don't speak out about wal-mart

on a human rights level OR they may (not may, will) launch surveillance against you EVEN if you're a group of nuns

of course we've all been reading about who wal-mart has been hiring for their security depatments too

i have to shake my head and ask myself why?

Wal-Mart labels Boerne nuns a security threat

Nydia Lopez KENS 5 Eyewitness News
It's a David versus Goliath battle heating up in the Hill Country — a group of nuns from Boerne is taking a stand against Wal-Mart.
The corporate giant reportedly labeled the nuns a security threat after they raised questions about Wal-Mart's business practices.
Sister Susan Mika is part of the Benedectine Sisters, which is part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. The center has been questioning Wal-Mart's business practices for years. .............
.......The sisters have raised questions on wages, human rights, health care and the pay disparity between CEOs and workers. They believe that's why Wal-Mart has launched a surveillance operation on the small church group. ............

another example of democracy at work

at work with women who of course, get the brunt end of the stick, or stone in this case, ALWAYS

Internet video shows 17-year-old Iraqi Kurd Du’a Khalil Aswad being stoned by a group of men until she dies, all because she fell in love with a boy of a different religion

Baghdad, May 4: A 17-year-old girl has been stoned to death in Iraq because she loved a teenage boy of the wrong religion.
As a horrifying video of the stoning went out on the Internet, the British arm of Amnesty International condemned the death of Du’a Khalil Aswad as “an abhorrent murder” and demanded that her killers be brought to justice. Reports from Iraq said a local security force witnessed the incident, but did nothing to try to stop it. Now her boyfriend is in hiding in fear for his life.
Aswad, a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, was condemned to death as an “honour killing” by other men in her family and hardline religious leaders because of her relationship with the Sunni Muslim boy.
They said she had shamed herself and her family when she failed to return home one night. Some reports suggested she had converted to Islam to be closer to her boyfriend. ..........

it took them 1/2 of an hour to stone du'a khalil aswad to death. 1/2 hour

sisterhood is powerful. we CANNOT let this happen anywhere anytime anyplace. raise your voices

impeach

The South Dakota Dept. of Motor Vehicles have decided to rescind Heather Morijah's personalized license plates "MPEACHW" because of one reported complaint. The Rapid City residentis the conservation organizer for the West River Office of the Sierra Club. (Photo by Steve McEnroe, Journal photographer)

another war wounded hero gets a giant boot in the ass

i am incensed. how one more person can enlist after reading shite like this is beyond me. how? why?

how can king george sleep at night when jon town isn't getting the benefits he deserves (also see the story posted before this on ANOTHER denial of benefits to a vet SHOT in iraq. if i read this story and i'm aware of it, why isn't king george? why isn't he on the phone RIGHT NOW to some va hospital nailing someone's ass to the wall over this? according to laura 'i guess i did one too many tabs in the 60s' bush, NO ONE (and she means NO ONE) suffers MORE than YOUR president and i

right

How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits

Joshua Kors

Jon Town has spent the last few years fighting two battles, one against his body, the other against the US Army. Both began in October 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was standing in the doorway of his battalion's headquarters when a 107-millimeter rocket struck two feet above his head. The impact punched a piano-sized hole in the concrete facade, sparked a huge fireball and tossed the 25-year-old Army specialist to the floor, where he lay blacked out among the rubble. ..............

.............Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression. By September 2006 he and the Army agreed he was no longer combat-ready.
But instead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado, did something strange: They claimed Town's wounds were actually caused by a "personality disorder." Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality disorder discharge, he would never receive disability or medical benefits. .........

the nutmeg grater: update on ryan riddle#links#links

the nutmeg grater: update on ryan riddle#links#links

so tell me

why is it NOT ok for nancy pelosi (whom i am NOT a big fan of by the way, she's a pussy. she backs down far too easily. she's NOT strong enough. get the king OUT OUT OUT nancy) to talk to syria BUT it's ok for connddoolleezzaa to do so on behalf of the king? methinks thou doth protest too much connddyy and ggeeoorrggiiee

talk is GOOD. it's always a first step.

Rice asks Syria to close its border with Iraq

By Warren P. Strobel and Miret el-Naggar
McClatchy Newspapers
SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice broke more than two years' worth of diplomatic ice with Syria on Thursday, holding talks here with a top Syrian official in what amounts to a major diplomatic course change by the Bush administration.
Rice said afterward that the meeting, held on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq, focused on U.S. demands that Syria close its border with Iraq to stem a flow of foreign fighters and arms that's helping fuel Iraq's sectarian violence.
Even on those limited terms, the half-hour meeting between Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem marked a major shift for the Bush administration, which has repeatedly disparaged the need for such talks and criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for visiting Damascus last month.
Engagement with Syria and Iran was one of the major recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which urged President Bush to take a region-wide diplomatic approach by working to stabilize Iraq and secure Arab-Israeli peace. Bush and Rice appear to be accepting some of those recommendations. .........

Rice Meets With Syrian Counterpart
No U.S.-Iran Session At Conference on Iraq


By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 3 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met here Thursday with her Syrian counterpart in the first high-level talks between the two governments in more than two years. Rice characterized the 30-minute session, held on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on Iraq at this Egyptian Red Sea resort, as "businesslike" and "very constructive."
Senior Bush administration officials said that she would not hold a widely anticipated meeting with Iran's foreign minister, but that the United States plans to hold direct talks with Tehran in the near future................

just a little aside..........

who gives a flying yoo hoo

another one bites the dust..........

and it's A GOOD thing

none of 'em have any regard for the earth. i don't know why. they have kids and grandchildren and one would think they'd want their families to have a clean earth. one with ALL animals and flowers and fauna. i guess all they care about is lining their pockets AND/OR the rapture.

not only must we get the king off of his throne we MUST get all of his minions OUT OUT OUT as well. protect our earth, protect ourselves

Embattled Interior Official Julie MacDonald Resigns In Wake of Inspector General Report

May 02, 2007 — By the Center for Biological Diversity WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to the Endangered Species and Wetlands Report, a high-level Bush administration appointee has resigned in the aftermath of a devastating Inspector General investigation, just days before a House congressional oversight committee will hold a public hearing on her violations of the Endangered Species Act, censorship of science, and brutalizing of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff.
Julie MacDonald tendered her resignation on April 30, 2007. She was the Department of Interior's Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, a position that oversees the entire U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species program. As revealed in numerous media exposés and a recent Department of Interior Inspector General investigation, MacDonald used her position to aggressively squelch protection of endangered species. She rewrote scientific reports, browbeat U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, and colluded with industry lawyers to generate lawsuits against the Fish and Wildlife Service. ...............

c'mon now, we ALL know if you dance

you MUST pay the piper

to me, this isn't such a big deal EXCEPT for the fact i am almost certain most of the men on ms palfrey's list spout family values left and right

FAMILY VALUES MY BIG FAT ASS

Ex-Client of Alleged Madam Tries to Stop ABC From Airing His Name


By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 3, 2007; Page B01
A former client of the woman accused of being the D.C. madam is trying to block his name from being aired on an ABC News program about her escort business and the men who patronized it, saying publicity would amount to witness intimidation, ABC said yesterday.
In a letter to ABC, Steven Salky, the man's attorney, wrote that he has "reason to believe" that his client could be named tomorrow in a "20/20" report about an alleged prostitution ring run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, ABC said. Salky would not identify the man..........

the nutmeg grater: this is how we treat our war wounded: ryan riddle a connecticut horror story#links#links

the nutmeg grater: this is how we treat our war wounded: ryan riddle a connecticut horror story#links#links

not that this list really matters

(seems that if you're a 'bud' to the states, no matter HOW repressive a society you are, you don't get put on THE list). more horrid news out of iraq. who stirred the pot?

Panel cites gross violations of religious freedom in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Soaring sectarian violence and government abuses have caused an alarming deterioration in religious freedom in Iraq, prompting a U.S. advisory panel for the first time to place it on a watch list of countries where worship is under severe threat.
Citing gross violations of the rights of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as followers of numerous minority beliefs, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Iraq to its "watch list" on Wednesday. Violations included arbitrary arrests, torture and rape.......

............"Despite ongoing efforts to stabilize the country, successive Iraqi governments have not adequately curbed the growing scope and severity of human rights abuses," it said, describing an "alarming and deteriorating situation for freedom of religion and belief."...............

..........."The Iraqi government has engaged in human rights violations through its state security forces, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without due process, extrajudicial executions and systematic torture," it said.............

............For example, the commission had long recommended that Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, be named a "country of particular concern" for its refusal to recognize any religion other than Islam. It was finally so designated in 2005 but enjoys an executive waiver from sanctions.
The government has also resisted naming two other anti-terror allies, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, countries "of particular concern" despite the panel's recommendations..............

and

Iraq on Watch List of Nations That Violate Religious Rights


By Alan Cooperman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 3, 2007; Page A10
For the first time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a high-level advisory panel has placed Iraq on a watch list of countries that violate religious freedom, saying the government there engages in extrajudicial killings based on religious identity.
In its annual recommendations to the State Department yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stopped short of naming Iraq a "country of particular concern" -- a label reserved for the worst perpetrators.............

........But Michael Cromartie, a GOP appointee, said that "there's enough blurring of the lines between government actors and non-government actors that it doesn't seem fair" to put Iraq in the worst category...............

(perhaps mr cromartie wants to take a trip to iraq and attempt to worship however he usually does, if at all. i'd really like to see that happen)

just because someone is a pacifist

did you know they weren't allowed to entertain the patients at walter reed?

i know ms baez (not unlike buffy sainte marie whom i also love) is an acquired taste. i just happened to have that taste. my favorite recording of hers is a cover album (yeah, i have the vinyl) of bob dylan songs called any day now (my favorite being you ain't goin' nowhere. WHICH by the way, when i was playing, i did a fairly mean rendition of)


Joan Baez Unwelcome At Concert For Troops
Singer Was to Perform With Mellencamp at Walter Reed


By Teresa Wiltz Washington Post Staff Write Wednesday, May 2, 2007; Page C01
When rocker John Mellencamp performed for the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday night, a couple of things were missing. He squelched his typically blistering rhetoric against the war in Iraq. Also MIA, as it turned out, was folkie and antiwar activist Joan Baez, who says she was disinvited from the event by Army officials.
In a letter that appears today in The Washington Post, Baez says Mellencamp had wanted her to perform with him and that she had accepted his invitation.................

joan baez

stop here and say hello to

sugar

seems like what's good for ONE goose, not only isn't good for the gander

BUT isn't good for another goose either.

if they don't like the rules, they JUST CHANGE 'EM. what's wrong with that? PLENTY

why is the gonze still in office? for that matter, why are we allowing the king and his court to still rule?

as i always say to my (beloved) red sox

S
W
E
E
P
('em ALL out)

Residency Clause Adds Fuel To Dispute Over U.S. Attorneys
One Prosecutor Gets an Exemption, Another Gets Fired


By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 2, 2007; Page A03
On Nov. 10, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sent a letter to a federal judge in Montana, assuring him that the U.S. attorney there, William W. Mercer, was not violating federal law by spending most of his time in Washington as a senior Justice Department official.
That same day, Mercer had a GOP Senate staffer insert into a bill a provision that would change the rules so that federal prosecutors could live outside their districts to serve in other jobs, according to documents and interviews.......

.........But the episode, which received little notice at the time, provides another example in which Gonzales's statements appear to conflict with simultaneous actions by his aides in connection with U.S. attorney policies. Lawmakers investigating the department's handling of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys have repeatedly accused Gonzales of being less than truthful about the roles played by himself and the White House...................

another MUST read: 'magic hour light' (my title) by tom engelhardt

a picture perfect setting aboard an aircraft carrier. picture perfect until the death knolls started to ring for iraqis and americans. until tens of thousands were wounded and iraqi citizens were being tortured, being displaced. even those who helped united states troops were not taken care of by us. yet, we allow king george to continue this farce. well it's not a farce because real people have died. real people have suffered. stop this war now. speak up

Mission Unaccomplished

Tom Engelhardt

It had taken much thought and planning that wartime May Day four years ago when George W. Bush co-piloted an S-3B Viking sub reconnaissance Naval jet onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Scott Sforza, a former ABC producer, had "embedded" himself on that aircraft carrier days before the President landed.........................he had planned out every detail of the President's arrival -- as Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times put it then -- "even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the ‘Mission Accomplished' banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call ‘magic hour light,' which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush." ................

........Four years later, casualty figures are so terrible in Iraq that the government, locked inside the Green Zone in the capital, has, for the first time, refused to reveal the monthly figures to the United Nations, though figures do show a continuing epidemic of assassinations of Iraqi academics and of torture of prisoners, a steep rise in deaths among policemen, and a rise in "honor killings" of women by their own families...........

........Four years later, the American military has claimed dramatic success in reducing a wave of sectarian killings in the capital -- but only by leaving out of its count the dead from Sunni car/truck/motorcycle-bomb and other suicide-bomb attacks; with over 100 car bombings last month, and similar figures for this one, Sunni militants are outsurging the U.S. surge in Baghdad, making "a mockery of the US and Iraqi security plan," according to BBC reporter Andrew North. ..........

aw, just read the WHOLE thing at the link above.

a bush or two and a pump or two

put 'em together and what do you get?

Corps Asked to Explain Pump Contract

By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, it copied the specifications - typos and all - from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract, a review of documents by The Associated Press found.
The pumps, supplied by Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and installed at canals before the start of the 2006 hurricane season, proved to be defective, as the AP reported in March. The matter is under investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
In a letter dated April 13, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., called on the Corps to look into how the politically connected company got the post-Hurricane Katrina contract. MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush's brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party.
While it may not be a violation of federal regulations to adopt a company's technical specifications, it is frowned on, especially for large jobs like the MWI contract, because it could give the impression the job was rigged for the benefit of a certain company, contractors familiar with Corps practices say. ..............

we knew the king was going to veto it

he's not just stubborn but he's WRONG. physically wrong and morally wrong. he asks us to give the 'surge' more time. we've given ALL of his ideas more time. they are NOT working. things are getting worse. for iraqis and for OUR troops. over 100 of our troops dead last month. the king didn't attend ANY of those funerals nor will he.

the time is now for not only democrats to grow a set but republicans and everyone in between and on the fringes. demand an end to this war. we CANNOT and MUST NOT let it continue.

Bush Keeps Vow to Veto War Funding Bill
President Says Pullout Deadline Is 'Date for Failure'


By Michael Abramowitz and Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writers

President Bush vetoed a $124 billion measure yesterday that would have funded overseas military operations but required him to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq as early as July, escalating the most serious confrontation between the White House and Congress over war policy in a generation.
Bush carried through on his veto threat just after the legislation arrived at the White House, calling the timetable a "prescription for chaos and confusion" that would undercut generals..................

stark

why isn't the king addressing THIS? we can send in every man woman and child to 'surge' iraq. and if you think MORE terrorism isn't going to occur you are sadly mistaken. we started this. it was NOT happening BEFORE we illegally invaded iraq. write to your representatives and senators and DEMAND our departure from iraq. while you're at it, DEMAND IMPEACHMENT for the king and his ENTIRE court
DO IT NOW before it really IS too late


U.S. Cites 91 Percent Rise In Terrorist Acts in Iraq


By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 1, 2007; Page A13
The number of terrorism incidents in Iraq -- and resulting deaths, injuries and kidnappings -- skyrocketed from 2005 to 2006, according to statistics released by U.S. counterterrorism officials yesterday.
Of the 14,338 reported terrorist attacks worldwide last year, 45 percent took place in Iraq, and 65 percent of the global fatalities stemming from terrorism occurred in Iraq. In 2005, Iraq accounted for 30 percent of the worldwide terrorist attacks.
The figures, compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and released with the annual State Department Country Reports on Terrorism, showed that the number of incidents in Iraq rose 91 percent, from 3,468 in 2005 to 6,630 in 2006..............

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight

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ONE HUNDRED
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April Toll Is Highest Of '07 for U.S. Troops
Over 100 Killed in Month; Iraqi Deaths Far Higher


By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karin Brulliard Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, May 1, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, April 30 -- The deaths of more than 100 American troops in April made it the deadliest month so far this year for U.S. forces in Iraq, underscoring the growing exposure of Americans as thousands of reinforcements arrive for an 11-week-old offensive to tame sectarian violence.
More than 60 Iraqis also were killed or found dead across Iraq on Monday. Casualties among Iraqi civilians and security forces have outstripped those of Americans throughout the war. In March, a total of 2,762 Iraqi civilians and policemen were killed, down 4 percent from the previous month, when 2,864 were killed. Iraq's government has yet to release any monthly totals for April...............

500 billion and STILL counting

and we spent this much because?

and how much more will we spend?

seems our VETERANS can't get proper care but we're STILL tossing billions into this hell (WE created mind you. i'm well aware of that)

how much more are we going to allow them to get away with burning? (the them of course is king george and his court)

Price tag for war in Iraq on track to top $500 billion

By Ron Hutcheson
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The bitter fight over the latest Iraq spending bill has all but obscured a sobering fact: The war will soon cost more than $500 billion.
That's about ten times more than the Bush administration anticipated before the war started four years ago, and no one can predict how high the tab will go. The $124 billion spending bill that President Bush plans to veto this week includes about $78 billion for Iraq, with the rest earmarked for the war in Afghanistan, veterans' health care and other government programs.
Congressional Democrats and Bush agree that they cannot let their dispute over a withdrawal timetable block the latest cash installment for Iraq. Once that political fight is resolved, Congress can focus on the president's request for $116 billion more for the war in the fiscal year that starts on Sept. 1.
The combined spending requests would push the total for Iraq to $564 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
What could that kind of money buy?
A college education - tuition, fees, room and board at a public university - for about half of the nation's 17 million high-school-age teenagers. .............

and of course THIS:

Report: U.S. investment in Iraqi reconstruction at risk

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Poor construction, improper design, substandard materials and lack of maintenance have brought into question the usefulness of seven of eight U.S.-funded Iraq reconstruction projects.
So says an inspector general report that recently examined the eight reconstruction projects.
"If these projects are typical of the quality and effectiveness of operations and maintenance performance on transitioned projects, the value of the U.S. investment in Iraq reconstruction will be at risk," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general, in his report to Congress and the Bush Administration. "Unless corrective action is taken, the useful lives of those projects will be significantly shortened."
In addition, 914 people -- including 224 U.S. citizens -- have died while working on the U.S.-funded projects, the report said.
The U.S. is spending $37 billion on Iraqi reconstruction.
The report said a major problem was the Iraqi government's lack of maintenance plans for the facilities after it has taken over control from the U.S.
For example, just 10 of the 17 electrical generators installed at a cost of almost $12 million at the Baghdad International Airport were operational. There was no plan for their maintenance, including keeping oil levels up, the report said............

mission accomplished?????????????????????

speaking of 'take back the blog day'

two days later we find this Sexual Threats Stifle Some Female Bloggers in the wapo


By Ellen Nakashima

A female freelance writer who blogged about the pornography industry was threatened with rape. A single mother who blogged about "the daily ins and outs of being a mom" was threatened by a cyber-stalker who claimed that she beat her son and that he had her under surveillance. Kathy Sierra, who won a large following by blogging about designing software that makes people happy, became a target of anonymous online attacks that included photos of her with a noose around her neck and a muzzle over her mouth...........

...............A 2006 University of Maryland study on chat rooms found that female participants received 25 times as many sexually explicit and malicious messages as males. A 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the proportion of Internet users who took part in chats and discussion groups plunged from 28 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2005, entirely because of the exodus of women. ............

for a listing of blogs who DID participate in take back the blog AND their stories, please go here

i have never been threatened as a blogger. however, i HAVE been threatened online and in person. i have been treated less than equally online AND in person. it's not any less of a threat if it takes place online. it's unsettling ANYWHERE, ANYHOW, ANYTIME

i'm literally

speechless here

make up your own stories

George Bush Receives Purple Heart Award

Posted by Richard Blair at 10:01 AM on April 29, 2007.
Richard Blair: In one of the more ironic stories never to hit the mainstream media, George Bush was recently presented with a Purple Heart

Did you know that George W. Bush was a war hero? I know that this development comes as a shock and surprise to many progressives who are familiar with Bush's military career, but he received a Vietnam-era Purple Heart award a few weeks ago in the Oval Office. Seriously.
28%-er Bill Thomas of Copperas Cove, Texas, decided recently to give George Bush one of the three purple hearts that he had been awarded in Vietnam. Bush was so blown over by this gesture that he invited Thomas and his wife, Georgia, to the Oval Office for the presentation... ........

here it is in black and white. well red

instance after instance yet our voices are NOT united against the king and his court. they're NOT FIGHTING A WAR ON TERROR. they ARE INSTIGATING THE WAR ON TERROR

TERRORISM
Annual terrorism report will show 29% rise in attacks

By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.
The annual report's release comes amid a bitter feud between the White House and Congress over funding for U.S. troops in Iraq and a deadline favored by Democrats to begin a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top aides earlier this week had considered postponing or downplaying the release of this year's edition of the terrorism report, officials in several agencies and on Capitol Hill said.
Ultimately, they decided to issue the report on or near the congressionally mandated deadline of Monday, the officials said.
"We're proceeding in normal fashion with the final review of this and expect it to be released early next week," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said..................

58 iraqis, 8 us troops AND anna nicole

are all dead

seems like most people only care about ONE of the above three

i care about the other two

U.S. Announces 8 Troop Deaths in Iraq

By KIM GAMEL


BAGHDAD (AP) - A car bomb exploded Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as the streets were packed with people heading for evening prayers, killing at least 58 and wounding scores near some of the country's most sacred shrines. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of eight American troops, including three killed Saturday in a single roadside bombing outside Baghdad.
With black smoke clogging the skies above Karbala, angry crowds hurled stones at police and later stormed the provincial governor's house, accusing authorities of failing to protect them from the unrelenting bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents. It was the second car bomb to strike the city's central area in two weeks..............

the more i read

the more i feel we are doomed


Rocket Fuel Chemical Found in Food, Water Supply
Studies Being Done to Determine Long-Term Effects of Small Amounts of Perchlorate on Human Health

they closed down (well are going to close down) a plant that makes candy in connecticut. the talk is they are going to contract out to some country where it was cheaper to make candy. i was enraged. i saw how and what happened with pet food being made in other countries. turns out i have NOTHING to worry about. we're poisoning ourselves without any help!

Perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel, is turning up in the nation's food -- in vegetables like lettuce and spinach -- and water supply.
You've never heard of it? Most Americans haven't, but millions have been exposed to it. This week Congress held hearings to determine just how dangerous it is to humans' health.
"A study from the Centers for Disease Control last year tested almost 3,000 people who are representative of the U.S. population. They found perchlorate in every single person," said Dr. Anila Jacob of the Environmental Working Group.........

how much more evidence do you need

to see king george and his court do NOT care about the people of the united states?

they just don't. here is a story about katrina. there is a story about sudan. over there is a story about iraq. there are stories everywhere in this naked world. stories that show a basic lack of not only compassion BUT morality.

those that support this administration simply because they have always supported republicans, must look at the consequences. the world indeed IS going to come to an end IF and ONLY IF we allow these people free reign

let's not do that, ok?

Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed
By John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Staff Writers

As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.
Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving."
Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims.
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors....................

yes, it's worse

and i should have known. i WAS going to make a comment on the story i posted yesterday (on mr tobias) how he must be some religious right-wing nut since he was an appointment of king george's (for countries and organizations to receive funding for AIDS issues - can you imagine) BUT i didn't because i knew very little about the man.

of course he IS some sort of religious dipshite (i am NOT making light of religion, i'm making light of people who are idiots ABOUT religion) using their god(s) for their (the man NOT the god) own purposes. makes me sick. oh when i was driving home from work the other day, i had npr on. they had a guest on, someone who had formed a network (like myspace but it wasn't myspace) for people to share info and 'meet' and things of that nature. the host and guest were talking about technology and socialization and civilization. they took a few calls. the third call in was some 'christian' (i use that term loosely. VERY loosely), who claimed the use of the internet was documented in the bible and how, due to our use of the internet we are VERY close to the end of time. the rapture.

SEE THEY'RE EVERYWHERE

Official Caught Using Escort Service Demanded Anti-Prostitution ‘Loyalty Oaths’

Former U.S. AID director Randall Tobias, who resigned yesterday upon admitting that he frequented a Washington escort service, oversaw a controversial policy advocated by the religious right that required any US-based group receiving anti-AIDS funds to take an anti-prostitution “loyalty oath.”
Aid groups bitterly opposed the policy, charging that it “was so broad — and applied even to their private funds — that it would obstruct their outreach to sex workers who are at high risk of transmitting the AIDS virus.” But President Bush wouldn’t budge. He signed a 2003 National Security Presidential Directive saying prostitution “and related activities” were “inherently harmful and dehumanizing.”
Several groups and countries had their funding cut due to the policy. Brazil lost $40 million for “one of its most successful anti-AIDS strategies, persuading sex workers to use condoms or other measures to stop spreading the disease.”.................