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July 30, 2007
White House blocked Surgeon General's report
Global Health Draft In 2006 Rejected for Not Being Political
A Republican political appointee with close White House ties has blocked a 2006 report by the US surgeon general that called for action to tackle global health problems because the document did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Citing current and former public health officials, the newspaper said the report described the link between poverty and poor health and urged the US government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy.
Three people directly involved in the report's preparation said its publication was blocked by William Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney, the report said.
Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services since 2001.
Richard Carmona, who served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, recently cited its suppression as an example of the Bush administration's frequent efforts during his tenure to give scientific documents a political twist, the paper reported.
Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was "called in and again admonished ... via a senior official who said, 'You don't get it,'" according to The Post.
He said a senior official told him that "this will be a political document, or it will not be released."
After a long struggle, Carmona refused to make the requested changes, the paper said. A few days before the end of his term as the nation's senior medical officer, he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/28/AR2007072801420.html?hpid=topnews
Continue reading "White House blocked Surgeon General's report"
Posted by Admin at 06:34 PM
NYT calls for impeachement of Gonzales
President Bush often insists he has to be the decider — ignoring Congress and the public when it comes to the tough matters on war, terrorism and torture, even deciding whether an ordinary man in Florida should be allowed to let his wife die with dignity. Apparently that burden does not apply to the functioning of one of the most vital government agencies, the Justice Department.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/opinion/29sun1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Continue reading "NYT calls for impeachement of Gonzales"
Posted by Admin at 01:41 AM
The state of the world
Brief introduction to global issues
Peace, war & conflict:
There have been over 250 major wars in the world since World War II, in which 23 million people have been killed., tens of millions made homeless, and countless millions injured and bereaved. Over 37 (or 42) million people have by killed by wars in the 20th century. Three times more people have been killed in wars in the last 90 years than in all the previous 500.
There are over 35 major conflicts going on in the world today. In armed conflicts since 1945, 90 per cent of casualties have been civilians. 3 out of 4 fatalities of war are women and children.
http://www.worldrevolution.org/projects/globalissuesoverview/overview2/BriefOverview.htm
Posted by doctormatt at 12:47 AM
Crimes Against Peace
Was The U.S. Invasion Of Iraq Legal or Illegal Under International Law?
What would you guess?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Khut8xbXK8
Posted by doctormatt at 12:40 AM
July 29, 2007
You Are What You Eat: The politics of pet food
If you are a cat or dog owner, you almost certainly know about the pet food recall associated with numerous pet illnesses and deaths in recent months. But you probably don't know much about the details, or the politics and economics behind the pet food debacle, or how these relate to your family's food. If you thought the food safety problem was limited to pet foods, think again. The Bush administration has gutted the FDA, and all foods are now less safe.
What's in pet food anyway? Why is it "pet food", and not just regular food? Is it especially nutritious and wholesome for pets as most vets would have you believe? The answer is no, pet food is not especially wholesome or nutritious, and in fact it can contain things that should not be in food at all. There are two independent food streams in the United States, human food and pet/animal food. Neither is completely safe, but the animal food stream is particularly suspect.
Continue reading "You Are What You Eat: The politics of pet food"
Posted by Admin at 08:08 PM
Skeptics magazine comments on 9-11 conspiracy theories
On the other hand....
Who says I'm not 'fair and balanced'?
http://www.factinista.org/9-11%20Theories.pdf
Posted by doctormatt at 07:27 PM
Impeach Alberto First
From Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution:
"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, EXCEPT IN CASES OF IMPEACHMENT.
Continue reading "Impeach Alberto First"
Posted by Admin at 11:23 AM
The leak designed to save Alberto Gonzales
Anonymous sources seeking to protect Alberto Gonzales have leaked to the NYT the claim that what triggered the 2004 DOJ dispute over the NSA program "involved computer searches through massive electronic databases" -- i.e, "data mining" of the "records of the phone calls and e-mail messages of millions of Americans." The Post has amplified the leak.
The claim, passed on by anonymous pro-Bush sources, is rather obviously intended to exonerate Alberto Gonzales by claiming that he told the truth when he said that the 2004 DOJ dispute did not involve the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping program (because, instead, the dispute concerned "data mining"). Like the well-trained followers that they are, authoritarian Bush supporters are already seizing this leak to proclaim Alberto Gonzales vindicated.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
Continue reading "The leak designed to save Alberto Gonzales"
Posted by Admin at 11:17 AM
Forget Third Parties – It Ain’t Gonna Happen: Hijack The Democrats Instead
by David Michael Green
Huge numbers of Americans are disgusted with both the Republican and the Democratic parties right now, and are hungrily clamoring for a third alternative.
I know, I know - imagine that! What’s not to like about one party that stands for greed, murder and destruction, and another that stands by for greed, murder and destruction?
Nevertheless, somehow things are not going so swimmingly in the world of American partisan politics. The arch-Republican in the White House has job approval ratings in the mid-20s and sinking. The former Republican Congress, equally regressive, was tossed out on their ears, losing control of both houses last year. Not to be outdone, the Democrats who gained control of Congress as the expression of an angry public demanding change have spent the last seven months responding to that mandate by doing … well, virtually nothing. Now their standing in public opinion is slightly lower than Bush’s.
So it comes as no surprise that tens of millions of Americans are fed up with both parties and anxious to find something else that they can not only vote for in good conscience, but can actually win. I, too, have shared that dream, have voted third party, and have even volunteered for one during a presidential election campaign. Remember Barry Commoner? Remember his candidacy for president as the leader of the Citizen’s Party in 1980?
Yeah, well, I rest my case. Third party alternatives to hopelessly nihilistic Republicans, hopelessly equivocal Democrats, and the hopelessly self-serving lot of them make total sense except for one small problem. They can’t win.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/27/2797/print/
Continue reading "Forget Third Parties – It Ain’t Gonna Happen: Hijack The Democrats Instead"
Posted by Admin at 11:09 AM
Censure and Impeachment: Take 2
The first resolution from Feingold and Hinchey is expected to cite Bush and Cheney for making intentionally false statements about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and for misleading Congress and the public into believing Saddam Hussein had ties to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. In addition, it will score the president and vice president for failing to plan for the occupation of Iraq, distorting the reality on the ground as it deteriorated, and overstretching the military in order to maintain the administration's mad mission in Iraq.
The second resolution is expected to suggest that Bush, Cheney and other senior administration officials have blatantly disregarded the rule of law. It will focus on the administration's illegal NSA warrantless surveillance program, its extreme policies on torture, the abusive use of presidential signing statements, the politically-motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys and the failure of the administration to cooperate with congressional inquiries.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=218398
Posted by Admin at 12:48 AM
July 28, 2007
Gonzales Digs a Deeper Hole
Just when it seemed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' reputation on Capitol Hill couldn't possibly get much worse, he showed up Tuesday for yet another hearing. And as with so many of his recent appearances before Congress, his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee raised a lot more troubling questions than it answered — not just about his own conduct of and honesty about the U.S. attorney firings, but also about the Administration's domestic intelligence gathering programs.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1646714,00.html
Continue reading "Gonzales Digs a Deeper Hole"
Posted by Admin at 11:57 PM
Randi Rhodes on CSPAN - Public Campaign Financing is needed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO9ZNkx2omw
Posted by doctormatt at 11:46 PM
Randi Rhodes on CSPAN - Is OIL why we went into Iraq?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXrmFqOL35Q
Posted by doctormatt at 11:31 PM
Randi Rhodes on CSPAN
Let's join her book club.
Al Gore's Assault on Reason is up first.
Washington Journal - Listening to the republican callers is always enlightening
:-(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atFgcU644DE
Posted by doctormatt at 10:54 PM
Kucinich interviewed on Nova M radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsdhkDYtYeo
Posted by doctormatt at 10:42 PM
Proof Gonzales Lied Under Oath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70_1Fmv4hL8
Posted by doctormatt at 10:08 PM
U.S. to sell advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and others
After all, it IS our #1 export.
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has decided to supply billions of dollars in advanced new weapons to Saudi Arabia , other Arab allies of the United States and to Israel , senior State Department officials and congressional aides said Friday
The arms and aid package, which the officials said is to be announced on Monday, is part of a U.S. initiative to reassure worried allies in the Middle East that despite its troubles in Iraq , the United States remains committed to the region. It also is meant to send a signal of resolve to Iran's increasingly confident leaders.
Continue reading "U.S. to sell advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and others"
Posted by Admin at 09:14 AM
Debate: Intelligent Design vs. Science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs1zeWWIm5M
Posted by doctormatt at 09:07 AM
July 27, 2007
Legal expert 'baffled' why White House would invoke executive privilege in Tillman case
Keith Olbermann reported Monday that the administration is facing two deadlines where the House of Representatives has called for officials to testify and the administration is invoking executive privilege. One has to do with the death in Afghanistan of former football star Pat Tillman, which the Pentagon used for propaganda purposes instead of acknowledging it was the result of friendly fire. The other involves a subpoena to White House Counsel Harriet Miers over the US Attorney firings that Miers has refused to honor.
There is no "Executive Privilege" in the Constitution. It was created by the US Supreme Court for the express purpose of allowing a President and his aides to discuss matters without fear of later examination, much as the attorney-client privilege allows lawyers and clients to have frank and open discussions without incriminating themselves.
HOWEVER, that same US Supreme Court declared that Presidents could not use Executive Privilege outside the context of advise from his aides and struck down Nixon's attempt to claim Executive Privilege over the Oval Office tape recordings.
In the case of the Tillman killing and cover-up, there can be no legitimate reasons to invoke Executive Privilege.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Law_scholar_baffled_by_Executive_Privilege_0716.html
Posted by Admin at 12:43 PM
Bill Moyers on Impeachment
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/watch.html
Posted by Admin at 09:00 AM
Refusal to Testify - Hubris or Cover-up?
There are those who are trying to minimize the issue of the firing of the U.S. attorneys as political comedy, and no big deal. It is a very big deal when the Department of Justice becomes an arm of politics rather than an arm of justice. Gonzales has testified repeatedly that he "doesn't know" or "can't remember." Certainly a stonewalling technique. Bush then extended executive privilege to White House staff so they would not testify. Now the two highest ranked staffers subpoenaed have refused to even show up to testify before Congress. Is this just a flaunting of executive power, or is there a cover up?
Stacking the Department of Justice with political loyalists damages us all. That appears to be the purpose of the dismissal of U.S. prosecutors by Gonzales (who "doesn't remember" most of his tenure thus far).
Continue reading "Refusal to Testify - Hubris or Cover-up?"
Posted by Admin at 08:54 AM
Gonzales Memo: White House Granted Extraordinary Access to DOJ Files
A new wrinkle over the apparent politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ) emerged on Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when a freshman Democratic lawmaker revealed the contents of a May 2006 memo. The memo, signed by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, granted Vice President Dick Cheney extraordinary authority to review active federal civil and criminal investigations at the DOJ.
At the time the memo was signed by Gonzales, Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was preparing his defense on obstruction of justice and perjury charges involving the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson's name. Also, the special prosecutor who secured an indictment in the case on behalf of the government was reportedly trying to determine whether Cheney and numerous other White House officials also unmasked Plame's identity to reporters and lied about it to a grand jury and FBI investigators. Cheney had been interviewed about his role in the leak in 2004.
Continue reading "Gonzales Memo: White House Granted Extraordinary Access to DOJ Files"
Posted by Admin at 08:53 AM
23 days to Absolute Tyranny
Latest Bush Executive Order Outlaws Iraq War Dissent on Penalty of Full Asset Seizure
In an as yet un-numbered Executive Order (at least the number isn't published), president bush has decreed that your property - all of it - can be taken away at the sole discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury at the mere suspicion that you may commit a crime in the future. You can view and read this latest executive atrocity at the White House website.
An executive order only becomes law if Congress doesn’t overturn it within thirty days after it is published in the Federal Register.
Continue reading "23 days to Absolute Tyranny"
Posted by Admin at 08:49 AM
July 26, 2007
GEORGE CARLIN ON RELIGION
In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
Continue reading "GEORGE CARLIN ON RELIGION"
Posted by Admin at 08:46 PM
We are monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28My4S6YLmw
Posted by Admin at 08:42 PM
Democrats Urge Perjury Probe of Gonzales
A group of Senate Democrats called Wednesday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President Bush's domestic surveillance program.
"We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the Department of Justice to determine whether Attorney General Gonzales may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress," four Democratic senators wrote in a letter Wednesday, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.
Continue reading "Democrats Urge Perjury Probe of Gonzales"
Posted by Admin at 02:08 PM
July 25, 2007
Stacked Jurists - Cartoon
http://www.troubletown.com/cartoons/03.html
Posted by doctormatt at 06:34 PM
Report Suggests Laws Broken in Attorney Firings
House Democrats, preparing for a vote today on contempt citations against President Bush's chief of staff and former counsel, produced a report yesterday that for the first time alleges specific ways that several administration officials may have broken the law during the multiple firings of U.S. attorneys.
The report says that Congress's seven-month investigation into the firings raises "serious concerns" that senior White House and Justice Department aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year may have obstructed justice and violated federal statutes that protect civil service employees, prohibit political retaliation against government officials and cover presidential records.
The 52-page memorandum, from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), seeks to explain why Democrats are trying to overcome an effort by the White House to shield officials and documents from the congressional inquiry through a claim of executive privilege. The report also provides the first written account of the Democrats' interpretation of the firings and the administration's response to the controversy.
The investigation "has uncovered serious evidence of wrongdoing by the department and White House staff," Conyers says.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402311_pf.html
Continue reading "Report Suggests Laws Broken in Attorney Firings"
Posted by Admin at 05:52 PM
Breakfast with bin Laden
Sorry - I forgot to be scared....
Part 1
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/24/terrorist_fry_up/
Part 2
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/25/up_the_tigris_without_a_paddle/
Continue reading "Breakfast with bin Laden"
Posted by Admin at 03:40 PM
House Democrats Unveil SCHIP Legislation That Would Increase Cigarette Tax, Reduce Payments to Medicare Advantage Plans
House Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation that would reduce payments to Medicare Advantage plans and increase the federal cigarette tax by 45 cents per pack to fund SCHIP and make revisions to Medicare, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Freking, AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/24). The legislation, called the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, would reauthorize SCHIP and increase funding for the program by $50 billion over five years. The expansion would allow an additional five million to six million children to enroll in the program, according to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) (Johnson [1], CongressDaily, 7/25).
In addition, the legislation would:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/health2008dr.cfm?DR_ID=46472
Posted by doctormatt at 03:33 PM
July 24, 2007
Impeachment is Not about Getting Revenge
It is Reaffirming the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Rule of Law
We are now seeing the same reaction that followed the Nixon era. As the evidence mounted about Nixon's high crimes and misdemeanors the call for impeachment grew from a murmur to a roar heard round the country. Article II Section 2 of the Constitution gives the President of the United States the power of "reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment." Nixon knew that if he was impeached, he would be tried for his crimes with no possibility of pardon. A deal was cut, he resigned and was pardoned for his high crimes and misdemeanors and allowed to go his way. One of the arguments at the time was that the nation had gone through a time of great travail and it was time to move on. Some thought an impeachment and trial would denigrate the presidency.
Nothing could have denigrated the office of the President more than letting a liar; thief and crook walk away from his crimes, unpunished. That sent a signal that any well placed two-bit crook could gain the office of the President, do anything he wanted, then walk away with no consequences. Look at what has happened since.
http://www.populistamerica.com/impeachment_is_not_about_getting_revenge
Continue reading "Impeachment is Not about Getting Revenge"
Posted by Admin at 06:13 PM
More than 50% of Americans favor impeachment
On ABC’s This Week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) highlighted the new American Research Group poll showing that nearly half of Americans want the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush, and 54 percent favor impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/08/conyers-impeachment/
Posted by doctormatt at 06:04 PM
Bush’s Agencies Of Mass Politicization
This week’s report that officials in the Office of National Drug Control Policy made politically motivated appearances in the months leading up to the 2006 elections are only the latest example of the Bush administration’s misuse of federal employees.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2003 that Karl Rove or his top aide, Ken Mehlman, “visited nearly every agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial races that could be affected by regulatory action.”
Partisan campaign or electoral activities on federal government property are illegal. This prohibition, however, has not stopped the Bush administration from politicizing virtually every agency under its control. Below is a quick review of the extent of the White House’s efforts to politicize the federal agencies:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/18/mass-politicization/
Posted by doctormatt at 05:55 PM
Gonzo gets grilled
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/24/specter-special-prosecutor/
...
and
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/24/schumer-rips-gonzales/
Posted by doctormatt at 05:48 PM
Office Arrests: The Shame of John Conyers
By Dave Lindorff
If Rosa Parks had lived two years longer, what happened today in the halls of Congress might have killed her. It certainly would have broken her heart.
Rep. John Conyers, venerable member of Congress, finally chair of the House Judiciary Committee, a man who worked with Parks in Alabama and then hired her on his staff after he won election to Congress in Detroit, today had several dozen impeachment activists, including Gold Star Families for Peace founder Cindy Sheehan, Iraq Veteran Against the War activist Lennox Yearwood and Intelligence Veterans for Sanity founder Ray McGovern arrested for conducting a sit-in in his office in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Continue reading "Office Arrests: The Shame of John Conyers"
Posted by Admin at 11:30 AM
July 23, 2007
Fascism Anyone?
By Laurence W. Britt
The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 23, Number 2.
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=britt_23_2
Continue reading "Fascism Anyone?"
Posted by Admin at 08:33 PM
Bush aides face contempt charges
House Democrats on Monday targeted two of President Bush's longtime aides for criminal contempt citations, escalating a legal fight over executive privilege and access to White House deliberations on the firings of federal prosecutors.
Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his panel would vote Wednesday on citing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Counsel Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6799951,00.html
Continue reading "Bush aides face contempt charges"
Posted by Admin at 06:01 PM
July 22, 2007
Conyers almost ready to impeach
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has said that if three more Congress Members get behind impeachment he will start the impeachment proceedings.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24962
Continue reading "Conyers almost ready to impeach"
Posted by Admin at 09:28 PM
July 20, 2007
Bush’s New Interrogation Order Contains Loophole: ‘Does Not Create Any Right Enforceable At Law’
In October 2006, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which provided for the continuation of so-called CIA “black sites” for interrogating terrorism suspects and allowed evidence obtained through torture to be used against them. In its lengthy series on the Vice President, the Washington Post reported that the bill gave Cheney everything he wanted:
For all the apparent setbacks, close observers said, Cheney has preserved his top-priority tools in the “war on terror.” After a private meeting with Cheney, one of them said, Bush decided not to promise that there would be no more black sites — and seven months later, the White House acknowledged that secret detention had resumed.
Posted by doctormatt at 04:45 PM
Artifician Intelligence breakthrough - Checkers can't be beat
EDMONTON - A team of scientists at the University of Alberta has reached a milestone in artificial intelligence by using computers to "solve" the game of checkers.
The feat essentially means the team's checkers-playing program, Chinook, can never be beaten at the game. It can only be tied - and only when its opponent plays a perfect game.
Continue reading "Artifician Intelligence breakthrough - Checkers can't be beat"
Posted by Admin at 04:42 PM
FEMA Concentration Camps:
Locations of camps and Executive Orders -
There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft's list. The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/FEMA-Concentration-Camps3sep04.htm
Continue reading "FEMA Concentration Camps:"
Posted by Admin at 02:59 PM
July 19, 2007
Cheney Suppressed Evidence in California Energy Crisis
In-depth investigation shows how Vice President Dick Cheney pressured federal energy regulators to conceal evidence of widespread market manipulation by energy companies during the California electricity crisis in 2001.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071907J.shtml
Continue reading "Cheney Suppressed Evidence in California Energy Crisis"
Posted by doctormatt at 06:01 PM
Attorney acquitted on federal income tax charges
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=38767
Continue reading "Attorney acquitted on federal income tax charges"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:46 PM
July 18, 2007
Cheney Pushes Bush to Act on Iran
The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.
The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: “Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.”
Continue reading "Cheney Pushes Bush to Act on Iran"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:54 PM
July 17, 2007
Most type 2 diabetes drugs are equally effective
Most type 2 diabetes drugs are equally effective for lowering blood sugar, but the generic drug metformin has fewer side effects than several newer, pricier medications, a government report finds.
Metformin users are less likely to gain weight than type 2 diabetes patients who take Avandia, Actos, or other newer medications, researchers concluded, and they are more likely to show improvements in so-called "bad" cholesterol. The report was issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Continue reading "Most type 2 diabetes drugs are equally effective"
Posted by doctormatt at 01:41 PM
July 13, 2007
Satiric video "Feel Good, Inc."
Laugh or cry as Bush and Rove sing and dance.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823433113/bctid1111464757
Posted by Admin at 07:36 PM
Consolations of Materialist Philosophy
Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, “I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.”
That’s courtesy of Christopher Hitchens (of all people).
The “I’m not fortunate enough” phraseology raises two questions. One is, “Is Karl Rove congenitally capable of telling the truth?” I’m guessing no. If he is not a person of faith, then he believes that people of faith are wrong. So he’s saying that he’s not fortunate enough to be wrong. Which is the sort of transcendently twisted conflation of condescension and disingenuousness that only a true political genius is able to achieve, and even then only when all the stars are properly aligned.
The other question is, “Should atheists feel regretful that God doesn’t exist?”
http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/11/consolations-of-materialist-philosophy/
Posted by doctormatt at 07:22 PM
Hugo Chavez - comments by Michael Parenti
Venezuela update
Posted by Admin at 06:18 PM
Iran demands oil pay in yen not dollars
This could well be the trigger for the U.S. / Israel attack on Iran.
The dollar was driven down against the Japanese yen this afternoon, hit by the news that Iran had asked Japan to pay for its oil purchases in the Japanese currency and not in dollars.
(The Brittish pound is now 2.00 against the dollar, and the dollar fell to an all time low against the Euro.)
Iran has sent a letter to Japanese refiners, signed by Ali A Arshi, the general manager of crude marketing and exports for Iran's national Iranian Oil Company, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The letter asks for yen payments "for any/all of your forthcoming Iranian crude oil liftings." The request is for all shipments "effective immediately".
Japan's oil payments to Iran rose 12 per cent last year to 1.24 trillion yen (£5 billion).
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article2070938.ece
Posted by doctormatt at 06:12 PM
New Studies Expose Government Lies About Medical Pot
When Connecticut's Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed legislation last month that would have allowed citizens with debilitating medical conditions to use medical cannabis under their doctor's supervision, she alleged that there was no proof of pot's therapeutic effectiveness and that legal alternatives are available by prescription. Now, a just-released clinical trial by researchers at Columbia University in New York is making the governor's statements ring hollow.
Continue reading "New Studies Expose Government Lies About Medical Pot"
Posted by Admin at 05:54 PM
July 12, 2007
Justice Department: Disregard subpoenas
In a broadly worded legal opinion, the Justice Department has concluded that President Bush's former top lawyer, and possibly other senior White House officials, can ignore subpoenas from Congress to testify about the firings of US attorneys.
The three-page opinion raises questions about whether the Justice Department would prosecute senior administration officials if Congress voted to hold them in contempt for not cooperating with the investigation into the firing last year of eight top prosecutors.
Continue reading "Justice Department: Disregard subpoenas"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:45 PM
Judges OK warrantless monitoring of web use
Jul. 7- Federal agents do not need a search warrant to monitor a suspect's computer use and determine the email addresses and web pages the suspect is contacting, a federal appeals court ruled on July 6.
Continue reading "Judges OK warrantless monitoring of web use"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:41 PM
WHITE HOUSE MUZZLED, CENSORED FORMER SURGEON GENERAL
Richard Carmona served as President Bush's first Surgeon General from 2002-2006. Yesterday, he spoke before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and revealed that political appointees in the Bush administration muzzled him on key issues such as "stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration's embrace of 'abstinence-only' sex education."
Carmona explained, "The reality is that the 'nation's doctor' has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas. Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological, or political agenda is ignored, marginalized, or simply buried."
Continue reading "WHITE HOUSE MUZZLED, CENSORED FORMER SURGEON GENERAL"
Posted by Admin at 10:28 PM
July 10, 2007
Kucinich calls for impeachment of Cheney
Posted by doctormatt at 10:57 PM
Impeach Cheney first
Posted by doctormatt at 10:51 PM
We're all in this together
Paul Waldman
Posted by Admin at 09:56 PM
July 09, 2007
Bill Moyers Journal - SocioBiology
"Wilson seems to have been unaware of the full political implications of his final chapter," explains Paul Gross of THE NEW CRITERION online.
"He saw no more harm in deploying biology in the study of human behavior than in the study of ants or chimpanzees." Eventually, the controversy subsided, the new field of sociobiology was legitimized, and Wilson was already finishing what could be his most important book, THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE (1992), a 424 page work about the tremendous interconnectivity of Earth's biosphere, and how human civilization is gravely threatening its natural symbiosis.
Over half of the world's species could die out by the end of the century due to man-made ecological hardships, what Wilson calls the "sixth extinction."
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07062007/profile.html
Posted by Admin at 08:57 PM
July 07, 2007
Newman energy machine
Posted by doctormatt at 03:00 PM
Joseph Newman solar powered water pump - part 1
This technology will change the world.
Posted by doctormatt at 02:47 PM
Joseph Newman solar panel powers a large water pump
Is this the end of Big Oil, and the PetroDollar economy?
Posted by Admin at 02:42 PM
Politics without spirituality is trying to wipe off blood with blood
It's time to put to bed once and for all the foolishness of discounting spirituality in the name of political activism.
Political activism has its place. Yes, the petitions help (we hope!) and so do demonstrations and getting out the vote. 2006 was a "failure" not in the sense of explaining away the heroic efforts to support liberal/progressive candidates, but only in the sense that nearly all of the allegedly liberal/progressive candidates turned out to be closet Republicans.
In short, 2006 proved beyond of shadow of a doubt that we have a ONE party system, i.e., the Democratic/Republican Party. Diaper dems and Nazi pugs are two sides of the same coin and political activism turned out to be much ado about nothing.
Continue reading "Politics without spirituality is trying to wipe off blood with blood"
Posted by Admin at 02:03 PM
July 06, 2007
1 in 5 Americans believe Sun revolves around the Earth
There is a reason why people are fighting so hard to get creationism taught in the public schools along side evolution as a scientific alternative.
Americans, on top of not having a clue what a cell is or what radiation is or even that the Earth revolves around the Sun are letting religious leaders dictate to them what to vote on issues that would take knowledge of basic scientific fundamentals.
http://www.eightballmagazine.com/diatribes/volume02/034/708.htm
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Posted by doctormatt at 03:42 PM
July 05, 2007
Libby cartoon commentary
http://www.sacbee.com/babin/image_media/255278.html
Posted by Admin at 04:47 PM
What was Bush thinking?
Washington Post OpEd on the Libby commutation (and possible pardon):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/05/BL2007070500940_pf.html
Posted by Admin at 04:34 PM
July 04, 2007
Joe Wilson: Springing Libby Shows Administration Is "Corrupt to the Core"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307A.shtml
Posted by Admin at 06:26 PM
Bush, Cheney Should Resign - Special comment by Keith Olbermann
Olbermann on the commutation of Libby's sentence.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070407Y.shtml
Posted by Admin at 06:19 PM
July 03, 2007
NIST exploring 9/11 conspiracy theory for WTC-7: New witness confirms Scholars previous findings
By Jim Fetzer
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) appears to be moving in the direction of a "conspiracy theory" about the destruction of WTC-7 on 9/11 just as a new witness has emerged reporting extensive destruction inside the building many hours before it would be demolished. According to James Fetzer, the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, these turns of events provide further confirmation for the conclusion that WTC-7 was brought down by a controlled demolition at 5:20 PM/ET. "Anyone who googles WTC-7 will see an event that looks exactly like a controlled demolition, just as Peter Jennings and Dan Rather reported at the time. That is why this event makes NIST so uncomfortable."
Posted by Admin at 06:52 AM
The Misunderestimated Mr. Cheney
The Vice President's Record of Willfully Violating the Law, And Wrongly Claiming Authority to Do So
By JOHN W. DEAN
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20070629.html
----
Friday, Jun. 29, 2007
Vice President Dick Cheney has regularly claimed that he is above the law, but until recently he has not offered any explanation of why.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a law that Cheney believes does apply to him, whether that law be major or minor. For example, he has claimed that most of the laws passed in the aftermath of Watergate were unconstitutional, and thus implicitly inapplicable. His office oversees signing statements claiming countless new laws will not be honored except insofar as the President's extremely narrow interpretation allows. He does not believe the War Powers Act should be honored by the President. Nor, in his view, should the President be bothered with laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In fact, it appears Cheney has actively encouraged defiance of such laws by the Bush Administration.
Continue reading "The Misunderestimated Mr. Cheney"
Posted by doctormatt at 06:29 AM
Unimpeachably Impeachable
By Ray McGovern
While President George W. Bush bears the ultimate responsibility, the nature of the evidence against Cheney and his closest associates is so specific and overwhelming that it makes sense to impeach and bring him to trial first.
Subpoenas from Capitol Hill are flying downtown into executive office buildings like paper airplanes, but the potential for obfuscation and delay is immense, and the danger to the Republic speaks for a more urgent, simpler approach.
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Posted by Admin at 06:20 AM | TrackBack
July 01, 2007
Paranormal experiences on demand
Meet the devil... or an angel... have an out of body experience...
Posted by Admin at 06:28 PM
Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
I don’t believe in God. I do, however, believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), an invisible and undetectable being who resembles spaghetti and meatballs and created the world. I am a devout Pastafarian.
http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2006/10/08/gospel-of-spaghetti-monster/
Posted by Admin at 05:54 PM
No More Limbo for Bimbo
Thanks to Jesus21.com for this...
Limbo, the Catholic answer to where unbaptized babies go when they die, has gone the way of other antiquated notions such as geocentrism, the belief that the sun and all the planets revolve around the earth.
A Vatican committe, authorized by Pope Benedict XVI [Ratzinger], spent years determining where little babies go when they die, coming to the conclusion, in its 41-page report, that it's Heaven.
Conservative Catholics are protesting the decision, fearing that parents will delay their children's christenings. They fear it would also encourage abortion, as Catholic activists often tell women considering abortions that their fetuses will not go to Heaven.
The Vatican decision is in line with the church's growing vision of a feto-centric universe.
* "Bimbo" is Italian for baby.
I’m just waiting for the class-action looking for a refund for all the money handed over to the Church on behalf of the-babies-in-limbo-who-weren’t.
False advertising, at least?
Sam Harris says:
Can we conceive of a project more intellectually forlorn than this? Just imagine what these deliberations must be like. Is there the slightest possibility that someone will present evidence indicating the eternal fate of unbaptized children after death? How can any educated person think this anything but a hilarious, terrifying, and unconscionable waste of time?
Posted by Admin at 05:46 PM
God's billboards
There is a new epidemic sweeping across America. It started in Florida along the I-95 a few years ago and is now moving across the nation. This epidemic is God's billboards.
We have all seen them in one shape or another plastered on telephone polls, windows, cars, and other places. There has been a more recent surge of actual highway billboards and the new "witty" billboards. These new billboards are funny and cute, doubly so for an atheist who sees both sides of the humor.
http://www.alabamaatheist.org/awareness/billboards.htm
Posted by doctormatt at 05:35 PM
What is atheism?
Atheism is a doctrine that states that nothing exists but natural phenomena (matter), that thought is a property or function of matter, and that death irreversibly and totally terminates individual organic units. This definition means that there are no forces, phenomena, or entities which exist outside of or apart from physical nature, or which transcend nature, or are “super” natural, nor can there be. Humankind is on its own.
The following definition of Atheism was given to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Murray v. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d (MD, 1963), to remove reverential Bible reading and oral unison recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools.
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Posted by Admin at 12:08 AM