it may lead to a new and inexpensive source of energy."
18.Feb.2007
New Microsoft Dirty Tricks Revealed - CowboyNeal 181+ -Conrad Mazian writes

"Robert X. Cringely has an article on the Technology Evangelist web site where he claims that Microsoft destroyed evidence in the Burst vs Microsoft case.

Specifically Burst's lawyers had asked for certain emails, Microsoft claimed that they couldn't find the backup tapes the emails would be on + while this was happening the tapes were in a vault at Microsoft — until they mysteriously disappeared. It's a fascinating story + even names one person at Microsoft."
18.Feb.2007
Scientists Expose Weak DNA in HIV - CowboyNeal 161+ -Ace905 writes

"The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced Thursday that they had discovered a very promising 'weak spot' in the HIV virus. The HIV virus, a progenitor to full blown AIDS has eluded all attempts at a vaccine since it was discovered sometime in the 1970's. The major problem with developing a vaccine initially was isolating the virus. Conventional viruses are often defeated with existing drugs, or after being tested against new compounds. HIV has been unique + staggering in it's ability to resist all attempts at treatment by mutating its own genetic code. HIV is able to resist, with great effectiveness, any drug or combination drug-therapy that is used against it."
18.Feb.2007
Stallman Convinces Cuba to Switch to Open Source - CowboyNeal 474+ -prostoalex writes

"It's a big victory for Richard Stallman in North America, as Cuba decided to adopt open source software on the national level. Both Cuba and Venezuela are currently working on switching the entire government infrastructure to GNU/Linux operating system and applications, the Associated Press reports from Havana: 'Both governments say they are trying to wean state agencies from Microsoft's proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating system, which is developed by a global community of programmers who freely share their code.' The AP article doesn't mention the distro used for government workers, but says that the students are working on a Gentoo-based distro."