War-or-Peace

nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries,

2009-10-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

The new reactor, the Toshiba 4S, is designed to minimise the need for monitoring and maintenance, with an automatic shutdown function to ensure safety in case of problems, the newspaper said.

Toshiba plans to market the reactor first in the United States, while foreseeing demand from emerging countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe as well as in Africa, it said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.314f8f63df41800c448cd89e0a88dd31.331&show_article=1#

Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control,"

2009-10-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.

"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=113347#

a star who wanted to be an actor

2009-10-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

a legendary hedonist who wanted to be taken seriously as a writer and a man who deliberately placed himself in the heart of two revolutions.

Page last updated at 07:54 GMT, Saturday, 10 October 2009 08:54 UK
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
Errol Flynn's Cuban adventures

Errol Flynn was inspired by the Cuban revolution to write and make films
By Patrick Humphries Presenter, Robin Hood and the Cuban Revolutionaries
Newspaper articles written by film star Errol Flynn documenting his last years spent in Cuba with Fidel Castro's rebels have been unearthed in a university library.
Mention the name of Errol Flynn, and an image of a larger-than-life, swashbuckling screen hero comes to mind. Or the sly grin of a sexual athlete who sparked the saying: "In like Flynn."
But towards the end of his life, Flynn was at the epicentre of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.
I think he was a hero-worshipper, and I think Errol thought that Castro was a good guy trying to free the country for everyday citizens
Beverly Aadland, former girlfriend
It was a surprise to discover the famous actor moonlighted as a newspaper correspondent who wrote a number of articles about his adventures.
His features "Me and Castro" and "I fought with Castro" for the New-York Journal American remained unread for 50 years, buried in the archives of the University Of Texas at Austin's Center for American History.
I have always been a fan of Flynn's films and believe he was a far better actor than he gave himself credit for.
Errol Flynn was cinema's biggest star from the mid-30s until the late 1940s, thanks to his debut in Captain Blood and a series of swashbuckling epics such as The Sea Hawk, The Dawn Patrol and The Adventures Of Robin Hood.
But even I was unprepared to find the man who was a screen idol as Robin Hood to a generation of movie-goers in the company of revolutionary pin-ups Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. But, ever the hero, he admired those who fought on others' behalf.

Flynn wrote that he spent five days with Fidel Castro in the mountains
I was surprised to find there was a serious side to Flynn - he sympathised with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, and set off for Spain "to follow in Hemingway's footsteps" in February 1937.
While in Madrid, Flynn condemned the fascist General Franco. He was shelled, survived an aerial attack and narrowly avoided being machine-gunned by an over-enthusiastic Republican.
Errol's daughter Rory Flynn said the public image of her father did not accurately reflect the man who wrote two novels, an autobiography and newspaper reports.
'Swashbuckling hedonist'
She said: "It is said that he was a swashbuckling hedonist, but my father was a serious man.
"He thought about things, he wrote books, he wrote poems and he wrote documentaries, this is not just something that came about.
"He wrote for the Hearst (news)papers. I think underneath it all, he was a journalist."
Flynn had been a regular visitor to Batista's Cuba, where the dictator welcomed distinguished tourists, drawn to the island for its brothels and legalised gambling.
By the time he returned to the country in late 1958 with his teenage girlfriend Beverly Aadland, a lifetime of hard-living had taken its toll, and roles were hard to find - although ironically, during the dog days of his career, Flynn gave two of his best-received performances - The Sun Also Rises and The Roots Of Heaven.
I feel that the citizens will know who you are... and it will cheer them to know that someone from the United States, whom they perhaps have seen on the screen, is interested enough to come and see them
Fidel Castro to Errol Flynn
Flynn claimed Castro invited him to Cuba at the very dawn of the revolution.
Beverly Aadland said: "Errol had talked to Hearst newspapers in New York about interviewing Castro, and through some contacts in the 'Havana Hilton', went up into the Sierra Mistra mountains to talk to Fidel."

Beverly was installed at the capital's prestigious Commodore Hotel, while Flynn went off to the mountains with the rebels, spending five days with Castro and interviewing him.

In his articles, he described how Fidel Castro told him that "no American knew him or his brother Raul better than I did" and how he gave Cuba's leader lessons in public speaking.
Castro is quoted as saying to Flynn: "I feel that the citizens will know who you are... and it will cheer them to know that someone from the United States, whom they perhaps have seen on the screen, is interested enough to come and see them."

Flynn also reportedly had a brief encounter with Che Guevara, who did not recognise the bloated and faded film star when they met.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8298582.stm

Investors Against Genocide is trying to dissuade Americans from investing in companies

2009-09-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

"I needed something to do," she says.

First Haskell joined a book group, whose members had spent years reading and discussing Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time." "But it wasn't enough for me," she says.

Then a friend took her along to a talk about the situation in Sudan's wartorn Darfur region. "I knew from the newspapers what was happening there, but that evening I realized I didn't know anything," she recalls.

Now, two years later, Haskell is at a shareholder meeting in Boston. She steps up to take the cordless microphone, and asks a question. "Why isn't Exxon, an American company, allowed to do business in Sudan, while Fidelity is allowed to invest in funds that have shares in companies involved with the Sudanese government, like Petrochina?" She has summed up the problem in a nutshell.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,649943,00.html

Sen. Carl Levin's announcement today that he opposes sending more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan.

2009-09-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

President Obama's Afghan policy faces even greater challenges in Congress, where there is growing group of Democrats who aren't just opposed to sending more troops but would like to reduce the amount already there.

Levin's position is more nuanced. The Michigan Democrat said he opposes more combat troops but is open to sending more U.S. trainers.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Afghanistan/afghanistan-war-faces-battle-congress-democrats-pushing-withdrawal/story?id=8547211

“You ultimately get to the question: Is it worth it?”

2009-09-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

Boeing acknowledges that the problems have sorely tested the patience of suppliers and customers, and damaged its credibility. Already, 60 orders have been canceled, partly because of the delay.

Even after the cancellations, the Dreamliner has more advance orders from airlines — about 850 — than any other commercial plane in history. Part of what gives Boeing an edge is that its main rival, Airbus, does not expect to complete its first composite plane until 2013.
At an average sales price that aviation analysts believe to be about $125 million each, those 850 Dreamliners could turn into $110 billion.

The appeal to the airlines is clear: With half of its structure made of plastics reinforced with carbon fiber, a composite that is both lighter and stronger than aluminum, and more efficient engines, the 787 could cut fuel costs by up to 20 percent, Boeing says. That could enable it to fly greater distances, opening more routes for point-to-point service and lessening the need for passengers to change planes at hubs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06boeing.html

White House czar resigned over the weekend, President Obama announced the appointment of another one Monday.

2009-09-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

"What you see with President Obama is this reliance on czars," GOP strategist Kevin Madden said. "And I think there are probably even some corridors of power within the administration that probably didn't like the idea that you have czars that are encroaching on their policy portfolios."

David Gergen, a CNN contributor and former aide to past presidents, said the czar controversy has given Republicans an opening to question the administration's decisions.

"Now with President Obama, we have a number of people who answer to the president but not to Congress," he said. "When the Congress looks at it and sees over 30 people with czar titles, it naturally begins to worry that a lot of authority has been taken away and stripped of the Cabinet."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/07/obama.czars/

Dirt diggers, mud slinngers looking for garbage.

2009-09-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

With Glenn Beck getting credit for Van Jones resigning, Keith Olbermann is now asking Daily Kos readers to find out anything they can about the Fox host and others associated with him.

Tuesday we will expand this to the television audience and have a dedicated email address to accept leads, tips, contacts, on Beck, his radio producer [Stu] Burguiere, and the chief of his tv enablers, [Roger] Ailes (even though Ailes' power was desperately undercut when he failed to pull off his phony "truce" push).

Olbermann said this action will help "save this nation from the Oligarhy of The Stupid." Since going up yesterday, Olbermann's diary entry had over 1,400 responses by this morning.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0909/Olbermann_wants_dirt_on_Beck_Ailes.html

you don't use your majorities, you lose your majorities

2009-09-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

"There's a lot of discontent out there and when that's the case the party in power pretty inevitably gets the blame," said Dean Debnam of Public Policy Polling, a private firm.

Democrats now are expected to lose seats in the House of Representatives in 2010, though not enough to surrender control, analysts say. Democrats currently have 256 seats in the House versus 178 for the Republicans with one independent.

Democrats had been expected to increase their majority in the U.S. Senate but may lose a few seats. Democrats reached 60 this year, giving them the number needed to override Republican procedural hurdles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090906/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_preview

"The air strike was absolutely necessary,"

2009-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung defended his troops on Sunday for calling in a NATO air strike in Afghanistan and warned against hasty judgments over the most deadly operation involving German forces since World War Two.

Three weeks before a federal election, Jung tried to dispel growing doubts about Germany's increasingly military mission in Afghanistan that were exacerbated by the air strike near Kunduz.

Afghan officials say scores of people, many of them civilians, were killed when a U.S. F-15 fighter jet called in by German troops struck two hijacked fuel trucks on Friday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5850SF20090906

The family stayed in a house they rented for $25,000 per week on an island known as a playground for celebrities and CEOs

2009-09-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

More than any recent first family, the Obamas have come to personify a middle-class lifestyle that, while rarefied, is something with which many Americans can identify. And it helps explain Obama’s continuing personal popularity, even as his policies draw more fire.
“Ever since the election of Andrew Jackson, having the common touch has been essential,” says H.W. Brands, author of the FDR biography “Traitor to His Class.” “These days, no one in politics claims to be of the upper class. Everybody wants to be part of the middle class.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26766.html

the first casualty of the Obama administration not to go quietly

2009-09-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

Also breaking with this White House's custom, the administration offered no reason for Jones's resignation. There was no smoke screen of administrative excuses, just a thank-you statement from Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley – and Jones's own acknowledgment that he had become a liability after his name was found attached to petitions questioning the U.S. government's role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26799.html

Nancy Pelosi and the liberal overthrow of the U.S. government in 2006 with her silly rhetoric to “drain the swamp,”

2009-09-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Less than three years later, it is clear that Pelosi’s much- ballyhooed swamp cleaner needs a major overhaul so as to ferret out the muck and slime feeding at the very bottom of the swamp.
Specifically, Pelosi needs to reboot her crud screen to catch the likes of tax fraud Rep. Charles Rangel who, remarkably enough, continues to “serve” as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee with Pelosi’s corrupt blessings.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14391

she simply hasn’t devoted much time to Rangel’s recent troubles – and there’s no push among House Democrats

2009-09-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

“The speaker is totally behind him, and she told him that the last few times they have spoken,” the person added.

Rangel has told supporters he’s committed to running for re-election next year and plans to run again in 2012 – when he’s 82 — health permitting.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26783.html

Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and pointed to evidence that "high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th.

2009-09-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Mr. Jones is also under fire from conservatives for comments culled from his free-wheeling speeches, including one last year in which he talked about "white polluters" and "white environmentalists...steering poison into the people-of-color community."

On Thursday, Mr. Jones responded to questions about his record. "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize," he said. While not denying having signed the 9/11 petition, he said that "it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125211154313687899.html

The U.S. government cannot reward illegal market actions that have harmed U.S. manufacturers and stolen U.S. aerospace jobs

2009-09-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

Instead, they said the U.S. Defense Department must take into account what they described as the WTO's pro-Boeing findings before awarding the long-delayed tanker contract.
Boeing would vie again for the contract against a transatlantic team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp and Airbus parent EADS, which is offering a modified Airbus
A-330.

Relatively early on in the previous tanker selection saga, the Defense Department decided that the WTO decision would not factor into the selection of a winner in the tanker competition.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, a Democrat from Washington state, where Boeing does much of its aircraft manufacturing, said Friday that turning a blind eye was not acceptable in light of the WTO ruling such as he described it.

"The U.S. government cannot reward illegal market actions that have harmed U.S. manufacturers and stolen U.S. aerospace jobs," he said in a statement.

Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Kansas -- where the Boeing tankers would undergo final assembly -- added: "The Department of Defense can no longer put its head in the sand and ignore internationally confirmed illegal subsidies that have for years tipped the scales in favor of European workers."

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5834VB20090904?sp=true

Jones said he "just marched around and chanted slogans" as other protesters set trash cans afire, smashed car windows and threw rocks.

2009-09-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

"Our moment had finally come! We were righteous, fired up, weren't takin' no more!" Jones wrote. "We were one thousand strong on Market Street, with the Bay Bridge shut down in rush hour traffic and the grounds around the state building swarming with angry mobs! Our rallying cry was for justice; our demand was that the System be changed!"

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/04/radicalization-obamas-green-czar/

I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan.

2009-09-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

"I do believe we have to start to turn this around from a security standpoint over the next 12 to 18 months," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said as he spoke with Gates. "No one is more aware than Gen. McChrystal, and certainly the two of us, that there is a limited time for us to show ... that this approach is working," Mullen said, referring to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released last Tuesday showed that since April, opposition to the war has increased 11 percentage points to 57 percent.

Gates countered, explaining that a change in strategy in the almost eight-year campaign was just announced in March by President Obama and that a new commander with a new plan just stared in June.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/03/gates.afghanistan/

Foreign troops won't withdraw from Afghanistan unless the country's security was ensured.

2009-09-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

The French representative and UN special envoy Kai Eide, along with counterparts from 25 other countries and organizations, talked about the situation facing the next Afghan government and international aid to security and infrastructure.

According to Eide, many Afghan people considered the Aug. 20 presidential election a success, so he hoped that the choice of the Afghan people would be respected.

The vote-counting of the second Afghan presidential election after the Taliban regime was continuing. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was still ahead of his main rival Abdullah Abdullah.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/03/content_11989953.htm

anti-war Democrats will demand a premature end to the Afghanistan war before President Barack Obama can show signs of progress

2009-09-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) last week called for a timetable to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan — the same tactic he and other war opponents used to build congressional support for forcing an end to the Iraq war.

But Obama officials — including National Security Adviser James Jones and Defense Secretary Robert Gates — know the problem is much bigger than Feingold and timetables. They anticipate a growing number of anti-war liberals will call, with increasing force, for an end to the conflict when lawmakers return. Cost could become an issue, too.

With deficits high, there will be heavy pressure on Obama to find savings somewhere in 2010 — and war critics see Afghanistan as a good place to start.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26654.html

three suspects who fled a college campus after a shooting that left an 18-year-old wounded.

2009-09-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

The shooting happened at about 1 p.m. when two groups of teenage boys got into an argument in a parking lot at Skyline Community College in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno, police Cmdr. Marc Catalano said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,545903,00.html

Most voters now expect that the situation in Afghanistan will get worse over the next six months.

2009-09-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s down a point from yesterday and the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. See recent demographic highlights from the tracking polls.

In addition to our daily tracking, Rasmussen Reports has released a month-by-month review of the President’s Approval ratings. This allows a longer-term look at trends. In August, President Obama’s full-month ratings fell below 50% for the first time.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

a Chinese guide who had promised to showing them where North Koreans were smuggled across the border.

2009-09-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

They say they are still uncertain if their subsequent arrest was part of a pre-arranged trap.

"Feeling nervous about where we were [on the North Korean side of the border], we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran," they wrote.

"We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers.

"They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained." The pair were sentenced to 12 years hard labour but pardoned and released last month after a visit by former US President Bill Clinton to Pyongyang to meet personally with the North Korea leader Kim Jong-il.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/6125752/US-reporters-dragged-across-North-Korean-border-in-arrest.html

a theoretical debate over how long Germany's mission to Afghanistan should last.

2009-08-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

But for the soldiers on the ground, the problems are much more concrete. They would already be a lot happier if they could fight under adequate conditions.

The fact is that even some of Germany's pet projects in Afghanistan are failing. Whether it's civil reconstruction, developmental aid or training police officers, none of it is working. And for proof, all you need to do is look at the reports coming out of Kunduz, Kabul, Faizabad and Mazar-e-Sharif.

The reports find, for example, that collaboration with the BMZ, the German ministry responsible for development, is proceeding "not so successfully." It says that, even seven years into its mission in Afghanistan, the "implementation (of aid) … continues to be inflexible" and that BMZ projects "are still invisible to the local population." Officers quoted in the report say that these failings tend to undermine "the credibility of Germany's involvement." They add that "starving people are much more impressed by food than they are by pamphlets."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,646085,00.html

One Nigerian migrant interviewed by the BBC had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and then shot.

2009-08-31T04:33:00.000-07:00

Officially there are some 10,000 Africans living in Moscow, but far more are believed to live there illegally - many as economic migrants.

The Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy is an English-speaking interdenominational Christian congregation that has ministered to Moscow's foreign community since 1962.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8230158.stm

Gen McChrystal sees protecting the Afghan people against the Taliban as the top priority.

2009-08-31T04:30:00.000-07:00

"The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," Gen McChrystal said in the assessment.

Copies of the document have been sent to Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

The report came as further results from last week's presidential election were expected to be released, at 1230 GMT. President Hamid Karzai is leading so far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8230017.stm

he was the first detainee subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques,"

2009-08-31T04:23:00.000-07:00

We concluded, as the report states, that much valuable information came from the overall program. We did not find it possible to conclude definitively from available information that specific techniques worked or did not, or to clearly establish the value of the overall program of enhanced techniques as compared with traditional interrogation methods.

After all I have seen, I can say that up to this day I do not know whether the particular interrogation techniques used were effective and necessary, or whether such information could be acquired using more traditional methods.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,646010,00.html

Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.

2009-08-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.

On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.

In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814939.ece

Administration officials are vague about which agency will retain ultimate authority

2009-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Obama spokesman Bill Burton initially said the new unit "will report to the director of the FBI," although the Justice Department, which encompasses the FBI, insisted the unit is "not a sub-unit of the FBI or the Justice Department."

Burton explained: "Just like other interagency processes, if there are disagreements, the different agencies are able to come together and make a decision."

Obama's decision last week to assert White House control over a newly formed unit that will interrogate terrorists. The new arrangement shifts control of such interrogations away from the CIA and toward the FBI, although oversight will be exercised by the National Security Council, which is located in the White House and reports directly to the president.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/30/cheney-slams-obamas-politicized-probe-cia-interrogations/

Poor Leon Panetta. It's hard not to feel bad for the guy.

2009-08-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

In less than a year, Panetta's CIA has been reduced to irrelevance and Panetta himself has either been ignored or emasculated by the very folks who were supposed to be his biggest supporters. For taking on a thankless job that typically only gets attention when there's a massive failure, this is the thanks he gets?

First came Nancy Pelosi's outrageous allegations that the CIA's pants were, from time to time, on fire during the Bush administration. When she insisted she wasn't adequately briefed on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, the director of national intelligence released a report refuting her charges.

Didn't matter. Pelosi's knight in shining armor, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, wrote a pointed letter - addressed to "Leon," instead of the more respectful "Director Panetta" - demanding that he change CIA records to show that Pelosi had in fact been briefed.

What did President Obama say in defense of the intelligence community or Panetta? Not a word - instead he lavished some uncomfortably affectionate praise on Pelosi for, you know, "cracking the whip."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/08/30/2009-08-30_its_almost_torture_to_watch_leon_panetta__the_cias_slow_steady_decline.html

Attorney General Eric Holder gave a "neutral leaning positive" recommendation that led to President Bill Clinton's pardoning of gazillionaire fugitive

2009-08-29T16:15:00.001-07:00

Holder also had a role in the 1999 Clinton pardons of 16 Puerto Rico independence terrorists - members of the bomb-happy FALN or the splinter group Los Macheteros - who had been convicted on such charges as bank robbery, possession of explosives and participating in a seditious conspiracy - even though none of the 16 had applied for clemency.

As the Los Angeles Times reported, two of the 16 refused to accept the pardon - as it required them to renounce violence - while another later was killed in a shootout with federal agents.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Holder refused to explain why the Clinton Department of Justice changed its earlier position against the 16 commutations - citing Clinton's claim of executive privilege.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/29/INJ019DHLF.DTL

"This will result in cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the elderly to create new government programs."

2009-08-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

"The Democrats are trying to rush a bill through the process that will actually make our nation's finances sicker without saving you money," Enzi said.

Democrats also are calling for cuts in Medicare spending, using some of the savings to help uninsured workers.

A House bill would result in a net reduction in Medicare of about $200 billion, though Obama has insisted the reductions would not cut benefits in the health program for the elderly.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5il892mEYzWO1CD8hZVloHcT8OukAD9ACI4D80

They are anti-torture memos: They draw a line between torture.

2009-08-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

In much of the media, the abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib have been implicitly linked with the controversy over the use of limited but coercive techniques to get high-value terrorists talking.

As a result, I'll bet there are people who now believe that Lynndie England was a trained CIA interrogator rather than a kid from West Virginia who enlisted in the Army Reserves and got sent to a jail in Baghdad where she mistreated prisoners for her own entertainment.

They may believe, too, that she read the Justice Department memos and acted on their instructions as part of a top-secret government intelligence-gathering operation.

They draw a line between torture, which is prohibited, and harsh but legal techniques designed to prod uncooperative terrorists to reveal information about ongoing operations. One can argue over where to draw the line -- precisely how many hours of sleep deprivation constitute torture? -- but one cannot seriously argue that no attempt was made to draw it.

Nor can one argue, based on the evidence, that these methods did not prevent terrorist attacks and save American lives.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/29/demonizing-the-defenders/

A brazen attempt to assassinate Saudi Arabia's top counterterrorism official shows that al Qaeda has not been eliminated

2009-08-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the deputy to and son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef, was injured Thursday night at his office in Jeddah by a suicide bomber who infiltrated the receiving line at an iftar - the meal that breaks the fast at the end of the day during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"This is the closest al Qaeda has gotten to a member of the Saudi [royal] family," the official said. "Terrorism in Saudi Arabia is always a concern. The Saudis have had a really strong counterterrorism campaign in the last several years, and we're seeing al Qaeda react to it."
Saudi authorities said Prince Mohammed suffered minor injuries. Saudi television showed him Friday with a bandage around two of his fingers.

Visited by King Abdullah, Prince Mohammad vowed that the attack would only increase his determination to fight terrorism, the Associated Press reported.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/29/saudi-royal-injured-by-al-qaeda-suicide-blast/

the [National Park Service] had set aside a modest fund for marijuana interdiction - about $150,000

2009-08-29T05:50:00.000-07:00

"The impacts are numerous," said Gill Quintana, head of the U.S. Forest Service's Denver branch.

He said these include "damage to the lands due to clearing the areas to prepare the garden site, trash left behind, chemicals used to grow the crop [seeping] into the watershed, and the public-safety issues associated with the recreating public coming in contact with these organizations while they're operating on our national lands."

Earlier this month, investigators in California said they were looking for marijuana growers tied to a Mexican drug cartel that they suspect of igniting the La Brea fire that charred more than 88,000 acres of the Los Padres National Forest in the remote Santa Barbara County mountains northwest of Los Angeles.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/29/thousands-more-pot-plants-found-in-another-nationa/

Daniel Hannan after the MEP went on television in America to describe the NHS as a “relic” during a discussion about Obama's health care.

2009-08-29T05:44:00.000-07:00

He said: "I would be totally in favour of small co-payments, small payments being made if you turn up to things and perhaps small fines being levied if you do not.

"I know they are controversial but I don't think people who are in a job would be against say spending £10 to see their GP or being fined £10 if they don't show up to an out-patients, so that's the sort of thing I would like to see."

Dr Tannock also suggested that doctors should face a pay freeze.

He said: "Right now the doctors in the NHS are the most highly paid doctors in the public health services in the whole of Europe, possibly the world, so maybe we may have to have a freeze on doctors' pay in the future."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6105185/Fresh-embarrassment-for-David-Cameron-over-NHS.html

“essential” that the wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are "looked after",

2009-08-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

For the last month The Daily Telegraph has been campaign for better treatment of the wounded after it was disclosed that the Ministry of Defence was challenging increased compensation payments.

This comes at a time when the Army is suffering its bloodiest period in Helmand with 38 soldiers killed and an estimated 150 wounded since the beginning of July.

“The Army’s most valuable assets are its people: it is essential that we continue to look after our soldiers and their families, especially those injured or affected adversely through conflict,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6100258/Essential-wounded-well-treated-new-Army-chief-says.html

If we can’t do a bipartisan bill, we’ll do a partisan bill

2009-08-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

Reid said that if Democrats can't get bipartisan support, they would move the bill through the fast-track budget process, which cannot be filibustered. He said that is not their preference, but he predicted that three-quarters of the bill could be passed that way.

And he singled out Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Whip Jon Kyl, along with House Minority Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor, suggesting they were trying to sabotage Democratic efforts.

"The Republican leaders in the Senate – McConnell and Kyl – they don’t want to do health care reform. The Republican leaders in the House – Boehner and Cantor – have said they don’t want to do health care reform."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26559.html

Jeff Jones, weatherman now in power

2009-08-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=8665715&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/glennbeck/

$1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure

2009-08-29T00:56:00.000-07:00

chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- who is being probed by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period.

Rangel filed drastically revised financial-disclosure forms reflecting new, higher amounts of outside income and numerous additional business deals that had not been reported when the reports were originally filed.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08282009/news/regionalnews/oops__charlie_forgot_this_1m_house_186849.htm

Garrido, a registered sex offender, kept Jaycee Lee Dugard prisoner.

2009-08-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

State and federal agencies had the job of watching over him during those years, and local law enforcement had the responsibility to investigate any suspicion of criminal activity.
But despite that monitoring - including twice monthly visits recently by a state parole officer - Garrido's lair escaped discovery.

"This guy was definitely very elusive, very stealthy in what he was doing," said Gordon Hinkle, spokesman for the state parole agency, which was charged with monitoring the 58-year-old sex offender for the last decade. "He had a fence, basically a false front where he had a secret yard."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/29/MNT219F97H.DTL

"The cargo manifest said that the ship contained oil boring machines. But then you opened it up and you found these arms."

2009-08-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

The committee sent letters to Tehran and Pyongyang on August 25 informing them of the seizure and demanding a response within 15 days.

The weapons seized on August 14 included rocket launchers, detonators, munitions and ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades, they said.

The ship, called the ANL-Australia, was Australian-owned and flying a Bahamas flag.

"Based on past experience ... we don't expect a very detailed response," one of the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

The diplomats said the Australian firm whose ship was seized is controlled by a French conglomerate and the actual export was arranged by the Shanghai office of an Italian company.

The diplomats did not name any of the firms involved.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/2009828225542990469.html

Watson praised heath care in Fidel Castro’s Cuba .

2009-08-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

They are spreading fear and they're trying to see that the first president who looks like me -- fails." "People look at the United States as a country that has changed it's way and elected someone from Kenya and Kansas, I'll put it like that."

KABC’s Michael Linder was the only broadcast reporter at Thursday night’s town hall health care debate at Wade AME Church when Rep. Diane Watson [D] made some astonishing comments including claims that those opposed to health care reform are attempting to destroy a president “who looks like me.”

http://www.breitbart.tv/la-rep-obamacare-opponents-want-to-destroy-first-president-who-looks-like-me/

C.I.A.’s top lawyer, Stephen W. Preston, to Justice to persuade aides to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to abandon any plans for an inquiry.

2009-08-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Mr. Preston presented what was, in effect, a closing argument in defense of the C.I.A., contending that many potential cases against intelligence operatives were legally flawed and noting that they had already been investigated, some more than once. In none, he said, had prosecutors found grounds for charges.

But the Justice Department was unmoved, officials said. Despite the C.I.A. pressure and the stated desire of the White House not to dwell on the past, Mr. Holder went ahead with an investigation that will determine whether agents broke the law in their brutal interrogations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us/politics/28intel.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

That's why I have set a goal of raising $100,000 in grassroots donations

2009-08-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Pelosi and Democrats are clearly worried that they've lost momentum on health care reform this month, and many in her caucus have been crushed by opposition at town hall events.
Pelosi's appeal is aimed at small donors, and she asks for donations of $5 or more in her letter.
Democrats for weeks have been on the defensive, accusing Republicans of mischaracterizing their reform effort.

President Barack Obama fired back several weeks ago after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a key Republican negotiator on the Senate Finance Committee, said the Democratic push threatened to "pull the plug on grandma."

Now, Pelosi is pushing back.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26512.html

they are parachuted in to lead this complex department with little idea of how it works.

2009-08-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

General Lord Charles Guthrie said our brave servicemen and women were starved of single-minded leadership because of ministers who "sit frozen in indecision".

The former UK Chief of Defence Staff said: "Britain is at war, but one would never know it walking around Whitehall. For too many politicians it is merely another day of awkward things happening in far away places.

"The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan appear no more than inconvenient blips - something to be muddled through until things return to normal."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2610463/General-slams-muddling-MoD.html

It's not every day that you see an administration devour itself..

2009-08-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

the Justice Department investigating the CIA. This will poison the relationship between the entities, which still have to work together to keep America safe in the war on terror.
And we're expected to believe that Holder is acting on his own, without approval from the president. Obama has said he wants to "look forward, not back" and called this "a time for reflection, not retribution." Yet, this week, the White House said that decisions "about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the attorney general."

This is not a good look -- not for Holder, not for Obama and not for the administration.

Just ask the American people. In May, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 57 percent of those questioned didn't want Congress to investigate Bush officials who authorized harsh interrogation procedures. Forty-two percent supported an inquiry. Fifty-five percent of people also didn't want an investigation by an independent panel. At the time, no one asked how respondents would feel about a special prosecutor conducting his own investigation, but it's a good bet that this will also be unpopular.

What do Americans know that the Obama Justice Department doesn't? Maybe this: If you wanted to demoralize and destroy the country's intelligence agencies, and thus put its people at risk, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more effective way of doing it than by prosecuting CIA agents who did the nation's dirty work and acted in good faith, oftentimes after consulting with lawyers about the legality of their methods.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/28/navarrette.cia/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

found marijuana, skin-bleaching and hair-growing ointments, anti-insomnia pills and empty bottles of several anti-anxiety drugs,

2009-08-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

A substance initially suspected to be tar heroin proved not to be a narcotic, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

An affidavit, written by Los Angeles Detective Orlando Martinez, was used to outline probable cause for a warrant to search Jackson's Holmby Hills, California, home on June 26. Martinez filed his report on what was found in the search five days later.

While the documents may provide some insight into Jackson's life, they appeared to contain nothing that would lend new insight into his death.

Another sworn statement written by Martinez several weeks later -- and made public earlier this week -- provided a more extensive list of drugs found by investigators at Jackson's bedside.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/28/jackson.home.search/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

"We know that senior officials authorized torture."

2009-08-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

In a statement Cheney said that those who carried out the interrogations "deserve our gratitude" and do not deserve to be "targets of political investigations or prosecutions."
However, several Democrats as well as officials with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International have complained that the probe is too narrow in scope because it will not investigate the behavior of officials in the Bush administration who sanctioned the interrogations program.

"Any investigation that begins and ends with so-called rogue interrogators would be completely inadequate given the evidence that's already in the public domain," Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU told the Associated Press.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,645060,00.html

has an arrest record and a history of helping a Democratic political candidate.

2009-08-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Early Tuesday, Democratic Party chairwoman Pat Waak said the damage to her building in Denver's art district was a consequence of "an effort on the other side to stir up hate." She tempered her statement after Schwenkler's political history was revealed.

"What I've been saying is there is a lot of rhetoric out there from both sides of the spectrum," Waak said. "That's what's been disturbing to me. People are saying a lot of things not appropriate for civil discourse."

For weeks, people on both sides of the health care debate have rallied across the country.
Schwenkler is charged with criminal mischief and is to make his first appearance in Denver County Court today.

He is accused of doing an estimated $11,000 in damage and could face a felony conviction.

On the last day of the 2008 Republican National Convention, he was charged with misdemeanor unlawful assembly in St. Paul, Minn.

http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_13203950?

It’s bulls***. It’s disgraceful. You wonder which side they’re on,"

2009-08-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

"It’s a total breach of faith, and either the president is intentionally caving to the left wing of his party or he’s lost control of his administration," said King, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

King, channeling both the sense of outrage and of political opportunity felt in parts of the GOP, defended in detail the interrogation practices — threats to kill a detainee's family, and or to kill a detainee with a power drill — detailed in a CIA inspector general report released yesterday.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/King_on_Holder_You_wonder_which_side_theyre_on.html

He typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Schumer.

2009-08-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

He typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Charles Schumer,

Hassan Nemazee, 59, was charged with one count of bank fraud, and faces up to 30 years in prison plus a fine. His lawyer Marc Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Nemazee was a national finance chair of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and a supporter of John Kerry's run for the White House in 2004.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32554816

The applause tells us the audience does: How dumb can this woman be?

2009-08-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Is the Congressional Budget Office's finding that the House plan would significantly raise health-care costs a "misconception"? Was it a "misconception" that the now-abandoned section covering end-of-life issues had an in-built conflict of interest between lowering costs and providing care for the elderly? And is it a "misconception" that Mr. Obama's ultimate goal is a single-payer system, when Americans can watch him on earlier videos saying as much?

Right now the entire Beltway—including the West Wing—seems obsessed with finding out what went wrong with the administration's sales pitch. No one appears to think the problem might be substance. Or that the vague answers and vitriolic rhetoric we get from Democrats such as Mr. Reid convey a sense that the plans they favor will not hold up under public scrutiny.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356802422957272.html

Mr. Obama's bet was that his personal popularity would be enough to push his agenda through.

2009-08-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today the lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress take from that 1994 defeat is that they need to avoid Mr. Clinton's "mistakes." Avoiding mistakes, however, is not a winning strategy. A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574370832806338544.html

what the president meant was that they were a bunch of bed wetters

2009-08-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Team Obama tried blaming special interests, but that was a bust too. The president’s deal with the pharmaceutical industry gets him $150 million worth of ads to boost his plan, whatever it is.

The same people who bombard us with ads for products that promise to prevent hardened arteries or encourage hardening elsewhere will soon be selling you Obamacare.

“If you experience doubts about the plan lasting more than four hours, seek immediate help from Organizing for America.”

Democrats tried blaming the “mobs” of “un-American” protesters and “evil mongers” who were giving raspberries to members of Congress at town halls.

That flopped too, leaving the administration to blame the messenger.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/The-thrill-is-gone-for-Obama-and-the-media_08_24-54389032.html

Prisoners were choked to the point of passing out and their families were threatened, it says.

2009-08-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration disclosed new cases of alleged abuse in the CIA's interrogation program today, issuing a report that described how prisoners were choked to the point of passing out and threatened with harm to their immediate families.

The newly declassified report by the CIA's inspector general also reveals that agency personnel were nervous almost from the inception of the interrogation program that one day they would face prosecution in U.S. or international courts.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-report25-2009aug25,0,4353125.story

an advertiser boycott that’s grown by about a dozen companies

2009-08-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

The AP’s David Bauder, citing African-American online activist organization ColorOfChange.org, reports today that 33 companies “directed that their commercials not air on Beck’s show.” The ColorOfChange boycott began shortly after Beck called Obama “a racist” on Fox & Friends, adding that the president “has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

Beck makes controversial and provocative remarks on his own Fox show, too, such as recently joking about poisoning Nancy Pelosi. So it’s not surprising that advertisers might be concerned about being associated with Beck’s show—that’s despite that fact that it’s been a rating smash at 5 p.m.

But it’s worth noting that Clorox, for example, isn’t just backing away from Beck’s show, but in a statement, said the company doesn’t want to be “associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts." So they're pulling ads from all political talk shows.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0809/Beck_boycott_continues_will_advertisers_drop_commentary_shows.html

an enclave of liberal royalty far from middle America,

2009-08-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Obama has struggled against the perception that he has trouble connecting with average voters, and some are questioning his choice of a getaway spot for the well-to-do.

“The danger for President Obama is that he seems to be in what is one of the most elite summer resorts in the United States. From an image-making point of view, it would be better to be in the Wisconsin Dells or Put-in-Bay, Ohio,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian.

“There is the connotation with Martha’s Vineyard of East Coast elitism. ... I have a feeling when they decided on Martha’s Vineyard they didn’t know the health care debate would be this brutal.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26361.html

"The next victim on the list -- and you see it coming -- is President Barack Obama,

2009-08-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

"Even our own reporters from our own community buy the public line, which is, 'We're going to get rid of David Paterson.' "

Paterson cited critical stories about his late-night partying at a Chelsea nightclub on the eve of a painful budget announcement as proof of the media's bias.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08222009/news/regionalnews/paterson_whines__racism__185821.htm

Winning "becomes more difficult when you are actually the one having to carry the water for the president,"

2009-08-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's the highest stakes ever for a Nevada election, and former boxer Sen. Harry Reid is on the ropes early. Either Republican Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden would knock out Reid in a general election, according to a recent poll of Nevada voters.

The results suggest the Democratic Senate majority leader will have to punch hard and often in order to retain his position as the most accomplished politician in state history, in terms of job status.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/54286087.html

The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating along with U.S. public support for the war,

2009-08-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Washington's top military officer said on Sunday as he left open the possibility of another increase in troops."I think it is serious and it is deteriorating, and I've said that over the past couple of years -- that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.U.S. combat deaths have risen since U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a troop buildup to confront a resurgent Taliban, with a record 44 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in July.

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN23121238

They would get the "Johnson Treatment" as nobody else could give it.

2009-08-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

He would walk around the South Lawn with reporters telling them why this was important to their own families.

He would send every aide in the White House to see every member of the House and Senate. He would send me to see Sen. Richard Russell and Rep. Carl Vinson because I am a Georgian.

He would call media executives Kay Graham, Frank Stanton, Robert Kintner, and the heads of every network.

He would go to pray at six different churches.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/24/johnson.lbj.health.care/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

CIA officer who allegedly used a gun to intimidate a captured al-Qaeda suspect was formally disciplined

2009-08-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

The officer, who has not been identified, was immediately called back to CIA headquarters to face an internal accountability board and was "reprimanded and reassigned" for committing acts outside the CIA's legal guidelines for interrogating terrorism suspects.

At the time of the 2002 incident, the guidelines permitted the use of sleep deprivation and waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- on some suspects, according to a former senior intelligence official who closely followed the events.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/22/AR2009082202287.html?hpid=moreheadlines

offered an unmistakable sign of relief that he was getting out of town not a moment too soon.

2009-08-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

Mr. Obama, who set off for two days at Camp David before a scheduled weeklong trip to Martha’s Vineyard with his family, has a history of making long-shot recoveries. And justifiably or not, he and his advisers say they are confident they are on the downside of a cycle of Washington politics they have learned to, if not master, at least ride out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/us/politics/22obama.html

"The frequent and large dollar amount awards given to employees were unusual and often absurd,"

2009-08-22T04:42:00.000-07:00

Four high-level employees received about $60,000, $73,000, $58,000, and $59,000, respectively, according to the report, without sufficient justification. Another employee received a $4,500 performance award within the first 90 days of her employment from a manager who said that she did not even remember her.

The annual average award per employee was about $2,500 for both years, according to the report. About 4,700 awards and bonuses were issued in 2007, and about 5,000 in 2008.
The inspector general said one recently retired official, Jennifer S. Duncan, improperly approved numerous bonuses and "acted as if she was given a blank checkbook to write unlimited monetary awards."

During the two years in question, Duncan received over $60,000 in bonuses, according to the report.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/22/veterans.affairs.bonuses/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

she's a lot less flexible on the idea.

2009-08-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a clear message Thursday.

There is no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option," she told an audience in her home district in San Francisco, California.

If their party can't get the 60 votes needed for the bill to reach the Senate floor, some top Democrats have hinted they may try to short-circuit the traditional legislative process by using an obscure tactic known as reconciliation. It's a type of budget maneuver that requires a simple majority -- 51 votes -- to pass. Such a move would boost the prospects for Senate passage of a public health option.

In the House, however, Obama will need support from some of the more conservative members of his party. Democrats hold a 40-seat majority in that chamber, but more than 50 Democratic representatives are members of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Obama said Thursday that reform is a matter of necessity -- and not politics.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/21/obama.democrats/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

Americans said they believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting

2009-08-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Americans also, by nearly 2 to 1, are not confident the Afghan election will produce a government that can rule the country effectively. Just 34 percent say they think Afghanistan’s national election will result in an effective government, with just 3 percent “very confident.” While 47 percent endorsed the mission, over 51 percent of Americans said they did not — according to the poll.

Just 42 percent, moreover, think the United States is winning the war in Afghanistan; 36 percent say it’s losing. The results of the survey could indicate problems for a war that President Barack Obama has defended as a top priority.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=125668&d=21&m=8&y=2009

the Obama administration is shocked and surprised at the furious reaction from progressives.

2009-08-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

A backlash in the progressive base — which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory — has been building for months.

The fight over the public option involves real policy substance, but it’s also a proxy for broader questions about the president’s priorities and overall approach.

The idea of letting individuals buy insurance from a government-run plan was introduced in 2007 by Jacob Hacker of Yale, was picked up by John Edwards during the Democratic primary, and became part of the original Obama health care plan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1

he winds up needing a special operation to remove his foot from his mouth.

2009-08-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

"I mean, if you think about it," Obama told a town hall audience, "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

Obama said Saturday that the "public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform." The next day, in a television interview, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a public option is "not an essential element" of overhauling the health care system.

Those comments, which were interpreted by most pundits and political observers as the administration backing away from support for a public option, sent the far left into cardiac arrest. So they turned up the heat. The head of a powerful labor union even put Democrats on notice that it would be, in future elections, open season on anyone who supported a health care reform plan that doesn't include a public option.

Was that a threat? To quote you-know-who: "You betcha!"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/21/navarrette.democrats.health/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

His mother-in-law had told him to be "strict" with her strong-willed daughter.

2009-08-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

A Kurdish man killed his German-born wife, who was also his cousin, because she was too independent. He stabbed her in the eyes, beat her with a billiard cue and then ran over her in his car.

Stabbed in the Eyeballs

The defendant is a 27-year-old Kurd identified only as Önder B., who was never officially a resident of Germany. According to the indictment, on New Year's Eve 2008 he stabbed his 18-year-old wife Müjde 46 times and beat her with a billiard cue.

And, as he later told a psychiatrist, because she was already so disfigured from the stabbing and beating that she would hate him for the rest of her life, he got into his car and ran over her body several times.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,643941,00.html

you have the far-left members, loud and noisy, and oftentimes unwilling to compromise

2009-08-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Conyers was being interviewed for an election special I was working on for a now-defunct black cable network, and he said that if Democrats had a majority of the votes in the House, they had a unified group of only about 165.

That's because when you throw in the 50-something Blue Dog Democrats -- strongly conservative members whom some party loyalists liken to Republicans in Democrat clothing -- then you have a different kind of dynamic than you do in the GOP, where the strong base of conservatives typically stays in line.

The failure to pass health care reform would be a yoke around the Democrats' neck, and the cause of losing the moment would be their inability to achieve unity among themselves.

Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius totally botched the deal by giving the impression that the public option wasn't a major goal. That sent the progressives/liberals nuts, and now the White House is trying to put the genie back into the bottle.

The progressive/liberals are angry because they believe they have given up way too much in this health care bill, with nothing to show for it in terms of Republican and Blue Dog Democrat support.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/20/martin.democrats.health/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

Burress's playing status would be reviewed by the league after he's released from prison, according to the report.

2009-08-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Burress appeared in court Thursday for what was to be his arraignment.His attorneys and prosecutors previously had been unable to agree to a plea deal.

Burress previously had been unwilling to agree to more than one year in prison under the terms of a plea agreement while prosecutors reportedly had been seeking two years.

http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/nflnewsfeed/2009/08/burress-reportedly-pleads-guilty.html

emphasized the importance of limiting services to "health care that works."

2009-08-19T03:03:00.000-07:00

Although administration officials are eager to deny it, rationing health care is central to President Barack Obama’s health plan. The Obama strategy is to reduce health costs by rationing the services that we and future generations of patients will receive.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers issued a report in June explaining the Obama administration's goal of reducing projected health spending by 30% over the next two decades.

That reduction would be achieved by eliminating "high cost, low-value treatments," by "implementing a set of performance measures that all providers would adopt," and by "directly targeting individual providers . . . (and other) high-end outliers."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204683204574358233780260914.html

Don't let the fearmongers, don't let the dividers, don't let the people who disseminate false information frighten the United States.

2009-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tell the members of Congress you will support them. This is not partisan politics," the president said.

The date was August 1, 1994, and the voice behind the 11th-hour battle cry was then-President Clinton. Within weeks, that battle cry was reduced to a whimper of defeat as Congress tabled plans to vote on his legislation.

Clinton and Obama faced similar climates. Both made health care their signature issue, even though most people were happy with their coverage and were more concerned with fixing the economy. Clinton presented Congress with a plan, whereas Obama instead presented broad guidelines and asked the lawmakers to come up with a bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/18/obama.clinton.health.care/

"We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."

2009-08-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Regardless, Alkhateeb does agree with the Obama "Hope" artist about "socialism" being the wrong caption for the Joker image. "It really doesn't make any sense to me at all," he said. "To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature.

First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-joker-artist.html

a willingness to drop a government-run health care plan from any overhaul.

2009-08-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

Actually, it is.

Fierce proponents of a government-run health plan for months, Obama and senior administration officials, bowing to pressure from Republicans and skeptical voters, suggested that such a public option is not do-or-die.

"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," the president told a town hall-style audience in Grand Junction, Colo., on Saturday. "This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipMQAyPrz9FYDHm7CZqyOQhVd0MQD9A5A5B80

"So this is not only a war worth fighting. ... This is fundamental to the defense of our people,"

2009-08-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

He told the veterans that the U.S. didn't choose to fight in Afghanistan but was forced to invade that country to stop future Sept. 11-style attacks.

He said his new strategy recognizes that al-Qaida has moved its bases into remote areas of Pakistan and that military power alone will not win that war.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081701775.html

It is, of course, pointless to talk to al-Qaida.

2009-08-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

President Obama speaks with empathy and wisdom.

His speeches are helpful, but he needs to follow them up with concrete policy steps. It is not enough to have an attractive person at the top if his policy is not attractive.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,643189,00.html

the legislation is less important than the principle of affordable coverage available to all.

2009-08-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said it was futile to continue to "chase that rabbit" due to the lack of 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for a public option. There never have been," Conrad said on "Fox News Sunday."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/16/us.healthcare/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

a public option is "not the essential element."

2009-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Obama has been pressing for the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured. But he had not seen a not-for-profit co-op as sufficient to offer consumers choice and competition that would bring down the costs of private insurance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/16/sebelius-public-health-ca_n_260511.html

Mr. Emanuel telling Mrs. Clinton what she cannot do as a member of the cabinet.

2009-08-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

At times, it seems as if Mr. Emanuel is White House chief of staff, political director, legislative director and communications director all rolled into one. He has fingers in almost every decision, like who gets invited to social events at the White House and how to shape economic and foreign policy.

He carries a notecard in his pocket with a list of things to accomplish and marks them off obsessively. He requires cabinet secretaries and all West Wing departments to submit written reports each week and returns them with terse notes in the margins.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/us/politics/16emanuel.html?_r=2&hp

we must never forget why we are in Afghanistan

2009-08-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

"Three-quarters of the terrorist plots that hit Britain derive from the mountain areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is to make Britain safe and the rest of the world safe that we must make sure we honor our commitment to maintain a stable Afghanistan."

British troops have been in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion started in 2001.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/08/16/britain.afghanistan.toll/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

but with no urgent American interest on the line

2009-08-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

African safari she finished last week was about her and her emerging style as secretary of state. She stuffed her days with what felt like a dozen events, a blur of high-level meetings, roundtable discussions and “townterviews” (more on that later).

She seemed engaged throughout it all, scribbling in her notebooks like a dutiful student during meetings, keeping a straight, earnest face even when one Nigerian religious leader told her he was “constipated with ideas.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/weekinreview/16gettleman.html

One man asks me why the British have such awful teeth.

2009-08-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

These are the opponents who say that America is about to adopt a European-style health service.

And there is one particular example they have in mind, one health system they want to avoid mimicking more than any other: Britain's National Health Service.

Government takeover

After a few opening remarks about the importance of hearing views and holding this debate, he faces the - mostly hostile - questioners. Instead of questions, they have come armed with well-rehearsed statements.

Most have a familiar theme: the government wants to take over healthcare and in the process will bankrupt the nation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8202275.stm

2 faces of Nancy

2009-08-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.breitbart.tv/06-flashback-pelosi-tells-anti-war-protesters-im-a-fan-of-disruptors/

what local crimes might be associated with the posting of the images on public and private properties.

2009-08-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

Jensen said he doesn't have a good count on the number of posters put up because, he said, "People are going out and tearing them down."In a press release put out late today, Jensen said the suspect "also asked if he could video tape the encounter with the officers." Clermont Police declined that request.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-obama-joker-suspect-081309,0,4959018.story

"There is no question in my mind," he said.

2009-08-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

The third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives on Thursday compared the disruptive protesters at recent health care town halls to people who unleashed dogs and spat on civil rights demonstrators during the 1960s.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Rep. James Clyburn, (D-S.C.), said that there was "absolutely" an analogy to be drawn between the horrid experience that he went through as a civil rights leader and the boisterous conservatives who have disrupted health care forums.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/clyburn-town-hall-protest_n_259118.html

"I'm not walking away from the table; I'm being pushed away from the table,"

2009-08-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he was confident President Barack Obama was working toward a truly bipartisan health care reform bill.

But then he went home to Iowa, and the message changed. In a series of tough town halls, he fueled fears of death panels and benefits for illegal immigrants. He suggested the White House would push a purely partisan bill.

And he proclaimed himself an outsider in health care negotiations.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26095.html

Key senators are excluding a provision on end-of-life care from health overhaul legislation after language in a House bill caused a furor.

2009-08-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

A health care bill passed by three House committees allows Medicare to reimburse doctors for voluntary counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. But critics have claimed the provision could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors.

For more than a decade in Congress, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer has been known for his ever-present bow-tie and tireless advocacy of bikes.

So it is something of a surprise to the Portland Democrat that he has earned a new measure of fame in recent days — as author of a health-care provision that some critics say would set up a "death panel."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090813/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_end_of_life_2

http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2009/07/27/health-care-bill-page-425-the-truth.htm

"ongoing efforts to promote balanced diets and active lifestyle choices."

2009-08-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Dr. Regina Benjamin, hailed by Mr. Obama for her efforts in running a health clinic in hurricane-ravaged rural Alabama, has been paid $10,000 since last year for serving on a scientific advisory board for Burger King, according to newly filed public financial disclosures.

The documents do not specify the scientific issues on which Dr. Benjamin advised the fast-food company, and her medical office in Bayou La Batre, Ala., declined a request for an interview.

Burger King officials said Dr. Benjamin served on the company's nutritional advisory panel, formed last summer as part of "ongoing efforts to promote balanced diets and active lifestyle choices."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/13/health-nominee-an-adviser-to-burger-king/?feat=home_cube_position1

What does Mr. Clinton think through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton?”

2009-08-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state, I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband.”

Her talk with the students had started out friendly enough, with questions about human rights and the environment. But it got a little edgy when several students pushed her on why Congo, whose first prime minister was ousted with the help of the C.I.A., should now trust the United States.

She then became a little prick

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/africa/13clinton.html?_r=1&hpw

charging wealthy seniors more for prescription drug coverage,

2009-08-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

Baucus has declined to release details. But people involved in the talks said the plan would make more than $500 billion in changes to Medicare over the next decade, charging wealthy seniors more for prescription drug coverage, cutting $120 billion in payments to private insurance companies that serve some seniors and trimming projected payments to hospitals by $155 billion in an effort to spur efficiencies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081301712.html

The cell used Google Earth to acquire images of the refinery, the camp and a state security building, Anbaa said.

2009-08-13T08:10:00.001-07:00

Members of the cell, led by a surgeon at one of the Gulf state’s hospitals, confessed to planning attacks aimed at pressuring the United States to remove Kuwait-based troops, Al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources, it said, were familiar with the investigation.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=125389&d=13&m=8&y=2009

Admit that taxes will have to be raised and that cost-savings won't be sufficient to achieve nearly universal care.

2009-08-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

Being the one public plan, it will have large economies of scale that will enable it to negotiate more favorable terms with pharmaceutical companies and other providers. (Here, he must clear up any confusion about any deal made with Big Pharma.) But this won't lead to a government takeover of health care.

whole point of cost containment is to provide the public with health care on more favorable terms. If the public plan negotiates better terms -- thereby demonstrating that drug companies and other providers can meet them -- private plans can seek similar deals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/how-to-fight-heathcare-fe_b_257825.html

In fact, these kinds of claims are lies.

2009-08-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have practiced medicine for over forty years combined. There is no truth now, nor has there ever been any truth to the idea that the government encourages euthanasia or infanticide.

Our country is in trouble. Claims like these are routinely refuted by people who know better, but they are recirculated because they are sensational, and the MSM purports to take a balanced position without a thoughtful assessment of the facts. Fox News actually has people on in support of these outrageously false claims.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-dean/the-medias-treatment-of-p_b_255878.html

We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

2009-08-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

But for all the private outreach and public compliments it's hard to see what, if anything, Obama has gained in return. While even some of Grassley's fellow Republicans are distancing themselves from the fear-mongering lies espoused by the likes of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Grassley, at a town hall meeting in Iowa on Wednesday, gave credence to the myth that Obama and congressional Democrats were advocating direct government involvement in end-of-life decisions.

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/despite-being-wooed-by-ob_n_258347.html

The duckling becomes a demagogue, and it quickly recruits the farm's dumb geese to be its followers.

2009-08-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Eventually, even the weathervane wears a swastika on its arm. But, in the end, a peace dove beats up Hitler and his cronies.

Likewise, in "Daffy: The Commando," Daffy Duck skyrockets to Germany as a human cannonball, only to hit Hitler on the head with a wooden mallet. And in "Scrap Happy Daffy," Adolf Hitler chews his way through a carpet in anger because Daffy had collected such an enormous pile of scrap metal.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,641547,00.html

Obama, who has said the US bears some responsibility for the drug trafficking problem,

2009-08-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

"The importance of human rights for him, for the United States and frankly for Mexico" in the battle against the cartels, the official said.Border co-operationHuman rights groups and US politicians have raised concerns about alleged abuses by Mexican soldiers during the military crackdown on the gangs.

Calderon also raised the issue of delays in delivery of part of a $1.4bn US security aid package known as the Merida Initiative.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/200981032057378171.html

"The secretary is deeply concerned about the gender-based violence which is occurring in the eastern Congo."

2009-08-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

'Human tragedy'The Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 88 humanitarian and human rights organisations, said on Monday that thousands of women and girls had been raped by either rebel fighters or government forces since the beginning of the year.

More than 600 people are believed to have been killed and, the United Nations estimates, at least 800,000 people have fled their homes due to the violence.

"The UN-backed offensive that was supposed to make life better for the people of eastern Congo is instead becoming a human tragedy," Marcel Stoessel, the head of Oxfam in DR Congo, said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/08/20098104312438438.html

A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely,"

2009-08-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

"Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped," he said, adding they were suffering from depression and serious physical harm after the alleged attacks.

Karroubi, who came fourth in the June election, appealed to Rafsanjani to bring the matter to the attention of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981083847122429.html