THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Sept. 11 claim stirs U.W. probe: Professor says U.S. planned 9/11 to provoke war; al Qaeda a tool of Cheney

Hollywood makes Superman un-American

Sulzberger attacks the WSJ

Rosa Brooks / Los Angeles Times: Did Bush commit war crimes?

Blaming Israel for the current Gaza conflict

Washington made "a small and fractious al Qaeda a global threat" - from NEWSWEEK!

Diplomats from the world's richest countries set a deadline of next Wednesday for receiving a "clear and substantive" response from Iran to the package of incentives offered by major powers in exchange for its suspending its enrichment of uranium.

In the first explicit timetable for Iran to formally respond to the offer, foreign ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized economies issued a statement that "We are disappointed in the absence of an official Iranian response to this positive proposal." They said that Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet on July 5, adding that they expect "to bring these discussions to a rapid conclusion."

The ruling was by a 5-3 majority; Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito were the dissenters. The Chief Justice did not participate since he was one of the judges who decided the case in the D.C. Circuit.

Scalia's dissent accuses the majority of ignoring the plain language of Congress's enactment providing that:

[N]o court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Scalia further argues that the majority substitutes its own judgment as to "military necessity" for that of the executive branch.

A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket. "The al-Aqsa Brigades have fired one rocket with a chemical warhead" at southern Israel, Abu Qusai, a spokesman for the group, said in Gaza.

Nearly 40 years of pin-point targeted response to Arab rabid hostilities has lead to this perverse situation where the West pays the Palestinian officials, which is synonymous with the term 'terrorists', billions of Dollars so that they can keep spitting into Israel's face.

End this charade now and break up the evil. Stop worrying about public opinion in the West - it's a no-win effort anyway. Kill the cancer dead now, once and for all.

Lichtblau of 'NYT' Explains Attempt to Halt His Bank Records Scoop

by Hugh Hewitt

The national security cannot possibly come before the race for the next Pulitzer:

"I don't think we could reasonably be accused of moving too quickly," he said. "We waited so long that the competition caught up to us."

This comment referred to the Los Angeles Times' posting a story about the bank records program on its Web site last night.

... denounced "King Lincoln," calling for Abraham Lincoln's removal from the presidency [Sounds like Feingold and Sheehan and Moore]. ... To those who supported the war he declared, "Defeat, debt, taxation [and] sepulchres - these are your trophies." [Sounds just like Dean and Kennedy and Pelosi and Reid.] ...

On May 5 he was arrested as a violator of General Order No. 38. ... General Ambrose E. Burnside had issued General Order Number 38, warning that the "habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy" would not be tolerated in the Military District of Ohio...

Speaking in accented but clear English, Prodi said that "the conflict of civilizations must be tackled with knowledge and cooperation" as well as with security policies. Europe in general and Italy specifically share U.S. concern about jihadist terrorism, he noted, adding:

"Public opinion in Europe is not anti-American," even though there are many protests and negative comments about U.S. policy. What motivates the protests and negativism "is maybe fear, deep fear, the idea that we are so close to this area of fire. . . . After all, it was fear that guided us against the war in Iraq, and it is fear that guides us against terrorism as well."

What do the planets show about Russ Feingold?

He has a Pisces Sun, not a common placement for a politician, but he also has a strong Aries influence. Pisces people are ... empathetic and sensitive to the needs of others, and one of Feingold's campaign promises when he ran for state Senator was to hold listening parties to stay in touch with constituents. His positions on the issues show a tendency to side with the needs of the people rather than corporations.

Mercury in Feingold's chart is in Aries, as is Mars and Venus. Aries is god of war, ruled by Mars (the Roman counterpart of the god Ares). Mercury in Aries shows Feingold's courage to speak out where others fear to, and is not afraid to stand alone in the face of battle. ... His Mars makes a trine (harmonious aspect) to Pluto, connecting the will of the individual self (Mars) with the god of personal power (Pluto). This is a powerful aspect that propels him effortlessly into the accumulation of real power.

His Sun makes a trine (harmonious aspect) to Uranus, showing that he is an individualist: he is also inventive and concerned with social issues (Uranus). His Mars makes a square (challenging aspect) to Uranus, showing that this individualism can be expressed in impulsive (Mars/Uranus) ways.

Feingold has a complex system in his chart called a Grand Cross (a stressful combination of planets with two oppositions (180 degrees) square each other). This Grand Cross includes Mars which is conjunct Venus, both in Aries opposite Saturn and Neptune, both in Libra and both retrograde. ... Men with Venus in Aries tend to want dominion in the home and that can be a problem in today's world.

The Grand Cross creates many challenges, but also teaches lessons that build strength of character. My sense is that Feingold's world is primarily the realm of politics and public life, and this helps him to sublimate the need for a personal life.... During Pluto transits we tend to lose relationships that no longer serve us, and this shows that the end of his marriage will ultimately be a positive influence for him.

Feingold will undergo a series of positive planetary events this year, including several Jupiter cycles that began last December and will continue through August of this year, bringing him opportunities (Jupiter) and expanding his influence. With the exception of a few short challenges, it looks like the planets will be kind to Feingold. Could he be the candidate to watch?

Israel threatened strong military action today after Palestinian militants, including those belonging to the ruling faction Hamas, emerged from a long tunnel dug 300 yards into Israel, killed two soldiers, wounded three and kidnapped a fourth wounded soldier at an Israeli outpost near the Egyptian border.

Two of the eight Palestinians were killed; the rest escaped back into Gaza with the Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, who is believed to have been wounded and whom they may want to try to exchange for jailed militants. He was the first Israeli soldier kidnapped in more than a decade.

Israeli tanks moved a short distance into Gaza, the first tank incursion since Israel pulled its settlers and soldiers from the territory last summer. Israeli officials talked of serious retaliation for the raid, which was weeks in the planning and for which the ruling Hamas faction took partial responsibility, along with other militant groups like the Popular Resistance Committees and a newly formed group called the Army of Islam. ... A spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, defended the attack on the Arab television ...

Mr. Regev, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "What part of Hamas is responsible is irrelevant. Hamas as an organization has endorsed it. And maybe for those in the international community who are talking about whether there is a new, pragmatic Hamas, this is a wakeup call." ... Mr. Regev added: "Abu Mazen goes to foreign capitals and says, 'I'm the partner you want. I'm the address.' But if he's not a partner in stopping violence, how can he be a partner for peace?"

If the soldier "isn't returned immediately then Israel will have to act," Mr. Regev said. ...

Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Masri, now a member of the Palestinian Parliament, welcomed the attack. "We consider this operation a part of the natural response to Zionist crimes, especially after the series of killings of children, women, old men and whole families in Gaza," he said. "It is the right of our people to defend themselves with all the means available."

The spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, said the attack was carried out to avenge Israel's assassination of the group's leader, Jamal Abu Samahdana, on June 8. Mr. Samahdana, who had been wanted by Israel, had also been serving the Hamas government as the commander of a new "executive force," a mostly Hamas militia that has engaged in a series of clashes with Fatah-dominated forces like the Preventive Security.

In briefing Powell before his U.N. speech, George Tenet, then the CIA director, personally vouched for the accuracy of the mobile-lab claim, according to participants in the briefing. Tenet now says he did not learn of the problems with Curveball until much later and that he received no warnings from Drumheller or anyone else.

"No one mentioned Drumheller, or Curveball," Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Powell's chief of staff at the time, said in an interview. "I didn't know the name Curveball until months afterward."

At 51.2 per cent in 2003, Sweden's ratio of tax receipts to GDP is the highest in the world. The comparable average for European Union (EU) countries is about 40 per cent of GDP. In Canada and Britain, the ratio is less than 40 per cent. In some industrial countries, such as the United States, it is less than 30 per cent. The high figure for Sweden is in part (4 percentage points) explained by transfers that are taxed.

In the past, rising taxes enabled the growth of public services, social benefits and public investments. Between 1960 and 1980, Swedish taxes as a share of GDP doubled, from roughly 25 to 50 per cent of GDE Since then, the ratio of tax revenues to GDP has been fairly constant, which means that changes in tax rates have not contributed to the growth of public services from 1980 onwards. This may come as a surprise to both proponents and critics of Sweden's high-tax society. ...

Growth in Sweden, as in many European countries, has been "jobless." The total number of hours worked in the Swedish economy is the same today as in 1965. This is so despite an impressive increase in real GDP, and despite an increase in population and in the number of those employed - especially women. The increase in number of employed has been offset by a reduction in number of hours worked per employee as a result of longer holidays, earlier retirement, more absence from work and other changes. ...

From the above evidence, we get a picture of the Swedish welfare state at the end of the road. Further development seems out of the question.

To give one relevant example, a recent Brookings Institute report on Iraq, shows the majority (yes, that means more than 50%) of Iraqis are living fairly safe and secure lives:

"Insurgent attacks tended to be concentrated (85%) in 4 of 18 provinces. These provinces contain less than 42% of the Iraqi population. Half of the Iraqi population (12 provinces) lives in areas that experience 6% of all attacks. 6 provinces listed a statistically insignificant number of attacks based on population size. 80% of all attacks are directed towards Coalition Forces. 80% of all casualties are suffered by the Iraqi population."

When most people hear the word "Enron," they mentally complete the phrase by adding the word "scandal." As reporter Lester Holt of NBC's "Today" put it in a Jan. 1 story, "Enron has been the poster child, if you will, of corporate scandals."

It isn't the only one, though. There's $40-billion scandal with most of the same elements -- even connection to prominent politicians. Just don't expect to see much about it on TV. After all, the top people involved here are Democrats.

Welcome to Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage giant. As part of a scandal that's been running nearly two years, Fannie Mae has "misstated earnings" to the tune of $10.8 billion. That's some tune.

So far, the Fannie fiasco has cost Chief Executive Officer Franklin Raines and several other top executives their jobs. The stock has dropped from nearly $80 a share to around $50 -- roughly $30 billion in lost value. And the company recently settled with the federal government and agreed to pay $400 million in fines, stemming from allegations the firm fiddled with the books to ensure bigwigs got performance bonuses.

To top it off, the Fannie Mae leadership was quite well-connected in D.C., especially to the Democratic Party. The Washington Post on May 23 made this all clear in black and white. The front page of that day's Business section showed how James A. Johnson, a former campaign manager for Walter Mondale's presidential run, had created "a political powerhouse."

That story had a photo of Mr. Johnson, who had been chairman and chief executive of Fannie Mae, flanked by two other photos -- both other prominent Democrats. On one side was Mr. Raines, a former head of the Office of Management and Budget under Bill Clinton. On the other was Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.

While the rest of the graphic listed other prominent Democrats and Republicans, the titanic captains at Fannie Mae were clearly Democrats.

ABC News reports this morning on a Homeland Security document that describes at least three plans to attack America and its allies via commercial aviation. The DHS analysis notes the "ingenuity" of al-Qaeda planners even though US security efforts stopped all of the plots:

ABC News reports this morning on a Homeland Security document that describes at least three plans to attack America and its allies via commercial aviation. The DHS analysis notes the "ingenuity" of al-Qaeda planners even though US security efforts stopped all of the plots.

An islamic Web site has posted a video released by a group calling itself al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula of what it said was a man Osama bin Laden intended to be the 20th hijacker in the attacks on September 11, 2001.

The video, released on Tuesday, shows clips of Fawaz al-Nashmi -- also known as Turki bin Fhaid al-Mutairi. It follows by a few days another Web posting from the group that claims al-Nashmi was the man chosen by Osama bin Laden to be the 20th hijacker.

Al-Nashmi was a Saudi who later participated in a terrorist attack against oil workers in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. He was killed in a shootout with Saudi authorities in June 2004, shortly after the kidnapping and beheading of an American engineer.

An audio recording of a voice claiming to be that of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been posted on a website used by Islamic militants. The message states the recently convicted Zacharias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the 11 September attacks, which is referred to as 'that mission'.

The relatives of two US soldiers who were murdered in Iraq have reacted with a mix of grief and outrage over the news that the pair had been tortured and beheaded.

"A poster of Yasir Arafat has a place of honor on a cafeteria wall on the new campus of Al Aksa University."

Declaring that the United States doesn’t have to prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.

Whereas the United States and its allies are engaged in a Global War on Terror, a too long and too demanding struggle against an adversary that is driven by relevant grievances of America’s selfish values and that is committed to its own value system using means which are acceptable to it for self-preservation and proselytization in its historical sphere of influence;

Whereas for the past two decades, terrorists have used violence to gain sympathy with the Left, anti-Semites, the EU and the MSM;

Whereas it is essential to the security of the American people and to world security that the United States, together with its allies, appease the terrorists and to those who provide them assistance;

Whereas the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other terrorists haven’t stopped fighting in Afghanistan;

Whereas the Afghanistan, the United States, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization cannot afford to sustain a sovereign, free, and secure Afghanistan;

Whereas by early 2003 Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime in Iraq, was contained and did not constitute a threat against global peace and security and was in violation of only minor parts of the mandatory United Nations Security Council Resolutions;

Whereas because the United States and its Coalition partners, having removed Saddam Hussein and his regime from power, have failed to establish an entirely peaceful Iraq;

Whereas the terrorists moved into the power vacuum created by the United States and the incompetent Rumsfeld and his Jewish advisors acting in the interests of Israel and the Likud and have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war against the GOP's crusader occupiers led by the criminal Bush Administration;

Whereas the Iraqi people, because of this war brought on by the United States and other so-called Coalition partners, have a chaotic government which is not truly representative;

Whereas the terrorists seek to overthrow this imposed democracy because democracy cannot be imposed in Iraq or in the broader Middle East;

Whereas United States Armed Forces, in coordination with Iraqi security forces and Coalition and other friendly forces, have terrorized Iraqis and are stuck in a quagmire;

Whereas Iraqi security forces are a joke;

Whereas the United States and Coalition service members and civilians and the members of the Iraqi security forces and those assisting them who have made the ultimate sacrifice or been wounded in Iraq have only done so to advance the GOP at Rove’s behest;

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) mourns the losses of all those Americans who have died in vain by taking part in the phony war Bush calls the Global War on Terror;

(2) feels more sympathy for the victims of the USA’s retribution than for the victims of jihad, and we blame the Bushies for the deaths which the jihadis commit;

(3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to fight the Islamic radicals in Iraq or anywhere else;

(4) declares that the United States will redeploy immediately all forces out of Iraq;

(5) informs Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Iraqi people that they are on their own;

(6) calls upon the nations of the world to accept our sincerest apologies for creating Third World poverty and Global Warming, for starting a phony global war against peace-loving jihadists, and for attacking the UN; and

(7) declares that the United States will immediately cede our borders to Mexico and our foreign policy to the UN and France.

Sweden's unemployment rate is 15 per cent, three times the figure being used by the government, according to new research from McKinsey Global Institute, the think tank.... In its first assessment of the country's economy since 1995, it said: "Sweden's economy has reached a critical juncture. If nothing is done, the problems will become much more serious."

It praised Sweden for achieving average GDP growth of 2.7 per cent a year since 1995, which it attibuted to deregulation and improvements in private sector productivity. But it said the country could not rely on future improvements in private-sector productivity, as the catch-up effect that had driven these developments would decline over time. The ageing population would put the public sector under "intolerable pressure" unless productivity improved, it added.

"If nothing else changes, the resulting increase in welfare costs would become too large to finance through the current tax system in only 10 to 20 years," McKinsey said.

KERRY: A LIAR AND SLANDERER OF THE US MILITARY;
FEINGOLD: A MAN WHO'S LAW CURTAILS FREE SPEECH, AND WHO SOUGHT TO CENSURE THE PRESIDENT;
BOXER: A NOVELIST;
BYRD: A "FORMER" KKK MEMBER - AND "KLEAGLE";
HARKIN: A PROVEN LIAR WHO LIED ABOUT SERVING IN VIETNAM;
KENNEDY: A DRUNKEN MURDERER.

The situation and conditions of the resistance in Iraq have reached a point that requires a review of the events and of the work being done inside Iraq. Such a study is needed in order to show the best means to accomplish the required goals, especially that the forces of the National Guard have succeeded in forming an enormous shield protecting the American forces and have reduced substantially the losses that were solely suffered by the American forces. This is in addition to the role, played by the Shi'a (the leadership and masses) by supporting the occupation, working to defeat the resistance and by informing on its elements.

As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance...

BUSH'S SPEECH TO OUR TROOPS. HERE'S A VIDEO; WATCH IT, TOO. GREAT STUFF. HEARTFELT. RESOLUTE. HE'S BEEN A GREAT POTUS.

People in European and Muslim countries see US policy in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear programme, a survey has shown.

The survey by the Pew Research Group also found support for US President George W Bush and his "war on terror" had dropped dramatically worldwide.

Already, China uses more coal than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined. And it has increased coal consumption 14 percent in each of the past two years in the broadest industrialization ever. Every week to 10 days, another coal-fired power plant opens somewhere in China that is big enough to serve all the households in Dallas or San Diego.

The Right is basically anti-abortion, believing that the only non-arbitrary point at which to argue individual life begins is at conception, and that because each and every life is sacred they must be treated as such - from conception. Abortion is the taking of human life and should be avoided; adoption should be promoted as the only acceptable way to deal with unwanted pregnancies.

The Left argues that a woman's control of her own body is a fundamental human right, and that ths includes control over the fetus until viability.

The Left feels that the Right only cares about the fetus, and that as soon as the baby is born "the Right doesn't give a rat's ass about that person - otherwise, they'd support a cradle-to-grave welfare state." (I have personally heard this argument a thousand and one times!) The Left believes that people should have their basic needs GUARANTEED by the state - FOR LIFE.

The Left argues that Iraq and Afghanistan are disaster zones where chaos and violence rule the day, and that there was more stability ands safety for Iraqis and Afghanis, and their regions - if not the world - before Bush decided that he had the duty and authority to "impose democracy" on people who probably aren't ready for it.

(BEAR WITH ME: Forget that this conclusion doesn't jibe with the facts, for a moment! Foeget that the annualized death toll during Saddam's reign of terror was GREATER than the last three years! Forget that MILLIONS of Afghani refugees have RETURNED to Afghanistan, and that women are learning to read again - and see doctors, and children are flying kites.)

The Right argues that democracy isn't ever "imposed" - rather, that what we had in Iraq and Afghanistan were tryannies - which WERE imposed - and that have mow been removed. Hence the term LIBERATION.

The Right thinks it's unfair to criticize the inefficient and messy "sausage-making" process (called self-government by consent of the governed) in nations which have JUST begun to form their democracies; IOW: democracy is a messy process not an catered event. "SURE SURE SURE," the Right admits, "things are tough now, but the people are materially better off already and they have more liberty, too. And the situation is improving. And, ultimately... IT'S UP TO THE IRAQIS AND AFGHANIS THEMSELVES (to paraphrase Franklin): "They have their democracies, now they must defend them!"

Syria is backing Venezuela's efforts to win a contested seat on the U.N. Security Council, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said Monday. "We are going to collaborate so Venezuela obtains that seat," Mekdad said in a statement following a closed-door meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. Venezuela is competing with Guatemala for a regional seat on the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. The U.S. government - which has frequently been at odds with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - publicly backed Guatemala's bid at last week's Organization of American States general assembly in the Dominican Republic.

William Goodman from the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights told AFP news agency the three dead men were "heroes for those of us who believe in basic American values of justice, fairness and democracy". Mr Goodman, whose organisation represents some 300 detainees, said the government had denied them that.

Monday, June 12, 2006 Posted: 2030 GMT (0430 HKT) - JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian security forces were on high alert Monday after Palestinian Authority and Hamas security forces clashed in Rafah, resulting in two deaths.

If either Fatah or Hamas is a security force, then George Bush is the Dalai lama. These are two terrorist groups comprised of genocidal, misogynistic, child-abusing islamothugs. In ANY clash between them, one can only hope that BOTH sides lose. More HERE on their uncivil war (BBC):

You hear all this talk from the anti-American types like Jack Murtha and Ted Kennedy about a civil war in Iraq when the real civil war in the Middle East is going on in the Palestinian territories.

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked for an immediate halt to the warrantless wiretapping program.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor was to hear the case brought by the ACLU against the National Security Agency. The Bush administration has asked Taylor to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the litigation would jeopardize state secrets. But Taylor said she would first hear arguments on the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, despite the government's assertion that no court can consider the issues.

The Israeli military is still trying to determine if shells it fired killed seven members of a Palestinian family picnicking on a beach in Gaza on Friday. The military has accounted for five of the six shells it fired into Gaza, and said they didn't kill the family.

President Fidel Castro called the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a "barbarity," saying he should have been put on trial. The United States acted as "judge and jury" against the leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq, Castro said late Friday. "They bragged, they were practically drunk with happiness." "The accused cannot just be eliminated," he told a literacy conference. "This barbarity cannot be done."

The trade deficit is rising again after two months of declines, pushed by oil prices and a flood of imports from China. Analysts warned that global oil prices above $70 per barrel will swell the deficit more in coming months.The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gap between what the United States sells abroad and what it imports rose to $63.4 billion in April, 2.5 percent higher than the March imbalance of $61.9 billion.

They called it Operation Motor City, and for five days, federal agents working late-night shifts in unmarked cars shadowed illegal immigrants living in towns and cities across southeast Michigan.

By Wednesday, 63 immigrants -- most of them from Eastern European countries and ranging in age from 10 to 60 -- were in the process of being deported in one of the largest roundups yet in an ongoing effort to clear Michigan and Ohio of an estimated 4,500 illegal immigrants. ... Twenty-five of the people targeted during the latest operation, which lasted from May 31 to Sunday, were from Albania, while eight were from Macedonia, officials said. The rest were from 13 other countries. ... he immigrants lived across metro Detroit, including in Canton, Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield. The largest number of arrests occurred in Royal Oak, where eight Albanians were picked up, Baker said.

China and Denmark on Wednesday launched a wind energy program, which will be financed by a Danish grant of 45 million Danish Kronur (about 60 million yuan) over the next three years.

In an agreement signed in Beijing on Wednesday, the Danish aid will be used to help China improve its technological and management capacity in wind power development, and to help local authorities develop their own wind energy development plans.

Denmark is leading the world in wind energy development.

Continuing his campaign to build support for comprehensive immigration legislation, President Bush on Wednesday emphasized that illegal immigrants who want to stay here should learn English and demonstrate that they are committed to assimilating into American culture.

Jordanian intelligence helped in the operation that led to the killing of al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Thursday, a Jordanian spokesman said. "There has been early exchange of intelligence information with the United States that helped in the operation that killed Zarqawi," government spokesman Nasser Joudeh told Reuters.

Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who had sworn loyalty to Osama bin Laden, had come to symbolise the radical Islamic insurgency against U.S. occupation in which thousands had been killed.

You're an enlightened world citizen. Your T-shirt says "9/11 was an inside job." You're pretty sure we're living in a fascist state, that President Bush taps the Dixie Chicks' phones, Christian abortion clinic bombers outnumber jihadis, and the war on "terror" is a distraction from the real threats: carbon emissions and Pat Robertson.

Then you learn that 17 people were arrested in a terrorist bomb plot. How do you process the information? Let's take it step by step.

Gosh, that's horrible, you think. But no -- that's what they WANT you to feel. Recall the prime directive: Question Authority (unless he's a college professor). The plotters must have been impoverished olive farmers radicalized by the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Statement as of 8:55 am EDT on June 7, 2006
record event report
National Weather Service Tallahassee FL
855 am EDT Jun 7 2006

... Record low temperature shattered at Tallahassee Florida!...

AR 6:51 am EDT this morning... the temperature at the Tallahassee
Regional Airport dropped to 54 degrees. This obliterates the old
record low of 57 degrees set in 1991.

The poll result that will not make the mainstream media at all is the fact that only 4% of Palestinian Arabs reject terror altogether. The question is ambiguously worded, but what is entirely clear is that the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs want to see continued attacks against Jewish civilians (what is euphemistically called "resistance.")

Marathon oil company, America's largest investor in the Syrian oil and gas sectors will soon quit after selling its shares, fearing further U.S. sanctions against Damascus.

"Wednesday's Washington Times ran a column on global warming by Cato's Patrick Michaels in which he quoted Al Gore as saying, "I believe it is appropriate to have an overrepresentation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience." As a public service I will now translate this politically obtuse statement into English; It is alright to lie to people in order to scare them into doing something that is against their own interest.

cut & run from al Qaeda in Iraq, appease the enemy, and defer to the UN;
filibuster the judicial nominees;
repeal tax cuts/raise taxes;
raise domestic spending, and cut defense spending;
and open the border -

The National Salvation Front, a Syrian opposition group founded in exile, has ended its inaugural congress in London saying there was no doubt that the Syrian government would fall.

In its final declaration at the close of the congress on Monday, the group called on Syrians to "break down the barriers of fear" and overturn the government of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, but not through violent means. ...

"The National Salvation Front also invites the armed forces to shoulder national and historic responsibility, to be the army of the people," the statement added. It urged the security forces, especially "officers used by the regime to inflict injustice on the citizens ... to live up to their moral and national responsibilities and refuse to obey the orders of the corrupt group that all of you know is corrupt and oppressive."

Alongside Khaddam and the Muslim brotherhood, Kurdish parties, independents and communists took part in the London meeting.

Americans are in a sour mood, a mood that may be explained by the lack of a sense of history. The military struggle in Iraq (nearly 2,500 military deaths) is spoken of in as dire terms as Vietnam (58,219), Korea (54,246) or World War II (405,399). We bemoan the cruel injustice of $3 a gallon for gas in a country where three-quarters of people classified as poor have air conditioning and microwave ovens. We complain about a tide of immigration that is, per U.S. resident, running at one-third the rate of 99 years ago.

George W. Bush has a better sense of history.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will call a referendum on a plan implicitly recognizing Israel after he failed to persuade Hamas to agree to the idea.

The Islamic militant Hamas, which heads the Palestinian government, strongly opposes a referendum. "President Abbas will set a date for the referendum after the meeting Tuesday of the PLO Executive Committee and parliamentary caucuses," his office said in a statement.

Abbas had set a midnight deadline for agreement. But a participant in late-night talks with Palestinian factions said the president determined they had failed an hour before that.

... The Palestinian infighting has turned deadly in recent weeks. Sixteen people have died in clashes between Hamas and Fatah loyalists, including five killed on Sunday. Five Palestinians were wounded in two clashes in the southern city of Khan Younis on Monday, security officials said. Hamas has stuck to its tough line on Israel despite the crushing international boycott, which has left the government unable to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants for three months.

Immigrants coming to Britain must learn English, Gordon Brown has insisted. He argued that people entering the UK should "play by the rules" and that means learning the language in order to get work, the chancellor says. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that those who refused to learn English should be made to do so.

The economy has now expanded faster than 3% for 10 straight quarters. So when was the last time the economy expanded faster than 3% for 10 straight quarters? It didn’t happen during the 1990s (the longest streak was eight).

It last happened during the 13 quarters from 1Q 1983 through 1Q 1986. Not coincidentally, a president who believed in lowering taxes to stimulate economic growth was in charge the last time it happened.

So despite being at war, despite devastating storms, and despite legislative and regulatory drags on the economy like Sarbanes-Oxley, this has been most consistently growing economy in almost 20 years.

Bush was named by 34% of voters, followed by Richard Nixon at 17% and Bill Clinton at 16%, according to the Quinnipiac University national poll of over 1,500 voters released today. Leading the list for best President since 1945 is Ronald Reagan with 28%, and Clinton with 25%.

Reagan's - [NOW REGARDED AS THE BEST PRESIDENT ACCORDING TO THE QUINNIPAC POLL CITED BY E&P] - 52% average approval rating for his entire presidency was topped by Kennedy's 70% average, Eisenhower's 66%, Roosevelt's 68%, and even by Johnson (54%), who eschewed running for reelection because of the unpopularity of his Vietnam policy.

In short, about half-- and sometimes more than half-- of the US public did not approve of Reagan's presidential performance.

His approval index was not much better than the lowest modern presidential averages: Truman's and Ford's, each at 46%; Carter's at 47%; and 48% for Nixon.

... the facts show that Reagan was definitely not the most popular post-war president, and during many comparable periods he was among the most unpopular.

(1) We were attacked by jihadoterrorists OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, and BJ Clinton did BUPKUS. And (2), he allowed the economic Bubbles to grow, and burst as he left office. And (3), he allowed the CROOKED CEO's to loot Wall Street. All the crooked CEO's - who Bush is sending to jail - did their crimes on Clinton's watch. And (4), Enron, et al., ripped off California in their energy scam on his watch. And (5), Clinton entertained Arafat in the oval office more than any president. And (6), he stood by and did nothing as MILLIONS of blacks were MURDERED as victims of racist genocide in Africa - (in Rwanda and the Sudan. YUP: MILLIONS. Yet, African-Americans still love him! Go figure!) And (7), the New Orleans levees which were BREECHED were built on HIS WATCH! And (8), Assad was allowed to occupy Lebanon compleyely unchallenged. And (9), the Pakistanis were allowed to build nukes and ILLEGALLY export nuke technology. AND (10), Saddam was allowed to abuse the UN Oil for Food prgram, and bribe our supposed allies.

Snowfall has been on the increase in parts of the United States and the world to record proportions in recent years even as summer snow and ice levels reach multi-decadal lows.

The changes relate to natural cyclical changes in the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere that favor both more tropical activity in summer and more snowfall in winters.

Climatologists believe the current phase of the Atlantic cycle may last another decade or two. If this outlook is correct, we might expect both more big snows and hurricanes for years to come.

... As George Taylor summarized on this site in his story "Arctic Sea Ice -- Is It Disappearing?"

"A number of researchers have suggested that inflows of Atlantic water into the Arctic profoundly affect temperatures and sea ice trends in the latter ocean. Polyakov, et al (2004) are among these. The first sentence of their paper states 'Exchanges between the Arctic and North Atlantic Ocean have a profound influence on the circulation and thermodynamics of each basin.' The authors attributed most of the variability to multidecadal variations on time scales of 50-80 years, with warm periods in the 1930s-40s and in recent decades, and cool periods in the 1960s-70s and early in the twentieth century. These are associated with changes in ice extent and thickness (as well as air and sea temperature and ocean salinity). The most likely causative factor involves changes in atmospheric circulation, including but not limited to the Arctic Oscillation"

Sales figures reported Thursday showed that Toyota, Honda and other Asian manufacturers claimed a record 40 percent of the American market in May, when sales of fuel-efficient vehicles like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Hyundai Sonata all rose 20 percent or more compared with May 2005.

For Detroit companies, which have continued to aggressively market their costly new sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks despite the high gas prices, market share last month dropped to 52.9 percent — their second-lowest in history.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq says in an audiotape posted on the Web Friday that Shiite militias are killing and raping the country's Sunni Arabs and urged Sunnis to confront them.

The head of the Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, called Thursday for the disarmament of the Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist movement Hezbollah, according to an audio message posted on the Internet. Zarqawi accused Hezbollah of serving as a "shield protecting the Zionist enemy (Israel) against the strikes of the mujahedeen in Lebanon," in an apparent reference to Sunni Arab militants loyal to the Al-Qaeda network.

"Why should Hezbollah be exempt from the... Taef accords" which brought an end to fighting in Lebanon's 15-year civil war, a voice purporting to be Iraq's most wanted man asked in the lengthy audio message whose authenticity could not be verified. "Hezbollah is an independent state inside Lebanon... It puts forth lying slogans about Palestinian liberation when in fact it serves as a security wall (for Israel) and prevents Sunnis from crossing its borders."

Four gunmen and a security guard have been killed in clashes between suspected militants and security forces in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Officials said a "terrorist" attack on a building near the offices of Syrian state TV and radio had been halted.

Four militants were also arrested and were being interrogated. It was not clear why the building was a target. Several international hotels, government buildings and the city university are located in the area.

In a sweeping new study of the causes of the disaster in New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged today that the levees it built in the city were an incomplete and inconsistent patchwork of protection, containing flaws in design and construction, and not built to handle a hurricane anywhere near the size of Katrina.

"... from 1993-2000 the Clinton Adminstration refused to allow the Army Corps - or anyone else - to get the funding they needed to redo the levees and rebuild the marshes/bayous. ... Clinton ignored the dangers on this front as he did the dangers from jihadoterrorism.

Heinz said it expects to cut 2,700 jobs and exit 15 plants in 2007 to cut costs. Another five plants could be closed in 2008, it said.

The company's board of directors also approved $1 billion for share repurchases over the next two years.

A human rights activist speaking to United Press International on condition of anonymity stressed that "under present conditions," the opposition's activities are viewed as provocative to the Syrian authorities.

"There is no doubt that the opposition has moved from a tight domain limited to individual parties to a larger context that grouped all types of political parties from extreme right to extreme left, and this has alarmed and angered the authorities," the activist said. The activist was referring to the Damascus Declaration, signed by Syrian political activists representing all aspects of the opposition, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Organization whose members face the death penalty under law 49.

The declaration called for ending the emergency law; ensuring public freedoms and the liberty of expression; introducing reforms allowing the creation of a multi-party system; combating corruption; and conducting a dialogue for initiating change.

A hunger strike by Syrian lawyer and rights activist Anwar Bunni, arrested in a crackdown on opposition figures seeking better ties with Lebanon, entered its third week on Thursday, his wife said. Bunni has been on “only water and some tea. He has lost several kilos (pounds) but his morale is good”, said Raghida Bunni after visiting her husband in Adra prison, near Damascus. She said he was continuing his hunger strike “in protest at being held in jail and the manner in which he was arrested” on May 18.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has found religion.

Green and yellow banners fluttered at every turn in this capital's ancient stone bazaar a month after they marked the Prophet Muhammad's birthday April 10. For the first time in years, Muslims were allowed to openly observe that day. Other government bans on religious life also have diminished in recent weeks: Mosques are open between prayers. Religious weddings, once deemed to be risky public assembly, no longer need state security clearance.

Mosques are urging women to join study groups that champion their role in Islam. The state military academy has invited religious authorities to speak for the first time in decades.

In the street, Syrians of every faith are adjusting to a strange political spring. The oft-brutal regime, while cracking down anew on secular reform advocates, is courting favor with Islamists to keep at bay some publicly defined devils: dissidents and the Bush administration.

... In February, state security in Damascus allowed mobs to torch the Danish Embassy to protest the portrayal of the prophet in cartoons in Danish media. ... Assad gained political points in Syria for allowing Muslims to vent, even excessively, over the prophet insult. Analysts said the regime was also sending a message to the West. "They want the international community to be afraid," said Anwar al-Bunni, a human-rights attorney. "Syrian Islamists are not radical, but they want to make them out to be a threat." (Al-Bunni made his remarks in an interview with the Chicago Tribune in April. Last week, he and five other secular human-rights activists were arrested by Syrian police.)

"The Islamist card is a very useful card for them," said Ibrahim Hamidi, a correspondent for Al Hayat newspaper.