from the uk guardian

the top ten science fiction movies of all time

THIS is progress?

THESE are the people in charge that WE are training? THIS is OUR legacy?

how proud i feel. we are training a nation to kill fourteen year olds

(i don't know if this story is true or not, i think it most likely is but i wanted to put that out there)

Iraqi Police Execute “Gay” Child in Baghdad

Ahmed, aged 14, shot dead on doorstep
LONDON, May 4, 2006 – Gay human rights group Outrage! has today accused Iraqi police of executing a 14 year old boy in the al-Dura district of Baghdad in early April.
Ahmed Khalil was accused of corrupting the community and creating a scandal because he had sex with men.
“Ahmed was, in fact, a victim of poverty. He sold his body to get money and food to help his impoverished family survive,” said Ali Hili, an exiled gay Iraqi who is Middle East Affairs spokesperson for the London-based OutRage!.
“According to a neighbour, who witnessed Ahmed’s execution from his bedroom window, four uniformed police officers arrived at Ahmed's house in a four-wheel-drive police pick-up truck.
“The neighbour saw the police drag Ahmed out of the house and shoot him at point-blank range, pumping two bullets into his head and several more bullets into the rest of his body.”
Mr Hili is also coordinator of the Iraqi LGBT – UK group, consisting of more than 30 Iraqi gay exiles in the UK. They are in contact with an underground network of gay people in Baghdad and other cities.
He was given details of Ahmed’s execution by his friends in Baghdad, including “J”, a university graduate and professional, who lives in the al-Dura area and who has spoken to eye-witnesses and Ahmed’s neighbours.........

another me thinks she doth protest too much kind of story

why is she (i believe andrea is a she) whining about this psa on a SOAP OPERA? her 'kind' of people shouldn't be watching soaps anyway. they do NOT reflect traditional morals nor do they reflect the 'perfect' family this woman dreams about. i say dreams because there is NO such thing as a perfect family. she knows it and i know it. soaps contain adultery, murder, evil twins, hunky gardners, skanky hos, vindictive elderly people, drugs, excessive drinking, lying, men and women who have been married ten or more times. ALL of this is ok, but homosexuals are not? what's wrong with THAT picture?

oh and this babe also believes there are 'thousands' of EX-HOMOSEXUALS in the world too. CURED that is. CURED of their evilness
so moma's and daddies not only don't YOU watch this psa, make sure your KIDS don't either or they will IMMEDIATELY turn homo

hey has anyone ever seen andrea and the 'reverend' phelps together? uh oh, i smell LOVE


Traditional Values Coalition on CBS' 'pro-gay propaganda'

“I am calling upon TVC supporters to contact their local CBS affiliates to ask that they refuse to air any public service announcements by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) next week during ‘As The World Turns,’” Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty begins in a press release today issued to RAW STORY. “The underlying message of GLAAD’s PSA is that anyone who opposes homosexual conduct is prejudiced or intolerant. This is propaganda, not accurate information.”
Excerpts follow, followed by excerpts from GLAAD's release issued Monday.
#
Lafferty is responding to news that CBS has joined with GLAAD to place a PSA in “As The World Turns” to reinforce the message in the show about a boy who tells his parents he’s a homosexual. “GLAAD is using free advertising to push a message about homosexuality that is not true,” said Lafferty. “The homosexual condition is not in-born or unchangeable. Thousands of ex-homosexuals can attest to this fact and their testimonies are well documented by Exodus International..........

got cha!

VIDEO: Rumsfeld Called Out On Lies About WMD
Speaking in Atlanta today, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was sharply questioned about his pre-war claims about WMD in Iraq. An audience member confronted Rumsfeld with his 2003 claim about WMD, “We know where they are.” Rumsfeld falsely claimed he never said it. The audience member then read Rumsfeld’s quote back to him, leaving the defense secretary speechless. Watch it ...............

...............UPDATE: CNN reports that the questioner was 27-year CIA veteran Ray McGovern. .........................

(link to video and full transcript in title above)

baghdad = my lai

someone should listen to this man, as we ALL know, we're on the very SAME path. how much longer do we have?

Message from a Vet of My Lai Time
"Our Descent Into Hell Has Begun"
By TONY SWINDELL
A few weeks ago we got a friendly letter from Tony Swindell, a newspaper editor in Sherman, Texas. "Begin paying attention," Swindell urged, ''to stories from Iraq like the very recent one about U.S. Marines killing a group of civilians near Baghdad. This is the next step in the Iraq war as frustration among our soldiers grows -- especially with multiple tours.
''I served with the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, and My Lai was not an isolated incident. We came to be known as the Butcher's Brigade, and we also were the birthplace of the Phoenix Program. The brigade commander and a battalion commander were charged with murdering civilians (shooting them from helicopters, recorded in some of my photos), although both skated. If you recall from his autobiography, Colin Powell served briefly with the 11th in Duc Pho before going to division HQ in Chu Lai.''The atrocities against Iraqi civilians are slipping under the media radar screen, but they're going to explode in America's face not too long from now and dwarf the Abu Ghraib (sic) incident. That was a fraternity beer bust by comparison. The Ft. Sill episode [described in JoAnn Wypijewski's piece from April, "The Army Slays Its Own."] is another one of the same storm clouds on the horizon. I sincerely fear for our country.'';.................

with a governor like this, i sure am glad i don't live in mississippi

i mean NO disrespect to the HONORABLE citizens of that state

Pardon Unlikely for Civil Rights Advocate

Pardon Unlikely for Civil Rights Advocate
By ADAM LIPTAK
Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi acknowledges that Clyde Kennard suffered a grievous wrong at the hands of state officials more than 45 years ago. But he says he will not grant a posthumous pardon to Mr. Kennard, a black man who was falsely imprisoned after trying to desegregate a Mississippi college.
Mr. Kennard moved home to Hattiesburg, Miss., after seven years in the Army in Germany and Korea and three years as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. He wanted to finish his education at the local college.
But because that college, Mississippi Southern, was reserved for whites, state officials not only rejected Mr. Kennard's repeated applications but also plotted to kill him.
They kept him out of college by convicting him of helping to steal $25 of chicken feed based on what the sole witness now says was perjury. The 1960 conviction drew a seven-year prison term, and Mr. Kennard died of cancer in 1963.
Last month, Mr. Kennard's supporters asked Governor Barbour, a Republican, for a pardon. The state parole board must first make a recommendation, but Mr. Barbour has already said he will not consider granting one.
"The governor hasn't pardoned anyone, be it alive or deceased," said Mr. Barbour's spokesman, Pete Smith. "The governor isn't going to issue a pardon here."
Mr. Smith added that a pardon would be an empty gesture.
"The governor believes that Clyde Kennard was wronged, and if he were alive today his rights would be restored," Mr. Smith said. "There's nothing the governor can do for Clyde Kennard right now."
Mr. Kennard's case, which was the subject of a recent three-month investigation by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., has also been pursued by students at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school, in Chicago. Several of the students involved said they were baffled by Mr. Barbour's response.......

the lovely and talented pissed off patricia (or as WE like to call her p o p)

has a GREAT posting Could you leave him behind as a hurricane approached?

PLEASE HELP Ask your legislators to support the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act today......


go on over and give her a howdy! (oh and read the posting of course)

it's yet another catch-22

state department dude sean mccormack states the united states is a 'staunch defender' (not staunch decider mind you) of human rights. and yup, i agree we are. TO EVERYONE ELSE, to ALL OTHER COUNTRIES we're shooting our mouths off (and in SOME instances our guns off) about what they can and cannot do, what they can and cannot say, what they can and cannot act like. but we MUST clean our OWN HOUSE FIRST. it is simply unacceptable for us to use torture.

...........American officials denied the allegations. "There's no
more staunch defender of human rights around the world than the United States
government," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
.........

Report blames top U.S. officials for alleged torture of detainees

By Matthew Schofield
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BERLIN - Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees by U.S. forces is widespread and, in many cases, sanctioned by top government officials, Amnesty International charged Wednesday.
The allegations, contained in a 32,000-word report released in New York and London and posted on the human rights organization's Web site, are likely to influence a U.N. hearing on U.S. compliance with international torture agreements that begins Friday in Geneva. Amnesty International sent a copy of the report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture, which is holding the hearings.
"Although the U.S. government continues to assert its condemnation of torture and ill-treatment, these statements contradict what is happening in practice," said Curt Goering, the group's senior deputy executive director in the United States. "The U.S. government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture, it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish."
American officials denied the allegations. "There's no more staunch defender of human rights around the world than the United States government," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, said "humane treatment of detainees is and always has been the (Defense Department) standard." He noted that a dozen reviews of military detention operations had found no evidence that the top officials encouraged abuse. ............

but sergeant pink, DO we have twenty years left in us?

Sergeant Zack Bazzi — Wanted to see the world (in helmet talking on phone)

Specialist Michael Moriarty — Reenlisted after 9/11 (with camera)

Sergeant Stephen Pink — Joined to help pay for tuition (in helmet)

this sounds like a fascinating documentary and i really would like to see it (i think). from their eyes:

The war in close-up
Shooting own docuemntary footage, N.E. soldiers blaze a path
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff May 4, 2006
WASHINGTON -- ''It'll be a better country in 20 years because we were there," Army Sergeant Stephen Pink declares on camera before adding, almost in a whisper, ''I hope."
That is how the Kingston native, 24, sums up his yearlong tour in Iraq with the New Hampshire National Guard. It also captures the essence of the gripping documentary film that he and fellow soldiers from New England filmed with digital cameras packed in their rucksacks.
The battlefront documentary has taken on a new twist in ''The War Tapes," the first of its kind to be filmed by soldiers themselves. The 94-minute film, to be released next month, traces Pink, Specialist Michael Moriarty, a native of Beverly, and Sergeant Zack Bazzi of Watertown as they chronicled their 2004 deployment in the vicious Sunni Triangle -- on camera and via e-mail exchanges with director Deborah Scranton, who outfitted five soldiers in the unit with 10 digital cameras in what she called ''virtual embedding."
The odyssey of Charlie Company and the trials of their loved ones back home captivated the film industry at its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York last week, where it received standing ovations from audiences. The military community, too, is embracing the documentary for its unvarnished glimpse of the war in Iraq -- both the good and the bad.
''The War Tapes" is neither decidedly antiwar nor prowar. Supporters and opponents will likely have their views reinforced. But it does provide a front-row seat to the military struggle, including footage of the defining mission of their tour: the house-to-house battle in November 2004 to take the city of Fallujah, considered the center of gravity of the Iraq insurgency at the time and a haven for foreign terrorists slipping into the country to plant car bombs.
His handwritten pages laid out in front of him, Pink reads from his journal: ''It is Nov 29. I want to kill. I may have already killed one or some of these bastards with the MK19 grenades or the [squad automatic weapon]. I have a recurring epiphany. This is happening and will have a lasting impact on me for the rest of my life."
''It has by far the best footage I have seen out of Iraq," said Paul Reickhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and author of ''Chasing Ghosts," a blunt and edgy new memoir about his tour as an Army platoon leader in Iraq. The film, he said, does a better job of ''putting you in the boots of the soldier in the Humvee" than network news and other embedded journalists did.
''But more importantly," Reickhoff added, ''they also show when they come home and the issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and the cost of war once these guys return. I am still surprised the Army let them do it without pulling the plug."...............

some heartening news

first seems like the governor of south dakota has lost 20% of his popularity points and secondly it seems the people of south dakota ARE stirring.........

again, rich old white men making decisions about WOMEN'S bodies and lives. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO and NO

South Dakota's Abortion Revolt
By Christine Vestal, Stateline.orgPosted on May 4, 2006, Printed on May 4, 2006http://www.alternet.org/story/35787/
South Dakota touched off a national tempest with its strict new abortion ban, but the law also fomented a local grassroots movement and opened a schism in the state's dominant Republican Party.
In a state with only one abortion clinic staffed by a doctor who visits from Minnesota, the issue now is poised to dominate this year's state elections, in which the governor's office and all 35 state Senate seats and 70 House seats are on the ballot.
The new law--intended to set up a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court landmark ruling legalizing abortion--makes it a felony for anyone to help a woman end her pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest or when the woman's physical or mental health is at risk. The law only permits abortion when it is necessary to save a woman's life. Opponents are gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to overturn the law. Republican legislators who voted for South Dakota's ban are attracting both Democratic and Republican campaign challengers. And Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, who signed the bill on March 6, has seen his support drop 20 percent, according to state polls.
If the ballot initiative fails and the law takes effect, the tribal president of the Oglala Sioux Indian Nation in South Dakota--territory that would be immune to the state law--already has vowed to build an abortion clinic on the reservation for all women in the state.
Planned Parenthood is poised to file suit in federal district court if the law is not overturned. ..............

this article really hits the mark

and i agree with it. i DO think the man thinks he's not only king but WAY above the law. someone (starting with the ball-less wonders in congress) MUST START to rein the king in. even monarchs MUST follow if not law, certain protocols if they are to be not only respected BUT OBEYED.

Our monarch, above the law
By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist May 2, 2006
HAS GEORGE W. Bush come to believe he's king?
That's the question that springs to mind upon reading Charlie Savage's front-page report in Sunday's Globe detailing the president's sotto voce assertion that he can disregard laws if he thinks they impinge on his constitutional powers.
That novel claim resides in the ''signing statements" the administration issues outlining its legal interpretation of laws the president has signed -- interpretations that often run contrary to the statute's clear intent.
As Savage reports, Bush has registered hundreds of those reservations, adding them to statutes on subjects ranging from military rules and regulations to affirmative action language to congressionally mandated reporting requirements to protections Congress has passed for whistle-blowers to legal assurances against political meddling in government-funded research.
Bush's position reduces to this: The president needn't execute the laws as they are written and passed, but rather, has the right to implement -- or ignore -- them as he sees fit. (Were it not for our pesky written Constitution, perhaps George II could take his cue from Charles I, dismiss Congress, and rule -- ah, govern -- without any legislative interference whatsoever.)
Even members of the president's own party have balked at that claim.
After Republican Senator John McCain succeeded in passing a ban on the torture of detainees in US custody, forcing it upon an unwilling White House, the president's signing statement made it clear he thought he could disregard the law if he deemed it necessary. That brought a pointed rebuke from McCain and fellow Republican Senator John Warner.
Other presidents have periodically appended signing statements to legislation, setting the objectionable precedent that Bush has followed here. But as Savage reports, this president has taken it to a new level, issuing such statements on more than 750 laws, or on more than 10 percent of the bills he has signed.......
.

first, do NO harm

this is rather like the wiccan creede; an' it harm none, do as you will

HOWEVER,

someone IS doing some harming or so it would appear

Yale-Lilly Experiment: Adolescents Rx Toxic Drug for Presumed Mental Illness They Do Not Have

When the Times refers to an experiment as "bold and controversial" the reporter is sanitizing the fact that the experiment is UNETHICAL—it violates medicine's cardinal rule "First, do no harm."The New York Times reports: "In recent years, psychiatric researchers have been experimenting with a bold and controversial treatment strategy: they are prescribing drugs to young people at risk for schizophrenia who have not yet developed the full-blown disorder."The article goes on to describe an experiment reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP) in which adolescents were treated with a toxic drug for a mental disorder that they did not actually have. [1] This experiment is akin to performing mastectomies on women who are at risk of—but do not have—breast cancer. Because the treatment involves risk, great care must be taken to ensure the risk of the disease exceeds the risk of treatment. The risk of breast cancer in women has been quantified, and patients are able to weigh this risk against the risks and benefits of surgery. Despite the fact that antipsychotic drugs entail serious risks of irreversible harm, no such assessment is offered for this trial. The experiment, sponsored by Eli Lilly, was conducted at Yale University (and 3 added sites, 1997-2003). Sixty adolescents who did not meet any criteria for a diagnosis of mental illness, were prescribed the antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa (olanzapine), raising serious ethical concerns. The speculative premise underlying this experiment is not supported by ANY scientific evidence. The principle investigators, led by Dr. Thomas McGlashan of Yale, speculated—without evidence and without a validated tool for detecting schizophrenia in unsymptomatic individuals--that Zyprexa would be effective in delaying or preventing presumed psychosis and symptoms of schizophrenia. Indeed, the authors of this belated report obliquely acknowledge this limitation:“the study addressed an essentially new clinical entity, which required designing new “prodromal” assessment instruments and a new definition of psychosis onset.” [1, p.797] .....

how frightening is this?

this is for you donviti!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

although i DO think this is child abuse and i don't care if a FOUR YEAR OLD says he LIKES to run TEN MILES A DAY a FOUR YEAR OLD should NOT be ALLOWED to do so. NO ifs ands or big old butts. i don't know i'm thinking it really cannot be real. how the HELL could a four year old run 40 miles? it just cannot be possible

but hey donviti finished HIS marathon! (congratulations by the way)

Indian "marathon boy," coach run into abuse claims

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - A four-year-old child, sold by his mother for less than $20, has been dubbed India's "marathon boy" after he ran 65 km (40 miles) on Tuesday, but critics accused his coach of risking the boy's health for cash.
Budhia Singh, dressed in a white T-shirt and red shorts, covered the distance in just seven hours and two minutes, after setting out to become the youngest Indian to cover the marathon distance.
His progress was avidly followed by many of India's TV news channels. Around 300 police officers ran with him, and senior local government officials greeted him when he eventually ground to a halt.
Born in a slum in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, Budhia was a year old when his mother sold him for just 800 rupees ($20) after his father had died.......

i have actually seen all ten of these movies

i can think of MANY a movie that are far far more shocking (or simply disgusting as in 'the last house on the left' and let's not forget eyes wide shut - one of THE most SHOCKINGLY BAD movies i have EVER seen)

Torture, necrophilia, and a very naughty boy: the films that shocked us

.......Most controversial
1 Salò (1975) Pier Paolo Pasolini
2
Natural Born Killers (1994) Oliver Stone
3 Crash (1996) David Cronenberg
4 The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese
5 The Devils
(1971) Ken Russell
6 Pretty Baby (1977) Louis Malle
7 Birth of a Nation
(1915) DW Griffith
8 Straw Dogs (1971) Sam Peckinpah
9 Monty Python's
Life of Brian (1979) Terry Jones
10 Bandit Queen (1994) Shekhar
Kapur....

cool blog

cool pictures too

(dan is the photographer of the starling i posted a picture of here: what you talkin' bout willis?

skewed views with dan

of all the stories i read

Petty Officer 1st Class, Janet Grass of Dubuque, Iowa, gives her son Lt. Tim Grass a hug Thursday before leaving for California for training prior to deployment to Iraq.
Jeremy Portje/Dubuque Telegraph Herald/WpN

day in and day out about starvation and the war and abuse and injustice and this and that, i actually cried when i read this one (oh, i've cried while reading others too but this one surprised me)

Ordered to Iraq 10 months before retirement
Iowa teacher-grandmother, 52, in Navy Reserve deploys for security work

DUBUQUE, Iowa - A grandmother in eastern Iowa is getting one last call to duty.
Janet Grass, 52, had planned to retire from the military in about 10 months after spending 19 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Instead, she has been ordered to leave her job as a special-education teacher in Cascade to do security work in the Middle East.
"They're changing my career just as I'm retiring," she said. "I guess they wanted to try one more thing for me."......

.........As Grass prepared to board the airplane, a grandson grabbed her leg in embrace. She smiled at the boy. "I'll be back," she said.
Her sisters Julie Small and Jolene Petesch stood nearby, sobbing and holding each other in support. Tim Grass, holding a small American flag, watched his mother pass through the terminal gate as other family members questioned the timing of the deployment.
"I think it's wrong," Jolene Petesch said, noting that her sister was about to retire from the military. "The military screwed up there, and I'm angry about it............

IF true, this certainly takes the cake (AGAIN)

from think progress

McClellan Asked About Bush Singing National Anthem In Spanish From a ThinkProgress commenter to the White House Press Briefing in just three hours. CNN’s Ed Henry is on the case:
HENRY: Scott, on Friday the president firmly said he believes the national anthem should be sung in English. Kevin Phillips, the Republican analyst, wrote a book called American Dynasty. And in there, he claims that, during the president’s 2000 campaign, he did sing The Star Spangled Banner in Spanish at some Hispanic festivals, various campaign events.
Are you aware that you recall that from the 2000 campaign?
MCCLELLAN: No, I don’t.
HENRY: Do you think that that would be counter to what the president laid out on Friday?
MCCLELLAN: I don’t recall that, and I’m not going to try and speculate on something I haven’t looked into............................

the list is OUT (this is for you elizabeth)

the ten worst companies of 2005

i went to see my dear friends b & e yesterday

the FIRST time i've been in their home believe it or not, and i've known b FOREVER. it was THE most charming home i have ever seen! it was a place i would love to live. beautiful gardens as well. lots of ravens in pictures, on rugs, hanging over a frame in the living room. i got the brilliant idea of taking some pictures JUST as i was about to leave. i shall take more when i return (i KNOW i will be back. e lent me his most prized possession; his dvd collection of xena; warrior princess. of course we're BOTH fans. b just doesn't understand). they have some wonderful mose t works on their stairwell wall. LOVELY! the seven little white heads are the seven deadly sins (of course) and they are hanging over the kitchen door. b collects all sorts of scary old dolls she finds at antique shops or tag sales. lots of WICKED clowns. creepy yet they just fit in at the same time.

(please don't forget b is the one who gave me a MILLION severed doll heads so i could decorate my area at work. i USED to have a stunning area, pinata and all!)

good news: more new iraqi soldiers graduate - bad news: they refuse to serve

the washington post today tells the story of just how ready the iraqis ARE to serve in their own military. yeah right. they are WELL prepared to take over 'defending' their own country.....


what THE F**K are we doing? WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT???

get our men and women home. yeah, we stirred up a hornet's nest and i do think we owe iraq something for what we did (and are doing) BUT get them home as soon as possible. their lives are in danger more so with each passing day

i was number 20,1083

thank you stephen colbert

traitor!!!!

but hey WE WON WE WON!!!



May 2, 2006
Red Sox 7, Yankees 3
Unfriendly Fenway: Damon Returns, Ortiz Delivers
By TYLER KEPNER
BOSTON, May 1 — There were cheers from the Boston Red Sox' dugout just before the first pitch Monday. The Yankees' leadoff man, Johnny Damon, had returned to Fenway Park, and some of his former teammates clapped for him, acknowledging the good times.
Things are different now, and not just with Damon, who went hitless in four at-bats. It is a new season for Aaron Small, the pitcher who won all 10 decisions last summer to help the Yankees nip the Red Sox for the division title.
In his first appearance of this season, Small was the losing pitcher in a 7-3 Red Sox victory.
Working his third inning in relief of a shaky Chien-Ming Wang, Small, who missed a month with a hamstring injury, allowed a walk and a hit batter with one out in the eighth. Mark Loretta then broke a 3-3 tie with a single between the legs of Tanyon Sturtze.
"I tipped it right off my glove," Sturtze said. "If I get that, I think it's a double-play ball and we're out of the inning so none of that stuff ever happens." ...............

top photos ny times bottom photos boston globe

stewart on colbert

Jon Stewart Defends Colbert's Dinner Speech

..........."It was balls-alicious," Stewart said. "Apparently he was under the impression that they'd hired him to do what he does every night on television"--that is, make fun of conservatives, public officials and the press in the guise of an O'Reillyesque talk show host...............

it's like the keystone cops

or abbot and costello or laurel and hardy or charlie chaplin or an episode of lucy where she and ethel get in REAL deep..........but it's not comedy, it is VERY real and lives are at stake. hell, the WORLD is at stake - can we really afford world war iii?

Chalabi involved US, Iran policy making again, current and former intelligence officials say



Larisa Alexandrovna Published: Monday May 1, 2006

Ahmed Chalabi, the man who helped provide cooked intelligence on Iraq to the Pentagon and the New York Times in the lead-up to war, is once again being engaged in US policy decisions, current and former intelligence officials say.
According to two former high level counterintelligence officials, one former senior counterterrorist official and another intelligence officer, Chalabi is acting as broker between the US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Iranian officials in what are now stalled diplomatic efforts between the US and Iran.
"[Ahmed] Chalabi inserted himself and brought a proposal to Zel," one intelligence source said.........

The Source of the Trouble

Pulitzer Prize winner Judith Miller’s series of exclusives about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq—courtesy of the now-notorious Ahmad Chalabi—helped the New York Times keep up with the competition and the Bush administration bolster the case for war. How the very same talents that caused her to get the story also caused her to get it wrong.

By Franklin Foer
For critics of the Iraq war, the downfall of Ahmad Chalabi occasioned a hearty, unapologetic outpouring of Schadenfreude—a loud cheer for a well-deserved knee to the administration’s gut. In fact, it was possible to detect a bit of this spirit on the front page of the New York Times. On May 21, the editors arrayed contrasting images of the banker turned freedom fighter turned putative Iranian spy. Here he is smirking behind Laura Bush in the House of Representatives gallery as the president delivers his State of the Union address. There he is looking bleary and sweaty, after Iraqi police stormed his home and office in the middle of the night. An analysis by David Sanger went so far as to name names of individuals who had associated themselves with the discredited leader of the Iraqi National Congress. The list, he wrote, included “many of the men who came to dominate the top ranks of the Bush administration . . . Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul D. Wolfowitz, Douglas J. Feith, Richard L. Armitage, Elliott Abrams and Zalmay M. Khalilzad, among others.”........

continuing on from my 'only 750' posting yesterday

seems like THREE senators have BALLS. when are the REST of them (republicans included. damn when laws are being disobeyed it's EVERYONE'S responsibility to seek justice NOT just a few. after all, WE elected all of them. they 'represent' us. well do some representin' and grow a set and NEVER forget, WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION)

3 Democrats slam president over defying statutes
Say he cannot claim powers above the law
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff May 2, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Three leading Democratic senators blasted President Bush yesterday for having claimed he has the authority to defy more than 750 statutes enacted since he took office, saying that the president's legal theories are wrong and that he must obey the law.
''We're a government of laws, not men," Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said in a statement. ''It is not for George W. Bush to disregard the Constitution and decide that he is above the law."
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of attempting to concentrate ever more government power in their own hands.
''The Bush-Cheney administration has cultivated an insidious brand of unilateralism that regularly crosses into an arrogance of power," Leahy said in a statement. ''The scope of the administration's assertions of power is stunning, and it is chilling."
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, also said that the Bush administration, abetted by ''a compliant Republican Congress," was undermining the checks and balances that ''guard against abuses of power by any single branch of government."
The opposition lawmakers were reacting to a report in Sunday's Boston Globe detailing the scope of Bush's assertions that he can ignore laws that conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution...........

you really DO have to admire italy for it's animal protection laws

no goldfish bowls, you MUST walk your dogs daily..... i like i like

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian restaurant was fined 688 euros ($855) for displaying live lobsters on ice to attract patrons, in an innovative application of an anti-cruelty law usually affecting to household pets.
A court in the northeastern city of Vicenza ruled the display was a form of abuse dooming the crustaceans to a slow death by suffocation.
"We're appealing," said Giuseppe Scalesia, who runs La Conchiglia D'Oro, or "Golden Shell," restaurant along with his brother Camillo.
"They said that the lobsters, laying on the ice, suffer... They compared them in court to other animals, like cats and dogs."
The case was brought by Gianpaolo Cecchetto, a former environmental activist, who took his two young children to the Vicenza restaurant in May 2002..........

some more italian animal protection laws Italian animal rights law puts lobster off the menu

By Bruce Johnston in Rome
Residents in the prosperous Italian town of Reggio Emilia were outraged yesterday after its council adopted an animal rights bylaw that bans boiling live lobster as "useless torture".
Supporters of the move said that it gave animals - both pets and those in the wild - equal rights to man, but local pet-owners criticised it as terrifying political correctness.
Under the bylaw, "sociable" birds such as budgerigars and parrots must be kept in pairs. Birdcages must be at least five times the bird's wingspan in width, and three times in height. It also makes it illegal to keep a goldfish in a round glass bowl. Anyone who breaks the law faces a fine of up to €495 (£325). .....

and this

Law August 14th,1991, # 281 Translated by Piera Bignetti
Law "quadro" on the matter of pets and the prevention of straying
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic approved. The President of the Republic approved the following law:

1) General Principles The State enforces and regulates the treatment of domestic animals, condemns any violence against them, condemns the bad treatment or the abandoning of them, with the aim to promote the cohabitation of humans and animals, and to promote public health and the environment.
2) Treatment of dogs and other pets 1. The control of the population of dogs and cats through the limitations of births is done ? keeping into account the scientific progress ? at the local public health facilities. Pet owners or guardians can use veterinarian offices approved by recognized dog associations or animal-protective corporations, at their own expense. 2. Stray dogs found or captured or hospitalized at the above institutions (comma 1 article 4) cannot be put to sleep. 3. Dogs captured or coming from the above institutions (comma 1 article 4) cannot be used for clinical trials. 4. Stray dogs found or captured with a tattoo must be handed back to the owner or guardian. 5. Stray dogs found without a tattoo, as well as the dogs hospitalized at the above institutions (comma 1 article 4), must be tattooed; if no one searches for them within 60 days, these dogs can be given in adoption to private individuals who can guarantee them a good treatment or to animal-protective corporations, after receiving a treatment against rabies, "echinococcosi", and other transmissible diseases.6. Dogs hospitalized at the above institutions (comma 1 article 4)- with the exception of what defined by the articles 86, 87, 91 of the veterinarian police corps approved by the President of the Republic on February 8th 1954, number 20 and following modifications ? can be put asleep, only in a euthanasia way, by veterinarians, only if severely ill, incurable, or of proven danger. 7. It is forbidden for anyone to mistreat stray cats. 8. Stray cats are neutered by the health authority responsible for the territory and eventually reinserted in their group. 9. Stray cats can be put asleep only if severely ill or incurable. 10. The protective associations can ? in agreement with the local authorities ? manage the colonies of local stray cats, guaranteeing the good health and the surviving conditions. 11. The protective associations can manage the associations in comma 1 article 4, under the authority of a veterinarian office for that territory. 12. The associations in comma 1 article 4 can keep dogs in custody against a payment and offer an emergency service
3) Regional Responsibilities
1) The regions rule with their own laws, within 6 months the approval of this law, the institution of a canine register at the city hall or the local public health offices, as well as the modalities dog owners should follow to register their dogs and how to release the dog identification, which should be given using a painless tattoo. 2) The regions should determine, with their own law, within 6 months of the approval of this law, the criteria to rehabilitate dog pounds and housing for dogs. These structures should guarantee healthy living conditions for the dogs, follow sanitary rules, and are subject to the health and sanitary control from the local public health authorities. The regional law also determines the criteria and the division between the counties for the implementations of the project under their responsibilities. 3) The regions should adopt, with their own law, within 6 months of the approval of this law, and after a hearing of the associations for animals, protective, and hunting (?) ? which operate in that regional territory ? a program to prevent straying. 4) The program at comma 3 includes intervention for the following: a) Initiatives to create awareness ? including schools ? on a correct relationship between the respect for animal life and the defense of their habitat. b) Courses to instruct the personnel of the regions and the regional health units working on the services this law provides, as well as courses for the "guardie zoofile" who collaborate with the above authorities. ........

and of course THIS:

Rome bans goldfish bowls, orders dog walking
Italian capital also backs feeding of the city's stray cats

ROME - The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel, and has made regular dog-walks mandatory in the Italian capital, the town’s council said on Tuesday.
The classic spherical fish bowls are banned under a new by-law which also stops fish or other animals being given away as fairground prizes. It comes after a national law was passed to allow jail sentences for people who abandon cats or dogs.
“It’s good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention,” said Monica Cirinna, the councilor behind the by-law.ROME - The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel, and has made regular dog-walks mandatory in the Italian capital, the town’s council said on Tuesday.
The classic spherical fish bowls are banned under a new by-law which also stops fish or other animals being given away as fairground prizes. It comes after a national law was passed to allow jail sentences for people who abandon cats or dogs.
“It’s good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention,” said Monica Cirinna, the councilor behind the by-law........

Glenda in the Land of Oz: Defining the November Campaign Slogan

GREAT posting by the lovely ms glenda in the land of oz. check out ALL of the campaign ideas.

Glenda in the Land of Oz: Defining the November Campaign Slogan

michael over at thumping the tub has a new video

harsh but fair

the third anniversary of our MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Back in the Days of 'Mission Accomplished'
By Greg Mitchell Published: April 30, 2006 8:10 PM ET
NEW YORK Monday marks the third anniversary of President Bush’s jet landing on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and his speech declaring major fighting in Iraq over, all in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner. At the time, it was heralded by the mainstream media as a fitting moment of triumph. "He won the war," boomed MSNBC's Chris Matthews. "He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics."Since then, it has become—during three more years of death and war--a symbol of American hubris and setbacks in Iraq. Today it is often lampooned as a tragic “photo op,” most recently by rock singer Neil Young in a new CD and by comedian Stephen Colbert, standing 15 feel from the President at a dinner in Washington on Saturday. With that in mind, here are excerpts revealing how one newspaper, The New York Times, covered the event and aftermath three years ago. .......

our men and women are still dying. the iraqis are still dying. osama is still at large. george is now king and he's disregarding ALL laws that are in place. our own citizens are being spied upon (without warrants) . billions of dollars are gone. halliburton is still running the show (in a 'civilian' way) in iraq. the rich keep getting richer. lots of katrina victims are STILL victims, still without help. BUT MISSION ACCOMPLISHED all right!
(picture: insanereagan.com)

ONLY 750?

Bush’s contention that he can ignore provisions of the Patriot Act, whose renewal he ushered last month, has drawn scrutiny. (Jim Young/ Reuters)
seems more like EVERY law on the books..... why aren't more stepping up and challenging him? IT IS JUST WRONG

Bush challenges hundreds of laws
President cites powers of his office
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff April 30, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.
Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power.
But with the disclosure of Bush's domestic spying program, in which he ignored a law requiring warrants to tap the phones of Americans, many legal specialists say Bush is hardly reluctant to bypass laws he believes he has the constitutional authority to override.
Far more than any predecessor, Bush has been aggressive about declaring his right to ignore vast swaths of laws -- many of which he says infringe on power he believes the Constitution assigns to him alone as the head of the executive branch or the commander in chief of the military.............

bob dylan's playlist

for his xm satellite mother's day show

my name is NOT yo mama

i just came across this article in the uk guardian about a NEW YORK website (why do i have to read about these things in a EUROPEAN paper i wonder to myself? although the entries ARE from places other than nyc and some indeed ARE from europe) and had to check it out. it involves photos of men who have harrassed women (usually the photos are taken with camera phones). some entries are just little stories, no pictures. it's very interesting. MOST of the comments listed have been thrust upon me and i'm sure 99.9% of the rest of the women i know (and don't know). this site could very well be abused, let's say by someone angry at their boyfriend, lover, neighbor. all in all i think it's on the up and up though. it's so hard to explain to a man (who doesn't already understand) how skeevy it is to have something untoward said to you as you're walking past them. how it makes you feel when they talk about your ass or your breasteseseseseseses or what they want to do to you or you to them. most entries look like they've been made by younger women and grrrls too. however, i'm NOT that young anymore (nor am 'classically attractive') but I STILL GET the grunts and comments and lewd actions.

Mobile vigilantes snap sex pests in action Harassed women in New York are using a website to shame men behaving badly
David Smith, technology correspondent Sunday April 30, 2006 The Observer
The day that a man was caught masturbating on the subway was the day that the women of New York said enough was enough. Thao Nguyen, a disgusted fellow passenger, took a picture of the man with her camera phone and posted it on the internet.
A cyber-storm gathered, the photo made it to the front page of the New York Daily News and the man, 43-year-old Daniel Hoyt - a repeat offender - was convicted of public lewdness. Supporters compared Nguyen, 23, with civil rights activist Rosa Parks who famously refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus.
Inspired by Nguyen's use of technology, Lauren Spees and six friends launched a website, hollabacknyc.com, which invites people who have been sexually harassed in public to take a picture of the offender and post it online, thus shaming the guilty party.
The growing interest in the site, which receives an average of 1,500 hits a day, has been described as 'cyber vigilantism' by critics and raises new questions about where society draws the line between an innocent chat-up line and 'harassment'.
In the eight months, about 100 camera phone pictures have been posted on the site along with text accounts, or 'blogs', of the harassment suffered. Next month, British and European sites will launch under the banner: 'If you can't slap 'em, snap 'em!'.........................

the site:

hollabacknyc

guess who's NOT coming to dinner (at the white house)?

stephen colbert.......

i HOPE the king felt ill at ease. i hope the queen felt ill at ease. the truth hurts doesn't it?

Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner-- President Does Not Seem Amused

By E&P Staff Published: April 29, 2006 11:40 PM ET
WASHINGTON A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close. Earlier, the president had delivered his talk to the 2700 attendees, including many celebrities and top officials, with the help of a Bush impersonator. Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged the Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.” He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “They are re-arranging the deck chairs--on the Hindenburg.”...........