In my links of the day I try to find the links under the wire, articles all the top blogs miss. I'm not afraid to go to Al Jazeera, Kurd Media or to the Pakistan student movement page to bring the real daily news to you.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Links of the Day 4/25/2008 Rush Limbaugh calls for Riots in Denver during the DNC Convention! Homegrown Terrorism!

Rush in Limbo


ACTION ALERT!


Limbaugh calls for riots in Denver during the DNC Convention.


Just when I think I’ve heard the worst from Limbaugh now he’s dreaming of riots in Denver.

Go here to listen to his terrorist threats

http://www.crooksandliars.com/category/right-wing-pundits/rush-limbaugh/



And the people of Denver think his remarks are ok. They’ll think ok when riots break out in Denver, homes and cars are burned, people are injured or murdered won’t they!

Go look how the people of Denver are voting! http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15980105/detail.html



Go read what they are saying in the Denver Post!

Limbaugh "dreams" of - doesn't advocate - Denver riot

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_9043850


They are actually playing it down! He can advocate riots in Denver to millions of his listeners and that’s ok but let Reverend Wright talk to his congregation and they go nuts!




SURVEY Do you think Rush Limbaugh crossed the line when he hoped for riots during Denver's DNC convention?

61% say NO!

Can you imagine Randi Rhodes or Thom Hartmann or Jeff Farias or Stephanie Miller on NovaM http://novamradio.com/live/stream.php calling for riots in Denver?




Limbaugh clearly is asking some of his wacko listeners to go to Denver and cause a riot.


Here’s what we need to do.

1) Call both your senators and demand Limbaugh be censured then call your House rep and demand the they censure him too. If they can censure MoveOn.org for playing with a name surely they can censure these terrorist remarks.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm



Contact both senators from Colorado too!

Salazar, Ken- (D - CO)Class III 702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5852 Web Form: salazar.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)Class II 521 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5941 Web Form: allard.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

I believe he’s up for re-election this year.



2) File a complaint with the FCC http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgb/fcc475B.cfm


3) Contact Homeland Security and ask they investigate Limbaugh for terrorist threats for calling for a riot in Denver.

Contact Us

Citizen Line

Operator Number: 202-282-8000

Comment Line: 202-282-8495

Send a message using our online form about FOIA, Jobs, Security Threats, Website Issues or DHS Press. Direct link http://contact.dhs.gov/


4) Contact Limbaughs sponsors and tell them this is the last straw. If they advocate terrorist threats and condone calling for riots you will never buy their products ever again >.<

Sponsor list. http://www.topplebush.com/boycott_rush.shtml

or

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/rushbusted.html



This kind of crap by Limbaugh must stop!!!

Mike Malloy is right and I agree this Recreate68 is a black ops or CIA web site that too is calling for riots in Denver.

http://www.recreate68.org/

Contact the MSM if you want but as of today the media is still talking about the Reverend Wright while Limbaughs call for a riot in Denver are ignored!

Today I am starting a week vacation. I’m not planning on going anywhere just puttering in the garden.

I had been thinking about taking some time off for awhile and Limbaugh’s remarks have told me I really really need some time off.

Later All

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Links of the Day 4/24/2008 Edwards Backers Team Up With Obama and Penis theft panic hits city..

April 23, 2008, 2:32 pm

Edwards Backers Team Up With Obama

By Julie Bosman

No, John Edwards has not yet endorsed a candidate.

But nearly 50 of his most prominent backers lined up behind Senator Barack Obama today, in a gesture designed to give Mr. Obama a heavy boost of support less than two weeks before the North Carolina primary on May 6.

The group includes Ed Turlington, Mr. Edwards’s former national general campaign chairman; three North Carolina members of Congress; and 46 local activists, philanthropists and business leaders, among others. (Not surprisingly, given Mr. Edwards’s background, the list holds the names of 20 lawyers.)

Mr. Turlington, speaking from his law office in Raleigh, said that he had not expected to endorse a candidate after Mr. Edwards dropped out of the race on Jan. 30.

“I thought I was going to be on the sidelines,” Mr. Turlington said, adding that he made the decision about 10 days ago, after speaking to Mr. Obama. “I think his candidacy is doing a lot of important things that are similar to themes that John Edwards ran on.”

Among those things, he said, were Mr. Obama’s pledges to change the culture of Washington and fight for issues that are important to working people.

Throughout his second bid for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Edwards clashed repeatedly with Mrs. Clinton, particularly in debates. He criticized Mrs. Clinton for accepting campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists, a practice that he fiercely opposed.

And much of his campaign pitch centered on the notion that establishment Washington politicians have become corrupted by the influence of lobbyists for drug companies, oil companies and other corporate interests.

“You can’t just trade corporate Republicans for corporate Democrats,” he told audiences frequently, an attack aimed at Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Edwards’s campaign sounded similar themes to Mr. Obama’s – both candidates positioned themselves as change agents who would clean house in Washington.

But despite heavy courting from both candidates, Mr. Edwards has still not made an endorsement. And the former Edwards supporters cautioned today that their announcement should not be viewed as a sign that Mr. Edwards’s endorsement was right behind. Two former campaign aides of Mr. Edwards said today that he has signaled recently that he may not endorse a candidate at all.

Mr. Turlington said he has “no idea” if Mr. Edwards agrees that Mr. Obama is the better choice. “He’ll make up his own mind,” he said.

Direct link

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/edwards-backers-team-up-with-obama/




Daniel Shays is an American hero it was his actions that brought about our Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

Shays’s Rebellion and the attack on Springfield Arsenal, January 25th, 1787

The Last Battle ofthe AmericanRevolution

In the Fall of 1786, General George Washington feared that the American Revolution might destroy the nation he and his countrymen had fought so hard to create. To his fellow Virginian and war comrade, Henry Lee, that October 31st, he wrote:

"I am mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds that have spread over the brightest morn that ever dawned in any country... What a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious."

Samuel Adams, President of the Massachusetts Senate, expressed his sentiment, when he later weighed in on the issue of pardons for Shays's rebels the following Spring, that:

“Rebellion against a king may be pardoned, or lightly punished, but the man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death."

Thomas Jefferson, writing to James Madison from Paris, France, however, felt safe and assured when he wrote on January 30th, 1787, that:

"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion."

http://www.nps.gov/spar/historyculture/shays-rebellion.htm

Or here http://www.calliope.org/shays/shays2.html




Before Bush leaves office millions will lose their homes and because of the new bankruptcy laws they will be sentenced to decades of debt without relief.

Americans have been taken to the laundry by the mortgage lenders and their government. Our lawmakers set up the American people by deregulation. While they banks ripped us off they were setting themselves up for a downfall too.

Now Bush is bailing out the criminals while innocent Americans lose it all.

The rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the US have triggered a global crisis for the money markets. Hedge funds and banks across the world have found themselves exposed


It’s time for a new rebellion!


Subprime crisis provokes wave of lawsuits

By Joanna Chung in New York

Published: April 23 2008 22:20 | Last updated: April 23 2008 22:20

Plaintiffs have filed approximately two private lawsuits a day related to subprime mortgages in the US this year, setting case volumes on course to exceed levels not seen since the aftermath of the savings-and-loan ­crisis, a study has found.

During the first quarter of this year, 170 new civil cases were filed in federal courts, approaching the 181 filings made during the final six months of 2007, according to a review by Navigant Consulting, published on Wednesday. They were overwhelmingly dominated by class-action lawsuits, which accounted for 76 per cent of new cases.

“Like the credit crunch itself, the litigation is unrelenting,” said Jeff Nielsen, managing director at Navigant Consulting. “What we saw in 2007 was a mild breaking wave compared to the tsunami we’re witnessing now.”

He said the pace of subprime mortgage and related filings – now totalling 448 cases over 15 months to the end of March – suggests levels could soon surpass the 559 savings-and-loan cases of the early 1990s, which is seen by some as a historically high watermark in terms of a litigation fallout from a financial crisis.

The civil lawsuits will take many years to resolve, not least because of the complex nature of many cases. “Like the S&L cases, this is a process that will likely take years to play out,” said Mr Nielsen.

More than three-quarters of the civil cases filed last year are still active. But only 10 of the total 191 class actions filed in 2007 have been class certified, according to the report. Only 15 per cent of the cases have received a ruling on a motion to dismiss. The new cases from this quarter are “greener still”, the report says.

But the latest data, which exclude lawsuits filed at the state level, reflects the widespread nature of the credit crisis, which has spread far beyond the subprime mortgage sector. Eight of the most recent class-action securities lawsuits involved claims related to auction-rate securities, which are the subject of regulatory probes.

Many of the new suits, half of which were filed in courts in California and New York, alleged inadequate disclosure in connection with the loan origination process or claimed securities fraud. Some municipalities, including Baltimore and Cleveland, have filed suits against firms involved in the origination, servicing and securitisation of subprime mortgages.

The report notes that the number of suits targeting lenders over mortgage origination practices is likely to diminish, given the reduction in subprime mortgage activity. But other types of filings will continue to be sensitive to the state of the credit markets, and events, such as the collapse of Bear Stearns last month. “Intra-industry disputes appear likely to expand as financial institutions shun traditional mores and pursue remedies from one another through litigation,” it said.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b1208da-117a-11dd-a93b-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1



Concerns spread beyond mortgages

By Daniel Pimlott, Krishna Guha and Joanna Chung

Published: April 22 2008 23:52 | Last updated: April 22 2008 23:52

Risky loans made to borrowers with poor credit at the height of a housing boom may have helped to kick off the credit crisis, but residential mortgages were not the only type of lending where standards fell.

While residential property experienced the most dramatic deterioration in the quality of loans issued, contributing to a sharp rise in defaults rates on mortgage repayments, attention is increasingly turning to other kinds of loans as the economic slowdown puts borrowers under greater stress.

“We definitely saw a loosening of underwriting in a broad category of instruments over time which we are watching and monitoring,” said John Dugan, who as Comptroller of the Currency oversees national US banks, including most of the largest banks such as Citibank and Bank of America. “We’re seeing declining credit in a broad range of asset classes.”

Defaults on other forms of consumer loans such as home equity loans, credit cards, auto loans and commercial real estate are now beginning to shift higher, albeit from historically low levels, he said.

The rise in default rates threatens to spur yet further losses at major banks and could cause rising numbers of bank failures.

Bank of America earlier this week raised its loan loss provisions by nearly $5bn because of rising losses on home equity and small business loans as well as loans to homebuilders. Wachovia, Citigroup and Washington Mutual have also upped loan loss provisions to prepare for deteriorating credit.

So far the 20 largest banks that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency regulates have raised in excess of $80bn in capital since October to help deal with mounting losses and larger volumes of lending parked on their balance sheets. However, writedowns across the financial system from subprime related assets exceed $200bn, and are set to rise.

The rising losses at banks, including those from other forms of deteriorating credit, are likely to force banks to raise yet more capital, said Mr Dugan.

The capital raising has been encouraged by the Federal Reserve and its chairman Ben Bernanke, as well as the US Treasury Department, who as well as wanting to help protect US banks see the money as necessary in order to maintain lending levels and avoid a broader credit “crunch” across the economy. However, while the OCC has also been pushing capital raising, its priority is the “safety and soundness” of the US banking system, rather than the overall economy, Mr Dugan said.

“This is a place where I think you might get a little different answer from the Fed or Treasury,” he said. “I won’t say we are indifferent to the two [options of raising capital or selling off assets and cutting back on lending] because we think capital raising is a good thing. But we think that banks where they need to be prudent they should be.”

Outside of the major US banks, one of the greatest emerging risks is in commercial real estate, particularly to developers and homebuilders investing in residential property, according to the OCC. The Comptroller has been warning for several years over the problems posed by growing concentrations of commercial property lending, and last week called on bank managers to move quickly to recognise losses.

The proportion of nonperforming commercial real estate doubled in the year to the end of third quarter last year to nearly 2 per cent, according to the OCC. The Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings and loans institutions, said that nonperforming commercial real estate loans had risen more than fivefold from 0.91 per cent of loans to 4.6 per cent in the year up to December 2007.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d074d4e0-10b1-11dd-b8d6-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=d355f29c-d238-11db-a7c0-000b5df10621.html



From The Times April 24, 2008

Inflation: vengeful return of the dragon that we thought had died

Gary Duncan: Analysis

During most of the past decade the idea of inflation as a menace to global prosperity faded. A problem that for most of the postwar era was an economic pestilence ceased to register as a big issue.

A tidal wave of cheap goods from Asia allowed Western shoppers to become used to ever-lower price tags. Central banks like the Bank of England, charged with keeping inflation in check, had never had it so easy. Inflation sank to historic lows as year-on-year rises in the cost of living dropped to low single figures, and interest rates plunged.

It marked a double dividend for living standards. Economists talked of “the death of inflation”. The economic dragon of the Seventies had finally, it seemed, been slain. Abruptly, however, inflation is back with a vengeance. The inflationary dragon was far from dead, merely dormant.

As in the Seventies, a driving force behind the inflation threat is soaring oil prices. But just as four decades ago, a drastic surge in energy costs is coupled with huge increases in prices for an even more basic necessity: food.

The fallout has been as startling as the upward spike in the prices of oil and foodstuffs. Across the world, a popular backlash has erupted.

In the developing world, the poorest struggling to eke out existences are being forced to cut back on meat to afford a meagre diet of rice and vegetables. The middle classes of poor nations, and the poor of middle-income nations, face a brutal blow to living standards. Food riots have erupted in countries as diverse as the Philippines and Egypt. In the West, the toll may be less vicious but the consequences are still far-reaching. As sharply rising living costs leave consumers feeling a severe squeeze on their pockets, governments are coming under fire.

The intensity of the danger from inflation is hampering the efforts to fend off the threat that a global credit crunch, as well as housing market downturn in the US and Britain, will trigger economic setbacks, if not recessions. Trying to keep a lid on inflation, central banks have been forced to limit interest rate cuts they might have made to bolster growth.

At the heart of the problem lies the reemergence of China as an economic power, along with the rise of other mainly Asian emerging market nations. These trends have unleashed massive extra demand for commodities and energy.

At the same time, the rising incomes of millions of Asia’s poor who are migrating to its cities has triggered a shift to Western-style diets. Since feeding animals means even greater consumption of cereals, crop prices have also charged upwards.

Western efforts to promote biofuels have meant tracts of land once used for food being given over to crops for this purpose. Droughts in Australia and other disruptions have exacerbated food shortages. Worldwide stocks of wheat and rice have dropped from about 30 per cent of annual consumption in 2000 to only 15 per cent.

Oil prices are, meantime, kept at record levels by a combination of scant spare capacity for extracting and refining crude, strong global demand and Middle Eastern unrest, as well as speculation.

A growing number of economists believe that the fundamental forces now at work will keep food and fuel prices high for years to come.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3803742.ece




Credit Suisse bank loses billions


UK Teachers' Pay Strike Closes Thousands of Schools


Britain hit with massive work stoppages


Go Jimmy Carter! Condi Rice like her boss has been a complete failure in her current job!


Carter says Secretary Rice "not telling truth"

Matthew Bigg
Reuters US Online Report Top News

Apr 23, 2008 13:37 EST

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of not telling the truth about warnings she said her department gave Carter not to speak to Hamas before a Middle East trip.

The State Department has said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, issued the warning before Carter, a veteran of Middle East diplomacy, went on his trip last week.

Rice said in Kuwait on Tuesday: "We counseled President Carter against going to the region and particularly against having contact with Hamas."

"President Carter has the greatest respect for ... Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true," a statement issued by the Carter center in Atlanta said on Wednesday.

"No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas," it said.

It said Carter attempted to call Rice before making the trip and a deputy returned his call since Rice was in Europe.

"They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else," the statement said.

Carter had already on Monday, in an interview with National Public Radio, described as "absolutely false" any suggestion he had been warned not to meet Hamas.

"PRIVATE CITIZEN"

"The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we certainly told President Carter that we did not think that meeting with Hamas was going to help the Palestinians," Rice said Tuesday while attending a conference in Kuwait.

The White House backed Rice and said events after Carter's meeting showed Hamas' true character.

Carter "is a private citizen and he made a decision to not comply with what the State Department asked him to do," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters on Wednesday.

Perino made an apparent reference to an attack on Saturday in which a Palestinian suicide bomber and two other gunmen were killed when they attacked a border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, wounding 13 Israeli soldiers.

"Actions speak louder than words," said Perino of Hamas.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is viewed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

Carter, who met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria over the weekend, is trying to draw the Islamist group into peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

But Rice and other senior U.S. officials are concerned that Carter's meeting could confuse U.S.-brokered peace talks already moving at a slow pace between Abbas and Olmert.

Hamas won a 2006 election and briefly formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It seized control of Gaza from Abbas' secular Fatah faction in fighting in June.

(Editing by Tom Brown)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN23419139




Jimmy Carter doing the job Condi Rice cannot do as Secretary of State!

Hamas to hand truce proposals with Israel Thursday

Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:04am EDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas will give Egypt detailed proposals on a truce with Israel on Thursday, a Hamas spokesman said.

A Hamas delegation led by former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud el-Zahar arrived in Cairo on Wednesday night and has a meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Thursday afternoon, added spokesman Taher al-Nono.

Nono declined to give details of the proposals in advance but a Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks said the Islamist movement had backed away from its earlier demand that a truce should include a ban on Israeli attacks on Hamas members in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Hamas, which controls Gaza but has prominent members resident in the West Bank, has previously insisted that a truce should begin and apply at the same time to both areas.

The new offer suggests a truce could begin in Gaza first and then move after an agreed period of time to the West Bank, said the Palestinian official, who asked not to be named.

Under the truce proposal Palestinian factions will stop rocket attacks from Gaza and Israel will refrain from raids and targeted killings and will open up crossing points out of Gaza, especially the Rafah crossing with Egypt, he added.

Israel has said it is not negotiating a truce with Hamas but would have no reason to launch attacks on the Gaza Strip if rocket fire from the territory ceased. But it says it reserves the right to take military action to protect its citizens.

The Egyptian intelligence chief, who is in regular contact with the Israelis, has been trying to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas, especially since Palestinians broke through the border with Egypt in January to escape a long Israeli siege.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, on a Middle East tour which ended this week, tried to persuade Hamas to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel. Hamas declined on the grounds that Israel had not responded to similar gestures in the past.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past 10 days. Three Israeli soldiers were killed on the border with Gaza on April 16.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Charles Dick)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2412233620080424?sp=true



Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With US To Build On Captured Palestinian Land


Concerns mount ahead of US briefing on Israeli strike in Syria


Lebanese anti-aircraft positions fire on attacking Israeli aircraft



Karl Rove escaped the hand of justice during Watergate because the prosecutor said he had bigger fish to fry. Well Karl you’re the big fish now and justice is a dish best served cold and your days are numbered.

MUST READ ARTICLE! Great video too


Siegelman: Rove 'hijacked' the Dept. of Justice to win elections

Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday April 23, 2008

In an extensive interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was released from prison on bond last month pending an appeal of his conviction on corruption charges, laid the blame for his prosecution squarely on Karl Rove's "hijacking" of the federal Department of Justice.

"This is not about me, it's not about my case," Siegelman emphasized in his appearance on Air America's Ring of Fire, a show hosted by Kennedy and Mike Papantonio available online at GoLeft.tv. "This is about America, and about a quest now that must be pursued to find out who was responsible for hijacking the Department of Justice and using it as a political tool to win elections. I believe that person that Congress will ultimately hold responsible is Karl Rove."

Siegelman noted that even before Republican whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson implicated Rove directly, "I suspected from the circumstantial evidence that Karl Rove was deeply involved in my prosecution. I mean, it was just so obvious that it was easy for me to put two and two together and connect those dots."

"I grew up with your father being the Attorney General," Siegelman told Kennedy, "and the heroic deeds that he did, and you know, you always thought that the Department of Justice was the last place that you could look to for justice and for fair play. But I think Karl Rove learned two things out of Watergate. ... He learned that you didn't have to create a secret plumbers unit within the White House when you had the Department of Justice. If you just appointed the right U.S. Attorneys, you could accomplish the same thing and more. And the second thing I think Rove learned was, you don't leave evidence behind like Nixon did with his tapes. You destroy e-mails."

Siegelman made clear his belief that, even though the corruption investigation launched against him by a Republican state attorney general just a few weeks after he was sworn in as governor in 1999 may have begun as a matter of local politics, once the Bush administration took office it became something far larger. By then, Siegelman was a rising star among Democratic governors, and after losing his bid for re-election in 2002 he became an increasingly visible critic of the administration. That in itself was reason enough for Rove to want to bring him down.

In support of his argument that he was targeted at the highest levels of the Department of Justice, Siegelman cited the involvement of several highly-placed figures. One was Noel Hillman, formerly the head of the Public Integrity Section at the department, whom Kennedy described as "a crooked federal judge from Camden, New Jersey, who is one of the other people who has completely corrupted the democratic process in our country and taken the Justice Department ... and turned it into a political outlet for muzzling and jailing political opponents."

According to Siegelman, Hillman "actually came to Alabama several times to speak up for the prosecution, even at a time when there were questions whether or not they were going to move forward with the case. He called the U.S. Attorneys to Washington and told them to go back and take a top-to-bottom review of the Siegelman case once they had lost their first run at me in 2004."

Another was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who visited U.S. Attorney Leura Canary in Alabama after the first case against Siegelman was thrown out by the judge and, far from criticizing her failure, offered his strong support. "Shortly after the case was lost by the U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, who is a close social friend of Karl Rove's, Alberto Gonzales comes to Alabama to give her an applause and to pat her on the back and to shore her up and to tell everybody what a great U.S. Attorney she was."

Siegelman also noted that when the government witness who was preparing to testify against Siegelman told a room full of Department of Justice representatives that he had also given cash and blank checks to two prominent Republicans -- former Attorney General William Pryor and Senator Jeff Sessions -- "not one word was said and nothing was done."

"Every single one of those people had a conflict and should have stepped out of that room at that time," Siegelman explained. "It cries about selective prosecution, but it also cries out, who is holding this umbrella of protection over these people so that they felt comfortable operating in that environment where they were possibly, certainly violating the cannons of ethics, but possibly violating laws and certainly subverting my right to a fair trial?"

Siegelman added that "the Department of Justice, still to this day, is withholding over 500 documents that would shed some light on the origins of this case."

Karl Rove has denied having ever met Dana Jill Simpson, the Republican whistleblower who linked him directly to the prosecution of Governor Siegelman, and has rejected her allegations. He told GQ in an interview following Simpson's appearance on 60 Minutes, "She's a complete lunatic. I've never met this woman. This woman was not involved in any campaign in which I was involved. I have yet to find anybody who knows her. ... CBS is a shoddy operation. They said, 'Hey, if we can say "Karl Rove," "Siegelman," that'll be good for ratings. Let's hype it. We'll put out a news release on Thursday and then promo the hell out of it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.'"

Video and audio of the interview follow.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Siegelman_Rove_hijacked_Dept._of_Justice_0423.html



CIA Acknowledges It Has More Than 7000 Documents Relating to Secret Detention Program, Rendition, and Torture

24/04/2008

Human Right Groups Charge Documents Reveal CIA Stonewalled Congressional Oversight Committees; CIA Says Many Documents too Sensitive to Release

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must stop stonewalling congressional oversight committees and release vital documents related to the program of secret detentions, renditions, and torture, three prominent human rights groups said today. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law (NYU IHRC) reiterated their call for information, following the CIA's filing of a summary judgment motion this week to end a lawsuit and avoid turning over more than 7000 documents related to its secret "ghost" detention and extraordinary rendition program. This motion is in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in federal court last June by these groups. The organizations will file their response brief next month.

Among other assertions, the CIA claimed that it did not have to release

the documents because many consist of correspondence with the White House or top Bush administration officials, or because they are between parties seeking legal advice on the programs, including guidance on the legality of certain interrogation procedures. The CIA confirmed that it requested -- and received -- legal advice from attorneys at the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel concerning these procedures.

"For the first time, the CIA has acknowledged that extensive records

exist relating to its use of enforced disappearances and secret prisons,"

said Curt Goering, AIUSA senior deputy executive director. "Given what we already know about documents written by Bush administration officials

trying to justify torture and other human rights crimes, one does not need

a fertile imagination to conclude that the real reason for refusing to

disclose these documents has more to do with avoiding disclosure of

criminal activity than national security."

The CIA's admission that it possesses at least 7000 documents relating

to rendition, secret detention and torture generated renewed calls by the

human rights groups for transparency and accountability from the

government.

"The Freedom of Information Act is one of the major checks on

government criminality in this country," said CCR Executive Director

Vincent Warren. "The CIA has acknowledged that it has well over 7000

documents that relate to the torture and disappearance of men. These

include some of our clients, like Majid Khan, who were known to be in the program. The public needs to know what crimes were committed in our name and how they were justified. This has been the most secretive, least transparent administration in history, and it is well past time for

accountability."

AIUSA, CCR, and NYU IHRC have filed FOIA requests with several U.S. government agencies, including the CIA. These FOIA requests sought information about individuals who are -- or have been -- held by the U.S. government or detained with U.S. involvement, and about whom there is no public record. The requests also sought information about the government's legal justifications for its secret detention and extraordinary rendition program. Comprehensive information about the identities and locations of prisoners in CIA custody -- as well as the conditions of their detention and the specific interrogation methods used against them -- has never been publicly revealed. This lack of transparency continues to prevent scrutiny by the public or the courts and leaves detainees vulnerable to abuse and torture.

Although the CIA did release a paltry number of documents in response

to the FOIA request, most were already in the public domain, such as

newspaper articles and a single copy of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of civilians in times of war. The limited relevant documents that were released were documents pertaining to briefings demanded by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees regarding various aspects of the overseas detention and interrogation program.

Documents released to plaintiffs by the CIA demonstrate that many

within the government itself have been unable to obtain accurate

information from the CIA. These documents, which include letters from

Members of Congress to the CIA, demonstrate a pattern of withholding

information from Congress. In a pointed bipartisan letter on October 16,

2003, then-Chair and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence requested that CIA Director George Tenet provide senior level briefings on the treatment of, and information obtained by, three men known to be held in secret CIA detention, admonishing the CIA by stating that the committee was "frustrated with the quality of the information" provided in past briefings.

The CIA appears to have avoided answering detailed requests for

specific information, responding instead with form letters and references

to briefings. These practices led to a forceful letter from Senator Carl

Levin, Current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, (then the Ranking Member) who was attempting to investigate CIA involvement in detainee deaths. In a letter dated Oct. 24, 2005, Senator Levin noted that "[t]he lack of CIA cooperation with the investigations to date has left significant omissions in the record." The CIA's failure to cooperate with members of Congress demonstrates the need for public scrutiny of the secret detention and extraordinary rendition program under FOIA.

"The CIA has employed illegal techniques such as torture, enforced

disappearances, and extraordinary rendition," said Meg Satterthwaite,

Director of the NYU IHRC. "It cannot use FOIA exemptions as a shield to hide its violations of U.S. and international law."

In its legal filings, the CIA acknowledged that this program "will

continue." Some prisoners have been transferred to prisons in other

countries for proxy detention where they face the risk of torture and where they continue to be held secretly, without charge or trial. Human rights reports indicate that the fate and whereabouts of at least 30 people

believed to have been held in secret U.S. custody remain unknown.

In September 2006, President Bush publicly acknowledged the existence

of CIA-operated secret prisons. At the same time, 14 detainees from these facilities were transferred to Guantanamo and several more have arrived since. The administration has admitted to using so-called "alternative interrogation procedures" on those held in the CIA program, including waterboarding. The international community and the United States, in other contexts, have unequivocally deemed these techniques torture.

For more information or copies of the CIA's legal filings and released

documents, please contact ssingh@aiusa.org jnessel@ccrjustice.org or

opgenhaffen@juris.law.nyu.edu

For more information about the organizations involved, please see their

websites: http://www.amnestyusa.org http://www.ccrjustice.org or http://www.chrgj.org To see the most recent documents from this CIA filing, go to http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/cia-foia-documents.


SOURCE: PR NewsWire.com

http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=24220




WTF article of the year! The Congo has many problems but I’m sure penis theft is not one of them.

Penis theft panic hits city..

Wed Apr 23, 2008

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2319603620080423?sp=true



Republicans continue their economic assault on women including their own Mother’s, wives and daughters!

We women are still seen as second class citizens to the republicans. Women like foreign workers are nothing more than cheap labor for business in America.


McCain fails to vote on defeated equal pay for women Senate bill

04/23/2008

NEW ORLEANS — Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposed a Senate bill that sought equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.

The bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 56-42.

The Senate had scheduled a late Wednesday vote on the measure, which would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Both Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, left the campaign trail and returned to Washington to vote for the bill.

McCain skipped the vote to campaign in New Orleans.

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

The bill would have overturned a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination.

It was named for Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s plant in Gadsden, Ala., who sued for pay discrimination just before retiring after a 19-year career there. By the time she retired, Ledbetter made $6,500 less than the lowest-paid male supervisor and claimed earlier decisions by supervisors kept her from making more.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 last May 29 to throw out her complaint, saying she had waited too long to sue.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a statement blasting Senate Republicans following the defeat of the bill. "By obstructing a vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Senate Republicans have thwarted efforts to restore balance in the law and allow victims of wage discrimination to seek justice in the courts. In so doing, they have again stopped necessary progress for all Americans," read the statement, in part.

Democrats criticized McCain for opposing the bill.

"At a time when American families are struggling to keep their homes and jobs while paying more for everything from gasoline to groceries, how on Earth would anyone who thinks they can lead our country also think it's acceptable to oppose equal pay for America's mothers, wives and daughters?" Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney said.

McCain stated his opposition to the bill as he campaigned in rural eastern Kentucky, where poverty is worse among women than men. The Arizona senator said he was familiar with the disparity but that there are better ways to help women find better paying jobs.

"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.

"It's a vicious cycle that's affecting women, particularly in a part of the country like this, where mining is the mainstay; traditionally, women have not gone into that line of work, to say the least," McCain said.

McCain chose to visit the tiny hamlet of Inez, Ky., because it is where President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty. But McCain, contradicting President Bush by acknowledging the U.S. is presently in a recession, said Johnson's poverty programs had failed.

"I wouldn't be back here today if government had fulfilled the promise that Lyndon Johnson made 44 years ago," he said.

In recent weeks, McCain has proposed a series of tax breaks for corporations, government-backed refinancing for struggling homeowners and a summer holiday from gas taxes. He proposed another new program Wednesday: a tax write-off for companies that provide high-speed Internet access for underserved, low-income communities.

http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=10210



Hundreds riot at LA detention center for illegal immigrants

The Associated Press

Wed, Apr 23, 2008 (7:42 p.m.)

Hundreds of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation rioted at a county-run detention center and had to be subdued with tear gas, authorities said Wednesday.

The riot Tuesday started as a fight between detainees from rival gangs and spread to the detention center's outdoor yard, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Nearby sheriff's stations sent additional deputies to separate the detainees. The brawl was diffused "within minutes" after tear gas was used, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Fights among incarcerated gang members periodically break out at state jails, prisons and immigrant detention facilities, sometimes sparking riots.

The federal Department of Homeland Security contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to staff and manage the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, which holds about 900 detainees who are in the process of being deported or awaiting resolution of their cases in immigration courts.

Ten detainees were treated for injuries, including two who suffered serious head injuries.

Sheriff's officials will evaluate how Mira Loma guards separate detainees based on gang affiliation, Whitmore said. About 45 detainees involved in the riot have been identified as suspected gang members and moved to other federal facilities.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/23/hundreds-riot-at-la-detention-center-for-illegal-i/



IRAQ


04/24/08 AP: Reconstruction of Samarra shrine unites factions in Iraq It was the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine here that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war, bloodshed that has left tens of thousands dead and this ancient city in ruins.


04/24/08 AP: British foreign secretary visits Iraq amid further clashes Britain's foreign secretary held talks Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as at least 13 people were reported killed in the ongoing fighting between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S.-led forces.


04/23/08 AP: US auditor says Iraqi oil windfall growing even bigger than expected New data on Iraq oil revenues suggests that country's government will reap an even larger than expected windfall this year — as much as $70 billion (€43.9 billion) — according to the special U.S. auditor for Iraq.


04/23/08 AFP: Petraeus to head US Middle East forces General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, has been named to head US forces in the Middle East, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.


04/23/08 Reuters: Bangladesh evacuates stranded workers from Iraq Bangladesh has begun evacuating thousands of stranded workers who were trafficked into war-ravaged Iraq by illegal manpower traders, officials said on Wednesday. An Emirates Airlines flight carrying 42 Bangladeshis arrived in Dhaka...


04/23/08 khaleejtimes: Filipinos warned against defying Iraq travel ban The Philippine Consulate-General on April 23 repeated its caution to all Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates against violating the travel ban and risking their lives by travelling to Iraq for employment.


04/23/08 AFP: Death toll rises as Baghdad clashes spread Another 19 people were killed in fighting between militiamen and security forces in Shiite areas of Baghdad, officials said, as the death toll from weeks of street battles passed 360.


AFGHANISTAN


04/24/08 AFP: Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to a 'new beginning' in relations Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a "new beginning" to bilateral relations based on complete mutual trust and understanding, an joint statement said. The announcement came as Afghan foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta concluded...


04/24/08 CNN: First-ever oil paintings found in Afghanistan Scientists have found what they described this week as the earliest oil paintings ever discovered. Murals found on cave walls in Afghanistan prove that painting with oil had been going on in Asia for centuries before artists...



KURDISTAN


Turkish army says it strikes PKK group in N. Iraq

Thu Apr 24, 2008

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes fired on a group of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Wednesday as they tried to cross into Turkey, the army said on Thursday.

The army statement came a day after a military source said at least four Turkish military jets bombed Kurdish separatist targets inside northern Iraq.

"A group of armed PKK/KONGRA-GEL terror organization members, who were trying to cross into Turkey from northern Iraq's Hakurk region, were spotted and neutralized by fire from aircraft of the Air Forces," the statement said.

It gave no further details, but "neutralized" generally means killed.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group said Turkish planes bombed a remote part of northern Iraq but no one was hurt.

A PKK spokesman denied the Turkish army statement and said the Turkish bombing had caused no casualties among the rebels.

"The Turkish news is false. There was a fierce battle between Turkish forces and the PKK in the area of Sirnak (in southeastern Turkey) yesterday. It lasted for hours," Ahmed Danees, PKK spokesman in northern Iraq, said.

"There were killed and wounded on the Turkish side," he said.

The Turkish military staged an eight-day incursion in northern Iraq in February against the PKK, which uses northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks on targets inside Turkey.

Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of 40,000 since 1984, when the group took up arms to carve out an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey.

The United States and the European Union, along with Turkey, consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

(Writing by Selcuk Gokoluk; Editing by Giles Elgood)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2482862020080424?sp=true



The Kurds like the Armenians are being murdered by the Turks as Bush sits by an allows Iraq to be attacked!

Could the following article be one of the reasons for this new attack by Turkey?


: Staffan de Mistura takes Kirkuk issue to Brussels :

Since the 1980s and 1990s, thousands of Kurds, who were forcibly removed from their homes and farms by Saddam Hussein and replaced by Arab settlers, have been patiently waiting for their rights to be reinstated. Many Kurds from Kirkuk and its environs rushed back to the city following the downfall of Saddam Hussein, hoping that they will be able to return to homes and farms they lost. However, the U.S. military stopped the Kurds in their tracks and they were told that they should wait until an elected Iraqi government had emerged to address their grievances through legal channels. Large numbers of the internally displaced Kurds, who are still languishing in Kirkuk’s sport stadium and in ramshackle former government buildings, have been waiting for the government to restore their rights by implementing article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. However, foot-dragging by the government, supported by Washington and Turkey, has erected obstacle after obstacle to prevent implementation of that very article, which was approved by Iraq’s political factions and supported by American constitutional experts.

Article 140 was made redundant by the surprise visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to Kirkuk and her meetings with Kurdish, Arab and Turkman political factions on December 18, 2007. Kirkuk’s Arab and Turkman politicians, influenced by Arab nationalists and Turkey, opposed Kurdish demands during their meeting with Rice. It was after Rice’s visits to Kirkuk that the chairman of the Higher Committee for implementing article 140 resigned, stating that the legal time limit of December 31, 2007 had elapsed and that there was no more reason for the continuation of his committee. It was then that the issue of Kirkuk and other Arabized Kurdish territories was referred to the U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura in Baghdad. The referral of the issue to the U.N. practically froze all major steps taken since 2004 to address the issue of Arabized Kurdish territories.

Instead of expediting implementation of article 140 through mediations between Iraq’s political factions, de Mistura traveled to Brussels to seek advice from NATO and EU officials about the issue. On April 22, 2008, de Mistura, told a Reuters reporter, “The status of the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Kirkuk must be solved through a political formula and not a hastily organized referendum that would trigger violence.” [1] It was part of de Mistura’s job was to help organize a well-grounded and not hastily prepared referendum. Instead of trying to bridge the gap between Iraqi politicians, de Mistura traveled to Brussels to seek remedies for the Kirkuk issue from the EU and NATO members, including the U.S. and Turkey, who have been responsible for blocking implementation of the article in question. De Mistura is doing disservice to Iraq and the Kurds by internationalizing the issue in favor of Turkey and the U.S., who are interested mainly in the oil and gas resources of Kirkuk. The resolution of the problem requires not only political consensus but also practical technical measures to readjust the administrative boundaries of the old Kirkuk province.

It is puzzling to see NATO and EU officials discourage de Mistura from organizing a simple referendum in Kirkuk, while they were instrumental in dismembering the former Yugoslavia and replace it by Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The double standard exercised by the west just to appease one of their members, Turkey, is outrageous. The Kurds are merely trying to reclaim what has been taken away from them by force through legal channels and are not seeking independence as Turkey claims. It is the Turkish paranoia about the Kurds and not Kirkuk, which is dragging the whole region down a slippery slope. Turning their back on the civil and human rights of some 30 million strong Kurds is a recipe for regional instability.

While de Mistura calls Kirkuk a Kurdish city, yet he fails to pursue implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which prescribes remedies to the problem. De Mistura merely regurgitates the position of a Turkish parliamentarian, who visited Kikuk during fall 2006 and arrogantly told Kurdish officials that there will be no referendum on Kirkuk and that the future of the city should be settled through consensus. De Mistura says that the issue of “Kirkuk needs to be solved through a political formula in which everybody, majorities and minorities feel comfortable,” yet he offers no comfort to the Kurdish majority of Kirkuk. He told Reuters, “he would propose options so Iraq could decide under which authority to put four disputed locations,” near Kirkuk, but excluding Kirkuk. He assumes that the resolution of the administrative responsibility for those selected areas would help in deciding the future status of Kirkuk. This means an indefinite delay in addressing the grievances of more than 200,000 internally displaced Kurds, while Sunni Arab insurgents are consolidating their grip on Arabized Kurdish territories in Mosul, Salahadin, Kirkuk and Diyala. It is disappointing to learn that a U.N. representative like de Mistura say, “Nobody doubts that Kirkuk is a crucial area for Iraq and for the region,” while ignoring the rights of the province’s indigenous people. Is this what the United Nations stands for?

Since de Mistura is on a U.N. assignment in Iraq, he has no right to publicize his half-baked report, which should be submitted for the consideration of the Iraqi government. It is for the government to decide whether it should publicize the contents of such a sensitive report. De Mistura seems to be unaware of the fact that ethnic cleansing and sectarian violence has been rampant in Arabized Kurdish areas during the past five years in an effort to complete the job started by Saddam Hussein’s government. Agreements between Iraq’s political faction for holding a referendum on Arabized Kurdish territories should help stabilize the situation rather than not inflame it. The longer he waits, the more difficult it becomes to address the issue to the satisfaction of all parties, especially the Kurds. In a campaign of scare tactics, the U.S., Turkish and Iraqi Arab officials, helped by media, have often referred to Kirkuk as a powder keg, which could turn into a regional war. Now, de Mistura has coined a new phrase by describing the issue as the “mother of all issues.” One wonders whether de Mistura is trying to help solve the Kirkuk problem or he is merely trying to inflame the situation further.

http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=14744




Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Links of the Day 4/23/2008 Oil Hits New High and Don't forget who has the oil, Canadian Prime Minister warns US


Clinton Wins.

Gees I guess you people in Pennsylvania like the same ol same ol. Change must not appeal to you, you like the way you’ve been treated for the last 30 years.

I guess you too want to bomb , bomb, bomb bomb bomb Iran. Lemmie tell you we are not the policemen of the world Israel can take care of herself.

You like dirty political ads that scare you and you like the Karl Rove politics. Oh well.

Even we here in Missouri voted for change and went with Obama.

Here is the Pennsylvania results. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#PA


Clinton the Brawler Beats Obama the Consensus Builder

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted April 23, 2008.

Clinton wins Pennsylvania to fight on, while Obama maintains a firm delegate lead.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) pledged to continue her campaign Tuesday in a victory speech in Pennsylvania, where she said she was best qualified to be the Democratic presidential nominee after beating Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by 10 points in the Pennsylvania primary.

"Some people counted me out and said to drop out, but the American people don't quit and they want a president who doesn't want to quit either," Clinton told a packed Philadelphia ballroom in her first remarks in many days that contained no criticism of Obama -- after what many observers said was the most mud-filled primary yet.

Still, Clinton left no doubt that she would fiercely compete for the nomination, saying she would campaign in upcoming primaries that continue into early June.

"My answer to any who doubt is, 'Yes we will,'" she said, to cheers.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton led Obama 55 percent to 45 percent. Early analysis suggested Clinton's win would cut into Obama's 144-delegate lead by perhaps 20 delegates, a gain that could be reversed if Obama wins in North Carolina, as polling suggests, in two weeks. Also on May 6 is Indiana's primary, which is expected to be close.

"I am in this race to fight for every one who has been counted out," Clinton said, striking the underdog theme. Early in her remarks, while live on national television, she asked for donations, saying, "The fate of this campaign is in your hands."

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama, speaking at a rally in Evansville, Indiana, congratulated Clinton and thanked supporter, including new voters and people who returned to voting after many years. He then returned to his main theme in the final days of the Pennsylvania race: that he wants to change Washington, for both Republicans and Democrats, so Americans can have a government that is responsive to real public needs.

"We believe that the challenges we face are bigger than the smallness of our politics and we know that this election is our chance to change it," Obama said. "The question is not whether the other party will bring change to Washington, but will we ... because the truth is the challenges we face are not just the fault of one man or one party."

Summing up, Obama implicitly criticized the heavily negative tactics of the just-finished Pennsylvania contest, where most outside observers -- including Wednesday's editorial in The New York Times -- said Clinton was to blame for throwing the most political mud.

"We can be the party that says and does whatever it takes to win the next election," he said. "We can calculate and poll-test our positions, tell everyone exactly what they want to hear. Or we can be the party that doesn't just focus on how to win, but why we should win. We can tell everyone what they need to hear about the challenges we face. We can seek to redeem, not just an office, but the trust of the American people."

What Next?

As the candidates resume campaigning in the next primary states, Indiana and North Carolina, political analysts and Democratic Party leaders -- including approximately 850 super-delegates that have not yet pledged to back either candidate -- will be taking a hard look at the reality of which candidate can win the 2,024 delegates to get the nomination and be best positioned to challenge the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz).

The difference between the campaigns' views on this point is significant and can be described as largely generational. Clinton's campaign has been arguing that it is best suited to challenge McCain because its candidate has won in major must-win states for the fall, such as New York, California, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It discounts Obama's victories in red states where Republicans have held majorities until now or very recent state elections. On the other hand, the Obama campaign sees itself as redrawing the political map -- much like Ronald Reagan did in 1980 or John F. Kennedy did in 1960, when those candidates brought a new generation of voters into their parties.

Both candidates mobilized crucial bases in the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania. Clinton won in the state's blue-collar regions, where steel mills closed a decade ago and people have struggled to keep a middle-class lifestyle. She also won among seniors in a state that has one of the highest percentages of elderly in the country, Catholics, and according to reports, attracted young voters in the working-class regions.

Obama, in contrast, won among the state's African-Americans, who are concentrated in its cities such as Philadelphia. He also won among middle-class whites in the suburbs in the state's southeast region and among students at mid-state universities.

The party's superdelegates, its elected officials and luminaries, will parse these splits in coming weeks as they decide whom to support. Those political insiders will be looking at issues that will not be in front of voters in the remaining primary states, such as each candidate's fundraising abilities and damage to the party of an increasingly negative contest. Party leaders fear these attacks will continue and would damage the eventual nominee as Sen. McCain escapes scrutiny.

The Spin

Earlier Tuesday, both campaigns issued statements spinning Clinton's expected victory.

The Clinton campaign, for its part, does not acknowledge any scenario that would counter its claim that she can win the needed number of delegates to be the nominee. They asked Tuesday why Obama did not win decisively if he was the best candidate to beat McCain in the fall.

"Sen. Obama's supporters -- and many pundits -- have argued that the delegate 'math' makes him the prohibitive frontrunner," the Clinton campaign's prepared statement said. "So if he's already the frontrunner, if he's had six weeks of unlimited resources to get his message out, shouldn't he be the one expected to win tonight? If not, why not?"

The Obama camp, in contrast, noted that Clinton had advantages that money cannot buy, such as the endorsement of Pennsylvania's popular and influential Democratic Governor, Edward Rendell, and the backing of his organization in a state with a history of loyal party politics. Still, Obama's staff said he would clinch the nomination in coming contests because the "delegate math" was on his side.

"We anticipate having a comfortable lead when voting in the last nine contests wraps up in June," his campaign said. "Sen. Obama will continue to gain strength with Democratic super delegates. He will maintain his position as the best candidate to take on John McCain. And he will be ready to unite the American people and begin a new chapter in our history."

http://www.alternet.org/election08/83233/?page=entire


April 23, 2008

Q: What Happened in Pennsylvania's Primary Election Today?

A: We'll Never Know.

PA Primary Called "All-Important." Democracy? Not So Much.

Once again, Keystone Staters were forced to cast their votes on non-transparent, unreliable and often inaccessible electronic voting machines, machines that produce results that cannot be proven to have any relationship whatsoever to the votes actually cast by voters.

While it's not possible to know how Pennsylvania as a whole voted today, nor whether any individual vote was counted as cast--and it never will be known--it is possible to know that eligible voters were denied the right to cast a ballot, that machines malfunctioned, that election laws were broken.

For details on that, we refer you to Velvet Revolution co-founder Brad Friedman's coverage over at The BRAD BLOG: Pennsylvania Primary: E-Voting, Registration, Polling Place Problem Report Wire and background information in Monday's blog post: The Pennsylvania Primary: Democracy of the Gods: Tuesday's Election Will be 'Unrecountable, Unverifiable, and Unauditable'...

For more analysis, check out Voice of the Voters on Wednesday night, April 23. This weekly election reform radio show hails from Pennsylvania, and host Mary Ann Gould has a great line-up of guests for this week. Listen online! or if you're in the greater Philadelphia area, tune in to 1360 a.m. ( http://www.1360wptt.com/ ) This week's special 90-minute show begins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

And, as always, check Daily Voting News by Voters Unite's John Gideon, posted daily at The BRAD BLOG or available by free email subscription from VotersUnite.org

Posted by Editor on April 23, 2008 7:33 AM

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce/


Brad has all the voting machine problems here http://www.bradblog.com/


News from the Votemaster

Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by about 9.4%. Here is the map of the results by county. More details can be found at the NY Times.


PA map


Obama did well around Philadelphia, including Dauphin, Lancaster, Chester, and Philadelphia counties, winning by 10% in most of them. He won by 20% in Centre county, where Penn State University is located and eked out a narrow victory in neighboring Union county. The rest of the state was Hillaryland, where she rolled up big victories. In Lackawanna county in the northeast, for example, she won by an astounding 48%. She even won Allegheny county (Pittsburgh) by 8%, an area Obama had hoped to win. All in all, the voting pattern was similar to Ohio.

Here is what the exit polls had to show. Among men it was Obama 53% to 46% but among women it was the reverse, Clinton by 56% to 44%. However, breaking that down by race gives a different picture. She won white men 53% to 46% and white women 64% to 36%. Obama won black men 96% to 4% and black women 89% to 11%. We've seen that before only never so starkly. Black women identify enormously by race and hardly at all by gender. By income we again see the usual pattern, with Clinton winning by about 10% in households making under $75,000 a year and Obama winning those making $150,000. Also following the usual pattern: among high school graduates, Clinton won by 28% while Obama won the people who have done postgraduate study by 4%. Clinton won among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Obama won voters under 44 and Clinton won voters 45 and older.

These demographics have held for pretty much all the big industrial states in the rust belt all year. What is new is the partisanship. 98% of the Clinton voters said they would be satisfied only if Clinton were the nominee and 97% of the Obama voters said it's Obama or nothing. Also, 94% of the Clinton voters thought she will be the nominee, despite most outside experts having serious doubts about that.

In short, the Democratic party is deeply divided and that division is likely to continue until at least June 3. There are very clear demographic groups supporting each candidate and elections seem to turn on which candidate's group is larger in a given state. In North Carolina, Obama is likely to win due to the presence of many black voters, who go overwhelmingly for Obama. Clinton is likely to abandon North Carolina and concentrate entirely on Indiana, which also votes May 6. A clear Obama victory there could knock her out, but the state is a mixture of rural and rust belt, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, so she has a good chance there.

Here is a new poll of North Carolina. We also have new head-to-head polls in New York, showing either Democrat beating McCain there.


State

Pollster

End date

Clinton

Obama

North Carolina

SurveyUSA

Apr. 21

41%

50%


http://www.electoral-vote.com/


Obama camp charging voting problems in PA

Nick Juliano
Published: Tuesday April 22, 2008

Update: Local campaign alleges 'dirty tricks' in voting problems

Barack Obama's campaign has been circulating anecdotal reports of voting machine problems in some Philadelphia precincts, according to news reports.

The site Election Journal has been compiling reports of voting machine malfunctions and other problems throughout the day Tuesday. Brad Friedman also is compiling reports of voting problems on his blog.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, several machines were malfunctioning in the city, leading one local candidates campaign to allege "dirty tricks" were the cause.

Readers and Inquirer reporters attempting to cast ballots this morning found long lines across the region created by broken machines.

One of two machines was down at a busy Delaware County polling site. About 50 people already had voted by 9:15 a.m. at the Temple Israel on Spruce and Bywood Avenue in Upper Darby, which is heavily populated by immigrant and first time voters. Many of those freshly-minted voters had difficulties using the one machine that still functioned. "Hell of a day for one of the machines to be down," said one poll worker.

In South Philadelphia, both voting machines were broken at 4th and Ritner, smack dab in the middle of a John Dougherty strong hold. "The dirty tricks have begun," said Frank Keel, spokesman for the Dougherty campaign, who sees a conspiracy.

A local elections official interviewed on MSNBC acknowledged some problems early Tuesday morning, but he said those had been resolved before midday. He denied reports that only one or two voting machines were functional in some predominantly African American neighborhoods.

"We had a few problems early on. We always do," Fred Voight, a deputy commissioner in Philadelphia told MSNBC.

Video of Voight's interview is available here.

He called reports of machines breaking down "flat out untrue" and said "everything is working throughout the city as we speak." The interview aired around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The Justice Department announced Monday that it would have monitors in Philadelphia to ensure compliance with voting laws.

Obama's campaign apparently passed along anecdotal reports of voting machine problems earlier Tuesday morning, MSNBC reported. Voight told the network that "campaigns are like four steps removed from where things are actually happening."

In two Pittsburgh neighborhoods, Obama's campaign also circulated reports of voting problems, according to the Tribune Review:

Obama's campaign said there were problems with machines in Lincoln Place and the Hill District, but county officials couldn't confirm that.

The Post Gazette also reported some minor problems but said they weren't causing major delays:

Because of the expected large turnout, election judges' difficulty getting machines started at a polling place in North Braddock and another in the city's Banksville section prompted some concern.

At these two sites, election judges, clerks and inspectors, all nominally paid volunteers, initially were unable to print out verification that the voting machines had been set at zero.

Nothing was wrong with the machines in either case, Mr. Wolosik said.

A technician was dispatched to each location and helped to properly set up the machines.

More than 30 people in Banksville and several more in North Braddock used emergency paper ballots to cast their votes.

Post-Gazette readers also reported problems at one or two polling stations this morning, including Graham Field and Beacon Hill in Wilkinsburg.

No details were available about those issues.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Philadelphia deputy commissioner Fred Voight

DEVELOPING...

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_camp_charging_voting_problems_in_0422.html


BUSH IN DENILE

Bush Says US Not in Recession; Dollar Slumps to New Low; Oil Hits New High

By Scott Stearns
New Orleans
22 April 2008

U.S. President George Bush says he is concerned about rising gasoline prices and the effects of higher energy costs on an already slowing economy. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush made the comments in New Orleans, where he has been meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

President Bush says the U.S. economy is not in recession, but there is no doubt it is slowing down with higher food and health care costs depressing retail sales and a growing number of Americans struggling to make their house payments.

Record-high oil and gasoline prices are only making things worse. Speaking to reporters at the close of a summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, President Bush again called on Congress to approve a controversial plan that would allow drilling for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge.

"No question rising gasoline prices are like a tax on our working people," he said. "What is happening is that we have had an energy policy that neglected hydrocarbons in the United States for a long period of time, and now we are paying the price."

The president's comments came as the price of crude oil reached a new record above $119 a barrel and the U.S. dollar hit a record low against the euro. The U.S. housing market also continues to drag down the economy. Home sales and prices fell again last month with banks repossessing more and more homes as owners default on their mortgages.

Mexican President Calderon said the U.S. slowdown is being felt beyond its borders.

"I think that the steps taken so far by the fiscal tax monetary authorities in the United States and the Bush administration and in general have been appropriate. They have been the right measures, and we hope that they will very soon demonstrate effects so that we have a quick recovery among all our economies."

President Bush and opposition Democrats in Congress agreed on a temporary economic stimulus package of business incentives and tax rebates earlier this year. Mr. Bush said tax rebate checks should reach more than 130 million households next month, and that should begin to help the economy by the start of the third economic quarter in July.

He also called on Congress to make his record tax cuts permanent and criticized Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for saying they would repeal some of those cuts for wealthier Americans.

"You got people out there campaigning, 'Well, we are just going to tax the rich.' You can't raise enough money to meet their spending appetites by taxing the so-called rich," he said. "Every one of those so-called tax-the-rich schemes ends up taxing the middle class families. And in a time of economic uncertainty, we need tax certainty. At a time of rising gasoline prices, we need to be sending a message to all Americans: We are not going to raise your taxes."

This was the last North American leaders' summit for President Bush, who will be leaving office before next year's meeting in Mexico.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-22-voa54.cfm


Bush is running around the world trying to salvage his legacy. Fer-git-about-it George.

You sucked, your Administration sucked, your foreign policy sucks, EVERYTHING about your Presidency sucked.

Bush Hosts Middle East Leaders to Discuss Peace Effort

By VOA News
23 April 2008

U.S. President George Bush is hosting Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this week to discuss the Middle East peace process.

Mr. Bush held a private breakfast Wednesday with King Abdullah, who has supported the Bush administration's effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the president's term ends early next year. King Abdullah later left the White House, making no comments to reporters.

Mr. Abbas is due to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later Wednesday. He meets Thursday with President Bush.

The Palestinian president recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a proposed peace conference to be hosted by the Kremlin.

Mr. Bush is set to visit the Middle East next month.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-23-voa14.cfm


Lets see if the MSM shows us this News Conference today. I’m betting they won’t. Maybe LeftTV or Democracy Now will air it.

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Walkout Coalition To Hold Press Conference Tomorrow to Support Rutgers Students Prosecuted for Protesting Iraq War

Charges Especially Contentious as Walkout Was Widely Reported as Peaceful with Police Pleased

New Brunswick, NJ – Tuesday April 22, 2008 – Three Rutgers students, Erik Straub, a Rutgers College junior and member of Tent State University/Students for a Democratic Society, Suzan Sanal, a Douglass College junior and member of Rutgers Against the War, and Arwa Ibrahim, a Rutgers College senior, have been issued summons for activities that took place during the March 27, 2008 Rutgers Walk Out Against the War. These three students will be issuing a statement at a press conference immediately preceding their first trial date this coming Wednesday, April 23rd at 11:00AM during the Tent State University event located on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ. The press conference will take place at the Vietnam War Memorial on Voorhees Mall.

The Walkout brought together about 600 Rutgers students and supporters, who walked out on their daily routine and rallied in protest of the war in Iraq. The Walkout culminated in a march, with an estimated 300 participants, that took a path through the streets of downtown New Brunswick and onto nearby highway Route 18.

Despite the fact that the action involved hundreds of students, police singled out only three for prosecution. Furthermore, while for the second year in a row the protest yielded no injuries, no arrests, and no incidents of vandalism or property damage, the New Brunswick Police Department is charging the three students with 'recklessly creating … a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by an act which serves no legitimate purpose.'

"91 Rutgers students will be shipped to Iraq beginning this month; Rutgers students are significantly more likely to be put into harm's way due to the criminally negligent actions of President Bush than they ever will be attending a protest in New Brunswick," replied Jean Pierre Mestanza, a member of the Walkout Coalition "The only hazardous and dangerous situation that has been created has been the result of the decision by the US government to invade Iraq." Mestanza went on to cite a recent report by the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a respected Defense Department research center, which referred to the Iraq war as "a major debacle."

Reactions among organizers of the Walkout have been mixed.

"I called my parents as soon as I found out," said a participant at the Walkout who wishes to remain anonymous. "I was worried when I heard they were prosecuting students because I was helping to organize during the march that day too. My job was mainly to walk around and make sure nothing got out of hand. One officer even thanked me after the event; I'm not sure if he opposed the war too or if he was just glad for the assistance we were providing by circulating through the crowd and keeping the situation calm and under control."

Other students took a different view.

"This is quite clearly selective political prosecution with the intent to intimidate organizers and prevent future protests from happening," said Adriel Bernal, a Walkout participant and member of Tent State University/Students for a Democratic Society. "They don't want us protesting against the war even if we're being peaceful and nonviolent. If we can't even protest peacefully in our own city, it's clear that our voices will never be strong enough to reach those in power elsewhere."

"While they're busy putting students on trial, they should be arresting the real criminals: the architects of the war," Bernal concluded.

The Walkout Coalition has issued the following demands in regards to the charges against Arwa, Suzan, and Erik, which they hope will be echoed and supported by the residents of New Brunswick, the Rutgers community, and peace and justice advocates across the United States and beyond:

To the New Brunswick Prosecutor's Office: Drop all charges against the Rutgers students being prosecuted in relation to the 2008 Walkout Against the War.

To the City of New Brunswick: Students are being prosecuted for peacefully opposing the war. It is obvious that the voice of students is not being considered in City Hall.

Therefore, we demand student seats on the New Brunswick City Council to represent our student neighborhoods. Student representation for our student wards! (www.empowernb.com)

As for Erik Straub, one of the students being prosecuted, he is trying to take everything in stride. "We all want our sisters and brothers in the military to come home," Straub explained. "While I don't relish the idea of spending any time in a jail cell, countless others have sacrificed even more in this unjust war. I am convinced we will defeat these unjust charges, but whatever happens, I believe I have a moral imperative to do whatever is required from me in the nonviolent pursuit of freedom from occupation for the Iraqi people and an end to the war."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=1002


Don't forget who has the oil, Canadian Prime Minister warns US


US, with less than 5 percent of the World's population, reports nearly 10 percent of its citizens behind bars


Fingerprints Aren’t ‘Personal Data’, Says US Homeland Security Chief


Load Up The Pantry, This Is Not A Drill


This is a must read article it’s written by a libertarian but he makes some sense.

Topic: Energy
It's the End of the World, as We Know it.

World oil production has peaked and is now in free-fall. The world as we know it will never be the same.

by Kipper Mathews
(Libertarian)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

With the latest crude oil price hitting $115 a barrel on Wall Street and more increases predicted to be on the way. I decided to do a little intensive investigating to see if I could find a common denominator between the rise in oil and the sharp incline in gold prices.

It wasn't long before I realized my search needed to be refined to just oil and it looks as though I may have to write about oil and gold together at another time, as there is so much that needs to be reported on with oil alone.

I figured that the big increases probably had something to do with Big Oil, the wars in the Middle East and/or George Bush and his friends pockets. Unfortunately, from a writers point of view, there is no obvious corporate conspiracy to blame it on.

The answer simply was in supply and demand, as production can't keep up with the worlds expanding addiction for not just gasoline, but for all of the many products and services that we take for granted, such as manufacturing, the computer industry and food production and transportation which are so dependent upon oil.

Our whole country and most of the industrialized countries of the world can't survive without oil as we have steadfastly defined our culture around its production.

The world as we know it is abruptly coming to an end and most people aren't even aware of it.

It is not that we are running out of oil so much as it is that we can't produce it fast enough to support the economy.

In the 1960's gas seemed to be an endless commodity and service stations around the country were having what was referred to as "gas wars." Stations were selling gas for as little as 18 cents per gallon trying to steal customers from their competitors.

Continued here http://www.nolanchart.com/article3498.html


Denmark evacuates Algeria, Afghanistan embassies over 'imminent' threat


Brown Faces Growing Revolt Over UK Tax Increase On 5.3 Million Of Poorest Families


Olmert tells Syrian President Assad he agrees to cede whole Golan for peace


Iran, UN nuclear watchdog agree to discuss nuclear allegations


Using Food to Make Fuel Is Criminal, Venezuela Says


Calderon defends Mexican immigrant workers in US


Bush, Harper, Calderon Defend Trade Amid Backlash


Ya think cuz Mexico gave Halliburton the contract to repair oil lines etc? YES I DO!

Mexican oil output falls 7.8 percent in first quarter


Mexico could lose its status as one of the World's largest oil exporters


The OCCUPATION of Iraq must end now!



IRAQ


04/22/08 KUNA: Arab angst over Shiite power underpins Iraq policy

Ever since the fall of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, Sunni Arab countries have had trouble adjusting to the emergence of a powerful Shiite-led Iraq. Sunni Arab governments have held back from establishing full diplomatic ties with Baghdad...


04/22/08 KUNA: Sadr cannot be defeated by force

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr says the next step is "open war". The US-backed government shows no sign of backing down. Suddenly, after many months in which the news from Iraq has been mostly about falling violence, the country is reeling...


04/22/08 MNF: Marines attacked by SVBIED near Ramadi - 2 killed, 3 wounded

Two MNF-West Marines were killed when a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated at an entry control point in the vicinity of Ramadi, Iraq, at approximately 7:30 a.m. April 22. The SVBIED attack wounded three other Marines.


04/22/08 MNF: Marines attacked by IED - 1 killed, 1 wounded

A Multi-National Force – West Marine was killed by an improvised explosive device in Basra, Iraq, April 21. Additionally, one Marine was injured in the attack.


04/23/08 WaPo: Iraqi Women Take On Roles Of Dead or Missing Husbands

Thousands of Iraqi women have in recent years embraced new roles as violence has claimed their men. For Abadi, 43, the turning point came when she accepted the powerful assault rifle from friends concerned about her welfare.


04/23/08 WaPo: Iraqi Christians Struggle With Fear After Slayings

At the Rev. Thair Abdal's church, where on Sunday mornings sweet songs of prayer stream from the doorway, the congregation's fear of death leaves the sanctuary half-filled.


04/23/08 AP: Sadr City residents caught in the middle of Iraq showdown

Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Once-thriving markets are nearly empty as residents fear being caught up in gunbattles and airstrikes or face intimidation by gunmen who rule the streets.


AFGHANISTAN


04/23/08 AP: Denmark evacuates embassies in Algeria, Afghanistan

The Danish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it has evacuated its staff from embassies in Algeria and Afghanistan because of threats after newspapers reprinted a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.


04/23/08 TIME: 13 Killed in Attacks

A spate of suicide bombings and other attacks on security forces in southern Afghanistan Wednesday left 13 people dead and 24 others wounded, officials said

04/23/08 Reuters: Taliban kill seven Afghan police

Taliban insurgents killed seven Afghan policemen in an attack on a police post and a separate suicide bomb blast, officials and witnesses said. Five police were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked their post in the eastern province...


04/21/08 Reuters: Pakistan frees cleric who fought U.S. in Afghanistan

Pakistan's new government on Monday released the founder of an outlawed pro-Taliban militant group which has been involved in insurgency in both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, an official said.


04/21/08 Newsweek: Taliban Shifts to Small-Scale Operations in Afghanistan

In many ways the Kajaki dam is a symbol of Afghanistan's troubled history. Built by the United States back in the 1950s, it fell into disrepair for lack of spare parts under the Taliban.


04/21/08 Reuters: The Terrible Plight of Afghan Children

Afghan labourer Chaman travelled a whole day to bring his son to Kabul to have a kidney stone removed after doctors in their home province turned them away because they could not afford the fees.


04/22/08 RTTNews: Taliban Attack Checkpoint In Southern Afghanistan Killing Six Policemen

#Suspected Taliban militants attacked a border police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan and killed six policemen, police said Tuesday.






Bush' Way of Bringing the Troops Home

Bush' Way of Bringing the Troops Home
If Not Now When?