Tuesday, 30 December 2003

One Ring to Rule Them All

Check it out:

http://flash.bushrecall.org/

Posted by flow Frazao on December 30, 2003 at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 25 December 2003

Have a Rudy Ray Moore Christmas

Blogging is going to be light for the next few days. Till then, have a most Dolemite holiday.


Posted by flow Frazao on December 25, 2003 at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 22 December 2003

Can't say I blame her

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is apparently not thrilled about going under oath for the Kean 9/11 commission:

Poised to convene its first hard-hitting hearings in
January, the federal commission investigating the 9/11 attacks
continues to be at odds with the White House over access to key
information and witnesses. Two government sources tell TIME that
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is arguing over ground rules
for her appearance in part because she does not want to testify under
oath or, according to one source, in public. ...
[GOP commission member John Lehman] also suggested that the 9/11
attacks might have been prevented if mid-level government officials at
various government agencies had done their jobs. As for senior
officials like Rice or her predecessor, Clinton NSA Sandy Berger, and
their bosses, Kean said the commission was still studying whether they
share the blame. Rice could face tough questioning. One Republican
commissioner says a comment by Rice last year�that no one �could
have predicted that they would try to use a�hijacked airplane as a
missile��was "an unfortunate comment . . . that was, of course, a
wrong-footed statement on its face," given that there was years of
intelligence about Al Qaeda's interest in airplane attacks.

God DAMN Condoleeza Rice is in a shitty position. Imagine knowing that
if you don't go under oath you could be held responsible for some (if
not most, given Bush's penchant for passing the buck) of the
catastrophic failures that led to 9/11. Imagine knowing that if you
don't go under oath you're implicating yourself (according to the
media, at least) by default and essentially letting the public's
imagination run wild.
Worse yet, imagine being Condi Rice and having to get investigated
under oath about 9/11 while knowing what she knows.
I mean, I don't think I'm going out on a limb here in saying that there
are probably some well-founded reasons for her not wanting to testify.
But worst of all, imagine knowing in your heart of hearts that you made
a mistake and aligned yourself with the wrong people. Imagine looking
back on your choices and seeing that no matter what happens, your name
will always be associated with such a horrific event.
Update:
Interestingly, I was in the midst of composing an epic blog entry when
I switched to another window to do a Yahoo! search on "condoleeza rice
9/11". Check this out:
2. Condoleeza Rice Warned Willie Brown Not To Fly On 9-11

3. The Truth Seeker - Condoleeza Rice Warned Willie Brown Not To Fly...

6. News Outpost - Condoleeza Rice Warned Willie Brown Not To Fly On...

11. portland imc - 2003.08.11 - Condoleeza Rice Warned Willie Brown ...

16. The March For Justice - Condoleeza Rice Warned Willie Brown Not To Fly On 9-11

Now
I'm not saying I believe in or support this. I'm just pointing out that
in the eye of history, Condoleeza will always be viewed as suspect
unless she goes under oath. Not in all circles of course, but it seems
like more and more people are starting to think that more could have
and should have been done to prevent 9/11. Including Thomas Kean,
former Republican Governor and Bush appointee as Chair of the 9/11 Investigatory Committee:
For the first time, the chairman of the independent
commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that
9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News
Correspondent Randall Pinkston. "This is a very, very important part of
history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean. "As you read
the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done
and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that
had to happen." Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former
Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the
administration and laying blame. "There are people that, if I was doing
the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that
time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.

I probably wouldn't want to testify under oath either. That's a
horrible position to be in. But she's got to testify. It's the only way
for her to clear her name.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 22, 2003 at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bert is Evil

Why does Bert hate America?


Posted by flow Frazao on December 22, 2003 at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 21 December 2003

Saddam held captive?

About a week ago, Debka, an Israeli news/intelligence site came out with an article describing indications that Saddam was not in hiding, but a captive. They outlined a few points:

A number of questions are raised by the incredibly
bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and
pampered ruler who was discovered in a hole in the ground on Saturday,
December 13: 1. The length and state of his hair indicated he had not
seen a barber or even had a shampoo for several weeks. 2. The wild
state of his beard indicated he had not shaved for the same period 3.
The hole dug in the floor of a cellar in a farm compound near Tikrit
was primitive indeed � 6ft across and 8ft across with minimal
sanitary arrangements - a far cry from his opulent palaces. 4. Saddam
looked beaten and hungry. 5. Detained trying to escape were two
unidentified men. Left with him were two AK-47 assault guns and a
pistol, none of which were used. 6. The hole had only one opening. It
was not only camouflaged with mud and bricks � it was blocked. He
could not have climbed out without someone on the outside removing the
covering. 7. And most important, $750,000 in 100-dollar notes were
found with him (a pittance for his captors who expected a $25m
reward)� but no communications equipment of any kind, whether cell
phone or even a carrier pigeon for contacting the outside world.
According to DEBKAfile analysts, these seven anomalies point to one
conclusion: Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner.
After his last audiotaped message was delivered and aired over al
Arabiya TV on Sunday November 16, on the occasion of Ramadan, Saddam
was seized, possibly with the connivance of his own men, and held in
that hole in Adwar for three weeks or more, which would have accounted
for his appearance and condition. Meanwhile, his captors bargained for
the $25 m prize the Americans promised for information leading to his
capture alive or dead. The negotiations were mediated by Jalal
Talabani�s Kurdish PUK militia. These circumstances would explain the
ex-ruler�s docility � described by Lt.Gen. Ricardo Sanchez as
�resignation� � in the face of his capture by US forces. He must
have regarded them as his rescuers and would have greeted them with
relief. From Gen. Sanchez�s evasive answers to questions on the $25m
bounty, it may be inferred that the Americans and Kurds took advantage
of the negotiations with Saddam�s abductors to move in close and
capture him on their own account, for three reasons: A. His capture had
become a matter of national pride for the Americans. No kudos would
have been attached to his handover by a local gang of bounty-seekers or
criminals. The country would have been swept anew with rumors that the
big hero Saddam was again betrayed by the people he trusted, just as in
the war. B. It was vital to catch his kidnappers unawares so as to make
sure Saddam was taken alive. They might well have killed him and
demanded the prize for his body. But they made sure he had no means of
taking his own life and may have kept him sedated. C. During the weeks
he is presumed to have been in captivity, guerrilla activity declined
markedly � especially in the Sunni Triangle towns of Falluja, Ramadi
and Balad - while surging outside this flashpoint region � in Mosul
in the north and Najef, Nasseriya and Hilla in the south. It was
important for the coalition to lay hands on him before the epicenter of
the violence turned back towards Baghdad and the center of the Sunni
Triangle.

Today, AFP reports that Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops:
Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops only after he had
been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for
American soldiers to recover him, a British Sunday newspaper said.
Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being
betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose
daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud,
reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British
military intelligence officer. The newspaper said the full story of
events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December
13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version
peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete". A former Iraqi
intelligence officer, whom the Express did not name, told the paper
that Saddam was held prisoner by a leader of the Kurdish Patriotic
Front, which fought alongside US forces during the Iraq war, until he
negotiated a deal. The deal apparently involved the group gaining
political advantage in the region. An unnamed Western intelligence
source in the Middle East told the Express: "Saddam was not captured as
a result of any American or British intelligence. We knew that someone
would eventually take their revenge, it was just a matter of time."

Could the Bush Administration be lying about the circumstances
surrounding Saddam's capture? All I know is, they haven't done a lot to
instill much confidence in their truth-telling abilities so far.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 21, 2003 at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 20 December 2003

Dick Cheney on Gay Rights

October 5, 2000:

Q. Should a male who loves
a male and a female who loves a female have all -- all! the
constitutional rights enjoyed by every American citizen?


Cheney: The fact of the matter
is we live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody.
We don't get to choose, and shouldn't be able to choose and say, "You
get to live free, but you don't." And I think that means that people
should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to
enter into. It's really no one else's business in terms of trying to
regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard.

The next step, then, of course, is the question you ask of
whether or not there ought to be some kind of official sanction, if
you will, of the relationship, or if these relationships should be
treated the same way a conventional marriage is. That's a tougher
problem. That's not a slam dunk.

I think the fact of the matter, of course, is that matter is
regulated by the states. I think different states are likely to come
to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there
should necessarily be a federal policy in this area.

I try to be open-minded about it as much as I can, and tolerant
of those relationships. And like Joe, I also wrestle with the extent
to which there ought to be legal sanction of those relationships. I
think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and accommodate
whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into.

Every
time the issue of gay marriage or gay rights comes up, the
self-respecting Democrat should be sure to throw in a, "Well, I think
Dick Cheney put it best..."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 20, 2003 at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.S. Troops Kill 3 Police (among others), but be positive!

Good morning:

U.S. troops killed three Iraqi policemen in a shooting
likely to fuel anti-American anger. Underscoring the nervousness of
American soldiers, U.S troops opened fire on a police patrol south of
the oil-rich city of Kirkuk overnight, killing three policemen and
wounding two, said police Lieutenant Salam Zanganeh at Kirkuk Hospital.
He told Reuters the troops apparently mistook the policemen for bandits
in an area where antiquities smugglers are active. There was no
immediate comment from the U.S. military. Such incidents have spread
anti-American anger. Iraqis often complain that U.S. forces are too
aggressive on patrols and searches and are quick to pull the trigger.
Suicide bombers have staged several attacks on Iraqi police to punish
them for working with American soldiers, who hope to hand over security
to the Iraqis. Some 116 Iraqi policemen and security forces have been
killed since May 1. Police have frequently complained that U.S. troops
refuse to give them more weapons or provide protection. Saddam's arrest
has failed to ease violence in the country he once ruled with an iron
fist. Some 50 Iraqis, half of them policemen, and one U.S. soldier have
been killed since. Score settling is also claiming lives in postwar
Iraq. Gunmen in Najaf killed an eight-year-old boy and wounded his
mother on Saturday. In a separate shooting in the same southern Iraqi
city, gunmen also killed a Baath Party official. Dhamya Abbas, a
teacher said by residents to be a senior Baath Party official in Najaf
during the crushing of a 1991 Shi'ite uprising after the Gulf War over
Kuwait, was walking to school with her son when the gunmen opened fire
on them, killing him and wounding her. "I was going to school and then
I saw two people on a motorcycle shoot me with Kalashnikovs. One bullet
hit my stomach and the other one in my leg," she told Reuters from her
hospital bed. "I left the Baath Party five years ago."

I know, I know. I'm focusing too much on the negative. It's not all bad in Iraq! What about all the schools we've rebuilt?
On its corporate Web site, under a page titled "A Fresh
Start for Iraqi School Children," Bechtel Group showcases sparkling new
classrooms filled with happy, young Iraqi students.
But the reality is far different, according to Army investigators.
"In almost every case, the paint jobs were done in a hurry, causing
more damage to the appearance of the school than in terms of providing
a finish that will protect the structure," a recent Army investigation
into Bechtel's work found. "In one case, the paint job actually damaged
critical lab equipment, making it unusable."
Bechtel is one of the biggest corporate winners of U.S. contracts to
rebuild Iraq. Before the war ended, it received a $680 million contract
to fix Iraq's electrical grids, water ports and more than 1,200
schools. In October, it won an additional $350 million contract to
continue the electrical work.
According to Iraqi education officials, Bechtel budgeted about $20,000
per school for repairs. That budget may not seem like much compared to
U.S. rates, but laborers here work for $2 to $7 a day. Bechtel
subcontracted out the work to Iraqis for an undisclosed amount.
During repairs, "reports started coming in about poor quality," said
422nd Civil Affairs Battalion Maj. Linda Scharf, who was responsible
for the schools in question, and who started fielding calls from
concerned teachers and headmasters. "So I asked one of my teams to go
verify the rumors," Scharf said. "They took their digital camera, and
the reality turned out to be worse than the rumors."
What they found: The subcontractors Bechtel hired left paint everywhere
- on the floors, on desks, all over windows. The classrooms were
filthy, the school's desks and chairs were thrown out into the
playground and left, broken. Windows were left damaged, and bathrooms
that were reportedly fixed were left in broken, unsanitary condition.
"Would you allow your child to use that bathroom? I wouldn't," Scharf
said, pointing to a photograph of a stained, broken hole in a dirty,
tiled stall.
Iraqi Education Ministry city planner Israa Mohammed had received
complaints from the schools, too, and tried to get Bechtel officials to
address them before classes started, she said. But Bechtel officials
would not attend regular education ministry meetings, or answer her
questions, she said.
"Because it is an American company, they didn't allow anyone to control
them," she said.
For her part, Mohammed doesn't know what Bechtel spent the money on.
"When we see the work, it's not like that (expensive renovations) -
it's just very simple repairs," Mohammed said.
For the soldiers who've been here since the war trying to build trust
with the Iraqis, the work was insulting.
"Right now we are looking at a company who is representing the United
States, doing poor work in Iraq and allowed to get away with it,"
Scharf said. "You see the kind of work we're leaving behind, and then
of course the question comes up: Who is going to come back and fix all
this?"
In response to the complaints, the Army looked into 20 of Bechtel's
schools. In the Oct. 11 memo, it found that nine schools were left in
"poor" condition, with no electricity or bathrooms at the start of the
school year. Five were rated "fair" but still had hazardous
construction material and needed minor repairs. Four were deemed
"good," and two "outstanding," the report found.
On the "poor"-quality schools, the Army recommended that Bechtel
immediately work with school officials to see what needs to be done. If
repairs can't be made quickly in the worst-off schools, the Army
recommended using U.S. funds "to ensure at least functioning bathroom
facilities and running water."

Not only did we award Bechtel (a company with ties to Donald Rumsfeld,
George Schultz, and Caspar Weinberger) over 1 Billion dollars on a
no-bid contract, now we're going to have to foot the clean-up bill?
This is ludicrous. Bechtel overbid the contract and then paid Iraqi
subcontractors $7 a day to do the work. Now it turns out they did a
crappy job and US funds are going to be appropriated to pay Bechtel to
fix their shoddy work.
Outrageous. I work for a contracting company, and if we screw up on a
job we work for free until we've fixed our mistakes. In contrast, this was Bechtel's response to being accused of doing such a shitty job:
Bechtel said the repairs took place when school was not in
session, and that "faulty repairs" did not become evident until school
were in session. Scripps Howard New Service reports that when informed
of Bechtel's response to the Army's report, 422nd Civil Affairs
Battalion Maj. Linda Scharf, who is responsible for the schools in
question, "simply laughed out loud."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 20, 2003 at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Happy Holidays

but not too happy, dammit:


Way to bring the holiday cheer, guys.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 20, 2003 at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 19 December 2003

U.S. Studying Possible NYC Terror Threat

Oh dear:

U.S. authorities are studying a terror threat to New York
City and are "very concerned" by the volume of threats to U.S.
interests at home and overseas, a U.S. intelligence official said on
Friday.
But there was some confusion over the level of the threat, with New
York police officials saying they knew of no credible threat to the
city, site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center by
hijacked airliners.
In Washington, the White House spokesman said the Homeland Security
Department had sent out a number of warnings to security personnel
around the country in the run-up to the holiday season.
"We have remained concerned about the volume of reporting of threats
and that is why the Department of Homeland Security has sent out
several bulletins over the past few weeks to homeland security
officials and law enforcement personnel, urging all to continue be on
heightened state of alert especially as we enter the busy holiday
season," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition he not be named,
said of the reported threat to New York: "We are in the process of
trying to determine its credibility and trying to corroborate it."
"There has been a threat to New York City that we're aware of," the
official added.

I read in another article (but I can't remember where) that the threat
specifically referred to a female suicide bomber. Imagine a suicide
bomber in Times Square on NYE. Yikes.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 19, 2003 at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Stop Nader

Ralph Nader has announced he's seriously considering a Presidential
bid. Our goal in 2004 should be to stop Bush, and Nader's running will
make things that much harder. We don't need him siphoning votes away
from the Democratic candidate next November.
The Nader campaign has posted a survey here. You know what to do.

Thanks to Josh Marshall for the link.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 19, 2003 at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 18 December 2003

Quitters never win

Looks like David Kay may be stepping down from his post as Chief WMD Hunter in Iraq:

The chief of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq may be leaving his position, a U.S. intelligence official said
Thursday.
David Kay, a former U.N. weapons inspector brought in by the CIA to run
the search, is meeting with agency officials in Washington to discuss
his future, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Kay recently returned from Iraq for the holidays. His possible
departure was first reported by The Washington Post.
Since the war, Kay's search teams have found little that would validate
the Bush administration's assertions that Saddam had weapons of mass
destruction programs.

Poor guy. Hopefully his next endeavor won't be quite so difficult and
fruitless. Maybe Bush can find him something else to do. They still
haven't found Atlantis, you know. Or The Holy Grail. Maybe Mr. Kay will
head to Loch Ness with what's left of his Survey Group....

Posted by flow Frazao on December 18, 2003 at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Constitution Strikes Back

The Courts have just ruled
that the Administration must release Jose Padilla within 30 days. In
case you've forgotten, Padilla is the US citizen who has been held
incommunicado for the past 18 months as an "enemy combatant" for his
alleged role in a dirty bomb plot:

The president of the United States does not have the power
to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy
combatant, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, in a serious
setback to the bush administration's war on terror.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, said only
the U.S. Congress can authorize such detentions and it ordered the
government to release Jose Padilla from military custody within 30
days. The court said that the government can transfer Padilla, a U.S.
citizen who has been held incommunicado in a Navy prison, to a civilian
authority that can bring criminal charges against him. "Presidential
authority does not exist in a vacuum and this case involves not whether
those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the
President is obligated in the circumstances presented here to share
them with Congress," the court said. "Where, as here, the President's
power as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and the domestic rule
of law intersect, we conclude that clear congressional authorization is required for detentions of Americans on American soil...."

Odds are Padilla doesn't even know about this ruling. He has had
neither legal counsel nor contact with family for over a year and a
half. He's going to give one motherfucker of an interview when he's
freed. Assuming, of course, that the Bush Administration doesn't try to
shred the constitution any further. If prior experience is any
indication, Rove & company will do everything in their power to
keep this guy locked up indefinitely, but it looks like the wheels have
started turning.
I'm not saying this guy is innocent. I have no idea. What I do know is
that if anyone (much less an American citizen) is accused of a crime they have the right to a trial.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Here is a link to the opinions.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 18, 2003 at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 17 December 2003

9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

CBS News is reporting that the 9/11 panel personally appointed
by the Bush Administration has determined the attack was preventable.
Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey and current head
of the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks has come
forward and said those responsible for predicting and averting the
attack "simply failed":

For the first time, the chairman of the independent
commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that
9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News
Correspondent Randall Pinkston. "This is a very, very important part of
history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean. "As you read
the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done
and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that
had to happen." Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.
"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be
in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They
simply failed," Kean said. To find out who failed and why, the
commission has navigated a political landmine, threatening a subpoena
to gain access to the president's top-secret daily briefs. Those
documents may shed light on one of the most controversial assertions of
the Bush administration � that there was never any thought given to
the idea that terrorists might fly an airplane into a building. "I
don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an
airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national
security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002. "How is it possible
we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no
idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991
stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of
four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to
appoint the commission. The widows want to know why various government
agencies didn't connect the dots before Sept. 11, such as warnings from
FBI offices in Minnesota and Arizona about suspicious student pilots.
"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband
that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it,"
Breitweiser said. Kean admits the commission also has more questions
than answers. Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting
in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those
positions, Kean said, "Yes, the answer is yes. And we will." Kean
promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month
from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National
Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.

Thomas Kean is a hero for breaking ranks with the Karl Rove cabal. I've said it before,
and it bears mentioning again - September 11 happened to all of us, and
the Bush Administration has done everything in it's power to keep us
from finding out what happened that day. Of course, the stonewalling will
get much, much worse, but hopefully other Republicans will follow
Kean's lead and make an attempt to retake the party from the hands of
the neocons currently in power.
I mean fer Chrissakes. If this guy gets re-elected it means the
republic has failed. Perhaps because of a populace that's too apathetic
or lazy to bother, perhaps due to a media with absolutely no sense of
responsibility, or any number of other reasons. But mark my words -
what happens during the coming year will define America for a long,
long time. I just hope this country can pull itself together in time.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 17, 2003 at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What's the difference?

Somebody finally asked Bush about WMDs (and didn't let him off the hook with a soundbite). Look what happened:

DIANE SAWYER: Fifty percent of the American people have
said that they think the administration exaggerated the evidence going
into the war with Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, connection to
terrorism. Are the American people wrong? Misguided? PRESIDENT BUSH:
The intelligence I operated one was good sound intelligence, the same
intelligence that my predecessor operated on. The � there is no doubt
that Saddam Hussein was a threat. The � otherwise the United Nations
might � wouldn't a passed, you know, resolution after resolution
after resolution, demanding that he disarm. ... I first went to the
United Nations, September the 12th, 2002, and said you've given this
man resolution after resolution after resolution. He's ignoring them.
You step up and see that he honor those resolutions. Otherwise you
become a feckless debating society. ... And so for the sake of peace
and for the sake of freedom of the Iraqi people, for the sake of
security of the country, and for the sake of the credibility of institu
� in � international institutions, a group of us moved, and the
world is better for it. DIANE SAWYER: But let me try to ask � this
could be a long question. ... ... When you take a look back, Vice
President Cheney said there is no doubt, Saddam Hussein has weapons of
mass destruction, not programs, not intent. There is no doubt he has
weapons of mass destruction. Secretary Powell said 100 to 500 tons of
chemical weapons and now the inspectors say that there's no evidence of
these weapons existing right now. The yellow cake in Niger, in Niger.
George Tenet has said that shouldn't have been in your speech.
Secretary Powell talked about mobile labs. Again, the intelligence �
the inspectors have said they can't confirm this, they can't
corroborate. PRESIDENT BUSH: Yet. DIANE SAWYER: � an active �
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yet. DIANE SAWYER: Is it yet? PRESIDENT BUSH: But what
David Kay did discover was they had a weapons program, and had that,
that � let me finish for a second. Now it's more extensive than, than
missiles. Had that knowledge been examined by the United Nations or had
David Kay's report been placed in front of the United Nations, he, he,
Saddam Hussein, would have been in material breach of 1441, which meant
it was a causis belli. And look, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein
was a dangerous person, and there's no doubt we had a body of evidence
proving that, and there is no doubt that the president must act, after
9/11, to make America a more secure country. DIANE SAWYER: Again, I'm
just trying to ask, these are supporters, people who believed in the
war who have asked the question. PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, you can keep
asking the question and my answer's gonna be the same. Saddam was a
danger and the world is better off cause we got rid of him. DIANE
SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass
destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire
those weapons still � PRESIDENT BUSH: So what's the difference? DIANE
SAWYER: Well � PRESIDENT BUSH: The possibility that he could acquire
weapons. If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger. That's,
that's what I'm trying to explain to you. A gathering threat, after
9/11, is a threat that needed to be de � dealt with, and it was done
after 12 long years of the world saying the man's a danger. And so we
got rid of him and there's no doubt the world is a safer, freer place
as a result of Saddam being gone. DIANE SAWYER: But, but, again, some,
some of the critics have said this combined with the failure to
establish proof of, of elaborate terrorism contacts, has indicated that
there's just not precision, at best, and misleading, at worst.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Look � what � what we based our evidence on
was a very sound National Intelligence Estimate. ... DIANE SAWYER:
Nothing should have been more precise? PRESIDENT BUSH: What � I, I
� I made my decision based upon enough intelligence to tell me that
this country was threatened with Saddam Hussein in power. DIANE SAWYER:
What would it take to convince you he didn't have weapons of mass
destruction? PRESIDENT BUSH: Saddam Hussein was a threat and the fact
that he is gone means America is a safer country. DIANE SAWYER: And if
he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction [inaudible] � PRESIDENT
BUSH: Diane, you can keep asking the question. I'm telling you � I
made the right decision for America � DIANE SAWYER: But- PRESIDENT
BUSH: � because Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction,
invaded Kuwait. ... But the fact that he is not there is, means
America's a more secure country.

It's plainly obvious that Bush doesn't have any talking points on the
subject of WMD. Seeing as that was the primary justification for
preemptive action against Iraq, it's a pretty big deal that they
haven't show up.
I realize it's not always a good idea to bring up "the past" in
debates, but the massive intelligence/diplomacy failure is relevant due
to the restructuring of America's foreign policy. If this mistake was
made once under the doctrine of preemption then what's to stop it from
happening again? We as a country need to find out what went wrong in
the rush to war with Iraq, and it's obvious that Bush feels very
uncomfortable discussing it.
Furthermore, that whole "what's the difference" line is not going to
cut it. There is a HUGE difference between having WMDs and having a WMD
"program". Suggesting the two are equivalent is absolutely retarded.
All I'm saying is if Diane Sawyer can make W squirm like this, just
imagine what the democratic nominee will do.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 17, 2003 at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weak mercury standards compromise a generation's health

Yet another disastrous offensive against the American people:

I can't tell whether this administration is flaunting its
cynicism, its contempt for science or its conviction that when in power
you help your contributors and fry your enemies. Although how millions
of small children and unborn fetuses came to be enemies of Bush &
Co. is beyond my political or theological understanding. We are talking
about the rollback announced last week in regulating mercury pollution.
Except, of course, it wasn't announced as a rollback, it was announced
as a great step forward. This raises the always timely question, "How dumb do they think we are?" and this time the answer is "profoundly dumb,"
because it is real hard to get fooled by this one. You look at the
numbers and tell me. Mercury is a neurotoxin that damages the brains
and nervous systems of fetuses and young children, and probably affects
adults as well. It is one of the suspected, though not proven, causes
of recent increases in autism, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It is known
to cause learning and attention disabilities and mental retardation.
Eight percent of American women of childbearing age already have
mercury in their blood above the EPA's "safe level." Mercury emissions
from power plants get into rain clouds and come down in lakes and
rivers, there poisoning fish and the people who eat them. Coal-fired
power plants are the largest source of mercury, spewing 50 tons a year
into the air, about 40 percent of the total. In December 2000, the
Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding requiring the maximum
amount of technically achievable reduction in mercury. This was
expected to result in a 90 percent mercury reduction by 2007. Instead,
the new EPA proposals downgrade mercury emissions -- particularly
mercury emissions from the utility industry -- by taking it out of the
"hazardous pollutant" category. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Simply by implementing the laws already on the books, annual mercury
emissions from power plants could be reduced to 5 tons annually by
2007. But Bush's EPA last week introduced a new plan to cap emission at
34 tons a year by 2010 and then 15 tons by 2018. This means hundreds of
more tons of mercury discharged over the next 15 years, and that many
more children born brain-damaged. I'd really like to know if John
Graham, Bush's cost-benefit guru at the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, factored in the cost of special ed, health care and
caretaking for those kids. The good news is this will save the utility
industry hundreds of millions of dollars -- worth every retarded child,
eh? Besides, the coal industry contributed more than $250,000 to Bush's
last campaign, and you didn't. John Walke, clean air director of the
Natural Resource Defense Council, called it "a grotesque giveaway." The
truth is, the EPA is doing nothing about mercury pollution. The
decrease to 34 tons a year is a byproduct of new filtering requirements
for nitrogen (causes smog) and sulfur dioxide (causes acid rain), which
aren't much to write home about, either. Mike Leavitt, new head of the
EPA, defended the proposal as an emissions-trading program, like the
one that has reduced acid rain. But the Environmental Defense Fund,
which has endorsed the use of market-based, cap-and-trade systems for
reducing some pollutants, is appalled by the mercury decision and
apparently not comforted by the EPA's decision to change mercury's
classification.


And in a nicely timed bit of Administration news:

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is
expected today to approve a dietary advisory for eating
mercury-contaminated fish that fails to adequately warn consumers,
according to NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council).
The advisory tells consumers to eat no more than 12 ounces of fish per week to avoid dangerous levels of mercury.
It also points out that some fish, particularly canned albacore tuna,
contain dangerous levels of mercury. But the advisory fails to tell
consumers which fish are the most contaminated and should be avoided.
"FDA is refusing to name names," said Linda E. Greer, Ph.D., director
of NRDC's Health and Environment Program. "It's not telling us which
fish we can eat without worry and which fish we should avoid.
...
FDA recently released test results that found canned albacore "white"
tuna has three times the mercury level in canned "light" tuna. The
levels of mercury in albacore tuna are so high that adults should eat
less than one serving a week to stay under EPA's safe dose for mercury,
says Dr. Greer. Children, she says, should not eat albacore tuna at
all.
"The Bush administration is more concerned about protecting the tuna
industry than protecting our children," charged Greer. "By withholding
the identity of key fish, the Bush FDA is hiding the most important
information from consumers."
Specifically, the FDA proposal fails to adequately inform consumers for
a number of reasons, including:

  • Although the proposal states that some fish species have more
    mercury than others, it does not name the most highly contaminated fish
    besides for the four FDA identified in 2001: shark, swordfish, king
    mackerel and tile fish. It leaves out tuna, specifically canned
    albacore tuna and tuna steaks, which have very high concentrations of
    mercury. It also leaves out grouper and orange roughy, two popular fish
    dinner entrees.


  • The proposal does not tell consumers how much tuna they can safely
    eat. This is critical. Canned tuna accounts for 25 percent to 35
    percent of all seafood consumption in the United States. American
    children eat more than twice as much tuna as any other fish.


  • The proposal states that adults can safely eat as much as 12 ounces
    of a variety of fish per week. This advice is unscientific. If a woman
    with a typical weight of 132 pounds ate 12 ounces of canned albacore
    tuna per week, for example, she would ingest nearly three times EPA's
    safe dose, according to FDA data. If she ate just one standard 6-ounce
    can of albacore tuna a week, she would still exceed the EPA safe level
    by more than one-and-a-half times.


  • The proposal states that children should eat less than 12 ounces of
    fish, but does not indicate how much less. A 22-pound toddler who eats
    only 2 ounces of albacore tuna a week would ingest nearly three times
    the EPA safe level. For an 88-pound child, 6 ounces would be twice
    EPA's safe level. By telling consumers that children should eat less
    but not exactly how much less, FDA is providing advice that is of no
    real use to consumers. Parents need to know exactly how much less
    albacore tuna their children should eat.


  • The proposal tells consumers not to worry about mercury if they eat
    12 ounces or less of a variety of fish a week, without acknowledging
    that there are many combinations of fish that consumers cannot safely
    eat together during the same week, according to the agency's own data.
    FDA data tables indicate that not all combinations are safe.


  • Finally, the proposal does not identify for consumers those fish
    that are low in mercury, which include salmon, shrimp, clams, tilapia,
    oysters, crawfish and sardines. The proposal does nothing to guide
    consumers to make smart choices.


While the Food and Drug Administration recently released test results
that found canned albacore "white" tuna has three times the mercury
level in canned "light" tuna, the agency is unwilling to give consumers
specific information about safe amounts of tuna -- or any other fish --
to eat. Below NRDC has provided an easy-to-use table so consumers can
make informed choices about how often they can safely eat tuna. The
table is based on FDA test results and safe levels determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency.


































































Body weight in pounds Frequency a person can safely consume one 6 oz. can of albacore white tuna (based on the EPA "safe" level) Frequency a person can safely consume one 6 oz. can of light tuna (based on the EPA "safe" level)
11 1 can/4 mos 1 can/6 wks
22 1 can/2 mos 1 can/23 days
33 1 can/5 wks 1 can/2 wks
44 1 can/4 wks 1 can/12 days
55 1 can/3 wks 1 can/9 days
66 1 can/3 wks 1 can/8 days
77 1 can/3 wks 1 can/wk
88 1 can/2 wks 1 can/6 days
99 1 can/2 wks 1 can/5 days
110 1 can/12 days 1 can/5 days
121 1 can/11 days 1 can/4 days
132 1 can/10 days 1 can/4 days
143 1 can/9 days 1 can/4 days
154 1 can/9 days 1 can/3 days
165 1 can/8 days 1 can/3 days
176 1 can/wk 1 can/3 days
187 1 can/wk 1 can/3 days
198 1 can/wk 1 can/3 days
209 1 can/6 days 1 can/2 days
220 1 can/6 days 1 can/2 days

Posted by flow Frazao on December 17, 2003 at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bush's Yellowstone Snowmobile Plan Stalls

Good:

The National Park Service must revive a plan, scrapped by
the Bush administration, to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand
Teton national parks, a federal judge ordered Tuesday. U.S. District
Judge Emmet Sullivan said the Bush administration should not have set
aside a Clinton administration plan that would have banned snowmobiles
in favor of mass-transit snow coaches, which would reduce pollution in
the parks.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 17, 2003 at 06:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 16 December 2003

This close to a Pakistani power vacuum

Pervez Musharraf, the current President of Pakistan, barely escaped an assasination attempt
yesterday. A very advanced assasination attempt, by all accounts. The
people who almost pulled this off are not amateurs. They know that
without Musharraf Pakistan would most likely fall into the hands of
religious extremists in the same manner as Iran and Afghanistan. Try to
imagine what would happen if the nuclear state of Pakistan was taken
over by an Osama bin Laden. We're talking real weapons of mass destruction here, not those imaginary fake ones:

"The 'very expert men' who tried to assassinate Pakistan's
president used a sophisticated bomb with an estimated 550 pounds of
explosives planted in five places under a bridge - but it blew up
seconds too late, officials said Tuesday.
Investigators have yet to identify any suspects in Sunday evening's
attack, which caused no injuries but cast an ominous shadow over
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the future of a country divided
over the war on terrorism.
It also focused attention on the fact that there is no clear successor
to Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who has angered hard-liners by reversing
Pakistan's support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the
Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Musharraf says homegrown religious extremists were the most likely
perpetrators, but preliminary reports of the sophistication and scale
of the bomb have raised the possibility that outside terrorist groups
such as al-Qaida may have been involved."


Posted by flow Frazao on December 16, 2003 at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What is it with Bush and the death penalty?

Executing minors and the mentally retarded apparently isn't enough for Bush. He now says that Saddam deserves the death penalty as well:

Bush made clear in an interview with ABC News 'Primetime'
that what happens to Saddam will be decided by the Iraqi people, in the
wake of Saddam's capture by U.S. troops on Saturday. 'Let's just see
what penalty he gets, but I think he ought to receive the ultimate
penalty ... for what he has done to his people,' Bush said in excerpts
from the interview to be broadcast on Tuesday night. 'He is a torturer,
a murderer, and they had rape rooms, and this is a disgusting tyrant
who deserves justice, the ultimate justice. But that will be decided
not by the president of the United States, but by the citizens of Iraq
in one form or another,' Bush said. A White House official said Bush
was referring to the death penalty."

No doubt, Saddam was an evil motherfucker. He will go down in history
alongside Stalin, Pol Pot, and Hitler. But in the spirit of Lord of the
Rings mania let's pass the mic to Gandalf:
"Many who live deserve to die,
and some who die deserve to live.

Can you give it to them, Frodo?

Do not be too quick to deal out death and judgement."

Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 16, 2003 at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Let's hope they don't have a doctrine of pre-emption

An unidentified flying object was sighted hovering over a quiet village in northern Kedah state near the Thai border, the second such sighting there in two years(AFP/File)

Posted by flow Frazao on December 16, 2003 at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Busy week

Updates are going to be few and far between this week. I actually have some work to do. In the meantime, check out Atrios, Billmon, and Kos
for all your bloggy goodness.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 16, 2003 at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 15 December 2003

Finally, the truth will be revealed

I just realized - now that we've got Saddam we can ask him the one
question that's been on everyone's mind for the past 5 years. Not
WMD's. Not connections to 9/11. Mass graves and such will be all
cleared up in due course. What we all really want to know is:

Has Saddam Hussein seen the South Park movie?
If
he has, what did he think? If he hasn't seen it yet can we please
schedule a screening ASAP? Instead of showing that clip of him with the
flashlight in his mouth let's get some of the real action. I want to
see the expression on his face as he watches himself wave a big pink
dildo at Satan.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 15, 2003 at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very Interesting

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 - U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood held his thumb and forefinger slightly apart and said, "We're this close" to catching Saddam Hussein. Once that's accomplished, Iraqi resistance will fall apart, said the five-term Republican congressman from Peoria who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. A member of The Pantagraph editorial board -- not really expecting an answer -- asked LaHood for more details, saying, "Do you know something we don't?" "Yes I do," replied LaHood. ... LaHood said polls still show most Americans support the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Then he added, "Once we get Saddam ... and we're this close."
Hmmm....

Posted by flow Frazao on December 15, 2003 at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 12 December 2003

U.N. May Have to Abandon Afghan Effort

This does not bode well for Afghanistan's future:

The United Nations may be forced to abandon its two-year
effort to stabilize Afghanistan because of rising violence blamed on
the resurgent Taliban, its top official here warned Friday in an
interview with The Associated Press.
Lakhdar Brahimi said his team could not continue its work unless
security improves. He called for more foreign troops to halt attacks
that have killed at least 11 aid workers across the south and east
since March.
"Countries that are committed to supporting Afghanistan cannot kid
themselves and cannot go on expecting us to work in unacceptable
security conditions," Brahimi said.
"They seem to think that our presence is important here. Well, if they
do, they have got to make sure that the conditions for us to be here
are there," he said. "If not, we will go away."

If the UN pulls out of Afghanistan it will effectively isolate US
forces in that country. So far terrorists (or whatever you want to call
them) have successfully driven the UN, the Red Cross, and the South
Koreans out of Iraq and if they manage to do the same in Afghanistan it
will be a huge blow to the War on Terra. If the Bush Cabal has any
sense they'll bend over backwards to ensure a UN commitment to getting
Afghanistan up and running.
Of course, if the Bush Cabal had any sense the ratio of countries
destroyed to countries rebuilt would be a whole lot closer to 1 by now.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 12, 2003 at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Some die, others profit

From the Des Moines Register Editorial page

War profiteering has long been despised by Americans, and
Halliburton's outrageous contract in Iraq ought to reopen that vein of
moral outrage. Your government is paying the company more than twice
what others are paying to bring in fuel from Kuwait, the New York Times
reported Wednesday.
Halliburton's defense of its pricing - that it's a costly, dangerous
undertaking and that the company can only negotiate a 30-day contract
for fuel - isn't convincing.
Not when the United States is paying Halliburton an average of $2.64 a
gallon to import gasoline from Kuwait while Iraq's state oil company
pays 96 cents a gallon and the Pentagon's Defense Energy Support Center
pays $1.08 to $1.19 a gallon.
Halliburton has an exclusive contract. Vice President Dick Cheney is
the former chief executive officer of the company. This may well be
legal, but that doesn't mean it is proper.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 12, 2003 at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 11 December 2003

Wrists will be slapped for this one

Pentagon Finds Halliburton Overcharged

A Pentagon investigation has found overcharging and other
violations in a $15.6 billion Iraq reconstruction contract awarded to
Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, a defense official said
Thursday.
An ongoing audit of Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root subsidiary
found substantial overcharging for fuel and other items, the official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The problems go beyond
overcharging, the official said, declining to elaborate.

These guys are going to be in biiiiiiig trouble. They'll probably be fined thousands of dollars.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 11, 2003 at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

One-Third of New Iraqi Soldiers Quit - Pentagon Officials Scratch Heads

Yet another great plan falls apart:

Efforts to create a new Iraqi army to help take over the
country's security have suffered a setback with the resignations of a
third of the soldiers trained so far, Pentagon officials say.
Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the army's first 700-man battalion
lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin
operations this month, officials said Wednesday. "We are aware that a
third ... has apparently resigned and we are looking into that in order
to ensure that we can recruit and retain high-quality people for a new
Iraqi army," said Lt. Col. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman. It was
unclear exactly why they abandoned their new jobs, though some had
complained that the starting salary -- $60 a month for privates -- was
too low, officials said.

Or maybe they've been threatened with death
if they help the Americans. Do I really need to point this shit out?
Rumsfeld might call them a "new Iraqi army", but ordinary Iraqis call
them TRAITORS:
Two hours before the dawn call to prayer, in a village
still shrouded in silence, Sabah Kerbul's executioners arrived. His
father carried an AK-47 assault rifle, as did his brother. And with
barely a word spoken, they led the man accused by the village of
working as an informer for the Americans behind a house girded with fig
trees, vineyards and orange groves. His father raised his rifle and
aimed it at his oldest son. "Sabah didn't try to escape," said Abdullah
Ali, a village resident. "He knew he was facing his fate." The story of
what followed is based on interviews with Kerbul's father, brother and
five other villagers who said witnesses told them about the events. One
shot tore through Kerbul's leg, another his torso, the villagers said.
He fell to the ground still breathing, his blood soaking the parched
land near the banks of the Tigris River, they said. His father could go
no further, and according to some accounts, he collapsed. His other son
then fired three times, the villagers said, at least once at his
brother's head. Kerbul, a tall, husky 28-year-old, died. "It wasn't an
easy thing to kill him," his brother Salah said. In his simple home of
cement and cinder blocks, the father, Salem, nervously thumbed black
prayer beads this week as he recalled a warning from village residents
earlier this month. He insisted his son was not an informer, but he
said his protests meant little to a village seething with anger. He
recalled their threat was clear: Either he kill his son, or villagers
would resort to tribal justice and kill the rest of his family in
retaliation for Kerbul's role in a U.S. military operation in the
village in June, in which four people were killed. "I have the heart of
a father, and he's my son," Salem said. "Even the prophet Abraham
didn't have to kill his son." He dragged on a cigarette. His eyes
glimmered with the faint trace of tears. "There was no other choice,"
he whispered.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 11, 2003 at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Shocker

Scalia halts execution

The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution Wednesday of a
condemned inmate who was part of a lawsuit that challenged one of the
drugs used to carry out the death sentence. Kevin Lee Zimmerman won his
reprieve about 20 minutes before he could have been put to death for a
fatal stabbing and robbery at a Beaumont motel in 1987. In a brief
order, Justice Antonin Scalia stopped the punishment pending an
additional order from him or the court. ...
Citing the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual
punishment, the lawsuit sought to stop use of pancuronium bromide - a
drug that paralyzes muscles. Texas, the first state to execute
condemned inmates by injection, uses a combination of three drugs:
pancuronium bromide, the barbiturate sodium thiopental and potassium
chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 11, 2003 at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Just like Law & Order, isn't it?

Hamburg Sept. 11 Suspect Ordered Freed

German court on Thursday ordered a Moroccan accused of
supporting the Sept. 11 al-Qaida cell in Hamburg freed from custody
based on new evidence that only the three Hamburg-based suicide
hijackers and their purported al-Qaida liaison were involved in the
plot.
Abdelghani Abelghani Mzoudi's four-month-old trial on charges of 3,066
counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist
organization continued despite the decision. Prosecutors allege he
helped the suicide hijackers with logistics, and he faces a possible 15
years in prison if convicted.
The order to free Mzoudi was effective immediately, but prosecutors
said they would appeal and he remained in custody. The trial was
resuming Thursday afternoon. Mzoudi did not react when the order to
release him after 14 months in custody was announced.

Detroit Terror Case in Danger of Reversal
The Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11
prosecution, which broke up an al-Qaida cell in Detroit, is in danger
of unraveling after the Justice Department divulged it had failed to
turn over evidence that might have helped the defense. The evidence
includes a letter from an imprisoned drug gang leader who alleges the
government's key witness confided he made up some of his story.
The December 2001 letter, which could have been used by defense lawyers
to challenge the prosecution witness during the trial this spring,
wasn't turned over until a couple of weeks ago.
The defendants are now asking that their convictions be overturned, and
the judge has scheduled an emergency hearing Friday to demand an
explanation from the government.
"It has come to the attention of the court that the government has
recently provided defendants with certain material that was not
provided to defendants either prior to or during trial of this matter,"
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen said in ordering the hearing.
Senior law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday
the Justice Department is concerned how the judge will rule and will
acknowledge that its prosecutors erred.
Under the Supreme Court's Brady v. Maryland ruling, prosecutors are
obligated to turn over all evidence that can be used to impeach the
testimony of prosecution witnesses or to prove innocence.
...
The dramatic turnabout in a case that was one of the administration's
early successes in the war on terror is further complicated by
discussions between Congress and the Justice Department over whether
the lead trial prosecutor is entitled to whistleblower protection.
Officials said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino has raised
concerns the Justice Department was retaliating against him
for complying with a subpoena and providing testimony to Congress from
himself and Hmimssa on how easy it is for terrorists to obtain false
identification.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 11, 2003 at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 10 December 2003

How Charming

How is it possible that this
is allowed to happen? I would have thought that as decent human beings
we could at least afford the civilians we kill the dignity of being
COUNTED, but apparently not:

Iraq's Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of
civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not
to release figures compiled so far, the official who oversaw the count
told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The order was relayed by the ministry's director of planning, Dr. Nazar
Shabandar, but the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which
oversees the ministry, also wanted the counting to stop, said Dr.
Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry's statistics department. "We
have stopped the collection of this information because our minister
didn't agree with it," she said, adding: "The CPA doesn't want this to
be done." A spokesman for the CPA had no immediate response.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 10, 2003 at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

US pays Halliburton twice what it pays other companies to import fuel to Iraq

he United States government is paying the Halliburton Company an average of $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline and other fuel to Iraq from Kuwait, more than twice what others are paying to truck in Kuwaiti fuel, government documents show. Halliburton, which has the exclusive United States contract to import fuel into Iraq, subcontracts the work to a Kuwaiti firm, government officials said. But Halliburton gets 26 cents a gallon for its overhead and fee, according to documents from the Army Corps of Engineers. ... A company's profits on the transport and sale of gasoline are usually razor-thin, with companies losing contracts if they overbid by half a penny a gallon. Independent experts who reviewed Halliburton's percentage of its gas importation contract said the company's 26-cent charge per gallon of gas from Kuwait appeared to be extremely high. "I have never seen anything like this in my life," said Phil Verleger, a California oil economist and the president of the consulting firm PK Verleger LLC. "That's a monopoly premium � that's the only term to describe it. Every logistical firm or oil subsidiary in the United States and Europe would salivate to have that sort of contract."
More here.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 10, 2003 at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 09 December 2003

Inform Lord Vader the Mission has been Accomplished

This US Department of Defense handout image shows a soldier in a lightweight uniform with advanced technological capabilities that researchers say will make troops safer and more formidable on the battlefield.(AFP/DOD-HO)

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

You can't make a justice omelette without breaking some freedom eggs

The terrorism dragnet cast after September 11 has ensnared 6,400 suspects nationwide, but has led to only a handful of convictions for plotting terrorist acts, according to a review of federal investigations released Sunday. The review found nearly 2,700 of the cases have already been concluded, yielding 879 convictions, mostly for immigration violations and other minor offenses. Only an unspecified few have been charged with crimes directly related to terrorism. Just 23 cases have led to prison sentences of five years or more, about the same number as in the two years before the attacks.
So according to this article, roughly three-tenths of one percent of those the United States has accused of terrorism have been proven to be somehow linked to terrorism. At this rate, our Homeland will be Secure in approximately 8.1 million years.

I'm feeling safer already.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dean vs. McGovern

As I'm sure you know by now, Gore has backed Howard Dean
for the Democratic nominee in '04. I've pretty much stayed out of the
primary scene - I felt like any of the front-runners were electable,
and as far as I'm concerned they're ALL better than W.
However now it seems like Dean's got a lock on the nomination. I think
it's great, and I think what he's done as far as populist support and
use of the internet is just as promising as most of his policy.
Granted, I disagree with his opinion on guns and the death penalty, but
after four years of Bush I'm inclined to compromise on these issues
until 2008. Dean is fiscally responsible and he's not completely
beholden to special interest groups, and that's more than enough for me
in '04.
I fear the biggest danger to the Dean campaign is that people in his
own party don't take him seriously. I constantly hear Democrats making
comparisons between him and George McGovern, who lost the election to
Nixon in 1972 by a landslide. And you know what? I think there are a
lot of parallels between them. And I wouldn't want it any other way.
Dean and McGovern both represent hope running against hype. A lot of
people are excited about Dean in the same way they were about McGovern,
and it's not just that he's "not so bad" (as was the case with Gore).
He's downright inspiring
when you hear him speak. He knows what he's talking about, and he's not
afraid to say it. And damn if he doesn't say it loud. I believe that
given financial parity with Bush's campaign (which Dean WILL have),
he'll be able to run on the issues. And as everyone knows, Bush doesn't
have shit when it comes to reality. Take away the smoke, the mirrors,
the aircraft carriers, and the thanksgiving turkeys and what you're
left with is the economy, Iraq, and 9/11 (one word: coverup).
If Dean sticks to the truth then Bush doesn't stand a chance.
Finally, I suspect that the vast majority of people who voted for Nixon
in 1972 learned their lesson. Since then how many of them have thought
"Man, if I had that to do over again..."

Well here's your chance. Don't blow it this time.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Guvernator moves on

Not surprisingly, Arnold has decided he's not going to bother investigating charges against him after all:

Just weeks after vowing to investigate allegations of
sexual harassment against him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has changed
his mind, saying it's ``time to move on.''
More than a dozen allegations of harassment and groping surfaced
against the movie-star-turned-politician in the last days of the recall
campaign, prompting Schwarzenegger to acknowledge that he had sometimes
``behaved badly'' on ``rowdy movie sets.'' He apologized to anyone he
may have offended, a mea culpa his communications director reiterated
Monday.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Oy.

An Iraqi boy holds an anti-American leaflet during a demonstration against the killing of Sheik Abdel Razzaq al-Lami by U.S. troops, December 9, 2003 in central Baghdad. Some 300 Iraqis protested over the killing of the Shi'ite cleric, who was killed by a U.S. tank last Friday while standing next to his car, witnesses said. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Merry Christmas - Suckers!

Ho ho ho:

Citing
the improving economy, Republicans decided Monday against extending
federal unemployment benefits before Congress leaves for the year.
Democrats said it would mean a joyless Christmas for tens of thousands
of jobless Americans. ...
[T]he 57,000 jobs the country added in November didn't come close to
equaling the 150,000-person growth in the job population. [T]here are
8.7 million unemployed Americans today, and some 2 million have been
jobless for more than 26 weeks, the highest percentage of long-term
unemployment since 1983. After the federal program begins to be phased
out, some 80,000 to 90,000 jobless workers a week will be cut off after
exhausting state benefits.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Fed-up states defy Washington

Here's an interesting article
from USA Today discussing how states have begun circumventing the
federal government in order to solve their own problems. Normally I'd
never link to an article off the McPaper, but this one's actually
pretty good.

A new era of activism by state governments has arrived.
Unhappy with what's happening in Washington, governors, legislatures
and state attorneys general are leading a charge to set the national
agenda on issues from health care to pollution control to securities
regulation.
The New York attorney general has been a leader in the investigation of
Wall Street corruption. Northeastern states have sued the federal
government over acid rain caused by air pollution generated in the
South and Midwest. And many states are attacking high prescription-drug
prices.
The new initiatives are largely liberal challenges to conservative
policies adopted in Washington by the Republican-controlled Congress
and White House. The activist states, mostly in the North and West,
have the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and other institutions on
the defensive in a way that threatens to undermine interest groups'
political success in the nation's capital.

I don't have time today to write any commentary, but this really sums it up:
Maine has been among the most aggressive states in tackling
national issues, through legislation and lawsuits.
It joined 11 other states in suing the Bush administration in October
for interpreting an old law so that coal-fired power plants can replace
equipment without installing new pollution controls. This means that
power plants in the South and Midwest will keep producing pollution
blamed for causing acid rain in the Northeast. The EPA proposed rules
last week to reduce such pollution.
"What are we supposed to do, let our citizens get sick or die because
the EPA won't enforce the Clean Air Act?" Maine Attorney General Steve
Rowe says. "Are the American people better off because attorneys
general have acted? You bet they are. What bothers people is we're
getting results."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 08 December 2003

On glaciers and global warming

I just finished reading Bill Bryson's A Walk In the Woods
in preparation for hiking part of the Appalachian Trail next autumn.
It's an excellent book - highly recommended regardless of whether or
not you're planning to hike the AT.
Just wanted to share the following passage with you. I found it
fascinating:

"No one knows much of anything about the earth's many ice
ages - why they came, why they stopped, when they may return. One
interesting theory, given our present-day concerns with global warming,
is that the ice ages were caused not by falling temperatures but by
warming ones. Warm weather would increase precipitation, which would
increase cloud cover, which would lead to less snow melt at higher
elevations. You don't need a great deal of bad weather to get an ice
age. As Gwen Schultz notes in Ice Age Lost, "It is not
necessarily the amount of snow that causes ice sheets, but the fact
that snow, however little, lasts." In terms of precipitation, she
observes, Antarctica "is the driest large area on Earth, drier overall
than any large desert."
Here's another interesting thought. If glaciers started reforming, they
have a great deal more water now to draw on - Hudson Bay, the Great
Lakes, the hundreds of thousands of lakes of Canada, none of which
existed to fuel the last ice sheet - so they would grow very much
quicker. And if they did start to advance again, what exactly would we
do? Blast them with TNT or maybe nuclear warheads? Well, doubtless we
would, but consider this. In 1964, the largest earthquake ever recorded
in North America rocked Alaska with 200,000 megatons of concentrated
might, the equivalent of 2,000 nuclear bombs. Almost 3,000 miles away
in Texas, water sloshed out of swimming pools. A street in Anchorage
fell twenty feet. The quake devastated 24,000 square miles of
wilderness, much of it glaciated. And what effect did all this might
have on Alaska's glaciers? None."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 8, 2003 at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The pot vs. the kettle

White House expresses concern about fairness of Russian elections:

Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory
in parliamentary balloting, but the White House expressed concern
Monday over the election's fairness and human rights officials
condemned the vote as a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms.

Is this for real? Could the Bush Administration honestly have the
audacity to "express concerns" about whether an election is fair and
democratic enough?
Wait, maybe Bush thinks the Russian election was TOO fair. Ahhh, now it
kinda makes sense.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 8, 2003 at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 07 December 2003

Because one fake news channel is simply not enough

And you thought Fox News had the psychotic-agenda-masquerading-as-news
market cornered:

Hoping to spend as much as it wants on next year's
elections, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a
television or radio station and declare that it should be treated as a
news organization, exempt from spending limits in the campaign finance
law. "We're looking at bringing a court case that we're as legitimate a
media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time-Warner," the NRA's executive
vice president, Wayne LaPierre, told The Associated Press. "Why should
they have an exclusive right to relay information to the public, and
why should not NRA be considered as legitimate a news source as they
are? That's never been explored legally," he said in an interview.

Why shouldn't the you be considered a legitimate news source? Hmmm,
let's see... maybe because YOU'RE COMPLETELY FUCKING INSANE?
Go watch this clip right now, and if you still think the NRA should be given even more power to spew their poisonous rhetoric then I'd have to say that you're completely fucking insane as well.



Click here to sign up for the NRA blacklist.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 7, 2003 at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Coming soon to a city near you

As if shit isn't terrifying enough these days, a cache of dirty bombs seems to have up and vanished like a fart in the wind:

In the ethnic conflicts that surrounded the collapse of the
Soviet Union, fighters in several countries seized upon an unlikely new
weapon: a small, thin rocket known as the Alazan. Originally built for
weather experiments, the Alazan rockets were packed with explosives and
lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least 38 Alazan
warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively
creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb. The
radioactive warheads are not known to have been used. But now,
according to experts and officials, they have disappeared.
The last known repository was here, in a tiny separatist enclave known
as Transdniester, which broke away from Moldova 12 years ago. The
Transdniester Moldovan Republic is a sliver of land no bigger than
Rhode Island located along Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine. Its
government is recognized by no other nation. But its weapons stocks --
new, used and modified -- have attracted the attention of black-market
arms dealers worldwide. And they're for sale, according to U.S. and
Moldovan officials and weapons experts.
Several U.S. and Moldovan government officials knowledgeable about
Transdniester's weapons said in interviews that they were familiar with
the reports of radioactive Alazans, but could neither verify or dispute
the existence of such devices. Oazu Nantoi, a former Moldovan
government official and political analyst, sought in 2001 to trace the
Alazans with radiological warheads, using contacts in Moldova and
Transdniester. He said that the last known location of the weapons was
a military airfield north of Tiraspol, but what happened to them after
the 1990s remains a mystery.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 7, 2003 at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Midgets are not necessarily interchangeable

I don't even know what to say about this one:

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Thousands of fans rioted at Sierra
Leone's national stadium Saturday when authorities substituted two
local dwarf comedians for a widely anticipated out-of-town midget duo.
Police arrested 30 people, amid damage and dozens of injuries. Daylong
radio ads had whipped up excitement and ticket sales for Friday night's
scheduled performance by the two Nigerian entertainers, Aki and Paw
Paw. The Nigerian performers failed to show by early morning.
Organizers put the two local dwarf comedians on the stage instead. Fans
rioted, throwing projectiles and smashing windows, light fixtures and
hundreds of chairs. Witnesses said police fired tear gas. Authorities
said 30 people were arrested, including eight who allegedly had tried
to steal the stadium's seats. Dozens of show-goers were reported
injured in the melee. Saturday, blood splattered parts of the stadium.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 7, 2003 at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Florida Public backs right to die

I haven't been following the Schiavo case in Florida too closely, but
I've read enough to know the basics. Terri Schiavo has been in a coma
for a long time, and her husband has been fighting to have her taken
off life-support. He claims that they had talked about it (as married
couples do) before she was in the car accident that rendered her
nonresponsive and she'd requested not to be kept alive if she were ever
in a vegetative state. Her parents have been fighting him tooth and
nail until finally the courts ruled in his favor. The feeding tube was
removed, but Gov. Jeb Bush stepped in and put forth a executive order
reinserting the tube.
I'd been assuming that the Florida public was behind Bush in this case,
but according to this poll that's not the case at all:

Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Republicans reignited a national
debate on the right to die when they ordered a feeding tube reinserted
into a brain-damaged woman, but the majority of the state's voters
believe the politicians got it wrong, according to a new poll.
By nearly three to one, registered voters across religious, party and
gender lines told pollsters they disagree with the intervention. While
Bush and GOP legislators acted at the request of Terri Schiavo's
parents to keep their daughter alive by overruling the wishes of her
husband and a court, an overwhelming number of the poll's respondents
believe that a spouse should determine whether an incapacitated person
without a living will should be taken off life support.
''The governor is clearly in the wrong in terms of public opinion,''
said Democratic pollster Rob Schroth, who conducted the poll for The
Herald and the St. Petersburg Times with a Republican pollster,
Kellyanne Conway.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 7, 2003 at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Nine Children Among 10 Dead in U.S. Afghan Raid

Aircraft from the U.S.-led military force killed ">nine children
in an attack in the south of Afghanistan (news - web sites) on a "known
terrorist" responsible for the deaths of two road contractors, the
military said on Sunday.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 7, 2003 at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 06 December 2003

A little light reading

A perfect stocking stuffer for little Jimmy:

Japanese researchers have come up with the must-have book
for scientists -- a hardback edition on mouse DNA. The 172-page
encyclopaedia looks like an average book but it is printed on
water-soluble paper and includes all of the 60,000 active genes in the
mouse. But instead of words, New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday
it was made up of dots that hold copies of the DNA from the genes. "To
read this book, researchers punch out the paper dots containing the DNA
clones -- copied from the gene expressed in mouse cells -- and dissolve
them in water," according to the weekly science magazine. Yoshihide
Hayashizaki from the RIKEN Genomic Center in Yokohama, Japan developed
the book to cut the costs of delivering genetic material to
universities and biotech companies. The sequence information is
available electronically on the Internet but DNA must be sent through
the post and the whole genome must be packaged in dry ice and can cost
up to $5,000.
So far only 10 copies of the book have been published.

Call now before supplies run out!

Posted by flow Frazao on December 6, 2003 at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I don't know...

...if you know, but everyone except Rumsfeld knows that this all looks pretty grim:

SAMARRA, Iraq - A funeral for two Iraqis killed in a
firefight with U.S. troops turned violent Saturday, with mourners
killing a security officer and chanting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans over
his body.
Farther north in the city of Mosul, three gunmen shot and killed an
Iraqi policeman on his way to work Saturday, police said. The victim
was a 24-year-old recent graduate of a police academy that has received
support and guidance from coalition forces.
AP - Dec. 6, 2003KANDAHAR,
Afghanistan - A bicycle carried a bomb that exploded in the main square
of the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar, wounding at least 15
people, police in the city say. CNN.com - Dec. 6, 2003
KABUL, Afghanistan - Surging violence by pro-Taliban and al-Qaida
insurgents against Westerners and Afghans who work with them could
delay plans for a landmark presidential election this summer. AP - Dec. 6, 2003

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns, there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns the ones we don't know we don't know." - Donald Rumsfeld

Posted by flow Frazao on December 6, 2003 at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

All in the family

From Talking Points Memo:

President Bush named James A. Baker III, the former
secretary of state, as his personal envoy to Iraq today to help the
country grapple with its debt problem. "Secretary Baker will report
directly to me," Mr. Bush said in a statement, "and will lead an effort
to work with the world's governments at the highest levels, with
international organizations and with the Iraqis, in seeking the
restructuring and reduction of Iraq's official debt."
New York Times, December 5th 2003
Saudi Arabia will withhold the $1 billion in loans and credits that it
pledged last month for Iraq's reconstruction until the security
situation is stabilized and a sovereign government takes office, U.S.
and Saudi officials said. Los Angeles Times, December 1st 2003
Baker is one of the Saudi government's chief supporters in the US. His
law firm, Baker Botts, is now representing the Saudi government in the
$ 1 trillion law suit filed against Saudi Arabia for its alleged role
in the 9/11 attacks by the victims' families. Baker also serves as
senior counsel and partner in the Carlyle investment group, which is a
financial adviser to the Saudi government.
Jerusalem Post, August 15th 2003
For more than three decades, Saudi Arabia has sought to influence
American politicians, often through investment in American business.
While they have occasionally sought out Democrats, they are far more
comfortable with Republicans -- and in particular, with Bush
Republicans. At the moment, for example, the kingdom's defense attorney
in a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims happens to be James
Baker, that ultimate Bushie whose resume includes stints as Secretary
of State and Treasury. (Mr. Baker's last big court case was Bush v.
Gore.)
New York Observer, August 11th 2003
A fine illustration of this Washington tradition took place at the
capital's Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Sept. 11, 2001. On that day, former
secretary of state James Baker, former secretary of defense Frank
Carlucci and a parade of other former government officials convened at
those swank quarters to attend the annual investor conference of the
Carlyle Group, a private investment company known for putting lucrative
business deals together for the Saudi royal family (and also known for
its roster of all-star advisers, including Baker and the elder George
Bush). Among those gathered to schmooze with Washington's power brokers
was one Shafiq bin Laden, a Saudi captain of industry whose brother
would slaughter thousands of Americans before the conferees broke for
lunch. The meeting, notes Robert Baer, whose Sleeping With the Devil
catalogs many others like it, "was the perfect metaphor for
Washington's strange affair with Saudi Arabia."
Washington Post, July 27th 2003

Posted by flow Frazao on December 6, 2003 at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Google bombing the President

Looks like Newsday has picked up on the Google bombing. For the uninitiated, go to Google,
type in "Miserable Failure" and click the "I'm feeling lucky" button.
Just as an aside, this isn't some hack put forth by the programmers at
Google. What it means is that a sufficient number of websites (we're
talking on the order of hundreds of thousands here) have linked the
words "Miserable Failure" to the bio of the President. This was a
coordinated campaign started by OldFashionedPatriot, so mad props unto you, buddy.

Also, just wanted to note that I did my part as well.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 6, 2003 at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 05 December 2003

Video of Cincinatti cops beating a guy to death

In case you haven't seen it, here's the footage of Cincinatti police officers beating a man to death.
The links are in the sidebar on the right under the "Unedited Police
Video" section.
Be sure to watch the restaurant video too. Note that 5 minutes before
he was killed, Nathaniel Jones was dancing around the White Castle
parking lot. He seems like a pretty happy guy. Also note that there's
some time missing from the first police video - the footage of what
happened between when the cops pulled up and when Jones threw that
first punch. What happened to make that big fat guy go from dancing to
swinging? One can only imagine.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 5, 2003 at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Look at the smiling..... face

I can't find one smile in this photo save for the soldier the president
has his arm around. Can you?

Posted by flow Frazao on December 5, 2003 at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Malvo Drawings

Drawings
done by the 17 year old DC Sniper during his year in Fairfax County
jail. Maybe in a different life he would've been an artist instead of a
killer.
Complete (?) repository here.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 5, 2003 at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

White House weighs easing emissions rule

The Bush administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according to a government document and interviews with officials. The Nov. 26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency, under President Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and that there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions. Until recently, the EPA was set to issue new rules this month requiring the nation's 1,100 coal- and oil-fired power plants to install equipment to achieve the maximum possible reductions in mercury and nickel emissions, which can cause neurological and developmental damage in humans. The plan has drawn fierce resistance from industry groups. Now, the White House and EPA administrator Mike Leavitt are considering rescinding a December 2000 EPA ruling requiring the reductions in favor of a more flexible enforcement system.
More here.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 5, 2003 at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 04 December 2003

So many lies, so little time

A couple more lies from the Bush Administration yesterday:

1. First, a pointless lie about a British Airways pilot spotting Air Force One in mid-air:
The Bush administration yesterday changed its story about a British Airways pilot's spotting of Air Force One during the president's stealth trip to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day. The original story held that the airline's pilot had talked to Air Force One and that he kept the secret of President Bush's Thanksgiving Day flight to Baghdad, according to Dan Bartlett, White House communications director, who provided the earlier account. But after British Airways denied such a conversation took place, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday the airline's pilot never contacted Air Force One.
2. The next lie came during Bush's courageous two and a half hour visit to Baghdad. What do you do when your honored guest picks up the centerpiece and starts parading around?
President Bush holds a platter at Baghdad airport on Thanksgiving. The turkey had been primped to adorn the buffet line, while the 600 soldiers were served from steam trays.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 4, 2003 at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 03 December 2003

What is it with Texas?

I guess executing minors and the mentally retarded isn't enough
for this Texan. Let's hope there aren't more like him gunning for the
capital punishment of those who exercise their First Amendment rights:

I am a United States sailor. I have chosen to defend my
country and the freedom some take for granted. I love my country, my
family, my freedom. Only by the blood which was shed by the service
members before me did we receive this freedom. There are some, though,
who do not appreciate this freedom. I call these people traitors; they
call themselves protesters. They are nothing more than an infectious
disease that infests the minds and hearts of the Americans we are
defending. It consumes the honor and courage within its host until it
kills the very patriotism that made this country.
There is no cure for this disease. Never will everyone be satisfied.
But let it be known what this guardian of America's freedom thinks of
these protesters: Traitors should be hanged. I hold our enemies in
higher standing. At least they are willing to fight for their beliefs
and the country they love.
Sonar Technician Derik L.Jobe
U.S. Navy
Amarillo

I hate to harp on about this sort of thing, but patriotism didn't make this country. Liberalism did. I think Steve Gilliard puts it best:
"If it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil
country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where
children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't
fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley
abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was
black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.
For the better part of a decade, the conservatives made liberal a dirty
word. Well, it isn't. It represents the best and most noble nature of
what America stands for: equitable government services, old age
pensions, health care, education, fair trials and humane imprisonment.
It is the heart and soul of what made American different and better
than other countries. Not only an escape from oppression, but the
opportunity to thrive in land free of tradition and the repression that
can bring. We offered a democracy which didn't enshrine the rich and
made them feel they had an obligation to their workers. Without
liberals, there would be no modern America, just a Nazi satellite
state. Liberals weak on defense? Liberals created America's defense.
The conservatives only need vets at election time."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 3, 2003 at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 02 December 2003

Winning their hearts and minds

A few images from the recent US Army attack in the town of Samarrah, where 54 insurgents were allegedly killed:


An Iraqi boy looks at burned out cars in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles)
north of Baghdad, December 1, 2003, after U.S. troops fought their way
out of two simultaneous ambushes. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)

Posted by flow Frazao on December 2, 2003 at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bringing the battle to the enemy

Posted by flow Frazao on December 2, 2003 at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Case of the Disappearing Bodies

Yet another interesting snippet that's being completely ignored by the US media:

The US military said it believed 54 insurgents were killed
in intense exchanges in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra the previous
day but commanders admitted they had no bodies.
The only corpses at the city's hospital were those of ordinary
civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child.

Once again it seems that the initial version of the story is at best
disputable, and at worst an outright lie. You'd think that by now the
media would realize what's going on, but no. Each and every time the
Bush Administration needs a political boost in Iraq something like this
comes out and the US news puppets repeat the party line with breathless
awe. Then, when it turns out that the "stunning military victory" or
"Jessica Lynch's heroic rescue" or the "uncontestable proof of Iraq's
WMD program" is a lie, no one can mention it without looking like a
fool.
Residents in Samarra said they had not seen any of the
militants' bodies, 46 or 54. The head of the local hospital, Abed
Tawfiq, reported eight dead civilians but no insurgents. Ambulance
driver Abdelmoneim Mohammed said he had not ferried any combattants
wounded or killed and wearing the black Fedayeen outfit which US
soldiers said their assailants wore. "If I had seen bodies, I would
have picked them up. It's not like the Americans would have done it.

Update

Actually, it turns out there was at least one body recovered:

U.S. Army soldiers remove the body of a killed comrade after an ambush outside the Iraqi town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, Tuesday, Dec 2, 2003.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 2, 2003 at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 01 December 2003

A quick point on fundamentalist societies

This is a British 10 pound note:



Just stop for a moment and consider what would happen in America if the Treasury Dept. even suggested putting Charles Darwin on the back of the $10 bill.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 1, 2003 at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Nothing to see here...

Today's what the fuck news item:

Body Found Inside U.N.
A body was found inside United Nations headquarters on Monday, a U.N.
spokesman said. U.N. security and the New York police department are
investigating the matter.
The U.N. spokesman said the person had been shot, and that the body was
discovered inside the building's third-floor lounge at about 11:30 a.m.
He declined to give any details on the deceased person pending
notification of the family.
The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the world body
considered the shooting an "isolated incident."

Look! Over there!! It's Michael Jackson!!!

Posted by flow Frazao on December 1, 2003 at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Guantanamo detainees kidnapped for reward money

The good news is that up to 140 prisoners will be released from the
concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay sometime over the course of the
next month. However, as has become the norm these days, the story has
turned out to be more sinister than the media has reported. According
to an report from Time Magazine,
it has taken the US over two years to determine that up to 20% of these
detainees were completely innocent. During which time they were kept in
cages without access to families or lawyers:

So far, the processing of detainees, whether for trial or
release, has been slow; the Supreme Court's intervention, however, may
have delivered a jolt. A U.S. military official tells Time that at
least 140 detainees�"the easiest 20%"�are scheduled for release.
The processing of these men has sped up since the Supreme Court
announced it would take the case, said the source, who believes the
military is "waiting for a politically propitious time to release
them." U.S. officials concluded that some detainees were there
because they had been kidnapped by Afghan warlords and sold for the
bounty the U.S. was offering for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
Just
to drive it home one more time: Almost 20% of the prisoners at
Guantanamo were innocent Afghanis who'd rounded up by warlords who
wanted to get their hands on reward money offered by American forces.
No due process. No communication with any family members. The only hope
for freedom being that a "politically propitious" time might come along
for their release.
British detainee Moazzam Begg is among the first six
prisoners cleared for possible trial. His parents say he had gone to
Afghanistan to do humanitarian work�set up a school, install water
pipes�and was picked up in Pakistan by American soldiers at the house
where he was staying. "It is nearly a complete year since I have been
in custody," he wrote to his parents early this year. "After all this
time, I still don't know what crime I am supposed to have committed. I
am beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness."
According to lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, Begg confessed to an al-Qaeda
plot to load a drone aircraft and then dust the House of Commons with
anthrax. Smith, who represents the British detainees at the behest of
their families, dismisses the confession as nonsense. "If you're held
in solitary confinement, you're going to start making things up just to
try and get out of that," he says. "Part of this whole Alice in
Wonderland world is that in order to get charged with an offense down
there and in order to get a lawyer, you have to agree to plead guilty."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 1, 2003 at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack