Pakistan is done with playing Bush’s games

That whole democracy thing isn’t working out so well in Pakistan- for the Bush Administration, anyway. According to McClatchy Newspapers:

Senior Bush administration officials Thursday said they oppose plans by some Pakistani politicians to open talks with Islamic militants, saying that could lead to a repeat of a failed 2006 peace accord.

That accord “didn’t really work,” Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a Senate committee. U.S. officials say the agreement gave al Qaida and other militant groups breathing space to regroup.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, the State Department’s point man on South Asia, was blunter.

“We’ve always found that a negotiation that’s not backed by a certain amount of force can’t really force out the bad guys,” Boucher said in an interview on National Public Radio, referring to militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

“Ultimately, it’s the outcome that matters,” he said.

Of course, all outcomes, under Bush favorite Musharraf’s regime, led us to where we are today. Which is in need of better outcomes. Which pretty much defines where everything Bush has touched stands, today.

The two parties that triumphed in the Feb. 18 elections for the national parliament, however, have stressed the need for a political – rather than a military – solution to the insurgency.

Also, McClatchy reported on Tuesday that the smaller secular party that won the elections in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province plans to open talks with local Islamic insurgents allied with al Qaida.

Because, of course, all Bush accomplished in Afghanistan was to allow al Qaeda to escape back into the Pashtun region that straddles the literally randomly chosen border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they have regrouped, grown stronger, and now, with the also resurgent Taliban, grown strong enough to threaten Pakistan, itself.

And even the new, secular regional government wants to negotiate peace with the allies of the people who attacked us on September 11. Because they really have no other option for peace. Again from McClatchy:

The secular party that won last week’s elections in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province plans to open peace talks with al Qaida-allied Islamic insurgents, a drastic departure from the military crackdowns that the national army has pursued with U.S. backing for the last five years.

The Awami National Party says army offensives in the tribal region abutting the province have killed, maimed and displaced untold numbers of civilians, driven recruits into the arms of the radicals and helped fuel a surge in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks across the country.

“The war against terror has failed. So there should be no war,” said Haji Mohammad Adeel, one of the party’s most senior leaders. “The only solution is peace. We will do it with negotiations, not with bombs, not with guns, not with airstrikes.”

To convince militants to quit the insurgency and to weaken the popular support that allows al Qaida to maintain a sanctuary in the region, the party pledges to build clinics, schools, roads and other infrastructure for the area’s 3 million desperately poor people.

The party also wants to end the anachronistic, colonial-era system under which the seven Federally Administered Tribal Agencies have been run and fold them into the province, where they’d be subject to Pakistan’s political, legal and economic systems.

Which makes sense. Because Bush didn’t do the job of catching the bad guys, and the locals no longer care. They care about themselves, and about their own people. As they should. Had Bush not blundered off to destroy Iraq, rather than finishing the job against al Qaeda, perhaps the Pakistanis would feel differently; but they’ve had enough of the ineptitude that has kept them in the middle of a war zone for more than six years. They want peace. And they know it’s not going to come by playing Bush’s games. And just to make it even more clear that Bush doesn’t actually give a damn about them, the Commander Guy continues to oppose the expressed will of the Pakistani people.

Pony Party: More Random Pictures

Today if I am very very lucky I will be able to sneak up upon two wood ducks who have been visiting the water hole at the back of our pretty and get a picture. Yesterday I slid down a steep edge of the water hole and scared away two regular ducks and got no pictures.

In the mean time, a few more random pictures I took in the summer time on one of my jaunts. The reason I like these two is I have NO idea who painted the “wall art” or what the significance is….

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I believe that the Arcade Restaurant is the oldest in Memphis. If you come to Memphis, I might even take you there and I can think of a few others we can hang out in.

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This dog must be a regular, he waited camly outside while his owner went in…

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The South/Main district of Memphis….. One of my favorite parts of town: a few small art and photography studios, restaurants, the farmer’s market ect…

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Thanks for looking… Please don’t rec pony party, hang out chit chat and then go read some of the excellent offering on our recent and rec’d list.

Musings on the Right Wing

( – promoted by undercovercalico)

One thing that has always fascinated me is that right wing talk show hosts whether they originate from radio or TV write books with very long and awkward titles. How Liberals Are Ruining America With Weird Foreign Ideas From France That Will Force You To Wear Thong Underwear On Your Head And Make You Burn Your Bibles In Public. Or… How Conservatives Are Really Super Great And Right About Everything So You Don’t Have To Think For Yourself Or Wear Thong Underwear On Your Head. Do their publishers like those really long and awkward titles and just have a Pavlovian response to any book structured like that? I have read a few of them just for entertainment. It really only takes about five minutes and the titles have more content than the actual books. I can sum it up easily: Liberals are really bad people who hate America. It is rather shocking to me to find out how organized and cohesive these authors think liberals and progressives are. You know what? If there is a progressive organization out there trying to force Americans to wear thong underwear on their head while taking French lessons I might just join it. My French is rusty and the only way I will ever wear thong underwear is on my head.

One political activity that I find particularly enjoyable with supreme right wingers is to casually agree with their accusations. You have to be fairly relaxed to do it. Liberals/progressives have a tendency to earnestly defend themselves when hit with insane and irrational accusations and hopelessly arm themselves with facts. If the supreme right wing in America wanted to deal with facts and base their movement on that, they wouldn’t exist. They want a meek apology or sputtering.

I have been personally accused of “taking God out of the schools” which I found rather flattering. But it also confused me. How is it I had the ability to kick God out of school but I can never get my hair to look neatly coiffed? I told a colleague one night in the privacy of our office that I had a confession: Yes, you caught me, that was me, I called him up and evicted him. She stormed out of the office and wouldn’t speak to me the rest of the night. A few nights later, I said, look we obviously had a misunderstanding because I don’t believe in God, so it was probably one of my progressive friends who actually thinks he exists that did it. Silence. Agreeing with them can be risky they can go into an unpredictable rage. My colleague gave up on me and refers to me as a Liberal Tree Hugger, I cheerfully agree and clarify that I enjoy hugging humans just as much.

This tactic is really in its infancy in my campaign subversion. It has backfired.

I recall an episode where on of the Brady girls was trying to learn how to drive and she was advised to picture her driving instructor in his underwear. The idea was it would relax her. Picturing right wing pundits in their underwear has the opposite effect on me. It makes me want to stagger over to the bar and do a row of bleach shots.

Will the right wing and the saggy middle aged drooling pundits who make money hacking tubercular hate on Americans who try to think independently eat themselves or get in line behind the Republican nominee? Eric Boehlert seems to slyly and gleefully chart evidence that they are imploding. He notes that many  wackadoodle pundits are tepid or dismissing McCain. The GOP, he argues, are now paying the price for egging on  metaphorical attack dogs pumped full of meth like logic skills and oily misery. Turns out the attack dogs will chew their own legs and  those of the nasty guy who is supposed to own them.

The extreme right will have a choice. Stay home or vote for a guy who doesn’t exactly skewer them with fits of end times joy. They have had too much fun with power. They aren’t purists, they don’t mind compromising a bit to remain tyrants. Sure a pundit or two will grumble about McCain but when the real contest begins, they still understand who the enemy is. You and I. Any American who doesn’t agree with them.

Fucking with individual wingers can be an enjoyable sport. Underestimating them as a group has brought us an eight year preview of what they want the  permanent new American Reich to be. They won’t ditch McCain, not really. Don’t hope for it, don’t plan your 2009 We Finally Got democracy Back Hoedown just yet. McCain is an independent moderate to the same degree I am a super model but enough Americans are drinking the lie serum. Prepare to rumble.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Japan looks to a robot future

By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer

18 minutes ago

TOKYO – At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.

Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot – dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” – responds to the word “war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.

“To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks,” said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. “Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.

2 Iraq casualties rise again after Qaeda bombs

By Paul Tait, Reuters

2 hours, 26 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Violent civilian deaths in Iraq rose 36 percent in February from the previous month after a series of large-scale bombings blamed on al Qaeda, Iraqi government figures showed on Saturday.

A total of 633 civilians died violently in February, compared with 466 in January, according to figures released by Iraq’s interior, defense and health ministries. It was the first increase after six consecutive months of falling casualty tolls.

Despite its sharp rise, the February 2008 figure was still dramatically lower than the 1,645 civilians who died violently in the same month a year ago. A total of 701 civilians were wounded, compared with 2,700 a year ago.

3 Congress in turmoil over Air Force tanker decision

By Kevin Drawbaugh, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 7:30 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Air Force decision awarding a $35 billion aircraft contract to a team including the European parent of Airbus landed like a bomb in Congress on Friday, drawing howls of protest from lawmakers aligned with the loser, America’s Boeing Co.

The Congressional delegation from the Seattle area said they were “outraged.” Kansas Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt vowed to seek a review of the decision “at the highest levels of the Pentagon and Congress” in hopes of reversing it.

Boeing has big facilities in both Seattle and Wichita, which stood to gain from the long-term project to build up to 179 aerial refueling tankers. Although Boeing was favored to win the contract, the Air Force awarded it to a partnership between Northrop Grumman and Europe’s EADS.

4 Key politicians switch support to Mugabe’s presidential rival

by Godfrey Marawanyiaka, AFP

2 hours, 23 minutes ago

BULAWAYO (AFP) – Two political heavyweights endorsed former minister Simba Makoni as he launched his bid for the Zimbabwean presidency Saturday, including a serving official with President Robert Mugabe’s party.

Dumiso Dabengwa, a former home affairs minister and a member of the ruling ZANU-PF party’s key decision-making body, became the first party heavyweight to come out in support of Makoni.

Makoni, himself a former key member of ZANU-PF, was also backed by Cyril Ndebele, a former speaker of parliament.

Both men joined Makoni to declare their support at a press conference in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo, where he launched his campaign to challenge Mugabe in the March 29 elections.

5 Russia set to elect Putin’s successor in one-sided poll

by Sebastian Smith, AFP

Sat Mar 1, 7:45 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russians will vote Sunday in a presidential election seen by critics as rigged to ensure victory for Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin successor Dmitry Medvedev, while enabling Putin to retain major power.

Voting was to begin at 8:00 am local time (2000 GMT Saturday) on the Pacific coast of the world’s biggest country before rolling 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) west to Moscow and on to the Baltic Sea territory of Kaliningrad.

Medvedev faced three challengers, but his overwhelming victory was almost a foregone conclusion after a campaign in which Russia’s heavily censored national television networks rammed home the message that he is Putin’s anointed successor.

6 In red-state Texas, new signs of rising Democratic tide

By Ariel Sabar, The Christian Science Monitor

Fri Feb 29, 3:00 AM ET

Sugar Land, Texas – For most of his life Ken Stubbe has voted for Democrats for president. But as a resident of a deeply Republican suburb of Houston, in the heart of Bush country, the retired oil and gas project manager kept quiet.

He didn’t talk politics with neighbors or friends. He didn’t sink presidential campaign signs in his lawn. He sometimes even voted in Republican primaries, often because no Democrats were running in local races and, well, why waste his vote?

“I just kind of accepted that living here in Texas, that’s the way it was,” he says.

But the drawn-out fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is driving left-leaning Texans like Mr. Stubbe out of the closet, infusing them with a sense of relevance for the first time in a generation. Ahead of the Texas primary Tuesday, they are wearing buttons, putting up signs, and volunteering, even in GOP redoubts like this well-to-do city southwest of Houston.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Recommended

7 Grassley: Cut contract fraud loophole

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 29, 6:42 PM ET

WASHINGTON – A Republican senator urged the White House on Friday to strip a multibillion-dollar loophole exempting overseas work from government plans to crack down on contract fraud.

The loophole, quietly slipped last year into a proposed Bush administration rule, would allow companies performing government work overseas to avoid having to report contract abuse. Contract fraud has cost taxpayers $14 million in bribes alone out at least $102 billion spent in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.

Such exceptions “threaten to exclude a significant class of government contracts that are ripe for abuse,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, top republican on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in a letter Friday to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle.

8 Berkshire net down 18 percent, Buffett eyes successors

By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 7:34 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Friday quarterly profit fell 18 percent, hurt by lower earnings from insurance underwriting and a decrease in investment gains.

In his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, Buffett said insurance earnings would likely fall further, after a second straight year without major insured catastrophes.

Berkshire had been able to boost insurance premiums following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as weaker rivals reduced storm exposures.

9 EBay sees growing risks to business in coming year

By Eric Auchard, Reuters

Sat Mar 1, 4:31 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Online auction leader eBay Inc (EBAY.O) warned in an annual report on Friday that it faces difficulty getting former customers to return, adding to the normal challenge of attracting new users to its sites.

In its annual shareholder filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, eBay cited a variety of new threats to its business that reflect “changing customers demands.”

EBay acknowledged that its main auction business faces slowing growth in each of its top three markets.

10 Australia to propose closing ‘scientific’ whaling loophole

AFP

Sat Mar 1, 1:18 AM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia said Saturday it hoped to close a loophole in International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules that allows Japan to conduct whaling as long as it is carried out for scientific research.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said Australia would present a proposal to an IWC meeting in London next week setting out new rules for scientific programmes carried out under commission rules.

He said the new rules would favour non-lethal methods and strengthen IWC supervision of whale research, making it a collaborative international effort rather than having individual countries carry out their own programmes.

From Yahoo News Most Popular, Most Emailed

11 Writer says Holocaust ‘memoir’ not true

By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer

Fri Feb 29, 1:23 PM ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium – A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling “memoir” depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

Misha Defonseca’s book, “Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years,” was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.

Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II.

12 U.Va. research: Snake phobia hardwired

Associated Press

Fri Feb 29, 6:13 PM ET

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Two University of Virginia researchers believe that humans are genetically predisposed to be deathly afraid of snakes. Judy S. DeLoache, a U.Va. professor of developmental psychology, said she has a snake phobia, but wonders why. “The question was, where did that fear come from?”

She believes it’s because snakes would have posed a significant threat to our ancestors, so a fear of snakes remains hardwired into human brains today.

DeLoache said an experiment she conducted with graduate student Vanessa LoBue proved that adults and preschool children have an extraordinary ability to quickly pinpoint snakes amid harmless distractions.

13 No text messages or calls for NJ drivers

By BRAD HAYNES, Associated Press Writer

Sat Mar 1, 8:09 AM ET

TRENTON, N.J. – For New Jersey drivers, the message is clear: Keep your thumbs on the wheel and off the keypad.

Beginning Saturday, police can slap drivers with a $100 fine for talking or sending a text message on hand-held devices.

New Jersey joins four other states, including neighboring New York, where talking on a hand-held cell phone is reason enough to get pulled over. The Garden State is the first where text-messaging on the road is a primary offense, meaning police need no other reason to pull a driver over, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

From Yahoo News World

14 Armenia declares state of emergency

By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press Writer

49 minutes ago

YEREVAN, Armenia – Armenia’s president imposed a state of emergency Saturday after police used tear gas and fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators protesting allege fraud in last month’s presidential election.

The announcement from the office of President Robert Kocharian came shortly after police broke up the rally of about 15,000 demonstrators. Earlier, police used batons to disperse a tent camp of hundreds of protesters in a square near the city mayor’s office.

The police moved in before 7 a.m. and began forcing protesters onto buses. A few clashes broke out on the central Yerevan square.

15 Ahmadinejad on historic Iraq trip

By ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 41 minutes ago

BAGHDAD – President Bush’s last trip to Iraq was kept secret until he arrived at a U.S. military base. Eight hours later he left, after Iraq’s leaders traveled to meet him there.

In sharp contrast, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit – the first ever by an Iranian leader to Iraq – was announced in advance. He plans to spend the night here, and Iranian TV will broadcast his departure ceremony live.

Once considered Iraq’s archenemy, Iran is now cozy with Baghdad’s Shiite-led government and eager to show off Tehran’s rising influence as debate rages in the U.S. over how quickly to leave.

16 U.S. "muscle flexing" won’t work in Lebanon: Syria

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Reuters

2 hours, 50 minutes ago

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria on Saturday accused the United States of prolonging a crisis in Lebanon by deploying a warship off the country’s coast and said that Washington could not impose a solution by “flexing its muscles.”

In the first reaction by the Damascus government to Washington’s announcement on Thursday of the deployment of the USS Cole, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said force was not the answer to Lebanon’s political problems.

“We have been saying that the United States was obstructing the political solution in Lebanon and the existence of this ship affirms this,” Moualem said after meeting Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League.

17 U.S. opposes Pakistani plans for talks with militants

By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers

Thu Feb 28, 6:37 PM ET

WASHINGTON – Senior Bush administration officials Thursday said they oppose plans by some Pakistani politicians to open talks with Islamic militants, saying that could lead to a repeat of a failed 2006 peace accord.

That accord “didn’t really work,” Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a Senate committee. U.S. officials say the agreement gave al Qaida and other militant groups breathing space to regroup.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher , the State Department’s point man on South Asia , was blunter.

18 Turkey announces Iraq withdrawal; ‘Chemical Ali’ to be hanged

By Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 29, 12:56 PM ET

BAGHDAD – Turkey announced Friday that its army units had withdrawn from northern Iraq after a week of shelling and ground battles with Kurdish rebels in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party – a separatist group that seeks an independent Kurdistan that would include part of southeast Turkey and that the United States considers a terrorist group- declared victory in the conflict. But the Iraqi central authorities stood the most to gain. The government had appeared powerless to halt the Turks, especially as the United States – the central military support for the Baghdad regime- was providing intelligence and political support to Turkey .

Although pressure on the central government was relieved on one issue, the government remained in a tug of war with the United States over a second: the continued U.S. custody of former officials from the late dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime who’ve been sentenced to death for crimes against Kurds.

19 Kenyans still fear turmoil despite political pact

By Shashank Bengali, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 29, 2:41 PM ET

ELDORET, Kenya – Kenya’s political rivals this week struck a deal on a coalition government, pledged to put a disputed election and its bloody aftermath behind them and vowed to move forward together to remake their devastated nation.

But a drive Friday through the scenic Rift Valley , the epicenter of the ethnic clashes that shook Kenya for two months, showed that many Kenyans are skeptical that President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga can work together or ensure that hundreds of thousands of people regain their lost homes, jobs and property.

In a sprawling fairground in Nakuru, 100 miles northwest of the capital, Nairobi , displaced families living in tents said that nothing about the power-sharing arrangement- which was signed with considerable fanfare Thursday- made them feel safer returning to their homes, many of which had been torched by gangs of opposition supporters from opposing tribes.

20 Beijing opens world’s largest airport terminal, but is it big enough?

By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 29, 3:09 PM ET

BEIJING – China inaugurated the largest airport terminal in the world on Friday, a soaring golden-roofed structure evoking a flying dragon, after a race to finish it to cope with the expected deluge of visitors to the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Nearly 2 miles long, the $3.8 billion terminal, which covers 240 acres, is the world’s largest covered structure.

“Our Chinese people should be very proud when they pass in and out of this airport,” Aviation Minister Li Jiaxiang told a gaggle of journalists.

21 Even kitchens are fire hazard at new U.S. Embassy in Iraq

By Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers

Fri Feb 29, 6:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON – None of the 26 buildings in the new $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad is ready to be occupied. Fire alarms intended to safeguard more than 1,000 U.S. government employees aren’t working. Kitchens in some of the buildings are fire hazards.

A senior State Department official in December certified that embassy construction was “substantially complete,” but department inspectors found “major deficiencies” at the unoccupied embassy, according to their inspection report, which Rep. Henry Waxman , D-Calif., released Friday.

McClatchy reported earlier this week that the new chief of the State Department’s embassy-building arm, Richard Shinnick , has voided the Dec. 16 certification- made under his predecessor, retired Army Gen. Charles Williams – that the embassy is nearly ready to be occupied.

22 Turkey’s Anti-War Diva

By PELIN TURGUT/ISTANBUL

Fri Feb 29, 4:35 PM ET, Time Magazine

Better known for her tabloid love affairs, plastic surgery and husky voice, transsexual Turkish diva Bulent Ersoy makes the unlikeliest political activist. Yet she has caused a storm of outrage by becoming the only public personality to speak out against Turkey’s invasion of northern Iraq. So pervasive is the nationalist climate that Ersoy has been vilified for declaring – on a national TV equivalent of American Idol, where she is a judge – that if she had a son, she would not have sent him to fight this war. She is now under investigation for being “anti-military”.

23 Peace and Poison Arrows in Kenya

By ALEXIS OKEOWO/NAIROBI, Time Magazine

Sat Mar 1, 10:10 AM ET

Sharpened machetes were no longer deadly enough weapons for rural Kenyans during the ethnic warfare that scourged their country following December’s flawed election. So they replaced them with poisoned bows and arrows – and an arms industry of sorts has sprung up to produce them.

24 The Perils of Iraqi Lawmaking

By BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTON, Time Magazine

Sat Mar 1, 10:10 AM ET

A collective gasp issued from close observers of the Iraqi parliament when news broke on Thursday that a key piece of legislation had stalled. The provincial powers bill, already ratified by the country’s legislature, had been vetoed. That piece of legislation had been hailed by the Bush Administration as an important step in defining the nature of the Iraqi government. Basically, it gave the central government in Baghdad – as embodied by the Prime Minister and the national parliament – the right to remove a provincial governor from office. That did not sit well with one of the most important regional power blocs in Iraq and its representative on the Presidential Coucil, which must sign off on all prospective laws, cast a veto, declaring the bill unconstitutional and sending it back to parliament for adjustment.
From Yahoo News U.S. News

25 U.S. troop decision in Iraq late summer: official

By Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 6:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. commander in Iraq will likely take four to six weeks after a reduction in U.S. troop levels ends in mid-July before deciding if more can go home, a senior administration official said on Friday.

Gen. David Petraeus is expected to testify with Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, before Congress April 8-9 on their assessment of conditions in Iraq.

But Petraeus is unlikely to recommend changes to the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at that time, and opt to wait until late summer to make any further decisions.

Downhill Racer

26 Miller says his independence is paying off

By Oliver Grassman, Reuters

Sat Mar 1, 11:56 AM ET

KVITFJELL, Norway (Reuters) – Bode Miller credits a split from the U.S. team and his training program for a return to the top of the overall Alpine skiing World Cup standings.

He showed on Saturday, with his third downhill win of the season, that his daredevil style remained the same however.

“It’s hard to quantify, really, the difference that being independent makes but I think it’s been really positive for me,” he told reporters on Saturday after a storming run down the Olympiabakken course in Kvitfjell.

27 Drudge relishes role as bad boy of US media

by Luis Torres de la Llosa, AFP

1 hour, 59 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AFP) – Known for bringing tabloid journalism to the Internet, the Drudge Report has made waves again by revealing Britain’s Prince Harry was deployed to Afghanistan.

Drudge Report rocked the media world in 1998 when it broke the first reports about President Bill Clinton’s extra-marital affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that nearly cost him the presidency.

Ten years later, the site is an influential force in US media, serving as a platform for rumors of all kinds, scoops and also dubious, unverified reports.

28 Behind the Wiretapping Immunity Fight

By MASSIMO CALABRESI/WASHINGTON, Time Magazine

Sat Mar 1, 10:55 AM ET

President George W. Bush warned on Thursday that U.S. telephone companies won’t help the government in the war on terror if they are facing lawsuits from Americans who claim to have been spied on. “How can you listen to the enemy if the phone companies aren’t going to participate with you?” Bush said in an impassioned news conference. “And they’re not going to participate if they get sued.” Bush was urging Congress to pass a new law that would give the companies immunity from prosecution on eavesdropping charges. “I just can’t tell you how important it is to not alienate, or not discourage, these phone companies.”
From Yahoo News Politics

29 U.S. urges transparency in China military strategy

Reuters

Sat Mar 1, 7:56 AM ET

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China, which has boosted defense spending at double-digit rates for a decade, should show greater transparency on military strategy to avoid potential misunderstandings, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday.

In talks that ended on Friday, just days before Beijing is due to announce its 2008 military budget, U.S. officials stressed a need for greater mutual trust, said David Sedney, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.

“What we’re trying to achieve with the Chinese when we talk about transparency is greater mutual understanding of strategic intent, greater mutual understanding of how the specific capabilities the Chinese are acquiring are tied to Chinese strategic objectives,” Sedney told reporters.

30 Bush pushing for more NATO troops in Afghanistan

Reuters

1 hour, 16 minutes ago

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – Ratcheting up pressure on NATO allies, President George W. Bush said on Saturday he would use the alliance’s summit in Bucharest next month to urge them to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Bush, at a joint news conference with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the president’s Texas ranch, said he expected NATO members to bear a “heavy burden” in Afghanistan and that he would “encourage people to contribute more.”

His remarks added new impetus to a U.S. push in recent months for NATO allies to take on a greater role combating a resurgent Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in the country.

31 Japan, US vow crackdown on crimes by US military

AFP

20 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan and the United States on Saturday vowed to crack down on crimes involving American troops based in the country after a surprise decision by prosecutors not to pursue rape charges against a Marine.

Staff Sergeant Tyrone Luther Hadnott, who had been accused of raping a 14-year-old girl, was freed from custody late Friday after her family decided not to pursue the case.

The initial case against Hadnott — who was released 18 days after his arrest on the southern island of Okinawa — triggered outrage in Japan and reignited controversy surrounding the presence of thousands of US troops.

From Yahoo News Business

32 Activists bare teeth over foreclosures

By ADAM GELLER, AP National Writer

2 hours, 56 minutes ago

CLEVELAND – Folks on Humphrey Hill Drive were still waking up on the icy Saturday morning the shark hunters came to town. They rounded the suburban traffic circle in a pair of rented school buses after a half-hour ride from far more modest neighborhoods, rumbling to a stop at the Garmone family’s driveway. Forty-two caffeinated Clevelanders piled out, their leaders carrying bullhorns.

Their quarry, Mike Garmone – a regional vice president at Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage lender – didn’t answer his door. So they deployed, ringing bells at the big homes with three-car garages, handing out accusatory fliers and lambasting Garmone and his company’s loans. Before departing, they left their calling card – thousands of 2 1/2-inch plastic sharks – flung across Garmone’s frozen flower beds, up into the gutters, littering the doorstep.

The commotion was the work of an in-your-face activist group called the East Side Organizing Project, with a paid staff then of just two, mobilized to battle Cleveland’s mortgage “loan sharks.” Years before the rest of the country was rocked by the fallout from aggressive lending, their neighborhoods were already home to the nation’s highest concentration of foreclosures – and they were fed up.

33 Dow loses 315 on economic worries

By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

Sat Mar 1, 4:24 AM ET

NEW YORK – Stocks fell sharply Friday after a series of depressing economic and corporate reports as well as high oil prices stoked concerns about the health of the economy. The major stock indexes fell more than 2.5 percent and the Dow Jones industrials lost 315 points.

Investors were unnerved by disappointing quarterly results from American International Group Inc. and Dell Inc. And an index of regional business activity that Wall Street regards as a good indicator of a broader report due next week had its weakest showing in more than six years.

Oil prices continued to stir concern about inflation after pushing past $103 per barrel for the first time.

34 Credit crisis throws AIG into "uncharted waters"

By Lilla Zuill, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 4:40 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – American International Group (AIG.N), on the heels of reporting its largest-ever loss, said on Friday the subprime crisis had thrown it into “uncharted waters” that were likely to remain choppy through 2008.

The world’s largest insurer recorded a loss of $5.3 billion on Thursday, stemming from a $11.12 billion write-down of a super senior, or highly rated, credit swap portfolio in its AIG Financial Products unit.

AIG has not ruled out further write-downs and losses in this portfolio, which is akin to an insurance policy on other companies’ derivatives, but said it does not expect a decline in the value of its credit swaps to be material to the company in the long run.

35 Liechtenstein PM says supports banking reform

AFP

Sat Mar 1, 9:27 AM ET

ZURICH (AFP) – Liechtenstein, whose reputation has been sullied by a global tax evasion scandal, is ready to reform its banking system, Prime Minister Otmar Hasler said in an interview published Saturday.

“The reform process has already begun and I support it being continued,” he told Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

But he added: “That must carry on independent of any attempt at pressure.”

Liechtenstein, a tiny principality wedged between Austria and Switzerland, is under pressure from Germany and other countries following investigations into suspected mass tax evasion through accounts in the country.

36 Opposition to reject Muto nomination as BOJ head: reports

AFP

1 hour, 44 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s largest opposition party is set to reject the government’s plan to nominate deputy Bank of Japan governor Toshiro Muto as a new head of the central bank, reports said Saturday.

A senior official of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which controls the upper house with other opposition parties, told reporters that his party is “100 percent” certain to turn down the government’s planned nomination of Muto, local media said.

The unnamed official made the remark a day after the ruling coalition rammed a state budget through the lower house, despite a boycott by the opposition camp calling for further deliberations.

37 China Minsheng gets green light to buy stake in US bank: report

AFP

1 hour, 44 minutes ago

BEIJING (AFP) – China Minsheng Bank has been given the green light by regulators to buy a stake in UCBH Holdings Inc, in the first strategic investment by a Chinese lender in a US bank, state media reported Saturday.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has given the go-ahead for China Minsheng to take a 4.9 percent stake in the US lender, in a deal worth 95 million US dollars, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a company statement.

The deal is the first tranche of China Minsheng’s proposal to take a 20 percent stake in the San Francisco-based firm, which is the holding company for United Commercial Bank, by the summer of 2009, the report said.

From Yahoo News Science

38 India to spend $13.15M to protect tigers

By ASHOK SHARMA, Associated Press Writer

Sat Mar 1, 8:59 AM ET

NEW DELHI – The Indian government plans to spend more than $13 million establishing a special ranger force to protect the country’s endangered tigers, following pressure from international conservationists to save the wild cats.

The funding proposed Friday by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram follows the announcement just weeks ago of a $153 million program to create new tiger reserves, underscoring renewed efforts by India’s government to protect the big cats.

New estimates suggest India’s wild tiger population has dropped from nearly 3,600 five years ago to about 1,411, the government-run Tiger Project said last month.

39 Venezuelan expedition reaches Antarctica

By RAUL GARCES, Associated Press Writer

Sat Mar 1, 9:58 AM ET

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Venezuelan scientists and military officers reached the Antarctica after a 15-day trip, opening the South American nation’s first expedition to the frozen continent, officials said Saturday.

The Venezuelans made the trip on an Uruguayan naval research ship, reflecting warm ties between the nations’ leftist governments. President Tabare Vazquez has been criticized by his opponents for allowing Venezuelans aboard the Uruguayan vessel Oyarvide.

The ship concluded a voyage of 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) on Friday but high winds and choppy seas prevented the full delegation from immediately disembarking at Uruguay’s General Artigas Antarctic base, said Uruguayan army Maj. Juan Nunez.

40 Physics lab completes world’s largest jigsaw puzzle

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 11:05 AM ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – A 100-tonne wheel, the last piece of an ambitious experiment that scientists hope will help unlock the secrets of the universe, was successfully lowered into an underground cavern on Friday.

It is the final major element in the ATLAS particle detector, the largest of four detectors being hooked up to the world’s most powerful particle accelerator which the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) hopes to start up around the middle of 2008.

“This last piece completes this gigantic puzzle,” CERN said in a statement.

41 Study casts doubt on water on Mars surface

By Will Dunham, Reuters

Fri Feb 29, 4:34 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It made a big splash when scientists announced in 2006 that images from a NASA spacecraft indicated water apparently had flowed on the surface of Mars in the past decade but new research casts doubt on that finding.

Other scientists on Friday said new images and computer simulations strongly indicate that a landslide of sand and gravel is a more likely explanation for the bright deposits in gullies previously touted as evidence of recent water flow.

“We started off not thinking that we were going to debunk anything. I absolutely thought it was going to be liquid,” Jon Pelletier, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona who led the new study, said in a telephone interview.

42 NASA Baffled by Unexplained Force Acting on Space Probes

Charles Q. Choi, Special to SPACE.com

Fri Feb 29, 12:45 PM ET

Mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.

These newfound enigmas join the so-called “Pioneer anomaly” as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft.

A decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled out of the solar system. Both seemed to experience a tiny but unexplained constant acceleration toward the sun.

A host of explanations have been bandied about for the Pioneer anomaly. At times these are rooted in conventional science – perhaps leaks from the spacecraft have affected their trajectories. At times these are rooted in more speculative physics – maybe the law of gravity itself needs to be modified.

HONORING THE FALLEN: US Military KIA, Iraq/Afganistan – Febuary 2008

There have been 4,279 coalition deaths3,973 Americans, two Australians, 174 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvian, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians — in the war in Iraq as of February 29, 2008, according to a CNN count. { Graphical breakdown of casualties ). The list below is the names of the soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country’s governments. The list also includes seven employees of the U.S. Defense Department. At least 29,275 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. View casualties in the war in Afghanistan. Febuary 2008 Casulties, in Afganistan,  listed below the Iraq Casulties

Iraq

Febuary 2008

Spc. Kevin S. Mowl 22 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Pittsford, New York Died on February 25, 2008, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, of wounds suffered when the vehicle he was in encountered a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on August 2, 2007

Spc. Orlando A. Perez 23 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment Houston, Texas Died of wounds suffered from small-arms fire during dismounted operations in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 24, 2008

Spc. Micheal E. Phillips 19 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division Ardmore, Oklahoma Killed when his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 24, 2008

Spc. Keisha M. Morgan 25 Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division Washington, D.C. Died of a non-combat related cause in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 22, 2008

Lance Cpl. Drew W. Weaver 20 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force St. Charles, Missouri Died while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq, on February 21, 2008

Sgt. Conrad Alvarez 22 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division Big Spring, Texas One of three soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 20, 2008

Cpl. Albert Bitton 20 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division Chicago, Illinois One of three soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 20, 2008

Staff Sgt. Bryant W. Mackey 30 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment Eureka, Kansas Died of wounds suffered when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, on February 20, 2008

Spc. Micheal B. Matlock Jr. 21 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division Glen Burnie, Maryland One of three soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 20, 2008

Capt. Nathan R. Raudenbush 25 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Pennsylvania Died of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Busayefi, Iraq, on February 20, 2008

Spc. Chad D. Groepper 21 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Kingsley, Iowa One of two soldiers killed when enemy forces attacked their dismounted patrol using small arms fire in Diyala Province, Iraq, on February 17, 2008

Spc. Luke S. Runyan 21 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Spring Grove, Pennsylvania One of two soldiers killed when enemy forces attacked their dismounted patrol using small arms fire in Diyala Province, Iraq, on February 17, 2008

Staff Sgt. Javares J. Washington 27 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division Pensacola, Florida Died of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident at Camp Buehring in Kuwait City, Kuwait,on February 11, 2008

Sgt. Corey E. Spates 21 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment LaGrange, Georgia Died of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Diyala Province, Iraq, on February 10, 2008

Spc. Michael T. Manibog 31 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Alameda, California One of four soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Taji, Iraq, on February 8, 2008

Sgt. Timothy P. Martin 27 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Pixley, California One of four soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Taji, Iraq, on February 8, 2008

Pfc. Jack T. Sweet 19 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Alexandria Bay, New York Died of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Jawwalah, Iraq, on February 8, 2008

Staff Sgt. Jerald A. Whisenhunt 32 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Orrick, Missouri One of four soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Taji, Iraq, on February 8, 2008

Sgt. Gary D. Willett 34 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Alamogordo, New Mexico One of four soldiers killed when their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Taji, Iraq, on February 8, 2008

Petty Officer 1st Class Luis A. Souffront 25 Assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team Miami, Florida Died from wounds suffered from a roadside bomb during combat operations in Iraq February 7, 2008

Sgt. Bradley J. Skelton 40 1138th Engineer Company, 35th Engineer Brigade, Missouri Army National Guard Gordonville, Missouri Died of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb during combat operations in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 6, 2008

Spc. Miguel A. Baez 32 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Bonaire, Georgia One of three soldiers killed when they encountered a homemade bomb during combat operations in Muqdadiya, Iraq, on February 5, 2008

Sgt. John C. Osmolski 23 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Eustis, Florida One of three soldiers killed when they encountered a homemade bomb during combat operations in Muqdadiya, Iraq, on February 5, 2008

Sgt. Timothy R. Van Orman 24 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Port Matilda, Pennsylvania One of three soldiers killed when they encountered a homemade bomb during combat operations in Muqdadiya, Iraq, on February 5, 2008

Sgt. Rafael Alicea Rivera 30 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Bayamon, Puerto Rico Died of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Tallil, Iraq, on February 5, 2008

Chief Petty Officer Nathan H. Hardy 29 Assigned to East Coast-based SEAL team Durham, New Hampshire One of two Navy SEALs who died of wounds suffered from small arms fire during combat operations in Iraq on February 4, 2008

Chief Petty Officer Michael E. Koch 29 Assigned to East Coast-based SEAL team State College, Pennsylvania One of two Navy SEALs who died of wounds suffered from small arms fire during combat operations in Iraq on February 4, 2008

Spc. Christopher J. West 26 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Arlington, Texas Died in Balad, Iraq, on February 4, 2008, of wounds suffered when a roadside bomb detonated during combat operations in Muqdadiya, Iraq, on February 3

Staff Sgt. Chad A. Barrett 35 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Saltville, Virginia Died as a result of a non-combat related incident in Mosul, Iraq, on February 2, 2008. The incident is under investigation.

Afghanistan – The Forgotten War

There have been 762 coalition deaths — 479 Americans, four Australians, 89 Britons, 78 Canadians, one Czech, 10 Danes, 14 Dutch, two Estonians, one Finn, 12 French, 22 Germans, 11 Italians, three Norwegians, one Pole, two Portuguese, five Romanians, one South Korean, 23 Spaniards, two Swedes — in the war on terror as of February 29, 2008, according to a CNN count. Below are the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors whose deaths have been reported by their country’s governments. The troops died in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or were part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. At least 1,878 U.S. personnel have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon

Febuary 2008.

Pfc. Hubert Kowalewski 26 10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej (10th Armor Cavalry Brigade) Poland One of two Polish soldiers killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee in the Sharan district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, on February 26, 2008

Cpl. Szymon Slowik 33 16 Batalion Powietrzno-Desantowy (16th Air Assault Battalion) Poland One of two Polish soldiers killed when when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the Sharan district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, on February 26, 2008

Pvt. Morten Krogh Jensen 21 1 Bataljon, Den Kongelige Livgarde (1st Battalion, The Royal Guards) Denmark Killed when he was preparing his weapon and it accidentally went off and struck him at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on February 24, 2008

Cpl. Damian Mulvihill 32 Commando Royal Marines Plymouth, England Killed when a homemade bomb exploded during patrol operations near Helmand Province, Afghanistan on February 20, 2008

Cpl. Damian Stephen Lawrence 25 North Yorkshire, Scarborough, England Plymouth, England Died of injuries sustained when a land mine detonated during patrol operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on February 17, 2008

First Marshal Giovanni Pezzullo 44 Civil-Military Cooperation Group South, NATO N/A Killed during a direct fire attack on a patrol in Sarobi District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan, on February 13, 2008

Staff Sgt. Donald T. Tabb 29 6th Military Police Detachment, 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment Norcross, Georgia Died of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Sangin, Afghanistan, on February 5, 2008

Civilian Casulties – Iraq

Just Foreign Policy Issues

Over a million {*1,173,743} Iraqis are estimated to have been killed as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. Learn More and Take Action»

*Estimate, click for explaination.

To

John Hopkins School of Public Health { October 11, 2006 report } puts the count at 650,000, with a range from 400,000 to 900,000.

Exact Count of Civilian Casulties may never be known, as is the case in every conflict, especially an Invasion by another Country. For it is the Innocent Civilians and those Defending their Countries {of which All would be counted if this land were ever invaded} who suffer the most, during and long after!

Iraq Refugees UNHCR: UNHCR Global Appeal 2008-2009 – Iraq Situation

Filetype: PDF (116k)

All the Deaths, Maimings and Destruction are the Blood on All Our Hands, No One can escape the Guilt!

January 2008, December 2007, November 2007, October  2007, September 2007, August 2007, July 2007, June 2007, May 2007, April 2007, March 2007, Feb. 2007, Jan. 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003

You can view other Honor Rolls of the Fallen I have posted on my site {links above}, or from the CNN link at top and the other sources that you might use or know about.



As Of March 1 2008, There Are 84 Pages w/5 ‘Silent Honor Rolls’ Each, Number Of Casulties Varies With Each ‘Silent Honor Roll’;  Many now have numbers in the teens and twenties, click on graphic.

Conservative Idea of ‘Strong on National Defense’:

Enhance more Hatreds anywhere possible, through propaganda, destruction, mass death, in order to Continue threats against from similar Failed Policies of Past!

Those Hatreds lead to ‘Blowback’ by recipients of the many Failed Policies, called ‘Criminal Terrorism’!

Take the word ‘Terrorism’, while practicing same, and paste it on any group needed to Enhance the Fear in Populations causing Perpetual Conflicts and Huge Profits for any Military Industrial Complex and Control by same for Further Policies setup to Fail!

And when ‘Johnny and Jane’ come Marching Home, Dump Them {that one cuts across all Political Ideology and Society }

It’s Not ‘Strong on National Defense’, it Destroys ‘National Defense’ and brings about more and more ‘Conflicts of Choice’ for Greed and Power!



In Honor – In Memory

If they were sent to fight, they are too few. If they were sent to die, they are too many!

Is ‘Funding’ Really For Troops?

What Happened To Funding and Oversite For Military/Veteran Care In Previous Congresses?

Those who take some sort of relief in the “We are fighting them over there so we won’t be fighting them here!”, Better Rethink their Future, or rather their Childrens Future!!

” Every war, when viewed from the undistorted perspective of life’s sanctity, is a “civil war” waged by humanity against itself.”

Daisaku Ikeda

The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades!!

Whistleblower Silenced by High Court on Secret Renditions

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Ben Griffin, the British ex-Special Air Service (SAS) soldier who resigned over the illegalities involved in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program, and who has spoken out publicly on British troop collaboration with U.S. forces in these activities, was served with a UK high court gag order. According to yesterday’s Guardian:

Ben Griffin could be jailed if he makes further disclosures about how people seized by special forces were allegedly mistreated and ended up in secret prisons in breach of the Geneva conventions and international law.

At least hundreds of Afghans and Iraqis have been swept up in the program run with British and American special forces, and sent to prisons in countries often thousands of miles away to face torture and indefinite detention. Other European countries, including most recently Romania and Poland, have been implicated in the rendition program.

At a press conference February 25, before the court banned his free speech, Griffin spoke out more specifically about how the joint U.S.-UK operation worked (emphasis added):

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 this joint US/UK task force appeared. Its primary mission was to kill or capture high value targets. Individuals detained by this Task Force often included non-combatants caught up in the search for high value targets. The use of secret detention centres within Iraq has negated the need to use Guantanamo Bay whilst allowing similar practice to go unnoticed.

As UK soldiers within this Task Force a policy that we would detain individuals but not arrest them was continually enforced. Since it was commonly assumed by my colleagues that anyone we detained would subsequently be tortured this policy of detention and not arrest was regarded as a clumsy legal tool used to distance British soldiers from the whole process.

During the many operations conducted to apprehend high value targets numerous non-combatants were detained and interrogated in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of civilians in occupied territories. I have no doubt in my mind that non-combatants I personally detained were handed over to the Americans and subsequently tortured.

Griffin joins U.S. whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in being gagged from speaking about what they know about illegal activities by their governments or their agents. It’s clear that the U.S. and their allies are ratcheting up the machinery of governmental repression against those who would oppose their criminal policies. This story has failed to make a stir in either the U.S. mainstream or alternative press or blogosphere. In the world of American Empire, those who would speak out against blatant transgressions of justice and human decency are silenced. It is only a matter of time until they become non-people, a process already begun with the implementation of the off-the-books “ghost prisoners” the CIA ran at Abu Ghraib, and the hundreds or thousands more who have been sent without hope of appeal to foreign dungeons around the world.

I can only hope that this story, and others like it, are picked up by those who still have the freedom to voice their opinions. Without at least that, the brave men and women who speak for justice and freedom, and against torture, have — no matter what Obama says — no hope.

Also posted at Invictus

Digital TV And Rationed Electricity Too

Hundreds of high definition digital channels await you a mere 353 days, 12 hours, 10 minutes from right now.  Are you impressed?  No I am highly depressed.  What they tell you and what is behind the scenes.  It is much like the past seven years of legislation with noble sounding titles and hidden destructive memes.

This “change” is not for the better.

http://www.dtv.gov/

This is the sappy government website explaining the changes.  They are in effect selling you something.  

“It will transform your television viewing experience”.  

My government wants me to zone out in front of a TV screen?  What happened to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.  Oh well, so much for noble causes.

Aside from getting 300 crystal clear channels of mindnumbing propaganda news and socially destructive sublimial memes the transition to digital also allows the FCC to “auction off” portions of the electromagnetic spectrum to private companies.  This portion of spectrum will be used for broadband wireless internet.

An important benefit of the switch to all-digital broadcasting is that it will free up parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum for public safety communications (such as police, fire departments, and rescue squads). Also, some of the spectrum will be auctioned to companies that will be able to provide consumers with more advanced wireless services (such as wireless broadband).

 

Yes, this is bad, very bad.

I have featured items from electronic trade magazines on other boards in an attempt to illustrate industry trends and promotions of ideas in the electronic world.  This is an index of articles from one magazine generated by using the keyword “surveillance”.

http://www.ecnmag.com/search.a…

That link shows the industry support and gear up for this.  Remotely located cameras all interconnected via wireless internet.  One or multiple cameras only an IP address away.  Orwell is reality, but there is more.

You can build your own very simple device!

http://dojorat.blogspot.com/20…

A wireless internet would also allow electric meter reading in real time.

http://www.spinwavesystems.com…

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric…

Scroll down, wireless lighting control then wireless meters.

http://www.neptunetg.com/water…

Water too!

Now there are legitimate and possibly justifyable uses of surveillance and maybe energy saving benefits to remote reading of electric and water meters.  But think about the past seven years.  Let those Machiavellian possibilities surface.

At a financial seminar I was told financial houses were making sound investments in companies making remote electric meter readers. Charges could then be made based upon “peak hours” thus extracting more profits for utility companies. In effect rationed electricity and possibly water too. While some may see this as households using submetering ontario and other utility companies provide, others may see this in a completely different light.

Once the network is in place capability to control things is easily added, only a couple of digital commands away.  Today in the interest of energy savings much of the HVAC and lighting sytems in our building are controlled from the headquarters building five miles away.  And yes, it’s cold Monday morning in the office.

300 high definition crystal clear channels plus wireless broadband, but you might find yourself only able to afford the 3 to 4 AM time slot!

http://www.physorg.com/news111…

http://arstechnica.com/news.ar…

Is living in a sea of electromagnetic energy healthy?  Who gives a flying…….when profit margins are at stake.  And “green”, well just watch as yet another “network” gets powered up.  New antennas on those ugly cell phone towers.

http://www.stuk.fi/stuk/tiedot…

Would you stick your head inside a microwave oven?

Did you know you are living inside a microwave oven?

http://www.zapchecker.com/

Lazy Saturday Morning Blog Roundup

From Talking Points Memo

Worse than you think-

1 White House Aide Plagiarized 20 of 38 Columns

By Paul Kiel – March 1, 2008, 9:41AM

Even Jokeline can’t ignore Hagee-

2 How’s It Hagee?

By Josh Marshall 03.01.08 — 1:44AM

3 TPMMuckraker is entirely worth a brief peruse.

4 Poll: Nearly Half Say Media Is Harder On Hillary

by Greg Sargent March 1, 2008 — 11:10 AM EST

From MyDD

An interesting analysis of the 3 am ad-

5 Hillary Clinton’s Gift To Barack Obama

by Todd Beeton, Fri Feb 29, 2008 at 09:36:17 PM EST

From AmericaBlog

6 Obama smear offends Kenyans

by Chris in Paris · 3/01/2008 04:14:00 AM ET

Good question-

7 McCain stands with his Catholic bashing supporter. What is that good Catholic boy Tim Russert going to do?

by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 3/01/2008 11:49:00 AM ET

This should be all the talk at Catholic churches around the country this weekend, like Blessed Sacrament parish here in DC. That’s where Russert and Chris Matthews go to the 11:00 mass on Sundays, we’re told. Chances are their fellow Catholics won’t appreciate the Church being called “the great whore” by a leading McCain supporter — who McCain refuses to denounce and reject.

From Fire Dog Lake

The article referred to-

8 Stirring McCain’s Hagee Pot

By: Jane Hamsher Friday February 29, 2008 10:20 am

A devestating response to “The Surge Worked”-

9 Come Saturday Morning: Iraq – Still Broken After All These Years

By: Phoenix Woman Saturday March 1, 2008 8:30 am

emptywheel’s latest on the Siegelman case-

10 Rove Looking for an Underground Railroad, Again

By: emptywheel Friday February 29, 2008 7:36 am

Latest Tbogg on John McCain.  Have I mentioned yet that Cindy is a drug addict who stole drugs from her charity to feed her drug addiction?

11 Charity Cases

By: TBogg Friday February 29, 2008 2:21 pm

From Eschaton

Atrios gets all verbose on the new Ben Domenech

12 High Comedy

From Glenn Greenwald

3 pieces on John McCain’s Hagee problem-

13 The McCain/Hagee story picks up steam

Friday February 29, 2008 15:03 EST

14 Interview with Bill Donohue: Catholic League denounces McCain

Thursday February 28, 2008 18:46 EST

15 Some hateful, radical ministers — white evangelicals — are acceptable

Thursday February 28, 2008 07:40 EST

And this unjustly ignored piece on FISA-

16 George Bush told the truth yesterday

Friday February 29, 2008 10:17 EST

While the media has completely ignored this angle of the telecom immunity story — the only one that is actually real — they continue to pose Jeff-Gannon/Chris-Wallace-like “questions” such as this one, from yesterday’s Press Conference:

Q Mr. President, on FISA, do you worry that perhaps some House Democratic leaders are playing a high-stakes game of “wait and see,” in terms of if we get attacked, we all lose; if we don’t get attacked, then maybe that makes the case that you don’t need all the powers in FISA?

Mr. President, aren’t Democrats purposely causing us to be vulnerable to the Terrorists in order to make a political point? Thank you, Mr. President. It’s amazing that even when the Leader points the media directly to the real story — amnesty is crucial because lawsuits “could lead to the disclosure of information about how we conduct surveillance” — they still ignore it.

Sing Louder!!!

I know, I know, its Barry Manilow, but get over it!!

The Soul Lives Contented

by David Whyte

The soul lives contented

by listening,

if it wants to change

into the beauty of

terrifying shapes,

it tries to speak.

That’s why

you will not sing,

afraid as you are

of who might join with you.

The voice hesitant,

and her hand trembling

in the dark for yours.

She touches your face

and says your name

in the same moment.

The one you refused to say

over and over,

the one you refused to say.

50,000 pixels of power

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

This is the world on Docudharma.

Riffing off buhdy’s You Maniacs!!! essay, I just wanted to post another note of gratitude to all those folks out there who participated in the Dharmathon.   A very generous total of $400 was received. In addition to that, I am grateful for the enthusiasm and support of everyone who posts here.   Thank you all!  Together we will keep the tubes flowing and the vibes broadcasting so dharmaniacs can Yell Louder!!!  Apparently,  the world IS listening.   Helloooo New Zealand!

The world map is from a couple nights ago. I don’t know the exact hours but it shows 100 visitors reading our blog.  The  map of the US was captured around 5 PM on Thursday afternoon.   I think it’s amazing.   In a virtual community separated by great distances, I feel closer to many of the people I have met here than the people I know in physical life.   Thanks again for being here!

On another note, I’m leaving in a few minutes for a retreat to some magic hot springs… to relax and commume with the spirits and the stars.  I’ll be back Monday afternoon!    

Pony Party: More Random Pictures

I took these during a summer jaunt to a local art gallery and garden. I remember it well because my father and his wife were visiting and it was about 105 degrees out and I had to snap them quickly while they fanned themselves in the shade of the garden.

They seemed much happier when we went into the air conditioned gallery to see the exhibit. My father confessed to me that he thought I was exaggerating about the heat in August. He told me on the phone the other day they really enjoyed their visit but would remember “that damned heat for the rest of their lives.” I figure living in Memphis is good training in case I really do end up in Hell.

Thanks for looking. Remember don’t rec pony party. Hang out, chit chat and then go read some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

900 since January 2007

January 2007, in an unexpected wave of electoral success the Democrats take the House and barely manage to squeeze a majority out in the Senate. The blogosphere cheered, the nation was heartened, a sigh of relief went up around the world. Finally, the out of control Bush Reign of Terror would be checked. Oversight would return, investigations would be launched, subpoenas issued and enforced, political and politicized appointees would be denied confirmation, the Unitary Executive reigned in and……by far the most important, the War in Iraq would be ended, the killing would be stopped, no more of America’s sons and daughters would have to die for the biggest “mistake” in America history.

Virtually none of that has happened.

And since the Democrats have taken over Congress….since they gained the power of the purse…the power to end the war…..

Approximately 900 more Americans have died in Iraq.

And who knows how many Iraqis.



900 have died, needlessly, because the Democrats in Congress are afraid of Bush and afraid of the Press.

Please read clammyc’s piece, Do your job or resign, for more of the story, I can’t tell it any better than he does. I just wanted to add that number into the equation.

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