Wolfowitz for World Bank top post

February 28, 2005 by element115
Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy secretary of defence, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank.
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Bin Laden message to Iraq insurgent reported intercepted

by element115
Officials say it instructs al-Zarqawi
to attack U.S. targets outside Iraq

...translation: Bush needs public support to attack another country
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White House press corps flap is far from over

by element115
Gannon was given a "day pass" - renewed virtually every day for two years - and therefore was exempted from Secret Service scrutiny. He used his real name while applying for his day pass; his tag carried his Gannon alias.
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Dollar Loses Ground to Yen, Euro, Pound

by element115
The dollar has generally been under broad-based pressure against the other major currencies
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Lighters to be banned on airline flights

by element115
Airline passengers will have to ditch their lighters or lose them to airport security screeners when a new ban on lighters takes effect in April.
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'Brain pacemaker' may help worst cases of depression: study

by element115
The sadness centre, called Cg25, is thought to play a critical role in sadness and mood. People with depression may have too much activity in the part of the brain, scientists speculate.
Deep electrical stimulation of the brain may help alleviate severe, chronic depression in patients who don't respond to other treatments, researchers in Ontario have found.
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Sounds of Silencer

by element115
Gonzo-Journalist" Hunter S. Thompson was talking to his wife Anita on phone about his work on his weekly ESPN column and that she should come home from her health club, but instead of proceeding the phone conversation she heard a "muffled noise" and "didn't know what had happened". She reported further: "I was waiting for him to get back on the phone
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Israel reportedly planning nuke reactor

by element115
An Arab member of the Israeli Knesset said Israel could be planning to build a new nuclear reactor to boost its supremacy over its Arab neighbors.
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Gannon-gate: Where's the outrage?

by element115
Jeff Gannon isn't even his real name; it's James Dale Guckert. He's not a reporter; he works for Talon News, a front for the Texas Republican Web site GOPUSA.com. Harry Reid never talked about soup lines; Guckert heard that on Rush Limbaugh. And Guckert wasn't new to the press room; he'd been issued a daily White House pass every day - for the last two years! Whenever Bush or Scott McClellan looked like they were getting in hot water, Guckert was their "lifeline" - always ready with an easy question. (Read examples of his questions at americablog.org.)
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Potemkin World? or the President in the Zone

by element115
George W. Bush's imperial procession through Europe took place in a hermetically sealed environment. In Brussels it was, at times, eerie. The procession containing the great, armour-plated limousine (flown in from Washington) rolled through streets denuded of human beings except for riot police. Whole areas of the Belgian capital were sealed off before the American president passed."
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Assad predicts US onslaught on Syria

by element115
Syrian leader denies his country?s involvement in Harir?s murder, says Syria is essential to peace' in Mideast, Iraq.
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Dangerous doctrine

by element115
A U.S. policy of preemption and a push for new nuclear weapon designs could be a recipe for disaster that makes proliferation more likely, not less.
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Halliburton could get $1.5bn more Iraq work

by element115
Halliburton, under scrutiny for its contracts in Iraq, would receive an extra $1.5 billion as part of the Bush administration's additional war spending proposal for fiscal 2005, a senior US Army budget official said.
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Heads roll at Veterans Administration

by element115
Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of 'Disabled Vets' means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!
The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent.
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Israel adamant on Syria's 'guilt'

by element115
Israel has insisted that Syria was behind Friday's suicide bomb in Tel Aviv that killed five people.
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Lebanese government quits

by element115
Lebanon's Prime Minister Omar Karami has announced he and his government are resigning, two weeks after the murder of former PM Rafik Hariri.
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Iran, Russia Sign Nuclear Fuel Deal Opposed by U.S.

February 27, 2005 by element115
Russia and Iran signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington Sunday, paving the way for Iran to start up its first atomic reactor next year.
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It was like something out of 1984

by element115
But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed.
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U.S. Planning Arab-Language TV Broadcasts to Europe

by element115
The Bush administration plans to begin Arab-language satellite-television broadcasts to Europe later this year in a new escalation of its information war against Islamic extremism, officials say.
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Israel Steps Up Military Operations, Says Sharon

by element115
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday Israel was escalating military measures and would freeze peace efforts
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Israel Threatens to Attack Syria after Nightclub Bomb

by element115
Israel said today it would attack Syrian targets if necessary, following the Tel Aviv nightclub suicide bombing.
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Noam Chomsky: Nuclear Terror at Home

by element115
If you can imagine some rational observers from Mars looking at this curious species down here, I don't think they'd put very high odds on survival--another generation or two. In fact, it's kind of miraculous that we've come along this far.
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Saddam's Trial

by element115
The Media Circus ---> SADDAM Hussein will be forced to sit in a Hannibal Lecter-style cage during his trial.
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Google In Controversy

by element115
The result has left Google in a tricky situation. The company doesn't want to manually alter or rank the sites that appear for any query. Such "hand manipulation" might make it seem as if Google doesn't trust its own automated search algorithm. A likely bigger fear is that changing one query will leave Google open to pressure to change others.
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Saddam Hussein's half-brother captured

by element115
In what Iraqi officials say was a gesture of good will, Syria reportedly captured and handed over Saddam Hussein's half-brother, along with 29 other members of the former Baath Party.
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Linda McQuaig says standing up to U.S. will gain Canada respect abroad

by element115
It's now clear how the Bush administration sees things: Canadian sovereignty exists only at its pleasure. If we do what Washington wants, we retain our sovereignty. If we don't, all bets are off.

This is what U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci clarified last week in his angered response to Paul Martin's announcement that Canada won't join the U.S. missile defence scheme. Cellucci noted that Washington would simply deploy its anti-missile system over Canadian airspace anyway, and expressed puzzlement over Canada's decision to "in effect, give up its sovereignty."
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Worldwide Anti-Tobacco Treaty Takes Effect

by element115
A global anti-tobacco treaty came into effect on Sunday, but a leading expert said it needed strengthening quickly if it was to be effective in curbing smoking, which claims five million lives a year.
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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

by element115
Video ---> We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies.
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Life may not be what we think it is...

by element115
...multidimensional, hierarchical, renewable indestructible form of energy spanning across the Universes
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Amnesty's father of human rights dies at 83

by element115
"Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will find a report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government. The newspaper reader feels a sickening sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into common action, something effective could be done."

The founder of Amnesty International, Peter Benenson, has died at the age of 83. The Amnesty has become one of the world's most important human rights organisations
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Palestinian militants deny involvement in Tel Aviv attack

February 26, 2005 by element115
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades all denied Saturday any involvement in the Tel Aviv suicide bombing that killed four Israelis Friday night.

"We declare that we are not responsible for the operation which we reject and condemn. It is a suspicious operation which will have negative consequences on the Palestinian scene."
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Israel: Syria, Iran Terrorism Behind Tel Aviv Bombing

by element115
Syrian and Iranian interests were behind the attempted destruction of the recent Palestinian peace move.
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Israeli Terrorism and the Framing of Muslims

by element115
The incidents below, obtained exclusively from Jewish authors, former Mossad agents, US congressmen, senators and military personnel give us an insight into some of the Jewish crimes for which Arabs got blamed.
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Syria denies bombing role

by element115
Syria has strongly denied Israel's accusations that it was involved in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, in which five people were killed.
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Don't Be Spun by the Spin

by element115
President Bush will hail his trip to Europe as a resounding success. He hails everything he does as a resounding success regardless of the evidence to the contrary.

Bush cannot resist acting as if God appointed him schoolmaster of the world. He lectured everybody in sight.
You, Europeans, should not.....
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The role of bloggers

by element115
The news media have a credibility problem and bloggers, for all their excesses, have shown they have a role to play in holding mainstream journalists accountable.
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Hollywood's dirty little secret

by element115
Video ---> "You must glorify war in order to get the public to accept the fact that your going to send their sons and daughters to die."

The inside story of the cozy relationship between big box office American war movies and the Pentagon
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Bomber Kills Four in Tel Aviv, Shattering Truce

February 25, 2005 by element115
Responsibility for the bombing outside a popular karaoke night spot on Friday remained unclear.

A cell of the militant Islamic Jihad group in the West Bank claimed the attack, but the faction's leadership in the Gaza Strip denied any knowledge and said it would continue to maintain a calm that has lasted for several weeks.
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Lost in Europe

by element115
The president doesn't seem to realize it, but the Europeans still don't buy his neocon vision - and they've backed him into a corner on Iran.
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Report: Israel to expand settlements

by element115
Israel plans to build more than 6000 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank this year, an Israeli newspaper has said.
The reported settlement expansion project of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), a government agency, would coincide with Israel's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip this summer and defy US calls for a freeze in "settlement activity".
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Peace Movement Gears Up for Global Protests on War Anniversary

by element115
At Fort Bragg, the largest U.S. army installation in the world and home to the famed 82nd Airborne Division, the mood is not exactly buoyant.
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Now Syria is at the top of the bad guys' league table

by element115
Neocon pressure for regime change in Damascus is building up.
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US Army pays Halliburton big bonus

by element115
The US Army has awarded defence contractor Halliburton more than $9 million in bonuses for some of its work supporting the military in Kuwait and Afghanistan.
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Righteous Racism Running Rampant

by element115
William A. Cook ---> What fuels slavery, ethnic cleansing, land theft, and genocide? What enables a mind to justify imprisoning another without cause, without trial, without rights of due process and assumption of innocence until proven guilty? What enables a soul to accept dominance over another, to degrade and humiliate other humans, to participate in or acquiesce to genocide?
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Italy probes possible CIA role in abduction

by element115
Italian newspapers have reported that the prosecutor, Armando Spataro, is investigating the possible role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the disappearance of Osama Nasr Mostafa Hassan, better known as Abu Omar, a popular figure in Milan's Islamic community who vanished Feb. 17, 2003.
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Watchdogs Sniff Out Terror Sites

by element115
Aaron Weisburd runs Internet Haganah out of his southern Illinois home.
"Haganah" in Hebrew means defense.
The forty-something native of New York describes Internet Haganah as a "small band of researchers, analysts, translators and consultants" around the globe dedicated to ferreting out websites linked to terrorist groups.
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The good luck of traumatised Afghanistan

by element115
One woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 30 minutes. One in five children dies before the age of five from diseases that are 80% preventable.
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The Evolution of Revolution

by element115
Part III
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No Tyrant Can Stand Forever

by element115
Video ---> Least we forget the crimes, the pain, the death!
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Core Values

by element115
Chris Floyd ---> And with every loud splattering of fresh Bushflop, there's a flurry of hope that this time, the dirt will stick; this time, the stench of corruption will be so overwhelming that the nation's long-somnolent conscience will be aroused. Yet each time, the rancid slurry just disappears down the drain: The Bushists tell their butt-covering lies, the "watchdogs" of the media wag their tails and all is well again in the land that Gore Vidal so aptly dubbed the United States of Amnesia. No scandal, no matter how outrageous, ever gains any traction.
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I saw Americans kill terror suspects, says Guantanamo Briton

by element115
One of the four Britons released from Guantanamo Bay last month said he was tortured by the Americans at a separate holding camp and spent many hours trussed like an animal with a bag over his head.
In his first interview since his release, he told Channel 4 News he "witnessed two people get beaten so badly I believe it caused their deaths".
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Ex-Israel Air Chief's Appointment Fuels Speculation Over Iran Strike

by element115
With the appointment of former air force supremo Dan Halutz as new chief of staff, Israel has put the ideal man in charge of the military for any potential air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Why are we welcoming this torturer?

by element115
Europe is tacitly condoning the Bush regime's appalling practices
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How long can Bush get away with lies?

by element115
Chicago Sun-Times ---> ...the criminal, sinful war in Iraq enters its third year...
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Putin loses his smile after lecture from Bush on democracy

by element115
Putin looked relieved to exit the stage with a stiff handshake, his face taut with pressure. In Russian official circles, the meeting is likely to be seen as a humiliation.
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MATRIX Project

by element115
Multistate Anti-TeRrorism Information EXchange

In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion.
A Florida-based company, Seisint, Inc., created the database shortly after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 by combining the company's own commercial databases with law enforcement records.

and ---> Inside the Government's Secret, Corporate-Run Mega-Database
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A Pattern of Deception

by element115
Justin Raimondo ---> From Kiev to Damascus
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Canada says 'No' to U.S. Defense Shield

February 24, 2005 by element115
Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.
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Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power

by element115
Washington Post ---> Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."
She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality.
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Media Censorship

by element115
There is a structural relationship between media and state power. They are closely linked. Who are the media? Not just in the United States, but around the world, they?re a handful of corporations that dominate what people see, hear, and read. They have been able to manufacture consent, particularly in the United States, for imperialist wars of aggression.
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Psychedelic medicine

by element115
New Scientist ---> Mind bending, health giving.
It may not be long before doctors are legally prescribing hallucinogens for the first time in decades.
"There are medicines here that have been overlooked, that are fundamentally valuable."
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Debunking Popular Mechanics' Article

by element115
"9/11 Myths, The Pentagon: Flight 77 Debris"
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US Military, President - Out of Control

by element115
What does "Mildly Radioactive" mean, anyway?
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They've Got Your Number...

by element115
...your text messages and address book, and a way to bug your calls.
Why spam, scams, and viruses are coming soon to a phone near you.
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The Germans Bush Wasn't Able to See

by element115


Most conspicuous was the lack of contact between ordinary Germans and an American president visiting what could almost have been a stage setting: a town with buildings but no people, the shops and restaurants in the center of town closed, and only uniformed police officers on the streets.
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Pentagon Seeking Leeway Overseas

by element115
The Pentagon is promoting a global counterterrorism plan that would allow Special Operations forces to enter a foreign country to conduct military operations without explicit concurrence from the U.S. ambassador there, administration officials familiar with the plan said.
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U.S. Special Forces authorized to pay 'paramilitaries'

by element115
The U.S. government has given the Pentagon leeway for the first time to authorize Special Operations forces to spend funds to pay informants and recruit "paramilitaries" abroad.
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No Encryption for E-Passports

by element115
The new passports will include a radio frequency identification tag, a chip that will store all the information on the data page of the passport

...the United States is requiring all 27 countries whose citizens do not need visas to visit America to begin issuing e-passports by October.
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Rocket-Fuel Chemical Found in Breast Milk

by element115
Scientists on Tuesday reported that perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel, was contaminating virtually all samples of women's breast milk and its levels were found to be, on average, five times greater than in cow's milk.
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Red Cross: Lack of Clean Water and Sanitation Kills as Many as Indian Ocean Tsunami Every Month

by element115
More than 3 million people die annually from diseases spread though dirty water and poor sanitation facilities, but their plight rarely gets the same publicity as a single natural disaster, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
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Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid to join call for Gannon investigation

by element115
"Given the unprecedented level of security in Washington since 9/11, it is troubling that that a non-journalist using a false name and working for a sham news organization could have gained regular access to the White House for such an extended period of time."
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The Rise of Rove's Republic

by element115
Most people in the outside world do not explicitly believe we are passing through a period of constitutional crisis. That an impeachment was run over a blow job didn't clue them in. That a president was installed by judicial fiat did not clue them in. That a war was launched which is, and was, essentially a giant looting expedition on the Treasury has not clued them in.
So what is going on? What is the thread that unifies Iraq and Social Security, the election crisis of 2000?
The process of American Constitutional change, and according to that process, the greatest dangers lie ahead, not behind us.
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Ukraine to withdraw troops from Iraq

by element115
Ukraine plans to pull out all of its 1,650 troops in Iraq, the sixth-largest contingent in the US-led coalition forces, by the end of this year, the country's new defense minister revealed.
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Buyer of SAM-7 Claims He Was Paid by CIA

by element115
One of the men convicted of selling a SAM-7 surface-to-air missile in Nicaragua, Jorge Ivan Pineda, said he was paid $1,000 by the CIA to buy the weapon and that the whole thing was planned at a meeting in the US embassy in the presence of the US ambassador Barbara Moore on Dec. 23 2004.
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Texas Pushes for Independence

by element115
From a newly established 'capitol' in the east Texas town of Overton, Daniel Miller, President of the Republic of Texas Interim Government, says a desire to be free, combined with ballooning concerns over rising taxes and property rights, will convince more Texans to support a 'referendum' on whether Texas should become an independent nation.

"We're seeking a referendum to allow the people of Texas to vote on independence," Miller said. "We're looking forward to the benefits of Texas independence, where Texas stands as a nation among other nations."
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Anti-Israel rabbis speak out in Beirut

by element115
U.S. and British rabbis participating in a Beirut conference on Palestinians' right of return said they did not recognize Israel, founded on Palestinian land.

Rabbi David Weiss from New York was quoted Thursday in Beirut's daily An-Nahar as saying, "I am a Jew and not a Zionist ...We believe that Israel was founded in Palestinian territory and that is wrong."

"The Palestinian people are a victim of Zionism which lacks any morality and which has ignored the existence of the Palestinians and their rights."
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Japan as the new US 'lap dog'

by element115
The US wants Tokyo to scrap the irksome pacifism provisions of its constitution, enabling actual combat and turning Japan into an Eastern military ally on a par with Britain in the West.
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University of Colorado president calls for calm

February 23, 2005 by element115
"I never wanted to be a poster boy for academic freedom. You can't give an inch. If you let this one down, you've lost it all."
Ward Churchill
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Clue Found to How HIV Invades Cells

by element115
Scientists said Wednesday they have discovered a key clue to how HIV mutates to evade the immune system that could advance the search for new drugs and a vaccine.
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US-funded Iraq TV shows alleged confessions of rebels

by element115
A US-funded Iraqi television station (al-Iraqiya TV) has aired what it says are confessions by Iraqi insurgents who claim to have been backed by Syrian intelligence.
A man who was identified as Syrian intelligence officer Lt Anas Ahmed al-Essa said he and his group had been recruited to "cause chaos in Iraq... to bar America from reaching Syria."
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Lebanon government ready to quit

by element115
Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh has said he is prepared to resign once a new cabinet is agreed.
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Of, by and for Big Business

by element115
LAtimes ---> Watching the 109th Congress, one would be forgiven for thinking our Constitution was the blueprint for a government of Big Business, by Big Business and for Big Business. Forget the people - this is Robin Hood in reverse.
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Doomed to fail

by element115
Scott Ritter ---> If America Keeps Marching, It Could Very Well Be in the Direction of a Nuclear Apocalypse
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Allawi Forming Coalition to Fight for PM

by element115
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Wednesday he was forming a broad coalition to fight for the post of prime minister after Iraq's dominant Shiite political party nominated a conservative candidate.
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Aspartame Interacts With ALL Drugs Vaccines And Toxins

by element115
Who knows more about the toxicity of aspartame than the FDA. Their toxicologists, Doctors Adrian Gross and Jacqueline Verrett strenuously objected to aspartame approval for 16 years. It wasn't just that aspartame is not safe and in original studies triggered brain tumors, seizures and all sorts of other tumors, it was that the manufacturer filtered out what they didn't want FDA to see.
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Two soldiers guilty of Iraqi prisoner abuse

by element115
Both could face up to two years in prison, Judge Advocate Michael Hunter, in charge of the court martial, said. Sentencing, which will be determined jointly by the judge advocate and the panel of officers, is expected to take place on Friday morning.
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Protest as harassment

by element115
If you want to know how a leaflet could be seen as a criminal weapon, take a look at the new crime bill
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A Kick In The Pants

by element115
It's unfortunate that Bush doesn't understand what is happening in the world he so arrogantly believes he owns. The European trip he's on now is a barely concealed attempt to strong-arm support for his upcoming invasion of Iran. An invasion, according to former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter, that Bush has already approved, and is slated for June 2005.
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US has paid Pakistanis $57m for Qaeda tips

by element115
The United States has given away the staggering sum of $57 million to informants in Pakistan who provided information about Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups and individuals, according to a senior US official.
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Ignore the vanity of the Bushites, America's might is draining away

by element115
Think of a see-saw. America at one end is now easily outweighed by any substantial grouping at the other, and most of those powers are on friendly terms with each other. America?s modesty in 1945 understated its muscle, just as Bushite vanity overstates it today. He has over-reached. His country is overstretched, losing economic momentum, losing world leadership, and losing the philosophical plot. America is running into the sand.
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Canada will reject missile defence

by element115
Prime Minister Paul Martin will reject Canadian participation in the U.S. missile defence program.
Martin plans to announce in the House of Commons as early as Thursday that the country will not partake fully in the controversial program.
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Secrecy reaches absurd level in detention

by element115
Attorneys for the Justice Department appeared before a federal judge in Washington this month and asked him to dismiss a lawsuit over the detention of a U.S. citizen, basing their request not merely on secret evidence but also on secret legal arguments. The government contends that the legal theory by which it would defend its behavior should be immune from debate in court. This position is alien to the history and premise of Anglo-American jurisprudence.
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They've Only Just Begun

by element115
Justin Raimondo ---> Instead of creating a civil society that is recognizably either democratic or liberal in the classical sense, the Iraqis are in the process of setting up another "Islamic republic" along the lines of the Iranian model. Not that the mullahs will rule directly...
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After Iraq will US attack Syria next?

by element115
The histories of Syria and the Lebanon show the way imperialism intervened in the region before ? and still does now.
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The Poisoned Well

by element115
Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, the American public has endured an astounding avalanche of official lies, half truths, pseudo-events and sheer balderdash that will surely enter the Guinness Book of Records.
Among the most persistent and infuriating lies of government, to those who have imbibed their knowledge of the past from the crystalline springs of Gibbon and von Ranke, is the misleading historical analogy. Its purpose is twofold: to relativize whatever current disaster the governing class has waltzed the hapless populace into; and to kill any usable past. The technique also has the added benefit of making government placemen sound learned ­ at least in the estimation of an audience which gains its knowledge of the world through Fox News and other State media.
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Sunni clerics seek to form united front against occupation of Iraq

by element115
A powerful group of Sunni Arab clerics in Iraq is forming a common front with groups who boycotted last month's elections. They are aiming to force foreign troops out of Iraq through "political activism".
The Association of Muslim Scholars, which aims to unite clerics in the insurgency-ravaged "Sunni triangle" has been holding meetings this week with tribal figures to forge a broad political front.
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The Bigger They Are.....

by element115
"Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."
Lt. Gen. James Mattis; USMC Feb 2, 2005
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FBI abandons whistleblower secrets claim

by element115
The Department of Justice has abandoned its claim that allegations made by a fired FBI translator are secret, paving the way for a court case that will air embarrassing allegations about incompetence, poor security and possible espionage in the translation unit of the Bureau's Washington Field Office.
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Uruknet.info Pulled from Google

by element115
...one of the best web sites out there for news focused on Iraq and the Middle East - uruknet.info was removed from Google?s corporate servers after the concentration camp apologist Michelle Malkin whined about Google not including her blog in its listings.

According to Malkin, the far right-wing and vastly popular blog Little Green Footballs also received a turn down from Google. LGF blogger Charles Johnson, as quoted by Malkin, did some whining of his own:
"Note that the Google News index now searches quite a few blogs (including Power Line, Polipundit, and Wonkette) and includes other sites with, to say the least, serious credibility problems (including hard-core anarchist site Infoshop, and Justin Raimondo's paleocon antisemitic site antiwar.com)."
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Did Israel Killed al-Hariri to Set the Stage for a Confrontation with Hezbollah?

by element115
Kurt Nimmo ---> I don't know how many citizens of the Empire surf the web looking for the truth. It is sincerely depressing reading the corporate press in the United States, hacking through the chaff, looking for the wheat, reading between the lines in search of the truth. I scan the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, etc, looking for stories that make sense. It is comforting to know there are journalists out there-not in the United States-who tell it like it is. For instance, Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun.
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Religious group challenges 'traditional' history

by element115
The new religious group, which recently built a complex on a hilltop overlooking Interstate 64 at Tinkling Spring Road, pronounced Jefferson "the anti-Christian" and George Washington?s opposite.
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Bird flu conference opens in Vietnam

by element115
Delegations from more than 20 countries and organisations, including major donors and United Nations (UN) agencies, are evaluating their understanding of the H5N1 virus and will decide on long-term measures to get rid of it.
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Media Omissions on Negroponte's Record

by element115
Many reports included brief mentions of Negroponte's past.- Some reporters simply soft-pedaled the history.
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When Democracy Failed - 2005

by element115
The Warnings of History
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Bush and Chirac reopen wounds

by element115
The pair disagreed on China, Iran, Iraq and the future of Nato...
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With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans

by element115
During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?
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Bush or Bushehr? Russia puts its money on Iran

by element115
With a firm handshake from the Kremlin chief, Hassan Rohani concluded his visit to Moscow last Friday. As head of Iran's National Security Council, Rohani made no secret that his meetings were timed ahead of a U.S.-Russia summit in Bratislava this week.
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Iran to Bush: Don't Meddle with Our Independence

by element115
President Bush should be aware that the United States would pay a heavier price than Iran if it tried to encroach on the Islamic state's independence, President Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday.
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Study blames 20,000 deaths a year on diesel exhaust

by element115
Emissions from old diesel engines cause more than 20,000 Americans a year to die sooner than they would have otherwise, an environmental group estimated Tuesday.
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Bill Maher: 'Is our children learning' Bill of Rights? No, they isn't

by element115
A new survey found that a majority of high schoolers think newspapers should not be allowed to publish without government approval.
And almost one in five said that Americans should be prohibited from expressing unpopular opinions.
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Who in the World is George Washington?

by element115
The less they know, the more likely they are to be Republicans.
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Dollar drops on reserves concerns

by element115
Recent rebounds in the dollar have proved to be short lived
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When John Negroponte Was Mullah Omar

by element115
Bush's pick for director of national intelligence once oversaw an Afghan-style sanctuary for terrorists every bit as nasty as Osama and al Qaeda
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Aristide, 1 year later

by element115
President Jean Betrand Aristide names two high level French emissaries who threatened him to resign or be killed.
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Company's Work in Iraq Profited Bush's Uncle

by element115
The Iraq war helped bring record earnings to St. Louis-based defense contractor Engineered Support Systems Inc., and new financial data show that the firm's war-related profits have trickled down to a familiar family name ? Bush.
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Revealed: the rush to war

by element115
The full picture of how the government manipulated the legal justification for war, and political pressure placed on its most senior law officer, is revealed in the Guardian today.
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Flirting with Armageddon

by element115
Welcome to a new arms race
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Suicidal Behaviour Caused By Antidepressants "Cannot Be Ruled Out"

by element115
Antidepressant drugs may be associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviour, particularly in the early stages of treatment, shows new evidence in this week's BMJ.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant, yet concerns have arisen that these drugs may induce or worsen suicidal feelings in vulnerable patients.
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U.N. to control use of Internet?

by element115
Leaders of a U.N. Internet panel yesterday said they hope to set up a global system where cyberspace would be under the control of the United Nations.
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Public offered class on terror spotting

by element115
Average folks will play "a vital part" in keeping the nation safe from terrorist attacks, said Andra Bannister, director of the Regional Community Policing Training Institute at Wichita State University.
To help that along, the institute is hosting two free programs this week to train residents in counterterrorism.
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FBI Issues Warning About Computer Virus

by element115
The e-mails appear to come from an fbi.gov address. They tell recipients that they have accessed illegal Web sites and that their Internet use has been monitored by the FBI's "Internet Fraud Complaint Center," the FBI said.

The messages then direct recipients to open an attachment and answer questions. The computer virus is in the attachment.
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Today is "Free Mojtaba and Arash" Day

February 22, 2005 by element115
The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers.
Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.
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Alcatel, Microsoft to Develop TV Services

by element115
Alcatel SA, the French maker of telecommunications gear, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Tuesday said they will jointly develop Internet-based TV services for telephone companies.
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Television. It's a no-brainer

by element115
The trouble is that we do not use it in moderation. So maybe it is time to be honest about what it robs us of.
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Angry Arab Guide to Middle East Media

by element115
Part I, TV
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Britain Races to Pass Tough Anti-Terrorism Laws

by element115
The legislation has sparked debate over the balance between liberty and security at a time when London says the threat from terrorism is "unprecedented" and warrants "extreme measures."
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Bush, Putin Differ on State of Russian Democracy

by element115
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin openly differed on the state of Russia's democracy Tuesday, setting the stage for a possibly difficult face-to-face meeting Thursday.
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Pope Calls Gay Marriage Part of 'Ideology of Evil'

by element115
Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in a new book published Tuesday.

In "Memory and Identity," the Pope also calls abortion a "legal extermination" comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century.

He also reveals that he is convinced the Turkish gunman who shot him in 1981 did not act alone and suggests that the former Communist Bloc may have been behind the plot to kill him.
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Piss Off

by element115
A Belgian novelty shows what the good people of Brussels really think about George W. Bush.
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Is Your Stuff Yours?

by element115
The Answer Isn't So Simple
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Don't Be Silent About Things That Matter

by element115
As the Bush Administration pushes forward with its aggressive plans to tear up the Constitution and launch its liberty jihad, Senator Barbara Boxer has stepped forward as the voice of Democratic opposition.
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American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold

by element115
American and Iraqi government forces have surrounded the city of Ramadi in preparation for an expected full-scale attack on the city.
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New diseases arise as environments destroyed, says UN

by element115
Changes to the environment that are sweeping the planet are bringing about a rise in infectious diseases, the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has warned.

Loss of forests; the building of roads and dams; urban growth; the clearing of natural habitats for agriculture; mining; and pollution of coastal waters are promoting conditions under which new and old pathogens can thrive, according to research published today in Unep's Global Environment Outlook Year Book for 2004/2005.

Ailments previously unknown in human beings are appearing, such as the Nipah virus, which until recently was found normally in Asian fruit bats, according to the report.
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Bush protest in Europe

by element115

-----> Photos
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Bush Protest II

by element115

-----> Photos
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Bush Protest III

by element115

----> Photos
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Gannon considering suing left wing bloggers

by element115
Jeff Gannon, the White House correspondent forced from his job by left wing blogs is considering suing left wing bloggers for a "political assassination" that drove him from his job, according to a Newsweek Article to go to print on Feb 28.
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German shift spells trouble for U.S. in Europe

by element115
Then, exactly one week before Mr. Bush's arrival, Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor, sent a speech to a Western security conference in Munich that amounted to a sudden snatching away of the "welcome" mat.
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The Justice of Roosting Chickens

by element115
Video ---> Ward Churchill Speaks
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Strategies in Palestine

by element115
...the Palestinians, helpless inside their sickeningly dense remnants of territory, will be squeezed some more, and more, and more.
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Mass Arrests, Torture Follow Taba Bombing

by element115
The Egyptian state security forces arbitrarily arrested thousands of people and tortured detainees in the wake of the Taba Hilton bombing in October, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Four months later, as many as 2,400 detainees are still being held incommunicado. The 48 page report, "Mass Arrests and Torture in Sinai," documents how, in the weeks and months after the bombing that killed 30 people in the resort town of Taba, the State Security Investigation agency conducted mass arrests in northern Sinai without a warrant or judicial order as required by Egyptian law.
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Mexico: the Pentagon's Proxy Army in Iraq

by element115
Mexico, which unlike its Central American neighbors was never a member of George Bush's "Coalition of the Willing", now has the largest contingent of any Latin nation fighting on the ground in Iraq--8000 Mexican and Mexican-descent troops who voluntarily joined the U.S. armed forces.
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Al-Jaafari Chosen As Shiite Ticket's Candidate For Iraqi P.M.

by element115
A spokesman for an umbrella group for 38 Shiite parties said Chalabi withdrew from the race under pressure from the Iraqi United Alliance.
Chalabi is a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and al-Jaafari is a conservative sometimes referred to as a cleric in a business suit.
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How objective journalism can fail to reveal the truth

by element115
If you are in a position of power, tell a big lie, the bigger the better, and when anyone questions you on it, attack them as biased or partisan. The press will treat each side as equal, and the lie is passed on as truth.
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Palestinians Face Crisis Over New Cabinet

by element115
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Tuesday promised to present a Cabinet of technocrats to parliament, after his original lineup of political old-timers prompted an angry outcry and threats of a no-confidence vote.
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Attacking Our Memory

by element115
John Pilger ---> How does thought control work in societies that call themselves free? Why are famous journalists so eager, almost as a reflex, to minimize the culpability of political leaders such as Bush and Blair who share responsibility for the unprovoked attack on a defenseless people, for laying to waste their land and for killing at least 100,000 people, most of them civilians, having sought to justify this epic crime with demonstrable lies? What does BBC reporter describe the invasion of Iraq as "a vindication for Blair"? Why have broadcasters never associated the British or American state with terrorism? Why have such privileged communicators, with unlimited access to the facts, lined up to describe an unobserved, unverified, illegitimate, cynically manipulated election, held under a brutal occupation, as "democratic" with the pristine aim of being "free and fair"?
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The State of Hell Address

by element115
Because no cameras are allowed in hell, the devil gave his State of Hell Address via audio airwaves. The devil revealed his plans for the ongoing expansion of hell. Due to activities on earth, the devil announced that he would be outsourcing his building efforts.
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Iran, the draft, and another "New Pearl Harbor"?

by element115
Are the Bush Neo-cons setting the stage for 'another' "New Pearl Harbor" attack on US interests--one that may dwarf September 11?
...the attack is being planned to mobilize the US for ever more war and to ensure support for a military draft. And the article's footnote suggests the attack on US interests may hit a US city...and it may be nuclear.
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Behind The Walls Of Ward 54

by element115
Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43, had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic back pain that became excruciating during the war.

'These people are giving me the runaround ... These people think I'm crazy, and I'm not crazy. I'm getting more crazy being up here.'
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U.S. won't rule out waging war in space

by element115
A top U.S. space commander says the United States can't rule out attacking the satellites and other spacecraft of enemy nations in the future.
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Without meat children are damaged, say scientists

by element115
Rubbish, reply vegetarians - led by Paul McCartney
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Bush is plotting to kill me, says Chavez

by element115
Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, accused George Bush of plotting to assassinate him yesterday, and warned that all Venezuelan oil exports to the US would stop in the event of his death.

"If I am assassinated, there is only one person responsible: the president of the United States," Mr Chavez said during his weekly radio and television show.
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Pointless Bush Tour of Europe

by element115
On Sunday February 20th President George W Bush left for a 5-day trip to 'mend fences' with Europe. He will achieve nothing. Not only because of European payback for his own arrogant past actions, but, also, because of the thoughtless words of his Secretary of State, and the cavalier attitude of his Secretary of Defense.
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Man Charged in Alleged Plot to Kill Bush

by element115
A former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network.
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Memo on the Margin

by element115
Jude Wanniski ---> Negroponte is and always has been a "capo" in the Perle mafia, and now because he looks "respectable," a public servant who has worked for both Democratic and Republican presidents, he gets to be King of the Mountain. Don't be a dope, Senator. It will be still be Perle and the neo-cons pulling his strings, as they always have. And once he is confirmed, we are being told he will be President Bush's "primary" briefer, coming into the Oval Office every morning to tell Mr. Bush what Richard Perle & Co. want him to hear. Where are the enemies? Which are the rogue states? Who shall we bomb today?
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270 killed in earthquake in Iran

by element115
A powerful earthquake hit south-east Iran today, killing 270 people, injuring nearly 1,000 others and destroying villages.

The quake, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, was centred on the town of Zarand in Kerman province, about 440 miles south-east of Tehran.
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Mobile Phone Virus Surfaces in US

by element115
The world's first virus that specifically targets mobile phones has made an appearance in the United States. Called Cabir, the virus initially appeared in the Philippines about eight months ago. Since then, it has spread to twelve countries and could eventually threaten a significant portion of the 1.5 billion cell phone users worldwide.
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Arctic has become world's chemical sink

by element115
The Arctic is becoming increasingly contaminated with toxic chemicals and pollutants that have never been produced or used in this region, WWF has warned in a report.
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Invisible tiny UFO caught on chemical-imaging camera

by element115
...while analyzing data the scientists came across something very strange and bizarre. A set of photos showed a tiny miniature Unidentified Flying Object. The IR camera failed to capture the same because apparently the UFO was using frictionless traction with anti-gravity lifting mechanisms. But the chemical-imaging camera picked it up.
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Depletion of water resources more serious than oil reserves

by element115
The depletion of underground water resources through overpumping is a far more serious issue than the depletion of oil reserves, the head of an environmental think-tank has warned.
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Lebanon, Syria and US

February 21, 2005 by element115
Palestine is occupied. Iraq is occupied. Afghanistan, the Middle East, Gulf and the Caspian are seething with US military personnel, pilots, submarines, Apache gun-ships, fighter jets and spy drones. Iran and Syria are being threatened.
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Blogs or Blotto?

by element115
...today's blogs will likely evolve into more sophisticated, horizontal processes that allow individuals to freely communicate their understanding to one another, without the need for institutionalized oversight and control. Individuals who are both the producers and consumers of information will have incentives to create more effective systems and mechanisms for the pursuit of understanding.

Gutenberg put the establishment on the defensive centuries ago, demonstrating the creative consequences that flow from a loosening of monopolies on information. The Internet - with its proliferation of websites and bloggers, and the continuing collapse of the vertical into the horizontal - has taken the Gutenberg revolution to exponential dimensions.
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Mars pictures reveal frozen sea

by element115
A huge, frozen sea lies just below the surface of Mars, a team of European scientists has announced.
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Avian Flu World's No. 1 Threat, CDC Head Says

by element115
Avian flu poses the single biggest threat to the world right now and health officials may not yet have all the tools they need to fight it, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.
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Australia to send more soldiers to Iraq

by element115
Australia will send 450 more troops to southern Iraq to help protect Japanese engineers and help bolster the country's fledgling democracy, Prime Minister John Howard announced.
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Talking with the Enemy

by element115
Inside the secret dialogue between the U.S. and insurgents in Iraq?and what the rebels say they want
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Israel pushes U.S. on Iran nuke solution

by element115
Israel has been privately pressing Washington to solve the Iran nuclear problem in a hint that Tel Aviv may be left with no choice but to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, defense officials say.
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Scott Ritter Says U.S. Plans June Attack On Iran

by element115
President George W. Bush has received and signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005. Its purported goal is the destruction of Iran?s alleged program to develop nuclear weapons, but Ritter said neoconservatives in the administration also expected that the attack would set in motion a chain of events leading to regime change in the oil-rich nation of 70 million.
He also asserted that knowledgeable sources say U.S. officials "cooked" the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.
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Why Go to College, When You Can be Cannon Fodder?

by element115
Do You Know What Your Kids Are Watching on "Educational" TV at School?
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Was Syria really to blame?

by element115
Eric Margolis ---> The 300-kilo car bomb that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut last week is being widely blamed on Syria. The Bush administration in the U.S., cheered on by Israel, accused Syria of "terrorism," withdrew its ambassador and all but threatened Damascus with war.
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Syria says it will withdraw troops from the Lebanon

by element115
Amr Mussa, the head of the Arab League, said that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, had assured him this morning that Syria was prepared to fulfil its obligations in the Taef accords that ended Lebanon's civil war in 1995.
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The World's Warmonger

by element115
According to the Bush administration, it is Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's desire to purchase weapons from Russia that threatens to destabilize the Andean region, not the $3 billion in military aid that Washington has provided to Colombia over the past five years. Likewise, in the Middle East, it is Syria's efforts to obtain purely defensive anti-aircraft missiles that pose a threat to that region, not the $1 billion a year in U.S. military aid to Israel.
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Settlers poison Palestinian well

by element115
A Palestinian village in the northern West Bank has appealed for pressure to be put on Israel to end the recurrent poisoning of their only source of water supply by Jewish settlers.
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Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington's Plan

by element115
To understand who assassinated Rafik al-Hariri we don?t need to look any further than the $1.5 billion US Embassy currently under construction in Baghdad. The new embassy, the largest of its kind in the world, will facilitate 1,800 employees and serve as the regional nerve center for American political and economic activity. What does this have to do with al Hariri?
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Anti-gay religious group targets Shrek 2

by element115
On its website the Traditional Values Coalition is warning parents about the cross-dressing and transgender themes contained in the hit DreamWorks feature, now on DVD.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Bush laughs off animosity

by element115
Bush joked today that he would have liked to bask in widespread European admiration as "a friend to humankind" - but that he knew better.
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500 Palestinians back home from Israeli prison

by element115
Jubilant friends and relatives welcomed home about 500 Palestinian prisoners Monday after they were freed by Israel as part of a truce agreement.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Iraqi women no better off post-Saddam

by element115
Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
In a report entitled "Iraq -- Decades of Suffering," it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse -- including by U.S. forces.
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CDC Chief: Bird Flu Could Become Epidemic

by element115
The Earth may be on the brink of a worldwide epidemic from a bird flu virus that may mutate to become as deadly and infectious as viruses that killed millions during three influenza pandemics of the 20th century, a federal health official said Monday.
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The Da Vinci Code put 'on trial'

by element115
Art experts and historians are staging what has been described as a mock trial to examine the claims made in hit novel The Da Vinci Code.
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Hunter S. Thompson Commits Suicide

February 20, 2005 by element115
Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counter-culture author of books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.
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Aboard Air CIA

by element115
The information seems to confirm a story claimed by Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen, who was abducted while on holiday in Macedonia. He says he was kidnapped in 2003 and taken to the capital Skopje and then flown on the jet to Afghanistan.
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Experts: Global Warming Is Real

by element115
The report was published one day after the United Nations Kyoto Protocol took effect, a 141-nation environmental pact the United States government has spurned for several reasons, including stated doubts about whether global warming is occurring and is caused by people.
"Could a climate system simply do this on its own? The answer is clearly no," Barnett said.
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Bush Wanted

by element115
Protests against Bush's visit in Europe
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US signals hard line on China's military expansion

by element115
The Pentagon is preparing to ratchet up its assessment of the threat of China?s expanding military, in a signal that the Bush administration is increasingly concerned about China?s growing ambitions in the region.
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Why Bush will fail in Europe

by element115
The President has an enormous political gulf to bridge. The trouble is, he doesn't even know it's there
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Senators demand G8 suspend Russia

by element115
Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain on Friday introduced a Senate resolution urging President George Bush to take action to suspend Russia's G8 membership.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Bird flu 'has pandemic potential'

by element115
The bird flu virus could mutate to pass from human to human and trigger a pandemic, latest evidence suggests, according to scientists.
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Angry reception for Bush

by element115
Protesters brandished signs reading "Bush is not welcome" just a few hours before George W. Bush was to touch down at the start of a European tour.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Russia Says Ukraine, Georgia Are Sovereign

by element115
The Kremlin signaled a fundamental foreign policy shift Sunday, acknowledging that two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, are no longer part of the Russian orbit.
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Zawahri Says West Must End Attacks on Islam

by element115
"Your new crusader campaign will end, God willing, in defeat as did those that preceded it but after the deaths of tens of thousands, the destruction of your economy and exposing you in the pages of history."
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Bush Urging Allies to Move Beyond Iraq

by element115
Bush was seeking to repair rocky relations with Europe on Sunday, saying "no power on earth will ever divide us." He was urging allies to move beyond differences over Iraq in the interest of Mideast peace.
"Together we can once again set history on a hopeful course"

...help me kill more Arabs
......or at least don't look
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Israeli cabinet OKs withdrawal plan

by element115
Cabinet ministers voted 17-5 in favour of the disengagement plan, which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon first unveiled a little over a year ago. Shortly after the vote, Sharon signed the evacuation order into law.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had pushed for a national referendum on the issue, was among those who voted against the withdrawal.
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The Bush Tapes

February 19, 2005 by element115
As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality.

"It's me versus the world," he told Mr. Wead. "The good news is, the world is on my side. Or more than half of it."

Bush worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his opponents for stirring rumors. "If nobody shows up, there's no story," he told Mr. Wead.
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Washington Post relegates new proof of torture to page 16

by element115
The Washington Post, apparently jaded by month after month of reports of torture of Iraq, Afghan, and prisoners held by Americans in various other countries, relegated a thousand pages of new torture documents to page A-16 of Friday's paper.
The New York Times also dumped the story deep into the A-section, with a meager 633 words.
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Intifada III

by element115
The sun has barely set on the Sharm el-Sheikh summit that officially ended the Al Aqsa Intifada, and Intifada III has already erupted. Only this time, it's the settlers who are at it - Jews against Jews.
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Hizbollah Tells Lebanese to Cool Anti-Syria Line

by element115
Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Saturday that popular agitation against Syria's grip on Lebanon after the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri could plunge the country back into civil war.
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Spot the differences

by element115
On Sunday, George Bush arrives in Europe, seeking to build bridges after the Iraq conflict. But despite the charm offensive, several other issues divide the US and Europeans.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

ClintonBush Tour Thailand

by element115
Once fierce political rivals, 80-year-old Republican Bush and Democrat Clinton said tsunami relief was above politics.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Who benefits from al-Hariri's death?

by element115
As in all the previous cases, al-Hariri's death is seen by many Lebanese politicians as a bid to destabilise their country.
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Chalabi in push to lead Iraq

by element115
Ahmad Chalabi, the former Pentagon ally who had a falling out with his U.S. backers, pressed ahead Thursday with his campaign to be Iraq's next leader by promising to bring the country's former dictator to speedy justice.
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Iran preps for a possible war with U.S.

by element115
Tehran has recently disclosed efforts to bolster and mobilize recruits in citizens' militias and making plans to engage in the type of "asymmetrical" warfare used against U.S. troops in Iraq, the Washington Times reported Saturday.
Iranian newspapers are reporting efforts to boost the number of the country's 7-million-strong "Basiji" militia forces.
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The oligarch's revenge

by element115
Boris Berezovsky made his billions from cars and oil, and styled himself king-maker and fixer in Russian politics - until things turned sour. Now, in exile in the UK, an enthusiastic convert to democracy and human rights, he finances all-comers who'll oppose his old protégé Vladimir Putin. Does he have presidential aspirations himself?
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Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study

February 18, 2005 by element115
Lead left in paint, water, soil and elsewhere may not only be affecting children's intelligence but may cause a significant proportion of violent crime, a U.S. researcher argued Friday.
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Swastika on Bush's forehead in Hollywood

by element115


...wherever he goes...he's "loved-not"
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Ecstasy for combat stress

by element115
American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Posted in | 0 Comments »

1,000 children feared dead in Afghan province

by element115
Up to 1,000 children may have died in one Afghan province over the past few weeks due to cold-related illnesses and lack of food, a relief agency says.
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Torture Time

by element115
Flash Animation
Posted in | 0 Comments »

Veteran of dirty wars wins lead US spy role

by element115
John Negroponte's nomination by President Bush yesterday to be his chief of intelligence represents the pinnacle of rehabilitation for a man who, for many people, will always be associated with US involvement in the "dirty wars" in Central America in the 1980s.
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Disastrous deja vu in the Middle East

by element115
It has been more than a year since the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee was told that the United States was "almost all wrong" about its reasons for invading Iraq
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Cancer-causing dye found in food

by element115
BRITAIN'S food safety watchdog ordered the recall of more than 350 food products overnight after a potentially cancer-causing dye was discovered.
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Bush warns of Islamic alliance

by element115
Bush is calling on Europe to join the US in increasing pressure on Syria and Iran to reform, as the two Middle Eastern nations tout a new strategic Islamic alliance against US and Israeli "plots".
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Nuclear fusion 'put to the test'

by element115
Nuclear fusion is nature's atomic power - it is what powers the Sun and, if it can be made to happen here on Earth on a large enough scale, it promises to solve all of mankind's energy problems in one go.
It would be clean, last for ever and create no long-term nuclear waste. And Rusi Taleyarkhan claims to have achieved it using simple sound waves.
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Limbaugh to visit Afghanistan

by element115
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is expected to visit Afghanistan with the top U.S. aid official to spotlight America's aid work there.
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Where Flags Do Not Rise

by element115
The division of peoples based on super-tribes has always led to battles, fights and wars.
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Pharisee Nation

by element115
John Dear ---> I took the stage and got right to the point. "Now let me get this straight," I said. - Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers," which means he does not say, "Blessed are the warmakers," - With that, the place exploded, and 500 students stormed out. The rest of them then started chanting, "Bush! Bush! Bush!"
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Detainee Coerced Into Dropping Charges of Abuse Before Release

by element115
The American public deserves to know which high-level government officials are ultimately responsible for the torture conducted in our name.
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Papers reveal Bagram abuse

by element115
New evidence has emerged that US forces in Afghanistan engaged in widespread Abu Ghraib-style abuse, taking "trophy photographs" of detainees and carrying out rape and sexual humiliation.
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RFID Project for U.S. Postal Service

by element115
Unisys Corp. has received a subcontract to support prime contractor I.D. Systems Inc. with wireless tracking of United Stated Postal Service (USPS) vehicles. I.D. Systems recently announced it had been awarded the USPS contract to implement its Wireless Asset Net industrial equipment tracking and management systems at postal facilities nationwide.
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London officials planting tracking chips in trash bins

by element115
...authorities may be able to use them to monitor trash levels and warn those who are deemed to be producing too much that they need to "manage their rubbish more effectively."
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America would back Israel attack on Iran

by element115
President George W Bush added a new twist to the international tension over Iran's nuclear programme last night by pledging to support Israel if it tries to destroy the Islamic regime's capacity to make an atomic bomb.
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Protester Throws Shoe at Richard Perle

by element115
Perle had just started his comments Thursday when a protester threw a shoe at him before being dragged away, screaming, "Liar! Liar!"
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Putin: Iran Does Not Intend to Build Nuclear Arms

by element115
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was convinced Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon and that Russia would press ahead with nuclear cooperation with the Islamic Republic.
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Guantanamo guards blinded prisoner

February 17, 2005 by element115
Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith represents Omar Deghayes:
"They brought their pepper spray and held him down," he said.
"They held both of his eyes open and sprayed it into his eyes and later took a towel soaked in pepper spray and rubbed it in his eyes.
"Omar could not see from either eye for two weeks but he gradually got sight back in one eye.
"He's totally blind in the right eye. I can report that his right eye is all white and milky - he can't see out of it because he has been blinded by the US in Guantanamo."
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Iraqi Died While Hung From Wrists

by element115
An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back, according to investigative reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
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Study finds organic veges bolster immunity

by element115
Researchers at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (DIAS) have found rats fed with organically grown vegetables are healthier than rats fed with non-organic greens.
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Conservatives 'Willing to Lie' to Influence Media

by element115
"The conservatives seem to be particularly vulnerable because the quality of their research is particularly low. There is typically self-interested money behind it and of course they are simply willing to lie," Brock told a group of interns at a luncheon at the Center for American Progress headquarters in Washington D.C.
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Bush's Sex Scandal

by element115
You see, for all the carnage in President Bush's budget, one program is being showered with additional cash - almost three times as much as it got in 2001. It's "abstinence only" sex education, and the best research suggests that it will cost far more lives than the Clinton administration's much more notorious sex scandal.
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Screw the children

by element115
Bush budget takes pennies from hungry kids, feeds billions to Star Wars
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Pentagon prepares to build robot army

by element115
The Pentagon is spending £70 billion on a programme to build heavily-armed robots for the battlefield in the hope that future wars will be fought without the loss of its soldiers' lives.
The scheme, known as Future Combat Systems, is the largest military contract in American history and will help to drive the defence budget up by almost 20 per cent to just over £265 billion in five years' time.
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Embedded in the Spin Cycle

by element115
An incisive new documentary is taking aim at the U.S. media's one-sided coverage of the war in Iraq, arguing that its collective complicity deceived the populace and made the war possible.
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A Corrupted Election

by element115
Despite what you may have heard, the exit polls were right
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Iraq War was Illegal, British Court Told

by element115
British opponents of the Iraq war arrested for breaking into military bases were denied justice because the conflict itself was illegal, a court case with potentially far-reaching implications was told Tuesday.
A group of protesters convicted of aggravated trespass should not have been found guilty because they were simply trying to prevent an illegal war, their lawyer told the High Court in London.
The case is a potentially sensitive one for the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, which always insisted the March 2003 war was justified under international law but has refused to release the legal arguments behind this.
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No corruption charge for Sharon

by element115
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not be indicted in a long-running corruption scandal, officials say.
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How many have died in Darfur?

by element115
the widely quoted United Nations figure of 70,000 is clearly wrong, because it was based on a study that does not include those killed in the violence and just covers a six-month period.
The UN says that more than two million of the estimated six million population have fled their homes, but the organisation is reluctant to suggest how many might have died in total.
Some analysts are estimating that the true death toll could be four or five times higher than the 70,000 figure.
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Many fear Al Jazeera's privatization

by element115
The U.S. government might view Al Jazeera as little more than an anti-American mouthpiece, yet the journalists who work at the satellite TV station consider it the only bastion of free press in an authoritarian Middle East. The prospect of being sold to the highest bidder has many worried.
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Nuclear audit says Sellafield has 'lost' 30kg of plutonium

by element115
The annual audit of nuclear material at all of Britain?s civil nuclear installations is expected to reveal that the plutonium ? enough for seven or eight nuclear bombs ? was classified as ?material unaccounted for? last year.
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Israeli troops kill two Palestinians

by element115
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the two were killed while they attempted to approach a Jewish settlement late on Tuesday night.
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U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses

by element115
Four men say they witnessed shooting of unarmed civilians
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Dance of Death

by element115
Video ---> What is life like for a U.S. Soldier In Occupied Iraq.
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Why we must lose this war

by element115
Gwynne Dyer ---> The United States needs to lose the war in Iraq as soon as possible. Even more urgently, the whole world needs the United States to lose the war in Iraq. What is at stake now is the way we run the world for the next generation or more, and really bad things will happen if we get it wrong.
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Hospital RFID-tags patients to avoid litigation

by element115
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital has become the first NHS hospital to radio-tag patients. The hospital has installed a radio tracking system throughout the hospital and can find and identify patients using standard radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.
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Bush to Tap Negroponte as Intel Director

by element115
President Bush plans to tap John Negroponte, the current U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as his nominee to become the nation's first national intelligence director.
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Human Rights Obstructer John Negroponte

by element115
Background on John Negroponte
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NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars

by element115
A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.
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Physicians and General Public Favor Mandatory HIV Testing

by element115
Results of a new national survey of 864 physicians and 1,339 members of the general public revealed that a significant majority of both groups believe that mandatory, federally funded HIV testing would improve the overall health of the U.S. population.
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Goss fears WMD attack in U.S. 'a matter of time'

by element115
Senior U.S. intelligence leaders told Congress yesterday that "it may only be a matter of time" before terrorists try to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States.

suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure
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U.S. Aides Cite Worry on Qaeda Infiltration From Mexico

by element115
New intelligence information strongly suggests that Al Qaeda has considered infiltrating the United States through the Mexican border, top government officials told Congress on Wednesday.

...suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure
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CIA issues warning on China's military efforts

February 16, 2005 by element115
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency has warned that China's military modernisation is tilting the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait and increasing the threat to US forces in the region.
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U.S. Muslims Still Seen As A Threat

by element115
Last year marked the highest number of Muslim-related civil rights cases ever recorded in the United States, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
As sad as that is, it?s not surprising: A national poll from Cornell University found that almost one in two Americans feel that the U.S. should curtail Muslim-Americans? civil liberties?such as making them register with the government.
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Kerry Backs Bush's $81.9 Bln War Spending Plan

by element115
Democratic Sen. John Kerry, whose baffling explanation of votes on Iraq war funding hurt his 2004 White House bid, said on Tuesday he would back President Bush's new $81.9 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Australian Government keeping secret database of people who criticise policies

by element115
THE Northern Territory Government is keeping a secret database of people who criticise the Government or its policies, it was learned last night.
Opposition Leader Denis Burke yesterday accused the Martin Government in Parliament of acting like 'Big Brother'.
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Border talks called 'disturbing'

by element115
An influential tri-national panel has considered a raft of bold proposals for an integrated North America, including a continental customs union, single passport and contiguous security perimeter.
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'Clean Break' or Dirty War?

by element115
Israel's Foreign Policy Directive to the United States
The Israeli policy paper "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" (ACB) was authored by a group of policy advisors to Israel. Subsequently, nearly all members ascended to influential policy making positions within U.S. government, media, and academic circles. Many of the ACB policies such as toppling the government of Iraq are now in full implementation and present new challenges to the global community. Others, such as the reform of Israel's economy have been abysmal failures, but generate little visibility or impact outside of Israel.
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Israeli journalist: IDF goad Palestinians, then kill them

by element115
A prominent Israeli journalist has lambasted the criminality and racism of the Israeli justice system.
Amira Hass, who writes for the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, criticised the exoneration of an Israeli soldier who murdered a Palestinian school child last October.
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An armchair activist

by element115
Online technology gives protesters real power to change the status quo - without taking to the streets.
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British troops face new charges as bodies of Iraqi civilians are exhumed

by element115
Army investigators have exhumed the bodies of civilians who were allegedly shot dead by soldiers in the British-controlled region of southern Iraq for investigators to perform forensic tests. Their reports are in the final legal stages with the Army Prosecuting Authority.
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Netanyahu incident staged for the press

by element115
Journalist Amnon Abromovitz, who exposed Avishai Raviv as an agent of the General Security Services code-named "Champagne" revealed tonight on Israel Television Channel Two that the headline- making incident in which Minister Netanyahu was "attacked" was staged for the media.
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Analysis: U.S. targets Syria

by element115
U.S.-Syrian relations hit a low Tuesday as Washington withdrew its ambassador from Damascus in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and renewed calls for Syria to withdraw occupation troops from the country.
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Off Duty U.S. Customs officer shoots unarmed 19-year old in head...

by element115
Authorities state that officer committed no wrong-doing and did not even book him for questioning
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A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield

by element115
The American military is working on a new generation of soldiers, far different from the army it has.
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Pentagon Tests Laser Warning for Planes

by element115
The Pentagon is considering using lasers to warn pilots they've flown into restricted airspace, an unusual choice because the government also says terrorists might use the beams of light to blind pilots as they approach airports.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has been researching the use of alternating red and green lasers as a way to communicate with pilots flying too near the Capitol or the White House when they can't be reached by radio.
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Iran to aid Syria against threats

by element115
Iran has vowed to back Syria against "challenges and threat" as both countries face strong US pressure.
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Iran Will Know How to Build Bomb in 6 Months - Israel

by element115
Israel said on Wednesday arch-foe Iran was just six months away from having the knowledge to build an atomic bomb, as Tehran accused the United States of using satellites "and other tools" to spy on its nuclear sites.
The Israeli warning followed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's call last week for Iran to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons and meet its international obligations if it was to be sure of avoiding conflict.
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'Missile strike' claim sparks scare

by element115
Iranian state television sparked an international scare and sent the price of oil rising when it claimed a missile had been fired from an aircraft close to its nuclear reactor.
A later report said that the explosion near the city of Dailam may have been caused by a fuel tank falling from an Iranian plane.
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Iran Threatens to Shoot Down U.S. Drones

by element115
Iran's intelligence chief on Wednesday accused the United States of flying spy drones over its nuclear sites and threatened to shoot down the unmanned surveillance crafts.
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How the world is changing

by element115

While the effect of human activity on the global climate is hotly debated, physical signs of environmental change are all around us.
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Former journalism adviser in Iraq says U.S. officials steered coverage to themselves

February 15, 2005 by element115
A journalist who helped Iraq form a new broadcast network in 2003 testified Monday that U.S. occupation officials were more interested in airing their own activities than stories essential to Iraqis.
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Halliburton Contracts Illegal

by element115
Bush & Cheney say so what
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NSA May Be 'Traffic Cop' for U.S. Networks

by element115
he Bush administration is considering making the National Security Agency - famous for eavesdropping and code breaking - its ``traffic cop'' for ambitious plans to share homeland security information across government computer networks, a senior NSA official says.
Such a decision would expand NSA's responsibility to help defend the complex network of data pipelines carrying warnings and other sensitive information. It would also require significantly more money for the ultra-secret spy agency.
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What We Don't Know About 9/11 Hurts Us

by element115
LAtimes ---> Would George W. Bush have been reelected president if the public understood how much responsibility his administration bears for allowing the 9/11 attacks to succeed?
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Stripping Iraq's election down to its bare facts

by element115
-- In western Anbar province, site of Falluja, only 13,893 of 574,138 eligible voters cast ballots?about 2 percent.

-- Kurdish Iraqi voters turned out in force, which is really no surprise and is actually quite ominous, if you think about it. The Kurds want independence, preferably a secular, pan-Kurdish nation that would be carved out of northern Iraq and parts of Turkey and other countries. That's something the Turks can't allow. Look for increasing friction between Turkey and the U.S. over this show of strength by Iraqi Kurds.
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Cat Stevens wins libel damages from British papers

by element115
Pop singer turned Muslim activist Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, said he had obtained "substantial" damages against two British newspapers which alleged he had been involved in terrorism.
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Microsoft to Release New Internet Browser

by element115
In a speech at a major security conference here, Gates said Internet Explorer 7.0, with new anti-spyware features, will be released for preliminary testing this summer.
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Livingstone won't apologize

by element115
London Mayor Ken Livingstone refused Tuesday to apologize for comparing a Jewish newspaper reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
Livingstone told a news conference that he didn't believe he had done anything wrong.
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San Diego resident may be infected

by element115
An unidentified San Diego resident may be infected with the same rare, aggressive and highly drug-resistant strain of HIV found last week in a New York City man who has rapidly become ill with AIDS, health officials said yesterday.
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White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs

by element115
The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.
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Who killed Rafiq al-Hariri?

by element115
Although a previously unheard of outfit calling itself al-Nasir and Jihad Group in al-Sham claimed responsibility for al-Hariri's assassination, commentators said the magnitude of the blast suggested an intelligence agency was behind the explosion rather than a small group.
Reuters reported security sources as saying the explosive device was sophisticated enough to evade jamming equipment so hi-tech that al-Hariri's passing convoy would interfere with cellphones and televisions.
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The Smoking Gun in the White House

by element115
Gannon resigned this week from his position in the elite White House press corps. An Associated Press article suggested that his resignation was fueled by a recent ?pointed? conservative question for President Bush. It also hinted at his link to several gay pornography websites. The real news story is not what the Associated Press said, but rather what they left out.

First and foremost, online bloggers are to thank for exposing this entire scandal. The White House failed to realize Gannon was using a phony name as it gave him top access, and corporate media journalists seemed to turn the other cheek while this shady character was sitting in their midst. Yet a few observant bloggers on the website DailyKos persevered in their online Mystery Machine and ultimately exposed Gannon as a fraud.
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HAARP To Install 516 More Antennas

by element115
This equipment will be manufactured at Antenna Product Corporation's plant in Mineral Wells, Texas, and deliveries are scheduled to begin in June, 2005 and continue monthly through September, 2005. The equipment will be shipped to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) ionospheric research site near Gokona, Alaska
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Police plan tightest-ever security for Gleneagles G8 summit

by element115
AN UNPRECEDENTED operation to secure Scotland?s ports, airports and roads will swing into action in July to prevent anarchist protesters reaching the G8 summit at Gleneagles, according to the policeman in charge of the security operation.
He also revealed that thousands of officers on duty during the July summit could be used to form a barrier at the five-star resort amid concerns that dedicated protesters will attempt to breach the site to disrupt the meeting of world leaders including Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and George Bush.
Civil rights campaigners have warned the police that they will be closely monitoring any attempts to restrict the movement of protesters during the build-up to the historic event, which is expected to bring parts of Scotland to a complete halt.
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Russians knew West's germ warfare secrets

by element115
Britain and America's most guarded germ warfare secrets have been known to the Russians for decades and spies continue to operate at the heart of the West's biotechnology industry, a former KGB spymaster says today.
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Biometric device can verify age

by element115
Technology could be used to keep children from adult sites.
Users simply place a middle finger against a device that attaches to a computer. The device uses ultrasound waves to check more than a dozen biometric attributes, including how much calcium is present (children have less than adults).
The device can then determine the probability the user is a child or an adult.
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Lawmakers looking at drug use for foster kids

by element115
Some child advocates say that children are being too heavily medicated once they get in the foster care system. The children go into the system neurologically normal but leave neurologically damaged, one Austin psychologist said.
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Chicago Goes High-Tech with Cameras, Biochemical Sensors

by element115
Using $53 million from a cable company settlement, Chicago will create a fiber-optic grid almost 1,000 miles long with cameras and biochemical sensors to watch for signs of terrorism, crime and traffic tie-ups, city officials announced Thursday.
The new system, dubbed the Homeland Security Grid, will include "a significant increase in the quantity" of surveillance cameras pointed at public spaces across the city, said Ron Huberman, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
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Annan raises terror threats in plea for overhaul of world security system

by element115
Annan presented an apocalyptic warning as he lobbied for new, common steps after the deep divisions that opened up within the United Nations over the Iraq war in 2003.
"The United Nations must show zero tolerance of terrorism of any kind, for any reason," Annan said.
...he urged the European Union and the United States to work more closely as "the backbone of a new world order in the 21st century."
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Rice names Cheney 's daughter to Middle East post

by element115
Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, will become the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, the State Department said on Monday.
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Bush Urges Renewal of Patriot Act

by element115
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been on the job for several days already, but Monday's ceremonial swearing-in gave President Bush the chance to push for renewal of the USA Patriot Act
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