The Scotsman Thu 20 Apr 2006
China, Iran, Saudi, U.S. main executioners -Amnesty
LONDON (Reuters) - More than 2,000 people were known to have been executed around the world last year, the vast majority of them in China, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
In its annual report on […]
April 19, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Iraq II or Nuclear Iran?
By Thomas J. Friedman
If these are our only choices, which would you rather have: a nuclear-armed Iran or an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites that is carried out and sold to the world by the Bush national security team, with Don Rumsfeld at the Pentagon’s helm?
I’d rather live […]
Huge Explosion Rocks Afghan Capital
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
A massive explosion believed to have been caused by a rocket shook the Afghan capital late Wednesday near the U.S. Embassy compound, wounding an Afghan security contractor, officials said.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said the blast did not occur on embassy property, and […]
Woman Is Treated for the Plague
By Michelle Keller, Times Staff Writer
April 19, 2006
A Los Angeles woman is being treated for bubonic plague, the first case of the age-old pestilence in the county since 1984, health officials announced Tuesday.
The infected patient, whose identity was withheld, came down with symptoms last week and continues to be treated […]
Trying To Get Muckraker’s Papers, Did FBI Trick Widow?
By Justin Rood - April 19, 2006, 11:59 AM
This morning’s newspapers are ablaze with the outrageous news that the FBI was trying to get its hands on over 200 boxes of files once belonging to legendary investigative journalist Jack Anderson.
What the papers didn’t report was the truly […]
Senate Hearings on Bush, Now
In this VF.com exclusive, a Watergate veteran and Vanity Fair contributor calls for bipartisan hearings investigating the Bush presidency. Should Republicans on the Hill take the high road and save themselves come November?
By CARL BERNSTEIN
orse than Watergate? High crimes and misdemeanors justifying the impeachment of George W. Bush, as increasing numbers […]
Bennett: Pulitzer Winners Risen, Lichtblau, Priest ‘Worthy of Jail’
By E&P Staff
Published: April 18, 2006 3:15 PM ET
New York On his national radio program today, William Bennett, the former Reagan and George H.W. Bush administration official and now a CNN commentator, said that three reporters who won Pulitzer Prizes […]
Remember, folks, this column is not from Mother Jones or the Daily Worker. It’s from a magazine which is not an enemy of the NRA and the ethos of rugged individualism. On the personal side, I have always associated Field & Stream with Vitalis hair oil which my childhood barber liberally used. Argosy, Police Gazette […]
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Hideaki Motoyama, project leader of the National Institute of Polar Research,
holds a million-year-old ice sample in Tokyo April 18, 2006. (Toru Hanai/Reuters)
Donations for a Congressman, Profits for His Wife
By Thomas B. Edsall and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sunday, April 16, 2006; A05
On Capitol Hill, there is widespread agreement that the annual congressional salary of $165,200 just does not go far enough on today’s dollar. The clamor for ethics reform will likely make things tougher, forcing congressmen to pick […]
I wonder if Georgie’s swagger ever allowed him to confront his soon to be destroyed enemies without a phalanx of paid and sychophantic goons.
From Capitol Hill Blue
The Rant
‘You don’t cross George Bush’
By DOUG THOMPSON
Apr 11, 2006, 01:35
In 1999, while I worked on a background piece on Harris County, Texas, judge Robert Eckels, some Houston […]
Try these on for size:
“Though we clothed the movie as a fictional work,
it’s all true–especially the parts about Opus Dei.”
-
How’s that? No? What about this?
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“The mere fact that Opus Dei has the audacity to demand a disclaimer
demonstrates that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.”
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Yeah. I guess it is a bit worn. […]
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lyrics: Irving Berlin; talkleft.com; arabella-and-company.com
Each of us can rest assured that a scene like the one in that grainy 16 mm film would never happen in America. Nevertheless, awareness of ethnic origin is a fact of life. Like Rashomon, views of your basic non-White Anglo-Saxon Protestant peoples are as varied as the needs they fulfill. First, read the article.
U.S. […]
New York Times
April 15, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Rummy Mutiny
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON — When Donald Rumsfeld was 10, his operating principle, as described by his dad, was: “If it doesn’t go easy, force it.” Not much has changed in the last 63 years. Goodness, gracious! Will that dadburn Rummy ever follow any of his own rules?
Rumsfeld’s […]
A New Storm on Pentagon’s Horizon?
James Pinkerton
HuffingtonPost
April 14, 2006
One particular cloud on the horizon might be no bigger than a fist right now, but everyone in the Pentagon knows that this cloud could explode with reputation-shattering thunder and lightning. That cloud has a name: H.R. McMaster.On PBS’ “Washington Week in Review” show earlier this evening, […]
Pope denounces ‘greedy liar’ Judas
John Hooper in Rome
Saturday April 15, 2006
The Guardian
Pope Benedict XVI is trying to combat efforts to rehabilitate Christianity’s most hated villain after the presentation this month of a newly discovered “gospel according to Judas”.In his first Easter sermon at St Peter’s Basilica, the German pope said the 13th apostle was a […]
ADMINISTRATION
Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says
By Murray Waas National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified […]
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DEFINING A CONFLICT
On the ground, it’s a civil war
The debate over what to call Iraq’s war is lost on many Iraqis as shadowy Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents wage their deadly conflict
By Aamer Madhani
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 14, 2006
BAGHDAD — The conflict in Iraq is not marked by front lines or […]
EXXON CEO AWARDED $400,000,000 RETIREMENT PACKAGE AS GAS PRICES CRIPPLE ECONOMY
April 14, 2006— Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn’t complaining.
Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.
Exxon is giving Lee […]
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Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attempts to hypnotize
reporters by using the ‘rubber pencil’ optical illusion. Because he
did not grip the pencil in the middle, he placed himself in a state
of suspended animation from which he quoted liberally from the
Jacques Bergerac character in THE HYPNOTIC EYE.
Photograph: AP
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Guardian Unlimited
More generals turn on Rumsfeld
Staff and Agencies
April […]
America’s Secret Police?
Newsweek/MSNBC.com
Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency.
By Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 6:18 p.m. ET April 12, 2006
April 12, 2006 - A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department’s own […]
Thanks to my pal Jack in D.C. for the “heads-up” for the article.
Rumsfeld Rebuked by Retired Generals
Ex-Iraq Commander Calls for Resignation
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 13, 2006; A01
The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called yesterday for Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders […]
New York Times
April 13, 2006
Rev. William Sloane Coffin Dies at 81; Fought for Civil Rights and Against a War
By MARC D. CHARNEY
The Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., a civil rights and antiwar campaigner who sought to inspire and encourage an idealistic and rebellious generation of college students in the 1960’s from his position […]
Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried the Case for War
Administration Pushed Notion of Banned Iraqi Weapons Despite Evidence to Contrary
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 12, 2006; A01
On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and […]
Berlusconi Refuses to Concede
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refused to concede in the country’s elections, despite official results showing Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition taking control of both houses of Parliament.
“We won’t hesitate to recognise the political victory for our adversaries, but only once the necessary legal verification procedures have been completed. Now, nobody can […]
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Kenny finds that the old stand-bys still work in a pinch.
usatoday.com
April 11, 2006
Ken Mehlman Chairman Republican National Committee 310 First Street, SE Washington DC, 20003
Dear Ken,
Yesterday, the AP ran a story entitled “Phone Jamming Records Point to White House.” This story provides new details about the role of the New Hampshire Republican Party in the […]
Read about Rover;’s speech to Republican lawyers here at Raw Story.
Cheney to Face Nats Fans
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, April 6, 2006; 12:18 PM
President Bush is throwing Vice President Cheney to the wolves — or, more specifically, to the Nationals fans.
According to longstanding precedent, one of the two of them had to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the home opener of Washington’s home […]