Papal Bulls and other Edicts

Teen Pregancy Rises Under Bush Admin

2010-01-26T23:20:00.002-05:00

Published: January 26, 2010

After more than a decade of declining teenage pregnancy, the pregnancy rate among girls ages 15 to 19 increased 3 percent from 2005 to 2006 — a turnaround likely to intensify the debate over federal financing for abstinence-only sex education.

The teenage abortion rate also crept up for the first time in more than a decade, rising 1 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit research group.

“It’s very disturbing,” said Sarah Brown, of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “We had over a decade of progress on a very serious problem, and I worry that we’ve ground to a halt. I think there are a lot of different factors at play, from less use of contraception, maybe because of less fear of AIDS, to our anything-goes culture, where it’s O.K. to get pregnant and have a baby in your teens.”

While teenage pregnancy rates for whites remain far lower than for blacks and Hispanics, the pregnancy rates increased for all three groups.

As previously reported, births to young women ages 15 to 19 — a statistic that is available more quickly than pregnancy and abortion data — rose from 2005 to 2006, and again from 2006 to 2007.

Since the teenage pregnancy rate is made up of births, abortions and miscarriages, it is likely that the teenage pregnancy rate rose from 2006 to 2007, as well.

But several experts said it was too soon to predict whether teenage pregnancy and birth rates would continue to rise, and revert to the record high levels of the 1980s and early 1990s.

The Guttmacher analysis examined federal data on teenage sex, births and abortion, along with the institute’s own abortion statistics.

While it is difficult to pinpoint precisely how different factors influence teenage sexual behavior, some experts speculate that the rise in teenage pregnancy might be partly attributable to the $150 million a year of federal financing for sex education that emphasized abstinence until marriage, avoiding all mention of the possible benefits of contraception.

“This new study makes it crystal clear that abstinence-only sex education for teenagers does not work,” said Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The Clinton administration began financing abstinence-only programs as part of welfare reform, but such programs got a large boost in the Bush administration.

The Obama administration has moved away from abstinence-only programs, creating a new teenage-pregnancy initiative in which most financing will go to programs that have been shown to prevent pregnancy, with some experimental approaches.

Meanwhile, there are continuing efforts to reinstate financing for abstinence-only education as part of the health-reform legislation.

Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute, said there was evidence that adolescent use of contraceptives had plateaued, or declined, adding that it was “an interesting coincidence” that this had happened just as the focus on abstinence-only education had left fewer students getting comprehensive sex education.

Advocates of abstinence-only education, however, had a different view.

“While this recent uptick is certainly disconcerting, it would be disingenuous to try to ascribe it abstinence education or any other single factor,” said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association. “The overly sex-saturated culture certainly plays a part, with teen sex communicated almost as an expected rite of passage, without consequences, and that’s a dangerous message for young people, who tend to be risk-takers anyway.”

According to the Guttmacher analysis, the teenage pregnancy rate declined 41 percent from its peak, in 1990, when there were 116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19, and 2005, when there were only 69.5 per 1,000. In 2006, the rate rose to 71.5 pregnancies for 1,000 women.

Teenage birth and abortion rates also declined in that period, with births dropping 35 percent from 1991 to 2005 and teenage abortion declining 56 percent between its peak, in 1988, and 2005.

From NYTimes.com

Take that abstinence only education! When will people realize, abstinence doesn't work? Come on people. Trying to tell teens not to have sex is like telling Glenn Beck to stop talking crazy. It ain't gonna work. But at least with teens we might convince them to be a little more responsible about what they do.

PS: Suck it Beck! (I mean Glenn).

Alcohol Protects "Men's Hearts"

2009-11-19T08:20:00.001-05:00

Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.

The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men.

Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found.

Experts are critical, warning heavy drinking can increase the risk of other diseases, with alcohol responsible for 1.8 million deaths globally per year.

The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease.

The research involved men and women aged between 29 and 69, who were asked to document their lifetime drinking habits and followed for 10 years.

Crucially the research team claim to have eliminated the "sick abstainers" risk by differentiating between those who had never drunk and those whom ill-health had forced to quit. This has been used in the past to explain fewer heart-related deaths among drinkers on the basis that those who are unhealthy to start with are less likely to drink.

Good cholesterol

The researchers from centres across Spain placed the participants into six categories - from never having drunk to drinking more than 90g of alcohol each day. This would be the equivalent of consuming about eight bottles of wine a week, or 28 pints of lager.

People should not be encouraged to drink more as a result of this research

Professor Martin McKee
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

For those drinking little - less than a shot of vodka a day for instance - the risk was reduced by 35%. And for those who drank anything from three shots to more than 11 shots each day, the risk worked out an average of 50% less.

The same benefits were not seen in women, who suffer fewer heart problems than men to start with. Researchers speculated this difference could be down to the fact that women process alcohol differently, and that female hormones protect against the disease in younger age groups.

The type of alcohol drunk did not seem to make a difference, but protection was greater for those drinking moderate to high amounts of varied drinks.

The exact mechanisms are as yet unclear, but it is known that alcohol helps to raise high-density lipoproteins, sometimes known as good cholesterol, which helps stop so-called bad cholesterol from building up in the arteries.

From:BBC.co.uk

Whoo--hoo! Yeah, and that's "men's hearts." Sadly...not our livers.

Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option

2009-09-15T06:25:00.003-05:00

by Joseph Shapiro

Majority Of Physicians Want Public And Private Insurance Options

Notes

The survey was designed and conducted by Drs. Salomeh Keyhani and Alex Federman of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Over the summer of 2009, they surveyed a random sample of more than 2,000 physicians.

September 14, 2009

Among all the players in the health care debate, doctors may be the least understood about where they stand on some of the key issues around changing the health care system. Now, a new survey finds some surprising results: A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option.

When polled, "nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options," says Dr. Salomeh Keyhani. She and Dr. Alex Federman, both internists and researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.

Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance. That's the position of President Obama and of many congressional Democrats. In addition, another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they'd like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent.

When the American public is polled, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent favor a public option. So that means that when compared to their patients, doctors are bigger supporters of a public option.

Doctors' Support For Public Option 'Broad And Widespread'

Enlarge Mario Tama/Getty Images

Doctors and other supporters of health care overhaul attend a candlelight vigil in New York City in September 2009. The gathering was one of hundreds nationwide honoring those suffering under the current health care system.

The researchers say they found strong support for a public option among all categories of doctors. "We even saw that support being the same whether physicians lived in rural areas or metropolitan areas," says Federman.

"Whether they lived in southern regions of the United States or traditionally liberal parts of the country," says Keyhani, "we found that physicians, regardless — whether they were salaried or they were practice owners, regardless of whether they were specialists or primary care providers, regardless of where they lived — the support for the public option was broad and widespread."

Keyhani says doctors already have experience with government-run health care, with Medicare. And she says the survey shows that, overall, they like it. "We've heard a lot about how the government is standing in between patients and their physician," Keyhani says. "And what we can see is that physicians support Medicare. So I think physicians have sort of signaled that a public option that's similar in design to Medicare would be a good way of ensuring patients get the care that they need."

The survey was published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine. It was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health care research organization that favors health reform.

AMA Doctors Also Support Public Option

The survey even found widespread support for a public option among doctors who are members of the American Medical Association, a group that's opposed to it. The AMA fears a public option eventually could lead to government putting more limits on doctors' fees.

"The American Medical Association has traditionally been probably the loudest voice for physicians across the United States," says Federman. "And part of our reason for doing this research was really to get at the real voice of physicians as opposed to the voice of one physician organization."

Keyhani and Federman belong to another, smaller group, the National Physicians Alliance. It supports a public option, and Keyhani has spoken publicly about her own support for a public option.

What Would A Public Option Look Like?

It's hard to know for sure what doctors mean when they speak about a public option, says Dr. James Rohack, president of the AMA.

"Because when I say public option, or you say public option, it means different things to different people, kind of like the Rorschach ink blot test — when you look at it, to some people it means one thing, to other people it means the other thing."

Politicians in Washington turn to the AMA for support and guidance, even though fewer than a third of practicing doctors belong to the lobbying group.

The AMA's own position on a health overhaul has, at times, been hard to pinpoint. In July, it praised the bill that came out of the House of Representatives. That bill included a public option. But the AMA made it clear that what it really liked was that it eliminated cuts in doctors' fees from Medicare.

"And so I think that's why we need to be very clear about what does the AMA articulate for," says Rohack. "It's to make sure that everyone has coverage that's affordable, that's portable and that is quality — that is, it covers the things you need to cover because you've got a medical condition or developed a medical illness.

From NPR.org

Wow. This is pretty impressive. 73% of doctors polled want some type of public health coverage in the new system. I am even more surprised that 10% want a single payer plan--Socialist doctors? Who'd have thought that. Anyway, I think this is huge. Opponents of a public health plan have been beating this drum that health care professionals "know" that government health care is a bad idea and oppose it (see the rebuttal to Obama's recent speech--by a Republican heart surgeon). This would turn that on it's ear.

A 6,000 year old world needs no mining laws (WTF!)

2009-07-07T23:32:00.003-05:00

Arizona state Sen. Sylvia Allen supports uranium mining because the 'earth's been here 6,000 years'.

(from http://mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/a-6000-year-old-world-needs-no-mining-laws)

I am speechless (the "words, words, words" are silent!)...after a lot of thought the following comes to mind: standardized testing should be required for public office, "gravity is a theory", and D'oh...[palms face].

Muslim Minority Suffers Under Harsh Myanmar Rule

2009-06-28T05:32:00.002-05:00

by Michael Sullivan

To listen to the story go here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105709922

Morning Edition, June 22, 2009 · Myanmar is a place of misery for many of its citizens. Political dissent isn't tolerated by the repressive, often brutal military rulers. And neither, it seems, is the country's ethnic Muslim minority, known as the Rohingya. NPR's Michael Sullivan visited the country and examined their plight.

A friend brought me some pictures a few weeks back that were pretty disturbing. He works for an international aid agency, and the pictures were from a trip he took to visit some villages in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, near the border with Bangladesh.

The state is home to the Rohingya minority. He was showing me the pictures because he was outraged that people had to live in such squalid conditions. Some of the children were badly undernourished. Their mothers' faces were lined with despair.

It was the despair in these women's eyes that got to my friend the most — the utter lack of hope. My friend, who doesn't want to be named — has been in this line of work for a long time, and he has seen places that he says he does not want to remember.

But none have bothered him as much as this.

Ugh, just when the think the dick-hole military junta in Burma can't get any worse...What is really striking to me I guess is the extent to which Burmese in general seem ok with the treatment. The government seems to have completely convinced the Buddhist population that the Rohingya aren't really from Myanmar so treating them terribly and confiscating land, virtually starving them out of existence is ok. Damn. It never ceases to amaze me how much people suck.

Swedish pirates capture EU seat

2009-06-08T19:31:00.001-05:00

Sweden's Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament.

The group - which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law - secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote.

The result puts the Pirate Party in fifth place, behind the Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals and the Moderate Party.

Rickard Falkvinge, the party leader, told the BBC the win was "gigantic" and that they were now negotiating with four different EU Parliamentary groups.

"Last night, we gained political credibility," said Mr Falkvinge.

"People were not taken in by the establishment and we got political trust from the citizens."

The profile of the Pirate Party and issues surrounding copyright law have dominated headlines in Sweden over the past few months.

Rallying cry

In April, a court in Sweden sentenced the four men behind The Pirate Bay, the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, to a year in jail and ordered them to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.

Mr Falkvinge said it had played a significant role in getting them the vote.

“ Many people just don't see illegal file-sharing as a crime, however hard the media industries try to persuade the public that it's just as bad as shoplifting ”
Rory Cellan-Jones BBC technology correspondent

"The establishment is trying to prevent control of knowledge and culture slipping from their grasp.

"When the Pirate Bay got hit, people realised the wolf was outside the front door.

"That happened one month before the ballot opened, so it had quite a rallying effect," he said.

Parties within the European Parliament tend to join one of the big voting blocs, otherwise their MEP can become marginalised.

Mr Falkvinge said they were still considering their position.

"We're looking at four different EU Parliament groups," he said.

"However, we're probably going to join either the Green block or the ALDE group."

The biggest loser in Sweden's election was the eurosceptic June List party, which saw its share of the vote fall by more than 10 points to 3.6% of the vote. The Left Party also saw its vote halved to 5.6%.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8089102.stm

Published: 2009/06/08 11:24:36 GMT

This story is awesome for two reasons. Pirates, of course, and file-sharing.

D-Day revisited

2009-06-06T00:08:00.002-05:00

By Hugh Schofield
Paris

A revisionist theme seems to have settled on this year's 65th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landings.

The tone was set in Antony's Beevor's new book, D-Day, which tries to debunk certain received ideas about the Allied campaign.

Far from being an unmitigated success, Mr Beevor found, the landings came very close to going horribly wrong.

And far from being universally welcomed as liberators, many troops had a distinctly surly reception from the people of Normandy.

The reason for this was simple. Many Normandy towns and villages had been literally obliterated by Allied bombing.

The bombardment of Caen, Mr Beevor said, could almost be considered a war-crime (though he later retracted the comment).

Many historians will retort that there is nothing new in Mr Beevor's account.

Harrowing experience

After all, the scale of destruction is already well-established.

Some 20,000 French civilians were killed in the two-and-a-half months from D-Day, 3,000 of them during the actual landings.

In some areas - like the Falaise pocket where the Germans were pounded into oblivion at the end of the campaign - barely a building was left standing and soldiers had to walk over banks of human corpses.

“ The suffering of civilians was for many years masked by the over-riding image - that of the French welcoming the liberators with open arms ”
Christophe Prime Historian

As for the destruction of Caen, it has long been admitted that it was militarily useless.

The Germans were stationed to the north of the city and were more or less untouched.

Twenty-five years ago, in his book Overlord, Max Hastings had already described it as "one of the most futile air attacks of the war."

Though these revisionist accounts were written elsewhere, it is in France that these ideas strike more of a chord today.

It is not as if the devastation wrought by the Allies is not known - it is just that it tends not to get talked about.

And yet for many families who lived through the war, it was the arrival and passage of British and American forces that was by far the most harrowing experience.

"It was profoundly traumatic for the people of Normandy," said Christophe Prime, a historian at the Peace Memorial in Caen.

"Think of the hundreds of tons of bombs destroying entire cities and wiping out families. But the suffering of civilians was for many years masked by the over-riding image - that of the French welcoming the liberators with open arms."

'Sullen' welcome

According to Prime, it was during the 60th anniversary commemoration five years ago that the taboo first began to lift.

At town meetings across Normandy, witnesses - now on their 70s - spoke of the terrible things they had seen as children.

At the same time an exhibition at the Caen memorial displayed letters from Allied servicemen speaking frankly about their poor reception by locals.

That too was an eye-opener for many Normandy people.

For example, Cpl LF Roker of the Highland Light Infantry is quoted in another new book about the civilian impact of the campaign, Liberation, The Bitter Road to Freedom, by William Hitchcock.

"It was rather a shock to find we were not welcomed ecstatically as liberators by the local people, as we were told we should be... They saw us as bringers of destruction and pain," Mr Roker wrote in his diary.

Another soldier, Ivor Astley of the 43rd Wessex Infantry, described the locals as "sullen and silent... If we expected a welcome, we certainly failed to find it."

Sexual violence

In his book, Mr Hitchcock raises another issue that rarely features in euphoric folk-memories of liberation: Allied looting, and worse.

"The theft and looting of Normandy households and farmsteads by liberating soldiers began on June 6 and never stopped during the entire summer," he writes.

One woman - from the town of Colombieres - is quoted as saying that "the enthusiasm for the liberators is diminishing. They are looting... everything, and going into houses everywhere on the pretext of looking for Germans."

“ The evidence shows that sexual violence against women in liberated France was common ”
Author William Hitchcock

Even more feared, of course, was the crime of rape - and here too the true picture has arguably been expunged from popular memory.

According to American historian J Robert Lilly, there were around 3,500 rapes by American servicemen in France between June 1944 and the end of the war.

"The evidence shows that sexual violence against women in liberated France was common," writes Mr Hitchcock.

"It also shows that black soldiers convicted of such awful acts received very severe punishments, while white soldiers received lighter sentences."

Of 29 soldiers executed for rape by the US military authorities, 25 were black - though African-Americans did not represent nearly so high a proportion of convictions.

Happy and thankful

So why did the "bad" side of the Allied liberation tend to disappear from French popular consciousness?

The answer of course is that the overwhelming result of the Allied campaign was a positive one for the whole of France.

It was hard for the people of Normandy to spoil the national party by complaining of their lot.

The message from on-high was sympathetic but clear: we know you have suffered, but the price was worth it. Most people agreed and were silent.

In addition, open criticism of British and American bombings raids had long been a hallmark of French collaboration.

In Paris - which, it is often forgotten, was itself bombed by the British - pro-German groups staged ceremonies to commemorate the victims, and the "crimes" of the Allies were excoriated in the press.

After the war, abusing the Allies would have seemed like siding with the defeated and the dishonoured.

Of course, in some communities the devastation was never forgotten.

There are villages in Normandy where until recently the 6 June celebrations were deliberately shunned, because the associations were too painful.

And on the ideological front, there have been intellectuals of both left and right who justified their anti-Americanism by recalling the grimmer aspects of the French campaign - like the "cowardly" way the Americans bombed from high altitude, or their reliance on heavy armour causing indiscriminate civilian casualties.

But in general, France has gone along with the accepted version of the landings and their aftermath - that of a joyful liberation for which the country is eternally grateful.

That version is the correct one. France was indeed freed from tyranny, and the French were both happy and thankful.

But it is still worth remembering that it all came at a cost.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8084210.stm

Not surprising I guess. Even in "noble wars" the good guys do bad things. The sad part I guess, apart from the appalling loss of life in allied bombing runs and other violence inflicted by allied troops on the French populous, is that we (and societies in general) tend to whitewash the past. I guess I see why, but it is disingenuous. Societies and individuals should face up to their crimes and make amends whenever possible. I mean, the US gave millions to France to rebuild, but an apology for errors or crimes on the part of its soldiers would be nice as well.

Gingrich Now Says He Should Not Have Called Sotomayor A Racist

2009-06-03T12:13:00.002-05:00

By Mark Memmott

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/06/gingrich_now_says_he_should_no.html

He agrees with critics who say he should not have called Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a "racist," former House speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., writes on his website this morning. Here's what he now says:

Shortly after President Obama nominated her to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, I read Judge Sonia Sotomayor's now famous words:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

My initial reaction was strong and direct -- perhaps too strong and too direct. The sentiment struck me as racist and I said so. Since then, some who want to have an open and honest consideration of Judge Sotomayor's fitness to serve on the nation's highest court have been critical of my word choice.

With these critics who want to have an honest conversation, I agree. The word "racist" should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a person, even if her words themselves are unacceptable (a fact which both President Obama and his Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, have since admitted).

But, Gingrich adds:

Sotomayor's words reveal a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system -- that everyone is equal before the law.

Several of Gingrich's fellow Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, were sharply critical of both the former speaker and radio host Rush Limbaugh for calling Sotomayor a racist.

Limbaugh has not backed away from the characterization.

Gingrich is tweeting here. On his blog last week, Gingrich says that a "Latina woman racist" should be forced to withdraw as a nominee.

Bravo Newt. Sir, I may disagree with nearly all your politics, but I applaud you for this admission.

A Taste of Torture

2009-05-24T12:09:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Thoroughly Modern Marx

2009-04-27T17:34:00.002-05:00

The economic crisis has spawned a resurgence of interest in Karl Marx. Worldwide sales of Das Kapital have shot up (one lone German publisher sold thousands of copies in 2008, compared with 100 the year before), a measure of a crisis so broad in scope and devastation that it has global capitalism—and its high priests—in an ideological tailspin.

Yet even as faith in neoliberal orthodoxies has imploded, why resurrect Marx? To start, Marx was far ahead of his time in predicting the successful capitalist globalization of recent decades. He accurately foresaw many of the fateful factors that would give rise to today’s global economic crisis: what he called the “contradictions” inherent in a world comprised of competitive markets, commodity production, and financial speculation.

Penning his most famous works in an era when the French and American revolutions were less than a hundred years old, Marx had premonitions of AIG and Bear Stearns trembling a century and a half later. He was singularly cognizant of what he called the “most revolutionary part” played in human history by the bourgeoisie—those forerunners of today’s Wall Street bankers and corporate executives. As Marx put it in The Communist Manifesto, “The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. . . . In one word, it creates a world after its own image.”

But Marx was no booster of capitalist globalization in his time or ours. Instead, he understood that “the need for a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe,” foreseeing that the development of capitalism would inevitably be “paving the way for more extensive and exhaustive crises.” Marx identified how disastrous speculation could trigger and exacerbate crises in the whole economy. And he saw through the political illusions of those who would argue that such crises could be permanently prevented through incremental reform.

Like every revolutionary, Marx wanted to see the old order overthrown in his lifetime. But capitalism had plenty of life left in it, and he could only glimpse, however perceptively, the mistakes and wrong turns that future generations would commit. Those of us now cracking open Marx will find he had much to say that is relevant today, at least for those looking to “recover the spirit of the revolution,” not merely to “set its ghost walking again.”

By: By Leo Panitch

see the rest here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4856

I guess we still have something to learn from Marx. Unabashed speculation and no regulation is doomed to collapse, and it what's more, it may well lead to the rise of the global proleteriat and the end of the bourgeoise...We can only hope. Long live the revolution!

Cheney enters 'torture' memos row

2009-04-21T06:29:00.002-05:00

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney has urged the CIA to release memos which he says show harsh interrogation techniques such as water-boarding work.

His comments follow the publication of memos written by Bush administration lawyers which justified the techniques.

Mr Cheney said that the decision to publish the memos was a mistake.

And it was misleading, he said, because the documents did not include those demonstrating that harsh interrogation delivered intelligence "success".

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is that they put out the legal memos... but they didn't put out the memos that show the success of the effort," Mr Cheney told Fox News.

JUSTIN WEBB'S BLOG
Justin Webb
The real question - of course - is whether waterboarding is justified under any circumstances

Read Justin's thoughts in full

"There are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified. I formally ask that they be declassified now."

The American people should have a chance to weigh the intelligence obtained alongside the legal debate, he said.

Mr Cheney made his comments as US President Barack Obama visited the CIA headquarters just outside Washington.

In a move seen as an attempt to boost morale, Mr Obama told employees that the CIA remained key to protecting the country.

Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge that potentially we've made some mistakes
Barack Obama

Interrogation 'morass' for Obama
Q&A: Water-boarding

Staff had faced a "difficult" few days, he acknowledged, but they had his full support and were key to tackling threats from groups such as al-Qaeda.

Mr Obama said he had had no choice but to release the Bush administration's legal justification for interrogation techniques, which he considers to be torture - and has banned.

"Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge that potentially we've made some mistakes.

"That's how we learn. But the fact that we are willing to acknowledge them and then move forward, that is precisely why I am proud to be president of the United States and that's why you should be proud to be members of the CIA," he said.

The memos, detailing the range of techniques the CIA was allowed to use during the Bush administration, were released on 16 April.

Quoting one of the memos, The New York Times said water-boarding - or mock drowning - was used on two al-Qaeda terror suspects on up to 266 occasions.

Other methods mentioned in the memos include week-long sleep deprivation, forced nudity and the use of painful positions.

Mr Obama on Thursday said he would not prosecute under anti-torture laws CIA personnel who relied in good faith on Bush administration legal opinions issued after the 11 September attacks.

But he has been criticised by human rights organisations and UN officials, who say charges are necessary to prevent future abuses and to hold people accountable.

Nice Cheney, nice. Torture works...The memo release was a mistake, but at least the administration could have shown the memos that suggest it works? You are a dark and scary man...

UN Rapporteur On Torture: Obama’s Pledge Not To Pursue Torture Prosecutions Of CIA Agents Is Not Legal

2009-04-20T07:27:00.000-05:00

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/19/obama-violated-int-law/

When President Obama released the four of the Office of Legal Counsel’s (OLC) Bush-era torture memos last week, he issued a statement promising not to pursue torture prosecutions against CIA agents who relied on the memos to justify their use of torture tactics on terrorist suspects in U.S. custody. (Notably, Obama left open the possibility of prosecuting the torture architects.) “[I]t is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution,” Obama said.

But in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Manfred Nowak, explained that Obama’s grant of immunity is likely a violation of international law. As a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. is obligated to investigate and prosecute U.S. citizens that are believed to have engaged in torture:

STANDARD: CIA torturers are according to U.S. President Obama not to be prosecuted. Is that decision supportable?

NOWAK: Absolutely not. The United States has, like all other Contracting Parties to the UN Convention Against Torture, committed itself to investigate instances of torture and to prosecute all cases in which credible evidence of torture is found.

Indeed, Article 2 of the convention on torture explains that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever” can be used to legally justify torture. Further, the convention states that an “order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.”

Nowak explained that by invoking the OLC’s memos as justification for the actions of CIA agents against terrorist suspects in U.S. custody, Obama is acting contrary to U.S. obligations under the treaty:

STANDARD: In other words, by making this announcement, Obama has violated international law?

NOWAK: Correct. It is a violation of binding international treaty law in this case, because this is an international law convention — and it provides unequivocally that states are not merely obligated to make torture a crime, but also to prosecute any incidents of which credible evidence can be found.

In announcing his decision to release the OLC memos, Obama also suggested that he is not inclined to conduct a full investigation into the government’s use of torture. Nowak, however, said the he believes that such an investigation ought to be Obama’s highest priority. “Most importantly, there should be a comprehensive investigation undertaken by an independent body. Whether by a special investigatory commission created by Congress or by a special investigator — there are different approaches,” Nowak expalined.

Role-playing games pioneer dies

2009-04-11T07:55:00.001-05:00

Dave Arneson, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-play game, has died of cancer at 61 in a hospice in St Paul, Minnesota.

His two-year battle with the disease ended on Tuesday when he passed away peacefully, his daughter said.

Arneson created the game famous for its oddly shaped dice in 1974 along with the late Gary Gygax.

"The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life," said his daughter Malia.

Arneson and Gygax developed D&D using medieval characters and mythical creatures and it was a worldwide hit, particularly among teenage boys.

It eventually was turned into video games, books and films.

Pioneer

"I think we get distracted by the everyday things you have to do in life and we forget to enjoy life and have fun," Malia Weinhagen told the Associated Press.

"But my dad never did. He just wanted people to have fun."

D&D, described by AP as "the quintessential geek pastime", spawned copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that is still growing in popularity.

"[Arneson] developed many of the fundamental ideas of role-playing: that each player controls just one hero, that heroes gain power through adventures and that personality is as important as combat prowess," said a statement from Wizards of the Coast, which produces D&D.

The company noted that Blackmoor, a game Arneson had been developing before D&D, was the "first-ever role-playing campaign and the prototype for all [role-playing game] campaigns since".

Arneson met Gygax, who died in March of last year, at a games convention in 1969.

He is survived by his daughter and two grandchildren.

from: BBC.co.uk

Dealt a critical hit too early. Thanks for the fantastic fun.

Indian in record chilli attempt

2009-04-10T15:09:00.002-05:00

An Indian mother is set for an entry into the Guinness World Records after eating 51 of the world's hottest chilli in two minutes.

Anandita Dutta Tamuly, 26, gobbled up the "ghost chillis" in front of visiting British chef Gordon Ramsay in the north-eastern state of Assam.

Ms Tamuly told Associated Press she "felt terrible" - because she had managed 60 in an earlier local event.

Mr Ramsay tried a chilli but said "it's too much" and pleaded for water.

He is in Assam for a television shoot of a global food series.

'Awestruck'

Guinness World Records accepted in 2007 that the ghost chilli was the world's spiciest at more than one million Scoville units, the measure of spiciness, twice the heat of its closest rival.

A standard green chilli has about 1,500 units.

The chilli record took place on Thursday in Jorhat, 300km (200 miles) north-east of state capital, Guwahati.

Ms Tamuly told AP she used to eat the chilli as a child "while children of my age roamed the village to look for berries".

Atul Lahkar, a local chef, told the Times of India that Ms Tamuly also "smeared seeds of 25 chillies in her eyes in one minute with the crowd simply awestruck".

The previous record for eating was held by a South African with eight jalapenos in a minute.

Guinness World Records has not yet formally confirmed the record.

Ok, wow. I mean wow. That chili is about 2-3 times hotter than habanero or scotch bonnet peppers (and about a quarter of law enforcement pepper spray!). That is fucking hot! I am in awe.

Now, what surprises me is that the previous record was only 8 jalapenos in 1 minute. Please, I could do that...and have. That can't be right. I guess I should have made my stab at Guinness early. I am not likely to beat the new winner. Ms. Tamuly, I salute you and your teflon-coated gut.

Are reactionary conservatives literally this fucking Nuts

2009-04-08T21:51:00.003-05:00

I think so...

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Raul Castro Meets With Visiting U.S. Lawmakers

2009-04-07T16:36:00.003-05:00

All Things Considered, April 7, 2009 · Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri is one of six lawmakers who met Monday with Cuban President Raul Castro. Cleaver says that Castro indicated he wants to begin talking with the U.S. government about normalizing relations between the two nations.

by The Associated Press

NPR.org, April 6, 2009 · President Raul Castro met Monday with seven visiting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, his first face-to-face discussions with U.S. leaders since he became Cuba's president last year.

State television showed images of Castro, who holds the rank of four-star army general, wearing a business suit instead of his trademark olive-green fatigues and sitting down with Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, and other members of the American delegation behind closed doors.

An official communique read on the air noted that the U.S. representatives had held meetings in recent days with the head of the Cuban parliament and the country's foreign minister, but provided no details of what was said when they met with Castro, or how long the meeting lasted.

The lawmakers are in Havana to talk about improving U.S.-Cuba relations amid speculation that Washington is ready to loosen some facets of its 47-year-old trade embargo against the island.

The meeting came as Fidel Castro said Cuba is not afraid to talk directly to the United States and that the communist government does not thrive on confrontation as its detractors have long claimed.

In a column published in state-controlled newspapers earlier Monday, the 82-year-old former president also praised U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, saying the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee "is walking on solid ground" with a proposal to appoint a special envoy to reshape U.S.-Cuba relations.

Fidel Castro wrote that "those capable of serenely analyzing the events, as is the case of the senator from Indiana, use an irrefutable argument: The measures of the United States against Cuba, over almost half a century, are a total failure."

Though they share a strong and mutual distrust of Washington, both Castro brothers have said for decades that they would be willing to talk personally with U.S. leaders. Fidel repeated Cuba's desire for dialogue in the column, saying direct negotiation "is the only way to secure friendship and peace among peoples." Currently, the countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.

"There is no need to emphasize what Cuba has always said: We do not fear dialogue with the United States," he wrote. "Nor do we need confrontation to exist, as some foolish people think. We exist precisely because we believe in our ideas and we have never feared dialogue with the adversary."

Suffering from an undisclosed illness in a secret location, Fidel Castro was succeeded by the 77-year-old Raul as president in February 2008.

Lawmakers in both houses of the U.S. Congress have proposed a measure that would prohibit the president from barring Americans from traveling to Cuba except in extreme cases, effectively lifting a travel ban that is a key component of the embargo.

Lee has said many of the representatives, who arrived in Cuba on Friday and are scheduled to leave Tuesday, support the travel legislation.

Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina said Monday that Fidel Castro's column made it "clear that both countries can exist without either dialogue or adversity to each other."

"But wouldn't it be so wonderful," he added, "if we struck a dialogue and found the things that were mutually advantageous and mutually of interest to our two countries and stopped the historical divisions that have separated us [though we are] so close geographically?"

Check the audio from NPR here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102851833

Whoohoo! Let's move. End that dumbass embargo. Jesus, you would think after 50 years of no positive effect it would be time to drop the sanctions and open up travel. We are the only country that keeps such a stupid and pointless set of restrictions on the country. And for fuck's sake, we have cordial relations with way, way more repressive countries--Egypt, China, god Israel is about 1000 times more brutal (at least to the Palestinians) and these countries receive the VAST majority of US foreign aid every year. So...that repression seems like it's not the reason.

New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ

2009-04-07T09:28:00.002-05:00

The Obama DOJ channels Cheney/Addington in seeking to have a new lawsuit against Bush officials dismissed.

Glenn Greenwald

Apr. 06, 2009 |

When Congress immunized telecoms last August for their illegal participation in Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, Senate Democratic apologists for telecom immunity repeatedly justified that action by pointing out that Bush officials who broke the law were not immunized -- only the telecoms. Here, for instance, is how Sen. Jay Rockefeller justified telecom immunity in a Washington Post Op-Ed:

Second, lawsuits against the government can go forward. There is little doubt that the government was operating in, at best, a legal gray area. If administration officials abused their power or improperly violated the privacy of innocent people, they must be held accountable. That is exactly why we rejected the White House's year-long push for blanket immunity covering government officials.

Taking them at their word, EFF -- which was the lead counsel in the lawsuits against the telecoms -- thereafter filed suit, in October, 2008, against the Bush administration and various Bush officials for illegally spying on the communications of Americans. They were seeking to make good on the promise made by Congressional Democrats: namely, that even though lawsuits against telecoms for illegal spying will not be allowed any longer, government officials who broke the law can still be held accountable.

But late Friday afternoon, the Obama DOJ filed the government's first response to EFF's lawsuit (.pdf), the first of its kind to seek damages against government officials under FISA, the Wiretap Act and other statutes, arising out of Bush's NSA program. But the Obama DOJ demanded dismissal of the entire lawsuit based on (1) its Bush-mimicking claim that the "state secrets" privilege bars any lawsuits against the Bush administration for illegal spying, and (2) a brand new "sovereign immunity" claim of breathtaking scope -- never before advanced even by the Bush administration -- that the Patriot Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is "willful disclosure" of the illegally intercepted communications.

In other words, beyond even the outrageously broad "state secrets" privilege invented by the Bush administration and now embraced fully by the Obama administration, the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they "willfully disclose" to the public what they have learned.

There are several notable aspects to what happened here with this new court filing from Obama:

(1) Unlike in the prior cases where the Obama DOJ embraced the Bush theory of state secrets -- in which the Obama DOJ was simply maintaining already-asserted arguments in those lawsuits by the Bush DOJ -- the motion filed on Friday was the first response of any kind to this lawsuit by the Government. Indeed, EFF filed the lawsuit in October but purposely agreed with Bush lawyers to an extension of the time to respond until April, in the hope that by making this Obama's case, and giving his DOJ officials months to consider what to do when first responding, they would receive a different response than the one they would have gotten from the Bush DOJ.

That didn't happen. This brief and this case are exclusively the Obama DOJ's, and the ample time that elapsed -- almost three full months -- makes clear that it was fully considered by Obama officials. Yet they responded exactly as the Bush DOJ would have. This demonstrates that the Obama DOJ plans to invoke the exact radical doctrines of executive secrecy which Bush used -- not only when the Obama DOJ is taking over a case from the Bush DOJ, but even when they are deciding what response should be made in the first instance. Everything for which Bush critics excoriated the Bush DOJ -- using an absurdly broad rendition of "state secrets" to block entire lawsuits from proceeding even where they allege radical lawbreaking by the President and inventing new claims of absolute legal immunity -- are now things the Obama DOJ has left no doubt it intends to embrace itself.

(2) It is hard to overstate how extremist is the "soverign immunity" argument which the Obama DOJ invented here in order to get rid of this lawsuit. I confirmed with both ACLU and EFF lawyers involved in numerous prior surveillance cases with the Bush administration that the Bush DOJ had never previously argued in any context that the Patriot Act bars all causes of action for any illegal surveillance in the absence of "willful disclosure." This is a brand new, extraordinarily broad claim of government immunity made for the first time ever by the Obama DOJ -- all in service of blocking EFF's lawsuit against Bush officials for illegal spying. As EFF's Kevin Bankston put it:

This is the first time [the DOJ] claimed sovereign immunity against Wiretap Act and Stored Communications Act claims. In other words, the administration is arguing that the U.S. can never be sued for spying that violates federal surveillance statutes, whether FISA, the Wiretap Act or the SCA.

Since EFF's lawsuit is the first to sue for actual damages under FISA and the Wiretap Act, it's arguable whether this immunity argument applied to any of the previous lawsuits. What is clear, though, is that the Bush DOJ, in any context, never articulated this bizarre view that all claims of illegal government surveillance are immunized in the absence of "willful disclosure" to the public of the intercepted communications. This is a brand new Obama DOJ invention to blanket themselves (and Bush officials) with extraordinary immunity even when they knowingly break our country's surveillance laws.

(3) Equally difficult to overstate is how identical the Obama DOJ now is to the Bush DOJ when it comes to its claims of executive secrecy -- not merely in substance but also tone and rhetoric (at least in the area of secrecy; there are still important differences -- no sweeping Article II lawbreaking powers and the like -- which shouldn't be overlooked). I defy anyone to read the Obama DOJ's brief here and identify even a single difference between what it says and what the Bush DOJ routinely said in the era of Cheney/Addington (other than the fact that Bush used to rely on secret claims of national security harm from Michael McConnell whereas Obama relies on secret claims filed by Dennis Blair). Even for those most cynical about what Obama was likely to do or not do in the civil liberties realm, reading this brief from the Obama DOJ is so striking -- and more than a little depressing -- given how indistinguishable it is from everything that poured out of the Bush DOJ regarding secrecy powers in order to evade all legal accountability.

Don't take my word for that. I mean: really, don't. Instead, I'm going to excerpt just a few of the key passages from the Obama DOJ's brief to convey a sense of how absolute is the Obama administration's claims of executive power and secrecy rights -- remember: all advanced in order to demand that courts not consider any claims that the Bush administration broke the law in how it spied on Americans (click on images to enlarge):

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 2:

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 12:

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 13:

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 15:

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 16:

Obama DOJ Brief - Page 18:

Every defining attribute of Bush's radical secrecy powers -- every one -- is found here, and in exactly the same tone and with the exact same mindset. Thus: how the U.S. government eavesdrops on its citizens is too secret to allow a court to determine its legality. We must just blindly accept the claims from the President's DNI that we will all be endangered if we allow courts to determine the legality of the President's actions. Even confirming or denying already publicly known facts -- such as the involvement of the telecoms and the massive data-mining programs -- would be too damaging to national security. Why? Because the DNI says so. It is not merely specific documents, but entire lawsuits, that must be dismissed in advance as soon as the privilege is asserted because "its very subject matter would inherently risk or require the disclosure of state secrets."

What's being asserted here by the Obama DOJ is the virtually absolute power of presidential secrecy, the right to break the law with no consequences, and immunity from surveillance lawsuits so sweeping that one can hardly believe that it's being claimed with a straight face. It is simply inexcusable for those who spent the last several years screaming when the Bush administration did exactly this to remain silent now or, worse, to search for excuses to justify this behavior. As EFF's Bankston put it:

President Obama promised the American people a new era of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil liberties. But with the Obama Justice Department continuing the Bush administration's cover-up of the National Security Agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of Americans, and insisting that the much-publicized warrantless wiretapping program is still a "secret" that cannot be reviewed by the courts, it feels like deja vu all over again.

This is the Obama DOJ's work and only its work, and it is equal to, and in some senses surpasses, the radical secrecy and immunity claims of the Bush administration.

-- Glenn Greenwald

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/06/obama/

Happy Cheese Weasel Day!

2009-04-03T10:35:00.003-05:00

Unknown to most, April 3rd is Cheese Weasel Day, the holiday where the Cheese Weasel brings dairy goodness to all the good boys and girls in the tech industry. While the origins are murky, it seems to have started around 1992 when a weasel was spotted carrying a Kraft Single. This, they assumed, must be the Cheese Weasel, and therefore, that it must be Cheese Weasel Day. What was the weasel going to do with the cheese? He must be off to put it under the keyboards of good tech workers everywhere.

The practice of the holiday seems to spread through word of mouth. I first heard of it when I showed up to work on April 3rd many years ago and a fantastic spread of exotic cheeses was laid out in the middle of the office. It wasn’t until a few hours later, after the food coma had started to wear down, that I started to think about the legend, “The Cheese Weasel leaves cheese under the keyboards of good tech workers… cheese under the keyboards… keyboards.” I looked, and there was a cheese single, still wrapped. I wonder how long it would have lasted had I not found it.

The holiday does seem to be growing. Each year, more and more sites show up with a reference to the holiday or the song (yes, there is a song). One site even offers Cheese Weasel Day (CWD) ecards. The methods of celebration vary. Some prefer to celebrate with the best cheeses and freshest baguettes, while others eschew that practice and insist on keeping with the tradition of cheese food singles.

(from: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/03/happy-cheese-weasel-day-2/)

I'm Still looking for my cheese, it has to be here somewhere.

Livni condemns new Israel leaders

2009-04-02T09:24:00.001-05:00

Israel's former chief peace negotiator says the way the new government is talking shows it will not be a partner for peace with the Palestinians.

Tzipi Livni's criticism follows the rejection by her successor as foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, of recent US-backed efforts towards a peace deal.

"What happened is that the government announced that Israel is not relevant, is not a partner," she said.

New PM Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to seek peace but has not detailed how.

Ms Livni's centrist Kadima party came narrowly ahead of Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in the February election, but he was asked to form a coalition as right-leaning parties predominated.

From today, Israel has announced that it is not a partner

Tzipi Livni

In his speech on Wednesday, at a foreign ministry handover attended by Ms Livni, the ultra-nationalist Mr Lieberman said Israel was not bound by the Annapolis accords agreed with the Palestinians and the Bush administration in November 2007.

He said the only legitimate document was another US-sponsored deal, the Road Map peace plan of 2003, because he said it was ratified by the Israeli government and the UN Security Council.

First test

In an interview with Israeli army radio, Ms Livni said hardliners had avoided peace efforts in the past with the "pathetic excuse" that there had been no partner on the Palestinian side.

COALITION MEMBERS

Likud: 27 seats, 15 ministers

Yisrael Beiteinu 15 : 5 ministers

Labour: 13 seats, 5 ministers

Shas: 11 seats, 4 ministers

Jewish Home: 3 seats, 1 minister

United Torah Judaism: 5 seats

Analysis: Israel's unwieldy government

"From today, Israel has announced that it is not a partner," she said.

"The remarks do not represent Israel, the remarks hurt Israel," she added, and urged Mr Netanyahu to disavow them.

Correspondents say Mr Netanyahu has softened his opposition towards the Palestinians since his last premiership in the 1990s.

However, they add, the appointment of Mr Lieberman has angered Palestinians and raised international concerns because of his hard-line positions on the peace process and his manifesto which was widely seen as racist against Arabs.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Mr Lieberman's remarks were the first test for US President Barack Obama in the Middle East.

"He has slammed the door in the face of the US and the international community," he said.

No land for peace

US state department spokesman Gordon Duguid would not be drawn into commenting on Mr Lieberman's views when he briefed reporters in Washington.

Instead, he stressed Mr Netanyahu's stated commitment to achieving peace and said the administration would work closely to advance that cause.

Analysts say the Road Map never got off the ground because both sides accused each other of failing to meet their obligations.

Israel said the Palestinian Authority had not clamped down on militants, while Palestinians said Israel ignored a freeze on settlement activity on occupied territory.

Annapolis was designed to get over that hump by jumping directly to final status talks on Palestinian independence.

However, Annapolis too got stuck and had made little apparent progress by its initial deadline of the end of 2008.

After his speech, Mr Lieberman went further in a TV interview, saying he also opposed withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights as part of peace negotiations with Syria.

He said he was "very much in favour of peace with Syria - but only on one basis - peace in return for peace" and not, by implication, a land-for-peace deal.

Syria says the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, must be returned in full if there is to be peace between the two countries.

Alas...

Battlestar Galactica stars advise UN

2009-03-21T07:37:00.000-05:00

The creators and stars of the science fiction TV series, Battlestar Galactica, have taken part in a public discussion with UN officials in New York.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7956325.stm

Israeli Soldiers Admit Gaza Abuse

2009-03-19T08:56:00.002-05:00

An Israeli military college has printed damning soldiers' accounts of the killing of civilians and vandalism during recent operations in Gaza.

One account tells of a sniper killing a mother and children at close range whom troops had told to leave their home.

Another speaker at the seminar described what he saw as the "cold blooded murder" of a Palestinian woman.

The army has defended its conduct during the Gaza offensive but said it would investigate the testimonies.

The Israeli army has said it will investigate the soldiers' accounts.

The testimonies were published by the military academy at Oranim College. Graduates of the academy, who had served in Gaza, were speaking to new recruits at a seminar.

The climate in general [was that] lives of Palestinians are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers

Soldier testimony

Analysis: Operation Miscast Lead?

Gaza war crimes probes

"[The testimonies] conveyed an atmosphere in which one feels entitled to use unrestricted force against Palestinians," academy director Dany Zamir told public radio.

Heavy civilian casualties during the three-week operation which ended in the blockaded coastal strip on 18 January provoked an international outcry.

Correspondents say the testimonies, if proved credible, undermine Israel's claims that troops took care to protect non-combatants and accusations that Hamas militants were responsible for putting civilians into harm's way.

'Less important'

The Palestinian woman and two of her children were allegedly shot after they misunderstood instructions about which way to walk having been ordered out of their home by troops.

"The climate in general... I don't know how to describe it.... the lives of Palestinians, let's say, are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers," an infantry squad leader is quoted saying.

Palestinian civilians paid a heavy price during the three-week Israeli operation

In another cited case, a commander ordered troops to kill an elderly woman walking on a road, even though she was easily identifiable and clearly not a threat.

Testimonies, which were given by combat pilots and infantry soldiers, also included allegations of unnecessary destruction of Palestinian property.

"We would throw everything out of the windows to make room and order. Everything... Refrigerators, plates, furniture. The order was to throw all of the house's contents outside," a soldier said.

One non-commissioned officer related at the seminar that an old woman crossing a main road was shot by soldiers.

"I don't know whether she was suspicious, not suspicious, I don't know her story… I do know that my officer sent people to the roof in order to take her out… It was cold-blooded murder," he said.

The transcript of the session for the college's Yitzhak Rabin pre-military course, which was held last month, appeared in a newsletter published by the academy.

Israeli human rights groups have criticised the military for failing to properly investigate violations of the laws of war in Gaza despite plenty of evidence of possible war crimes.

'Moral army'

The soldiers' testimonies also reportedly told of an unusually high intervention by military and non-military rabbis, who circulated pamphlets describing the war in religious terminology.

"All the articles had one clear message," one soldier said. "We are the people of Israel, we arrived in the country almost by miracle, now we need to fight to uproot the gentiles who interfere with re-conquering the Holy Land."

"Many soldiers' feelings were that this was a war of religion," he added.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that the findings would be examined seriously.

"I still say we have the most moral army in the world. Of course there may be exceptions but I have absolutely no doubt this will be inspected on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Medical authorities say more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed during Israel's 22-day operation, including some 440 children, 110 women, and dozens of elderly people.

The stated aim was to curb rocket and mortar fire by militants from Gaza. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians were killed.

from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7952603.stm

Not surprising.

Obama will try to block executive bonuses at AIG

2009-03-16T13:53:00.003-05:00

By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Write

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama declared Monday that insurance giant American International Group is in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed" and said he intends to stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses.

"It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay," Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce help for small businesses hurt by the deep recession.

"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat," the president said.

Obama spoke out in the wake of reports that surfaced over the weekend saying that financially strapped American International Group Inc. was paying substantial bonuses to executives.

Noting that AIG has "received substantial sums" of federal aid from the federal government, Obama said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole."

Said Obama: "All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules."

"This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents," he added. "It's about our fundamental values."

The $165 million was payable to executives by Sunday and was part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.

AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history. The bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, earlier Monday charged that the move to pay bonuses amounted to "rewarding incompetence."

"These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Frank noted that the Federal Reserve Board, using a Depression-era statute, was the institution that gave AIG its initial government bailout, before Congress passed legislation providing for additional assistance and said that not enough safeguards were built into the deal.

It also was revealed over the weekend that American International Group Inc. used more than $90 billion in federal aid to pay out foreign and domestic banks, some of whom had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.

Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks - France's Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany's Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain's Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

"We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous."

Frank said he was disgusted, asserting that "these bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously."

"Maybe it's time to fire some people," he said. "We can't keep them from getting bonuses but we can keep them from having their jobs. ... In high school, they wouldn't have gotten retention (bonuses), they would have gotten detention."

AIG has agreed to Obama administration requests to restrain future payments. Geithner had pressed the president's case with AIG's chairman, Edward Liddy, last week.

"He stepped in and berated them, got them to reduce the bonuses following every legal means he has to do this," said Austan Goolsbee, staff director of President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Obama did note in his remarks Monday that Liddy "came on board after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year."

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not address the bonuses but expressed his frustration with the AIG intervention.

"It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG," Bernanke said. "It's - it's just absolutely - I understand why the American people are angry."

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Frank appeared on NBC's "Today" show and Shelby was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America."

What a bunch of horrid douchebags! I understand why everyone is pissed too; I am pissed! But by all means, keep doing shit like this you jerks. All of this greedy, self-motivated, vile and deceitful crap helps to undermine the "faith in the market" argument that conservatives have been using for years. The market might work in an ideal situation (BTW so does communism), but greedy bastards always find a way to use it to screw everyone else over (also true in communism). This is why regulation is so critical. Much more of this sort of action and Americans will clamor for nationalization of banking and insurance. The government may be slow and inefficient, but it is hardly as greedy as Wall Street. I'll take ineptitude and inefficiency over slimy souless bastards who can't see beyond their own wallets any day.

Vegeterian and Fish Diets Lower Cancer Risk

2009-03-16T12:43:00.004-05:00

A vegetarian diet may help to protect against cancer, a UK study suggests.

Analysis of data from 52,700 men and women shows that those who did not eat meat had significantly fewer cancers overall than those who did.

But surprisingly, the researchers also found a higher rate of colorectal cancer - a disease linked with eating red meat - among the vegetarians.

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition the team said the findings were worth looking into.

Although it is widely recommended that people eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to reduce their risk of cancer and other diseases, there is very little evidence looking specifically at a vegetarian diet.

It suggests there might be some reduction in cancers in vegetarians and fish-eaters and we need to look carefully at that

Professor Tim Key, study leader

In the latest study, researchers looked at men and women aged 20 to 89 recruited in the UK in the 1990s.

They divided participants into meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans.

During follow-up there were fewer cancers than would be expected in the general population - probably because they were a healthier than average group of people.

But there was a significantly lower incidence of all cancers among the fish-eaters and vegetarians compared with the meat eaters.

'Confusion'

For colorectal cancer, however that trend was reversed with vegetarians having a significantly higher incidence of the condition than the other groups.

The researchers were surprised at the finding, which contradicts previous evidence linking eating lots of red meat with the disease.

Study leader Professor Tim Key, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, said no previous study had looked at diet in this way and there had been a lot of confusion about the issue.

"It's interesting - it suggests there might be some reduction in cancers in vegetarians and fish-eaters and we need to look carefully at that."

He added: "It doesn't support the idea that vegetarians would have lower rates of colorectal cancer and I think it means we need to think more carefully about how meat fits into it."

More work is needed to unpick the links between diet and cancer but such studies are incredibly hard to do, he said.

Dr Joanne Lunn, a senior nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, said the findings highlight the fact that cancer is a complex disease and many different lifestyle factors play a part in determining a person's risk.

"An interesting observation was that the vegetarians had a higher rate of colorectal cancer than the meat-eaters.

"When you look at the detail of their diets, the meat-eaters, to which the vegetarians in this group were compared, are eating only moderate amounts of meat each day - well within the recommendations.

"Both groups are also just about meeting the recommendation to eat at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day."

from bbc.uk.co

Salvadoran ex-rebels win presidency for first time

2009-03-16T06:44:00.001-05:00

By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer

A leftist television journalist has won El Salvador's presidential election, bringing a party of former guerrillas to power for the first time since a bloody civil war and ending two decades of conservative rule.

Mauricio Funes, a moderate plucked from outside the ranks of the rebel-group-turned-political-party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, became the latest leftist to rise to power in Latin America at a time of uncertainty over how President Barack Obama will approach the region.

With 90 percent of the vote counted late Sunday, Funes had 51 percent compared to 49 percent for Rodrigo Avila of the ruling conservative Arena party, said Walter Araujo, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Avila, accompanied by current President Tony Saca, conceded defeat and wished Funes luck.

Funes reported on the 12-year war that ended 17 years ago with 75,000 people dead, and he later hosted a popular interview show. He promised to unite the country after one of the most polarizing campaigns since the conflict.

"This is the happiest night of my life, and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's greatest hope," Funes said. "I want to thank all the people who voted for me and chose that path of hope and change."

Jubilant, red-clad Funes supporters poured into the streets of San Salvador, whooping, clapping, blowing whistles and waving large party flags. Colorful fireworks shot up into the night sky.

Funes, 49, rode a wave of discontent with two decades of Arena party rule that have brought economic growth but done little to redress social inequalities. Fuel and food prices have soared, while powerful gangs extort businesses and fight for drug-dealing turf, resulting in one of Latin America's highest homicides rates.

Funes promised to crack down on big businesses which he says exploit government complacency to evade taxes.

"The time has come for the excluded, the opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats, for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity," he told a rally of roaring supporters early Monday.

Avila, 44, a former police chief, had warned that an FMLN victory would send El Salvador down a communist path and threaten the country's warm relations with the United States. He vowed Sunday to lead "a vigilant opposition that would ensure that the country does not lose its liberties."

Close U.S. ties saw El Salvador keep troops in Iraq longer than any other Latin American country and become a hub of regional cooperation with Washington against drug trafficking. The country's economy depends on billions of dollars sent home by 2.5 million Salvadorans who live in the U.S.

The Obama government has assured Salvadorans it would work with any leader elected — a marked departure from the Bush administration, which in 2004 suggested that an FMLN victory would hurt ties.

But U.S relations with some leftist leaders remain tense, including Venezuela's fiery Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who lashed out last week at the United States for holding back aid over an election dispute.

Funes hopes to start off relations fresh with the Obama administration and promises to respect a free trade agreement with the United States and keep the dollar as El Salvador's currency.

"Integration with Central America and strengthening relations with the United States will be the priority of our foreign policy," Funes said.

During the campaign, television broadcasts were flooded with campaign ads warning that a Funes victory would turn El Salvador into a Venezuelan satellite and emphasizing long-standing ties between the FMLN and Chavez. That stoked fears among many Salvadorans with bitter memories of the 1980-1992 leftist insurgency.

"We don't want communists in this country," said Jose Daniel Avila, a 65-year-old retired pilot of no relation to the candidate. "Look what has happened in Nicaragua and Venezuela. Those are not examples to follow."

Chavez said earlier Sunday that his government was not taking sides in the election, adding that Venezuela wants to broaden its relations with whoever won.

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Toothaker in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Congratulations FMLN!

In El Salvador election, old battle lines have been erased

2009-03-15T08:49:00.003-05:00

Former soldiers align with former FMLN rebels, and for the first time in the nation's history, a candidate from the left could become president.
By Tracy Wilkinson

March 14, 2009

Reporting from San Salvador — For nearly three decades, Nestor Bonilla was a loyal soldier in the Salvadoran army. Trained by U.S. military advisors, he rose to the rank of colonel. He fought in the civil war as a commander of El Salvador's elite and feared special forces.

Today he is stomping the campaign trail in behalf of the guerrilla movement he once battled. "It is time for a change," he says in what can only be called an understatement.

El Salvador elects a new president Sunday, and for the first time in the nation's history, the left has a real chance of victory. The vote is a test of whether El Salvador has changed significantly in the 17 years since the war ended and can open up beyond the single-party system that has governed it since, or whether the stubborn, locked-in-the-past elements on both the right and left will once again prevail and seal the status quo.

The campaign has revived frightening wartime rhetoric but also offered startling, unheard-of political alliances -- such as Bonilla and his new best friend, Gerson Martinez, a former commander of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN. Bonilla and Martinez have become a fixture on the FMLN campaign circuit, rallying mostly rural crowds in behalf of Mauricio Funes, the politically moderate presidential candidate heading the FMLN ticket.

When the two compactly built men in their 50s take the stage before a sea of red FMLN flags, they like to tell a somewhat symbolic story.

"We used to be in these hills around here, shooting at each other, me on one side, him on the other," the former military man will say.

"I'd duck, he'd duck. The important thing is we survived to be here today."

"I tell my brothers in the FMLN that we both came from the pueblo," Martinez adds.

The story isn't literal; Bonilla and Martinez fought in different regions of the Salvadoran battlefield, though their comrades were certainly killing one another. But the political message is clear: If two staunch enemies can reconcile for what they believe to be the good of the country, then so can voters.

Does it work?

It's a real crowd pleaser among the FMLN sympathizers, who are apparently surprised at the sight of the two men allied, and they eventually erupt into applause and laughter.

But not everyone.

Marina Morales de la Cruz, a shopkeeper, believes what she has heard about the FMLN -- that it's made up of violence-prone atheists who wouldn't know how to govern.

"They are not God-fearing and would harm the country," she said at her tiny tin-roofed food store, with firewood stacked high on the floor and an enormous flag for the ruling Arena party fluttering overhead in the hot breeze.

Leaders of the right-wing Arena, some of whose founders were associated with the death squads that once stalked El Salvador, have been elected to the presidential palace every five years since 1989. This year the party is running a former police commander, Rodrigo Avila. He's behind in the polls, but polls here are unreliable.

Funes, the FMLN candidate, is a former journalist who was never a combatant in the war. Still, Arena warns that he would not be able to rein in the hard-line militants who still populate upper echelons of the FMLN leadership.

"Our historic fear of the Front cannot change because of the existence of the Communist Party," Armando Calderon Sol, a former president and Arena member, told The Times on Friday, referring to a faction of the FMLN.

But Bonilla, who retired from the army last year, believes the FMLN has changed and, more than that, that Arena must be dumped. He is one of about 110 former military officers who have joined the Funes campaign, along with other surprising bedfellows, such as the son of the late Jose Napoleon Duarte. The older Duarte was the U.S.-backed centrist president in the early years of the war.

"We want to leave the war behind," the younger Duarte said at another FMLN rally. He shared the stage with Funes and the party's vice presidential candidate, former guerrilla commander Salvador Sanchez Ceren, known by his nom de guerre, Leonel.

For Bonilla, the war is in the past but the country has only undergone superficial change. There is greater freedom of expression, but homicides have soared along with the cost of living. Government institutions are seen as corrupt shells acting on partisan interests and unable to mete out justice.

"We can sit here and talk about this and not get killed," said Bonilla, 52, who has the close-cropped hair of the soldier he was and the salt-and-pepper beard and wire-rimmed glasses of the activist he has become. "But there is no social mobility, no opportunity. Graduate, and you have no job. Don't graduate, and you have to go to work [illegally] in the U.S."

The realigning of political affinities is part of a maturing process but also a matter of clear-eyed, practical realism, analysts here say.

"They have understood Arena is not the solution, and in Funes they see a hope," said Ernesto Rivas Gallont, former ambassador to the U.S. and now a political analyst. "This might have been unthinkable a few years ago. Is it political maturation? Maybe. More than that, it is pragmatism. I'm not sure in the end it will be more than symbolic."

The symbolism is nevertheless powerful. After his interview Friday with The Times, Bonilla was heading north to campaign in a village in Morazan province, a guerrilla stronghold during the war and site of some of the fiercest combat. He would be campaigning in a town called Segundo Montes, named in honor of one of the six Jesuit priests slain by the Salvadoran army in 1989.

In his campaign appear- ances, Bonilla realizes he is speaking to peasants whose families might have been killed by men under his command. Yet they still push their calloused palms toward his, wanting to shake his hand.

"I'm in a historic moment," Bonilla said, "and I don't want to think I missed it and didn't participate."

From LAtimes.com

VIVA EL Frente!

Seattle Police Chief Picked As Nation's Drug 'Czar'

2009-03-11T17:14:00.003-05:00

by The Associated Press

Enlarge

Elaine Thompson

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske at a July 2006 news conference. Kerlikowske is expected to be named Wednesday to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. AP

NPR.org, March 11, 2009 · President Obama has chosen Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to be the nation's drug czar and lead a stepped-up campaign against substance abuse, Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday.

Biden said the 36-year law enforcement veteran will bring to the task a lifetime of experience working on drug policy.

"There's no one more qualified to take on this job than the chief," Biden told a White House audience including other big-city police chiefs and advocates representing drug prevention and treatment organizations.

Biden said he was disappointed that during the Bush administration, the drug czar's office "hasn't gotten the attention that it should have." He added, "Substance abuse is one of our nation's most pervasive problems."

Kerlikowske, 59, said he looked forward to his new role and noted his professional and personal experience with the effects of drug abuse on young people and families. His stepson, Jeffrey, has an arrest record on drug charges.

Kerlikowske's nomination as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy requires Senate approval. If confirmed, he would take over for John Walters, who held the job under President George W. Bush.

Kerlikowske has been Seattle's top cop for nearly nine years and has been credited with reducing crime rates to record lows.

The agency will no longer have Cabinet-level status, a White House official said, but Kerlikowske "will have a seat at the table when important decisions are being made ... and full access and a direct line to the president and vice president."

Kerlikowske served a stint during the Clinton administration as deputy director in the Justice Department's COPS program, which promotes community policing. He has also held top police positions in Florida and Buffalo, N.Y.

Kerlikowske is viewed as a workmanlike, circumspect choice who has street perspective and the policy smarts to navigate the bureaucracy. As president of the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association, he is known as a progressive and a proponent of community-oriented policing.

Colleagues expect him to ramp up efforts to stem demand for illegal narcotics by emphasizing prevention and treatment.

"I would expect Gil to say there's absolutely a role that enforcement plays, but what other things do we need to do at the community and the state and federal level on prevention and intervention in order to be successful?" asked San Jose, Calif., Police Chief Rob Davis, a friend of Kerlikowske's and vice president of the Major Cities Police Chiefs, in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "If all we do is arrest people for drugs, we're missing the opportunity to get involved in the beginning and take people out of drugs. Gil gets that concept."

In the Clinton administration, Kerlikowske worked on ways to monitor grants the agency gave to local police efforts, and he frequently emphasized analysis and data, looking for "ways to prevent crime rather than reacting to it," said Tim Quinn, the COPS program's acting director.

John Carnevale, an official in the drug office from its inception in 1989 until 2000, met Kerlikowske while working on ways to measure the agency's effectiveness. "He's big on accountability," said Carnevale. Kerlikowske's Washington and local policing background is a plus, particularly if other appointees bring a strong treatment and prevention background, he said.

Seattle activists who work on drug-reform issues called Kerlikowske smart and reasonable, and they noted that his police department has largely abided by a voter-approved initiative that made marijuana possession the city's lowest law enforcement priority.

Even at the city's annual Hempfest protest and festival, police arrested only a few people despite the open-air pot smoking, said Vivian McPeak, director of the event.

Douglas Hiatt, an attorney who defends medical marijuana patients, said the chief has tried "to do the right thing on medical marijuana. He's trying to get it across to his officers not to hassle patients."

Kerlikowske told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in December that if he joined the Obama administration, "At my age, at this point in my career, I'd want something where you feel like you could make a real impact."

From NPR.org

Interesting pick. Another indication that Obama's administration is interesting in changing the status quo. I would not expect to see legalized marijuana anytime soon, but at least the War on Drugs may be changing, or perhaps dropped all together. At least the approach may move to substance abuse treatment and away from criminal punishment.

It's Like a cloak of Elvenkind, but from Science!

2009-03-06T13:34:00.002-05:00

March 6, 2009 -- Call it what you will -- the world's first 3D nanoantenna or an invisibility cloak -- but a new metamaterial created by Rice University scientists could hide objects from human sight.

By creating perfectly aligned dimples in a material, the scientists channeled specific wavelengths of light from many directions into one uniform direction.

"This falls into the broad class of metamaterials that have useful and unusual properties, like cloaking," said Naomi Halas, Rice University scientist and co-author of a paper describing the material in Nano Letters. "In a broader picture, you could do some very interesting things with this metamaterial."

The first "invisibility cloak," which hid objects from relatively long-wavelength radio waves, was created in 2006 by scientists from Duke University. Since then scientists have tried to create ever-smaller structures to manipulate ever-smaller wavelengths of light, with the goal of creating a true invisibility cloak that would hide objects in the visible spectrum of light.

According to Halas, this is the world's first truly 3D metamaterial -- a metamaterial being something that gets its trademark properties from its structure rather than its makeup.

Creating the first nanoantenna was relatively simple.

Scientists started with a layer of glass. Latex or plastic nanoparticles were sprayed over the glass at random. Gold particles were evaporated onto the nanoparticles at five different angles, creating 'nanocups.' A protective layer of acrylic was then poured over the top and cured for 36 hours to form a hard slab.

The nanocups are arranged in a repeating pattern, all angled in one direction. Any light that enters a nanocup is gathered and then emitted in the direction of that angle. Since no light is reflected back into an observer's eye, the nanoantenna-coated object is hidden.

"Think about the retro reflectors on stop signs," said Halas. "Those are basically microspheres that direct the light from your headlights back at you. This is the opposite. This would take the light and send it in another direction, hiding the stop sign from your sight."

Reflecting all the gathered light in one direction means that the nanoantenna acts kind of like a mirrored magnifying glass, concentrating the light at a particular point. Unlike a magnifying glass, however, it doesn't matter what angle the light enters; it all goes to the same point.

Practical uses for the nanoantenna go beyond hiding things.

Solar collectors reflect light on a single point, but to work at maximum efficiency they must be mechanically tilted to stay in line with the sun as it moves across the sky.

The new nanoantenna would concentrate light on a single point without having to mechanically tilt it, eliminating one of the biggest costs involved in solar panels.

"In a lot of solar cells, most of the light passes right though the material," said Halas. With the new 3D nanoantenna, "you could change the direction of the light so it propagates through the active regions of the solar cells to maximize [energy]."

Whatever the material is used for, scientists agree that this is the world's first truly 3D nanoantanna.

"Until now it has been difficult to build 3D shapes," said Gennady Shvets, a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin who studies metamaterials. "People used lithography to create essentially flat or planar structures, but those have their limitations."

from: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/06/invisibility-cloak-02.html

Holy awesome!

A (belated) reply from Congressman Price

2009-03-05T13:42:00.005-05:00

Here is a response I received from Rep. Price (D-NC) after sending him a letter back in January regarding the Israeli invasion of Gaza. While I would have liked him to take a little more critical stance towards Israel, I think he addressed the situation in a far less biased and real way than I have seen from most US politicians.

Dear Mr.****

Thank you for contacting me about the current conflict in Gaza. I share your concern about this situation and have vocally advocated several immediate steps to achieve a ceasefire and get Israeli-Palestinian long-term peace talks back on track.

The current conflict grows from a standoff between Israel and Hamas that was untenable for citizens on both sides of the dividing line. As you know, Hamas opposed the renewal of a ceasefire that had prevailed for the last several months and then resumed rocket fire against innocent civilians in southern Israel. These acts of terrorism created a situation for Israelis in the area that simply could not be tolerated. At the same time, after agreeing to loosen a months-long, crippling embargo on Gaza in connection with the ceasefire agreement, Israel had failed to live up to its promise, creating a humanitarian situation in Gaza that had become increasingly desperate.

The conflict has only exacerbated suffering for both sides. Certainly, it bears pointing out that Palestinians have borne the brunt of the violence, with a death toll approaching 1,000 and a humanitarian situation that is reportedly keeping nearly one million Gazans cut off from access to fuel and clean water. On the other side of the boundary, Israeli civilians continue to be terrorized by rocket attacks.

An immediate ceasefire is certainly part of the answer, and I have vocally urged the U.S. to advocate for a ceasefire. However, a ceasefire alone will not solve either the current crisis or the long-term Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have argued for urgent steps to ensure that an end to the fighting addresses the root causes of conflict and paves the way for a sustainable resolution.

Specifically, I have noted that a ceasefire cannot last unless it remediates the underlying causes of the fighting, including by lifting the embargo on Gaza and by halting rocket attacks into Israel. Second, I have urged diplomatic efforts to put Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track, including greater involvement of Israel's Arab neighbors and inclusion of Hamas and its constituents in the peace process. Without these steps, a ceasefire will only be a band-aid.

I expressed many of these views in an op-ed I wrote for the Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald on January 6. In addition, Rep. Lois Capps and I led a group of colleagues in sending a letter to President Bush demanding several immediate steps to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza. I have attached both documents for your review.

It is my deep hope that the incoming Administration will make a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace built upon a two-state solution a top priority. Only through strong American engagement can such a goal be realized. You can be sure I will continue to advocate for U.S. leadership for peace in the Middle East.

Sincerely,

DAVID PRICE

Member of Congress

Rape row sparks excommunications

2009-03-05T12:11:00.003-05:00

By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl, aged nine, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, became pregnant with twins.

It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.

The excommunication applies to the child's mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

The pregnancy was terminated on Wednesday.

Abortion is only permitted in Brazil in cases of rape and where the mother's life is at risk and doctors say the girl's case met both these conditions.

Police believe that the girl at the centre of the case had been sexually abused by her step-father since she was six years old.

The fact that she was pregnant with twins was only discovered after she was taken to hospital in Pernambuco complaining of stomach pains.

Her stepfather was arrested last week, allegedly as he tried to escape to another region of the country.

He is also suspected of abusing the girl's physically handicapped older sister who is now 14.

Hey, nice job Church. Religion...why? I do not understand it. The more I think about this the more angry it makes me. I mean, the Church doesn't excommunicate people that are convicted of murder. So why this girl and everyone who helped her secure an abortion? Did the Church excommunicate the asshole that raped his stepdaughter for years? Why the fuck not? Ugh.....stupid.

A Little Pro-Labor, Anti-CEO Propaganda

2009-03-03T12:33:00.004-05:00

This will not make conservative readers happy (if there still are any). And I am not advocating the sort of terrible, sort of awesome gross propaganda piece posted here. It is certainly propaganda, but that doesn't mean it is not true. But the Employee Free Choice Act and labor issues in this country are vitally important. And I am all for labor being able to unionize. Here is a link to the report given to Congress recently as well.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_reports&docid=f:hr023.110.pdf

Steele vs. Limbaugh: A Rumble in the Right

2009-03-02T18:42:00.005-05:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele is taking issue with the notion that Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the GOP, calling the conservative radio talk show host an entertainer whose comments can be ugly.

"Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do," RNC Chairman Michael Steele has said.

Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with CNN that he, rather than Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party."

And Steele described Limbaugh as a performer.

"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele said. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."

Limbaugh fired back on his radio show Monday that the GOP leader appears to be supporting President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Why do you claim to lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds?" Limbaugh said to Steele.

"I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda. I have to conclude that he does because he attacks me for wanting it to fail," said Limbaugh.

Last month, Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, was elected chairman of the RNC. He is the first African-American to lead the Republican Party. At the time of his election, Steele said that "Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do."

Steele made his latest comments regarding Limbaugh on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," which aired this weekend. The Steele interview was taped before Limbaugh's appearance before the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting of conservatives from across the nation. Watch Steele, Hughley talk politics »

Limbaugh brought a cheering crowd to its feet several times as he called on fellow conservatives to take back the country.

He used his self-described "first national address," which ran more than an hour longer than his allotted 20 minutes, to accuse President Obama of inspiring fear in Americans in order to push a liberal agenda of "big government."

Limbaugh also backed up comments he made earlier this year in which he said he hoped Obama failed.

"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and re-form this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?" he said.

But a top Republican in Congress disagreed.

"I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said on ABC's "This Week." "We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."

RNC spokesman Alex Conant on Monday did not directly address Steele's comments about Limbaugh but pointed out the back-and-forth between the White House and the conservative radio host.

"Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats know they lose an argument with the Republican Party on substance, so they are building straw men to attack and distract," he said. "The feud between radio host Rush and Rahm makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington.

"RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats' problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by congressional leaders like [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi," Conant said.

A spokesman for Limbaugh said the radio host did not have an immediate response, but added he would probably address Steele's comments Monday on his nationally syndicated radio program.

from CNN.com

Ahahaha....Wait, I think this...ahahaha....Whew! Gotta love Rush. What a heinous POS. Anyway, this can't be good for the Republicans, which means that I am all for it. But seriously, I have some respect for both Steele and Cantor. They may be opposed to big government and the efforts of Big O's administration to reform the market, but at least they see the bigger picture, that we are all in the same boat. And if Obama fails, the whole country fails. Rush may just be an entertainer, but wishing the President to fail is a pretty douchey thing to do. That is sort of tantamount to wishing for depression. I mean, I was 100% opposed to Bush when he decided to invade Iraq, but I never thought "Man I sure hope this is a dismal failure that leaves the country bankrupt and thousands dead."

2009-03-02T10:27:00.002-05:00

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on Islamic banks to take a leadership role in the global economy, amid the financial crisis.

He was speaking at the opening of the World Islamic Economic Forum in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

The forum has brought together political and business leaders from 38 countries to discuss the global economic slowdown.

They will also discuss ways to achieve energy and food security.

Mr Yudhoyono said it was time for Islamic banks to do some missionary work in the West.

Islamic financial institutions, he said, had not been hit as hard as their western counterparts because they did not invest in toxic assets.

Banks run in accordance with Muslims laws on interest payments and the sharing of credit risks are seen by many as fairer than traditional banks, less focused on profit and kinder to the communities they work in.

Demand for Islamic financial products has been growing in the Muslim world for years but Mr Yudhoyono said that many in the West were now ready to learn from them.

Islamic law prohibits the payment and collection of interest, which is seen as a form of gambling.

Transactions must be backed by real assets, and because risk is shared between the bank and the depositor, there is added incentive for the institutions to ensure deals are sound.

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7918129.stm

Interesting. Maybe Wall Street should take a hint. And you would think that it wouldn't take religious precept for banks to act with some modicum of fairness, let alone to back up transactions with real assets. Sheesh. I wonder how the west will respond to Islamic missionary work. At the rate things are going, JP Morgan employees may be taking prayer breaks at regular intervals.

US may boycott racism conference

2009-02-28T09:09:00.002-05:00

The US is likely to boycott a UN racism conference, reports suggest, saying a text drawn up for the event criticises Israel and restricts freedom of speech.

An unnamed state department official said the draft document for April's forum in Geneva was "unsalvageable".

Canada and Israel have also said they plan to boycott the meeting.

In 2001, US and Israeli delegates walked out of a similar conference in Durban, South Africa, when a draft document likened Zionism to racism.

The 2001 draft expressed "deep concern" at the "increase of racist practices of Zionism and anti-Semitism".

It talked of the emergence of "movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas, in particular the Zionist movement, which is based on racial superiority".

'Unsalvageable'

A US delegation travelled to Geneva for negotiations earlier in February to try to agree the conference's final document.

"Unfortunately, the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse," the unnamed state department official was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper.

"The current text of the draft of the outcome document is, in the United States government's estimation, unsalvageable.

"As a result the United States will not participate in the forthcoming negotiations on this text, nor will we be able to participate in a conference that is based on this text," the official said.

Washington says the proposed text unfairly singles out Israel for criticism.

US officials say they are also concerned that some sections of the draft - which call for restrictions on the defamation of religions - could threaten free speech.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7916191.stm

This is an interesting debate. Aside from the question of whether the US should participate in the conference the issue of whether Zionism is racism is interesting, and should probably be discussed. Israelis, understandably are appalled by the idea, and I would argue that there is nothing inherent in the idea of believing that the Jewish people have the right to a homeland that is racist. Critics, however, have argued that modern Zionism (at as seen in Palestine) is constructed on the notion that Jews are superior to Arabs, have greater rights to the land, and therefore have a greater set of rights. It is an exclusionary ideology that preferences one group over another and demonizes and discriminates against a specific racial/ethnic group. I am not necessarily taking a side in this argument because I think that whether or not Zionism is racism depends on how it is spun. Bu the debate is interesting and important. I also think there is a discussion to be had about whether rules against defamation of religion is appropriate or infringes on freedom of speech.

Carnival Queens for Obama!

2009-02-24T22:04:00.004-05:00

This is the kind of soft power I am talking about. Obama has banked so much good will around the world that even Brazilian (carnaval) royalty is painting his face on their naked bodies. I am shocked. I am really, for the first time in almost a decade, proud to be an American...

and I just wanted a reason to post this hot girl on the blog. Enjoy.

From our friends at Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/22/nude-carnival-queen-vivia_n_168923.html

Gaza case studies: Weapons use

2009-02-23T08:03:00.004-05:00

The BBC News Website looks at case studies of some of the weapons and tactics used in the recent Gaza conflict that human rights groups are concerned may have been violations of international law.

Interviews by Aleem Maqbool and Heather Sharp in Gaza City.

GENERAL ALLEGATIONS

Human rights investigators have been trawling through the rubble in Gaza and gathering testimonies in an attempt to piece together a picture of the way both sides fought and the weapons they used.

International law demands that a distinction is made between combatants and non-combatants, and civilian casualties proportionate to the military gains from the attack in which they occurred.

But Amnesty International has concluded that some Israeli attacks "were directed at civilians or civilian buildings", while "others were disproportionate or indiscriminate".

Amnesty has dubbed Israel's use of white phosphorus as a war crime

As well as the way Israeli forces used white phosphorous in the conflict, which Amnesty has dubbed a war crime, the organisation has also raised concerns about other weapons and their use.

These range from the firing of high explosive artillery shells, which have a large margin of error, in populated areas, to concerns that Israeli forces were trigger-happy in their use of more precise weapons such as tank shells.

There has never been any doubt that Palestinian militants' use of rockets to target civilians in southern Israel was a violation of international humanitarian law.

Human rights investigators are also certain that the militant groups operated from civilian areas, although Amnesty and HRW are yet to publish detailed reports on the issue.

"The testimony and forensic evidence clearly shows Hamas was endangering the civilian population with its tactics," says Marc Garlasco, a senior researcher and military specialist with Human Rights Watch.

The violations of one side do not allow the other side to fight in an illegal manner

Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch

He says there were cases of Hamas firing from abandoned Palestinian homes.

"I myself saw Qassam rockets rise up from populated areas, likely fired from between homes," he adds.

Israel says the blame for civilian casualties lies with Hamas for using such tactics.

But Mr Garlasco - echoing the views of several other human rights groups - says this "in no way justifies what Israel did".

"The violations of one side do not allow the other side to fight in an illegal manner."

Israel has not yet responded to the specific allegations, but says it acts to minimise civilian casualties, and that its interpretation of international law is in line with that of other Western nations.

The Israeli military also says it is conducting internal investigations into some of the claims and individual cases, including regarding the use of white phosphorous, that rights groups have raised.

Back to the top

FLECHETTE SHELLS

Muhammad Abu Jarad still has a flechette lodged close to his spine

Flechette shells contain several thousand razor-sharp, nail-like metal darts, each about 4cm long.

The shells explode in the air scattering the darts over the surrounding area - in a cone-shaped pattern 300m long and 90m wide, according to Human Rights Watch.

They are not banned under international law, but human rights groups say their indiscriminate nature makes them illegal if used in built-up civilian areas such as the densely populated Gaza Strip.

Although they were not widely used by Israeli forces in the Gaza conflict, Amnesty International has documented several incidents and says their use "contributed to unlawful killings" of Palestinian civilians.

The black darts can still be seen in the walls above the spot where Wafa Abu Jarad, aged 21 and three months pregnant, was fatally injured on 5 January 2009, outside their home on a residential street near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza .

Her husband Muhammad, 24, said they had just had breakfast on the steps of their home, with their two-year-old son Khalil, and were walking among the lemon trees in their garden when they heard an explosion a few blocks away.

As they ran for cover in the house, Wafa with Khalil in her arms, there was another explosion above them. "All we could see were nails," said Muhammad, in reference to the flechettes.

"We were both thrown to the ground. She was bleeding from her head and chest," he said. "She fell unconscious immediately."

Young Khalil Abu Jarad has not yet been told his mother died in the attack

Flechettes hit Khalil in the legs, Muhammad in the leg and back, and flew through the open door hitting Muhammad's father in the shoulder, he said.

Wafa died in hospital three days later.

The clean white line of a flechette can be seen close to a vertebrae on an X-ray of Muhammad's back. He says he cannot sleep because of the pain, and sometimes finds his right side temporarily paralysed.

"The doctors are afraid to take it out, it is too close to the nerve - they are afraid I could be completely paralysed," he says, as Khalil clings to his leg and breaks briefly into a howl.

"What can I tell him when he cries 'Mummy, Mummy'?", he asks. "Where am I supposed to bring his Mum from?"

He tells the toddler Wafa is "travelling". "But yesterday he picked up a picture of her, and was saying 'Mummy, Mummy' and kissing it. He said she had been hurt in the explosion."

In similar cases, Amnesty International has documented the death of a 16-year-old boy, another woman and a paramedic, and numerous more injuries.

Israel has used flechette shells in Gaza for several years. In 2003 Israel 's High Court rejected a petition to ban their use, saying it considered the military's guidelines on their use to be adequate.

Back to the top

TANK SHELLS

The Amnesty report says "tank rounds are precision munitions".

"The killing of so many civilians, many in their homes, indicates that these munitions were, at best, used in a reckless or indiscriminate manner," says the report.

Human Rights Watch military analysts say tank shells are so accurate they can be fired into a window from a distance of a mile (1.6km).

Both Amnesty and HRW investigators say there appeared to be a consistent pattern of Palestinian families being killed by Israeli tank shells fired into their homes, apparently as they approached windows or stepped on to balconies.

Haider al-Eiwa, 42, walks through the ruins of his family's top floor apartment in the eastern part of Gaza City .

Everything in the living room, dining room and kitchen has been reduced to a mangled, dusty mess.

A few weeks ago, he says, four of his children, aged between seven and 13, were playing by the kitchen window, looking out towards the Israeli border.

KEY STORIES

'Phosphorus wounds' alarm Gazans

Who can probe war crimes claims?

Gaza conflict: Timeline

Gaza conflict: Who is a civilian?

He says that, without warning, a tank shell crashed straight through the same window, killing his wife, and all four children.

"Of course they played near the windows, they are children," Haider says. "And the tanks were well over a kilometre away.

"They have destroyed my life. Why did they choose my house?" he says. "I am not Hamas, I don't belong to any group. They must have known there were children here."

Marc Garlasco of Human Rights Watch says: "I saw dozens upon dozens of homes damaged or destroyed by tank fire and our investigation noted numerous civilians killed in these cases."

"Though we don't know why they were killed, the Israeli army may have thought they were spotters for Hamas," says Mr Garlasco.

It seems that in some cases, Israeli forces were "looking through the vision system, firing at anything they saw moving", says Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International.

In another such case, cited by Amnesty, the house of Dr Izz al-Din Abu al-Eish was hit. A tank shell was fired into his daughters' bedroom. Three of his daughters and his niece were killed.

Back to the top

DRONE MISSILES

Unmanned drones (one visible, top right) were used extensively by Israel over Gaza

Marc Garlasco of HRW says there is concern about the number of Palestinian civilians killed by missiles fired from unmanned Israeli aircraft, or drones, particularly because these can be precisely targeted and guided by an operator using imaging "like a TV camera" as they home in on their target.

In several cases, children were killed as they played on roofs, despite the fact that the operator should have been able to determine they were civilians and steer the missile away, he says.

"It appears there was this wider policy to kill anyone on a roof," he said.

Furthermore, investigators found that many of the missiles used in such strikes contained tiny, sharp-edged cubes of purpose-made shrapnel, which are scattered as the missile explodes.

Mr Garlasco says these were designed as anti-tank weapons, but are often used by Israel for targeted killings, as they "do they job well" - the blast is confined to a small radius, the missiles are relatively light and can be mounted on unmanned drones.

Mahmoud al-Habbash, 15, shows us the spot on a rooftop where his cousins were killed by a guided missile. According to HRW, the missile contained such cube-shaped shrapnel.

"We were feeding the chickens and playing," he says. "We did it every day and did not think we had any reason to be afraid."

"I looked to the sky and I saw a flame coming towards us and I shouted and ran. It was strange, I was suddenly sucked back forcefully, but I don't even remember hearing the blast," says Mahmoud.

"Shada, who was 12 and Isra who was 10 were killed. Jamila lost both legs, she is 14. Muhammad who is 16 lost one leg. Muhammad says when the explosion happened, it looked like there was a huge cloud of flies around us."

Qusai al-Habbash, 48, a science teacher and the father of the two girls who died, says the area had been calm and that families along the street had been going about their business as normal.

"Still, I thought of warning my children not to go outside, because of what was happening in other areas," he says. "But then I told myself that the Israeli weapons were very sophisticated. They can easily see who is a child and who is a militant. But they killed my children anyway."

Amnesty has listed many cases in which civilians were killed in this manner, including eight secondary school students who were waiting for the school bus to take them home.

It's all been said. But I thought the detail of the reports were telling. BOTH sides here act with disregard for civilians, and both are guilty of war crimes. Israel is simply more destructive because of its greater technology and less likely be punished because of its allies...

Bush & Obama-ice cream flavors by Ben & Jerry‏

2009-02-18T23:24:00.003-05:00

Recently I received this email. Rather than forwarding it, I am posting it here, even at the risk of inciting Beck. But really, this is quite funny, especially the last one.

This year Ben & Jerry created "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama.

For George WB they asked for suggestions from the public.

Here are some of their favorite responses:

Grape Depression
The Housing Crunch
Abu Grape
Cluster Fudge
Nut'n Accomplished

Nut'n Honest
Iraqi Road

Guantanmallow
Chock 'n Awe
WireTapioca
Impeach Cobbler
imPeachmint

Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf-er ... Swirl
Neocon Politan
RockyRoad to Fascism
The Reese's-cession
Cookie D'uh!
Nougalar Proliferation
Death by Chocolate... and Torture
Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
Credit Crunch
Mission Pecanplished
Country Pumpkin
Chunky Monkey in Chief
WMDelicious
Bloody Sundae
Caramel Preemptive Stripe

Lime The Decider

Swirl of Evil

I Broke The Law and Am Responsible For The Deaths of Thousands ... With Nuts

Executive Compensation and the Problems of Corporate Culture...

2009-02-14T09:33:00.003-05:00

Executive Compensation Doesn't Always Reward The Best

Audio for this story will be available at approx. 12:00 p.m. ET

Weekend Edition Saturday, February 14, 2009 · Host Scott Simon speaks with Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana about executive compensation and the culture of greed in corporate America. Khurana says the highest paid isn't always the best.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100714491

This was a really interesting piece on executive compensation and how execs have been able to morph themselves from "economic stewards" of their companies to self-perceived "Michael Jordans" of them. At least in my mind, this is a perfect reason for some serious regulation of how companies run and structure themselves. I understand the fears and protestations of free-marketeers and libertarians that hate any government intrusion in business, but come on. The absence of regulation have let POS execs establish virtual principalities that have led to a ruinous economic environment. If not regulation, something approaching the French Revolution may be on the horizon. Been a long time since the aristocracy faced the guillotine...

You respect my rights and I'll respect yours

2009-02-13T15:08:00.004-05:00

(Original Story From http://www.examiner.com/Charlotte/)

In the comments to yesterday's jury nullification piece (yes, I read your comments) Smitty was especially on-point when he said, "The real problem might be toleration, or more accurately, the lack of it. We wish our preferred freedoms to be respected, while applauding governmental crackdowns upon those freedoms we dislike or are indifferent to." Frankly that's been an ongoing hurdle in the effort to preserve and extend liberty. Until pot-smokers and gun owners and low-taxers and sexual minorities recognize that liberty is indivisible and that we're all in this together, we're going to be picked off piecemeal by government officials all too happy to exploit our mutual antagonisms.

After World War II, Pastor Martin Niemöller voiced several variants of the following sentiments in his public speeches:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Along the same lines, Benjamin Franklin once commented, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

It comes down to the same thing: When liberty is under attack, everybody is at risk. But that's not what the politicians and inspectors and tax collectors and police officers say, of course. No, they're all too happy to tell you that the queers next door are a threat to your way of life, or that the gun nuts are a public danger, or that the tax dodgers are greedy and not doing their fair share, or the store keepers are running amuck without entangling red tape, or that the pot heads are lazy parasites who will corrupt your kids.

But once the politicians and inspectors and tax collectors and police officers are done with the queers, they'll happily shift their sights to the gun nuts, then to the tax dodgers, the store keepers, and then the pot heads, and ...

Where were you planning to hide? Forget about it. Because you're some kind of menace, too, and you'll be fresh out of allies if you don't realize that the freedom of people you don't care very much about is just as important as your own.

The sort of people who make up the political class -- the control freaks of the world -- are experts at divide and conquer. They have all sorts of reasons why you should be glad that somebody else is being hemmed in by laws and threatened with prison. Those people are bad -- until it's you who's so bad. What the control freaks will never tell you is that they'd be entirely unable to impose those draconian laws and threats if you'd ally yourselves with those different folks and their peculiar interests to protect their liberty and your own at the same time.

You don't care about your neighbor's gun collection and he doesn't give a damn about your pot farm? So what? If you help each other out, everybody wins. If you don't, you'll both end up losing something you want, or else hiding it in the shadows and hoping for the best.

Keep that in mind the next time a politician promises to protect you from bogeymen who look an awful lot like the pleasant couple who live down the street. Maybe it's time to knock on their door and talk about an alliance of convenience.

Because you're not going to stay free if the only liberty you care about is your own.

I couldn't agree more, freedom is of utmost importance, and involves everyone. For example, if an individual uses their guns to infringe on another person's freedom, by attacking them or actively keeping them in a state of fear without provocation, then that person should have their freedom to own guns restricted. However, just simply possibility that someone who owns guns could act in such a way should not be reason to restrict their freedom to own guns. Similarly, whose freedom are "pot-smokers" restricting. I am not for prohibition of alcohol, but alcohol is much more damaging to public, societal, and personal well being than pot.

The following is a relevant humorous take on the pot issue:

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists"

--Abbie Hoffman, social and political activist in the United States)

Bailed-Out Firms Distributing Cash Rewards: "Please Do Not Call It A Bonus"

2009-02-12T00:31:00.002-05:00

Two Wall Street firms that received at least $60 billion in government bailout funds will be rewarding their financial advisers with controversial retention payments, the terms of which one senior executive described as "very generous" in audio obtained by the Huffington Post.

The soon-to-be-merged financial giants -- Morgan Stanley and Citigroup's Smith Barney -- announced the payments during an internal conference call last week, but warned advisers against describing them in terms that would cause PR headaches.

"There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus," said James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley. "It is not a bonus. It is an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place as we go through this integration."

The payments, Gorman said, will be calculated based on performance numbers from 2008 instead of 2009, when the merger is expected to be completed. That decision virtually guarantees an increase in the size of the awards. While 2008 was challenging for the firms -- Morgan Stanley's client assets in fee-based accounts dropped 25 percent in the fourth quarter, and a round of lay-offs is expected -- 2009 is expected to be substantially weaker.

"I think I can hear you clapping from here in New York," Gorman joked during the call, after announcing that the payments would be linked to '08 performance. "You should be clapping because frankly that is a very generous and thoughtful decision that we have made. We spent a lot of time kicking this around. We could easily have done it from the point of closing, which is obviously going to be somewhere in the latter half of this year or around the middle of the year. But we just decided... that it was right thing to do, to give you that certainty that it would be based off '08. '09 is a very difficult year... So that degree of anxiety, which many, many of you have emailed me about... is now off the table."

Audio of the conference call was provided by a reader who responded to the Huffington Post's call for information about wasteful or extravagant spending by bailout recipients.

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, which will combine their brokerage firms into the world's largest, have received a combined $60 billion in government bailout funds. Officials with the firms said that the retention packages, which are rumored to value as much as $2 to $3 billion, would not come from that pool of money. But critics note that money is fungible, and question whether such payments are a proper use of funds for banks that are dependent on the government to stay afloat.

"They are putting lipstick on a pig," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. "Very often, retention bonuses are paid to undeserving executives who helped drive their enterprises into the ground. This is like people who hold up banks getting paid to stop holding up banks. It isn't good policy. It's not always the case, but on Wall Street, people were vastly overpaid for the value that they created."

Retention awards for Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney employees have been rumored since their merger talks began. But the terms of the payments, which are still being hammered out, are bound to spur critical questions.

An official for Morgan Stanley downplayed the decision to value the payments off the more favorable '08 numbers. "You pick a point in time that you base any retention program off of and the decision was to base these off of the production these individuals would have achieved in 08," said spokesman Jim Wiggins. "Whatever they end up getting paid will be based off their 2008 production. That doesn't say anything at all about the timing it is going to be paid or when it will be paid."

Wiggins also defended the decision to provide financial advisers with retention packages. Noting that the money would "be paid out of the operating revenues for business and not" TARP funds, he said the system was necessary to prevent an exodus of key personnel.

"Retention programs like this are standard practice in the industry whenever you do a deal like this one," he said. "This is a profitable business. Our financial advisers are being heavily recruited by other companies like UBS... It is absolutely critical to hold this together and hold them in their seats so this will be a successful joint venture."

This assessment is challenged by an array of industry observers. Noting that retention awards are a relatively small sum of cash when compared to the money that the U.S. government will be spending on subsidizing bondholders, Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics nevertheless called it a gratuitous expense.

"These firms are attempting to continue to pay their people the way they have in the past and in the current job market here in New York, I don't think it is necessary," said Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics. "You certainly don't need to pay people to stay in their jobs right now, because they are praying to Jesus that they just don't lose their job generally."

Certainly, as recipients of billions of dollars in government funds, Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney find their accounting decisions under greater scrutiny. As part of the merger, the two entities have promised to make $1.1 billion worth of budget cuts -- or roughly half the projected amount of retention payments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/bailout-recipients-giving_n_165624.html

Oh my fucking god! Evil greedy monsters... I am so livid... I can't even articulate how much I am... so ... ugh... I have lost all faith in bankers.

Israelis vote in general election

2009-02-10T08:03:00.002-05:00

Voting is taking place in Israel in an early election called by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down.

The favourite to become prime minister is Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing opposition party, Likud.

But his opinion-poll lead has been reduced in recent weeks by Tzipi Livni, who heads the centrist Kadima, the largest party in the government.

Mr Olmert announced months ago that he was standing down in the face of corruption allegations.

Ms Livni's attempt to form a new government without elections failed last year.

Leaders confident

Voting across the country started at 0700 local time (0500 GMT) and will close at 2200 local time (2000 GMT).

Israel imposed a closure on Palestinian-run areas of the occupied West Bank, banning Palestinians from entering Israel except for medical emergencies. Israeli soldiers have already voted.

KEY BACKGROUND

Downbeat poll reflects mood

Q&A: Israeli elections

Where the candidates stand

Israeli elections: Voters' views

Mr Netanyahu and his wife Sarah cast their vote in Jerusalem.

"This felt good," the Likud leader said. "The people want a change and they will choose it today. Those who want to embark on a new path would rally with the Likud and with me."

After voting in Tel Aviv, Ms Livni urged other voters to do the same, despite heavy rain and strong winds.

"I have just done what I want every citizen in Israel to do - first of all to get out of the house, rain or not, cold or hot, go out, go to the polling station, go into the booth, close your eyes, and vote - not out of fear or despair - and think about hope," she said.

Labour leader Ehud Barak, Israel's current defence minister, also voted in Tel Aviv. "I am sure we will emerge stronger from this day," he said.

The head of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, voted at polling station in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim.

"There are many parties who talk, but there is one party that knows how to act not only talk. We did a good job during the elections, we will do an even better job after the elections, thank you," he said.

Bad weather

On Monday, Israel's politicians made a final push for votes.

Mr Netanyahu and Mr Lieberman, made visits to one of Judaism's holiest sites, the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem - regarded as occupied territory under international law.

Ms Livni and Mr Barak both planted trees - in different places.

Israeli soldiers in the West Bank cast their votes on Monday

Opinion polls suggest that about 20% of voters are not sure who to vote for - and that many others are unenthusiastic about their choices.

Bad weather may keep voter turnout low. About 5.3 million people are eligible to vote at more than 9,000 polling stations.

Even if Ms Livni does pull ahead of Mr Netanyahu, pollsters think right-wing parties are likely to dominate the Knesset and she could struggle to form a coalition, says the BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem.

Following the recent conflict in Gaza, many Israelis say security is what counts, and that they do not trust the peace process or the Palestinians.

In such a climate, Mr Lieberman - with his strong, often anti-Arab, rhetoric - is forecast to make gains, our correspondent adds.

Arab voters of Palestinian origin make up about one-fifth of the electorate.

Scuffles broke out in one Israeli Arab town when a Jewish hardliner arrived to observe the polling, in what was seen as a provocative act by locals.

National Union candidate Aryeh Eldad was escorted out of Umm al-Fahm by police, who also arrested five stone throwers.

Once the final votes are counted, the complicated process of building a coalition will begin - something that could take several weeks.

If you want to know who gained from the destructive invasion of Gaza wait until polls close today in Israel. Given the public opinion polls that all show security issue as a top concern and distrust (and dislike) for Palestinians climbing, it seems likely that right-wingers will gain disproportionately in this election. Sad. This will set the peace process back years. And nothing will change.

It is a cold comfort that this result seems to fit with some current research we've conducting. What we have found so far (in numerous statistical tests) is that there is not much learning between Palestinians and Israelis. Their leadership seems to be guided more by expected domestic political gain than any process of reciprocal or evolutionary learning. But these results are preliminary, and I hope they are far from robust.

Astronaut's Video Satirizes NASA Bureaucracy

2009-02-09T08:50:00.002-05:00

Morning Edition, February 9, 2009 · A short, satirical video produced by an astronaut and posted on YouTube is generating a lot of discussion within NASA and the space community. The video focuses on making sure the agency's bureaucracy doesn't crush innovative ideas and dissenting opinions.

The video, written and filmed by four-time space flier Andrew Thomas, tells the fictional story of a young engineer at Johnson Space Center in Houston who has a great new concept for a spacecraft design.

Her attempts to convince her managers go nowhere. They dismiss her proposal with administrative objections even as they assure her that her efforts are valued.

"We don't want to repress dissenting views or innovation like this. That's not how we operate," says a fictional manager in the video. As he speaks, a caption appears and poses a question: "Are you sure?"

Raising Awareness

The film shows how innovation-blocking behaviors are "all too common" at the space center.

Thomas says he put the little movie together using a borrowed camera and his home computer. The actors are employees of either NASA or its contractors. Last summer, they all worked on a team project organized by Johnson Space Center's senior management as part of a larger effort to enhance innovation and open-mindedness.

"They were told to be creative not only in their approach to answering the questions they were asked, but also to be creative in the way that they presented their findings and recommendations," says Debbie Denton, manager for diversity and special projects at the center's human resources office.

Thomas and his teammates were specifically asked to look for reasons why new ideas get ignored or blocked. "And I wanted to try and capture those in a way that people would understand, in a way that would resonate," says Thomas.

Heather Hava, who plays the role of the engineer, says Thomas took stories and anecdotes that the team discussed and wove them into one storyline. "He compiled all that and wrote a little dramatization of all of our experiences," she says. "It was a composite of many, many people's experiences."

Management Reacts

The video was shown at a retreat for NASA managers last month. One manager, Wayne Hale, posted it on his blog and wrote that he found it "extraordinarily funny and not at all funny."

Hale noted that after the space shuttle Columbia accident, the investigation board said NASA's culture had stifled dissenting opinions from engineers who were concerned about potential dangers. NASA's leadership has been trying to change its culture. "Still, it is hard to tell how effective the change effort has been," Hale wrote.

Thomas says he initially wasn't sure how his video would be received. "Because these are, after all, fairly sensitive issues and they're important issues. I have to say I'm very gratified by the upper management of the agency who made a point that this should go public so that people could see it."

Howard McCurdy, a space policy expert with American University in Washington, D.C., has written about how NASA's original high-tech culture has become more bureaucratic. He says that what struck him is that the managers in the video didn't engage in technical discussions. Instead, they focused only on the administrative process.

"That's not the kind of agency you would like to have running rocket programs," says McCurdy. "It might be OK for Social Security check disbursement, but it sure isn't going to be good for rocket science."

McCurdy notes that culture change is hard, but that "culture consists in large part of the stories that people tell about their agency. And if they tell stories like the one we're just seeing, it's a way of communicating their concern."

Justin Kugler, a member of the team that made the video, says there's been a lot of reaction. "I know I personally have received e-mails from people saying, 'You all nailed this, this is spot on,'" he says.

Kugler says his team did identify positive changes that managers can make to encourage innovation and new ideas, but those didn't get featured in the movie. "Just seeing the video by itself out on YouTube," he says, "you don't necessarily get that other half of the story." He added that the group is considering making another video.

I feel that a stifling of innovation is just one of the problems with Bureaucracy that need to be fixed, hopefully the release of this video to the public is a sign of good things to come.

Marijuana testicular cancer link

2009-02-09T08:19:00.001-05:00

Frequent or long-term marijuana use may raise a man's risk of testicular cancer, American research suggests.

The study of 369 men, published in the journal Cancer, found being a regular marijuana user doubled the risk compared to those who never smoked it.

The results suggest that it may be linked to the most aggressive form of the cancer.

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said that no previous studies had found a link between marijuana and the disease.

What young men should know is first, we know very little about the long-term health consequences of marijuana smoking, especially heavy marijuana smoking

Dr Stephen Schwartz
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute

Testicular cancer is one of the most common cancers in younger men, with approximately 2,000 new cases each year in the UK.

Incidence in Europe and North America is far higher than in some other parts of the world, and has been rising steadily for no apparent reason.

Known risk factors for the cancer include previous injuries to the testicles, a family history of the disease, or suffering from undescended testicles as a young child.

The study from scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle is the first to look specifically at marijuana use in relation to the disease.

They studied 369 men aged 18 to 44, who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and quizzed them about marijuana use.

Their replies were compared to those from almost 1,000 apparently healthy control subjects.

Even after adjusting the figures to take account of the other known risk factors, marijuana use remained a clear risk factor for testicular cancer.

Just being a marijuana smoker seemed to carry a 70% extra risk, while those who smoked it regularly, or had smoked from an early age, had twice the risk compared to those who had never smoked it.

A connection was made to nonseminoma, a fast-growing form of testicular cancer which accounts for approximately 40% of all cases, and tends to strike younger.

Puberty chance

Dr Janet Daling, one of the authors, said that puberty might be a "window of opportunity" during which boys were more vulnerable to environmental factors such as the chemicals in marijuana.

Testicular cancer is usually easily treated

"This is consistent with the study's findings that the elevated risk of nonseminoma-type testicular cancer in particular was associated with marijuana use prior to 18," she said.

Another research, Dr Stephen Schwartz, said: "What young men should know is first, we know very little about the long-term health consequences of marijuana smoking, especially heavy marijuana smoking, and second, our study provides some evidence that testicular cancer could be one adverse consequence."

The next step, he said, would be to look more closely at cells in the testicles to see if any of them had receptors set up to respond to cannabis chemicals.

Henry Scowcroft, from Cancer Research UK, said: "As the researchers themselves point out, this is the first inkling that there is any association between chronic marijuana use and testicular cancer.

"But the researchers only interviewed a relatively small number of men.

"So before we can reach any firm conclusions about whether this is a cause-and-effect relationship, rather than a statistical blip, the result needs to be replicated in a much larger study."

This is bound to be the most popular anti-drug campaign ever.

Number of alien worlds quantified

2009-02-05T10:06:00.000-05:00

We are likely to be listening for a long time, even if there are many worlds

Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.

While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.

"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.

In his new approach, Mr Forgan simulated a galaxy much like our own, allowing it to develop solar systems based on what is now known from the existence of so-called exoplanets in our galactic neighbourhood.

These simulated alien worlds were then subjected to a number of different scenarios.

If alien life forms do exist, we may not necessarily be able to make contact with them, and we have no idea what form they would take

Duncan Forgan
Edinburgh University

The first assumed that it is difficult for life to be formed but easy for it to evolve, and suggested there were 361 intelligent civilisations in the galaxy.

A second scenario assumed life was easily formed but struggled to develop intelligence. Under these conditions, 31,513 other forms of life were estimated to exist.

The final scenario examined the possibility that life could be passed from one planet to another during asteroid collisions - a popular theory for how life arose here on Earth.

That approach gave a result of some 37,964 intelligent civilisations in existence.

Form and function

While far-flung planets may reduce uncertainty in how many Earth-like planets there are, some variables in the estimate will remain guesses.

For example, the time from a planet's formation to the first sparks of life, or from there to the first intelligent civilisations, are large variables in the overall estimate.

For those, Mr Forgan says, we will have to continue to assume Earth is an average case.

"It is important to realise that the picture we've built up is still incomplete," said Mr Forgan.

"Even if alien life forms do exist, we may not necessarily be able to make contact with them, and we have no idea what form they would take.

"Life on other planets may be as varied as life on Earth and we cannot predict what intelligent life on other planets would look like or how they might behave."

Cool. Let's get on with the space exploration! United Federation of Planets here we come.

Hamas police 'seized Gazan aid'

2009-02-04T09:59:00.002-05:00

Hamas policemen have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels that were meant to be distributed to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, UN officials say.

A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry.

The UN said it was the first time its aid had been confiscated by Hamas.

It condemned the action and demanded the goods be immediately returned. There has been no comment by Hamas.

UN spokesman Christopher Gunness said Hamas police took 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels.

About half the population in the Gaza Strip are dependent on UN food aid, since Israel imposed a blockade on the territory 19 months ago.

The UN's relief agency said it has distributed more than 50,000 blankets and more than 12,000 food parcels.

Reconstruction plan

Aid delivery became increasingly difficult during Israel's offensive against Hamas which began in late December.

The UN said it has increased its food distribution to cover 900,000 of Gaza's population of 1.5 million.

However, the UN, along with most of the western world, does not deal directly with the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the government of the Palestinian Authority has announced $600m (£417m) for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the programme would cover all Palestinian houses destroyed or damaged during Israel's 22-day offensive in December and January.

"The amount of the project is $600 million. Most of it will come from donors," Mr Fayyad said in a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Further details would be announced later, he added.

Initial Palestinian estimates said rebuilding would cost $2bn (£1.4bn) and take three to five years.

Ugh...fuckers. Wait to represent the needs of your people. Who needs enemies when the Palestinians have Hamas on their side? Despicable.

Bailouts for Bunglers

2009-02-02T15:22:00.001-05:00

by Paul Krugman

Question: what happens if you lose vast amounts of other people’s money? Answer: you get a big gift from the federal government — but the president says some very harsh things about you before forking over the cash.

Am I being unfair? I hope so. But right now that’s what seems to be happening.

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the Obama administration’s plan to support jobs and output with a large, temporary rise in federal spending, which is very much the right thing to do. I’m talking, instead, about the administration’s plans for a banking system rescue — plans that are shaping up as a classic exercise in “lemon socialism”: taxpayers bear the cost if things go wrong, but stockholders and executives get the benefits if things go right.

When I read recent remarks on financial policy by top Obama administration officials, I feel as if I’ve entered a time warp — as if it’s still 2005, Alan Greenspan is still the Maestro, and bankers are still heroes of capitalism.

“We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we’d like to do our best to preserve that system,” says Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary — as he prepares to put taxpayers on the hook for that system’s immense losses.

Meanwhile, a Washington Post report based on administration sources says that Mr. Geithner and Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s top economic adviser, “think governments make poor bank managers” — as opposed, presumably, to the private-sector geniuses who managed to lose more than a trillion dollars in the space of a few years.

And this prejudice in favor of private control, even when the government is putting up all the money, seems to be warping the administration’s response to the financial crisis.

Now, something must be done to shore up the financial system. The chaos after Lehman Brothers failed showed that letting major financial institutions collapse can be very bad for the economy’s health. And a number of major institutions are dangerously close to the edge.

So banks need more capital. In normal times, banks raise capital by selling stock to private investors, who receive a share in the bank’s ownership in return. You might think, then, that if banks currently can’t or won’t raise enough capital from private investors, the government should do what a private investor would: provide capital in return for partial ownership.

But bank stocks are worth so little these days — Citigroup and Bank of America have a combined market value of only $52 billion — that the ownership wouldn’t be partial: pumping in enough taxpayer money to make the banks sound would, in effect, turn them into publicly owned enterprises.

My response to this prospect is: so? If taxpayers are footing the bill for rescuing the banks, why shouldn’t they get ownership, at least until private buyers can be found? But the Obama administration appears to be tying itself in knots to avoid this outcome.

If news reports are right, the bank rescue plan will contain two main elements: government purchases of some troubled bank assets and guarantees against losses on other assets. The guarantees would represent a big gift to bank stockholders; the purchases might not, if the price was fair — but prices would, The Financial Times reports, probably be based on “valuation models” rather than market prices, suggesting that the government would be making a big gift here, too.

And in return for what is likely to be a huge subsidy to stockholders, taxpayers will get, well, nothing.

Will there at least be limits on executive compensation, to prevent more of the rip-offs that have enraged the public? President Obama denounced Wall Street bonuses in his latest weekly address — but according to The Washington Post, “the administration is likely to refrain from imposing tougher restrictions on executive compensation at most firms receiving government aid” because “harsh limits could discourage some firms from asking for aid.” This suggests that Mr. Obama’s tough talk is just for show.

Meanwhile, Wall Street’s culture of excess seems to have been barely dented by the crisis. “Say I’m a banker and I created $30 million. I should get a part of that,” one banker told The New York Times. And if you’re a banker and you destroyed $30 billion? Uncle Sam to the rescue!

There’s more at stake here than fairness, although that matters too. Saving the economy is going to be very expensive: that $800 billion stimulus plan is probably just a down payment, and rescuing the financial system, even if it’s done right, is going to cost hundreds of billions more. We can’t afford to squander money giving huge windfalls to banks and their executives, merely to preserve the illusion of private ownership.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/opinion/02krugman.html

Austin road sign warns motorists of zombies

2009-01-29T15:15:00.002-05:00

BY DAN X. McGRAW / The Dallas Morning News
dmcgraw@dallasnews.com

An Austin road sign meant to warn motorists about road conditions instead read: "The end is near! Caution! Zombies ahead!"

Vandals broke off a lock on the sign in central Austin early Monday and then hacked into the computer to change the words, said Sara Hartley, a city spokeswoman.

When they were done, the sign read: “The end is near! Caution! Zombies ahead! Run for cold climate!”

Before leaving, the vandals reset the password so the city could not easily change the sign. The sign's humorous warning stayed up for several hours before the manufacturer of the computer could reset the password.

Austin officials aren’t taking the spoof lightly, noting it is a criminal act.

“The sign’s content was humorous, but the act of changing it wasn’t,” Hartley said.

Austin police are investigating the situation, and the vandals could face a Class C misdemeanor charge of tampering with a road sign, Hartley said.

It is the first time Hartley said she has had heard of the stunt.

Hope for Palestine

2009-01-28T08:39:00.004-05:00

I received these from Jewish Voice for Peace along with a letter they plan to send to President Obama on February 23rd. I thought they were cool if not a little trite. But given that they are part of a campaign to press Obama to help negotiate a peace in Palestine I am going to stick with cool. If you would like information on JVP or access to the letter please see their website or just click on the poster.

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

Fate Of One Family Illustrates Gaza War's Ferocity

2009-01-27T08:46:00.002-05:00

by Eric Westervelt

Morning Edition, January 27, 2009 · Senior U.N. officials and human rights activists are calling for an independent probe of alleged violations of the laws of warfare by Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers during the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields and indiscriminately targeting Israeli civilians. Israel is accused of using disproportionate force in civilian areas and failing to protect civilians — especially in the case of the Samouni family. At least 29 members of that extended family were killed by Israeli fire during the war.

Dazed and dirty, 9-year-old Abdullah Samouni walks around the ruined landscape of his Zeitoun neighborhood on the southern edge of Gaza City. Recorded readings of the Quran drift out from a makeshift mourning tent. Almost all of the homes and greenhouses that belonged to this large farming family have been flattened.

The piles of rubble evoke an earthquake — except for the thick tracks and tread marks in the dirt from Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers. Gaping holes scar the few Samouni homes that are still standing.

Abdullah says he and some 20 of his relatives hid in one bedroom of their house when Israeli ground forces swarmed into Zeitoun around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 4. Abdullah says he remembers the red laser light from the soldiers' rifle sights darting around the dark room. One soldier, Abdullah says, asked his father to come forward.

"We were sitting in the bedroom, and the soldiers asked, 'Who is the owner of the house?' My dad went out with his hands up, and the Israeli soldier shot him immediately in the doorway," Abdullah recalls.

His father, 46-year-old Atiyeh, died instantly. One of Abdullah's brothers, 22-year-old Faraj Samouni, says he and others shouted "Children! Children!" in Hebrew as soldiers moved toward the bedroom, some firing their automatic rifles.

Witnesses say the survivors — some wounded — were eventually allowed to leave that house. Many fled to Wa'el al-Samouni's home nearby.

*******************

Medical Crews Unable To Reach Wounded

The Samounis' part of Zeitoun sits on slightly elevated farmland, key terrain for the Israeli army to control the southern approach to Gaza City. Witnesses say over the years militants have regularly launched rockets at Israel from the orange groves around the area.

But witnesses say there was little or no resistance here when the Israelis attacked. Evidence on the ground supports that: There are almost no casings from AK-47 rounds or remnants of rocket-propelled grenades — the main weapons of Hamas militants.

Witnesses in the area say Israeli soldiers knew there were wounded civilians in the Samouni houses but ignored pleas for help. Attempts to contact Palestinian emergency services proved fruitless.

*******************

Violations Of Rules Of War On Both Sides

Attorney Jonathan Drimmer is a war-crimes expert and former top prosecutor for special investigations and war crimes in the U.S. Justice Department.

"You must permit the treatment of civilians who are injured or even noncombatants who are injured. You must permit them medical care," he says.

Drimmer says information available so far suggests that serious violations of the rules of war were committed by both sides. The case against Hamas, Drimmer says, seems clear-cut.

"I think there is no question that Hamas did violate the rules of war by firing indiscriminately into civilian areas. They've done it over a substantial period of time, deliberately targeting civilian areas," he says.

Drimmer says the allegations against Israel — including charges the army used disproportionate force, failed to protect civilians and denied them medical care — all warrant further investigation.

"Anytime you have allegations of summary executions, of denial of medical care, of unnecessary deaths of civilians, it is greatly troubling; it is exactly what the laws of war are designed to prohibit," he says.

excerpted from NPR.org

Listen to the whole story here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99889479

I know we are tired of hearing about Gaza, but it seems pretty clear to me that Israeli troops have committed serious violations of the rules war and international laws protecting civilians in war. That Hamas did is obvious. There is no question that shooting rockets into civilians areas is a violation, a war crime. But when a state's forces shoot unarmed civilians at point blank range and deny medical crews access to injured civilians that too is a clear violation. War is messy, and security is hard to ensure in conflict zones. But this is appaling. We are not talking about just artillery shells falling in civilian areas. This is intentional deprivation of aid, and shooting unarmed people when there is no immediate risk to soldiers' lives. This is war crime, and it should be punished. Israeli military leaders should stand in an international court, as should Hamas militants.

Obama on the Economy

2009-01-26T13:37:00.002-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So far so good, on both rhetoric and actions. Could the steps be bolder? I would like to say yes, but so far in his executive orders from Gitmo to the environment, I think he is doing everything he can in a realistic sense. If the administration can keep this up, they just might be able to begin to steer this nation back on course as a leader in the world and being on the forefront of important issues. USA! USA! USA! :-)

Last Tamil Tiger bastion 'taken'

2009-01-25T13:53:00.002-05:00

Sri Lankan troops have captured the last Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu in the north-east of the island, the country's army chief says.

On Sri Lankan TV, Lt Gen Sarath Fonsek said troops had "completely captured" Mullaitivu after a month of fighting.

There has been no comment from the Tamil Tigers, who have suffered a series of reverses in recent months.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels, who have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years.

At least 70,000 people have been killed during the insurgency.

Stall tactics

Announcing the capture of Mullaitivu, the general said victory in the area would render the conflict with the Tigers "95% over", the Associated Press reported.

"We have completely captured Mullaitivu," he said.

Earlier, a government spokesman said troops from the 59th division had entered Mullaitivu and that it was "a matter of time before they take full control of the area".

Tamil Tiger rebels blasted through the walls of a reservoir on Saturday in an attempt to stall the advancing troops, the military said.

There is no way of confirming any of the claims as independent journalists are barred from conflict zone.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Colombo says the fall of the last main town under the Tigers' control would deprive the group of a crucial military base.

The government has won a string of military victories in recent months, including the capture of the rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi, cornering the rebels into a tiny pocket of territory in the island's north-east.

However, even with its strong advances, the rebels have shown on many occasions their capacity to fight a guerrilla war operating from secret jungle bases.

It is not clear what has happened to the residents of Mullaitivu.

Earlier this week the military said it had designated a safe zone for civilians as it pushed ahead with its offensive in the area.

But as the fighting intensifies, aid agencies have expressed growing concern for the safety of 250,000 civilians reportedly trapped inside the conflict zones.

Many Tamils warn that the capture of territory from the rebels alone will not end the ethnic conflict and that they need a political solution for a lasting peace, our correspondent says.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7849684.stm

UN 'shocked' by Gaza destruction

2009-01-23T08:12:00.004-05:00

The UN has said at least 50,000 Gazans are now homeless

The UN's humanitarian chief has told the BBC the situation in Gaza after a three-week Israeli offensive against Hamas was worse than he anticipated.

Sir John Holmes, who visited Gaza on Thursday, said he was shocked by "the systematic nature of the destruction".

He said that the territory's economic activity had been set back by years.

Meanwhile, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is reported to have placed his justice minister in charge of defending Israel against any accusations of war crimes.

Daniel Friedman will lead an inter-ministerial team to co-ordinate a legal defence for Israeli civilians and the military, a government source was quoted by AFP as saying.

Richard Falk - the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories - has said there was "a prima facie case" that Israel gravely breached the Geneva Conventions during its 22-day campaign.

Israel responded by saying that Mr Falk's "bias against Israel was well known".

Future of Gaza

Mr Holmes, the top UN official responsible for emergency relief and humanitarian affairs, said the scale of destruction would have "disturbing" repercussions for the people of Gaza.

CONFLICT IN FIGURES

More than 1,300 Palestinians killed

Thirteen Israelis killed

More than 4,000 buildings destroyed in Gaza, more than 20,000 severely damaged

50,000 Gazans homeless and 400,000 without running water

Bowen diary: Rafah rebuilds

Special report: Gaza conflict

Who are Hamas?

Middle East conflict: History in maps

In an interview with the BBC's Today Programme, he described an industrial area where every building within a square kilometre had been levelled, by bulldozers and shells.

He told of broken pipes pumping out raw sewage onto the streets.

"I'm sure the Israelis would say that's because there were people there firing shells and rockets from there, or perhaps manufacturing them.

"But the nature of that destruction means that any kind of private economic activity in Gaza is set back by years or decades," he said.

"That's very disturbing for the future of Gaza, for the future of the people of Gaza, who are forced to fall back on the public sector and indeed on Hamas, who control the public sector."

Israel said it launched its offensive to stop cross-border rocket attacks by militants in Gaza against its civilians.

The intense fighting ended on Sunday, with both sides declaring a ceasefire.

Palestinian medical officials said about 1,300 Palestinians were killed and thousands more were injured. Thirteen Israelis died during the conflict.

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7846625.stm

If Israel wants to show the world that it is committed to a sustainable peace rather than to just pounding on the Palestinians, it needs to make immediate moves to help rebuild Gaza, support the PA, and compensate people whose homes have been destroyed and families killed by its incursion. If it neglects to make serious efforts to improve the conditions of Gazans, it will be right back here again and the whole scenario will be repeated. I hope that they will make that effort, but I fear that the same old politics will be in play. Israel is raising its hackles against international criticism and shifting blame. It has already started criticizing the UN Human Rights rapporteur as being biased against Israel, which seems to be in line with its typical defensive posture. Criticism against Israel, in its mind, seems to be not based on its actions but its identity, and I find that position counterproductive and sad. Ugh.

The Day I've Waited 8 Years for...

2009-01-20T08:33:00.007-05:00

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama was poised to make history on Tuesday as the first black U.S. president, riding a wave of public optimism he will need to tap to deal with the worst economic crisis in 70 years and two wars.

As dawn broke, thousands of people, bundled up against the cold, made their way through the city's darkened streets toward the national Mall, where they will watch Obama take the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol at noon.

Some estimates put the number of people expected to pack the Mall and inaugural parade route at more than 2 million after they clogged the city's metro rail system and thronged the security check-points in a mood of excitement.

Yes, I am happy and proud of my country that Barak Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th US president and the first black American to hold the office. It is truly a historic event, and one that the USPS will probably use as a holiday in the future.

But what I am celebrating today even more than Obama's inauguration is the end of the Bush administration. At noon today the gaggle of fucktards that have run this country for the last 8 years will formally give up their positions of power (I hope). And that is a cause to celebrate. It is certainly hard to know how Obama will fair as president, and I can understand to some degree the anxiety many hard core conservatives must have. He will probably make some good decisions as well as some serious errors. It will certainly be a daunting challenge for him to live up to the image and expectations that have been crafted. But at the very, very least we will finally have an administration that does not show contempt and disdain for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the American people and one that actually applies reason, logic, and inquiry to governance rather than strict ideology. Hurray for thinking! Hurray for science! Hurray to the end of the Bush administration!

Now, let's get on with the indictments! Cheney, you first.

Kucinich Introduce Ceasefire Resolution

2009-01-17T10:46:00.002-05:00

On January 15th Dennis Kucinich (no surprise) introduced House Resolution 66 to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. I urge all of you to contact your representatives and senators to ask them to support the measure. It is certainly just a symbolic act, but I believe it is important to signal to world as well as to Israel that, while the US fully supports Israel's (or any country's) right to self defense, the incursion into Gaza has exceeded any legitimate self defense actions and has produced unacceptable civilian casualties. Notice that the resolution calls upon both Hamas and Israel to ceasefire.

The text of the resolution is included below.

Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. RAHALL, Ms. WATSON, and Ms. WOOLSEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Whereas over 95 percent of the deaths incurred since the escalation of violence in Gaza beginning December 27, 2008, have been Palestinians;

Whereas over 50 percent of the population of Gaza is under the age of 14;

Whereas on January 7, 2009, the United Nations found that over one-third of the Palestinians killed in Gaza were civilians, while over 1,300 of the injured are children;

Whereas on January 6, 2009, 40 civilians were killed and 55 civilians were injured when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombed two United Nations facilities, including a school, where Palestinians were seeking shelter;

Whereas nearly the entire population of Gaza has no access to potable water or functioning water systems, and sewage and wastewater systems have seized due to lack of water and electricity, causing sewage overflows in some residential neighborhoods, creating a public health crisis, according to the World Bank;

Whereas reports indicate that since the beginning of the Israeli imposed blockade in February 2006, approximately 200 Palestinians in Gaza have died due to lack of access to medical goods and aid;

Whereas on January 7 and 8, 2009, the International Committee of the Red Cross found a total of up to 65 bodies in two separate locations, both of which included a number of emaciated children, in houses bombed in the south of Gaza after four days of lack of ambulance access;

Whereas the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross were temporarily forced to halt all aid shipments, following the death of two United Nations aid truck drivers; and

Whereas Articles 55 and 56 of the 4th Geneva Convention require `ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population' and `ensuring and maintaining . . . the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene': Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,

Links to NC senators and representatives sites can be found here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=NC
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Fault-line between Jews over Gaza

2009-01-17T10:37:00.002-05:00

By Robert Pigott
BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent

As the bloodshed has continued in Gaza, public opinion in Israel has remained firmly supportive of the offensive against Hamas.

But the harrowing pictures of the aftermath of the conflict have raised a clamour of criticism elsewhere in the world and divided Jewish opinion overseas.

On Thursday, the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco declared itself "in solidarity with the innocent victims who are suffering in Gaza".

It described the residents of Gaza as "sitting targets... suffering under the bombs, the widespread destruction, the lack of food and water..." and added: "The pictures of Palestinian children torn from life are unbearable."

The director of the Foundation of Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Heritage, Simon Levy, described the killing in Gaza as unjustified and "more than deplorable".

"It is not like that, that I see Judaism," he said.

'Exploiting guilt'

The idea that the assault in Gaza is tarnishing the image of Judaism internationally has been echoed by Jewish protesters in non-Arab countries.

Last week, a group of eight Canadian-Jewish women occupied the Israeli consulate in Toronto.

One of the organisers Judy Rebick, a lecturer at Ryerson University, said: "There are many Jews across the world who are ashamed and don't want this massacre to take place in our name."

My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza

Sir Gerald Kaufman

The following day there were similar protests by Jewish women in Montreal and Boston.

Some of the strongest language elsewhere has come from British Jews, notably Gerald Kaufman - a leading figure in the Labour Party.

He accused Israel of exploiting the guilt felt by non-Jews in order to continue its offensive in Gaza.

Sir Gerald, who has been a stern critic of Israel in recent years, said: "The present Israeli government ruthless and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from Gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians."

In a speech in the House of Commons, Sir Gerald recalled how his grandmother was shot by invading German troops as she lay ill in bed.

In a stinging rebuke, he said: "My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza."

'Inexcusable'

Sir Gerald's remarks have drawn a sharp response from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which insisted that while there was rightly a large spectrum of opinion within the British Jewish community, the "overwhelming majority" agreed that "Israel has been subjected to the most deplorable attacks from Hamas over the last eight years and that a response was necessary".

Mark Frazer, of the board's defence and group relations division, said: "The Holocaust reference is used because of the horrific images and experiences it conjures up for the Jewish community.

Protests backing Israel have also been held across the UK

"Jews such as Gerald Kaufman feel that because of their Jewish identity they have the right to berate Israel and her supporters with this comparison without any concern for the truth.

"It is quite simply inexcusable."

However, Sir Gerald is by no means alone in stern criticism of Israel's action.

In a letter to the Guardian last week, a group of 78 people describing themselves as being "of Jewish origin" spoke of "Israeli aggression," likening it to apartheid South Africa and calling for "a programme of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions".

Liberal synagogues

Something of a fault-line exists within the British Jewish population between "cultural" and "religiously observant" Jews.

Cultural Jews differ from others because they tend not to see religious observance, or even belief, as necessary to their status as Jews, or to the preservation of the Jewish community.

Critically, the two groups often disagree about Israel, and, moreover, how far loyalty towards Israel should prevent British Jews from criticising the country.

However, in this case, religious leaders - albeit of liberal synagogues - have joined the outcry.

In a letter to The Spectator magazine, Rabbi Tony Bayfield, head of the Movement for Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Danny Rich, chief executive of Liberal Judaism - and a group of other prominent Jews - called for an immediate ceasefire and the permanent lifting of the blockade of Gaza.

Sir Gerald Kaufman has been highly critical of Israel's actions

They expressed their "horror" at the loss of life on both sides, but said their intervention was based specifically on their concern for Israel's welfare.

They said "Israel had a right to respond" to the rocket attacks, but the "continued military offensive could strengthen extremists... exacerbate tensions inside Israel with its one million Arab citizens and... threaten to undermine international support for Israel".

As recent demonstrations in London and elsewhere have shown, what happens in the Middle East raises powerful emotions among ordinary people.

They are clearly matched by the passions aroused among Jews around the world.

I thought this was an interesting piece. It is important to remember that in any group there are a variety of opinions and perspectives. Jews are not a monolithic group and their opinions on the Gaza crisis and Israeli-Palestinian relations vary tremendously. One of my favorite human rights groups devoted to this issue is Jewish Voice for Peace, so I'll just give them a shout out here. Check their website for more info: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

Peru court backs drunken worker

2009-01-16T01:55:00.001-05:00

By Dan Collyns
BBC News, Lima

Peru's highest court has ruled that employees cannot be fired for turning up to work drunk.

The Peruvian government has criticised the constitutional tribunal's ruling as setting a dangerous legal precedent.

According to the judgement, sacking a worker because he is drunk is disproportionate and unreasonable.

The court said a caretaker employed by a local authority in a suburb of Lima should be reinstated after being sacked for turning up to work drunk.

According to the seven judges who make up Peru's highest judicial authority, the sacking of Pablo Cayo was excessive because he had not been violent or rude and had carried out his work as usual.

The judgment, although non-binding, has prompted debate amongst lawyers and dismay for the government.

Peru's Labour Minister, Jorge Villasante, criticised the ruling saying it could set a bad example for other workers while some lawyers have pointed out it goes against a Peruvian law prohibiting drunkenness in the workplace.

But one of the judges in the case, Fernando Calle, said the court would not revise its decision and that the caretaker, who was sacked almost five years ago, had the right to due process.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7832388.stm

Miliband regrets 'war on terror'

2009-01-15T00:34:00.001-05:00

The idea of a "war on terror" is a "mistake", putting too much emphasis on military force, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said.

Writing in the Guardian, Mr Miliband said the idea had unified disparate "terrorist groups" against the West.

He said the right response to the threat was to champion law and human rights - not subordinate it.

Mr Miliband is due to repeat the views in a speech later in Mumbai, India, the scene of attacks by gunmen last year.

Mr Miliband's warning comes five days before the end of US President George Bush's administration, which has led the so-called "war on terror".

The foreign secretary wrote that since 9/11 the phrase "war on terror" had "defined the terrain" when it came to tackling terrorism and that although it had merit, "ultimately, the notion is misleading and mistaken".

The phrase was first used by President Bush in an address to a joint session of Congress on 20 September 2001, in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington.

Mr Miliband wrote that the phrase was all-encompassing and "gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda" when the situation was far more complex.

Calling for groups to be treated as separate entities with differing motivations, he wrote that it was not a "simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil" and treating them as such was a mistake.

"Historians will judge whether [the notion] has done more harm than good", he said.

The phrase, informally dropped from use by the UK government several years ago, "implied a belief that the correct response to the terrorist threat was primarily a military one - to track down and kill a hardcore of extremists", he wrote.

But the stance he now promoted was international "co-operation".

Highlighting US President-elect Barack Obama's commitment to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, Mr Miliband said it was time to ensure human rights and civil liberties were upheld.

He suggested that the different organisations took advantage of the belief that they had one common enemy and a key way to tackle them was to stop this.

"Terrorism is a deadly tactic, not an institution or an ideology."

He is due to repeat his words in a speech later at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, in Mumbai, India, the scene of attacks by gunmen last November.

He is in the country in an attempt to mediate tensions between India and Pakistan over the attacks which killed 179 people.

He urged Pakistan's government to take "urgent and effective action to break up terror networks on its soil" and called for a resolution over the disputed region of Kashmir.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7829946.stm

Politics Of Gaza Crisis May Undercut Abbas

2009-01-14T17:04:00.002-05:00

Listen Here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99260606

Morning Edition, January 13, 2009 · Among the many losers in the war in Gaza may be Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement.

At the start of Israel's offensive, Abbas said that Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was at least partly to blame for the conflict because it had provoked Israel with its rocket fire.

Abbas has since toughened his criticism of Israel. But he seems to have misread popular Palestinian sentiment on the war.

While there have been massive demonstrations against Israel's assault on Gaza across the globe, similar protests have been largely suppressed in the occupied West Bank, which is run by Abbas and Fatah.

When demonstrators left a mosque in downtown Ramallah on Jan. 9, parking attendant Abdul Hakim Nakhleh watched as helmeted Palestinian police beat the largely peaceful protesters.

"People were chanting, not knowing that they would be beaten and tear-gassed," he says. "Even women were beaten by women police."

The demonstration had started out in support of the people of Gaza but turned into a protest against Abbas. The 43-year-old Nahkleh says he once voted for Abbas but will vote for Hamas from now on.

After a year of failed peace talks, Abbas is hard-pressed to convince Palestinians in the West Bank that moderation pays.

Jeweler Murad Odeh says he thinks Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, will be in trouble in the next elections.

"Abu Mazen keeps talking about peace, but we haven't seen anything," Odeh says. "Despite Israel's promises to withdraw, there are still more than 600 Israeli roadblocks. They continue expanding their settlements on our land. At any time, the Israeli army can come here and arrest people. People here do not feel secure."

Abbas has clamped down on Hamas in the West Bank as he pursued peace talks with Israel — but those negotiations have stalled.

And his legitimacy is in question for another reason: His four-year term as president ended Jan. 9. His aides say legislation gives him another year. Hamas rejects this. Bitter jokes now circulate — one text message calls Abbas a "U.S.-made product" whose date has expired.

Ayman Daraghmeh, a Hamas-affiliated member of Parliament, believes Abbas has made serious mistakes in recent weeks, reinforcing the growing perception that he is a pawn of Israel and the U.S.

But however much Hamas might have gained, Daraghmeh says, the continuing split between Palestinians must be resolved so there can be new elections.

"After this crisis ends, I think people will have to sit together to end this split between Gaza and the West Bank," he says.

Daraghmeh warns that if the two sides can't work together and there is no progress in real peace talks, there could be more violence.

"People will sometimes explode suddenly … without permission from the Palestinian leadership," he says.

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior Fatah official, also hopes that the crisis in Gaza will somehow force the Palestinians to resolve their differences. He says the international community is as much to blame for the split as the Palestinians themselves.

"If the peace process were progressing normally, Hamas wouldn't be there. Extremism comes to fill a vacuum that was created by those who are not serious about peace," he says.

While loath to acknowledge that Abbas has lost ground, Abdullah does say the security forces in the West Bank have gone too far to suppress Hamas supporters.

"We don't accept them arresting any demonstrator. … It has stopped. We intervened strongly, and it has stopped," he says.

This may be too little, too late. It remains to be seen Friday — when more demonstrations are expected — whether, indeed, the Fatah-led government will allow them.

(Because of intense interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, NPR makes available free transcripts of its coverage. View the free transcript of this story.)

by Anne Garrels

'More than 1,000 killed in Gaza'

2009-01-14T11:30:00.004-05:00

Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip have passed 1,000, medical sources in Gaza say, as diplomatic efforts continue to reach a ceasefire.

Nearly a third of the dead are reported to be children and nearly 5,000 people have been injured.

*************************

Claims have been received by the BBC and an Israeli human rights group that Israeli troops have fired on Gaza residents trying to escape the conflict area. Israel has strongly denied the allegations.

BBC journalists in Gaza and Israel have compiled detailed accounts of the claims.

Some Palestinian civilians in Gaza say Israeli forces shot at them as they tried to leave their homes - in some cases bearing white flags.

One testimony heard by the BBC and human rights group B'tselem describes Israeli forces shooting a woman in the head after she stepped out of her house carrying a piece of white cloth, in response to an Israeli loudhailer announcement.

The Israeli military has dismissed the report as "without foundation".

The BBC has spoken to members of another family who say they are trapped in their home by fighting and have been shot at when they tried to leave to replenish dwindling water and food supplies, even during the three-hour humanitarian lull.

Israel is denying access to Gaza for international journalists and human rights monitors, so it is not possible to verify the accounts.

B'tselem said it had been unable to corroborate the testimony it had received, but felt it should be made public.

Both articles excerpted from BBC.co.uk.

That about sums it up. I asked two weeks ago at the beginning of the ivasion at what point the Palestinian death toll would outstrip Israel's justifications to prosecute a war in Gaza. So far we have no answer. 1000 Palestinians have died. Somewhere around 300 of those are children and some 500-600 are civilians. So I really wonder at what price to Palestinians Israel is willing to contibute the campaign. Hamas will fight to the end, they are plain and simple terrorists, so it is pretty obvious that they have little interest in stopping and exhibit little care for civilians. But what of Israel? It is a supposed to be a civilized, democratic, developed state. But so far it seems to be behaving with the same depraved indifference as its enemies. And that is what is really sad. Is the fight worth it if a state has to lower itself to the point of becoming a terrorist, to committing war crimes, and killing hundreds of children in order crush its enemies?

We all know Hamas is a terrorist organization. But how many civilian deaths have to occur as a direct result of Israel's counterinsurgency tactics before Israel becomes a terrorist state?

As a last note, everyone should always be suspicious when a government bans foreign journalists from reporting from the war zone. Journalists know the risks, so it is not really about their safety. At least from what I have read governments make those decisions when they are doing something untoward....or really bad.

A Brief, Sad news update from Gaza

2009-01-13T09:02:00.002-05:00

From the AP:

Israeli ground troops battled Palestinian militants in the streets of a densely populated Gaza City neighborhood early Tuesday, destroying dozens of homes and sending terrified residents running for cover as gunfire and explosions echoed in the distance.

Israel's push into Tel Hawwa neighborhood was the farthest it has moved into Gaza City during its 18-day offensive against Hamas militants, and brought Israel's ground forces within a mile of the crowded city center. Palestinian hospital officials say more than 900 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed.

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JOSEF FEDERMAN

From the BBC:

Palestinian medical sources say 920 people have been killed in Gaza so far, of whom 292 were children and 75 were women. Israeli officials say 13 Israelis, including three civilians, have been killed.

Really, really sad. According to numbers from aid groups on the ground nearly 40% of the casualties in Gaza are women and children. Regardless of who is right or wrong in the larger sense, regardless of any personal biases, Israel and Hamas's actions BOTH violate international humanitarian law. BOTH sides are targeting civilian areas. International law and the laws of war as defined in the Geneva Convention (1949 and 1977) are quite clear that bombing heavily populated civilian areas is a war crime. Very sad.

To be fair, Israel is probably not directly targeting civilians the way Hamas is, but is depraved indifference or negligence much better? Especially when the civilian casualty ratio is so staggering. At best, just assuming children are verifiably civilians, 100 Palestinian children have died for every 1 Israeli civilian. Qs a contrast, during the US invasion of Baghdad the child casualty rate was less than 5%; in Israel it is currently 34%. That is fuckng staggering. And inexecusable.

Thousands Attend Pro-Israel Peace Rally

2009-01-11T13:22:00.006-05:00

Thousands of pro-Israel supporters have gathered in London's Trafalgar Square to call for an end to the violence in the Middle East.

Organisers said they wanted people in Gaza and Israel to live in peace, but argued that Palestinians must accept some responsibility for the conflict.

Demonstrators told the BBC they felt the rocket hits and losses Israel had suffered had been downplayed.

Chief Rabbi Dr Sir Jonathan Sacks said he wanted Hamas to "say yes to peace".

About 850 Gazans and 13 Israelis have reportedly died in 16 days of fighting.

They said the number of Israeli deaths should not be considered disproportionate to the number of Palestinian deaths, because Israelis were lucky and escaped their houses before they were hit by Palestinian rockets.

The BBC's Raffi Berg, who was at the rally, said there was a festival atmosphere as people cheered and applauded a succession of speakers who called for peace for Israel and the Palestinians.

However, an address by Rabbi Sacks was briefly interrupted when a protester, yelling through a loud-hailer, jumped into a fountain and scuffled with security officials in the icy water before being dragged out.

Police said they estimated 4,000 people are at the event in central London. Organisers say 15,000 people have turned up.

It was the first major rally organised by the Jewish community in the UK over Israel's offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

It comes after prominent British Jews wrote an open letter calling on Israel to halt operations in Gaza.

We look upon the increasing loss of life on both sides of the Gaza conflict with horror

Letter by prominent British Jews

Rabbi Sacks told the crowd: "All it took to avoid this suffering was for Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israeli citizens.

"Let a voice go out today from here in Trafalgar Square, and other gatherings being held, that we want peace."

"We say to those who criticise Israel: You want Palestinian children to grow up with hope, so do we.

"You want Palestinians to be able to live with dignity, so do we."

He said the day would come when Israelis and Palestinians would live together in peace.

"It could be hundred years away, or it could be today, it is up to Hamas and the people that give them arms, for the sake of Israeli children and the Palestinian children, we say, let it be today."

'Human shields'

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, addressed the crowd saying: "We are here because we believe in peace, because we believe in life, and because we want peace in life.

"The events of the past two weeks have not been a war on the people of Gaza but war on the people using them as human shields."

A small group of pro-Palestinian protesters - estimated by police to number between 80 and 100 - were being kept separate from the main body of the rally by mounted police.

Another pro-Israel peace rally is also being held in Manchester.

Meanwhile the letter, published in the Observer, warns the military action, far from improving security, will strengthen extremism and destabilise the region.

Prominent rabbis, academics and political figures supported the open letter.

Some pro-Palestinian protesters attended the mainly peaceful rally

They write: "We look upon the increasing loss of life on both sides of the Gaza conflict with horror.

"We have no doubt that rocket attacks into southern Israel, by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups, are war crimes against Israel.

"No sovereign state should, or would, tolerate continued attacks and the deliberate targeting of civilians.

"Israel had a right to respond however, we believe that now only negotiations can secure long-term security for Israel and the region."

Confrontations

On Saturday thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The protest started peacefully but there were confrontations as police tried to move demonstrators away from the gates of the Israeli embassy.

Protests also took place in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Belfast, Newcastle and Southampton.

from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7822656.stm

I was a little skeptical about this story at first, but in the end I appreciate the sentiment of the protesters. We should certainly not forget Hamas' role in all of this, and yes, Palestinians should accept some responsibility. So kudos to the group at least for its overall spirit and intent. That said, I do disagree with a couple of things.

The idea that Palestinian causalities should not be considered disproportionate because Israelis were lucky and escaped to bomb shelters really irks me. I have heard this argument from colleagues who took the "Birthright" trip to Israel. It seems like a common argument Israelis like to make. And there is some intuitive truth to it. I mean, if Hamas could they would kill many more Israelis, and it is only the combination of their poor weapons technology and the organization and capacity of the Israel government (in terms of bomb shelters and warning systems) that keep casualties low. Still, the argument is a bit spurious and misleading. Israel knows that Palestinians don't have access to bomb shelters. And the government of Gaza can hardly be expected to provide them when it can't even get basic medical supplies, food, or water to its people. The casualties are disproportionate because Israel is a much stronger nations with much greater firepower. And while they are typically not targeting civilians specifically the way Hamas does, their actions would be the legal equivalent to depraved indifference in most cases.

The second thing is that average Palestinians deserve any blame. Hamas militants and activists deserve blame, sure. But ordinary Palestinians? Not anymore than average Israelis deserve blame for the actions of their government, and maybe less so. Israel is a developed democracy, and if its people support the actions of hard line politicians by voting them into office it confers a degree of responsibility on the citizens. This argument was used against Palestinians by both the US and Israel when they voted Hamas into office. The argument was basically that by supporting Hamas Palestinians supported radicalism and should pay a price. And the US and Israel took measures to undermine the elected government, including a series of sanctions that led up to a nearly complete embargo of the Strip. But that was two years ago and Hamas has since lost much of its popular support. Recent public opinions polls show Hamas with declining popular support and it would have been unlikely to win any national election in the months before the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

So which group holds more sway over its government and thus their actions? Arguable neither in a lot of ways. It kind of depends on your belief in the ability of citizens in a democracy to influence policy. But if we have to compare, the nature of the systems suggests that Palestinians have much less sway over their leaders than do Israelis. So again, if blame should be conferred on the populations (and I am not saying it should), it would seem that Israelis should bear the brunt of it. Israelis can pressure their government to make concessions or to continue to bomb civilian areas. Palestinians can protest Hamas, and they sometimes do, but Hamas is more likely to quash dissent and excute "collaborators" than listen to protest. So, what say do average Gazans actually have? Israel wants the people to resist Hamas, but I don't see how they can.

As a side note, I came across this article from the BBC from earlier this week. It discusses the issue of who is a civilian in Gaza what constitutes a violation of international law and the Geneva Convention (to which Israel is not a signatory but oddly the PLO executive committee is. Hamas, of course, is not.).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7811386.stm

The unmeasurable price of war

2009-01-10T13:20:00.003-05:00

By Paul Martin
BBC News

My close friend Ashraf and I have worked, eaten, discussed... even disagreed, through so many broadcasting assignments - some under intense pressure as Palestinian gunmen in Gaza fight Israel, or each other.

The Israeli attack on Gaza began on 27 December 2008

On the sixth day of this current war I could not get hold of Ashraf on the mobile phone.

Later, in tears, he told me why. His youngest brother Mahmoud, aged 12, and his 14-year-old cousin, were told it was too dangerous outside Ashraf's family home in the deserted side streets. So the children played innocently on the family home's flat roof.

Then an unmanned Israeli aircraft fired two small rockets.

Ashraf rushed upstairs and took the boys to hospital, but it was hopeless. They were buried the same day.

I have also met killers - people who have destroyed innocents like Israeli Ella or Palestinian Mahmoud

Just the latest in a series of disasters for Mahmoud and Ashraf's very dignified father, a medical doctor. He had been turned into a refugee by the 1948 war.

A year ago he lost one son, my marvellous and irrepressible cameraman Ahmed, in a car crash. And now his youngest boy, Mahmoud.

Macabre scene

Was there any reason for the rocket strike?

Possibly. The Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle may have relayed back live pictures not showing children but just some fuzzy figures moving on a rooftop. How clear the aircraft's picture of Ashraf's rooftop was, is going to be the subject of an inquiry, the Israelis have promised.

Also, Ashraf's home was close to one of the city's security headquarters.

In June 2007 I had watched - sheltering under large slabs of meat dangling in a butcher's shop - as the building was seized by Hamas forces.

I have seen civilians on the Israeli side die too, blown to bits in suicide bombings. Eleven dead - including a whole family of six in a Jerusalem side street - bits of body splattered on the walls.

There was a macabre scene in 2001 at a beachside hotel in Netanya. Knives and forks hanging embedded in the high ceiling of a dining room, where 30 elderly men and women had gathered for a festival meal, all now dead.

I sometimes lie awake and wonder, when I saw our target was close to civilians, whether I was right not to fire. Maybe I let him live and tomorrow he will kill more of our civilians

Uri, Israeli pilot

And in the Israeli town of Sderot over two years ago, I met an ambulance driver who had raced to the scene of a rocket attack that flattened a house near the Gaza border.

He found his own grandson, one-year-old Osher, lying with his left eye dangling out and his head split open. Doctors saved his life.

Then in a side street in Sderot there is a small bench, painted with red and blue flowers at the spot where 17-year-old Ella, a talented musician, was walking when a rocket hit and killed her.

Compulsion to kill

I have also met killers - people who have destroyed innocents like Israeli Ella or Palestinian Mahmoud. They have their explanations. Some months ago, I went with a Palestinian rocket-firing brigade keen to dispatch their weaponry into the heart of an Israeli town (Sderot itself actually).

Twenty-four-year-old Mohammed (on his first rocket-firing mission) said Israeli men, women and children would one day end up fighters. "So let's kill them first," he said.

Missiles have exploded near the homes of 90% of Sderot's residents

Months later I met him in a Gaza street. He had decided to retire from rocket-firing and return to computer programming.

Hamas's prime minister has an American-educated adviser, who once told me on camera: "Our rockets are not lethal enough yet but one day, God willing, they will be."

I also met two Israeli pilots from the Cobra brigade, their twisted snakes emblazoned on the sides of their one-man helicopters, each bristling with rocket launchers and a machine gun.

One pilot, Uri, pulled down his dark-glasses visor, then whipped out a Hebrew newspaper clipping with photos of a boy and his grandfather.

They died, he said, when this man was picking up this kid from the nursery school. Uri was taking off, aiming to kill what he defined as terrorists. "I always carry these photos with me on a mission," he explained, "to remind me that when I hunt down a terrorist I am protecting people like these."

Did he sleep easy at night? I asked him.

There was a long pause. "No," he said, "I sometimes lie awake and wonder, when I saw our target was close to civilians, whether I was right not to fire. Maybe I let him live and tomorrow he will kill more of our civilians."

From neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian fighting men could I detect much empathy for the innocent.

from BBC.co.uk

I posted this since Beck wanted a little more balance on the blog. I think the article sums up sentiment on both sides pretty well. Neither Hamas gunmen nor Israeli fighters have much "empathy for the Innocent", at least so this reported would seem to describe it. And that sounds about right. Both sides are sure that what they are doing serves some greater good, either protecting the people they love from terrorists or liberating people they love from oppression. The details and debates over ideology are pointless at this moment, however, when people on both sides are dying. Granted at the moment many, many times more Palestinians are dying than Israelis, and this is par for the course (B'tselem has great statistics in great detail for any one interested). But again, debating who is more guilty is probably not getting anyone any where. We have been at this impasse for 40 years. This situation is completely untenable and unsustainable, as it has been for years. If we want balance and any sort of justice the US must start playing an active and more objective role in peace making. It can't give Israel a blank pass and only attempt to temper its actions once hundred of people have died. Israel has to stop building settlements. Full stop. It has to reduce its checkpoints. And there has to be a legit plan and time line for a two state solution. PA leaders have to take a more active role (though this is contingent on how much the US and Israel work with them rather than undermine them). And they have to make tough concessions. The right of return, as much as I am for it, will not be a negotiating point because Israel will never give in. At best, Palestinians might get some manner of compensation. That might be negotiable. But return for 10000s of Palestinians who fled 60 or 40 years ago is not going to happen, and pressing for it unconditionally will only prevent any real settlement. Israel will have to absorb attacks and stay its hand rather than retaliate. Hamas, IJ, and other groups will try to derail any process, but smacking down the whole of the population for the actions of extremists will not produce any results. They hold most of the cards, so the onus is on them to make the peace. The average Israeli has much more input and sway in their government than does the average Palestinian, so it seem like there is where the peace has to originate.

Israel 'shelled civilian shelter'

2009-01-09T17:25:00.003-05:00

Israeli forces shelled a house in the Gaza Strip which they had moved around 110 Palestinians into 24 hours earlier, the UN quotes witnesses as saying.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents" since the beginning of the offensive.

The shelling at Zeitoun, a south-east suburb of Gaza City, on 5 January killed some 30 people, the report said.

Israel says it has looked into the allegations and they are unfounded.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said no Israeli soldiers had been in the area on the day the incident was supposed to have happened.

*****

An estimated 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of Israel's air and ground offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

excerpted from the BBC.

I hate to beat a dead horse so to speak, but regardless of one's ideological position on this issue or distaste for Hamas, this constitutes a war crime. Come on! This is disgusting. Blame Hamas all you like but when Israel, or any country or non-state actor, shells UN positions, kills aid workers, and then shells a civilian shelter THAT THEY PUT PEOPLE INTO it is an unconcionable act that defies international law and basic respect for human life. How can this go on? How can the US not put pressure on Israel to stop the killing? This depresses to me to no end. And it depresses me how many people, especially policy makers in this country, can keep beating the same tired drum that "the fault lies with Hamas" when Israel is carrying out specifc attacks on civilians again and again. At best Israel as just as guilty as Hamas at this point.

"Like A Toyota-thon of Human carnage"

2009-01-09T12:59:00.001-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Strip Maul

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Obama to star in Spider-Man comic

2009-01-09T08:53:00.001-05:00

Warning: This story contains plot spoilers

The Spider-Man edition is likely to become a collectors' item

Enlarge Image

US President-elect Barack Obama is to appear on the cover of a special edition of a Spider-Man comic.

A six-page story, with the superhero saving the day when an imposter tries to take Mr Obama's place as president, will hit shelves next Wednesday.

Marvel Comics editor Joe Quesada said the idea for edition came after Mr Obama admitted he was a Spider-Man fan.

"How great is that? The commander-in-chief to be is actually a nerd-in-chief," Mr Quesada said.

Mr Obama's fan status was revealed by his campaign team, who released 10 little-known facts about the Democrat.

"Right at the top of that list was he collected Spider-Man comics," Mr Quesada said.

"I was inundated with tons of fan mail saying, 'Have you read this?'

"I was just floored, absolutely floored."

IDF Attacks UN Aid Wokers

2009-01-08T14:37:00.004-05:00

The UN has said it is suspending aid operations in Gaza because its staff have been hit by Israeli attacks.

'Great regret'

Responding to the suspension of UN aid efforts, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel fully supported the work of the UN and other humanitarian agencies in Gaza.

"We will do what needs to be done to facilitate this vital work," he said. "In these difficult days we must work together to meet the humanitarian needs of the population."

Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities

Chris Gunness
Unwra spokesman

Gaza 'human shields' criticised

In pictures: Gaza conflict

Israelis back Gaza action - for now

Points of view on Gaza

The UN's move came shortly after it said one person had been killed and two hurt when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.

The UN's relief agency Unwra said it was "with great regret" that it had been forced to make a difficult decision.

"We have suspended our operations in Gaza until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security," said Unwra spokesman Chris Gunness.

"Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities and that all our movements are co-ordinated with the Israeli army."

The UN said the movements of the truck hit at the Erez crossing had been co-ordinated and cleared with the Israeli military.

The Israeli army has not commented on that claim but has said it is looking into the matter.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Israeli military's action.

John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for Unwra, said a convoy of two UN vehicles and an ambulance had also been fired at - although it was not clear by whom - despite having clearance for its movements from Israel.

GAZA CRISIS BACKGROUND

Profile: Gaza Strip

Q&A: Gaza conflict

Who are Hamas?

Middle East conflict: History in maps

The incident occurred as Israel for a second day suspended its military operation for three hours to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, he said.

Mr Ging said the Israeli military had to give his staff a credible guarantee of safety.

"If they give us clearance to move then it is wholly and totally unacceptable that their soldiers on the ground are firing on our aid workers," he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also accused Israel of failing to fulfil its duty to help wounded civilians in Gaza.

The ICRC said its staff had found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in Zeitoun.

excerpted from the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7818577.stm

Oh for Christ's sake! Come on. This does look just like Lebanon. Does anyone remember when Israeli missles hit a UN observer post in Southern Lebanon in 2006? The IDF has the precise positions and movements of UN workers in Gaza yet the workers are being attacked by Israeli troops on the ground? Israel is a first world military, they can coordinate this stuff well enough. If this were any other nation the US would be talking about applying economic and diplomatic sanctions. At least it finally dropped it opposition to the UN proposal. Ugh....how much collateral damage and "error" is needed before it becomes a war crime?

The 'misunderestimated' president? : A Retrospective

2009-01-08T08:38:00.001-05:00

All politicians are prone to make slips of the tongue in the heat of the moment - and President George W Bush has made more than most.

The word "Bushism" has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses during eight years in office, which come to an end on 20 January.

Here are some of his most memorable pronouncements.

ON HIMSELF

"They misunderestimated me."
Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November, 2000

''I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right." Rome, 22 July, 2001

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."
Nashville, Tennessee, 17 September, 2002

"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead."
Washington DC, 11 May, 2001

"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
Nashville, Tennessee, 27 May, 2004

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
Tokyo, 18 February, 2002

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorise himself."
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 29 January, 2003

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Washington DC, 5 August, 2004

"I think war is a dangerous place."
Washington DC, 7 May, 2003

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."
Washington DC, 27 October, 2003

"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
Washington DC, 17 September, 2004

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."
CBS News, Washington DC, 6 September, 2006

EDUCATION

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
Florence, South Carolina, 11 January, 2000

"Reading is the basics for all learning."
Reston, Virginia, 28 March, 2000

"As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards."
CNN, 30 August, 2000

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''
Townsend, Tennessee, 21 February, 2001

ECONOMICS

"I understand small business growth. I was one."
New York Daily News, 19 February, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
Reuters, 5 May, 2000

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine Labour Secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."
Austin, Texas, 8 January, 2001

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill."
Washington DC, 19 May, 2003

HEALTHCARE

"I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs."
Orlando, Florida, 12 September, 2000

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."
Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September, 2004

TECHNOLOGY

"Will the highways on the internet become more few?"
Concord, New Hampshire, 29 January, 2000

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."
Washington DC, 10 April, 2002

"Information is moving. You know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."
Washington DC, 2 May, 2007

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 18 October, 2000

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."
Tucson, Arizona, 28 November, 2005

"That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three - three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?"
Speaking to reporter Kai Diekmann, Washington DC, 5 May, 2006

ON GOVERNING

"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."
Bartlett, Tennessee, 18 August, 2000

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."
Washington DC, 18 April, 2006

"And truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it, and [Tony Blair] read it."
On the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Report, Washington DC, 7 December, 2006

"All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone."
San Diego, California, 25 October, 2007

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
Washington DC, 12 May, 2008

from our friends at the BBC.

Man, it would be funny if it weren't the last eight years of reality. Let's take a look back at all of the president's achievements...on second thought let's just laugh, and cry, and the move the f*&% on in a big hurry.

Public Opinion and Gaza

2009-01-08T08:15:00.004-05:00

Israelis back Gaza action - for now

By Heather Sharp
BBC News, Jerusalem

Rachel Schwartz, 48, cannot keep away from the television, and jumps whenever the phone rings.

Yoni is not allowed to say where he is now

Her son Yoni, 21, is a paramedic in an elite unit in the Israeli military. His usual daily phone calls stopped the day after the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza began.

All she has heard from him since is an SMS message, on Tuesday, that read: "Don't worry, I'm fine. I love you." He is not allowed to say where he is. She assumes he is in Gaza.

Yoni is not allowed to say where he is. She assumes he is in Gaza.

Her other son, Michael, 24, was called up as a reservist at 2330 on Saturday night, and gone by 0500 the next morning.

"I'm not doing so well," she says, when asked how she is coping. "As a mother I wish it stopped yesterday, but I know that there's a job that needs to be done."

'Heavily-supported war'

Like the majority of Israelis, according to opinion polls, Ms Schwartz fully supports Israel's operation in Gaza.

Rachel says support for the war is "unanimous" in Israel

Six Israeli soldiers and, according to Palestinian medics, more than 650 Palestinians, have died in the fighting, in which Israel is attempting to vastly reduce the Palestinian militant group's capacity to fire rockets into southern Israel.

"This is one of the few wars that I think is unanimous - I've never seen the people come together, the right-wing and the left, in this way and agree that this had to be done," she says.

Professor Asher Arian, a veteran Israeli pollster, says it is a "text book case" of a "heavily-supported war".

But, he points out, support was also soaring at the start of the 2006 war in Lebanon, which ended with intense recriminations and plummeting poll ratings for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

A few days before Israeli tanks moved into Gaza, 52% of people asked backed the air offensive, and another 19% wanted to see it expanded with ground forces.

I think the war's stupid, it's useless - there would have been a better way

Meytal Pessing

But the transition to a ground war is a critical moment, in a country where most young people serve in the military and empathy for mothers like Ms Schwartz runs deep.

"With a ground war, everybody knows a neighbour or a cousin or a son of a friend who's involved, and that gives it a much more far reaching effect," says Prof Arian.

Time to 'get out'

In one of Jerusalem's largest malls, the view among people sipping coffee in cafes and popping in and out of shops is generally consistent.

Hava Elemelech says the war must continue until Hamas' rockets stop

Salesman Moti Bohm, 30, backs the operation completely.

"No country can allow itself to be under attack without responding. Hamas is not a country, it's just a mob of bandits," he says.

"We must continue, until the rockets stop," says Hava Elemelech, 45, a kindergarten teacher from Beersheva, one of the towns recently reached for the first time by Palestinian rockets.

"Even if Israelis have to die," she says. "You can't make an omelette without breaking an egg."

But there are those, like housewife Galit Yeshyhu, 35, who echo concerns in Israel's left-leaning media that the troops will become bogged down, casualties will rise, and the rockets will keep coming.

"I think now is the time to get out. We have done enough. The longer we stay, the more lives will be lost."

A minority oppose the war outright. Some of those are left-wingers who have held demonstrations under slogans such as "Stop the Massacre in Gaza! Stop the bloodshed and destruction!"

But there are others too, like Meytal Pessing, 25, who describes herself as "in the centre" politically. "I think the war's stupid, it's useless - there would have been a better way."

Ratings 'war'

With the operation coming just over a month before elections scheduled for 10 February, domestic politics also plays a part.

When casualties start rising, there could be an erosion of public support

The Israeli operation was launched by the government of scandal-hit Mr Olmert's centre-right Kadima party, now led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, head of Kadima's largest coalition party, Labour.

Kadima has been struggling to hold onto voters disillusioned with its founding agenda of unilateral withdrawals from occupied Palestinian areas, and particularly with the ascendance of Hamas in Gaza after the withdrawal of Israeli settlers and soldiers in 2005.

Avraham Diskin, professor of political science at Jerusalem's Hebrew University says that the operation in Gaza has boosted Mr Barak's previously languishing poll ratings at the expense of centre-right opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

But it has not, most pollsters say, completely wiped out the lead Mr Netanyahu has held over Ms Livni in recent months.

However, to some voters, Labour and Kadima now do not seem "as impotent as they looked before," says Prof Diskin says.

For example, prison warder Sivan Abuhatzira, 24, says "maybe" she will switch her allegiance from Mr Netanyahu to Ms Livni or Mr Barak in February.

"I didn't like them before, but they made a good decision," she says.

From BBC.co.uk

I think this is telling. And it is the same sort of argument that Israel uses to support violence against Gaza. The notion is that Palestinians supoprt Hamas, as at least implicitly and therefore have themselves to blame for Israeli attacks. This was particularly true when Hamas won elections a few years ago, but is probably less true now. But if blogs and opinion polls in Israel are accurate, Israelis broadly support the attacks on Gaza, even if it does cost innocent lives--that "omlette" quote above is disgusting. The point is, this is the sort of thing that Hamas uses to support its attacks on Israeli civilians. Their logic--deplorable as it may be--is that average Israelis support the violent actions of the government and generally approve of the killing of Palestinian civilians so they are complicit and therefore justifiable targets.

There are clearly moderate voices, particularly from the Israeli left and the Peace Now movement (you should listen to a recent interview from NPR with Israeli author Amos Oz, excellent perspective), but these groups are often marginalized in Israeli just as moderates are often supressed by Hamas in Gaza. The point being, I understand how average Israelis facing incoming Hamas rockets support the government's efforts to protect them by "going after Hamas." But do they not see that this position just lends additional support to Hamas to send those rockets, especially when that response kills so many Palestinians? Is it just that people are so focused on their immediate position that they can't see the larger picture?

Vatican deplores Gaza situation

2009-01-08T02:31:00.000-05:00

The Pope's justice minister, Cardinal Renato Martino, has sharply criticised Israel's actions and likened the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp".

Correspondents say his words mark the Vatican's toughest comments since Israel began its offensive with intensive air attacks 12 days ago.

He accused both sides of only thinking of their own interests while innocent people paid the price.

Pope Benedict XVI has already called for an end to the conflict.

Cardinal Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, made the comment to Italian online site Il Sussidiario.

"Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay," he said.

"Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp."

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says relations between Israel and the Vatican have been strained recently, after the Pope made it clear that he favoured making Pope Pius XII a saint.

The controversial wartime pope was accused by some Jews of turning a blind eye to the holocaust.

Cardinal Martino's comments were immediately criticised by Israel, who said the Vatican was repeating Hamas propaganda.

Call for intervention

Israel says it wants to stop rocket attacks on southern Israel and to stop Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza via Egypt, while Hamas says any ceasefire deal must include an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Cardinal Martino urged both sides to hold peace talks.

"If they can't come to an agreement, then someone else should do it [for them]," he said.

"The world cannot sit back and watch without doing anything."

He added: "We Christians are not the only ones to call this land 'holy', Jews and Muslims do so too.

"The fact that this land is the scene of bloodshed seems a great tragedy."

There was a brief lull in hostilities on Wednesday when Israel halted military operations in Gaza for three hours to create "humanitarian corridors" for supplies and fuel.

It followed the deadliest day of the operation - more than 130 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, medics said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7817019.stm

Israeli envoy to Caracas expelled

2009-01-07T00:10:00.002-05:00

Venezuela has ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Caracas in protest at Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.

A number of diplomatic staff have been expelled along with Shlomo Cohen.

President Hugo Chavez has strongly condemned Israel for its actions and called on Israelis to stand up against their government.

Venezuela is the first country to take such a diplomatic step in protest at the violence in Gaza.

"The Israeli army is cowardly attacking worn-out, innocent people, while they claim that they are defending their people," Mr Chavez said during a visit to a children's hospital in Caracas.

"I call on the people of Israel to stand up against that government, to demand, to put a hand on their hearts and look at their children, and I call on the world to stop this madness."

Shortly after, the foreign ministry released a statement ordering the expulsion of Mr Cohen and some of his staff, in what they said was a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.

The BBC's Will Grant in Caracas says Mr Chavez often uses strong language to criticise Israel and is a close ally of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one of Israel's main enemies.

Venezuela also has a large Arab community who have welcomed the government's move, our correspondent adds.

Well Hugo, I don't agree with you on many issues, but I can respect this decision. I would like to see the world use a little more diplomatic leverage against Israel, especially in the form of symbolic gestures (at least to start). Granted Chavez likely has his own interests in mind more so than the plight of the Palestinians--needs to save face with the Arab oil exporters--but I still appreciate the gesture.

240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

2009-01-06T15:52:00.002-05:00

NEW YORK (AFP) – An airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed Arabic script has been awarded 240,000 dollars in compensation, campaigners said Monday.

Raed Jarrar received the pay out on Friday from two US Transportation Security Authority officials and from JetBlue Airways following the August 2006 incident at New York's JFK Airport, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced.

"The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling," said Aden Fine, a lawyer with ACLU.

Jarrar, a US resident, was apprehended as he waited to board a JetBlue flight from New York to Oakland, California, and told to remove his shirt, which had written on it in Arabic: "We will not be silent."

He was told other passengers felt uncomfortable because an Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, I am a robber,'" the ACLU said.

Jarrar eventually agreed to cover his shirt with another provided by JetBlue. He was allowed aboard but his seat was changed from the front to the back of the aircraft.

Last week, nine Muslims, including three children, were ordered off a domestic US flight after passengers heard what they believed were suspicious remarks about security.

Although the passengers, eight of them US citizens, were cleared by the FBI, they were reportedly still barred from the AirTran flight.

Security has been at a high level in US airports since the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

However, rights groups and representatives of the Muslim community say the security measures have led to frequent discrimination and harassment.

One of the few times I've heard something that came out of an ACLU lawyer's mouth, and wasn't instantly inclined to punch someone in the head. :P

Personally, I want to believe that Americans are better than this kind of stuff. To look at someone of arabic dissent or of the muslim faith, and assume they are a suicide bomber in the making is unjust and contradictory to the very values we want to protect against Islamic radicalism in the first place.

Now, I'm not usually a proponent of wanton litigation for every slight under the sun, and I understand that airlines are under extraordinary pressure to ensure the safety of their passengers. But in this case, being kicked off an airplane because of arabic text on your t-shirt is just inexcusable and sad, and I think an example needed to be set here.

Strike on Gaza school 'kills 40'

2009-01-06T10:26:00.004-05:00

At least 40 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an United Nations-run school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources have said.

A number of children were among those who died when the al-Falluj school in the Jabaliya refugee camp took a direct hit, doctors at nearby hospitals said.

People inside had been taking refuge from the Israeli ground offensive.

Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

Speaking on the 11th day of the Israeli assault, a senior ICRC official, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, said life in Gaza had become intolerable.

Palestinian medical sources say up to 600 people have been killed since the attacks began, and Mr Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.

At least 70 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, while four Israeli soldiers were killed by fire from one of their own tanks.

A UN-run school? Was this a facility harboring terrorists? For Christ's sake! Can someone explain at this point what possible defense there can be for Israel's actions. 600 people dead. This is shameful. Shameful that Israel continues to conduct itself in this manner, shameful that the Bush admin is doing nothing but supporting it, and increasingly shameful that Obama has made no official statement.

While understanding the need to combat terrorism, Israel cannot conduct itself like this. It is immoral and ineffective. Please, I ask everyone who stops by to visit this blog to email their senators and representatives to ask that they (at the very least) call on Israel to make a greater effort to avoid civilian casualties. Better yet, ask them to pressure Israel to end the siege of Gaza, correct the humanitarian crisis, and work to find a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel cannot just have a free hand and full US support to undertake tactics that kill 100s of civilian bystanders. What is the value of fighting terrorism when you kill scores of innocent people to do it?

Israeli troops clash with Hamas

2009-01-04T11:06:00.004-05:00

Israeli ground forces are battling Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip, after Israel intensified its operation to halt rocket attacks by militants.

Clashes increased in the north with both sides announcing casualties as Israeli troops in effect surrounded Gaza City and cut the territory in two.

Scores of Israeli tanks are said to have penetrated deep inside Gaza.

Many world leaders have called for an immediate ceasefire, but the US has backed its ally, Israel.

A European Union delegation is beginning a visit to the region, and Russia says it will send its envoy.

The EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the crisis represented a failure of diplomacy and everyone had to work hard to end the suffering and advance the peace process.

In other developments:

In the West Bank, there are angry protests against the Israeli offensive. A Palestinian man is shot dead by Israeli troops who confronted youths near the town of Qalqilya, medical and security sources say
At least 17 people are killed and 130 injured when Israeli shells fall near a school and the main market in Gaza City, Palestinian health ministry officials tell the BBC.
Hamas radio and TV report the capture of two Israeli soldiers during the fighting, but the Israeli army says it has no knowledge of the claim
In his first public comments since the ground offensive began, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the operation was "unavoidable", but that he will not allow a humanitarian crisis in Gaza
At least 32 missiles are fired into Israel from Gaza, targeting Sderot, Netivot and other communities close to the border. One woman is slightly injured in Sderot
A tank shell fired in northern Gaza kills 12 people, most of them civilians, Palestinian sources say

Many claims cannot be verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a Supreme Court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.

Northern battles

Witnesses say the attack began when Israeli military convoys supported by attack helicopters crossed into northern Gaza at four separate points after nightfall on Saturday.

By late Sunday afternoon, large plumes of smoke could be seen rising over the northern part of the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces stepped up their offensive.

The BBC's Mike Sergeant on the border with Israel says that although the sounds of explosions, gunfire and helicopters remain constant, the fighting seems to be moving away from the northern end of the territory, and heading further west.

Israeli tanks and heavy armour appear to have moved in on either side of Gaza City, in effect cutting the territory into two along the Salah al-Din Road, he adds. The town of Beit Hanoun has also reportedly been surrounded.

Scores of advancing Israeli tanks are reported to be in battles around Gaza City and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Israeli troops have meanwhile taken control of the site of the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim, just south of Gaza City.

According to witnesses, Israeli troops have largely remained in the open and not entered urban areas.

The Israeli military says that Hamas fighters are not engaging with them in close combat. Instead, they are using mortars and improvised bombs.

The Israeli military said 40 sites had been targeted, including tunnels used for smuggling, weapons depots and rocket launch sites.

Sources inside Gaza say at least 30 people have been killed in the fighting since Saturday evening, several of them civilians, and dozens were injured.

The Israeli army said one of its soldiers had been killed and 32 wounded in the ground offensive, at least one of them critically.

'Long campaign'

An Israeli military source told the BBC it was unrealistic to stop all the rocket fire, but the army believes it can be decreased and made less accurate.

HAVE YOUR SAY Violence brings only more violence. If the killing doesn't stop there would be no truce. Nour Hafez, Kuwait

The move into Gaza had been preceded by some of the heaviest Israeli air and artillery attacks on the territory in more than a week of bombardment.

Israeli warplanes and naval vessels have carried out more than 800 strikes on the Gaza Strip since the offensive started eight days ago, including 40 on Saturday.

The UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and believes a quarter of the 485 Palestinians killed by Israel so far were civilians. Israel says about 80% of those killed were Hamas militants. Four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7810270.stm

This is only going to get worse. And worse and worse. Already there are nearly 500 Palestinian deaths, and at least 125 of those are civilians, including a number of children. That is more casualties than Hamas has inflicted in Israel in the past 5 years or more.

My bet is that it looks just like Lebanon in 2006. But hey, maybe Israel will succeed in putting an end to Hamas once and for all. And then all of the death and destruction will be worth it, right? Which reminds me, no one answered my previous question: How many Palestinian civilian deaths can be justified by annihilating Hamas? So far we have about 125, not counting all those who died as a result of the embargo and previous airstrikes. Is 1000 acceptable? This completely sickens me.

Blagojevich's pick has résumé chiseled in stone

2009-01-01T21:56:00.005-05:00

(CNN) -- Anyone who doubts Roland Burris' qualifications to serve as the next senator from Illinois may want to head to Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery.

There, Burris, whom embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed to succeed President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate on Tuesday, has erected a granite mausoleum listing his many accomplishments.

Under the seal of the state of Illinois and the words "Trail Blazer," Burris, 71, has listed his many firsts in granite, including being the state's first African-American attorney general and the state's first African-American comptroller.

The memorial also notes that Burris was the first African-American exchange student to Hamburg University in Germany from Southern Illinois University in 1959.

There appears to be enough room to add "U.S. senator" to the memorial, but Burris may never get a chance to serve in Washington.

A Senate Democratic aide told CNN on Wednesday that plans were in the works to prevent Burris from being seated in the Senate.

After Blagojevich made the surprise move to appoint Obama's successor, Senate Democrats praised Burris but said they could not accept any appointment by Blagojevich after his arrest on corruption charges earlier this month. Federal prosecutors say he conspired to "sell" Obama's Senate seat for campaign donations and other favors.

LOL! Ok, right up until this moment, I was ambivalent about Blago's senate pick, because there's no way in hell anyone is going to let that joker make the call anyway. But this is... well, this is telling, isn't it?

So, Mr. Burris erects a monument to himself, headlined with the self annointed title "Trail Blazer", and slaps his resume across it. He even has a bench there for pilgrims visiting his grave site. Quite thoughtful. Another interesting tidbit: his two children are named, I shit you not, Roland and Rolanda.

Anyone willing to take a wager that he might have buried a few dozen terra cotta warriors around the perimeter, too?

It's a good thing he wasn't elected President or anything... I'm not sure the cemetary has enough room for a pyramid. Though a full scale model of Illinois bedecked with jewels, gold foil, and rivers of mercury would be neat.