- Signs of the Times Archive for Wed, 24 Sep 2008 -



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Best of the Web
Flashback: Chris Hedges: U.S. faces threat of fascist theocracy

Ron Csillag
The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan)
2007-03-31 15:00:00

A hard-core minority of evangelicals is actively working to create an American theocracy and to eliminate non-believers. Mainstream Christians -- even some evangelicals --governments and the media stand by and watch in the name of tolerance.

So says Chris Hedges, a former New York Times correspondent, who evinces some frightening scenes in his new book, American Fascists. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Hedges draws alarming parallels between 20th-century totalitarian movements -- particularly in pre-Second World War Europe -- and the highly organized, well-financed "Dominionist movement," an influential theocratic sect within the large U.S. evangelical population.

Hedges says Dominionists wait only for a fiscal, social or political crisis, or another terrorist strike on American soil, to establish an American theocracy -- a Christian fascism -- in which the Bible is the sole guiding principle.

That day, he warns, could be sooner than many think.

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Frank Zappa on Crossfire in 1986 warns of Fascist Theocracy


CNN - Crossfire
2008-09-24 14:55:00

Zappa: The biggest threat to America today is not communism; it's moving America towards a fascist theocracy and everything that has happened during the Reagan administration. Is steering us right down that pipe.



John LOFTON (Washington Times): Our families are under attack from people like you with these lyrics.

Frank ZAPPA: Could I make a comment about National Defense: the biggest threat to America today is not communism. It's moving America toward a fascist theocracy. And everything that's happened under the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that pipe.

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U.S. News
Obama Adviser: We're Inclined To Go Ahead With Debate

Greg Sargent
Talking Points Memo
2008-09-24 16:13:00

Asked how the Obama campaign will respond to McCain's call for a delay in the debate, an Obama adviser emails: "We're inclined to do the debate."

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McCain Suspends Campaign Over US Financial Crisis

David Knowles
AOL News
2008-09-24 15:56:00

John McCain has asked Barack Obama to call off the upcoming debate due to the financial crisis, and has officially suspended his campaign to return to Washington D.C. to work on the bailout bill.


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McCain-Palin team forced to rethink media freeze-out

Stephen Collinson
www.theage.com.au
2008-09-24 11:16:00

John McCain, once a media darling, now estranged from his press pack, relented yesterday, taking questions from reporters for the first time in 40 days.

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Source: Freddie Mac paid McCain aide's firm

Pete Yost
Associated Press
2008-09-24 08:12:00

Almost up until the time it was taken over by the government in the nation's financial crisis, one of two housing giants paid $15,000 a month to the lobbying firm of John McCain's campaign manager, a person familiar with the financial arrangement says.

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Canadian columnist's diatribe against Palin stokes anger in the U.S.

Lee-Anne Goodman
The Canadian Press
2008-09-24 00:38:00

WASHINGTON - Canadian journalist Heather Mallick is facing an ugly onslaught from the U.S. right-wing media and its fans for an online column she wrote maligning Sarah Palin as "white trash."

The Sept. 5 column on CBC.ca, entitled "A Mighty Wind Blows Through the Republican Convention," had already been on the receiving end of vitriol from some Canadian news organizations.

But Fox News picked up on it this week, and unleashed its full fury on Mallick for stating that Palin, the Republicans' vice-presidential nominee, appeals to "the white trash vote" with her "toned-down version of the porn actress look."

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Horrific football hazing case shakes New Mexico town

Melanie Dabovich
Associated Press
2008-09-24 00:30:00

LAS VEGAS - It was shocking enough when six high school football players were accused of sodomizing six younger teammates with a broomstick during training camp. But the scandal was raised to a whole new level when the coaches were accused of turning a blind eye to the hazing.

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New York: Woman helps put father behind bars

Jericka Duncan
WIVB
2008-09-23 23:44:00

BUFFALO - 15 years after her mother disappeared, a young woman watched as her father was sentenced to prison Monday.

Susan Waller helped put her father behind bars.

"We were always abused physically, and there were times when I was younger that I thought he had killed her."

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San Bernadino wreckage believed to be plane of Israeli paratrooper missing since 2001


Associated Press
2008-09-23 19:11:00

San Bernardino - Authorities believe wreckage found on a mountainside in the San Bernardino National Forest is the remains of the plane of a man who vanished seven years ago.

The disappearance of 24-year-old Daniel Katz, a former Israeli paratrooper, on June 3, 2001 spurred one of the most extensive and high-tech searches in the area's history.



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Protests target Blackwater facilities

Rick Greenblatt
Socialist Worker
2008-09-16 17:05:00

Blackwater protesters
©Rick Greenblatt/Socialist Worker
Protests stopped Blackwater from opening its planned facility in Potrero, Calif., east of San Diego


Activists demonstrated against the Blackwater mercenary company in four U.S. cities on September 13 and 14 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Nisour Square massacre, in which company operatives killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded dozens more.

Protests were held in North Carolina, Illinois, Idaho and California, each targeting an existing or planned Blackwater site.

In San Diego, some 125 protesters marched and rallied across the street from Blackwater's new training facility and base in the Otay Mesa district, just yards from the U.S.-Mexican border.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
Prominent Chechen gunned down in Moscow

Tatyana Ustinova
Reuters
2008-09-24 14:17:00

Moscow - A gunman shot dead a former rebel Chechen commander in central Moscow Wednesday whose brother has emerged as a rival to the pro-Moscow leader of the troubled southern Russian region, police said.

An Interior ministry spokesman said that according to preliminary information, an unidentified gunman shot dead Ruslan Yamadayev from a pistol when his car stopped at a traffic light.

Yamadayev, who had survived several previous assassination attempts, died on the spot. Another man who was sitting in the car was badly injured.

Ruslan Yamadayev and his younger brother Sulim were high-ranking rebel commanders during the first Chechen war of 1995-96 after which the separatist region won effective, if short-lived, independence from Moscow.

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U.S., Russia Cooperate on Key Issues Amid Tensions

Jay Solomon
The Wall Street Journal
2008-09-22 11:27:00

Weapons Talks Are Set to Resume; Pact Options Open

The U.S. is continuing to engage Russia on some key strategic issues even as it has stepped up its rhetoric against Moscow.


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Russia denies spy drone claim


news.scottsman.com
2008-09-24 11:24:00

GEORGIA said yesterday it had shot down a Russian reconnaissance drone near the breakaway region of South Ossetia, but Russia denied the claim and accused Tbilisi of "provocation" ahead of the arrival of EU ceasefire monitors.

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North Korea Expels UN, to Re-Activate Nuclear Plant

Jonathan Tirone
Bloomberg.com
2008-09-24 11:01:00

North Korea expelled United Nations atomic inspectors from its Yongbyon nuclear plant and pledged to reintroduce nuclear material into the facility, which is capable of making plutonium for bombs.

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Hugo Chavez in China on official visit


RIA Novosti
2008-09-23 18:47:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in China on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, part of his week-long world tour which includes Russia, Portugal and France.

China's Foreign Ministry official earlier said Chavez would meet with President Hu Jintao and other top officials to discuss an agenda dominated by energy cooperation. She also said the sides would sign documents on cooperation in justice, sports, quality supervision, and other fields.

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Russia in talks with Cuba, Venezuela on joint use of Glonass satellites


RIA Novosti
2008-09-23 18:21:00

Russia is negotiating with Cuba and Venezuela on the joint use of Russia's Glonass navigation satellites, the head of the federal space agency said on Tuesday.

"I have just returned from a working visit to Cuba. They are very interested in cooperating with us in the use of the Glonass system, which will cover the globe by 2010," Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov told reporters in Moscow.

He said Moscow and Havana are working on a space cooperation agreement and have considered ways of jointly using earth remote sensing satellites.

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Around the World
Russia Challenges America in American Backyard

Sawraj Singh
INDOlink.com
2008-09-24 17:15:00

Russia continues to challenge America's status as the only super power in the World. This time it has brought the challenge in the American backyard. Russia has brought its war ships to Venezuela. The Russian Naval fleet consists of the nuclear carrier "Peter the Great", and submarine destroyer Admiral Chebaynenko and two other supporting ships. Russia has already sent its bombers to Venezuela. Two submarines carrying nuclear missiles will also be there.

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Liberia: Female mutiliation continues in rural secrecy


IRIN News
2008-09-24 14:36:00

Monrovia - Thousands of young girls annually prepare for their initiation into a women's secret association, Sande Society, which operates mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. As part of their initiation, young women take a vow of secrecy after weeks of training in the forest, promising not to not tell uninitiated girls or men what happens to them, to assume new names, and to have their clitorises cut off - known as female genital mutilation (FGM) - according to women in the secret society.

About half of Liberia's some 16 ethnic groups, including the Bassa, Mende, Gola and Kissi, observe the rules of this historically-secret, centuries-old society.

One Mende member from Tubmanburg, Western Liberia, who asked not to be named, told IRIN removing a girl's clitoris helps her become a "prolific child bearer."

Another member, 42-year-old Jebbeh Sonneh, explained to IRIN, "Those who perform such [FGM] acts are typically elderly women in the community designated for the task, or traditional birth attendants."

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Somali insurgency escalates, 15 civilians die

Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Mohamed
Reuters
2008-09-24 14:25:00

Mogadishu - Islamists attacked African peacekeepers in Mogadishu, sparking a battle that killed 11 civilians and sent many fleeing the city in Somalia's escalating insurgency, witnesses said on Wednesday.

"We have no hope now and I think this is the end of Mogadishu," mother-of-seven Fatuma Kassim said, joining a stream of residents escaping the coastal capital after shells and gunfire rocked the city on Tuesday night.

In Baidoa, capital of Somalia's parliament, four people died on Wednesday when a bomb exploded in a donkey-cart, police said.

In a bloody month even by Somalia's extreme standards, insurgents have increasingly turned their fire on African Union (AU) troops. Analysts view that as a tactic to prevent more foreign intervention in a nation in civil conflict since 1991.

On Tuesday night, insurgents shelled an AU base from various sides, prompting heavy return fire and tank incursions into a market area viewed as a rebel stronghold.

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Canada: U.S. deserter wins stay of deportation

Colin Perkel
Globe and Mail
2008-09-22 14:01:00

Toronto - A high-profile American war dodger won a desperate bid to stay in Canada on Monday as a judge refused to allow Canada to send him back to the United States to face prosecution for desertion.

Jeremy Hinzman's reprieve from scheduled deportation on Tuesday came after Federal Court heard an immigration official had made serious errors in assessing the hardships the deserter and his family would face if forced back to the U.S.

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U.S. Denies Drone Down - Never Mind the Video

Noah Shachtman
Wired
2008-09-24 13:46:00

This much we know: an American-made drone has gone down in Pakistan. But what's the still unclear is how that drone was knocked out of the sky, and who really operated the unmanned plane.

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Because You'll Believe Anything: Unknown Terrorist Group Claims Responsibility For Marriot Bombing


Winter Patriot
2008-09-23 13:31:00

In a phone call to an Islamabad TV station, "a group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam" has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

Fedayeen-i-Islam is "a little-known group" according to Bloomberg. But just how little-known?

Dawn's report quotes "a senior [Pakistani] government official" as saying:



"We have not heard the name of the organisation but we are trying to locate its network."



Amazing.

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Preparation for Invasion in Pakistan


Roads to Iraq
2008-09-21 13:12:00

I think there is some truth in Tarik Ali's article "Has the U.S. Invasion of Pakistan Begun?" of 18 Sep. Is the Pakistani intelligence inviting the Americans to "tame" the Pakistani government. Worth to read Aljazeera's "Who was behind the Marriott blast?" first.

Pakistani terrorism expert Misbahallah told Islam online about the huge differences between the Pakistani government and the Pakistani Intelligence Service.

He linked the Marriott's blast to the Pakistani Intelligence aimed to deliver a clear message to the government that the Intelligence is still at its strength, warning the government to not to go too far against the agency. Especially after the new government issued a law removes the agency from the army control and associate it to the Interior Ministry.

Misbahallah confirms Taliban/Al-Qaeda link to the blast but:



It is likely that the intelligence service facilitated the attack, which carried out by armed groups of Taliban or Al Qaeda.



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Pentagon says crashed "drone" in Pakistan not from U.S.

Zeeshan Haider
Reuters
2008-09-24 12:55:00

Islamabad - The Pakistani military said on Wednesday a pilotless aircraft that crashed in the northwestern region of South Waziristan had been recovered, but the Pentagon denied any U.S. drone had been lost in the area.

Separately, the U.S. military said one of its aerial vehicles had gone down with engine problems in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, but U.S. forces had immediately recovered the aircraft.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile the Pakistani and U.S. statements, which suggested that more than one drone may have crashed. Pakistan has not yet displayed the wreckage of the aircraft it said it found.

A spate of recent missile attacks by unmanned U.S. aircraft in Pakistan has strained ties between the allies.

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Indian govt backs workers who killed boss - it "should serve as a warning for management"


Associated Press
2008-09-24 09:30:00

Sacked workers in India beat to death the boss of the Italian company that had laid them off, police said on Tuesday, in a killing the government described as a "warning for management."

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Peruvians defy land grab laws

Gabriela Mendoza Mendizábal
The Guardian
2008-09-24 08:24:00

Riots by indigenous groups in Peru have led to the repeal of controversial land laws, supported by President Alan Garcia, that sought to ease corporate access to the Amazonian jungle. According to two new legal decrees, foreign oil, logging and mining companies could be sold whole swathes of aboriginal territory without first consulting the inhabitants. Saul Puerta Peña, of the Peruvian indigenous association AIDESEP, helped to organise the protests. He says that while the menace has been driven back there is still a long way to go before the rights of native Peruvians are recognised

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Principal wrestles away weapon to end standoff with gunman at Canadian school

Jennifer Graham
The Canadian Press
2008-09-23 18:25:00

REGINA - As hundreds of students gathered Tuesday in the chapel of a Regina Christian high school, their morning prayers were shattered by an angry former classmate who barged into the service brandishing a weapon.

More than 450 students at Luther College looked on as the youth, who students said had been expelled the previous year, held a pastor at gunpoint and made him read a letter.

The students sat terrified on the stands in the chapel, which is also the school's gym, before many were able to escape.

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Pakistanis say suspected US drone shot down

Asif Shahzad
Associated Press
2008-09-23 23:21:00

Pakistani soldiers and tribesman shot down a suspected U.S. military drone close to the Afghan border Tuesday night, three intelligence officials said.

If verified, it apparently would be the first time a pilotless aircraft was brought down over Pakistan and likely would add to tensions between Washington and Islamabad over recent American cross-border incursions into the country's lawless tribal regions.

The three officials said the aircraft was hit at the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan after circling the area for several hours. Wreckage was strewn on the ground, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

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Rape, Torture and Humiliation in Women's Prisons: A Global State of Crisis

Lys Anzia
Women News Network
2008-09-23 22:56:00

"The strategy used in women's prisons now is one of humiliation rather than rehabilitation," said Jane Evelyn Atwood in her 2007 Amnesty International video documentary, "Too Much Time." For nine years, Atwood photographed and documented the conditions for women in 40 women's prisons worldwide including the US, Europe and Eastern Europe.

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Bus falls into ravine in Peru, 13 dead


RIA Novosti
2008-09-23 18:35:00

At least 13 people were killed and 10 injured when a bus fell into a ravine in southern Peru, the official Andina news agency said on Tuesday.

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Russia says Arctic marking does not imply territorial claim


RIA Novosti
2008-09-23 18:33:00

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that new steps to define the country's southern Arctic boundary have nothing to do with territorial claims, and dismissed concerns voiced by foreign states.

Last Friday Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his country was taking steps, including military measures, to strengthen its presence in the Arctic due to Russia's disregard for international agreements. The previous day, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had called for a new Arctic frontier law.

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Big Brother
'Pre-crime' detector shows promise

Paul Marks
New Scientist
2008-09-23 21:38:00

Last year, New Scientist revealed that the US Department of Homeland Security is developing a system designed to detect "hostile thoughts" in people walking through border posts, airports and public places. The DHS says recent tests prove it works.

Project Hostile Intent as it was called aimed to help security staff choose who to pull over for a gently probing interview - or more.

Commentators slated the idea that sensors could spot people up to no good from their pulse rate, breathing, skin temperature, or fleeting facial expressions. One likened it to the "pre-crime" units that predict criminal behaviour in the movie "Minority Report".

However, last week, the DHS science unit gave an update on the project, now dubbed the less-hostile-sounding Future Attribute Screening Technologies (FAST) programme. And, if DHS claims are to be believed, the research appears to be getting somewhere.

Image
©Unknown


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Flashback: Can a government remotely detect a terrorist's thoughts?

Paul Marks
New Scientist
2007-08-10 21:31:00

Imagine the scene. You arrive at New York's JFK airport, tired after a long flight, and trudge into line at passport control. As you wait, a battery of lasers, cameras, eye trackers and microphones begin secretly compiling a dossier of information about your body.

The computer that is processing the data from these hidden sensors is not searching for explosives, knives, guns or contraband. Instead, it is working on a much tougher problem: whether you are thinking about committing a terrorist act, either imminently, or at sometime during your stay in the US. If the computer decides that might be your intention, you will be led off for interview with security officers.

The equipment could also screen passengers as they wait to have their bags checked before boarding, in an attempt to predict when someone is planning to bomb or hijack a plane.

It sounds far-fetched, but this is the aim of Project Hostile Intent (PHI), the latest anti-terrorism idea from the US Department of Homeland Security. According to DHS spokesman Larry Orluskie, the DHS wants to develop systems that can analyse behaviour remotely to predict which of the 400 million people who enter the US every year have "current or future hostile intentions".

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Axis of Evil
Flashback: Chris Hedges on "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America"


Democracy Now!
2007-02-19 15:08:00

Chris Hedges's new book examines how Christian dominionists are seeking absolute power and a Christian state. According to Hedges, the movement bears a strong resemblance to the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s. Hedges is the former New York Times Middle East bureau chief and author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."

A new book by Chris Hedges called "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America" investigates the highly organized and well-funded "dominionist movement." The book investigates their agenda, examines the movement's origins and motivations and uncovers its ideological underpinnings. "American Fascists" argues that dominionism seeks absolute power in a Christian state. According to Hedges, the movement bears a strong resemblance to the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s.

Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times for many years where he won a Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" and "Losing Moses on the Freeway." Chris has a Master's degree in theology from Harvard University and is the son of a Presbyterian minister. He is currently a senior fellow at the Nation Institute - and he is here with me now in the studio.


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Republican lawmaker says Palin inquiry should go on


CNNPolitics.com
2008-09-24 11:22:00

The legislative investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner needs to go ahead despite the increasingly heated opposition of the McCain-Palin campaign, a leading Republican said Tuesday.

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No Indictment in Palin Email Hack

Mark Hachman
PCMag.com
2008-09-24 10:59:00

A federal grand jury in Chattanooga ended its session Tuesday without indicting David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student, who is being investigated in the hack of Gov. Sarah Palin's email account.

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Flashback: American Crusaders: The "Great Commission" and Iraq

Chris Rodda
Huffington Post
2008-06-04 09:27:00

On May 28, McClatchy's Washington Bureau reported that a Marine in Fallujah had outraged the city's residents by passing out coins that read, in Arabic, "Where will you spend eternity?" on one side, and "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16" on the other.

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Source: U.S. funds sent from Iraq to al-Qaeda


Russia Today
2008-09-24 08:33:00

A former Iraqi investigator said more then $US13 billion of the money allocated for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen, with some of it ending up in al-Qaeda's coffers.

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Flashback: Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib; Pentagon has videos


BoingBoing
2004-07-15 09:10:00

From Daily Kos' partial transcript of a video (link to REAL stream) of Seymour Hersh speaking at an ACLU event. He says the US government has videotapes of children being raped at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.


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Court orders release of Pentagon prisoner torture pics

Nick Juliano
Raw Story
2008-09-24 07:51:00

A federal appeals court on Monday ordered the Bush administration to hand over photos depicting abuse of prisoners held by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, handing the American Civil Liberties Union a victory in an ongoing public records lawsuit filed against the Pentagon.

Image
©Unknown




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Welcome to the final stages of the coup...

Larisa Alexandrovna
OpEdNews
2008-09-20 03:14:00

"If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it." ~ Julius Caesar

In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism - a Bush family tradition - with the installment of a president - a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) - by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.

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Sarah Palin's Shocking Animal Cruelty

Michael Markarian
Humane Society Legislative Fund
2008-09-16 20:15:00

GOP conventioneers were officially introduced to their vice presidential candidate who is, as Fred Thompson said, "the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field dress a moose."

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Securing Capitalist Accumulation for America's Ruling Corporate Caste

Eddie J Girdner
Mainstream Weekly
2008-09-20 18:18:00

TERROR ON TAP

I

America is marked, as compared to the rest of the world, with a unique feature. If at all possible, every enterprise should be geared to the making of private profit. The public spirit, as such, scarcely exists, although it is cynically alluded to. Rather, it is the profit spirit which prevails. This probably should not be surprising, as the de facto ruling class in America is the business class. Indeed, everything revolves around the "business class", not only in airports and airplanes, but everywhere else. If one wants status, then being in the business class is the way to get it. It is, more truthfully, a caste system in which those in the business class are the upper-caste Brahmins of the system, or "the Masters of the Universe", as they prefer to call themselves.

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Kopp hiring proved Palin's fundamentalist street cred

Alan Boraas
Anchorage Daily News
2008-09-20 18:58:00

So far Gov. Palin's handling of Alaska's Troopergate has focused on why Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan was fired. An equally important question is why Chuck Kopp was hired to replace him.

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Palin meets her first world leaders in New York

Sara Kugler
Associated Press
2008-09-23 18:47:00

New York - Sarah Palin met her first world leaders Tuesday. It was a tightly controlled crash course on foreign policy for the Republican vice presidential candidate, the mayor-turned-governor who has been outside North America just once.

Palin sat down with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The conversations were private, the pictures public, meant to build her resume for voters concerned about her lack of experience in world affairs.

"I found her quite a capable woman," Karzai said later. "She asked the right questions on Afghanistan."

The self-described "hockey mom" also asked former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for insights on Georgia, Russia, China and Iran, and she'll see more leaders Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.

Palin and Kissenger
©Unknown
Palin and Kissenger.


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Guess Who Filed Suit to Halt Palin Troopergate..?


Election Confidential
2008-09-16 18:50:00

On September 16th ABC News reported, "A group of Alaska Republican lawmakers, with the support of a Texas-based conservative legal group, has filed suit to stop the Alaska Legislature's "Troopergate" probe into Gov. Sarah Palin." The ABC coverage was not untypical of mainstream media coverage generally and is not being singled out for scrutiny.

This "Texas-based conservative legal group" is generally referred to as LLI (Liberty Legal Institute). Their website, which is very open and honest, may be found here.

To describe the LLI as a "conservative legal group" is like describing O. J. Simpson as a "well-dressed African-American". Both are true, as far as they go.

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Middle East Madness
Latest Gaza-bound ship to depart Cyprus 'within hours'


Ma'an News Agency
2008-09-24 15:33:00

Image
© MaanImages/Eman Mohammed
Palestinians on boats wait to receive international activists from the Free Gaza boats, which are trying to break an Israeli blockade in Gaza August 23, 2008.


Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Mustafa Barghouthi confirmed reports that the latest Gaza siege-breaking voyage was scheduled to depart from Cyprus on Wednesday.

Barghouthi said that crew aboard "Hope," the third ship in as many weeks to attempt the voyage, had "completed all preparations" to leave Cyprus for Gaza.


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Israel-Palestine: Main aquifer endangered by untreated sewage


United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
2008-09-24 15:24:00

An important water source for both Israelis and Palestinians is in danger due to pollution from sewage, a new Israeli governmental report stated.

About 2.8 million people, including Palestinians and Israeli settlers, live in the West Bank, but "due to conflicts and economic problems, the effluents of more than two million people do not go through efficient pollution treatment", the report by the Israeli Ministry of Environment, the Civil Administration in the West Bank and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), stated.

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Live and let die

William Parry
The Electronic Intifada
2008-09-23 13:21:00

Imagine John Lennon is still alive and touring, and is asked to play Tel Aviv as Israel celebrates turning 60. Picture him publicly telling the Israelis where to stick their offer. Instead, he chooses to play Bethlehem to mark 60 years of dispossession of the Palestinian people. While the world's press cover the gig, a few hundred locals turn out, bemused to see the old bespectacled former Beatle on stage in a kuffiyeh performing "Power to the People," "Happy Xmas (War is over)," and "Give Peace a Chance." Millions of people in the West get a rare dose of invective from a celebrity about the catalogue of crimes being perpetrated with impunity by one of our allies. "Instant Karma's gonna get you, Israel," he wails!

Paul McCartney, on the other hand, will be giving the first performance by a Beatle in Tel Aviv on 25 September -- receiving an alleged $4.3 million -- despite efforts by various groups in Palestine and internationally calling on him to boycott Israel, including the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Barrie Marshall, from Marshall Arts, a company representing Sir Paul, has replied to such concerns by saying: "[P]lease rest assured that Paul's 'Friendship First' concert is about his music and its inherent message of friendship."

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Five Palestinians die as Egypt destroys tunnel


Albawaba
2008-09-24 13:06:00

At least five Palestinians were killed and four others were hurt on Tuesday when Egyptian forces blew up two smuggling tunnels beneath the Egyptian-Gaza Strip border, medical workers and residents said. According to locals, the tunnels, used to bring goods from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, collapsed when Egyptian troops detonated explosives in a bid to curb smuggling.

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U.S. says 3 women killed in Iraq raid

Tina Susman
Los Angeles Times
2008-09-20 18:10:00

Slain Iraqi
©Wael al-Samarraie / EPA
IN AD DAWR: The body of a man slain in the raid is carried away. The U.S. said insurgents were using women and children as cover. Locals said the victims had no ties to militants.


Accounts differ on what happened and how many people died in Ad Dawr. Demands could increase for U.S. forces to be subject to Iraqi prosecution.

U.S. forces acknowledged killing three women during a raid on a house of suspected insurgents Friday, but Iraqis said eight people had died, all members of a family with no ties to the violence in their country.

The incident is likely to heighten Iraqi demands that U.S. forces be subject to Iraqi prosecution for alleged crimes or mistakes that harm civilians. The demand has emerged as the key issue blocking agreement on a plan that would govern activities of American forces in Iraq after Dec. 31.

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First Russian humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza


RIA Novosti
2008-09-23 18:37:00

Russian trucks carrying humanitarian aid have arrived in the Gaza Strip, Russia's envoy to the Palestinian National Authority, Sergei Kozlov, said on Tuesday.

The medicines, food, and tents will be transferred to the UN mission in Gaza. Part of the aid cargo was donated by Jordanian charity organizations.

"This is the Russian aid to the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people," Kozlov said. "This part of it has already reached Gaza and will be transferred to its residents."

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Grand Theft Economics
Financial Fascism

Robert Scheer
TruthDig.com
2008-09-23 17:42:00

henry paulson
©AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite


Does it really matter which party is in charge when it comes to bailing out the Wall Street hustlers whose shenanigans have bankrupted so many ordinary folks? Not if the Democrats roll over and cede power to the former head of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank at the center of our economic meltdown.

What arrogance for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - who the year before President Bush appointed him treasury secretary was paid $16.4 million for heading the company that did as much as any to engineer this financial travesty - to now insist we must blindly trust him to solve the problem. Paulson is demanding the power to act with "absolute impunity," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who admonished the treasury chief: "After reading this proposal, it is not only our economy that is at risk, Mr. Secretary, but our Constitution as well."

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Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle

William Greider
The Nation
2008-09-19 17:22:00

Financial-market wise guys, who had been seized with fear, are suddenly drunk with hope. They are rallying explosively because they think they have successfully stampeded Washington into accepting the Wall Street Journal solution to the crisis: dump it all on the taxpayers. That is the meaning of the massive bailout Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has shopped around Congress. It would relieve the major banks and investment firms of their mountainous rotten assets and make the public swallow their losses--many hundreds of billions, maybe much more. What's not to like if you are a financial titan threatened with extinction?

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Panicked customers in Hong Kong bank run sparked by rumors

Telegraph Staff
The London Telegraph
2008-09-24 15:52:00

Panicked customers queued to withdraw their savings from branches of the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong as rumours circulated that the bank was facing financial problems, agencies reported.

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Home Resales in U.S. Fall 2.2% to 4.91 Million Pace

Bob Willis
Bloomberg.com
2008-09-24 11:10:00

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell more than forecast in August and prices dropped the most on record, a sign the market remained in a slump heading into the latest financial meltdown.

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Fed plows $30 billion in foreign money markets


Associated Press
2008-09-24 09:08:00

The Federal Reserve, in coordinated action with foreign central banks, plowed $30 billion into money markets overseas Wednesday, part of an ongoing effort to fight a global credit crisis.

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BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions, US imposes gagging order

Jane Corbin
BBC
2008-09-24 09:03:00

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.

A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.

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Flashback: The IMF's Four Steps to Damnation

Greg Palast
GregPalast.Com
2006-04-24 07:45:00

The World Bank's former Chief Economist's accusations are eye-popping - including how the IMF and US Treasury fixed the Russian elections

"It has condemned people to death," the former apparatchik told me. This was like a scene out of Le Carre. The brilliant old agent comes in from the cold, crosses to our side, and in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of a political ideology he now realizes has gone rotten.

And here before me was a far bigger catch than some used Cold War spy. Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist of the World Bank. To a great extent, the new world economic order was his theory come to life.

I "debriefed" Stigltiz over several days, at Cambridge University, in a London hotel and finally in Washington in April 2001 during the big confab of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But instead of chairing the meetings of ministers and central bankers, Stiglitz was kept exiled safely behind the blue police cordons, the same as the nuns carrying a large wooden cross, the Bolivian union leaders, the parents of AIDS victims and the other 'anti-globalization' protesters. The ultimate insider was now on the outside.

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FBI Probing Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Lehman in Subprime Collapse

Robert Schmidt
Bloomberg
2008-09-24 03:11:00

The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and American International Group Inc. in its probe of the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market, according to a senior law-enforcement official.

Those companies are among 26 being reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for possible accounting misstatements, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified. The investigations are preliminary, the official said late yesterday.



Comment: No doubt the US public will be asked to be gullible one more time; led to believe that it's not the entire system that is corrupt but just a "few bad apples". Indicting individual participants in the US banking system for fraud is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indi-500.



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Palin Energetically Wrong


Fact Check
2008-09-12 22:02:00

Palin says Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy - Not true - Not even close.

Palin claims Alaska "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." That's not true.

Alaska did produce 14 percent of all the oil from U.S. wells last year, but that's a far cry from all the "energy" produced in the U.S.

Alaska's share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent, according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

And if by "supply" Palin meant all the energy consumed in the U.S., and not just produced here, then Alaska's production accounted for only 2.4 percent.

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The Living Planet
Food riots in east India, flood waters lap Taj Mahal

Jatindra Dash
Reuters
2008-09-24 14:32:00

Bhubaneswar - Officials in eastern India struggled to provide aid to tens of thousands of flood victims after riots broke out on Wednesday, as floodwaters lapped the Taj Mahal compound but posed no immediate threat to it.

Monsoon rains, burst dams and overflowing embankments have unleashed bouts of flooding in South Asia this year, killing about 1,500 people, mostly in India but also in Nepal.

In India's Orissa state, tens of thousands were still stranded on embankments and on highways after large areas were flooded when authorities opened sluice gates of a dam on the Mahanadi river after heavy rains last week.

Food riots broke out in many areas after villagers complained they were not getting relief supplies. Hungry victims beat up officials, blocked roads and looted relief materials.

"At least eight people sustained injuries after two groups of people clashed over distribution of relief," police officer Jitendra Kumar Dalai, who was injured, told Reuters by telephone from flood-hit Jagatsinghpur district.

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Thousands stranded as storms hit China quake area


Reuters
2008-09-24 14:28:00

Beijing - Continuous rain near the epicentre of China's May 12 earthquake has killed at least two people, left 30 missing and thousands stranded by mountain torrents, cave-ins and mudslides, state media said on Wednesday.

Downpours began to pound Beichuan county in Sichuan province, southwest China, on Monday night, collapsing more than 1,100 houses since then, Xinhua news agency said.

More than 300 people have been injured in the downpours.

At least 1,100 houses have collapsed and about 6,000 people were stranded or "in dire need of help", Xinhua said.

Beichuan was one of the hardest-hit counties in the Sichuan earthquake, which killed at least 80,000 people.

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Images of Texas Neighborhood Devastated by Hurricane Ike Now Accessible


US Geological Survey
2008-09-23 21:07:00

Before-and-after Hurricane Ike photographs showing the near total destruction of a coastal neighborhood in Texas are now accessible online.

On Monday, Sept. 15, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists flew the coast impacted by Hurricane Ike and acquired photographs and video. Images of Crystal Beach, Texas, on the Bolivar Peninsula are compared to aerial photographs of the same area taken Sept. 9, several days before Ike's landfall, and are now available.

"The Bolivar Peninsula was in or near the right eyewall of Hurricane Ike when the storm made landfall," said USGS scientist Abby Sallenger. "This was the location of the strongest winds and where we observed the greatest impacts to the coast."

Storm surges and waves crested Crystal Beach and swept sand inland, along with the remains of homes. The four sets of before-and-after photographs posted online show these extreme changes to the residential area.

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US: Storms and warming sinking islands in Gulf

Cornelia Dean
Herlad Tribune
2008-09-23 21:04:00

From the plane flying over the Gulf Islands National Seashore, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey were scanning the ocean, trying to find Ship Island. Their maps and GPS system told them they were over its eastern end, but there was no sign of it.

"I don't see Ship anywhere," said Asbury H. Sallenger, a oceanographer at the Geological Survey who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat and had the best view. "On the map we see it, but all I see is breakers. There is just zip left of this thing."

Eventually, the scientists spotted the western part of Ship, but its eastern half had all but disappeared. A small patch of land and whitecaps breaking on underwater shoals were all that remained.

The damage was considerable, but it was the kind of land loss they would see often on their flight, which they made about 48 hours after Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast, as part of the survey's long-standing effort to track storm damage on the coast.

The geologists should not have been surprised. Scientists studying the way stormy weather erodes the coast have long been able to identify regions at risk for inundation if sea-level rise continues, an inevitability in a warming world.

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Last tree-sitters come down from California redwoods

Evelyn Nieves
Associated Press
2008-09-23 19:28:00

Scotia - After more than 20 years of protests, the last two people living in the giant redwoods of Northern California were climbing down for good, convinced by the new owners of the forest that the ancient trees would be spared from the saw.

Still, the tree sitters looked rather lost.

Having lived nearly 200 feet off the ground for 11 months, Nadia Berg - who calls herself Cedar - seemed unsure of her footing on the lush forest floor of Humboldt County's Nanning Creek grove. Cedar had made herself at home in a tree dubbed Grandma, a massive double redwood joined at the base, and had grown accustomed to the whistles and whispers and ways of the woods.

Image
©Unknown
Nadia Berg.


"Being here, for me, hasn't been a sacrifice," said the 22-year-old Alberta native, still in her harness after rappelling down Grandma last week for the final time. "I feel so honored that I could be here for the trees."

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Feds ask to put wolves back on endangered list

Matthew Brown
Associated Press
2008-09-23 19:23:00

Billings, MT - Federal wildlife officials have asked a judge to put gray wolves in the Northern Rockies back on the endangered species list - a sharp reversal from the government's prior contention that the animals were thriving.

Attorneys for the Fish and Wildlife Service asked U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula to vacate the agency's February finding that more than 1,400 wolves in the region no longer needed federal protection.

The government's request Monday follows a July injunction in which Molloy had blocked plans for public wolf hunts this fall in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho pending resolution of a lawsuit by environmentalists.

"What we want to do is look at this more thoroughly," Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Sharon Rose said. "We definitely have a lot of wolves out there, but we need to address some of (Molloy's) concerns in a way that people feel comfortable with."

At issue is whether a decade-long wolf restoration program has reversed the near-extermination of wolves, or if - as environmentalists claim - their long-term survival remains in doubt due to proposed hunting.


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Health & Wellness
Wine ingredient protects against radiation: report


Reuters
2008-09-23 13:18:00

Washington - A natural antioxidant commonly found in red wine and fruit may protect against radiation exposure, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Tests in mice showed that resveratrol, when altered using a compound called acetyl, could prevent some of the damage caused by radiation, the researchers told the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Boston.

Drugs made that way might be used in a large-scale radiological or nuclear emergency, said Dr. Joel Greenberger, a radiation oncologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

"Currently there are no drugs on the market that protect against or counteract radiation exposure," he added. "Our goal is to develop treatments for the general population that are effective and non-toxic," Greenberger said in a statement.

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Calorie-free Natural Sweetener Stevia Moves One Step Closer To Use In U. S.


Science Daily
2008-09-24 13:12:00

Researchers in Georgia are reporting an advance toward the possible use of a new natural non-caloric sweetener in soft drinks and other food products in the United States. Stevia, which is 300 times more potent than sugar but calorie-free, is already used in some countries as a food and beverage additive to help fight obesity and diabetes.

Indra Prakash, John F. Clos, and Grant E. DuBois note that so-called stevia sweeteners, derived from a South American plant, have been popular for years as a food and beverage additive in Latin America and Asia. But several factors have prevented its use as a sweetener in Europe and the United States. Those include concerns about safety and hints that exposure to sunlight degrades one of the key components of stevia.

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Step Back To Move Forward Emotionally, Study Suggests


Science Daily
2008-09-24 13:07:00

When you're upset or depressed, should you analyze your feelings to figure out what's wrong? Or should you just forget about it and move on?

New research suggests a solution to these questions and to a related psychological paradox: Pocessing emotions is supposed to facilitate coping, but attempts to understand painful feelings often backfire and perpetuate or strengthen negative moods and emotions.*

The solution is not denial or distraction. According to University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross, the best way to move ahead emotionally is to analyze one's feelings from a psychologically distanced perspective.

With University of California, Berkeley, colleague Ozlem Ayduk, Kross has conducted a series of studies that provide the first experimental evidence of the benefits of analyzing depressive feelings from a psychologically distanced perspective.

"We aren't very good at trying to analyze our feelings to make ourselves feel better," said Kross, a faculty associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and an assistant professor of psychology. "It's an invaluable human ability to think about what we do, but reviewing our mistakes over and over, re-experiencing the same negative emotions we felt the first time around, tends to keep us stuck in negativity. It can be very helpful to take a sort of mental time-out, to sit back and try to review the situation from a distance."

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Honeybee Venom Toxin Used To Develop New Tool For Studying Hypertension


Science Daily
2008-09-24 13:02:00

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have modified a honeybee venom toxin so that it can be used as a tool to study the inner workings of ion channels that control heart rate and the recycling of salt in kidneys. In general, ion channels selectively allow the passage of small ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium into and out of the cell.

honey bee
©Unknown
Researchers have found that the honeybee venom toxin, called tertiapin, or TPN, stops the flow of potassium ions across cell membranes by plugging up the opening of Kir channels on the outside of cells. Kir channels in kidneys are potential new targets for treating hypertension.


The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is from the laboratory of Zhe Lu, M.D, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, who looked at the action of a natural bee toxin on inward-rectifier potassium channels, Kir channels for short, to identify new approaches to treat cardiovascular disease.

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Science & Technology
Deep Interior Of Neptune, Uranus And Earth May Contain Some Solid Ice


Science Daily
2008-09-24 12:51:00

The deep interior of Neptune, Uranus and Earth may contain some solid ice.

Through first-principle molecular dynamics simulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists, together with University of California, Davis collaborators, used a two-phase approach to determine the melting temperature of ice VII (a high-pressure phase of ice) in pressures ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 atmospheres.

Image
©Visualization by Eric Schwegler/LLNL
A snapshot from a first-principle molecular dynamics simulation of ice-VII (on the right) in contact with liquid water (on the left). As the simulation progresses the position of the solid-liquid interface can be monitored and used to accurately determine the location of the melting temperature of water under high pressure conditions.


For pressures between 100,000 and 400,000 atmospheres, the team, led by Eric Schwegler, found that ice melts as a molecular solid (similar to how ice melts in a cold drink). But in pressures above 450,000 atmospheres, there is a sharp increase in the slope of the melting curve due to molecular disassociation and proton diffusion in the solid, prior to melting, which is typically referred to as a superionic solid phase.

"The sharp increase in the melting curves slope opens up the possibility that water exists as a solid in the deep interior of planets such as Neptune, Uranus and Earth," Schwegler said.

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Finding Fireflies Next To A Lighthouse: New Optics Technology To Study Alien Worlds


Science Daily
2008-09-24 12:46:00

NASA Goddard scientist Rick Lyon has been working on potential missions and technologies to find planets around other stars (called exoplanets or extrasolar planets) since the late 1980s. Only recently has he begun to believe that NASA may actually fly a planet-finding mission in his lifetime. "This is the closest it's come to being real," he said.

New Worlds Observatory
©NASA and Northrop Grumman
Artist's concept of the New Worlds Observatory. The dark, flower-shaped object in the center is the star shade.



Lyon and other scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have joined teams studying optics technologies for three possible exoplanet missions: the Extrasolar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph (EPIC), the New Worlds Observer (NWO), and the eXtrasolar Planet Characterization (XPC) mission.

The possibility of a mission devoted to planet finding is tantalizing, especially to those interested in ratcheting up a science that began 13 years ago when astronomers found and confirmed the existence of the first planet outside the solar system. Since then, scientists have confirmed nearly 300, most of which are gas giants like Jupiter. However, most of these detections have been indirect, because the planets are too faint to be seen directly. Instead, their presence is revealed by measuring how much the unseen world's gravity pulls on its parent star.

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Two Planets Suffer Violent Collision


Science Daily
2008-09-24 12:07:00

Two terrestrial planets orbiting a mature sun-like star some 300 light-years from Earth recently suffered a violent collision, astronomers at UCLA, Tennessee State University and the California Institute of Technology will report in a December issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

Image
©Lynette R. Cook
An artist's rendering depicts planets colliding in a sun-like binary system about 300 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Aries.


"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before. Apparently, major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system."

"If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes - the ultimate extinction event," said co-author Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University (TSU). "A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate."

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Where monkey films meet Sarah Palin

Colin Barras
New Scientist
2008-09-22 21:52:00

Material online can seem ephemeral. Here's a welcome example of the opposite. Earlier this year a site called Deletionpedia launched with the sole aim of preserving all the pages deleted from Wikipedia.

There are already some 64,000 pages saved for posterity, with more accumulating every day. Some pages seem to have been deleted - and created - for political reasons.

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NASA ramps up weather research with supercomputer cluster

Jon Brodkin
Network World
2008-09-23 20:55:00

NASA's Center for Computational Sciences is nearly tripling the performance of a supercomputer it uses to simulate Earth's climate and weather, and our planet's relationship with the Sun.

NASA is deploying a 67-teraflop machine that takes advantage of IBM's iDataPlex servers, new rack-mount products originally developed to serve heavily trafficked social networking sites. The servers use an innovative design that saves on power and cooling costs by placing the servers sideways and using a liquid-cooled rear-door heat exchanger.

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Our Haunted Planet
Guardian Angels Are Here, Say Most Americans

David Van Biema
Time
2008-09-24 10:54:00

More than half of all Americans believe they have been helped by a guardian angel in the course of their lives, according to a new poll by the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion. In a poll of 1700 respondents, 55% answered affirmatively to the statement, "I was protected from harm by a guardian angel." The responses defied standard class and denominational assumptions about religious belief; the majority held up regardless of denomination, region or education - though the figure was a little lower (37%) among respondents earning more than $150,000 a year.

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Australia: Another mass UFO sighting

Matt Cunnigham
Northern Territory News
2008-09-23 22:25:00

THREE station workers and three backpackers have been left stunned after witnessing strange lights flying over a remote station in the Northern Territory outback.

Ray Aylett, Normie Hooker and Alan "Doc" McIntosh were sitting on their pergola at Muckaty Station with three European backpackers when a bright light appeared.

Mr Aylett, 58, said they were all stunned by the bizarre sighting.

"This strange light was coming straight for us, over the house," he said.

"We all walked outside and were watching it come towards us, then it went straight east and faded out.''

Mr Aylett, who has lived at the station north of Tennant Creek for eight years, said he couldn't believe his eyes as the bright light approached on a Thursday night two weeks ago.

"This thing was strange,'' he said.

"I have never seen anything like it."

"Normie and Doc had never seen anything like it either, and those backpackers, they were in shock."

"I was sitting there watching for a couple of minutes."

"You could see it coming towards us but it wasn't a plane."

"It made no noise - you couldn't hear anything.''

Mr Aylett said there was no way their judgement could have been affected by alcohol.

"Me and Doc had had a couple of beers, but Normie doesn't drink,'' he said.


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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Satire: Point-Counterpoint. Gov. Palin Has No Foreign Policy Experience...

Roger Hobaugh/Sarah Palin
The Onion
2008-09-24 15:07:00

Point: Gov. Palin Has No Foreign Policy Experience, Refuses To Acknowledge Global Warming, And Supports The War In Iraq

Counterpoint: Please Keep Your Voice Down, My Poor Retarded Child Is Sleeping

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Satire: Kissinger Instructs Palin On Finer Points Of Clandestine Carpet Bombing


The Onion
2008-09-24 15:04:00

WASHINGTON - In preparation for her debate with Sen. Joe Biden next week, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin met with seasoned statesman and Nobel Peace Prize - winner Henry Kissinger yesterday to take advantage of his extensive foreign policy knowledge and expertise in carpet-bombing innocent civilians in nations with which the U.S. is not officially at war.


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Financial Advice From Gorlock

Stephen Colbert
Cobert Nation
2008-09-23 19:58:00

Stephen gets sound advice from his financial advisor Gorlock.

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