Israel's 40 Years of Occupation: From Democratic State to Violent Oppressor

Let's face it, Chris Hedges isn't going to be invited to many Seders from now.

Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank 40 years ago this week. Over that time, Israel's image has shifted from that of an open society set amid a sea of despotic regimes to that of an international pariah.

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Breast Beating

Gawd this guy is good.

The G8 has the interests of the rest of the world at heart – until they conflict with its own.

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 5th June 2007

It is time once again for that touching annual ritual, in which the world’s most powerful people move themselves to tears. At Heiligendamm they will emote with the wretched of the earth. They will beat their breasts and say many worthy and necessary things – about climate change, Africa, poverty, trade – but one word will not leave their lips. Power. Amid the patrician goodwill, there will be no acknowledgement that the power they wield over other nations destroys everything they claim to stand for.

The leaders of the G8 nations present themselves as a force for unmitigated good. Sometimes they fail, but they seek only to make the world a kinder place. Bob Geldof and Bono give oxygen to this deception, speaking of the good works the leaders might perform, or of the good works they have failed to perform; but not mentioning the active harm. They refuse to acknowledge that what the rich nations give with one finger they take with both hands.

Can I get an amen?

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Interesting Article On New York City Economics

This article is fascinating, but terribly depressing for me.

Anyone who has ever lived in New York City... or even just imagined living in New York City... has wondered: "If I were to open such-and-such business, what kind of money would I make?" New York Magazine has put together a list of 20 standard/common (or not-so-common) businesses in New York City, and how much money one can reasonably expect to earn with them.

Want to open a Pizzeria? Expect $18,000 profit plus salaries for your hard-working family. Diner? $252,000. Four-star restaurant? $1.7 million. For everything from drug dealer ($813,600) to The Yankees ($28 million loss), the numbers are all crunched, and the details are detailed. Exceptionally fascinating.

Don't know about your connection and computer, but the links take forever to load for me.

(stolen in full from Jil in Pattaya)

Sadr Rejects US Talks, Warns of New Uprising

When are they gonna deal with this guy? He has the power, elections not withstanding.

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Indonesia to return rare kangaroos to Papua forests

Indonesian kangaroo

I learn something new every day.

Did you know Indonesia had kangaroos? I sure as hell didn't.

Seventeen endangered miniature kangaroos are being returned to their native habitat in the forests of Indonesia's remote Papua province, an official from the country's forestry ministry said on Tuesday.

The tiny creatures, a rare species of kangaroo called dusky pademelons, were rescued from homes in Java island where they were kept as pets, Adi Susmianto said by telephone.

The kangaroos, which have browny grey coats and a pale belly, will undergo a period of rehabilitation before release into the Nayaro forests, a protected area just hours away from Timika town.

Damn! I blew it. I could have cat blogged the sucker.

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ETA to end 15-month ceasefire

Oh great. Now we're going to witness a civil war in Spain.

Has the world gone completely bonkers or is that just my interpretation. I really can't tell because I'm not mentally sound.

Eta, the Basque armed separatist group which wants independence from Spain, will end its 15-month ceasefire on June 6, the group says.

Eta issued a statement on Tuesday that was printed in Berria, a Basque newspaper, saying: "The minimum conditions for continuing a process of negotiations do not exist."

Eta said the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the country's prime minister, responded to its ceasefire "with arrests, torture and persecution".

The group declared a ceasefire in March 2006 and insisted that it was ongoing despite a bomb attack in Madrid airport last year.

But the latest announcement, which has been widely anticipated by the state security services, could mean that another attack is imminent, Spanish media has reported.

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Big ego alert (mine)

I told you so... (snicker)

Coca-Cola Co faces a long-term threat to its future from falling global water resources and will reduce the amount of water that goes into making its drinks, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

The world's top beverage company will also put more effort into recycling the water it uses in manufacturing and spend $20 million protecting seven major watersheds around the world with the World Wildlife Fund, said Chief Executive E. Neville Isdell, at a news conference on World Environment Day.

"I don't see in the short, or even in the medium term, that it's going to threaten our business, but in the long term it is," Isdell told Reuters after making the announcement, referring to water shortages.

Who would have guessed the Coca Cola company reads SPIIDERWEB™? Certainly not me.

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Next Bush be conquering Africa

In keeping with the Dems debate, by a show of hands, who didn't see this coming?

The Bush administration, in an effort to counter the rise of transnational terrorist groups, is moving forward on a plan to establish a new military command center in Africa.

From Foreign Policy Watch. I stole the whole thing, but you have to visit Jeb to get the link. Hahaha. Gotcha!

I'm making light of this, but it ain't funny at all. The asshole is trying to conquer the world before he's out of office.

Vanity, thy name is imperialism.

Is Big Business Buying Out the Environmental Movement?

Short answer: No.

This is just damn good PR.

With Big Business going green, is it a sign that environmental campaigns have prevailed and are setting the corporate agenda? Or have enviros been duped into endorsing what may be little more than a new wave of corporate greenwashing?

In the business world these days, it appears that just about everything is for sale. Multi-billion-dollar deals are commonplace, and even venerable institutions such as the Wall Street Journal find themselves put into play. Yet companies are not the only things being acquired. This may turn out to be the year that big business bought a substantial part of the environmental movement.

That's one way of interpreting the remarkable level of cooperation that is emerging between some prominent environmental groups and some of the world's largest corporations. What was once an arena of fierce antagonism has become a veritable love fest as companies profess to be going green and get lavishly honored for doing so. Earlier this year, for instance, the World Resources Institute gave one of its "Courage to Lead" awards to the chief executive of General Electric.

Every day seems to bring another announcement from a large corporation that it is taking steps to protect the planet. IBM, informally known as Big Blue, launched its Project Big Green to help customers slash their data center energy usage. Newmont Mining Co., the world's largest gold digger, endorsed a shareholder resolution calling for a review of its environmental impact.

Home Depot introduced an Eco Options label for thousands of green products. General Motors and oil major ConocoPhillips joined the list of corporate giants that have come out in support of a mandatory ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions. Bank of America said it would invest $20 billion in sustainable projects over the next decade.

Just take a look at the commitments. Are any of them going to affect the corporate bottom line?

Nope.

Yeah, Bank of America is dipping into its deep pockets, but its advertising for Christ's sake. And a shrewd accountant will probably write the expense off as such.

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Must read IMHO

Sadly No! is really on its game right now.

And I couldn't post. Got this error message.

"These characters are not allowed: !"

It turned out to be in the fucking "Labels" part of the post.

What in fucking hell is this?

I swear Blogger is going down hill on a skateboard.

Sometimes just the little things piss me off. K?

Addendum: No it is always the little things that piss me off. The big things I handle in my stride.

Quote of the day

"I'm just here for the gasoline."

-- George BushUS president

OMG. Sorry, but I'm so wrong. Attribution is really.

-- Mad Max
The Road Warrior (1981)

H/T rangeragainstwar

Iraqi police patrols found 28 unidentified bodies dumped

Did this happen in your neighborhood overnight? Yeah, I thought not. Count your blessings and get angry.

Iraqi police patrols found 28 unidentified bodies dumped in different parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said.

It goes on and gets worse.

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US and Venezuela in spat over RCTV

OMG!!!1!! I'm Venezuelan.

Rice says forcing station off air undemocratic but Venezuela accuses US of hypocrisy. [emphasis mine].

And don't forget many Venezuelans support Hugo Chávez.

Jesus H Christ with herpes. This post is so self-referential I should be shot.

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Must read IMHO

I have to admit I go along with this. Its the old saw about turning a huge ship. Like the ship of state? It takes time.

Well, yeah! Did these hard-heads think the Democrats were just going to roll over?

No. Just like Senators Jim Webb and Jon Tester -- two of the best of the freshman class -- who voted for the funding bill last week, Congressional Democrats realized that funding the troops in the short term was the mature decision, but that the fight has just begun.

Do you really think Jim Webb rolled over?

He knows it will take time.

Do I enjoy reality? Not at all. I want immediate satisfaction. But...

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US arrests 10 it says plotted to oust Laos' govt

Another case of incredible fucking hypocrisy.

U.S. prosecutors charged 10 people, including an ex-Laotian general, on Monday with seeking to topple the government of Laos in what they described as a dramatic cloak-and-dagger plot thwarted by an undercover agent posing as an arms dealer.

"These defendants had developed an audacious plan to overthrow the government of Laos, and were seeking to arm themselves with automatic rifles, rockets and surface-to-air missiles," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said.

This is only something Bush is allowed to do.

Hell, Robert Gates cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq because that's Bush's perogative.

Chastise China for human rights? Abu Ghraib anyone?

Bush charges Iran of violating the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Duh, US and India?

And I could on and on, but am too lazy.

Notice a pattern here? Just asking.

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What have we become?

So bad on a couple levels. First he was trying to glean torture techniques from the Nazis and then he realized he had surpassed them. Shit!

Perhaps the most telling line from WaPo’s chilling story about torturers interrogators: Then a soldier’s aunt sent over several copies of Viktor E. Frankel’s Holocaust memoir, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Lagouranis found himself trying to pick up tips from the Nazis. He realized he had gone too far.

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I'll be gone for a bit

I'm not sure when, but in the next day or so I have to go out of town for 2-5 days. While gone, I won't be able to post for various reasons.

Of course my readership will suffer, but there's nothing I can do about that. My readership seems to climb in increments of 10 and drops by the same number when I'm not blogging, but it doesn't have to be thus.

Come and read my archives. I often do. There are some good entries in the archives by my judgment. Hell, if they weren't good I wouldn't have posted them.

So find solace in my extremely informative and entertaining missives from past days.

Who am I kidding?

The reason for secrecy

Its really simple. Whenever detainees actually come before a judge, the judge tells Bush to fuck himself. You doubt it? Just check out Salim Ahmed Hamdan and here. Or.

Setback for US government in surprise Guantanamo ruling

Kangaroo courts aren't quite the same as actual, ya know, real courts.

The truth is, the Bush evil empire desperately fears the legal system. And it should.

A New World Hot Dog Eating Record!

Let's see him eat 59 of these suckers.

Jesus H Christ with an STD, with people dying all over the world, why the hell is this important? Yes it is a diversion, but come on.

The record world record for hot dog eating returns to the United States (USA! USA!) when Joey Chestnut, 22, of San Jose, ate 59 and a half hot dogs:

Chestnut, 22, of San Jose, broke the record previously held by Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by downing 59½ "HDBs" — hot dogs and buns — during the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship at the Arizona Mills Mall in suburban Tempe.

I bring this up because every news outlet has mentioned it.

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Gates warns Turkey not to invade Iraq

What the hell is Turkey thinking? Jesus H Christ on a skateboard, only the US has the right to invade a foreign country.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt down Kurdish rebels it accuses of carrying out terrorist raids inside Turkey.

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Surge improves security, quality of life

The headline is from CENTCOM and is pure bullshit.

Three months after U.S. forces increased troops as part of an intensified security plan to secure Baghdad, a report finds that the effort has fallen short of its goals, the New York Times reported and FOX News confirmed Monday.

An American military assessment completed in May found that U.S. and Iraqi forces could only "protect" or "maintain influence over" a third of Baghdad's neighborhoods.

The quoted text is from FAUX NEWS!!!1!!

Even Fox News, an arm of the Republican party, is reporting the SURGE™ isn't working.

What a fucking circus.

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While Democrats Debate, Bush Widens War

I'm sorry, but I can't seem to link to the full story, but just the snippet is damning.

Democrats debated his policies this weekend, Bush extended his "bad bumper sticker" war to Africa.By Katrina vanden Heuvel | The Nation June 4, 2007Here's something that didn't come up at Sunday's Democratic debate? Under what authorization did President Bush order a military strike o­n Somalia this past Friday-- essentially widening the "war o­n terror"?

I'm so ashamed I didn't pick up on this. Sheesh.

I've included the link, but it may not work.

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This is really your mind on drugs

And the rest of your body which is actually also involved.

(link)

Must read IMHO

It is.

Plot to Blow up JFK is ‘Tip of the Iceberg’

Come on already Telegraph UK. We have enough fear mongers in America and the MSM reports what all of them say. You don't need to contact them and help spread the "terror".

The alleged conspiracy to blow up John F Kennedy airport, in New York, and a recent plot to kill soldiers at a nearby United States Army base represent only the “tip of the iceberg” of terrorist plots against America, according to US officials.

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The Koufax Awards

I was gonna post a listing of congratulations to everyone I read regularly who made the Koufax's, but decided you can check them out for yourselves. The sites I visit daily or almost daily should know who they are.

One minor point, if you see me visit occasionally, rest assured I'm reading you from Bloglines and just didn't pop in to your site that day.

Islamists battle Lebanon army at second camp

Can/will someone help me out here? Are the members of these Islamist militant groups also refugees or are the refugees just caught in the middle? I've scoured reports and can't find the info.

AIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon, June 4 (Reuters) - Islamist militants killed two Lebanese soldiers at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Monday in an apparent attempt to relieve pressure on al Qaeda-inspired fighters besieged by the army in the north.

Two fighters of the Sunni militant group Jund al-Sham were also killed in rifle, grenade and mortar exchanges that erupted at an entrance to the big Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon, security and military sources said. Witnesses said the fighting at Ain al-Hilweh, started by Jund al-Sham on Sunday night, subsided later on Monday. Three soldiers and two civilians were also wounded.

The clashes were the latest jolt to stability in Lebanon, already shaken by a protracted political crisis pitting the Western-backed government against Syria's Lebanese allies.

Hundreds of civilians fled Ain al-Hilweh, a sprawling shantytown perched on a hillside above Sidon, 42 km (26 miles) south of Beirut. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction dominates the camp, but small Islamist groups have a foothold there and in several other refugee camps in Lebanon.

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Dem Debate: Edwards, Hillary and Obama Slug It Out on Iraq

I didn't watch the Dem debate. I'm not much for picking a candidate by appearance on TV. I can read what they have to say and make decisions based on that. As for their being articulate, I catch enough of their speechifying from other broadcast sources.

Besides, from all the reporting, blogging and sound bites transcribed, it seems to me the debate must have been about 14 hours long.

Is nothing else of import happening?

No link needed. I just needed the headline. And you can't toss a cat without hitting some story about the debate and the slug fest it was.

Thousands march to support Chavez's refusal to renew RCTV license

Just so you don't miss something very few are reporting. Yes huge groups turned out to protest the license non-renewal of the independent RCTV by Hugo Chávez, but hundreds of thousands have demonstrated in his support.

Supporters of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, have marched in support of his refusal to grant a licence to a opposition-aligned television station, a day after a rally demanding freedom of expression.

Hundreds of thousands gathered on Saturday dressed in red shirts and caps showing Chavez's slogan "democratising television and radio".

"Starting today, the [pro-government] counter-attack must be maintained across the country," Chavez told the crowd in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

For some reason I can't put my finger on, it seems Hugo Chávez knows more about what the majority of his people want than do Americans. Its just a feeling I have. Maybe its because he's there?

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A dictator is a dictator

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments whether Nazi or Communist."

-- Sir Winston Churchill
(1874-1965)

This is a must read IMHO. A snippet.

The accomplishments of the Bush-Cheney administration are very few, if any, but its wrongdoings are numerous and comprehensive. This administration has been a virtual wrecking crew for anything it has put its hands on. Here is a summary of the twelve most glaring failures of this administration.

Sometimes we aren't alone crying in the night.

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Iran says will not beg for its atomic rights

Well, that sort of settles it. The big guy has weighed in on nukular power.

Iran will not beg world powers for its right to develop nuclear technology and has shown it will not retreat from the "field of danger" to protect such rights, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday.

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Just read the NPT. Here is one of the salient points.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also referred to as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), obligates the five acknowledged nuclear-weapon states (the United States, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, France, and China) not to transfer nuclear weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, or their technology to any non-nuclear-weapon state. Non-nuclear-weapon States Parties undertake not to acquire or produce nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices.

Of course, the US has already broken this treaty with India, but that's beside the point.

The NPT is the most widely accepted arms control agreement. As of early 2000 a total of 187 states were Parties to the NPT. Cuba, Israel, India, and Pakistan were the only states that were not members of the NPT.

So Iran has signed the NPT and is perfectly within its rights to produce nukular power plants. Unless and until they start producing weapons grade materials, they are not doing anything wrong.

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Not to be a nit picker, but I am

Congress did not pass a "supplemental". That's an adjective and not a noun. They passed a "supplement" or "supplemental bill". I'm surprised at how many otherwise quite fine writers have picked up on this term both on blogs and in the MSM.

This sort of goes along with fighting "terrorism". One can fight "terrorists", but not the concept of "terrorism".

OK, time for my warm bath and milk.

CO2 'rising three times faster than expected'

This can't be good. It seems more and more stories are coming out which indicate climate change is accelerating. Ice is melting into the sea much faster than expected for instance. And scientist say climate change is accelerating evolution. Add to that the fact the world's sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate.

It all points to the possibility we've reached or are about to reach the "tipping point", or point of no return, on climate change.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing three times faster than scientists previously thought, with the bulk of the rise coming from developing countries, an authoritative study has found.

The increase in emissions of the gases responsible for global warming suggests that the effects of climate change to come in this century could be even worse than United Nations scientists have predicted.

The report, by leading universities and institutes on both sides of the Atlantic, will create renewed pressure on G8 leaders who are meeting this week in Heiligendamm, on Germany's Baltic coast.

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Kewl site

Timeline.swf

Is Iraq like SKorea?

Short answer: No.

Let's try to kill this meme early.

And Jeb over at Foreign Policy Watch does it just fine.

Addendum: How many reports of IED explosions, suicide bombers and daily deaths have your read/heard about out of SKorea. Yeah, that should nail it.

Know when to keep your mouth shut

Over at The Fix, they've posted many comments from readers in response to a question:

If Markos Moulitsas's (a.k.a. Kos) call to tape every word uttered by Republican officials and candidates was a good or a bad thing for politics.

One response:

"How is anyone supposed to develop serious policies if the first time they talk about a subject they are worried that a mistaken sentence could come back to bite them later on?... Kos' plan ... isn't politics, its warfare." -- Posted by: camguy | May 29, 2007 09:35 AM

This is a no-brainer to me. All officials and candidates should either speak from their true beliefs for the first time or admit they need to look closer at the subject/issue before saying anything.

But no, most will expound in great detail about what they think which is pretty shallow thinking at best and that's why their words come back to haunt them.

"I don't know." Throughout my years of schooling I can't count how many times I was told that is a perfectly solid answer. Its also the correct one if you haven't really thought about a subject/issue or really do just don't know.

The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Intelligence

Its bad enough the government hires thousands of mercenaries (Blackwater), but now they're hiring private spies?

And how many of these "civilians" are reading your emails, chats, medical records and bank statements? How many Americans will be blackmailed by unscrupulous spies?

The U.S. government now outsources a vast portion of its spying operations to private firms — with zero public accountability.

More than five years into the global “war on terror,” spying has become one of the fastest-growing private industries in the United States. The federal government relies more than ever on outsourcing for some of its most sensitive work, though it has kept details about its use of private contractors a closely guarded secret. Intelligence experts, and even the government itself, have warned of a critical lack of oversight for the booming intelligence business.

On May 14, at an industry conference in Colorado sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. government revealed for the first time how much of its classified intelligence budget is spent on private contracts: a whopping 70 percent. Based on this year’s estimated budget of at least $48 billion, that would come to at least $34 billion in contracts.

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Putin warns he will point missiles at Europe

This can't be good. Way to go Bush.

Russia will once again aim its missiles at targets in Europe if U.S. plans to build a missile defence shield near Russia's borders go ahead, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Sunday.

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Fidel Castro health watch

He's still alive and he's looking good.

It looks like he's out of the woods so I'll quite this series of reports unless he dies.

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Ahmadinejad: Destruction of Israel close

Why doesn't he just send Bush a letter asking to be bombed? Bush is certain Ahmadinejad is trying to build nukular weapons and is now talking about the destruction of Israel.

I doubt he's threatening Israel. Its probably just an observation of Israel's weakening condition, but it will be heard as a direct threat.

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah in Lebanon showed "for the first time hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) collapsed and that pushed the button counting the days until the destruction of Zionist regime," IRNA quoted him as saying.

"God willing, in near future we will witness destruction of the corrupt occupier regime," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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Democrats Hide Pet Projects From Voters

Yep, I'll go after the Dems when I feel they deserve it. Transparent government is something America deserves out of Washington DC.

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" - lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.

Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

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Sand Storm in Iraq: April 26, 2005

I post this in case you haven't seen it. At the link the pix are screen-size.

(more pix)

Sorry about our president.com

Yes there really is such a site and its now up to 1927 apologies.

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U.S. base in Central Asia threatened

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Most likely a large number of countries want the US out.

MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan - When Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits next week, he'll find pressure from Russia and China, as well as some Kyrgyz officials, to close this Central Asian outpost of American military might.

The Manas Air Base was set up to support U.S. operations in nearby Afghanistan, but it is part of high-stakes contest for political influence being played out across a region with vast natural gas and oil reserves.

Small, poor and politically unstable, Kyrgyzstan is nevertheless being aggressively courted by the United States, Russia and China because of its strategic location. Russia also has an air base in this former Soviet republic of 5 million, part of a regional security treaty.

But tensions surrounding the air base have hurt Washington's efforts to gain favor here. There have been disputes over payments, a fatal shooting and the mysterious reported kidnapping of an American.

The Kyrgyz parliament has urged the government to evict the Manas base, a position backed by Russia.

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Coming Soon: Pepsi Ice Cucumber

Yes, you read the headline correctly: Pepsi is planning to release a special Ice Cucumber-flavored drink in Japan this summer. According to the official press release (in Japanese), the new drink flavor will hit stores across Japan on June 12th, but it will only be available for a limited time.

Well it will be available for a limited time unless is sells like crazy.

(link)

A great quote

"Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it."

-- Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA)

So just what constitutes a rogue country?

And does this, if true, constitute Israel as a terrorist source?

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) may have been involved in the hijacking of an Air France plane in 1976 by Palestinian terrorists, according to newly declassified British government documents released Friday.

Some 100 passengers were held by hijackers at Entebbe airport in Uganda during an eight-day ordeal that concluded when General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) troops stormed the building where the captives were held.

Twenty-four people died in the shoot-out, including three hostages, 20 Ugandans and the commander of the rescue team, Yoni Netanyahu, brother of current opposition head Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud).

The hijackers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the German Baader-Meinhof gang, demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But according to the newly released documents, the Shin Bet and the PFLP are alleged to have teamed up in an "unholy alliance" in an attempt to change foreign policy in the Middle East.

H/T True Blue Liberal