Christians give Bush ultimatum to ban gay marriage

January 31, 2005 by element115
Conservative Christian leaders who played a key role in securing President George W Bush's re-election have given the White House an ultimatum over outlawing same-sex marriages.
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Guantanamo Tribunals Unconstitutional

by element115
A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that the Guantanamo military tribunals for terrorism suspects are unconstitutional.
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World's news channels play to prejudices

by element115
The Guardian
---> In the studios at Fox News, Rupert Murdoch's American channel, they could scarcely contain their joy at the "incredible" reports that voter turnout in Iraq had reached 95% "in some areas".
Colonel Oliver North, formerly of the Iran-Contra scandal, joined Fox for the celebrations. "What a great day for America and a great day for freedom it has turned out to be in Iraq," he said.
...followed by Ahmed Chalabi, the disgraced former banker, speaking on the phone from Baghdad. Anchorwoman Juliet Huddy addressed him as "sir".

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He's the world's nuclear arms watchdog

by element115
...but why does the Bush administration want him out?

...because he doesn't want to lie for the US!
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Lawmakers, CIA in Dispute Over Nazi Papers

by element115
Members of Congress are urging the CIA to comply with a 1998 public disclosure law and release documents about Nazi war criminals hired by the U.S. government's intelligence agency during the Cold War.

The law requires the declassification of all U.S. government documents related to the Holocaust and Nazi war crimes. It has already led to the release of more than 8 million pages of documents, including 1.25 million from the Central Intelligence Agency.

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Israeli Tank Fire Kills Palestinian Girl

by element115
A 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by Israeli tank fire while she was inside a United Nations school in a southern Gaza Strip refugee camp, Palestinian and U.N. officials said Monday.
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9/11: New seismic data refutes official explanation

by element115
Two unexplained "spikes"in the seismic record from Sept. 11 indicate huge bursts of energy shook the ground beneath the World Trade Center' s twin towers immediately prior to the collapse.
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Condoleeza Rice off to predictable start

by element115
Arrogance, supercilious smarm, belligerence, intrusion and pig-headed idiocy all in one fell swoop. Not bad for a start.
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An election to anoint an occupation

by element115
The Guardian ---> Had it been held in Zimbabwe, the west would have denounced it
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Some Just Voted for Food

by element115
Many Iraqis said Monday that their names were marked on a list provided by the government agency that provides monthly food rations before they were allowed to vote.
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Dangerous' Global Warming Possible by 2026

January 29, 2005 by element115
World temperatures could surge in just two decades to a threshold likely to trigger dangerous disruptions to the earth's climate, the WWF environmental group said
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This election will change the world. But not in the way the Americans imagined

by element115
Robert Fisk in Baghdad ---> America has insisted on these elections - which will produce a largely Shia parliament representing Iraq's largest religious community - because they are supposed to provide an exit strategy for embattled US forces, but they seem set to change the geopolitical map of the Arab world in ways the Americans could never have imagined. For George Bush and Tony Blair this is the law of unintended consequences writ large.
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Sundance awards

by element115
War, world politics and personal struggles dominated Sundance Film Festival awards on Saturday as a dark drama, "Forty Shades of Blue," and a documentary about the U.S. defense industry, "Why We Fight," won top honors.
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Feith Resigns Under Pressure of Investigations

by element115
Juan Cole ---> Having a Likudnik as the number three man in the Pentagon is a nightmare for American national security, since Feith could never be trusted to put US interests over those of Ariel Sharon.
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CIA set to oversee the PA-Israel security cooperation

by element115
The Central Intelligence Agency is set to resume its role in security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in an effort to stabilize the situation in the territories, senior officials said...
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Putin suggests Russia will sell missiles to Syria

by element115
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Friday that a planned sale of missiles to Syria will go on as planned, despite objections by Israel and the United States.
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Democracy and necrology

by element115
Each act in the ongoing and seemingly never-ending Iraqi tragedy has a climactic scene, at times imaginary, at times painfully real. We are now approaching one such scene, and it could well go under the working title "the elections". Initially advertised as the glorious peak beyond which the promised land of democracy lies, the climb is proving to be rocky, if not lethal.
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The streets of Baghdad are empty. It feels like a city preparing for war

by element115
In the hours before tomorrow's election, Baghdad feels like a city preparing for war. American helicopters roar noisily overhead just above the roof- tops, setting off car alarms. Iraqi police nervously finger their assault rifles. Most people are taking no risks and stay at home, so streets are eerily empty.
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The Children of Iraq

January 28, 2005 by element115
Collection of pictures - very disturbing --->





Bush, you will burn in HELL !
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HDNet to broadcast live from Baghdad during Iraq elections

by element115
Mark Cuban ---> "Since it's my network, and this is something I think is amazing and compelling, we are going to broadcast the feed continuously on HDNet during daylight and twilight hours in Baghdad. No talking heads. No interruptions for commentary. Just the sights and sounds of Baghdad, uninterrupted and unedited. What you see, and in High Definition you see and hear a lot, is what you get."

you can also watch it on their website ---> HDNet Home Page
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Fingerprint Technology in School Food Service

by element115
Fingerprint technology is now being harnessed at K-12 schools around the nation for school lunches.
Students simply place a forefinger on a small reader by the register. Public schools such as those in the Penn Cambria and Wilson School Districts in Pennsylvania have adopted this technology to speed operation; simplify payment; limit lunch fraud and bullying; improve National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participation; and to improve reimbursement for programs such as Title I, E-rate, and No Child Left Behind, which use NSLP food service data to gauge poverty.

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Iran boasts 10 million martyrs ready to fight US to the death

by element115
"Iran is the biggest military power in the region (with) 10 million volunteers for martyrdom operations ... to turn Iran into a terrible nightmare for the United States," General Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, deputy commander of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards, told the Kayhan newspaper.
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Assad warns Middle East states face break-up threat

by element115
Speaking to RIA Novosti news agency at the end of his four day state visit to Russia Assad said: "The events in the Middle East could lead to the break-up of several countries in the region, the rise of extremism and religious and ethnic strife."
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No U.S. accountability in propaganda scandals

by element115
We have not had disclosure in the matter of this taxpayer-provided propaganda. Who approved it? Who ordered it? Since it's illegal, who's been charged?
No one.

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Scion of traitors and warlords: why Bush is coy about his Irish links

by element115
The Guardian ---> Tapestry artist reveals ancestors of US president as murderous bunch
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U.S. edges closer to national ID card

by element115
The United States hedged a step closer toward the idea of a national identification card last month when Congress passed the intelligence reform legislation. Tucked into the provisions was a mandate calling for national regulations for driver's licenses and other forms of identification.
Some scenerios - government officials being able to note your every move by scanning cards from a distance - sound pretty conspiracy theory. But the technology exists, so such changes should not be undertaken lightly.

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RFID Paypass System at Superbowl

by element115
According to a news release, the Jacksonville Suns will implement PDC's AgeBand Electronic Age/ID Verification System along with Smart AgeBand Wristbands to prevent underage drinking at the event. PDC's cashless payment solution consisting of Smart Kiosks, Smart Band RFID Wristbands and Smart Readers, will be used to provide fast and convenient cashless point-of-sales during the event.
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Why was getting rid of Chavez an important factor for USA?

by element115
Some very interesting things have been happening these days in beautiful Venezuela ? we are on the path of making history here ? almost on a daily basis.
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Water Anxiety...

by element115
Baghdad Burning ---> ...during this year's inaugral Bush could have summed it up with the following: "Ha! I can't believe you people actually re-elected me! Unbelievable! Some people just loooove the abuse!!!"
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Why the Palestinians are eliminating their traitors

by element115
Prof. Israel Shahak ---> "One of my own strongest memories is that, when the Jewish underground killed a despicable collaborator close to my home at the end of February 1943 in Warsaw, I danced and sang around the still bleeding corpse together with the other children...I still do not regret this, quite the contrary."
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It Can Happen Here

by element115
Bankruptcy is for other countries, not the United States of America -- right?
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Terrorist's clothing discovered in Texas?

by element115
According to a Department of Homeland Security morning brief marked "For official use only," a report from Customs and Border Protection noted that on Dec. 23, Border Patrol agents stationed in Hebbronville, Texas, found a jacket with an Arabic patch in a lay-up area on Highway 285.
The report notes, "DHS translators concluded that the patch read, 'Defense Center,' 'Ministry of Defense,' or 'Defense Headquarters.' The bottom of the patch read 'Martyr,' 'Way to Eternal Life' or 'Way to Immortality.'"


...who would believe that kind of BS propaganda of fear?
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Seymour Hersh is on fire

by element115
The speed with which the United States had fallen into fascism, under the guidance of an American Imperialist/Zionist/Christian Zionist cult, is remarkable.
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Andaman quakes leave seismologists worried

by element115
Unusual events "unheard of in the history of seismology" have been recorded in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, with more than 120 such events being recorded in the last one month, according to seismologists.
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2020 Vision

by element115
A CIA report predicts that American global dominance could end in 15 years.
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IDF doctor used body of Palestinian for lesson in anatomy

by element115
The Breaking the Silence organization has collected new testimony from Israel Defense Forces soldiers on harsh actions carried out during the course of the fighting in the territories. Two of the testimonies pertain to a military doctor who gave medics lessons in anatomy using the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
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Hamas wins overwhelming victory in Gaza vote

by element115
Following a sweeping victory by Hamas in the Gaza municipal elections, a senior figure in the organization said Friday this victory demonstrates Hamas' success as a political, rather than a strictly militant entity.
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Ashes to Ashes

by element115
The ashes of Auschwitz are still falling on the innocents being murdered today.
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Shilling for Bush

by element115
It seems clear now that the disclosure that two syndicated right-wing columnists were paid shills of the Bush administration posing as journalists is really just the tip of a grimy iceberg.
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US prepares invasion of Venezuela: Venezuelan ambassador

by element115
The United States is preparing a future invasion of Venezuela to control the petroleum of the South American country as it did in Iraq, said Venezuela's acting ambassador to Paraguay, Elmer Nino.
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Britain 'sliding into police state'

by element115
The home secretary, Charles Clarke, is transforming Britain into a police state, one of the country's former leading anti-terrorist police chiefs said yesterday.
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N Korea has 'bought nuclear bomb'

by element115
North Korea appears to have bought a complete nuclear weapon from either Pakistan or a former Soviet Union state, a South Korean newspaper said today, quoting a source in Washington.
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Tell Them, 'Because our Fathers Lied'

by element115
Almost two years after our invasion of Iraq - an occasion that was to be 'a piece of cake,' one that would be celebrated by Iraqis strewing flowers before our troops - it is well past the point when we should recognize that the Iraq War has become the Vietnam of the 21st Century. As in Vietnam, The Mexican War, the Spanish American War, the pretext for going to war was manufactured by misrepresenting facts and whipping up public fury, usually a simple task when that well known toxin - patriotism - is in the air.
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San Francisco bans smoking in public places

by element115
City officials in San Francisco voted to ban smoking in all parks, public squares and many other outdoor spaces owned by the city.
Violators could be fined up to $100 on first offense, $200 for a second violation and $500 for each additional violation.

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A fantasy of freedom

by element115
There is one tiny corner of Cuba that will for ever America be. It is a place where innocent people are held without charge for years, beyond international law, human decency and the mythical glow of Lady Liberty's torch. It is a place where torture is common, beating is ritual and humiliation is routine. They call it Guantanamo Bay.
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Threats nearly paralyze Baghdad

by element115
Baghdad kicked into panic mode three days before the election, with terrified Iraqis stockpiling food and evacuating homes near polling places on Thursday for fear that insurgents would make good on threats to disrupt Sunday's vote with violence.
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Is the world safer now?

by element115
With the elections looming in Iraq, the updated answers highlight the global impact of the conflict
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Radar to see through walls

by element115
Military researchers are developing a high-tech radar system that can see through walls, locating and tracking hidden enemies, hostage-takers or even avalanche victims buried under mounds of snow.

Canadian, British, European and U.S. scientists are racing to perfect the revolutionary 3D technology, which can create images of individuals, detail a room's layout or even detect buried landmines.

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Russian officers 'helped in plot to seize Beslan school'

by element115
Beslan's increasingly restless residents were told yesterday that high-ranking Russian military officers who "were still at their posts" were suspected of helping Chechen militants seize the town's school last September.
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Turin Shroud is not medieval forgery, says US scientist

by element115
Doubt has been cast on the theory that the Shroud of Turin is a medieval fake after an American scientist published new evidence supporting the hallowed belief that it is Christ's burial cloth.
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Iran next, then who?

by element115
Gore Vidal ---> Symbolically, it's interesting that regions of the US are rejecting Darwin and evolution. I can see why. We have a substantial minority in the US that hasn't advanced much beyond the baboon. These ignorant folk are full of hatred, which is why they are currently rejecting evolution and going back to the stone age with torture, killing innocent people, attacking countries that have done us no harm. This is insupportable
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Cheney's green parka and boots stand out

by element115
Vice President Dick Cheney's utilitarian hooded parka and boots stood out amid the solemn formality of a ceremony commemorating the liberation of Nazi death camps, raising eyebrows among the fashion-conscious.
Washington Post described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower."

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Warren Buffett makes $776 million in one day.

by element115
Legendary investor Warren Buffett had nothing but praise Friday for Proctor & Gamble Co.'s $57 billion deal for Gillette, which helped him make $776 million -- in one day.
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Bush says he would withdraw forces if asked

by element115
Bush said in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw American forces from Iraq if the new government that is elected on Sunday asked him to do so, but that he expected Iraq's first democratically elected leaders would want the troops to remain as helpers, not as occupiers.
He did not say who he expected would emerge victorious. But asked if, as a matter of principle, the United States would pull out of Iraq at the request of a new government, he said: "Absolutely. This is a sovereign government. They're on their feet."


...such a bold statement only 'proves' that Allawi is going to be a winner.
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FBI in Talks to Extend Reach

by element115
The FBI is significantly expanding its intelligence-gathering activities in the United States, including stepped-up efforts to collect and report intelligence on foreign figures and governments, a function that long has been principally the domain of the CIA, intelligence and congressional
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Global warming is 'twice as bad as previously thought'

January 27, 2005 by element115
Global warming might be twice as catastrophic as previously thought, flooding settlements on the British coast and turning the interior into an unrecognisable tropical landscape, the world's biggest study of climate change shows.

Researchers from some of Britain's leading universities used computer modelling to predict that under the "worst-case" scenario, London would be under water and winters banished to history as average temperatures in the UK soar up to 20C higher than at present.

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What Are We Fighting For?

by element115
In a provocative interview, Naomi Klein talks about Bush, the Iraq war and the need for progressives to "answer the language of faith with the language of morality."
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'They can't throw us all in jail'

by element115
Growing number of soldiers oppose -- and refuse to report for -- the war in Iraq
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U.S. Government Puts 9/11 Record Online

by element115
A lengthy account of the Sept. 11 attacks has been put online by the Library of Congress in the form of nearly 170 audio and video interviews, totaling 40 hours, with photos, drawings, written narratives and poems.
...project is now among than 125 historic collections compiled and put online by the library in a set called "American Memory."

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Criminals the lot of us

by element115
The invasion of Iraq was a crime of gigantic proportions, for which politicians, the media and the public share responsibility
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The Most Dangerous Lawyer in America

by element115
Gonzales' testimony was a joke; his written responses are no laughing matter
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University of Colorado prof's essay sparks dispute

by element115
A University of Colorado professor has sparked controversy in New York over an essay he wrote that maintains that people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were not innocent victims.
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Russian forces kill seven militants

by element115
Hundreds of Russian policemen and soldiers stormed an apartment building in a southern Russian city today, killing seven suspected Islamic militants after a two-day standoff.
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Rumsfeld Interview with Parade Magazine Oct. 12, 2001

by element115
"Here we're talking about plastic knives and using an American Airlines flight filed with our citizens, and the missile to damage this building(Pentagon) and similar (inaudible) that damaged the World Trade Center."

...he said the missile!
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EU finalises aid package for Palestinians

by element115
The European Commission is preparing a $91 million immediate aid package for the Palestinian Authority to support new President Mahmoud Abbas? peace and reform efforts.
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Israel bars senior BBC producer

by element115
A senior BBC producer has been barred from re-entering Israel over his alleged role in an interview of nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu.
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Cheney to urge Poland to stay in Iraq

by element115
Cheney's visit with the Polish leader at Wawel Royal Castle was the first stop on a three-day trip to Poland.
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Bush pushes computerized medical records

by element115
President Bush said Thursday that the medical industry is behind the times, using paper and pen for many records and prescriptions when computerized records could reduce cost and errors.
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Israeli raids threaten tenuous ceasefire

by element115
Hours after Israel indicated it would halt raids and assassinations in the occupied territories, defense forces were back in business in the West Bank.
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Iraqis still in the dark over where to vote - or for whom

by element115
With four days to go, the security crisis imposes an unusually secret ballot
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Education secretary blasts PBS for cartoon with gay characters

by element115
The nation's new education secretary denounced PBS yesterday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want their children exposed to such lifestyles.
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Germany rejects military strikes against Iran

by element115
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder firmly rejected the prospect of a US-led military strike against Iran over its nuclear program, saying Wednesday he hoped Washington would back European diplomatic efforts.
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Tesco 'spychips' anger consumers

by element115
A US consumer privacy group has called for a global boycott of Tesco stores over the company's trial of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips.
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US to slap tourists with RFID

by element115
Passport? Check.
Insurance? Check.
RFID chip?
The US Department of Homeland Security has decided to trial RFID tags in an effort to make sure only the right sort of people get across US borders.
The trials will start at a "simulated port" in the spring and will then be extended.

RFID chips will be used to track both pedestrians and vehicles entering the US to automatically record when the visitors arrive and leave in the country.

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Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon-Mobil Works

by element115
PureEnergySystems ---> One cubic mile of natural gas extracted every four years at epicenter Aceh facility presents a smoking gun for man-made factor in 9.0 earthquake with accompanying tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people. Think of a gigantic boulder sitting precariously, nudged over the edge with a small lever.

...How many more disastrous quakes will humanity face as the result of this artificially-maintained appetite for fuel?

...a must read!
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Soldiers 'told to give captives good kicking'

by element115
A senior British soldier shot at Iraqi looters and ordered his men to give them "a good kicking", a court martial heard today.
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We've Been Taken Over by a Cult

by element115
Seymour Hersh ---> ...we're spending $2 billion a day to float the debt, and one of these days, the Japanese and the Russians, everybody is going to start buying oil in Euros instead of dollars. We're going to see enormous panic here.
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Wake Up! Bush Is Serious

by element115
Paul Craig Roberts ---> The neocons are the greatest threat America has ever faced, and they have the reins of power. Americans need to wake up to this fact and stop indulging their macho "kick their Muslim butts" fantasies and their "end times" Rapture fantasies.
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USAF playing cat and mouse game over Iran

by element115
The U.S. Air Force is playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Iran's ayatollahs, flying American combat aircraft into Iranian airspace in an attempt to lure Tehran into turning on air defense radars, thus allowing U.S. pilots to grid the system for use in future targeting data, administration officials said.
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U.S. will help finance pullout

by element115
The United States is likely to help Israel finance the military aspect of the disengagement from Gaza, Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon said yesterday.
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Anger over Iraqi war dead on Internet

by element115
THE US Defence Department has been asked to investigate a website being used by American soldiers to post grisly pictures of Iraqi war dead.
The site, which has been operating for more than a year, describes itself as "an online archive of soldiers' photos".

Dozens of pictures of decapitated and limbless bodies are featured on the site with tasteless captions, purportedly sent in by soldiers.

Captions include "plastic surgery needed", "road kill" and "I said dead".

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Feeling a Draft?

by element115
Poor kids of color fight the Pentagon
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Barbarity is the inevitable consequence of foreign rule

by element115
Brown has gone further than Blair in the attempt to rehabilitate empire.
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When reality annoys you, simply ignore it

by element115
In the new America, images rule. Positive images. That's because reality is annoying. So in Washington now, the images are of Oz. President Bush, in his invisible bell jar, has just been inaugurated for the second time?$40 million worth of fat-cat parties and banquets and balls. In Baghdad, there are explosions?not celebratory thank-you fireworks, just explosions. And then bodies in the streets.

But in the new America, we're not supposed to publish pictures of the bodies of the American dead in the streets?only the Iraqis. The president and his image makers say that showing American corpses is disrespectful. He has barred even the taking of photos of American coffins?too upsetting. Reality only gets in the way.

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Feith, an architect of Iraq policy, to leave post

by element115
The Pentagon's third-ranking policy-maker has decided to leave his post this summer, the Pentagon said Wednesday, announcing the first resignation of a senior civilian architect of the Bush administration's Iraq policy.

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith cited personal and family reasons for his decision, said a brief Department of Defense announcement.


... An official working under Feith has been under investigation for allegedly passing classified information to Israel, and the Senate Intelligence Committee has been looking into Feith's role in developing the faulty intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorism that the Bush administration used to build its case for invading Iraq.
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British Soldier Tells of Forced Sex Simulations

by element115
Fusilier Gary Bartlam was giving evidence at the court martial of three fellow British soldiers accused of abusing and sexually humiliating detainees caught in an operation to deter theft of aid supplies from a base near Basra in May 2003.
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Analysis: Russia's ambitions growing

by element115
You can't play referee in the Middle East ball game if Israel doesn't want you on the field.
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Prostitute used in Habib torture: lawyer

by element115
Mamdouh Habib was the victim of atrocities fit for a concentration camp, including being tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him, his lawyer said yesterday.

Interrogators at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay had also told the Sydney man they had killed his family and superimposed animal heads on photos of his wife and children, Steven Hopper said.

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Here comes "The Freedom"

by element115
Dahr Jamail ---> With the "elections" just three days away, people are terrified. Families are fleeing Baghdad much as they did prior to the invasion of the country. Seeking refuge from what everyone fears to be a massive onslaught of violence in the capital city
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Palestinians ban citizens from carrying weapons

by element115
The Palestinian leadership has banned civilians from carrying weapons, the latest move aimed at reining in militant groups while trying to forge a ceasefire with Israel.
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Israel refuses to rule out attack on Iran

by element115
Israel's Defence Minister refused to rule out a pre-empt-ive strike on Iran yesterday, claiming that Tehran was "close to a point of no return" on its suspected development of a nuclear weapon.
...the Iranian government, he said had been "buying time" through talks with Britain, France and Germany.

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Britain Proposes New Anti-Terror Powers

by element115
British officials proposed far-reaching new powers on Wednesday to control and monitor suspected terrorists without charge or trial, including house arrests, electronic tagging and curfews.

...suspected terrorist = anybody
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Troops are exhausted

by element115
In an internal memorandum, he described "the Army Reserve's inability under current policies, procedures and practices ... to meet mission requirements associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements and is rapidly degenerating into a broken force".

These "dysfunctional" policies are producing a crisis "more acute and hurtful", as the Reserve's ability to mobilise troops is "eroding daily".

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Bush administration paying independent commentators

by element115
The controversy over the Bush administration paying money to supposedly independent commentators reignited yesterday when it was revealed that another syndicated columnist had been paid to promote the president's policies.
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US politician hopes to speed building of third temple

January 26, 2005 by element115
Orly Benny-Davis has come a long way from her youth in Ramat Gan. Today a well-known US political activist, Benny-Davis ran for the senate last year in her home state of South Carolina. On Monday night, she was in Jerusalem to attend the 11th annual Temple Mount dinner and to help speed up the construction of the third temple.
"...and we, who came back to our land 2,000 years later, don't have one, which is needed to initiate the final return to Israel."

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Marking Holocaust, Sharon Blasts Israel Critics

by element115
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assailed as anti-Semites Wednesday critics of Israel who liken its crackdowns on a Palestinian revolt to Nazi-style acts of aggression.
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China Loses Faith in Dollar

by element115
China has lost faith in the stability of the U.S. dollar and its first priority is to broaden the exchange rate for its currency from the dollar to a more flexible basket of currencies, a top Chinese economist said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum.
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Amnesty, Oxfam Call for Urgent Adoption of UN Arms Trade Treaty

by element115
Amnesty International and Oxfam, among several other global groups, are calling on the United Nations to urgently adopt a legally binding system that will make it possible to trace the origin and transfer of millions of small arms, light weapons, and ammunition that are traded worldwide.
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Bush's hubristic world view

by element115
Right after Bush's speech, White House aides scurried around to tell reporters that Bush hadn't meant what he'd said. Or, since presidents are never wrong, that the reporters had been wrong to write that he was presenting his personal vision of a re-ordered world.
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Bush's Pillars

by element115
Ralph Nader ---> President George W. Bush's Inaugural Address was perched high on the abstraction ladder. Words like "freedom," "liberty" and "democracy" poured forth not just for Americans but for everyone in the world. Let's bring his rhetoric down to the concrete level of his record-that is, down the ladder of abstraction where regular people live.
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Dream On America

by element115
The U.S. Model: For years, much of the world did aspire to the American way of life. But today countries are finding more appealing systems in their own backyards.
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Media mogul accused of running Saudi-funded propaganda campaign

by element115
Iraq's first independent media mogul has been running his empire with millions of pounds secretly provided by the Saudi regime, according to allegations made in the high court in London.

Based on documents lodged with the court, Saad Al-Bazzaz - dubbed the Rupert Murdoch of Iraq - was alleged to have received the money for the launch of his newspaper Azzaman, which is now the most widely read daily in Iraq. Mr Bazzaz also controls Iraq's first private satellite TV channel.

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Isolation, breakdowns and mysterious injections

by element115
One of the four men who returned to Britain yesterday after three years in Guantánamo Bay allegedly suffered a series of mental breakdowns and was repeatedly injected with an unknown substance by his US captors.
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Open Systems for Open Politics

by element115
The World Social Forum opens Wednesday with open information systems in place to go with an open political ethos.
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9/11 Truth Movement Only Just Beginning

by element115
Hitler, the Nazis and the concentration camp guards probably thought they'd never be caught too, so I guess we should have just sat back and let Fascism take over the globe in the 1930's?
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Amendment to Allow Schwarzenegger to Run for President Gains Momentum

by element115
The organization plans to hold a series of meetings around the state over the next year. Organizers hope to have a constitutional amendment in place by 2010 to allow Schwarzenegger to run for president in 2012.
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Is Al Qaeda a fabrication by Washington?

by element115
The BBC film "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear" argues that most of what the public has been told regarding the dangers of international terrorism is nothing but mere "fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media."

And that's just for starters.

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Israeli army murders 3-year-old girl

by element115
Israeli occupation forces shot dead on Wednesday a three-year-old girl inside in her house in Gaza, witnesses and medical sources said.
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Iran warns of "astonishing" retaliation if attacked

by element115
Iran warned it will carry out an "astonishing" retaliation if attacked by Israel or the United States, a top Revolutionary Guards commander has been quoted Wednesday by Shargh newspaper as saying.
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Don't be fooled by occupation in democracy's clothing

by element115
Allawi is no patriot and if he remains prime minister after the vote, then, as far as I am concerned it was a sham, a pre-arranged set-up.

...a must read!
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VW 'outraged' by viral suicide bomber ad

by element115
Volkswagen is at the centre of a global row after a disturbing film featuring a Palestinian suicide bomber in a Polo car.
Watch the ad --->

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No Comparison?

by element115
"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners who were freed... were not, as some assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and men who laid violent hands on the detainees."

Can anyone tell who said that?

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'Doctor Death' to teach how to make their own suicide pills

by element115
A controversial euthanasia campaigner nicknamed Dr Death is to run suicide seminars in Australia where people will learn how to make their own "death tablet''.
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Pope satirist convicted in Poland

by element115
One of Poland's best known newspaper editors has been fined $6,500 (£3,457) for ridiculing Pope John Paul II.
A court in Warsaw found Jerzy Urban guilty of insulting a head of state by writing a satirical article.

...the press freedom group Reporters without Borders said a prosecution would set a "dangerous precedent" for an EU state.

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Guard Would Give Bonuses to Bolster Ranks

by element115
Looking for new ways to bolster its thinning ranks, the Army National Guard is seeking legal authority to offer $15,000 bonuses to active-duty soldiers willing to join the Guard - up from $50 now.
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Drilling Plan OKd for Rare Desert Land

by element115
Overriding objections by New Mexico's governor, the Interior Department announced a final plan Monday for expanding oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa, a rare desert grassland and one of a handful of places in the western U.S. where opposition to drilling had united ranchers, property rights advocates, hunters and conservationists.
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Global warming takes its toll on the world's highest mountain

by element115
It got bigger only recently, but now it may be shrinking. What on earth is happening to Mount Everest?
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$1.3 Trillion in Deficits Forecast Over Decade

by element115
The budget deficit is becoming a knottier problem in the short term and will be a potentially catastrophic one in the future, the Congressional Budget Office reported today.
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Cold War wine is back in a new bottle

by element115
This will be a faith-based foreign policy in which we will praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, although President Bush did say that "this is not primarily the task of arms." What a great sense of humor he has!

Hurrah for Mr. Bush! Our path will be strewn with rose petals if not hand grenades.

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Senate Confirms Rice As Secretary of State

by element115
Condoleezza Rice won easy confirmation Wednesday to be President Bush's new secretary of state, despite strong dissent from a small group of Democrats who said she shares blame for mistakes and war deaths in Iraq.
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FBI Says Boston Terror Threat a False Alarm

by element115
"There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way," an FBI statement said. "Because the criminal investigation is ongoing, no further details can be provided at this time."
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Hey Ruppert: 9-11 is NOT Dead!

by element115
With an ego so overblown it defies description (or possibly an indication of something even more sinister), Mike Ruppert ? and Mike Ruppert alone ? has declared that 9-11 is now a dead issue.
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End-Timers & Neo-Cons

by element115
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts ---> The End of Conservatives
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Does Bush Mean It?

by element115
The answer is that it doesn?t matter whether Bush believes, or even understands, what he said. The neoconservatives believe it, and they control the Bush administration.
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Next Stop on Drive-By Armageddon

by element115
Why fuss about torture, when we murder innocents as a matter of daily routine.
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Torture treaty doesn't bar 'cruel, inhuman' tactics, Gonzales says

by element115
Alberto Gonzales has asserted to the Senate committee weighing his nomination to be attorney general that there's a legal rationale for harsh treatment of foreign prisoners by U.S. forces.
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Because There is No Cause

by element115
In an immoral war with no cause, in an aggressive invasion without reason, in a dehumanizing occupation with no justification, those pawns fighting the battles implemented by elite warmongers and corporatists in power have no enthusiasm to risk their lives, sacrifice their minds and endanger their bodies to the horrors befalling men fighting their fellow men. Yet today, in the lands of deserts ancient and wise, where once glorious rivers provided fertility allowing civilization to blossom, where ancient cities sprung forth, prospered and were erased from history, where for millennia society had evolved even before the first Europeans had settled the Americas, in a culture thousands of years old, a product of ceaseless wars and human catastrophe and foreign invasions and cascading conflagrations, that is exactly what is happening to American soldiers.
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Democracy - It's not God's gift

by element115
Zarqawi is the bogeyman that the United States Government blames for almost everything that has gone wrong in Iraq, but he does speak essentially the same language as President Bush.
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Democrats Slam Rice

by element115
A group of Senate Democrats opposing the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday accused her of deceiving Congress and called her an architect of blunders in the Iraq war.

But Republicans, jumping to Rice's defense, said Democrats were grandstanding since Rice was certain to be confirmed in the post by a full Senate vote on Wednesday.

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Columnist was paid to back Bush

by element115
In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.
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Ted Turner Compares FOX's Popularity to Hitler

January 25, 2005 by element115
He followed up by pointing out that Adolph Hitler got the most votes when he was elected to run Germany prior to WWII. He said the network is the propaganda tool for the Bush Administration.

"There's nothing wrong with that. It's certainly legal. But it does pose problems for our democracy. Particularly when the news is dumbed down," leaving voters without critical information on politics and world events and overloaded with fluff," he said.

A FOXNEWS spokesperson responded: "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind -- we wish him well."

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Scientists serious about 'electricity sickness' claims

by element115
The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) is carrying out a review of existing scientific studies into "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" (EHS).
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Is Big Brother watching you while you surf?

by element115
We tend to think that our Web browsing is mostly anonymous and private, but just how much of our online activity is being monitored by the U.S. government? And under what circumstances?
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Wolfowitz story falsified

by element115
Testifying before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July 2003 about the rebuilding of Iraq, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the story of Jumana Michael Hanna, an Iraqi woman who had recently come to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad with a tale of her horrific torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Esquire magazine, in this month's issue, published a lengthy article, by a writer who was hired to help Hanna produce a memoir, saying that her account had all but fallen apart.

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Proposed Student Database Raises Privacy Concerns

by element115
UC may soon have to provide the federal government with detailed personal information about students if a new proposal to overhaul the way education statistics are gathered is approved within the next year.
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Drug-sniffing dogs can be used at traffic stops, high court rules

by element115
The Supreme Court gave police broader search powers Monday during traffic stops, ruling that drug-sniffing dogs can be used to check out motorists even if officers have no reason to suspect they may be carrying narcotics.
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Israeli scientists develop microwave weapon

by element115
Israeli scientists have developed a microwave weapon capable of taking out enemy combatants without causing them serious injury, the Hebrew daily Maariv reported Sunday.
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"Clap-For-Tinkerbell" Patriotism

by element115
Does loving our country require unquestioning support for President Bush, as many of his most devoted followers insist?
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Army Plans To Keep Iraq Troop Level Through '06

by element115
The U.S. Army expects to keep its troop strength in Iraq at the current level of about 120,000 for at least two more years, according to the Army's top operations officer.
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International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security

by element115
Madrid conference on Terrorism and the Internet, March 10
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Last UK Guantanamo Detainees Arrested on Return

by element115
The last four British detainees in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay flew home Tuesday after three years in custody and were immediately arrested by British anti-terrorism police.
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Donald Rumsfeld: The mastermind behind 'terrorist attacks'

by element115
The Bush administration has consistently stated that the United States of America is under a threat of attacks from "terrorists".

Washington could very well be right...But from who precisely?

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David and Goliath

by element115
The Bush administration defends the war on Iraq as ?right?, regardless of the evidence, now, or before the war, and provides further justification for the war by arguing that the war in Iraq has made us safer. However, as Justice Scalia said, ?Right is not necessarily legal.?

Mr. Callan hopes that, belatedly, the Supreme Court will find it illegal. But he is not delusional. ?I have no great expectations that my point of view will prevail. But I have an obligation as a citizen to do what I can. If we don't use the freedoms we have, they'll disappear,? Mr. Callan says.

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US 'terminates' Iranian website

by element115
Iran has accused the US government of ordering an American internet service provider to stop hosting the website of an official Iranian news agency.

The Iranian Student News Agency said no explanation had been given by the server, called The Planet, for its abrupt move to terminate the contract.

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Rising anti-semitism blamed on UK media

by element115
British press coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a leading cause, according to an Israeli government report.

...the media should keep quiet about situation in the region, right?
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Israeli psychological warfare unit set up to "disseminate disinformation"

by element115
The Israeli army is set to activate a special psychological warfare unit (PWU) whose main role is to "disseminate disinformation" and "carefully manipulated information" about Iran and other countries in the Middle East deemed to be "hostile".
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Israeli psychological warfare unit set up to "disseminate disinformation"

by element115
The Israeli army is set to activate a special psychological warfare unit (PWU) whose main role is to "disseminate disinformation" and "carefully manipulated information" about Iran and other countries in the Middle East deemed to be "hostile".
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Gov't will not release Iraq war legal advice under information law

by element115
The government will not release the official guidance it received about the potential legality of the Iraq war under a new freedom of information law.
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Major 'destroyed abuse evidence'

by element115
The commanding officer of three British soldiers accused of abusing prisoners destroyed his records two weeks before their court martial, a court has heard.
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Army Closed Many Abuse Cases Early

by element115
Army personnel have admitted to beating or threatening to kill Iraqi detainees and stealing money from Iraqi civilians but have not been charged with criminal conduct, according to newly released Army documents.
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Russian Lawmakers Target Jewish Groups

by element115
A group of nationalist Russian lawmakers called Monday for a sweeping investigation aimed at outlawing all Jewish organizations and punishing officials who support them, accusing Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred and saying they provoke anti-Semitism.
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Torture Still Routine in Iraqi Jails, Report Says

by element115
"The Iraqi interim government is not keeping its promises to honor and respect basic human rights. Sadly, the Iraqi people continue to suffer from a government that acts with impunity in its treatment of detainees."
Prisoners have been beaten with cables and hosepipes, and suffered electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said. Some have been starved of food and water and crammed into standing-room only cells.

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Palestinians close to agreement on cease-fire with Israel

by element115
Chairman of the PNA Mahmoud Abbas and major Palestinian factions, including the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) Movement, "are becoming very close to reaching a national agreement which will be clear to the world," Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told reporters.
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NY radio station apologizes over tsunami slur

by element115
A New York radio station WQHT, or HOT 97,apologized on Monday for repeatedly airing a joke song that ridiculed victims of the recent tsunami in South Asia and used racial slurs, saying the piece was in poor taste.
"You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim,'" was one line in the song.

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Bush Conducts Foreign Affairs Like a Mobster

January 24, 2005 by element115
Bullied Canadians on Missile Defence by threatening their future safety, in tense meeting, says report.
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Bush wants $80 Bln more for Military Operations

by element115
The Bush administration plans to announce as early as Tuesday that it will seek about $80 billion in new funding for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration and congressional sources said on Monday.
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US Media's Desperate Wishful Thinking on Palestine/Israel

by element115
Ariel Sharon's tactic of throwing fine sand in the air as he plows forward with his time-tested, time-honored strategy of establishing facts-on-the-ground, is working to perfection -- at least on the US mainstream media.
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A fantasy of freedom

by element115
If Bush wanted to tackle tyranny, he could start with regimes under US control. But liberty clearly has limits...
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Noam Chomsky interview

by element115
'Controlling the oil in Iraq puts America in a strong position to exert influence on the world'
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Democracy doctrine faces doubt abroad

by element115
With his eye on history, Bush wants to change the world. The rest of the world is not necessarily so eager to be changed.
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CIA in decline, Pentagon on the rise

by element115
The recent revelation that the Department of Defense has been operating its own espionage arm for the last two years confirms Rumsfeld?s success in sidelining the CIA.
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Four Months on Planet bin Laden

by element115
SPIEGEL ---> French journalist George Malbrunot spent 124 days as a hostage of Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq. The experience nearly broke him, but it also offered him stunning insights into the way jihadist groups operate. He returned convinced of one thing: America's policy is doomed.
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US plans 'robot troops' for Iraq

by element115
BBC ---> The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.
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Purple Hearts

by element115
Video ---> A story that President Bush would probably prefer not to see propagated.
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Divided We Fall

by element115
The $40 million inauguration extravaganza ? the most expensive ever - symbolically urinates upon the graves of the over 1300 young Americans who?ve died for Bush?s lies, mistakes, and corporate greed.
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Guantanamo prisoners attempted mass suicide

by element115
Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed Monday.
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Uncovered at last

by element115
They contain Britain's very own X-Files: thousands of classified documents detailing credible observations of unidentified flying objects reported by RAF personnel, British Airways pilots and senior police officers.
Among the most credible reports of a possible visit by extraterrestrial life-forms is one made by an RAF pilot and two NCOs at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland.

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Israel Resumes Building West Bank Barrier Segment

by element115
Israel resumed building one of the most controversial parts of its West Bank barrier, deep in occupied land, in a move Palestinians said on Monday clouded new President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to revive peacemaking.
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No. 1?

by element115
In most important categories USA is not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

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Is the dollar's global hegemony waning?

by element115
Many of the world's central banks are starting to look to the euro to fill their currency reserves instead of the dollar, a survey suggests.
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Bush Pulls 'Neocons' Out of the Shadows

by element115
In the unending struggle over American foreign policy that consumes much of official Washington, one side claimed a victory this week: the neoconservatives, that determined band of hawkish idealists who promoted the U.S. invasion of Iraq and now seek to bring democracy to the rest of the Middle East.
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Gonzales: Did He Help Bush Keep His DUI Quiet?

by element115
...his role in helping President Bush escape jury duty in a drunken-driving case involving a dancer at an Austin strip club in 1996.
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Some Unsettling Similarities

by element115
Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush.
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US tried to plant WMDs, failed

by element115
According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department (DoD), the Bush administration?s assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to "plant" WMDs inside the country.
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Assad arrives in Moscow where secrecy surrounds arms deal

by element115
Russian officials and diplomatic sources said that neither Russia nor Syria was expected to announce any arms deal during the visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Russia.
Assad arrives on Monday for a four-day visit meant to revive defense, diplomatic and trade relations.
"There will be things discussed and even agreed upon, but there will not be any formal defense accords or arms sales announced," a Russian official said.

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America

by element115
Just watch this flash
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Author airs conspiracy theory on Im's death

by element115
Someone stabbed the 72-year-old scientist multiple times in the Maryland Avenue parking garage at the University of Missouri-Columbia, put him in the trunk of his Honda and set the car on fire. Adding to the mystery, police say a hooded, masked man was seen carrying a gas can away from the scene.
A few days after firefighters found Im's body, a national radio talk-show guest theorized the killing was part of a plot to kill off key microbiologists in the world before unleashing "the ultimate epidemic."

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Mossad: Egypt, Syria have nuclear programs, as well as Iran

by element115
The head of the Mossad intelligence service, Meir Dagan, warned Monday that there are signs that several Middle East states other than Iran - including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria - are at varying stages of development of nuclear programs.
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Codebreaker unlocks the 3,000 secrets of US military vocabulary

by element115
If you had heard of "Power Geyser", "Titrant Ranger", "Toychest" or "Barracuda" before today, you were privy to the innermost workings of the US defence establishment. Now, however, those secrets are being exposed to general scrutiny for the first time.

In a remarkable book to be published this week, William Arkin, a former intelligence officer and analyst, lists and defines 3,000 codenames for military and national security plans past and present, several of them involving Britain and many of them still classified.

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Israeli man arrested for allegedly contaminating 40,000 litres of milk

by element115
The man, in New Zealand on a work permit, was arrested on a charge of contaminating food, crops, water or other product intended for human consumption.
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'Believe the Evidence of Your Eyes'

by element115
You scream and scream as the men surround you, blinding you with the lights on their heads. You can't understand what they're saying, but you recognize them: They're the men called "American Christians" ? the ones who kill people!
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Central banks shift reserves away from US

by element115
Central banks are shifting reserves away from the US and towards the eurozone in a move that looks set to deepen the Bush administration's difficulties in financing its ballooning current account deficit.
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Muslim leader denies boycott of holocaust commemoration

by element115
"We believe that the Nazi holocaust was a truly evil and abhorrent crime, and we stand together with our fellow British Jews in their sense of pain and anguish.

"But none of us must forget how the holocaust began. This is absolutely crucial. We are saying that the memorial day is better observed by making it inclusive of all human rights abuses that have taken place, which of course includes Bosnia, Rwanda, Chechnya at the moment and also Palestine.

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US blamed for Venezuela-Colombia row

by element115
Washington is attempting to provoke a diplomatic crisis between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday, as thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to protest US interference in the country?s sovereignty.
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Freed Chinese hostages head home

by element115
EIGHT Chinese hostages freed in Iraq left for home today after being handed over to Chinese authorities at a mosque in the western city of Ramadi.
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Magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Indonesia

by element115
Central Sulawesi province is struck by a strong quake measured by 6.3. on the Richter scale. The Geological Survey said that the earthquake occurred at 4:10 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the coastal town of Palu.

Another 6.3 magnitude temblor occurred at 9:46 a.m. in India's Nicobar islands, also devastated by the Dec 26 tsunami. "The temblor was 30 kilometers deep and 120 kilometers southwest of Misha on Nicobar islands", the agency said.

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Senior Zarqawi aide captured

by element115
Iraq has announced the capture of a senior aide to leading militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, hours after Zarqawi claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb near the offices of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

The seizure of Abu Omar al-Kurdi, accused of masterminding some of the worst car bombings in Iraq, appeared to be a major breakthrough for the authorities ahead of next Sunday's historic election, which Zarqawi and his followers have vowed to disrupt.

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Yushchenko Selects Anti-Kremlin Ukraine PM

by element115
Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, visiting Moscow on a trip to mend relations after a bitter election campaign, appointed top ally Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister Monday a move likely to anger the Kremlin.
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Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain

January 23, 2005 by element115
The Pentagon, expanding into the CIA's historic bailiwick, has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad, according to interviews with participants and documents obtained by The Washington Post.
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The battle of the tyrants

by element115
The current struggle under the general rubric of "global war on terrorism" does not enjoy the conceptual or perceptual clarity of the Cold War era: US President George W Bush has wrapped himself in the slogans of liberty and depicts himself as a fighter against tyranny, while Iraq's "terrorist-in-chief", Musab al-Zarqawi, makes a point of describing the US as a tyrant. Both can't be right.
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Countdown to global catastrophe

by element115
The countdown to climate-change catastrophe is spelt out by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from around the world - and it is remarkably brief. In as little as 10 years, or even less, their report indicates, the point of no return with global warming may have been reached.

The report, Meeting The Climate Challenge, is aimed at policymakers in every country, from national leaders down. It has been timed to coincide with Tony Blair's promised efforts to advance climate change policy in 2005 as chairman of both the G8 group of rich countries and the European Union.

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There hasn't been a drop of water in the faucets for six days

by element115
Baghdad Burning ---> "If you see death, you settle for a fever." We've given up on democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water.
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American Justice?

by element115


Disturbing pictures appear to show an Iraqi man arrested and then executed by U.S. troops
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Ultra-secret troops poised at inaugural

by element115
These commandos, operating under a secret counterterrorism program code-named Power Geyser, were mentioned publicly for the first time last week.
One of the officials said the units operated in the United States under "special authority" from either the president or the secretary of defense.

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Should Anti-Bush Journalists Be Tried as "Spies"?

by element115
According to Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh should be tried for espionage.
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The USA on the road to new depths of ugliness and brutality

by element115
Uri Avnery ---> The inauguration of George Bush last week, therefore, had a special significance for Israel. The state-controlled TV channel broadcast it live. In many respects, the president of the United States is also the King of Israel.
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Supreme Court is key to new Bush term

by element115
As many a recent Supreme Court nomination shows, justices have a tiresome way of turning out not quite as their backers intended. Mr Bush may be hoping that the Chief Justice and his elderly colleagues can somehow keep going for a while yet.
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Bush Inauguration Speech: A "Vacuous Sermon," A "Global Crusade" Against "Defenseless States"

by element115
Zbigniew Brzezinski ---> If the speech was to be taken literally, then clearly it would imply commitment to some sort of a global crusade vis-a-vis a variety of states with many of whom we have all sorts of mutual concerns, even if we don't like their practical policies. I mean, take a few examples. Take China; we have a major state instability with China, but China is hardly a democracy. What about the Tibetans? Take Russia; we have a common stake with regards to terrorism, but what about the Chechens? They're being treated in a tyrannical fashion. Take an even more complex issue: what about Israel, which is a friend of ours, and its security against Palestinian "terrorists"? But what about the oppression of the Palestinians and their desire for freedom?
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Ho Hum, More War And Death

by element115
What happens when habitual warmongering and BushCo lies become part of our daily diet?
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In One Night, Iraqi Turns From Friend to Foe

by element115
By all accounts, Imaad, 32, was a typical, mild-mannered college graduate who spoke English well and had quietly supported the U.S. presence in Iraq -- until Jan. 5, the night the soldiers came.
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Torture, American Style

by element115
Historians Against the War makes available a series of articles that seek to broaden the discussion of the use of torture as an instrument of U.S. policy.
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Israeli joker in the Iranian poker game

by element115
Cheney is not worried about the Israeli context, nor is he warning Israel not to act without coordination with Washington. He is using the possibility of an Israeli operation against Iran to threaten Tehran, while shaking off American responsibility for that kind of escalation. His comment was not a warning to Israel but a means of deterrence against Iran.
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Infection heightens fear of Boston biosafety lab

by element115
The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that two researchers became sick in May with a mysterious illness later diagnosed as tularemia, and that a third case emerged in September. The illnesses occurred when the scientists worked with what they believed to be a safe form of the disease.
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Jesus cartoonist 'jailed'

by element115
A cartoonist who portrayed Jesus as a pot-smoking hippy has been sentenced to six months in prison by a Greek court.
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Soldiers ordered to hand in all photos

by element115
"In a war you have to let your men retaliate," said Mick Helm, a builder who was a Queen's Lancashire Regiment lance corporal at 19 and served in Northern Ireland.
"Your job is to get prisoners and get information from them. Break them down quickly. You have to move fast and hard. We were certainly allowed to put sacks over prisoners' heads in our day. Nothing wrong with that."


...what information???? ..... there was no WMD!
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World media: Bush inaugural a jolt

by element115
Emphasis on freedom still takes unilateral road alienating foreign pres
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well...it's official...Satan's the King

January 21, 2005 by element115




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Powerful earthquake rocks Taiwan

by element115
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rocked Taiwan Friday night, rattling buildings across the island, the Seismology Centre said.
"The quake originated deep from the sea far off Taiwan's eastern coast so its strength was greatly reduced," said the center's deputy director Lu Pei-ling.

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Sharon tells Putin: Israel opposes Syrian missile deal

by element115
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday that Israel is opposed to Moscow supplying advanced SA-18 shoulder missiles to Syria.
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Russia slams U.S. for accusing Syria of terror ties

by element115
Russia criticized the United States on Friday for accusing Syria of having ties to terrorism, saying such an approach would harm security in the Middle East.
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Devices controlled by thought move closer

by element115
Scientists in the US have shown that "electrocorticographic" signals from the brain can be used to manipulate an external device.
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FBI Tries To Limit Info Searches

by element115
The FBI is fighting in court to limit how hard it has to search for government documents requested by the public under the Freedom of Information Act, one of the main laws for ensuring openness in government.

If the bureau prevails, people could have a diminished chance of getting documents from the nation's most famous law enforcement agency, open records experts said.

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Palestinian police deployed along Gaza

by element115
Hundreds of Palestinian police fanned out across the northern Gaza Strip on Friday to prevent rocket fire on Israeli communities, part of an unprecedented deployment agreed to by military officials from both sides.
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Israel plans big Jerusalem land grab

by element115
The Sharon government intends to strip thousands of West Bank Palestinians of their property in occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli press quoting newly released government documents.
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Bush Administration, Gonzales Revive Nazi Legal Arguments

by element115
Nuremberg Tribunal Rejected Rumsfeld's 'Rotten Apples' Defense
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Our Troops Are Dying for Sycophants

by element115
In her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "Condi" Rice personified the Bush administration?s delusion-based "war against terror." Whenever a senator?s question penetrated to the harsh reality, Condi waffled and evaded, choosing to protect at the expense of her reputation the neocon delusion that invading Iraq was the "right thing to do." Exasperated, Senator Barbara Boxer objected to Condi?s "continuing assault on reality."
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Rosie O'Donnell

by element115
Video ---> War 4 Real
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Bush Has No Foreign Policy

by element115
The White House's infatuation with domestic political campaigns is not the only reason for Bush's dismissal of foreign policy. Bush's own lack of experience in international affairs as Texas governor contributes to this provincial attitude. More important, however, is that Bush's indifference to the outside world has been shaped by deep-rooted historical characteristics of the country he governs.
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American Terror

by element115
George W. Bush has given Rumsfeld the authority to turn the entire world into "a global free-fire zone," a top Pentagon adviser says. These secret operations will be carried out with virtually no oversight; in many cases, even the top military commanders in the affected regions will not be told about them. The American people, of course, will never know what's being done in their name.
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Denmark Charges 5 Soldiers with Iraqi Prisoner Abuse

by element115
A Danish intelligence officer and four military policemen have been charged with abuse of Iraqi prisoners in southern Iraq, Danish news agency Ritzau reported on Friday.
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Human rights not hollow words

by element115
Amnesty International ---> An appeal to President George W. Bush on the occasion of his re-inauguration.
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The Nuremberg Principles in Iraq

by element115
Torture and Civilian Deaths in Iraq
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Redford Kicks Off Sundance on a Political Note

by element115
The Sundance Film Festival kicked off on Thursday with a political tone struck by founder Robert Redford, who called independent film a voice of dissent and encouraged movie-makers to speak their minds.
"I like to think of this festival as a festival of dissent, and I'd like to celebrate that," Redford said.

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FCC Chairman Powell to Resign

by element115
U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell plans to resign after four years as chief regulator of the telecommunications and media industries, sources familiar with his decision said on Friday.
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Dancing the War Away

by element115
Even as President Bush was taking the oath of office and delivering his Inaugural Address beneath the clear, cold skies of Washington, the news wires were churning out stories about the tragic mayhem in Iraq. There is no end in sight to the carnage, which was unleashed nearly two years ago by President Bush's decision to launch this wholly unnecessary war, one of the worst presidential decisions in American history.
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We don't want your freedom

by element115
The international community does not want George W. Bush's Freedom and Democracy neither does it want its Hearts and Minds won over by Shock and Awe tactics, thank you very much.

If George Bush was elected President of the United States of America, why does he address himself to the rest of the world?

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Update on the Representation of Saddam Hussein

by element115
On Saturday, 22 January 2005, at 7 p.m. EST, C-SPAN will carry a debate between Mr. Michael Scharf and Dr. Curtis Doebbler about the legitimacy of the trial of the Iraqi President in Iraq.
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W and Dostoevsky

by element115
Justin Raimondo ---> Put in George W. Bush's mouth, those words are not a paean to freedom, but a manifesto of pure destructionism. Like Governor Lembke, President Bush has no dearth of hardline advisers who counsel him in ways calculated to provoke a violent reaction: unlike Lembke, however, there is little chance George W. Bush will learn his lesson, even if it comes too late.
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Dancing while they die

by element115
It?s hard to believe we have come to this as a country. Blustering around the world, threatening sovereign nations with destruction, bankrupting our own treasury, polluting at will and then irresponsibly foisting the whole mess off on our own kids to deal with as best they may in some future generation. The world is burning, but our feckless leaders choose to fiddle, dance and feast.
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Crazy President, Crazy Nation

by element115
It is clear that George W. Bush is suffering from a terrible pathology, a sick paranoia. It has been pointed out by people who have known him and should have been noticed by anyone paying even a tiny bit of attention. What is less clear is that the whole nation is quickly catching up with his level of insanity.
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America's day of shame

by element115
In yesterday?s inaugural address, George W. Bush gave notice to the world that American imperialism intends to press forward with its drive for world domination. The US president issued a call to arms, a jihad, making clear that no country or government will be permitted to stand in America?s path.
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Rumsfeld cancels trip after accusations

by element115
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes
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America's day of shame

by element115
In yesterday?s inaugural address, George W. Bush gave notice to the world that American imperialism intends to press forward with its drive for world domination. The US president issued a call to arms, a jihad, making clear that no country or government will be permitted to stand in America?s path.
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Inauguration Protests Dubbed Out By TV Networks?

by element115
A strange sentence in a UPI report suggests that TV news networks covering the inauguration dubbed out the jeers of protesters.

The UPI report states, "Both groups were in areas that required a ticket to gain admission but were still some distance from the podium where Bush was speaking."

"The interruption was not immediately seen on television, but the jeering could be heard as poorly timed applause for portions of Bush's speech."

What does this mean? That the jeers were replaced by artificial applause?

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Bush Makes Veiled 'New World Order' Reference In Speech

by element115
"We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" -- they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. "
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Inauguration Day

January 20, 2005 by element115
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A fiery warning for the world

by element115
George Bush began his second presidential term with a call to American action abroad, committing the US to the spread of global democracy and "ending tyranny in our world".
He also suggested the struggle against oppression was ordained by God.
The deliberate use of language familiar to evangelical Christians won more cheers from the crowd than any other phrase.

With this radical address, Mr Bush nailed his colours once and for all to the neoconservative mast.

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Coronation of Corruption

by element115
This power-addicted and profit-hungry cabal of corporatist and elitist vermin, extolling both the virtues of immorality and policies of unscrupulous undertakings that have laid waste billions of lives in the present while condemning billions that have yet to exist. For like vultures attacking a dead carcass they have descended upon Washington to further empower humankind's enduring romance with its self-corruption and the continuing decline into our moral abyss.
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Protest D.C.

by element115








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Illuminati Devil Hand Signals Prevalent Throughout Inauguration

by element115
Bush and his entire family flashed so many of these hand signs today...
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Fortress D.C.

by element115
The helicopters fill the sky. This city is a fortress today.
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Video and Audio from Inauguration protests

by element115
....blogs rule ---->
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Man Who Sneaks Into Inauguration Arrested

by element115
U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday arrested the man who sneaked into George W. Bush's first inauguration and was photographed shaking his hand.
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Protesters

by element115
Photos
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Police use pepper spray at Bush inauguration

by element115
Police used pepper spray to disperse demonstrators who hurled debris and tried to break through a security fence keeping protesters away from President George W. Bush's inaugural parade on Thursday.
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J20 Banner Drops

by element115
Photos
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J20 Night Signs

by element115
Photos
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An international team of scientists believes it has found cancer's master switch

by element115
In today's issue of the journal Nature, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, in collaboration with teams in Japan and Britain, announce that the gene plays a key role in starting a malignancy. As a result, scientists now believe they have stumbled upon an important new target for an anti-cancer drug.
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Inauguration: Lifestyles of the Rich and Heartless

by element115
A look at this week's festivities by the numbers --->
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Liberation Graphics

by element115
A Broken Language, a Crippled Debate, and the Role of Art in Democracy
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FEMA for kids

by element115
Homepage
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Israel Voices Concern at Anti-Semitism in Russia, Calls Officials "Drunks"

by element115
Israel's Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over growing anti-Semitism in Russia after a wave of attacks including an assault on a rabbi by six skinheads and the desecration of 40 graves at a Jewish cemetery.
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Israel renews contacts with Palestinians, gives green light to Gaza invasion

by element115
srael resumed contacts with the Palestinians but also gave the green light to a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip if new leader Mahmud Abbas fails to end attacks by militants.
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Schwarzenegger fails to halt British libel case

by element115
A British judge refused another request by Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop a libel trial against the actor-turned-politician, for allegedly calling a television presenter a liar after she claimed he fondled her.
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FBI adding 10 more names to those sought in Boston terror threat

by element115
The FBI on Thursday added the names of nine Chinese people and one other man to the list of those being sought for questioning about a possible terror plot targeting Boston.

FBI spokesman Joe Parris said the names "were developed as a result of the ongoing investigation" but did not signal that credible evidence has emerged indicating such a plot actually exists.

"Information is still uncorroborated and from a source of unknown reliability and motive," Parris said.


....keep'em in fear!
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Baghdad's Checkpoint Madness

by element115
An Iraqi government minister resigns after a scuffle with U.S. soldiers. It's just another sign of rising tensions over counterinsurgency measures.
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Israel in the Iran fray, too

by element115
...no discussion of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions can be held without reference to what the government of Israel thinks. An important aspect of Tel Aviv's approach is to keep on ringing alarm bells, so that the attention of the international community remains focused on the issue. At the same time, it has made a point of remaining engaged with American officials. The fact that nuclear non-proliferation is one of the top national security issues of the Bush administration makes Israel's job on the latter point considerably easy.
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British soldiers in Iraq resigning over illegal and immoral occupation

by element115
He said he would rather face imprisonment than be forced to serve in a war he described as "bank-rupt, unjust and immoral".
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No disciplinary action against army officers

by element115
The army officer who devised Operation Ali Baba, the plan to round up looters at a British camp in southern Iraq, will not be disciplined, Ministry of Defence officials said yesterday.
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British politician refuses to leave Opus Dei sect

by element115
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has defended her role in the Catholic conservative movement Opus Dei.
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A New Deal to scupper a presidency

by element115
Bush is taking a huge gamble with his assault on the social contract
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Look Who's Backing Bush's Next War

by element115
Bush's Iran invasion could be carried out with Israeli special operatives, political opposition may never reach the doorsteps of Congress. After all, the Democrats have long agreed that Iran must be dealt with militarily.
Recently, the Democratic Party's rising "progressive" star Barack Obama said he would favor "surgical" missile strikes against Iran.

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Cheney Says Iran Tops U.S. List, Warns Israel

by element115
Vice President Dick Cheney said on Thursday that Iran was at the top of the administration's list of world trouble spots and expressed concern that Israel "might well decide to act first" to eliminate any nuclear threat from Tehran.
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Faking it

by element115
The discovery that ancient artefacts sacred to Jewish history are forgeries has sent shockwaves through the museum world. But was the gang behind the scam only interested in cash, or did they have other motives?
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Why FBI's Carnivore was "retired"

by element115
The Associated Press reports that the FBI has retired its "Carnivore" Internet surveillance tool. (It actually happened about two years ago, but no one knew about it until now.) The Carnivore debate was premised on a profound misunderstanding of Internet surveillance practices. With the Carnivore era over, it's a good time to look back at how the press was able to get the story so wrong.
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Israeli troops kill boy in Jenin

by element115
Israeli occupation troops patrolling the West Bank village of Tubas have shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy.
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US troops kill father and mother in front of their Iraqis children

by element115


U.S. soldiers opened fire on a car as it approached their checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing two civilians in the vehicle's front seats, the military said Wednesday. Six children riding in the backseat were unhurt.
"Military officials extend their condolences for this unfortunate incident," the statement said.

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'Why did they shoot? We have no weapons'

by element115
From the pavement I could see into the bullet-mottled windshield more clearly, the driver of the car, a man, was penetrated by so many bullets that his skull had collapsed, leaving his body grotesquely disfigured. A woman also lay dead in the front, still covered in her Muslim clothing and harder to see.

Meanwhile, the children continued to wail and scream, huddled against a wall, sandwiched between soldiers either binding their wounds or trying to comfort them. The Army's translator later told me that this was a Turkoman family and that the teenaged girl kept shouting, "Why did they shoot us? We have no weapons! We were just going home!"

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A Shaky Media Taboo

by element115
The latest polls show that most Americans are critical of the war in Iraq. But the option of swiftly withdrawing all U.S. troops from that country gets little media attention.
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Gonzales excludes CIA from rules on prisoners

by element115
Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency and other nonmilitary personnel fall outside the bounds of a 2002 directive issued by President George W. Bush that pledged the humane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel, said in a document.
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Let's attack Iran!

by element115
Iran is not a "crazy state.'' In the 25 years that the mullahs have been in power, they have not attacked any neighbouring state.
As for the Iranian nuclear weapons programme, which almost certainly does exist in some form or other, its goal is presumably to create a deterrent to Israel's hundreds of nuclear weapons. Since Israel has about a 40-year head-start in nuclear weapons production, Iran cannot realistically hope to achieve a first-strike capability against it, but even a few Iranian nuclear weapons that might survive to strike back would effectively remove a nuclear attack on Iran from Israel's list of options.

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Satire: France Invades US

by element115
George Bush, Chirac claimed, had links to terrorist groups. He also invaded his neighbors, used lethal chemical weapons against prisoners while governor of Texas, and even tortured, killed and humiliated prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, said Chirac.
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Protesters Target Bush's Inauguration

by element115
Anti-war protesters, including some who carried coffin-like cardboard boxes to signify the death of U.S. troops in Iraq, descended on the capital Thursday.

About 500 people rallied in a park several miles from the Capitol, where George W. Bush was taking the oath of office for a second term.

"Worst President Ever" and "Four more years: God HELP America" were on some of the signs. Protesters covered hundreds of cardboard boxes with black cloth and American flags to symbolize U.S. troops and others killed in Iraq.

"It's important to show that when Bush's second inauguration goes into the record books, there was healthy dissent"

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Bush Vows to End 'Tyranny in Our World'

by element115
He never mentioned Iraq or Afghanistan in the speech. He used the word "freedom" 27 times.
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Israel Implements Absentee Property Law

by element115
The Israeli government decided to implement the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem. The decision passed quietly last July, but is published because of a plan to build a new settlement on land that belongs to Palestinians living in the Bethlehem area.

The government decision stands contrary to Israeli government policy since Israeli law was extended to East Jerusalem after the 1967 war.

The law means that thousands of Palestinians who live in the West Bank will lose ownership of their property in East Jerusalem.

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Officer who beat boy gets $1.6m

by element115
A US policeman who was filmed punching a black youth and slamming him against a car has been awarded $1.6m in a race discrimination case.
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Ukraine: Oil politics and a mockery of democracy

by element115
The Ukraine elections were not about Western-sanctioned democratic voting, as some magic formula to open the door to free market reform and prosperity for Ukrainians. They were mainly about who influences the largest neighbor of Russia, Washington or Moscow. A dangerous power play by Washington is involved, to put it mildly.
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Boston on High Alert after FBI Bomb Threat

January 19, 2005 by element115
Teams of police officers are prowling the streets of Boston with radiological sensors as the FBI tries to unravel uncorroborated information that indicates someone may intend to detonate a dirty bomb.
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Microsoft's AntiSpyware Tool Removes Internet Explorer

by element115
...the heuristics of the software detects Internet Explorer as spyware, and removes the program from their systems.
Users of alternative browsers were happy to see Internet Explorer gone. Thad Freeman of the Mozilla Users Group said, "I've been trying for years to get rid of Internet Explorer. I never imagined that Microsoft would do it for me. I'm ecstatic."

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Torture Island

by element115
A FOX Reality-Based TV Show Starring Congressional Leaders, With Your Host Alberto Gonzales
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Why the hawks are circling over Iran

by element115
The warning signs are aligned, as the stars in the heavens portending a great event.
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US opposes climate references in disaster talks

by element115
The United States, which opposes the Kyoto protocol on global warming, is trying to remove references to climate change in UN talks aimed at setting up a disaster early warning system.
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Russia and Europe sign space deal

by element115
Russia and the European Space Agency (Esa) have signed an agreement to allow closer co-operation over the use of facilities and exchange of information.
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Royal Regiment

by element115
WARNING...GRAPHIC PICTURES
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Amateurs beat space agencies to Titan pictures

by element115
A group of enthusiastic amateurs managed to process raw images of Titan from the Huygens probe faster that any of the giant space agencies in charge of the mission.
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Boxer, Rice Exchange Pointed Words

by element115
...a transcript of Sen. Barbara Boxer's remarks and Condoleezza Rice's response at Rice's confirmation hearing as provided by Federal News Service.
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Saudis cleared from 9/11 lawsuits

by element115
A US federal court has dismissed proceedings under which the Saudi government was accused of providing logistical support to al-Qaeda.
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Simplifying the case against Dick Cheney

by element115
In an argument of over 600 pages and 1,000 footnotes, Crossing the Rubicon makes the case for official complicity within the U.S. government and names Dick Cheney as the prime suspect in the crimes of 9/11.
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Lawsuit filled in U.S. District Court in Reno against Bush and Cheney

by element115
The lawsuit alleges that both defendants have acted outside the scope of their job description in waging a war against Iraq. The complaint alleges that both defendants and others working within the White House and Defense Department have covertly implemented a white paper called ?Rebuilding America?s Defenses? as presented by the Project for the New American Century or PNAC in September, 2000 two months before the murky elections of that year. Among the persons signing the paper were Richard Cheney and Jeb Bush. While the paper was published on the internet, implementation of it by the White House has been in secret.
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Diplomacy of Dunces

by element115
The Bush Administration?s decision to exploit the tsunami tragedy to improve America?s image and reputation in the world is reprehensible.
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