19,000 dead, 42,000 injured in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan

the death toll is rising dramatically... a major, major disaster... i am waiting to hear from a friend in kabul...

Pakistan says more than 19,000 have been killed by Saturday's powerful earthquake that also hit northern India and Afghanistan. [...] Another 42,000 people are believed to be injured, said military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan.

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Communications in Latin America

one of the more remarkable advances in communications has taken place over the past twenty years in the countries of the developing world... it used to be a joke about how long it would take to get a land-line telephone installed in mexico, for instance, even if you were among the fortunate few who could afford one.... then came the cell phone and, voilà, suddenly everybody had a cell phone, from the traveling salesman to the high-school teenager to the lowliest street vendor... land-lines were suddenly passé... the eternal wait for a phone to be installed was history...

The statistics seem to reflect encouraging progress: the number of telephones per 100 inhabitants rose from 23.12 to 52.7 in South America between 1999 and 2004, while Central America experienced a leap from 17.24 to 47.9, more than tripling the population's access to telephone service.

[...]

Of the 193 million telephone subscribers in South America in 2004, 62.6 percent were mobile phone users. While the number of fixed-line telephone connections grew by eight percent annually over the last five years, cellphone use expanded by 32.6 percent. The figures for Central America are similar: 10.3 percent and 38.8 percent, respectively.

most of the service, however, is pre-paid...

Practically all of the mobile phones in some of the region's countries are used on a prepaid basis. This was the case for 99 percent of cellphones in Suriname last year, 93.5 percent in Mexico, 93.3 percent in Venezuela and 80.5 percent in Brazil, as compared with six percent in the United States.

then, there's internet connectivity...

While the number of Internet users has rapidly expanded, it had still reached only 12 per 100 inhabitants throughout Latin America and the Caribbean last year, which is five times less than in the United States and Canada.

the above figures on internet usage are hugely misleading, however... in two places with which i am quite familiar, buenos aires and acapulco, there are internet cafes (cibers in the local vernacular), often two to a block, which are, more often than not, packed during evening and weekend hours... some cater to the younger crowd, offering networked computer games in addition to chat and basic internet access... some are more sedate and, consequently, charge a bit more per hour... virtually every young person over the age of 12 displays a surprising level of computer literacy, brandishes computer game skills to rival any american kid's, and sports an msn messenger address and contact list of similar age youth from all over latin america numbering in the dozens... if the user-per-inhabitant figure was revised to include this internet user community, it would present quite a different picture...

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Saturday photoblogging - Macedonia

a couple of shots from my stint this past july in macedonia...



The view from the outdoor patio
of the hotel in Galicnik.



A view of Lake Mavrovo from the
road leading up to Galicnik.
(Photo courtesy of my good friend, Slobodanka.)

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Allowing the military to operate domestically - the push is on

first, it was using the military as first-responders to domestic disasters... then it was possibly reviewing and negating the posse comitatus act... then, bush suggests using the military to quarantine avian flu victims... now, we have this...

As part of the expanding counterterrorism role being taken on by the Pentagon, Defense Intelligence Agency covert operatives need to be able to approach potential sources in the United States without identifying themselves as government agents, George Peirce, the DIA's general counsel, said yesterday. [...] "We are not asking for the moon," Peirce said.

i keep posting on these disturbing developments, the most recent being a diary i lifted from kos that captured my deep unease... undeniably, there's a push on by bushco to use the military as the prime responder in domestic situations... that means one thing and one thing only - martial law... with the military as domestic police and bush as police chief, we're gonna be even more screwed than we are now...

The legislative proposal has been controversial on Capitol Hill and has drawn criticism from groups concerned with privacy and civil liberties. The House's intelligence authorization bill, which passed in June, does not include the provision, which is similar to a proposal that was eliminated last year from the legislation.

[...]

"I'm pretty alarmed" by the proposal, said Timothy Edgar, the American Civil Liberties Union's national security policy counsel, saying it could conceivably be used by Pentagon intelligence officers "as a loophole to attend political or other meetings as part of an initial assessing contact."

[...]

In the interview, Peirce said the new authority "would not be used very often and only on an exceptional basis." He pointed out there are requirements in the Senate committee language that the intelligence sought be "significant" and that it "cannot be reasonably obtained by overt means." It also dictates that collecting the information may not be undertaken "for the purpose of acquiring information concerning the domestic activities of any U.S. person."

yeah, uh-huh... right... just trust us... s-u-u-ure... here's the key phrase: "covert operatives need to be able to approach potential sources in the United States without identifying themselves as government agents..." you can't have trust when you don't know what's going on in the first place...

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DeLay's attorney files for dismissal

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal team asked a court Friday to throw out his indictment, arguing that a Texas district attorney "attempted to browbeat and coerce" grand jurors into filing criminal charges.

Prosecutor Ronnie Earle "and his staff engaged in an extraordinarily irregular and desperate attempt to contrive a viable charge and get a substitute indictment of Tom Delay before the expiration of the statute of limitations," DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin said in a court filing alleging prosecutorial misconduct.

posturing... blustering... feints... parries... grandstanding... accusations... lamentations... denials... indignation... yadda... yadda... yadda... and where she stops, nobody knows...

the part i REALLY like is "Former House Majority Leader..."

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Talks on independence for Kosovo to begin

Talks on whether Kosovo should remain part of Serbia or be given independence should start soon, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said.

phew... this is gonna be tough... i've spent 4 separate extended assignments in skopje, macedonia, less than an hour's drive from pristina, the kosovar capital... the kfor (acronym for the un forces in kosovo) troops take weekend leave in skopje and often fly in and out of the skopje airport... i had two friends who saw their mother shot and killed as they were escaping the serbian massacre across the border into macedonia... one of them still suffers from a bullet wound in his right shoulder and their father is permanently crippled... many thousands of ethnic albanians escaped across the macedonian border which, of course, has created tensions with ethnic macedonians... when i was in belgrade in july, i saw a large poster of radovan karadzic prominently displayed on the side of a building in the city center... the old enmities are still very much alive...

Belgrade has complained that Serbs in Kosovo are denied basic human rights such as safety and freedom of movement.

[...]

Ethnic Albanians make up 90% of Kosovo's estimated population of two million.

Of some 200,000 Serbs left in Kosovo, about half live in enclaves protected by Nato troops.

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Jesus is coming...

and boy is he pissed!

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I can't wait to see this

Good Night and Good Luck looks like it delivers. Check out the trailer.

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AP-Ipsos Poll: Bush losing his base

incredible loss of support...

Those most likely to have lost confidence about the nation's direction over the past year include white evangelicals, down 30 percentage points, Republican women, 28 points, Southerners, 26 points, and suburban men, 20 points.

30, 28, 26, 20... yep, he's tanking...

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Flanigan withdraws - the message is getting out

maybe, just maybe, the recent hoo-ha over rampant cronyism is beginning to be felt... the last thing we needed was another pre-tainted, litmus-tested, business revolving-door crony as deputy attorney general... we can always hope...

Timothy E. Flanigan has withdrawn as a nominee to be deputy attorney general amid a delay in his confirmation because of his dealings with indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, The Associated Press has learned.

[...]

He was nominated in May to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' top deputy. It's a role he also held when Gonzales was White House counsel in Bush's first term.

[...]

Flanigan joined Tyco in 2002, after leaving the White House. He has told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff, subject of a federal investigation into his lobbying activities, began lobbying on behalf of Tyco in the spring of 2003 and bragged about his ties to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Karl Rove, Bush's top political aide.

"Members of this committee have asked a number of questions of Mr. Flanigan about these incidents, but each set of responses leads to more questions," [said] Sen. Patrick Leahy...

asking questions of this bunch ALWAYS leads to more questions unless, of course, they're flat-out lying which is, unfortunately, also never an unwarranted assumption...

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A federal prosecutor's take on Rove's 4th grand jury appearance

"Stunning," a former federal prosecutor told Salon.com. "There is no reason for Rove to make this appearance unless he and his counsel believe he is at serious risk of indictment. None."

an-tici-pation... an-ti-ci-pay-ay-shun is keepin' me way-ay-ay-itin'...

(thanks to raw story...)

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Another Dope Slap for George

First, Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, it's the IAEA and Mohamed ElBaradei who are sharing the honors.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei, who clashed with Washington over Iraq, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting the spread of nuclear weapons.

[...]

The five-member Nobel Committee expressed hope that the award would spur work to outlaw atomic weapons.

"At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance," it said in a statement.

[...]

ElBaradei came to prominence before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 by challenging Washington's argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found after Saddam's overthrow.

Some experts say the IAEA has achieved too little in Iran or North Korea to merit the 2005 prize. But ElBaradei was unbowed.

"The award sends a very strong message: 'Keep doing what you are doing -- be impartial, act with integrity', and that is what we intend to do," ElBaradei said after applause from U.N. staff.

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BBC chickening out on Bush god claim story

do ya suppose they had some pressure from tony-the-poodle...?

BBC programme editors turned lukewarm on a claim by a BBC2 programme that George Bush believed God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan after a strong denial by the White House.

Just 24 hours after accusations that the corporation's news coverage was backing away from risk-taking, some of the BBC's key outlets decided not to run an exclusive story unearthed by BBC2 about the US president.

maybe they're just afraid of scotty...?

One BBC source said: "The denial by the White House put some programme editors off. It probably played a big part in some of their decisions not to run the story."

or are they still stinging from poodle-boy's remarks to rupert...?

It is perhaps inevitable that suspicions may be raised about any cautious reception to BBC stories that do not present Mr Bush in the best light following Rupert Murdoch's comments that Tony Blair had told him BBC World's coverage of Hurricane Katrina was "just full of hate for America and gloating about our troubles".

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NYT on Bush's speech yesterday

[Bush] delivered a reprise of his Sept. 11 rhetoric that suggested an avoidance of today's reality that seemed downright frightening.

frightening...? not any more... when you've heard george deny reality enough times, it loses its power to shock... my hunch is that very few people actually listened and the majority just tuned it out... i think it's pretty clear to most people by now that he really doesn't have anything to say... in a past life, i remember a little note taped on the electric hand-dryer in the men's restroom at the university where i worked - "press this button for a few words from the dean..."

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I thought Rove was going voluntarily

the news yesterday seemed to indicate that rove was either going to testify of his own accord or that he volunteered, not exactly how it appears in today's wapo... more spin, perhaps...?

yesterday...

Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity...

today...

The special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case has summoned Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, to return next week to testify to a federal grand jury in a step that could mean charges will be filed in the case, lawyers in the case said Thursday.

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Bush at 29% in NY and 37% nationally - He's tanking, folks...

the kool-aid drinkers are stickin' with him but i bet that's going to change over miers... these are dismal numbers and the percentage drop among the independents is staggering - 11 points IN A MONTH...! (i posted on the 29% in ny yesterday...)

President Bush's job approval rating has fallen to his lowest rating ever. 37 percent now approve of the job he is doing as president, while 58 percent disapprove. Those in his own party are still overwhelmingly positive about his performance (nearly 80 percent approve), but the president receives little support from either Democrats or Independents. And while views of President Bush have lately not changed much among Republicans or Democrats, his approval rating among Independents has dropped 11 points since just last month, from 40 percent to 29 percent now.

(this is a cbs news poll...)

maybe he oughta start lookin' for a new job...

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Oh, damn... A clear view of the horror that's unfolding...

i just ran across this diary on kos from michael alton gottlieb... i wish to hell i didn't agree with him but every molecule in my body resonates with everything he says and has for quite some time... i generally avoid wearing my tin-foil hat in public but, i'm tellin' ya, what mr. gottlieb says puts all the pieces together... my career calling requires no small degree of skill in pattern recognition and, heaven help us all, this is precisely the pattern i've been watching form since 2000... obviously it was taking shape before that but 2000 is when i tuned in... i've posted the whole thing... read it...

I've been doing some thinking. A dangerous thing on a good day; an embarrassing thing on a bad day. But, I've been thinking. Connecting the dots of snippets, sound bites and neo-con love letters. Reading between the lines of malapropism, insinuation and `in plain sight' subterfuge. I've been anxiously analyzing the pressure on my frontal lobe; the tin-foil lobe that lobotomists are always so eager to excise.

And through the thinking; a dangerous liaison of cynicism, paranoia and epiphany; I have reached a conclusion; inescapable, indivisible and intuitively certain.

Something wicked this way comes.

Three things have jumped out at me lately:
1. Tularemia at the DC March
2. Bush's Emergency Quarantine Plans
3. Libby's Love Letter to Miller

These are not the only things that course through my veins of suspicion and circuits of Cassandrian synapse. But they are the ones that speak to me in tongues of fire, fury and fear.

(more)

The something wicked galloping our way like a horseman of the apocalypse is a symptom or tactic, if you will, of a greater disease or strategy. Yes, I am talking in shadows, but the reason will become clear. Because, the greater accusation is so large and sinister even a bare whisper sounds hysterical. It's better to talk in signs, secret handshakes and smoke signals rather than loose lips. But in the end, my conclusion will be laid on the table for contemplation and perhaps ridicule. Call it cathartic rumination or crazy talk. But there is an incessant cranial itching; an exploding brain precursor and I must give vent to my premonition or blame myself later, after it is too late, for my reticent silence.

Let's begin with Libby's Ode to the Aspens.

Libby wants Miller to come back to life; to cover other stories for greater glories. And what are those stories?

You went to jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program.

This jumped out at me the first time I read Scooter's Ode to fearless reporting and selfless sacrifice.

Iraqi elections and suicide bombers go hand in hand. They are past, present and future. These stories are real and ongoing.

But how about biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program? They're linked in the same way grammatically, as elections and jihadists, but really what is he talking about? What biological threats? It's no secret Libby and his ilk want to use force, if necessary, to halt Iran's nuclear program for fear, real or imagined, of atomic weaponry. But he speaks with certainty about biological threats in the same literary breath as the Iranian nuclear program. Is he talking warfare, terrorism, bird flu?

Don't know. But it stands out. Libby speaks explicitly of a biological threat this fall.

At the press conference the other day Bush talked with glee of using the military to quarantine cities in the face of biological threat. He has no plan, as usual, but force of arms.

Yes. Thank you for the question. I am concerned about avian flu. I am concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world. I am -- I have thought through the scenarios of what an avian flu outbreak could mean. I tried to get a better handle on what the decision-making process would be by reading Mr. Barry's book on the influenza outbreak in 1918. I would recommend it.

The policy decisions for a President in dealing with an avian flu outbreak are difficult. One example: If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country, and how do you then enforce a quarantine? When -- it's one thing to shut down airplanes; it's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move.

Today Condi's State Dept. is holding an international avian flu preparedness conference.

The US Army is buying bulk Anthrax.

We all know about the strange case of Tularemia discovered during the big DC anti-war rally September 24th. What was the source of that biological threat significant enough for the government to warn doctors to be on the lookout for pneumonia like symptoms?

The "chatter" of biological threat has increased exponentially of late.

I just listened to the President's "major" speech about the `enemy.' Bush's Orwellian demagoguery and war mongering melodramatics only serve to fuel the hatred of the Islamists and further ignite the fire in the belly of those who can't see straight for their blind rage at the crusading infidel. The President in his incendiary irresponsibility taunts and dares the "enemy" to give us his best shot. The President, with his chicken-hawk heart, continues his "bring `em on" exercise of blood-letting bravado. And when the next attack comes, as it must, the President in his hermetically sealed bunker will smirk and say, "I told you so."

Whenever I hear our President talk of freedom I think of one thing: Freedom is Slavery.

And here we get to the crux of the matter; the point of the dangerous Bush strategy.

The men and token women in charge of the so-called Neo-con agenda have worked for more than a generation to achieve power.

The `crazies' in the basement of the Reagan White House have taken over the insane asylum. Their dominionist, Pax Americana vision of global conquest is as alive, vibrant and achievable as it ever was. We think we have them on the ropes as their failures mount and their embarrassments pile up.

But Bush's `major' speech today should dispel any notions of the crumbling Neo-con. It was a re-declaration of war. It was about `staying the course' through hell and high water. Bush's speech was a dismissal of dissent and a refusal to listen to the will of the people.

The Neo-cons are zealots. They are true believers. After a generation of slaving away to get what they want; in spite of the shaking heads and rolling eyes of Colin Powell pragmatic conservatives, the power is theirs and they will not give it up lightly.

They stole the election of 2000. They rigged the election in 2004. There will be no election in 2008.

Like it or not; believe it or not, the stage is set for a State of National Emergency and the suspension of the constitution; martial law.

They have been planning for more than 20 years, beginning with Ollie North's infamous REX-84. The extraordinary Executive power provided by the PATRIOT Act is another brick in the wall. The post-Katrina discussion of posse comitatus; the deployment of Federal force on local streets is another brick. The use of Blackwater USA mercenaries in post-Katrina New Orleans security operations is another. The Avian flu military quarantine plan is one more.

All they need is something wicked.

I have never been able to get the vision of the falling twin towers out of my mind. It is an apocalyptic vision of smoke, fire, blood, bones and rubble. Our collective conscience and unconscious were forever changed that day. It was a huge brick in the wall of accepting that "things are different now." It was All-of-Us through the looking glass.

Neo-cons talk about freedom and democracy but they do not believe a word of what they say. Neo-cons are not conservatives or religious fundamentalists. They are fascists.

They lie to get what they want and stop at nothing to achieve their goals. They are masters of propaganda and mass programming. They want us to believe in external enemies; barbarians at the gate. Meanwhile, the enemy within raids the treasury, disembowels the Constitution, weakens the nation and marginalizes the people.

When you look at a program like REX-84 you realize quickly what the elites are afraid to death of: Freedom and Democracy. It's a free people that scare the Neo-cons to death.

And that's why America is in such danger. That is why they will do anything to stay in power, even destroy the very thing they claim sacrosanct: the United States of America.

I am always amused when the 911 conspiracy buffs make their claims of "inside job." I am not amused by the conspiratorialists; but by those who dismiss them on the grounds that no matter how corrupt, deceitful and evil `they' may be; it is inconceivable that Americans would do harm to Americans.

I agree. But Neo-cons are not American. They are dangerous ideologues out to conquer the world. They have no loyalty to God or Country; but only their self-deluded dreams of power, control and wealth.

And so, in the ether there is lots of chatter right now. A chattering of threats; whispers of attack and rumors of war. Maybe I hear voices who speak in tongues. Maybe I see dead people. Some folks predict the weather through sore joints and swollen knees. Dogs bark and cats hide before an earthquake. And my frontal lobe bangs against my skull when I sense America is in mortal danger.

Call me crazy, but I say it again: something wicked this way comes.

no, i don't think you're crazy... i WISH i did, but i don't...

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Bush's mission from god ain't playin' well in the Guardian

the guardian's story on bush's mission from god is accompanied by this picture...



this can't be a good thing...

George Bush has claimed he was on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian politician in an interview to be broadcast by the BBC later this month.

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Argentina: double-digit economic growth offset by double-digit inflation

not good news for my porteño friends...

Rising price tags on everyday food items fuelled inflation of 1.2 percent in September, outpacing government forecasts just three weeks before key elections. Officials in the administration of President Nestór Kirchner admitted the month’s rise in the cost of living was bigger than they had expected. It dwarfed the previous month’s figure of 0.4 percent. Data send 12-month CoL increase into double digits for first time in more than two years.

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"Radical Islamic Empire..?"

the war of the empires - fundamentalist christian vs. islamic...

President Bush sought Thursday to revive waning public support for the war in Iraq, accusing militants of seeking to establish a "radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia" with Iraq serving as the main front.

does this guy ever listen to the words coming out of his mouth...? i'm reminded of a friend who, in the psychiatric segment of his r.n. training, was asked by his psych nurse instructor, "are those words that come out of your mouth the first time you've heard them too...?"

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Another nail-biting preview of the big show to come - a Rove teaser

'scuse ME...? rove is OFFERING TO TESTIFY...??

Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.

the suspense of watching the promos is killin' me...

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Bush's lightning-quick changes-of-subject

you gotta laugh... delay gets indicted and takes up prime front-page space and lead story status across the nation, if not the globe... so, whatazza the bush do...? changes the subject and nominates harriet miers which, in turn, takes up prime front-page space, etc., etc... oops...! now, miers has become a lightning rod so, whatazza he do...? changes the subject AGAIN by giving yet ANOTHER recycled speech on iraq, trying to stoke people's fears all over again... but, guess what... the far right, the hard-core movement conservatives that bush has promised so much to, much to george's dismay, don't give a shit about anything else except the fact that they DIDN'T GET THE PROVEN FAR RIGHT IDEOLOGICAL CONSERVATIVE APPOINTMENT TO THE SUPREME COURT THAT THEY HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FOR OVER 25 YEARS...! And, boy, THEY ARE PISSED...!

A day after Bush publicly beseeched skeptical supporters to trust his judgment on Miers, a succession of prominent conservative leaders told his representatives that they did not. Over the course of several hours of sometimes testy exchanges, the dissenters complained that Miers was an unknown quantity with a thin résumé and that her selection -- Bush called her "the best person I could find" -- was a betrayal of years of struggle to move the court to the right.

let's see how many times he's gonna try to change the subject if he or some of his inner court get slapped with indictments by patrick fitzgerald...

shit happens, george...

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Israeli troops using human shields: "cruel and barbaric..."

yeah, i would say so...

Israel's army must stop using Palestinian civilians as "human shields" in operations against suspected Palestinian militants, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

Palestinian and Israeli human-rights watchdog groups had sought the ruling. The court's decision that the practice is illegal under international law hardened a temporary injunction issued in 2002.

"The army has no right to use civilians as human shields ... It is cruel and barbaric," Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak wrote in a 20-page judgment.

it's amazing what they've gotten away with over the years... next question... what about those nuclear weapons...?

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Stick it to the poor and to hell with any implied social contract

the ship of fools plows ahead under full steam...

Let's not pretend that the Republican plan to cut Medicaid this fall has anything to do with finding the money to pay for Hurricane Katrina. Congressional leaders floated plans to slash the healthcare program for the poor by $10 billion in April, long before hurricane season.

[...]

It would be ironic and cruel if programs to help poor people elsewhere were sacrificed to repair the lives of the poor people who were in Katrina's path.

But that is precisely what is happening in Washington.

[...]

Bush has ruled out a tax increase to offset what could be $200 billion for the ambitious recovery program he outlined in his address to the nation from a ruined New Orleans last month. He has also ruled out any change in his plans for new tax cuts or in his effort to make his current tax cuts permanent. This can mean only two things: a continuing, dizzying rise in the deficit or an attack on government services. The president has decided on both.

hell-bent, these bastards are going to push their agenda forward, damn the public, damn the media, damn compassion, damn mother nature, damn reason, damn world opinion, damn indictments, damn rational members of their own party, damn anyone and anything that gets in their way...

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Leak investigation wrapping up plus a reminder from Larry Johnson...

if there's no indictments, i think it will be a sad day for justice in this country...

The federal prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of a CIA operative is expected to signal within days whether he intends to bring indictments in the case, legal sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was expected to notify officials by letter if they have become targets, said the lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Fitzgerald could announce plea agreements, bring indictments, or conclude that no crime was committed. By the end of this month he is expected to wrap up his nearly two-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

larry johnson, the ex-cia officer, has a post at tpm cafe that sums up, once again, the facts of the matter...

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Poverty keeps increasing in the U.S.

after seeing it unvarnished, splashed all over tv screens for nearly two weeks, these statistics carry a little more weight than just numbers...

Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.

Last year, according to government statistics, 1.1 million Americans fell below the poverty line. That equals the entire population of a major city like Dallas or Prague.

Since 2000, the ranks of the poor have increased year by year by almost 5.5 million in total.

meanwhile...

For the third consecutive year the rich got richer. In this, the 24th annual edition of The Forbes 400, the collective net worth of America's wealthiest climbed $125 billion, to $1.13 trillion.

[...]

Collectively, the top 10 richest Americans saw their collective net worth climb $125 billion, the magazine said.

an increase of $125B spread among 10 people...!! unbelievable...

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Blunt's name coming up along with DeLay's more and more

these guys are amazing... just think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that passed through their hands, money donated in good faith by people trying to support a political cause they believed in [after a pause for reflection, i realize that such a statement may be grossly naive on my part... they may well have been donating to buy influence... ~sigh~ ] and where did it go...? parties at the 2000 convention... man... what balls...!

Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.

[...]

"These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions," said Lawrence Noble. "It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source," said Noble, who was the Federal Election Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred.

None of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations DeLay collected for the 2000 convention were ever disclosed to federal regulators because the type of group DeLay used wasn't governed by federal law at the time.

anybody who reads this kind of stuff and can still say our system isn't terminally corrupt has got their head deep in the sand...

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The indictments are flowing - Safavian gets 5... Rove next...?

The five felony counts in the indictment charge David H. Safavian with obstructing Senate and executive branch investigations into whether he aided Abramoff in efforts to acquire property controlled by the General Services Administration around the nation's capital.

john at americablog offers some scuttlebutt on why his satanic majesty, karl, hasn't been seen lately...

I just talked to a source who told me that Karl Rove has been missing from a number of recent White House presidential events - events that he has ALWAYS attended in the past. For example, Rove was absent from yesterday's presidential press conference to promote Harriet Miers. These are the kind of events Rove ALWAYS attends, I'm told, yet of late he's been MIA each and every time.

My source tells me that the scuttlebutt around town is that the White House knows something bad is coming, in terms of Karl getting indicted, and they're already trying to distance him from the president.

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Trent Lott on Miers

"I don't just automatically salute or take a deep bow anytime a nominee is sent up," he said. "I have to find out who these people are, and right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know. I'm not comfortable with the nomination, so we'll just have to work through the process in due time."

there's an old saying... the rats who leave the sinking ship first are usually the best swimmers...

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Bush at 29% in NY

omg...!! he's below 30...!!

President Bush's job approval rating has hit an all-time low in New York with just 29 percent of New York voters giving him favorable marks, a statewide poll reported Wednesday.

Sixty-seven percent of those polled by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute disapproved of how the Republican president was handling his job.

well, you know how THOSE NEW YORKERS are...!

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Worker layoffs in NOLA... THIS is recovery...???

wtf...??? a ravaged city, dispossessed people, poverty, death, billions of dollars going to bush cronies for clean-up, and the new orleans mayor is laying off city workers because HE CAN'T MEET A PAYROLL...??? we should all be ashamed... un-friggin'-believable...

The mayor of this battered city said Tuesday that about half of its 6,000 public employees would be laid off because there was not enough money to meet the payroll.

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Miers a la Molly Ivins

molly ivins has an insightful run-down on harriet miers this morning on alternet written in her own classic texas point of view - and nobody does a texas point of view like molly ivins (except perhaps jim hightower)...

Miers' church states on its website that it believes in biblical inerrancy, full immersion baptism, original sin and salvation dependent entirely upon accepting Jesus Christ. Everyone else is going to hell.

[...]

[W]e are now beset by people who insist on dragging religion into governance -- and who themselves believe they are beset by people determined to "drive God from the public square."

This division has been in part created by and certainly aggravated by those seeking political advantage. It is a recipe for an incredibly damaging and serious split in this country, and I believe we all need to think long and carefully before doing anything to make it worse.

i don't care what bush says about harriet... i don't care what dobson or harry reid or tom coburn or kos or atrios or anyone else says... there are only two things that would qualify miers for a scotus appointment in bush's - oops, make that rove's - mind: fundamentalist evangelical christianity and unwavering loyalty to bushco... that she's a woman is only window-dressing... those two things, in addition to her lack of any judicial experience whatsoever, render her an unacceptable nominee... that said, i believe her confirmation will be easy and swift which is, in itself, a measure of the sad shape our country is in...

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Council on Foreign Relations view of U.S. - not pretty

here's an interesting perspective... the council on foreign relations, not a shabby outfit, is of the opinion that bush's leadership, among other things, is curtailing u.s. options on the global stage, including threatening u.s. sovereignty... a fairly grim perspective, one that many of us have speculated about, but here's validation from some heavyweights...

A combination of huge tax cuts, an insatiable appetite for foreign imports, especially oil, and record government spending is steadily eroding U.S. independence and freedom of action, according to a "special report" released Thursday by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The report by Prof. Menzie Chinn, a former senior economist for international financial issues on the White House's Council of Economic Advisers under both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, argues that the federal budget and current account deficits, which have deepened considerably over the last several years, increasingly threaten U.S. sovereignty and influence.

"Failure to take the initiative to reduce the twin deficits will cede to foreign governments increasing influence over the nation's fate," according to Chinn's report. "Perhaps equally alarming, it will lead to slower growth, escalating trade friction, and reduced American influence in political and economic spheres."

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Boo's and hisses for Bolton at Yale

It was a bittersweet homecoming for United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, a former chair of the Conservative Party who returned to the Yale Political Union Monday evening amid a chorus of hisses and politically charged questions. [...] Bolton argued that voluntary contributions from states would allow major donors such as the United States to choose to fund the U.N. programs that they believe to be the most efficient.

[...]

"Why shouldn't we pay for what we want, instead of paying a bill for what we get?" Bolton said.

The audience interrupted Bolton throughout his speech with loud banging on desks and hissing, the typical YPU expressions for approval and disagreement. When asked about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bolton said the U.S. -- not other countries or international organizations ­-- should hold its own citizens accountable for possible abuse.

"We don't need anybody else to judge us," he said. "We judge our own."

The answer prompted loud hissing from the audience, but Bolton offered students a question of his own.

"I'm just curious, those of you who are hissing, who do you think will judge better than us?" he asked the audience.

isn't that the same rationale bush uses when he hands a white house staffer the responsibility for investigating his administration's response to katrina...?

Some students said they thought Bolton was too controversial and combative, reflecting U.S. Senate Democrats' concerns about his ability to be a successful diplomat. Congressional opposition forced U.S. President George W. Bush '68 to appoint Bolton in a recess appointment this summer.

"He was extremely rude, extremely belligerent, everything the Democrats called him in confirmation hearings," Jed Glickstein '08 said.

at least he's consistent - consistently an asshole...

(thanks to raw story...)

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Bush bound and determined to use the military for domestic action

this guy keeps talking about using the military for domestic response... doesn't ANYBODY find this a little troubling...?

President George W. Bush suggested using the military to contain any epidemic of avian influenza on Tuesday, saying Congress needs to consider the possibility.

He said the military, perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to enforce quarantines if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.

gee... do ya think...? could he possibly mean...?

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener [Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness] said.

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Selling arms to the Saudis...

why aren't they just giving it away like they did not long ago with the $1.3B in arms for pakistan...? oh, wait... never mind... i forgot... pakistan is such an exemplar of democracy in the middle east and such a GOOD FRIEND of the u.s... besides the saudis can afford to buy them outright with all their oil money... (oh, and btw, let's not forget the u.s. again dominated global weapons sales last year, signing deals worth $12.4 billion, or 33.5 percent of all contracts worldwide...)

The Pentagon on Monday approved more than $2 billion in possible weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, including combat vehicles, aircraft parts and battlefield communications systems.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of three potential deals. It said the sales would help the U.S. by contributing to the security of a friendly country that "continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."

hah...? wanna run that last one by me again...? i coulda sworn you said the sale would contribute to keeping the saudi royal family in power...

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Miers - the least qualified in decades...

my sentiments exactly...

Running a state lottery does not qualify anyone for the Supreme Court. Solving a property rights dispute is also not a qualification, even if the client becomes president. Clerking for a federal district court judge and serving on a city council are meager additions to a resume for this job. Heading up a large law firm can demonstrate ability as a lawyer and manager but provide little experience with constitutional principles. Working as counsel to the president does inevitably involve major public issues, including questions of constitutionality. The counsel's job would be a significant qualification if it had been held for years rather than months.

All in all, Harriet Miers's work experience makes her one of the least qualified nominees for the Supreme Court in many decades.

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It ain't just the far right that's unhappy with Mier's nomination

like i posted earlier today, do ya suppose bush has finally figured out a way to piss EVERYBODY off...?

"The failure of this administration to nominate a Hispanic judge to the Supreme Court is a slap in the face to all those highly qualified Hispanic judges that dutifully serve on our federal courts across the nation," said Raul Yzaguirre, former president of the National Council of La Raza.

it's gonna be interesting to see how all this plays out in the coming weeks...

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Latin America: the bigs continue to invest (and get bigger)...

this kind of insight and perspective is really hard to come by in u.s. media...

Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean grew by 44 percent in 2004, following four consecutive years of decline, according to a report released Thursday by UNCTAD [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development].

But as many observers have pointed out, this growth will merely serve to boost the profits earned by transnational corporations in a region still mired in poverty and inequity.

The rise in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean, to a total of 68 billion dollars in 2004, was the second largest of any region in the developing world, just barely outstripped by Asia and Oceania...

[...]

The increase in FDI is good news for transnational corporations, which have reaped a corresponding increase in profits, but not necessarily for the 224 million people living in poverty and the 96 million who suffer extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, who are unlikely to benefit in any way from these new resources flowing into the region.

That is because foreign direct investment in itself does not promote social development, as Tagi Sagafi-nejad, a professor of International Business at Texas A&M International University...

[...]

Cristina Casanueva, a researcher at the Ibero-American University in Mexico and another member of the panel, commented that "foreign investment doesn't care about poverty or whether or not there is democracy in any given country."

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil and Mexico were the largest recipients of FDI in 2004, accounting for 52 percent of the regional total. These are the two largest and most populous countries in the region, but they are also the ones with the highest degree of social inequality.

why, you might ask, does the lion's share of fdi flow to the two countries with the highest degree of social inequality...? i would hazard a guess... cheap labor... and here's another interesting factoid...

According to a 2003 study from the World Bank - titled "Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Breaking With History?" - the richest one-tenth of the region's population earns 48 percent of total income, while the poorest tenth earns only 1.6 percent.

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WOO-HOO... Twice in a week...! DeLay's toast...

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been indicted on a second count of money laundering by a Texas Grand Jury.

(thanks to raw story...)

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India no longer "non-aligned"

it's interesting to watch as the u.s. makes its moves in the subcontinent... first, there's a ton of military hardware and weaponry literally donated to pakistan... then, a similar package went to india... (see previous post...) both, of course, accepted... nothing new for pakistan but definitely out of character for india... and given the two countries' historical enmity, still playing out in kashmir, they're naturally both eyeballing each other to see what the other's going to do next... well, it happened... india made it official by joining the u.s. in an iaea resolution against iran... hmmmmm...

By voting for a Western-sponsored resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meant to reprimand Iran, India has signalled the collapse of its long-standing policy of non-alignment.

Capping recent agreements signed with the United States on military and civilian nuclear cooperation within an increasingly closer ''strategic partnership'' with it, this constitutes the greatest shift in New Delhi's foreign policy since independence from colonial rule in 1947.

''By taking this disgraceful step, India is indicating that it has become a camp-follower of Washington,'' said Gulshan Dietl, a West Asia expert at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University here.

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Miers biggest sin allegiance to Bush...? puh-leeze...

kos says...

"Miers' biggest sin, at this early juncture, is her allegiance to Bush."

wrong... that's her SECOND biggest sin... her FIRST biggest sin is that SHE'S NEVER BEEN A JUDGE...! c'mon... you GOTTA be kidding...

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NewsMax headlines mostly on Miers

i don't think they're too happy about this... neither am i (see previous post) but for entirely different reasons... do ya suppose bush has finally succeeded in pissing EVERYBODY off...??

--Miers Donated to Al Gore, Democrats

--Sen. Reid Urged Miers Nomination

--Kristol: Conservatives 'Demoralized' over Miers

--Tammy Bruce: Bush Turning into Jimmy Carter

--Ferraro Predicts Easy Confirmation

--Rush Limbaugh: War for the Courts Has Begun

--For Full Coverage on Miers at NewsMax.com

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Another litmus-tested, crony, political hack nomination, only this time to SCOTUS

with his popularity and credibility at a low ebb (and headed lower), bush now resorts to what he has been doing all along with every executive branch opening - appoint a litmus-tested, bush-loyal, political hack crony WITHOUT A RECORD... it's a lot easier to defend unqualified than a record of ideological conservatism although you can be sure that the appointment wouldn't have been made unless there was a strong underpinning of kool-aid driven ideology... tragically, this time it's for the supreme court... harriet has rove's fingerprints all over her (pardon the unfortunate visual imagery) and i'm sure his satanic majesty is laughing his ass off in the west wing even as i type this... bush has got to go... soon...

President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court on Monday, turning to a lawyer who has never been a judge to replace Sandra Day O'Connor and help reshape the nation's judiciary.

'nuff said...

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Disastrous response to Katrina - it's about what we thought

yep... everything everybody said about why and how the shameful response to katrina could happen is now being verified and documented... no surprise, however, it's coming out in the u.k., not here...

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed.

The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission.

[...]

The report was commissioned by the Office of Secretary of Defence as an "independent and critical review" of what went so wrong. In a hard-hitting analysis, it says: "The US military has long planned for war on two fronts. This is as close as we have come to [that] reality since the Second World War; the results have been disastrous."

The document was compiled by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor of the US Army's War College and an adviser to the Pentagon who was a deputy-director in the Louisiana relief efforts.

when, please tell me, is the bush ship of fools going to finally sink...?

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Chris Shays stands against DeLay's "pushing the ethical edge to the limit..."

delay channels the energizer bunny... or count dracula... maybe it's time to start thinking about driving a stake through his heart...

bloomberg has the scoop...

Tom DeLay . . . said he still plans to participate in moving the Republican agenda forward.

"I can do my job, with or without the title," DeLay said today on Fox News Sunday.

DeLay said he would continue to raise money and advise Speaker Dennis Hastert on initiatives to cut taxes, enforce immigration laws and reduce spending.

but chris shays thinks maybe having delay around isn't a good idea...

Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican, said Republicans "got elected basically by saying we would live by higher moral standard, and I don't think recently we have..."

Shays, a centrist who occasionally quarrels with his party's conservative leadership, said he doesn't feel comfortable with DeLay as a leader.

"Tom's problem isn't just this," Shays said. "It's continual acts that border and go sometimes beyond the ethical edge. They may not be illegal, but he's always pushing that ethical edge to the limit."

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Iraq continues to fall apart... President calls for PM to resign...

lord almighty... bush still wants us to think things are going swimmingly and condi thinks we can't betray the iraqi people... seems to me george is smoking the funny weed again and it's entirely escaped condi's notice that the betrayal is old news...

Iraq's Kurdish president called on the country's Shiite prime minister to step down, the spokesman for the president's party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government.

President Jalal Talabani has accused the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in parliament, of monopolizing power in the government and refusing to move ahead on a key issue for Kurds, the resettlement of Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk.

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The assault on the middle class... Does ANYBODY care...?

piggy-backing on skadi's earlier post, here's a snip from a kos diary fomenting against how seemingly any concern for real people's problems has disappeared from public discourse, liberal or conservative... nyceve was responding to a post on kos from senator barack obama...

There's a special place in Hell reserved for Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Bill Frist, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, all of these criminals.

But I don't have the luxury of reveling for too long in this wonderful news of indictments and frog marches. Like many Americans, I worry about paying next months skyrocketing bills. Things are spiraling out of control, Mr. Obama. Next time you join us here, talk to me, recognize my fears, recognize that life has become mired in despair for countless Americans. Understand the most painful truth, which is that many of us no longer recognize this as the America we grew up in.

Let me tell you something Kossacks, let me tell any still semi-coherent Democratic office holder, many Americans don't have the time to feel more than passing joy at the coming implosion of the House of Bush. All we worry about is staying one step ahead of the onslaught of bills.

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Don't forget: the Minutemen are still out there

and the wapo continues to backhandedly legitimize them...

(from today's edition, pg. A9...)

The civilian patrols of recent months have failed to stem the tide of illegal crossings, but they have ratcheted up pressure on Washington to better police U.S. borders and fueled tension in border towns about potential violence. But as the patrols continue, they are targeting a wider circle of volunteers.

Urban dwellers, young women, some Hispanics have joined. Their gripes are often the same as those of the gun-toting veterans, though their backgrounds are different.

"It shows that the problem reaches all of America, not just a specific group," said Gayle Nyberg, 57, of Murietta, Calif., who slept in the back of a 1976 Chevrolet Suburban while on patrol duty.

More than 200 people signed up with the California Minutemen, who spent three weeks at the border over the summer.

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They DID it...! Buenos Aires bans public smoking...

Banderas de Argentina y Ciudad de Buenos Aires

all the more surprising considering just how many argentines smoke (including a number of the legislators who voted on the bill)...

The new bill bans smoking in all public spaces (including shopping centres) and in all bars, cafés and restaurants of less than 100 square metres while placing a 30 percent ceiling on the smoking area in premises exceeding that size (a previous ordinance had permitted smoking areas in all bars etc. over 40 square metres). Individuals infringing these new regulations are to be fined 25-500 pesos and businesses 500-2,000 pesos. Cigarettes may not be sold to those aged below 18, not 16 as before.

[...]

So overwhelming is the case against smoking that it evidently convinced at least some smokers last Thursday because the bill received 49 votes in a 60-seat Legislature where at least 24 members are known smokers.

so, in a country where even enforcement of traffic regulations is virtually non-existent, like everything else, ya gotta place this in context... the editorial's closing comment...

[J]ust how compulsory are seat belts nowadays?

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Karl Rove - Satan's doppelganger

let me add my small voice to AMERICAblog as well as a heartfelt wish for his prompt demise...

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It wasn't enough to do it here

They want to wipe out the middle class in Iraq too. From today's NYT.

Two and a half years after the American invasion, the violence shows no sign of relenting, and life for middle-class Iraqis seems only to be getting worse.

Educated, invested in businesses and properties and eager for change, the middle class here had everything to gain from the American effort.

But frustration is hardening into hopelessness, as families feel increasingly trapped by the many forces that are threatening to tear the country apart.

[...]

In these families' homes, the talk is mostly about leaving. "For Sale" signs dot the gates of the houses on their block. But gathering children and extended families is proving difficult, and many families, potentially the most skilled builders of democracy here, are bracing themselves for a future that appears to them increasingly under siege.

I kept envisioning my neighbors and my family as I read this article.

The two have been married for 50 years, and the difference in sects never seemed to matter. But recently, new questions have come up. A 9-year-old grandson was asked at school last month whether he was Sunni or Shiite. Then, Rim, a 24-year-old niece, had her engagement broken off by her fiancé's parents because she is Sunni.

[...]

Across town in a quiet area of central Baghdad, a family of merchants knows a lot about leaving. Dhia al-Din, 70, a Shiite, presides over three generations spread over two houses. In all, five of eight grown children and their families live abroad, and he lives much of the year in Jordan. He spoke on the condition that his family name not be used. He has received two death threats. One son escaped a kidnapping and left Iraq with his family this month.

He has the means to go, but the migration is scattering his family, and slowly erasing his life that he had carefully built up over decades.

"I lost my money, my hotel, my lovely working with the people," he said, his voice breaking. "My family, it is disappearing."

Look at what you've done George.

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