Iraq reports corruption epidemic

There is massive corruption in most Iraqi government ministries as a legacy of Saddam Hussein's era, the Iraqi anti-corruption commission has said.
Arrest warrants on fraud charges have been issued for two former ministers in the Iraqi interim government.
One ex-minister denied the charges and the second could not be contacted.

Ex-Gay Camp Investigation Called Off

Tennessee officials closed an investigation into a so-called ex-gay ministry because of a lack of evidence to support child abuse allegations. But the Memphis organization that says instilling Christian beliefs can keep gays from acting on their homosexual desires continues to be the center of controversy.
The Tennessee Department of Children's Services began an investigation into Love In Action, which advertises homosexual conversion therapy for adolescents, after a 16-year-old boy's blog started causing a stir in the blogosphere.

Pentagon: Audit questions $1.4b in Halliburton bills

Internal Pentagon audits have flagged about $1.4 billion in expenses submitted by Halliburton Co. for services the firm is providing in Iraq, charges that include $45 cases of soda, $100-per-bag laundry service, and several months preparing at least 10,000 daily meals for a US military base that the troops did not need and ultimately went to waste, according to a report released yesterday by congressional Democrats.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency, which reviews Pentagon contracting, identified $1.03 billion in Halliburton invoices that it questioned as excessive, and an additional $442 million in expenses the company reported that the agency deemed to be insufficiently documented, according to the report.

UK War Correspondent: Iraq - A bloody mess

A year ago the supposed handover of power by the US occupation authority to an Iraqi interim government led by Iyad Allawi was billed as a turning point in the violent history of post-Saddam Iraq.
It has turned out to be no such thing. Most of Iraq is today a bloody no-man's land beset by ruthless insurgents, savage bandit gangs, trigger-happy US patrols and marauding government forces.
On 28 June 2004 Mr Allawi was all smiles. "In a few days, Iraq will radiate with stability and security," he promised at the handover ceremony. That mood of optimism did not last long.

Rising sea levels may destroy nuclear dump

Rising sea levels caused by global warming could destroy the UK's only major nuclear waste dump in as little as 500 years, according to a report by the Environment Agency.
That would cause the 1 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste currently stored at Drigg on the Cumbrian coast to leak, the government watchdog warns. The agency adds that such an event would increase the risk of local people contracting cancers by at least 100 times.
Experts point out that other coastal nuclear waste sites, like Rokkashomura in Japan and Lan Yu island in Taiwan, could face similar risks. Reactor sites next to the sea, including six in India and 13 in the UK, might also be vulnerable.

75 Degrees South

Blog from Antarctica [via MetaFilter.com]

Multiple Investigations of Ohio GOP

The rapidly developing case now involves the Public Integrity unit of the U.S. Justice Department, Franklin and Lucas county prosecutors, the Ohio Ethics Commission, the legislative inspector general and the state inspector general.
When the Ohio General Assembly approved Taft's $51.2 billion budget last week, it included $750,000 for Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate more than $225 million in lost investments at the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Investigators who raided investor Thomas W. Noe's coin shop in Maumee last month left with 128 boxes of records, including memos and financial information of the major GOP contributor.
That evidence is now locked down, in possession of a joint state-federal task force, and fueling lots of rumors.

Testing for depleted uranium in La. soldiers passes into law

"'Supporting the troops' means more than magnetic yellow ribbons and plastic flags on SUVs - it also means truly caring about the health and welfare of each and everyone one of our young women and men in uniform," [retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bob] Smith said. "That is why we pushed for this bill."
Among some military health experts, DU contamination is believed to be responsible for the varieties of symptoms associated with Gulf War Syndrome. They say it can cause leukemia, various other cancers, DNA breakdown and an unusually high occurrence of severe birth defects in offspring of soldiers who have come into contact with it. Current mandatory testing by the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense has been shown to be ineffective due to the lack of adequate testing procedures.

The 118 People on the Boards of the Big Ten Media Giants

A research team at Sonoma State University has recently finished conducting a network analysis of the boards of directors of the ten big media organizations in the US. The team determined that only 118 people comprise the membership on the boards of director of the ten big media giants. This is a small enough group to fit in a moderate size university classroom. These 118 individuals in turn sit on the corporate boards of 288 national and international corporations. In fact, eight out of ten big media giants share common memberships on boards of directors with each other. NBC and the Washington Post both have board members who sit on Coca Cola and J. P. Morgan, while the Tribune Company, The New York Times and Gannett all have members who share a seat on Pepsi. It is kind of like one big happy family of interlocks and shared interests.

Religion and Secrecy in the Bush Administration

Bush himself, I will argue, lies at the intersection of these three (and other) forces, and his political persona has in turn been constructed in multiple ways by his advisors and constituents: he is thus at once the Gentleman, the Prince, and the Simulacrum. The first of these is Strauss’ term for the political figure who serves as the public voice of religion and morality for the wise man or philosopher, who is in fact the one with the real knowledge and power. For Strauss, both secrecy and religion are necessary to the functioning of society: the former protects the “vulgar” public from harsh truths that would endanger them, while the latter gives them faith in the laws that govern society.[17] The second term is of course from Machiavelli, whose work has been taken up by Neoconservative thinkers like Michael Ledeen who call for a neo-Machiavellian use of both religion and deception in American politics.[18] And the third is the term developed by Baudrillard to refer to the new era of simulation and hyper-reality that characterizes much of culture and politics in media-driven, late capitalist consumer society. For Baudrillard, the age of the simulacrum in which we live is one in which “the secret” no longer conceals some hidden truth, but simply conceals the fact that there is no truth or reality beneath the appearance.

During Vietnam, Rumsfeld Criticized Administration For “Credibility Gap”

A 1966 article in the Chicago Tribune quoted Rumsfeld as saying the following: “The administration should clarify its intent in Viet Nam,’ he said. ‘People lack confidence in the credibility of our government.’ Even our allies are beginning to suspect what we say, he charged. ‘It’s a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy,’ he said. ‘With the secrecy, it’s impossible. The American people will do what’s right when they have the information they need.” [Chicago Tribune, 4/13/66]
Rusmfeld entered into the Congressional Record an article from the Chicago Sun-Times entitled “Why U.S. Viet Policy Lacks Friends—Our Credibility Destroyed” Rumsfeld stated: “I do, however, believe it is important to the future of our Nation to recognize that there is a problem of credibility today.” [Congressional Record, 89th Cong. Pg. A1454, 3/15/66; Chicago Sun-Times, 12/5/65]

Helen Thomas: Word from Bush Could End Prison Abuse

As soon as the devastating abuse of the prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib came to light, Bush should have ordered a ban on torture in all prisons under U.S. military control.
He has not done so, despite the horror of it all. Nor has he reaffirmed the U.S. adherence to the Geneva Conventions on Humane Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Bush and his cohorts, including then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales (since promoted to attorney general) and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tore up that agreement after 9/11. They obviously gave no thought to the consequences of repudiating a long-standing international pact that could affect U.S. war prisoners as well.

How to Bury a Mad Cow

Late Friday, June 24, is a perfect time to bury bad news in Washington, DC. That's when Mike Johanns, the United States Secretary of Agriculture held a news conference. He announced that a beef cow suspected last November to be positive with mad cow disease, and finally properly tested, was indeed positive. Even now the USDA is keeping secret which state the cow was from, but Texas has long been mentioned in media articles. The initially-botched finding of a second mad cow in the United States emphasizes the failure of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to protect Americans from the deadly dementia called mad cow disease, the subject of my 1997 book with Sheldon Rampton, Mad Cow USA.
The so-called 'firewall feed ban' to prevent cattle from contracting the disease in the United States is a joke, and more like pouring gasoline on a fire. Hundreds of millions of pounds of cattle blood, cattle fat, and the meat, blood, fat and bone meal from pigs and chickens are legally fed to cattle each year on US farms and ranches and feedlots. American cattle are also being fed a million tons a year of chicken litter and feces contaminated with cattle meat and bone meal. These are practices that can spread mad cow disease and are banned in countries like England and Japan where there is a real firewall feed ban.

Paul Winchell Dies at 82

Paul Winchell the voice of Tigger passed away on June 24th at the age of 82. In addition to his famous voice, he also helped develop the artificial heart , held over 30 patents, had a plan to feed the hungry with tilapia, was a ventriloquist and was the voice of Gargamel. One day later the voice actor for Piglet also passed away. With Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger, succumbing to prostate cancer in late May, it may be true that celebrities die in threes. Or does tiger voice actor Jim Cummings have something to worry about? [from MetaFilter.com]

Michael Smith: The Real News in the Downing Street Memos

Put simply, U.S. aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone were dropping a lot more bombs in the hope of provoking a reaction that would give the allies an excuse to carry out a full-scale bombing campaign, an air war, the first stage of the conflict.
British government figures for the number of bombs dropped on southern Iraq in 2002 show that although virtually none were used in March and April, an average of 10 tons a month were dropped between May and August.
But these initial "spikes of activity" didn't have the desired effect. The Iraqis didn't retaliate. They didn't provide the excuse Bush and Blair needed. So at the end of August, the allies dramatically intensified the bombing into what was effectively the initial air war.
The number of bombs dropped on southern Iraq by allied aircraft shot up to 54.6 tons in September alone, with the increased rates continuing into 2003.
In other words, Bush and Blair began their war not in March 2003, as everyone believed, but at the end of August 2002, six weeks before Congress approved military action against Iraq.

U.S. Has Plans to Again Make Own Plutonium

The Bush administration is planning the government's first production of plutonium 238 since the cold war, stirring debate over the risks and benefits of the deadly material. The substance, valued as a power source, is so radioactive that a speck can cause cancer.
Federal officials say the program would produce a total of 330 pounds over 30 years at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling site outside Idaho Falls some 100 miles to the west and upwind of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Officials say the program could cost $1.5 billion and generate more than 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste.
Project managers say that most if not all of the new plutonium is intended for secret missions and they declined to divulge any details. But in the past, it has powered espionage devices.

Justice Department abused terror-fighting tools, report says

The Justice Department imprisoned dozens of Muslim men for months in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks based on secret evidence and often flimsy links to terrorism, two civil liberties groups charge in a new report to be made public on Monday.
The report by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch accuses the Justice Department of plunging at least 70 men "into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention."
Four of the 70 have been convicted of crimes related to terrorism and three are awaiting trial, and the report said 13 of the men have received apologies from the government.
In one case, a 68-year-old physician and U.S. citizen was hauled away in handcuffs after his suspicious neighbors broke into his apartment and discovered literature on flying. Another man, also a U.S. citizen, was locked up after his wife was seen videotaping boats on Chesapeake Bay by other drivers who thought she might be scouting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as a target.
At issue is the government's use of material witness warrants, which are intended to let prosecutors prevent uncooperative would-be witnesses from skipping town before testifying at trial or before a grand jury. Since Sept. 11, the Justice Department has used such warrants to hold people in terrorism probes.

Freeport moves to seize 3 properties

Bill to Create Censorship Boards for Public School Books

Parental Empowerment Act of 2005 (Introduced in House)
HR 2295 IH
109th CONGRESS
1st Session

H. R. 2295
To prohibit a State from receiving Federal education funds unless the State has certain policies and procedures regarding the purchase or acquisition of library and classroom-based reference, instructional, and other print materials for use in elementary schools, and for other purposes.

Istook to offer bill to protect religious rights for schools

Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) is expected to introduce a constitutional amendment to protect religious expression in schools and on other public property soon after the Supreme Court decides two landmark cases about the displaying the Ten Commandments on public grounds. The court is expected to announce its decision by Monday.
...Istook’s amendment, the “Pledge and Prayer Amendment,” could be the next chapter in an ongoing battle over the propriety of religious expression on government-owned property. In seeking to establish a new constitutional protection for religious expression, it would also signal a new challenge of the federal judiciary by congressional Republicans.

Southern Poverty Law Center Lists "Anti-Gay Industry" as Hate Group

The Lawrence decision, coupled with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, prompted the religious right to point to the “homosexual agenda” and prompt more virulent anti-gay attacks, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Montgomery, Ala.-based organization’s recent edition of its quarterly magazine, the Intelligence Report, chronicled the history of anti-gay messages from religious conservatives in a cover story titled, “Holy War: The Religious Right’s Crusade Against Gays Heats Up.”
“Their tone [against homosexuality] has become quite amazing after the Lawrence decision,” said Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. “What was really striking was while the Klan and neo-Nazis spoke out against the Lawrence decision, the really vicious statements came from well-known leaders of the Christian right.”

Tribe Told to Reroute DeLay Checks

A casino-rich tribe wrote checks for at least $55,000 to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political groups, but the donations were never publicly disclosed and the tribe was directed to divert the money to other groups that helped Republicans, tribal documents show.
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now under criminal investigation, told the Coushatta Indian tribe, a client, to cancel its checks to the DeLay groups in 2001 and 2002 and route the money to more obscure groups that helped Republicans on Medicare prescription drug legislation and Christian voter outreach.

New EPA Nominee

"President Bush has nominated as chief of enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency a partner in a law firm defending W.R. Grace & Co. against criminal charges in a major environmental case," reports Andrew Schneider. "EPA employees were told late Thursday that Bush had nominated Granta Nakayama to lead the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. ... Nakayama, 46, a specialist in environmental law, is a full partner in Kirkland & Ellis LLP. The law firm is defending Grace against multiple criminal charges alleging that the Columbia-based company and seven of its current or former executives knowingly put their workers and the public in danger through exposure to vermiculite ore contaminated with asbestos from the company's mine in Libby, Mont.," a case that one FBI agent has described as "one of the most significant criminal indictments for environmental crime in our history."

NY Times: Three Things About Iraq

The war has nothing to do with Sept. 11. Saddam Hussein was a sworn enemy of Washington, but there was no Iraq-Qaeda axis, no connection between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist attacks on the United States. Yet the president and his supporters continue to duck behind 9/11 whenever they feel pressure about what is happening in Iraq.
...The war has not made the world, or this nation, safer from terrorism. The breeding grounds for terrorists used to be Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia; now Iraq has become one.
...If the war is going according to plan, someone needs to rethink the plan. Progress has been measurable on the political front. But even staunch supporters of the war, like the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a hearing this week that President Bush was losing public support because the military effort was not keeping pace.
...If things are going to be turned around, there has to be an honest discussion about what is happening. But Mr. Rumsfeld was not interested. Sneering at his Democratic questioners, he insisted everything was on track and claimed "dozens of trained battalions are capable of conducting anti-insurgent operations" with American support. That would be great news if it were true. Gen. George Casey, the commander in Iraq, was more honest, saying he hoped there would be "a good number of units" capable of doing that "before the end of this year."

Frank Rich: The Armstrong Williams NewsHour

Here's the difference between this year's battle over public broadcasting and the one that blew up in Newt Gingrich's face a decade ago: this one isn't really about the survival of public broadcasting. So don't be distracted by any premature obituaries for Big Bird. Far from being an endangered species, he's the ornithological equivalent of a red herring.
...That doesn't mean the right's new assault on public broadcasting is toothless, far from it. But this time the game is far more insidious and ingenious. The intent is not to kill off PBS and NPR but to castrate them by quietly annexing their news and public affairs operations to the larger state propaganda machine that the Bush White House has been steadily constructing at taxpayers' expense. If you liked the fake government news videos that ended up on local stations - or thrilled to the "journalism" of Armstrong Williams and other columnists who were covertly paid to promote administration policies - you'll love the brave new world this crowd envisions for public TV and radio.

"Selling Women Short" by Liza Featherstone now Available in Paperback

Satire from OTM: Where the White Women At? [Audio]

Sending teens on group trips can be harrowing … that according to a headline in USA Today, as part of that newspaper’s coverage of missing vacationer Natalee Holloway. But if coverage of this sort is what you crave, better to turn on your TV. Blogger Arianna Huffington pointed out that NBC broadcast 62 segments on the missing teenager during the months of May and June – compared with six on the Downing Street Memo during the same period. As for CNN? Holloway, 294. The Memo, 30. All of which got us thinking about the future of television news. Audio.

Insurgents reveal secret face-to-face meetings with US

After weeks of delicate negotiation involving a former Iraqi minister and senior tribal leaders, a small group of insurgent commanders apparently came face to face with four American officials seeking to establish a dialogue with the men they regard as their enemies.
The talks on June 3 were followed by a second encounter 10 days later, according to an Iraqi who said that he had attended both meetings. Details provided to The Sunday Times by two Iraqi sources whose groups were involved indicate that further talks are planned in the hope of negotiating an eventual breakthrough that might reduce the violence in Iraq.

Pew: Public More Critical of Press, But Goodwill Persists

Public attitudes toward the press, which have been on a downward track for years, have become more negative in several key areas. Growing numbers of people question the news media's patriotism and fairness. Perceptions of political bias also have risen over the past two years.
Yet despite these criticisms, most Americans continue to say that they like mainstream news outlets. By wide margins, more Americans give favorable than unfavorable ratings to their daily newspaper (80%-20%), local TV news (79%-21%), and cable TV news networks (79%-21%), among those able to rate these organizations. The margin is only slightly smaller for network TV news (75%-25%).

Nano-levers point to futuristic gadgets

Billions of tiny mechanical levers could be used to store songs on future MP3 players and pictures on digital cameras.
As bizarre as the idea might sound, researchers at a Dutch company have already demonstrated that miniscule mechanical switches can be used to store data using less power than existing technologies and with greater reliability.

Fact Check: A Premature Attack

Pro-Bush group's ad faults Democrats for criticisms they haven't yet made, about a Supreme Court nominee who hasn't been named, to a vacancy that doesn't yet exist.
...[T]his ad itself is an attack that goes beyond "instant" – it was launched without waiting for Bush to name a replacement for the ailing Justice William Rehnquist, or even for Rehnquist to say publicly whether or not he will retire as he is reported to be considering. And whether or not Democrats will criticize "anyone" Bush names can't be known for sure at this point – it may or may not turn out to be true.
To support its case, the ad cites editorial blurbs from Republican newspapers criticizing Democrats over their treatment of Supreme Court nominees in the past. But the ad fails to note that the blurbs were about the Robert Bork nomination fight that happened nearly 18 years ago.

Utah man harassed for honoring war dead

Since Mike Norton, of Layton, began displaying the pictures of American soldiers killed in Iraq on an illuminated sign in his front yard, his home has been vandalized, cars have stopped in front of his home and honked horns in the early morning hours and he has received anonymous harassing phone calls.
...The sign currently contains 1,715 postage-stamp-sized pictures of each dead soldier that Norton downloads from CNN's Web site. The number is updated whenever there is a new casualty. Above the pictures is a large bold-faced headline denoting the latest number of Americans killed in Iraq. Next to the sign is an American flag.

AMA Takes on Pharmacists' Moral Refusals to Fill Prescriptions

"This is an issue of access to care for patients," Dr. Mary Frank, a California family physician, told AMA delegates before Monday's vote. "It's affecting not just women," but also patients using psychiatric medication, painkillers and other drugs.
Under the policy adopted at the AMA's annual meeting, the nation's largest physicians' group will support legislation that requires pharmacists to fill valid prescriptions or to immediately refer patients to other pharmacies that will.

NWA execs unload shares - Airline's top insiders sell more than 7 million this year

Most of the activity came from the company's two largest shareholders, Chairman Gary Wilson and former director Alfred Checchi -- the two men who led a buyout of Northwest in 1989.
In Checchi's case, the former Northwest cochairman and director sold most of his stock during the first four months of the year.
In mid-January, Checchi owned 4.7 million shares. By the end of April, when Checchi left the board, he sold 4.1 million shares, leaving him with 630,501 shares plus another 480,465 he owns through a trust. Since January, he sold his shares at prices between $5 and $8.05.

Visualization of Coalition Fatalities Over Time in Iraq [flash]

Iraq War Fatalities is a chart of US and coalition military fatalities that have occurred in the War in Iraq since the onset, mapped across the dimensions of time and space. It is an ongoing project that is updated regularly, and will continue to go on as long as the war does. The animation runs at ten frames per second--one frame for each day--and a single black dot indicates the geographic location that a US fatality occurred. Each dot starts as a white flash and a larger red dot that fades to black over the span of 30 frames/days, and then slowly fades to grey over the span of the entire war. Accompanying the visual representation is a soft 'tic' sound for each fatality, the volume of which increases relative to the number of fatalities that occurred simultaneously that day. More deaths in a smaller area produces visually deeper reds and audibly more pronounced 'tics.'

Ashcroft Gone, Justice Statues Disrobe

With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years.
Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall.
The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.

FBI Tiptoeing Around Security Leaks to Israel

It is clear that something is disturbing those in charge of the FBI investigation regarding Israel and those close to Israel in the United States. Many of those being interrogated are Jews. The prosecution was cautious in its wording of the indictment sheet against Franklin and Israel was not accused of intelligence gathering in the United States, which can be defined as espionage. On the other hand, it mentions that Franklin had met with AIPAC representatives. There is also mention of the fact that Franklin received a gift certificate from Naor Gilon.

Ethics Chair Accused of Ethics Violations

Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show.
In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford.

General admits to secret air war on Iraq before invasion - 21,736 sorties

The American general who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war appears to have admitted in a briefing to American and British officers that coalition aircraft waged a secret air war against Iraq from the middle of 2002, nine months before the invasion began.
Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003 allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391 “carefully selected targets” before the war officially started.
The nine months of allied raids “laid the foundations” for the allied victory, Moseley said. They ensured that allied forces did not have to start the war with a protracted bombardment of Iraqi positions.
If those raids exceeded the need to maintain security in the no-fly zones of southern and northern Iraq, they would leave President George W Bush and Tony Blair vulnerable to allegations that they had acted illegally.
Moseley’s remarks have emerged after reports in The Sunday Times that showed an increase in allied bombing in southern Iraq was described in leaked minutes of a meeting of the war cabinet as “spikes of activity to put pressure on the regime”.

RateItAll: What Does it Mean to be Patriotic?

ITEM NAME (Click on item to see comments & links)	Rating	# of Ratings	# of Comments	SHARE YOUR OPINION
1. Support the Constitution and keep it from being undermined	(4.55)	40	21
2. Debate, dissent and try to change your country for the better	(4.44)	34	18
3. Educate yourself and others about your country	(4.27)	26	12

...

15. Kill or imprison anyone who is anti-American	(1.16)	31	19
16. Follow authority unquestioningly	(1.15)	33	20

Bipartisan Outrage over Rove Comments

During a June 22 speech before the New York Conservative Party, Rove stated: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9-11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9-11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."
In response to Rove's comments, Families of September 11 issued a statement that called the comments "divisive," "offensive" and "not welcome":

As families whose relatives were victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, we believe it is an outrage that any Democrat, any Republican, any conservative or any liberal, stakes a "high ground" position based upon the September 11th death and destruction. Doing so assumes that all those who died and their loved ones would agree. In truth, some would and some would not. By definition the conduct is divisive and, because it is intended to be self-serving and politicizes 9/11, it is offensive.
We are calling on Karl Rove to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others. His comments are not welcome.

FindCliches.com

The Web's Largest Collection of Cliches, Euphamisms, Sayings and Figures of Speech

Commentary: The Art of 'Manufacturing Uncertainty'

To many scientists and policymakers in Washington, the revelation this month that Philip Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, had rewritten a federal report to magnify the level of uncertainty on climate change came as no surprise. Uncertainty is easily manipulated, and Cooney — a former lobbyist with the American Petroleum Institute, one of the nation's leading manufacturers of scientific uncertainty — was highly familiar with its uses.
...By definition, uncertainties abound in our work; there's nothing to be done about that. Our public health and environmental protection programs will not be effective if absolute proof is required before we act. The best available evidence must be sufficient. Otherwise, we'll sit on our hands and do nothing.
Of course, this is often exactly what industry wants. That's why it has mastered the art of manufacturing uncertainty, of demanding often impossible proof over common-sense precaution in the realm of public health.
The tobacco industry led the way. For 50 years, cigarette manufacturers employed a stable of scientists willing to assert (sometimes under oath) that there was no conclusive evidence that cigarettes cause lung cancer, or that nicotine is addictive. An official at Brown & Williamson, a cigarette maker now owned by R.J. Reynolds, once noted in a memo: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public."

Cost of DU Cleanup Increases

The cost to remove depleted uranium drums from the Starmet site will cost $3.1 million more than expected, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Crews must remove 3,700 drums of depleted uranium buried at the 46-acre Main Street site, where Nuclear Metals, Inc. once manufactured uranium-tipped bullets.
Because of the increase, the total cost to remove the barrels will hit $8.3 million, according to DEP spokesman Joe Ferson.
The Army agreed to pay for the removal of the drums as part of a settlement reached last year with DEP and the state attorney general's office.

Activists Pressure Department of Transportation to Label Depleted Uranium as "Radioactive"

After 18 months of intense lobbying, environmentalist and peace activists around the nation, including the Port Townsend Depleted Uranium Study Team, persuaded the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Hazardous Material to recommend a change. The agency is recommending the Department of Defense be required to label trucks carrying radioactive depleted uranium ammunition as "radioactive."
It's not a done deal yet, but emergency responders and activists are encouraged.
"The victory is a subtle shade of gray," said PT DUST member Doug Milholland. "But it's heartening to know we live in a democracy where some levers of power are connected to real people."

The Books of Edward Tufte

Energy Secretary: "the days of easily accessible oil are coming to a close"

Having more, and better, information about reserves would also clarify some of the challenges we will be facing in developing future petroleum reserves. We believe that the days of easily accessible oil are coming to a close. That is already the case for the lower 48 in the United States. Increasingly, the global oil demand will have to be met by developing petroleum resources that involve serious technical, and often political, challenges.
The technical challenges, of course, include drilling in deep waters and other harder-to-reach, frontier regions as well as enhanced oil recovery technologies such as CO2 injection and thermal processes. All of which means that such projects will be more capital intensive, have higher risks, and require greater lead times. These are difficult circumstances in and of themselves. But the challenges are multiplied several times over when compounded by political or regulatory uncertainty.

Feds Raid Medical Pot Supplier in California

Federal officials on Thursday said raids on pot clubs here were the first step in uncovering a major international drug operation.
U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said agents raided three pot clubs that operated as fronts for marijuana and Ecstasy trafficking. He warned that federal drug laws would be strictly enforced even in cities tolerant of medical marijuana.
"We're empathetic to the ill and to the sick; however we cannot disregard federal law," Drug Enforcement Administration agent Javier Pena said.

Bush Asks the Christian Legal Society for Supreme Court Recommendations

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said again yesterday that "there's no vacancy that exists at this point."
However, the Christian Legal Society has been asked to provide its recommendations for a replacement for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, who has thyroid cancer. The group complied.
The spokesman acknowledged yesterday that the White House has "made preparations to be ready in case someone does leave the Supreme Court." The court's summer session ends Thursday, and there is rampant speculation that Chief Justice Rehnquist will announce as early as Monday that he is stepping down.

600 more reserves called up for Iraq

A further 600 reservists are to be called up to support British military operations for Iraq, the government announced yesterday.
The call-up means that more than 10,000 part-time service personnel will have been deployed in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003.

US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan - UN

Washington has, for the first time, acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.
The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.
'They are no longer trying to duck this and have respected their obligation to inform the UN,' the Committee member said.
'They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark,' he said.
UN sources said this is the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.

Krugmnan: The War President

The United States will soon have to start reducing force levels in Iraq, or risk seeing the volunteer Army collapse. Yet the administration and its supporters have effectively prevented any adult discussion of the need to get out.
On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic.
We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.

To serve man

I don't recall anyone mentioning that the University of Colorado's cafeteria, the Alferd Packer Grill, was named after a cannibal when I took the CU campus tour in the summer of '97. I would learn this information on the third day of my first semester at the school, reading a historical plaque on the UMC wall while scarfing down sesame chicken and lo mein noodles. Prior to that, I'd figured Alferd Packer to be a former university president or football star or something—not Colorado's most notorious connoisseur of human cadavers. [thanks, Mint]

Brick Journal

A quarterly publication that will focus on the Adult Fan of LEGO (AFOL) community.

Satellite Photos Show Dislocation of 200,000 in Zimbabwe

Before I start my post on Alan Greenspan's testimonial about China and all that first a very emotional comment on the escalating situation in Zimbabwe. There is a dictator who rigged the elections and who has now made some 2 million people homeless by razing their makeshift shelters with bulldozers in a campaign that started about a month ago.

2002: President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat

The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" -- his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists.
Some citizens wonder, after 11 years of living with this problem, why do we need to confront it now? And there's a reason. We've experienced the horror of September the 11th. We have seen that those who hate America are willing to crash airplanes into buildings full of innocent people. Our enemies would be no less willing, in fact, they would be eager, to use biological or chemical, or a nuclear weapon.
Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. As President Kennedy said in October of 1962, "Neither the United States of America, nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world," he said, "where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nations security to constitute maximum peril."

2002: President Signs Iraq Resolution

Excerpt: With this resolution, Congress has now authorized the use of force. I have not ordered the use of force. I hope the use of force will not become necessary. Yet, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is necessary, by whatever means that requires. Either the Iraqi regime will give up its weapons of mass destruction, or, for the sake of peace, the United States will lead a global coalition to disarm that regime. If any doubt our nation's resolve, our determination, they would be unwise to test it.
The Iraqi regime is a serious and growing threat to peace. On the commands of a dictator, the regime is armed with biological and chemical weapons, possesses ballistic missiles, promotes international terror and seeks nuclear weapons. The same dictator has a history of mass murder, striking other nations without warning; of intense hatred for America; and of contempt for the demands of the civilized world.
If Iraq gains even greater destructive power, nations in the Middle East would face blackmail, intimidation or attack. Chaos in that region would be felt in Europe and beyond. And Iraq's combination of weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorist groups and ballistic missiles would threaten the peace and security of many nations. Those who choose to live in denial may eventually be forced to live in fear.

85% Against Draft - Record High

With military recruitment shortfalls reaching a near-crisis, a new Gallup poll suggests further troubles, as far fewer American adults express support for their children enlisting. Gallup also has found that Americans opposed the return of the military draft by overwhleming numbers, with 85% against it, the highest level ever.
In what it calls a “significant decline,” Gallup found that by a bare majority, of 51% to 48%, parents would support a decision by one of their children to join the military. This is down from 66% positive to 29% negative in 1999.
Surprisngly, there is only slight difference among parents who have served in the military and those who have not. Just 56% of the veterans would support a decision to join the milltairy

No Cuts for Public Broadcasting but Former RNC Chair Named President

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to restore $100 million in proposed cuts to public television and radio, softening a measure that public broadcasters had warned could cripple small stations.
Even as the vote gave solace to public television and radio officials, the board of the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting tapped a former Republican Party co-chairwoman to lead the agency, alarming Democrats who contend an ideological takeover of public broadcasting is underway.

China's Bid to Buy Unocal Riles Congress

Political fears of China's economic might intensified yesterday following China's unsolicited bid to take over a U.S. oil company, with lawmakers from both political parties warning that Congress will take retaliatory action against Chinese trade practices if the Bush administration fails to respond.
Under a barrage of questions, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow warned the Senate Finance Committee against punitive legislation that could trigger a trade war and ultimately harm the U.S. economy.
"Resorting to isolationist trade policies would be ineffective, disruptive to markets and damaging to America's special role as the world's leading advocate for open markets," Snow said.

Italian Judge Names 13 in Abduction Tied to C.I.A.

An Italian judge ordered the arrests of 13 people in the purported CIA abduction of an imam, who then was sent to Egypt, the Milan prosecutor's office said Friday. An Italian official said earlier the 13 were CIA officers involved in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.
The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement.
The U.S. Embassy in Rome and the CIA in Washington declined to comment.
The prosecutor's statement did not name any of the suspects or mention the CIA by name, but an Italian official familiar with the investigation confirmed newspaper reports Friday that the suspects were working for the CIA.

Judge Rules in Favor of Salmon

A Federal appeals court decided on Tuesday to uphold an earlier decision requiring the operators of five federal dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers to release spills of water to help young salmon on their journey towards the Pacific.
The salmon runs have been blocked by the five dams, which generate hydro-electric power. It is estimated that about half of the salmon that attempt the journey down the Snake River in eastern Washington State towards the ocean in the early summer are lost because of the dams.
The federal agency that runs the dams, the Bonneville Power Authority, had opposed the spills, arguing that they would cost $67m (£37m) in lost generation capacity.

Iraq Creating New Breed of Jihadists, says CIA

The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could go on to destabilize other countries, according to a CIA report.
The CIA believes Iraq to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida had fought in Afghanistan.
The sobering caution came as a senior British anti-terrorism source warned that those trained in terror techniques in Iraq could use their newly-acquired skills in Britain at the end of the war.
The CIA report, completed last month, remains classified. But a CIA source yesterday confirmed that its broad conclusions, disclosed by the New York Times yesterday, were accurate.
The concern expressed in the CIA report contrasts with the optimism of US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld two years ago when he welcomed the prospect of Iraq as a magnet for jihadists.

Bill to Notify Parents Before Giving Minors Contraceptives

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Rep. Todd Akin (R-Miss.) on Tuesday introduced legislation (S 1279, HR 3011) in both the Senate and House that would require federally funded health clinics to notify the parents of any minors seeking contraception at least five days before dispensing the contraception, the Oklahoman reports. The legislation -- known as the Parents Right to Know Act -- would not require clinics to obtain parental consent. The legislation would apply to all clinics nationwide that receive federal family planning funding, according to the Oklahoman (Helm, Oklahoman, 6/22). Supporters of the measures say such legislation would keep parents involved in their teens' lives, but opponents of the bills say requiring parental notification could discourage young women from seeking reproductive health care and put them at risk for unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases (Bansal, CNSNews.com, 6/22). The legislation would affect about 4,400 health clinics that provide reproductive health services to about five million low-income and uninsured women throughout the United States. Such clinics received about $286 million in federal funds in fiscal year 2005 (Gannett/Spokane Spokesman-Review, 6/22)

Nashville Cops Targeting Gays

Since the fall of 2004, officers at the Hermitage Police Precinct have been quietly conducting a sting operation exclusively targeting gay men. Nobody there denies that. The precinct's crime suppression unit, which operates as a mini vice squad, has been working with at least one confidential informant who has been infiltrating gay chat rooms, contacting users and seeing if they're interested in exchanging drugs and cash for sex. Later, they'll lead their targets to a local apartment or hotel room where Metro police lie in wait. No informants are working straight chat rooms with the same purpose.
Sometimes the targets of the CI will be uninterested in even hearing about illegal activity and will click off the instant message window. But then the informant, who many describe as remarkably persistent, will again contact his target and resume a conversation about sex and drugs. Typically, CIs are rather shady individuals who employ a working knowledge of the criminal underworld, from drug rings to prostitution. The police enlist their help and reward them with petty cash or a favorable resolution to their current legal problems.

Bionic Arm Gives RIC Patient New Hope

"What we did is take the four major nerves that used to go down his arm and transferred them to his chest muscle," said Dr. Todd Kuiken.
Now, Sullivan can think about bending his arm or closing his hand and electrodes in his chest pick up those impulses and activate his highly experimental robotic arm.
"It's almost automatic," he said. "It's not as good as what I had before, but it is the best so far."
The transplanted nerves do more than just drive the arm, Wojciechowski said. They also carry sensations.
Kuiken and Sullivan demonstrated how a touch to various areas of the patient's chest will trigger sensation, which Sullivan feels is coming from his mechanical arm.
RIC doctors are currently experimenting with devices that let Sullivan feel what his prosthetic hand touches, as well.

US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

Investigators from the United Nations have accused the US of stalling over their repeated requests to visit detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The UN says it has evidence that torture has taken at the prison amid reports that 520 inmates have had mental breakdowns.
The UN said for over a year there had been no response to its requests to check on the condition of detainees.
The Department of Defense told BBC News the UN request is being considered.

Veterans Affairs faces $1 billion shortfall

The shortage came to light during a routine budget review. Lawmakers said they are still gathering details, but it appears health care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and poor budget forecasting contributed to the problem.
Several Democrats urged the Bush administration to push immediately for an emergency spending bill to fill this year's $1 billion deficit and prevent the VA from raiding other operations to pay for health care.

Spyware Propogator DoubleClick Angry at Ad Blocking

The end of free Internet content will come when Web browsers start blocking online advertisements by default, a DoubleClick executive has warned.
Bennie Smith, the online advertising network's privacy chief, told ZDNet Australia the popularity of tools like Adblock -- an extension to the Mozilla Firefox browser -- which makes blocking online ads simple was tied to "a negative vibe against advertising in general".
However, only the online arena is able to easily produce and widely distribute such tools, he added.
He said if a similar tool could be produced for newspapers, it would not be accepted by consumers.
"You'd go to your local corner shop and buy the daily paper, and you'd have these large holes where the ads were.
"You'd somehow feel like your 25 cents had not gotten full value," he said.
...If enough people started blocking ads, Smith warned that publishers would start charging for content.
"In an offline world, what would happen in that case is that the 25c newspaper would cost $5," he said.

Gay.com censored by Justice Dept.

What is Gay.com doing about the regulation?
* We have joined with other companies to legally challenge its enactment
* We're fighting for your civil liberties and are opposing undue government interference in individual expression
* We're fighting against regulations such as this because we know they have a disproportionate effect on historically isolated groups, such as the LGBT community

Families press CIA to release Sept. 11 report

The report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general, which is said to be in its final stages, is expected to be sent in classified form to CIA Director Porter Goss and then to the intelligence oversight committees in Congress later this summer, officials said.
But victims' relatives, whose lobbying overcame President Bush's initial resistance to the creation of the Sept. 11 commission, say they intend to step up public pressure on the CIA to release the report publicly.
"There's information in there that's supposed to really name some names and finally go for some accountability," said widow Lorie Van Auken of the group known as the Sept. 11 Advocates, a driving force behind creation of the bipartisan commission that investigated the attacks.
"Accountability would be fabulous because right now nobody's being held accountable for anything anywhere in this entire government," she said in an interview.

Tenn. investigates ex-gay camp - Teen's blog leads to outcry, charges of abuse at unlicensed facility

The state of Tennessee has begun an investigation in response to allegations of child abuse at Love in Action, a Memphis facility that advertises homosexual conversion therapy for adolescents, according to the state department of health.
K. Daniele Edwards, a spokesperson for Child Services at the Tennessee Department of Health, confirmed an investigation is underway but declined to comment on the details. She noted that she presumes the Love in Action program would require licensing by the state.
Love in Action is not licensed by the Tennessee Departments of Health, Mental Health, Human Services, Child Services or Education, according to Rachel Lassiter of Gov. Phil Bredesen's communications office.
Refuge, Love in Action's program for adolescents, became the focus of public concern earlier this month after a Bartlett, Tenn., teen who uses the blogger name Zach, posted online entries that say his parents had responded to his coming out as gay by sending him to a religious institution to be converted to heterosexuality.

Snopes: Farmer expresses dissatisfaction with crop prices by carving a message in his grain field.

Logrolling

[Flash]

Biofeedback through video helps returning troops fight post-traumatic stress disorder

"I've been doing psychotherapy for PTSD for 20 years, and my therapy has never been as effective as it is now, within the virtual reality environment," says Frey's doctor, Navy psychologist James Spira.
The virtual war, created at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, uses elements of Full Spectrum Warrior, a video game originally developed as an Army combat training tool.
Psychologists working with the military say soldiers suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder may be more amenable to such a treatment approach rather than traditional psychotherapy, often seen as too warm and fuzzy for the military's macho culture.

U.S. doctors linked to POW `torture'

Medical records compiled by doctors caring for prisoners at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay are being tapped to design more effective interrogation techniques, says an explosive new report.Doctors, nurses and medics caring for the approximately 600 prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Cuba are required to provide health information to military and CIA interrogators, according to the report in the respected New England Journal of Medicine.

Republican candidate calls Bush Admin 'Nazis,' quits party

A candidate for North Carolina Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court has announced on her campaign's blog that she is leaving the Republican Party and denounced the Bush administration's policy on troop withdrawal from Iraq. Rachel Lea Hunter, a Republican and a candidate for Chief Justice, likens Bush’s administration to the “Nazis” and says that all who disagree with the administration are being branded as “traitors”.
Hunter is an attorney in Durham, NC with the firm of Browne, Flebotte, Wilson, Horn & Webb. Hunter’s web page says she offers pre-paid legal services. Hunter ran unsuccessfully in 2004 for the North Carolina Appeals Court. She recently announced her intent to run for the Supreme Court.

Climate Scientists vs WSJ

We are disappointed that the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has chosen to yet again distort the science behind human-caused climate change and global warming in their recent editorial "Kyoto By Degrees" (6/21/05) (subscription required).
Last week, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 10 other leading world bodies expressed the consensus view that "there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring" and that "It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities". And just last week, USA Today editorialized that "not only is the science in, it is also overwhelming".
It is puzzling then that the WSJ editors could claim that "the scientific case....looks weaker all the time".
While we resist commenting on policy matters (e.g. the relative merits of the Kyoto Protocol or the various bills before the US Senate), we will staunchly defend the science against distortions and misrepresentations, be they intentional or not. In this spirit, we respond here to the scientifically inaccurate or incorrect assertions made in the editorial.

Southern Baptists Call for Investigation of Public Schools

The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday passed a resolution urging parents and churches to investigate whether their community schools promote homosexuality.
“Homosexual activists and their allies are devoting substantial resources and using political power to promote the acceptance among schoolchildren of homosexuality as a morally legitimate lifestyle,” says the resolution, compiled from two resolutions submitted by individuals prior to the June 21-22 SBC annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
Describing public schools as “an effective gateway to children’s hearts and minds,” the statement urges parents and churches to “research and monitor the entertainment and educational influences on their children.”

Fast-Tracking Nuclear Energy

Source: Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2005

In "the first time a president has stepped inside a nuclear plant since Jimmy Carter rushed to Three Mile Island in 1979 to calm public fears," George Bush visited Maryland's Calvert Cliffs plant to promote "a new era of nuclear power." Part of the president's plan is to subsidize new plants. "Three consortiums of utilities are getting $539 million in taxpayer subsidies ... to seek nuclear construction licenses." The Senate energy bill would provide a further $10.1 billion to the nuclear industry, according to Public Citizen. Another sign of nuclear resurgence, writes the Los Angeles Times, is decreased opportunities for public input. "Under the old system, a nuclear utility first had to apply for a construction license and then seek a separate operating license after completing the plant. It gave protesters two chances to tie up a utility. Now, a single license is granted at the beginning."

Reporters Press McClellan on Secret CIA Report on Iraq

Q Just following up on that question, you said at the outset of that, the terrorists have made it a central front in the war on terrorism. I thought it was a central front in the war on terrorism before we invaded.
MR. McCLELLAN: It is. It's part of the war on terrorism, yes.
Q It was.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, it is.
Q It is now --
MR. McCLELLAN: Both.
Q Was it prior to --
MR. McCLELLAN: Both. It's part of the war on terrorism, David.

The lies of Ken Tomlinson

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), faces growing criticism from supporters of public radio and public television who argue that his leadership has compromised CPB's charter to protect public broadcasting against political interference. Sixteen U.S. senators have called on President Bush to remove Tomlinson as head of CPB, charging that Tomlinson "seriously undermines the credibility and mission of public television." In the wake of a May 2 New York Times article detailing the controversy surrounding Tomlinson, he has repeatedly defended himself against allegations that he has exerted political pressure on CPB. But new documents, along with increased scrutiny of his actions, have proved several of Tomlinson's prior statements false.

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes for Private Development

A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.
The 5-4 ruling — assailed by dissenting Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as handing "disproportionate influence and power" to the well-heeled in America — was a defeat for Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They had argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.
As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

Halliburton Awarded New $1 Billion Military Contract

Halliburton Co. won a contract potentially worth more than $1 billion to support U.S. troops in the Balkans and other areas in Europe.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract was awarded to Halliburton subsidiary KBR despite ongoing allegations of overbilling by the unit, the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq. Halliburton has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Study: More Companies Terminate Pensions

About 11 percent of the big companies offering traditional pensions terminated their plans or froze accrual of new benefits to workers, according to a study by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide, released Wednesday. That is up from 2003, when 7 percent of the nation's 1,000 largest companies capped pension plans.
That trend, long in the making, has continued into this year, most notably with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines defaulting on its severely underfunded pension plans. Whether it continues could hinge on how lawmakers resolve a number of difficult questions swirling around pensions, experts say.

Pentagon begins building teen database for recruiting

The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.
The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.
The data will be managed by BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., one of many marketing firms that use computers to analyze large amounts of data to target potential customers based on their personal profiles and habits.

U.N. experts say they have reliable accounts of torture at Guantanamo

U.N. human rights experts said Thursday they have reliable accounts of detainees being tortured at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The experts also said Washington had not responded to their latest request to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the facility in eastern Cuba. That request was made in April.
U.S. officials so far have allowed only the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Guantanamo detainees. The U.N. human rights investigators have been trying to visit since 2002.

Yes, He Thinks About Iraq Every Day, But Right Now, He's Pushing to Ban Gay Marriage

Reviving a major plank of his re-election campaign, President Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Tuesday.
The president’s address to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention — the fourth year in a row he has spoken to the conservative evangelical gathering — was crafted to rally the social religious conservatives who make up a crucial part of Bush’s governing coalition. He restated his commitment to issues dear to conservatives’ hearts, notably his opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion and research on human embryonic stem cells — a stance he calls the “culture of life.”

North Korea: No nuclear weapons if U.S. treats nation as friend

North Korea said Wednesday it would not need nuclear weapons if the United States treated it like a friend, as the isolated nation joined South Korea for high-level reconciliation talks.
The bilateral meeting was shadowed by the international standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions.
"If the United States treats the North in a friendly manner, we will possess not one nuclear weapon," the North Korean delegation said, according to Kim Chun-shick, spokesman for the South Koreans.

Canada: Campaign to give army deserters refuge persists

"There's huge public support for these war resisters in Canada," Siksay said.
Joshua Key is one of dozens of U.S. soldiers who fled their army to seek refuge in Canada. After an eight-month tour in Iraq, Key said he couldn't face a return trip.
When asked whether that's not just part of the job, Key told Canada AM his Iraq tour wasn't exactly what he enlisted for.
"Everybody has a false interpretation that battle's supposed to be fought with tanks or between soldier and soldier," Key said, describing his frustration fighting a more amorphous enemy.
"It's just like you don't know what who it's going to be from one day to the next. You can't get rid of the whole population."

Chicago Tribune Columnist Causes Controversy Over Presidential Election Fraud Story

Robert Koehler likes to ask tough questions and tackle issues ignored by the press. When he asked if the 2004 Presidential election was stolen, it created a rift in the Chicago Tribune newsroom, providing an example about the sad state of media affairs existing today.

ntolerance can't survive if we don't condone it

The members of the Hillsborough County Commission who voted this past week to kick Gay Pride Week out of the public libraries do not consider themselves to be the bad guys. So screaming at them will not change their ways.
What will change their ways is for folks to be disappointed with them, and for their friends and neighbors to tell them so. That is how the world changes.
It's how we white people changed.
I was born at the end of the 1950s. In the place and the time that I grew up, it was socially acceptable for white people to be openly racist. Lots of people said N-this and N-that to each other.
Even today, open racism still exists. But in our culture it generally is not acceptable. And although part of that change came from protests and marches and laws, an essential part of the change was that racism had to become shameful among white people, and in the way they dealt with each other.
The same has to happen among straight people regarding our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters - and they are our brothers and sisters, and our children, and even our parents.

Tom Monaghan Builds a Town - A Catholic "Utopia" of Christian Laissez-Faire Economics

Bold talk... but the most dramatic part of Monaghan's speech is yet to come. Ave Maria won't be just a university, he continues. It will also be a new town, built from scratch, in which the wickedness of the world will be kept at bay. "We've already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there -- you know, they're all Catholic," Monaghan says excitedly. "We're going to control all the commercial real estate, so there's not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We're controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives." A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. "So," Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, "it'll be a unique town." As he exits the stage, the applause is thunderous.

Humvee Vulnerabilities Raise Doubts

Even the most heavily armored Humvees may be inadequate to protect U.S. troops from ever-changing insurgent tactics, the Marine Corps' second-ranking general told lawmakers Tuesday. New vehicle designs, however, would take years to develop.
The House Armed Services Committee questioned Gen. William Nyland, assistant commandant of the Marines, about how long it has taken to get armored Humvees into the field. Nyland said hundreds of new armored Humvees and armor kits to upgrade standard Humvees have been put to use or are en route to Iraq.

Marine units found to lack equipment

Marine Corps units fighting in some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq don't have enough weapons, communications gear, or properly outfitted vehicles, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps' inspector general provided to Congress yesterday.
The report, obtained by the Globe, says the estimated 30,000 Marines in Iraq need twice as many heavy machine guns, more fully protected armored vehicles, and more communications equipment to operate in a region the size of Utah.
The Marine Corps leadership has ''understated" the amount and types of ground equipment it needs, according to the investigation, concluding that all of its fighting units in Iraq ''require ground equipment that exceeds" their current supplies, ''particularly in mobility, engineering, communications, and heavy weapons."
Complaints of equipment shortages in Iraq, including lack of adequate vehicle armor, have plagued the Pentagon for months, but most of the reported shortages have been found in the Army, which makes up the bulk of the American occupation force.
The analysis of the Marines' battle readiness, however, shows that the Corps is lacking key equipment needed to stabilize Al Anbar province in western Iraq. The province is where some of the bloodiest fighting has occurred in recent months between American-led coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents aided by foreign fighters who have slipped across the border.

Lawmakers, Including Republicans, Criticize Pentagon on Disputed Billing by Halliburton

Republicans joined longtime Democratic critics in Congress on Tuesday to berate the Pentagon for withholding information about the Halliburton Corporation's disputed billing under a $2.5 billion contract for Iraqi oil site repairs and fuel imports.
Saying the Pentagon is acting as if "it has something to hide," Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said at a hearing that he would support issuing a subpoena to the Pentagon next week if the administration did not provide long-requested documents relating to the contract, which was awarded to Halliburton in early 2003 without competition.

Rand: NGOs, Networks, and Future Social Evolution

The information revolution favors the rise of network forms of organization, so much so that a coming age of networks will transform how societies are structured and interact. ...In the years ahead, the [environmental] movement's strength (and sometimes its weakness) will continue to be asserted through social network-based wars against unresponsive, misbehaving, or misguided corporate and governmental actors. …Ageing contentions that “the government” or “the market” is the solution to environmental or other particular public policy issues will give way to new ideas that “the network” is the optimal solution. The rise of network form of organization and strategy will drive long-range social evolution in radical new directions.

David Ronfelt’s explorations of information and society are based on a framework of societal evolution involving tribes, institutions, markets and networks. Modes of conflict with participants networked (as opposed to hierarchically structured) are called netwars. Many of the recent domestic and international terrorism conflicts are being fought as netwars. The civil society approach to politics and diplomacy in the network age may hinge on noopolitik, a strategy of information. [from MetaFilter.com]

Huge table gives food for thought

A table and chair the size of a house have been captivating visitors to north London's Hampstead Heath.
The 30ft (9m) sculpture, The Writer, will be on Parliament Hill for four months before returning to Italy.
The tribute to the loneliness of writing is meant to inspire visitors to the heath, which has associations with writers Keats and Coleridge.

Wiki Reviews Guantanamo Docs

A group of volunteers has begun using collaborative wiki software to expedite the process of perusing thousands of pages of complex documents related to detainees held by the U.S. government at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The group, which has coalesced through the influential liberal blog, Daily Kos, has taken it upon itself to vet documents about Gitmo detainees the American Civil Liberties Union received as a result of a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request. The organization has been slow to review the documents itself due to a lack of manpower.
Earlier this month, Susan Hu, a Daily Kos contributor, commenced the project, in which she and several co-organizers oversee volunteers who have agreed to review a manageable portion of the ACLU documents.
So far, at least 80 people have signed up, each taking responsibility for a specific set of documents and for publicly posting the results of their review. Together, volunteers hope they can make it through the more than 4,000 pages received by the ACLU and root out even the smallest signs of government misconduct which, without this project, they feel might otherwise go undiscovered.

Contra Costa supervisors to pay a $1 fine for using bureaucratic lingo

[U]nder a new policy unanimously adopted Tuesday, bureaucratic acronyms like EIR, LAFCO, ABAG and RFP will be verboten in the board chambers in Martinez, not just from the supervisors' podium but also in all written materials for board meetings.
"We throw them around all the time,'' said Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond, who proposed making Contra Costa the first county in California to adopt the anti-acronym stand. Politicians and bureaucrats there now must use phrases instead -- environmental impact report, the Local Agency Formation Commission, the Association of Bay Area Governments and Request for Proposals.